Thanksgiving week

Que rapido este semana! This week we had lots of great activities and that made this week fly by! I cant believe it.

So thursday was thanksgiving which was fabulous! We had a special multizona for thanksgiving where we wrote those letters home and presidente cordon shared some thoughts about gratitude. We also ate lunch there, it was good food, maybe not as great as at home, but it was similar to a thanksgiving meal so that was good. Also tell the Soters i received their letter on thanksgiving day so that was great! I loved the pictures especially that they sent. Tell them i love them so much and Im so thankful for their support. Also i got to see all of the other hermanas who came the same day as me, so naturally me and hermana garbett were super happy to see each other!

Then friday was absolutely amazing too. Cant even explain how great it was to go to the temple. Literally missionaries need a trip to the temple every once in a while. We went with our zone and another zone in vans. The car ride was fun and right when we got there and the car parked i heard someone call my name and it was sister peterson (the temple presidents wife) from her balcony and she let us go take pictures on their balcony with the temple. She is so sweet. Then we headed into the temple. Literally the moment i stepped inside i felt this great peace come over me. All of the stress i feel as a missionary just left my body. It was so nice to be in a clean and QUIET place finally. I dont know how many other times in my life i have felt the spirit as strong as that moment. The el Salvador temple is beautiful and it was so good to be able to do another session there. I cant wait to go again...even if it is another 6 months. I miss going every week. But yeah friday was absolutely fabulous. We ate lunch there at the temple and i bought some videos from the store there.

This week there was a change in climate. So last week was literally so hot i thought i was maybe going to die. I would put a wet cloth in the freezer and then put that on my neck throughout the day. But then this week it got way cooler. It felt like fall here. quite windy and at night kind of cold. It was a nice break from the heat and i hope it stays like this. The only thing is at night it is cold. Normally i dont like the freezing cold showers but i can atleast deal with it. But this week i wimped out at heated up some water for my showers haha. Also our casa....we had a few incidences with cockroaches this week haha so that was great. We have had a few small ones before but very small cockroaches. But this week we had huge cockroaches so it was a funny experience. Also my companion has joked with me this week and scared me in our casa at night and she has it on camera...its quite funny haha

Mom the lady who used to wash our clothes moved this last week...so as of right now we are washing our own clothes...and The family trejo had their baby this week! Her name is Nayeli. the whole thing reminds me so much of adelyn. But anyways they are actually going to have someone who is going to cook for hna trejo so their cook is just going to cook for us too so all is well. I dont know who i will be skpying with yet. But hno trejo told me that last year the missionaries skyped so im sure all will be well...ill keep you updated on that.

So this week has been good, but our investigators havent really been keeping their commietments and its so frustrating. They arent actually praying to know if this church is true. and they arent coming to church. On sunday we went to pick up william because he told us he would come. We went to his house a little early and he said Yeah im going to come! and we said okay we are going to talk to some more people and we will come pass for you in like 15 minutes when you are ready and he said okay! and then when we came back he wasnt there. It was horrible. I was so mad. But what can you do.

Its frustrating when you really want to be a good missionary but you dont have the abliities. I know that if i work hard God will help me. i just want to be a better teacher. I feel like im not very clear when i teach (mostly because of my spanish) and because of my spanish and my teaching skills i feel like i dont feel the spirit very much when i teach. I want to teach with the spirit because I know with all my heart these things are true and i want the people here to feel the same. Ive just been praying to have the spirit more and for help with my spanish. This week i have been a little frustrated with my spanish. I felt good about my spanish when i first got here, because i feel like it was good for the time i had here, but right now i feel like i havent improved that much...but i dont know. And its just so frustrating when you want to help people and you want to listen to their concerns and challenges in their lives, but you cant understand them. But im just trying to be patient and i know if i am diligent and work hard and obedient God will bless me. I am only an instrument in his hands.

I hope all is well at home. Im glad you all enjoyed thanksgiving and im excited that you are getting all of the christmas stuff up. It doesnt even feel like christmas to me cause there is no snow haha. But all the people here are decorating so that is great. Question...i am supposed to open up your packages when i get them because the stuff is wrapped right? Also im sorry to say but im not going to be sending presents to you guys cause they dont have like packages or boxes to send really. im going to send an envelope with letters for all of you though. I love you all so i hope you arent disappointed, but i will bring you all home stuff haha. Hopefully i can get the letters off ot you time. I literally have no time to do anything.

Well thats all for this week! Cambios are shorter this month so next week i might know if im going to have cambios or not!

Love you all! Cant believe its december!

Hermana Groneman

My First Parasite!

Well family it has been a whirlwind of a week. I wish I could tell you its been a good week, but its been quite difficult to be honest. This week will be better though.

First off I didnt have cambios. Im still here in the area of Espino and Im still with Hna Estevez. The only change is our zone split. So now instead of being in the zone Ahuachapan, Im now in the zone Gloria. The next cambio is only 4 weeks. so it is going to fly by.

At the beginning of the week I was just feeling super tired and weak and i didnt know why. This was the first week that I didnt have a huge motivation to work hard and I didnt know why. My stomach kind of felt a little weird, but nothing terrible. But my companion told me i probably have a parasite. I didnt believe her though cause it wasnt anything terrible, but we went to the doctor and had examens and yes i have a parasite. Ive been taking medicine so hopefully that takes care of everything. Its just been made tired and ive felt like i couldnt work like i wanted to.

Afterwards though at the end of the week ive been feeling a lot of anxiety. I think being sick from the parasite just made me really stressed and now ive just been struggling with anxiety. I received a blessing from Hno Trejo and that helped a lot. I understood the whole blessing it it was definitely what I needed. I still feel anxiety and im still struggling though. I know that Christ knows how I feel though, and I know that through him and his atonement I can receive strength.

So yeah this week has been kind of tough. Anyways we didnt really find new investigators this week cause it was a rough week. But weve been working with our investigators from last week. We have a baptismal date for an 8 year old dayana. We we were hoping her mom would be baptized too, but she says that she is not interested right now. they are related to the bishop so the girl has a lot of support in the church. Dayana is always smiling and she loved learning and she is excited to be baptized and go to church.

We have some other investigators too, but I dont really have time to write today.

Weve still been visiting with Alba. It was fun to make pupupsas at her house this week. Her son was baptized a few years back and he is inactive now, but he was visiting with us the other day and hopefully we can get him to come back too. Her husband is always away from home working. He was there when we were making pupusas but he was gone the rest of the week and on sunday. So it is kind of hard to work with him, but hopefully we can continue to talk with them.

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I think this is my third time in my life personally reading it. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that every word in it is true. Im seriously so grateful for it in my life and the guidance I can receive from the scriptures. Now im starting to study the new testament and hopefully i can start reading jesus the christ.

I really didnt get much time to write today but I will write more next week. I know this week will be better. I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers. Im grateful for the opportunity to be out here.

