"Swallowing bugs, pouring rain and realizing His hand is stretched out still :)"

Well, it happened! I got sick! And I'm not surprised, they just stick the tubs of peanut butter and nutella out there on the tables and you just sort of end up going at it and who knows how many people double dip. Yeah, it's a great life ;) We pretty much worship peanut butter and nutella here. They finally got syrup up in this joint so that's a blessing since we've had to pull a tres leches deal and pour yogurt on our waffles or pancakes sometimes. Usually I just went with the pb and nutella option though of course. So now we're just waiting for the mantequilla to make its debut. 

So I just have like cold symptoms so it really isn't bad. But the other night!!! Goodness, I thought I was going to have to come home I was feeling so sick. I went to bed on the top bunk above Hermana B2 cuz it was empty and I was like what the heck why not?! So everything was great and I don't hit my head on the bunk anymore obviously. So I was falling asleep when of course.....attack of the mosquitos!!! So dumb. It was just one but it started like going all crazy and flying around my head like they always do, trying to chew my face off so I went into like cocoon survival mode and had only my head exposed. So somehow I fell asleep. Then BAM. I woke up at about 12:40 and felt SO sick it wasn't funny. I was just like what the heck is wrong with my body?!?! I felt so bloated and nasty. I went to the bathroom after realizing I was not just going to "shake this" as Troy Bolton so quaintly puts it in the chorus of that one basketball song in High School Musical. So I climbed down and parked myself next the toilet, and....nothing. Of course. I was just like seriously, whatever this is, needs to get out of my body so I tried and nothing happened. So I went back to sleep on the bottom bunk again with the trash can next to me. The bed wasn't made but I didn't care, I just grabbed a blanket and then like two minutes later I started feeling nasty again so I went and nothing happened. Joy. I mean gozo :) So I went back and tried to fall asleep and then I got these horrible chills. I got so freaked out. Meanwhile a nurse is sleeping right above me and I didn't even think to wake her up. Leave it to me to not want to wake someone up when I feel like junk. So I somehow fell asleep and woke up as if nothing happened. I just felt super tired. Then I was like "maybe nothing happened!! and it was all a dream!" then I was like "oh yeah, minor detail, I woke up in another bed". So now I only have like a runny nose and I'm a little achy and sneezy but it's all good! We just make sure to pray for salud! So if y'all are praying for me, thank you!!! I sneezed at least like 12 times yesterday though during TALL. Sorry if these sick details are TMI, but we've honestly realized that there is no such thing as TMI in a companionship or just on a mission in general. You get so close to your companions in such a short time its not even funny. HAH! I love it!!! 

Me singing to MoTab :)

I also love Motab! It saves me every day! Here is my typical playlist :) Cuz y'all totally care :)

1. On this day of joy and gladness (TOP FAVE)

2. Lord dismiss us with thy blessing (PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AMOUNT OF FAV)

3. Praise to the Lord the almighty (its just always been in my top faves)

4. Did you think to pray (good reminder and so pretty!)

5. Lord we ask thee ere we part (close second #totesdef)

6. Lead kindly light (that "the night is dark and I am far from home part? Yeah, gets us everytime)

7. Faith in every footstep (if you feel like crying)

8. Abide with me tis eventide (as a missionary, its just so applicable)

9. We thank thee oh God for a prophet (the chords are just amazing)

10. Where can I turn for peace? (always a goodie)

But you have to listen to the Motab conference versions, none of those weird congregation ones :) There is no better choir, so proud :) Seriously though, go listen to them. All of them. #missionarymusic #motabrocks

