TRIO

Hi Family and Friends,

It seems that my mission will be punctuated by being in a trio ever transfer. That's right, I'm now serving in two areas again and there are three of us again. One of the other Hermanas in our apartment went home to take care of things for school and so I am back with Hermana Kigueta again (just like at the end of last transfer) and so the three of us are covering Aguila and Montana del Sur areas. Serving with Hermanas Ayala and Kigueta is so much fun. We are having a blast, and we are so incredibly swamped. It's pretty fun and a little stressful sometimes as we are trying to hold everything together. We spend most of our day in the car running from appointment to appointment. Aguila for the most part is a nicer area, there are some sketchy areas. Montana is one big sketchy area. It's pretty much Mexico. I love it. We visit all these little houses and wonderful families, and there are some really really great people in that area.

For investigators in Aguila we are still working a lot with Rossy and Reuben, they are making progress, and it is very cool to see the change in their lives, especially in Reuben's life. When I first met him he was your very very typical macho Mexican man, now he's softening up and really willing to talk with us and learn. We also had quite the surprise as an investigator we had written off and dropped showed up out of nowhere at church on Sunday. Both Hermana Ayala and I were incredibly surprised.

As far as stories for this week goes, I ate the most terrifying meal of my whole mission on Saturday. I knew it was bad news when I first saw it, but as a missionary sometimes you just have to have a whole lot of confidence that being protected by God includes being protected from bacteria. With every bite I was praying we wouldn't die during the night. We were all pretty miserable after the meal, and I spent a good part of the evening feel way sick but no one died. The impressive thing was that it made Hna Ayala sick, because she is Mexican and so usually she can eat anything, but not this time.

Sunday night we went over to Bishop Galvis' for a birthday dinner. There were tons of families there and it was quite the party. They made "carne asada" which ranks as my all time favorite meal of my entire mission (it made for a convenient follow up to the worst meal of my entire mission). Carne asada is grilled beef with all sorts of delicious spices on it, and then you eat it with tortillas, beans, avocado, rice and salsa. So good. It was also pretty fun because I was able to see how my Spanish is getting better. When I first came out I really really struggled understanding Spanish when there were lots of people talking and lots of noise. Yesterday I was able to keep up pretty well and I wasn't just laughing because everyone else was laughing. (It's pretty sad, but often as missionaries when we are learning the language you just watch for when everyone else laughs and laugh with them and then ask your companion later about what the joke was about.) It was quite the party. The Galvis' house was full of people and it was all people I've loved working with.

I'm getting a little nervous, transfers are next week, and there's going to be a lot of change in the sisters areas. I'll probably be included one way or another because there are so many changes that are going to happen. I've absolutely loved serving in Aguila and I'm really nervous, I don't really want to get moved yet. I feel like I have so much more I want to do, and so I'm crossing my fingers that President lets me stay for another 6 weeks and that Hna Ayala gets to stay too. I've had such a good time serving with her.

Today was quite the fun p-day. We got up and all the missionaries in our area got together to play "death ball" think dodge ball but far more crazy. I actually lasted quite a long time, but none of that was of my own doing, the Elders are just afraid to chuck the ball at the Sisters, so we tend to last a little longer. We also played soccer and then we went to a mexican restaurant with Hermanas Jensen and Wells. Hermana Jensen was Hermana Ayala's companion before me and she is going home next Tuesday. So we all went out and got lunch together. Way fun. Tonight we have some really awesome lessons set up and I'm quite excited for them.

We've got to get going. Next week when I e-mail you'll all get to hear if I'm staying in Aguila or if I'm getting moved. Who knows.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Okeson