Week #4

Hola familia!

Congratulations on stepping into the 21st century! teehee, I hope you are still loving your new phones! Dad, is it a somewhat acceptable replacement for your palm pilot?
Mom, I really want a picture of your frog picture! I am sure it looks AMAZING!!! And I hope your new glasses are working even better now!

To add to your to do list: white collar, america's cup!, now you see me..., and the proposal...(wow all things to watch...) I also want to play volleyball!

Ok, crazy stuff is happening! I found me FIRST WHITE HAIR!!!! No joke! it is NOT blond but white! I actually taped it into my journal and it matches the paper perfectly. So maybe you should make a list of things you want further explanation of and I'll read bits and pieces of my journal when I get back...

This week Hermana Howton and I decided to do a random act of kindness and we heartattacked our old roommates' class room! It was a blast! Then as a district for FHE we heart-attacked Hermana and President Pratt!

I had my first language breakdown this week... It was the end of the day, I hadn't slept well, and I just wasn't getting the language and I started crying! (it was super embarrassing.) Anywho, our elders are super sweet and Elder Larson shared his favorite scripture with me and Elder Johnson asked if there was anything he could do... It was super sweet and really supportive!

Ummm...I realized that this last Sunday was the only Sunday that I would have as a choir director because this Sunday is fast Sunday (and the choir doesn't sing) and next Sunday is general conference so I changed the song and we sung '' I know that my Redeemer Lives'' to the rhapsody hymn arrangement I brought with me... It was super beautiful!
I can't believe I have been gone for a month! It has really just flown by! I am loving practically every minute!

The Spirit is so awesome! This week we had to prepare a lesson and we were thinking about it all day and just didn't know what we needed to talk about with our investigator... as I was studying my scriptures before bed I opened to Mormon 9 (talks about the plan of salvation, Joseph Smith, keeping the commandments) I just had the thought that we needed to read this chapter with our investigator! It was an awesome lesson and it lead into our next lesson of keeping the commandments PERFECTLY!

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam! Yesterday for one of our practices in teaching we had to pretend we were teaching to sunbeams... and the person being taught got to act like a sunbeam.... (can you see me going kind of crazy with this?!?) Anywho, I was paired up with Elder larson and it was the funnest activity I have done here! I got so into it that other people in our district started laughing at me because I am so good at being a sunbeam! It was a blast! (This is another story you might want further explanation on once I get home...)

Helaman 5:24 - what does your heart take courage in? I think this is a really profound question! And I would like some answers to it, if you feel so inclined! (from both of you...yes, you too dad! : )

Also, something I have learned so strongly while being here is how blessed I am and how grateful we should be everyday. Something that I am starting to do is writing one thing I am grateful for everyday. I hope by the end of my mission to have a huge chart! And I was just thinking you might like to join me in making a gratitude chart! Also, there is a talk on lds.org, i think it is entitled, ''1,000 things to be grateful for''? It is an awesome talk and it is what gave me the inspiration!

I love you all so much! Keep going strong 100% happy and healthy! You are the greatest!

Love,

Hermana Ives
pss your lil' sunshine girl!
　
Grandma Caye!
I promise first day back I will be coming and knocking on your door! Thanks your your e-mail! I love you so much! I miss our Solitaire competitions we are going to have to have a championship when I get back!
I love you so much!
your lil sunshine girl!
　
PSSS - tell Marcy congratulations for me and tell her that I would love to see pictures! (of the apartment that is...but she could send me a picture of her breakfast if she really wanted to! ;)

Week #3

Hey I am so happy that you get to work in the temple! And I am super happy that your couples retreat was fun even though I couldn't be there. ;)

 

Ok, so here is my week (prolly not in order, but whatever!)

 

The Lord knows me SOOOOOO well! Being here in Mexico has made me so so so so SO grateful that I am going to be serving in the US! I have never really been a picky eater....but the food in the cafeteria is VERY difficult to pretend to like sometimes! I even decided to be healthy ad adventurous once and it came back to bite me. I decided to get some white fish...my piece was very NOT cooked! ewwwww! And I have a list of foods I am going to eat as soon as I get in the US. Here it is: Turkey sandwich, chicken Cesar salad, and pasta without any fruit in it! And then for desert I am going to had brownies and ice cream! Boo yeah!