SO I LED THE MUSIC IN FRONT OF LIKE ROUGHLY A THOUSAND MISSIONARIES. It was like the sickest thing I've ever done! It was so empowering. I LOVED IT. I can't even describe the feeling and I love how that keeps happening, having feelings I can't even describe. But really though Heavenly Father answers prayers because just the Sunday before I was thinking "dang that would be so cool to say a prayer or conduct or play the piano for all these missionaries"...wait for it ;) So then the other day during gym, Hermana B2 wanted to find this guy Melchizedek, yeah that's his name...she wanted to find him cuz he makes these like $40 scripture cases for missionaries here but they're leather and it would totes get ruined in Honduras so we're opting out of that and just getting some in Honduras. So we were in the Joseph F. Smith building and I'm chillin' there with Hermana B pumping some iron in the lobby while we wait when this lady from upstairs yells down to us and is like "Missionaries! Please I need you up here!" and of course my natural instinct is like "I didn't do it! What did I do?!" So my heart starts pounding again even though we had just been running hah. Then she's like "Who plays the piano perfectly?" and I'm like "I can lead!!!!!!" SO I DID IT YOU GUYS!!!! I lead the music and Hermana B played the piano and Hermana B2 held the hymn book for her while she played. I couldn't help but smile the whole time! None of the Natives meet with us during those big meetings because the meetings are in inglés so they  just go have separate ones but apparently the max in that auditorium is roughly a thousand. It was seriously the coolest thing ever. We sang Called to Serve in español of course and then I am a Child of God later. LOVED IT.

FUNNY: So of course the Hermana B2 moment of the week was when we hadn't been outside for like 30 seconds when a bug tried to fly down her throat, so all the sudden she is just like spitting frantically onto the ground. Good times. We do weekly service on Fridays and cada semana it's turned into service in the kitchen....with wait for it...HAIR NETS. Yeahhhh we all looks like bosses. So one of the times we had to mop so Hermana B asked the guy in charge if we needed to put "sopa" into the bucket instead of saying "jabón". Sopa is of course "soup" in Spanish, so we had a good laugh. Something else I've loved is that we sometimes get called the "triplets" by our branch president or the "tria" instead of a "trio" since we're girls :) I really love that one....everyone thinks we're sisters or like twins since we all apparently have the same hair color ;) 

Oh I also sanitized a couple pens this week. We sent around a card for Elder M's gma that lives here cuz she literally sent us food three times this week. She is a miracle worker and totally saved us all. I sent a pen around with the thank you card from home :) And after the pen went around I drowned it in hand sanitizer. People made fun but I was like "hey, about half of you are sick, and I'm not so laugh all you want!" And of course I still got sick. I did the same thing after Hermana B2 borrowed my pen the other day cuz she was like sticking the end of it in her mouth a bit :) We also play hangman sometimes during language study but to keep it missionary appropes, instead of hanging someone, the investigator starts heading out the door #missionaryprobs #youknowit It's pretty clever honestly. 

Something funny that has been happening is after we're done with meals we'll just be like "you gonna eat that?" but we'll do it in like a creepy voice and it's just hilarious. So usually I'm the fat friend of the tria and I'll like eat someone's flan they don't want cuz I'm convinced I wont get sugar in Honduras. #whatevs!! I swear I laugh SO MUCH here. Especially with Hermana B2. I am going to miss her SO much. I love that. #shouldveguessedthatwasgonnahappeneventually

HAPPY: So I don't know if I said this last week but I got called spunky by Elder M. That gave me a boost. Loved it. Oh! I made a peanut butter and nutella and banana sandwich this week! Don't worry, it was a half of a piece :) You all can judge for yourselves if you think I'm getting fat but we weigh ourselves every week and I run and cycle it off. Mostly. Hah. The coca krispies are still a fav but I've moved onto the frosted flakes. Tried the fruit loops the other day, not worth it. We got nerd ropes last week! I can't remember if I said that already but it was a highlight! We started running around the parking lot so we don't have to deal with the crummy gravel track or the sod field that's in the middle of it. It's hotter on the parking lot but I love it cuz it reminds me that I actually do have the ability to run! They do keep the trash behind a building near the lot though so that's always a nice whiff but it just makes me run faster.

SAD: My feet are permanently calloused and red and purple on my heel. I'm just going to have to accept it! But it will be good for Honduras. Hah.

