May 6, 2013

May 6, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

AHHHH!!!! Estoy en el campo!!!! puede creerlo?!?! So my trainer´s and I are opening the area called Elche 2. It´s amazing here!!! Wow!!!!! Elche is apparently the palm tree capital of the world and I 100% believe it. They are EVERYWHERE! It basically feels like Hawaii on steroids. I absolutely love it here! The ward is so welcoming and ready to help us with missionary work! My trainer - madre mia de mi arma (that´s an expression here that basically means ¨oh my gosh¨). My comp is an answer to prayer! The Lord knows me SOOO well! She is EXACTLY what I have needed as both a companion and a trainer. She is AMAZING!! We get along SOOOOOO well!!!!! Ahhh i love her!!!! It´s crazy because we are basically the same person. seriously though! She´s just an older, much cooler version of myself. I don´t know how to explain it. it has been freaking me out this week how similar we are! I´ll have to explain more another time but just know that she is perfect for me! I´m so blessed to be able to spend at least 3 months with her! 

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah!!!! I figured out why this mission is the PERFECT mission for me this last week! We found out that the spain mission´s daily schedule is different from any other mission in the world. Because of medio dia (their siestas), Spain shuts down between 2 and 5 or 5:30 which means that we can´t find anybody to teach during that time. during the summer we wake up at 7:30, study til 11:30, and teach until 2. at 2 we come back for lunch and then continue to study until 5:30. at 5:30 we head back out and teach until 10:15 and go to bed at 11:30. I know you´re all probably laughing because you know how happy this makes me! this is my jam!!!!  I looooove this!!! Best schedule ever for me! The only bad thing is that we don´t get time for dinner. Spain doesn´t really do dinner. Other than that small detail it´s THE BEST!!! 

We have a few investigators! It´s the coolest thing! This week will be the first week we get to start teaching them so I´ll have to update you more about them next week.

These are my people! I didn´t think that i would be able to love these people so quickly! I can´t explain why or how but i just have this incredible love for the people here. 

Some things that have happened this last week:

-I ate shark. It actually wasn´t that bad. I might actually do it again.

-We didn´t have a big enough lighter for the first few days in our pizo so to light the stove we had to light a paper towel on fire and use that instead. whoops! haha. don´t worry we didn´t set our pizo on fire. We finally got the chance to buy a lighter this weekend. no more lighting the ends of paper towels on fire. It worked pretty well though if I do say so myself.

-We hear sooooo much american music here. The people here mostly listen to American hits. The other day we heard Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, and The Black Eyed Peas all in one day while on the buses.

The start of this last week was the hardest week on the mission but has turned out to be incredible. That transition between the MTC and the field was crazy difficult because I had to say goodbye to those Hermanas that i have become best friends with knowing that I won´t see them until August or later because of how far away Elche is. They´ll get to see each other but I won´t be able to. I have to keep reminding myself that I´m here to work, not to socialize haha. I´m doing PHENOMENAL now though!!! I have developed such an incredible love for this work! 

My mission mom described the stages of the mission 1. fantasty -the stage where everything is so new and exciting. 2. The reality stage- everything sets in and you think ¨what have i gotten myself into? Am i really doing this for 18 months?¨3. The liking it stage- accepting your mission and coming to like it. 4. The loving it stage- coming to love your mission, the people, and the work with all of your heart! Earlier this week i had an abrupt reality and entered into stage number 2. I even had thoughts of coming home over the period of those few days but I kept reminding myself that it would get better and sure enough it did! the lord has been sooooo merciful and has allowed me to get over stage 2 in a matter of a few days. I think I´ve officially entered into stage 3. There are some moments when i refer back to stage two but for the majority´of the time now i think i´m in stage 3. I love it here!!!! love you all!!!! this work is the most incredible thing I´ve ever done!!!!

love you all!!!! Come what may and love it

Hermana Israelsen