No Dudéis; No Temáis

WOW WOW WOW.  Samantha's baptism yesterday was INCREDIBLE! during our lesson with her this week we asked her if there was anything she wanted to change to her program before we made and printed it. She decided she wanted to change the closing hymn to a hymn she heard at Stake conference last week that just won't get out of her head......CALLED TO SERVE. So we sang Called to Serve for her baptism! I loved it! Could she be more perfect?

Brother Boyd, my favorite member in the branch, came up to us when we were setting everything up and told me something that brought me to tears. He said that in Elders' Quorum they were talking about divine design....and he asked Daniel (Samantha's boyfriend who is 19 and wasn't planning on serving) if Samantha's conversion and her getting baptized was done by divine design....he said yes....so he then asked if it changes anything about him serving a mission and he said he thinks it does. What a miracle. It's been so neat to see Daniel's part in this whole process and watch him grow just as much as Samantha has grown. He pretty much taught her all of the lessons before we did...he made our job easy! I truly believe that his role as a member missionary is what will get him out on his mission and he is going to change so many lives. I just can't wait. Sister Loranger came up from Hemet to do the Restoration presentation which was really nice because she was also baptized when she was 18 and her family was not supportive....she told us that Samantha told her she is considering going on a mission! If these two go out on missions that would mean everything. Nothing could possible ring me greater joy.

I think my favorite part of the whole baptism was actually right after it happened. She got out of the water and I BOLTED. (with my companion in tow of course) I ran to the bathroom and told her to come out of the stall before she got dressed and she was in tears. We embraced, both in tears, as we soaked in what this all meant for her. This has been a long journey for her....the trials never ceased. Even Sunday morning her and her dad got in another argument..but it never stopped her. She never doubted. She never feared. All she wanted was to enter into a covenant with her Heavenly Father and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Oh how I love that girl, and I am excited to anhelosamente look forward to going to the temple with her this transfer. That's actually what she chose for her program cover....a picture of the temple. Good things will happen here in Anza/Idyllwild with Sister Bryant this transfer. We are ready  and pumped for round two!

Hermana Tonini

#momsrule

So, on the way over here my companion told me that I talked in my sleep....AGAIN last night and that I said: "I don't have time for this." "I got to get to work!" and "I WANT TO GO GET *whispers* ice cream." Those three statement pretty much describe my whole mission.

Oh yeah, by the way, I am still here in Moreno Valley but I did get a new companion! Hermana Moran was born in El Salvador but she grew up in Utah! She has the biggest heart ever! I feel like she is going to soften me up because we all know I am not a...hm....flower power girl? I don't know how to explain it :') But, I feel like I am going to learn a lot from her and I love her so much already! She also got called to be an STL, so this is my THIRD transfer as an STL companion....and I miss that RPM life for sure. However......MY HALF COMPANION IS FLIPPING HERMANA HARPER AHHHHHHHHH! The first exchange is this week and I get to go spend a whole day with my fav bad girl in Menifee! So excited!

We had a great week!! We picked up a lot of investigators, but the one I really want to talk about is Destiny. So, in the referral system someone requested a Bible and it said they were a less active family. So we went over and met Liz and her kids destiny and Aaron. Liz was baptized when she was 9, but is inactive now. She wants her kids to grow up in the Church and have the same experiences she had growing up. So we are now starting to help her 10 year old get ready for baptism!! I love teaching 9/10 year olds. I look forward to each lesson and finding new ways to teach them so they can understand the gospel. Liz and Destiny came to church on Sunday and they have progressed SO MUCH and we haven't even known them for a week! As they were sitting next to me, Liz reached over and grabbed Destiny's hand and it just reminded me of how my mom used to do that when we sat together at church. Working with them and with Monse and Hna Ayala, I have loved being able to watch these mothers come back to activity and helping their daughters progress in the Gospel. Mothers just have this crazy strong influence that you can't find anywhere else, and I am so grateful for my mother, because without her, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this email right now. #momsruletheworld

We had a cita with Arian this week....OH YEAH HE WAS CONFIRMED ON SUNDAY SO PROUD OF HIM LOVE THAT GUY....and I felt the Spirit so strong at one point. He asked kind of a difficult question that one of his friends had asked him, and I had no idea how to answer it. Then, I could quite literally feel the Spirit surge through me and I just started talking....and talking...and part of my personal study a couple days back helped me to answer the question and yeah. Like, I can't even explain it.  It was just cool how not only the Spirit brought things to my remembrance but worked through me so I could help Arian. I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST.

