A Curious Work

All I have to say about this last week is that.... wow. I never would have expected any of this.

So Dublan. We are missionaries assigned only to the Dublan ward. The Dublan ward is an English speaking ward.

Yep you read that right.

ENGLISH.

SPEAKING.

My first area in Mexico is an English speaking ward. I just about died!

It is an interesting first area to have because our "area" is anywhere in Casas Grandes that speaks English. Including those who live half an hour, an hour away, that would attend the English speaking ward in Dublan. We have about six young men and women who are descendants of the apostate group in Lebaron that are ready to be baptized. However we are working on the paperwork now because they have to be approved and interviewed by the First Presidency before they will be allowed to be baptized. We have met only two of the girls but they are absolutely wonderful and so ready for baptism. We pray every day that they will be able to be baptized soon. Both of these girls are already planning on serving missions.

We need more faith like this in the Church!

So the ward.

There are 17 families in this ward with the last name of Jones and the rest of the ward is probably related to them in some way. Well I know at least half the ward is somehow related to each other. 

Entonces... it has been more difficult to learn Spanish. We practice in the streets and sometimes with the members. Needless to say, it hasn´t been as rough of a transition here, and my companion is learning English very quickly!

The food... also American.

Although we traveled with Presidente Derbéz yesterday back to Juárez and we had gorditas (papas con queso) and that is about the only Mexican food I have had since being here. Oh yeah. I am in Juárez to see a neurologist for my migraines. We hope things will be ok and I will get better but things have been difficult in that respect. I spent half of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday and this morning in bed. It has been rough but I know that things will work out the way they need to. 

Also... there has been so much rain here! Who would have thought I would use my umbrella this much in Juárez? It has rained every day, either during the day or at night after we have returned home. So it has been more humid here but the days have been cooler.

Mexico is so beautiful. I do love it here.

I don´t have my camera right now to send pictures or I would. Maybe in a little bit! 

Not much to report but I love you all and I miss you! 

Make me proud!

All my love,

First transfer meeting

Companions!! Taking a tour of the factory that our Bishop owns

Walking the streets of Dublan

A beautiful night for a companion selfie! :)

Sister Missionaries

My beautiful companion outside the family history center where we emailed

All my drugs. Actually this isn't even all of them. Ha

Spending the night in Cd. Juarez

Companions!!

Weird stuff they had in our house. Yeah... definitely NOT creepy.

We had a piano!

Hna Hernandez likes to practice playing the piano

With the lovely and beautiful Jones family

My companion and the other two Hnas we lived with! Hna Hernandez, Hna Ramirez and Hna Nunez

¡Dublan!

Hola familia y amigos!

Travel day was crazy. Because we had very short layovers, we were rushing most of the time. I made friends on both flights! They guy I was talking to on the way to Houston, well.. we talked for an hour and a half! About Bulgaria! And India and some other cool places. On the way to Monterrey, I sat next to a lady with her nine month old baby and we chatted about life. It was a lot of fun! However it was a miracle that we made it on our plane to Cíudad Juárez because we were supposed to board at like 4:45 and we were still standing in the immigration line at 4:30, and we still had to go claim our bags and recheck them. After we came out after claiming our bags, we met the mission president for Monterrey and he was worried we were going to miss our flight. He made a phone call and then it was go time. He had all the Monterray missionaries grab our bags and we ran to the other terminal (like ten minutes away). There was a man there waiting to collect our bags, and he ushered us on. Somehow, there was no one in the security line and somehow I managed to get a half full water bottle through security (yeah... what??) and then the guy after security rushed us through and showed us up the escalator, where another man was waiting for us to direct us to the gate. I sat down, and we pulled out of the gate three minutes later. Miracles are real, I´m telling you! Because it was a miracle that we got on that plane that day.

After we arrived, we had dinner at Pte. Derbez´s casa and slept at a hotel near the mission home. In the morning, we had our meeting and then we were assigned our companions and our areas. We had a three hour bus ride but....!!!

It´s official! I have been assigned as a missionary in Dublan, which is located in Nuevas Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico. Mi compañera es Hna Hernandez de Puebla Mexico and she is the sweetest! We live in a house with two other hnas. One of them, fortunately, speaks English (Hna Nuñez de Mona, UT). There is a rule in the mission that you only speak English in the house, so while I have wanted to speak Spanish in the house so I can learn faster, it´s been good to speak English so the other two hermanas have the opportunity to learn English. The Spanish will come, I know it. It´s only my second full day here, and already I feel more confident in my Spanish abilities. It´s frustrating at times but I am just trying not to stress about it and I am doing my best to learn as quickly as I can and use every opportunity to speak (or try to understand) Spanish.

We live in a really neat little house with the other hermanas. The house is in something similar to a private compound porque we have a big iron gate all the way around our house and we have a big grassy yard. We have a fridge, microwave, stove/oven, piano, and a dog. Ha ha! I am not even kidding. She went running with us this morning as we were doing our exercise. She is the sweetest dog ever! She´s not allowed inside the house but she loves to come up and play with us when we´re on our way out the door or when we come home (or when we run... ha ha!)

Because we are in the colonies, there are a lot of English speakers. We had the chance to speak to the bishop´s wife last night (mostly in English!) and another member, who is actually feeding us lunch today. The ward we are in is actually mostly Americanos. So there will be mostly English on Sunday. Good for my companion and her English practicing, pero no bueno por mi Español. Ha!

Pero... esta bien! I am already learning so much.

Our preparation days are on Monday, but Pte Derbez allows new missionaries (or after transfers) to write on the day of the transfer. We did not have time yesterday but today we do. 

We don´t have any investigators in the area currently, but we do have a recent convert, and we will be spending the next couple of days getting to know the members and the area. This is not a proselyting mission because Pte Derbez would prefer us to work from referrals rather than tracting and such. 

It´s hot here but starting to cool down. I do love it. Because of the rain, it has been pretty muddy but it´s been good. There are mountains!! And dogs everywhere. It´s a very humble place and I am excited to get to know the people and the language. There are mountains!! And dogs everywhere.

Anyway, yo no tengo mucho tiempo pero te quiero saber que te amo. (I think that´s right... ha ha!).

Con todos mi amor, siempre!

The kitchen

The bedroom (one of two)

For studying!

Our side of the house and what our yard looks like

More of the property

Our dog!! Hna Nunez and I named her Roxie. She's the cutest!!