SPIRITUAL:Our investigators are doing SO WELL! They both want to get baptized and have such a desire! But of course they both have addictions. Called it. I actually did call it, right when we found out about them I said to myself "I bet Fernando has an addiction" and my companions were all "What?? Hermana Despain where did that come from" One answer HEAVEN. BAM. Yep, it was revelation ;) So I loveeee talking with the investigators trying to encourage them and give them advice! It's neat. Fernando smokes and drinks coffee and Raquel drinks. But they're just little desafios! And they both seem to be really progressing. Teaching in a trio is HARD. I don't know if I've said that before, but its a challenge cuz you always have to have one that takes over, one that checks out and one that just tries to keep everyone together. It's good practice though and it makes the times we get to practice with only two, that much better. Trios are seriously SO MUCH FUN THOUGH. I never expected to be in one but it seriously is so much fun. We worked on companionship study this week and it is so neat to get three heads together to plan. Sometimes it's really good, other times it's a pain but mostly it works out great! We are implementing companionship inventories during our companionship study. Apparently I like have issues listening or something? Who knew! ;) Jk I knew it was a weakness of mine so we talked about that and resolved it.

GOOD: I've noticed that I've stopped using pronouns, like I'll just be like "feel like going to the bathroom". It's pretty fun. I like it. Makes me feel like something is actually  happening with my English and Spanish transition.

SAD: Elder T. and Elder S. left this past Sunday for Idaho and Cali! It was SO sad to see them go, they were in our zone and they were seriously such great Elders and just great guys in general! They were always so nice and sweet to us and supportive, I still remember the first time we started talking to them and met them! Elder S. and me would always chuck up some deuces to each other or the hang loose sign haha. I totally accidentally winked at him one time!!! I swear it was an accident! It was just sort of a "oh! i see you!" sort of a wink but then I apologized later after I realized what I'd done and he just laughed. So even the sad things are happy! They will seriously be such great missionaries, they already are! One time after Hermana B was having a hard time we were walking back to the casa early from class that night and they saw us and Elder S. was like "man I'll cry with you guys, anytime you want, we'll just cry it out" and both of them talked about how they were such mamas boys and how they used to never cry but of course since getting here they cry a lot. But everyone does. Except for me. Cuz I'm heartless #heartlessprobs 

STRUGGLES (Aka, dumbest things): Passive voice, I don't get it. I don't know what it is that I don't get, but it's dumb haha. We tried to do that and subjunctive all in one night, that was a mistake. I tried to explain subjunctive to Hermana B2 and it was really good practice! Hermana P, who teaches us at night told us how subjunctive is not like the golden egg of Spanish but I tried to explain to Hermana B2 how for me, subjunctive is like the flecks of gold that you can sprinkle throughout your use of the language and it just spices things up and makes it all a little more interesting :) Another dumb thing I'm working on as a missionary is not saying things like "you guys, dang, what the heck". It's sort of a personal struggle :)

GOOD: So the service we do every week is really good cuz it shakes things up. We typically sort the silverware in the back of the kitchen and sometimes they've had some random music playing and one time Hermana B said it reminded her of her Dad and I'm thinking "we would need some Abba or Enchanted soundtrack or Michael Bublé if it was going to remind me of my dad". Its the funniest thing to see the transition us missionaries go through The music thing is funny cuz we'll hear the most random, most outdated music in the city or somewhere and suddenly its like its a top ten hit. #missionaryprobs 

A lot of the missionaries in my district can't roll their r's so that's been really fun to listen to. The teachers gave them some toungue twisters that get so annoying but its all good. Hermana B claims to be tongue tied and Elder V must be driven crazy by his inability cuz he's used to being able to do everything perfectly. So idk if it's a genetic thing cuz they listen to me and they're like "have you always been able to do that?!?!" And I'm just like "yeah?" So any tips on rolling r's would be great! You can only try and explain it so much....TALL has been so amazing for me this week! I focused on the grammar section and just pick and choose and it is seriously the best thing! I worked on the "personal a" and "subject pronouns". I guess I just never really learned them! It is such a blessing because we get to have time to learn stuff we just didn't get in the past on our own, and at your own speed and you don't feel embarrassed cuz no one else has to know! Okay who knew that typically, nouns in Spanish that end in any of the letters that are in the word "LONERS" are going to be masculine?! Who knew?! Coolest thing. Something else that's neat that I noticed this week is the natural, motherly instincts that have kicked in with my companions, anytime one of us like gasps or anything I like snap into that weird mommy mode and instantly think I'm going to have to like lift a car off of someone to save them. It's the coolest thing :) Oh and there are these adorable poofy birds here, they are SO CUTE. Those bright green birds that look like they belong in a zoo all go crazy in this one palm tree here and we don't really know what goes on up there, but they are so loud sometimes, it's a little reminder that we're still in Mexico! We also call the night before P day "p day eve" cuz it's pretty much like Christmas. But P day is seriously the best and the worst day here, its so amazing to write family and friends and get updates but then you think about them all day and wish you could be home and realize all that you're missing. You don't feel very productive either but it all works itself out in the end :)

