Hola everyone!
Now that I have my act together and things have settled down a bit, I'm going to tell you a little bit about life here. We only have a little time for emails, so I'll keep it brief.
In our district, we have 9 missionaries (including me). There are 4 of us Hermanas and 5 elders (one trio).
My companion is Hermana Corbridge. She is seriously amazing. I feel like already she knows so much about me and we are best friends. I have learned SO much from her and she keeps me on task. In some ways, we are the exact same person.
There's Hermana Jacob and Hermana Mansfield. Hermana Jacob is tiny and a little firecracker. We get along well. :) Hermana M. is seriously so sweet and innocent. And her voice sounds EXACTLY like Jennifer Lawrence. It's kinda creepy. She kind of looks like her too. (We found a Cato here at West campus and they're going to take a picture together at some point.)
For the elders, there's Elder Packham from Portland, who I instantly have this Northwestern connection with. Elder Toala is from Samoa and plays football. He has a scholarship with UDub when he gets back. He gives us pep talks a lot. Elder Bonati is seriously so quiet and humble. He knows Portugese fluently, but he wanted to be with us beginners because of how different the languages are. He's also going to Nampa, the rest of the missionaries in our district are going to Mexico Guatalahara East. For the Hermanas, they're KINDA the first group of American Hermanas going to that mission. I think that's SUPER cool. Elder Ball is from California and has helped me realize how different people are and how people grow up are so different. I'm really glad he's here. Elder Ricks is super smart and, let's just say, we go to him whenever we have questions about the language.
Our district is SOO different, but we get along really, surprisingly well. We are the only district with Hermanas in our apartment where our classes are, so the second day we were here, some of the other Elders came and told us that we make the rooms smell TONS better. I thought that was pretty funny. Our teachers Hermana Valdez and Hermano Bond are seriously so amazing. They are SOOO sensitive to the spirit and what we need to learn. I'm grateful for them. One thing that surprised me is that we all like to sing. H. Corbridge is amazing and has taken lessons for 9 years. E. Ricks is a good bass and E. Toala is really soulful. The rest of us are alright and we have fun singing along with them. We've had a few moments where we all just broke out in song. Knowing me, it's kinda weird. But it must be the spirit here or something.
As we have gotten to know each other better, we have more and more HILARIOUS experiences. There have been SO many times when I've started crying because I was laughing so hard. Just yesterday, I was getting a tic-tac out for myself and E. Packham asked me for one. Knowing me, I threw it at him like a bullet. I was just going to do it jokingly then give him one for real, but he opened his mouth real quick and SOMEHOW caught it. It was like a bullet and he caught it. It was one of the craziest moments.
Anywho. You're probably wondering how my Thanksgiving was. IT WAS AMAZING. It was really really fun and relaxing. Elder Nelson came and spoke to us. It was really good and I loved the spirit he brought. We did a service project--putting together meals for hungry kids in Utah. All of us missionaries put together more than 350,000. It was actually really fun. For once, we had some down time. Us Hermanas got started playing this little game of Table Phooseball (no idea how to spell that) with an orange. It was another one of those cry-laughing moments. We had another little fireside thing that day and it was completely different from how I expected. They made it really funny and entertaining. There was an elder who played this amazing rendition of the Harry Potter theme song. And we sang "Over the River and Through the Woods." Can you say random?! But it was so fun. Then there was a little Thanksgiving skit and a speaker. So good. The food was good. They had all the classic Thanksgiving things, so it was really nice and felt like home for a bit.
I think I might say this every week, but I love it here. I KNOW this gospel is true. I have felt it and seen it change lives, including mine. We had an experience with prayer this week. Hermano Bond was teaching us about prayer and how to better teach it to people so they can truly receive answers RIGHT THERE. We tried it out. One of the most spiritual moments of my life. When we forget all the technicalities and just talk to our Father in Heaven as a friend and ask Him what we need to know, truly desiring to know, He WILL answer. The moments after the prayer, when we just sat there, waiting for an answer were amazing. I suggest trying it out. Heavenly Father loves us all SOO SOOOO much and wants to talk to us. Test it out.
Yo sé que Jesucrist es mi Salvador y la Evangelio de Crist es perfecto. Yo sé gue José Smith fue un profeta y él tradujo el Libro de Mormon. Yo sé que las familias son eternas. Yo sé este porque hace me feliz y tenía cambiaba me vida.
(That may not be proper, but I know it's true)
I love you all, family!
Con amor,
Hermana Shirley
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