I went to the mission home last Monday night. Everyone
was there with their bags, weighing them...we were only allowed two bags
to check and two carry ons. The two checked bags had to weigh under
23kg...AND I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE that my final weigh-ins for those
two bags were 22.7 and 22.8. PROFESSIONAL PACKER. RIGHT HERE. High five
me someone please.
A member who had driven us all to the Santiago
temple came by to drop off another missionary, and had bought all of us
who had driven in her car a little Chilean-flag pin to wear...it was so
sweet! And I really wanted one. (PS: I am typing on a computer that is
missing seven buttons of the letters of the alphabet. Ill do the best I
can with spelling and grammar. But...not really.)
Hermana Kenney and I cried a bit when we said
goodbye. I am so grateful that she and I have become such great friends!
Then we packed our bags into the minivans and headed out. We shook
President Warnes hand goodbye, then walked through this tunnel...and
that was it. Chow, Chile Rancagua. Oh. It was so weird. I had no idea
where I was going or anything. I felt like I was in this limbo of some
sort. I am so grateful that I had Hermana Berbert with me, going to the
same mission--I didn't feel so alone for that!
We actually immediately ran into a member who lives
in the Tempe Arizona mission! In the middle of Chile! It was awesome. He
was really excited to see us, and bought all four of us missionaries
dinner. Then he left us to leave for his flight. A few minutes later us
four were joking around about how we wanted something to drink now, and
that we were going to go find him and ask him if we could have one (we
were all TOTALLY joking,) when in that very SECOND he comes up behind us
and said, "hey, just found two more missionaries, Im gonna buy them
food too, you guys want something to drink?" It...was awesome. And
pretty funny.
The flight was long, and Chile sent me off with an
AWFUL stomach ache from that Chilean airline food (thanks, Chile, been
nice knowin' ya,) so that made the sad parting a little more (or less)
bearable. Anyway, when we got to Dallas all of us parted for our
connecting flights, wishing each other luck. Hermana Berbert and I
searched for our next terminal, which was actually difficult to find
(when we asked a nice old lady employee how to get there, she delicately
described this gate as the "unloved stepchild" of the airport.) Anyway,
we were still lost after her directions, and luckily another employee
spotted us in our confusion. He was a big, black guy, and he goes, "you
ladies lost?" We sheepishly told him yes, and he told us he would bring us to
our gate. (Has anyone caught on to the fact yet that I can't find where
the apostrophe mark is on this keyboard...?)
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| Hermana Thomas with President and Sister Toone of the Tempe, Arizona mission. |
So we were walking with this guy, and he looks at
our name tags and goes, "oh, for a second I though you guys were Mormons." We told him we actually were, and he goes, "Oh! Okay, so I got
a question for y'all. Who..is the second prophet in the Book of Mormon?"
We looked at each other, confused, and said, "umm...I guess...Nephi.
Why?" He repeated the question, as if expecting a different answer, but
we firmly said Nephi again. He shook his head and said "Nah, nah, nah,
Brigham Young, y'all." (Obviously this guy has never read the book.)
Anyway, we kind of laughed, still not sure why he was talking about it,
and he asked us, "is he dead? Is Brigham Young dead?" "...yes...hes
dead..." "alright, yall, but what does death really mean?" At this
point, we had no idea what to say. I mean, I was about to whip out my
PMG and explain how death is only a separation between our physical
bodies and our spirits, when he just says exasperatedly, "I AM BRIGHAM
YOUNG!" Hermana Berbert and I were pretty weirded out by this point, and
kind of awkwardly chuckled, and he was like, "fo real, y'all, check it
out," and we look at his name tag and sure enough his name really is
Brigham Young. For reals. So we both start laughing hysterically, and
hes laughing, and he says, "so y'all can go tell your little Mormon
friends that y'all met Brigham Young, and hes black." And then...he left
us at the gate without another word. IT WAS THE GREATEST MOMENT EVER. We
were DYING of laughter.
So. Then we took another plane to Arizona. We were
met by Sister Toone (the wife of the president,) and two other cute as
heck, happy as anything Sisters. They took us around, helped us get to
know the office workers a bit, and then we ate lunch with them and
waited for President Toone to come.
President Toone is awesome. Amazing. The spirit is
so strong when he speaks. Hes also seven feet tall. Literally. But he
and Sister Toone and amazing, consecrated people. I know Im going to
learn a lot from them.
We slept the night in the mission home, then we went
with President to a zone conference he was having in Tempe...it was
awesome. Seriously. I have so much to learn from these people.
The mission here is SO DIFFERENT. First of all, we have bikes and
cars. We also have touch screen phones and IPADS. WHAT. And if that wasn't enough...FACEBOOK. Its wigging me out. I was so uncomfortable the
first time I logged on. I felt like I needed to repent.
Also, there is an attitude in this mission...and its
OUT OF CONTROL HAPPINESS. Oh my word, it is so funny. I mean, we were
happy in Rancagua, but in a..tired way (as Hermana Berbert put it.) But
here...its like...bouncing off the walls, missionary work is the bomb,
were gonna rock it today, smiling laughing CRAZINESS. I think my Zone
Leaders must fall asleep smiling with their teeth all night. I kind of
love it, but at first it was actually overwhelming! But they are so
happy!
Which brings me to my companion...Hermana Homer! She
is awesome. So funny. I love her laugh! Shes from South Dakota and has
been out for five months. I'm actually very impressed with her Spanish.
Oh my gosh, shes so funny. The other day we were biking and she out of
nowhere swerved around to grab a hat off the street. It was this ugly
ratty hat, and she said she just wanted it. No other reason. Oh, she
makes me laugh. I think she is the perfect companion for me, because if
we weren't laughing all the time, I think Id be a little more down about
switching missions.
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| Hermana Thomas and Hermana Homer in Phoenix |
I live with Hermana Berbert, and we are having a
blast! Also, we are riding bikes every day since there aren't more miles
on the car...BIKING IS KIND OF THE WORST. I think Id rather have a
walking mission. My legs are hurting in places I didn't know existed. I
ran into a car the other day. Parked car. I need to buy a bike pronto,
this one is SO OLD. Everyone that sees it is like, holy cow, how did you
get stuck with that one. The other night Sister Homer let me ride her
bike for a bit and she rode mine, and she started singing that music
from the Wizard of Oz when the wicked witch is riding on her bike/broom.
Its so true though. AND THE SQUEAKING. OH, THE SQUEAKING.
I love Arizona already. Hermana Homer and I are
pretty much white washing, but were praying for a miracle! I wish I had
more time to type and tell you EVERYTHING, but I cant print my emails
and I still haven't read them so I'm going to end now so I can read, but I
LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH. I'm doing good!
Love, Hermana Thomas
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