That's my own personal title for this post (Ari). Managing someone's blog is tedious. But I'm happy to help inform y'all of Tiana's shenanigans. She's growing up!
The Best mashed potatoes are the worst for your health
Sorry this email has taken me so long to write. Now I only have about 10ish minutes! I'll do my best.
Like most weeks, this week has been a roller coaster. Actually, It's been more like the part of the roller coaster that crashes down super fast and then slowly starts to build back up. Hopefully we stay up top for a little longer!
Halloween we had to be in by 6:30, so that we're not responsible for anything crazy that people dressed up as missionaries might do (although I LOVE that Kayla was a sister missionary for Halloween this year! Please send me pictures. They are my second-favorite thing to get, next to letters). We had been trying to get a hold of the Restoration on DVD (like, the real movie version, not the missionary 10-minute version), and no one had it. We were taking candy around to families that we visit and some members for whom we had invitations to our branch missionary work party that's coming up (talk about an awkwardly-constructed sentence), and it strengthened my testimony of how food/treats literally will open doors for you. We've done it before but we should keep doing it. Anyway, the very last person we visited I'd pretty much already given up on finding the DVD, but the Spirit was like "ask her if she has it." So I did, and she went to go search for it, and lo and behold, we got to borrow it. Wahoo! So we sat in bed and I ate my big Kit Kat and we watched the Restoration, the John Tanner story, Only A Stonecutter, and Legacy. We may or may not have been on a Church history kick. AND I keep forgetting to tell you, but Hna. Dickson is related to me through Austin Hammer, who died at Haun's Mill on Oct 30th 1838, and we were companions on that day. Crazy. Anyway, good night.
I forgot! We were having a really hard morning on Halloween, and we just had to get out of the house. We went to lunch at Fiesta Guadalajara in town ("town"=Subway/Fiesta/Arctic Circle/the grocery store) and got take out since I wanted to eat elsewhere. But I bought nachos, so we awkwardly took it out back to eat at a table that was falling apart by Subway. The owner must've seen us because he opened the back door and asked if we wanted to eat inside. Yeah, we looked pretty pitiful. So we gratefully went inside to the warm and sat at a booth. We'd already paid our bill, but they still brought us drinks and even a dessert to share. Then, when we were almost done, he came back and gave us a $20 gift certificate from someone who wanted to pay for our lunch. We had no idea who it was, but we were so grateful. It was Heavenly Father's little way of showing us that He cared about us and what we were doing, even though we were struggling at the moment. So then I kinda cried again. :P That makes, what, 4 times in the mission? Maybe 5.
Speaking of counting (not that anyone is), today is officially my 2-month mark! I entered the MTC on September 4th. AND I've been successful in creating a unique outfit every single day of the mission thus far. I'm getting toward the end of my creativity though, so I may have to let that streak go pretty soon. It's been fun though. Too bad I haven't been taking pictures for you! ;)
I'm running out of time so I'll just mention a few more things: 1) we went to the CES Fireside last night with the YSAs, and I met Dean Hanson there, who was roommates with my cousin Levi at BYU!!! What. Also we both lived in Heritage during the same semester back in Fall 2010. Crazy.
2) If you didn't watch the broadcast, find a way to watch it. It was Russell T. Osguthorpe, Sunday school president, and it was all about will. Super interesting, and he presented it interactively too. Seems appropriate for the sunday school president, I'd say.
3) On Saturday night we went to see Angel and Frances. It's weird for there to only be 2 of us now, so my comp talked to Frances in English and I talked to Angel in Spanish. Things didn't exactly go as planned, but that was probably better because I was going by the Spirit. He talked about his life and how he'd read what we'd given him to read, and he was talking about how blessed are those who are baptized and follow him. He said he wants to do right but that it's so hard to be good. I just testified about Jesus Christ and the Atonement, how he knows exactly what we experience and feel and how repentance is so important. He asked, "Do you believe that? How do you know?" And I said yeah, I did believe that, and as to how I know, it's through prayer and feeling the Spirit. Then I pulled out Moroni 10:4. I almost invited him to be baptized too, but then it didn't feel like quite the right question so I invited him to church instead. And he said yes and asked about dress and everything. That was exciting, since he told me he WANTS to change. But then he didn't make it to church. It was the closest we've ever been though. We'll keep working with him.