Also, I got home one night to a package on my doorstep....that wasn't even taped shut. So like, it was a hand-delivered package. FROM MY BROTHER. Like I recognized his pen chicken scratch on the cardboard box. Drew and Shavaun and Zowie were like....at my apt. How crazy is that??? I opened up a frozen container to find my FAV CAKE:  almond poppy seed cake and I legit cried. (this is also why I love my mother because she is an angel and sends me hand-delivered cake from NoDak).

Well, I love you all and keep up the hard work!

Love,
Hermana Tonini

Baptizing [Father] Converts

WOW WOW WOW this week was full of miracles. First off, we had SEVEN new investigators this week. That may not be a lot compared to other missionaries, but for me, it truly was a miracle because of all of the people Heavenly Father put in our path.

Okay also, service at the Air Force museum was so cool. We physically moved an airplane by hand and we also cleaned RAT POOP out of an old car they are restoring. Then the week before, we got to help repaint an airplane!!! And I got to drive an air force like....cart kind of thing out to the site. I love service here. Especially since my grandpa was stationed here, it just makes it even more special. Pics to come of this.

Multizones were this week and I got to see one of my fav humans Hna Harper.

On Thursday we had the craziest miracle. So, we were at dinner with the Ten***'s, and they have their sister-in-law who lives with them, Vicky. She took lessons like years ago, but never got baptized. She comes to work in primary as like a service calling every Sunday. Well, the hnos were all like, "She just needs a little push and she is there." So we got her to sit in on the dinner lesson and once she saw it wasn't crazy intimidating she agreed to take lessons again! However, we had an appointment to get to after dinner so we had the Elders teach her for us. We got a call from them after they taught her the Resto saying they invited her to baptism and put her on date...but that she asked them, "Why can't I just get baptized on Saturday?" Like, in two days. And she did. So on Friday, we officially picked her up as our investigator and took an hour and a half just to review all of the lessons with her. Like the Plan of Salvation and Gospel of Jesus Christ plus all of the commandments. It was exhausting, but we somehow taught it all. So she legit was our investigator for less than 24 HOURS before her baptism. Like, stories like this don't happen to me. Like, why is Heavenly Father blessing me so much? Her baptism was beautiful and we are so happy for the family. Man, I don't ever want to go home.

Speaking of home, I hit my FIVE MONTH MARK this week. Crazy, huh?

Another miracle was on Sunday my investigator Napoleon was baptized! It was so special to be at the baptism of not only a father but a grandfather as well. I love him so much. He has such a special spirit. As I sat next to him for a couple of minutes before the program started I went back to the first lesson I had with him. How he kept saying "Lo creo. Lo creo." He truly does believe. And it was incredible to be with him from day one to the day of him opening up the door to so many blessing and other covenants to make with Heavenly Father. Every baptism is a miracle.

In spite of having TWO baptisms this week, oh, and having our investigator Arian being found worthy of baptism for next Sunday, there was one miracle that beat them all. This miracle was a prayer. We are working with a less active family and their daughter Monse is on date. Her date has been pushed back because we are trying to get her father reactivated and have him receive the Priesthood so he can baptize his daughter. However, he is very stubborn and doesn't really want anything to do with the church. (He had some bad experiences in the past) Like, he refuses to even pray. Nothing. It was almost difficult to even give Monse the opportunity to be baptized. However, after each visit we can see his heart softening. And when we went by and taught Monse, his wife and daughter tried getting him to pray at the end....like they do every time. Except this time, HE PRAYED. He humbled himself and let his 8 year old daughter teach him how to pray and he prayed. His prayer was beautiful. I have never been touched by the Spirit before in a prayer like that. It was so strong tears streamed down my face during his prayer. He prayed, and that was the grandest miracle yet.