 

Last P-day we had to move casas because one of the bathrooms in our old one was broken and the materials they were going to use to fix it were hazardous so everyone had to move out. Anyways sad story is that we got split up from our old roommates and got new one... I am not nearly as found of them as our old roommates because One of them sets their alarm for 6am instead of 6:30 just so she can hit snooze until 6:30.... the other one has an alarm clock that lights up and makes ''ocean sounds'' and it takes her a good 3 minutes before she will turn over to turn it off! But they are kind of funny so it is okay.

 

For gym we play volley ball and I am seriously getting WAY better plus it is super fun!

 

So apparently the Mexicans have two independence celebrations??? because last Saturday there was a Mexican night and we got to sing the national anthem, watch the presentation of the flag, a short history movie, and a lot of native dances!!! and on Sunday we were able to participate in the gritto...(i am not sure if that is really how you spell that...) anyways we got to shout VIVA! so it was kind of fun but it started at 11pm so everyone was super tired!

 

This last Sunday Hermana Howton and I taught our district meeting about Chapters 10 and 11 in Preach my gospel! It went so well and I realized that I am really not used to asking a question and receiving 5 answers that are actually related to said question! lol it went so well President Christen actually said, ''I know we don't applaud in the church but I just have to!'' needless to say that made me feel pretty great!

 

Hey dad I am not sure if you have been to the Church's Hastening the Work website...but it is totally awesome and inspirational for missionary work in wards... just thinking you might want to use it in an Elder's quorum meeting or something...

 

So, I have seen Elder Clarkson a couple of times. He was rather surprised, as was I about how you have to work really hard to feel the spirit all the time. The MTC is nothing like EFY where the spiritual high is given to you... I think that has something to do with the missionary culture at this MTC since it is so new/young and because we have to prove to the Lord that it is important to us to have His spirit with us.

 

Okay so I just have to say that I have to most awesome teachers and district EVER"!!! So our district had been having a really hard time focusing during study time and actually being on time to class. and so our morning teacher Hermano Smith had a ''talk'' with us. He said that we needed to figure it out and that people of integrity find a way not excuses. and ever since then our district had been on time and actually quiet during study time! Then Hermana Christensen, last night, talked about how she has never had such a special district in her years of teaching at the MTC and that we are all leaders and we need to help not just our companions, not just our district, but we need to set the examples for this MTC and help create a better missionary culture!

 

Also, the other day in class Hermano Smith paid me a huge compliment. He said that I was a superstar in our district because I had had the least amount of Spanish training beforehand but my pronunciation is amazing and that while I am teaching even though my grammar isn't perfect it is easy to understand because I can say it so clearly... anyways that just made me feel really good. and really reading the book of mormon in Spanish has helped my pronunciation and everything SO much!

 

We taught one of our investigators this week and before going into the lesson Hermana Howton asked if we should extend the invitation to be baptized. I told her to do whatever she felt prompted to do. Anyways our whole lesson was on the importance of the Atonement in our lives. She felt like we needed to go into the steps of repentance but we are supposed to keep our lessons between 15 and 20 minutes and we were already pushing it so we ended.  Anyways. our investigators are our teachers and this time we were teaching Hermana Christensen. she called a time out, and asked us how we felt about the lesson. It felt pretty good but i was kind of frustrated because she had asked a question and I understood the question but didn't have the spanish to be able to answer it. She said that is was the BEST lesson she had ever had at the MTC and that we had her in our lesson where we could have asked her to go to the moon and she would have, she said that when you feel the spirit and it is guiding you you HAVE to follow it. Anyways, it felt really good and yet we were both so frustrated because we totally would have done it if we had more time! gahhh!

 

Okay Answers:

TRC - is where we get the opportunity to share a message and talk to local members! It is super fun!

