I'M FULL (Saltillo)

Today we went to eat with an Hermana that is the cutest woman I have ever met. She paints, she sews, she crochets, she knits, she cooks, and she always wears a dress or a skirt. It was the best food that I've had in a long time, so naturally I stuffed myself and had to unzip my skirt a little bit. We drank horchata that tasted like a candle. A really delicious candle. Luckily there was a cyber internet place just a few feet from her house because I wouldn't have been able to walk all the way to Mirasierra with my full stomach. 

We're going to have a baptism! Her name is Victoria (Vicky) and she's 9 years old. I'm sure I've told you about her before. She's the daughter of a less active family. She always has a HUGE smile on her face and applies the gospel amazingly. One time we were teaching her and she asked us "How can I apply the gospel in the life of my family?" And then we were watching The Restoration and she said "Oh I get it! They were in an apostasy!" And I had to give her a high five because that's an awsome thing for a nine year old to say. She's going to be baptized by her dad May 9th. Right before transfers (timed that right on). I told them that I will most likely be leaving and the Hermano said that he's going to ask the mission president to keep me in this area until I die. I really was happy to hear someone say that, BUT PLEASE DON'T KEEP ME HERE. If I could come and visit these people whenever I wanted, that would be awesome. 

Will you take me back to Mexico, mom? Dad? I promise they will feed you well. 

Sarcasm doesn't really exist here in Mexico and I admit I have offended my companion one too many times. I was at a house of a family the other day and they had a HUGE bowl of eggs. I mean, like 30 eggs. I was standing near to it and I told the Hermano, meaning to be funny, "You need more eggs." and he just looked in the bowl with a face like "Is she crazy? We have like 30." So I just stood there with a stupid grin on my face and he just looked at me and we just stood there in awkwardness. 

Imagine how awkward I am normally. Now imagine me as a missionary. Now imagine me trying to learn Spanish. I'm pretty sure all of you are squirming in your seats from imagining all that awkwardness. 

HEY. In one year I won't be in Mexico. I'll be home. That's weird. I still get confused sometimes when people ask me about amounts of time. So today I told someone that I only had 6 months left. I THOUGHT he asked me how much time I had. Sigh. Spanish. 

We had a less active member come to church after only inviting her one time. WOOOOOOOOOOO. I think my mission is going to be a mission of reactivation. Hna Bravo and I are pro now. 

Anyway, I love you all tons. I hope you are all enjoying the weather. I now have a nice white line from my bag strap. My companion thought the back of my neck was super dirty, but it just turns out that I'm really tan. And the other day I was mistaken for a Mexicana. The mission life is great. 

Anyway. Bye. 

Picture:

Hna Judith being all cute. And my companion and I being all... missionaryish. 

--

Hermana Murset

Just wanted to forward something that the president sent me. I almost cried. I'm doing well!

Felicidades por esos 8 inactivos que fueron a la capilla. No cabe duda... ningún esfuerzo que hace una misionera se desperdicia.
Gracias a Dios por la luz que se empieza a ver al final del tunel. Espero que los planes que tienen de bautizar se concreten.
Se que usted tiene debilidades, aun asi, es una excelente misionera, yo lo se.

 

I'll just translate the last line. 

:I know that you have weaknesses, but even at that, you are an excellent missionary, I know it. 

If you knew the mission president, that's like a present of gold. 

Love you!

--

Hermana Murset

YAY CENTRO (Saltillo)

We went to a place called Centro today and I was practically watering at the mouth from all the COOL STUFF. I restrained myself though, don't worry. I only bought a couple things and I only have plans to go and buy the whole place out.

We are teaching the daughter of a less active family and she is AWESOME. (I'm really going wild with the capital letters today.) She's nine years old and she's about ready to jump into the baptisimal font. Her whole entire family came to church yesterday and when they got there she ran up to us and told us that she had changed cheerleading teams so that she could come to church on Sunday! Her dad is preparing so that he can baptize her and we hope to see her jump into the font (reverently) May 9th! She's cute and always has a huge smile on her face. 

Lucero, one of our investigators, told us the other day that she prayed and that she feels like this is the right path for her. We certainly weren't expecting her to say that because she has pretty much no facial expression and it's really hard to read her. But she's been doing all the homework that we tell her, she's been to church, and now she's reading the Book of Mormon! All in the matter of two weeks, that's why I haven't said anything about her. The only problem that we might have is that her whole family is Catholic and to switch religions, well that's just a little scary. So we'll see. She's awesome and is always waiting at the door when we come! Oh, she's the one who taped the picture of the Resurrected Christ on her front door. 

I don't even remember what I did for my birthday... Oh yeah! I woke up, walked out of my room, and found that Hna. Bravo had decorated and made a cake for me. She's sweet :) I recieved birthday calls all morning and the senior missionaries gave me some delicious arroz con leche. The next day I celebrated with a family. They actually probably posted the pictures on Facebook. The Aguirre Sanchez family. They are awesome and are always so excited to see the missionaries! A tradition here is that they make you bite into the cake... and I got my face shoved in it... twice. Let's just say that I was blowing frosting out of my nose for quite some time. It was a good birthday. I just can't believe that I'm 20! 20 years of life! Okay I need to stop talking about that now because I feel like I'm old. 

Yesterday we had EIGHT less active members that we've been working with come to church! We were just a little bit excited. 

I hope all is well and that you are having a great time wherever you may be! Hna. Bravo told me that my Spanish is getting a lot better each and every day. So you can celebrate that with me, if you want. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Pictures:

BIRTHDAY.

