The Field is White: Week 61...More Rain...and Baleadas for Thanksgiving

Well, I have 14 months... I don't know where the time has gone. But it's really weird to be living the same days over again in the mission... I don't really like it, lol. It makes me feel really old in the mish.

1. So the big question is -- did anything happen with transfers?

NOPE! YAY! We are together for Christmas and New Year's and Thanksgiving! I love Hna Archila so I am really, really excited. :) We have just kept working as normal... but as far as changes go... there will be no more changes meetings. Which means no giving your testimony when you leave to the mission either or saying goodbye to the missionaries which is LAME! But whatever... So we will just leave... But my new zone leader is Elder Erikson who was in my district in the MTC so there are three of us four who were in the same district who are together again. Elder Scott didn't follow me yet... but maybe next change. Haha

2. Someone on the Honduras missionary moms e-mail group heard that there was a bunch of civil unrest in Honduras -- have you heard anything?

I haven't heard anything. There is always stuff going on here. People die all the time but we never hear about anything.

3. Are the repairs on your house finished yet?

Nope... the floor is now finished. and the roof is fixed on the outside... but now the knob on the shower is broken... so they took it off and put a giant screwdriver wrench thing on it so we can turn it on and off while we wait for a day when they can come and repair it... but they will have to take out the tile and put on a new knob, etc... and they are going to replace some of the ceiling tiles that were damaged by the rain that came into the house... so I think it will be at least two more days.

4. Have any other packages arrived?

I got a package from Erin! I don't know if it was for Christmas.. it wasn't wrapped but it had new shampoo in it! Like really nice and good smelling American shampoo! And it smells soooo good:)

5. Grandma Gaye needs a small gift idea for you for Christmas. Any suggestions at all?

A BYU shirt to wear for P-Day (not white). Other than that, I don't know.

6. Did the gifts I sent for Fam M-C fit them? Did they like the gifts? Has J's visa paperwork come through yet so she can leave on her mission?

I only got one so far and they opened it, lol. I think that they fit. Hna M said that she liked all the shirts you sent. J left today actually for her mission! WOO HOO! And she gave me her email and everything so I can write her. :) They are so sweet! I love that family so much.

7. How are D and her family doing? Did they go to church yesterday?

They are doing well. They just need to get married, lol. They all went to church. We can only visit with them on Saturday nights, but the visits always end up with Hno F talking about random stuff, lol. He talks a lot but always about church themes or about the family. He's just really funny. But they will get baptized it's just about when...

8. How is O doing?

Yeah.... well, he hasn't been home this week and we are going to have to drop him. He doesn't sound like he wants to come to church. This week he has a lot going on and didn't want to put a cita with us, so we told him that if he wanted us to return he could call us. So now it's up to him...

9. How is P doing? Do you think she'll be ready to be baptized soon?

She is doing ereally well. Incluso, she introduced us to her sister and the elders visited her. We can teach the sister with P and she seems interested. We asked P what she thought about getting baptized in the church and she said that she was baptized in another church like a year ago... so we told her to pray about it... we will see. She comes to church and she even went to a Young Women's activity in Choloma ({like an hour away) with the young women and really, really liked it. And she keeps coming to our English class. I think that she will get baptized but that it will be a few more weeks.

10. What did you do for P-Day this week?

Hna A and I went on a hunt for Crocs... she wants new Crocs. Did I tell you that she's been wearing the black ones that I left in Santa Rosa, haha! She found them there and has been using them ever since... My Crocs are spread all over the mission, hahaha. But now they have a hole in them so she needed new ones. But we didn't find anything. We ate at Church's Chicken which was DELICIOUS! And now we are writing... nothing too exciting.

