Mission Conference, Minnesota and More

Hello family, There is like a lot and nothing that I want to say. This week went by really fast, I felt like I just wrote.
Today we went up to the Minneapolis sculpture garden and took pictures and rode around on our bikes. Then we went to the Nicollet mall and wandered for a bit. I love the city but it's definitely a once in a while thing. I'm getting good at locking up my bike though. It was fun. Shopping with Herman Scholl is funny though because she likes to look at how the clothes are made.... Now we're sitting in Curran's eating pie and sweet potato fries while we email. I will send pictures next week.

Funny story from this week, we went to a members house for dinner, she made sopes, which is basically a tortilla with a cream and meat. She also brought out some salsa. Homemade Mexican salsa is the BEST. But, like an iiiiiiiiiiidiot, I didn't test the salsa before I slathered it all over my sopes. I was dying. Eyes watering, nose running, mouth on fire, Hna Argueta and Hna Scholl thought it was pretty funny. Moral of the story, always always always test the salsa before you put it on everything.

Hna Scholl and I got a long better this week than we have. At mission conference they talked a lot about charity, and I have been studying a lot about it. I feel like it's the number one thing I need right now in my work. It's hard for me to let myself just love people. It takes more humility than I have. I am works really hard on charity, and it
really has made missionary work easier. At mission conference, Elder Martino talked to us about finding. Basically, knocking doors is ineffective, and what we need to do is focus on the part members, children of record, and prospective elders, teach them and their families and baptize the world. Simple enough right? We are excited
about the goals we set. Elder Martino challenged us to baptize three people per companionship by the end of the year. We think we can do it. We have a lot of potential people, but it will be interesting to see what happens. Also our musical number went well, it was pretty simple, but it turned out.

We found a family this week looking for Delfino, who I talked about last week. We went to find Delfino for a lesson, but he wasn't there. Instead, Carlos met us on the porch, saw Jesucristo on our name tags and said something like, "Jesucristo? Praise the Lord!" Literally just like that. The next thing he did was read us a psalm in Spanish, and then asked if we had an invitation for him. At this point we were so shell shocked we didn't know what to say. First, he was talking to us in English, second, he asked if we had an invitation, which obviously, we do. We were so confused. Luckily he was fine so he invited us in to meet his wife and one of his kids. Turns out he's an aerospace engineer for Boeing, basically worked his way up from nothing, and is really religious, he attends different churches every week with his family. And he invited himself to church. Coolest dude ever. He didn't
come to church, but it's ok, we have a lot of hope for them. The thing with Spanish work, is that they will just tell you what they think you want to hear, and then never ever commit. But we work through it. It just always takes way longer than you would think. Jose from last week is reading the Book of Mormon regularly, so that's awesome too. We also finally got back in contact with two other families that we lost contact with for a while, we're excited about them.

My Spanish is getting better. I am feeling more confident in talking to people and in lessons. It's far from where I want to be, but it's a good start. Hno Benjamin tells me all the time that I can't be afraid to speak. I have this problem where I just really don't like it when I feel like I am obligated to speak Spanish when it's just sister Scholl
and I, so we don't practice very much. I don't know how to fix that really, except to just do it.

It sounds like everybody is doing good. I got my winter clothes, I love my sweaters:) I will probably be sending a big box home of all the stuff I haven't used/don't use. It will be interesting when I have to pack my suitcases again.... My bet though is that this next transfer, I will be taking over the area, and Sis Scholl will be leaving. She's been in this area for nine months! We talked about the iPads this week a lot because I have to finish the training on them, but basically technology is a tool for us, nothing more. It is a means by which we move Gods work forward. They should never be a distraction for us. It's easy to fall back into old patterns on technology especially when we're bored or tired or something. But I think part of why they give us technology is so that we'll learn to use it as a tool, to act instead of be acted upon, and learn the skills to do so, for the future. Not for now, even though it's helpful, but so when we go home, we will be more productive than we were before.  Interesting thought.

I love you all! Keep on keeping on.
And if you're looking for birthday ideas, anything winter. Especially
tights, hats, gloves. But for real, not too much, because I keep
thinking of how I'll have to pack it at some point:) 

Besos,
Hna Andrus
                                                                                        

After the trial of your faith

I feel like every week I have nothing to say and then once I start writing, I don't have enough time to say everything that I want. 

