September 24, 2013 Email

Querido Familia y Amigos,

This times I know its only been a week since I wrote. (Aren´t you proud of me I´m finally starting to learn my days! Though I still keep forgetting Jueves (thursday) y Sabado( saturday). I don´t know why, I guess they just don´t fit into my week.)

So remember last week how I wrote all about my adventures of being sick. Well guess what happened this week? Thats right I got bewtter! And then I got sick again! Last wenesday I started feeling much better. So during gym time I played some soccer. It was a lot of fun. I missed playing soccer, its been a long time. And then I remembered why I always got hurt when I played, I am a very aggressive soccer player. It suprised evewryone in my distrito, because in class I am usually very quite. Obviously I am not that way during soccer, or when I do a jigsaw puzzle. ¡Spanish Lesson! The word for puzzles in spanish is "rompecabezas" which literraly translated is "break head", awesome huh! Anyway back to my monolouge....I forgot what I was going to say....oh well. New story!!

At the end of last weeks P-day we made a trip to the tienda (store) and you will never believe what they had. Michael y Erin (first off CONGRATS!!! I love the announcement and hope that Michael doesn´t eat to much) you will love this because I walked into the tienda and right there they had ¡KINDER BUENOS! I was so excited included is a picture of my excitement "she has the same look on her face now as she did then, show them the face" (Return to me) Now some of you may know that when I like something, like frosting, I like to keep a good supply for myself. So how much Kinder Bueno did I buy you wonder? 9 packs. How many are still in my possesion not currently being eaten? 4, es muy triste, pero esta bien.

oh I remember the rest of the other story! So I played soccer and had a runny nose. But the next morning I think that would be Jueves, see it just doesn´t fit, I don´t know where to put them. Anyway the next morning I wok up with a full fledged, kick my trash, cold. So as I am writing this I have to stop every few minutes to cough my lungs out. Pero, es una vida buena. So all in all, I am still sick. But accomplishment of the week! I started eating read food! It was a most glorious day, food is such a wonderful thing!

This past week we ad 2 special lesson on prayer and faith. It really inspired me to think a little more about these 2 fundamentals I had always live with. First oracion. The bible dictionary says "as soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God...then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Blessings require some work...prayer is a form of work." This really hit me hard, I always knew and felt that prayer was a conversation with God. But I never thought about it becoming "natural and instinctive" or that prayer "is a form of work". Its a new way of prayer now for me, and I really like it.

Second fe. Again from the bible dictionary "fe it is a principle of power and action. IT is a gift from God but must be cultured. By fe we can have a change of heart." I know that with fe we can have great power to do things, but I never thought of it as a "principle of...action" or a "gift from God (that) must be cultured" It all made me rethink fe, and made me treasure it more.

I hope that you are all excited for general conference, or at least as excited as I am. (which is being totally outrageously excited!!) It will be my last weekened here en el CCM and we are all excited. Though we are not sure if it will be en ingles o espanol. ¡No Se! Oh well either way we will be hearing from a profeta de Dios.

¡Les Quiero todo!

Hermana Monsivais

September 17th Email Part 2

Querido Familia y Amigos,

Hola!

I can’t believe it has only been a week since I last wrote home. It feels likes its been a month with all that has happened.

Early this week our bathrooms were deemed “unsafe” so we had to move to a nueva casa (newhouse). It was such a big move and so frustrating, I mean the nueva casa was a whole 2 houses down the street!!! I’m just joking, we did have to move but it wasn’t a problem. Mi companera y yo (My companion and I) have our own room now just the 2 of us, its weird but fun.

So I’m sure most of you know how I very much disliked all the construction in Provo. When I left on my mission I was confident in the hope that I would not have to deal with any construction. 2 semanas pasada (2 weeks ago) when I went al templo (to the temple) it was a bumpy and very sickening ride but there was no construction. I don’t know if I ever talked about the traffic in Mexico. Cada vec (every time), when people get into their cars, they make up their own rules for driving. Its quite an adventure and reminds me of Paris, France. But anyway, this morning when we left for al templo at 7am! (much to early por mi pobrasita corazon)((much too early for my poor little heart)) we ran right into construction just outside the gates of the CCM, just like in Provo. There were many spots of construction all the way al templo. Which made me feel even more sick by the time we actually arrived at el templo about 45 minutes later.

