So. Mission life can be tough. I had an out house adventure yesterday. No details except that they only use curtains for doors, which blow in the wind, as you can imagine, and I had to use the back pages of my agenda as toilet paper.
Also, we lose water fairly often. I have taken several bucket showers in my time here. They are actually not that bad. The mornings are slightly chilly now, so the cold water is a bit uncomfortable, but the other day we heated water on the stove, and that bucket shower was heavenly. I realize now that I should explain where the bucket water comes from, if we can´t get water from the faucet. We have a giant barrel in the shower that we fill when there is water, and we use that. Today, the water ran out before I could do my second load of laundry, and the barrel is practically empty from the earlier laundry so that´s a bummer. And our supply of water to dump in the toilet to flush it is also low.
Last night we ran out of gas while frying fritos de platanos to eat with our guacamole, and that was tragic, because the first batch was smaller than the second one, and all that platano went to waste. That was truly heart breaking, I couldn´t look at the stove with out feeling pain.
But life is not all sadness and trial! We are very inventive with our food, because let´s face it, food is one of the few, simple pleasures we get to enjoy. One night we decided to fry our leftover mashed yuca, and that was an unforgettable experience. Today we took our breakfast yogurt and froze some, and that was also awesome. We bought tortilla chips from the grocery store and finished off the guacamole we were supposed to eat last night, so that has a happy ending. Today we spent several of our P-Day hours cutting out pictures and phrases from old issues of the Liahona and making wall art collages. Very fun :)
Also, the highlight of the week was sacrament meeting on Sunday. We invite everyone we teach, investigators, menos activos, to come to church, and they hardly ever do. They say they will, and then don´t, and that´s the worst. But last Sunday a family came late that we thought wouldn´t show, and when I got up to help them settle in, I saw there were more menos activos, and our investigator who had come in when we weren´t looking, like right after opening prayer or something. We had sooooo many menos activos in church, who never come, and seeing them all there made me so incredibly happy, I thought my heart would explode. I was almost in tears, it was the happiest moment of my mission thus far. And in that moment I felt so much love for the ward I am serving in, and for the people I teach, and it was another one of those moments like in the CCM, where the amount of love I am feeling for people is a glimpse of celestial happiness.
That´s the purpose of the gospel. Happiness in this life, and the next.
Have a good week everyone. Love,
Hna. Jennings
Also, we lose water fairly often. I have taken several bucket showers in my time here. They are actually not that bad. The mornings are slightly chilly now, so the cold water is a bit uncomfortable, but the other day we heated water on the stove, and that bucket shower was heavenly. I realize now that I should explain where the bucket water comes from, if we can´t get water from the faucet. We have a giant barrel in the shower that we fill when there is water, and we use that. Today, the water ran out before I could do my second load of laundry, and the barrel is practically empty from the earlier laundry so that´s a bummer. And our supply of water to dump in the toilet to flush it is also low.
Last night we ran out of gas while frying fritos de platanos to eat with our guacamole, and that was tragic, because the first batch was smaller than the second one, and all that platano went to waste. That was truly heart breaking, I couldn´t look at the stove with out feeling pain.
But life is not all sadness and trial! We are very inventive with our food, because let´s face it, food is one of the few, simple pleasures we get to enjoy. One night we decided to fry our leftover mashed yuca, and that was an unforgettable experience. Today we took our breakfast yogurt and froze some, and that was also awesome. We bought tortilla chips from the grocery store and finished off the guacamole we were supposed to eat last night, so that has a happy ending. Today we spent several of our P-Day hours cutting out pictures and phrases from old issues of the Liahona and making wall art collages. Very fun :)
Also, the highlight of the week was sacrament meeting on Sunday. We invite everyone we teach, investigators, menos activos, to come to church, and they hardly ever do. They say they will, and then don´t, and that´s the worst. But last Sunday a family came late that we thought wouldn´t show, and when I got up to help them settle in, I saw there were more menos activos, and our investigator who had come in when we weren´t looking, like right after opening prayer or something. We had sooooo many menos activos in church, who never come, and seeing them all there made me so incredibly happy, I thought my heart would explode. I was almost in tears, it was the happiest moment of my mission thus far. And in that moment I felt so much love for the ward I am serving in, and for the people I teach, and it was another one of those moments like in the CCM, where the amount of love I am feeling for people is a glimpse of celestial happiness.
That´s the purpose of the gospel. Happiness in this life, and the next.
Have a good week everyone. Love,
Hna. Jennings