For our Pday last Monday we had a little fiesta as a district because our DL, Elder Aquino finished his mission this week. He is from Wisconsin, and he sent me a picture of him and Elder Larsen! Small world. At our fiesta, Hermana White made tinga (meat on a crispy tortilla with lettuce and cream and other stuff), and we all made pupusas (a Salvadorian corn and cheese pancake thing) together. Yay Hispanic food! I love it.

This week has been interesting because I feel like it has been one of the hardest weeks so far, but we also saw so many blessings. We spent a ton of time finding this week. We have made it a goal to do at least an hour a day, and wow. It's like fun and not fun at the same time. We also had a lot of appointments or joint teachers fall through which is really hard. Probably the most frustrating thing for me is how noncommittal the Hispanic world is. It kills me. I am getting better at rolling with it. But anyway, finding. There was more than one day this week where we were out in the rain knocking on doors. I prefer knocking houses to apartment buildings, but it is harder to find Spanish speakers that way. This week though we found a family as we were knocking (in the rain) and we have another appointment with them this week. We found another family, knocking in an apartment building after trying to find joint teachers for almost an hour, who we talked to the mom for a while, and she said she had been thinking about God when we showed up. Cool right? We have an appointment with her too. So lots of hard things but also a lot of good stuff. 

More blessings this week came totally out of the blue. We met two guys, Delfino and Jose, my first week here, literally almost seven weeks ago, and we stopped trying to contact both of them after a couple weeks because they weren't responding or not acting interested. But this week, out of nowhere, Delfino texted us his new address and set up an appointment. And then, when we drove out to Eden Prairie where he lives, he wasn't there. Shopping took longer than he thought it would or something. As soon as we got off the phone with Delfino, We get a random call from Jose who said he wanted us to come over that night! We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he was really excited to read it. Crazy. 

Yesterday there was a big block party on Nicollet, where our church building is, so they closed the street basically all day. We combined with the English ward for sacrament meeting, and then everyone had to go home before they closed the street. Then, we set up a canopy and passed out cards and gave tours for six hours. It was awesome. I loved contacting on the street. I think total the missionaries gave more than thirty tours. Then we again walked through the rain back to our car haha. There was a lot of rain this week. 

Sister Scholl pulled out a Christmas CD yesterday which is fine, except that it's awful. Ugh. Like the singing is bad. Shudders just thinking about it. I let us listen to it once through and then suggested something else. I need to download stuff for myself. On the other hand, we also listened to a production called Lamb of God, which is basically the text of the Gospel of john in production/Broadway sort of form, and it's actually incredible. We have mission conference tomorrow and our zone is singing a musical number. and gueesss who was put in charge of it. Meee.... I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's ok. We're singing A Child's Prayer, and I think it will be good.

I was thinking this week about how important our covenants are and what they mean for us. As a covenant making people, we do not have the option to regress into our old habits and our old styles of living. Especially a a missionary, I'm realizing more and more that coming home and being the person I was isn't an option. Because once e receive so much light and so much knowledge, we do not have the option to turn back. Having put our hand to plow, we can't turn back. I was reading in Alma this week about Alma and Amulek, and the scriptures that stood out were 9:19 "For he will not suffer you that ye shall live in your iniquities, to destroy his people. I say unto you, Nay; he would rather suffer that the Lamanites might destroy all his people who are called the people of Nephi, if it were possible that they could fall into sins and transgressions, after having had so much light and so much knowledge given unto them of the Lord their God" and 9:23 "And now behold I say unto you, that if this people, who have received so many blessings from the hand of the Lord, should transgress contrary to the light and knowledge which they do have, I say unto you that if this be the case, that if they should fall into transgression, it would be far more tolerable for the Lamanites than for them."

There's no going back! Keep moving forward! Never look back!

Mucho amor

Hermana Andrus

Happy One Transfer!

Chicarron...aka dried pork rinds. It's actually delicious.

Our district: Elder Aquino goes home this week. He has given us some wonderful guidance this transfer.

Happy one transfer everybody, I'm not dead yet! The last six weeks have floooowwn by. I seriously had no idea that time could move so fast. And apparently it gets faster. I have no idea how that is even possible.  I can't believe that everyone has their own room now. I had a small panic attack this morning when I realized that when I get home, Sara will be 18, Lauren 16, and Morgan 13. Not okay.