Want to end with a quote from a RM I met from Norway, or one of those countries, this week. He said,

"It was an honor to get spit on and cast out like He was."

It truly is an honor to walk in the Savior's footsteps by being one of His missionaries. To teach and love and sometimes, yes, be rejected like He was. However, I know that miracles do happen today. Miracles have not yet ceased. My love for the Savior has grown so much this week as I have witnessed all of these miracles. I know my Savior lives. Without a shadow of a doubt.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

ps I had to email at the library so pics will just have to come next week sorry!!!

"Should I Stay or Should I Go"

So, it was a long and crazy week. Where to begin?

Well, we have a crazy elect and prepared investigator who is perfect in every way and loves the gospel but HASN'T COME TO CHURCH. He goes out of town every Sunday. So that is super hard, but we brought a team up with us to one of our citas [appointments] and afterwards he said he could picture him as a temple worker. That's how cool he is. Love that guy, we just need to get him to church.

So then on Wednesday we had a cool experience. We were walking around this neighborhood and then realized that it was actually a 55+ neighborhood (there's a lot of those down here in sunny southern Cali). So I prayed and prayed that we would find at least one person. Just one. And guess what? We ran into three old Hispanics!!! One of them gave us his number and said to come visit his wife because she wants to be Mormon? And the other two let us into their home to teach them! They didn't want a return appointment but at least we had the opportunity to teach and testify! They also didn't let us leave until we drank TWO full glasses of orange juice. Cutie old people.

Also found out that day that our investigator who is getting baptized this upcoming Sunday doesn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. Yeah. So...we will see if we have our baptism on the 21st or not. I hope so because I love her with all of my heart and if she didn't get baptized it might just break me.

Then we had another cita with Nap on Thursday and we taught him the Word of Wisdom....while he was wearing a whiskey and cigars shirt. In the lesson, his answers were super long and elaborated but while we were talking about the cita afterwards, we realized that every time he answered, he would bring it back to Christ somehow. Isn't that beautiful? He can see how Jesus Christ truly is at the core of everything we share, teach, and are trying to become.

Sooooo, with our investigator from Cuba, I may or may not have given a smack down mini course on why we need to be reading the Book of Mormon after she said she hadn't really been reading....two lessons in a row. So then we decided to read where she left off, assuming she hadn't read, would have been in the beginning of 1 Nephi. Uh, no. More like JACOB. My jaw dropped. Me: "Dijo que no ha tenido la oportunidad de leer en su libro de mormon!!!!" Then she said she didn't read as much as she should have with the time she had that week. Holy moly. Jacob chapter one....can you believe that?

Multi Zones killlllllled this week. We were at the church from 6:30 to 4:30. In one of the trainings, they quoted Johnny Lingo which was golden.

So we are teaching this huge family and each time we have gone over, there has been someone new. So when a new family member was there I was all: Uh, do I teach the Restoration for the third time with this family orrrr...?? So, I just decided to start with the Book of Mormon because they hadn't read it last week. And it was a super good lesson!!! However, that poor guy hadn't even had the Restoration yet. What was I supposed to do? We had no time...and then he asked right at the end, "How come there are so many churches?" Boom. I was then able to teach the Restoration in five minutes for him. It truly was a tender mercy. (for training, since it is the last two weeks I have to be "senior comp" and lead all of the discussions. So that's why I was stressing out).

Yesterday I got to call home which was so nice! And if y'all know me well enough, then you also know that I cried my eyeballs out. Calling home is so hard but so good. Yesterday was also weird. Found out one of our investigators may or may not be a drug dealer, another investigator is actually a former of not too long ago, that the lady who wants to become Mormon is actually already taking lessons from the ENGLISH Elders, AND I invited someone who was already baptized to be baptized. (We accidentally ran into less actives that we didn't know were less actives and didn't mention they were members so I did what we always do and invite on the first lesson. AWK.)

