Week 10: Love getting mail!

Hi friends and family! Another week down in the mission and feeling great! It was another hard week, but it is amazing to see the blessings of missionary work!

 I literally cannot believe this week is Ballroom Nationals at BYU! That was the center of my universe for over a decade, so to completely have forgotten about it is unreal! haha Good luck to all of my friends competing! Love you and miss you all! I was asked to be in charge of an activity and teach ballroom to the Relief Society of my ward, and I feel in no way qualified to teach these women any form of latin dance. HA! It's cool to see that I am able to use that talent here on my mission. The other day I was talking to Bishop Biche about dance and he grabbed my shoulders and said "You will dance again." It was such a powerful moment. He talked about how much I could influence people for good with that talent, and he almost talked me into it. haha We'll just have to wait and see.

Let me take you through a typical day here on the mission:

6:15 wake up

6:30 exercise, we are lucky and have a gym in our apartment complex

7:00 get ready and eat breakfast

8:00 personal study

9:00 companion study

10:00 training

11:00 language study

12:00 lunch

1:00 -9:00 we tract, meet referrals, teach investigators and less actives

9:00 plan for the next day and update books

10:30 bedtime (FINALLY)

I have come to love this schedule!

There are so many perks to being a stateside missionary! We get nice cars, safe apartments, cell phones, ipads (soon, hopefully!), grocery stores, restaurants, computers, everything! But it still feels like a foreign mission! haha I love being Spanish speaking - we get the different culture, different food, and we are able to learn the language. Here we have to learn Mexican Spanish as well as keep up with those from Honduras, Argentina, Cuba, El Salvador, Peru, and Uruguay who all speak COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SPANISH. I love it! I really want to learn Portuguese, I think it is the most beautiful language!

My bishop is from Argentina and we went and had dinner with his family this week. So much fun! I have so much respect for missionaries who go to Argentina (yes Ryan, I am talking to you), these people speak SO FAST! haha His wife is the cutest little thing (another Hispanic ginger, what??) and she is such a hoot. She is so animated when she talks and she always does that little finger flick thing (so glad I learned that in high school Spanish class). She made us tons of traditional food; empanadas, sandwhich rolls, pizza (to die for) and cake. It was so much fun! Usually dinner appointments are only supposed to be for an hour, but they didn't stop talking for three hours straight! Nonstop! haha

This week was really hard because you plan and plan and plan, and everything falls through. Tracting is just exhausting and ineffective, and dangerous, honestly (lots of dogs loose on the streets). We have been praying so hard to find a new family to teach, and at the end of the week we ended up finding ONE and getting a referral for a SECOND!!! MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE!!! 7 NEW INVESTIGATORS IN 3 DAYS?!? AHHH!!!

I've learned that members are KEY in missionary work. So go find the missionaries in your ward and FEED THEM, DRIVE THEM, AND GIVE THEM REFERRALS.

Friday was the best day of my mission by far. I was able to go on exchanges with the Sister Training Leader Hermana Driesel. WOW. She is exactly the kind of missionary I want to become. Spending a day with her was so therapeutic! It was so refreshing to be an equal partner with her for a day. I learned so much! We found her three new families to teach and I met some wonderful members in her area! I was able to teach a whole lesson by myself and it went SO WELL! I was on cloud nine! I knew I could do it if I just got the chance! When we went home that night and planned she was so sweet. She told me that I was fantastic. That I was doing absolutely unreal with the language. That I did such a good job with the people. That I taught really well. That I was here for a reason. That Heavenly Father does not expect me to be perfect, and that He is proud of me. BEST DAY EVER.

Last night was so hard. J is a less active that we teach and we just love her. She lives in a little trailer with her five year old, M, and her nine month old, J. Her landlord gave her 30 days to move and sell her trailer because they are shutting down the trailer park. She literally has no friends and none of her family is willing to help. She isn't legal, and the "father of her children" refuses to help her. She has no money, nowhere to live, no one to help her. She told us everything last night and we just wept together. It broke my heart. There is literally nothing we can do for her and it was a horrible, horrible feeling. We read her scriptures and sang hymns to her, and said good-bye. So hard. Being a missionary, you have the opportunity to feel a portion of God's love for others, and see them as He sees them. We can only hope that this experience with bring her closer to God, and not push her farther away from the church, and it helped me see that it is her choice which direction it will go.