 

I am so excited for Sam. That is the perfect call for him. He will love it I'm sure. I'm assuming English speaking? I absolutely want to hear where Mitchell is going too. I found out this week that my RA from spring term that one time, Poppy, is coming to this mission next transfer. I had no idea. I saw her picture on the wall at the mission home, they put up all the newcomers as soon as they know who they are. So awesome. I am so excited.

I feel like this week was pretty average. Nothing super exciting really happened. It's been more mental than anything. What I mean by that is that the changes and major things that have happened this week have been realizations or great studies, things like that. My Spanish felt so much better this week than it has before. It is still not even close to perfect, but I was able to understand so much more this week than in past weeks. It's getting better really fast. It's frustrating sometimes not being able to communicate as clearly as I would like, but I am happy with the progress I'm making. My goal by the end of my mission is to not sound completely like a gringa.

 

Sister Scholl and I are hitting our stride a little bit. Like I said, we are just so different. I get frustrated when I have to explain myself, because I feel like it's so obvious, but our brains don't even work on the same plane. We are constantly asking each other why, because we honestly have no idea where the other is coming from. More often than I should, I get frustrated and annoyed when I don't explain something clearly the first time. From both of us, things get tense occasionally, but it works out. We're doing well. We did have a breakthrough this week. We were sitting in the camp chairs in the hallway at Hno Benjamin's apartment (because we can't go in without another mujer) and we thought of the same movie moment at the same time. It literally hasn't happened until this week. Major breakthrough. 

Two of the people we are meeting with had babies this week. Hispanic babies are sooooo cute. 

Something I loved from church yesterday: the stake Relief Society president came and spoke to the ladies in our ward. She doesn't speak Spanish, so one of the ladies translated. There is a stake activity coming up and she was there to invite the Spanish ward to come. There has always been a divide in the stake because of the language barrier, and I think a lot of feelings have been hurt and a lot of negative feelings exist because the Spanish ward feels uninvited or second class at the stake activities because most of them don't speak English. This president though bore a powerful (translated) testimony of the love the Savior has for all of His children and of her love for the sisters. She told us that it is time for change and time for the stake to be united regardless of language. Many of the sisters were openly weeping, and others, like myself and the other missionaries, were tearing up. As the Spanish missionaries, we especially feel this love for the Spanish sisters, and we definitely see the divide. It makes us so happy that they are invited and loved by the stake. We are looking forward to being at the activity to help translate and bridge the gap. They have designed the activity to be dual lingual, and I hope it is a good experience. 

This transfer I have been studying the desires of our hearts and how that changes how we pray and act on a daily basis. There is scripture after scripture that tell us that we will receive according to our righteous desires and according to our faith. Mormon 9:21 says "Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth." As missionaries this is important because if we have desires to baptize or teach or find, we will receive according to our desires. But if we have no desire to work or don't have the faith to find, we won't. There are countless examples in the Book of Mormon. I just started reading Mosiah. I think my favorite time of day is when I have time to just sit and read from the scriptures. 

Keep reading your scriptures! Everyday, everyday, everyday. 

Con muchisimo amor,

Hermana Andrus

Do you want to have a wedding?

Biking

Fiesta!

New skirt

Hello my favorite people, Happy Labor Day, I hope you're having a fat BBQ or at the lake or something. I love getting updates on how everyone is doing. Ryan, I officially added you to my mailing list, so like it or not, you'll at least to have to acknowledge my existence. I want updates. Especially about ESPN girl. Actually mostly about tennis, but your life in general would be good. 

Hearing about volleyball makes laugh/be sad. Their team could be really good, they have talent, but wow. Lauren and Morgan, email me about how it's going? What are you working on? What do you like? How's your team? Is it hard? Sara, what have you been up to? How's school?

I wish I could do seminary again. I missed so much the first time around. I've been reading the New Testament and Book of Mormon again, and wow. Let me tell ya, something about being a missionary does things to you, because I swear I've never read any of it before. It's all so enlightening, and I wish I had hours and hours to just read. I can't wait to go back to BYU and take an Old Testament class. There's one called Writings of Isaiah that I really want to take. Ryan are you taking a religion class? Is it Old Testament too? Duuuuude write me. 

Dad, how is not doing volleyball? Do you miss it? What do you do instead? Please tell me you're teaching Sara how to golf. 