Love,

Hermana Groneman

Transfer week

Wow I cannot believe that I have made it through my first six weeks here in El Salvador! How crazy! Cambios are in two days (on wednesday) and we dont know what is happening yet. We were supposed to find out this morning...but then for some reason they are waiting until tomorrow night to tell us. I dont think that anything is going to change for me or my companion but you never know. My companion has been here for almost six months now... but I think she will finish my twelve week training before she gets switched. This week went by super quick again. So for Pday there arent really a ton of like tourist sites to see so we usually just kind of hang out around the city, sometimes shop around, just whatever. We write at different times so it just depends on what time our district gets assigned. Last week we wrote super early and afterwards we went to an area called Ataco. It is seriously SO beautiful there. I guess that is like the dream place to serve for all of the hermanas, or i guess at least in this zone. It is more touristy with the shops, but it is just really pretty and also the city is just really calm. I bought a few things, but not much. I tried to remind myself i have my whole mission to buy stuff haha. but that was the first time i had been around a touristy area. This week we got to teach some English classes. It was SO SO SO weird to be in a place where i was supposed to be speaking english. I kept wanting to speak in spanish and my spanglish was just weird. It was funny. I dont know if we will keep going to the English classes or not, but it was kind of fun. So like last week I think i mentioned I was quite stressed about areas because I felt like we didnt have people to teach and we needed to find nuevos investigadores. So this week we went out into a different part of our area that we hadnt contacted before. I dont know why we waiting until now to go out into that area, but im glad we did. The problem with this area is we cant go there at night because there isnt a lot of a light out in that area and its kind of dangerous, so we can only work there in the afternoons. But it is out of the city and out in the field and it is SO gorgeous in that area. I dont think i have really said much about beautiful it is here in El Salvador, but it really is. Literally so beautiful and so green! Anyways but I really like being out in the country area of our area. And the people are much more receptive out there. we found quite a few new investigators out there. That really helped this week and I really enjoyed working out in that area. I dont think I have talked much about Dia de Reposo, but keeping the sabbath day holy is really a big problem with the people we teach here. Basically at least half or three fourths of the people you talk to either own a small store out of their home, work somewhere in the city, or make pupupsas or torillas out of their homes. So it is really hard for people to accept that. yesterday was probably the best day out of the whole week. This weekend was stake conference here in ahuachapan. They had a special meeting yesterday from 9 to 10 for recent converts or investigators. We had 5 investigators in church which was really great! Also guess who i saw at the stake conference. President and hermana Peterson! I talked to them for a little and they took a picture with me! So maybe she will send it to you on facebook dad. Anyways after church we headed out to the far part in our area and we had a lesson with a woman named Yessenia and her daughter Dayana who is 8. They were a referral from people in our ward and they came to church yesterday. But we hadnt taught them yet. But when we taught them yesterday we learned that she has talked with the missionaries many times and almost was baptized but for some reason she didnt. But yesterday we invited her to baptism and with a baptismal date and both her and her daughter accepted. I think it helps that her daughter is now 8 so they can baptized together. They were both super positive and we are going to work a lot with them this week. Also after that we went and visited a woman named Ana who we knocked her door the other day. She hasnt really talked with the missionaries before but she has heard a lot about mormons. She is evangelic but she really is interested in learning about mormons. She was quite positive. and she has two boys one who is 8. So we are going to work with her a lot this week too. one of the other investigators who came to church yesterday is named william. His wife wasnt very interested because she already goes to a church, but he was and we are hoping to work with them too. So anyways yesterday was just full of great things that happened. And Im really glad we are starting to find some new people to work with. Alba is doing great still. We had a Noche de Hogar at her house last week, and it was great to see her kind of direct the night at her house and have her share her testimony. It is really great to see her at the church activities. Tonight we are going to her house and we are going to make pupusas!!! Im super excited! Im still trying to work more on following the spirit. I really want to be a missionary who works through the spirit and it is something im working on. I felt like we had some good experiences knowing which doors to knock this week. We do work with the members, but I want to continue working with them more. One thing we have been doing is going to members house and showing them these videos and then reminding them of Elder ballards invitation at conference to share your testimony with one person before christmas and also to kneel in prayer with the missionaries. i really have a strong testimony with kneeling in prayer and fasting with the members. I truly believe that is how we had the two baptisms we have had in this area. So i invite you to invite the missionaries over to the house and kneel in prayer with them for their investigators. Also to share your testimony with one person before Christmas. I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers as always! Hermana Groneman

Wow another week already has gone by! how crazy! Literally this week went by so quickly so I cant even imagine how fast the mission is going to go by in a few months. This week we had quite a few good activities and things that helped the week go by quickly. So on tuesday we had the baptism of Alba (I will try to send some pictures= It was so neat. I feel like I made a little more of a difference in helping Alba to be baptized then I did with Kevin since i didnt teach kevin much before his baptism so it was neat for me. She was a little nervous at first I think. After the baptism though all the people there were congratulating her and giving her hugs while she was sitting in her chair...and after most of the people were done her husband who was sitting behind her gave her a hug from behind she just started crying. Her husband isnt a member but we hope to eventuallyto teach him. But it was neat. Also before the baptism we were asking her little girl if she wanted to be baptized, she is only 7, and she said no.....but after the baptism i asked her again and she was like yeah i want to be baptized when im 8! haha it was cute. One of the other times we visited with them later in the week we were playing jacks with alba and her little girl, it was fun. Thursday we had another multizona so that was absolutely great! I really love multizonas, and i wish we had them more often. They just remotivated me and help me to work hard. and always seem to help me with the things im struggling with. Thursday night when we got back to our area, because the multizonas are at the mission office, we had a talent show night with the ward. It was super fun and it just reminded me how much this church is centered in families and I wish that more people could enjoy the blessings of the gospel with their families. Friday was super fun because hermana hunter who came here the same time as me, came with us for the whole day because her companions are sister training leaders and they had a meeting. That day was just super fun and I want to have more days like that where we have fun but also work hard. We contacted some girls in the street who were jump roping and we played with them for a minute or two. It was great. Ive mentioned the familia Trejo, Rene Trejo and Isabel Trejo. Our ward mission leader and cook. But Hno Trejo got realized as ward mission leader and I am SO sad. Plus Hna trejo is having a baby in like a month so we dont know how much longer she will be our cook. But they literally are our parents here. Yesterday they were just giving us advice and I always feel better after i leave their house. I really cant explain how grateful I am for them, and I wish I could express it more to them...I always say thanks and stuff, but I dont think they understand just how much they mean to me. I have had kind of a stressful week though. Im struggling balancing the stresses. I feel so stressed about the area and our investigators, and also stressed that im not becoming the missionary I want to be, or that im not learning to be the right kind of missionary, or stressing with the language always, or stressing about not knowing the lessons well enough. I know I need to be patient, so its just hard to deal with all of the stress. But Im learning. I try to just take it one day at a time. My spanish the past two days has struggled. Generally ive done pretty well understanding people. But Saturday and sunday for some reason i just feel like I wasnt understanding anything. its so discouraging. But yesterday i bore my testimony in church and Hno Trejo later was telling me how great my spanish was and how fluent it sounded and also another member we ate dinner with was saying how beautiful my spanish was. Literally those two comments were answered prayers to help me feel better about the language. I honestly cant even explain to strength I have received through prayer here in the mission. It is incredible how weak and inadequate I feel. But with Gods help, somehow I am doing it. I am so grateful for prayer. Our area really needs new investigators. It is really difficult to find new people. Tons of people here are catholic or evangelic and that is part of why im really stressed about the area, because im just learning but yet we need to step it up. I dont know. Also Im trying to have experiences where I follow the spirit, but i have to admit dad that i havent had many experiences yet where I felt like we have really followed the spirit. I am trying to work on that more because I know that it is only through the spirit that we will find new people. It was great to hear from you all again and I am so grateful for your support and your emails. I cant even explain how much it means to me. I love you all and thanks for your prayers as always. next week will come fast! Hermana Groneman