CCM - is the Spanish way to say MTC it is something like...centro de capacitacion missional de mexico

Choir - this week we are singing I'll go where you want me to go

E-mails - yup I can print them - don't worry about sending snail mail to the MTC...I will want some in Arkansas and I am actually going to need you to send me some stuff...like my pink USB, my sanjuan t shirt (and any other T-shirt), my sweatshirt, and a laundry bag, and a flashlight... (actually i can buy everything except the first two things...)

Weather - okay I don't know why but in my mind when i say Mexico I think tropical....yeah it really is pretty chilly and I have been super tempted to break open my winter space bag.. but I only have three more weeks so I am going to tough it out! And it is SUPER RAINY! Who knew?!? and if you did, and I find out you didn't tell me??? oh boy, just be ready! lol ;)

Honestly their tienda selection is really quite sad...

 

I went to the temple again today and it was SUPER AWESOME! I understood so much more!!! And going through the veil was awesome because I could actually pronounce the words and understood what most of them meant! I am super excited to go to a Spanish session with you! I love you

I have never been happier and never realized how many blessing I have had until now! I think limiting ourselves to ONLY 100% happy is difficult now! I love you both so much! You are the best parents in the world!

 

With a heart full of love,

(yes I did just quote Les Mis)

Hermana iva-la-vida!

Week #2

Hola mis padres!

 

Como esta usted? 

I saw Elder Clarkson the other morning! It was super good to see him! And man he has the best missionary hand shake I have received yet!

 

You asked about food... yesterday I ate cactus for the very first time in my life! It was actually okay. I thought that it was a slightly fried pita with cheese and chiles on top... I didn't actually know it was cactus until after I had eaten it all!

 

Last Friday for service the sisters went and helped in the laundry service!  I now know how to fold flat and fitted sheets like a pro because i folded like a bajillion! I have never seen so many sheets in my life!

 

Hermana Howton and I really enjoy playing soccer and volleyball with the elders in our district it is super fun! Elder Larson is super funny during soccer because anytime he comes up to get the ball from either of us he yells at the top of his lungs ''I'm sorry HERMANAS!!!''  And I think I might actually be kind of good at volley ball by the time I leave!

 

Okay I thought it was super funny in your letter this week how you were telling me what to do to not get sick....ummm I got sick LAST week and am totally over it this week! But I had the first feeling of homesickness on Saturday because I had to take a nap during gym because I was feeling so poorly and I thought about your homemade chicken noodle soup and honey lemon tea and just about lost it... but want to know what snapped me out of it?!? the thought of supertonic! lol as soon as I thought of that i was instantly 100% happy again although I can't say i was 100% healthy too! lol anywho I just wanted to say that I missed you and that I am super grateful that you have always been there for me!

 

Oh and having my first priesthood blessing by someone that wasn't you, dad, was ridiculously funny! Elders Johnson and Washburn (my district leaders) I think it might have been Elder Washburn's first time anointing... i practically got an entire vile of oil on my head... and my hair had an oil spot... but the blessing was beautiful, they used the priesthood, I had faith in them and in that and I am completely better now.

 

Okay funny story an Elder in our district, Elder Nanto (yes, he is part Japanese! - I thought josh might think that is cool) told a super crazy story! so  one morning he got up and was getting ready and got out his white shirt and put it on then went and brushed his teeth. after he had finished he went to his bed to get the white shirt he had picked out and it wasn't there so he went to his closet and put on a white shirt and went to class...  It wasn't until gym time when he started to unbutton his shirt that he looked down and so yet ANOTHER white button up shirt! he had been wearing two fully buttoned shirts for 8 hours and hadn't noticed at all! It is super funny to hear him tell the story... and I just realized it sounds kinda dumb on paper... oh well

 

I saw the biggest butterfly of my life the other day at choir practice! It was at least the size of dad's hand and it was all BLACK! it was super cool looking and it was kind of ironic about how chill I was about seeing it and how freaked out everyone else was... that had never happened to me before! anyways I wished I had my camera but it wasn't p-day so I didn't have it with me!

