Monday, March 30, 2015

Okay, I Guess I'll Stay (In Saltillo)

I think I'm going to be in my area for forever. Meaning that I'll probably be here until the Resurrection. I think I'll just buy a house and settle down.  

Yup, you heard it! I'm staying in my area for another transfer. I had a feeling that I would. I'm being put through the refiner's fire with this area. I guess I should try to leave it better than I left it. You know, plant some flowers, spread some sunshine. That's a great idea. BUT my dearest Hermana Valerio is leaving me! She's going to a different area in Saltillo. :( Together for 5 months! We said goodbye today and it was like we were never going to see each other again. It's not like we're from the same state or anything...

Hey, I'll be here for my birthday! Hopefully these people love me so much that they'll make me a cake or something... Heh. 

I'll admit, I'm really tired. I'm sorry that these past few weeks have been so boring, but I really have nothing to tell. Other than we ran out of milk the other day so I ate beans and bread for breakfast. It was really delicious. I also was told that I'm really tan 3 times yesterday. Too bad I have a wicked farmer's tan...

I'm gonna go now, people to teach, places to walk. I love you all!

Picture:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy humor.

Monday, March 23, 2015

SUPER SHORT Letter

Hey everyone! This is going to be a SUPER short one. But I´ll tell you some of the highlights of my week.

1. Hno. Alberto recieved the priesthood yesterday! He was so nervous and excited. He came to church all decked out in his best clothes. I was so proud. 

2. Another convert who just completed a year became the Bishop´s secretary! My heart was swelling with pride yesterday.

3. This week is the week when I can say that I no long worry about not understanding people when they speak. I´m almost there!

4. The weather is going back to normal! The sun peeked out of the clouds for like, a second. 

5. An American Hermana and I were talking about Lord of the Rings (She´s a nerd) and when she referred to Aragon, she called him Elder Aragon. I was dying. 

And now I´ll send you pictures. Love you all. I¨m still alive. 

Pictures
Just some of the sights I see everyday. 

--
Hermana Murset

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Hi famds. (Family and friends stuck together) Saltillo March 16, 2015


Picture: Me walking dramatically to the place where I write you all. In comparison to the one I sent last week. I think I'm going to have a series of these pictures. 

I just don't understand how sister missionaries surive when they serve in cold countries. Which make me think, will they ever open a mission in Antarctica? Probably not, moving on. 

Today the fog rolled in and I am so glad that I don't have to go out walking until 6. If I could wear pants under my skirt, I would be forever grateful. Right now Hna. Bravo is curled up on the couch listening to the Spanish versions of songs for young women because it's too cold to do anything else. I'm in our study room wearing a sweater given to me by a less acive who refuses to come to church because she still believes in the Virgin Mary. She's really nice. This coat has a built in woolen scarf and makes me look like I've gained 30 pounds. Long story short, I'm cold. 

The past week has been the longest and yet shortest week of my mission. Our Tuesday district meeting feels like it was a month ago, but somehow we go to Monday in the blink of an eye. 

It was a week of HALLELJUAHS because we haven't had any prgoress in our area for 4 weeks, but in just two days we found 6 new people to teach and all of them are amazing. 

One of them, Carolina, was a contact I made in the street when rain, hail, cats, and dogs were dumping down on us. I'm surprised she even listened to us seeing as we had the gall to contact her in that weather. But we made an appointement and when we went to teach her, her daughter joined in as well. They are amazing people. Haha when I invited them to baptism I started off by asking them why Jesus needed to be baptized when He was perfect. I don't know what happened but Carolina responded by telling me that sometimes she can't decide what grocery story to shop at. I sat there for a second thinking "What in the world..." and then nodded like it was the most correct answer in the world and  somehow related it to baptism. Three tries later she stayed on the subject and said yes. Her daughter said yes before I even finished. 

We have tiny hallelujah moments everyday and sometimes you just have to sit on a bench and think about them for a second so that you can get through the rest of the day. But most of the time the benches here are wet from the fog, soooo....

But anyway. Happy 5 months to me yesterday! And happy one month until my birthday and happy one month until I have exactly one year left of my mission! And Happy Birthday to anyone who has a birthday this week!

I love you all. Even as much as I love flour tortillas. 

Cuidense. 


Hermana Murset



Monday, March 9, 2015

Hi. My Name is Walk. Saltillo

Yesterday it was raining so hard that we had water leaking from our ceiling. Today it's bright sunshine and hot weather. I will NEVER understand this weather. 
Anyway, hello all. 

This week we entered a house of a woman who promptly informed us that she had bronchitis and so wouldn't be able to speak that much. She sat us down, we sang a hymn, said a prayer, and then she talked for an hour straight. She repeated her life story 3 times, asking her son 3 times if it's been a year since her sister passed away. "Yes mom, it's been a year." We learned that she's 75 years old and that when she was younger her mom told her that she didn't need to put on a coat because she could just hug all the handsome young men in the area. 
When she paused to cough, Hna. Bravo spewed out the lesson in one breath, I testified in one breath, Hna. Bravo said a prayer, I made an appointment, and said goodbye. Speed missionary work, I tell ya. 

That experience happened in what will forever be known as my week of diligence. We don't have any investigators and we have been trying and trying to find some. They only lesson we had this week were the ones where we collapsed on the doorstep of a memeber and begged them to let us teach them. 