Gracias por all of the birthday wishes from all friends and family!! I wish I had time to write to all of you but I dont, but know that I really appreciate it! The beginning of this letter might be kind of random, but im just gonna try and answer some of your questions. This week seriously flew by. I can´t believe Im already on my 5th week here in el salvador. Two more weeks and we have cambios, but I dont think that I will be changing or my companion. A little more about my companion since you asked. Hermana Estevez is from Honduras and she has been out for 5 months. She loves to joke around and laugh.. like all the time! She learned english in school so she can communicate pretty well with me. Her mom died when she was like 7, which makes me think a lot about you mom, but she is super super strong. The area I am in dad is in Ahuachapan and the ward is Espino. I think if you look up on LDS.org you can find ward boundaries or atleast the chapels. our area is by the Col. Ivu. Our chapel is Capilla frente de Ivu. One of the main streets is Col. Pacifico.... if that helps a lot. I dont know it is super hard here with addresses...cause there are just tons of small pasajes. I love my district and my zone! The people in my district are DL Elder Ibazeta (peru), Elder Bausserman (Ohio), and then me and hermana estevez, and then Hermana Harris (Utah), Hermana Hunter (Arizona) she came at the same time I did, and then Hermana Herrera (argentina). I love seeing them. We don´t have cellphones, only the zone leaders, but the phones at night sometime we get to talk, but we run into each other all the time. Ah...im trying to remember your questions... Surprisingly dad there hasnt really been anything for halloween or dia del muertos or whatever yet...so i dont know if they dont do that here or what. So this week. First off can I talk about food for a second? my favorite thing in the world after pupusas is chocobananas. they are great. Im addicted. haha. But also this week I had pizza and hamburgers and can i just say they were better than anything ive ever had in the states. So there is that. Also I actually had crab on saturday at the familia trejos house! haha. It wasnt the best though...because the crabs were so small that I could barely get anything to eat out of them, but it was still good to think of you guys and it was funny we had that so close to my birthday. This week we had our multizona reunion at the mission office on thursday. It was great! It was basically all day with two other zones. I didnt really see any of my other friends other than those in our zone, but it was still great. That was the first time I had seen president cordon since the first day. That night we also had the baptism of Kevin! Kevins uncle Hermano Marvin Orellana baptized him, which is pretty cool because Hermano Orellana is one of Presidente Cordons converts. It was so neat to know how clean he was when he came up out of the waters. We visit with him a lot and since he is a joven we really want to help him stay active and stay with good friends. Him and his cousins are hilarious though. We are always joking around with them. So yeah, first baptism was pretty exciting! Also tomorrow Alba Alvarez is getting baptized! I am very excited for her baptism. I feel like I actually got to teach her a little more than kevin. She has had many missionaries come to her over the years, but she never really accepted the lessons or progressed. It really made my day the other day when we were at her house and she asked if we had a camera because she wanted a picture with us so she could remember us. Obviously we are going to get pictures with her at her baptism and stuff, but that really made my day to know that she wants to remember me. Her son is a member but inactive. Her husband isnt a member and he said he was going to come to church this last sunday, but he didnt. But he said for sure he is coming to her baptism this week and then church this sunday. We hope that eventually he can get baptized too. And then hopefully in a year they can go to the temple. Alba is going to be a great member. She had problems accepting baptisms for the dead at first, but we are hoping she can get involved in family history work. Ill send more pictures next week of her baptism. The next investigators or the Lopez family. I talked a little about them. Katherine (like 16) is a recent convert (she had been going to another ward) but we have been talking with her all the time. And then the mom is totally inactive. And then Dalia (like 21 or 22) is who we are mostly teaching, and then the also have a younger sister karen who is like 10. The dad lives in US and is a member. Anyways they are awesome. Yesterday for my birthday they surprised me with pupusas for dinner! We didnt get to spend a ton of time with them because we had other appointments, but it made me feel really great. I have pictures Im sending of us with Dalia and Katherine. I realized this week just how much I really do love the members and investigators. Sometimes its hard to feel if the people here really do love you or not, because I cant really understand always and I dont talk as much as I would like to, but everytime we are in the house of our investigators or members I feel comfortable. In the streets I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes or out of place, but in the house of members and investigators there are no worries. Im really grateful for the people here. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving in El Salvador. I know that sometimes its hard, but I literally owe everything I have to this gospel. Im so thankful that I was able to grow up in the gospel in a strong family. I know without a doubt that God has a plan for all of us and the Jesus Christ is my Savior. I am forever grateful for his atonement in my life and I only hope that I can help to share it with the people here. Im sorry I dont have time to write very personal emails to all of you, but know that I think about you all every day. Dad I always think of you with my spanish and your strong testimony and knowledge of the gospel. Mom I hope all is going well for school and that you are enjoying your students. Ryan and Courtney please give big hugs and kisses to Adelyn! Thanks for the pictures. And Janelle and Colby I hope all goes well for you in applying for schools, Im praying for you that things will go well. Janelle I loved your email about laughing at Colby. Love you all so much! Hermana Groneman

Amanda in El Espino, El Salvador

Familia y amigos, Well Im happy to report that it has been a much better week. I really have a strong testimony of prayer this week. Not only were my prayers answered, but also I have felt your prayers. Every single day. Literally I don´t think I had one moment of homesickness this whole week (well maybe when I opened up emails this week a little bit) but honestly homesickness wasn´t distracting me this week and I was able to have a really great week. So thank you to every single one of you and your prayers. It really strengthens me to feel your prayers. Im sorry if my email last week was a little discouraging...maybe I shouldn´t write home sad emails...but thats how I was feeling last week. Also thank you to all who sent me encouraging emails. It meant a lot to me. So this week. Literally went by so quickly. and it was great. Tuesday we had one of the sister training leaders, Hermana Harris, come with us for the day and I loved that. She is from Salt Lake and she has about a 1 year into the mission. It was great to talk to her and she is a great example to me. Her spanish is amazing!!! literally sometimes people think she is latina. I hope one day I am as good as her at spanish. Wednesday was probably the best day of the entire week. We had to travel to San Salvador to do our paperwork for our visas and guess who i saw!? HERMANA GARBETT! Literally I dont think I have ever had such a great reunion hug with someone in my life. The minute I walked into the door of the office building and saw her we immiedately hugged and I was crying and blah blah blah but seriously it was the greatest moment in the whole week. Hermana Garbett and I are seriously going to be friends forever and I am so grateful for example in my life and her strength and love. She is doing great and we were talking how we only hope that one day we could somehow be companions again. Although that probably wont happen because hardly ever are two north americans companions together. But anyways that day was so great because I got to spend probably at least half of the day talking with her. Oh and we got wendys!!! This week we also had some really great things happen with our investigators. We are having a baptism this week! Kevin is 15 and I didnt really teach him much. He was mostly taught by Hermana Estevez and her last companion, but this week we happened to pass by his house and his mom was there too and we decided to ask her for her permission that he could be baptized (She wouldnt get permission earlier) and she decided to let him! I guess it really is a miracle for Hermana Estevez. We have been reviewing the lessons with him. So I dont know its not really my baptism but I guess it is cause Im in the area and we still have been teaching him. Also Alba Alvarez is progressing. She and her daughter came to church this week and also we had a really neat lesson with her this week. She said last week when she understands baptisms for the dead then she will be baptized. This week we had a lesson with her in the church with the zone leaders and then at the end our mission leader came in when the zone leaders left. At the end of the lesson we asked her to pray for a specific date for baptism. I couldnt really understand the prayer very well because of the spanish and there were fans on in the room so I couldnt hear very well. But I have never heard a more sincere prayer and by the end we were all crying. She didnt really necessarily accept the date for baptism but she wants to be baptized. I am really excited for her and I hope she continues to progress. Hopefully in the next few weeks she will be baptized. We also have a few other investigators but some of them arent really progressing. The familia Lopez is great, Dalia is our main focus, but she isnt coming to church so we dont know what is happening. Her sister Kathering (which by the way get on my FB and accept her friend request) is a recent convert, I could totally see her becoming a missionary one day. Anyways I love that family, they are always joking around with us. To answer some of your questions. We have district and zone conferences every thursday at the stake center. We also write here at the stake center. Except this week i think is a multi zone conference. We wake up at 6am every day...so a half hour earlier than most missionaries. Also Pday ends at 5pm which is an hour earlier as well. For christmas....hmmm. Mom I would love another dress or two or a skirt or something. I like my clothes here...but they are kind of too nice for this area and I would like something that could get a little more dirty haha. Or also I would like some church music on a CD or something (like the music on the youth.lds.org website). Other than that idk. Im wondering if I should get another memory card for my camera in case one gets lost or if I should get a thumbdrive I can save my pictures. I dont know I will think more for next week. Thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes!! It is also our ward missionary leaders birthday so Im sure we will be doing something...and I know I will be taken care of here! I think that is basically everything. Really thank you so much for your advice. All of you. Sorry I dont have much time to write you all personally but know that I love you all. Thank you again for your prayers. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be out here in El Salvador. I know that nothing is going to help me become a better person than a mission. I know sometimes I get a little frustrated with myself because I know what kind of missionary I want to be...but I need to be patient with myself. Love you all! Someone go to Red Lobster and eat crab for me for my birthday! haha Hermana Groneman

