Tuesday, January 22, 2013

January 22, 2013 - Livermore


Last week felt like THE LONGEST week ever! And So much changed. So first things first....I really miss Hermana Green. I didn't realize how much I loved her until she left. It was so easy to do anything and everything because we always had the same opinions/desires/attitude etc. But I know I'm supposed to be with my new companion for a reason and Sister Green is supposed to be in her new area. I've already learned so much from my new companion in this one week. Her name is Hermana Wallace from Alpine, Utah. She has 8months in the mission. Her Spanish is really good and we only talk to eachother in Spanish so I know that will help me with the language a lot. She is a theater major at Utah State. We're very different in almost every aspect but we still get a long fine.
 
It sounds like Texas was a lot of fun. Thanks for the email/update mom. I'm excited to see pictures! So is the kitchen completely done? It sounds like it. It's starting to warm up here. How's the weather in Utah? Still cold and snowy? And how is Justin doing? Jessica thanks so much for the piano tips! They are really useful. I teach Thursday nights about 10 kids (they only get 15 min each on the piano and then sister wallace teaches them beat and rythm for 15 min). I'll let you know if I have any more questions. They're all pretty beginner though. Tell Ethan thanks for the picture! I loved it. And it looks exactly like Mom and Dad's house...I was impressed. Tell him yes, my car is white. I have been saving up all the mexican candy I get to send home to the nephews one day. I'm not sure they'll like it....they put chilli powder on everything.
 
Speaking of the newphews- my president said that I can listen to recordings of them on my pday and watch videos of them. I don't know how you'd send that though. But if you figure it out...be my guest! I would love to hear peoples voices. I don't know if I'd be able to send anything back though.
 
Okay so here's an update of my week: Blanca wants to change her baptismas date to February 2 instead of February 16. We're still trying to get it worked out because that's the same weekend as stake conference. I'm happy she's so eager to be baptized though. I had a big zit on my forehead one day and she looked so concerned and asked Que paso!? (what happened?!) haha I didn't know how to say zit in spanish. But she taught me. She's really into health and medicine so she told me how to get rid of them. It went away before I could try it though. I'll try it next time and see if it works. I think it's hot water and garlic? Anyway, blanca will be going to slc for a conference for her work (her boss is lds and served a spanish speaking mission) the same weekend as general conference. So I want to try and get her tickets and it'd be awesome if you all got to meet her! I don't know how likely that is. And you definitely wouldn't be able to communicate with her unless someone knows how to speak spanish and never told me. Hopefully we can figure out the details for her baptism today because Febrero 2 is soon!
 
One thing I learned about the mexican culture is if they invite you to dinner/lunch/breakfast it is a HUGE insult to pay for yourself. A member invited us to mcdonalds for breakfast so I went up, ordered and paid and he was so offended. I felt bad. I told him that it's different with Americans (which I don't know if that's even true) so he felt a little better. But he stil gave me cash for my breakfast. Then he said "If a mexican wants to buy you food, let them buy you food". Oops. Now I know. Speaking of food....I ate cow stomach. Gross? Yes. It's called menudo. And it's rubbery and gross. I like most of the mexican food now but that is something I don't think I will ever like no matter how many times I eat it.
 
This is random but every time we're in the church I see the plaques for all the missionaries serving and I'm so sad that I don't have one. Dad can you ask someone about that? And everyone always talks about their "plaque scripture" and when they ask me what mine is I don't have one.
 
We are not going to teach Apolinar anymore and he dropped his baptismal date. He said he wants to read the entire book of mormon before he gets baptized. He loves scriptures. I think it's great that he wants to read the whole book of mormon. Maybe not neccesarily before he gets baptized but I think it's still a good goal. Anyway our lesson last night with him was horrible. The elders were there too so that they could take over and none of us knew where the lesson was going. To be honest, I"m not even sure what we talked about or what our purpose was. It was so sad. Whatever the lesson was it definitely wasn't from preach my gospel so I didn't feel like a missionary. Then we didn't get home til 945 because we lost our phone. Last night was the second time we've been late for curfew and I hate breaking the rules!
 
Ana and her family are still reading the book of mormon but they haven't come to church. It's interesting because at first Ana was progressing really fast but louis wasn't that interested and now it's switched. I've been surprised at how well I know the area without Hermana Green. Plus the GPS helps a lot too obviously. I finished my journal already! But I had a package of refil paper so when I need more I"ll let you know.
 
Well I hope everyone is doing great! You're all in my prayers and I can't wait to hear from you soon.
Love, Hermana Billings
 
ps- are we in a third world war? We saw protesters on the street that said "impeach obama stop WW3" ??? I'm so out of the loop!

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