CATHEDRALS.

--

Hermana Murset


Hi mom hi dad! So I'm wondering, what do you want from Mexico? I won't be able to send it home because that's just too scary. But really anything that you could want you can find here. 

The area is doing better! We're finding more people. But I still can't wait until I get moved to another area. 

The way that we teach our lessons is: we open up with a hymn and a prayer. Then we use the pamphlets that we have. We used the pamphlets more with Hna Peneranda. With Hna Bravo she just talks the whole time. I'm usually the one who shares the scriptures. But we make sure to ask a lot of questions. We usually have the invesitgator close the lesson with a prayer. 

When it rains it pours! We don't carry anything around, we usually just get soaked. 

The yard is looking nice!

I love you both!

--

Hermana Murset

HELLO I'M GOING TO TURN 20 THIS WEEK AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. (Saltillo)

HELLO I'M GOING TO TURN 20 THIS WEEK AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

I'm going to work all day, that's what I'm going to do. Missionary life, what up. 

I'm sad to be leaving my teenage years.... But now I'm going to have an even number of years again and that makes me happy because I like even numbers. 

This week I went to a baptism and afterwards we got lucky and were told to clean the chapel. So I'm cleaning away, chatting with my old zone leader, when an Hermano in his 40's comes up to me, points, and says something that I didn't understand. My old zone leader, Elder Monteroso had a blank look on his face as well and we just stood there staring at the Hermano while he kept repeating the phrase. I was thinking "That is not the language they taught me at the MTC..." (Best Two Years reference.) 

But then I realized that maybe he wasn't speaking Spanish so I asked him what it meant and his face lit up and he did a gesture like a magician unveiling something and said "It's Korean for Beautiful Star!" Uh.... My face turned red from blushing because what could I say... thanks? I said thank you and he walked away. Then Elder Monteroso said: "You just got courted!" And now I have a marriage prospect in Mexico. 

We had two investigators come to church yesterday!! I hope it wasn't as long for them as it was for me. I was STARVING. Fast Sundays just really pound me into the dust. But I think they really liked it :) And some of our less actives came! It was a Sunday of fist pumps and "YES's". 

Yesterday we got stuck in the chapel after our missionary stake meeting because a storm rolled in in less than 3 minutes and dumped hail and rain on us. So all 30 of us missionaries were stuck in the chapel for about an hour. We tried to stay organized, but we just ended up watching out the windows in excitment as the heavens dumped down on us. Then we had to run home in the rain and we got drenched. And would you know it, today is bright and sunny. 

I forgot my camera cord so I can't send pictures... 

But I love you! I hope you have a great week!!

OH. And turns out they to have daylight savings time here. I'm dying. 

-Hermana Murset

Hellohellohello Saltillo

Don't worry, folks. I stopped moping around about my area in like 5 hours because there ain't no time to mope around in the mission! Well, unless there isn't flour tortillas in the meal, but that's only for like... 3 seconds. 

The other day we had an interesting experience. We had been walking and walking and walking all day like usual. We had gone to every house that we could think of and we didn't really know where else to go. So we sat down on a rock to ponder on our options. We decided to go get ice cream. So we walked to a corner store named OXXO and when we walked in I saw a man and a woman shopping around. As soon as I walked in they looked up and stared at me. It was quite unsettling. I walked over to the ice cream section, all the while watching them as they stole glances at me. I just thought it was because I was gringa or something. They bought their stuff and walked out, smiling widely at me through the window as they walked away like we had known each other for ages. 

Uh... so I picked my double fudge ice cream cone and went to go pay for it. They walked back into the store to get something, we paid, and walked out. Then as we're walking away I hear "Do you speak Spanish?" I responded that I did and then they introduced themselves and told us that they always see us walking around near where they live. So we introduced ourselves as missionaries and all that. 

Then like good ol missionaries we asked for their direction so we could go visit them. All the man said was "The house with arches and pine trees." Then my mouth dropped open because I knew exactly what house it was! ONLY THE BIGGEST MANSION I HAVE EVER SEEN. It's stuck randomly in the middle of dinky little houses and I've always wondered who lives there. Then they told us to tell our leaders to sell our house so that we could come live with them. 

It was an interesting experience. We're going to visit them today. 

I have turned about 5 shades darker of skin color in just one week. You should be jealous of my tanlines. It's only in the 80's but the sun is super intense. And now the cockroaches are coming into our house where it's slightly cooler. When they told me that the cockroaches here are huge, they weren't kidding. If I find them I let them outside like my mom taught me. If Hna. Bravo finds them, she smashes them with a broom. Don't get on her bad sides, she wields cleaning products with vim and vigor. 

Anyway, I'm doing great. I hope you all got to watch General Conference! I was lucky and got to watch it in English. The choir was on point, the talks were as well, and I was taking notes like there was no tomorrow. General Conference on the mission really is 10x better. 

Happy late Easter! I invite you all to go watch the amazing Easter video that the church put out. I don't know what it's called in English... but in Spanish it's called "Gracias a que él vive" so in English I would assume that it's "Thanks that He lives" I have no idea. Anyway, it's really cool and it makes me cry every time. Easter is such a special time to remember Christ, but the fact is, we should remember Him every single day!

Love you tons. Have a great week!

Pictures:

Hermana Valerio and I (with my hair looking wild) with our friend. Cat ladies!

The Hermanas in my zone. They're great. And tan. 

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.

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

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