SPIRITUAL: So once again I forgot my binder. So smart. With all my notes in it! But Elder Christofferson gave the devotional on Sunday this week and he thanked us for being missionaries. He talked about the things he would've done differently as a missionary. The brother that spoke at the devo on Tuesday talked about the importance of missionary work with the members and involving the members in missionary work. It is so critical! He talked about how M&M's stand for Member Missionary and we were all just like "uh ok??" It was cute cuz when he introduced this idea he was like "the M&M's, the chocolate, you know these little candies?" And we all just sort of giggled. It's so neat to hear Hispanics speak in English cuz your heart totally goes out to them and you're just like "I feel your pain! Languages are tough!" I gave the closing prayer in Relief Society! It was cool, I felt totally comfortable and it was a great experience! We helped teach Tasks 1 and 2 to a class of beginners that literally got here two days ago. Poor guys! They all looked so scared but I got to work with an Elder one on one and it was the neatest experience! I was like "what the heck I'm teaching someone Spanish!" It was cool, I felt like I got a little taste of what my mom and dad do for a living! :) It's definitely like the coolest thing :) 

This week in my personal study I learned about how "God's hand is stretched out still". It all starts in 2 Nephi 19 and sort of continues for a few chapters. It was the neatest thing to realize! It's just sprinkled throughout the chapters following 19 and it just keeps saying that God's hand is stretched out still! So cool huh?! We wanted to connect it to our investigators since they had the possibility of relapsing with their addictions, but the lessons never really took that route and we're learning to really just go by the Spirit and trusting it. I just loved finding that in the scriptures! I also finished 1 and 2 Nephi since being here! Cool huh? ;) I love any chance we get to just sit down and read the scriptures! It is such a blessing! Just last night we helped some of the beginners during TRC since there weren't any volunteers. They taught us and it was the most intense session of Spanish I've ever heard, literally they would say a word in English, then say it in Spanish and your brain would just get so messed up and confused and I came away feeling SO BLESSED to be in the intermediate class. It has it's challenges but those girls leave for Panama the same time we leave and in my true Southern mind I'm just thinking "bless their hearts"". But we felt the Spirit and that is the most important thing :) Also, the gift of tongues is real! I'll be in a lesson and blank out and then remember the word that I would have never remembered in the first place, I love it.

I love this amazing opportunity I have to be a missionary! I see so many of the blessings that the gospel brings for my life all the time and I love it! I love sharing it and teaching it and really relearning everything all over again. It really is a miracle. Un milagro!!! Heavenly Father loves all His children and He wants us to be happy and He's given us the tools to be happy, we just have to choose to use them! My testimony has really been strengthened and each day gets better and better. I can't believe I leave in less than two weeks! I already miss the CCM. My companions are ready to leave but I could honestly stay for another 4 weeks. Something that I told Hermana B this week during our little deep discussions, was that you have to "enjoy your time, look for the positive and focus on the work" and to "look for the good and the world starts to look a little brighter and a little more beautiful". So look for the good in everything, cuz there is always good because everything we have is from Heavenly Father and we all really are so blessed, it's just our job to notice it :)

Love,

Hermana Despain

3 Nephi 13:33, 34 

We've learned as a companionship to love this and live it :)

But ^aseek ye first the ^bkingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

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Things that make me happy...

Hola from Mexico!!!

I hope this email finds you all doing really well! I'm going to try and focus more on the spiritual things this week since I've gotten all the other little details of things out of the way it seems :)

You know its been a good week when you get compared to Christ by your teacher. Yeah, it happened. We had an interview. He just wanted to get to know me a little. So he compared me to Christ in that Christ had to be the rock for his disciples and his apostles because oftentimes they were scared or nervous. So that gave me a big boost and I really appreciated it. He said I have a real light and that gave me a lot of comfort. Later in the week, he told me that one of the teachers of the natives overheard me talking to one of the natives and he said that I had an accent "como un nativo"! It blew me away, it was such a compliment. So despite the challenges, I have a lot of blessings and people looking out for me.