Then today! We had crossfit in Menifee which means I got to see HERMANA HARPER THE LOVE OF MY LIFE. And I actually did ALL of crossfit which was mega super hard to do. So here is a gross sweaty pic of us after crossfit. Please enjoy. Also met Elder  Goodrich who is from Jamestown, ND today! How cool is that? #represent. Transfer calls are this Saturday! We tried making transfer predictions but it is honestly so up in the air!! So, standby, and until next week! Love y'all!!

Love,

Hermana Tonini

Ley de Castidad

Yes, you read that right. I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching the Law of Chastity for the first time ever as a real missionary....in Spanish...and I had to do it while I was on exchanges! (so I taught it by myself) Luckily it was with Maria and she is quite literally so golden. Her only thing she said she wants to change is to work on her words. Because she calls people stupid sometimes. Legit, this lady is the best. And she came to a baptism we had of an 8-year-old in the ward and then she went to the Cinco de Mayo ward activity later that day. She even bought a new skirt the day before so she can have more things to wear! She gets baptized in less than two weeks can you believe that? My heart is so full. I love her so darn much.

Had to pause a family that we have been working with for a while. I may or may not have cried a little bit in that pause talk? Fun fact: first “pause talk” ever and I was on exchanges. I had a lot of firsts that day. But yeah, it was hard but when they aren't keeping their commitments we have to give them some space to figure out what they really want...And they have family getting baptized this month so hopefully their fam can work some magic on them in the meantime.

So we, Sis Dipietro and their mini missionary, had to go seeking the other day like in the middle of the afternoon because our comps were at MLC and that was the only time we had to get seeking in that day. It got up to like 105 degrees. And we went walking for an hour and a half. SO HOT. Then it was cold and rainy this weekend? Like in the 50s? I am losing the NoDak in me because I broke out a cardi for 50-degree weather. Boo.

So at service this week at the old folk's, some old man saw me and yelled, "Hey, when did Cleopatra walk in?" He said that while I was standing with all of our Elders too. I had to take a lap. Then we went inside to play bingo and he yelled across the room to the man sitting next me, "Hey, how did you get lucky sitting next to her?" And he said back, "I don't know, but I like it!" Glad I am a hit with at least one age group of men.

Big story of the week:

So we have members that live out in Homeland. Which is out in the boonies. Like it takes us almost 30 minutes to get their house for dinner. And you have to take a dirt road off of the highway to get there. Well, the GPS decided to take us on a different dirt road to get there. At first, we were like "whoa, this is fun!" and took a couple of pictures. Then, the road got really narrow and the road started getting worse. Then we got to a big red gate. We were all like crud, because there was no way for me to turn the car around. the road was that narrow. So, it was either drive backwards all the way back down these hills or lowkey break in:

So, we opened the gate and kept going forward. We drove past some mini construction sites and drove passed a man who threw his arms up at us like, "what are you doing here, you don't belong." We didn't. Pretty sure you were on private property. Then we got to this HUGE hill. Like, super steep. And this wasn't a good dirt road, like it was loose sand. I turned to Hermana Chandler and said, "I don't think I can do this." And she said, "We don't have a choice." So I gunned it up that hill in our little wimpy car, and we somehow made it over. Like, with the conditions of the road, the steepness of the hill, and the car we were driving? Should have been impossible. Not to mention we didn't have service, which means if we didn't make it over that hill or if something happened to the car we would have been stranded out there. We were truly watched over. Looking back on this experience I thought to myself, "How often do we say, 'I don't think I can do this'?" Sometimes we don't think we are going to make it. That we don't have the capacity to keep going. Sometimes we don't, but that's why we have a Savior. The enabling power of the Atonement is so unbelievably incredible but we have to UTILIZE this grace in our lives. We can't just sit at the bottom of the hill and doubt. We have to hit the gas pedal and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to do the rest.




