One week more!!!

Ballin' it up with the boys  (Lightning only, no contact )

¡Hola Todos!

I'm down to one week left in the CCM! I leave on Monday for Ciudad Juarez!

This week it finally caught up to me and I got sick, but it only lasted a day so all is well! And it was only bad for like half a day so I only missed a couple of morning classes and then jumped back in! I'm hopeful that because I've been so healthy here it just means I have a great immune system and won't get sick in the field! .....hopefully? (Probably not but gotta stay positive right?)

This week we found girls to play basketball with!! A new wave of missionaries came in (as they do every week) and this one included a group of girls who saw us shooting and asked to play with us, so we had a game of 3v3! It wasn't super pretty, but it was dang fun!

Lightning with my district

In other news, mi maestra aqui learned about the fact that I don't drink caffeine and was making fun of me for it, until she walked in this Monday, looking quite upset. When I asked how she was, she said "bad" because she stopped drinking "coca" (coke) and blames me. She said she got a prompting one night, when she was thinking about how weird it was that I didn't drink caffeine, that she should stop, and now she blames me. She tells me daily that she hates me for it and it's my fault, it's pretty funny. She also made our Word of Wisdom lesson (that me and Hermana Madsen were practicing teaching) quite difficult because of it. 

me and Hermana Madsen packing and chilling on bunk beds on pday

On Sunday we got to hear an awesome devotional from Elder Holland from a few years ago for missionaries, and it was crazy powerful. It was entitled "Feed My Sheep" and I cried at least 4 times, the spirit was so strong.

Thought for the week: It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. We must reach as far as we can. We must get up on our tiptoes and stretch as high as we can possibly reach. And when we do, we will find His strong, brotherly arms outstretched, just waiting to lift us up and embrace us.

Christ has given us the greatest gift in the world through his Atoning sacrifice. We can and should use it as often as we can, and we can each and every day.

Love and miss you all!!

Hermana Naatjes

some of the guys right before they got their hair cut (they were pretty sad).

Big Bugs, Girlish Screams, and Spit takes

me and my district

This week was another awesome one! I've already been out here for a month now which is crazy, the days are starting to fly by as I realize I am in no way prepared to live in Mexico and to speak only Spanish. But it's slowly coming! I can generally get across ideas, even if the delivery is a bit strange and if it takes acting some (a lot) of things out.

Funny things from this week:

1) Bug incident number one

So, a giant moth flew into our classroom this week, probably about the size of a hand, and was just chilling on the wall. One of the elders (Elder Grimsman) decided that he wanted to see this thing move, so we took a vote and the majority agreed. To do this, he decides to throw his pen, and the moth flies off the wall, directly at him, and then out the window. The best part was, when it flew at him, he let out a quite high pitched squeal as he cowered in fear.

2) Bug number 2

We walk into the computer lab to do our daily online Spanish training (TALL for those who know) to find a very large spider or mini tarantula in the room. The first one to see it was one of the elders (Elder Ranstrom) who had a very similar response to Elder Grimsman's with the moth. All of the elders were freaking out about it, but me and Hermana Madsen were just chilling. It was quite entertaining. Then, one of the guys decided to pick it up and hide it in his keyboard, but all of their fun was ruined when our teacher walked in. They decided to just tell him and then carried the spider outside and killed it. 

me and Hermana Madsen at the track (which is straight gravel so it feels like running in sand, which is hard)

3) Spit take

During class, right after an activity in which we tried to make others laugh to make them recite a Spanish sentence or something like that, two of our elders and our teacher decided to play a little game, in which you hold water in your mouth and try to make the others laugh and spit out their water. It was quite entertaining watching them struggle, and Hermana Suarez (our teacher) was the first to let a little water trickle out of her mouth. This sight, however, made Elder Adcock laugh quite hard, and he spit all of his water out, all over Hermana Suarez and Elder Grimsman (his companion).

4) The accident

So me and Hermana Madsen's roommates are extremely funny. Especially Hermana Chatwin. She has a talent of making everyone laugh, including herself. She also has no shame so has approved of me telling this story. But a couple nights ago, she decided to try to lean out of her bunk bed to grab something off of her desk, a few feet away and down. She ended up losing her balance, falling on top of Hermana Judd (who was sitting at the desk trying to catch her), rolling onto the ground, laughing so hard she choked on her snot, and then laughed even harder and peed her pants directly onto the floor and all over her flashcards. It was fantastic and had us all laughing for the rest of the night.

Less funny thing: 

Hermana Judd got sick along with another girl in our casa, so we all woke up at about 3 AM to the sound of them taking turns coughing\throwing up. They both were fine 24 hours later though, so I'm pretty sure it was just food poisoning or something. On a happier note: I have still yet to get sick though so that's good!

Spiritual thought for the week:

We had an amazing devotional last night from Elder Pingree (that's probably spelled wrong) about the Atonement. One of my favorite thoughts from the whole devotional was when he was speaking about how often people fail to use it to its full potential. He told us that "the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to do things beyond our natural capacity." Christ's sacrifice doesn't only allow us to be forgiven of sins, but it gives us the power and ability to become more than we ever could be. With His help, there is NOTHING we cannot do. Stop wasting time trying to do hard things on your own. His atonement is INFINITE. We can use it as often and as we choose. 

Oh, and I lifted weights with some guys from my district today and lifted like the same as two of them and one lifted just a little more. It was super painful and I'm gonna be super sore, but it was awesome!

Love and miss you all!

Hermana Naatjes

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Celebrations

 Hey everybody!! 

This week (well 5 days) has been awesome! Lots of very spiritual experiences and lessons. Hermana Madsen is starting to trust her Spanish more and the lessons we're giving to our maestras have been awesome! After one of our lessons all three of us were in tears and our teacher said it was the best lesson she had ever received in the CCM! It was definitely all because of Hermana Madsen, but I was there too so I'm gonna totally claim some of the credit.

Oh and my birthday yesterday was awesome! Thank you everyone for the letters and notes, it really meant a lot! But yeah, the day started with a run with one of my roommates (I was given permission to go on splits to work out from my district leader) and some abs. Then, when I got to class, I was greeted with a jump out surprise from my district at 7:15 AM with banners and balloons and party hats. 

Then things were pretty normal, classes and language and such. So I assumed that meant that that was the end of it. But then come dinner time, my teacher asks me and my companion to meet with her before dinner, so we have a quick little meeting, checking how we're doing and such, and as soon as we wrap up she takes off. So me and my companion walk back to the classroom to drop off our books before dinner, I open the door to the classroom (which is dark) and a group of ten 18 year old boys scream surprise and flip on the lights. I legitimately fell to the ground (a video was taken that I will try to get and send). After I was able to compose myself a bit we ate cake (I was forced to stuff an entire cupcake in my mouth, per Mexican tradition I guess) and ice cream. It was awesome. 

I couldn't decide what to give for a spiritual thought this week so I thought I'd just send a page of my notes from one of our devotionals. (Also I'm nearly out of time). The spirit is always so strong, I love it.

I  love and miss you all and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Naatjes