C a l l e d t o S e r v e: No One Told Me

NO ONE TOLD ME I WAS GOING TO MAKE SO MANY GREAT FRIENDS HERE AT THE CCM!!! IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN I WOULDN'T HAVE COME!!! This week we had to say goodbye to SO many wonderful hermanas and it broke my heart! Goodbyes are my least favorite thing in the entire world, so if I would have known I would have to already say goodbyes, I wouldn't have come! Just kidding. But still, it was way sad to lose them, but we're all going to have a barbecue with a blow up slide when we get back so it's not like I won't see them again. Maybe by then we'll actually know how to speak Spanish. I can't wait for that day!!

So like I was convinced that I had gained like 20 pounds since I got here because they feed us SO MUCH RICE AND BREAD, but last night I tried on my jeans to make sure they still fit and they do!! So if you are looking at my pictures and thinking I look chunkier, I'm not, okay. The jeans don't lie. Hahaha so I guess you could say it's been a pretty good week. Go me for not gaining weight! I always try to do workout and I run a TON during physical activity, but it doesn't feel like it... we have a big problem of snacking in our district haha whoops. But seriously, if you want a good snack, you should buy some salsa flavored tortilla pringles, they are fabulous and you'll eat the whole can in about an hour hahaha.

Anyways, enough about food, haha holy moly my emails are always everywhere. So this week was great! Just a pretty typical week for the most part - class, food, class, food, teaching, class, FOOD. But on Saturday, we had a chance to go proselyting and it was NOT what I was expecting at all! Usually when people go out and proselyte for the day, they get put with an actual missionary and you just go and help them teach lessons, knock doors, etc. But not this time, I guess they decided to switch it up! They decided to keep us in our companionships (so I was with Hermana Park) and they put us with 2 members and we went and visited inactive members which was AWESOME except before we left the ccm, they told us not to prepare anything because we would be going along with what the missionaries had planned and just bear our testimonies. So we had nothing prepared, I only had my Spanish Book of Mormon, and a Liahona to give them. Soooo we get with these two members thinking that they had a message to share for the inactives right? Well, we get to the first house, we start small talking, and then the member turns to us and says "these two sisters have prepared a message specifically for you" and me and Hermana Park just BLANK STARE at each other and it was the most awkward thing in the entire world. We had no idea what was going on, who this person was, and it was sooo awkward. So we both just talked about the importance of the gospel in our lives, etc and then the lady had to go finish her lunch. Then, the members ask us after if we had anything prepared and we were like no!! So pretty much it was just an awkward time. There were a lot of people that weren't home when we went to the rest of the houses and a lot of the people we went to visit were young 15 year old girls that we could tell felt way awkward as we tried to speak our broken Spanish to them. Hahahaha it was definitely not what any of us were expecting. I was hoping we would get a missionary!! But it was still a wonderful time visiting with them and seeing how they were doing. And it was nice to see what a more poor part of Peru looks like - definitely humbling that is for sure! Except I guess me and Hermana Park are just too friendly cause the members kept getting mad at us for saying hello to every person that walked past... hahaha, and also I wanted to give every dog on the street a hug because they were all so sad and one had a broken leg and rubbed up against my leg. I may or may not have petted a puppy beagle - don't worry mom, it was a house dog and I used hand sanitizer right after. Even though it was an awkward time when we had no idea what was going on at that first door, it was still a really neat opportunity and got us all excited to get out in the mission field and start helping people! I know my Spanish is still MUY mal, but I have no worries about it.

I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks here at the CCM before I depart to this magical place called Bolivia. Whenever I tell a Latina my mission is Bolivia Santa Cruz they always say "mucho calor!!" but they also say it's pretty so yay!! I'm just going to be way sweaty all the time, so cute hahaha. Hmmm what else is new about this week... I don't know. Pretty much I am just having the time of my life - I'm always exhausted, constantly working, and never have time to breath, but I absolutely love it and my district is absolutely fabulous. They really are my family! This week Elder Riddick said something way precious, he said "guys, if you ever feel like you're really homesick and missing your family, just remember that you're family is right here" it was super precious and is so true! They really are my family and we bicker like siblings, but it's awesome. And my teachers are even better! Hermano Janampa was having a hard day this last week, so we all wrote him a note and he said in his silly English "I love you guys!" and we said "we love you too!" and he just says "so cute" then shuts the door and walks away hahaha. He is so awesome! There are certain words I will forever say because of him - que en el mundo and "jup" (yup) hahahahaha. It's so fun.

I have some very exciting news!! I BOUGHT SOME SPANISH SCRIPTURES!!! They gave us the floppy ones in the mtc and mine are pretty hideous looking so I decided to splurge and get myself a nice pair from the distribution center and I couldn't be more excited to have them!! They are still in their nice wrapping and I just can't wait to start using them! Ah! It's the little things that make you happy, you know!

Well, that's pretty much it for the week! The days are long and the weeks are short and soon I'm going to be in BOLIVIA! I can't believe it! I can't imagine life out of the ccm, but I'm also way excited about it! This gospel is so true and I cannot wait to share the light and joy that it brings to the people of Bolivia. This week I encourage you all to look for opportunities to serve others or reach out and tell someone about the gospel! And report back to me! Hahaha. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hermana Higham

P.S. Shout out to the best dad in the entire world! I hope you have the bestest fathers day ever! I'm sad I'm missing it, but just know that I'm sending my hugs and kisses your way! Love you Daddy!