Semana 18- Goodbye Moses!

HOLA!

     We got our transfer call last night! A lot of changes are happening in the Moses Lake Zone. New zone leader coming, all the missionaries that are just finishing training are leaving. That includes me. Everyone was expecting Sister Larson to be leaving because she's been here since August, but the Lord had other plans! I am going to Royal City, and I leave Wednesday. I hate packing.

     Everyone says that your first area will feel like home for the rest of your mission, and it's true. It does feel like home. I'm going to miss it. I've heard nothing but good about Royal from Sister Larson though. She was there for 7 months before she came to Moses, and so I am pretty excited to be going to this "golden" area.

 

What else happened this week?

 

     We had a Christmas devotional! The Northern half of the mission came, and there was a lot of musical numbers, and good food. Then we watched a movie. AN ACTUAL MOVIE. Monster's University! I saw it before I came out, but I really liked it then, so I had no complaints! 

     This week has been kind of slow. Apparently it always is after a baptism. We've been exploring new parts of our area, and trying to find new people to teach. We've been seeing some success...and we've met some interesting people. And some just straight up rude people who won't even shake your hand. That's always awkward.

     I hope you are all having a great time during this holiday season! Miracles are happening everyday!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 17

Hola everyone!

     Sorry I didn't have time to write last week, but WE HAD 2 BAPTISMS THIS WEEK!!!!!! Maria and Nichole! The service was so spiritual and uplifting... until they had me sing haha. It has been so amazing being a part of their lives and teaching them! I am just so happy for them! My heart just felt so warm when I saw them being confirmed yesterday.

^Highlight of my life. 

     With the exception of my heart, this has to have been the coldest week for me. Knocking doors in single digit weather was an experience I'll never forget! It was kind of fun, in a weird "I can't feel my toes" sort of way. Apparently it NEVER gets this cold this fast here in Moses, and that last week was just off. It's supposed to get up to the "toasty" 20's and 30's this week and I am so excited.

     Our other investigators are doing well. Eva-Maria, a woman that we've been teaching has started really reading out of the Book of Mormon, and wants a blessing from the elders!

     I've been going on a lot of companion transfers lately. Sister Larson has had a lot of meetings, and whenever she has a meeting, I go with another missionary to another area for a day. I've been with Sister Porter a couple of times, and that was fun!

Someone asked me about what kind of food I've been eating. Lots of spicy soups and hand made tortillas. I've eaten pasole (I have no idea how to spell it) a few times and for nearly a week straight I ate pizza for dinner. This past week I've had a lot of thanksgiving leftovers, and pies and oh my goodness I never want to eat that much again. I hit my goal weight right before Thanksgiving, and now I'm back to where I started and I don't think Christmas is going to help. Voy a explotar. (I am going to explode.)

     Espero que todos de ustedes estan bien, y disfrutando sus vacaciones! Remember the true reason for the season! Nuestro Salvador y hermano, JesuCristo! 

Les quiero!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Baptism Day!

Our newest converts!

SNOW!

Semanas 14 & 15- A Time of Miracles

HOLA!

     So sorry I didn't get a chance to create an email last week for all of you, but we had to use a library computer and they only let you on for 30 minutes at a time AND the internet was really slow. (<-- these are not excuses, they are reasons. [and yes, there's a difference!])

     Mission work has been picking up, and apparently it always does during the holiday seasons. That just makes me so happy! People are touched by this time of charity and love and are thinking more about others and "open their shut up hearts" to our message of their Savior who is the true reason of the season. We (despite being out of our area for 3 days) have seen more success this week than ever! Miracles are happening all over the place! We met a man by the name of Martin, who always used to be drunk, but the other day we saw him washing a car with a less active named Oscar (who started coming back to church this past month after 2 years of absence, we've been meeting with him a lot lately) and we started talking to Martin about the church and then the Book of Mormon, and he said he had his own copy that he'd been reading! He showed it to us and he was all the way in Alma, and had been marking his favorite parts along the way!!! We taught him and another young man named Jose, the message of the restoration and they both said that they really believed in it, and believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God and that they want to be baptized!!! They are on date for Dec. 26th.

     I just LOVE  this time of year so much! It's not by coincidence that people are more cheerful and caring and more receptive to our message around the time that we celebrate the birth of our Savior! It is so wonderful to see the difference in people!

I hope you all are having a safe and happy holiday season! 

LES AMO MUCHISIMO!!!!!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 13

Three months already? Where does the time go?

