Angels among us :)

While at the Dallas airport during their layover (with Hermana's Winks and Ferguson, and Elder Mihu) a wonderful missionary mom came up to Kathy's table and talked to them for a few minutes, took their picture and said she'd email their picture to their parents. Her email I recieved a little bit ago follows. (LOVE awesome members who understand how we want to see our beautiful childrens faces!)


Hello Missionary Parents,
My name is Jenette. I had the privilege of meeting your 4 beautiful Missionaries this morning at the DFW Airport where I work. I am a Missionary Mom and have loved the pics that have been sent to me by members where our daughters are serving, so I had to snap a picture to send of your children. Our 4 children have served Missions and our two youngest daughters will be returning home in just a few weeks.
I want you to know that your son and daughters look great and are in very high spirits as they embark on this magnificent journey. Enjoy the pic, I will keep your Missionaries in my prayers.
Hugs,
Jenette

Saying goodbye at the CCM

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS.

The only reason I am on today is because I leave at 230 tonight!!! AH! I am freaking OUT. Ogden, HERE I COME. I feel pretty unprepared, but I know (deep, deep down) that it will all be okay! I am totally dreading the COLD. I am so used to Mexico weather and I do not want to leave!

Also! HAPPY THANKSGIVING. It doesnt feel real that this week is Thanksgiving! I am so excited to be back in the states for the holiday!

Friday was a long and interesting day. We had in field workshops ALL DAY. These workshops were to prepare us for leaving the CCM. I learned a lot and I will surely use what I learned.

Yesterday was a pretty emotional day! During Sacrament Meeting, my district got up and sang Come Thou Fount as our special musical number. We sang the first two verses in Spanish and the last in English. It was awesome. My district had the opportunity to bear our testimonies. Throughout the day, we took a bajillion pictures and attended different meeting. We watched a couple of videos, as we always do, and we also ended the meeting with a farewell video. I sat next to Elder Reynolds and my awesome comp. They were KILLING me. They are hilarious.

I cannot believe we are the ones leaving this week. The past couple weeks, we have been dreading being the ones up there on the screen. UGH. I love my district SO MUCH. A few of us have been writing letters to one another to read on the plane and saying goodbye to them is like, the hardest thing I have had to do so far. I am going to have a tough time if I get this attached to everyone I meet!!!!!!!

I have LOVED my experience here, and although I will miss Mexico, I know I am needed in Utah. LOVE YOU ALL. So incredibly grateful for your prayers and support!

Praying for you all!

Hermana Orchard

**We heard from Hermana Orchard after she landed in Dallas, and I will tell you, it was WONDERFUL to hear her voice! I had Maddy call Paul on her phone and had both phones on speaker phones so we could all talk together. She is doing great, nervous, excited, anxious.. you name it, but who wouldn't be? She flew in with two other sisters and an elder, and will continue on to Utah with atleast two of them. We should get an email from her mission president letting us know she arrived, so will post something once we hear from him ~Angie**

Branch presidency with district

With Zone leaders

Hermanas

Pajamas!

In the TALL Lab

With teacher Hermano Candia

The entire zone

Hermana Ferguson

with Elder Mihu

Last week at the CCM!

Good Morning Family & Friends!

Time is going by WAY TOO FAST. I hit my one month mark a couple days ago! WHAT. I have exactly one week left here in the CCM. I actually just found out I leave real early next Tuesday (230am), but if I think about leaving too much, I get pretty sad. Anyway, I will not have a Pday next week, so if ya write me, I will answer in a couple weeks FROM UTAH.

This week has been pretty great, of course. We have been practicing teaching a lot this week. My companion and I started teaching "Jguan (yes, that is spelled right...)" aka Elder Reynolds. It has been pretty interesting.... The Elders started teaching "LuLu" aka ME. I love being on the other side of the lessons and they are pretty great teachers.

I guess I am doing a lot better at this whole teaching in another language than I thought. We have been told our Spanish is pretty good by different people. That makes me feel better, but I am still pretty worried about leaving the CCM and heading out into the REAL world.

FUNNY language story! We were teaching Andres the 10 commandments and we asked if he had statues or emblems he worshipped or prayed to (because, you know, that isnt good...). Well, we asked if he had any "antepasados" and when he said yes, we told him he couldnt have those and we asked if he prayed to them...
He said no, but I am am glad we didnt tell him to get rid of them because ANTEPASADOS MEANS ANCESTORS. We told him he couldnt have ANCESTORS. Awkward.

I do feel as if I am doing pretty well here. Better than I thought I would... It could be a lot better, though. We dont use our time as wisely as we should and we actually talked about it in a meeting as a district on Sunday. We are going to work pretty dang hard this week and come closer as a district at the same time.

Today will be pretty boring. I hope to spend a lot of time as a district because this is our last Pday. I love my district so much. I love being in the CCM and I love being a missionary. I am already freaking out about getting out in the real world, but I know it'll be okay.

