Another week
in good ol' Arizona. (Once again, it just took me twenty seconds to find
where the apostrophe was on this keyboard. Ay.) First things first: if
you ever want to know what melted gummy-worms taste like, buy a pack and
leave it in your car in the middle of Arizona for FIVE MINUTES. FIVE.
Five, people. My beautiful sour gummy worms were literally a puddle when
we got back into the car. Curse you, Arizona
heeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaatttttttt
I told you all that I was being changed...well, it
happened! On Wednesday we had a big Transfer Meeting, everyone who was
getting a new companion met in Tempe to be assigned. I wasn't really
nervous, actually, since I still had no idea where I should even HOPE to
go, or who I should even HOPE to be companions with...I was
like...bring it.
I have my new companion! And guess how lucky I got??
There are maybe six sister missionaries who are native-speakers, and I
got one! Her name is Hermana Arellano, and she's a crack-up. She's from
Mexico, but she speaks near-flawless English. It took me a couple
minutes to realize that she wasn't a gringa! Hooray for me, because I
still get to have someone correcting my spanish! I was so nervous about
that. Anyway, we are working in the Tempe Zone, in the Rio Salado ward,
and it's awesome!
Hermana Arellano is awesome. She always wants to
learn more and more English. One of the first things she said to me when
we were assigned companions was...well...she was pretty frustrated
about the difference between "sucks" (like "this sucks") and "socks."
That was only the beginning. Two days ago we were
driving and I asked her what her favorite restaurant is. She says, "I
don't remember what it's called, but it's in Provo, it's a sandwich
place, and the name is like...'noodles'..." I was wracking my brain
trying to think of a noodle/sandwich place, and I kept saying "are you
sure it has noodles in the name?" and she was very insistent that it
did. Finally I gave up, and told her that now that I'd been thinking
about sandwiches so much, I was craving something from Kneaders. She
goes, "YES. THAT'S IT. KNEADERS." (Which, in hindsight, I can see how
that might sound like "noodles.") Then she goes on this long tangent
about how there are so many random foods named "noodle" that aren't
noodles...and I was like..."like what?!?" And she starts describing this
cookie with cinnamon on it, and I'm like, "you mean SNICKER-DOODLE?"
and she's like "YES. THAT."
The other day in companionship study she
explained that it takes a big wake-up call for her to realize that she
needs to change something...then she said that that's why the spirit
doesn't speak to her with "spiritual promptings"...it speaks to her with
"spiritual smacks to the face." She said this in English. It...was
awesome.
The list goes on and on...she cracks me up. She has
learned A TON of slang from some of the elders, like "that's legit" or
"that's messed up" or "I'm pumped"...the other day in one of our prayers
she asked that God would please help us "get pumped," and that was
probably the best plea I have ever heard in a prayer. Amen to that,
sister.
We are white-washing the area, which is interesting.
Sometimes we get frustrated with the giant map we bought the other day,
but we've been busy trying to get to know the members. Yesterday at
church I was SHOCKED by how AWESOME this ward is...I guess I'm just used
to the Chilean disorganization. (Which I love. But. Still.) The bishop
is awesome and all the members are so happy! There really is something
special about this ward.
We've started to teach one girl who is only 17
(almost 18) but has a 3 year old daughter. She is living with her
boyfriend, and they are SUPER great! They are so open to the gospel. She
came with us to the Mesa Easter Pageant on Saturday, but didn't make it
to church. We are going to work on that, but we are so excited to be
teaching them. AND they have the CUTEST puppy in the world, so that's a
plus.
Oh, back to the ward/stake...our stake president was
just called about a month ago...and he's only 27! Yeah! But he's
incredible. We had a meeting with him the other day and he started
telling us that we need to just be "thorns in the bishop's side" until
we get done what needs to get done for the people we are teaching. He is
practically fresh off the mission, his wife just had their first baby,
and he is SO awesome. At the end of the meeting, he said,
"missionaries...which wheel gets the oil?" We all responded, "the one
that squeaks...?" And he says "EXACTLY. You gotta squeak! Sure it's
annoying, but if it wasn't squeaking, we wouldn't know there was a
problem, and it wouldn't ever get what it needed!" Then he slammed his
fist on the table and shouted, "SQUEAK!"
It was a memorable experience.
Anyway,
I love you all so much. You are in my thoughts and prayers all the
time. I am loving being a missionary. A few people we've contacted have
asked us an interesting question lately...as missionaries we promise
that the gospel blesses families, and that we've seen these blessings in
our lives, and they are SO BIG that we are here to bring them to other
people, because they've made us so happy...well, I've been asked by
three different people lately...why? What are those blessings? What
miracles have you seen?
This has made me think. And now I've begun a list of
ways I've specifically seen the gospel bless my life. I think you
should all do that. If someone asked you to share an experience where
the gospel blessed your life so much that you'd want to share it with
the world, what would you say?
I LOVE YOU ALL. KEEP PRAYING AND READING AND GOING TO CHURCH AND WRITING ME LETTERS BECAUSE I LOVE IT.
Love, Hermana Thomas
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