     A few things happened the other week that I didn't have the time to mention. Firstly: SNOW!!! I WOKE UP AND IT WAS SNOWING OH MY GAWWWSSHH!!! *ahem*

     Another thing was how one of my first zone leaders, Elder Hutchens went home, or as missionaries like to phrase it "died". I remember the first time I ever heard a missionary talk about going home like that! Sister Larson was telling me how when she first came out she had two trainers because her first one "died" after the first transfer! I remember saying "Oh my gosh that is awful! I am so sorry, are you ok?" But now I understand. ;)

     Also my district leader Elder Corum got transferred to Yakima. About a half hour away from Moses Lake.

In case you were wondering about our investigators:

     The Avocado Family: Are soooooooo close it hurts! They know The Book of Mormon is true, and feel good when they go to church, but they want to feel something more, but then they just don't want to give up quite all of their catholic traditions.

     Nichole and Maria: Are what we call eternigators. Nichole has been taught since 2006 I believe, and she is soooo close (even closer than the Avocados) but she feels that she needs to prepare more before she can set a date to be baptized. She also knows The Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, she's just had things in the past that she wants to make sure she doesn't fall into after she's baptized. We're trying to explain to her that after she gets the gift of the Holy Ghost she'll have more strength and determination and the help of the Lord to overcome temptations and how the church isn't for perfect people. Our goal is to get her committed for a date in December. Maria is her 11 year old daughter and wants to get baptized with her mom. She is the sweetest! Both have a very profound knowledge of the gospel.

     Today for P-day our zone is going to some gymnastics place to have some fun! I can't even do a cartwheel so we'll see how that goes!

     I hope you are ALL doing well and are feeling the holiday spirit as we're getting close to Thanksgiving!

Les amo muchisimo!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 12

HOLY WOW.
     First transfer. Done. That was fast.
Funny Scary story
     We live downstairs and there is a big sliding glass door and at night, you can't see anything and our house is a little isolated, so I've always had this little scary thought that if someone really wanted to, they could break in and there would be no time for the police to come.
     But we're missionaries, so we should be kept safe as long as we don't do anything dumb, right? Right.
     Well one night, we were going inside, and we saw this guy walking in the middle of the road, angry and obviously drunk, and shouting at the top of  his lungs all sorts of profanity! We laughed it off, and went inside. During planning though, there was this very loud and urgent knocking at our big glass door. We thought it was the drunk man! So we scrambled to get upstairs screaming for Brother Cook. So he goes outside and we watch from the windows and there we see a couple of other sisters that we had just exchanged back with!  They were returning a phone one of them had forgotten was in her pocket when they left!
     Well that's all I have time for! I'll try to write this one first next time!
CON MUCHO AMOR

Hermana Sarah Mohun

My zone! We are beautiful! :)

Semana 11

HOLA!
     How's everybody doing? Staying safe and warm I hope! It's coats and mittens season now and I am very glad to have a car! And it is getting dark earlier, but we still have to stay in studying because I'm in training still till about 1. (3 on weekly planning days!) So we get about 2 hours of daylight to work, and then it's dead in most trailer parks. But at least the harvest is just about over, so more people will be home and less tired! I'm going to miss getting free apples all the time though! Everyone who works in the fields just has boxes and boxes of apples and they just give them away! Some are so big that you need both hands to hold them! But these people are really generous! One man we were talking to was cooking carnitas outside in a ginormous pot over a fire and was stirring the meat and broth with an oar! It was crazy! Anyways at the end of our lesson he gave us a huge apple each and some of his carnitas, fresh out of the pot! It was sooo good!
     And just to throw it in there..... I MET ELDER BALLARD AND IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER! I SHOOK HIS HAND AND HE WAS SO SWEET AND FUNNY AND SPIRITUAL! It was such a wonderful experience and I am so glad I came out when I did. If I had come out one transfer later, I would have missed it! We also heard talks by our area seventy Elder Risenmay and another member of the seventy (who spoke in this last general conference) Elder Maynes. So yeah. Best day ever.
I love you all so so much! Have a happy Halloween!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 10

HOLA.
     How is everyone? Well, I hope. I'm doing great! The work is starting to pick up the pace here and I am more busy than ever!
I'll try not to repeat myself, but I have a hard time remembering things that I've already told you guys.
     One thing I know I haven't told you guys is my latest goof up with the language. *drum roll*
     We were talking to a new convert (new meaning they've been a member for less than a year) named Ramon and after our message we asked him if there was anything we could do for him. He has quite a few cats and what I WANTED to say was that we could feed his cats. What I actually said  was that we could EAT his cats. "Podemos comer sus gatos." So if people stop letting their pets around me I'll know why.
     Not that it'd be a bad thing if people's pets would leave us alone. Dogs. Little dogs are everywhere here, and most times they don't have a leash. So some days we're walking and some little dog will start following us barking it's head off, and it'll follow us for quite a ways before it thinks we've had enough. I have been very close to kicking a couple, but figured that wouldn't reflect very well on the church.
     We had a church tour with Roger (have I talked about him before?) and it was so wonderful! And with the Avocado family, the father Enrique told Francisco (our favorite new convert) how he is going to be baptized! And they were at church! So hopefully Enrique will tell US that he wants to be baptized soon!