Only two more weeks left in the transfer, which means I am that much closer to finishing training! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Tonini

And the Day Marks Three Months

Sorry, this has to be a short one, I have 0 time.

So last Pday we went to check out a potential, which wasn't even a guy who spoke Spanish. HOWEVER. He wanted to hear a message of Christ and at the end he said his mom died in January and that he sat down with her Bible to look through it for pictures or notes and as soon as he opened it we knocked on his door!!!! We had to send him off to English land though, but it was still way cool!

Also, we had a way successful week! We picked up five new investigators!!! We had so many miracles it's crazy!

So I had a really bad night this week and I prayed that night to feel the peace that we can feel from our Savior. We have been teaching about the Prince of Peace the last two weeks, and I thought to myself, maybe I should practice what I preach. So, I went to the Prince of Peace to calm my troubled soul. The next morning in my studies I decided to study John 14, and the first verse reads "Let not your heart be troubled." First verse. I felt peace like I had never felt before in my life. He truly is the Prince of Peace, we just need to seek Him.

Also, got bashed with a Spanish woman for TWENTY MINUTES! I tried to leave like five times. Like shook her hand three times and everything and she would not let me leave. Patience and love truly are key in a 20-minute bash. The one time I wasn't with Hermana Chandler, and had a temp English comp. Rough.

Also, guess who is designated driver this week? YOU GUESSED IT. Which is weird because Hermana said that usually they only do that if I am going to be staying next transfer. But she just got called to be the STL for the area. So now it is like 50/50 on who is staying here in Hemet next transfer.

On Sunday we had SIX AT CHURCH!!!!! What was hard was trying to get our youth investigator to feel welcomed. The youth were not even trying to talk to her. SO FRUSTRATING. Hindsight is definately 20/20 because I am sure I was the same way.

Also had a crazy strong garage lesson while seeking with faith and the man starting crying while I taught him God is our loving Heavenly Father.

Also here is a pic of Sister Blanchard and I, she left back home and is already at BYUI. Crazy, huh?



Sister Tonini
California Riverside Mission

Fourth Floor Last Door

HELLO LOVES!

So, a ton of stuff happened this week, but I just want to write about one single story that blew me away.

So, this story starts before I even left for Mexico. About eight weeks ago, a man saw Sister Harris and Sister Bradshaw in Walmart and talked to them. Just a nice casual conversation.

Fast-forward to this past Friday. Hermana Chandler and I were walking down a sort of busy street when a man stopped his car in the middle of the street trying to say something to us. He pulled over and then reversed back so he could talk to us. We ran across the street and he looked at me and asked if I was the missionary from Idaho that he had talked to in Walmart. Me: uh....no. But he was talking about how much he loves the missionaries, so we got his info and drove away with all of his kids in the car. Since he spoke English, we had to send it over to the Little Lake Sisters which kind of bummed me out. He stopped driving in the MIDDLE OF THE STREET  to talk to us, and we couldn't even teach him.

That night I had my first exchange, so I went with Sister Nai, who is from Australia and is the coolest human being I have ever met in my life, to her apartment with her trio. Can you guess which trio it was? The Little Lake Sisters.

So, as Sister Nai and I were out doing your typical missionary stuff Saturday evening, we finally got to our time to go contact Emmanuel. I was so excited, because I was actually going to have a chance to teach this family!! However, once we got to the address we realized it was a HUGE apartment complex...and we had no apartment number. We had two options: a. go to the next backup in our agenda b. go knock on random doors

So we looked at each other. Sis Nai: "My trio has been PRAYING for a family to teach, and I know Heavenly Father follows through on His promises." Me: "There is something special about this family and I want to find them." So, I said a prayer. I prayed knowing that we WOULD find this family.