 

I now have a calling in my branch! You will never guess! I am the....wait for it... primary teacher! (lol jk) I am the choir director for our branch! I think that is pretty awesome! We get to sing any hymn or children's hymn we want!

 

Yesterday we had TRC where we got to share a short message and visit with a member from one of the local wards here! It was a really cool experience. At one point Hermana Lopez started to share her testimony about the atonement with us. I couldn't understand what she was saying because she was speaking in SPANISH! But I started tearing up because the spirit was so strong and beautiful!  And I learned how the Spirit is able to testify of truth in any language and at any time!

 

That being said... apparently I can speak Spanish really well...(that is what Hermano Smith - my teacher, and Hermana Howton say....) Like my pronunciation and grammar is really good... I just can't understand what anyone is saying.... and my companion is opposite she can understand practically everything and can speak but not as grammatically correct... but I have no idea if this is true because I can't understand what she is saying in SPANISH! But I know the Lord wouldn't have called me Spanish speaking if I wouldn't be able to do it. So I am just trying to have faith and be patient with myself.

 

I have learned a couple really cool things in my personal study this week that I want to share.  First off is that I was studying about the Atonement and how Jesus was called to be our Savior before the world was... and that got me thinking about my calling to earth. of course I can't remember it and the closest experience I have is receiving my mission call. So I started to imagine me in the spirit world bouncing up and down just waiting to see what I would be called to accomplish who my earthly family would be and how I could bless others. I imagine that I was as ecstatic and joyful to receive my call to earth as I was to receive my call to Arkansas. Because I am the same spirit as I was in the spirit world and as I will be when I leave this earth... anyway I thought that was super cool to think about.

The other major thing I learned is to NEVER judge! There is absolutely no way to tell from the outside of a person what is going on inside or what has happened in their past. We had a district meeting last week and some of the elders in our district shared their experiences that told them they needed to go on a mission. (we have one that is terminally ill - another who actually tried to commit suicide - and another who struggled with several bad habits....) You could never tell by seeing or with these elders that they had ever had such serious problems. So that has made me try to be better at not judging merely on appearances.

 

I am super happy that you are working in the Temple now mom!  You are going to tell me everything you are learning!

Dad! Thank you so much for being my GPS buddy on the plane! I appreciate it! :D That is super sweet! and I am still waiting for your answer about why rain clouds turn gray!

 

I am super sorry about PC! I love Grandma Caye so much! Tell her how much I miss her and love her! I have been praying for her and I miss her bunches and bunches! 

 

I love you SO much! You are the best parents in the entire world and being here has been such a blessing because it has helped me realize how blessed my entire life has been!

 

Stay strong! Pray everyday and make sure to laugh!

My companion and I came up with a saying, ''when you can choose between laughing or crying always choose to laugh because laughing is funner!''

 

I love you with all my hear!

Hermana Ives!

 

P.S. Give Grandma Caye my love. I hope she and Spud will be able to cope. I know PC is a lot happier in heaven now that he can see and run and play!

 

Week #1

Hola mi padres!

Ok first off I want to say sorry for not telling you in my last e-mail that my P-day was on thursday...they didnt tell me until after I had just closed out of my e-mail account. And another thing is that if any of the spelling is weird or capitalization is off it is because Spanish is messing with my mind and I am typing on a spanish keyboard which essentially the same except the shift and caps buttons are smaller and in different places.

Alrighty all the important details!

Me and my companion Hermana Howton taught our first investigator last Thursday! It has been fantastic teaching her but we do have some REALLY funny stories:

WRONG SCRIPTURE: at our first lesson we asked her to read a short list of scriptures about repentance, faith, and baptism. on the list was D&C 3:11-12. at our next lesson she asked about this scripture and we opened it up and read it.. both me an sister howton we completely lost we didnt recognize any of the words so we said what we knew the scriptures we had assigned had been about.... once we got home we looked it up in English and realized that we were supposed to read D&C 33:11-12. We felt so silly because the scripture we had read with her was the scripture about Joseph Smith losing his translating gift for a while...  needless to say we apologized profusly at our next lesson.