Well I gtg now! I love you all a ton!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 9

HOLA!
     So, we found out which senior apostle is coming to speak to us on the 26th. *drum roll*.......Elder Ballard!!! I am so excited, and our mission of about 230 (I don't know for sure) will all be there! Also, somehow it got out that I like to sing, so I've been chosen to do a special musical number at the meeting. They're having this other elder playing the piano, and he's played at concerts all over the world, and they're having me sing and I get stage fright when I sing in front of large groups. So this is really scary but flattering and I am totally messing with you guys right now! Haha! Me sing by myself in front of an audience of 200+ AND an apostle?! No way. But they did choose 20 missionaries to be in a choir out of our entire mission, and I AM singing in that. Which still makes me a little nervous, but I'll be fine. We're singing a version of Redeemer of Israel and it will be great. 
     Spanish is coming along, it's hard because I'm speaking English half the time because we're in the states and it's not total immersion, but it's coming and I'm understanding more and more every day. Puedo compartir mi testimonio en espanol.(no se como hacer n con ~ cuando estoy umm typiendo)
     Yo se que tengo un Padre Celstial y soy su hija . El me ha dado muchas bendiciones en mi vida aqui en la tierra, yo se que Dios me ama. Porque el dio su hijo amado por nosotros regresar con el otra vez por la eternidad, y es porque estoy aqui, sirviendo una mission, y tratare a ser la mejora representiva del Senor que  yo puedo.
     So yeah, that's my Spanish, I probably messed up a bit, pero estoy aprendiendo! (but I'm learning)
As for my investigators, the Avacado family (Btw I'm really good at thinking up believable pseudonyms), they are so close to baptism but we're not pushing them because they do need more time to become converted. The father Enrique is changing so much! He used to be the hardest to reach, but something's changed in him and he is quitting smoking, he's totally fine with tithing, he's asking sincere questions and everyone who knows him can tell he's different. In a good way. Happier. And the Avocado family apparently has a lot of pull among the rest of the residents of their trailer park, so hopefully there will at least be more interest among them concerning the church.
     But every now and then you find creepers and people that just want to bash, or people who aren't really rude like shouting at you or anything, but there are some who are very condescending, because we are young, and "don't really know anything about what we're saying" which can get annoying. But we just say that we've been called to share what we know and bear our testimonies and leave. Sometimes we get new investigators that way, but usually those people are just looking for a debate, which is not what we're supposed to do.
     We walked a bit more this week than normal, and you can really see fall happening here, the trees are so pretty! The Columbia River surrounds this place and during sunsets it is just breathtaking! I tried taking a picture, but it doesn't look as pretty as it is in person. We are going on a road trip here when I get back. We will go during autumn or winter because it SNOWS HERE.
     And we can go to Leavenworth. It's like Solvang, but during the winter with snow and Christmas lights, I've seen pictures and I want to go!
     Our branch is having an FHE night at the church building and I'm supposed to teach everyone how to play tarp-volley ball in Spanish, so I'm going to have to work on that today.
     Food has been very good! So we're trying to get closer with the members of our branch, but with the harvest taking up much of their time they're hardly ever at home. So they'd need help taking care of things at home right? Service opportunity??? NO. Because we're sisters we never get asked to do much service,(but the elders do) even though that's one of the best ways to bond with members! So, during weekly planning we were thinking of how we could bond with our members, and we both thought of baking! So every Thursday, we'll bake things like cookies or cobblers and then drive around delivering them to our members.
     We as a zone have also been struggling to bond. Our elders and sisters can be so indifferent to each other, sort of cold, so much so that our zone leaders have been asking my companion and I (because she's the sister training leader of the zone) how we can bond  and break that layer of ice between the elders and the sisters. We'd been thinking and an opportunity presented itself. A couple of elders who live in an apartment and have to do their laundry at a mat, didn't have the time to grocery shop because we went to the temple last week, so they were pretty much starving for this week (since they don't get many dinner appointments either) so Sister Larson and I baked them some brownies, got all the extra food we could spare (cans of soup, cliff bars, instant mashed potato mix, fruit, etc.) and gave it to them the next day). They've been friendly and warm (but not too warm haha) ever since! So service is the key! Especially with food! Making friends is easy when you have yummy food to share!
 I hope you all are doing well and I love you guys so much! Miracles are happening every day!
Les quiero muchisimo!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Semana 8