Thats right, guess who got sick over the party weekend? If you said Rapunzel....I’m sorry your wrong. If you said me....your right.

Yep this silly hermanita (little sister) talking with you now is sick. Friday night I got this weird feeling that the weekend wasn’t going to be easy for me. Sure enough, I woke up around 3amsaturday morning con terrible dolor del estomago(with terrible pain in my stomach). I don’t really remember much of anything from saturday or sunday so I’m sorry I can’t tell you much there. I wish I had taken some pictures of myself though because I’m sure it was quite a funny show. I know if angeles had been watching me during that time they probably would have been laughing not crying for me because I looked very very funny.

The only distinct thing I remember from saturday was when el lider de mi districto燾on 3 otro Elderes(the leader of my district with 3 other Elders) came over to mi casa(my house) to give me a blessing. I barely made it out of bed and into the front room where the Elderes were waiting, again I’m sure the angeles were laughing. el lider de mi districto was the one who did the blessing.

Here are a few things that I remember from the blessing
1. I was told to remember that God loves all his children. (this is said in my patriarchal blessing as well, and in most of the blessings I've every received. I think its important)
2.God had heard my words and my prayers
3. God had been listening to me and understands the thoughts of my heart.
4.God is pleased with my work
It was a powerful blessing for me, so I went and took another nap.

I was awake for maybe a total of 5 hours on saturday, the rest of it I had not strength and just sat in bed. Saturday night we had a big party planned for the whole CCM to celebrate La Independencia燿e Mexico (the independence of Mexico). And of course this being such a wonderfully amazing, spectacular party. With lights, sounds, laughter, color, and amazing things beyong our imagination!!.....I didn’t go. There was no way I could think of to get myself out of bed. So I celebrated on my own by finally eating something. 1banana y 4 crackers. I managed to stay awake a little bit longer on sunday but not by much. Tried to walk across the campus to desayuno (breakfast), and barely made it inside. I then sad for 15 minutes trying not to pass out, then I repeated the torture by walking back home. So I didn磘 make it relief society afterwards. Which was a bit of a shame because Hermana Pratt (la esposa de el presidente del CCM)((the wife of the MTC President)) told las hermanas que(the sisters that) 2 hurricanes are heading for Mexico ahorrita (right now). One from the Gulf, and the other from the Pacific. We won’t get any terrible wind here en el CCM (in the MTC), but it is expected to rain a lot. Big suprise there.

Though I suppose I shouldn’t be that hard on the rain, it has only been drizzling a little these past few days. Its actually quite sad the way it drizzles, its like someone is constantly spitting on you, with un gran boca(a great mouth)that never runs out of spit. Anyway, back to sunday. I managed to drag myself to a few minutes of district meeting where Presidente Ruiz (el presidente de mi rama(branch) ((the president of the branch)) was there to join us. He talked about his love for us and how honored he was to be our branch presidente. And then he tried 4 different times to give me a blessing, as much as I love blessings I knew that one was good enough for me and I had to excercise faith to be healed now on my own. The Presidente Ruiz cried. Not because I wouldn’t let him give me a blessing (You didn’t think I was that rude did you?) but because it made him so sad to see me in pain when he couldn’t help me. He told us that he things of us all as his children and he wants to do everything he can to help us. It was very sweet and we all appreciated his thoughts. After district meeting I stumbled on over to Sacrament meeting. I don’t remember very much and my companera can testify that I wasn’t entirely there for most of the meeting, which I felt bad about. I had to skip everything else for the rest of the day because I just couldn’t function. I managed to make it out of bed around 8pm to go and watch the joseph smith movie. Every sunday night starting at 8pm we watch a church movie. Last week was the movie Legacy, which is a favorite from my childhood. My first week here was a really cool movie (though really old) about the book of mormon and how it had changed peoples lives. Including the life of Parley P. Pratt who is the great great great great great(I think that might be to many, but I started thinking of The Emperors New Groove and got distracted) anyway great grandfather which was cool. Back to this most recent sunday, after the movie I had to go straight back to bed, I took some zzzquil (sorry didn磘 know how many z磗 to put, so 3 sounded good to me. Anymore than that and I would probably fall asleep right here in front of the computer like Loren did waiting for Joshua to call :) You rock Loren!) I was sad that I couldn’t attend the celebrations sunday night because it was the night that el Presidente de Mexico(the President of Mexico) reads the Grita(Shout). My dad can tell you more about it because my history, and well lets me honest my head altogether, its a bit fuzzy. Unfortunately not a soft warm fuzzy, more like a “I just rolled out of bed and forget that I have lots of hair on my head and my blanket (which is actually warm and fuzzy) likes to share its fuzz and so now I am covered in it” fuzzy.....I don’t think that made sense, but I’m going with it.

