Week 14: Weekly Update

People here, who aren’t members, call us ¨eldera’s¨ because they think we are called the same as elders. Just in feminine form. lol 

A member was teaching me how to make tortillas. I’m not very good at making them, but I want to eat them when I come home because they are just so yummy! I love tortillas. 

We bought coconut! Num num! They are really cheap here - less then a dollar. The juice wasn’t my favorite, but it was fun.

We have a huge district. We played a game with water balloons and then played volleyball and ate pizza. Fun stuff. I like my district.

I got a new goat friend. He let me pet him and everything! Hermana Garcia said that the goat never lets anyone pet him. I had a little transfer this week. I was in Guacamyas with another new sister, but she knows Spanish. It was a lot of fun!

While walking we found a whole sidewalk of perfect mangos. We were pretty excited and took a ton home. We made liquada de mango/banana and it was pretty amazing!

These are some awesome specially made cups someone gave us. She is a friend of one of the members and she saw us in the market one day. The next day she gave us these cups because someone in the market was making them and she thought of us. I was so excited!

The ants no longer want our food. Now they eat me! I have bites all on my feet and calves. They are soooo evil! I am constantly scratching because they itch!

Week 13: 3-Month Mark

This week the missionary flu is going around. One elder was sick and he generously passed it on to my companion and I. lol The past three days, Hermana Suarez and I have been complete Zombies! Also for the past three days we have been searching for people all day: non-actives, very antique investigators, future investigators. We come home completely sore and feeling sick. I honestly have to just roll out of bed each morning. 

This week both my companion and I have been sleeping AWFUL! I sleep okay until about three or four, and then every 20 or 30 minutes I keep waking up. I have some fun nightmares:

   1. I had a bread belly (it looks like a beer belly, but it was from eating too much bread/tortillas) and I couldn’t wear my favorite dress anymore. Ahh!

   2. Zombie Apocalypse

   3. I ended my mission, but I couldn’t remember ANYTHING! I didn’t remember the investigators, members, companions, experiences, nothing. I didn’t know English (this one I think might actually happen. lol). 

   4. I had to give a talk in church! Oh, just kidding. This one actually happened. I had about one and a half minutes to prepare. I’m pretty sure no one understood a word I said and I shook the whole time, but it’s over. I should be safe for the next two months or so.

I hate the bugs here - so gross. This week there have been a bunch of new giant bugs. I have no idea what they are, but I think they could eat me. And we’ve been blessed with tons of cockroaches! They are all gross, but I just can’t bring myself to kill them unless they are bothering me. I don’t know why, I just can’t do it. I always catch the cockroaches in a jar and throw them outside. But my companion kills EVERYTHING! She is vicious. It doesn’t matter if they are minding their own business. If she can see it, then it needs to be dead. lol 

We set six new baptism dates this week (nine total for June), butttttt only one of them attended church this week. People always promise that they will go to church and then they never do. I wish they would just tell me no, if they don't want to come. So this week we plan on teaching a lot about the importance of attending church.

Jehoshaphat is the 16 yr old who got baptized a month ago. He is doing so well! He is so happy and has such a strong testimony. His mom wants him to try a different church because she thinks we are a cult (which is sad because she was going to get baptized after she gets married on June 25). But then she saw some members drinking and heard that a member cusses a lot, so she’s not sure anymore. Being a good example always is so important. You never know who’s watching and whom you could hurt. Jehoshaphat doesn’t want go to other churches. He wants to serve a mission. He shares the gospel with people in school. We saw such a huge change in him after he was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was great before, but now he is a super star! Lol This week he received the priesthood and passed the sacrament. So great! 

People here are seriously obsessed with minions (from the movie Despicable Me). Minions are everywhere! If it can be made into a minion it is: earrings, shirts, phone cases, house decorations, statues, posters, ear buds, everything. And if someone is having a birthday party you better bet it’s going to be a minion party. lol 

I can’t remember if I told you guys this, but I’m the first American sister in Lazaro Cardenas. How cool is that? And we have the biggest district in the mission! We have seven companionships in our district, and four of those are sisters. So you should not be worried about me. 

Super Love from your favorite Mexican Daughter,

Hermana Lauren Johnston!

or Hermana Yawnstun, Yanstone, Yawnsun (how my name is pronounced) 

Week 12: Dia de las Madras

I’m going to get fat because I’m not a big fan of the meals here, but I love the tortillas! Therefore, I eat lots of tortillas with little on the inside. We eat tortillas with every meal. If there aren’t tortillas I think the world would end. They have little tiendas (stores) EVERYWHERE for tortillas only. Do you remember the guy I told you about that wakes me up every morning yelling something that I didn’t understand? Well today I figured out that he’s yelling for bread!!!!! :D He sells these big soft yummy rolls that are warm and amazing. Better yet they are only 1-2 pesos, which is only about 10 cents!!!!!!! Therefore, that means I will eat bread for every breakfast, which means 90% of my diet will be breads. This is a problem....

Yesterday I forgot to tell mom happy mommies day. I’m sorry mom! Mothers Day was on Saturday here, so I kind of forgot. :( It is a HUGE holiday here! Tons of flowers and we had a fun ward activity with lots of fun performances. My companion said it’s one of the biggest holidays here. It was definitely bigger then Easter.

Dia de las madres (Mother’s day) dance

Week 11: Drunken Serenade

This week I got serenaded by a group of five drunken guys. Don’t ask me why we stopped - my companions choice not mine. He told me I have eyes like the sky multiple times, and he sang to me some song about my eyes. Then he wanted to know if I can date on my mission, and he asked me to marry him. At least I think that’s what he said. Drunk people don’t speak English very well. Then he sang me a song about how he loves me and he told me at least a million times he loved me. It was honestly one of the weirdest experiences of my life. I wanted to leave, but my companion was talking to someone so I had to uncomfortably stand there and try to ignore him! lol.

  Some things that have prepared me for my mission:

 1) Working for a landscaping company all my life with a workaholic boss (cough, cough - Dad). It’s like a million degrees outside and I just automatically think, “Oh wow it’s hot! I should probably be in the blazing sun for the next 12-17 hours working.” lol. I really don’t mind it too much since I’m used to it I guess.

2) In college I kind of lived off Moms peasant meal (beans, rice, and tomatoes). I ate a lot of tortillas with rice, and Mom and I ate a lot of jalapeños. I guess Americans always are sick here for the first month or so, because of the difference in food. But I feel just fine. We eat a lot of meat, which takes some getting used to. I wish we could eat more fruits and veggies, but maybe some day.

3) Visiting Sis D. every week. People here just love to talk! I’m pretty good at listening and from being with Sis D for so many hours I have kind of perfected what people want me to react like. I know generally what expressions to make.

A street market in Guadalajara we visited

Weird, fun fruit