The other following-the-Spirit moment was last night. After the fireside, I wanted us to improve our numbers from last week, so to do that we needed one more appointment, preferably a member-present or other lesson. We prayed to know where to go, since nothing seemed right. During the prayer, all I could think of was the Medina family, who had come to church that day (well the mom, dad, and Leo), and I wish I could tell you about Church!!! It was SO good. Our branch president is hopeful and happy now, and he gave me my favorite candy (kit kat) after ward council yesterday! Anyway, we went to visit the Medina, had a great visit with them and got to understand their huge family better, and then we shared a message about families and how important they are, and their one son who lives there and isn't a member came in to visit with us so we taught him about families and the gospel too. So....the Lord provided us with a member-present, right at the very end of the work week. Blessings. And they're coming all because of our obedience and His love for us.
When we obey His commandments, He is bound to bless us. When we're not, we have no promise. We have to figure it out for ourselves. And let me tell you, He's already got it all figured out, so we really should just trust Him. :)
Well I'm WAY out of time for this week. I got a delicious mashed potato recipe so I won't be a complete failure when I come home from my mission in Idaho! Thank you mucho Hawaii family for the packages! You are out of control. Love you all!! Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Hermana Tiana Cole
Kunans Loooooove their Halloween
Seriously. There are more Halloween decorations around Kuna than probably anywhere else I've ever seen. They go ALL OUT, and it makes running at 6am kind of creepy sometimes.
This week was better than last week. Still hard, but I'm sure you get tired of hearing that. It's always hard! Welcome to mission life. Actually, just welcome to life. Also, I've been wondering if I could get a copy of my farewell talk. I know that sounds kind of self-absorbed, but I think that might be a good thing to read on some days. Gracias.
I can't wait for the conference issue of the Ensign to come out! I need to re-read a lot of those talks, and it'll be nice to have it all in one magazine than having to look them up during our computer hour on
lds.org to print them off.
(Thank you for the protein drinks, Mom! I got them this past week, which is weird because they were postmarked from the 11th or something. It took almost 2 weeks for it to find me, but I'm glad it did. Which reminds me, in the mochi stuff you sent with the McBrides, is it 2 c. sugar 3 c. water? I can't remember, and I thought I had it down so I didn't put it in my mini cookbook... some guidance would be appreciated. :) )
We also got the cards you sent me and my companion. You really have no idea how much mail makes my day, especially on those really DIFFICULT days (See? I changed it up. Instead of saying hard I said difficult). Also, what is the method of sharing these emails? Are you forwarding them to a list? Who's on it exactly? Sorry I'm so silly. I just want to make sure people are in the loop.
Another question: So my zone leader Elder Salinas is wanting to go to BYU when he gets home (in like 10 months, crazy), but doesn't think he'll get in. I told him about MSS and Int'l Student Services (He's from Mexico but doesn't think he'd count as international because he has an address in San Diego), and how they could maybe help him out with the admissions process, but since it's been a few years since I've done that myself, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind looking up some of that information so that I could share it with him. I remember the priority deadline as being pretty soon, like December 1st, so maybe he'll need to get someone from his family on that fast. That would be helpful, so thank you.
Also, Blake Family! Hna Linette Moreno, the branch president's wife, has family from St. Anthony. Do you know any Roses? Apparently they've been mayors before or something. I just thought St. Anthony is so small that your families probably know each other.
Today we're going to Linder Farms for P-Day! It's finally happening! It's like Cornbelly's or Hee Haws, with a corn maze and activities and concessions and stuff. And it's owned by a member of the Church who has a daughter or two serving a mission right now, so she's opening the place a couple hours early for us to go. I can't wait to meet her after trying to get this to work for the last few weeks. And they close on Saturday, so it's just in time. Too bad it's gray and rainy outside today. It's okay, it'll still be fun.