Hola! 
     Mission life is waaay different than MTC life. I knew that before, but now, living the missionary life... it's pretty legit. There is sooo much studying we do, and we have an extra hour for language, and an extra hour on top of that because I'm in training. So we don't get out of the house usually until after 2. My companion is so encouraging, with the language, with street contacting, everything, but we both need to be more... I don't know how to say it... aware? On top of things? We locked ourselves out of the car, and we had no idea where the keys were. We emptied our bags, retraced our steps, and eventually had to get a ride home. The next day my companion found them in a compartment in her bag that she forgot she had! Haha! We also almost missed out on going to the temple. We needed to wake up at 4:50 to meet at the stake center at 6:00 and get to our session by 8, but when we set our alarm for 4:50, Sister Larson set it for 4:50PM instead of AM, so we woke up to our zone leaders calling us at 6:00 asking if we were close to the stake center. That was fun. But it all worked out and we got there on time! I also found out this week that my companion sleep walks and talks. She confused me by waking me up at 2 in the morning saying it was time to get up, then knelt down and began to say her morning prayer. I got up, half asleep and started to do the same, until my mind finally caught up and thought to look at the clock.
     Now for how teaching's been. Well our area just started a no tracting policy. Our area is the experiment for the entire mission to see how only working with members goes. And like I said, we've only got about 8 active in our branch, so it's kind of slow. But we do a lot of formers, and that's how we meet a lot of new people because they are always moving in and out of the trailer homes here. We meet some interesting (and sometimes kinda creepy) characters. But we always listen to the spirit, and we're always safe!
     Our newest member Francisco is a great member missionary. He goes with us on lessons, and gave us a referal for a woman named Eva Maria. She wants to find the truth, and I hope she'll keep her commitments. We had a few investigators at General Conference which was super exciting! (Conference was awesome too btw) We had a family who are what missionaries call "forevers". They've been seeing missionaries since last year, but since we started being more persistent in teaching them, they've opened up a lot to us. They're asking more questions about being baptized, what they have to do, and with our last lesson about the law of tithing, the spirit was so strong (*and I was able to share a personal experience) and they are so close to being ready. Sister Larson and I are so pumped for them! We asked them to pray for a date that they'd think they'd be ready. (They'd been asked by missionaries before, but never gave an answer) So next time we see them, maybe they'll have a date! Teaching with the spirit in Spanish can be difficult, I know I butcher just about every other word, but they don't seem to care and can even understand me! It's so cool and I love it and I know I'll get better.
     I haven't eaten a ton of Mexican food, and honestly we've been cooking for ourselves a lot. It's not that the members don't feed us, but there's just so few of them!
     I do need to buy more winter clothes, it is soo cold!
     I hope you are all well and happy! I see the Halloween decorations appearing, and pumpkins growing in the fields and it's so crazy to think how long I've been out here already! 2 months. Wow.
IT'S GOING BY SO FAST!
I love you all and think of you all every day! Send me a letter!
8202 Quinalt Ave. Suite D
Kennewick WA 9936

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Columbia River Temple and I

Moses Lake- My 1st Area

Semana 7 (aka First week in the field!)

HOLA EVERYONE!

      So I'm just going to jump into how my first day here went.(After leaving the mission home)

      I met my companion who I will be with for the next 12 weeks. Her name is Hermana Larson and she is from San Diego! We went to check on a few formers (people who have been taught before but were dropped for one reason or another). Most of our area is trailer parks which can be a tad sketchy at night. We got pulled over (Hermana Larson said she's a terrible driver, but she's better than me so I can't talk) and luckily we didn't get a ticket. Later while in a parking lot, this drunk guy comes over to us talking about his great sound system in his car, dropping the F bomb everywhere. I laughed so hard after he left. My companion was horrified, and apologized about our crazy day but I loved every minute of it! We're going to have to buy lots of groceries since our area is pretty spread out, but there are only 8 active members in our branch (a branch is basically a tiny ward) and guess what? NO TRACTING. We are not allowed to go door to door, elders or sisters. All our lessons are meant to come through the members and formers.

      AND we had a baptism this week! His name is Francisco and I love him so much! I live with a family called the Cooks, and they are so sweet. They cook us a Sunday breakfast every week! I have a cell phone, so that's fun. I really need to work on my texting skills. I am so slow! AND the biggest surprise yet: We are going to have a meeting as a mission and we are going to have a SENIOR APOSTLE speak to us!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

      I 'll have to tell you guys more about mission life in letters or in my next email, because I just do not have time! I really to to work on my typing skills too. Just technology in general.

