December 30, 2013

Feliz cumpeanos a mi :) I'm 21 today how crazy is that?!

This week has been crazy and somewhat uneventful all at the same time so this may be a pretty short email but I will try to include as much as I remember. Christmas was good, it was so good to get to talk to you guys and see you all. You will all have to plan to be together on Mother's Day as well so we can all chat like that. For Christmas dinner we had tamales after tamales after tamales. With some tamales on the side. And tamales to take home. Then leftover tamales. Did I mention a few families fed us tamales? I'm going to turn into a tamale!

Also, I got all your letters the day after Christmas, so don't worry, they're getting to me! 

I am having a really hard time remembering things about this week that I can tell you about but there's not much. Most of the people we're teaching were either sick this week or out of town or busy with holiday plans so we didn't do a lot of teaching. In fact this week we did the least teaching than any other week I've been here. It was pretty discouraging but lots of people said after the new year so hopefully they keep their word! We were supposed to have Antonio's baptism yesterday but he cancelled, it is a really long story but I was really sad and he was disappointed because he still wants to get baptized. But I think he made the smart and very mature decision to cancel, I have faith that he will get baptized, we just have some more work to do.

We had a mission-wide conference today with a member from the quorum of the seventy apostles. Elder Kent F. Richards, it was really really good and I got some lessons that I really needed. Lately I've been struggling with the language, you guys know that, and I've found myself wishing that I could just serve English speaking. I kept wondering why I have to learn Spanish and why I can't learn it faster, just getting really frustrated. Then today at the conference Elder Richards was talking about something completely different but he said "Is there a limit to how much we would give the Lord?" and I thought about that... I thought about what I was willing to give the Lord. Then I thought about my decision to serve a mission. What did I think it would be like? I decided to come and share the gospel, invite others to come unto Christ. And I have been called to do that in Spanish. So who am I to say it's too hard? The Lord has given me this assignment! When I filled out my papers did I put that I'll serve for 18 months but only in a language I'm comfortable with, or yeah I'll preach the gospel but I don't want to have to learn new words to do it... no, I said I'd go unto any people, preaching the gospel in any tongue that He needs me. There should not be a limit to how much I am giving to the Lord. I will step down off my soap box now but I am just very very grateful for the insight that I gained today and the new found determination to fulfill my calling to the best of my abilities.

Not much more to report on, still working hard, looking for people to teach, studying lots. The days seem to drag on but weeks fly by! Today I ran into someone I knew in my ward in Logan, he was called to California and I didn't think much of it until I saw him at the conference today. He is already getting to go home! And Philip comes home on January 20th. It doesn't feel like 2 years that he's been gone already and I'm sure it flew by for him! That's why I gotta make the most out of these 18 months! They will be over before I know it.

I love you all so much, thank you for all the birthday wishes, it has been a good one so far! I hope you all have a good week, safe travels, and a smooth transition back to the grind.

Love you all, until 2014 :)

Hey family, Merry Christmas! 

Hope this week has been good and that you get a chance to stop and think about the real reason of Christmas instead of the gifts you need to buy or the decorations you forgot to put up. This time of the year is about so much more!

I realized after my last email that I forgot to tell you about where I'm serving! I am in Fontana, CA in the Sierra ward. Hermana Rosales and I share the ward boundaries with two elders, Gonzalez and Garcia. They've both been out for about a year and Hermana Rosales is going on her 8th month. The ward is great, tiny but powerful. And the stake is so diverse. There are two Spanish wards and a Tongan ward! The Tongans meet in the chapel right after us and it is fun to see the stuff they wear to church. It's usually ceremonial and just cool to see. Yesterday for some reason they had a huge truck full of fresh veggies and fruit and potatoes and they invited us to take what we would like, that was our grocery "shopping" for the week.

And I am the driver in our companionship. Hermana Rosales is from Mexico city and doesn't have very much experience or confidence driving so I have been assigned to be the driver. I was a little overwhelmed at first but I'm thankful because it's helping me get the hang of our area a little more.

I told you guys last week about a guy who cancelled his baptism after learning about the word of wisdom and law of chastity. Well, now let me tell you about a little Christmas miracle. Let me set the scene, he is 22, lives in the garage of some family friends, got out of jail almost a year ago and is really really willing to change. The next lesson we had with him after cancelling his baptism, we showed up and it was very clear he was under the influence of something other than the Holy Ghost. We tried to teach him but he was so fidgety and just couldn't focus or sit still so we decided we'd come back the next day. We set up a time with him when he said he'd be home and came back the next day. He wasn't there. Didn't answer his phone or anything. Then he called us back that night, set up a time for the next day. We went back, same thing, no sign of the guy. He called us later and said that he really wants to change, which we know he does because we could see the desire before, but now we were getting a little discouraged. Then the next day we called him, he said he was home, so we grabbed a member who has experience overcoming addictions and we went to his house determined to help him. We went to his house and he opened the door, he was showered, dressed nicely, had a huge smile, and his book of Mormon in his hand ready to get down to business. During that lesson I saw him do a complete 180, he was calm, he was focused, he was ready to change and already had changed! I saw a light in his eyes when the member we brought was talking to him about how they could work together to beat this and how we're all here to help. He said the closing prayer and he is progressing so much! He came to church yesterday and is getting baptized on December 29th! The day before my birthday and such a great present it will be. My first miracle :)

Also, we have another man who is planning on getting baptized in January, he has the potential to be a stake president or something big, he is so great. He comes to church and participates in class and has really great insights. I learn from him! 