Congratulations to BYU on the win over Boise State! We didn't hear any of the game, but we wanted to. We were home during that time (almost impossible to proselyte during a game like that, and Hna. Dickson was having a hard time anyway), but luckily the McBrides were watching it at their daughter's house.
Actually, Friday was a really hard evening. I think I'm figuring out why things seem so much harder so often: yes, the mission is hard, but when you struggle with mental and emotional issues too, everything is magnified, and even if you're not struggling with those issues yourself, being the companion who is literally always there means that your strength is sapped too. Friday was REALLY bad, despite everything that we've been doing and the people we've been going to see to get help, so we just sat there in the room for a while. I was reading my patriarchal blessing and then thought that it might be a good idea to pray. Right as I was thinking it, my companion sat up and said that she wanted to have a prayer, but that she didn't want to be the one to say it. Which worked out because I felt like I should pray anyway (which unfortunately isn't always the case). I've been promised that I can overcome challenges through prayer and that those prayers will be answered miraculously, so I decided to pray for miracles on behalf of my companion. I don't remember feeling the Spirit that strong before as I prayed aloud with her. I was hesitant to ask for what I was being prompted to ask for, but I exercised more faith and did it. I prayed for her to be healed, which was kind of a huge deal. But I felt right in praying for that, and I knew that it would happen. The rest of the night we just stayed in, exhausted, but the next day she woke up anxiety-free for the first time in ages. She had a really good day. I'm not off the hook: I still have to have a good attitude always to keep things good for her, but now I know that I can pray for miracles, and that if I have enough faith, those miracles will happen. My companion told me that she's never had to lean on anyone else's faith before, but that this weekend she had to lean on mine. Oddly enough, I feel like I've done far too much leaning in my life up until this point. So I'm learning to stand on my own.
Thanks for the mail! Again. I just barely came from the mission office and picked up the Halloween package, and I got a letter from Marlee/Sis. Beers and Aunt Barb. :) Also, Mom, that reminds me: Can you set aside $1.50 toward my tithing? I've been gifted some money recently and it's been perfect.
We spoke again yesterday, in an English ward, but from now on I think we're staying in our own ward. It's better. The only reason we got asked to speak there was because we thought we were texting one of their ward missionaries (Malary, who's leaving on her mission in December), and it turned out to be the bishop. Oops.
We got to visit the Garcia family with Hna. Stiglich (RS president) this Tuesday, and it was great. They are so great. They have a great neighbor across the street who are fellowshipping them. On Sunday morning though their family had a tragedy back in Mexico, so Imelda and her brother Fernando are flying back there for 2 weeks. The ward is taking care of their family here though, and we'll be there to help out too. This will be a hard experience for them, but I know they'll learn and grow from it, and the gospel will be able to help them.
We are doing better. Slowly. We are taking things one day at a time here, which is all we can do. It's all any of us can do, really, and that's all He asks of us.
I love you all!! Thank you for the love, prayers, and constant support. I think about you a lot and try not to be trunky (though the other day I mapped out my entire mission in 3-month increments. does that count as trunky?). You are the best. Thank you for all your examples to me.
Here's to another great week!
Love,
Hermana Tiana Cole
I don't even know
This week has been a lot of ups and downs. The ups were not too up, and the downs seemed very down. In short, I was very tired and sin ganas and stuff was hard. Haha I feel kind of bad because I'm pretty sure I write that in every letter: "It's hard." But it is. And I'm just learning that it's not going to get any easier, at least not as far as I can tell, so I should just missionary up and make the best of it!
The great thing is that although there are so many hard times where I feel like mush, there are little bright spots in the week, sometimes tiny experiences, that help to make things better.
Also, would you mind praying to help me be more of a morning person? I feel like people would like me better, and I'd probably like myself better if I were. Gracias.
And if anyone was praying between 10 and 11pm last night, I felt it. Like, really. So thank you so much. (And if no one was praying during that time, it was probably just an earlier prayer that got delayed in getting to me, but it was greatly appreciated.)