Hola familia! Well second week here has come and gone and its been a roller coaster. Few random things to start off though. When I come home I am probably going to eat everything with my hands so be aware. Also I probably am going to sing horrible. Everyone here sings the hymns all the time, in every lesson and every member has their own personal hymn book. But the members often dont actually know the tune, but bless their hearts they sing with all their might. But it makes me feel better singing because I used to never sing alone...but I wouldnt mind here because my tune is probably much better haha. Bugs....so we have lots of big ants in our apartment but im pretty used to them. So the deal with mosquitos is we have to wear OFF 24/7. there is a disease called dengue fever and if you get it you can be hospitalized. If a missionary gets it twice they send them home and then reassign them to the states once they recover. So just pray I dont get that. I dont have a mosquito net...and we havent done anything specific with our sheets buts im still figuring things out. I dont really notice the bugs biting me probably cause it is so hot...but then later I notice when the bites itch. The area I am in is probably like Springville style town El Salvadorian style. I have been in Santa Ana (we traveled there last week because my companion was a little sick) and it is like the city. But then also later this week we worked a little in another area because Hermana Herrera went home so we worked with her companion for a few days and we worked in both our area and her area. her area is definitely more country/jungle area. My area though has paved streets on the big streets, and lots of cobblestone streets, and then some dirt streets. There are some city areas and some not. One thing is it is always noisy here. Mom when you think the buses are annoying in the morning out on the street just be glad you dont have people yelling "LECHE" or "PAN" and honking little horns selling stuff at 6 in the morning. haha. I havent been sick at all yet since I have been here so that is good. Especially cause my companion has had a cold and stuff..but i havent gotten sick. Im staying healthy and hopefully it stays that way. We eat at the Trejo Families house. That is our ward mission leader. I literally could not be more thankful for anyone here. They are so kind and I feel so loved and relaxed in their house. Hno Tejo served in Honduras and he actually knows TJ Beach. I am loving the food. OH and i literally could live off of pupusas for the rest of my life and be completely happy. I rejoice everytime we get to eat them. We havent had much success here. I didnt realize how many people would be so religious here. There are a lot of evangelic churches here and catholics too. Other than conference, Herman Estevez said she hasnt had an investigator at church since august i think.. So its hard. I feel like if we had success I would feel better, but we keep working hard. We were hoping for a baptismal date with Alba Alvarez...but she wouldnt commit to a date because she wants to be completely sure before she commits to a date or something...but we will keep working. In all honestly I have really struggled this week. A lot. Ive been quite homesick so I would appreciate prayers that I can focus and not feel homesick. I feel completely inadequate in everything. I have realized this week that I have a strong testimony of this gospel, but I dont really know how to teach it. In the CCM in mexico they didnt do much to teach us HOW to teach the gospel, they just told us to teach. So I feel really inadequate in my teaching. I feel really inadequate in my spanish. I feel really inadequate in everything. Its honestly hard because we have to be happy all day long because we have to show how the gospel can make you so happy. But honestly its hard to hold in tears as we walk around sometimes. Or especially in the morning I really struggling with homesickness. But im just taking it one day at a time. I know that it will come. But it is hard to see the big picture right now. So I would appreciate some words of advice next week or something uplifting. Sorry this email was kind of short and random. I might try and add some pictures if I can. If you have questions for me put them all at the beginning of your email. Cause as I read I forget if you ask my questions in the middle of the paragraph. I will be looking forward to the package. I have heard it can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks to get here. but i dont know how you sent it. I dont care when it comes, ill be looking forward to it. I love you so much and I am so thankful for your prayers. Im sad I didnt get an email from colby today. I love you all so much. Hermana Groneman

Welp family this is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done and maybe ever will do in my life..... BUT IT IS THE BEST. Literally I had no idea how hard it would be but now I know what RMs mean when they say it is so hard and I can tell how much a mission is going to help me grow. I dont even know where to start and this letter is probably gonna be all over the place but ill try my best. My companion is Hermana Estévez and she is amazing. I am so so so grateful I got her as a trainer. As I see some of the other hermanas that came here with me and their trainers it makes me super grateful because i can tell my trainer is the best haha. She is way funny and super nice and super patient. She is from honduras and she has been out for like 4 months. She does speak english which i think is quite a blessing so we can communicate, but we always try to speak spanish so I can learn. She actually told me she wasnt too excited to have a gringa companion because all of her companions have been gringas and im sure it is frustrating for her to have to teach with someone who doesnt speak spanish yet and such, BUT she is so patient and she told me she has felt something different with me. She hasn´t had much success in this area in the past so i think she has had a rough time in the past few months. Oh I am in the El Espino area in the Ahuachapan zone. Anyways, I am going to work on changing her faith and we ARE going to have success here. So I am definitely in El Salvador and it is definitely different. I cant tell you how many times I have thought to myself how much easier this would be if I was like in Europe or the States or speaking english or something. So our house is quite small, cinderblock walls, and it feels like an oven during the late morning when we are studying. Ill send pictures and stuff another week because i would rather spend time writing. So we do have a shower, but it is freezing cold water, and actually I have taken a few bucket showers because some nights and mornings the water is turned off. haha so yep its fun. Our kitchen consists of a table with all of our dishes and a microwave and a fridge. Oh and also we got a sandwich maker so thats good. IT IS SO HOT AND HUMID HERE. Literally I am dripping with sweat all day long. Luckily at night its not as bad. Also it is the end of the rain season I think, but it has rained a few times while we were here. Yesterday we were walking to the stake center for conference and none of the taxis would stop and give us a ride and we were getting soaked...even though I had my umbrella. Food is great I have loved it. We sometimes eat at members, we have a cook who is our ward mission leaders wife and she cooks for us some of the time. Hermano and Hermana Trejo (the ward mission leader and his wife) are literally my favorite people ever. I love them. I can already tell I am going to be so sad when I have to leave them. Hmo Trejo served in Honduras and we had ward mission council with him and he really wants to help us out. Also we have visited with some members in the stake and they have the cutest daughter who loves the gringas so she was super nice to me. Food is lots of beans, sometimes eggs, tortillas (which are SUPER thick here) and i dont know. Fruit too. It might be different now cause this first week I was just eating my companions food so we will see what I buy today at the store. My spanish...well its difficult. I am getting better though. I actually understand quite a bit if they will speak slowly and a lot of times my companion will tell them that and they will so that is nice. and each day i am understanding more and more. It is just frustrating teaching and contacting because I cant do as much as I want because I cant speak and say much. But I know it will come. Apparently my spanish is much better than the last gringa who was here before me because all of the members and investigators say that. So I dont feel like it is impossible but it is hard. Probably the hardest thing is how much energy it actually takes to spend all day listening and trying to understand the spanish. You wouldnt think sitting in a lesson and not saying much would take a lot of energy but by the end of the day my mind is exhausted from trying to understand as much spanish as I can. OH and I literally have never slept so good in my life as I do here. I am out every night. The streets here basically are what you would think. The houses are all connected...most of them are like cinderblock painted colors. Most of the houses are like half outside half inside. People like live on their porches kind of. We dont really knock doors....its more like you just go up to the gate or window or door and say "Buenas!" hahaha. There are really poor areas too. Half of our area is kind of more in more of a city with buildings...but we also have some areas that are most in the dirt roads and such. We also have too REALLY poor areas in our area where we actually arent allowed to contact because the people just want money. They literally live in cardboard houses with tin roofs. We are allowed to teach there I guess if they have had a lesson or come to church or have a baptismal date I guess (I dont know i dont quite understand it yet) but we just cant contact in that area. It has defintiely been a humbling experience. So its been kind of a week just getting used to everything. Figuring out how things work and everything. Ill be honest there have been plenty of moments where I have asked myself Can I really do this? can I really learn spanish? Will I ever become a good missionary? Can I really live like this for 18 months? But I know I can do it. This week I am super excited to just go to work now that I know how things work. My companion works hard...but I feel like we could work harder..even though im exhausted already at the end of the day. But I feel like we could walk faster, contact more people, but its hard to initiate that since I dont speak spanish good enough yet, but I am gonna tell me companion this week that I want to do more. Also my companion usually leads most of the lessons and contacting obviously, and she is a great teacher and teaches in simple ways so they can understand...but the one thing is she hardly every introduces or talks about the Book of Mormon in first contacting and lessons. And I dont know if that is right really. In the CCM we learned so much about how the Book of Mormon is central in our role to conversion so I feel like we should talk about that more. But for those of you who know how PMG works she always just shares messages through God is our loving heavenly father through the apostacy but then she hardly ever starts talking about the restoration. I feel like we could have more success if we introduce the BoM even if it is just very very simply and then we could teach more about it later. So anyways I am gonna talk to her about that this week and see if we could try that and have more success. When I got here she didnt really have any investigators or anything. We worked a lot this week on inviting people to conference. She said in the past she hardly has every gotten investigators to come to church and it is really discouraging, but we had 5 people come to conference so that is good. Conference was at the stake center and the new missionaries (6 months or less) got to watch it in english so that was great. Mom I loved Elder Hollands too and yes I was thinking about you a lot. There were so many i loved and I dont have time to really talk about them but it was great). We have one mom Alva who we taught the first lesson and she and her daughter came and i hope she really felt something. Also we contacted a family in the park and we have visited with them but then we found out they arent in our area so we have to pass them on. But that dad went to priesthood and really like it and then the next night we invited him and his wife and their daughter to a bautismal service. So hopefully the other hermanas will be able to have success with them. Oh also I love my zone and more especially my district. Our district has a trio of hermanas, me and hermana estevez, and then two elders. They are all great. It is honestly so awesome to be around the other missionaries becaue they are a great strength. Hermana Hunter and Hermana Herrera from the CCM who came here at the same time as me are in my zone. Please please please pray for Hermana Herrera. She has been struggling and wants to go home so keep her in her prayers. Sorry I didnt really answer all of your questions or talk to you specifically but maybe next week I will be able to do more. I read all of your emails and Ryan and Colby I am sorry I couldnt call you at the airport but I love you. OH the airplane! I forgot to tell you about the lady I sat next to. She was from Peru and she was so loving and cute. I talked to her about missionaries and such and I gave her a book of mormon all before the flight even took off. On the plane she read all of the introduction and through chapter 4 of Nephi. She liked it and she wrote down my name in the book and my email. Anyways I dont know what will happen with that but that was a great way to demonstrate to me that I can actually do this. Oh and our first two days we stayed with other hermanas near the mission office. It was the hermana who is the mission nurse and there house is quite nice. Hermana elms was great in giving us advice because she has only been out 6 weeks longer than us. President Cordon and his wife are great, I love them and their daughter is so kind too. sorry that was out of order. Anyways I love you so much and I appreciate your prayers. I cant wait to work hard this week! Hermana Groneman

