As you can tell I am fluent in 3 languages now. Haha just kidding! Anyway, week #2 in the Spanish zone was just as entertaining as week 1. We have been working hard and getting stuff done. Hermana Bunker keeps telling me that I am her hardest working companion she has had... ahh how sweet. A lot of amazing stuff has happened and a lot of not so amazing stuff has happened but that is missionary work for ya. I am going to just tell you a few of the highlights of the week rather than a full rundown of each day... that takes too long.
I can't remember what day it was but we got asked to teach the boyfriend of a member. He speaks english, yay. He may only be listening to us for his girlfriend, but while we were teaching he seemed genuinely interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and since then when we've followed up. He says he is reading it so that is awesome. On Thursday we had a lesson with a guy we have taught before and he seems really solid. Since I can't speak Spanish, Hermana Bunker has to teach by herself pretty much, but I did get to invite him to be baptized.. in Spanish even! How cool is that? He said yes too, so that makes it even better! He is on date for the end of January so I am crossing my fingers that he can come to church this Sunday and actually continue progressing. We also have two other people on date for baptism, a super sassy 9 year old and an 80ish year old lady. I honestly don't know if any of them will make it to baptism this transfer if I'm being honest, but I just have to have faith and pray for them to exercise their faith too! The nine year old and I are already homies though so I think I can work something out with her... haha! Christmas was a really good day! I got to talk to my family, open presents, and eat two dinners! Talking to my family made me so happy, saying goodbye to my family was kind of the worst. But that's okay! Haha! For dinners I had carne asada at one house and some super spicy carne thing at another house. I need to get used to spicy food, but I still have my little white girl palate so I don't know how long that'll take. Anyways! That was a shorter rundown of my week! If you like it better this way then let me know. If you like them longer I can do it that way too! I love you all and hope you had a very Merry Christmas! -Sister Hughes
0 Comments
Q1: Tell us about your flight to San Diego. How many of you flew together? Who met you at the airport? What do you do that first day?
A1-The flight to San Diego was fine. I had a headache the whole flight and didn't know what to do with myself because everyone was watching movies and stuff I couldn’t do. Our group was pretty big. There were 14 of us going to San Diego. Our mission president and his wife met us at the airport and we went to the stake center to wait for our companions to pick us up and take us to work. Q2: Who is your companion? Where is she from? How long has she been out? Are you her first greenie? A2- Hermana Bunker is from Arizona but she lived in Thailand for 15 years so she feels that Thailand is home. She has been out for almost 6 months and this is her first time training. She was trained for 2 transfers, had one normal transfer and then she got me. Q3: Tell us about your area. Do you have a car or ride bikes? What city do you live in? Do you cover branches, wards, or both? Are there other elders, sisters or senior couple nearby? A3- My area is called Sweetwater. We get a car which is really nice. We live in a city called Lemon Grove but we cover the Sweetwater Branch. Elders are over the same branch as us. Q4: Tell us about your apartment. Is it nice or gross? Can you do laundry there or will you go to a laundromat? Is your kitchen decent? Do you need sheets? A4- The apartment complex is nice, but the apartment itself is just okay. We have our own washer and dryer which is really nice. The kitchen is decent and I am just borrowing sheets for now, so I think I'm good. Q5: How are you maintaining Tagalog? Are you supposed to learn Spanish too? A5- I am trying my best to maintain Tagalog. I am reading my English and Tagalog scriptures side by side and I go over grammar and stuff, but now I am learning Spanish. I haven’t really figured out how to prioritize both languages. Q6: Did you miss the mission's Christmas events or will they happen this week? Do you already have Christmas appointments/meals lined up? Do you know when/how we can talk on Christmas? Are you able to FaceTime (or Skype or whatever)? A6- The mission has some Christmas activities going on on Friday, so that should be fun. We have a dinner lined up. I can probably only talk for about 40 minutes. I am planning on Skyping at 3 o’clock Cali time. Q7: We mailed another box of nonsense and are crossing our fingers you have something to open on Christmas Day. Is there anything else you need/want? A7- I don't think I need anything but I will let you know! Q8: We got the box you left behind. Is there anything in it you're second-guessing and want back now? Why'd you send home the Crocs? Mom took your watch back to