Some of those tiny bright spots were:
Ise: we visited this 17-year-old girl named Ise on Friday night, kind of on a whim (a spiritual whim, probably, but since we hardly ever have actual set appointments, that's what our visits usually are). When she opened the door, the look on her face told me either it was very good or very bad that we were there. She stepped outside and shut the door behind her, and we talked for a little bit. We knew she wanted to serve a mission, but apparently not the whole world knows, so that was semi-awkward. She lives with her older sister/older sister's boyfriend, and although they are baptized members they are very against the Church. In fact, Ise told us that just before we rang the doorbell her sister told her that no one from the church was allowed over anymore. Luckily she beat anyone else to the door. She has been trying to get herself to mutual and church on her own though, and she watched conference this weekend. She texted us later that conference rekindled her desire to work toward serving a mission and that our visit was just the boost she needed to help her keep working at being active. She is so sweet.
Angel: His kids were over this weekend, so Frances said we should come over and meet them. He has 5 kids, 19 (she's married), 15, 14, 10, and 5. The teens sing in the catholic choir, so they kinda ditched us, but the younger two, Alexis and Heidi were really cute and stayed in the room the whole time. We didn't get to teach an actual lesson. Hermana Dickson was home sick with Sis. McBride, and Hna Zavala and I were sitting on opposite sides of the room because of seating difficulties. She shared stuff from the scriptures with the 10-year old, and I talked to Angel about his life. We'd been talking to Frances about the part of conference she got to watch (She couldn't find it on the channel we told her it was on, but she kept looking for it til she found it! Talk about determined), and she kept talking about Elder Holland's "never give up" theme. That's what got to her, along with Stephanie Nielson's story. Angel started talking to me at that point about second chances at life, and he told me about how he had once been in an accident where he hit a horse and got thrown from his truck as it rolled. He hit some cactus, but really only had a cut on his forehead. He was fine. I asked him "Why do you think you are still here? What do you think your purpose is in gaining this second chance at life?" He said he's not quite sure yet: maybe for his kids, maybe because he still has things to do. I said I think so. He's come a long way from the borracho he used to be.
Erick: so technically Erick belongs to the English sisters, but they introduced us to him because he's Mexican and his parents both speak only Spanish (pretty much). We got to watch the Sunday morning session at his house, and we were supposed to make breakfast there, but his parents (whom he hadn't told that we were coming) had just walked in from grocery shopping and THEY started cooking breakfast. His dad makes the bestest pancakes ever, and they don't even taste like wheat pancakes! Haha. His mom took the stuff we brought and made delicious eggs and a raspberry licuado from their raspberry bushes out back (I thought of home), and we got to have a real breakfast all together. And we talked in Spanish. Blessing. I am so thankful for pause and rewind on live TV!!!! We started watching conference an hour later, but because we'd paused it at the beginning we got to watch the whole thing. Also, Erick left the room for a bit, and it was right during a word of wisdom part he needed to hear, so we sneakily rewound it a bit so that it'd play when he came back. ;) Watching conference with a new investigator is a lot like watching conference with little kids, I learned. 2 hours is suddenly a LOT longer, and he didn't really know how to take notes, but he tried, which is what counts. He'd just had some steroids a few hours before (I know, we're working on that), so he was really wiped out, but I prayed really hard that he'd stay awake for the whole 2 hours, and he did. It was great. He paid attention too, mostly. I could see his brow furrow in thought sometimes, and I wanted to ask him what questions he had but I didn't want him to miss what was being said, so I asked him later. He had lots of questions, which was good, and I'm sure he'll have more later. At the end of the session I was surprised to learn that although he'd been "hanging out" with so many missionaries for so long, no one had ever actually taken the time to teach him. Crazy. He is so receptive and willing to learn, but maybe he was just saved for us. I don't know. He is such a good person.
The moral of the story: OPEN your mouth. Especially if you have a missionary placa on, but even if you don't, people need what you have. Even if they don't know they do. I'm working on being better at that.
