¡Yo ustedes ama!
Familia y amigos! I sure love you guys. Thanks so much for the emails (and I got your DearElder, mama!) I really really appreciate them! Even if I don't get to reply to them every week, know that I absolutely love all of them! Wow! I am so lucky to be so loved.
So my feet are absolutely blistered. It all happened the first week, but I am looking at my feet right now and I thought I would share. (Mom, my shoes feel fine here. Absolutely fine. Took a few days to break in, but they are good. BUT THEY TOTALLY STINK. WHY. ¿POR QUE? Anyway...I don't know about Rancagua, though. I'll let you know when I get down there!) Anyway, that's the status update on my feet.
So every single week my love for the people I spend my time with grows so much! First lets start with the Hermanas. I seriously love their guts. Poor Hermana Fast...she has the worst luck ever. The other day was the icing on the thoroughly-frosted cake. So they've served this chicken a few times this week that is SO DANG DELICIOUS. Better than any chicken I've ever had. It's like...KFC on drugs. (Can I say that on a mission?) Anyway, it's that good. So they served it one lunch and RIGHT before Hermana Fast got to the front of the line, they ran out. So we took the alternative (not good. no bueno. ugh.) Then a few minutes later, they had more, so Hermana Fast jumps up and waits in line AGAIN...and RIGHT BEFORE SHE GETS to the front, they run out again! And if you can believe it, it happened a third time...RIGHT BEFORE SHE GOT her chicken. So at the very end of lunch, I went up with her to support her during her final, desperate attempt. The servers were cleaning up, no food in sight. However, one of them recognized Hermana Fast as the girl who had tried to get food three times that day, took pity on her, and said that she was going back to get her some chicken. Hermana Fast started crying out of joy, and I was laughing my head off. Like, it's a miracle I stayed standing, I was laughing that hard at her.
Then....it wasn't even the chicken she wanted. The look on her face.....I felt so bad, but I probably should have choked and died on the air, that's how hard I was laughing.
Hermana Clawson is a dream compañera. I honestly think I'm going to bawl when we get separated. I love her! She is so funny. She laughs at pretty much everything, and it only takes a few seconds of laughter for her to produce tears! Whenever something funny happens around her she has to say "stop! stop! STOP!" or else she just laughs so hard she cries. It's unbelievably adorable. I am so grateful I have her as mi compañera!
Hermana Wilson is an athletic fun-sized person. She's so awesome! She can do, like, fifty million backflips in a row. When we play volleyball, she hits the ball like Mario in our old-school Wii game. (Not a joke. You know when you jump to hit the boxes and his fist goes up and he bends his knee? She is so funny. Ugh. I love her.)
As for my district, lets just say that I may or may not have dedicated an entire journal entry to the order in which I plan to hug each of them in 23 or so months. But...they are awful at volleyball. All of them. They are awful. We made them play with us one day....big mistake. We play ultimate frisbee with them every once in a while...to say I am dominating that sport would be a massive overstatement. Also, I was thoroughly entertained the other day as one of them drew up a design they had come up with for the perfect urinal...? Is this what it is like to have brothers?
Well, I want all of you to do something for me. Will you look up Elder Scott's MTC devotional he gave this last week? We had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the first ever world-wide MTC live broadcast from Provo, and Elder Scott was the speaker. It was about communicating with our Father in Heaven through prayer. I was a TOTAL bawl-baby, but that talk changed my life. It really did. I need all of you to go watch it. Right now. It's only an hour long, and it is beautiful. I know that you are reading this sentence right now. I'd rather have you stop reading my letter right now and just go use this time to watch it. STOP READING THIS GO WATCH IT. (Just kidding. Read this.) Really, though. Incredible.
I had a thought the other day that I shared with my district. I was looking in the mirror, and I saw my nametag. I realized that I've made a lot of mistakes in my life so far. I've done a lot of stupid things. I haven't always been who I wanted to be. But suddenly I saw "Hermana Thomas" on my chest, and right underneath it, "JesuCristo." I realized that these people here at the CCM...and the people I will be serving in Chile...they don't know McKenna. They won't know McKenna. They don't know my past. They don't know my weaknesses. The only thing they know about me is that my name is Hermana Thomas, I am a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and other than that, the only thing about me they will learn is the way I act and how I decide to serve the Lord these next 17 or so months. (17 MONTHS?!? THAT'S IT?!?) I have the chance to be exactly who my Father in Heaven knows I can be. It's like a blank slate. It felt so good when I had that thought. It was right after that devotional. Did I mention that Elder Scott's devotional changed my life? Anyway, I'm going to do all I can to become that person. Then, I'm going to incorporate this person into whoever McKenna is in 17 months. (17 MONTHS?! SERIOUSLY, where has the time already gone?!)
Did you guys start your Book of Mormons? Don't disappoint me.
Spanish is coming along. I know it will all leave the moment I set foot in Rancagua, but it'll come. I don't know whether any of the Spanish from my early years is contributing or not, but I know that el Espiritu Santo is definitely doing so. A week ago, I had the hardest day so far. And it had NOTHING to do with my spanish! It had everything to do with the fact that one of our mock investigators said that she hadn't felt the spirit once with us. (Mama, this is in answer to your question about what the hardest thing is out here.) It really, really deflated me. I'd felt like we were doing so amazingly, and then suddenly it felt like I'd regressed two weeks. It was awful. That night I prayed so hard, without stopping, for the spirit to inspire me and to teach with converting power. It was really difficult, because I didn't even feel like doing it. I didn't even want to teach.
Well, I'm here to tell you that the next lesson we had with her was one of the most amazing experiences so far. Hermana Clawson and I were both inspired to teach different things, but they worked together amazingly. That lesson, the spirit was tangible. We noticed a difference in her countinance. And then the next lesson. And then the NEXT LESSON...in which we committed her to baptism. THAT is the spirit, everyone. THAT is the power the spirit brings. I have so much confidence in the Lord, especially after that experience.
I love you all so much. I know that the Lord loves you. Please keep writing me! I absolutely love hearing about your lives! I miss you all so terribly. If you think I haven't thought about you, you're wrong. I've thought about all of my friends, all of my family, even those people who I'm not that close to. I've thought about my friends on missions. I pray for all of you, and I feel your prayers on my behalf, and they are a strenght to me.
Keep praying!!!
Love, Hermana Thomas
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