The White Night

HEY YALL

so apparently the rainy season is just starting here, and it gets pretty chilly and wet...hopefully at least it will lessen the heavy amount of dust. i also forgot my camera today so pictures will come next week. your camping trip looked super fun, i miss the beach. sometimes life is like camping here, but it isnt too bad. ive offered myself as a sacrifice to open up a sector of sisters in the jungle to president richardson,but we will see if he actually accepts (i doubt it).  we just had lunch at mcdonalds in the mall that looks alot like southpoint. i know i know im a spoiled sister missionary. 

Editor's notes on missionary slang for the unfamiliar:

daughter - a brand new sister missionary that the "mom" trains.  Kendra is Hna Garcia's "daughter".

Sister (training) leader - A new extra leadership responsibility given to certain Sister missionaries to look after the other Sister missionaries.  Kendra did this in the MTC and Hna Garcia is doing it now. It seems to involve going to lots of  extra meetings and going to the other sister's areas.  Similar to what the guy "zone leaders" do??

P-day - "Preperation day", the one day missionaries have free to write emails, shop, do laundry, etc.  Often on Mondays.

Transfers - A six week period of time.  Some missionaries get shuffled around to new areas or companions every 6 weeks, although not every missionary is effected each transfer.  Transfers will be next week and Hna Garcia is finishing her mission and going home, so Kendra will get a new companion.

Trunky - When missionaries who are soon going home think about going home.

BOM - Book of Mormon,   

THIS WEEK

so as always, life as the daughter of a sister leader is hectic. we only have tuesdays in our sector without meetings, pday, church or transfers. the biggest thing that happened this week was our "noche blanca"in the stake. we brought the baptismal clothes for everyone (14 baptims and 2 baptizers, luckily the other two elders have their own) and we asked every ward to bring a cake....we only ended up with 3 cakes but somehow it worked. our service was supposed to start at 3...and it started at 4.30. so yes, not much has changed with the south american view of time since you left. the white missionaries were deffinitely a little bit more worried about the time than everyone else. but its good because 3 of the converts didnt show up until 4. the baptismal font room is pretty small in the stake center, so we had everyone in the chapel and skyped the baptism to a projection screen. president richardson, his wife, his daughter, the APs and the secretaries all came. i arranged a special musical number for the missionaries to sing. it was a mix of i feel my saviors love, when i am baptized (the rainbow song) and nearer my god to thee. luckily a ward mission leader is quite the musical prodigy so i DIDNT have to play the piano. i did conduct however. i kind of felt like i was conducting a primary program ....but we got through it and no one seemed to notice that none of us have any musical ability. the baptisms went well....we only had two towels, but no one seemed to notice that either. after the service, it was hermana richardsons birthday so we sang to her and gave her a cake. she seemed to be pretty stoked. Anyways that was the white nite. WOO first baptisms! the family we baptized also invited a bunch of people. apparently the mom has a few more kids we didnt know about (some of whom may or may not be twins with the ones we baptized, no one kjnows for sure) and her parents (the kids grandparents) they all live in our sector and accepted a date for the 19th. this might just be the golden family that keeps on giving. weve had a little disobedience in the zone with a few of the latin elders, but no ones gotten sent home yet so we will see what happens. 

Transfers are this next monday and i will for sure be getting a new comp when hermana garcia flies home. shes getting a little trunky but nothing too bad. im learining more and more each day, including but not limited to..

...mission jergas (slang), normal jergas (including cuss words), how not to almost die on the bus, names of various tropical fruits and vegetables (and which ones i do/do not like, there are SO many) and the family relations in the ward. 

im sure i will learn more as this rainy season continues, but i guess we will really see how well prepared i was in wilmington for the rain. 

this week we have meetings pretty much all day (various consejos (councils) and verifications) but were pretty sure im gonna get a normal comp this next change so i can actually have a set schedule with studying and sleep.it will be a nice change...i hope. i also hope i get along with my next comp but you cant have it all. i just finished alma in my 90 day BOM challenge (hallelujah) and in a few weeks ill be starting it again in spanish. (we will see how that goes)

thats pretty much all for now.pictures next week for sure! (if i get to write, we well see how p day goes with transfers and all)  thanks for the love!  

hermana harlos