Things that made me happy this week

1. According to Hermana B., Elder M. flirts with me every time he sees me...which is pretty rare. It's just something to laugh at I guess as a sister missionary.

2. The chocolate chip/cheescake dessert thing they have is amazing. You just can't pass it up.

3. Chokis!!! They're a brand of chocolate chip cookies here that we get in the tienda. Let's just say that according to the scales here I should quit buying them altogether :)

4. Nutella and peanut butter! They added it to the breakfast condiments area and it is the most genius thing!

5. Our investigator Raquel said she would pray to know if baptism was something that she would do in her life! Yeah sorry my English doesn’t even makes sense anymore.

6. I see Ethan Chaney like 5 times a day! So that's fun, it's nice to have a friend here :)

7. My interview with my bishop. It made me the happiest I've been in a long time.

8. I don't have a parasite and I'm not sick anymore! But Hermana B2 has a parasite and who knows what's up with Hermana B, but we're keeping an eye on it....

9. This week, Hermana B2's shining moment was when she started to walk into the guys bathroom. Yeah, we probably go to the bathroom about 15 times a day and for some reason the walk to the right bathroom has just not been ingrained yet I guess! So we had a good laugh :)

Oh and its really good to not get rubbing alcohol on scriptures, I don't know why I had to figure that out the hard way but it's just something good to know.

We have earthquakes here a lot, okay so like twice a week so when they sound the alarm, we all have to go out to the green circles, maybe I've mentioned that already, but we go out and stand in big groups, it's great. Then we don't feel anything and that's even better! :)

I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt today, can you all believe that? August 29th! And I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt! Hermana B2 said it's a great color on me :) Of course it's hers though :)

So after my interview with the bishop, we raced over to the Sunday devotional and it was beyond AMAZING. Guess why....two words....ELDER HOLLAND. It was from a devotional at the Provo MTC on February 28th 2012. I still can't believe I got to shake his hand when he visited our stake like last year! So his devotional was great and I just want to share some notes that I took from it. He was talking about missionary work of course. He said that oftentimes missionaries will say that this isn’t real life, the life of a missionary, but he said that this is as close to real life as we're ever going to get. He also said that when we get back from our missions, we're just not supposed to go back to the way we were, ever, even if we were terrific. That really stuck with me because we really should never retreat to how we were, we should be improving day by day. He is just such a powerful speaker and he gives you so much encouragement. He talked about the use of the Book of Mormon and how we just need to give it a chance and tell our investigators the same. He talked about how just within the first chapter of 1 Nephi, we learn about prophets, revelation they receive, books, prayer, etc. So much! Just within the first chapter of the Book of Mormon! So we encouraged Fernando, our other investigator (aka Hermano Montés one of our teachers) to just read the first chapter. We'll see how it goes! I'll share more notes next week when I have my notebook with me. That thing is full of oro I tell you. Palabras del oro!

During class sometimes as a district, Elder M. will have us guess his like insulin number or something because he has diabetes. Yeah, it's about as exciting as....well not a lot. But it's exciting for us!

Saturday night the ciudad must have been partying because literally, the bass was so loud we could feel it. I honestly dont know how I fell asleep that night!

We had TRC last night for the first time!!! I still don’t know what it stands for but its where they have members from the city come and we teach them! More like we just share experiences because we technically don’t need to teach them. So we talked about prayer and taught three lessons, each 20 minutes. They went so well and we worked really hard at getting to know the members first because that’s something we struggle with, learning their needs so that we don’t teach a presentation. I must say that I don’t do a lot of the teaching, I do a lot of the Elder Calhoun (Best Two Years) smiling and reassuring and laughing and all the filler stuff and testifying.... ;) I've also learned a lot about body language. Actually I already knew about the importance of it, especially in a lesson.

