September 9

Hola Familia!! September 9, 2013

This week we had the Sister Training Leaders come and visit us. It was really good and really fun to go on splits with them. I ended up not cutting my hair :) Yay and the lice are gone!! Transfers will be happening soon, not this week, but the next week. I have no idea if I will go or not. Maybe yes, maybe no. It is pretty normal here to be in an area 4 to 6 months. I cannot believe that I have been out for 5 months now!! Time is supper weird here.

I can understand why people are coming home early. The mission is hard. I always thought that it was the physical part that was hard, but it really is the mental part. There are good days and bad days. The important thing is to focus on the positive. There will always be the negative part and you just have to focus on the positive. The thing that has helped me the most is to not just think about the now but about the future as well. The language is not really a problem now, only on the phone, when they talk fast. The mission makes you step out of your comfort zone and that is hard. You have to learn to conquer some of your fears. I have days of disappointment and days when I feel like Iam not good enough, but the Lord has really blessed me. Being a missionary really is stressful. It is not just the culture shock; I think I am very much over that. But every day people are demanding numbers and demanding more than you think you can do. For me I have found having a personal relationship with God is so important and if he is happy with what you did that day it doesn´t really matter what other people think. I love in the mission that you are always working on becoming better. There is always something to work on, but bit by bit you become better.

As far as the girl we baptized, she has only come to church once after her baptism and confirmation. This is very normal here. Our focus this change has been the members more than investigators. The members first need to be strong before they can support others. We don´t really have investigators and none that are progressing. The people here like to listen, but they don´t want to change. Their words are close to him, but many have hearts far from him. Change is hard, Change hurts, during the process one wonders if it is all worth it, but I know that it is. I probably send so many gospel letters because that really is my life here. I have really grown in my love for the gospel. I find as I study for my investigators as I teach them I have been teaching myself. The importance has really sunk deep in me. I really do want to help them come unto Christ.

I do miss things about home every now and again. The other day I missed watching movies. While waiting for a bus for 2 hours I basically told my companion the whole story of “Ever After”. I realized I basically have that movie memorized. There is a dog close to our house that jumps like nothing I have seen. It jumps like it is on a trampoline. It is really funny to see in the mornings. I am getting more flexible! Slowly but surely. I stretch almost every day and go running almost every day too!! We played tennis today it was fun. Oh I will be going to Cartago this week for a zone conference. It sounds like we are going to get corta la hoopa ( get our heads chopped off :) ) Oh well I am excited. I like zone conferences.
I love you :) Hermana Anneliese Jenkinson