Sorry this is formatted so poorly, but I have literally 5 minutes and I am SO behind this week! Every other week is like this, I think. We go to the mission home on P-Day, so sometimes I can pick it up there if Elder Short hasn't already forwarded it to 548 Siltstone Ave in Kuna (where I'm currently living at least til next Monday), in which case I'll get it in another day or so.
I wish I got to speak Spanish more, but I guess I'll work on that too where possible. We talk to a lot of English members since our Spanish branch is so small. The theme at Sisters' Conference on Thursday was DOTS- Depend On The Savior, thus the polka dots, which is why she borrowed my sweater. There were 24 of us there, but we'll be getting quite a few more in the next 2 transfers. Thank you so much for the CDs and the conference package! You know I love cosmic brownies. Too much, says my lower abs. I do 100ish crunches a day, but somehow that only takes care of my upper abs. What on earth. Any workout suggestions would be appreciated, since I never got a fitness book at the MTC.
Sorry that you only get this one email this week, but know that I love you all so much! Also, Sarah and Genni and Marlee and Elise want to be on this list, and they don't seem to be (they say).
Hasta luego! Les quiero muchisimo.
Love,
Hermana Cole
Las Ultimas Aventuras de la chilena, la india, y la gringa
It's Monday again!!!! (Mande? hahaha. I always say that when someone says "Monday" in English. Mexicans say "mande" ALL the TIME. It's like "what?" for them, and we're not supposed to say it, but it's funny.) So happy, but as usual, there's never enough time to do everything. I'll try though.
TRANSFERS are today. We got the call Saturday morning during personal study, soooo needless to say we didn't do much studying after that. My mom is leaving me! Hermana Zavala is becoming Sister Zavala again. She's going back to English to train 2 newbies. At the same time. But her area borders ours, which is kind of cool, even though she won't be in our zone or district because she's English. In other news, Sister Stevens (Kuna English) is going to Enterprise, Oregon-- WAY up north-- and Elder Diaz is coming into Spanish for the first time his whole mission! And Elder Agle leaves on the 22nd for Argentina since his visa finally came after 7 months. Lots of sad changes, but exciting at the same time.
Erick (the one who watched conference) doesn't really know our names. We talk to him on the phone and he's like "who is this?" And we tell him our name but still has no idea who we are, so we have to say la chilena, la india, or la gringa. Then he knows. So that's where the email title comes from.
I realized that last time I spent a lot of time complaining about the sad/hard things about being here, so this week I'll concentrate more on the good. All I will say about the hard is that I've cried more this week than I have in my entire mission, but I can still count all the times I've cried on one hand, so we're good. And it was good to get stuff out, especially since Thursday turned into an everyone-just-cry-about-what-they-need-to-cry-about morning. So good.
Anyway, good stuff time:
Porters: We ate dinner on Monday at the Dotsons, who are friends with the Porters, who were there too. Sis. Porter is from Mexico, is baptized, but wants nothing to do with the Church. She'll let her kids choose, she says, but always avoids missionary moments with members and leaves the room when people try to get spiritual. At dinner we laughed a lot and got to know each other, and she has a beautiful smile. When spiritual thought time came, her son wanted us to all sit on the couch instead of at the table. I was a little nervous that she'd leave in the moving of rooms, but she came and sat on the couch and listened the whole time, AND kneeled for the prayer. WHAT. She didn't say amen, but that's progress still. She said she likes how we have similar personalities. When we took them brownies the other night, she was the only one home and even invited us into her house! Cool.
Padilla: We got to visit la familia Padilla finally, and Manuel was part of the lesson. The very first time we visited him he was there too, and even got out his scriptures when we went to the scriptures, even though he can't read. He had a lot of good, basic questions this time, like "why are there so many churches/Bibles," etc. He doesn't believe we'll live with God because we're not perfect, so we're talking about Jesus Christ and His Atonement and stuff. We're excited he's actually there because when the Elders used to come visit Luz he was never in the room.
