Week 11 in Florida (Zebra week 1)

Ok, I know you're all dying to find out what happened at the last transfer. But I'm pretty sure no one was dying as much as I was. Here's what happened. I went Zebra. Which means my new companion, Sis. Behr, doesn't speak Spanish, and isn't necessarily expected to learn it. I moved into her apartment, cover her area of English people, and also my old area, which overlaps her's. We have 2 area books, 2 bishops, 2 ward mission leaders, 2 wards, and twice as much work. SUPER FUN!!!! SUPER BUSY!!!! And a little bit overwhelming. Just to remind you all, I've been hardcore learning Spanish for not even 4 months. I'm nowhere near fluent. I still don't understand what people say to me half the time, and I still struggle to get my point across. BUT!! This is not my work, this is the Lord's work. He's the one who told Pres. Cusick to put me in this position, and He is the one who's going to be carrying me through it. I am not doing this alone, and I know that because there is NO WAY I'd be able to do this alone. When we teach Spanish people, I teach alone. I'll ask Sis Behr if she wants to add anything, and I'll translate for her. The wards are sad because we have to split our time, and they don't really know how to handle that. The ward mission leader from the Spanish ward just told me yesterday that  I can only do what I can do. The Lord doesn't expect any more from me. But He does expect all I can do. And then He'll do the rest. I have seen that so much this week. I've been able to understand better than ever. I've been able to speak more than usual. I've had more confidence in myself. And I've built more trust in Him. I know this transfer is going to be a hard one, but it also means I'll learn more than ever. I'm very excited to see the missionary that I'll grow into in the next 6 weeks.

Sis. Behr is from Alberta, Canada! She's been in the field 1 transfer more than I have, and she's a great missionary. I love her a lot already, especially because she's just as freaked out about all this as I am. I feel totally comfortable in telling her my concerns, and that's a weird one for me, because it usually takes me a while to warm up to people. She tells me that she worries about me teaching lessons alone, and I tell her that I worry that she's getting frustrated because she can't understand anything. We both say we're doing fine, which another indicator that the Lord is working right along side that. He really does qualify who  He calls. I remember seeing that with mom when she was called to be the Relief Society President, but it's much different being on the other side of that. I've learned a lot in the last week that I need to not freak out about all the changes. It's God's work, and He's not going to let us mess it up, in an eternal way. Everything will be fine, even if we're struggling at the moment. We're all here to learn and grow, and that's exactly what I'm doing here!

Basically, we're just always busy now. The English ward has a million less-actives, so we go see some of them throughout the week. The Spanish area has some investigators and some less-actives, so we see them too. We're trying our best to not let anyone down, and so far I think we're doing ok. OH!! Here's the kicker- We're on car share, which means we have the car one week, and the next week we're on bikes. They were out of miles when I got here, so we were on bikes for the last couple days of October, even though we had the car. We're gonna work on budgeting that! It'll be great. We're also working on EXACT obedience, working on 3-4 things every week, so that by the end of this transfer we will be ALMOST perfect ;) We could really use all the miracles we can get right now.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. And I'm running out of time...

Entonces, Ciau! Que tengan buenas semanas, y vaya con Dios. Les quiero. MUCHISMO!!!!

 

Love, Hermana Despain

This is Rosa and Jose. They're from Peru! He plays futbol on Sundays and so he doesn't come to church. But as soon as they can get there, they'll be baptized. I know it :)

ME AND SISTER BEHR!!!!