The Spanish is still a struggle, even when I try to have a conversation with the members, I ask them a question and they look at my companion and answer like I'm not there. Or they ask her things like "where is she from? How long has she been on her mission?" and I answer them and they nod and keep talking to her. But I'm learning more and more. The other day I answered the phone and talked to our investigator about our lesson, which is usually my companion's job since the members speak really fast. But I did it and I didn't mess up! And I had to give a 15 minute talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday, with no time to really prepare or practice it, the members said I did well so that's good. I'm progressing! Slowly but surely.

The other day it was raining so much! We finally got invited into a house, I think she just felt sorry for us, but we sat down and were talking and for the longest time I thought their roof was leaking until I realized that my hair was dripping because we were soaked. But my rain jacket served me well! I was toasty and dry under my jacket :)

Time is going so fast, I can't believe Christmas is already here and then next week I'll be 21! Que vieja. Hermana Rosales turns 21 on January 3rd. I told her that she shares her birthday with a very cute 5 yr old :)

Also, we had a funny experience with some dogs the other day. We are pretty accustomed to dogs barking at us lately so when we heard little barks from little dogs we weren't worried. But one of them was not playing around, he was little but ferocious and he believed he could tear my leg off so we just backed up very very quickly and went to the next house. It made me think of Puerto Rico and getting chased by those dogs, it really was preparation.

The days are all full of ups and downs and getting chased by dogs or getting doors slammed in our faces but at the end of the day I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I have the incredible privilege to teach and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and even after 100 people reject it, there will be one whose life will be changed and will be so grateful for the gospel. It is an honor and a blessing to be out here doing the Lord's work. And even though I have some hard days and some difficult experiences, I'm learning and growing and that's the whole purpose for this life and this mission!

A little Christmas thought... When Jesus Christ was on the Earth he spent his entire life serving. He established His church, taught His gospel, blessed people, preformed miracles, and was constantly in the service of others. Let's try to do the same! It doesn't have to be serving a mission for your church or even working in a soup kitchen, even though those are both awesome things to do. But it can be as simple as doing something small for someone else. Write a little note to someone to tell them why you're thankful for them. Take cookies to someone, help someone do something. Anything. If there's one thing I've learned the past two weeks in the real world mission is that we are always busy. Sometimes we're teaching, sometimes we're trying to find people to teach, sometimes we're in meeting talking about how to be better teachers, but other times we are doing the most odd end jobs that other people need help with and that is what they need at the time. And we're happy to do it! Yesterday we killed cockroaches in a member's house. The day before that we stopped by to visit a less active member and ended up helping her rearrange her garage. One family has a dad/grandpa who is very ill and can't make it to church so we went and carrolled to them and shared a short message so he could feel a little bit of the spirit of Christmas. This year, skip a trip to the store and help someone. They'll like it and remember it much more than whatever you were going to wrap for them, I promise.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Granado

Week 1 in California! 

I'm here and happily trying to adjust. It is so so different than what they trained me for in Mexico but it's good. I'm going to try to give you lots of details but I know I'll miss a thing or two. Just know it's difficult and great and challenging and all kinds of things but I know this is where I need to be. I thought about coming home one or fifteen times this week but I'm so glad I stuck in there. It is not getting easier but I have prayed harder than I have in a long time and the Lord is helping me and strengthening me because I'm doing the right thing. I know that we're not on Earth just to return to live with Heavenly Father, yes that is the ultimate goal, but we're here to learn and grow and have experiences to strengthen us. And I'm not just on a mission so I can come home, I'm here to learn and grow and help people. Where would I be if the missionaries that taught me would have given up? I would definitely not be where I am and I am pretty dang sure I wouldn't be this happy or know what my purpose is in life. So I won't give up because I know someone here needs me. 

I'm going to start when I got assigned to my area because everything before that was just plain craziness. 

On Wednesday we had a transfer meeting where everyone meets at the mission office and trades companions and whatnot. The newbies and their trainers had a meeting about the adjustment phase and training. (The first 12 weeks I'm here is my training.) So at the end of my meeting I got assigned my companion who will be my trainer. Her name is Hermana Rosales and she is from Mexico. She actually went to high school at Benemerito before it was an MTC! She didn't know any english before the mission but she is really really good! Hopefully that's how my spanish will be.

We went to walmart and got some basics, we are going shopping after this to get some real groceries. 

There are 4 missionaries in my ward which I've never heard of before! It is us and a pair of elders, the ward boundaries is split up so we each have our area for proselyting. We have had dinner every night this week with a member or investigator and man do they feed us good! One night we had homemade tortillas with dinner! Last night we had tamales and homemade cheesecake. I'm not going without, trust me.

Leaving my district has been really hard, it's kinda like when I left you guys, I miss them a lot. But the missionaries here are great, I just don't get to see them a lot. Today we played soccer together. Me and Hermana Rosales are the only sisters in our zone. But our game was fun, I accidentally kicked a guy in the head. I apologized like 20 times... We also went to the fitness center in our apt complex this morning. My companion has gained 20 lbs in her 7 months on the mission so I'm helping her, told you I wasn't going without!