Garcia: WE FINALLY FOUND THE GARCIA!!! Miracle. Seriously. So they're technically in Meridian, which is why we had such a hard time finding their house, but part of Meridian is in one of our stakes, and I think it's okay. At least I hope so, otherwise we've been outside our MISSION's boundaries and I may be getting sent home way early. :P They were so excited to see us; we met them at the party back during my first week, and we've never been able to find them. We're excited to start teaching them, if we can.
Angel and Frances: They are doing so good. AND.... I FINALLY TAUGHT ALL OF LESSON 1!! It's taken almost a whole month, but we finally got there. And they received it so well. I'm so excited to follow up with them and help them learn more.
One thing I love about the Spanish Zone is our tradition of giving transfer blessings. Our DL Elder Rivas gave us each a blessing, and it was so good and helpful. I know we'll be okay this transfer, even though we'll have to step it up a lot and it'll be hard. We can do this!!
Also, the McBrides are coming to Utah this weekend for their grandson's farewell on the 20th. They said they can pick stuff up for us from our families if we want, so I'll probably end up giving them your number because I don't have theirs with me right now. If you want to send anything, (because I can't think of anything right now), send it with them. :) They are so nice.
Also, my foundation is about out. I think I love it too much or something. Mom, since I know you will ask, it's cream beige. I think I have a powder I can use in the meantime, but I'd really appreciate it if I could get the liquid-powder one that I usually have. Gracias.
My feet are really hurting lately, especially since we're having a weekly walking day now, but there's a chiropractor here that Hermana Dickson goes to, and he's adjusted me feet before. So that's pretty nice.
This week I learned how to make tamales and enchiladas. Our investigators Yolanda and Jose/Emperatriz invited us over this week to eat dinner and learn how to make food. It was great. I also tried REALLY hot salsa made fresh by Emperatriz. It wasn't so bad for the first second or two, then the chiles kicked in and I thought I was gonna die. And all I had to drink was soda. Bad news, but they all laughed pretty hard at me.
We visited the Ericsons again last night (the picture/mission mom) because Hna. Zavala and Elder Agle are leaving. She's from Spain, so she made us this Spanish dipping chocolate, real churros (without a hole), and this deep-fried mini french toast stuff with lots of sugar. It was delicious, and I probably gained .8 of a pound from it. Literally. Also, ISE was there!! She went to church yesterday and then we didn't know that Bro. ERicson had invited her to the house that night! He's pretty much her best friend at school, and he's her teacher. She's doing better: reading her scriptures every night, watched conference, went to mutual, and came to church. She feels so good! She told us last night when she was leaving (her sister said she had to be home by 9) that before we came over she used to smoke weed and I think drink and stuff, but after we visited and befriended her and she started doing all those good things, she didn't even have the desire to do any of that anymore. It's amazing the power that the Spirit can have, and how immersing yourself in the good can literally remove any desire to do bad, as it says in the scriptures about King Benjamin's people after his sermon.
I love being a missionary, even though it's really hard sometimes. There are people and experiences that make all the rest of it worth it.
Well, I really have to go now, but I'll see if I can send a picture or two. I love you so much! Thank you a ton for all you've sent/are sending, for all your thoughts and prayers, and for all your support always. I'm so blessed to have you all.
Have a great week!
-Hermana Cole
P.S. Yes Mom, I did get the conference cookies and Dad's letter. I enjoyed his drawings. :) I'll print out your emails and snail mail any answers you need to get right away. Also, my companion wants to write to Ari. She thinks you're super cool. :)
Stuff to talk about:
Dotsons
Padilla
Garcia
TRANSFERS- blessings
teary jueves
Oct. 20th, foundation
Dr. Rosenlund
Jose and Emperatriz- enchiladas
Yolanda- tamales
Elder Cole
Angel and Frances
Ericsons- Spanish desserts!
ISE!!!
I think I'm caught up on uploading the big emails for now. Here's a picture of Tiana next to the Kuna town welcoming sign. Blogger is being snippy and won't let me rotate the picture. Crink your neck.
Until tomorrow, maybe? ;)
