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)