La Cucaracha

Holaaaaaaa

 

And Now, verily I say unto you, and what I say unto one I say unto all, be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst and I have not forsaken you! And inasmuch as you have humbled yourselves before me, the blessings of the kingdom are yours. (D&C 61:36-37)

 

Hopefully I have time for all that I want to say.

 

So I´m addicted to coca cola right. Because sometimes I just NEED caffine. BUT I don´t want to take excedrine every day and I can´t drink mate anymore.. New rule. Broke my heart. However, they don´t call coke coke.. or coca cola.. just coca. So sometimes I feel like I´m asking for drugs... ¿tiene coca? ¿cuanto cuesta? ¿como esta?

 

Found our first cucaracha in our super nice apartment this week.. I just about died. Hermana Mendez was in the bathroom and she told me to kill it.. so I had the dust pan and the broom and I tried to kill it and it ran under our bunk bed so I moved the bed and all of our bags and I was screaming and whacking at a cockroach that wouldn´t freaking die and it came back alive and I seriously moved everything in our house to the other side of the house. It was insane and now our bed remains on the other side of the room.

 

The Lord answers prayers!! So I´m struggling right? 3 months in the field and barely anything. Sometimes I feel like it´s my fault.. I use the excuse that SHE´S my trainer.. She needs to be the example for ME!! She´s 23 years old and she acts like she´s 10. Seriously she can´t walk in a straight line and she has to touch all of the windows of every store. She eats chicken legs like this: stick your fork in the bone and eat the meat off the bone. like a gross man would eat chicken if he were alone... I feel like I´ve been HER mom for the past 3 months.. And I´m not as tough as I started.. I allow my companion to take her 20 minute naps. and I don´t yell at her anymore when we spend too much time in lessons... It´s not worth it. The fighting and screaming and crying... Just not worth it. So sometimes I feel like ít´s my fault.. Like I´m not helping her in the way that I should be. Which is probably true. But still. Our companionship is stronger than it ever has been.. It´s still super weak cause we don´t get along half of the time. But we have learned how to work well together. But we´re still not having the success that we deserve honestly. And I know that there is something that the Lord wanted me to learn from this experience. Don´t know what it is yet... but I´m hoping I find out soon. Maybe that I will never marry someone from Ecuador.. haha but this morning I was studying and feeling a little like I could have done more to help her.. and I looked at my quote wall and saw the quote that Carter sent me in the MTC.

 

"You´re doing the best you can and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord, then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do." -- President Gordon B. Hinckley 

 

So yesterday, I prayed that I would be able to be sensitive to the spirit. That we could find an unplanned opportunity to teach someone. We were walking down a street that we had never been down before and we passed a house.. the door was open and a seniora was sitting in a chair.. we said Hola and continued to walk away.. and I stopped and told Hermana Mendez that I wanted to go back.. But she didn´t.. but we did. we took a card to her and she was there with her 2 hijos... and I started by saying.. Somos misioneras de la iglesia de Jesucristo. and Her son finished the sentence for me... "de los santos de los ultimos dias."

 

And they invited us in. Come to find out, they had already taken the missionary discussions in another town. but they are super Catholic and don´t want to change. We talked and talked and talked. And we felt the spirit. And I explained to them the experience that I had. that we prayed to find someone unexpected and that the spirit told me to turn around and talk to them. And I shared my favorite scripture with them. D&C 84:88. and we cried and it was probably one of the most beautiful experiences that I have had thus far on my mission. It boosted my spirits that there are people prepared and willing to listen to the missionaries. And that we can touch lives in such special ways if we just will LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT!!

 

Who knows what´s going to happen to this family... I´m off to Candelaria. I have no idea where the hell it is or what the hell I´m doing but I´m stoked!! I think... super overwhelmed but super excited. It´s time for a change. Hermana Mendez and I are finishing off on a good note. And I that is all I wanted!! And I´m going to be training a gringa in a new area. Either my President is crazy or the Lord has lots of fun things in store for me. They are also making me a Sister Training Leader. (I can´t decide if this is good or bad) Luckily, no anxiety attack yet.

 

But I´m off to pack my bags!!

 

Thinking about you and praying for you always!

 

I love you lots and lots and lots!!

 

xoxo

 

Hermana Rupe

 

p.s. ssssssssss :)

 

Sending the bank papers TODAY!!

 

Mom you can use my stuff.. just not the sparkley boots!

still nothing from grandma.. can you give me her email address?

I love speaking spanish with dad!!

Cars, how was your date??

And Carter! I have a whole list of foods that we eat here for you.. It´s super great I´´ll send it next week.

 

Pretty sure I´ve eaten more fruit cake in the past 2 weeks than ever before in my life.

 

Also, I jinxed myself by saying that mayonaise is optional. The day after christmas, we had a mayonaise casserole. I swear one day these people are going to come out with a Thanksgiving salad-- Like Marshall´s family from HIMYM.. Potatoe chips.. mayo... gummy bears.. mayo... fruit cake... mayo.. chicken bones... mayo. all in a huge cylindrical vase!!