     I LOVE YOU ALL SOOSOSOOSOSOSOSOOOO MUCH!! MUCHISIMO!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

P.S. Yes I've started teaching, that'll be the theme of my next letter.
P.P.S. Here is my mission address! Write me!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Washington Kennewick Mission

8202 W. Quinault, #D

Kennewick, Washington 99336

My first district!

President and Sister Ware and me. :)

Semana Seis

Hola everybody!

      I can't believe I'm leaving the CCM tomorrow morning!!! I have to leave at like 3AM (Oh boy! 3AM!) and my flight is at 6:15. I am excited to be going, but honestly I'm going to miss everyone. We had 3 of our elders leave last Thursday, and 2 more left last night along with half the hermanas in our casa. I'm glad a couple of members in our district have the same mission as us. (Even though that means we can't write them) Hermana Porter y yo wrote them letters before they left. I still need to write the rest for the other Elders and my teachers before I leave.

      I got a question from a couple of people asking exactly what type of food they've been serving here and I honestly cannot answer. I've been here for 6 weeks and there are still times when I'm wondering "what kind of sauce/meat/juice is this??" I can't even tell what's in it. No one can. "It's a flavor....." and that's about as far as I get. If it tastes ok I'll finish it. No questions asked. Though that method might not have been the best since I am sick right now. Not like throwing up or anything, but runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, plugged ears, fuzzy head, slightly unsettled stomach, but no fever. Your typical cold. But I've gone about my last day just fine. It was nice to put some of that medicine to good use.

      I saw another guy I know from home: Elder (Trevor) Bird! I knew him from high school, but I had no idea about his mission call or anything! It was nice to see him after all this time.

Yesterday (Sunday) our branch president gave us our letters that we've had to write him every week (weekly report). I can really tell the progress I've made both spiritually, and with Spanish. (Though it still is pretty iffy, I can usually communicate what I want to more or less)

      I really am going to miss this beautiful place. Mom, Dad, we should visit here some day. I'll miss my teachers, my district, my branch presidency, my companion. It's hard. We gave our last lesson to our investigators this past week and I cried both times. Just imagine how bad it'll be when I have to leave real investigators. Today though was the worst/best because we finally got Mario to commit to a baptismal date which he'd refused before. But you could really feel the spirit and love and graditude that he had for us and that we had for him. I also gave the closing prayer and I barely made it though that. I really don't like not being able to give guys hugs. I would have hugged the life out of Mario (so maybe it's a good thing I can't give hugs, haha). 

ANYWAYS

      So remember how I told you guys my district is crazy? More proof. We played spin the bottle. But with a missionary-fied set of rules. The person who spins the bottle gives whoever it lands on a "brief" handshake and then the person who the bottle lands on has to share one of their favorite scriptures. Yeah, we get creative. (Of course we only play this if we're all finished with our daily planning and there's time before we have to go back to our casas.)

      I only get to do this 11 more times you guys! 72 weeks, 6 down and 66 more to go. And you know what, by the time I'm done with my 12 week training, I'll be just about 1/4 done with my mission! I don't like math. I really don't. Maybe I'll call home tomorrow. I do have a 3 hour layover in Seattle. I've never used a payphone though... we'll see how it goes.

      Also, I almost forgot I memorized a scripture in Spanish. Mosiah 3:19. Our whole district memorized it and we got brownies for reciting it to President Pratt. (It's his favorite scripture) These ones had nuts. :)

      I love you all! Know that I'll be in the air looking down on you all. ( It's like heaven, but with complimentary peanuts)

Let me know how you all are doing! Do you have my mission address? I also have goodies to send you all, so once I find a box to send them in I'll send it to you guys from WA.

Give yourselves a big BIG hug from me!

I love you all MUCHISIMO!!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

I sometimes stalk my teachers on P-days. So Hermano Silva is an "investigator" for another district too, and we saw him being taught and I had my camera and well... yeah, he's falling asleep. It's kind of his trademark as an investigator.

This is what happens when I leave my camera in the room.

Our "Crazy Time show" with our co hosts Elder Ballard and Elder Ault.

Our favorite guest Elder Smith and his companion Elder Brand (Elder Smith did not realize that he was there)

Semana 5

HOLA!
      Another week's flown by, and this next week I'll be on my way to KENNEWICK!!! I have like a 4 hour layover in Seattle, and some missionaries call home during that time, but I don't know if I should.

