Oh my goodness. Laney´s pictures. I knew this would happen, but I wasn´t prepared for this. I don´t recognize my baby sister (well, obviously I RECOGNIZE her) and she´s a big teenager, and I almost cried just now. But it´s good, Laney! You´re so beautiful and grown up! BAH! We´re all big now, this is so weird, why does life go by so quickly? Why does the mission go by so quickly (except for this transfer)? What are we doing with our lives?! Worthwhile things?! This is a rhetorical question for you all, you can ponder it to yourselves.
So life continues on in the Mission Hna. Santiago. Maybe she hates me somewhat less, sometimes. She laughs with me about random things more often. But she still asks me things like why I´m not a ´normal Hna. Jennings´ and implies things in our lessons about me not being worthy to enter the temple, being a liar, etc. I take it a day at a time. I pray for the strength to get through one more day, every morning. Every morning when I get up, every night when I go to bed, I have ¨One more dawn, one more day, one day more¨ playing through my head. Sometimes I have in my head Mr. Monk´s song about dumping San Fransisco´s garbage into the bay one bag at a time, but with ¨one day at a time¨. But all silliness aside (and by silliness I mean coping strategies) Elder Christofferson gave a wonderful CES fireside about relying on the Lord for our sustenance day by day, and I´ve been applying it. And it works out pretty well. I thinhk it´s called ¨Give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread¨ from 2011.
Here´s some fun news NOT related to my companion. We went to a cultural museum today with some other hermanas, and I loved it. It was a really quality museum. We went through an anthropological exhibit, an art gallery, and a photography exhibit.
Also, it is mango season here EVERYONE has been giving us mangos, we have waaaaaaaaaaay too many mangos. We eat several daily, and we still have a billion left. I ate 5 yesterday, I´m not going to be able to keep this up. Even Hna. S. who despises waste, was like NOPE the other night, and said she would not eat another mango that is too ripe, or too green.
Yesterday I experienced my first rejection. No one has ever told us no, we couldn´t share something with them. It wasn´t bad or anything, just the first person who was like, ¨I´m Catholic, I can´t have other people seeing me listen to your message.¨ A couple weeks ago was the first time anyone tried to convert us to their religion. German Jehovah´s Witnesses. THAT was interesting-- Spanish with German accents.
I am so excited to Skype home on Sunday!!!!! Love you all, thank you for your love and support!
Hna. J.