Poco a poco, and Tender mercies 12/23/13

Wait, what? Im in Mexico? Are you kidding me? So our flight was great. We had 10 minutes to make our flight from Arizona to Mexico. Almost missed it. HOLLA. It was stressful. We went straight to our presidents house and holy hannah it is beautiful. I love President Hall SO much. Honestly, I dont know how I have been so blessed. Monday night I went contacting with some sisters. My spanish is rough but its whatevs. So McCulloch, Hernandez, and I stayed the night with some sisters. Super weird. Everything is different. We had breakfast with the president tuesday then training. My comp is Hna. Alvarez. She is from Mexico and she is 26 years old! WHAT!!! Seriously. Shes pretty tight. Speaks no english, so my spanish is all I use. As we were leaving the presidents house after training, JACLYN SHOWED UP! She came and surprised me! I started crying my eyes out. Seriously, best friends for life. I love that girl. We live in a little apartment with two rooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. Really, it{s not as nice as it sounds. But it could be worse.

The members think I am hilarious because I always make jokes about how bad my spanish is. They all call me werra, which means white girl. ALL THE TIME. Its hermana werra here. (Im sure you spell it differently, I just don{t know how). Food is rough. There is some stuff that I love, then others that I physically cannot eat. So nasty. The churros are good.. so thats a plus. We eat one meal a day. One. SO. If anyone wants to send me the following foods, feel free too. I will add the new address at the end. Food to send - Ritz Crackers, Chewy granola bars, mints, anything chocolate that wont melt. chocolate is rough here. really, I would appreciate ANYTHING. Top ramen, popcorn. Anything. I love you all so much. Keep my poor stomach in mind. JK. But really. 

Its really poor here. Dogs everywhere in the street, broken down cars, no washing machines (washing my clothes today.. wow. So grateful for our washing machines.) Im teaching english to a ton of little kids. Plus im starting an english class for the city on january 7th. So pumped. It will be way fun! Hna. Hernandez is in my zone and lives four streets away from me. we go to the gym every morning, and see our zone almost every day. we have the coolest elders. My friend Hna. Gregory lives right above us, so I see her everyday also. Tender Mercies. The Lord knows me way too well. The spanish is so hard. I can barely understand our lessons, so I just sit there, looking dumb. Its frustrating. They all keep saying Poco a Poco, which means little by little, it will come. Hopefully, right?

So I totally broke down yesterday. I put up my family picture wall, basically a shrine to all of you, especially Grace. Went to church, was asked to bear my testimony in Sacrament, nerve racking, didn{t understand a word of what happened. Literally had tears in my eyes all day. As we were leaving, I heard Hna Hernandez yell for me. Yup. I lost it and just started balling my eyes out. I ran and hugged her and just cried and cried and cried. As I was crying, I looked up and who was there?? PRESIDENT HALL. WHAT??? Yeah, they decided randomly to drive 30 minutes to come to a random ward. TENDER MERCY. So president hall grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug (Coolest president ever. He has his own rules) and gave me a kiss on the forehead and told me he loved me. AH. So what I needed. Literally, the Lord knows me SO well and was looking out for me. Ive started to learn how tough this is going to be. I am learning to put all my trust in the Lord. I do my part, and He fills in the best. Being here is so humbling. I will never complain about cold water, doing laundry, or not having something yummy to eat for dinner. 

I love this gospel. As hard as this is being here and not knowing the language or why I was sent to Mexico, i love it. I love the people, I love the people in my zone, and I love the Lord. My invitation for all of you is to think about what you love this Christmas week. Remember all that you have and WHY you have it. 

Im so grateful for you all. I will be Facetiming you on Moms phone on Wednesday. I would assume sometime around noon my time, So i dont know when that it for you. just all be together, okay? Have a phenomenal Christmas. Remember Christ, our Savior, and what He has done for you.