General Conference and Chili Peppers

My goodness! This week has been full of amazing things! First of all: I am staying with Hermana Stokes in Paducah!!!! I am so happy! I would have hated having another companion. 4 in 4 transfers would be rough. I'm glad we get to stay together :D

This weekend's General Conference was super amazing. It seemed like every session had a theme. My favorite were probably the Sunday sessions. I loved especially when the Prophet spoke. It is amazing to me that we have a man on this earth who has been called directly by God. It shows just how much our Heavenly Father loves us. It is interesting to talk to someone and tell them that we have a living Prophet of God on the earth today. We were talking to this 12 year old boy and asked him what he would think if there was a Prophet on the earth today and he said that it would be pretty cool. When we told him that there was his jaw went slack. Haha.

On Friday the Sisters called us and told us that they found this golden Hispanic family for us. We went by on Saturday to talk to them and see if they really were interested and they were! It was amazing. We taught them the Restoration and they both sat down and listened. It is very rare to have a husband and wife (maybe) both sit down and listen. It is normally just the woman who listens to us. It was awesome because I told them the first vision and it seemed like the man had tears in his eyes. It was so great and touching.

In not so great news: on Friday we were in Mayfield KY and we were eating with the Mayfield Sisters at a member's house. They had some small little peppers in a little bag. The member (Who is from Mexico) took a bite of one and she started eating some chips to get the heat away. (Now you know how spicy it is if even the hispanic said it was hot) I decided it would be a fantastic idea to try it. (If you know me you will know that I cannot handle spice at all) It was a very bad idea. I took a little tiny bite (These peppers are literally packed with seeds) all I got were the seeds. My mouth was on fire for about 10 minutes. A little later we had to leave because I had some stomach pains. It wasn't the greatest moment in my life. Don't worry, I'm better now. Word of caution: If you ever see a little red pepper and it is packed with seeds: Don't eat it!

That's all I have for you all right now. I love you all so so much and hope you are all doing well. I hope you all have a great week.
Love, Hermana Hoferitza

Here are some pictures.  The first picture is me and Elder Massey. He has a tie that looks almost exactly like my skirt. So naturally we took a picture. Then the second is me with my ukulele! I look kinda weird in the picture but that's okay.

The Temple!!!

So this week has been pretty awesome. On Friday we got the chance to go to the Temple! It was so amazing and such a blessing. A couple days this week were a little rough for me. The Tennessee Nashville Temple is the tiniest Temple I have ever been in but the Spirit is the same. There is such a feeling of peace there.

Here are some pictures from the Temple. I met Mary Strueling's sister and her Husband. We got to the Temple and a man greeted us and asked us where we were all from. I spoke up first and said Syracuse Utah and he said "You're the missionary we've been looking for!" So I met him and his wife and they took our picture our front of the Temple doors. It was great.

On Saturday we went to a thing called BBQ on the River. It is a weekend of BBQ in Paducah right by the Ohio River. Our Ward Mission Leader took us and bought us lunch. I have never ever been a fan of BBQ until Saturday. That was the best BBQ I have ever tasted. Oh my goodness! We also tried deep fried oreos. They were sooo good. So good, in fact, that we are going to deep fry some with the English Sisters. The Elders want some too so they are bringing over twinkies...yes twinkies. Haha we are just going to fry a bunch of stuff. :D We are all pretty excited.

This week is the last week of the transfer and 2 of the Missionaries in the Paducah area are going home. Sister Smith and Elder Standing. They are wonderful missionaries and will be missed.
I want to know if any of you did the BoM challenge. If not, I am very sad. We have seen a bunch of miracles come from it. One of the ladies in our ward is writing her testimony in a couple and sending them to her sisters who aren't members.

I love you all so so much and hope you have a fantastic week.
Love Hermana Hoferitza

A Week of Contacting

So this week has been nothing but finding and contacting people in our area book that we don't know anything about. It has been interesting. We have found many people who have moved, aren't interested at all, or just plain shut the door in our faces. It was really funny, we were out knocking doors and we came to this house and a man opened the door, saw who we were and said "Oh. No one is home" and shut the door. HAHA it was so funny. We were like "uhh but you are home" haha. We also have a lot of people ask us if we are Jehovah's Witness. Today we were at Kroger (At Kroger we can scan our pamphlets or a Book of Mormon and it gives us a discount. Don't ask me how.) and we handed the lady a pamphlet. She asked "Why does it do that? Is the owner of Kroger a Jehovah's Witness?" I had to bit my tongue to keep from laughing out loud. We said kindly "Oh no we aren't Jehovah's Witness we are Mormons!" She was like "Ooh." It made me laugh.

I am so super excited! This week we are going to the Temple!!! We are going on Friday for the 11AM session!!! It is going to be so great. I have missed going to the Temple.

