Hermana Murset: Elder Murset

Hola everyone!

I have been called Elder Murset three times since I've been here. I promise I do not look like an elder. I look very feminine in my skirts and blouses. But alas, the brethren apparently do not see that.

I feel like I've been here for a month. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. OH MY. So last Friday after our wonderful P-day festivities were over we had to go back to class. And what do we find out when we get back to class? We're teaching an investigator! Yeah... third day in and we're doing it all in Spanish.

The investigator is actually just a teacher acting a part, but lemme say something, our teacher is one GOOD actor. His "name" is David and he did some pretty bad stuff in Mexico and came to America to start over. I had everything written down in Spanish and I pretty much just read from my paper. But the spirit was so strong! He went pretty easy on us until last night. He had been agreeing with everything, and when we taught him about the Restoration and Joseph Smith he said that everything was clear, he understood, and that he had no questions (it was a really good lesson).

So we're all confident and walking with a swagger in our step when we go to teach him last night (which, by the way, was our last time teaching him) and what does he throw at us? He didn't pray about Joseph Smith and he didn't understand why prophets are important. I just know he did that on purpose...

Now here is where I insert my testimony about the gift of tongues. IT'S REAL. I talked for 20 minutes ALL in Spanish without any notes. BOOYAH. I actually don't know if I got my point across... but whatever. I did it and I was proud of myself. And that is my adventure for the past week.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to gain 50 pounds while I'm here. We sit, and sit, and sit. *Insert Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked* 19 year old missionaries sang as they sat, and sat, and sat, and sat... Plus we have rolling chairs so instead of walking down the hallway to get a drink we just roll. It's not very efficient but it takes like 5 seconds to get out of my chair and that's just way too long.

Oh! I'll tell you about my district. There are nine people; Elder Eves and Elder Morrill, Elder Vaughn and Elder Soubie, Elder Daines and Elder Nay, Hermana Dalton, Hermana Valerio, and me. They are very... interesting people. Elder Eves makes me laugh until I cry. Elder Morrill is the most sartorial person I have ever met (sorry, Will). Elder Vaughn is a giant and I never know if he's teasing or being serious. Elder Daines is a smartypants. Elder Nay... I never know what on Earth is going on in that Elder's head. One of the elders bought a bag of rubberbands and now our room is complete chaos. They're pretty awesome though. I busted out my robot stickers yesterday and now we all have one on the back of our nametags. They were so excited. I'm glad I'm in this district.

My eyes are permanently red brimmed from lack of sleep, I keep translating "It's A Small World After All" into Spanish as I'm falling asleep, I'm pretty sure I will have bad hair days for the rest of my 18 months, I keep writing "profeta" instead of "prophet", I laugh at the weirdest things, I am constantly in a state of exhaustion,

BUT I AM SO HAPPY. It's weird. This life is so hard but it's so rewarding. After my last lesson with David I was over the moon because I could remember all the words I've been learning. And when P-day comes everything shines brighter and the cheeseburgers that they always seem to serve taste amazing. A mission is humbling and yet it is full of AWESOMENESS.

Keep sending those Dear Elders! They keep me going throughout the week and they boost my spirits after I find out that the chocolate milk in the cafeteria is out.

Thank you for all the emails even though I have no time to answer them! I love you, I love you, I love you all. Have a great week!

Hermana Murset