The Newest Mesa Temple Visitor Center Missionary

HOLA from MESA!!!

Hey everyone!! This week has felt like a freaking eternity and it hasn't actually been a full week here in Mesa yet...oh my gosh haha The mission is HARD. So so so so hard. Let me quickly give a funny summary of my life so far. 

Hispanics are mean, blunt, and love making white girls feel completely stupid. I love my mission presidents, Pres and Sister Ellsworth. They are super nice and caring. The missionaries in the my mission are SO NICE! All of the sisters are GORGEOUS! Seriously, drop dead gorgeous. I am currently in a trio with Hna Sordes and Hna Aranda. Sordes is from France! She looks EXACTLY like Alysia haha no joke. She is 22 and fluent in French, English, and Spanish. Super gorgeous and the nicest person on the planet. The whole mission loves her to death. I am so happy to have her :). Hna Aranda is from Chihuahua, Mexico...however you spell that. She is also fluent in English and of course, Spanish. She is actually serving in the SLC Temple Square Mission but I guess they send you somewhere for a couple months for a full in field experience. She has been here 3 months and leaves this Wednesday to go back to SLC. Both of them have only 3 months left in the mish. I love them both and they are both pros here!! The down side...they speak ONLY Spanish 24/7. This has been super difficult for me and they speak a million miles an hour. I have no idea what is going on...ever. OH AND GET THIS! I am a Visitor's Center missionary now. Yay. Not too thrilled about it but it's been pretty fun because it's the Christmas season and they do Christmas lights like SLC. Salt Lake will always have the best lights in the world but Arizona tried haha they have some cool lights. Hna Sordes is a Visitor's Center missionary so that's why Aranda and I got roped into it. We have to always be together which means that I have to be a VC missionary too. We work there like three hours every day. I will be speaking a ton of Spanish starting the 1st of December when the lights are officially up. I hear thousands of people come every week. WOWWW! So excited for all of that Spanish speaking.....Ok, sorry this is all over the place haha

First day I got here, Hna Stark and I went to the Visitor's Center with our huge crowd of new missionaries and we had a little testimony meeting and took pictures. I am sorry to say that I have only taken one picture since being here. That shows how much time we have...no time at all. We then went to the Church where all of the mission gathers for transfer meetings n stuff. I immediately was told that they needed me to be approved to be a driver in the mission. Since my comps are not Americans, I have to drive them everywhere. I took a freaking 2 hour test about how to drive. So stupid. I am now driving everywhere. It's kinda fun though :). The first day I was put with two expert missionaries and one newbie like me. We ate at Five Guys. HALLELUJAH!! FOOOOOD! It was glorious. We then contacted in the streets for a couple hours. Kill me. I said like two words and the rest of the time, I just walked around with wide eyes and had no idea what these people were speaking.

Next day (Wednesday) Transfers. I got put with Sordes and Aranda. We are in the Valencia Branch area. I had no idea it was the toughest area of the entire mission until yesterday when we were having a meeting with the ward mission leaders and they mostly spoke Spanish. But, one of them (a white guy haha) said, "Are you new?? I can't believe Pres. Ellsworth stuck you in this mission. He must really think highly of you then. Good luck." That was it. I was like, WHAT?! Get me out of here! haha SERIOUSLY THOUGH! The people are pretty much ALL less actives and they speak the fastest Spanish I have ever heard in my entire life. My companions speak pretty dang fast. But these people speak soooo fast. Sordes and Aranda were like, "yeah, these are the fastest speakers you'll ever run into." Awesome. I love this. I am having so much fun. I understand everyone so well. 

On the positive side...I have been humbled so incredibly much. I now understand normal Spanish speakers pretty dang well. I still can't even bear my testimony because I am too intimidated by everyone. I love the members though. They are pretty nice to me and they understand how hard it is. All of the kids speaking both English and Spanish of course and they are always brutally honest to me. They say things like, "you talk funny. Why can't you speak Spanish?" Other Hispanics have been saying things such as, "Do you need me to draw pictures for you? She looks so lost. I bet you have never seen people like me wearing a tank top and shorts. You probably think I'm like Satan or something, little girl...." It goes on and on. I never know they are actually saying these things until my comps tell me after when we get in the car. Ughhhh. BUT, we have an epic investigator, Ramon. He is the shiz. So cool and chill. He like whispers while he talks though. I don't think I have said anything more than my testimony about the BOM, but I like him a lot. He is going to get baptized in the very near future. 

So basically at the moment, I am still super lost. I am running between the temple VC and member's houses, less active's houses, and we have like 3 investigators. The investigators are my favorite part. We have the Lopez family. They are super cool and have like 5 kids...hello baptisms. Then an ADORABLE 13 year old kid, Ethan. He speaks English to us all the time so that's super nice for me haha. He is way quiet but loves having us over. 

Mesa is super gorgeous and super warm! The people dress like it's 10 degrees outside. They have their heaters just pumping! CRAZIES! What is wrong with them?? They wear scarves and huge jackets when it's seriously like 80 outside. I don't get it. We go running outside every morning and it is like a glorious 65 degrees and my comps are like, AHHH it's FREEZING! They are so weird haha. I am still somehow smiling after all of this. I feel like I'm not really doing any good at the moment because my Spanish is the worst thing ever haha but I love the people...some of them. Some are just mean and nasty and others are way nice to me. I love the kids the most. They are so sweet to me and talk to me in English :) haha love it! ok, gotta run. I love you all so much and I absolutely loved all of your letters :) They made my life. LOVE YOU ALL! Have a great week. I am sorry that this email isn't super positive and spiritual.

Here's my spiritual note...The Lord is mindful of all of us. I have felt is comfort every second of the day because I am seriously praying every 10 minutes. I know he is challenging me a lot right now and sometimes I think it is more than I can handle, but I know that he has a reason for it. I am happy to be out here and learning so much. My companions are great! Hna Sordes is the greatest sister alive. Aranda pushes me more and more which I hate but I know it's good for me haha, she's awesome. KEEP PRAYING AND READING EVERY DAY! It makes a difference. And be nice to missionaries cuz life is rough as a missionary. Say hi to us and give us food haha. Love you all :) Have a great week!

P.S. (I live in a freaking mansion! It is seriously super nice. I will have to take pictures and show all of you. It's legit. We live with another companionship. They are way nice. One is from Kenya. She is pretty quiet and doesn't talk much.)

Love,
Hna Daly