Anyway, there isn't much else going on here. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

PS: Okay I totally forgot to include this! My District Leader came up with this challenge and it is super fun. I have now challenged all of you to the BoM Challenge. You have to give away one copy of the Book of Mormon to someone who isn't a member of the church. The catch is, you have to do it in 24 hours from right now!!! If you do not complete the challenge in 24 hours you have to give away 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. We have already seen miracles come from this challenge and it is super fun. You also get to challenge 3 people to also do this challenge. We want to try and get this going through out the Mormon community. Let's see how far it gets. To my missionary friends: this is a great challenge to give to members at dinner appointments. It is super fun and a great way to get everyone involved in missionary work. I hope you all get the chance to hand one out to someone. Talk to your local missionaries for a copy of the Book of Mormon to get started. Remember you only have 24 hours!!!

I Feel My Savior's Love...

So this week has been a little insane. We are in the process of finding (which is never fun) and we don't have a lot of people to see since Paducah really isn't that heavily populated with hispanics. We do, however, have an investigator that is thinking about baptism! Anyway, on Saturday Hna. Stokes and I went a little nuts because we didn't have very many people to see. Every appointment we had fell through and the people we went to as backups said that, "Now really isn't a good time" UGH! It was frustrating.

Since we don't have a lot of investigators we do a lot of less-active member work. That is mostly English members. We saw this older lady that is just too sick to go out and move and so she stays in her house all day. I got to meet her for the first time this week. She told us all of these stories that she has from when she was younger. I can't begin to tell you how much I love that woman. As a missionary I have learned that we can have the same feeling of love that our Father in Heaven has for us and it really isn't that hard. I looked at that woman and I was nearly moved to tears at how much love I felt for her.

Yesterday we went out to Metropolis, Illinois (Home town of Superman :) ) and we met with an amazing man and his son. The only reason that they are less-active is because their son, Adam, is in a wheelchair. He had an accident 10 years ago that made it so he can't walk or talk. He was an amazing young man and had a lot of things going for him when the accident happened. Now he can't move. It is very sad but the second I looked at that boy I loved him. He is in his 30s I think. His dad takes care of him. They have a LOT of land and he built houses for all of his daughters on the land. He loves his son soooo much. It is amazing. Hna. Stokes told them that I sing and Brother Schneider asked if we would sing for him. We said of course and sang O My Father, which is Adam and Brother Schneider's favorite song. Adam loved it. I asked him if he liked my singing and he blinked once (Which means yes) We promised that we would always sing and play the piano when we are there. 

I absolutely love being here in Paducah. The work is hard but it is also so rewarding. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have an amazing week. 

Love, 

Hermana Hoferitza

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Here are some pictures from Buena Vista:

Paducah, Week 2!

Paducah is awesome! I love it here!

Last night we found this golden investigator from Mexico. She listened to The restoration and she told us that she felt like there had been something missing in her life and that this might be it. We asked her if we could come back and when would be a good day. She doesn't work after 5:30 and she is off EVERY SUNDAY!!!!!!! We were so surprised when she told us that because most Hispanics can't get sundays off. We invited her to church this next Sunday and she said she would love to go. We are going back on Wednesday. We are sure she is going to be baptized. I sure hope so because Hna. Stokes has only seen one of her investigators baptized and she didn't even find him. She said that she barely did any teaching so I really hope that this new girl will be baptized. (Crossing my fingers)

There is an English family in the ward (We are in an English Ward) who is like our family. They are awesome. They fed us dinner and it was delicious. Unfortunately the members of the ward are scared of the Spanish Missionaries for some odd reason and there is one family who signed up to feed both of the English pairs of Missionaries in the ward but didn't even touch our calendar. Yeah that happens. But it's okay.

We went down to Clarksville on Friday for Zone Conference.  We spent the whole day there. It takes about 1hr30m to get to Clarksville TN from Paducah and I had to drive. I was thinking the whole time "Now I know how dad feels during road trips" The Conference was great. One of the Elders from my MTC District is actually from Clarksville and I saw his plaque in the church so I took a picture and sent it to him. He is in the SLC West Mission.

We get to go to the Temple on the 26th! I'm so excited to go. Unfortunately we need to find a ride down there which isn't too fun but my Zone is small so hopefully the members who drive us will be able to go in with us.

There were a couple days in August when I wanted to die because it was so hot. I can handle heat when it is a dry heat but when it is a humid heat you just don't dry off. My entire body was sweaty! I'm glad we are coming up on Fall because it is getting cooler outside. My prediction is that I will stay in Paducah for at least 3 transfers because apparently Missionaries are forgotten in Paducah and stay there for a while so I am thinking that I will be here for Christmas. Apparently winter here is brutal and it is supposed to be a worse winter this year than it was last year. Last year the missionaries had to stay in their apartments for like 5 or more days (not consecutively) because there was ice all over the roads. I also hear that the cold just gets into your bones. I'm okay with the cold because you can always put more clothes on. There is only so much that you can take off in the summer.

