Hello everyone! I have officially started my mission here in El Salvador. I hope Mom shared with everyone the picture with my mission president and his wife. After arriving in Santa Ana I was in limbo and or orientation stuff for about a whole day. I met my companions: Hermana Gonzalez (my trainer) and Hermana Cordova, on Wednesday and also arrived in my area: Sonsonate. It has been quite a long week and very interesting. I have been blown away by the living conditions and the things that are just accepted here as normal that you never seen in the States. I have met many great people though. The members are very very nice and willing to help the missionaries a lot. All day long the members and investigators give us food and drink. Most of the time it is just drinks. They drink a ton of fresco here which is kind of like juice but different at the same time. Most of the food and drink so far has been good but there have also been times where I just have to gulp it down and not think about it. I have realized that I really have no control over my weight here because I cannot refuse anything. So forgive me if I become a gordita.
My companions are nice and hard working, for which I am glad. Hermana Cordova knows english pretty well while Hermana Gonzalez knows very little. That being said, we hardly ever speak English unless I really need to understand something and I cant get it in Spanish. That means that I talk very little while they chat to each other all the time. I have been very very very humbled and have realized that I really dont know any spanish. It only makes it worse that the people here drop their ses. So it doesnt sound like como esta but rather como eta. And everyone talks quietly and fast. With all of these things combined with my lack of vocabulary, I understand very little. This is HARD! I want to help. I want to understand but I just cant. At the moment I feel quite worthless but I hear that that is pretty normal for North Americans at this point. Please pray for me.
The other day, when we can home for lunch, the tears finally came out. Luckily I was alone. I just sat down and wrote all my thoughts out because I have no one to express them too. I just felt so down and alone. Later that day we visited a less active member to was struggling because she was feeling alone in her life even though she was doing everything that she was supposed to. As I thought about what I would say to her if I was given the chance, Ether 12:6 came to my mind. A witness only comes after the trial of our faith. Feeling alone can be a trial of our faith but all we can do is continue to do what we are supposed to with faith. Then the witness of Gods love and presense will come. I realized that this was Heavenly Father giving me advice to my problems through the problems of this dear sister.
We had a big mission meeting on Saturday because our mission is changing. As I am sure you have heard, the church just created 58 new missions world wide. One of which is in El Salvador. I mission is changing boundarys. At this point I dont know if I will remain in the Santa Ana mission or be in the San Salvador Oeste mission. The changes take affect in July so where ever I am at that point will determine which mission I am in. Sonsonate is in the Oeste mission and because of my timing here, I think there is a 80 percent chance that I will be in the Oeste mission. Who knows.
I experienced my first baptism this past Saturday. His name was Elmer. I arrived after he was taught so I dont really know him. It was a stressful day and it seemed like everything that could go wrong with the baptism, did go wrong. Finally three hours after we arrived at the chapel, Elmer was baptized. It was amazing that even though the room was full of cigarette smoke and noisy children I could still feel the Spirit.
Well my time is gone. I love you all!
Hermana Heap
PS If you are curious, look up the humidity and temperature of Sonsocate. :) And after you do, look out the window at the snow and count your many blessings.
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