So the last couple of weeks have been eventful, I told you how I got proposed to last week, we ran into some more crazies this week. But first, let me tell you about the state fair! We had so much fun. We woke up early (like 5) to get all of our laundry and stuff done, met our district at the church, went to breakfast at a little diner called Curran's (they have breakfast for $2.50), and emailed. We were all in street clothes because we were told that because we were biking part of the way, it was ok, but when we got to the church, the zone leaders were there, and told us we had to be in proselyting get up, so the elders went home to grab there stuff, cuz they live like two minutes from the church, and the sisters hit up Goodwill, because we live like twenty minutes from the church. It actually worked out great, we found some good stuff! We drove to the edge of our zone, rode our bikes about four miles to a members house in St Paul that lives a half a block from the fairgrounds, changed to church clothes, and went to the fair! Adventure. I ate so much food. I had walleye on-a-stick, fried cheese curds, and other stuff, but those were the important ones. There were missionaries everywhere haha.

Tuesday, we rode our bikes again most of the day, because we didn't have any appts that were far away. I also ate tongue tacos. Not bad, but not my favorite, it freaks me out if I look too closely and see tastebuds. 

Being a missionary never gets dull. One day we accidentally started knocking on people's back doors, in our defense, there were doorbells. One day, we got fed sandwiches with egg (Hispanic sandwiches don't exist without egg), bologna, lettuce, tomato, cream cheese, aaannnnddd....chocolate bagels. Not too bad actually, the lady is mostly blind, so she had no idea. They actually turned out pretty good. This week was all about food really. 

One day we had a lesson with a family we've been teaching, and the mom, Fabiola, was telling us about the evil spirits in her house. She is freaked out enough to try reading the BoM, praying, and coming to church as a family, so that's something. They're actually a really cute family. We really like them, apparently they just have evil spirits in their house. We invite them to church and the baptism we had yesterday, but they didn't come, even though Fabiola said they would be. Bummer. We have a lesson with them later this week. 

We were called two mornings in a row at 4, once because we asked a member to tell us when her daughter has her baby, and they were taking her to the hospital so she called us, one was from an investigator who wanted to call before she left for work. And then last night, our doorbell rang at like midnight, we didn't answer it. People need to stop waking me up.

Here's a good one, we met a Peruvian lady and her mother in law that invited us right in, were super nice, but the mother in law was crazy. She has been studying the Bible and all religions for about forty years, but has never joined a church because none of them consuls answer her questions. We were like "ok yeah, that's cool, we can help!" Nope. She thinks that Moses was given the Ten Commandments by aliens, that Joseph Smith (she's really studied all the religions) saw aliens, that Jesus learned all his stuff from the Africans, etc. It was by far the most frustrating lesson I've been in, she had absolutely no interest in hearing what we had to say. It was one of the only times where I was glad that I was limited by the language, because there's no way I could have avoided being sassy if we were speaking in English. Apparently, she hasn't been studying the Bible that I know of, cuz wow. Like I said, never a dull moment. 

I know I've talked about Hno Roger before, I just want to reiterate that he is awesome. He's buying me a new pillow because the one they had here at the apartment is a prison pillow. He is constantly doing things like that for all the missionaries. And it's literally impossible to refuse. He's crazy. Good crazy, but crazy.

Do you want to have a wedding? Because in three of the families we are teaching, the mom and dad aren't married, and all three of them have expressed desire to be baptized. The ideal plan we've decided is to have General conference, and then three wedding weekends in a row. I love weddings. I would love for that to actually happen. 

Dad, I figured out how to answer your question of if I ever feel unsafe. The answer is no, but there are deffffinitely places where I keep a hand on my bag and DO NOT pull out my iPad under any circumstances, because that would be dumb. But no, I have not felt unsafe at any time. 

This Friday we went to the mission home to help Sister Forbes sort through some of the stuff that has been left by missionaries in the past. I scored a coat and some boots, so don't worry about it Mom. Sister Forbes is awesome. We had so much fun hanging out with her. 

I hope you're all doing great, I love you!!

Besitos gorditos

Emily

State Fair!

Good morning!

We are going to the state fair this morning, so I don't have a ton of time to write but I have some stories this week. This week was the first week that I really felt like a missionary, because I finally have crazy door-knocking stories. 