We started with the front-facing apartments, and the first one we knocked on was a woman who said she didn't know an Emmanuel or an African American family, but that that inside and around the corner were some African American families and maybe we could look there. We went inside and there was a huge square plaza with a ton of apartments. We spent the next HOUR just going door to door knocking...looking for this family. And no one had ever seen this family before!! However, during this whole process we got two contacts, so I said to Sister Nai, "There is a reason we are out here knocking on these doors. Even if we don't find this family tonight, we were meant to knock on those two doors." And Sister Nai kept going on and on about how she was going to knock on every single door in that complex until she found this family. Even if it took a week.

So we finished that one section of that complex, and it was already 8:00 pm, which was the time we were supposed to be back at the Little Lake apt to get ready for exchanging back. However, we decided we were going to finish the last few front-facing apartments, where we started. So we went to the apartment right next to the woman who told us to go check more inside at those apartments. The one we skipped over. And I said, "How funny would it be if we wasted an hour searching when the family lived in the next apartment over?" And Hermana Nai was like, "I feel like this is it..." And the door opened and it was Immanuel's son who was sitting in the passenger seat the day before!!!
I have never smiled so hard in my life. He probably thought I was insane. I even said, "We have been searching for an hour for your family!!!!!!!!" We got his dad's number and as soon as the door closed I just cried. And maybe fist pumped. And then cried some more. We found a family WITHOUT AN APT NUMBER.  

What does this mean?

That woman didn't even know a large African American family (like legit the dad has an African accent) was living right next door to her. She didn't have to point us in the wrong direction to look for this family. But she did, and there was a reason. There were more people who needed our message. Heavenly Father wanted to see how badly we wanted this family and how hard we were willing to work to find them. I feel like His question for us is always: "How hard are you willing to work for it?" We wanted it. We wanted it bad. It was also a test of patience. We had to knock on doors for an hour to see if we had enough patience to know that our prayers are answered on His time, not ours. Heavenly Father always answers our prayers if we don't sit around expecting. We pray fervently, and then go out and do. He always follows through though, and I have a testimony of this.

He doesn't answer our prayers with the second door, he makes us work and grow until we finally open the last door of the night. then at that moment we can marvel at the love that Heavenly Father has for each of us individually and how personally he knows us. He loves His children and has a plan for each of us. I know it.

Love,
Hermana Tonini

Re: Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

From: Barry.Romney
Date: 3/8/17 4:46 AM (GMT-06:00)
To: Corina.Tonini
Subject: FW: Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

Sr. Tonini (still Corina to me),

Do not be discouraged about your language.  I know just how you feel.  When I went on my mission we did not have the MTC and had to learn Japanese “in the field”.  There was no language training program whatsoever.  I had to sit in meetings and listen to try and pick out words and then look them up in the English/Japanese dictionary.  I couldn’t even tell when a word started and ended.  We all eventually learned the language…some better than others.  Your first few weeks will be a language challenge but soon you will realize that you are understanding more and more about what is going on.

Enjoy being the junior in your companionship.  There is much to learn and soon enough you will have to make many of the daily decisions…where to go, what to do, etc.  You will be blessed abundantly.

We are so proud of you and your decision to serve a mission.  What a great heritage you are providing your children…being the 4th generation of sister missionary efforts.

Con mucho amour e abrazos.

Gpa

PS.  I just realized you are our first grandchild to go on a non-English speaking mission  Omedito gozaimasu (ops, that is Japanese for congratulations!)

If You Are In an Airport and You See Mormon Missionaries...

...ask them if they would like to borrow your phone to call home.

We received this gem while she was in transit in Mexico City.  She described the photographer as "a nonmember Canadian guy originally from Mexico...he was really nice!"

And then, shortly before she was to board her flight to California, she was able to borrow another traveler's phone to make a quick call.  Raena couldn't find me (I was outside shoveling snow) so by the time I got my hands on the phone, I only had a few seconds to tell her I love her and that we can't wait to talk to her in May.  Afterwards, Raena exchanged this IM with the owner of the phone:

Thank you for letting my sweet missionary call!  It meant the world!

