"It doesn't matter if those around you don't understand....

Hola, mi familia y mis amigos!
So this week, I would like to start out with the concept of `time`. It is such an inception-like idea! In the CCM, time soo strange. For example, last week was the longest week of my life. I felt like it was never going to end and that it lasted for atleast a month! This week has been the exact opposite. This was the quickest week of my life. And now the days are long, but the weeks of fast. Es muy muy MUY loco. Perro, està bien. I think it has a lot to do with perspective. So my advice this week is: Be optimistic and look forward to every day you have! Make every day a good one and have mini adventure every second you get! Cause then no matter if time is crawling or speeding by, you will be able to enjoy the ride :)
Up next: The hermanas in my district have dubbed p-day as our music day. (The CCM president, Pres. Pratt, doesn`t let us listen to music in the CCM...no one knows why for certain). But yeah, so we listen to our music on P-days to renew our spirits cause good music is great. And we are going un poco loco without it. Today while we were listening to music on one hermanas ipod, the song `Return to Pooh Corner` by Kenny Loggins came on. I almost cried cause it made me think of me and Dad being in his Gold Toyota Camery singing that song together and lots of other Kenny songs. Good memories!
So our old fake investigator, Fernando, is getting baptized! We challenged him to baptism last week and he said yes! Not that it`s real or anything, but the spirit was there, and I was super happy for him still! Except the spanish was kinda of a barrier for me expressing my excitement cause I don`t know many words....so I kept just smiling like a looney tune and saying BUENO BUENO MUY BUENO! ESTOY ANIMADO POR USTED. Haha it was pretty funny after the fact.
To help us learn Spanish, our district is reading the Book of Mormon in spanish, and then when you get to a word we don`t know, we have to stop, look it up, and write the translation over the word. It takes FOREVER. (It took me a over an hour to do the first page in primero Nefì. Perro, our branch president said that if we did it, that when we got to the end of the Book of Mormon, we would be fluent in good `ole español!
Speaking of my branch president, President Torres, I had an interview with him on Sunday, and I asked him what I should do to continue learning spanish. He quoted Elder Scott and said that if I want to untie my tongue, I need to read the Book of Mormon in spanish outloud, I need to pray in spanish outloud, and I need to talk in spanish as much as I possibly can. He said, "It doesn`t matter if those around you don`t understand what you are trying to say cause the one of matters most (Dios) understands and He respects my efforts and He will reward them." That got me really excited to continue trying, cause sometimes it`s hard to stay optimistic. Since I had pretty much zero effective Spanish background, I feel so far behind everyone else, but I know I`ve made lots of progress! It`s just hard to remember that being in the moment, ya know?
Saturday night in Mexico City is fiesta night. They`ve all got Sturday Night Fever or something! No joke, everyone and their grandmother cranks up their music and parties into the wee hours of the morning! I honestly think it`s kind of funny... Lots of others get annoyed when trying to sleep though. Està bien. It keeps things interesting!
Sunday, once again, was the best day ever. We watched an Elder Holland devotional from last year at the Provo MTC. It was so great, and as always, Elder Holland was the man. If you can look it up, you should. It was from February 2012.
Also on Sunday, we get to watch a movie at night. This week we watched The Testaments. Goodness, I love that movie! The part at the end when Christ is with the Nephites and He heals the blind father...it gets me every time. Like clock work.
Two other awesome things happened on Sunday: First, the elders in our district gave us hermanas blessings (many of them for the first time since they are fresh out of high school). The spirit was so strong, and everyone felt so unified afterwards. It was wonderful. Second thing: I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. So the way they do it here is on Friday or Saturday, they give everyone the topic of Sacrament meeting for that week. Everyone is supposed to prepare a 5 minute talk. Then in Sacrament meeting, you find out if you are giving a talk or whatever if during the opening annoucement stuff they say your name. It`s pretty stressful honestly. But anywho, yep, I gave a talk. I gave it on 1 Nephi 3:7. We are `supposed` to give them in Spanish, but mine was straight up Spanglish....meaning mostly english, with a spice of spanish phrases every once in a while. But the spirit was there and I felt good about it, so I was happy.