One funny thing that happened this week. Last night the Sister Training Leaders wanted to pull a prank on the ZL's since we all live in the same apartments. We were going to call them and tell them that we all had to leave by the end of this week because they were closing the Paducah area. We got our Ward Mission Leader in on it but then he blew it. He has a conscience and told them that it was a prank. That wasn't even the funny part. We tried to get our DL in on the joke but he wouldn't answer. They called like 15 times. No answer. We went home and waited until 10:30 to get a call from the DL to get our numbers for this week but he never called. We didn't think much of it but in the morning we were a little confused because the ZL's texted us and asked if we had heard anything from him. We told them no. Later we received a call from the DL and he told us what had happened. They fell asleep right when they got home for the night (9:00) and didn't wake up until 7:20 (Which is bad) to someone banging on their door. They got dressed really quick and went to answer the door. It was the Bishop of their ward. Turns out PRESIDENT ANDERSEN called the Bishop to make sure that they were alive. They checked their phone and found like 30 missed calls and texts asking where they were from the ZLs, APs and President. Yeah they were in a little bit of trouble.

I don't have much else to talk about but I love you all and I hope you are having an amazing week!
Love, Hermana Hoferitza

Paducah!!!

I have almost been out three months now! It's crazy how fast the time goes.

I am loving Paducah. We get a full time car, which I drive, since my companion, Hermana Stokes, doesn't have a license.

She and I are becoming really good friends. Fast. On Saturday we weekly planned, since every Friday we spend in Mayfield helping the Spanish Elders there, and for step 13 we made a friendship scale. 1 being "Want to kill each other" to 10 being "mega-super-awesome best friends". We are in between 8 "good friends" and 9 "best friends". By the end of today we have decided that we will be a 9 on the friendship scale because we are going to build a fort in our apartment. Story behind that idea: last night our DL called us for numbers and he committed us to doing something that would strengthen our companionship. He told us that he and his companion were going to build a fort and eat fudge in said fort. We told him that we would now be doing the same but that our fort would be better than theirs. Now it's a competition (Which we are so going to win because we are going to make ours big and have popcorn and a puzzle and pupusas (it's a hispanic dish) and watch The Joseph Smith movie on our iPads)

I get along really well with Hna. Stokes. She was on the color guard at her high school in Oregon. She said she really enjoyed it. She also likes Doctor Who and everything else British. All we talk about is books and books that she is going to write when she gets home. She is awesome!

We are in an English Ward with only about 4 Spanish members. We have to translate during sacrament meeting if there are any investigators...well Hna. Stokes does. We didn't have any this week but we are hoping that next week we will get one or two.

I am having an amazing time here in Paducah. Hna. Stokes is teaching me a lot and I am learning a lot.

I hope you all have an amazing week and I will talk to you next week.

Con amor,
Hermana Hoferitza

PADUCAH???

Looking good in Buena Vista.

This week is the last week of the transfer! Everything on Saturday was fine and dandy. We weren't worried about transfer calls because I'm still in training. During studies I wasn't even thinking about it...until our phone started ringing. We hoped it was only a text but Hna Cruz picked it up and saw that it was President Anderson. Here is the deal: If you get a call from Pres. during the day you are either training or you are being called as a leader and if you DON'T get a call from Pres. you have to wait til the end of the day when the ZL's call with the transfers.

Hna. Cruz answered and Pres. called her as a TRAINER!!!! She is training another missionary in a different area (Which means white-washing) and I was being sent to PADUCAH KENTUCKY!!!! I am being transferred to Paducah AWAY from my Mission Mom!!!!! I am not happy! Especially since I'm not even out of training yet. I am going to have a Madrastre (Stepmom in spanish) and I will also have a sister.

They are also whitewashing our area with Sister Training Leaders. We had to visit with all of our investigators and the members in the Branch and tell them what was happening since both of us are leaving. Everyone was sad. I am still sad. I don't want to leave Buena Vista. I have grown to love this area so much and I am just starting to really get to know the members. :( But I guess The Lord wants me in Paducah. I guess it is a little rare to go up to Paducah because there are only 2 sets of Spanish Missionaries in that entire zone, one set of Hermanas and one set of Elders. I'm excited but also nervous. I will also be driving the car that we have full time since my companion doesn't have a license. I'm pretty nervous about that too. I haven't driven in 3 months, but I'm also excited. I am ready for this new adventure and to get to know more people and bring them closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.

This week has been pretty crazy weather. On Wednesday it was hot all day long and I felt like I was going to die but then that evening we had a crazy storm. Of course Hna. Cruz and I walked to our appointments in it. We were walking up a hill and it was like a river. It was super fun. We got super soaked.

Saturday was crazy too. It was hot and humid again and then at 5 o'clock a storm came out of nowhere. Everyone had been telling us that Saturday was going to be hot and to be careful but no one said anything about a storm so it hit us by surprise. Luckily we had a ride home for dinner.

I hope everyone is having an amazing week. I am thinking and praying for all of you.

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

Less Actives and Aliens

So this week hasn't been too eventful. We have had a bunch of good lessons. We went tracting everyday and found some really good contacts...for the Elders... but it was still good. I am sad that we didn't find too many new investigators. We did have the chance to meet this one guy who flips houses for a living. His name is Mickey. We talked to him for a little while about the Plan of Salvation and we gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. I bore my testimony that I have read it for myself and I have prayed about it and know for a fact that it is true. The spirit was strong and I really hope that he reads it. We are probably going to go back and talk to him some more.

