Oh dear familia. I just love you. So much.
And guess what else I love? THE MISSION. haha...but seriously.
It's been another kind of weird week because, guess what? I got sick. I swear Satan decided to just have at my body as soon as I got set apart as a missionary- it's like one weird thing after another. Maybe it's the climate always changing here or stress or all the sick people we kiss and shake hands with or maybe my body just isn't built for the rigors of missionary life and so I push until it just shuts down...I don't know. So my fever kept me in bed for awhile, but I'm up and kickin' now finally! I'm going to the denitista tomorrow to check on my wisdom tooth status...the mission nurse said depending on the situation and what the doctor says I may or may not have to go home to get those suckers out...I'll let you all know next week.
Still loving my Hma. Morales. I've learned a lot about her this week- she's had a rough life, but you'd never know. She recounted me with tales of walking from Guatemala across the borders and nearly dying on her way to to meet her mom in New York, her parental situation was such that she and her siblings raised themselves, and how she hasn't finished high school yet. She's telling me all these things and I'm like, "Hermana, are you SERIOUS right now?!" One of the great blessings for me of being a spanish speaking missionary is that I get to be companions and friends with people I would never have otherwise met or been able to communicate with. Here I am, just chatting it up with this Guatemalan girl about our lives...it's amazing. We actually have a lot in common (you know, besides the family situation, the country situation, the education situation, the language situation, the height situation...) and love to laugh together. She loves to dance and we love the same kinds of music (which is actually another huge blessing that i don't want to shove knives in my ears every time my companion turns on her music.) The other day we both were on near-throw-up status so we didn't want to exercise too hard so instead she taught me some Latino dance during our exercise time. Guess how I felt about that? LOVED IT.
People! I'm understanding Spanish still! And speaking it! BAH! I mean, it's still terrible, but I'm no longer terrified to make eye contact with Hispanic people for fear they will think that I understand what they are saying! (Which was was pretty much my whole first transfer.) My accent...well...you all know accents has never been a great gift of mine...hahaha...my favorite Hma. M quote of the week: "You talk like you have a potato in your mouth." HAHAHAHA It's a work in progress :)
So guess what I ate this week? A WHOLE FISH. The relief society president has us over every week and makes us her yummy mexican food and this week was fish. Well, I don't love fish, but hey, I'll eat whatever they feed me. So I saw this one fish and was like, "oh perfect, this fish will definitely feed us" and then she's busting out like 10 MORE FISH. And I'm like, "uh...that's a lot of fish hermana..." and she's like, "oh, so you can all have 2" And these aren't like filets they are like eyes and guts and bones and fins kinds of fish. Bigger than my head. (don't worry, I took a picture ;) And She fried them each for like 40 mintues and proceeded to tell us how we could eat this kind of fish every day and never get fat...ahahaha...I made Hermana M go with me and hunt down some 7th day adventists that were knocking doors in that area while we were waiting for our fish. She hated it. I was like, "WOO HOO I'M A MISSIONARY!!!" Anyway, so I start picking at my little fishy, like the gringo I am, because I just have no experience with this sort of thing, and she's just casually says, "oh be careful about the bones, you can die if you eat them" and i'm thinking, huh, I bet I misunderstood that, seems dramatic. But as I started picking through my fishy I looked up at Hma. M. and she mouths to me IN ENGLISH, "BEEE CAREFUL" And so, I'm like, whoa, english, this must be serious. And she whispers again to me IN ENGLISH "Hermana, you could die, BE CAREFUL" And at this point I'm kind of freaking out like- what is the deal with these fish bones?! So in the end the nice relief society president just picked off the meat from the bones for me because I was taking forever because I was so terrified of death by fish bone. It was great.
As for the people we are teaching- wow- there are some real gems here in Chesterfield. We're teaching a 17-year old girl named Ginny who I just love. She comes to church with her bf and we teach her mostly in english (most kids speak more english than spanish) and I think her initial desire may have been for the boy, maybe it still is, but there have been distinct times in our lessons that I KNOW that she has felt the spirit powerfully. We're also teaching 2 8-year old boys whose families were less active for awhile, so we're giving them the lessons (again, mostly in english) and it was so thrilling to help 8 year old Gabriel understand the Plan of Salvation with these goofy little pictures I had made. When I had him explain the whole thing to me and he was so excited about the resurrection and his spirit and body coming back together, I just knew that it was a significant moment. Whatever happens in his life, I know that he will remember that time that we helped him understand. Also this week we taught a man whose young wife died on Sunday- so tragic- but incredible how the Plan of Salvation again was what was taught with those same silly pictures to help an anguished man understand where his wife is and that he can see her again. I don't even think i understand the awesome power of the message we have sometimes.
I love you all and am so happy. My heart is learning things I never imagined and I am grateful for the amazing work I get to participate in here in VA. I love hearing all the updates! Keep 'em coming!
Hermana Sinclair
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