The beginning of the week started out pretty average, we had a zone p-day talent show, and then hung out for a bit afterwards. I love my zone, especially the sisters. It's amazing to see how different Hna Scholl and I are in a group, I would just naturally gravitate towards the other sisters, because we could relate. Sis Checketts came out the same day I did, Sis Matagi and Sis Parke are our Sis training leaders, and I love them all so much. Tuesday, average. Elder Aquino, our district leader, gave an excellent training on convincing vs persuading people to hear the message of the Restoration. We need to understand our investigators' desires and abilities to accomplish the things we commit them to. Wednesday, crazy. We had new missionary training, which was really good also. The part that stuck out the most was about how as companions we need to have unity and love each other, because we can't love our investigators if we don't have love for our companion. The crazy part started after dinner. We were at an apartment complex that a number of our investigators and members live at, looking for Janeth, a recent convert who is 14. her mom told us she was at the park, so we went over there. As we were walking two Kenyan guys called us over and asked what we were doing. One of them was asked if the missionaries helped pay for people to come to America and learn about the church, because he still has family in California. It was really hard to understand him because he had a heavy accent and we were by a busy road. The other guy was relatively interested in our message. So Hna Scholl taught him while I "distracted" the other guy, because literally every time I opened my mouth he would start talking. They started to ask us things like "how old are you?" "do you want kids?" "can you marry outside of your tribe?" hahaha the one I was talking to offered to by me a nice ring, so basically we were proposed to by some Kenyans in the park. The night gets better. After that, we went to Hna Yaya's, a sassy Costa Rican lady's, and she feeds us which I love. I think I've talked about her before actually. But she started telling us about her old boyfriends, and one in particular who she would tell that she loves "con todo su higado" which means all her liver, because he broke her heart. And then she told a story about when she worked in a casino and a guy started flirting with her so she poured hot coffee down his shirt. Crazy.

Thursday was normal, but Friday we had service. I love it! i also learned about the difference between Orthodox and Catholic, because apparently they're not the same thing. All of the volunteers we work with are Orthodox. Friday afternoon I went on exchanges with Sis Matagi in the English area. It was absolutely mind blowing to me how comfortable English work was. We had dinner with a member, ate pancakes, knocked on normal houses, not apartment buildings, like it was SO comfortable. Everything about it. Sister Matagi and I are the exact same person. She is awesome. I really loved it... Hopefully I get there with my Spanish.

One more cool experience: we have been working with a semi less active member, Hno Benjamin (ben-ha-meen). He loves the Gospel, but is lazy, and doesn't like to make the effort to come to church. So Saturday we went over and were talking about faith and obedience and when we're obedient we can have the desire to be more obedient. For the first time on my mission, I felt actually inspired. I asked him if he had ever fasted before, and he said no. I invited him to come to church, and think about fasting for fast Sunday next week. Guess what. He came to church. And there were two talks about fasting, and one of them was the third hour fifth Sunday discussion that Bishop Volz led. It was so good. Boom. Spirit. 

Bishop Volz is great, he learned Spanish by studying in college and going on a study abroad in Spain. And now he's a bishop of a Spanish ward. 

Dad, Bishop Volz is guerro (white), our ward mission leader is white, and there are like two or three others. They're usually married to a hispanic. Our area is kind of sketch occasionally. There hasn't been a time where I felt completely unsafe. We usually are in our car after dark. We spend a lot of time in apartment buildings. We don't use our bikes hardly at all, we're using them to get to the fair today! There is a designated driver in each area, and we're not allowed to drive in our first six weeks.

It's been a good week. I am soooooooooo excited for the fair. 

I am also really jealous of your weekend. But really glad you had fun. 

Love you!!

Emily

Time, Tornados and teaching

Thanks for your emails this week, the combination of Mom, Dad, and Lauren's emails and a letter from Josh really made my week. Mom, I haven't gotten the skirt yet, but I am sure it's waiting for me at the mission office. We're going over there a little later today for a zone talent show haha. So I'll get it then probably, and if it's not there, we have new missionary training (that's me) on Wednesday. This week has been cooler, the high today is like 65. So anytime you want to send that box of winter stuff it probably can't come too soon. 

Ok, what is it with the roads here?! The on ramp off ramp thing is insane!

Last Monday, I forgot a story I wanted to tell you. We ended up taking to a couple of Muslims in the park last week, and I really enjoyed learning more about them and answering their questions too. They weren't really interested in changing, just curious mostly, but the thing that made me laugh was the lady who would look at me with the "you poor child, your soul is lost" face. We actually get that face relatively often.