Anyway......the Grita is like a re-inactment of when the people of Mexico were first called to raise up arms against Spain for their independence. I have seen it a few times before and even shouted with them “Viva Mexico”. But of course this time I couldn’t which is ok.
Wow this letter is forever long!!! How do you people read this stuff, its all so confusing and sometimes a little strange. Ok...maybe more than a little.

Well do end with I will share a few funny moments in spanish. First, I was having a conversation with un Elder and I tried to say my P-day was Martes (tuesday), instead I said muertes (dead). We had a good laugh and then I corrected myself and we moved on. Second funny moment, un Elder Whetten en mi districto(in my district) was trying to tell un investigador(an investigator)  during a leccion(lesson) that Joseph Smith recieved 创oros planchas创 (gold plates) from God. Instead it came out as Joseph smith recieved 创oros platanos创 (gold bananas) from God. Mi districto y yo(my district and I), totally rock at spanish.

Well I will stop making your brains swim with my oddness and bid you all a fond farewell. I hope that I have something more exciting to tell you all then my being sick.

Bless you all!

Love you all!!

Hermana Monsivais


From Rebecca Monsivais

Hi Mara.  
I am kind of hoping that you are still sitting sick at the computer.  
I am SOOOO sorry you are sick, but I did enjoy the letter that came from you and your being sick.
It is pretty hilarious!

Are you doing better today than on Sunday?


From Mara

So I don´t know what happened with the chinese characters, feel free to change those. 

I am feeling a little better but still sick.

Tell Kaytlyn I love her, well tell everyone I love them and I say hi.

I am glad you enjoyed the letter, I had fun writing it.

September 17th Email Part 1

I (Kaytlyn) sent a list of questions to Mara so that she could answer them instead of trying to think of things to write. Here are the questions are her responses. 

1. What was the best thing that happened to you this week?

The best thing was probably when I messed up my spanish and said that my p-day was dead instead of tuesday. Or when one of my teachers who is an amazing singer and is really good about speaking in only spanish to us spoke in english.

2. When you go to the temple is the session in English or Spanish?

The sessions at the temple are always in spanish. Even if it were to be full of just missionaries they would still do it in spanish. Which I think is cool, today I understand a little more of the spanish. And of course the workers are always nice.

3. What is your companions name? Are you getting along well? Any funny moments recently?

My companera (companion) is Hermana Alyssa Butler. We have a few things that we disagree on but for the most part we get along fine. She is actually similar in ways to Erin´s sister who I stayed with in London, and when I realized that I thought that maybe I was meant to spend some time with her to help me prepare.

4. Did you have a favorite lesson or scripture from this past week? 

When the one teacher talked in english he did it so that everyone would understand him when he talked about the importance of the atonement. His testimony was so strong and he really got his point across, and then he switched back to spanish, which was ok with me.

5. Have you decided on a mission scripture? (Mom will probably ask you this one too because she is trying to get your fancy thing put together)

I don´t remember right off the one that I wanted to use. I will make sure to write it down next time. If I don´t tell you something next week then just use Isaiah 54:7-8.

