No doctors yet but I should be going sometime this week. Thanks for all the prayers! They sure are helping :) And no, it's not hurt, hurt. If I were at home I wouldn't be spending my money to go see a doctor quite yet but since I'm on a mission and always walking around and I want to be able to play soccer with everyone again instead of being the gimp playing center field, I called to try and schedule an appointment. It's not all that painful luckily. Except the other day, being the klutz I am, I fell while trying to put my skirt on and I slightly twisted my knee and man, that's when I realized I needed to go to the doctors. It hurt pretty bad, but no, it's not thattt bad. I didn't cry when it happened so that should assure you a bit. I think I just hyper-extended something. If I tore something it would've had to hurt a lot more initially, right? The brace helps and I've been wearing as much as I can depending upon the outfit and of course I wore it at soccer the other day too so thank you sssoooo much for that! And you found the skirts! That was a nice surprise :) And the journal, I don't need a journal but it worked out PERFECTLY because Yamelis, one of the sweetest girls in the world who is a semi-recent convert, the only member in her family besides her grandpa who lives in D.R., and she is only 15 but she is going through a rough time so I'm planning on giving it to her as a little form of therapy. So thank you so much for that! It's almost like you knew. And the little sticky thingy-ma-jigs - I don't know what you call those - they are the perfect scripture markers so thanks for helping me be a tad bit more organized with my scriptures... and thanks for the snack too. The sign was from Hobby Lobby? Yeah, way cute! Thanks. I don't know when you sent the package but I think you sent it on Monday, right? It came fast! It came early Wednesday morning. Suh-weet, right?
The tooth, I meant to take a picture, dang it. I PROMISE a picture next week.
Question and Answer:
How's your ward/branch? Tell us about it please. Bishop? Ward Mission leader? Members? Investigators?
I don’t know Obispo all that well, the ward mission leader is very nice and I love his family but he defiantly thinks he is the mission president. That's annoying. The members are awesome! They are patient with my learning and this week we don’t have many D.A.'s but just on Saturday alone we had 3 and then Sunday we had 2 and yeah, they feed us pretty well and always send us home with extra food so it's nice since mission budgets are small.
Cool Story of the Week:
This Tuesday when we went to go visit Luis and Rosa, we always open with a prayer, right? Well Luis volunteered to say the opening prayer and in it he thanked Heavenly Father for helping him receive an answer to his prayers! So yes, that's how he broke the news to all of us, Rosa included.
Funny part to all of it is I didn't understand the prayer so Hermana Sanchez had to translate for me and then we all started celebrating! haha. We set a date for the wedding and baptism right away! I'm so excited for them!!! They are getting married the 10th and baptized on May 11th and then they will be confirmed on the 12th. That's one way to celebrate Mother's day, ehh?? wa-hoo!
Angelina and Geurys dropped us. I don't know why exactly and we haven't had the opportunity to talk about it with them quite yet but I hope we can talk through things with them and clear up any doubts they may be having because I love them and they are such a cute family. I would love to see them go to the temple and be sealed together.
Well also had to give away Moses because we found out he lives in a different area, not our area and we have to honor those rules. So we called the Elders in Flushing and they are now visiting with him. He is a 50-ish year old man but sadly he is mentally only 9-ish. He calls us a lot to say he misses us but "our friends in Flushing treat him nice so he is glad he has new friends too."
We've been trying our best to visit less-actives and it's funny, they are half and half. Half of them are so sweet and they love missionaries so they send us home with bags of fresh tasty fruit and tell us to call them if we need anything because they would love to make us dinner every night if they could and then the other half come up with the lamest excuses ever! (instead of just being honest with us -- we respect their freedom, even when we don't agree with it). Yesterday we knocked on one less-actives door and through the door she was all "quien es?" So we said "las misionaras". She then told us that she just got out of the shower and still had soap in her hair so she couldn't meet with us right then. (really, you got out of the shower in about 10 seconds? impressive.) We asked if we could come back another day and she said she was busy. Every day? Yes, apparently so. We then told her okay well can we get your number so we can just chat on the phone? And she said she was too busy to talk on the phone and she really needed to go finish her shower. I hope she had a nice shower.
I also went on exchanges today and guess what? The other sister didn't know the area at all and of course, since it's my pool I lead us around and I'm pretty proud of myself because I didn't get us lost! Yay! I may have planned the day to stick to places I knew but still, we didn't get lost. Accomplishment.
Also, we had a zone activity and we did a chino street sweep! Yes, I spoke mandarin! I know how to say "hi, how are you?" "free english class" and "thank you" haha. That was fun to try and pretend I knew their language. The scary thing was when they tried talking back. I would just wave my hands and stick the little flyer out and say "me no speak chinese. you read this." haha. We were having fun with it. lol
That's all I can really think of....
So until next week. Nos Vemos!!