This last week, we spent half of Tuesday, all of Wednesday, and half of Saturday at home because Hna Scholl was sick. Who knew that Hna Wynne at the MTC was good practice for the field! I tend to go to hyperdrive when I've been stuck inside for multiple days. One of the days, I cleaned basically the whole apartment, caught up on my journal writing, did a couple other random things, got so much done. It was great for about the first three hours. It's all good though, we are healthy again. I was only sick on Sunday. We didn't do a ton this week because of that, and so this week feels like it didn't even exist. 

On the days we did go out, we did some cool stuff. On Monday, we went and played soccer as a district for p day and checked out one of the little Hispanic malls on Lake Street in Minneapolis. They are just a bunch of random tiendas, the culture shock is still settling in for me. On Tuesday morning we had zone conference, and it was exactly what I needed after last week. Sister Forbes talked about how we can be completely obedient if we choose one thing to work on at a time, and like I said last week, I was feeling overwhelmed because being a missionary is hard (who knew). The whole conference was about finding people to teach and the things we can use to help us. It really refueled my fire to teach and meet people. This week I have been a lot better about talking during lessons, talking to people at church, talking in general. It was amazing how much more I could understand at church yesterday than my first Sunday here. At zone conference, Elder and Sister Graff (Grandma and Grandpa Andrus' neighbors) talked to us about food and gaining weight. Let me just say that a food reformation is in order. 

Thursday, we had a zone service activity at Minnehaha park, we also went to the falls, aka the one man made water fall because there are no mountains here therefore waterfalls don't exist, but it was still fun. I think service is my favorite part of being a missionary so far. After service we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, obviously the Elders' idea, but the burger was good. 

Friday we had dinner with Roger, a recent convert of almost a year. Let me tell you about Roger. He's only one of the coolest people ever. English was his first language, and then he moved to Puerto Rico where his parents are from. Grew up there, worked in Buenos Aires for a while, moved back here, retired because he saw that money wasn't getting him anywhere, (basically he was thinking about being a monk for a while) and now he basically just helps out the church as much as he can. He loves missionaries, so he takes one of the sets of missionaries out probably three or four times a week. And is always doing nice stuff for us, like bringing us soup and medicine when we're sick. Like four tubs of soup, a box of breadsticks, and two things of NyQuil. Amazing. 

Roger came with us to both our lessons that night. In one of the lessons, I had probably my best teaching moment since I've been out. We were talking about grace and how we don't need to be perfect, and Roger turned to me and asked something about how we develop more faith. I actually gave a fairly eloquent response about the cycle of obedience and faith and the spirit was there and everything. Both Hna Scholl and Roger mentioned it afterward about how perfect it was. It was neat to feel comfortable for a second. 

Saturday morning, we had breakfast with Hna Yaya, she's from Costa Rica, and my goodness it was good. Bread and sausage and potatoes, and juice and hot chocolate, and wait for it.... fried eggs. I ate them. And I actually kind of enjoyed it. I know your minds are exploding. She also told me that I look like a Barbie. Saturday night we had a lesson, and during the lesson it was storming sooooo hard! There was a tornado warning and everything! What do you even do during a tornado? I don't even know. 

Ok I'm almost done. Sunday, yesterday, like I said, I understood waaay more and I even initiated a couple of conversations. The members are nice to me and talk slowly and are cool to repeat things if I need them to. I really appreciate it. Church is so funny though. Like hilarious. First of all, singing hymns is so different. There is definitely like a mariachi almost yelling thing that happens. So funny. And less funny, it surprises me how few of the members are endowed. The vast majority have not been to the temple. It just creates a different atmosphere and calls for a different dress code at church, especially for the women. Also, Mexican stereotypes are real. When we go out to knock doors, we look specifically for Christmas lights in August, any holiday decoration that doesn't fit the time of year, cases of  bottled water, shoes left outside, etc. It's real. 

Last thing, This week Hna Scholl and I have gotten to know each other a little better, and I wanted to share, just so you can understand how different we are. Also to prove that you don't have to like the same things to get along. Hna Scholl was homeschooled up until college, she took five years of Latin, when I saw her run, I'll be real, I almost laughed out loud, she loves folk dance with a passion, and went to a concert almost every week at BYU. We graduated high school the same year. We have very different lifestyles, and different ideas of what a good lesson looks like. 