Last week in the CCM -- Ready for El Salvador

Thats my favorite line from Llamados a Servir. Called to serve. "Ready, Always Ready" Thats how I feel this week. IM SO READY TO GET TO EL SALVADOR!!!! Really I can´t wait. And it doesn´t even seem real. I can´t believe I really am on my last week here in el CCM. It feels like we just dont ever get to leave this place, but we do. and i do! next week!! Still not quite sure the exact day we leave. They will post it hopefully later today or tomorrow. But i will have the chance to email you before I leave anyways so be looking for that. I am guessing that my flight leaves early tuesday morning, which means we would leave el CCM in the middle of the night on monday, but that is a total guess. So who knows. It really hasnt even hit me yet, but i just cant even express to you how excited I am. Im not even that nervous. Which Im sure i will be feeling nervous when we are actually leaving, but not yet. Sure its gonna be tough, especially with the spanish and all...and considering I probably only have a few normal showers (as in not bucket showers) left to take haha. Its gonna be crazy. Im so excited to get to teach real people and share the gospel with people who really don´t have the truth and for those who are searching for happiness in their lives. Anyways so this last week went by SUPER fast. Like I dont even know what to say it went by so quickly. Oh I guess I could tell you that last weekend I got a little sick. Just a cold. But it really made me realize how hard it is to get sick as a missionary. I was just so tired, and I really didnt sleep well on friday night i think it was. So saturday I woke up exhausted and it just made me realize that as a missionary if you get sick, there isnt much help for ya because you just keep going. I really just wanted to lay in bed all day, but i didnt. I felt mostly better by monday, but i still have a little bit of a runny nose. Once again i love sundays here at the CCM. Probably my favorite day of the week because they are always so inspiring. Elder Delahunty in our branch presidency taught our leadership meeting and he shared a really neat experience that he had at the Salt lake temple. He talks about the temple a lot because his main called here is a temple mission in the Mexico City Temple and then just on sundays he helps in the branches at the CCM. In fact we saw him at the temple today when we went. Speaking of..it was really neat to go again one last time here in Mexico City. It really is such a beautiful temple. AND being our last trip here I was able to understand quite a bit of the spanish, so it was a really great session. I feel like it is going to be so weird to come home and go to a session at the temple in english again haha. but thats not for a long time haha. Anyways back to sunday. Relief Society by Hermana Pratt again was good as always. She spoke on faith and we really looked at Alma 32 of course, but it was a great lesson. Devotional on Sunday was a broadcast by Richard G Scott recorded from the Provo MTC devotionals. Probably the best part of sunday. He talked on prayer and how we need to be completely open in our prayers and talk to our Heavenly Father because he is just waiting to listen to us. Sometime I know in my prayers I dont always express my feeling because I think well Heavenly Father already knows how I´m feeling so I dont really need to tell him. But thats not true. We should be completely honest in our feelings and tell him all of our thoughts. Obviously being a missionary my prayers have gotten a lot more sincere, but it is still something im and trying to improve on. Our Heavenly Father wants to know every detail of our lives, and he wants to help us. Another good thing that happened on Sunday was President Pratt asked me to give the closing prayer for Class with the MTC Presidency. We have Class with the MTC Presidency and the devotionals in the auditorium and it is with all of the English speaking missionaries, so if you sit towards the front you have the chance to get asked to say a prayer...kind of nerve wracking...and so yeah presidente pratt came and sat down next to me and asked if I would say the closing prayer. So I did haha. And afterwards though he was like "beautiful prayer hermana, how many weeks have you been here?" and then he told me my spanish was really good and stuff. Not really a big deal, but it was to me that day because i kind of was feeling down on my spanish that morning or saturday or something so it meant a lot. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all went by pretty quickly. It POURED rain on tuesday during gym while we were running (probably didnt help my cold) but it was a good memory. Also the streets and sidewalks in the CCM were literally rivers that day. It rains a lot here. like all the time. so yeah sometimes i walk around barefoot so my shoes dont get soaked...but thats only okay here in the CCM because the sidewalks and streets are not dirty and they are safe...haha but i dont think i should do that once i get to el salvador haha. Mom you were asking about my hands...they have been fine since i have been here no problems really and they aren´t dry anymore so i guess the little bit of humidity is good, we´ll see how it is when i get to El Salvador. Also Im sure ive gained weight...we´ve been trying to run and work out during gym (also my stomach hasnt been hurting after i run so thats good)...but i eat lots of snack here since im just sitting in the classroom all day..oops. Oh tuesday night is devotional night so we listened to a mtc broadcast talk by elder bednar. He talked about how to get the most out of general conference. It was a really great talk and something that he said was when taking notes on conference make sure to not write down just what the speaker is saying, but write down what you are thinking. Because you can always go back and look at their words and plus if you just write down their words it doesnt mean anything to you. Anyways after devotional we always have district devotional review with our district which is always good. And THEN to end the night we did a little gift exchange since its our last week here and it was hilarious! i would tell you the gifts but they wouldnt really make sense. We all just bought stupid small gifts from the little store but it was so funny. Sorry I dont really ever say much about our fake investigator lessons we teach. We have three investigators and we rotate teaching them. The lessons go well, and I know our teachers are acting like those people acted when they taught them...but its hard and just isnt the same as it will be teaching real people. But my spanish is the best during the lessons, compared to just when we talk outside of the lessons, so thats good i guess. Sorry I dont feel like I have much to write, but we do the same thing here every day so I dont have much, especially when the week felt like I went by so quickly. Mom of course i wear your dressed you made me! They are so comfy and i´ll probably wear them even more in El Salvador...its actually sometimes kinda cold here in Mexico. Hope parent teacher conferences go well for you tonight and i hope the primary program goes well for you this week! Also I am so glad you guys got my letters in the mail. Dad Im glad to hear that you get to golf again. im sure you have been dying to do that. Also Im glad you could understand my spanish in my letter. I know i messed up on accents marks cause im not used to writing them..but oh well sounds like I didnt do too bad. Um for the Jesus the Christ book I want to be able to make marks in it...so if you want to give me the one you used on your mission if you dont care that i make marks in it then i dont care, or you can get me a new one. up to you! Dont worry about sending the CD i´ll just read it. Im glad work is going well for you too. Are you just having a lot of 7-11 calls? or are you working on a church right now too? Grandma I LOVE YOUR EMAILS! seriously they make my day every time. Im always laughing when I read your emails because I can just hear you saying it to me. I miss and love you! Well tonight our Hermana teachers are giving our district a special treat and bringing us tacos from the outside world!! Cause like i love the food here...but it is cafeteria food..so we wanted real food from outside the walls of the CCM, so they are making us tacos tonight. I figure we wont get sick right? hopefully not. hahaha i trust our teachers. but yeah we are having a little fiesta tomorrow we have what is called "In Field Orientation" which is all day long...and i have heard it is quite boring. It is for all the missionaries who are leaving the CCM. So we´ll see how that goes..but at least it is a change of pace and getting out of the classroom. Then Saturday will be a normal day. Then Sunday will be another lovely sunday. Its fast sunday since General Conference is the next week. Then the other hermanas in our district leave in the middle of the night on sunday (they already know when they leave because they are going back to the US) so we will have to say goodbye to them so that will be hard. Then I am guessing monday we will have classes and we´ll have time to pack and thats probably when you´ll get another email from me. This is all the plan if I am leaving tuesday, but like I said im not quite sure yet. Then the elders in our district all leave wednesday. so yep only a few more days! Thats basically all! I am so ready to get to El Salvador and serve! Love you all so much Hermana Groneman