I got sick this week with a cough that made me feel like Wheezy from Toy Story 2. I am feeling a lot better but my nose is still kinda stuffy.

Yesterday was kind of crazy for us. We started making a 30-ish minute walk to an in-active family's apartment when a lady stopped and gave us a ride. Turns out she is a less active member from one of the English wards. She was really sweet.

We then went to another less-active family's house and visited with them. When we were walking home we met this guy named Don. He was a little strange. He wouldn't take a Book of Mormon but we talked with him for a little bit. He had some...interesting theories about why we have different languages throughout the world...One word "Aliens" we said goodbye to Don and went on our way. We were almost home for dinner when a couple stopped and said that they were less-active members who were in the OTHER english ward and that they would love to have us over for dinner one day. It was really great to meet them.

We decided that it was a day that we needed to see those less active members on the road. Maybe they needed to see us walking and that will help them come to church more often.

I love being a missionary. It is hot and sweaty but it is the best work in the world. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

Making a Splash in Nashville

So this week has been a little bit of a tough one. We didn't have the car this week and it was scorching! Half the days, when we walked, I had a pounding headache. It wasn't fun. The weather also decided to take a bipolar turn during the evenings and started pouring rain. Unfortunately, my companion and I both have pride and we have been asking for rides from the members a lot...so we walked. In the pouring rain. A few minutes into our 40 minute trek home it looked like we had jumped into a pool. We stopped at a Burger King to check to see if our bags were okay. Mine was fine but Hna. Cruz's bag was soaking.

(Rachel's Mother says: I SENT A RAIN PONCHO WITH YOU!!!  WHY IS IT NOT IN YOUR BAG ALL THE TIME?)

A lot of the pamphlets she had in her bag were wet. We decided to continue and not call a member because we were more than half way there. We got onto a main road and were walking when about 3 different cars all sped up so they could try and splash us. I thought it was funny because we were already drenched. A few minutes later a lady stopped and gave us a ride. She was really nice. We told her that we were missionaries but didn't have time to share anything with her.

Yesterday was good but Hna. Cruz and I were basically at each other's throats all day. Now I realize  that it is because of the super moon. Everything that I did made her angry and when she got angry I got angry BECAUSE she was angry. It was a vicious cycle until finally I apologized and we worked it out. I am thankful that we worked it out and didn't have this problem for the rest of our time together.

Later that night we went over to an English Member's house, who is his ward's Mission Leader, for dinner and then a meeting to talk about our English . His wife is from Columbia so we talked to her in spanish because she doesn't get to speak it a lot. 4 other Elders were there for dinner as well. We joked and had a good time then after dinner we played Scripture Jenga! Oh my gosh it was so fun! We said a scripture and the other people had to guess the reference and if they got it right they went next. It was super intense and our DL was going crazy. It was super fun.

This week we went tracting in an area that is a little sketchy but we have friends there who are looking out for us. We knocked on this guys door. He turned out to be a hispanic! He is from Costa Rica but he has been in the states for 22+ years and speaks english. He basically just wanted to fight with us the entire time (which was like 40 minutes) but we got some good principles in there. I was being good cop and Hna. Cruz was being bad cop and pulling out questions that he didn't answer. He also just talked to me. I was trying to agree with him on points that he brought up that were truths. He said he didn't like organized religion but is a Christian.

Click Picture to See Full Size.

He says that all we have to do is be Christ-like and then we are good because God knows our hearts. He also said that we don't have to read the scriptures (Which is definitely false because it is a commandment) They are just their to read history that doesn't apply to us anymore. We combated that with "Well we can learn from their mistakes and learn from their examples" then he moved on to another subject. Finally Hna. Cruz asked him "Well I'm just curious but what did Jesus do on the Earth? I thought that he organized His Church on the earth and that is a religion" He said really quick "Well, I would love to talk more but I am cooking." (Again, we were talking for 40 minutes!) He turned to me and asked me if I had ever been to Costa Rica. I said no and he said that I should go sometime. I thought in my head "Not with you!" It was funny.

That is how my week has been. I hope everyone has a great week this week! I love you all!

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

You are my Sunshine...

So this week has been interesting.

We had the car this week and guess what? It was super nice and cool outside. I was so angry :P Now the Elders have the car and this week is going to be hot again ugh.

This week has been rough and our numbers have been down, unfortunately. I don't know what happened, we just weren't having a lot of lessons. We think that it is because we haven't been as obedient as we should have been. We have been given the assignment to knock for 1 hour everyday. This past week we didn't make it a priority and, in total, we only did about 2 hours, which is not good. As a result, our new investigators have been down and we haven't been having a lot of other lessons. It was frustrating but last night we decided that we were going to make knocking a priority everyday and make sure that we do our hour. We have been promised that if we do this then we will see blessings and I really do believe it.