For anything! I heard them behind me on the escalator

and they sounded so heartbroken.  I wish they could have

had more time.  She looked energetic and ready to get to work!  

You'd be very proud!

Thanks.  We really are proud of her.  Miss her so much.  Thanks for the gift!

CCM - Week One

HELLO! This has been the longest and most difficult week of my life. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I had the coolest experience getting here. I was sitting first class, reading Jesus the Christ, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a man and he said: Did you serve in Riverside California? (Thanks Dad for the luggage tags) (Also this is a Spanish keyboard that does not have quotation marks) It turns out that he was a member, and he served in like Carlsbad, California! He owns a business in Mexico City, so that}s why we were on the same flight. He stayed with me all the way until we were out of security. He wouldn't even leave me until he found the driver for me. While we were waiting for luggage, we actually saw two Elders and knew they had to be..well....Elders! So we scooped them up too and he finally left after he found our guy. The driver didn't have a sign and spoke zero English so this Brother was honestly a tender mercy for the three of us. One of those two Elders is actually in my district! Elder Hagemeyer or something weird German. So we call him Elder Hache (h in Spanish). The other one was super cool and I got to talk to him for like an hour since we waited at the airport for two hours for more missionaries. However, the huge group of eleven missionaries never showed up, just one, Elder Snowden (also in our district). That was the flight my companion was on, and their flight got delayed FIVE hours because of a funny smell.

My district is fantastic. Our district is actually famous around here because we have SEVEN Hermanas and only four Elders. Usually districts are lucky to just get four Hermanas. Hermana Harper is my companion and she is such a goon. She has four brothers just like me, and one of them is even named Jacob! We also both went to BYU-I, but not at the same time because she did a year of school and then worked the semester I was at school. Then in our room we have Hermana Bassett and Hermana Tueller. Then we live in a house with five rooms, so there's a total of...you guessed it...twenty Hermanas in our casa.

The CCM is so beautiful. Sure, it looked like a prison when we pulled up because of the walls and the security gate, but still. You can see the colorful slum houses up on the mountains right outside the walls and I love it. I also love the people here. I felt inspired on the first day, second meal, to go sit with some Latinas. It has been such a blessing. We have so many new friends, we can work on our Spanish, and I have grown to love the people I am going to go teach. What was really neat was when our Mission President found out that the Latinas that we sit with aren't actually our district. He came up to us the next day in the street and talked to us more about how being in the CCM is truly a blessing for us American stateside missionaries because we have a chance to learn every chance we get. Usually the Americans sit by district, and the only Americans who get put in Latino districts are the ones that are here for three weeks like them. He even said: Y'all are the best Hermanas here at the CCM. How cool?? And now a lot more Americans sit with the Latinos during meals. However, a couple days ago we realized that the other pair of Elders were super homesick so now we have District Dinner so we could feel more like a family. Not as good, but there has to be balance in all things. The food is INCREDIBLE. Papaya is def my new fav fruit. There's always a ton of fruits and vegetables during every meal, and there's usually always beans and tortillas. Every meal has a different dish, and on Tuesday night we have PIZZA! Speaking of which, the only time I have used dairy pills is for pizza. I have decided to just eat the food I can eat so my body will like me a little better and so I can truly cherish when I do use my pills and eat dairy. The salsa is always SUPER yummy (our teachers speak only in Spanish but will insert a really enthusiastic SUPER sometimes, so we joke around about it)

So, they made us teach a fake investigator the entire first lesson in Spanish before even having our first language class. Her name is Nilka and she is actually our teacher. It's so difficult to teach in Spanish, especially when the church vocab is way hard. I'm not going to go into detail about every lesson. Just know that we have had good ones and bad ones. The coolest one was when I read the First Vision in Spanish to Nilka and I started crying when the first word came out of my mouth. The spirit testified so strong to me that the Restoration did happen and that Joseph Smith truly saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. Just the spirit in general here, I have felt it so many times I don't have time for all of them.

There's way way way more, but I really don't have time. I love y'all so so so much.