At one point some sister missionary said something about my companion as we were walking past and I about lost it, I was so close to being like "you don't talk about my companion!" But then I remembered I am a sister missionary in a skirt and I didn't lose it. You really become protective of your companions though, I've felt motherly instincts kick in multiple times. Usually when we trip on the rocky roads in between buildings :)

We keep having light wars with the other sisters, idk why, but we do. I turn out the hall light and someone usually comes and turns it back on. I guess things do follow you from home ;) I hope you're enjoying the hall light staying on when you want it to Dallin, I miss our light wars :)

I realized that the Liahona....well I can’t remember what I realized this week about it....OH! Ok, of course it was from God, and of course it was un milagro porque honestly, no one but God could have made something so incredible. God is real and He loves us in case you didn’t know that :) I also realized that the Atonement brings about happiness!!!! Like of course repentance brings happiness in the end if you really do it all right, but I just always associated the Atonement with sadness and misery! But it really brings true happiness! Proof that you can find light in the darkest of times :)

We watched the Testaments this week and oh boy, those two kisses, you would've thought the auditorium was full of 6th graders....or just Elders and Sisters that just haven’t seen PDA or had any sort of contact between the human race other than a hand shake for weeks on end. So that was pretty hilarious.

I love being a missionary. I was an idiot to think that I would have tons of issues, crying about missing home and missing a friends...instead I’ve had opportunities to care for others - being the mom and handing out tissues on the daily. It's really challenging and emotionally draining to have to be happy all the time. But my district and Elders help me. Guys are so carefree it's ridiculous.

My district recognized my facial expressions pretty early on and they comment on them like daily.

I have so many blessings. Anyways, I pray for patience constantly and for love. I really do love it here. I notice new things everyday. I love applying what we learn and noticing my language skills increasing. I love the Savior, and I know we can be made clean from our sins through him. You better believe I know how to say that in Spanish. I can't wait for Honduras but I seriously love it here. I love it more every day even though others feel that it becomes a prison. I love the gospel and I'm excited to share it with others. I seriously love Hispanic people, they are incredible with such good hearts. I feel so lucky every day :) Thank you for the love and support everyone!

Love,
Hermana Despain

You know you're an Hermana when you dont realize you're wearing pajama pants under your skirt...

Hola a todos!!!

I hope everyone is having an AMAZING WEEK. Cuz I know I am ;)

GUESS WHAT!  I did the impossible! I lost weight in the CCM ;) Yep, I lost like 6 pounds, crazy right? Especially with how I just zone out during gym time. I just chill at the top of the elliptical mostly and eat two oreo dessert things for lunch. They were amazing and then they had cookies yesterday. Like how can you pass that up? And I got two small bags of M&M's at the tienda this week and they were gone within two days, but I guess I'm burning it all off! Sitting in a chair all day...........

Goodness, I make a list every week of stuff to talk about, I hope I don't bore you all with the crazy details, I just love being able to write home about it every week, it is such a blessing. Thank you so much for my dearelders and all my emails you guys!!! I FINALLY got my dearelders yesterday, can you believe that?! Talk about having to be patient, but seriously, it was like Christmas and I asked my district leader if he felt like Santa :) Those words really are precious from you guys, they give me such support and make me smile and laugh and miss you guys. I love it.

Oh! I met Tanner Mangum this week! He's going to Antofagasta Chile! So apparently he was or is one of the quarterbacks for the BYU football team. My district leader Elder V. drools over him. He's like a celebrity here. What was even better though was the fact that I didn't even know who he was when I started talking to him. I was walking with like the only black girl here after basically going on splits with her, best thing ever btw, after teaching a lesson and we just saw this huge group of Elders so I was like sweet, some testosterone...So I just started talking to the group and I was like hey are you guys here to do service? And they were all like yeahh so then Elder Mangum started talking to me and I was like "cool stuff, where are you guys serving and where were you at school" then I looked at his name tag and was like "Ahh shoottt" It was pretty cool. Speaking of meeting other Elders, I met this Elder Cantwell that knows the Connors and the Martschenkos and was dating Malorie Winkel apparently? And he's serving in Raleigh! So I told him to keep an eye out for you guys :) We got a pic so that was exciting. He's a nice guy. I also met an Elder who's name started with an F that will be serving in Raleigh, good looking guy with dark hair so keep an eye out for him and also I met a girl from Chapel Hill. She also goes to Dr. Bass for her teeth and she would go to the Apex Stake dances so yeah. Her name was like Kendra something....She's going to Ecuador. There is also an Elder Park going to Raleigh, blonde. I finally saw Ethan Chaney! It was cool, he's doing well and it seems like he and his companion get along!