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

For Thanksgiving, Hna M sent me a message and just wished me a happy holiday and to tell me that she missed me and loved me. That meant so much to me. Because here they don't celebrate Thanksgiving and it was just a really sad day, lol. And I felt really far away from home. But then I got Hna M's message and just felt loved. :)

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

This week was really hard for us. It was raining the whole time.... the whole week was rainy and cold (well, cold for Honduras and cold for me because I have now adapted to hot weather all the time.) and no one wants to let us in or listen to us in the rain! Everyone is in their house with blankets, watching tv or sleeping... even the members. So it was really, really hard. But we went with one menos activo (less active member) and she gave us hot chocolate and it meant everything in the world to me. That's such a small thing... but after walking all day in the cold rain it was such a blessing and gave us the animo (energy) to keep working.

13. How did it go playing the piano for church yesterday? What were the hymns?

It went alright. I'm learning how to NOT be a perfectionist and how to drop notes, lol. I think that it is very good practice for me, hahaha. We played "Come Let Us Adore Him,", "As Now We Take the Sacrament", "Proque Somos" (I have no idea what that is in English) and "Come, Follow Me".

14. You said last week that you're happier when you talk to more people. Have you been able to talk to more people this week?

Actually I have. The church has a new Christmas thing this year: "He is the Gift". And we have cards to give out and a video to share with people. If you haven't seen it, go watch it! It's really good and share it with everybody and on December 7th it's supposed to be the front thing on YouTube! But it has helped us to talk and share with more people. And we have gotten two new investigators from it so that's good. There was one guy who works for a TV network here locally and he is going to put it on this network during a telethon. I thought that was cool.

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

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

They finally finished the floor! And we got to decorate for Christmas and the house is really cute. :)

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

We took lots of pictures this week! We decorated for Christmas and took fun pictures in the rain and I think that helped us to keep going and to have a more positive attitude this week.

17. What was the spiritual highlight of your week?

Getting to see the new "He is the Gift" video. I really liked it. And yesterday in church they talked about how we need to have more reverence for Sacrament Meeting and that is soooo true! But we really need to take the time and reflect and renew our convenants when we take the Sacrament and too often we take for granted that sacred ordinance.

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

I'm reading more in the New Testament... and it just makes a lot more sense. I don't know if I just never read it slowly or if in Spanish it's just easier, lol, but I finished 1 Corintios (1 Corinthians) today and I am just seeing how there are so many scriptures that, if people don't read the whole passage, can be (and are) taken out of context to mean different things. I think that what I have learned most is that we really have to read and study and not just one or two verses but we need to consider the context of the scriptures and what the main idea is and things like that so that we don't fall into misunderstainding or misinterpreting.

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

Always. I miss you too.

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

Well, for Thanksgiving we ate baleadas and drank Coke, lol... the worst thing... cooked beets. They taste like dirt. But we got invited to a Family Home Evening/birthday party and we got to eat nachos with chicken on them that was really good.

21. What was the most beautiful thing you saw this week?

THE SUN!

22. How are the English classes going that you teach?

Well, they are going alright... exept for the rain not a lot of people are coming. :( But they are still going well. The teacher didn't even show up this week because of the rain!

23. Have you been working on the Christmas music that I sent? How is it going?

Yeah, I didn't like one of them. And I realized that the Pachelbel's Christmas has a lot of Christmas songs that aren't in Spanish so they dont recognize them. So maybe you could send me a photocopy of Jingle Bells or something like that from the Christmas book that I have at home that's easy... it has a tree on the front or something... I don't know. Or maybe I will just look for something later when I have the time.

24. You said you're a little short on mission money. Have you had enough money for groceries?

Yeah, but don't worry. I'm fine! I had a problem today, though, that I put my debit card PIN in for my mission card more than once... so my card is now blocked and I don't know if they will unblock it... I don't think so... so I think they are going to have to send me a new card... so I couldn't take out anything... I'm so dumb, lol, but whatever. I have enough for today and this week... but we will see. If worst comes to worst they will just put the money on my companion's account and we will be fine. But it ticks me off that I did something so dumb. Hopefully I will be able to take out my mission money tomorrow...

My hair is growing back, but now I have all these little short, fine baby hairs that stick up!

Well... I hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving! I can't believe that it's December already....

Love you!

Hermana Gisseman

At a birthday party