We walked from the top of our area down to the bottom, contacting everything that moved (including dogs, they deserve to hear our message). At one point I stopped walking and looked down the street, seeing that there was no one in sight for literally miles. I broke down laughing at our unfortunate situation, and Hna. Bravo pronounced me crazy. 

We didn't find anyone this week, but we worked our best. At one point we were walking to our house and we saw the most beautiful sunset. Hna. Bravo said "Ï think that this is what it's going to look like when the Savior comes." and I said "What if He's already coming?" And we stood in silence, reflecting on that. But surprisingly, I felt the calmest I've ever felt. 

I'm not the best person in the world, I have my mountain of faults, but in that moment I knew that I had done enough. I had done everything I could to invite others to Christ. I had worked with diligence and I could walk up to the Lord and greet him with confidence if He came right then. It gave me the goal to always work my hardest.

The mission is hard. We are only human and the mission requires super human effort. But we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and well, when we work our hardest, we can't fail. 
Sometimes the weeks with the least success are the weeks with the most growth.
 
So, I invite you, because I'm a missionary and I invite people to do something in every converstaion. Such as inviting my companion to wash her dishes. I invite you to go outside, look at the sunset, and imagine that the Savior is coming in that moment. How would you feel? Then walk back inside and tell your family that you love them. Because that never hurts. 

That's all for now, folks. 
Love ya. 


(Picture: Me walking dramatically towards the cyber cafe where I'm going to write you all.)


--
Hermana Murset
P.S. to Dad 
We only have two beds in our house, but we have four soft mattresses that fold up. Hermanas come and stay for all sorts of things! I've met practically all of them. I have been teaching English, actually, but it's harder than it sounds. I don't know all the words in order to help them understand so most of the time it's super hard, but everybody wants to learn English, so they really don't care. Haha. I still have a hard time expressing myself but that doesn't stop me from using facial expressions! That's how I show my humor. 
I'll write something this week about Grandma and then send it next week! Tell her that I love her!

P.S. to Mom:I don't think they have daylight savings because I haven't heard anything about it. You know how people normally are, DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME EVERYONE THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IF YOU DON'T CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS. But I haven't heard anything like that, so I think I'm safe. 
For some reason Hna. Bjorklund and Hna. Valerio like to buy us cookies, so now I don't know what is going on with my diet. Let's face it, I'll probably come home filled out. 
I love you tons. Thank you for the rock star card. I think I'm going to print it out or something. You look so pretty in your picture! I have the prettiest mom. 
Love you!

Photos from Hermana Peñaranda.

Week of Walking March 2, 2015 Saltillo




Honestly all I can say that I did this week was WALK. I lost all my ballet muscle before I left and now I've gained it back in one week. Miracles do happen.

But before anything, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MMMOOOMMMMMM. You're the best mom I've ever had. :D I made a pathetic little sign to show my love and I didn't even have to ask my companion to translate it for me. Pat on the back for me. I love you a lot! I hope you have a Happy Birthday!!

I feel really bad but I honestly have nothing to write about.... I've gained 5 pounds. 1 pound for every month! I'm going to work it all off with our Insanity CD. Haha who am I kidding, I'm not going to do Insanity. Maybe Zumba. I haven't decided yet. 

Hermana Bravo is full of giggles and sunshine. But if you thought that I didn't like to talk on the phone, she likes it even less. If you thought that I don't like to contact, she likes it even less. Practically everything that I don't like to do, you can see the pattern here. So here's another pat on the back for me because I'm rising above my fears! Yayayaya round of applause! Nah, she's really awesome. We just have to work a little bit harder to get the encouragment to do those things. She wears a lot more colors than I do as well. So she's basically the sunshine in our companionship.

I've learned a lot about patience this week. I want miracles but sometimes the miracle is that I'm progressing little by little everyday. I told that to a less active so I guess I should apply it to myself, right? That less active came to church this Sunday and Hna Bravo and I nearly screamed with excitement when she walked through the door with her daughter! Seeing as we have been trying to find her for MONTHS and after one visit she came. Boy were we glad. 

Go to church. It's good for you. 

Gotta go walk some more! Love you all. Love you, mom. Happy Birthday!!

--
Hermana Murset
HAPPPPYY BIIIIIRRRRRRTTTHHHHDDDDAAAAYYYY MMMMOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Hermana Bravo is very bright and full of giggles. She makes me practice the lessons everyday, which I don't like, but need to do. She likes to talk about the heirarchy of the mission. She's really good at relating to people and makes them feel comfortable really fast. I'm learning a lot of Spanish from her and she's really awesome! She has really smelly feet though... I'm struggling with that. Haha. And she has a problem with keeping to the mission rules when it comes to our schedule. But we're working on that and we work really well together. 

We don't have any investigators at the moment. All of the ones that we had got baptized! We are looking and looking and looking. And looking. 
We have walked so many miles I can't even count! We have learned a lot about enduring to the end and we're hoping that after all of this comes a miracle. I have literally tried everything. Exact obedience, praying, reading my scriptures, contacting, contacting some more, fasting.... But all in the Lord's time, right? 

But yeah, we don't have anybody progressing at the moment. We'll have to see in the next couple of weeks. We're hoping that this week goes better. 
My Spanish is coming along, Hna Bravo is really helping me with it. 

I'll proabably just have to write you letters to tell you more about the mission because I rarely have any time! 60 minutes goes by super quickly. 
Tell Grandma hi and to get better! I'll send her a letter next week. 
Yay! A new car! I miss driving...
I love you a lot!!!

--
Hermana Murset