Funny story though! There I was sitting there after I had stuffed my face at breakfast with like a huge pancake the size of my face and oh no wait it was a biscuit. So yeah I like had my destroyed biscuit sitting on my plate when I started to ask my companions a super interesting and spiritual question...I was like "So where do avocados growwww???" And low and behold Ethan walks right past me and Hermana Barney and her hilarious self was like "They grow on trees I think..." And then I was like shoot, I look like a fatty, and turned to the Hermana next to me and was like "Quick, give me your bowl of fruit!" Maybe it was just funny to me....

Speaking of fruit, the cantaloupe and melon must be of the devil cuz my companions are sick and lets just say all the other sisters are too! EXCEPT FOR ME! Well I got sick the other morning but nothing really after that. Honestly it sounded like it hit everyone at midnight the other night. Creepy huh? So we don't think it’s the water, but we don't know. My companions took some samples to the doctor here. It was great, we got to deliver them and of course the doctor is busy, swatting mosquitos haha. It was precious. So it hasn't been pretty, we take a TON of bathroom breaks here but it’s great. The Elders are always just like "gotta go to the bathroom" and then they just get up and leave, then the Hermanas are all like "Um you guys? I kind of need to go to the bathroom, is that ok? We can go later, it's ok" So its quite the difference. But now, we just sort of look at each other and we know. We've got quite the system down now, and lets just say we've been brought pretty close. Oh and the other day, Hermana B2 realized she had put her skirt on over her pajama shorts. We laughed SO hard, it was the best thing.

We had tamales the other day and they were pretty good! It's good to get some cultural experience in a safe place. I felt like I was unwrapping a present, it was hilarious.

We do an exercise here called TALL which stands for like Technology Assisted Language Learning. It's through BYU. It’s a computer program and we do it about an hour every day. It's really cool and interactive, you do typing, listening, reading, speaking and all this really good stuff. Its easy to get bored and fall asleep though. Yeah I'm guilty of that. I feel like as language teachers and professors my mom and dad would LOVE it.

SO many sisters are going to Ecuador if they aren't going stateside here! Seriously it's the coolest thing cuz I'm just like oh my goodness, that's where my dad served and then I get all proud :)

The temple was incredible last week. Such a neat bus ride through the city and it totally reminded me of Costa Rica, just a lot more busy and less clean and organized. OH! The craziest thing here or at least one of the craziest are the huge like river/gutter/sink hole things on the side of the road! I don't get it! Like your kid could stumble and fall right to their death!

Also, there are quite a few inappropriate posters which bug me, but we are sort of in a bubble here. It just reminds you that not all places are as holy as el CCM. Poor Elders probably hate it too but it's all good. But seriously the temple is smack dab in the middle of the city and you totally don't see it coming. It is huge you can't even take a very good pic because it is so huge! I felt really comfortable inside though, even though my heart was pounding. It was intense but I was falling asleep haha so pretty sure it was pretty peaceful :) We go like every other week so that is nice, but it makes the P day a bit stressful.

So we all were wondering if the noises we hear throughout the day and during the night here are gun shots but apparently they're not always gunshots. Most of the time they're just like fireworks and cannons from this church on the mountain or something? But there we were learning some fundamentals the other night with Hermana Powell who used to be our investigator Andrea, and the shots were getting louder and closer....talk about scary. She said she was talking with one of the workers here and the worker said that "it isn’t just the gates and barbed wire keeping the city out here". Aka, there is a powerful spirit and the power of God keeping danger out of here. Neat to hear from a worker, who probably was not a member because most of them aren't. We usually fall asleep to crickets, fireworks and some nights, the rain falling, dogs barking, and girls talking. I swear quiet time means nothing to girls, even on a mission when you're tired all the time. The other day during additional study, 6 out of the 12 missionaries in my district were sleeping. I was probably one of them, I can't remember...haha.

