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

---

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.