9
MONTHS. NINE. COUNT 'EM. Holy cow. It seriously feels like two weeks
ago that I hit 6 months in the mission. I can't believe how quickly time
flies here. Why didn't the hours feel like minutes when I was sitting
down practicing for my piano lesson? I remember wishing SO BAD that I
had a remote control that fast-forwarded life for those few hours I
spent practicing. Can I have a remote that slows time down a little,
now?
My nine-month mark was a little different than I'd
imagined it would be. Usually that's the point where people think,
"yeah, I kind of get this mission-thing," they've kind of been around
the track a few times, they get it. Well, welcome to THAT IS NEVER MY
LIFE. I never know what's going on. Here I am in the middle of Arizona,
learning new mission rules, new traditions, a new language (MEXICAN
SPANISH. IS SO. DIFFERENT.), etc. But if there's one lesson I've learned
in my life, it is to love where you are while you're there! So that's
the plan. And so far, it's worked out pretty nicely.
So many things have happened in the last nine months, including...drum-roll, please.................
Hermana Berbert and I spent some quality time
getting totally LOST in Arizona together to retrieve this medication.
And while I'm glad (hopefully) that this saga in my life is finally
coming to an end, let me tell you, it was not as easy as a "snap the
neck" ending. It took Hermana Berbert and I TWO DAYS to get it all
sorted out. Her companionship has an iPhone, so we put the address to
the doctor's office in there, but lo and behold, thanks to my eternal
pot of guess-what-it's-not-that-easy, the phone died in less than ten
minutes of our journey, and we were left to fend for ourselves in the
midst of the Gilbert Arizona deserts. Luckily, we pulled into a
photography place with a REALLY nice lady who has a LOT of Latter-Day
Saint friends, and she was more than happy to help us out.
With her directions, we found the doctors office.
The doctor is awesome, he's a member and doesn't charge missionaries
anything, so that part was nice a quick (but not without my terrifying
fears that someone somewhere in that office was preparing a
needle-injection for me while I was unawares.) Anyway, then we went and
took an x-ray, where there was confusion about some insurance, then we
went out to search for this B-6 Vitamin in 25 mg that we have to take
with out medication to avoid the side effect of our limbs going numb
(kind of important,) which, SURPRISE, almost no one sells in 25 mg.
Anyway, through this whole adventure, I just reminded myself how
thankful I was that I was getting the help I needed. It was actually
fun...Hermana Berbert and I rehashed them ol' Chilean memories, and
talked about how excited we are to work in Arizona.
Really, this mission is so cool. It's so different,
but it's so cool! I love it here. I love the President and his wife, the
missionaries, and especially the people! Arizona, man...it's its own
thing.
This week was also scattered with some more "Baby's
First"s. Hermana Berbert and I "stumbled upon" (code words for "searched
embarrassingly-diligently for") a Chic-Fil-A...chicken nuggets have
never tasted so heavenly. I also indulged myself with my first pint of
Ben and Jerry's cookie-dough ice cream. (#health) (It was me and a
spoon. That was nice.)
Hermana Arellano and I got to help with the Easter
Pageant again! It was so awesome. There were two highlights of the
night. I will start with the spiritual one: we were all given little
hand outs to give to people, inviting them to visit the Visitor's
Center. I got to a group of women, two daughters and their elderly
mother, who I assumed were members since they had been to the pageant
for years, now. However, when they asked me if I was just visiting and I
replied that I was a missionary, they asked, "what does that mean?" and
I realized that these three women were actually not members! I talked
with them for a little bit about the church's missionaries, and they
asked me if it was hard to sacrifice my life before to be doing what I
am doing now. I told them that it was a little hard, but that I LOVE
what I'm doing SO MUCH now, because I've seen the joy the gospel brings
into my life, and I love to share that with others. One of the women
immediately said, "I can tell, because there is a light around you, and
you glow!" That comment really touched me. Sometimes I think that I take
the gospel for granted in my life, but we really do GLOW when we live
it! Other people notice it! It lights them up! This comment was one of
my favorite moments so far in my mission.
The other highlight is that Hermana Arellano and I
"stumbled upon" (remember the code word) a sheep to pet! Cast members
were walking around before hand letting the kids touch real, live sheep,
and we found one! THEY ARE SO SOFT. The rest of the night, Hermana
Arellano was explaining how she believes wholeheartedly that every
apartment in the mission should have at least one sheep, as a reminder
to find the "lost sheep." She made a good case.
My companion also has a habit of calling herself
"Sister Pooh." For a while I thought she was saying "Sister Poo" and I
kept wondering why on earth she was saying that, but I finally asked
this week, and she said it's because she's gotten so fat on her mission
that her shirts bunch up on her stomach like Winnie the Pooh.
Well, everyone, the mission is awesome! But even
more awesome than that is the gospel of Jesus Christ! I love it! It has
the answers to everything, it can heal every wound, and it brings light
where there is darkness. Two days ago we met a woman who has harbored
some really negative feelings for more than two years over the death of
her young son. She doesn't understand why he was taken from her. It has
obviously left some serious wounds in her soul. We are so excited to go
back and teach the Plan of Salvation...that her son is not lost! That in
fact he is SAVED through Jesus Christ. I love the gospel!
Keep reading and praying and serving! And LOVING. I
loved President Monson's simple talk about Charity and Love. We can all
do better.
O ;PBR UPI S;;@
...okay. that sentence was "I LOVE YOU ALL" with my fingers on the wrong
part of the keyboard. But...it conveys the message, I think.
LOVE, Hermana Thomas
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