-Hermana Watts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Picture Time [April 2013]
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| view from the airplane 4.1.2013 |
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| My last night with this chicka... well, until we get to be companions again. I'm crossing my fingers we get to work together again soon! 4.1.2013 |
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| The view from on top of the Brooklyner 4.1.2013 |
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| The City 4.1.2013 |
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| Ain't it purty?! 4.1.2013 |
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| President and Sister Calderwood 4.1.2013 |
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| Hermana Sanchez climbing up the ladder... 4.23.2013 |
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| we got to hang out on the roof! (notice the knee brace. good girl.) 4.23.2013 |
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| what beautiful weather (: 4.23.2013 |
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| 4.23.2013 |
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| gotta love reading PMG! 4.23.2013 |
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| oh yeah... it was during study time. haha 4.23.2013 |
Picture Time [March 2013] ...Part 4
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| Our District at the MTC with our teacher Sister Ayala 3.29.2013 |
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| 3.29.2013 |
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| The Hermanas with Sister Avala 3.29.2013 |
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| Love these Sisters! 3.29.2013 |
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| Hunter's mom sent us Easter packages! How sweet is she?! 3.29.2013 |
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| 3.29.2013 |
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| Our district at the MTC. Bad angle but there we are with our teacher Brother Parke 3.30.2013 |
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| 3.30.2013 |
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| Hermana Ayala and me (: 3.30.2013 |
Monday, April 22, 2013
from: your gimp in NY
I'll schedule an apt with the doctors but I don't really know when it'll be. The injury happened exactly a week ago now and slowly but surely it's getting better. I can now walk to the stairs and look relatively normal, walking up the stairs, well, that's a bit of a different story. haha. If I'm wearing a long dress or skirt I can skip stairs with my right leg. But putting my left leg up first requires bending so that's painful sometimes, especially since stairs here are so dang steep, but it's getting better, little by little. Thanks for sending that knee brace though! I've been using ace bandages but they get itchy so the brace will be a nice change.
Yes, I've been stocking up on the ibuprofen and sadly I've almost already gone through a whole bottle! I've shared some medicine here and there but still, that's a lot. I never knew just how much I liked my ibuprofen. Yes, my aspirin container is still nearly full. oh the difference. haha
While Ciara is learning patience I've been getting my fair share of patience-learning trials too. It stinks, but then again it's good. We can do it Ciara!
As far as my tooth goes, you know how I got those colored filling things put on my teeth to make them all look pretty and the same color? Well, I think that's all that chipped off, it's not like and actually chip in the tooth. Plus right now, the nurse just went home so while sister Callderwood is adjusting I think I'll just lay low. I've already got the knee to make an apt for so the tooth will have to wait. It's not bad and you can barely notice but ill include pictures next time if you would like to see for yourself and then you tell me if I need to get it looked at or not. I'm hoping it's okay though!
As far as the woman playing soccer, no. I mean I'm sure they do in some places but honestly, the Mexican woman are shoppers and stay at home kind of people. Even though we invite everyone to soccer only men have come so far. Even people with kids, they only bring their boys and they leave their little girls at home. Crazy, huh! Poor girls.
We put the flyers up on Friday and we've been getting a lot of calls so we're hoping this week we will have a lot of new people come. We'll have to wait and see! I teach the advanced class (since not much Spanish is required) every Tuesday and Thursday night. We also have classes on Saturdays but the Elders take that over.
Warning: We are going to the mall today with the Elders so if there is $$ charged, I guess I found some good deals. Having a mission budget has really made me watch my money though and realize I don't like carrying cash because I spend my cash like crazy! It's annoying. Everyone takes cash. Stop taking my money!!!
Wanna know a cool story I forgot to tell you?! Sister Sanchez's ex-companion left some food in the cupboard that she didn't want to take to her next pad and guess what she left?! Besides popcorn (yummy), oatmeal, cocoa, granola bars, and peanut butter she left....(drum roll please)....ferro rochers!!! Ahhh!! Heavenly Father was watching out for me with that one :)
Luis and Rosa had a family emergency on Friday so we weren't able to meet with them. They came to church but we didn't really talk about their situation much. We should be getting and answer on Tuesday!!
Griselda, ahh, I got to finally meet here this week and I love her. She is so kind and she has such a strong testimony. Her husband is still against baptism but she is one of the strongest "members" ever. She loves participating in lessons and always has good insight. Plus she has a baby girl who is just too precious.
Talking about baby girls, last night we got to go to the hospital to visit Hermana Arvisu [a sister in the branch…not a missionary] who just had her baby. Oh man it's hard not to hold babies!! [NOTE: It is a mission rule is that missionaries are not to hold new-born babies]. He was so precious! Just a day old and the most precious cry ever. Though I'm sure I'd say that about all newborn baby crys. Haha.
Love you all!! Take care!!
xoxoxo
-Your Gimp in NY
PS --Sorry about the long wait Ciara. I know how torturous it can be. Poor Emily though. Has she received her call yet at all? She's the one I felt for the most. What a long wait!
Yes, I've been stocking up on the ibuprofen and sadly I've almost already gone through a whole bottle! I've shared some medicine here and there but still, that's a lot. I never knew just how much I liked my ibuprofen. Yes, my aspirin container is still nearly full. oh the difference. haha
While Ciara is learning patience I've been getting my fair share of patience-learning trials too. It stinks, but then again it's good. We can do it Ciara!
