Yoo Hoo! Saltillo

Every morning when I wake up I think ¨WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE.¨ I still can´t believe I´m here... This all began as a little tiny thought way back in March, and now I´m roaming the streets of Mexico, stopping people and talking to them in broken Spanish. But the people are usually nice and my companion helps me out when I get that blank look on my face that means I-have-no-idea-what-I´m-saying-please-help-me. She´s great like that. 

I finally remembered to attach pictures to this email so I don´t have to send two emails. If it looks like I´ve gained weight, it´s because I have six layers of clothing and I might have eaten 8 tortillas de harina (homemade flour tortillas) yesterday... 

It´s not that cold here, but the past two days have been super foggy and humid. It´s so foggy that I can´t even see the huge mountain range that surrounds Saltillo. THERE ARE DOGS EVERYWHERE. Whoa, Megan, calm down. Dogs aren´t that bad. Well having little chiuahuas follow you around nipping at your heels makes me want to kick them into space. None of the dogs like us here... We´re fitting right into the Mormon missionary stereotype. It´s great. I love it. 

Contacting people on the street is hard. It´s hard to figure out who to stop, what to say, etc. All last week I was having a hard time because it´s like ¨Hey you! Do you know your purpose in life?¨ I mean, imagine having a complete stranger white girl stop you and ask you that. But then one day I woke up and said, ¨whatever.¨ I contacted 13 people that day. One of them just happened to be a lady who was baptized as a kid, but then never ended up going to church. She had gone to different churches throughout her life but she had never stuck with one. She was so happy that we stopped and talked to her! Another one resulted in an appointment and the lady said that her daughter is interested as well! I hope they listen to our message.

IT´S CHRISTMAS TIME. Yay. It doesn´t feel like Christmas. But Hna. Peñaranda and I put up a tiny cardboard Christmas tree and now I feel all festive.

My Spanish? I taught myself the verb ¨to sneeze¨ the other day. Yeah, it´s going fantastic. No problem. Moving on. 

I was teaching the first lesson (The Restoration) the other day and I forgot what I was saying halfway through. So to buy some time I sunk slowly into a chair and pretended like I was in deep thought, pondering about the next inspired thing I was going to say. All eyes (there were 7 people) followed me- they were listening very intently- and they stared at me until I said ¨I forgot.¨ And then they busted up laughing. The people here are awesome. 

I have also been kissed on the cheek more times than I ever have in my life. I´m sure you can imagine my reaction when someone did that to me for the first time. WHAT ARE YOU DO...ing.... oh. 

Heat up a cornbag for me and stay warm.

I love you all even though I can´t respond to your emails. I´m responding to them in my mind as I read them so just develop the sense of mind reading and we´ll all be happy. 

I love you!

-Hermana M-ohr-set

That´s how they pronounce it.

 We feel more Christmassy now that we have our cardboard tree up.

Oh, My Goodness! Saltillo

Spellcheck is marking all of my words wrong because they are English words. This is going to be annoying. 

     WHERE TO BEGIN. Oh yeah. I'm in Mexico!! Crazy. On Monday I woke up at  2:30 in the morning. Meh. But hey, I wasn't left in my room. There was a point when Elder Nay had to stop to tie his shoe and I made everyone stop and wait for him so that he wouldn't be left behind. Anyway. My first flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta Georgia was about... 4 and a half hours? (It took me at least 30 seconds to find the which key the question mark is on...) Then I called home then I jumped on a flight to Mexico City. Then from there we got on a rinky dinky plane and flew to Saltillo!

      Our mission president met us there. I really like him. He made it a rule that all the native Spanish speakers have to learn English so that when they get off the mission they can also be bilingual. He's really funny and his wife is the same. We had a little break for food and he told us to go find our companions. Well there were only three Hermanas so we asked him which one. He said "Through revelation." So we kinda stood there staring at them in silence because we don't really know Spanish and they don't really know English. It wasn't awkward at all.

     HALLELUJAH I figured out how to change the keyboard settings to English. But spellcheck is still being annoying.

     Okay, now I'll tell you about my companion. Hermana Peñaranda! She's from Columbia and too pretty for her own good. She's really funny though. I'm the second "hija" that she's trained. She don't take no nonsense. I was inviting people to be baptized on the first day. (They said yes, if you were wondering). She casually told me that we were going to have THREE baptisms on Saturday and that we had SIX other baptisimal dates. Whew! My first day she dragged me around Saltillo.

     Oh yeah, I'm in Saltillo, by the way. My area is called Zaragoza 2. But anyway, she dragged me around our area. I have never felt so American in my life. I understand about half of what people are saying and the other half I smile and nod and laugh and act like I know what's going on.

     But sometimes that doesn't work out because sometimes they get talking about really weird things. Such as prostitution. I was smiling and nodding during that conversation until I heard a word that sounded like "prostitution"and then I put my concerned face on beause I figured that one was better.

     BUT DON'T WORRY. I met an American Hermana today and now I have hope for my future. She's got the language down. She also mistook me for a Mexicana. Score.

     I'm getting used to the food. It's not that different. But I have a hard time eating the soup. Hermana Penaranda scarfs down her food in two seconds and then it makes me look like I haven't eaten anything. I think that's the only thing I dislike about her. STOP EATING SO FAST.

     We have quite a few investigators. They're all awesome. There's one family, la famila Esparsa, that I am in love with. They have a little boy and he and I have developed quite the connection. I'm friends with all the kids because I have no idea what's going on during lessons so the kids and I become friends.

     Now I'll tell you about contacting. IT'S SO HARD. Going up to people and saying hi is no big deal, but then I have no idea what's going on afterwards. So yesterday during church I had an idea. I did it with two people and one resulted in an appointment!

Ahem.

Me: Hello! Can I practice my Spanish with you?

People: (How can they resist a gringa asking for help?) Of course!

     Then I proceed to bear my testimony in Spanish. Then afterwards they talk about Christmas and such because we have these little cards that say "He is the Gift" (In Spanish of course). Hopefully I can get over my fear. That's been the biggest of my struggles, is contacting. Actually that has been my ONLY struggle, haha. 

Oh. None of the houses here have heaters. I'm freezing all the time. But that's okay. 

     On my second day we went to go visit a lady named Clara. We were talking about the Restoration and Hermana P. told me that I was going to share the First Vision. No big deal, I have it memorized. So when the time came, Hermana Penaranda looked pointedly at me and I felt awesome because this is the one thing that I know how to say and say it well. So I start saying the First Vision in Joseph Smith's words, and man, the Spirit was thick. I could practically see the light in her eyes and the Holy Ghost touching her heart. Afterwards she said she knew it was true. AH. 

     Mexico is fantastic. I am fantastic. Bedtime is fantastic. The people are fantastic. The three baptisms were fantastic. The gospel is fantastic. 

I don't really have that much time, I took most of it trying to figure out the keyboard. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Oh, and if you want to sent me a letter everything gets sent to the mission office. 

Eulalio Gutierrez #1057

Col. Las praderas

C.P. 25295

Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

                                                                                                 My door.

 My companion Hermana Peñaranda navigating the vast wasteland between colonies.

Three of us missionaries from my MTC district are in my district here.  We had a baptism our first Saturday in Saltillo.