My Wallet is Found :D

Hola!

Mom you asked about the food. Our new pecionista is good! Except he doesn't ever give us any vegetables...I'm not very healthy these days. My diet consists of some kind of meat, a ton of rice, a lot of potatoes, juice, mas a mora (their kind of dessert--it's pretty much a gooey sugary substance), jello (for some reason these people LOVE jello--who would have thought?), yogurt, cereal, nature valley bars, ice cream, bodoques, oh and a LOT of fruit. They have stores about every five feet called ´´´tiendas´´ it kind gets addicting, you can buy a ice cream for like a penny here!

This is my last week with Hermana Rivera. yikes. We don't know who will leave next week because we are both new to this area...but I'm nervous. Change is always good though, I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me next!

So when Elder Grow came he really earged us to have baptisms. We should be baptizing every week. Talk about stresssss. gahhhh! He said we must talk to every couple or family we see in the streets so Hermana Rivera and I have been doing just that. Every time we see a couple we both look and each and know what we got to do whether we want to or not. One day we were waiting for a moto and this couple walked by. Shoot, I thought we just let them pass without a word. My comp and I both looked at each other and said ´´pareja´´ (couple). We then RAN after them and forced them to talk to us. Hahaha sometimes we look like crazies, but the greatest thing is I will never see these people again. I don't care what I look like or how dumb I look I am on the Lord's errand.

So my comp....I love her to death. But somethings are just so weird. Living with someone from a different culture is a very good experience. She says the fan makes her chest hurt. So we've been sleeping without the fan for a while now. It reminds me of Cambodia. No air conditioning and no fan. Haha but I am getting used to the heat. For the FIRST time this week I got a little chilly and put on my sweater. Bad idea. An hour later I was carrying my sweater and sweating like crazy. Also in the morning not sure what happens when you open the door fast, but according to my comp it's not good for you to take in the outside air really fast after waking up. So she always opens the door and sits there for a minute, then she'll venture out. She thinks I'm weird I know it, but we get a long really well! I will miss her for sure. Analy and her call me their ´´baby.´´ They make fun of me but it's fine becacuse I know I am dumb. One day this week they bought fried potatoes. I didn't want fried potatoes so I said ´´Ésta bien, no quiro.´´ I tried to be nice, but whenever I refuse food the people here blow up like someone just died! Seriously it's the biggest deal. When you refuse food I guess it means it's because you think it's disgusting or it's not good enough. All day long they laugh and reinact me saying ´´no quiero papa, no quiero.´´ Oh man we laugh A LOT. Us three spend soo much time together.

Anway.....Mission work. Evelyn, she is one of my favorite people. We love her so much. We tried to set another baptismal date but no she said she doesn't feel ready. She doesn't know why she doesn't feel ready but she just doesn't. Ahhh but she knows it's true! She is reading the BOM, coming to church, and praying. But we are not giving up on her. 

Two other investigators attended church yestereday yay! Dorris and Rafael (12 and 9 yrs.). They were our golden family, they accepted a baptismal date way back when. But then they had problems in their family. Dorris and Rafael live solo with their dad who is an alcoholic. We are going to try and focus more on them and bring them back. But Dorris loved the church and she loved young womens! 

A miracle this week...I was sitting in the church waiting for ward counsel to start when two men walked in the chapel and said ´´Estreengmmann´´ (Stringham). I immediately stood up and then I saw that they had my wallet!!!! WOW. I was amazed. They found my wallet in the street, then they went looking for me. How kind and honest is that? The money was taken but everything else (2 credit cards, drivers liscence, temple recommend, Health Insurance card, and my missionary health card) were all there! Wow God answers my prayers. It was truly a miracle.

I love the scriptures so much. I feel like I never have enough time to study them it bothers me. Isn't it funny. I am dedicating all my time to the gospel right now but I still feel like I need more time to study. I truly am hungry to read my Book of Mormon every morning. We get home usually around 8:30-9:00. But then we have to report on all the lessons we taught for the day which takes about a half an hour. Most days I only have 30 minutes to eat ´´dinner´´ and get ready for bed. There is just no time. We have an hour in the morning to study personally. But I wish I had more time to study!

Christ lives I know it. He comforts me when I feel inadequate. This week I prayed for comfort and truly I feel a lot better. I know that through His Atonement we can be made whole. He is always with us. He is with me I feel it.

Love you all,

Hermana Stringham 

We ate at Chillis last P-Day!!!!! I ate fajitas. Oh man I miss American food sooooo much.