Love From Virginia!

Hello all! Sorry the email was delayed- MLK day meant library was closed. 

You know it's the weirdest thing that I had a dream this week that Miss Jeralee Johnson went on spilts with us this week and I've been thinking about her so much and turns out she got HOME this week! Welcome home, Jer! Miss you! If you want to come to VA and go out with us I would LOVE to have you :)

WOW big week here in the VRM (that's what we cool kids call the Virginia Richmond Mission) with my new companion! I was so tough about the whole thing, and rather excited until the day of...and then I started panicking. Haha- I may have tried to discreetly hide a few tears when hugging Hma. Brewer goodbye...I just had that overwhelming feeling, "WHAT AM I GETTING MYSELF INTO?!" But no worries, I pulled myself together, because even though I've been trying to learn this lesson since I was born- I'm realizing still that it's not about me! Hma. Vazquez is great. I was a little nervous the first day- but after day 2 we decided that she was going to only speak in Spanish to me and I discovered a very bizarre phenomenon: although she is completely fluent in English, she is WAY nicer in Spanish. Kind of weird, huh? She feels completely comfortable in English, but she laughs more and seems so much kinder when she talks in Spanish. So this is a double whammy of good news- we get along great AND she only talks to me in spanish! I talk back to her in spanish as often as I can- the kicker is that I'm our driver. I can't focus on driving and speaking spanish, so I've mastered Spanglish. Driving has proved to been SO stressful, not gonna lie. We got lost for like and hour this week WITH my GPS and totally killed our miles...typical, I know. I'm just not the world's greatest driver, it's no secret, and we do a LOT of driving. So we could probably use some prayers to be safe...last night in the dark in the rain on foreign roads was quite the adventure...

I think my spanish is already better just because I get to hear it more often and use it more often. I ask her grammar questions all the time and usually she has no idea what I'm talking about ;) haha, but she is SO patient with me when it takes me forever to express something or when I just hammer her with questions. She is always telling me, "No se preoccupe, hermana! Va a aprender MUCHO espanol este translado! Usted va a hablar como una hispana!" I think she thinks I'm panicking. OR maybe she's panicking...hahaha...

So we're the 3rd companionship in the area and the first ones that didn't originally settle the area, and well, Hma Brewer and I did a lot of going through and dropping people that weren't interested, but not a whole lot of finding. Entonces, we have barely anybody left to teach! Hma Brewer and I visited a lot of less-actives and members in the ward, but Hma Vazquez wants to focus more on the Spanish work, so we are low on people to visit. Herego- we have a LOT of finding to do! I think that stresses her out, but I'm STOKED. We knocked some doors and trailers this week and have a lot of knocking in our future. I go CRAZY when we run into people from Honduras- I'm always like, "MY FAVORITE BROTHER IS IN HONDURAS!!!" I have discovered one thing that all Hondurans seem to have in common- they are impossible to understand! haha, but knocking is fun. We just kind of have to ask people if they know where any Hispanics live and knock in areas where we've found them before. I love being a pioneer here. When I was in the MTC we had a speaker talk about the first missionaries that went to Malaysia or somewhere like that. He told us about the kind of missionaries they were when they started out (they just seemed like joe schmoe's apparently), and the kind of work they ended up doing in that area (they were awesome!). I wrote in my notes, "I need to be the kind of missionary that could pioneer an area!"  And HERE I AM! Maybe not the very first pioneer, but definitely still a pioneer. I'm so grateful that the spirit whispered that in my ear and prepared me, and for the awesome opportunity I have to share the gospel with people here that weren't previously being reached! 

Guess what we did yestereday?! We went THRIFTING! haha, only like my favorite thing ever! (Second only to missionary work, clearly.) Actually, it was fun, but not as fun as it used to be. Weird. I think I'm in the zone now, and so to take some time to just do whatever feels very odd. And I have this problem that when we go into stores or restaurants or whatever and they are playing music...well...I kind of hate it. Because I love it. It's SO distracting. When they played Michael Jackson yesterday I didn't even hold back- Hma Brewer may have died if she had seen me- I was just singing my little heart out and dancing away...didn't even care that there were so many other people...just me and michael...(this is what pushing your comfort zone to the max everyday does to a person!) Hermana Vazquez told me their last mission president told them to enjoy those moments because we can't have it anytime, but It's a terrible feeling that I need to enjoy it quick before it goes away, and then my mind is all over the place and back in the world and I have to regroup. So as a rule I like to avoid anything that doesn't remind me I'm a missionary, because it just isn't worth it! This is a shocking confession to myself, but people, it's true.

Laughed so hard at your email, Mom! I felt like I was there watching dad coach/frighten Kenzie's date! hahaha...Oh, I can't say I much miss those dramatic dating days! And of course Colby and her cookie cake! I hope you took a picture and are sending it to me...because I want to show everyone what a GENIUS she is :) Let me know how the appt goes. I'll be praying for her. And you. And I'm so glad Maddie is finally feeling better! I love that fiesty girl. Sounds like you have your hands full as usual and are, as always, being the best mom ever. I love your emails every week, they are such a support to me. Dad sounds busy too, haven't heard ( I want it to be known that I just typed "heart" on accident because that's how all my hispanic friends say it HAHAHA) from him in a while.  3 Hours with the newspaper man?? And with the MLK day fiasco and the packers...whew- a lot of emotion to handle ;) Seriously though, keep up the good work Dad- you and your talents have been placed in Indiana to move the work forward and help people there. God knows you are working hard!

I love you. So much. Thank you, thank you for your support and love. Missionary work is amazing, and even though I only have my humble spanish testimony to share- I feel it deeply!

Hermana Sinclair