SEMANA 1: ESTOY EN ROSARITO!!!!!!!!! 12/23/2013

HOLA EVERYONE!

So, I don't have a WHOLE lot of time, and there's a lot I would like to tell you, so I am going to tell you as much as I can in a few minutes.

I absolutely LOVE it here! I do! My companion is great and is helping me a lot. Her name is Hna. Maldonado. We have a few progressing investigators already that have baptismal dates. I thought it would be weird to extend the baptismal invitation in the first lesson, but it's actually pretty simple. :)

Spanish is... bleh. It's really hard to understand a lot of people because they don't enunciate and they talk MUY RAPIDO. I actually have a goal right now of speaking ONLY Spanish for three days straight. (My companion understands English and speaks better than she gives herself credit for) The only time I'm allowed to say anything in English is when I say, "Cómo se dice ____ ?" and when I skype with mi familia mañana. :)

Um.... Let's see... Here, I am often greeted by the hermanas in the ward with a kiss on the right cheek. At first I was like, "What the heck!?" but now I'm getting used to it. I AM ASSIMILATING. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. lol

Um... we're planning on going to the beach one of these P-days. :) I CAN SEE THE OCEAN FROM THE CHAPEL. And one of the members lives on a huge hill and I got to watch a sunset over the ocean. It was really fast! (Picture attached.)

Also, we went to a ward "Posada". It's something to do with Christmas and I don't really have time to explain it, but I'm sure you can figure it out if you look it up. Also, people danced and we were extremely sad, so Hna. Maldonado and I drowned our sorrows in delicious donuts. (Picture attached)

I have so much more to say, but there isn't time! So I will have to do it next time! And share more pictures! I'm sorry I can't say more! LES AMO MUCHO!!!!!

♥ Hermana Beaumont

TWO DAYS LEFT! :O 12/14/2013

GUYS. IN TWO DAYS I'M GOING TO BE IN MEXICO. OH MY GOSH.

(interesting) Events this week:

Tuesday was my last Tuesday devotional where I saw Erika for (probably) the last time for over a year. Oh, and Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke. It was really cool. :)

Thursday I went to Las Vegas! I had to go to the Mexican Consulate to get it done, but everything went smoothly, and I am officially Mexican legal! I don't have my passport in my hand yet, but I will. :)

Yesterday we had In-Field Training and that was really cool. We learned about making goals and including members in our teaching. It was pretty nifty. :)

Today is our last P-day here at the MTC, so I get some extra time to e-mail people. I can't usually reply to all the e-mails I get, but if you reply soon, I should be able to reply back again today. :)

I have been sick (bad cold) lately, so if you could all pray for me and my hacking cough, that would be great. :)

Ummmmmmm..... Not sure what else to say, other than:

I AM SO EXCITED TO GO TO MEXICO. LIKE, SERIOUSLY. I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET MY MISSION PRESIDENT AND MY COMPANION AND FIND OUT WHAT AREA I'M IN AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I JUST WANT TO GO! But I'm really going to miss my zone! They're so great and I love the Elders in the zone! They're seriously the best! BUT OH MY GOSH MEXICO. IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT.

I can't think of anything else to say, so I'm going to attach some pictures for you. :)

First pic: Some of our zone inside one of the bubbles at gym time. (The dude in the red shorts with the basketball is not in our zone. We don't even know who he is.)

Second pic: Me and the girls in my district posing in the snow after gym time. XD

If I think of anything more, I'll write again. :)

♥ Hermana Beaumont

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!

ONE WEEK LEFT! (Okay, it's actually 9 days, but who's counting?) Sadly, none of the girls in my district have their visas yet, but we're hoping for this week. (If we don't get them soon, we'll probably be temporarily reassigned. No bueno.) So PRETTY PLEASE PRAY that we will get our visa stuff soon!

This week was as the usual. I've been exercising a lot more than I did at home and have officially graduated from granny push-ups to regular ones. I can only do ten, but it's a step in the right direction. :) lol

The Spanish is coming along pretty well! I can hold a decent conversation with some of the teachers and I held almost an entire conversation with my "nerd best friend" from the other district yesterday. This coming week, my compañera and I have pledged to speak as much Spanish as possible so that we're a little more ready when it comes time to actually go to México. We only have a little bit of grammar left to learn and then we're DONE. There's a computer program called "T.A.L.L." (Technology Assisted Language Learning) that we all hate, but it's pretty useful for getting an idea of what's going on before class. I tried to do one of the lessons for what we'll be learning later today, but TALL does a really bad job of explaining stuff, so I have to save it for after the teacher explains. :P Oh well.

Since Erika told you guys about her "investigators", I thought I could probably do the same. I told you their names before in a previous e-mail, but they (again) are Pedro and Jesica. (Separate investigators.) And they also bear an extreme resemblance to my teachers. lol They have both agreed to be baptized and we already have dates set. :) Haha One day that will be real. (I hope.)

