Making cookies with Kiera

July 29, 2014

Hola familia! 

It’s been another fun week here in Fray Bentos!  Sorry I didn’t email yesterday...the last Monday of every change, we clean our apartments for three hours.  As a result, our P-Day is switched to Tuesday.  So if you don’t get an email on a Monday every once in a while, don’t be stressed.  Well, the end of this week has been full of reflections.  I cannot believe I’ve made it through one whole change.  Sorry to double dip, but I’m just going to quickly include what I wrote to President because it sums up how I’m feeling right now pretty well!

¨I cannot believe I’ve been in Uruguay for a whole change! In all honesty, it’s been the craziest, hardest six weeks of my life, but at the same time, I’ve loved it. As I reflect on the past six weeks, I can’t help but think of my favorite scripture, Alma 26:12: '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.' This past change, I have had many moments where I’ve felt like nothing. I’ve been brutally aware of how difficult it is to communicate with people in another language, how difficult it is to teach people about the gospel when you still have so much to learn, how difficult it is to talk to random people on the street, and how difficult it is to adapt to life as a missionary in general. If it were just me doing these things, I don’t think I’d be able to survive! But luckily, I’ve got someone else on my team. Although it’s sometimes hard to see and remember, I know God has been with me every step of the way. He has put huge blessings in my life as a missionary. I am so grateful for my ward, for my companion, for Fray Bentos, for my house, for the people we’re teaching, for my district, for you and your fam, and for the prayers of my family members. I still have a loooong way to go and at times, I feel freaked out because I haven’t quite wrapped my mind around the fact that I’ll be living in Uruguay for another sixteen months, but as I look back to where I began six weeks ago, I know all this stretching has helped me grow. Life as a missionary is so so hard, but it is definitely worth it.¨

Anyway, I am excited and super nervous for another change.  I guess I’m kind of obsessed with bullet points, so here are some things that have been happening lately!

·         This week, we had lots of meetings with all the presidencies in our ward.  We’ve got some good missionary goals with them, so it should be great!  During the Young Women meeting, we got assignments to do divisions with members of the presidency and some of the young women.  We ended up doing the divisions on Saturday, and they were so fun!  We visited two girls, shared a scripture about prayer, invited them to attend church, and chatted for a bit.  At one house, we even got to help a girl named Kiera make cookies!  She came to church the next day, so we were excited!

·         On Saturday, Hermana McMurray and I were in charge of a scripture game for a ward activity.  We literally had no idea what to do and had several failed attempts.  Throughout the day, I was praying we’d be able to make a fun game, and God answered my prayers!  We concocted this weird game where we told people a reference and asked them to look for a specific word.  For example, we would tell them to find the 30th word in the verse.  Then, when a team found the word, they would try to shoot a ball in a trash can.  It was a hit so I was grateful!!!

·         On Sunday, our zone leaders received information about changes.  Hermana McMurray and I were walking to our bishop’s house on Sunday and we saw the zone leaders in the street.  They totally played a trick on us!  They told us that we were going to be split up...that she would be training my MTC companion Hermana Schaeffer for these last six weeks and that Hermana Schaeffer´s companion would be finishing my training.  You guys all know how gullible I am...Hermana McMurray and I totally fell for it and even started crying a little bit.  But luckily, as we were walking away, they told us they were only kidding!

·         Hermana McMurray is experiencing visa problems so she left for a bit.  We dropped her off at the bus station this morning at 3 and she’ll be back Thursday morning.  So I am in charge of my area for a few days!  I’ve been hanging out with the other sisters today and will be going out with an older lady in our ward tomorrow.  Her name is Hermana Marisol.  She’s a cutie and is actually working on her papers to be a senior missionary, so it’s good practice!

·         I went to my first Uruguayan birthday party and it was fun!!!  It was actually for Hermana Marisol, the lady I just talked about.  We made her a giant brownie shaped like an M!

·         For some reason I never tell you guys about my Spanish!  It is going well, slowly but surely!  I understand probably eighty to ninety percent of the time, and I can teach lessons more or less!  One time, I said Jesus Christ was holding a corbato aka tie instead of a cordero aka sheep, but it’s going well.

Anyway, I love you all!!!  You are the best, and I can’t wait to hear from you next week!

Hermana Dixon