6. What did you learn this past week?
I learned that I don´t like greasy food and my stomach agrees with me on that. But more importantly I learned that even an 18 year old boy, when called of God and worthy to hold Gods priesthood, can give a very powerful health blessing. No matter how crazy that boy may be at other times.

7. Have I told you lately that I love you? ;)

Yes you have and I am very glad for it. Have I told you that I love you? I think I have but let me tell you again. I love you!!!!!!!!

Hermana Monsivais

September 10, 2013

¡Hola personas¡

It feels like forever since I last wrote but I guess its really only been a week. Time is so different here in el CCM, but I love being able to speak spanish and talk about the gospel.

I thought the rain here in Mexico was bad but I guess that all those in Provo got it worse then all in one day. The thing about rain here in Mexico is that it rains every day guaranteed. It hasn´t been quite as bad as you guys got but there are always puddles, they never go away and replenished everyday. If it wasn´t immature for me to go puddle jumping and if it wouldn´t make me late for my classes I would love it even more. But as it is I still love it.

This last friday we finished teaching our first "investigador" who then became our new afternoon teacher. When we first met him he was kind of strange and we struggled a little to teach him. But my companera y yo trusted in the Lord and by the end of our teaching we had given him un libro de mormon which he read, had challenged him to pray, which he did. And we also invited him to be baptised, which he accepted. True he wasn´t a real investigador but he pulled it off very well. The teachers name is Hermano Wolfe, he is from a wee little town in Idaho. And he never speaks english to any of us, which is awesome. He is also a great singer, and very patient with our districto.

I don´t want to sound like I am bragging when I say this, but yo hablo y entiendo mas epsanol que todos personas en mi districto. And its not entirely a bad thing, because then I can talk and laugh with the teacher, like the example I shared last week. Which reminds me that I guess I did mention this a little last week, sorry this is the second letter in a row with me complaining about this. I guess it just bothers me a bit because I am treated a little like and outcast because I know more. Its nice when they ask me for help to know a certain word or how to say something. But its a little frustrating to not be treated equal to them, which I guess in a way....I am not. Oh well.

Alright I am off my high horse and back to life. I will try to keep the rest of this letter up beat.

So....oh my branch presidents wife made little flags out of cloth with the mexican colors so that everyone in our district could wear them this week for mexican independence day. They are so cute and mine is always with my name tag and so they just go together great and it makes me happy to blow on it and pretend it is waving to me. (yes I am a bit crazy :P) Its cool because just our district has them and so as I walk around everyday I can see all the people in my branch, its really cool. And something really fun when walking to breakfast at the comedor every morning is that the path we take cada manana takes us past this little rock or statue thing.....I´m not sure. But anyway, it has a face on it, like the faces you would see in aztec or mayan ruins. Its really funny, I haven´t named him yet. But every time I pass him I give him a little pat on the head, and then I try not to sink into the mud around him.

This grass every where has mud, again if I weren´t a missionary I would spend my days playing in the mud, but of course I must be more mature then that. (Though that doesn´t mean that I don´t secretly desire to play in the mud and make a few mud pies for my teachers. I mean, who doesn´t love a mud pie)

Yesterday afternoon we had our weekly service project. For this week we went to the laundry room and helped fold sheets. It was really fun to be able to help but it was also a bit boring. We still had a lot of laughs, and we had to help the Elderes quite a bit to know how to fold. Silly Elderes. When we got there they had just pulled the sheets out of the dryers, which by the way are huge!! When I first saw the washers and dryers my first though, and I am not joking was, and I quote "Holy Pumpkins! Do you know how much ice cream you could fit into those things!" my second thought directly after the first was just as odd. And I quote again "I could just jump into one of those and take a shower and then jump into the dryer and I would be done in no time. I could even fall asleep if I wanted to."

To put anyones worries or suspicions to rest, no I did not actually do it. Though lets admit, it would have been really fun, like a roller coaster ride that gets you clean at the same time. ( Just as long as you can keep your lunch down)

So I don´t remember if I mentioned this last week, because it might have happened after my last p-day. But I went shopping!!! Yes mom you read right, I went shoppping. (For those of you who don´t know, I don´t really like shopping and I gave mom the hardest time when shopping for my mission) What did I buy you all wonder? Well I will tell you.....I bought food.

