Missionary friends- you will want to print out this email. I don't want to take all of your email time.
So Florida is pretty tight. Not too hot or humid yet. My trainer's name is Hermana Lightheart and she is the sweetest little person to ever walk the face of the Earth!! <3 <3 <3
THIS PLACE IS A GEE STINKIN' DANG THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!!!! I'm as far South in my mission that sisters are allowed to go, and seriously EVERYONE speaks Spanish! There are three people that you NEVER see down here: whites, Asians and Mexicans (I've met just about every other ethnicity of Spanish speaker).
The drivers are insane. Nobody knows how to use a blinker. Oh, and the CUBAN FINGER!!! If you see someone stick their hand out the window and point to a lane, it means "I'm coming over and I'm coming over NOW whether you move or not". So yeah. Life is dandy on the road. I haven't needed to bike yet, but I have one.
No gators yet. :( I'm waiting 'til the iguanas and lizards start coming out (they're as common as chipmunks here).
21 new missionaries came in during transfers! That's a TON of missionaries! I was the only Spanish speaking sister so I spoke in Spanish with the elders so that the English elders and sisters got really confused. Mortals.
The sisters' interview time with the mission president went over, so we didn't get to go place Books of Mormon. Elder Sauyun said that a Chihuahua bit his ankle and he practically had to shake it off. I'm slightly jealous of all the fun that they had haha.
We spent the first night in a hotel, "La Quinta". The elevator reeked of marijuana. Classy.
In the transfer meeting, the new missionaries had to bear their testimonies. And there was a rule in our mission (that was just redacted) that sisters needed to wear cardigans in meetings. A certain Elder Rice was sitting behind us and he whispered to his comp, "Why aren't they wearing cardigans?" I had one with me, so I decided to take it up with me to bear my testimony. So I got up there and I explained the situation to the congregation of missionaries. I then told them what I heard Elder Rice say and I slipped on my cardigan, looked straight at him and said, "Satisfied"? I've made my sassiness known. The missionaries now know me as the "fireball".
Sister Richardson, Pres. Richardson's wife, spoke later and also addressed that sisters only had to wear cardigans if they were cold. BOOM! haha
Hermana Lightheart is my companion! She is from Eugene, Oregon and has been out here for a year! We love to rock out to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Showtime" CD; including songs like When You Wish Upon A Star, Bring Him Home, Impossible Dream, Lord of the Rings and the Circle of Life.
We went contacting after I put my stuff in our house (yes, I live in a one-story house with 3 other sisters. It has an A/C problem and tons of ants and I love it!!!!) we went and contacted. The VERY FIRST DOOR that I knocked on, a 50 year old Latin without a shirt opened up and after we introduced ourselves said, "Soy el diablo". Awkward. WELCOME TO THE MISSION FIELD! :D
It has been less than a week and we've talked to SO MANY CUBANS (they're everywhere), people from ages 3-96. I've met people of all different religions and from just about every Spanish-speaking country. We even attempted to communicate with a deaf, Spanish & ASL speaking Jehovah's witness yesterday. She was nice. :)
OH!!! There was this one Jehovah's Witness that we contacted! He was about 60 and told us that women weren't allowed to pray around other people. OH, HECK NO. I don't understand all Spanish, but I understood that! My trainer just kinda wished him well and we left.
FREAKY FREAKY FREAKY stuff has happened!!! This is partially because there are so many people here from third world countries!
In my trainer's last house, there were SPIRITS. YES, LIKE WE ARE TALKING GHOST STUFF. I thought it was a joke but it is legit! This one sister from Argentina would see figures in the house and heard one talking to her one time. Also, the doors would randomly lock and candles would be lit and nobody lit them. AAAGHHHHH!!!!!! So the sisters got special permission from the President to have the elders come into their house and cast out spirits. They ended up switching houses later anyway, partially because it was still going on!
PEOPLE DO ANIMAL SACRIFICES DOWN HERE!!!!!!!! There are tons of wild chickens running around. If you see any domestic birds, the people that raise them are Santeros, which are basically Catholics that perform animal sacrifices while wearing white.
We are teaching this WONDERFUL woman named Gisel from Peru. She has a strained relationship with her alcoholic husband, but she has 3 wonderful young daughters. Yesterday, we visited her in the early evening and we had been visiting mostly after dark. But this time we could see a part of their trailer-property that was gated and that we couldn't see at night.
We saw it yesterday. IT WAS FILLED WITH PIGEON CAGES!! HE'S A SANTERO!!!!
But that's okay, we'll deal with the problems as they come.
Oh, and in this ghetto area called "Opa-Locka", there are tons of Beware of Dog signs. We've learned to heed them (it straight up says that in Philippians 3:2!!!). My trainer was going into a yard, and I got a really bad feeling. So we left, and right after we closed the gate a boxer came running out from behind the house! Thank goodness for the Holy Spirit!
Anyway, those are my crazy stories for this week.
If you haven't sent me your mission office address, please send it!! I want to make sure that I'm sending mail to the right place! :)
Love you all! I miss you tons, but Alma 17:13 has helped me a ton!
!!!La iglesia es verdadera!!!
Con MUCHO amor,
~Hermana Curnow <3
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