Called to Serve: week 23: somos las hermanas APRENDIENDO

We said "adios" to half of our district last week which was bitter sweet! This is the first time I'm staying in the same district for a second transfer, so it's weird watching it change. We enjoyed the nice weather last week and went on a hike up spring creek canyon and then hung at the chapel signing transfer journals for a couple hours. Transfers are the best and the worst!!

And speaking of transfers, Hna Gomez and I are back in a trio! Our new comp is Hermana Holt from Chicago, IL!! She likes photography, playing the piano, yoga, and learning Spanish. She reminds me of one of the sister missionaries from the district haha. Such a cutie(and trainees say the FUNNIEST things, so there have been some goooood laughs this week)!!

Hna Gomez leaves for Pachuca, Mexico in 2 weeks!! TEARS!!! But she got to go to the Provo temple on Friday, so Hna Holt and I got to do studies on the temple grounds and enjoy the sunshine! It was a mega blessing!

Our lessons were a little wild this week to say the least. We had another 2 hour lesson with Santo Rio, Silvia, and Joseph about the plan of salvation. Long story short, they all have very differing beliefs and questions regarding where we go after our life here on earth. And when baptism for the dead was brought up it took a nasty wild turn haha. We'll see what happens with them this upcoming week. Rebecca had another wild lesson. We asked the baptismal interview questions and found out she really doesn't know much from the first lessons, so we are starting fresh with her. And she is trying to break up with her awful BF so that will be in her favor for getting on the right track. That girl is crazyyyy! Victor is solid though and while his family is still in Ecuador, we taught him about faith and miracles and are praying/fasting that he will have the faith to take the next step of baptism and he will see miracles in his family as a result of that faith(ether 12:13-19!!!)! We finally got let in to Mayela's house after no missionaries have been able to in the past. But thanks to my squirrel bladder, she let us in yesterday and talked to us about her family and interests(which don't exactly include the gospel for now though). She invited us back Wednesday to make salsa and Mexican enchiladas so that hna Gomez is prepared for Mexico haha.

Milagro: Jerry!! We were trying to contact his brother, but he wasn't home twice in a row. The second time, I told him straight up that maybe he was the one we were trying to talk to(and I think it was the truth haha). This guy is ELECT!! He grew up kinda catholic, but mostly just a faith filled guy that is too busy to commit to a religion. He told us about how he moved from Cali/Mexico to Utah and loves the peacefulness here. He quit drinking/smoking 2 weeks ago and has since seen so many tender mercies and miracles, both big and small, in his life. He loves uplifting podcasts and messages, so we shared some scriptures and told him we had more lessons and a book of upliftment if he would have us back again. And he said YES! We are meeting him again Saturday and I am hyped!!

funny Spanish things I said:

1. "¿Hablas mucho?" = "Do you talk much?" (said to a quiet lady when I meant to ask if she had talked to missionaries in the past...oops)

2. "Miras más viejo que 13!" = basically, "you look like an old woman" instead of "you look older than 13..."

3. "Ratas!" = "rats!" gets said a lot whenever I mess up constantly haha...gotta keep Gomez laughing :)

4. "Que oso" = "how bear," but also "how embarrassing!!" (I like this one haha)

other things:

-we got sunburnt Friday w 70 degree weather, then it poured all day Saturday, and then woke up to snow on Sunday!! WHAT THE?!

- the stake came to speak in our ward so we got to hear talks in English and Spanish and the comprehension was a bit better haha

Finallyyyy, the subject line...it has been a week of learning! Hermana Holt is learning the ways of a missionary, we are both learning lots of Spanish, and Hna Gomez and I are learning to train together. It's been fun and so busy! But I got the best compliment last night when one of our ward mission leaders came out knocking with us and at the end of the night he told me(in Spanish), "Hermana, your Spanish is so much better in just the last month. When you bore your testimony on your first day in the ward, you seemed nervous and were a little hard to understand, but you have improved a lot since working in the barrio!" It made my whole week!!! I LOVE OUR MIEMBROS!!!

love y'all!! ♡hermana dougall