Yesterday it rained, so I of course ran and jumped and did all sorts of craziness in it. The elders got a kick out of it for some reason.
Oh, and there have been 3 earthquakes since I`ve been here...but not even big enough to feel so no worries.
I know it`s not important, but this week at lunch we had curly fries AND popcicles!! I thought I had died and gone to heaven it was so wonderful! Normally, we have semi-questionalbe stuff to eat, so these little treasures were well welcomed by all! Since I am already talking about food, I would like to take this moment to say, you Americans are SPOILED. Yes, very spoiled indeed. You live up there in your big `ole country with your clean, safe water everywhere you turn. I think that is one of the things I miss the most about the USA. I miss not having to worry about the water I drink. Heck, I could drink out of the hose out back for all I cared. Here, I can`t do nothing like that. I have to drink all my water through a filter bottle. It is a bit annoying honestly, but I guess if I don`t want to die of bugs and parasites and all that other nonsense, I better do it.
Me and Hermana Nelson (an Hermana from my district) sing disney songs together when we are in the shower cause our showers back up to one another. It`s pretty great, and very entertaining.
One last thing: I met an Hermana from North Carolina the other day. She is from Chapel Hill and apparently she knows Dallin and Jaclyn! AND she kinda-sorta dated Kyle (as in Kyle Kyle.....Kyle Schultz). Bahaha... Anyways, yeah, it was so crazy! Her name is Hermana Kendra Harlos. She is super nice, but I bit crazy around the edges. It was nice talking to her though cause everything that I miss and I love, she knew about! It was so great having someone who got where I was coming from with Cheerwine and Cookout and the Blue Ridge Parkway and all that jazz..
So far, I`ve gotten no mail... but the elders in our district get mail out of the wazoo. Oh the injustice. I may have some today cause I still have to check, so HOPEFULLY I do! I want mail so bad, but it takes forever to get back and forth. And then reading and responding to all these emails is so hard under the time restriction, but I love it too! It`s a no win situation to be honest. Mail is sooo slow, so after probably friday, I wouldn`t send anymore mail to Mexico cause I won`t get it. Send it to Chile, por favor y gracias. I sent birthday cards to Marissa and Matt on Friday, so please let me know if you get them eventually! If you don`t get them...know that I thought of you guys and I sent you really cute and thought-out cards for your day of birth fiestivities! And I`m sending some letters out today and tomorrow. Sorry I haven`t sent any before now...I never have time to write them! And when I do have time, I feel bad using it for that and not for studying spanish. My balance between english scripture study and spanish language study is SO hard for me to keep in check. I`m working on it though!
Couple more random things, then I`m done:
-Zach, one of my teachers is learning japanese and I was wondering if you could send send me a little letter asap in Japanese for him. He would love it! His name is Hermano Hernandez and he is super awesome. So if you get a chance, that would be grand!
-I can`t send packages from Mexico so I will probably be overweight when I leave for Chile cause they gave us like 15 pounds of extra books and manuels and stuff. So I`m sorry if I end up having to pay a fee :/
-I may need another SD card for pictures eventually. Apparently, sending them home through the mail is a problem cause they get wiped out during processing... yo no sè for sure though.
-Also Mom, if you are ever wondering what to send me in packages, send me WHOLE FOODS POR FAVOR. I miss real food so much! Like some granola or craisins or almonds would be a God sent. Just make sure to cover it up in Jesus and Mary stickers!
I love reading everyone`s emails and hearing how everything is going! I`m so sorry if I don`t respond to individual emails...my time is pretty limited and with these novels that I`m writing there isn`t much time for anything else. And I`m soo grateful to all those who send them to me. I don`t know how my emails are being read (whether through an email list or on my blog), but I`m SO SORRY for how long they are...I`ll work on shortening them for next week..
I love you all and I miss you all and I hope you all are doing well! Y`all are all in my prayers and on my mind constantly.
Know I am doing great and that I am loving being a missionary. Even when I am having a hard time, I am learning to love it, and I am learning to rely on the Lord for everything in my life. It`s great :)
Til next week!
Love always and always,
Hermana Abigail Page