This week has been a lot better. Thanks for your support, this would be impossible without an awesome family. I took lots of notes this week, how do you feel about the longer email? 

Besos gorditos!

Love, Emily

Minnesota!

Hi fam, So as you can imagine, this week has been crazy. I've never been so tired in my life. My trainer's name is Hna. Scholl, she is from AZ, is the oldest of seven, has been on her mission for nine months, and has been in this area for six of them. We are in the Richfield/Bloomington Spanish area. Sister Cupke told you Roseville, which is wrong. Our area covers all of Richfield, Edina, Bloomington, Chaska, Eden Prairie, and the south part of Minneapolis, it also goes further west about two hours, but we don't have the miles to go that far. You can send my mail directly to my apartment, packages still go to the mission home.

8080 12th Ave S #111 
Bloomington, MN 55425


If you send me mail I can get a library card. I don't know why I need one, but you should send me a card or something.

My first night here, we taught a lesson in Spanish to three people. My second day, we started knocking doors a little bit. First door we knocked invited us back. A little bit of a shock to my brain, but it was good. We had a baptism on Saturday, so that was a neat way to start here. The Hispanic/Latino culture is one of my new favorite
things. It's so fun. I get told/asked how tall I am all the time. (Que alta hermanita!) Haha so cute. I love being called Hermana/Hermanita. Besitos (the greeting kisses) are adorable, church was an interesting and new experience. I've met so many awesome people in the past week. I think my favorite thing we did this week was service with an organization called FOCUS, which collects necessities like hygiene kits, clothes, and shoes for people that need it for free or really cheap. We go to help translate a little bit. You meet fascinating people at places like that. It's in this basement with 6'6" ceilings in Minneapolis. One of the volunteers Chris and I started talking. He's an older guy, with MS, so he doesn't walk very well, but he has two masters degrees and a doctorate degree in composition, piano performance, and like Greek or something like that. I love talking to people. Most of the volunteers there are from different denominations, so it's fun to talk to them. Chris is staunch Eastern Orthodox. Seriously, people are so fascinating.


My embarrassing/funny story of the week of course happened because I'm a gringa. Hna Perez is a fantastic member of the church, a single mom, and an RM, asked us if we wanted to go out to eat, and I said I wasn't
really hungry, but we could go if she wanted, etc etc, I don't really know what happened, I don't understand most of what anyone says to me. But fun fact, declining food is really rude. "Super offensive" I think is the phrase Hna Scholl used. Awesome. Hna Perez was cool about it though (I think?!) and we ended up going to this hole-in-the-wall Chinese buffet, and Hna Perez didn't even get anything! She just watched us eat. She said "coma con confianza" more than once and kept asking if I was full and to eat more and more. I felt bad about declining food earlier, so I ate probably three plates more than I would have (I only had three plates.) sketch. They had whole octopi there. So anyway. Funny, sort of. Hopefully I made up for it. I realllly dig Hispanic food though. Soooo good. One of our less active members made us mole (moh-leh) verde and it was probably the
best thing I've ever eaten. 

I love Minnesota. It's absolutely gorgeous. My favorite thing though is seen all the different types of people. So many different cultures. It really is awesome. My Spanish is coming along. It's harder than I though it would be, but even in a week I have gotten better. It's so fun. Basically the whole mission thing is great except for being so tired all the time. It's also been hard because even though Hna Scholl works hard and we teach a lot, I feel like we could be so much more productive and I don't know how to bring it up. She's been here for six months and obviously has a groove, but the groove isn't as productive as I want it to be. Things like spending twice as long at
lessons as we should be, or playing futbol every other Friday, just little things. I am going to bring up Thursday at the latest because that's when we have comp inventory. I want to be as obedient and productive as possible, and I don't know how to do that with another person haha. But it's inspired to have companion ships, so we'll see. All in all, I love it. The hardest thing is being tired, because it zaps motivation so quickly. Hopefully you've enjoyed my adventures this week!

Love, Emily

P.S. Also we have iPads. So send me pictures so I can save them. Will you also send me exercise ideas? I have done nothing this last week because Hna Scholl likes to stretch. The pictures I'm sending are of my desk and bed. I just bought the camo sheets today. I'm a cool kid. I actually love them. And then also my iPad selfie with Hna Scholl being productive bakering in the background.