We are trying to find more people to teach but it's really hard. We had someone with a baptismal date but when we taught him the Word of Wisdom (no coffee, alcohol, tea, drugs, etc) and the law of chastity he said it was too hard so we cancelled his baptismal date but he wants to keep meeting with us so we're trying to help him.  

I don't have any pictures from California yet, but I'm going to send some from my last days at the CCM in Mexico. The one of me standing in the circle, that's an earthquake circle, if we heard the alarm we were supposed to run and stand in one of those. Me and Hermana Baird with Hermano Munoz, he was our teacher, the one that I sent a pic of him playing soccer. The one of us holding stuff, those are pens that Hermano Gilisea's wife made for us for Christmas, so cute.

Thank you all so much for my packages. Thanks to you guys I have sheets on my bed and an Ensign to read while wearing my gameday shirt, a christmas tree and a stocking filled with prizes. I am one lucky lucky girl!

Love you all so much, I'm in California so letters are welcome! We've had an air box all week, just saying. I have written you all, some of you should have gotten a letter and if not, it's coming. I've been a letter writing fool these past couple days! I am almost out of time so I gotta get cracking on the pictures. Love and miss you and I'll email next week!

Con Amor,

Hermana Granado

Also, don't be fooled thinking that I'm in a sunny paradise here. It's pretty cold at night and the wind literally blew me off the sidewalk the other day. My hair is constantly a mess and sometimes I eat dirt while I talk. But all I have to say is thank goodness I'm not in Alaska or Logan walking around in my flats and a skirt. I am definitely blessed. 

I feel like I should explain the sentence where I said my hair is always a mess and I eat dirt when I talk. It's really windy all the time. Really windy.Also, I didn't tell you about my apartment. It's tiny, just me and Hermana Rosales. It's quiet but we can keep it clean. When we moved in it was a mess because elders lived there before us and just left it disgusting. But the zone leaders helped us bring our stuff in and they took our apartment keys. We left to go teach a lesson and help with a service project and when we came back our keys were under the mat and we walked in to find it spotless. The zone leaders did a really great job of scrubbing it clean, vacuuming, the whole nine yards. They even organized our suitcases in our room and set them up nicely. It was really nice. Since we are the only sisters in our zone they take really good care of us. 

Love you!

Hola familia, Surprise! 

We get to email the day before we leave, which is really nice because I'm pretty sure I won't get another Pday until Monday.

So here's the deal, my flight got rerouted because of snow in Dallas. But I'm leaving the MTC at 2:30am tomorrow, my flight leaves Mexico at 7am then I should be in California at 11:15. I don't know what my first day will be like, I have no idea what to expect but I'll tell you all about it next week! I will get assigned to my trainer (my first companion in the field) then I start working!

Now you can all write me letters to my California address! If you don't have it, here it is:

Hermana Stephanie Granado 
California Redlands Mission 
7000 Central Ave 
Highland, CA 92346

and you can also continue to email me at this address. I love getting all the pictures from you and hearing about your lives lately! Makes me sad I'm not there but we'll just have more stories to share in 2015.

The last days here in the CCM have been awesome. Emotionally exhausting but awesome. I am still shocked at how incredibly hard it was to say bye to my district members who left this morning. The hardest part is not knowing if I'll be able to see them when we get home. But I hope I will! We got some pictures with our teachers but I will send them next week when I actually have a preparation day. 

So much has happened this last week in the MTC that I can't begin to tell you but just know I have loved it and have learned so so much. Now it's real! I'm off to save some souls in California. I'm nervous but so so excited. I can't do accents on this computer and I don't have access to Google translate so my Spanish won't look pretty but I want to tell you all what's in my heart…

Yo se que este iglesia es verdadera. Yo se que Jesucristo es mi salvador y es nuestro salvador. Y este evangelio es el mismo evangelio que Jesucristo ensño durante su vida terrenal. Dios no envio a la tierra para progresar y aprender. Dios nos conoce perfecamente y El sabe que cada persona necesita experimentar y aprender para llegar a ser la persona que Dios quiere seamos.Yo se estoy aqui por un razon y este razon es para predicad el evangelio de Jesucristo. Me encanta este trabaja y estoy amada para llegar en California. Les extraño mucho pero no quiero estar un lugar que no esta California. Me encanta que soy una misionera y un representante de Jesucristo. Yo se que ustedes van a ser bedecido porque yo estoy aqui ahora. Yo ha aprendi mucho y voy a continuar a aprender. Las seis semanas pasadas era muy dificil pero muy bueno tambien. Mi español no es perfecto y no soy una maestra perfecta pero, con el espiritu santo, puedo hacer milagros en las vidas de mis investigadores. Gracias por su apoyo y su amor. Les ama mucho! 

I love you all, pray for my safe travels and I'll talk to you when I'm in California!

Con amor,
Hermana Granado

Last week en el CCM! 

Thank you so much for all your emails, I look forward to hearing from you every week.

First, let's get some logistics out of the way. I am leaving Mexico on Tuesday, my flight is at 6:05 am then I have a layover in Dallas, TX and then to California! I should arrive around 11am. I'm not sure if I will get to call or email or anything to let you know if I got there or not, just know that no news is good news. If I don't show up they have my emergency contact info. 