Stuff that's happened: 

      Well let's see, just Mexico's Independence day! That was a loud night. And we had a little (big) celebration in the gym. We saw dancers and singers- it was SO COOL.
      Guess who I saw here not 1 day after writing you guys? Elder (Quinn) Kilgrow! I was so shocked and happy to see someone from home that I nearly gave him a hug! He's doing just fine here at the MTC, and he seems happy to me! He's called me by my first name on accident quite a few times. He's gotten better though.
      Not a ton happened this week. Nothing special anyways. Poor Elder McAlister made a little goof up with his investigator this week. He wanted to say ¨Jesus Christ is my brother¨( JesuCristo es mi hermano) but what he actually said was ¨Jesus Christ is my man¨ (hombre) He's still being teased about it. :)
      I bore my testimony in Spanish last Sunday, which I think I did a good job with.
      Every night after planning for about 15 minutes our district has this thing (remember how I said they're a bunch of goofballs?) called Crazy Night with Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard is like the host, and every night he has a ¨guest¨on the ¨show¨ where he asks them questions about the craziest things they've ever done. Most nights Elder Smith is on the show, just because he is a pretty crazy person. For example: one night Elder Ballard asked him: What is the craziest thing you have ever done in public? And Elder Smith's answer: The Hakka (I have no idea how to spell that) AND THEN he demonstrated it. Needless to type, but I'll type it anyways, we were all dying by the time he finished. I don't know if I've sent a picture of this elder yet...so here you go:

That's about it, sorry it's kinda short, but I don't know what else to type, I'm sure I'll have a ton more to say about going to Kennewick next week!
HASTA LUEGO!

Hermana Sarah Mohun

P.S. I taught my first non-teacher investigator. His name is Pedro. I think he's dead now. He was handicapped. He was a bird. But he sat through my whole first discussion. SO THERE.

Semana 4

Hola!
      So I learned some interesting things about my district today: Elder MaCallister is a really good team handball player. I had never heard of the sport, but apparently he's been to Olympics like 3 times for it in Switzerland. Also there is an Elder, not in my district but here at the MTC, who is apparently a really good quarterback and is most likely going to be BYU's starting quarterback once he gets home. Elder Mangum I think?
      So apparently all the MTCs send in stories every month (Idk) but they get sent to the Prophet and guess whose story they chose to write about? MINE!!!
J.K. no, but it is someone in my district! Elder Barnes, who at first wanted to go home, and there's lots of other things too, and the President had an interview with him and his Companion Elder MaCallister. Maybe they'll put in the New Era or in a General Conf. talk. (We can hope ;))
      So there was this new sister in our branch, who got here about three weeks ago, but she's going home today. She's been really sick, like there is something wrong with her stomach. Also there were some hermanas in our casa that were really sick. They were throwing up all night, but they are better now; I have been blessed that I have not been sick since that first week. :) 
      So remember how I said the elders in my district are a bunch of dorks? Well they still are and they gave each other nicknames. The hermanas too. We don't call each other by them, but it was fun coming up with them.
Elder Duuuude is Elder Beck because he talks like such a stereotypical SoCal guy.
E. Drought is Elder Phillips because he's never been kissed.
E. Han Solo is Elder HANSen.
E. Wolf is Elder Ballard (who is not related to the gen. authority) because he has wolf socks apparently.
E. King Kong is Elder Brand because he makes ape noises sometimes when we're all trying to study. He'll stand on his chair and run at people while doing it too sometimes.
E. Hairy Potter is Elder Smith because of his glasses, plus he loves Harry Potter, and according to his companions he has a super hairy chest. Yeah, they told us that. TMI? Yes.
E.Groves is Elder Barnes because he likes a hermana here named Hermana Groves.
E. Big Mac is Elder MaCallister
Hermana Porter is Hermana Jonas because she loves the Jonas Brothers. She met them through a meet and greet, and she kissed Nick on the cheek, and gave them a Book of Mormon! (In a present bag, but they didn't open it while she was there)
Annnd I am Hemana Mulan. Because apparently that's what everybody thinks of when they first hear my name ("Mohun, that sorta sounds like Mulan"). And the Huns were the bad guys in the Mulan movie. I still think it's a stretch.
      I learned on Sunday (and I had been wondering about this since I got here) that President Pratt is a descendant of Parley P. Pratt! How cool is that?!
      I hope you are all doing well. CAN YOU BELIEVE I'VE BEEN HERE FOR A MONTH? Just gotta do this 17 more times! Haha. I love you all!
      Before I end this though, I promised to give an example of my schedule:
6:30 Arise and Prepare
7:00 Personal study (classroom)
7:45 Breakfast
8:25 Gym time (prepare, gym, prepare for class)
9:45 Investigator (progress investigator if it's your turn, study)
11:00 Class (Language study, missionary fundamentals)
12:45 Lunch
1:30 Study
2:30 Progress Investigator (or study)
3:30 Class (Language Study, missionary fundamentals)
6:15 Dinner
7:00 Study
8:00 T.A.L.L. (Language study program on the computer)
9:00 Plan for tomorrow
9:30 Plan in Casa, get ready for bed, write in journal
10:30 Prayers and Lights out
So I'm pretty busy!
I love you all and I miss you all a ton! How is everyone? Spare no details!
MUCHO AMOR,

