Hola my dear familia! This week has been crazy. The weeks are
flying by faster and faster every day and every night I go to bed so exhausted and it’s great! I love hearing from all of you and am so grateful
that you write me. My comp shared with me this week that in her eight months of
being on her mission, her parents haven’t
emailed her once. So sad, especially
since I am always so stinking excited to write home and especially read emails.
So thanks for your love and your letters, nothing means more! :)
So this week there were really great moments and some really
hard ones, but I am sure learning to face everything with a smile and focus on
the good, because nothing good comes from being sad down here.
So feliz dia de las brujas! It was crazy down here the past
three days and nights. Of course there is the tradition of making the table for
the dead, which is really amazing and I sent pics of it and I just love it. But
they also trick or treat and dress up. Down here it’s a bit more gory than in
good old Utah. There are more creepy princesses and creepy masks and such, but
hey, it’s really fun. We actually taught a man named Alejandro in his store and
every time I looked up or around or behind me there were devils looking at
me... kinda ironic I thought. Haha, but also for Halloween we went to a home
for cake (wahoo) and they had wigs of every color you could think of. So I put
on one wig that has hair like my comp and she put on a yellow one and we
switched nametags and it was hilarious. I felt like I could really speak Spanish
for those few moments. Haha jk.
So we had a baptism this week and it was lovely! But on the Monday,
before we went to her house, she said that an evil spirit picked her up in the
night and held her and she was trying to scream but couldn’t and it was really
super duper creepy... and what’s even more, my comp said she experienced the
same thing! It’s actually a normal occurrence down here to have spirits in your
house and do things to you... but she was, I guess, optimistic about it and
turned it into a testimony builder. Haha, but it was freaky since I wasn’t
quite gathering all of it, except for evil spirits and screaming and such... so
I guess my face was a little pale cause I was freaking out a little and they
asked me if I was ok. Haha, the struggle is real.
Yes, I was sick from Monday to Thursday with a sore throat, runny
nose and a gnarly cough. So this email may be a little boring solely because
not much happened for me this week. I wasn’t really all that present most of
the time. But I’m totes fine now! I took Thursday off and hung out with a lady
in the ward while Hermana Ortiz went on splits. It was nice and I got a lot of
paperwork done that we were behind on.
One funny thing that happened though, was that my comp and I were
riding bikes down the street and I felt something soft at my ankle and I looked
down and it was A DOG! TRYING TO BITE MY LEG OFF!!! I screamed and started
pedaling faster and faster and my skirt was flying up in my face and very
scandalous and the dog was barking and chasing me and my companera was laughing
harder than I have ever heard. Haha there is seriously nothing funnier than a
girl riding a bike in a skirt in general, let alone with a dog chasing her and
her skirt flying in her face so she’s driving blind and scandalous. Take a
moment and envision this. Yes. That was me on the way to clean the church for
the baptism. Hahaahahaha
Since it’s been Halloween (down here it’s actually on the first
of November), they have BLASTED music and our apartment has shook until 1 in
the morning every night. Imagine the most classic Mexican music, with the sombreros
and yodelish sounding vibrato, yeah... allll dayyyy errry night. I couldn’t help
but keep laughing to myself. It wasn’t the music keeping me awake, it was how funny
the whole situation was. Bahaha, oh how I love Mexico. It really is so alive
and vibrant and the people are thrilled to be Mexicans. Well, most of them.
Speaking of Halloween, did we get any trick or treaters? My comp and I went to
the door of some people and said treat or message?! You can imagine we got a
lot of candy. Bahahaha, the perks of being a missionary.
One interesting thing is that church is a little different here.
They bless the oil in sacrament meeting, as well as do all of the confirmations
in sacrament mtg. Just different. And yeah! I played the piano in sacrament
meeting and it was.... quite the success. It’s really rare that someone plays
the piano, so people were a little enamored. It wasn’t even good, and the
people are probably just being nice, but it was great. And now to come of it, I
am teaching piano lessons to a few members while my comp takes her English
test! And because of my song, we are doing a music night where I am playing the
piano, accompanying singers with violins and a bass guitar, and it’s gonna be a
big missionary experience. Like, a big deal I guess. Hey, hey, hey, wahoo for
piano. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank you mom and dad for
making me practice piano, it finally has come in handy. And tell Ginger her
student is now paying it forward and teaching in Mexico. Oh and I’m also
teaching English down here. People have a real desire to practice English and
it helps me understand Spanish better, oddly enough. They teach me, and we
practice English. I love it. People are very open and we have a lot, I mean a
lot, of laughs.