My final days at the MTC (or CCM) are pretty crazy. We have class all day and are continuing to teach our investigators but we also have some things we need to do before we head out. We have meetings on meetings on meetings, some orientation, a language assessment, and then another meeting or two. Our district is all so excited to get to their missions but we are a little sad to leave each other. We've gotten pretty close and have learned a lot from each other. We decided we will all write each other before we go, we're going to pass around a notebook or something for everyone to write in and leave their contact info so we can keep in touch and find each other after the mish. I am honestly grateful to have been able to meet every single one of them. 

Once I get in California Preparation days will most likely be on Mondays. So since I get there Tuesday you might not hear from me at all next week, but don't fret! The address for the rest of my mission until further notice is the Highland address in CA, don't be afraid to write, I love getting letters.

So, on to what happened this week.

Thanksgiving was good, even though it is not a holiday celebrated in Mexico the comedor workers made us a special lunch with turkey and pumpkin pie so that was really sweet. Then we had a devotional that night from Elder Holland and that was even better than the pie! Then for gym time all the elders got a turkey bowl going and we watched football like real Americans! It was so fun. 

For service yesterday we folded sheets again then we helped clean a casa. I have my first blisters! I have three actually. One is a blister on top of a blister so that's fun. They don't hurt too bad, and they're almost healed but I thought I'd let you guys know. 

I heard there was a big snow storm in UT yesterday! We were supposed to have a devotional last night but it was deemed too dangerous for the general authority to drive to Provo so we just watched a recorded one. Hope everything is okay there!

The past couple days I've been super tired, which is weird because you'd think that my body would have gotten used to the schedule by now. But I've been totally fine up until the past three days or so and I just do not want to wake up in the morning. I'll get over the hump I'm sure, my poor companion just has to deal with me being a little cranky in the mornings. 

She is doing better by the way. Hermana Baird says she is okay with the divorce, she sent her parents a long email last week and got it all out. Now she's back with her shoulder to the wheel. 

Oh and we've had ridiculously cold showers this week. Those are the worst. It's not anymore incentive to get out of bed when I know my shower is going to be freezing. But then I think of some girls I know going to Honduras and going to be showering out of buckets and then it's not so bad.

Today we took some time and went down to the soccer field because our teacher Hermano Muñoz is playing a tournament today. We saw him score a goal and cheered super loud for him, he's awesome. I'll try to send a picture of him. And thank you so much for the pictures! I got them on Monday and showed them to everyone I know. I love them, thank you so so much.

This week our district has been a little obsessed with riddles. We told each other lots of them the other day while TALL was broken, Technology Assisted Language Learning. So we studied in class and told riddles.

Last week Hermana Baird and I decided that because she was having such a tough day we'd go to la tienda and stock up on candy bars. So we did and we had a little pow wow in the living room with some other hermanas in our district, I'll attach a picture of us holding up our mexican chocolates.

Oh! Our district also has this obsession with la tienda. The elders go literally every day. We hermanas go about twice a week. But the new thing is, for everyone to write in, we've gotten notebooks from la tienda. All the notebooks have animals on them so of course we have to name them as a district. I got a small one with a butterfly that we named Stella and then a bigger one with an ocelot on it that we named Striker. Both of which go well with Stephanie :)

A funny story about this week, Hermano Gilisea was teaching us one night and Elder Lloyd in my district told him he had swag. Hermano Gilisea doesn't know much english so he was confused and asked "Swag... ¿es bien o mal?" So we all said bien, bien and he smiled and straightened his tie and says with a grin "tengo swag" and walked away. It was hilarious! He said he was going to bring his wife in on Saturday and said she'd bring us chips and salsa which apparently they don't eat a lot here. But we're all so excited!

Hermano Muñoz makes us laugh too. He knows a lot of English though so we can joke more with him. We were talking to him the other day about American music and he was saying that he likes Imagine Dragons and Adele and One Republic. It was weird to think about things like that because I haven't listened to any of that in what seems like forever!

Today we went to the temple for the last time, it was so good. There is a temple in Redlands but I don't know if or when I'll get to go to it. We got some pictures with our branch president and his wife so I'll send those. They are super sweet, they live here on campus so they said that on Sunday we can all go over to their house and have ice cream and say goodbye.

We have been doing language study outside almost everyday this week, it's freezing in the mornings but so nice in the afternoons. They set up a nativity outside the comedor and there are poinsettias everywhere. I'm so excited for Christmas, can you believe it's so close?! and then I turn 21. Crazy!

Well I'll send pictures, I know I'm forgetting to tell you a ton but I don't have much time left. Love you all! Next time you hear from me I'll be in California!

Con amor, 

Hermana Granado

These are with the branch president and his wife, President and Sister Jewell, at the temple, they are the best! It's going to be sad saying goodbye to them and my teachers and Mexico but I was called to California so that's where I'm going! Love you all.

MTC - WEEK 4 

Hola familia! So, I'm going to try to remember all that has happened this week but they just keep going faster and faster. Can you believe I've been out a month as of the 30th?! So crazy. I'm one eighteenth of the way done and I feel like I haven't even started yet. All of you talked about Thanksgiving! To be honest I almost forgot about it because it is an American holiday and it's not celebrated in Mexico. But they've been playing Christmas music in la tienda for the past two weeks or so. But I hope you all have a wonderful day! Eat a pumpkin pancake and a piece of turkey for me!