Hermana Sarah Mohun

ALSO I FORGOT: Apparently Mexico's Independence Day is coming up, so that will be a fun night. There are ALWAYS fireworks going off in the night, and loud music. It's kind of ridiculous. We'll be having a Mexican night here on Friday, not sure what that entails but I´m excited!

Semana 3

Hola Everybody!
      Wow, first half of CCM/MTC is over, and I am shocked. To say that I am starting my fourth week here just sounds wrong. They don't kid when they say the mission goes by too fast. Not that I don't miss you guys a ton, I've just been waaay busy. We have two investigators now (have I already said this?) Hermano Silva who is Daniel, and Hermano Rogers who is Mario. Lessons are going well but we have a much harder time with Mario than with Daniel. Hermano Rogers is set on teaching us how to teach doctrines, not applications, which is A LOT harder than it seems especially with this language barrier, but that's the difference between getting converts and getting baptisms (and we want converts).
      By the way, Hermano Roger's said his dad served a mission in Lancaster, California. And during HIS mission he was companions with Riley Kellogg. Pretty crazy, huh?
      Another crazy thing, a missionary in my district by the name of Elder Phillips, said he knows the guy who made that general authorities Reese's Peanut Butter Cup video. :)
      I forgot to mention how last week my district and I were invited over to the CCM President's house for brownies one night. They were soooo good, but not as good as the ones my family makes. (They didn't have any nuts; blasphemy, am I right?)
      Eating food here at the CCM can be a bit of a challenge when there's a shortage of certain utensils. Like when you have to cut your meat with a spoon, because all the forks are gone, or eat your cereal with a fork because there's no more spoons, But we get creative and it's fun. Shortages like that haven't happened for a while now though.
      One of our Elders left a couple days ago. We fasted for him, prayed, and our teachers talked to him a lot (they really care about us and are a big comfort to us all) but he just didn't want to be here. We were all sorry to see him go.

ANYWAYS...

      My blisters have finally turned into calluses. I never thought I'd be so grateful for calluses. But unfortunately, unlike blisters, the mosquitoes won't go away, and I wasn't getting bit until this last week, so I bought some OFF today. There are just so many! It's because of all this rain. I think my first week was deceiving when it comes to the weather here, because it POURS every day from about 5pm-7pm without fail. Walking to class from dinner is perilous! We literally walk in water up to our ankles. People slip/eat it every day. I've seen more than one shoe getting swept downstream. But it's just exciting to me, but I'm not going to lie, I am grateful now to be going to the dry portion of WA. My hair, because of the humidity, was just laughable. SO FRIZZY. I was like Hermione even after using my straightener.

That's pretty much it for this week!
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Sarah Mohun

Mi casa, lucky 13

Elder Beck, stereotypical SoCal Mormon.
He even says "gnarly" and "dude", and surfs.

An orthodontist office... with the Virgin Mary... holding pliers.
I pretty much died laughing.

I just loved how they spelled it.