Mom I know you don´t like it when the kids roll their eyes, but feel free to do so now after reading this. Or while reading this if you can, that would be quite a challenge.

I bought some little chocolate candies called choco ritas and some ice cream. They were delicious! The unfortunate thing is, they are gone.....and so I need to buy s´more. Also I ate all my york peppermint patties, which was a really sad day when I had to throw the bag away. But oh my goats! Greatest thing every. They have conchas in el comedor!!! For those of you who are confused, conchas (as my teacher told me they were called) are the mexican sweet breat that has the stripes of sugar on top. Usually white or brown sugar on top, if you don´t remember I have a picture of when that I will try and send with this letter. If I don´t accidently ruin the computer because I am drooling over the computer, I will try to restrain myself.

Well what else can I tell you......oh this week.....wait...yesterday...this week. We started having what is called TRC (I have no idea what it stands for so don´t ask, lo siento). And when we did it for the first time yesterday we were just paired up with other missionaries. Normally we are supposed to talk with members from the surrounding area but do to something I don´t know, they didn´t show up. Which is ok. The first set of missionaries my companion and I were with were two elderes who are in their 6th week. We talked a little and then they gave us some tips. In the middle of that conversation my teacher (Hermano Wolfe) called me to go and sit with two hermanas. They didn´t know what was going on though, even though it was their 6th week too. So I just talked with them in spanish, it was fun. One hermana was from Arizona and the other Hawaii, and she actually knows the Ludlow family, they were in a same ward in Hawaii. Her name is Hermana Keys, but I don´t know anything else about her. We had fun talking and I got to use a lot of spanish, even though they didn´t always reply in spanish, but hey thats ok.

Well I think that about sums up.....oh wait! One of the hermanas that I share a room with got bit by what we think was a spider, and her arm (well its right on her elbow, so I guess her elbow) Is so swollen red and is really hot to the touch. When she first got bitten on sunday I told her "You know my family has this great thing called ´golden seal´ its a cure all that would totally help if I had some" But obviously I don´t. Yesterday morning she went to the clinic and they gave her some sort of anti-biotic (we think, they didn´t pay attention) to help with the swelling, I don´t think it has made much of a difference though. But it is a great joke in nuestro districto because all the Elderes thing she is going to turn into spider man. That or one day its going to burst and a bunch of baby spiders are going to come out. Gross! Well I´ve got to get going.

I have things to get done to be ready for the rest of the week.

Bless you all! Love you all! Please send letters because I love hearing your adventures, I wish I had time to write an individual letter to everyone but unfortunately they don´t give me that much time.

Love you!

Hermana Monsivais

P.S. Let me know if you can´t see the pictures and I will have to find another way to send them.

September 3, 2013

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Hey everyone, how is it going? Mexico is a crazy place but I love it. Thank you all for your messages it really made my day. I read them on my way to the temple this morning. It takes about an hour to get from the CCM to the Mexico City Temple, and traffic in the city is insane. Street lights, lanes, and crosswalks are just there to look at. People rarely use them, instead they use their horns when people don´t do what they want or don´t let them do what they want. Esta es muy loco.

It has been very different trying to adjust to the way of life here in the CCM, I really am not a morning person and waking up at 0630 cada manana regardless of weather is not my favorite. But I am loving it here any way. My companera is a sweet short girl(shorter than me) from San Diego, California, Escondido to be correct. I don´t know if she knows Aunt Sheila because I have no idea where Aunt Sheila lives and thus can not give any help to end the matter. 

I was really scared that I would end up in a spanish class that was far above my spanish abilities, but in fact the opposite has happened. I am currently in a spanish class where I am the most competent student, my companera is below me and then everyone else falls off the scale. It has been a bit frustrating because during our lessons with nuestro investigador I end up doing most of the talking because amazingly I can hold a conversation in spanish! Or at least make up a pretty good sounding conversation. Everyone in my district is younger then I am which is really weird to get used to, its like being stuck with a bunch of Joshuas. (just kidding!) Its been hard for me but they are all still amazing misioneros with very strong testimonies.

