Spontaneous ear piercing, a traumatic marshmallow roast, the widow's mite, and being taught by the dreams of a humble family

MOM! DAD! BUDDY!

Please tell the family hello for me and that I love them so much! This week has been great! It’s so great to hear from you and about how everything is going back in reality... but life here in the mish is amazing! I truly love it here and am so incredibly happy, especially this week!

But to start off... I uh... got my ears pierced!

YAY! I actually really love it and it’s been way fun. My comp is way in to this kind of stuff and I think it’s rubbing off on me. I have earrings now... it’s super duper weird. But let me tell you the story... oh my goodness it’s one to remember! 

So we were in the house of one of our friends and her friend (an investigator) came over. We got talking about earrings and they were all shocked that I didn’t have my ears pierced! All of a sudden they told me that they could just do it right then and there! (The investigator knew how.) I started thinking about it, and thinking about it, and listening to my comp tell me to do it, and I said, “Si”! WHAT?! Now I am not an impulsive person, so this was a first! Haha. I might have been freaking out a little bit. And want to know how? All we did was put a little bit of ice on my ears for a little while and then bam! They took the earring itself (They almost did it with a needle... like... a needle that you sew with...) and pop, through my ear. It hurt like crazy, but when they started to do the other earring of the same kind... it broke. So they just took another kind (different shape and different shade of pink, completely different!) and otra vez (again)... whop. So for two days I had earrings of two different kinds and people may have laughed a little bit at me. Bahaha it’s been a struggle, but hey, now they are the same and I feel rara. 

That’s really been the most exciting part of my week, not much more. We did that on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to church (yep, still two different kinds of earrings...) and found out that the elders had a bit of fun too! They dyed their hair and got a spray tan... but not to be more tan... to be more white. Turns out they have that kind here! Bahaha, we laughed so hard. They look a little bit more like two little white boys. It turns out this week has been a bit of an impulsive fun one!

Our bedroom

Our backyard

Speaking of my comp, we are pals. Seriously, we laugh so much and it has been so much better lately. We finally have a true friendship and we feel so comfortable with each other. A few days ago she burped for the first time in front of someone (me)!! It was the best – I laughed so hard. We truly are such good friends and we are sharing a lot more about ourselves and we understand one another more. It’s not that I am speaking Spanish better (but that is better) but more that we get each other now. We understand what each other is feeling and we help each other out. It’s awesome. I learned a lot about my comp this week. It was amazing to hear all of it and see how much she has changed. She’s changed a TON for the better. It’s been so great - all this time with her - and 5 weeks more!

So I taught a little girl how to roast marshmallows over a stove and we were using a metal fork and well... I closed my lips over the hot metal... and if you look closely, you can see the burns. I have four little scars on my lips and tongue now. Haha, I’m not too smart with some things... haha!

That is so cool that Frankie sent that awesome thought framed for me. Please tell her thank you and that I think she is an amazingly strong woman.

Fun fact, we shop in a place called ¨tiangues¨, where it’s a bunch of people that gather together to sell little this and that’s on certain days of the week. And it’s SUPER cheap, which is an extra bonus. I was going to take a picture but then thought twice because I would be robbed or something if I took out my camera. That’s the main reason why I don’t take a bunch of pictures... because I don’t want people to think I carry anything valuable, especially in places like that. These tiangues are all over Mexico and sell meat en una tienda, y veggies in another, then clothes, then fruit, then veggies again, then tacos, then shoes, then more clothes, then batteries, etc. it’s amazing! There are many people and you really have got to watch out for your stuff because everyone is jam packed. Dad, I don’t think you ever want to go to a tiangues. Haha. Oh, and one more thing, it’s in the street, so there are animals running to and fro and it’s all dirt and there are cars whizzing past. It’s amazing! And when we pass every single store, they call out GUERA (meaning a lighter skinned Mexican), or mi reina (my queen)! (That’s a new one), and a bunch of other, well, names. :) If I make eye contact with one, and they call me out, I just look behind me with a confused look on my face and pretend like they’re talking to someone else behind me, and then look back at them, and laugh at the joke. Then we’re friends with them, and they laugh too, and we strike up a conversation. It’s been fun.

The barbies weren’t for us, but rather a gift for that family from a member. It’s just funny because they said that the guera doll should go with the guera missionera. Haha. It was just a funny moment, but no, not mine.

To answer your question, my shoes are working great! I wear some a lot more than others, but I love them all! I generally like to wear the same ones, because when I wear new ones, the elders make fun of me and call me fresa... which basically a slang word for “rich girl” and I do NOT want to appear as such, so I keep to the simple same basics. They are great though and my big rubber boots have been a blessing. Seriously. I love them.

Please tell Grandma thank you for the skirt she made for me that you sent. I love it! I feel so lucky to have such a talented Grandma who has made me so many awesome skirts for my mission - I love you Grandma!

So this week we went with several families in our ward to have a lesson with them, but one really stuck out to me. So imagine... here we are sitting in their home that has one couch - that is falling apart at the seams, and they eat practically beans and chicken every meal. We are sitting on the floor, they are on the couch, and their little boys are playing toys together and their daughter washing plates. We were teaching about my favorite parable... the widow’s mite. How we can give tithing, but for me it’s so much more than that. It’s that we can give all that we can, maybe it’s not much, not too much time, money, love, or whatever else we can give, but we can always give a little and the Lord will bless us and see that we are giving all we can. It’s that He knows our hearts and He loves us and wants us to give all that we possibly can, and He will bless us with more. It was a great lesson and they loved it and started talking about how they have dreams to go to Africa and help the kids there. It was one of those out of body experiences again. I was listening to them say that they wish with all their hearts to go to Africa to help these little kids who are hungry and don’t have a place to live and I just kept looking at this home and how little they have. The people here are amazing. They are so full of love and joy and giving all that they can. Like the widow, these aren’t people that have very much, and there are many people like them here, but they give all they can. And we can see the Lord bless them in their lives. Maybe we, or they, can’t see the effects immediately, but in days, weeks, 5 years, 10 years, we can see the blessings. It’s been amazing. This whole adventure is well... an adventure. And I feel incredibly blessed to be here with such a humble people and share this friendship with each and every one. 

Yum!

Dad - In church on Sunday we were talking about our Heavenly Father and the teacher asked for people to share stories about their earthly fathers and I got teary-eyed as I reflected on all of the incredible times we’ve had and continue to have and will have. I’m so blessed to be your little girl, forever, and couldn’t ask for anything better. You know that I will always love you, right? That you and mom and Buddy are the most important things in my life? That everything good that I am, is because of you?

I constantly find myself teaching things and saying sayings, that I learned from you, to other people. Things I learned from Jimmy Buffet too... ;) Haha, but really, you and mom have made the biggest impact on my life and I am so eternally grateful for you. 

I will always be your little girl, and there’s nothing you can do about it. :)

That’s my week! It’s been amazing! I feel so happy and blessed to be here - to shop in the store we shop in, to know the people I know, everything. I love you all so much! You’re the best family ever. Thank you for all your love and help with everything. You’re my world.

Love you forever and two days!

Hermana Guera :)