Hey Dad - I tried to help put away chairs the other day and a
bunch of old Mexican men told me that I couldn’t do it. And then I promptly
proceeded to stack as many as I could.
We also had an impromptu service project carrying HUGE bags of
cement down the street and they were SUPER heavy. I went to pick one up and a
guy told me I couldn’t do it without help from a guy and proceeded to help me.
Then I RAN back to the house, picked one up, and carried it to the truck. The
look on his face was priceless. I saw him try to do one by himself and he
couldn’t. Bahaha. But oh my goodness, I couldn’t move the next morning cause of
my back. I mean, seriously couldn’t move. Darn this pride of mine! But then I
said a prayer asking for help to heal and stood up and walked! (like a cripple,
but walked) miracles are real. Oh and I’m totally fine now, so don’t worry.
I am loving my mission so very much and learning so very much
too. I have so many out of body experiences while we are teaching where I just
realize what is going on and how lucky I am to be here. My absolute favorite
thing down here is to teach and hear people pray for the very first time. It’s
incredible, and the biggest spiritual moment. Yes, they are super short and
simple, but they are from the heart and you can feel the spirit so strongly. You
can sense a change in them all throughout the prayer. Absolutely amazing and
impossible to describe, but I truly am loving it down here. I love biking down
the calle and listening to the music and seeing people’s faces when I say, “Buenos
dias!” and they see I speak Spanish. Like whaaat? But it is also hard. For
example, we didn’t have any investigators attend church yesterday. Bummer. Really,
really sad. And I am learning to celebrate the little things I do right on my
own. My comp isn’t the most...complimentary person ever (meaning never) and so
I am learning to be proud of myself, by myself. But hey, it’s good. My comp is
very good at telling me what I need to do better, so I’m trying to learn fast.
:)
Well, I am loving life and missing you guys terribly. I hope you
know I love you more than life and that you mean the world to me. Thanks for being
the best parents ever and it’s so, so, so, so good to hear from you.
Sad to hear Aunt Billie died, that makes me sad. But it’s fun
that you got to see the other Brewers. BAHAHAHA, and oh my gosh, that is so
funny that dad helped with the wrong casket. So ready to help, as always, even
if it’s the wrong dead person. I’m sure they were thanking you from beyond the
veil. ;) Hehehe!
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| When your doll's leg is missing. You don't toss her, you fix it. |
To answer your questions: I LOVE the president and his wife so
much. They are absolutely amazing. Hermana Egbert is an easy crier and I love
her and pres is very, very nice and loving. We had a little issue between my
comp and the neighbors and I got to call the president, because I speak English
and he was super kind about it. Then I got to go resolve the issue on my own
between my comp and the neighbors and it was an adventure. (They were wrongly
accusing her of some stuff and she was close to starting a fight, so I calmed
the situation and had everyone talk it out. Whew. Gosh I love Mexico.) Also, we do have a cell phone, but we don’t
report in every night. Not a rule and it costs a lot of money, so we don’t. But
yes, and it’s an indestructible Nokia. I love it. And lastly, the hardest thing
in my mission currently is humbling myself enough. I make a ton, I mean a ton,
of mistakes and I need to be more patient and humble to take it all in stride
and to work with my comp, who also wants me to know everything now, but I just
don’t. So patience and humility are the hardest things for me. But it’s great
and I learn so stinking much every day.
Ok, I love you more than the universe and you are the best
parents ever! I think about, and pray for you, every day and I miss you a TON.
But I am busy in the work and living it up. Mwah times a million. Can’t wait
for next Monday - this is the highlight of my week. MWAH and talk to you next
week.
Hermana Anstee
P.S.
Oh and I haven’t gotten the package yet, because it goes to Pachuca and we need
to wait until I go to Pachuca or until someone comes here for me to get it.
I’ll let you know! I’m SO EXCITED!!!!!!
you are hilarious! the church has to be true!!1
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