Hello Familia!!!
Okay so.. After the plane ride home we went to meet the presidents outside of the gate. They are so awesome. Sister Greer is super spunky and Presdient Greer is way cool too. WE went and ate dinner and had a little orientation the first day. I found out that there are 225 missionaries in Kennewick and only 6 (now 9) are Spanish Sisters. "Many are called to Washington, Few are chosen to speak spanish". Hahahaha! The chosen ones right here. So with 9 hermanas I knew that one of us was going to be put into a trio. Later I found out that it was ME!!! Whoooo. I was a little hesitant because I was scared It would be overwhelming but I love these girls. It makes things way more fun haha.
The next day (April 10), I was driving to the transfer sight and the first person I saw, I just knew she was my companion. I was right, it was sister Jones. So we headed about an hour and a half North to Yakima. I got out of the car and we met up with Hermana Pierce. She was so enthusiastic to meet me and so excited to see Hermana Jones again because they were companions in the MTC. She was like "grab your things and hurry because we have a lesson in 10 minutes". Ya i was freaking out a lil bit. LUCKILY this lesson was going to be taught in English. We drove to teach our investigator named "Calypso". Let me just tell you, best first lesson ever. She is like JLO. Speaks spanish and english. And the best part is, we teach her at her Bridal and Dress store. It kinda looks like a store on state street. She is so freaking funny. After that we got all settled in and shtuffff.
Companions:
Hermana (Morgan) Jones: Southern Bell from North Carolina (and yes she knows the only other person I know from North Carolina. Her little sister is dating Anders Jacobson..SMALL WORLD). She is 22 years old. She acts about 19. hahaha. Not in a bad way. She is freaking hilarious. Her humor makes me laugh constantly. Freaking love the girl.
Hermana (Hailey) Pierce: Cute girl from Santa Rosa California. She reminds me a lot of my friends back at home. She is a great teacher and helps me a lot with my spanish. Her spanish is way good. She is 21 I think. When her and Hermana Jones are together and hyper, nothing gets done. Okay not true but we laugh A LOT.
Living Situation: We live with the Mitchell Family. They are spanish speakers but they are white. Their house is kinda like grandmas house. The beds are great and the study and bathroom are all awesome. No complaints. Sister Mitchell was awesome this week, I got a little sick and she was getting me stuff to make me feel better. So sweet.
My Area: I am serving in Yakima but my specific area is in Moxee, Union Gap, and Terrace Heights. These 3 places are kinda undefinable. The only way I can describe it is like if you put Heriman Utah mixed with Mexico with like a ton of farmland like napa, That is yakima. So whoever said this place isn't a foreign mission was lying. BIG TIME. I love it though. The fruit and veggies are soooo fresh. The weather looks nice and warm but they didn't mention how freaking windy it is here. It is COLD. My 3 layers of coats isn't doin much for me so I am planning on buying a new coat at target today.
Food: We have 9 missionaries in our Spanish branch (district) so we kinda got jipped. We don't really get to eat with the members because the Elders do. So we eat with the English wards. Thats all great. But the other night we went to the Juarez family's house and they fed us the most amazing food called Sope's. They were BOMB. Problem with eating with the Spanish is that 1. They insist you eat like 4 rounds of food or they are offended (so ya my whole plan on not getting fat isn't working out so well). And 2. I usually can't understand what the heck they are saying. But that food is amazing.
We are in a driving area. I probably will be the entire time I am here. Thats nice on the knees.
We tract everyday and we are struggling to get people to keep there appointments. We have yet to teach a new investegator. This area has a strong branch but the people we try to bring to the gospel are not so willing. A lot of the people say they are "catholic". The people that do let us in, are usually super nice though. We pray everyday to find those people who are willing to open their hearts to our message. It is a hard transition going from the MTC to real life because in the MTC the spirit is always there and I am constantly studying the gospel and spanish. When you are here, you kinda just get thrown into it. I thought I had better spanish than I really do have. I am starting to understand people more but my spanish is no bueno. I am working my hardest to build my vocabulary though. There are so many people I have met that I wish so badly that they would open their doors but they don't. Hopefully one day those very people will be willing. My expectations of a mission are very different than what really happens. I thought because I wasn't serving in Europe that this whole journey would be easy. But that is not true at all. This is hard work but I am loving every minute of it. Me and my companions are having so much fun everyday. We are going to try to reach out to members for more refferals.
Funny moment of the week: Apparently the people of Yakima like to have farm animals as pets. After we got rejected at this one house, we were leaving and there was a rooster tied up to a tree. So we tried to take a picture with it. Welp, the guy came back out. Hermana Jones says "Es Este Su Rooster? Porque tiene un rooster??" I about died laughing. He came out and picked it up and put it in Hermana Jones' arms (she hates animals). He says "Photo?". We were dying. We took pictures then left.
Yesterday we were going to an appointment and we walked into the gate and i saw a little dog running towards us. Hermana Pierce was like "Don't worry the dog won't bite". I say "Okay good...what about the...goat?" Running towards us was a little baby goat. Just walking around like a dog. We were like running around him trying to get to the door but he kept following us. He jumped up on me and I thought he was going to attack. So here we are, 3 sister missionaries, trapped on the front porch because we are scared a tiny baby goat is going to kill us. HAHAHA it was the best thing ever. We came to find out his name was Jack and he cried when we left so we fed him some grass.
I will say the highlight of my week is that Kobe is out for a year. WHOOOO!!!
Okay now Spiritual Moment of the week: we were teaching a less active family and we were mostly going to focus on their dad because he is an alcoholic. He has a strong testimony but his addiction overcomes him. It was sad because when we got there he was passed out in bed in the middle of the day. We got to teach the family the importance of the atonement though and it was awesome.
Welp I gots to go but I love you. I pray for you all everyday. Please keep Yakima in your prayers as well. (and my spanish). haha. Love you all so much! Have an amazing week.
XOXO!
-Hermana McBride
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