Kohl's for a refund. Did you ever get the two watches we sent you from Amazon? A8- I got the watches - thank you! Anything I sent home is mainly because I had no room for them in my suitcase. If you want to send me the Crocs when I am in the Philippines, that would be good. Q9: The Iversons (a senior couple in your mission) are from Layton, and we told you about Carter Erickson. Does anyone else look familiar? Besides you and Sister Panlilio, is anyone else waiting for a visa or were they originally called to San Diego? A9- I saw Elder Erickson my first day here. There is one Elder waiting for his visa but I have no idea how long he has been here. Q10: How are you? Do you sleep? Do you eat? Have you adjusted okay to real missionary work? Anything else we need to know? A10- I'm great! I am eating great and sleeping great. Missionary work is hard but I love it! That's all!! Dear Brother and Sister Hughes Thank you for sending your beautiful daughter to the California San Diego Mission. We are grateful to have her here. She has received her assignment and had training and is out with her companion. Thank you for sharing your daughter with us in this great effort of missionary work for the Savior. Merry Christmas President and Sister Jan Stubbs California San Diego Mission Hey everyone! I'm in San Diego now. I will be meeting my companion soon and then most likely getting to work! I'm freaking out but really excited. I will talk to yall on pday which is probably going to be Tuesday. Love you all!! Sister Hughes Okay, so this email will probably be all over the place. I apologize in advance. Before I tell you about the insanity of the last couple of days, I want to share my favorite scripture especially because I asked you all to share your favorites. Alma 26:12 says: “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I just love that scripture so much because I am a missionary because of God, and I am strong because of him. Without him I would be nothing.
Anyway, on to the weekly update :) Friday- We just had normal class and stuff. We attempted to teach Bong (Brother Blackham) about the Restoration, but the spirit guided the lesson in a different direction that companions caught onto but I didn't. I kind of just sat there not knowing how to respond to anything he asked because we started talking about the Holy Ghost rather than Joseph Smith. I'm trying to express myself in a language that I don't know. Anyway, regardless of that, the lesson went well. Saturday- My companions and I taught Family Home Evening. We had a really good discussion with the zone about why we are here as missionaries and who we represent. We had been having problems with some of the new elders in the zone so we thought it would be could to remind everyone about our purpose as missionaries and that we need to act like representatives of Jesus Christ. Sunday- It was fast and testimony meeting and my entire district bore testimonies. The spirit was so strong and the majority of us were crying. We had district meeting and Relief Society as usual. That night we got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I really liked Sister Franco's talk about how Christmas is the season for love, service, and forgiveness. Monday- Nothing very exciting happened other than the fact that I got Chick-Fil-A for dinner. So that was great but that's about it. Tuesday- OKAY, so here is when crazy stuff happened. My companions and I hear news that Elders from a different zone got reassigned because their visas haven't come yet. Well neither has my visa or anyone else's. So....guess who got a temporary reassignment?? ME! I am going to be serving at least one transfer in the CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO MISSION. OH CRAZY IS THAT?? According to my branch president, there are 150 missionaries waiting to get visas for the Philippines. I will hopefully only be in San Diego for 1 transfer but I could possibly be there up to 3 transfers. Nobody really knows when the visas will come but we are hoping by the beginning of next year missionaries can start going there. I leave the MTC next Tuesday morning and fly to San Diego with Sister Panlilio because she got reassigned there too. Wednesday- This day lasted forever. Nothing worth telling you happened. It was just normal class and normal teaching investigators. We are no longer teaching Jesse which I am bummed about because our next lesson we were going to commit him to baptism, but oh well. This morning we did another endowment session which I always love doing. It brought me a lot of peace after everything that happened Tuesday and all the different emotions I was feeling. I am sad that I will be separated from the rest of my district soon and that I don't know when I will ever make it to the Philippines, but I am just putting all my trust in the Lord and allowing him to teach me through this experience. I love each of you and miss you all. THE CHURCH IS TRUE PS: I don't know when my next P-day will be so just keep checking my blog because I'm sure my family will be updated. |