I finally had it... the dream. The dream where you come home and are at the airport, coming down the escalator. You see your family. You run to hug them... you wake up. Apparently it's a common thing out here. NOT FUN.

Daylight savings is SO ROUGH as a missionary. Losing that precious hour was so hard. haha but now we get an hour more of light at night to knock doors!

Funnies of the week:

Everyone here drives a Dodge Charger or a Mustang. EVERYONE.

"Let's set a comp goal to do something CRAZY! ...Like write a poem!" -Hermana Hoj

I said, "Te pedimos que bendigas este familia con felicidades..."

or "We ask that you bless this family with congratulations" instead of happiness. haha

and the best...

I told a member that after my mission I was going to finish school and caZar (hunt) for a man, instead of caSar (marry) a man. I mean, it's BYU.

Love you all SO MUCH!

Hermana McOmber

Bishop's wife made us amazing food from Argentina!

We love Texas!

Beautiful ice storms - crazy weather

Everything froze

Then everything flooded!

River Oaks flooded again!  No fun!

Giant Aloe plants - "keeps the devil away"

Loved getting a letter from Grandma Grace McOmber!

Cute girls showing off their CTR rings (I love passing them out!)

Their parents work at Taco Bell and bring us food all the time.

Yes, this is me eating a Fiery Locos Taco - and no I didn't die - 

I am getting used to spicy food :)

Sister Burnham got Girl Scout cookies in the mail!

We love the drive-through cupcake stand on rainy days

Went on exchange with Sister Breanne Driesel 

I love Margarite!

Hermanas Savannah Mower, Hoj, Burnham, Driesel, and me

I love Hermana Driesel!

Oh the places we go!

Love ya Spencer!

J

Week 9: Awesome Zone Conference

Hi loves!

TWO WEEKS in Houston and TWO MONTHS in the mission! Ahh! I love it. I absolutely love being a missionary. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but the very best thing I have ever done. 

Honestly, this week was hard. The days are so long and so hard, and there is SO MUCH to remember. My brain reaches a point where I can't think in Spanish or English and literally just shuts down, which makes understanding what anyone says and responding reeeeeally difficult. haha So Thursday or Friday morning we were practicing teaching during study and I could not figure out how to say what I wanted to say in any way, shape or form, and I finally broke down. Big fat tears that I couldn't stop. I was defeated. I was down for the count and couldn't get back up. I felt like the world's biggest failure. Luckily I have wonderful companions who read me enough Elder Holland talks to help me remember that even though this is hard, I have been called to succeed, not to fail. I am one of 80,000 missionaries feeling the exact same thing, but "those that are with us are more than are with them." We are missionaries during the most important time for missionary work in the history of the world. There is nowhere else I would rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing. This is the most incredible experience of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

There are so many miracles in a day, I can barely even remember them all in my journal, let alone pick which ones to tell you. One that sticks out in my mind was one day we were walking down the street after a few appointments had fallen through, kind of just wondering where to go next. This suburban pulls up next to us and this cute older hispanic lady yells, "MISSIONERAS!" It turns out she had just moved in down the street and had been praying to find someone from the ward so she could know where our church building was. She gave us milk and cookies and she talked to us for hours. She is on FIRE with missionary work, she told us she wants to work with us to convert her whole street! Umm, what?? She wants to drive us everywhere, feed us every night, and teach every lesson with us! hahahaha UNHEARD OF! My companions and I were just looking at each other and trying not to scream and jump around. WHAT A MIRACLE. She and her husband are exactly what our ward needs. 

We went and had dinner with her the other night and she is so much fun. She teaches us how to make the food so we can go home and make it for our families. She taught us how to make Chili Relleno... to die for. I am learning to love spicy food!  The other night we had fajitas and it tasted like something from Tucanos! I was in heaven! You would be so proud of me!