PRAYER: at our next lesson sister howton wanted to ask if we could close with prayer... but couldnt remember the word for close (and I had NO clue) so she ended up saying,  can we not open with prayer? teehee our investigator laughed quite a bit at that one.

MY COMPANION: Sister Howton is SO amazing! I couldnt have asked for a better companion in the entire CCM. She is so focused and fun to be with. We can talk to each other so easily and laugh together all the time. She is truly a blessing the Lord! Also she is super athletic so we have been doing a ton of ab workouts and squats and running...I have been so sore but it feels so good! She and I also have set some really awesome goals as a companionship, one of them being to read the entire Libro de Mormon before we leave the MTC! how cool is that! That is about 20 pages a day, and we are totally doing it! And reading has REALLY gotten easier for me... I actually sound kinda cool now! :)

District 4C At Mexico City Temple

SINGING IN DEVOTIONAL: Our branch was asked to sing at Tuesdays devotional so Hermana Howton and I joined in! We sang I need thee every hour in Spanish, and it was absolutely beautiful! Also it was hermana howtons first time singing in a choir and she did an absolutely fabulous job!

MY DISTRICT: is 4C and it is a pretty awesome group of elders. There are 4 companionships of Elders and us (the sisters) one thing though, our classroom is made out of tile and echoes like NONE other... so they start to talk a little bit loud and you cant hear yourself think. Also our district came up with nicknames for everyone and mine is Iva la Vida! I think it has a really nice ring to it dont you?!?

YOUR LITTLE NOTES: Thank you SO much! Hermana Howton quite enjoyed her foot roll up! teehee! You are so sweet mom thank you they make me smile everytime i find one!

FAST SUNDAY: was absolutely terrifying and awesome. everyone in our branch HAD to get up a bear a 45 second long testimony in Spanish...I did it and honestly I think I did really well! Also I had forgoten how much I absolutely love RS, I have really missed it! Oh and we got to break our fast with Mac n cheese...on spagetti noodles...it was really kinda weird

IM SINGING IN THE RAIN: Ummm....did you know it rains here??? like torrential downpours?!? It has seriously rained every afternoon and night I have been here! it is super crazy you can be out side for less than a minute and still be able to wring a cup of water out of the bottom of your skirt! It is crazy and there is always super loud thunder and really bright lightning to go along with it. And all the sidewalks are really just not even so there ends up being lakes in the middle of the sidewalk . One elder yesterday (either sprained or fractured) his ankle trying to jump over one of these puddles in the sidewalk!

MEXICO CITY TEMPLE! it is seriously the prettiest temple I have been in yet! They have a huge mural along the first wall you come to of when Christ comes to the Americas! Anyways we listened to the entire session in Spanish AND everything at the veil in SPANISH too! That was probably the most dificult thing I have done yet! But it was so cool! And the chandelier in the Celestial room! Oh how I wish I could have taken a picture! It was like stars of diferent sizes stacked on top of eachother!

Mexico City Temple

Driving in Mexico reminds me so much of Beijing China! All of the taxis and street vendors!

I absolutely love how bright every building is! and the graffitti looks SUPER cool! I am most definitely coming back after my mission just to sight see!

ADDRESS: just incase you were wondering the address here is :

Hermana Ives, Arkansa Little Rock Mission

Carr. Tenayuca - Chalmita No. 828

Col. Zona Escolar, Deleg. G.A. Madero,

C.P. 07330, Mexico, D.F.; Mexico

And now FOOD: I am actually kind of dissappointed they have cold cereal, pancakes, waffles, and usually some form of eggs or quesadilla for breakfast with an assortment of pan.

For lunch they always have beans and rice, a bunch of fruit, and some main dish of soup(which has always been my favorite) or a helping of various meats...

Dinner always changes but usually again there is meat... however for the last couple of days they have always had a green salad, fruit, cooked vegetables, and pasta.

A lot of people say the food isnt very good. You know I am NOT a picky eater so I think it is pretty good but i was really hoping for more authentic Mexican food :/ oh well.

With all my love!

Hermana Ives (which i now very automatically pronounce the Spanish way!