Segunda Semana

Hola Everybody!
      Que paso? Wow this week went by sooo much faster than the first! We finished our discussions with our first investigator (Jorge) who is now our teacher, whose name is Hermano Silva. He's kind of adorable. He's super nice, but whenever we are in his class we HAVE to speak solo Español. Otherwise he puts a mark next to our name and calls them pecados (sins). It's kind of funny. I don't have a picture of him yet, but I'll try to get one of him and Hermano Rogers, who is my other maestro (teacher).
      Sorry for the Spanglish. Spanish is going pretty well, I really need to learn how to focus better though. But in my defense, to sit in a classroom 8 hours a day is a pretty miraculous, even if I start to zone out a couple of times. And there's a piano that's constantly calling my name. Even though I don't have hardly anything memorized, (except for that song from Pride and Prejudice) I always have to fight the temptation to just play during an hour of language study (when the teacher isn't there of course :]).
      The food's iffy, I'm not sure if it's getting better...it goes up and down, but I've been able to eat a lot more. And guess what I found in the tienda... STRAWBERRY FRIGGIN MILK. It was good too! I get 120 pesos a week, and everything is super cheap. I bought a Himnario (so you guys don't need to send me one) and a big pack of cookies that taste like Chips Ahoy (don't worry I always share) orange soda, and 5 pieces of paper, so I can print out your emails, so that I don´t use my precious computer time reading them AND THEN responding to them. SO now I can focus on really writing to you guys which is nice. I know I said I'd be on at noon, but I meant noon my time, and I´m still an hour earlier than that, but when you have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, and your laundry is done by like 10, you get a bit anxious. And "a busy missionary is a happy missionary". I just don't know what I'm going to do till 6. Probably language study, or exercise. (Yes, I know, it's a miracle)
      Now we have two "investigators". But because of time, we only get to do one a day. Both of our teachers act like investigators. Hermano Rogers in the morning (who pseudonym is Mario) and Hermano Silva in the evening (whose new fake name is Daniel). We taught Daniel, who according to Hno. Silva, is based on a girl investigator he had named Danielle. So when we were talking to him, I just couldn't get it into my head that we were talking to Daniel, not Danielle. So when I asked "Danielle" if she had a boyfriend, I was asking DANIEL if he had a boyfriend. That was embarrassing. (I knew I'd have my moment sooner or later though)
      So what's going on at home? Please keep me in the loop with your daily lives. School projects, work problems, funny youtube videos you can describe, I don't care, but I just want to know! Just a note to everyone, don't bother sending me a letter just yet. I just got one from the Bentleys yesterday that they sent the day BEFORE I left. So yeah. I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SOOO MUCH! AND I MISS YOU GUYS A TON! But really, I'm already almost 3% done with my mission! 
Con todos mi amor,

Hermana Sarah Mohun

P.S. Here's my district! (Well some of them; I don't like technology.)

Elder Brand

Elder Snyder

Elder Barnes

And a few more pics:

HUGE cockroaches!

Hermana Porter, 
mi compañera

At the temple, 
looking fabulous. ;)

Semana #1

HOLA MI FAMILIA Y AMIGOS,

      Well I have Prep-day on Tuesday as it turns out. And every other Tuesday we go to the temple, which we did this morning. I only get one hour on the computer every P-day, but I´ll try to be as detailed as possible. 

      The food was a bit deceiving. Every Tuesday is pizza night, and it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either (it's ordered). But everything else (besides the bread) sucked the first few days. I thought you gained weight at the MTC, haha. But I´m getting used to it now. The first few days though were really rough on me. But my branch presidency is awesome, and so is the MTC president, they helped me, and so did the temple today, so I´m honestly feeling great now. So don´t worry, I´m already over that hill. But still, prayers of comfort and peace on my behalf are always appreciated.

       We've got our first "investigator"; his name is Jorge, and he's supposed to be 17 (investigators here are just teachers acting parts). We've had 3 lessons with him, and we've got him to commit to be baptized, but the real challenge is getting him to read the book of Mormon, AND getting his parents' permission to join and be baptized. 

      It's raining pretty hard outside right now. Harder than I've ever seen it before. It usually rains around sunset for about 10 minutes. It is so pretty here! But when we had to go through the city to get through the temple, you can really see the poverty these people live in. But they don´t think they are poor. It's interesting, to say the least. You can always hear fireworks at night, which gets kinda annoying when you're trying to sleep at 10:30. I live in a casa with about 4 other companionships, but we've all got our own rooms. And we're not in the same districts, so we don't talk very much. Hermana Porter es muy amable. We're the only girls in our district. The elders are pretty nice. (Oh no, they're hot!) But, even though they're missionaries, they're still teenage boys and the majority of them do not like to focus. But they are nice to us at least, and I really do like my district. Spanglish and all.

      Funny Story: Since a lot of us have never taken Spanish, they really don't know how to pronounce much. And one elder, when teaching Jorge, mumbled his Spanglish "pookedemormon" and Jorge thought he said book of Pokemon! Another elder accidentally had Jorge turn to the wrong scripture, when he was trying to make him understand why he should read the Book of Mormon. The verse was supposed to be about getting blessings, but the verse he had him read was talking about war and dying. So that kinda scared Jorge, haha! I can proudly say that we have not made such mistakes, but I'll bet we'll have our fair share.

      So yeah, first few days were as slow as molasses, but they say that it just flies by after the first Sunday (others say the "first Christmas" [aka P-day]). I think that's true, it's already the end of Tuesday practically. And it feels like it should be Sunday. 

      How is everyone? Miss me as much as I miss all of you guys? I doubt it. I pray for ALL of you guys every night and every morning. (in Spanish) I LOVE YOU ALL AND I MISS YOU GUYS SOO SO MUCH!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Sarah Mohun

It Began as You Might Expect...

With a mission call... :)