I finally heard my first real southern accent! We went and helped this old woman named Juanita clean her house. She is darling! She told us her love story and it sounds like something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel! We spent the whole afternoon with her and I loved it. Being able to understand someone and respond is so refreshing. I mean, I can speak Tex-Mex, like "checkando mi texto" is a real sentence I hear all of the time. haha Everyone tells me my Spanish is really good, but I seriously have such a hard time being patient with myself. I WANT TO SPEAK THIS LANGUAGE! So any prayers on my behalf for the gift of tongues would be SINCERELY appreciated. haha 

I love handing out CTR rings! The little kids just love them!! I gave one to an older lady the other day though and she was more excited than any of the kids! haha

Side note: there is such bizarre diversity of wildlife here. 

Dogs & Cats X 109839884756373920 

vultures, hawks, pigeons, cranes, swans, ducks, doves, cardinals

turtles, frogs, lizards

WILD PIGS

skunks (we may or may not have run over one on our way to car cleaning checks. oops. epic fail)

squirrels, horses, raccoons, oppossum,

chickens, roosters

don't even get me started on the bugs...

Funnies of the week:

Prayer by little five year old Marco last night: "Padre Celestial, te pedimos que bendigas mi toys. Estamos agradecidos por mi birthday cake. .........toys......... .............cake......... Amen."

hahahahhahahah All shouted at the top of his lungs, with huge gasps of air. hahahah

I love you and miss you all so much!

Hermana McOmber

Hermana Driesel and Hermana Parry at Zone Conference

  Sister Sapp and I met at Zone Conference!

She is Madeline Graham's aunt (my high school friend from Orem).

So much fun at Zone Conference!

Quick stop at the panederia with Jocelyn - the daughter of our ward mission leader.  She goes on splits with us.

She is a beautiful red-headed Hispanic!

I love getting letters and packages!!

So much rain that our streets flooded

Making my favorite!  Shrimp Pasta!!

Okay!

Spring has sprung!

Homemade churros for noche de hogar

Fresh oranges on the neighbors tree!

Week 8: I am loving it here!

Hi loves!

This has been such a crazy week! I absolutely love it here. I am learning so much and having such a good time.

So much happens in a week, I have no idea what to include in these letters!

It is so interesting to encounter people who have never even heard of missionaries. We met this girl our age and she was completely shocked as I explained that I had left school and worked to pay for this, that I had left school and work and dance and dating and friends AND my family for a year and a half WILLINGLY, that I had gone to Mexico just to learn the language, and that I was living here with two complete strangers, and that we knocked on doors all day long trying to find people to teach. The look on her face was priceless. hahaha

I love the people here! I have learned some very valuable lessons about the kind of people I would have associated with or avoided in the past, it has pretty much reversed! haha I love bearing my testimony to people. Whether it is to the young women in this ward about the importance of the temple, or the man last night who was trying to argue with us that we had "perfect little mormon lives" and I said I WOULD NOT BE HERE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM IF THIS WAS NOT TRUE. I may not be able to teach a good lesson yet, but I can definitely bear my testimony.

(Side note: there is one girl in our ward with pale skin and red hair, but it completely hispanic! Genetics are so cool! haha)

Every Monday we eat dinner with "Sabaloos," this sweet old lady from Pakistan. At first I could not figure out why we were there! She doesn't speak Spanish OR English so we can barely communicate with her, she is extremely poor and basically gave us all of the food she had (spiciest food I have ever had, ay ay ay), and she didn't even eat anything. Then I saw how she looked when we motioned that it was time to pray... gratitude, relief, happiness, comforted... she took our hands and we said a prayer for her and her family, her country, her health, her job. Then we sang a hymn for her and she just beamed! She clapped her hands sporadically along with the song and I finally understood that this meal appointment had absolutely nothing to do with feeding us. As we walked out of her apartment and down the walk she hobbled out to the doorway and waved at us all the way down the street until we were out of sight. I will never, ever forget that image.