We met this hispanic woman from knocking about a week and a half ago named Mara. She let us in as soon as we started talking about our message. I was surprised because that hasn't happened with knocking to me yet. It was super great and she really enjoyed the lessons. This week on Friday we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and invited her to be baptized. She accepted! She just needed to start coming to church. The problem was her husband, who is super catholic. She had to talk to him about going to church. We prayed so much in those two days that she would be able to talk to him and that his heart would be softened. She told us that she really wanted to come, too. We prayed and prayed and on Sunday we waited. She didn't show up. I was so bummed! I wanted her to come so badly. We are going to see her later today and ask her what happened. We are also hoping to talk to her husband and get him involved in the lessons. He apparently thinks that Americans have their religions and Mexicans have theirs and it should stay that way. I am hoping we can change his mind.

We volunteered at an assisted living home this week. We went and played BINGO which was so fun (There are some really sassy old ladies there) and then the next day we went back to paint their nails. It was super fun. One lady was singing You Are My Sunshine. I told her that that was one of my favorite songs. She looked confused and said "How do you know that song?" I told her that my Grandma sang it to me when I was little. She nodded like it was an acceptable answer. Old ladies are funny.

Today is my 2 month mark! My companion and I got some cookies to celebrate :) These two months really have flown by. I am hoping it doesn't go by too quickly. I love being a Missionary. It is probably the best decision I have made in my entire life.

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

PS:  I also think it is super funny that you have been talking to Elder Montgomery's mom. I emailed him as soon as I saw your email about it. It is super great that you have been finding the moms of my friends from the CCM. Everyone from my transfer group was super great. I loved them so much.

Well, I am off! We are going to (Wait for it) GOODWILL!!! We went shopping last week at a mall and it didn't have the right kind of skirts. If they were longer, they were REALLY long and went to the ground which we aren't supposed to wear so we decided that we were going to go to Goodwill. Hope you're proud of me ;)

Letter from the Mission President

Rachel's Mission President sent us a quick letter and some pictures:

(Click a picture to see it full-sized)

It's really hot and really humid...

So this past week has been an adventure...We have a car that we share with the Elders that live in the same apartment complex as us and this week they had the car so that meant that we had to either walk or ride our bikes. We didn't actually have bikes until Tuesday and they are kind of hard to ride because they aren't ours. The Elders let us use 2 of the extra bikes that they have. The bike that I got is too tall for me and is hard to get going on and Hna. Cruz's had flat tires so we only rode those to one appointment that was too far to walk and get there in time so for the rest of the time we walked. That is not a very smart thing to do in the humidity of Tennessee. I was dying and I'm pretty sure that we walked like 10 miles in one day. Okay that is an exaggeration but it felt like it.

We have had a lot of appointments fall through because the Sister that just left this area had a lot of people who were attached to her and liked her better than Hna. Cruz and so they have been canceling their appointments and it is really frustrating. We do, however, have some new investigators who are really interested in the gospel. We met this girl Carmen who was interested but the next time we went by she wasn't there. We were kind of bummed but her step-dad, mom and  younger sister were all outside. The mom went inside pretty quick when we arrived but the dad sat there with the sister and talked with us for about 40 minutes. I didn't notice it until he showed us but he had a big bottle of liquor on the porch that he told us had been his companion since he was 12 when his mom left him at a church in California. We tried to talk more with him but he kept talking over us. We told him about the Book of Mormon and as soon as we mentioned it the sister sat up real quick and lit up. When we read a scripture she moved so that she could hear it better. When we had finished talking with the dad and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon we turned to her. We asked her if she wanted a copy as well and she said "Yes please" I'm guessing she is 17 or 18. Unfortunately we didn't have another copy in spanish so we told her we would come back the next day to give one to her. The next day we came back and gave her the copy, told her to read the Introduction first and we went on our way. Hna. Cruz said that as soon as we left she sat down on the porch and opened it and started reading. I was so excited! We are sure that she will be baptized.

Last night at 8:30 or so, our DL texted us and told us that we had to get inside pronto by order of the ZLs and President. Apparently there was severe weather that was coming near us. Lots of tornado warnings in Kentucky but none near us. About 30 minutes after we got inside it started pouring outside. My companion and I may or may not have gotten soaked by running out into it...

Anyway, I am having a blast here in Buena Vista. I hope everyone is having a fantastic week.

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

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Extra note to Mom after questions about pictures and her Spanish:

Spanish is coming slowly. A little frustrating. No pictures because I don't have a cord. We are going to the mall today and I will try and find one that works. I don't have that much time right now just cause Hna. Cruz is almost done. We don't have a limit on time for emailing on p-day but we do have a lot of stuff to do.

CCM Zone and District Pictures

Robert and Sue Jones wrote:

"My husband and I are Senior Missionaries at the Mexico MTC.  We grew to love your wonderful missionaries during the time they were here.  We miss them! 

I thought you would enjoy pictures of their district and the departure tribute."

District 14C

(Click on the pictures to see them full-sized)

Buena Vista!!!