"Everything will be ok in the end, but it won’t be easy. If it isn’t easy, then it’s not the end." Elder M. just said that quote in a voice message home. Thought it was good.

So our first investigators name was Andrea, super shy and very quiet. We were literally so close to her by the end of our lessons, just so we could hear her haha. We never understood why she wasn’t progressing, we just didn’t get it. So we prayed and prayed and just didn’t get it. We loved her and wanted to know why things weren't going as planned. So we come to find out that as an investigator, she wasn’t feeling that love and it frustrated my companions so much. I was honestly like, you guys, we're here to learn, missions are hard, what did you think this would be, cupcakes and butterflies?? So it was a little hard to deal with. I swear I have become such a good communicator, haha lots of listening :) Which I'm still working on. We don’t always see eye to eye. But we eventually get things resolved and so far things have been working out just great. I just love how Hermana Powell, or Andrea at the time, had NO idea what she as doing to this companionship haha.

My companions are amazing. Really they are. I love them to death and they have been a huge blessing. We laugh so hard and make sure we are all doing ok. We have become so close it is great, especially after seeing other companionships that don’t even walk with each other. So it’s great and we have really come to realize why we are in the companionships that we are. Let me tell you, a trio can be such a huge blessing and then the hugest pain....sometimes it’s a party and then a war.

Hermana B2 is the best. She is seriously so funny. After a little rough beginning we are the best of friends. We laugh all the time and work so well together. We're really similar and our companionship is ok with having quiet time. It’s especially fun to people watch during meal times. Hermana B2 has such a good heart. She gets really concerned about her level of Spanish but honestly she is improving so well and shares such a powerful testimony. Teaching in a trio is definitely a challenge. Sometimes three heads are nice, other times is a “spiritual madhouse” as one of our district Elders would say haha. I feel so blessed all the time to be with these girls. They have taught me a lot and I am so going to cry when i have to say goodbye to them. They have changed my life :)

My district is so great. the guys are a ton of fun and they are all clean and healthy, fun, so spiritually strong and just powerful teachers. I got to teach with Elder M. last night and oh my goodness it was the best experience. It was so powerful and I felt like we worked so well together! I was about to be like um I request to be an Elder now please? He taught the doctrine mostly and I asked the deep questions and smiled and encouraged and had the filler words and all that great stuff that really is necessary in a lesson. I loved it, our personalities just meshed so well and we were totally on the spot. I seriously love anytime I can get some more testosterone in my life. Girls are straight up crazy sometimes you guys. So we're playing volleyball as a district later today, should be a blast! I’m super excited. I love p-days! My district also loves to sing so that always brings the spirit.

We have a new investigator named Raquel and another named Fernando! They are great. Raquel has an addiction to alcohol that we aren’t supposed to know about yet and Fernando and his wife can’t have kids ;( such a heartbreak. But I’m excited to help them both come unto Christ. I’ll include more next week after we have taught them more ;) Its neat having our teachers be investigators. Sometimes its straight up awkward, but its so beneficial and such a genius idea.

I am so happy that I have the privilege of being a missionary. I know I don’t share so many spiritual experiences but just know that they happen all the time! I’ll work to include more. I swear I won’t be able to sing Called to Serve in English ever again. i love talking about the gospel all day. It is such a blessing and its what life is really about. I feel like I have been here for months. I don’t want to leave! I love feeling the spirit and just walking under the beautiful trees here multiple times a day and seeing the beautiful world God has created for us! It is such a blessing we sometimes take for granted. My testimony is growing and it’s definitely growing in Spanish :) Thanks to everyone who has had an impact on my life, you all are incredible. Every morning I wake up and can’t believe I’m a missionary being trained in México. And in the beloved words of my grandpa, I find myself saying, "How did i get so lucky?" Before our Tuesday devotional, a district of Elders sang Homeward Bound and it was gorgeous, brought me to tears :) so I wanted to share a bit from it:

"In the quiet misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed, when the sparrows, stop their singing, I’ll be homeward bound again."

So powerful and so beautiful. A real testament to the fact that I will be homeward bound in less than a year and a half, I love you all, we are incredible sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father who loves and knows each of us. Make this week an incredible, blessed week :)

adios!
con amor,
hermana despain