Pictures at CCM

Vive Mexico

Hola familia!

 

Wow I cannot believe it has already been another week!  I am down to a week and a half left in the CCM and then i'll be in El Salvador!  SO CRAZY!  Mom I'm not sure the exact day I leave yet, I should know by next week.  But it will be anywhere from Sunday (the 29th) in the middle of the night to Tuesday.  Also I get to email you like the day before I leave or something.  But anyways thats still like 9 or 10 days away, right?  Also um so im pretty sure I can call you at the airport, but i dont have a phone card.  Can I buy one of those at the airport or what should I do? Did Ryan call when he was at the airport? I figure dad is probably the only one who might be able to be home to talk to, but still send me mom, ryan, and colbys phone numbers so maybe i could call them and leave a message if i cant talk to them.  Or whatever.  I dont know I guess we can figure that out next week. 

 

This week was just another good old week in el CCM.  Its really so great here.  I wish I could come back in like a year or two and see all the changes, cause they are already starting to make a lot of changes to the campus.  They are putting in new washers and dryers in the casas, and the other day we were at gym over by the track and it looked like they are looking at redoing the track (right now its justs rocks).  Also they are in the process of making a new mailroom.  So yeah this place is already beautiful and I cant imagine how great its going to be in like a year.  ALso theyve made upgrades on meal time like now they have nutella and syrup which is great for us missionaries from the US. 

 

Im feeling about the same as I did last week.  I love it here. But I cant wait to get to El Salvador and teach real people.  It is really hard to stay focused studying the language all day and in classes.  Although I know its going to be hard I just want to be thrown out into it.  In Relief Society on Sunday Hermana Pratt ( oh by the way dad yes I have talked to the Pratts, I told them that Brandi was in our ward like the first day I got here haha)  talked about how life is full of patterns and one pattern is how God continually throws us out into the lone and dreary world or the wilderness.  It is repeated so many times in the scriptures.  Once we get comfortable, God throws us into a new situation.  And thats because its the only way we can learn.  And literally I just want to be thrown out into the lone and dreary world of El Salvador.  I feel like ive hit a wall in my learning and I want to learn by experience now.  But i still got a week so Im trying to make the most of it.

 

It is absolutely insane that I am not like one of the "oldest" in my time here at the CCM.  I remember my first week talking to people who were on their 5th and 6th week and thinking how far away that seemed, and now thats me!  Our whole district was pretty sad this week when one of the other districts in our branch left.  They were the ones that we played ultimate frisbee with at gym almost every day.  So no more frisbee for us.  You should be so proud of me, cause Hermana Garbett and I have been actually working out a lot.  Im up to jogging two miles every day and then doing my abs and pushups which for those of you who really know me, two miles is pretty good hahaha. 

 

The big excitement this week was Mexican Night and Independence Day here in Mexico!  I'll send my pics in another message.  But it was a TON of fun.  I am so grateful I got to be here at this time of year.  On Saturday night we had mexican night in the gym and we watched a short clip on mexican history and then they had a ton of mexican dancers there to perform for us and sing for us.  It was awesome! It made me so excited to be in El Salvador and learn about their culture their, cause even though we dont ever leave the walls of the CCM other than to the temple, I still feel like I have felt a love for this culture here in Mexico.  Also we sang the EFY medley song (the armies of helaman) but they were singing in español obviously.  I think they sing that at provo mtc probably quite a bit, but we never sing it here so it was so powerful to be in the gym with all of the missionaries and lot of our teachers were there too and to hear it in a different language.  Then on Sunday night we also went to the gym at night and got to participate in the shout (i cant remember what the word is in spanish...it starts with a g)  but they broadcast the president of mexico and he says VIVE (fill in the blank)! ....VIVE (fill in the blank)! VIVE (fill in the blank)! and everyone repeats VIVE! each time he says a different thing and then he ends with VIVE MEXICO! so it was great to be there for that.  Even though Sunday was the offical independence day, there was still partying and fireworks going on all weekend outside in the city, but it actually didnt bother my sleep much so thats good.  I have been a little extra tired this week...but thats fine.

 

Im glad it sounds like you all have a great week! even if the utes lost.  its okay they'll win this next week against BYU :)  Most of you talked about the rain and storms here in mexico.  in all honesty i havent noticed much extra rain then normal.  It is always raining here at night time.  So yeah haha.

Dad I think that is great that you are still reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I don´t have much time to just read it in spanish like we used to, but obviously we study out of it.  Also at the temple last week I was able to see a sealing room and it is beautiful, I havent seen the baptismal font though.  Literally the temple here is gorgeous though.  Like every temple.  I cant imagine what the people in mexico city think though. Because the city is so poor and then right in the middle is this gorgeous temple. Im excited to go one last time to the mexico temple next week.

Mom Im glad school is going well for you. and no i dont care if other people read my email and see this, i still want you to know i love you more than the universe!  I hope you have fun this weekend if you take the trailer out of go up to SLC or whatever.

 

Im not putting this cause I expect a lot, but for ideas for my bday or christmas...there isnt much i really need.  But if you are thinking candy send me some reeses or chocolate or sour patch watermelons. Also I really decided I want to read Jesus the Christ.  I heard they have them in almost every apartment in the field so i didnt bring one, but i decided I want my own so I can mark it.  I would buy it here at la tienda...but they only sell it in español and I want it in english haha. Also this is more for christmas but Im thinking im pretty sure we´ll end up watching General Conference in spanish so if you could send me the ensign copy of the the conference talks in english when it comes out I would probably love that.  but anways thats just random stuff.  Really I just want to hear from you, so letters and emails.  and to all of my friends email or write me cause i miss you and want to hear whats going on back at home.

 

Estoy muy agradecido por el Evangelio y la opportunidad a servir un misión.  Yo se que a traves la doctrina de Jesucristo yo puedo vovler a vivir con Dios.  Yo se que a Dios conteste mis oraciones y me quiere a ser felicidad. Estoy muy agradecido por Jesucristo y su Expiacion, y la oportunidad yo tengo a llegar a ser un mejorar persona cada día.  Este Iglesia es muy importante a mi, y porque de el Evangelio yo recibió muchas bendiciones en mi vida.  Estoy muy agradecida que familias son eterna.

 

Les amo mucho.