So this week has been super duper crazy! Last Sunday we had to say goodbye to our District at the MTC. I, of course, was the only one to cry and they all made fun of me. :P We went to the airport at 3 in the morning and it was just a crazy day over all. We met some members in the Atlanta Airport. One of them was a 17 year old guy who was headed to Paris with his girlfriend and her grandparents for a month. He was super nice and told us that he was starting on his papers soon. He also let all 5 of us use his phone to call home. It was really sweet of him. A few hours later we got on our hour flight to Nashville. We met our Mission President and his wife at the entrance and also the APs. They were all so super nice! A couple of them are leaving this transfer and I am a little sad because they are so nice.

We stayed in the Mission Home that night and in the morning we had breakfast and headed back to the airport to pick up the rest of the missionaries. Apparently they were supposed to be on our flight to Nashville but they got held up in Salt Lake, missed the flight in Atlanta and ended up having to stay in a hotel that night! It was insane!

We then went to the stake center that was RIGHT BY THE TEMPLE!!! The Nashville Temple is TINY! It is about the size of a regular church building. We had transfer meeting with all 250 missionaries in our mission. They had all of the new missionaries stand in a line so that we could introduce our selves (Our name, where we are from, and something interesting about us) The Hermanas were at the start of the line so we went first. Hna. Warner said that she can yodel and she showed everyone and I didn't know that missionaries could cheer so loud. Haha. Then they got to me and I said that I sing Opera and they said that I needed to prove it...so I did. I sang a little part of Poor Wand'ring One from Pirates of Penzance. (Note: here is Rachel singing this in a recital.) They all cheered again. It was great :D

Hermana Hoferitza and Hermana Cruz

Then we had another mini call opening where we read out where we were serving and who our trainer was going to be. I was one of the first and read out Buena Vista and Hermana Cruz is my trainer. She is from California and is super great. She has been out on the mission for 14 months and only has 3 transfers left. 2 of which will be spent with me. (I am secretly hoping that I get to kill her though) Buena Vista is super great! The branch we are in is super nice and help us out a lot. We sent around our dinner calendar yesterday during relief society and all but 4 days were filled out for the entire month! Hna. Cruz says that I am going to be spoiled for my first few transfers. I'm not complaining :)

Yesterday we met with a family in the branch who's dad is not a member (He has been investigating for 10 years. Hna. Cruz says he is a dry Mormon) He just has some doubts and doesn't want to give up drinking. They were super nice. They made me say the closing prayer. Afterwards they told me that I sound like a Mexican! I was so happy when they said that. Everyone here has been so supportive and encouraging with the language. They all say that I will get it really quick.

I am so excited to get to know everyone here and teach a bunch of people!

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

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After some email questioning by her Mother, Rachel also passed on some additional information:

Our apartment is really nice. It is just us in it. There is a pair of Elders in the complex with us. They are English speaking missionaries. Hna. Cruz and I are the only spanish speaking/ only sisters in our district.

We have a 50/50 deal with the elders and the car. We get it every other week. This week we are off and we have to walk/ride bikes. Hna. Cruz has to fix her bike and the elders said that they have 5 bikes in their apartment that I can use so I don't even know if I will buy a bike this transfer. Also, this mission is an iPad mission! I have a mini iPad that is mine for my entire mission. :D I also might get into facebook and be a facebook missionary. Hna. Cruz is one and she likes it. I would love to get on facebook.

Also allergies are real. I have been having a rough time with all of the pollen here but we got some allergy medicine and it is getting better.

My hair is super wavy in this humidity, especially when I don't blow-dry it. :) I will send you a picture when I take one of my super wavy hair but to let you imagine, it is kind of like the wavy elf hair in Lord of the Rings only a little bit more poofy.

Almost Done!

Wow! These past 5 weeks have flown by! I can't believe that this time next week I will be in Nashville! I´m so excited!!!!!

This week has been really great. On the 4th of July everyone at the CCM wore red white and blue. The elders in my district had America ties and wore them. During lunch the kitchen staff made us a BBQ that was so good and then we sang the National Anthem. It was so cool to hear all of the Missionaries singing with harmony. It was also our month mark on the 4th so my District decided that we would go to la tienda and get ice cream with our teachers. Hno. Contreras took pictures and I told him that he needed to put them on facebook but I dont know if he has posted them yet. I also got the package of cookies that you sent me, mom. All of the Elders are so grateful that I have a mother who loves me and sends me food ;) I told them to write thank you notes and I sent them off on Wednesday. I am hoping you get them soon.

We now have 4 districts in our Zone meaning there are 40 missionaries. Hna. Eastwood and I have 14 Hermanas to look out for as well. We heard that we might be getting 2 more districts this week! That would be crazy!