I got a bunch of Dear Elders yesterday, thank you so so so much! My district called me Hermana Letters for the rest of the day but it was so worth it to hear from you guys. They take a little longer than expected so PLEASE DON'T SEND ANY DEAR ELDERS OR LETTERS TO MEXICO AFTER TOMORROW because I'm afraid I won't get them in time. Just hold on and send it all to my California address :)

Please keep my companion in your prayers, she found out yesterday that her parents are getting divorced and it is really hard for her. Our branch president told her last night at dinner, just before two lessons, and she started crying and asked for a hug which is so not like her. She is not a hugger. But she is doing better today, I just wish I knew how to console her.

Also, the rash on my wrist is gone, I think I am allergic to the material of my pretty rose gold watch :( But esta bien. I haven't worn it all week and it's almost all the way back to normal.

So Thursday we got done with lunch early so I thought I'd try to write a letter or two before language study. I brought some stuff to the classroom and as soon as our elders saw my stickers they went crazy! There's a tradition to put stickers on the back of your name tag for kids to look at or play with or just for fun. And once I told the elders they could have some you'd think they were 5 years old again fighting over princess and butterfly stickers. It was pretty funny to watch and they even left some for me, such gentlemen. Then we had TRC which is where people volunteer to come in and let the missionaries teach them. 9 times out of 10 they're already members but it's good practice. Well Hermana Baird and I ended up teaching two 14 year old girls who were incredibly shy. And since we had an assigned subject to teach on we couldn't just talk about anything which made the lessons really quiet and awkward and we ended up finishing early. The cool thing is that even though we were bummed about the lessons, the evaluations said we were really spiritual and helped them feel God's love for them, which is SO COOL! Our teacher came up to us afterward and said maybe since we are so used to feeling the Spirit lately, being surrounded by missionaries, no distractions, and talking about the gospel all the time, maybe we might not notice the Spirit very strongly but our investigators or the people we're talking to can feel it which is really the most important.

Friday we had a lesson with Benjamin which was perfect. That morning I was starting to feel discouraged because everyone seemed to be having good lessons and ours were just okay. So before my personal study I asked specifically to be guided by the Spirit and to receive revelation for Benjamin. Well I started just flipping the pages of my scriptures. I came upon 2 Nephi 4 in the Book of Mormon which was hardly marked at all. But for some reason I stopped and read it. Immediately I just thought Benjamin. I showed Hermana Baird and we immediately tossed aside our lesson plan we'd worked on and said we were going to share that. In the lesson while he was talking I started crying because for the first time I didn't feel like it was my teacher making up a story to be an investigator, I felt that his story was real. Maybe not for him but for someone out there who God loves very much. It became so real and meant so much to me that as a representative of Jesus Christ I could tell him that God loves him. Because in that moment I could feel the love that God has for that person and it was just overwhelming. After the lesson, during class, Hermano Muñoz came up to us and said our lesson that day was really good and thanked us for our words. Even though we only shared a bit of the Book of Mormon, I feel like it has been our best lesson yet.

Sunday was awesome as always, so spiritual, so inspiring. Hermana Baird and I had our first leadership meeting, it went well. The elders were kind of confused when they saw there were 2 sisters in their meeting but, what can we say, we're kind of a big deal. That night we had a recorded devotional from Elder Holland, he talked about how much he loves missionaries and how high the expectations are for us to do our best, to do better than our best! And he doesn't apologize for it. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. We want that title, we have to live worthy of it. He also said that when we come home, it's important not to go back. Yes I'm coming back to AZ and yes I'm coming back to school in Logan, but I will hopefully never GO back to the old Stephanie. She was great and everything but this experience should change my life. I feel like it kind of already has and I'm only a month in. But it should change me forever, for the better. It was a wake up call for me that when I put this name tag on, I wasn't putting a mask on just to take it off in 18 months, I made a decision to be someone better, and I am trying everyday to become that much better.

Monday was good, we taught Reinaldo. He kind of half committed to baptism, he said he'd give us a more definite answer next time. Yesterday we taught Benjamin and he has known for a long time that he needs and wants to get baptized so yesterday I committed him and he is excited! We also had a service project, folding sheets. While I picked up my first sheet to fold I felt some bumps in it. Ended up pulling out a pair of garments an elder left in his sheets. Seriously, things like this only happen to me.

We had to move classrooms because they started construction in our old one. But I actually like our new one better because it has small desks instead of tables so we put all our desks in a U shape and we can see each other and it's just the best friendship circle ever!

I can't really think of anything else that has happened that is story worthy. There are a lot of little things that have happened within our district but they are all you-had-to-be-there stories.Well I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week, a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will write again on Wednesday!

Con amor,

Hermana Granado

These were on our district leader's camera and he sent them to us so here you go! Sometimes we have fun too :) We are district 11 and since Hunger Games just came out I thought it was appropriate to show you our district sign :)

Week 3 in the MTC

Hey family, another week down and I swear I was just in here emailing talking about last week. The days seem to go on forever but before you know it you're halfway done. This is my fourth which means I've been here for three weeks which means I leave in three more. It's honestly so crazy to think about! If these 6 weeks were my whole mission it would be worth it. I have learned so much about the gospel and about myself and about others.

Here goes another disorganized rambling email trying to get everything in my head onto "paper" in my short amount of time.Today we went to the temple again. We get to go every other week, it is about 30 or 45 minutes away, we just pile on a bus and it is fun to see the city. Today on our way home we bought some bananas from a street vendor, they walk up and down the lanes with bags of them, and honestly, best banana of my life. There will be a picture later :)

Last Friday I started a tally in my planner of prayers. Because the day before I noticed my knees were bruised from kneeling and praying so much, how awesome is that?! I think it's so cool. Anyway I got to wondering how many times a day I pray. So I counted. Last Friday was 30! Thirty prayers in like the 17 hours I was awake! So that was pretty cool.