As far as my tooth goes, you know how I got those colored filling things put on my teeth to make them all look pretty and the same color? Well, I think that's all that chipped off, it's not like and actually chip in the tooth. Plus right now, the nurse just went home so while sister Callderwood is adjusting I think I'll just lay low. I've already got the knee to make an apt for so the tooth will have to wait. It's not bad and you can barely notice but ill include pictures next time if you would like to see for yourself and then you tell me if I need to get it looked at or not. I'm hoping it's okay though!
As far as the woman playing soccer, no. I mean I'm sure they do in some places but honestly, the Mexican woman are shoppers and stay at home kind of people. Even though we invite everyone to soccer only men have come so far. Even people with kids, they only bring their boys and they leave their little girls at home. Crazy, huh! Poor girls.
We put the flyers up on Friday and we've been getting a lot of calls so we're hoping this week we will have a lot of new people come. We'll have to wait and see! I teach the advanced class (since not much Spanish is required) every Tuesday and Thursday night. We also have classes on Saturdays but the Elders take that over.
Warning: We are going to the mall today with the Elders so if there is $$ charged, I guess I found some good deals. Having a mission budget has really made me watch my money though and realize I don't like carrying cash because I spend my cash like crazy! It's annoying. Everyone takes cash. Stop taking my money!!!
Wanna know a cool story I forgot to tell you?! Sister Sanchez's ex-companion left some food in the cupboard that she didn't want to take to her next pad and guess what she left?! Besides popcorn (yummy), oatmeal, cocoa, granola bars, and peanut butter she left....(drum roll please)....ferro rochers!!! Ahhh!! Heavenly Father was watching out for me with that one :)
Luis and Rosa had a family emergency on Friday so we weren't able to meet with them. They came to church but we didn't really talk about their situation much. We should be getting and answer on Tuesday!!
Griselda, ahh, I got to finally meet here this week and I love her. She is so kind and she has such a strong testimony. Her husband is still against baptism but she is one of the strongest "members" ever. She loves participating in lessons and always has good insight. Plus she has a baby girl who is just too precious.
Talking about baby girls, last night we got to go to the hospital to visit Hermana Arvisu [a sister in the branch…not a missionary] who just had her baby. Oh man it's hard not to hold babies!! [NOTE: It is a mission rule is that missionaries are not to hold new-born babies]. He was so precious! Just a day old and the most precious cry ever. Though I'm sure I'd say that about all newborn baby crys. Haha.
Love you all!! Take care!!
xoxoxo
-Your Gimp in NY
PS --Sorry about the long wait Ciara. I know how torturous it can be. Poor Emily though. Has she received her call yet at all? She's the one I felt for the most. What a long wait!
lo siento pero...
Hey, so this past Monday on pday as we were playing soccer with the rest of the zone, and apparently I hyper-extended my knee. I haven't gone to the doctors yet because for knee and ankle injuries the guideline is to take it easy for a few days, and then to re-evaluate. Also, the nurse (who is the president’s wife) has been really busy. I can describe it - it is just really tight and I can only move it so far. It just feels like I'm stretching a muscle a little more than it is supposed to be stretched, so it doesn't hurt but it stinks to walk because like I said I can only move it so much and lemme tell ya.... there are a lot more stairs in NY than you would think. Haha.
Anyways I know you just sent me a package and thank you so so soooo much for that wonderful, awesome package! I loved it oh so very much :) Also Jen sent me un paquete tambien and she is just the sweetest thing ever!
Anywayyyy (once again) sorry if it is a huge hassle but it would be a huge help if I had my knee brace.
Thank you tons for your prayers, packages, letters, love, support, everything!! Take care!!
Adios!
Anyways I know you just sent me a package and thank you so so soooo much for that wonderful, awesome package! I loved it oh so very much :) Also Jen sent me un paquete tambien and she is just the sweetest thing ever!
Anywayyyy (once again) sorry if it is a huge hassle but it would be a huge help if I had my knee brace.
Thank you tons for your prayers, packages, letters, love, support, everything!! Take care!!
Adios!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Dyker Heights
Wha-wha-what?!? You may want to correct wiki. Let me just tell you now, the Chinese population here is sssoooo not 15%. Maybe 65%? Then the rest is Hispanic (mostly from Mexico but quite a few from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Dominican Republic too). Then like 1% of the population goes to us white people. haha.
It's funny because we have two main streets we walk down all the time. 3rd Av. and 5th Av. 3rd Av. is the mini China town but everyone lives off of it and then 5th Av. is all the Mexican soccer, pastry, market stores and that is where we do our street sweeps and most of our finding. Basically it's a mini China and mini Mexico with one Avenue separating then. It's awesome!