 

xoxo

Hermana Groneman

Half way done with CCM

Officially starting week 4 familia! and I am officially half way done with my time here at the CCM! How blessed am I to be a missionary at this time. How blessed am I to be here at the CCM in Mexico City. How blessed am I to have the opportunity to learn another language and have God helping me every step of the way. How blessed am I to have a knowledge of this gospel. How blessed am I to have family and friends who love me so much. That is how I have felt this week. On Tuesday night at the devotional we had one of the Area Seventy here in Mexico speak to us. He talked about how the last time he stood at that pulpit was with two apostles when they announced to the students of Benemerito that the school would be closing and become an MTC. He talked about how there was a lot of sadness because of the great joy the school had been for so many in Mexico. But at the same time the prophetic vision that this school would one day become a center for learning the spanish language and I am a part of that. Ah it is just so amazing to be here. On Sunday the devotional we watched was from Elder Holland and it was a devotional that he gave at the provo MTC back in January. Haha there is no greater excitement among the missionaries than when they announce the devotional and they say it is Elder Holland. I wish he would come here and speak cause that would be incredible. But anyways his devotionals are always AMAZING. So inspiring and so hilarious. The one we watched on sunday he kept cracking jokes like "sometimes i just wish i could take away peoples agency....Oh i really shouldnt be saying that" and "....you are a bunch of escapees from the aaronic priesthood" and i dont know they arent gonne be funny me telling you them, but i wish that they had the devotionals online for you to watch but they are just for missionaries. But at one point in the devotional he was getting all riled up and saying all of these funny things and everyone was laughing so hard and then all of a sudden Elder Holland got really emotional and you know how powerful he is when i speaks and he said "THIS MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME" (talking about missionary work) and he said it like 5 times and it was so silent. It was amazing how one second the whole auditorium was laughing and then two seconds later the spirit is so strong and it is completely silent. Also he talked about how important our generation is. and the fact that OUR GENERATION WILL NOT FAIL. Every other dispensation has lost the gospel off the earth and none has succeed. But we know that we will succeed and our generation will not fail. I LOVE when we get to watch devotionals. That is going to be one thing I miss when I am in the field, because the devotionals are always so uplifting. So another great thing that happened this week was on Tuesday, Hermana Garbett and I decided to speak spanish the whole day. NO ENGLISH. we decided this on like sunday and on monday hermana garbett was like "are we sure we really want to do it, can we really do it?" but we did. Tuesday morning we didnt really talk a ton, just cause we didnt really have much to say if we could only speak spanish. But as the day went on we were talking more and more and ALL IN SPANISH. It really made me realize that I am going to be able to survive in El Salvador. My spanish may not be that great yet, but it is coming, and I can do this. Another neat thing about it, is our district spoke a lot more spanish that day too. None of them were spending the whole day speaking spanish but just cause they were around us they felt like they had to because we were so it helped everyone. The coolest part about the whole day was at night after the devotional we have like a devotional review with our district and that was when we decided it would be okay to speak in english so we could discuss more with our district, but the funny thing was we kept saying things in spanish just cause thats what was natural to say after spending the whole day speaking spanish. I really am loving my time here, but then again like I have said, I am so so so ready to get out there. The other day we talked to a kid who was leaving for El Salvador this week (not my same mission) but it made me so excited to get out there. I just want to teach real people! And i love being at the CCM but its kinda just a social scene...like we learn a lot obviously, but im ready for it just to be me and my companion and teaching our investigators all day long. Even though i know its going to be tough i just cant wait! Life as a missionary is so funny though. Ive mentioned ultimate frisbee before and we play with this other district in our branch everyday for gym and its so much fun. except all of the rain makes it soo so soo muddy. Also its like the one time there is accidental contact between elders and hermanas and everyone always laughs and freaks out and make a big deal when an elder and hermana run into each other when they go for the frisbee. Also you know you are a missionary when the elders have made up a game with the sliding whiteboards. They act like its a football game and they try to slide the whiteboard from one side to the other and get it as close to the end with out it touching or bouncing back (Idk if that made any sense at all) but they get all into it and keep score and everything. Thats how you know you spend too much time in the classroom. Also its so weird to hear peoples real names. I can´t imagine called all the missionaries in my district by their first names and its weird to think no one will call me Amanda for another 18 months. Our investigators are doing well. I feel like every other lesson my spanish is good and then bad and then good and then bad. But hey its improving. All of our investigators are our teachers (pretending to be people). Two of them are pretty easy, understand things, and are following commitments. But one of them is super tough. She doesnt believe in god. She doesnt pray or read any scriptures. But surprisingly i actually like teaching her more, because it actually seems more realistic. Cause i know that investigators are not always going to agree and follow commitments and understand. And when we testify to her it is so powerful. I think that is basically all I really have to write this week. I dont know every week is the same. I am always so tired by the end of the day. The weeks go by so quickly though! Also don't worry i am being obedient. That little sleep over was a one time thing. I really am trying to be more obedient especially on getting to bed on time. On time is in bed at 10:30...but usually im not in bed till 10:40 so we´ll try to work on that this week. This weekend is Mexican Independence Day so we get to have Mexican Night party thing and im sure the city outside the CCM is going to be crazy so its probably gonna be loud. It was weird to think yesterday was september 11th back in the states. The temple was beautiful again today, i will try and send some more pics of the grounds to you dad. I am so happy the utes are doing well!! keep cheering loud for me!! Tell grandma that i loved her email and tell her to tell brooklyn hanks good luck for me! I want you all to know that I know this gospel is true and nothing has brought me greater happiness in my life. If any of you are reading this and haven´t read the Book of Mormon, read it and pray about it and you will come to know for yourself that it is true. And for those of you have read it, DONT EVER STOP READING IT. The other day someone said here, that no person ever falls away from the church without first stopping reading the Book of Mormon. Read it every day. Even if it is one verse. It is true. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God and because of that we have a prophet on the earth today and we know how to live so that one day we can live with out families forever. I love you all so much. Hermana Groneman