My first real dinner appointment was at Hermana S's house on Tuesday. She lives in a pretty sketchy apartment, and as we sat at her table as she finished cooking it was so so SO hard to see the cockroaches just teeming in her kitchen! My appetite was completely gone, and I had to pound down an enormous spicy meal, and then continue to sit and teach her and not throw up. Hardest thing I have ever done. It was really horrifying to find out that her apartment is much cleaner than most other trailers we eat at. hahaha There was one particular trailer that we had a meal appointment with that I had been dreading all week. Between the dirt, the mold, the bugs, 4 dogs, 9 cats and the lack of hygene, I could barely hold anything down just thinking about it. But luckily she got takeout from Church's Chicken (the two most prevalent things here in Texas)! Made me just as sick as anything else, but it was easier to get down! haha

Want to hear the scariest moments of my life? We found a new area to knock and as we are walking down the street SIX DOGS come sprinting and barking at us! We were frozen with fear! They all circled us and my life literally flashed before my eyes, and we all got our bags ready to start hitting them when their owner ran over and saved us. So we are like laughing and and trying to control our breathing as we continue to walk down the street and THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE starts running toward us. It was this mutant Boxer thing, close to the size of a horse, and there was no doubt in my mind that we were dead. Luckily it got distracted by another dog and we sprinted around the corner. Reeeeeeeeeally glad Heavenly Father looks out for us! haha So the next time we went to the area we tried a different street. And so we find this giant lot with a trailer in the back, and almost every inch of this lot is covered in massive piles of garbage. So we weave through piles of garbage, and even old cars stuffed with garbage to get to this house we felt prompted to visit. I knock on the door and I hear this growl come from behind the nearest pile of garbage, and we turn around and see three german shepherds. Again, I thought we were dead (unfortunately it's becoming a common occurrence). But luckily two were chained up and the one that wasn't just came up and smelled us. We were about to leave when one of the chained dogs started howling and whining, and that's when we really got a good look at her. Completely starving. You could see every single one of her ribs, her spine, and even her hip bones. We ran over and pulled out anything we could find in our bags, granola bars, dried fruit, water, and started feeding these poor abused dogs. Then we heard whimpering from inside one of the kennels. Eight puppies, maybe a few days old, huddled together, whimpering. BROKE MY HEART. We called animal control, and go back every few days to make sure they're still alive. The one that isn't on the chain likes to follow us around the neighborhood and will literally sit on doorsteps as we knock. We thought he would protect us, like the dog in the other area, but he's a total scaredycat. haha WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME WHAT I WAS SIGNING UP FOR? hahahaha

I love teaching English at the hospital! We started out with just one, Rosa, and then last time we found Mary Lou, and this time we had Yamileth! It's an actual class now! They are so cute and we learn just as much Spanish from them as they learn English from us! I love it!

I have been giving out the CTR rings mom sent me to the little kids we teach and they absolutely love it!

People say the darndest things! haha Like one member Elisa brings up the resurrection no matter what we teach her. It is so hard not to laugh when we are talking out tithing and she says, "y la resureccion..." hahha Or another woman we teach who says "como se llama" instead of "um" so the whole first lesson with her I thought she was asking me my name over and over. hahah

The kids here are so cute. They all know Spanish and English and are so funny. We do singing time in primary every Sunday and I love it. There was a little boy we taught yesterday and his closing prayer was all about his birthday cake. haha! And we taught a family last night with a little girl who looks like Dora the Explorer! I wish we could hold them!

P.S. SPANGLISH IS REAL. I always thought it was a joke. NOPE. "Washateria" "Estaca" "Carro" "Tele" "Checkando mi texto" are ALL real things I hear people say.

Sorry for the novel! Thank you all so much for your love and support!

Funnies of the week:

Last night during our lesson with a family, their little girl screamed "Bloody Hell" when a gecko jumped up on the window behind us. I mean, of all things to say... hahaha

Having to duck in all the trailers so I'm not decapitated by their ceiling fans.

Me:"What is the sketchiest part of our area?"

Companions: "These apartments."

Me:"What the heck are we doing here????"

Companions: "Visiting the bishop and ward mission leader."

Hermana McOmber

Cityscape of Woodlands

Cutest dogs everywhere!!

Log cabins with American Flags next to purple houses with palm trees...never a dull street!

I love my "Quotes" wall!

Our English class at the hospital

Love this license plate!

We listen to Megan Sackett and Joe Swain all the time!

Poor mommy dog was tied up and starving.  

We found her litter of newborn pups close by. 

Cutest puppies!

Beautiful rose-like bushes blooming

P-day - Therapeutic Day!

Mall, lunch, grocery shopping and....

Tiffany's !!!

Why not?????