Presidente Pratt and Hermana Pratt headed to SLC yesterday for the next 10 days because Hermana Pratt is getting surgery on her shoulder. She told us on Sunday and we were a little sad because they wouldn´t be back when we left. WE got hugs from Hermana Pratt and I told her that I was singing before the Devotional on Sunday and I was sad she wasn´t going to be there. She said "Oh! Are you the Hermana who majored in Vocal Performance?" I was awestruck because there are over 600 missionaries at the CCM and she knew that I sang! They must talk about me. :O I told her yes and she wanted to hear me so I practiced the song with an amazing Hermana who plays the piano beautifully and at 3:00 I sang Lead Kindly Light for her and Presidente Pratt. Talk about nerve racking. Turns out that song is Hermana Pratt´s favorite because when she was younger (She is a convert to the church, converted in college) her father brought home a record player and a bunch of records. One of the records was the MoTab choir and one of the songs was Lead Kindly Light and ever since then it has been her favorite song. Talk about crazy. I am slightly nervous for singing in front of the entire CCM on Sunday before the devotional but the senior Hermanas are so excited to hear me. :)

We are also singing God Be With you til we Meet Again on Sunday during Sacrament Meeting because out Branch President, President Tenorio, is leaving for Provo next week to start him MBA at BYU. We are so excited for him but sad to see him leave. Well it´s not going to be that big of a difference to us since we are leaving too but ya know.

We had our "Family" pictures yesterday. I had to tell the Elders that they had to smile because some of them didn´t want to smile.

Some of the Elders in the younger districts have been calling me Mama Hoferitza which is so funny. Two of the Hermanas in the District below us has gotten really close with us and I am going to miss them so much. One of them is from Hawaii and told Hna. Eastwood and I that we could stay at her house and chill with her when we get off of our missions. Which is a-okay with me ;)

Oh! I totally forgot! I found out from an Hermana Pectol (Dustin Naylor´s GF) that Andrew Naylor is coming to the CCM TOMORROW!

Well that is all from here at the CCM. Until next week!
-Hermana Hoferitza

4 weeks down, 2 to go

Wow already a month in the CCM! It has gone by crazy quick! The rain hits every night. The thunder is awesome! All of our Elders love them so much and love to keep the windows of our classroom wide open. Hna. Eastwood and I sit right next to the windows so we (Well probably just me) get really cold. All the Elders say that they would give me their jacket if it were appropriate (Which it isn´t) and I thank them.

This week a virus hit the CCM that causes painful stomach cramps and diarrhea. It hit my whole district hard, including me. It hasn´t been too bad but some of them have to run out of class suddenly to get to the bathroom. No fun. I have been the mom of our district and have been making sure they are all feeling okay.
Yesterday a girl was throwing up in the bathroom (Sorry TMI) and I was right in there holding her hair in complete mom mode.

On Sunday Hna. Eastwood and I got called as the Sister Training Leaders. I am so excited for this new leadership position. We get to go to the leadership meetings with our DL and our new Zone Leaders from our District, Elders McKenzie and Montgomery. They have taken quickly to their roles and so have we. We love being the oldest district and having the younger districts look up to us. We will be the greenies again in 2 weeks so we better live it up ;)

This past week I was having a crumby time with the language and one of the teachers from another district that we have gotten to know, Hno. Silva, was talking to us and he told me that we are not here to learn the language fluently, it is impossible to do that in 6 weeks, but we are here to receive the gift of tongues (Del don de lenguas). Ever since he told me that I was feeling so much better about the language and I have been able to speak more in our lessons. My comprehension is still far more superior which is a huge blessing because for a lot of people it is the complete opposite, they can speak fine but they don´t know what is being said. I have had to tell Hna. Eastwood what people say and then she speaks. She is really good at speaking the language.

I have been getting out of saying talks because I have been singing during sacrament meeting but this week will be different because it is Fast Sunday. Our District Leader expects all of us to get up and bear our testimonies. I am kind of nervous, but I know that I will do fine.

Anyway, we are all good here at the CCM, besides having this terrible sickness that will soon pass.
Emily, I await blue mouth pictures. I spent a whole peso on that sucker (Haha that isn´t that much at all) so I better get pictures! Haha

I love you all

Love, Hermana Hoferitza

Halfway through the CCM

Things are great here in Mexico! We got to go to the Visitors Center today at the Temple. It was so great to get out of this place. The days seem to blur together and it goes by super fast. The days are long but the weeks are fast (Which doesn´t make sense but it really does feel like it)

I'm sorry I haven´t sent a lot of pictures. My camera cord doesn´t work so I have to use one of the Elder´s cameras to put them up. That also means that I can´t charge my camera and it is running out of battery fast. Está bien. I will figure it out :)

This week I got hit in the face with two balls on two separate days.

