The Adventures of the Strawberry Blonde Hermana: Week 3 I'm going home with super strong arms!

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Can you believe it's the halfway mark for me in the CCM?? These past 3 weeks have felt like they just flew by!

Wednesday

So my trio has been split! I was in a trio with Hrma. Harris and Hrma. Hull but now it's just Hrma. Harris and I. I much prefer not being in a trio, it's so much easier to teach and function. But I do miss Hrma. Hull. The new Latinas are really quiet and take some time to warm up to us but they're coming round slowly. I memorized the First Vision today in less than an hour! I feel quite accomplished in life right now.

Pres. & Hrma. DuVall & Hrma. Harris

Thursday

We got to have a different teacher teach our grammar today which was refreshing. He was practicing his English and he's super funny because he tells the simplest of jokes. They're dumb but really funny because of his accent. Hrma. Harris and I have the goal of after dinner, we only speak Spanish. It's still a little rough because our vocabulary is small but thank goodness for dictionaries!

Distrito Nefi

Friday

It was Friday the 13th and I survived! Hrma. Harris and I had to teach two different "investigators" today. It went so well! Later in one of our classes, we had a little testimony meeting. First we gave our testimonies in English and then in Spanish. I had never felt the Holy Ghost like this before. The Spirit was so strong in the room. We also changed district leaders. Elder Velasquez use to be our district leader but now it's Elder Guerber.

Saturday

I am too strong for my own good ;) I accidentally pulled a shelf off the wall. Basically it was stuck in a cement wall with two little wooden pegs. Ooops! It's all good, it just slid right back into place. During gym time, I played on a team that won 7 games in a row! I felt pretty cool because I had some really good spikes.

Sunday

Sundays always seem to be the best day of the week! Sacrament meeting is always really good. Sunday school is in English. Relief Society was a little upsetting because a hermana put a quote up on the wall and I could not understand it in Spanish, or English for the matter! I was kinda feeling down on myself because I cannot for the life of me understand these new Latinas. But during lunch, I was talking to a couple and expressing what little I could about my frustration. They said not to worry about it because they could understand me and told me that I didn't have a gringo accent. Later in the evening we watched a church video about missionary work and how it is expanding. It was so cool to learn about other people doing missionary work that were not set apart to be a missionary.

Hermanas at the temple

Monday

Again we taught our "investigators" today. It is getting so much easier to teach in Spanish. Crazy to think in a week, I get a Latina companion. Gym was kind of lame today but that's alright, it's still fun to get outside and play. Hrma. DuVall (the CCM President's wife) gave a really great devotional about how great temples are. Going to the temple each week is probably my favorite activity.

Tuesday

Today was a rough day for me. It started out great. I was able to go through the temple for the 3rd time in Spanish. I'm beginning to understand a lot more and it's so much more enjoyable. Afterwards we took our traditional pictures out in front of the temple and then headed back to the CCM. After lunch, it was Pday! I was suppose to write at 2pm but because of internet problems, we were told that we were not emailing until after 7. So we went out and started playing volleyball. Not going to lie, I had some pretty good hits today. But not all good things can last. I ended up twisting funny, hurting my knee, and falling to the ground. After a few minutes of lying on the ground in pain, they took me and another hermana, who not a half hour before sprained her ankle, to a clinic to get them checked out.

4 ace bandages, a sleeve, some tape, and a ton of gauze later

Colombian medical care is very interesting... On the way there, we were told to starting crying at the clinic to show how much pain we were in. If we didn't, we would have sat and waited for up to 4 hours. I put on my best show. I only had to wait 30 minutes and then was taken back. Thankfully, I got a medical student who spoke some English. After xrays and some painful prodding of a orthopedic doctor, they determined that I just sprained my knee bad. They wrapped my leg from hip to ankle in gauze, ace bandages, and tape to prevent me from bending my leg too much. I'm also on crutches for the next week. Basically I have a week and then they will determine if I can stay out and go to my mission or if I will have to return home. Only time will tell.

Hrma Maldonado and Hrma Duff after the clinic

Wednesday

I am extremely blessed with my district. They gave me a blessing right before I left for the clinic the day before. All the elders have offered to help carry me up and down the stairs. My companion carries all of my stuff for me. And all the Latinas are very concerned for me. They're always checking up on me to see if I need something or if they can help me with something or trying to make me laugh. I feel so loved.

That's been my crazy week. I'm praying extra hard that my knee heals quickly. I know with all my heart that there is someone in Ecuador that I am suppose to meet. I can't go home right now...

Until next time,

The Strawberry Blonde Hermana

PS Crutches are exhausting! But I'm going to have great upper body strength! ;)