But I'll get to that later :)
I do like being a trainer! It's hard and
sometimes I have next to no idea of what I am doing, but each day is an
adventure. It really feels like I am a missionary. My companion is great and so
hard working and has such a positive attitude. I couldn't have been more
blessed. And your right, it's not so much telling her what to do as it is just
setting the tone and moving her in the right direction.
It's nice to know that you thought of me
while watching Raise Your Voice. I did really like Hilary Duff when I was
younger so that makes sense and I sang that song for one of my vocal
competitions so there you go :) It's crazy to look people up and see where they
are now because it shows how the time passes. It's even crazier to look at our
own lives and where we were ten years, five years, even one year earlier. Oh how
the time flies. You are right! It's hard to believe that it is already the
middle of July. I'm about halfway through the hottest part of the year. I hope
August is good to me :) Hearing about your hot day and then how it is supposed
to be in the lower 80s makes me chuckle. I went outside one morning and it was
the mid-90s and I thought it was a little chilly. Crazy!
As for my week...where to begin! Last
Monday night I got a surprise visit from Amanda! It was after planning and I was
all ready for bed and just writing in my journal when Sister Caldwell and Sister
Walker came inside from putting their bikes on the rack to tell me that I had a
visitor. I knew it must be her as soon as they told me. I ran outside and kept
running until I got to her and just gave her a big ol' bear hug :) It felt so
good to hug her! I miss hugging my friends and all of you! It was so good to see
her and her mom was there too and they brought me a bunch of goodies. We took
some pictures and I would guess she probably posted at least one of them so you
could find them online. Please excuse my appearance...like I said, I was already
ready for bed.
Tuesday was the feared Transfer Meeting
where I met who I would be attempting to train for the next six weeks while I
simultaneously train myself. My new companion's name is Hermana Chavarri. If you
are wondering at the Hispanic sound of her name, you guessed correctly! Heavenly
Father loves me and He blessed me with someone who is fluent in both Spanish and
English. What a relief :) She was born in Ecuador and lived there until she was
12 when she moved to New Jersey for a year and then to Utah where she has been
until now. She is also 19.She learned English and Spanish at the
same time. She has one sister. She is a convert which is so cool! We have a lot
of fun together.
Now for the story of the worst first day
of training in the history of ever. The English sisters that we live with
arranged the rides and so we gathered all of their things (Sister Walker's new
companion is Sister Mars) and went outside to wait for our ride. We called and
she said she was on her way. Keep in mind that we live about 20-25 minutes from
the church where transfers were held. An hour later, our ride showed up. We were
the last ones there and caused further problems when she didn't have a bike rack
and so the Zone Leaders had to take our bikes. Edna, our ride, insisted on
taking us to get lunch even though we really didn't have time especially now
that she was an hour late. But we went anyway. She took us to Chick-fil-a which
was delicious, but I'm still not 100% positive that we were in our mission
boundaries. I think we were! So she was an hour late, and then it took about
another 1 1/2 to get our food and get home. By then we had no time to go to the
grocery store because we needed to have comp study for our lesson that night. We
ate extremely quickly and then had a rushed comp study to try our best to
prepare for the lesson. Then we left for dinner. I had no idea where in the
world dinner was so I just called the Spanish elders and asked them for help. I
got completely lost out in the middle of nowhere and by the time we finally
found it, we were 45 minutes late. 45 minutes!!!!! (To my credit, Arizona roads
are ridiculous and there are about 4 or 5 parts of every street on the map and
so we have to try everyone of them to find the right house number) To top it
off, by the time dinner and our lesson were over and we got to the store, my new
companion had literally only 5 minutes to get everything she would need for the
coming week. Only 5 minutes. I failed. I can officially be given the worst
trainer ever award! But Hna. Chavarri took it all in stride and it was a great
day and we had a fun time at the store scrambling to get everything as quickly
as we could.
But, as in every story, there was a
beautiful silver lining to this rather awfully executed day. At our lesson that
night, we extended baptism to the family that we are teaching. The spirit was
strong as Hna. Chavarri extended the date. All 7 who were present accepted to be
baptized on the 3rd of August!!!!! WE HAVE 7 PEOPLE ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!
It made every other awful thing that had happened that crazy day not even matter
because the work of the Lord, this wonderful work, is going forth and this
beautiful family is accepting the Gospel into their lives. Then to just add a
few more cherries atop of this already delicious treat, we prayed about it and
felt impressed to extend a sooner date, the 27th of July and they said yes!!!!
The looked so happy that they didn't have to wait as long and they are so
excited to take this step that will help them become and eternal family and
eventually return to live with our Father in Heaven again.
Other things that have happened this week as I am doing my best to figure
out this training thing. We planned out where we would go and as I was following
where the map told me to go, I had to pass the turn because I couldn't turn left
there. Because of that, we ended up getting gas then and then turning around. As
we filled up, we met a nice hispanic family that we talked to and gave our card
and they seemed genuinely interested and asked us where the church was! Never
would have met them if I had known where I was going and what I was doing. I
feel like a floundering fish at times, but the Lord knows what He is doing and
has planned it this way.
You'll be so proud of me Mom!!! I sewed! And not with a machine, by hand!
I'm actually putting to use the skills that you taught me, and it was so fun!
Sister Walker's skirt came unhemmed at the bottom and she thought that I
probably knew how to sew and I said I did...even though I only really know the
idea of it and have never hand-sewed anything before. I just acted like I knew
exactly what I was doing and combined what I had seen you do with what you had
taught me and it worked! Her skirt is as good as new :) Well maybe not quite
that good, because I'm not quite as accurate as a machine, but it works quite
well. And to top it off, I taught Sister Walker how to do it too! I just was so
happy the whole time thinking how happy you would have been to see me doing
that. Who knows, maybe I'll take up sewing and become as great a seamstress as
you! I said maybe :)
From all of our wasted miles from getting lost, we decided to spend
Saturday biking. Yeah...we are pretty crazy, I know, but it was necessary. And
it wasn't that bad! It's hot, but you don't really notice as you go. It's at the
end of the day when you get inside that you realize how hot you really are. But,
if we hadn't gotten lost and wasted so many miles then we wouldn't have rode our
bikes and then we wouldn't have met Jr. and Myra. They were loading...trying to
that is...a huge t.v. (huge as in as big as the one that used to be in Aunt
Donna's basement) into the back of their truck/car thing. And they happened to
be Hispanic! We stopped on the side of the road and helped them and gave them
our card and talked about the church. They said thank you and told us to be
careful and asked us to pray for them. It was so cool! I love small moments like
that. They make it all worth it :)
Speaking of singing...the only CD we have for our car is the Called to Serve
MoTab CD. We have quite the fun time blasting it and singing as loud as we can
and trying our best to sing as high and for as long as those sopranos do.
Needless to say, it's not quite up to par with their skill level, but it's
pretty great.
I got the package from Jenn and it had the photo book in it. Thank you for
that! Let me just say though that there were some interesting and questionable
photo selections...the slug? and that awful picture of me and Ben when I was
like 11 or 12 and in my awkward stage. Thanks for resurfacing those memories :/
It was great though, so thank you!!!
Everything is going well and I am learning so much every day. It's hard,
but it's so fun and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know how long I'll
be in this ward though. If they keep calling more Spanish sisters, they aren't
going to have anywhere to put them! It wouldn't surprise me if I go English
after this transfer. That's both good and bad! But no matter what happens, I'll
continue to serve with all I am. I love you! Thank you for faithfully writing me
every week :) I look forward to getting your letter in the mail ;)
Con mi amor,
Hermana Baria