One of the safest areas, ehh? That's pretty sweet! We don't go out until about 11:30 since we study all morning. We wake up at 6:30, exercise (kind of), get ready, then study from 8:00 until we need to leave or 12 if we don't have an appointment before then. We have a lot of people to teach and meet with though so I think I've only had a whole hour to do language study once now. My language study always gets cut short because we have visits to get to. That's alright by me though. Though I really ought to be studying I'd rather be inviting people to church and teaching gospel principles to those who need our help. The language will come with practice. Anyway, we have to be home by 9:30 at the latest and though we are often running late (my comp and I are always running from place to place. The Elders tease us because anytime we see them on the streets, yeah, we're running. I don't know why but that's just the way it always works out for us. Running to catch a bus, running to catch a train, running to someone's house. Siempre! It keeps us awake though and this week we doubled how many lessons we had the previous week so we're definitely getting work done!) ... we're at least home by 10:00 which ain't late at all here in NY. We make sure we never get on an empty bus though and besides that, we just keep our eyes open for suspicious behavior. Luckily since we're out during hours that everyone else is out it hasn't been bad at all. (knock on wood)
Wow, way to do your research on those trains! What else should I expect from you though pops? I think you know it better than I do! We are doing companion exchanges on Tues-Wed and the Sister who is coming with me (I stay in my area and my comp is going to Staten for the day) has never once served in the city so I get to be her guide! Meaning yes, I got maps of all the buses and trains since I'm no pro yet. But yes, D train is out of our area but not out of our zone technically though it does go out there pretty far. We have taken it twice for D.A. but that's about it. We are normally on the R train or N train and we usually just use B70 or B9 for the buses.
Yes!! The picture with like 9 brides and 9 groomsmen! That was from conference and it got me so happy! Rosa and Luis went to the morning session of conference on Saturday and the morning session on Sunday as well. In both sessions they talked about marriage and they had some awesome talks! This Friday we are going to find out if it's a yes or a no. Oh they are so sweet and I know they know it's the right thing to do, Luis is like 70 though and hung up on already being married. I know Heavenly Father will answer his prayers though. My mission dad (the DL, Elder Jensen) leave in about 3 weeks or so and so our goal is to get him a wedding and a baptism before then. I'm not normally into pushing stuff like that because if you need time than take it, this is serious stuff, but they are sooo soo ready! They are faithful and keep all the commitments and they love reading the stories in the B.O.M. They are giving up coffee and it's hard because they are so addicted but they said they prayed and they know the Lord has asked it so they will do it. Perfect response, right? So wedding, here we come!!
Story for this week:
This Saturday we (as a district) decided that one of our new "finding" activities would be to play soccer every Saturday from 11-1 and have all the members bring friends and invite our English class participants to come too that way they see that we as missionaries are oh so totally normal and they can become more comfortable with us. Well we went and started playing and boy oh boy have I missed that sport! I haven't played since being out here (except in the hallway at the MTC a time or two) and so being out on the field was refreshing. It was just way funny because EVERYONE was impressed. A hermana that plays soccer?? "unheard...ubsurd" (fiddle quote for ya). And so even though I couldn't talk to any of the people I was playing with I totally bonded with them and now have the respect of all the guys. wa-hoo! And instead of being "the new sister" at church yesterday I was known as "the hermana that plays soccer". haha. Of course I'm looking forward to the day I can talk to them but for now I just play soccer and we're friends :) Who knew soccer would be so handy on the mission?
On top of that Elder Hernandez (Jensen's comp) is a beast at soccer! He got a scholarship to Brown for soccer. He declined it but still, crazy huh? So soccer with the missionaries is a definite success. They all said they would bring more friends next time. Yay!
Challenge of the week:
Having a phone. Every other day my comp and I switch off who has phone duty and who has key duty. If you think talking to people in a foreign language is hard try talking to them over the phone. Oh golly. Especially when they use words like "tardecita" why not just say "tarde"? They like to add "cita" onto random words. Anyway, little by little it's coming.
Also, this week it decided to be rainy and windy. eww. But hey "no weather is bad weather" so we resumed the normal schedule. Needless to say, I miss Cali weather. I have never walked in so much rain before.
Love you all! Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts, you're always in mine as well. I got quite a few letters this week so I felt popular. If I respond back slowly I'm sorry but know it's coming! Can't wait to hear where Ciara gets her mission call too!!! :D How oh so exciting!
-Hermana Watts
It's funny because we have two main streets we walk down all the time. 3rd Av. and 5th Av. 3rd Av. is the mini China town but everyone lives off of it and then 5th Av. is all the Mexican soccer, pastry, market stores and that is where we do our street sweeps and most of our finding. Basically it's a mini China and mini Mexico with one Avenue separating then. It's awesome!
