The Field is White: Week 53 -- General Conference and a One Year Party!

Hola! I hope you all enjoyed conference this week. :) I did!

1. Were you able to watch conference in English yesterday? What did the people there think of having two talks delivered in Spanish? Did you have any investigators at conference?

Umnnn... well, we were able to watch 3 of 4 sessions in English. The bishop told us that we would be able to watch it in our building in English when we got there, there wasn't enough wifi strength so we were watched the first session in Spanish. I understood but it just wasn't the same at all! So we are going to use study time and go watch it this week... but the other three sessions we did get to see in English. It was sooo good! I loved getting to see the different languages. We were totally going to watch the Spanish people in Spanish but we couldn't change the channel to the Spanish channel and change it back because we didn't have the remote... but it was soooooo good. The only thing is that none of our investigators went to conference. Which was a blessing in disguise because we were able to go to the stake center where they had it in English! It was way fun, too, because we shared American snacks and they put an American flag on the table, haha. There were a TON of really great talks! I really like the talk by Jorg Klebingat, too! I noticed that there were a lot of talks that talked about supporting the prophet and strengthening our testimonies of him and the church. It just gives me the feeling that things are going to get rough for us Mormons pretty soon... but maybe not. I don't know.

2. How is S doing? Did she make it to conference? She is doing well. Her son, A, had a birthday party this week and she invited us to the little party. Unfortunately they had it on Sunday.... so they didn't make it to conference. :/ I included a picture of his pinata... pinatas are the big thing for parties. They are doing well but we haven't been able to have a good lesson with her this week because she was out and about doing errands for the party.

3. How is J doing?

We haven't found her this week either...

4. How is Z doing?

Unfortunately she wasn't there for our appointment with her and she didn't make it to conference. :-(

5. How is C's family doing?

Also haven't been out to visit them... we passed by but they weren't home... hopefully we visit them this week.

6. What did you do for P-Day today?

We were supposed to watch some movie but instead as a group of gringos we just talked. The elders are entertaining. Even though as hermanas we sometimes get treated like we have leprosy. LOL But another elder, Elder Palma, made us garlic bread and beans for lunch so we stayed for the food and then came to the internet.

7. What miracles and tender mercies have you seen this week? Answers to your prayers?

So we called a menos activo (less active member) to go visit her but I didn't understand her directions well and we have never met her before. So that day while we were contacting the whole world we were just talking with this nice old man and she walked by and started talking to us and introduced herself and it was really awesome and we found where she lived but we didn't have time for a cita but it was a miracle that that same day she found us since we couldn't find where she lived. And also a tender mercy, that same day, everyone and their pet rock wanted to give us food! The elders' investigator invited us to eat lunch with them this past Sunday, S had invited us to her son's party, the man we were talking to bought us snowcones (with condensed milk, chocolate, tamarind and mora sauce... it was weird) and some Cheez-it tasting tortilla things, another hermana invited us over for baleadas, etc.. lots of food blessings this week!

8. How has someone else blessed your life this week?

Marcia threw a party for Elder Scott and I since we hit a year in the mission this week! So Thursday night we had a party with them and it was really fun.. and by party, really we just ate a lot of food. Andrea made us a cute sign. We ate 2 cakes--a piineapple upside down cake and a coconut bundt cake. And we ate little taco things with a meat mixture called sal picón (I think) with a lot of different salsas. It was just really really sweet. Also Andrea cut my hair again. :) It looks about the same just a little shorter in the front.

9. How have you blessed someone else’s life this week?

Maybe this really isn't missionary appropriate... but someone we know and love was going through a hard time financially this week and couldn't get help paying her rent. So she was behind and they wanted her to pay. None of their family really has the money to help her out too much... but we had talked to her earlier about making paintings for us. She's a really good artist and so we just commissioned our paintings early so that she would have money to pay her rent... she was going to get evicted and I just love her so much and it's not like we gave her money, we just paid her for the paintings we had requested early. But she got to stay in her home. I used my personal money, not the mission money.

10. What was the best thing that happened this week?

Conference... duh!

11. Did you have an English class again last week? If so, how did it go?

We did have another class and we taught them to pray in English and it went pretty well. We used charts that we had gotten in the CCM to teach us how to pray in Spanish so we adapted them for English. They learn well, but they have a ton of questions about random stuff. And it was funny because a menos activo came, too, but he already knows English becasue he lived in the States for 10 years... so he blew everyone out of the water, haha. But the class really needs to be longer than an hour because they have soooo many good questions and the desire to learn which is the most important. But we were working on a syllabus and handouts and homework this week which was fun. I really like teaching and planning how to teach and what to do which is probably nerdy.... but oh well, lol.

12. What was the funniest/funnest thing that happened this week?

I think just talking with the Elders... they are quite funny.

13. What was the spiritual highlight of your week?

Conference!

14. What did you learn from your personal study this week?

I finished Preach my Gospel this week and I did all the activities listed throughout it for personal study... so we will see what I study next... but I really liked trying to put myself in the shoes of our investigators to really think about how we can help them. I keep reading about the life of Christ in the New Testament and I'm still in Alma in the Book of Mormon. I'm really sorry that these emails haven't been spiritual...

15. Do you know that I love you and I miss you?

Always.

16. What was the best thing and the worst thing you ate this week?

I ATE MONDONGO!!! It's cow stomach! And I took a picture of it and it was soooo weird! It's just really, really chewy... and it does have the texture of tongue.. but the soup part was way good but the stomach was really weird..... Elder Scott took a video of me eating it -- I'll have to get it from him. I had to try it at least once before I left and now I don't have to eat it again.

17. How is your health?

I'm fine, Mom. And my hair has been falling out less. I got your package this week with the hair vitamins!

18. How are Amy and Melissa doing? And Hna B?

They all seem to be doing well.

19. What kinds of boxed foods and mixes should we send? What other things do you think they could use? Any idea when J's visa could come through so she can go on her mission?

I don't know when her visa will come, but yesterday she gave me a necklace and earring set which means a lot to me. But anything that comes in a box and that won't be expensive to mail so light things, like stuffing, cake mixes, snacks, candy etc. But A likes the nail stickers that I had. Don't worry about matching curtains... no one has matching curtains. B liikes legos, A the baby likes baby stuff (LOL), and little J likes Littlest Pet Shop, stuffed animals, Barbie, and L likes makeup and clothes... People here are so humble that you can give them hand-me-downs of whatever and they are so happy and grateful. Even the toys that come from dollar meals are like real toys here and the kids just love them. They are so generous and giving even though they have so little.

20. Do they have crock pots there? What are most people's kitchens like?

I have seen one crock pot... so not really. Kitchens here are small. They don't have much cooking space. If they have an oven it's really, really tiny. They usually don't have a lot of appliances. M has the most cooking supplies that I have ever seen here and she doesn't even have that much...

This week I went on divisions with Hna L so I went to Los Castanos for a day. It was fun... the citas always fall through when I am there, haha. But I learned a lot. There are lots of things that I can implement and work on, for example making every finding opportunity an opportunity to teach a lesson.

I got your package -- thanks so much to your friend for the Root Beer Oreos! And I got a package from Morgan -- she is so sweet!

But yeah.. this week wasn't too shabby.

Hermana Gisseman

Thanks for the new skirt, Mom!