ME GUSTA

Hola amado familia.

I´m starting to dream in spanish!! yay for fluency.. Except in my dream i was speaking spanish and the people told me to speak english cause my spanish sucks.. What does that mean?

So... I decided that everyone forgot about me... haha but it´s okay cause I have more time to write this fun big email because no one emails me anymore..

Maybe it´s because one week I get like 50 emails and have to print them off and never get around to replying... cause I´m such a perfectionist I want to send good emails. So, forgive me if I haven´t been replying to people that want me to reply to them.

This week was crazy... I decided that the whole rollercoaster comparison is getting annoying so I won´t use it anymore... 

Sometimes it takes everything I have to not D A M N people to hell... The church email system bleeps out that word... I learned what it is in spanish and it´s not a bad word here.. Hahaha. It drives me crazy when people talk about how much they Love Jesus but they do NOT want to talk about Him... URGH.

I ran away from my first homeless person this week... I was actually a little bit scared. Hermana Mendez makes too big of a deal out of creepy people and if they follow us for one quadra she freaks out and tells me to walk really fast... and usually I just shrug it off cause we´re in the middle of the city and really everyone wants to save my life so I am never scared of dying... And I wasn´t this time either cause I easily could have snapped this man in two.. but it was weird. We ran for like 5 quadras...And she almost passed out.

In other creepy news... I´m sweating like a maniac right now.. because unlike last week, it´s not raining today.. It´s like 200 degrees outside and the computer place is blistering hot. I have sweat literally dripping off of my face. super attractive... and this creepy old man came and sat by me and started speaking in english that I didn´t understand cause I can´t switch... When I´m out and about-- I speak spanish.. When I´m in the office, my spanish doesn´t work and I can only speak english. So this creepy man literally. in english.. this is the only part I understood... asked me if he could kiss me for a souvineer!! WHAT!! I about slapped him.. No, I said... I´m here to serve the Lord. I can´t sorry... and I´m emailing my family right now, so sorry.. and I stopped talking to him. urgh. Why do I have to be so pretty?

Also.. funny story about how hard it is to understand spanish.. Elva.. The pastora that came to church.. She doesn´t have a leg right? We went to visit her and somehow she got to telling us about her accident and about the hospital after her accident and she got to telling us about her bowl movements.. don´t know how. and I didn´t understand what was going on. I just thought she was telling us her story and how her faith got her through.. but her daughter started laughing and told her to stop telling us about her poop... still didn´t understand and I felt bad cause she was embarrassed... so I said, PERO ME GUSTA!!! And everyone died.. I still didn´t understand what happened... but basically I said that I like hearing about her poop story... It was horrible.

This week was good. Tamara is CRAZY!! She told us that we all need to be like animals and just have the instinct to choose good things. WHAT?? And she told us that she doesn´t like anything about smoking... but that it´s rico.. I don´t understand it. Her mom, however has a baptismal date for the 18th of January.. 

and we have another date!! whoo hoo.. Natalia is a new investigator. She just moved close to Eliana because she just got married. She is seriously so darling. Her whole family is Catholic but she converted to the Evangelical church not too long ago. Which in most cases is weird... but in this one it is super great!! We have a lot in common with the evangelical church believe it or not... So it´s kind of easy talking to someone who just recently converted to that church... because she is still learning and there are lots of things however that they are missing.. that we have. because we have ALL of the truth!! whoo hoo.. and she is super excited to read the Book of Mormon.. and we just love her!! And I was the one that got to commit her to baptism.. Super cool..

I finished my 10th week of training... WHAT!! Almost 4 months gone??

Yesterday, we went to the evening of excellence with the YW.. There are only 3 active YW in the ward here. But I was so emotional thinking about Young Womens and how much it helped me throughout my teenage years... YWs definitely prepared me SO MUCH for my mission... ah. I asked for a Personal Progress book in spanish so that we could help Millie Rojas do her personal progress with her mommy!! yaya!!

We tried to get Maria to church this week but it didn´t work.. which was sad. But we´re still working hard. I was getting a little discouraged.. but I read in Preach My Gospel that it´s BAD to be discouraged... because when you get discouraged, you lower your expectations... and when you do that, you don´t work as hard... and when you stop working hard, you lose the spirit. and I do NOT want that... So yes... I wish that things were more successful here. but I am not discouraged!! The Lord still knows what He´s doing. and He can only use me if I work hard!! So vamos... I get to take over today... It´s part of week 11... I am in charge. Hermana Mendez is super excited because she says she gets a break.. and I´m super excited because, you know me... I love being bossy.. I´m a little nervous but so ready. haha.

I´m praying for you always and hoping that all is well at home... Like every missionary, I think... Somedays are wonderful and some suck.. but I love being a missionary. The time is flying by. usually... haha. I´m so excited to talk to you all next week!! yay for Christmas.. but it´s so weird without snow. My body is so confused. Where is the freezingness!!??

I love you love you love you..

Share the gospel with everyone.. Feed the missionaries.. Give them rides too.. Help them bring their investigators to church.. Really, the missionaries are there to help YOU do your missionary work... because you should be doing missionary work always. Remember every member a missionary. Yeah,,, get to it!! I feel like this email needs more spiritualness.. haha.

Cool quote.. "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do. Not that the nature of the thing has changed, BUT our capacity to do has increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I was listening to a talk by President Monson and he was talking about all of the former Presidents of the church.. This was the favorite quote of President Grant. And I loved it.. Be persistent!! And the Lord will bless you. Things get easier. This life is hard.. but when we persistently, consistently live our lives in line with the teachings of the gospel.. with the help of our Heavenly Father and His Son, we can do anything. 

Love you.

Hermana Rupe.

photos: preaching to the coolest graffitti in the city.

la iglesia after a cool rainstorm!