Week #2

Hola Familia! So first off, im so sorry about my letter last week being so crazy..i reread it just barely and i messed up everything i was saying and forgot to tell you some things but i have more time this week so hopefully that will help. This week has been fabulous as well. It is so true that the days in the CCM seem so long, but the weeks go by so quickly. I will tell you some of the things i forgot to say last week and then answer questions and then tell you about this week. Um first off i realized last week i made a mistake and said i was in the intermediate level, but im not, im in beginner, i think you probably got that but just to clarify. Also i forgot to say that Hermana Garbett and I are Sister Training Leaders. Really that doesn´t mean much here in the CCM, we basically are just supposed to watch over the other Hermanas if they have any problems, but yeah we don´t do much otoher than that. Also i forgot to tell you all the people ive seen here from Springville! it really isnt that many people but on the first day I ran into Hermana Thomas (she did sterling scholar) and she left this last week i believe. Also I ran into Hermana (Lexi) Lister my first day, i actually see her quite a bit and we chat, it was great to talk to her my first week because she is only a week ahead of me so she knows exactly everything im going through. Also Elder (Derek) Boyer is here, he is going to a different mission in El Salvador. He said he remembered taking your sewing class mom and it was his favorite haha. Anyways i think there might be a couple other springville kids here other than them but i dont know them very well. Also i don´t think i really talked about the organization here at the CCM. So im sure in provo it is super organized but here it is a little laid back. Like i didnt tell you but the night we got here we didnt really have any direction on what to do after we checked in and just you kinda have to figure things out for yourself, its kinda funny but the first week is kinda confusing sometimes, but its better this week. About the temple last week, we bascially go every other pday, so we didnt go today but we will go next week. It really is beautiful and there are some gorgeous paintings inside and a lot of them i hadnt seen before. I loved going to the temple but it did make our pday go by super super quick and we didnt have a lot of extra time. It takes like 30min to an hour to get there. Um mom i have been taking the probiotics every few days, but not every day. I did at first but i havent been sick yet so i think if i just take it every couple days i can save more for later when im in the field when i might need them more. Also i am still eating fine. like really dont worry about that at all anymore cause i literally eat SO much every meal. People complain about the food a lot, but i still really like it :) Dad, im not sure how long a package would take, maybe 2 weeks? if not still send me the shorts later in El Salvador. Also if you have heard of dear elder its a website you can type up a letter and then they print them off here and i get it on tuesdays like i would a normal hand written letter (thanks Avery for sending me one it made my whole day! plus i needed your email!) So about my week, After last pday i had friday and saturday and i felt like those days were a little rough. I literally love everyday but i was struggling with things i felt like i needed to work on or what not. But sunday was fast sunday and I was fasting for things to help me be a better missionary and literally every single thing i was fasting for was answered in our meetings on sunday. I seriously think all of our meetings were just for me specifically. Our leadership meeting was how we can better help our companions and how we don´t know the background stories of those we are around. Relief Society was on the universal language of love and how we speak with the tongue of angels. District meeting was on Christlike Attributes.Sacrament meeting was a testimony meeting (so everyone had like 45sec to share their testimony). then we had our class with the MTC president and President Pratt spoke on the the Atonement and Grace. He really focused on grace and how it is because of the atonement that we are able to do things we wouldn´t have the strength to do on our own. It made me think of you this summer Mom and i know God doesn´t make our burdens lighter, but he strengthens us so that we may be able to carry them with more ease. Sunday Devotional was a recorded broadcast from Elder Christoffersen, and he talked about how we can´t just be busy. We most truly focus on our efforts and the results of our work. I love listening to the devotionals from the apostles to the missionaries. First off, you think that the apostles are sometimes funny when they crack a joke in conference? haha well you should hear them in the missionary devotionals. they are hilarious! Second reason I love them is because they always have comforting words for the missionaries to not be discouraged and they always reassure us of their love and the prayers of the people all around the world. It is so amazing to hear that we are probably the most prayed for group of people in the world. It gives us a lot of strength. Also they always talk about how although we are not apostles our duty is apostolic (i dont know if i spelled that right) and that we walk side by side with the apostles. Our purpose is the same. Also Sunday night for our movie we watched a movie on the Book of Mormon (i cant remember the name) and its about how people literally gave everything they had to learn more about the Book of Mormon because they knew it was true. Parley Pratt gave up his whole house and farm and everything to search for the truth and then he came across the Book of Mormon and read it and new it was the word of God so he traveled until he could find Joseph Smith or anything related to this book, the movie also talked about a minister in Italy who found the book of mormon in the street but it was so worn he couldnt seee the title anymore and the title page had been ripped out. He read it and new it was the word of God, so he spent a lot of his life preaching from it to the people in his churches but he got in trouble for it and was banned for teaching. He had so many times in his life where he gave up his career and everything for this book and he didnt even know the title or the church that it belonged too. Eventually he came in contact with the church and after many many years (because of circumstances that weren´t allowing him to communicate with the church) he was baptized. It is an amazing story and my summary doesnt do it justice but anyways sunday night movie is always great. The beginning of this week has been fabulous as well. I feel like our district has grown even closer. The other day in the cafeteria there were some missionaries singing god be with you till we meet again because some of othem were leaving the CCM and I can´t imagine what that is going to be like when we leave. The other day our whole district broke out into song and we were singing high school musical in our classroom and it was hilarous. Our district is all so different but we love each other so much. Tuesday night was a devotional and Elder and Sister Villalobos (I think they are from the area seventy here in mexico) talked. Also our branch and another branch sang Señor, Te Necesito (I Need Thee Every hour) as a choir. Sister villalobs talked really really short but she expressed a special thank you to the hermanas for serving and for the example we are to her daughters, it really touched me. Elder Villalobos talked about how when we serve others we tie our hearts to them. He also talked about M&M´s which equals Missionaries & Members. Members are such an important role in the work of salvation. At the end he also talked a little bit about Zions camp and that reminded me of Dads lessons in Sunday School. He said that at some point in all of our lives we will go through our own Zions Camp and that means we will all have a time in our life to provo ourselves to the Lord. And serving a mission i think is definitely one of those times. After devotional we have District Devotional review in our classroom just with our district and our district shared our thoughts on the devotional and then one of our District Leaders asked us to all go around a share a fear or weakness we have in regards to our missions. It was crazy to hear how we all have fears and weaknesses but when we see each other every day we are all so strong and such good examples to each other. The first week we only had one investigator (obviously fake, she was one of our teachers) and her name was Daniela. She was very accepting and open, which was good for our first investiagtor but I know it isn´t going to be that easy. We taught her probably like maybe 5 lessons? But then this week we got all new investigators. We now have 3 (they are still all our teachers pretending to be investigatros). we have only taught one of them so far this week, but we have heard from other people in our district that one of them doesnt believe in God, won´t read the book of mormon, is super happy with her life, loves to party, doesn´t pray, wont do anything, so im a little nervous for that lesson. But i hope we can just get her to feel something and mabye then will she open up a little. My spanish is okay. Im not really frustrated with it, but i dont know. At the CCm you are supposed to do what is called HSI (Hablar Su Idioma) which means speak spanish all the time, in class, at lunch, as your walking, where ever. You are supposed to use all the language that you can. But our district doesnt do that hardly at all. Our teachers are obviously way good at teaching to us in spanish, but there are like 3 of us in our district who will try to answer questions and share comments in spanish. and then when we are all talking together with our district they barely use any spanish at all. That kind of frustrates me because speaking is where I need the most help. Plus everything that we have learned so far I bascially already knew. It was a good review and i needed it. But i just feel like i havent progressed hardly at all because and i havent learned many new things (other then when we have language study on the computers and i can study what i want) and im not able to have many conversations in spanish other then during our lessons. I know i have improved a little, like i know a lot more gospel vocabulary now. I still am at a good level of spanish compared to the rest of my district but i just wish i myself was improving more. if that makes any sense at all. I really am learning so much each day though. About myself, about the gospel, about missionary work. I really am excited to get out there though haha. I know im not ready to be out there yet though, especially with the language. But as much as i love being around all the other missionaries and the fun we have here in the CCM I just want to be in El Salvador teaching real peopple. But ive got more to learn. Um random fun things about this week. Basically we got to la tienda (the store) every day and i buy ice cream and mexican snacks haha. We get 120 pesos a week. so yeah i spend my money on snacks. Also it rains SO much. Every day at 6pm you can count on a down pour. and the thunder here is CRAZY. I am thinking i might want a better umbrella for when i get to El Salvador. Hermana Garbett has a really nice one from the sister missionary mall. Maybe that could be a good bday or christmas present, and a rain jacket. i didnt bring one and i think i might want one. These are just ideas though, im fine with everything that i brought for now. Also other fun things is our district has been playing ultimate frisbie with another district during gym and its a blast. the other district is hilarous too! I love hearing from all of you and im glad everyone is doing well! Give me details about whats going on! I was so glad to hear the Utes won their game! One of the senior couples serving here that i flew in with on the plane told me on friday that they won barely and I was so happy! Also thanks for the pictures! keep sending more each week of whatever! Sounds like janelle and courtney got some good couponing done, nice work! I am so glad grandma emailed me, i am going to write her a letter back today, but also just tell her that i lover her! Im glad you all had fun getting together for labor day. Mom i am glad school is going well for you and i hope you have good classes! Dad i think about you lots here when im speaking spanish all the time. I dont think we have sung that hymn yet but maybe i will try too. We obviously love called to serve but especially here because there are two extra versus in the Spanish version. I miss you all tons. Keep sending me the emails or write me letters! I am going to send some pics in another email. I realized why they didnt all send last week so i will resend some of them. We are only allowed to take pictures on pday so most of them will still just be from last week or a few from this morning! Thank you for your prayers and i love you all! Mom i love you more than the universe! Hermana Groneman PS to Matt Duke, Hermana Garbett is disappointed she never got a goodbye from you ;) Also i need your email Matt haha forgot to tell you about breaking the rules....dad will enjoy this since it sounds like you spent this past week telling stories with your friends.. So me and hermana garbett live in a different house than the other two hermanas in our district which kinda sucks cause it would be fun if we all lived together. But this week our roommates left the mtc (the were leaving for a different mission in El Salvador, they were really nice but we didnt have the same schedules as them so we only saw them at night) so we were hoping that Hermana Jones and Hermana Hawkins could move in. But we asked and they said no and we figured it was because new missionaries were probably moving in that day (it was tuesday which is when all the newbies get here) but when we got back to our room at night nobody had moved in so we ran out of our house and met hermana jones and hermana hawkins in the middle of the street (this is at like 10pm) and told them to come sleep over and we were all so excited! also im pretty sure that might be against the rules. which is bad because they always stress to us that exact obedience brings blessings. but hey just once. So they brought all their bedding over and slept over at our casa and we stayed up late talking (also breaking rules oops) but it was fun and these are the memories im gonna remember from the CCM. Dont worry i´ll work on being more obediente this week!