One of the safest areas, ehh? That's pretty sweet! We don't go out until about 11:30 since we study all morning. We wake up at 6:30, exercise (kind of), get ready, then study from 8:00 until we need to leave or 12 if we don't have an appointment before then. We have a lot of people to teach and meet with though so I think I've only had a whole hour to do language study once now. My language study always gets cut short because we have visits to get to. That's alright by me though. Though I really ought to be studying I'd rather be inviting people to church and teaching gospel principles to those who need our help. The language will come with practice. Anyway, we have to be home by 9:30 at the latest and though we are often running late (my comp and I are always running from place to place. The Elders tease us because anytime we see them on the streets, yeah, we're running. I don't know why but that's just the way it always works out for us. Running to catch a bus, running to catch a train, running to someone's house. Siempre! It keeps us awake though and this week we doubled how many lessons we had the previous week so we're definitely getting work done!) ... we're at least home by 10:00 which ain't late at all here in NY. We make sure we never get on an empty bus though and besides that, we just keep our eyes open for suspicious behavior. Luckily since we're out during hours that everyone else is out it hasn't been bad at all. (knock on wood)
Wow, way to do your research on those trains! What else should I expect from you though pops? I think you know it better than I do! We are doing companion exchanges on Tues-Wed and the Sister who is coming with me (I stay in my area and my comp is going to Staten for the day) has never once served in the city so I get to be her guide! Meaning yes, I got maps of all the buses and trains since I'm no pro yet. But yes, D train is out of our area but not out of our zone technically though it does go out there pretty far. We have taken it twice for D.A. but that's about it. We are normally on the R train or N train and we usually just use B70 or B9 for the buses.
Yes!! The picture with like 9 brides and 9 groomsmen! That was from conference and it got me so happy! Rosa and Luis went to the morning session of conference on Saturday and the morning session on Sunday as well. In both sessions they talked about marriage and they had some awesome talks! This Friday we are going to find out if it's a yes or a no. Oh they are so sweet and I know they know it's the right thing to do, Luis is like 70 though and hung up on already being married. I know Heavenly Father will answer his prayers though. My mission dad (the DL, Elder Jensen) leave in about 3 weeks or so and so our goal is to get him a wedding and a baptism before then. I'm not normally into pushing stuff like that because if you need time than take it, this is serious stuff, but they are sooo soo ready! They are faithful and keep all the commitments and they love reading the stories in the B.O.M. They are giving up coffee and it's hard because they are so addicted but they said they prayed and they know the Lord has asked it so they will do it. Perfect response, right? So wedding, here we come!!
Story for this week:
This Saturday we (as a district) decided that one of our new "finding" activities would be to play soccer every Saturday from 11-1 and have all the members bring friends and invite our English class participants to come too that way they see that we as missionaries are oh so totally normal and they can become more comfortable with us. Well we went and started playing and boy oh boy have I missed that sport! I haven't played since being out here (except in the hallway at the MTC a time or two) and so being out on the field was refreshing. It was just way funny because EVERYONE was impressed. A hermana that plays soccer?? "unheard...ubsurd" (fiddle quote for ya). And so even though I couldn't talk to any of the people I was playing with I totally bonded with them and now have the respect of all the guys. wa-hoo! And instead of being "the new sister" at church yesterday I was known as "the hermana that plays soccer". haha. Of course I'm looking forward to the day I can talk to them but for now I just play soccer and we're friends :) Who knew soccer would be so handy on the mission?
On top of that Elder Hernandez (Jensen's comp) is a beast at soccer! He got a scholarship to Brown for soccer. He declined it but still, crazy huh? So soccer with the missionaries is a definite success. They all said they would bring more friends next time. Yay!
Challenge of the week:
Having a phone. Every other day my comp and I switch off who has phone duty and who has key duty. If you think talking to people in a foreign language is hard try talking to them over the phone. Oh golly. Especially when they use words like "tardecita" why not just say "tarde"? They like to add "cita" onto random words. Anyway, little by little it's coming.
Also, this week it decided to be rainy and windy. eww. But hey "no weather is bad weather" so we resumed the normal schedule. Needless to say, I miss Cali weather. I have never walked in so much rain before.
Love you all! Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts, you're always in mine as well. I got quite a few letters this week so I felt popular. If I respond back slowly I'm sorry but know it's coming! Can't wait to hear where Ciara gets her mission call too!!! :D How oh so exciting!
-Hermana Watts
Monday, April 8, 2013
and i'm in NY!
I'm here! I'm really here! It's craziness. And by that I mean the church here in Dyker heights (that's our area in the south part of Long island) is right next to a mini China town and to travel we always take buses or the train (metro). It's nice and dirty. It is nice to be by China town though because the rices are all pretty cheap and so we get food and snacks pretty regularly. There is a Chino bake place that is just a block away from the church with tasty pastries. From Tuesday-Saturday we had already gone there 6 times. yeah, I think it's a hit. haha. I've never been in a church building as often as I am now. We have all our meetings there, we teach English class there Tuesday and Thursdays, we go there to cut out flyers, we were there for general conference, sometimes if a member can't make their D.A.(dinner appointment) they just drop off food at the church and text us and we eat there, and well, yeah, we're there a lot. I'm starting to figure out my way around. I know it's set up in a grid and so it's simple-ish to figure out but it's still a challenge. Train R? Train N? Bus B9? BusB70?? I'll learn soon enough I'm sure.
