Hoooollllaaa everyone!!
Wow the weeks are seriously flying by. I'm pretty sure I say that like every week, but it's pretty crazy that only one week from today, I'll be on a plane out to Piura!
So yes, Mom and Dad, I will be flying to Piura. Also, since we fly out on what is normally our Pday, I probably won't get a chance to email next week...just a heads up. So please don't freak out if you don't hear anything haha! Also--Mom, I'm sorry that I haven't been sending that many pictures. At the CCM we're only allowed to use our cameras on Pday until 5pm...and you know how I am about taking pictures! I will try to take some more today though and send them home as soon as I can.
And in response to Hermana B. and S. comments about the sickness...you were one hundred percent right about me not getting sick...I'm pretty sure it's because I don't eat the meat too because it turns out the people that got sick had some kind of e. coli bacteria. I was grateful that I didn't get that! However, I haven't completely avoided getting sick. In fact, this week I was pretty sick...enough so that I didn't go to classes until after 4:30 one day. It was actually way funny because basically our whole district got sick that day, so Hermana Gonzalez actually completely isolated our district...we had our own separate set of food trays, utensils and cups, as well as our own table to eat at and our own food plan. The phrase "Distrito 112" became assosicated with the sickness and everyone started kinda jokingly avoiding us. It was pretty comical to us because it actually wasn't that bad, and we're all better now...just a funny story I guess! It was kind of sad though because the cooks try SO hard here and I feel like they keep getting blamed for the sicknesses going around. It may be part of the problem, but I just feel like they never get thanked for all they do! Anyways, that's the story about that :)
Another thing that happened this week as a result of our district sickness was they decided to fumigate (I think that's how you spell it anyways haha) the whole building that we have our classes and rooms in...so on Saturday night at like 10:20, Hermana G. comes into our room and told us that the boys had all been coughing like crazy on the other side because of the fumigation, so they were evacuating us for a half an hour. It was pretty comical to see everyone in their PJS when we went in the courtyard, but it turned into a really neat spiritual experience when we started singing hymns together. I loved it. It was cool because we would switch off between the Elders and the Sisters singing, but we'd also switch off between Spanish and English. Besides the fact that we got to bed a whole 40 minutes later, it was acutally really fun.
The rest of my week has basically been spent studying Spanish, teaching investigators and freaking out about how I'll be leaving this place in a week. I almost feel like I'm leaving on a mission for a second time becuase I've gotten so comfortable with the routine of the CCM and I've come to love all the wonderful people here so much, and now it all has to change again! The other night Elder S. was talking about how one of the only constants about life is change, so we'd better just start getting used to it. I know I've heard that a million times before, but it just really hit me in that moment how true that really is.
The last thing I wanted to tell you guys about this week is what happened on Sunday. So they have this interesting thing that they do in our branch each week. Every missionary is assigned to prepare a 4-5 minute talk in spanish (our district leaders give us the topic at the beginning of the week) then they announce AFTER the sacrament who they'll be having speak. So I've been writing those every week, but nobody in our district had been called on yet, because they always end up calling on the Advanzados to speak. We all knew that since WE'RE now the advanzados, the probability of us getting called on this week was pretty high. Despite that knowledge, I let the week slip by without preparing a talk. So Sunday morning rolls around, and we're sitting at breakfast talking about who we thought would be called on. I didn't think I would so I wasn't feeling too worried...but then like three people said they thought I would, and as Hermana Ramos and I were walking back to our room, a couple more people said something to me about getting called on, so I figured I'd better prepare something just in case ;) So we went and spent a little bit of time pulling something together.
When we got to sacrament meeting, our zone leaders reminded me that I had offered to give the opening prayer for sacrament meeting this week. As soon as they told me that, I totally let my guard down thinking "there's no way they'll call on me to speak! they'll want to give other missionaries a chance to participate in sacrament meeting" Famous last words right? Sure enough, after the sacrament was over, President A. stood up, and called my name along with three others to be the speakers for the meeting. As soon as he said that I started praying. It was interesting because the topic this week was the Book of Mormon, and I just kept feeling like there were so many other people who should have the chance to speak on that--my companion for example! She's been reading like 50 pages a day so she can finish it before we leave. It was really neat for me though because I just kept getting this feeling of peace. Somehow when I got up there, the Spanish came. The ideas I had all ended up flowing together, and it was one of the neatest experiences ever. I don't know if there was something I said that helped someone in the congregation that day, but I know that experience certainly strengthened me.
Well, that's all for this week folks! Next time you hear from me I'll be a REAL missionary in the field! ;) Love you all!! Thanks for writing, it's seriously so great to hear from everyone! Always remember to trust in the Lord in all things, and He will help you to do all things that are required at His hand. (Moroni 7:33)
Love,
Hermana Garner
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