It was more funny than actually hurt. First was a girl during volleyball served the ball (She was on my team btw) and it went straight into the side of my face. I was laughing too hard to continue to play for about 5 minutes then whenever she served I ducked and one of the Elders in another District stood in front of me. It was funny (That elder is 26 from California it is super cool that he is here) The second ball to the face was the very next day when we were playing kickball with another District in our zone. I was coming off of the field and my DL was up to the plate and kicked the ball right into the same side that the volleyball hit me! Apparently I looked like I was about to cry and he was really worried that he hurt me...I was laughing but he did hurt me haha I had a cut on the side of my face for a while. He kicked that ball really hard. Don´t worry though, I only have a bruise now :)

I most certainly got your package! Thursday came and Hna. Eastwood and I were studying outside when our district leader walked up to us and said that our district got our first piece of mail and that it was a package for one of us. I guess it was for mi compañera but he said it was for me! I was so excited. We couldn´t get it until later but when we did I was so happy. I shared with my district because there were a lot of yucky chili candy that I don´t like (Speaking of yucky chili candy I think Hno Contreras, the one you added on facebook, posted pictures of me eating a gross chili covered sucker) There was also a bag of chips that were really good...They were jalepeño...yes I know! I kind of like a little bit of spice now.

I bought some bracelets for me and my sisters. They are all different colors and all have HLJ on them which is the spanish CTR. I won´t be able to send them until I get to the States.

Spanish is a bit of a trial for me. Everyone else seems to get it but I am still struggling. My comprehension is good but my speaking isn´t too great.

Hna. Eastwood and I are probably going to be called as the Zone Sister Training Leaders sometime this week since we are now the oldest district in our zone. Distrito 14A left this week and we were all super sad about it. We really got to know those girls! We will miss them. 2 of the Hermanas are going to Nicaragua and the other 2 are going back to the states. One to New Jersey and the other to California.

These past few weeks have flown by. We only have 3 weeks left and we are out to the field! I am not really ready though. I´m glad that I am here for 6 weeks because I need the practice with people who are patient and know that I am only learning.

Our teachers are super great! Hno. Cayetano and Hno. Contreras are super great and are really patient. Hno. Cayetano is probably the cutest little mexican man on the face of this earth. He is always smiling and telling me "No estress" haha he is great.

I love my district! 4 of them are coming to Salt Lake so you guys should go and meet them at the airport. That would be so funny.

Anyway I will send pictures in the next thousand emails because I can only send 2 at a time. blah.

I love you and miss you! MWAH!

I just want my call! Is that too much to ask for?

So this week has been very stressful for me. My papers were finally submitted this past Sunday which is so awesome! I am so excited to get my call...but... I got a call last night from my Stake President. I was at work so I didn't get the voicemail until midnight that night. He told me that Salt Lake called and that they had a question about my papers. He just thought that it was about my surgery that I need to get before I go (I'll post on that later). He called me again today and said he was going to call Salt Lake and see what their question was on. Turns out they wanted specifics of my anxiety and panic attacks. They needed the date of my last panic attack, how long it was, and what happened during the attack. I had no clue because my panic attacks are very uneventful and very short. If you don't know what a panic attack is, it is when your breathing shortens, your heart races and, in some cases, get sweaty. My panic attacks last only a few seconds and there isn't ever a reason for them. The last time I got a panic attack was a couple of months ago and my heart just raced and I had to stop and breath for a second. Because of this question they had, I am thinking my call will be assigned next week instead of this week like I was hoping. I am not very happy about it but I think that there is a reason for this delay. I know that Heavenly Father will take care of everything and that wherever I go it is call of Him and I am needed there.

Sister Scadlock: Oaxaca, Mexico

So last night I went over to my friend Abby's house in Riverton to watch her open her mission call. It was so exciting. We waited for an hour for the mail to get there and even then we weren't sure if it would show up that day. The mail man showed up, finally, and we were all holding our breath. We were all watching for the big white envelope. The mail man pulled up to her mail box and the first thing he held up was the big white envelope. We all screamed so loud. Abby and one of her sisters sprinted out to the mailbox. Abby was crying, I was crying, everyone was crying.
We had to wait four hours to open it after that. We waited for her family to get there and at 8 we opened her call. I cried again. (There were a lot of tears last night)
She opened the call and read it aloud and we found out that she is going to Oaxaca, Mexico Spanish speaking, leaving May 28th. I am so excited for her! I will laugh so hard when I get my call and we are leaving on the same day.
Speaking of my call! They should be sent in today (if they haven't been submitted already) and so I am estimating that it will be here February 5th or 6th.

Stake President Interview

So today I went to the Stake President's office to go to my final interview before my papers are turned in. He told me that my papers should be submitted this week some time and my call should be here in February. I am so excited! I have a feeling that I will be going somewhere in Europe (Hopefully UK area). My dad went to the London, England Mission in 1980, back when it was only one Mission, and I really would love to go on a mission to where my dad went.

First Official Blog Post!

So here goes nothing! I would just like to first introduce myself. My name is Rachel Hoferitza. I am 18, almost 19, years old. I live in Syracuse Utah and I attend Weber State University as a Vocal Performance Major which I am loving. I am the middle of five girls in my family. I also have two brothers-in-law and one nephew with another nephew on the way. I am currently preparing to serve an LDS Mission and I could not be more excited! I have finished the application process and now I only have my final interview with my Stake President which is scheduled for this Sunday at 2:30.
I am very excited to be starting this blog and I hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I do.