"When you don´t think you can do this, you´re right, but with the Lord´s help, you can." David A Bednar. He was talking to the missionaries, but I think this applies to everyone :)

Love you all

Hermana Orchard

         Trying to escape the CCM??  

It's a district RAINBOW!

Hermana Ferguson and Orchard

Johnson and Orchard

Finally some rain!

Singing in the rain?

Hermana Dietze and Hermana Orchard

Selfie!

Sick with a bug, deadly spider and 2 weeks to go until Utah!

Hola!

This week has gone by WAY TOO QUICKLY. WHERE IN THE HECK HAS THE TIME GONE. I cannot believe it is Pday again! However, it has been a pretty great week!

We have been teaching our investigators (aka our teachers) quite a bit this week. I think it has been going pretty well. My companion and I have been getting along still and I love her to death. We are learning more everyday but I still dont feel like I will be ready when it is time to leave the CCM. The language is hard, but that is okay. I knew it wouldn´t be easy.

Although I did say it has been a pretty great week, I have been pretty sick. No me gusta. I have been sick since Thursday, and just when I think Im doing better, Im not. Hopefully I get to feeling better than ever soon! Since I was feeling under the weather, I missed a couple days of gym. :( I got to take a couple naps instead, and although I HATE missing gym, it was very much needed.

Starting this week, we will be teaching a third investigator. The Elders will be teaching me and my comp and I will be teaching Elder Reynolds. I get to make up a person and everything. If ya have any suggestions, throw em at me ;)

Sundays are the BEST! We always have a class with the MTC Presidency, and we learned about specific prayers. There are some insane stories about how specific prayers are answered. We also have  a devotional, and for this week, we just watched a video of Elder Richard G. Scott, a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles.

"Pray even when you have no desire to pray."
"What God does in your life is for your eternal good."

I got a lot from his talk and I was so grateful that the theme was Prayers!

I love you all SO much. I love love love reading your emails!
I am so blessed to be here in Mexico!

Praying for you always.

Hermana Orchard

Huge spider they came across, using Elder Reynolds hand as reference for size.   They were careful in case it was poisonous, because who knows what you come across in Mexico!!

Volleyball!  

Man eating moths, Happy Halloween, and more volleyball!

HOLA familia y amigas!
This week has been WAY exciting, but time is flying by. I honestly cannot believe ut will be three weeks tomorrow! Although I am missing you all, I am loving every minute of it here!

Wednesday was a crazy day.... actually.... they all are... Anyway, at the end of gym time, we decided to sit in the grass... you know, until the SPRINKLERS CAME ON! It literally lasted FIVE SECONDS. Someone totally did that on purpose! Luckily we were in our gym clothes. Right after gym, two of the other hermanas from our district came over, and Hermana Johnson answered the door with a scream! THE BIGGEST MOTH I HAVE EVER SEEN was just chilling on the door. I have never seen a moth that big. Holy cow. Guess who saved the day? Yeah, yours truly.

Our water was shut off on Thursday. This casa is the casa of the Devil.
Our toilets clog easily, our lights have gone out, AND we lost our water. Oh well....

Friday... HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Thanks to my amazing family for the Halloween candy. I, as well as my district, REALLY appreciated it!  As I have said before, our first investigator, Esdras, became our teacher and HE IS AWESOME. This past week we taught him again, but we taught him as Raul. We went in prepared to teach the Restoration, but when he started talking about how he didn t have a relationship with God, we completely changed our lesson. We talked, instead, about the importance of prayer and how much God loves him. For winging it, we did really well! Sometimes, not knowing what to say is way hard, but his feedback really helped. We are surely getting there!

Saturday, we started our 24 hour fast, with it being the first of the month and all. We ate lunch on Saturday, then didn’t eat until lunch on Sunday. On Saturday, I played more volleyball, and VOLLEY BALL IS SO DANGEROUS. Elder Mihu and I were going for the ball, and as he went for it, he almost knocked me over. It was hilarious!  THEN. Yesterday, I got backslapped in the eye. Literally. Luckily, all it did was get a little red. NO SWELLING! It is truly the little things.

We have had a few companionship building activities, and let me just say that my comp ROCKS. We are a great pair. I freaking love that girl. I am incredibly blessed with the people I have met here. I love my district so much.

Some new obsessions of mine include ping pong, nutella, volleyball, and the dot/box game. Elder Reynolds (District Leader) and I have played multiple games... and they have gotten intense! How exactly can the dots game get so intense, you ask? Good question, but it DOES. (I’ve won every time... might I add... I am kind of a big deal).

Sundays are the best. I have slept a LOT this past Sunday, though. We were given the same lesson in Relief Society, so I slept. Hehe? We were served some Day of the Dead bread here at the CCM. As well as some weird candy that I wasn’t willing to try. It is a big deal here.

Before I left, I worried about A LOT. Those worries have kinda slipped away... I love the place and the people and the food and my district and my COMP! I love the language, although its hard. I am happy and incredibly blessed.

I love you all. Praying for you always!


Hermana Orchard

"Man eating moth"

Selfie with the district

We are so adorable!