My companion is from New Jersey but really she is from Mexico. It's cool to have a native speaker because then she really is the best teacher! Her name is Sister Sanchez and while she teaches me spanish I'm teaching her sarcasm...at least that's what the Elders here keep saying. She really isn't that bad...just a little slow sometimes and she never is sarcastic herself. I don't mean to make her sound uptight though, she has a great personality and she is one of the sweetest people ever! She has been in this area for a few months so all the members know her and love her.
The members here, oh bless their hearts. I've meet most of them already and every time I introduce myself I start speaking in Spanish but then they change it to english pretty darn quickly. Me and my white-ness. They do it to Elder Waidmann too so it's not just me, luckily. And yes! I lucked out and Elder Waidmann and I are in the same zone! We see each other on a daily basis and it’s fun to update each other. It's nice to have a familiar face. I know I've only known him for 7 weeks now but when you spend every day together you get to know each other pretty darn well! And here in the mission field they have this family tree thing that they do so Sister Sanchez is my "mom", the District leader is my "dad" and since Elder Waidmann and I were "born" at the same time he is my "step-brother". He is my step-brother because his trainer is his dad and my dad is the D.L. so yeah, only half-brother, but still, that's how our family tree works! And my "dad" is Elder Jensen and you want to know something way weird? He reminds me of Dylan! Maybe it's just because I am in a whole new world so I'm making connections to people I already know to make myself feel at home. Maybe in reality he isn't anything like Dylan but oh well. In my head they are alike. haha.
Investigators! This week we got 3 new investigators. Wow-zers! We have a couple named Angelina and Geurys. Geurys took discussions a while ago from missionaries and we aren't quite sure what happened there. He remembered Gordon B. Hinckley and when I read Moroni 10:3-5 he told me Moroni was the guy with the trumpet on top of the temple. Yeah, he is so ready for this. We taught them about the restoration and are going back on Wednesday to see what they have to say about that. They have an adorable baby named Diego and I just love their family so much! I hope the best for them. We also went to teach a less active lady and her friend, Moises, who sat in on the lesson, told us he wanted to learn more. The cool thing is he speaks english so anytime we get a spanglish person I lead the discussions. When it's all spanish, I leave that to my comp. haha
Guess what else? I taught english class! I had the advanced class, which made it ten times easier, but yeah, I taught it! Of course my companion was in the room with me but she didn't even have to chime in too often. We have about 6 people who come every Tuesday and Thursday and hopefully our numbers go up. They used to have more but had to change the time to English class. We hope once people get into the routine of the 7:30 class more people will start coming again. Then I can have an even bigger class to teach! This English class is for anyone in the community, not just members so later on today we are going to go hang up flyers and try to get the word out even more.
Q & A TIME!!
How was your first day there?
It was great! Some nice man bought our district Quiznos at the airport! Awesome! And then we got a real thrill of a ride with the NY driving style. There was a British Elder who drove the 6 of us (my old district) to the Brooklyner (highest place in Brooklyn) and we had real NY pizza and the prettiest view! I left my camera in the pad but I'll be sure to bring it next time. Such a pretty view! And then, oh man, our mission president dedicated our mission (which he had yet to do) and it was so powerful! I think it gave all of us newbies (there were 24 of us) and a nice extra drive to want to go out and find everyone we could. We then went to the mission president's house, had dessert, had a little meeting, then went to bed.
Did you go contacting your first day?
While we waited for all of the other cars to arrive at the Brooklyner we had about 5ish or 10ish minutes in which Elder Munday was telling us to go street contacting. We were all a little shy and didn't really do it though. We kind of just stood around and talked about how we were nervous. haha
Who's your companion & where is she from?
Sister Sanchez, she's awesome. She's from NJ/Mexico.
Where are you in NY even?!?!
South part of Long Island in Dyker Heights.
How is the Spanish coming along?
uhh....it's not. I say "como esta?" and the other person says "good, and you?" because I'm a white girl they give their broken english instead of their fluent spanish. In one way it's a super nice stress reliever in another way, well, I wish they would practice with me.
What is your mission president and his wife like?
They are awesome!! They are very into "spirit of the law" rather than "letter of the law" and they are the sweetest people ever. They have big goals for this mission and I'm excited!
Do you have any people that you're teaching currently?
Yep! The 3 new investigators I told you about, Luis and Rosa, and then Griselda.
Griselda knows she wants to be baptized and she is doing everything perfectly. She is an awesome almost member. She had a baptismal date set but apparently she talked to a member of the seventy and he advised her to not go against her husband’s wishes but give him some time and see if his heart will be softened. So now, we are just patiently waiting on him. She is great though!
Luis and Rosa...oh man. Both of them grew up together, went their separate ways and got married, and then both of their spouses died. They meet back up at the funeral and from there comforted each other and having been living with each other for the past 13 years. Rosa wants to be married and be baptized but says if Luis doesn't want to be married she is willing to give him up in order to become a member of the church. Luis has been praying and just won't make a decision. I know it's a big decision but he feels like since he was already married once and he still loves his old wife that he doesn't want to go against that and be married again. I love Rosa's faith to do whatever it is the Lord wants her to do but I just want Luis to soften up and realize he needs to follow her example or he will lose her :/ We'll see where they go with that....
