¡¡¡HOLA FAMILIA!!!
If you haven´t heard all ready.... I AM ON AN ISLAND! OPENING AN AREA! Ahhh it is SO CRAZY! So much has happened this week. It has been suuuuuch a change. I miss the CCM so much! But now it is great to be doing what I have been called to do. SO yeah my companion and I are on TENERIFE! THE. ONLY. HERMANAS. HERE. its craaazy and kinda lonely but AWESOME. It must be privilege. We are the FIRST sisters that they have had here in over 9 years I think.. so cool! And they NEVER send greenies here... so I don´t know why they sent me?? It is hard because me and my compainoin are both new here. It is so hard to start an area from SCRATCH. But it is cool and I am learning so much! And learning how absolutley little I know haaha... yeah its rough. BUT WHAT UP I AM ON AN ISLAND! Who ever would have thought!
Let me start from the beginning though!
So last Sunday.. (feels like it was FOREVER AGO!) I had my first interview with the JACKSONS. It was awesome! THey are the BEST people in the world and I wish that I could just have them with me always! It was SO fun. I kind of feel like a weirdo because whenever I am with them I can´t help but smile so big. He was so nice. So nice! And so fun and they really just had this INCREDIBLE spirit about them. He told me how much he loved my smile so many times. He told me to ALWAYS keep that with me. The only things I need to wear everyday are my name tag and smile. People will feel the light of Christ through you and will convert! I am trying my best to do it! Then we had an awesome fireside by the Jacksons! How cool is that! Not many people can say that they had a devotional by their actual mission presidents in the CCM. They were great. Best people ever I am convinced! So motivating. They made me feel at peace with wheverever they would send me! Everything that I have ever done and everything that I have ever experienced up to this point in my life has prepared me to be who I am today. That hit me hard! It boosted my confidence as a representative of Christ. Fear and faith cannot coexist. You have to chose one or the other! I am choosing faith and my lack of Spanish will not stop me! All I have to do is open my mouth. If you don´t know what to do you sometimes.. just do SOMETHING. You always have to act. Then, will the spirit and guidance kick in? Yes. Act on faith first.. even if it is just a desire. We are promised the Lord will help us if we just act. Anyways after the devo we went outside to sing one last time. It started POURING! but we wanted to do it one last time. Many people and neighbors came despite of the weather! It was cool. Really peaceful actually. The last song that we sang was "God be with you til we meet again." The Spirit was AMAZING! many people cried! WE then went in and had our last testimony meeting. It was increíble. I love every one so much. I am miss everyone so much! I have no doubt that they will do amazing things in this hard but rewarding journey. All of the testimonies that I have heard have strengthened mine so much and have held mine up in ways that I can´t even put into words. Honestly. I could not have had a BETTER ccm experience. Wow I am so lucky! I had the best experience. We sang God Be With you till we Meet again and their was not a dry eye in that room. I felt the presence of many angels. It was peaceful and so powerful. It was sad but it was a cool sight seeing everyone go off into different places to teach different people. But I am excited to see them one day! Maybe here but for sure in heaven.
The next day we went to the MISSION HOME! WOW. It is the cutest one ever haha. Oh my gosh I loved it so much. We had such a good lunch! GOOD FOOD! Haha mom it reminded me a lot of what you would make. Then we chilled there waiting as President Jackson finished some last area assignments. The anticipation was CRAZY! So crazy. You could just feel it plus nervousness in the air. Then we went we met our trainers kinda.. still not know who exactly was ours and where we would be going. But it was SWEET! We were all in a room. I was one of the last people to know where I was going haaha! My companion ran in and as soon as she saw me she was like YOUR THE GIRL FROM THE VIDEO! And I am just like YEAH haha and then President Jackson called us to be COMPANIONS! Going to the TENERIFE! OPENING. Yeah it was intense and crazy! I was shaking! Haha I couldn´t BELIEVE that I was going to an Island. Let alone that me and my companion would be the only hermanas there. crazy! Anyways so my mom is Hermana Phillips. She is practically perfect at Spanish and it is GREAT! We then took our stuff to some other missionary appartment.. dropped off our stuff and did some street contacting. Then we came back later that night and guess what I had to do! I had to pack only ONE suitcase 23 kilos to take! Yeah so that was stressful not knowing what I would want. But it was cool! I quickly packed one suitcase that I could take on the airplane with me and then we crashed and went to bed. Next morning the APs picked us up and we went to the airport and took off for tenerife. CRAZY STUFF HUH
I am about as south as you can get in the missions. It is SO COOl! Where we live is super touristy so it is kind of hard to find people who live here.. but its cool! We have talked to people from all over. Literally all over the world it is cool!
Something that I have realized. I don´t know Spanish. Only if people speak as slow as a snail can I understand them. Haha it is rough! I feel soooo inadequate It is hard because I want to be myself with the people here and I want to be the best missionary I can be and I want to BE BOLD.. and it is so hard and like really discourging from the language barrier. I am learning though! It is a process poco a poco a poco. At least my mom can speak great. It is just easy to feel really inadequate. Like the first day as soon as we got here we had an eating appointment and I literally I had NO idea what they were saying. I almost started to cry.. haha true story but I was able to keep it in. But I am getting used to it! I try my hardest even though it is exhausting to try to understand and not just zone out. At the end of the day my brain hurts so much.. but I just need to press forward. So many times in the scriptures it says to press forward! Dad, that was one of the last things you said to me before I left and I will always keep that thought in the back of my mind. It is hard to not get discouraged and feel stupid.. but I know I just need to keep the perspective and keep the spirit!! I am learning though I think. Little by little by little I am learning. They just speak so dang fast hahaha.
But here is one the greatest things about being here... THE BRANCH IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD! Wow my companion said that she has never had a better ward. So i really feel lucky to have such an amazing first area!! Me and my companions are like celebs here to the branch.. because we are the first sister missionaries in such a long time! They have been waiting for us for so long and now we are here! Seriously the branch is so loving. It is is so hard for me to understand but its great! My favorite parts of the week are whevener we do anything with members. They have patience for me and it is great! I love all of the young women. There are only like 3 though that are active... so we will change that soon! But yeah I can´t wait to understand Spanish perfectly so that I can reallllly be good friends with them and gain their trust. Its a process but I am enduring!
Apparently things DO get better than this.. so until then I will endure and do my best! Haha. Thanks for all of the support! I LOVE YOU!
Love,
Hermana Nydegger
CCM District
Hermana Fowers, CCM teacher and Hermana Nydegger
Hermana Nydegger and Hermana Phillips...my new trainer!
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