On Sunday I gave a talk in church! In Spanish! Every week all the missionaries in the CCM have to prepare a 5 minute talk on the topic they give you for that week. Then they announce who will be speaking at the beginning of the meeting. And I was called on. I had a personal goal to not say one word in English. Not one! And I am excited to announce that I succeeded. I was shaking and so nervous because Spanish is still hard for me. When I was done and went to sit down my companion, Hermana Baird said that during my talk President Miller leaned over to my branch president who is directly over me and goes "She's only been here 2 weeks?" President Jewell, my branch president said that President Miller looked really impressed and said "Wow, her Spanish is great" so when Hermana Baird told me that it made me feel pretty good.

Also, this week we've been having some trouble with our hot water. The trouble is there isn't any. So they've come to our casa like five times now and they fix it every time but then it's freezing hours later. So that has been fun. This morning wasn't bad, maybe I'm just getting used to it. But here's hoping we have hot water soon.

Did I tell you guys we're teaching two investigators now? I think I did. Their names are Benjamin and Reinaldo. They're both our teachers acting as investigators. Our Spanish is coming along but we still have a long way to go until we're the kind of teachers we want to be. The other day we were teaching Benjamin, who is our morning teacher Hermano Muñoz. We have a very strict time limit because other companionships have to teach their lessons too. So we were first and we went to the room but he wasn't there. So we spent like 5 or 10 minutes running around between all the rooms in all the surrounding building trying to make our teaching appointment. We decide to go back to the original room and see him walking down the hall really slowly and looking at his hands so we thought we was texting. We were frustrated he cut our lesson short and flustered from running around in the cold so we step outside, calm ourselves down and wait for him to get situated. We knock on the door and imagine our surprise and guilt when he hands us each a nice warm cup of apple cider. He is such a sweet guy. Every day after class he tells us he loves us and hugs the elders and gives us nice heartfelt handshakes.

I'm trying to think of what else happened this week. The other night in class was ridiculous. We usually get pretty rowdy for Hermano Gilisia at night mostly because we're tired and have been in the classroom for 3-6 hours already that day, but the other night was hilarious. We are not disrespectful, just very playful. He was in a really good mood because it was his one month anniversary of being married and he's 26 so he likes to joke around with us too. This is totally a you-had-to-be-there story but whatever, try and picture it. There are two elders in my district who just make me laugh all the time. They are hilarious. Elder Patton and Elder Coates. Elder Patton volunteered to lead our opening hymn and he doesn't know how to lead so he just got up in front and sang really loud while sporadically moving his hand and swaying his hips with it. Elder Coates lost it and couldn't even stand because he was laughing so hard. Then Hermano Gilisea called on him for the opening prayer. We use the "tu" form when praying because God is our Father in Heaven and it's more personal. Well at the end of his prayer he says "amamos a su... usted... le... lo... se... te... tu... en el nombre de jesucristo, amen" and the whole class erupted in laughter. Poor kid. It was perfect until he threw every pronoun in the Spanish language in there. Then later Elder Patton volunteered to help Hermano Gilisea and he was pointing to words on the board but acting like Vanna White and I was dying.We were doing language study and he put us into groups to practice asking each other questions using the grammar we had just gone over. It was Elder Coates' turn and he picked me to ask questions to which was fine. But he wasn't paying attention so he kept snapping his head between his paper and looking at me really intensely and I started laughing so hard I was crying. Then Elder Patton found a stain on Elder Coates' shirt (for the fourth day in a row) and then Elder Patton was crying and we were all just laughing so hard. It felt good to laugh, even if it was at nothing. I feel like we're always so serious, which makes sense because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. But at the same time it is good to be 20 sometimes.

Today at the temple our branch president, Elder Jewell pulled me and Hermana Baird aside and asked us to be Sister Training Leaders. Which is a leadership position that has just recently been made. Sisters didn't used to have any leadership positions on the mission as far as I know but now this calling has been established. And we're the new or actually the first Sister Training leaders in our district.

** IMPORTANT NOTICE: DON'T SEND ANYTHING TO MEXICO PAST NOVEMBER 30TH** emails of course are okay but any dearelders and snail mail won't get to me in time. So until November 30th is great but after that just wait until December 10th and send it to California. Thank you!

Last night it started storming out of nowhere. It was raining so hard Hermana Baird and I ran to our next meeting but were still soaked. The thunder shook the projector and the power flickered. It was pretty exciting but I don't think Buffy and Nikki would have appreciated it.

We had a devotional last night and one girl stood up to comment on something and she was speaking very fast spanish so I had a hard time understanding but I started crying because the Spirit was so so strong. And it was cool for me because the past couple days I have been saying my personal prayers in Spanish to practice but if there's something I don't know how to say I'll think, oh I better say this in English so Heavenly Father understands. But in that moment I realized that it doesn't matter what language I'm speaking or how broken my grammar is, the Spirit makes up the difference and Heavenly Father knows exactly what I mean. He hears the songs I cannot sing. Just a little thought for you guys!