Any service opportunities?
English class! Besides that not really. Not yet anyway. All the missionaries here did a lot for hurricane Sandy though. I got here right when the million and a half projects were settling down. We'll see what else comes up though. The Elders usually help with most of the moving so I don't really know what is going to come up.
Any dinner appointments yet?
Oh my gosh our ward is great! D.A. just about every day :)
How was conference?
Is that even a question?! Awesome! And even better because Luis and Rosa came.
I missed out on snacks but Rosa is a sweetheart and loaded me up with cookies and fruit snacks (the scooby-doo ones! My favorite!) so I had some snacks but this year’s General Conference went by ssoooooo fast! I don't know what happened. Way way wayyyy good though. And Rosa and Luis were able to come to two different sessions (Sat morn and Sun morn) and in both sessions they talked about the importance of chastity so I'm really hopeful they will take that to heart and just let us throw them a wedding already. haha
Did you watch it in Spanish or English?
I got to listen to it in english with the other Elders in my district and the Chino Elders too. My comp listened to it in spanish though.
Did you get to translate for it?
Are you serious?! I know you think I'm great and all but I can only pray and bear my testimony in spanish. I listened to part of it in spanish and I could only pick up about every 5th word. They speak so fast! Not as bad as the dominicans around here though. When people speak fast spanish they call that dominican. lol
I hope that answered some of your questions.
I love you all!!!
-- Hermana Watts
P.S. -- best news for this email!! We are starting a new "finding" method to make more friends in the community and get our name out there even more by playing soccer every Saturday! :D Starting this Saturday it's going down :)
P.S.S. -- Happy Birthday Meredith!!!
My companion is from New Jersey but really she is from Mexico. It's cool to have a native speaker because then she really is the best teacher! Her name is Sister Sanchez and while she teaches me spanish I'm teaching her sarcasm...at least that's what the Elders here keep saying. She really isn't that bad...just a little slow sometimes and she never is sarcastic herself. I don't mean to make her sound uptight though, she has a great personality and she is one of the sweetest people ever! She has been in this area for a few months so all the members know her and love her.
The members here, oh bless their hearts. I've meet most of them already and every time I introduce myself I start speaking in Spanish but then they change it to english pretty darn quickly. Me and my white-ness. They do it to Elder Waidmann too so it's not just me, luckily. And yes! I lucked out and Elder Waidmann and I are in the same zone! We see each other on a daily basis and it’s fun to update each other. It's nice to have a familiar face. I know I've only known him for 7 weeks now but when you spend every day together you get to know each other pretty darn well! And here in the mission field they have this family tree thing that they do so Sister Sanchez is my "mom", the District leader is my "dad" and since Elder Waidmann and I were "born" at the same time he is my "step-brother". He is my step-brother because his trainer is his dad and my dad is the D.L. so yeah, only half-brother, but still, that's how our family tree works! And my "dad" is Elder Jensen and you want to know something way weird? He reminds me of Dylan! Maybe it's just because I am in a whole new world so I'm making connections to people I already know to make myself feel at home. Maybe in reality he isn't anything like Dylan but oh well. In my head they are alike. haha.
Investigators! This week we got 3 new investigators. Wow-zers! We have a couple named Angelina and Geurys. Geurys took discussions a while ago from missionaries and we aren't quite sure what happened there. He remembered Gordon B. Hinckley and when I read Moroni 10:3-5 he told me Moroni was the guy with the trumpet on top of the temple. Yeah, he is so ready for this. We taught them about the restoration and are going back on Wednesday to see what they have to say about that. They have an adorable baby named Diego and I just love their family so much! I hope the best for them. We also went to teach a less active lady and her friend, Moises, who sat in on the lesson, told us he wanted to learn more. The cool thing is he speaks english so anytime we get a spanglish person I lead the discussions. When it's all spanish, I leave that to my comp. haha
Guess what else? I taught english class! I had the advanced class, which made it ten times easier, but yeah, I taught it! Of course my companion was in the room with me but she didn't even have to chime in too often. We have about 6 people who come every Tuesday and Thursday and hopefully our numbers go up. They used to have more but had to change the time to English class. We hope once people get into the routine of the 7:30 class more people will start coming again. Then I can have an even bigger class to teach! This English class is for anyone in the community, not just members so later on today we are going to go hang up flyers and try to get the word out even more.
Q & A TIME!!
How was your first day there?
It was great! Some nice man bought our district Quiznos at the airport! Awesome! And then we got a real thrill of a ride with the NY driving style. There was a British Elder who drove the 6 of us (my old district) to the Brooklyner (highest place in Brooklyn) and we had real NY pizza and the prettiest view! I left my camera in the pad but I'll be sure to bring it next time. Such a pretty view! And then, oh man, our mission president dedicated our mission (which he had yet to do) and it was so powerful! I think it gave all of us newbies (there were 24 of us) and a nice extra drive to want to go out and find everyone we could. We then went to the mission president's house, had dessert, had a little meeting, then went to bed.
