Week 8: walking the streets of Mexico City!

7-27

This mission is real now! I couldn't love it more than I already do.

Where do I even start? aaaaah!

So. My companion is Hermana Tirado and she is from Tijuana, Mexico. She speaks suuuuper good English, but she speaks Spanish most of the time except when I don't understand something of course :) She is soooo nice, funny, obedient, organized, bold and so loving. I couldn't have asked for a better first companion. She is so perfect for me! She has everything that I need. She is such a good missionary. I live with my old companion, Hermana Crighton, and her companion Hermana Sic. Hermana Sic is from Guatemala and she doesn't speak much English. She understands a lot but doesn't speak English much. But let me tell you, she is like 4`5. She is THE CUTEST thing. She seems very conserved and shy from the pìctures but no. She is the fiestiest, sassiest, funniest person I have ever met. Hahahah she is so small but has so much power. I LOVE HER! Also, Latinos are verrrrry touchy. So she always wants to snuggle, holds our hand when we cross the street and just loves us. We all have so much fun together in our cute little Mexican apartment!

The first night in the field was crazy. We got to our apartment and kind of got settled in. Then Hermana Tirado and Hermana Sic were like "Do you want tacos?" and we were like "ok...." so we went and got tacos at like 8 at night. (it is safe....I know what you all are thinking). So to make a long story short, we ran across the busiest street downtown. We got in a taxi with like 6 people. And then we ate tacos on a street in Mexico City. I guess it doesnt sound too crazy right now, but all I was thinking that night was "what have I done....." hahaha but it was super fun.

Meals. We eat breakfast in our apartment, usually eggs or cereal. Then we go to a members house around 2 or 3. That is the time of the main meal of the day. Soup first, meal, then dessert. Usually rice, tortillas, meat and whatever they have. Members don't have a lot but they give us soooo much! Another humbling lesson. Then at night, we usually just eat something small like a banana or granola bar before bed. I can tell you that I am probably going to come home a lot thinner :)

So the people! I LOVE THEM. They are mostly old people, and whoever knows me knows that I LOVE OLD PEOPLE. It makes missionary work 10x better! It is hard though sometimes because a lot of them don't have teeth so it makes it 10x harder to understand them. Because Spanish..haha. But seriously I love teaching the people. Right now, I am not doing a ton of the talking just because it is still hard. But I definitely am trying my best and doing all that I can! So my investigators. Ismael. This is a husband of a member. He has been investigating the church for 12 YEARS. holy cow. anyways, he is a future bishop. i know it. seriously he LOVES the gospel. He is getting baptized next weekend! My first baptism! I'm soooo excited! He is very well-off. He has a really good job, he translates movies. Like Kung Fu Panda. He has a Mac, nice car, nice house. He is a veryyyyy good man. He said he wants to share the gospel with the people of Mexico. Such a golden investigator! I love him!

Another investigator. My first really cool experience in the field so far. We were contacting one day on a particular street and were having absolutely no success. It was discouraging. But Hermana Tirado and I have so much fun together so we are never sad or bored. Anyways, we knocked on a certain door and this old man answered. His name is Luis. He invited us in immediately. (sorry if my spelling is wrong, this computer says all of my words are wrong because they are in English..haha). We talked to him about the church and about his beliefs. He seems interested, but not like SUPER interested. Fast foward to Sunday. We were at church and were looking at the congregation and we didnt see any of our investigators. But then after Sacrament Meeting, we walked out of the chapel and there was Luis. I couldnt describe to you the feeling that I had in my heart. He had his pamphlet that we gave him when we talked to him and he was all dressed up. (as much as he could). He told us that he read the whole pamphlet and answered all of the questions in the back. He went to Sunday School and Priesthood with the men of the ward OUR WARD IS SO STRONG. I am soooo grateful! We met Luis after church at his house. He seemed so interested and already invested in the gospel. I extended my first baptism invitation to him (IN SPANISH) and he accepted!!! Sooo exciting!

My very first time contacting, we saw an old guy walking on the street so we started talking to him but I couldnt really understand him (no teeth). But after, Hermana Tirado told me that he wanted to marry me. So thats cool and weird.

So there was EFY and our chapel this last week. And the missionaries had to teach a class! It was soooo scary! It was in Spanish, obviously, and it was so hard. Latinos LOVE when people try to speak Spanish. I felt like a celebrity at EFY. They wanted pictures with me! Hahaha so weird. It was super fun though!

We had a meeting about the temple on Saturday with all of the Sisters in the mission. It was sooo good to see my old MTC district. Seriously we were almost crying when we saw each other again. Such a cool meeting and I am so lucky that I have the chance to work at the temple!

I love Mexico and the culture! I love the people! I love everything about it and I knew I would. But seriously. I am so humbled to be here. For everyone that is reading this, think about all of the blessings you have. A roof over your head, food in the fridge, clean clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, washer/dryer, bed and pillow, everything. So many people dont have even close to all of that. I walk down the streets and I am surprised. Why? Because the people are happy. There are always kids in the streets with a huge smile on their face and they come up to you and speak English to me because Im white and they know I am from America. They play sports on the streets. They help their famliy with their restaurant. They are happy with what they have! It has already been a huge lesson to me. I need to be grateful for what I have and be happy because there are so many other reasons to be happy!

I still can't believe I am in Mexico City. It just hits me sometimes. WE ALL ARE SO BLESSED. I walk down the streets and literally feel angels walking with me. I love it. It is so amazing.

I am so happy here. I didn't imagine this week to be as good and happy as it was. I expected it to be soooo hard this week. It has been hard, but I am sooo happy and sooo lucky to be here. I will write more next week!

I love you all!

Hermana Garner