Oh and Elder Lloyd, our district leader, has a nickname for me. Hand Grenade. Partly because it fondly reminds him of Call of Duty that he misses so much and partly because he said that I'm quiet and calm but when I feel the spirit I just explode. 

And our district has a little inside joke, we say Esta bien to EVERYTHING like really everything. And we just say it in this way that I wish I could convey over email. But that's our thing. And Elder Patton and I are paz buddies. Paz means peace so we hold up a peace sign and say paz in our deepest voice possible. It's like aloha, we say it for everything. He kinda reminds me of Austin, He's fun to joke around with.

Okay, time is running short so I will attach some pictures before I have to go. I love you all, I haven't heard much from some of you so I hope everything's okay. I have no other way of knowing anything that's happening with you if you don't tell me so don't be afraid to type a little email. Love and miss you all.

Make sure you look in the background of me doing my muscleman pose :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Granado

Today is a holiday so the streets were packed, I took a picture of that and some houses up on a hill. I tried to get street vendors and stuff but didn't succeed. I love looking out the window on our way to and from the temple. It is a city like none I've ever seen before.

Week 2 in the MTC

It's 41 degrees and raining and this desert air is freezing. It's times like this when I'm actually thankful I'm not in Logan right now. I'm so thankful to be going to California. The Lord knows me well. 

Anyway, this week was pretty much ordinary but still crazy busy. It's weird how usual the days get when still so many things are happening!  I forgot to tell you about our service projects last time. We do service one day a week for a couple hours here on campus. Last week we were in the comedor and did dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Yesterday was our service for this week and we washed and folded sheets for the whole CCM! 

I told you a little about my teacher Hermano Muñoz right? Well I found out this week that he is only 22! He has worked at the CCM for almost a year and he went to school here when it was a high school. Our other teacher is Hermano Gilesia who acted as Marcos, our first investigator. He is 26. It's like kids teaching kids here but it works and it's so awesome. Something funny about Hermano Muñoz is he apparently loves beef jerkey (he pronounces it beef yer-key) but I guess they don't have it here or it's not as good... anyway, one of the hermanas in my district brought some with her so the next day she walked into class holding the bag out to him and his face went from super serious let's get started to a kid on Christmas morning. I wish so badly I could've captured it on camera but it was priceless. He is such a cool guy.

We've finished teaching Marcos, we only got 5 lessons with him. In his last lesson I committed him to baptism and it was really cool because when he accepted he said he liked talking to us because I know how he feels, I was able to empathize with a lot of questions and concerns he had. Now we're teaching Benjamin and Reinaldo. 

We just got done with lunch and there was a camera crew from Salt Lake following the missionaries around for some reason... I'm not really sure if it's just a little documentary on the new Mexico MTC, but I've heard rumors of a "change" happening for missionaries so I'll keep you posted.

My Spanish is getting better but I feel like I've plateued a little bit. Hermana Baird and I need to get back to working at it like we were. Oh! during language study the other day our teacher was studying French and learned "Je suis enfant de Dieu" so I wrote that down to share with Frank and Beth :)

Every Sunday we have to prepare a 5 minute talk in Spanish, then when we get into Sacrament meeting they announce who will be speaking. So you really never know when it'll be you until right before. This past Sunday I could've sworn it was going to be me, but nope! So probably this week. There are only about 25 people in our branch that meet together and 6-8 of them speak so the odds are pretty good I'll get called up, Wish me luck!

Okay, funny story. Remember how I said the food was good? I kinda jinxed it. Because after that it got kinda sketchy. They are super creative though! A couple days ago we had hot dogs for dinner. I'm guessing we didn't eat them all because the next day we had potatoes and hot dogs for breakfast. Then hot dogs showed up in the salad at lunch, and pasta with hot dogs for dinner. At least they don't waste! All day we were playing I spy the hot dogs.

I can't think of much else that happened this week so I will send pictures. I love you all so much and pray for you everyday. And talk about you all the time! 

Con amor,

Hermana Granado

1. Our laundry drying since we have a washer but no dryer

2. My district in front of the CCM sign

3. Me in front of my casa

4. Me and Hermana Baird in front of the map

5. Me in front of our purpose as missionaries (we recite it in Spanish every day in class)

6. My district in front of the CCM sign

Week One in the MTC

Part 1

Okay I really only have five minutes, then we are going to the temple. I will get more time later but I am very limited. Thank you for all your sweet emails I appreciate them so much. Excuse the grammar, Mexican keyboards don’t seem to have apostrophes and stuff like that.

I will email more when I can, and I will always email on Wednesdays. Then when I get to California it will probably be Mondays, but I’ll let you know. I met my companion, her name is Amanda Baird from Massachusetts. I seem to have forgotten how to spell in English. Lo siento. She is awesome and so patient with me. I learned that I have been placed in the intermediate Spanish class. The only one above our class is the native speakers that stay for two weeks then go into the field. So all our teachers and what not speak solamente Española. Which is awesome. We taught our first investigator on Friday. Yep, that means my second day here I was teaching! in Spanish! Its crazy how much the spirit helps us here. We have now had three lessons with Marcos and tonight is our fourth. Got to go! To be continued. Love you all. Expect another email today. Love love love love love Hermana

Part 2

Hey family, back from the temple. It was awesome but I definitely see why they only let us email once a week, I was so distracted thinking of everything I wanted to tell you guys. I love and miss you all and think of you and talk about you every day. I am sorry if this email is scattered, I just want to get as much out as I can! So in my casa there are 4 girls to a room, 4 rooms in a casa. Every room has its own bathroom so I only have to share with three other girls, which is nice. I wake up at 6 every day. It was 5:45 today. And I am in bed by 10:30. I can find the colon on this Mexican keyboard. I forgot to tell you that my companion, Hermana Baird is going to the California San Jose mission. So we will be together for the next 5 weeks then I wont see her again for the rest of my mission! I’ve only found one other girl going to the Redlands mission.

