Monday, January 3, 2011

La Morenita y la Grandota!

Hi Everyone!

So, the news you've all been waiting for, my new companion. I am serving with Hermana Ayala (she's the short Mexican one in the pictures Hna Beck put up on her Blog from the transfer meeting...) She's from California but her parents are from Mexico. That means she's a native speaker, so I'm excited to be able to work on my Spanish with her. We are having a blast. I absolutely love serving with Hna Ayala, she told me from the start that she likes to work hard and play hard, which sounded great to me.

This week was actually a pretty weird one. We had transfers on Tuesday, and then Wednesday and Thursday were regular working days, but on Friday because of New Years we had to be in at 6pm and then Saturday was by appointment only. Our Saturday appointments fell through so that left us hanging out at the apartment all day. Not really my idea of what to do with a Saturday, but obedience brings blessings, right? If nothing else we got some things done around the apartment and I got to know Hna Ayala better which was fun.

Hna Ayala has been out for about a year, and like I said, we've been having a blast. We had way too much time on our hands as we were stuck at home on Saturday, and you can only update the area book so much, so we decided to call the Elders who live near by and see what happens. Long story short, Hna Ayala convinced them to not only fix her bike (it has a flat) but also to get us a bunch of yummy Mexican juices and different candies. Those Elders moved into our apartment complex during the last transfer and they've had to fix our bikes three times already. I guess they've learned what it means to live near Sisters.

I thought I ought to explain the title for this letter. Grandota, effectively means really really tall, and Morenita means little brown one. Hna Ayala is 5'2'' on a good day. We make quite a pair out talking to people. She's super loud and full of tons of energy. I absolutely love that. Also, somehow she is always up on everything that is happening across the mission, so now I think in one week I've learned more about the mission and what's happening where than most other missionaries know. She takes the whole "Sisters know everything" to a whole new level.

This past week we've spent a lot of time out door knocking, with little door answering because everyone is still in Mexico, so to make things more entertaining we took to rating all of the wreaths on a scale of 1 to 10. I feel like if music doesn't work out I have a future in wreath critiquing.

We also had a really interesting experience this week as we were out checking on people who had been taught by missionaries before, but for one reason or another had not continued meeting with them anymore. Serving in the area that we do often we get stopped from going to houses by guard dogs. In my last companionship Hna Hoof was by far the faster runner so I was somewhat loath to go into those yards with "Beware of Dog" signs as I knew which of the two of us would turn into a puppy snack... I think I could take Hna Ayala in a race, but we have an agreement about avoiding doggy houses. This past week however was the first week I have been thwarted by a guard horse. That's right, horse. We pulled up to this house and there right in the front yard was three dogs and a big beautiful white horse. We were more concerned about the dogs than the horse, but as we walked up to the house we learned we had placed our concern in the wrong area. That horse followed us up and down the front of the gate as we tried to distract it enough to get to the house. Next time we go by I'm taking carrots. I'll have to send pictures as well, we decided to cut our losses and took some pretty fun pictures by that horse before moving on.

Other news, mostly we're just really trying to get out and find people to teach. We're trying to work more with our ward, and we've had some pretty good success with that. We're also trying to help Karla feel ready for her baptism on the 29th, she's a little nervous still, but I'm super excited for her. It's so cool being a missionary. I really love every day so much, I just wake up smiling because I'm so happy to be here and to be serving.
Have an awesome week. I love you all!
Hermana Okeson

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