So, M. Russell Ballard was supposed to come and speak this last Tuesday, but because of the snow, 'twas not meant to be. Bruce C. Hafen spoke instead and it was actually REALLY good! I really enjoyed his talk. :) Hopefully, though, we'll get Elder Ballard this week instead, but if not, I will survive.

So something really cool: We had a "floating" teacher come in and help us during class. (Floating as in, doesn't yet have a district to teach.) We were learning about the importance of the Spirit in conversion and she was acting as our investigator. We had to lead up to and ask the baptismal question. At first it was really bland and boring, but then she said something, and the entire spirit changed. The Spirit told me what to say and the Spirit was SUPER strong! It was really cool! So we decided to use what we learned in our next lessons with Jesica and Pedro and IT WORKED. Jesica agreed to be baptized and Pedro was able to learn more about the gospel and commandments. (He had already agreed to be baptized.) Then in the next lesson with Jesica, IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I'm so grateful for the Gospel and for the Spirit! THE CHURCH IS TRUE. We have another lesson with Pedro tonight, so wish us luck! lol

Anyways, I'm pretty much out of time. So, I will write again next week! (I will get two whole hours since it's my last p-day at the MTC.)

I LOVE YOU ALL!

♥ Hermana Beaumont

P.S. One of the sisters that I'm rooming with (Hermana Lance) came up with a list of "You Know You're On West Campus When..."
1) "Hola, Hermanas!" Sounds like a cat call. [True story]

2) People insult each other with "Cómo se dice, _____?" (Ex. Pride, attitude, etc.)
3) You hear "Está bien" every five seconds.
4) The most ordinary Spanish words are used as slang. (Sucio, dulce, etc.)

5) You play four-square in giant bubbles.

6) You're greeted with, "Qué pasa, calabaza?"

7) You look forward to getting a tapeworm to lose weight.

8) You wonder why someone won't laugh at your joke... awkwardly realize that they're praying.

9) Every time you hear, "Vamonos" someone starts singing Dora the Explorer songs.

10) You don't rush to the bathroom after eating cafeteria food.

11) Everyone wears red on Friday

and then an extra: You know you're not on West Campus when people say, "Hello" and you don't understand what they're saying. [Even though it's in English]

:D

PICTURES:

My "nerd best friend" has the tendency to steal my camera and take selfies. So there's one of them. He's a ginger.

There's also an awesome picture that I took of my HLJ ring and my scriptures. It's pretty epic.

HOLA A TODOS! (For the third P-day!)

HELLO EVERYONE!

Things are going well here at the MTC and I apologize to those of you whose e-mails I haven't had. I have them now. :)

Lets see... what do I have for you this week?

I've officially been here for over two weeks... I'm learning a lot. And I'm learning a lot more Spanish every week. The trouble is getting myself to use it on a daily basis. lol

INTERESTING: I forgot to tell you before! So there's a place called Brigham's Landing where missionaries are allowed to go on their P-day to hang out and get food. The first week I was here, I didn't go, but a few of the other missionaries did. They saw Jeremy from Studio C there, and since we're ALL Spanish speaking here at the West MTC, they decided to SYL (STL, really. Speak Their Language.) and said, "Hola, Cómo estas?". Do you know how Jeremy reacted?
 "I don't speak Spanish, you racist missionaries!" Yeah. Rude. haha I laughed so hard when I heard it. lol

Anyways... What else this week, while I've still got about 21 minutes left to write?

I didn't tell you! Last week's Tuesday Devotional (Not the 19th, the 12th) L. Tom Perry spoke! It was really cool. He talked about the importance and power of companionships.

Ummmmmmm.... Yo no sé que más a decir...

Is it weird that I'm, like, totally in love with my Spanish set of scriptures? I just like holding them. They make me happy. (Although, sadly, they don't fit in the case that Suzie put my name on for me. :P) (I will attach a pic of them that I took that I think looks really cool.)

My companion and I are still getting along well. :) Her family keeps sending her food, so she's been sharing with the whole apartment (4 sisters). There's plenty of snacks. lol

I absolutely LOVE the Elders here! They are awesome and keep me laughing. XD Elders are the best.

I'm still trying to think of things to tell you, but my mind is drawing a blank... 10 minutes left. :P

Since I know how to bear my testimony in Spanish now, I think I will do that. :)

Yo sé que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimas Días es verdadera. Yo sé que las escrituras son muy importantes y que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador. Yo sé que Thomas S. Monson es un profeta de Dios. Yo sé que Dios es amoroso y quiere todos a Sus hijos a venir a Cristo. Yo sé que Dios nos ama. Yo sé que estoy aquí a la CCM a aprender cómo enseñar los hijos de Dios en México. Le amo Dios. Yo digo estas cosas en en nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.

I love you guys! You're awesome! :) (And I love receiving letters.)

♥ Hermana Beaumont