Remember how I said we are teaching Marcos? Well we only have two more lessons then he becomes our new teacher! He is a teacher acting as an investigator. So that will be super helpful. Also, there is kind of a motto or saying in the MTC, everyone says just make it until Sunday. I never really understood it but I definitely do now. Saturday night was our 2^nd lesson with Marcos and he asked some questions we really didn’t anticipate. The problem wasn’t the answer, it was trying to figure out how to answer in Spanish. It was so frustrating and humbling to have something so important and powerful to say but not being able to because of the language barrier. Needless to say that when Hermana Baird and I got back to our casa, I shed the first CCM tears. I was so discouraged and felt useless because I couldn’t help Marcos understand. And I just missed you all so much, it felt impossible. Then Sunday came. I have never felt so spiritually uplifted at church ever. My whole outlook changed, on my mission and on my life! And I want you all to be reassured that I am so so so so happy. I just wish you all could be here with me!

The food here is good. It took my tummy a day or two to adjust but it is yummy! Arroz y frijoles are my favorite. And they have pineapple almost everyday, which I just jump all over. Also, they make this green sauce that I put on pretty much everything.

Oh and my district- they are the ones I do everything with. Its not a sight and sound rule like mi compañera but they are in class with me and we have study time together and our schedules are all the same. They are awesome! And we are the first districts in the history of the MTC-CCM with more sisters than elders! Go Hermanas! There are 7 sisters and 4 elders. I just love them. We've had a lot of bonding experiences the past couple days.

I found the apostrophe, did you notice? :) and the colon! Dang I'm getting the hang of this. Now if only the enter would work so this wasn't one huge paragraph... Anyway, next story. We have an hour of gym time five days a week and they usually want to play sports when I'd rather be on the elliptical. But my companion compromises with me a lot so I let her have this one. Yesterday we were playing soccer with some sisters and elders in our district (this was the second time I've ever played soccer. The first was the day before this) and so you know me and my lack of hand-eye-coordination... but guess what? I scored two goals! Only one other goal was scored and it was by a very enthusiastic elder. I was the top scorer and the VIP. Just kidding, it wasn't that serious but I was pretty excited.

Oh! back to Marcos. We had a lesson with him on Monday and our first two lessons were awful so we studied and studied and prepared as much as possible. When we went in there we only got through a third of our lesson plan before his questions took us in another direction but the spirit was so strong and I was able to answer his questions. There was one point where he asked a really good important question and I had an answer right ready for him and while I was explaining he tried to stifle a smile and started nodding his head like that was what I was supposed to say! It was the first time Hermana Baird and I felt like we were actually doing something RIGHT! It felt amazing.

I am going to try and send some pictures of us at the temple and some other things. The group is my district the little girl with curly dark hair is my companion. I'll send some of my casa, it's number 15. We can only take pictures on our P-day so there's not a lot. I took some of the city but it takes forever to upload so I'm only sending my pretty face. They say the weeks go by like days and the days go by like weeks here. It feels like I've been here forever but I've seen people leave to go into the field and they say don't take a second for granted because before you know it you're leaving.

I love you all more than you know. Please send me pictures in themail! I want to see all of you. Con amor, Hermana Granado

Part 3

Did I mention I love you all? :) The water is safe for drinking here, they have their own well. But they also provided us with filtered water bottles and we have bottled water in our casas. And my teacher's name is Hermano Muñoz. He's the coolest. And he gives all the guys really awesome hugs at the end of class every day. It makes me so jealous. (he can't hug us sisters).

Oh and I have heard really great things about the chocolate in la tienda but haven't had time to check it out yet. I barely have time to breathe these days. But I just love it! And

I love all of you :)

Part 4

I'm probably annoying you all with all these emails but Hermana Baird isn't done yet so I can't leave and I just keep thinking of more things to say! Plus you won't hear from me until next Wednesday so I'm just gonna hit you with my best shot! This MTC is on 90 acres, it's the largest MTC in the world, but it doesn't have the most people. And the cool thing is that everyone here is learning Spanish so we can all help each other, as opposed to the more populated Provo MTC that teaches like a zillion languages.

Oh and one pair of my shoes is already coming apart. We do a ton of walking around these 90 acres from class to class. But no worries, they can be spared and I'm still just fine on shoes. It's starting to get cooler in the mornings and evenings here but a cardigan will do the trick so it's not too bad.

Hope everyone is enjoying school and work and all that good stuff, keep me updated on things! I got my first dear elder letter today. Don't be afraid to use that website! dearelder.com then go to the write a letter tab, choose the Mexico MTC and type your little heart out. They print it out and give it to me so I can read them during the day, any day of the week. Emails I am very limited on the time I get to read and respond on Wednesdays. Thank you so much for all your love and support. I am so thankful that I am able to be here and know you are all behind me cheering me on. I love you all so much.

Con amor,

Hermana Granado