Bernalillo, NM Transfer 3, Week 3

Dear Family and Friends,

The holiday season is quickly flying by. It is hard to believe that Christmas will be here next week--especially since there is no snow on the ground, the grass is still green, and there are still some days that I only need a sweater in the middle of the day. (Yes, I'm rubbing it in to all of you who are in Idaho and are FREEZING. Mom told me that your warmest day has been 36 degrees). But really, I want it to snow. So if you all can pray that we can have a white Christmas down here in New Mexico--at least where I am, I'd appreciate it ;)

Monday: We went shopping at Walmart, and did our Christmas shopping for each other. Christmas morning will be really exciting knowing what we're getting, but that's okay. When you can't be out of sight of each other, there's only so much you can do. We pretty much chose our gifts and said "okay, I'm buying that for you." It also rained all day long--snow up higher in the mountains.

Tuesday: Sister Michel told me that I sat up in bed in the middle of the night praying for our investigators in Spanish. She found it quite entertaining. I woke up around 4:30 to hail pounding on the roof, and it was super windy all day long and cold... for here. Nice and toasty compared to what you all have been dealing with. We said goodbye to one of our investigators who left to Ecuador on Wednesday for 3 or 4 months to visit her family. Sister Michel and I think we'll probably be gone before she gets back... unless I really am the next Sister Trunnell and stay here for close to a year like the Elders are predicting. She gave us all a t-shirt so we can remember New Mexico, and it was crazy. Sister Cabello likes the cactus, and that's what was on her shirt. Sister Michel likes the kokopeli symbol and that's what was on her shirt. And I'm a fan of the Route 66, and guess what... That's what was on my shirt. (Mom, I'm sending that home in my box today because I can't use it here, so I figure I might as well just send it home.)

Wednesday: Sister Cabello told me that I sat up in bed introducing myself in Spanish. It's been an interesting couple of nights, no? We had dinner with the Bernalillo Elders. It was our turn for the message, so we gave it in Spanish (the Sister we ate dinner with is from Peru and her son is also fluent). It was good for the Elders to see what it's like for one to not understand what was going on. Elder Jorgensen (our District Leader) is really patient, and when Sister Cabello answers the phone, he speaks slower so she can understand--even more so now.

Thursday: We had District meeting. We talked about the Christlike Attributes in PMG chapter 6. After that, we had lesson after lesson fall through, and we'd quickly exhausted all of our back-up plans. But such is the life of a missionary I guess. It's just rare for the Spanish missionaries in this area.

Friday: So guess what. I woke up to find my retainers not in my mouth, but in my bed which means only one thing. I was talking in my sleep again. I don't have any witnesses of this event, but I always take my retainers out to talk because I can't talk with that much plastic in my mouth. So a question to all of you who have slept in the same room as me: Kesha, Nicole, Brittani, Shaina: Is this NORMAL for me to talk in my sleep, or is it something I've started doing recently? Shaina is probably the best one to ask because she was always up later than me, and Kesha has lived with me the longest. But if ya'll have an answer for me I'd appreciate it because I want to see if I'm just now getting weird sleeping habits or if it's something I've done for a long time and people just didn't tell me. We had our weekly planning session which went for twice as long as it was supposed to. And then we went finding in the River's Edge area. We know it's bad for Spanish people, but we feel bad for the Elders because they don't have many investigators and one of them hurt his foot and is on crutches for 2 weeks so they can't go out finding, so they're pretty much stuck inside.

Saturday: We went to Albuquerque to get our flu shots. No Swine Flu for these sisters (at least Sisters Good and Michel, because Sister Cabello had it in the MTC, and got the shot.) One of the members drove us down there. It was nice to be able to see a bit of the city. The clinic was at the convention center right in the middle of town, so we were able to see a lot of the big, downtown buildings. The weather was really nice. I was fine in just my sweater as we were out walking around during the afternoon. And that evening we went to see Magda, who was baptized a few weeks ago. She is doing so good! She has truly turned her life around and made changes for the better. It is incredible for us to see the changes she's made.

Sunday: As we were driving to Bernalillo for church, Sister Michel told Sister Cabello and I that we woke her up in the middle of the night because we were talking. She asked us what was wrong, and a few seconds later she heard snoring. And yes, the conversation was in Spanish. We had twice as many people in the Spanish Service as we did last week. Definitely a good thing! The weather was even nicer than Saturday--I only used my blazer all day long. I could get used to this :)

But it was a good week. I hope you all had a nice week as well. Good luck on finals for those of you still in school (I have no idea when BYU-Idaho or BYU get done... but it's weird to think that if I weren't here, I'd be taking my last finals ever and getting ready to move to Utah to do my student teaching. Yeah, I think I'd rather be here, because I don't think I'm ready for that yet).

President Anderson asked us all to read 3 Nephi 13: 19-34 every day between now and Christmas and think about where Christ would be during this Christmas season. It's a beautiful section of verses, and I invite you all to do the same.

Have a wonderful week! I love you!

Hermana Good