I miss being at home but I have started to see how things that I have been through in the past few years are helping me to make it through things that are happening here.

The campus is beautiful, I love how green it is. And its really easy to keep it green because it rains cada dia. And its not just a little sprinkle, when it rains it pours. I have been wearing my short boots since I got here so my feet stay dry, unfortunately for my companera she has already almost lost 2 pairs of shoes to the rain. I wish that I could go splashing around in the puddles after the rain because they get so big. But that wouldn´t be very proper for a misionera to do, so I haven´t.

Hmm....what else can I tell you......

Oh, thank you all for your messages of encouragement it really means a lot to me. I want you all to know how much I love you and I am so thankful that you are in my friends and my family. Unfortunately I don´t have time to send any pictures with this letter because of all the time we took at the temple this morning. Oh I can tell you about that (squierrel!)

The temple was beautiful and so peaceful, it was hard to stay awake during the session though because everything was in spanish and I didn´t really understand. But it was such a wonderful feeling there and I was so excited to go again. Though it made me miss Kaytlyn with a fresh longing because of all the temples we went to before we left.

I´m sorry about what happened to Samuel, that is quite a break and I´m sorry I am not there to help, it might have been my chance to watch a surgery! Just kidding, I love you Samuel and I hope that you get feeling better soon, and please try to be careful and let yourself heal before you start out on other adventures.

There are a lot of misquitos around here but thankful I have been protected from them thus far. One of the Elders in my district wasn´t so lucky though, it walked into class last week with at least 15 bites on one arm. ¡Ouch! We have been trying to kill the misquitos when we can and so we have greatly reduced the numbers in our casa. The food is decent, I have cereal pretty much every morning they serve other stuff but it just doesn´t look good to me. I´ve been told though that the food has gotten a lot better, just a week ago they introduced peanut butter and nutella to the comedor. As I´m sure you can guess, it doesn´t last very long. Its funny when they bring it out on the little cart people follow it all the way to the table.

As I´m sure you have guessed my P-day is on tuesdays, kind of an inconvinence in a way but I will live with it. I have one week down now just 5 more to go here at the CCM, unless of course they move me into a more advanced class. My maestra mentioned maybe doing that the first day of class but hasn´t said anything else about it since. I don´t know if thats I was kind of not sure about moving up to a higher class or she realized that my spanish really wasn´t that good. Oh there is a really funny story about my class. So yesterday during class she was trying to speak only in spanish. And she was telling us how she was playing an investigador and the misioneros that were teaching her were trying to say "Dios es amoroso" (god is loving) but instead they said "Dios es almuerzo" (god is lunch). I started laughing so hard, a few seconds later my companera began to laugh, but the rest of our class didn´t get it until the teacher told them in english. Because of this event, and quite a few others like it, I haven´t really made friends in my district. Most of them really really REALLY don´t like the fact that I can speak more spanish then they can. But, oh well, we will all survive it anyway.

Well I´ve got to get going now so that we can do our laundry, ugh, I was lazy with laundry before and I feel lazy about it now. Some things never change. Send everyone my love and hellos. Feel free to write me whenever you feel the desire to do something crazy (as I am sure you have noticed, my letters are crazy!) I love you all and hope to hear from you in a week (so long!) I will make sure to take more pictures and send them next time. And oh look, perfect timing, its raining....again....for the 7th day in a row.....(another squirrel)

Bless you all! (said with the squeaky voice of Lina Lamont from Singing in the rain)

Love you!

Hermana (amazing! I´m official, though I sometimes have to look at my name tag to remind of such) Monsivais

P.S. Lo siento that my letter is crazy and probably has spelling mistakes, I was never very good at english. And please forward this on to other family and friends you feel would like a good laugh, or a nice puzzle (I´m sure there  is a lot here that doesn´t make sense, and thus makes it a perfect puzzle)