Did you go contacting your first day?
While we waited for all of the other cars to arrive at the Brooklyner we had about 5ish or 10ish minutes in which Elder Munday was telling us to go street contacting. We were all a little shy and didn't really do it though. We kind of just stood around and talked about how we were nervous. haha
Who's your companion & where is she from?
Sister Sanchez, she's awesome. She's from NJ/Mexico.
Where are you in NY even?!?!
South part of Long Island in Dyker Heights.
How is the Spanish coming along?
uhh....it's not. I say "como esta?" and the other person says "good, and you?" because I'm a white girl they give their broken english instead of their fluent spanish. In one way it's a super nice stress reliever in another way, well, I wish they would practice with me.
What is your mission president and his wife like?
They are awesome!! They are very into "spirit of the law" rather than "letter of the law" and they are the sweetest people ever. They have big goals for this mission and I'm excited!
Do you have any people that you're teaching currently?
Yep! The 3 new investigators I told you about, Luis and Rosa, and then Griselda.
Griselda knows she wants to be baptized and she is doing everything perfectly. She is an awesome almost member. She had a baptismal date set but apparently she talked to a member of the seventy and he advised her to not go against her husband’s wishes but give him some time and see if his heart will be softened. So now, we are just patiently waiting on him. She is great though!
Luis and Rosa...oh man. Both of them grew up together, went their separate ways and got married, and then both of their spouses died. They meet back up at the funeral and from there comforted each other and having been living with each other for the past 13 years. Rosa wants to be married and be baptized but says if Luis doesn't want to be married she is willing to give him up in order to become a member of the church. Luis has been praying and just won't make a decision. I know it's a big decision but he feels like since he was already married once and he still loves his old wife that he doesn't want to go against that and be married again. I love Rosa's faith to do whatever it is the Lord wants her to do but I just want Luis to soften up and realize he needs to follow her example or he will lose her :/ We'll see where they go with that....
Any service opportunities?
English class! Besides that not really. Not yet anyway. All the missionaries here did a lot for hurricane Sandy though. I got here right when the million and a half projects were settling down. We'll see what else comes up though. The Elders usually help with most of the moving so I don't really know what is going to come up.
Any dinner appointments yet?
Oh my gosh our ward is great! D.A. just about every day :)
How was conference?
Is that even a question?! Awesome! And even better because Luis and Rosa came.
I missed out on snacks but Rosa is a sweetheart and loaded me up with cookies and fruit snacks (the scooby-doo ones! My favorite!) so I had some snacks but this year’s General Conference went by ssoooooo fast! I don't know what happened. Way way wayyyy good though. And Rosa and Luis were able to come to two different sessions (Sat morn and Sun morn) and in both sessions they talked about the importance of chastity so I'm really hopeful they will take that to heart and just let us throw them a wedding already. haha
Did you watch it in Spanish or English?
I got to listen to it in english with the other Elders in my district and the Chino Elders too. My comp listened to it in spanish though.
Did you get to translate for it?
Are you serious?! I know you think I'm great and all but I can only pray and bear my testimony in spanish. I listened to part of it in spanish and I could only pick up about every 5th word. They speak so fast! Not as bad as the dominicans around here though. When people speak fast spanish they call that dominican. lol
I hope that answered some of your questions.
I love you all!!!
-- Hermana Watts
P.S. -- best news for this email!! We are starting a new "finding" method to make more friends in the community and get our name out there even more by playing soccer every Saturday! :D Starting this Saturday it's going down :)
P.S.S. -- Happy Birthday Meredith!!!
Monday, April 1, 2013
just a little too perfect
Life at the MTC
What were you thinking that very first day?
When you walked through the doors, what did they say?
Did they warn you to leave before it's too late?
Did you know that here you can't even date?
Were you told you'd study 10 hours a day?
And that missionaries lose their sanity that way?
Did they say it's compared to jail?
And that six discussions was minimum bail?
When you walked through the doors, what did they say?
Did they warn you to leave before it's too late?
Did you know that here you can't even date?
Were you told you'd study 10 hours a day?
And that missionaries lose their sanity that way?
Did they say it's compared to jail?
And that six discussions was minimum bail?
Or did you talk to those who love it here,
Who hold the experience as one most dear?
They'll speak of the spirit, not of the strife.
The wonderful people and the change in their life.
They won't grump or gripe for the loss of hair,
But with tear-filled eyes tell of those who cared.
Who hold the experience as one most dear?
They'll speak of the spirit, not of the strife.
The wonderful people and the change in their life.
They won't grump or gripe for the loss of hair,
But with tear-filled eyes tell of those who cared.
Take courage Sister, and do your best.
The sky's the limit; don't settle for less.
Because at the end, my friend, you'll see,
The MTC is what you make it to be!
The sky's the limit; don't settle for less.
Because at the end, my friend, you'll see,
The MTC is what you make it to be!
This poem is oh so true.
This place is great and though I'm stoked to go out to the field, I really will miss it here.
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