¡Hola!
My goodness, so many things have happened there is simply no possible way for me to tell you about all of them. So I'm going to cover the main points in bullet form.
* I left the CCM. Sad, but exciting. I left before Hermana Price, but then right as we were getting ready to board the plane to Atlanta she came walking into the terminal! Yay! One last hug, and off we went on our own separate journeys. I love that girl. I will miss her.
* I made it to New Jersey! The mission president's wife was waiting for us at the airport and we all drove together to the mission home. I was in a group of 5 coming from Mexico, but there were 16 other missionary who got in a couple hours earlier from Provo. In total we got 17 new elders and 4 new sisters to the mission. We spent the first night in the mission home, with a really rather delicious home cooked meal, and comfortable bed. It is good to be back in the USA.
* Tuesday morning after a devotional, I met my new companion. It was really crazy how they did it. Everybody stood in a big circle surrounding the new missionaries on one side and the trainers on the other. Then one by one President Hess would call us to the middle and announce our trainers. Everyone was cheering, pushing to see, snapping pictures or taking videos. It was kind of ironic being in a mob made entirely of missionaries. My trainers name is Hermana McCoy. She is from a tiny farming town in southern Utah, has been out for 10 months now. She is just great. Very patient with me in explaining everything, and she usually has to explain things more than once, especially if we are speaking Spanish.
* My first area is in Red Bank, New Jersey. It is pretty big. It takes about 45 minutes to drive from one end of our area to the other. We are right on the east coast and about half way down the state. I haven't been to Newark yet, which I've heard is interesting, but from what I've seen of New Jersey, I can no longer rightfully call it the armpit of America. The houses here are SO cute! They are all done in colonial style with pillars, porches, and shutters on the windows. Also, it is very green here. And yes, also humid. My hair is going curlier than it was in Mexico.
* The first night we had 3 lessons in the evening with members. Sister McCoy warned me that we might end up getting dinner at two of the houses. And with the Hispanics, you are not suppose to turn down food. They offer it to you as a sign of appreciation and love, and if you don't eat everything they give you they can get really offended. First house, big dinner, pasta. I was full, but the woman asked if I wanted dessert, Sister McCoy gave me the eye, so I said yes and ate some ice cream. Second house, more food, and a large helping at that. This time we had beans, salsa and home made tortilla chips. By this time my skirt was feeling a little snug. When we got to the third house it was late enough that they were cleaning up the kitchen, so I thought we were in the clear. Nope. The wife immediately directed us to the table and started making more food. She presented us with the most interesting combination of the night: fried eggs, black beans, and a slice of mystery cheese, all on top of left over tortillas saturated in a green chili salsa. I smiled and continued to eat as my stomach stretched to maximum capacity.
When we got back to the apartment that night, I felt a little sick, but I had earned the acceptance of the members and the respect of Sister McCoy.
Okay, so that is everything I wrote before my email crashed last Monday.
Answers to your questions:
* My address is: 59 Manor Drive, Red Bank, New Jersey, 07701 (But only letters can be sent here. All packages need to go to the office.)
* I don't have a ward, only a branch. But the members are really welcoming, and patient with my Spanish. The President of the branch is only 27 years old! Crazy! But he does a super good job. He wife was also the Relief Society president, but they released her this week, which is probably a good thing. I can only imagine how stressful it would be just to be President's wife while still attending school, let alone running the Relief Society in a needy branch.
* We have a car, but I am not allowed to drive it the first transfer. So I am in charge of the phone. I have learned how to text the members and investigators in Spanish pretty well, but I still let Hermana McCoy handle the phone calls, because trying to understand rapid Spanish through speaker phone is hard! (Side note: one of our potential investigators just called asking when we were coming back! I understood a lot! I think I am getting better at understanding phones calls. Also, apparently she is going to feed us something... We already have two other dinner appointments tomorrow night. Perhaps I should start fasting now in preparation...)
* The locked door story: apparently the lock has never really worked in our apartment. Hermana McCoy spend the entire last transfer here without ever being able to use the lock. I was not a fan of this, and neither was the mission presidents wife when she found out. So we spent a good part of the day talking with the landlord, mission office, and a lock smith. At one point I was able to get it to lock, but then I couldn't unlock it! I was stuck outside and Hermana McCoy inside! Ahhhh! We used the mail slot to pass the phone back and forth.
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¡Hermana, tiene una corazón de una mexicana!
Hello!
New Jersey is great! The Hispanics are extremely giving people and I am anxious to learn more Spanish so I can communicate with them better.
The title of this email comes from last night when we had dinner with a member family. The husband exclaimed this when I decided I wanted my elote un pocito más picante. An elote is a Mexican favorite. It's a cob of corn coated in mayonnaise, with crumbly Mexican cheese and chili powder sprinkled on top. Usually they are served hot, mine was cold. Not bad, but also not my favorite, so I thought adding some more spice to block out the other flavors was an okay idea.
They also taught us how to make papusas which was amazing! I was first introduced to papusas in Belize last summer. They are these delicious stuffed pancakes from El Salvador. Basically you take beans, meat, cheese, rice, spinach or whatever else you want in it and roll it up into a ball then cover it with dough. Flatten out the dough into a pancake shape and throw it on the grill to cook for a couple minutes. Add a little salsa once its all done, and mmm! Delicious!
Another fun story from the week happened while we were finding at the train station. As we were walking, a guy called out "Jehovah?" thinking we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We stopped and explained who we were. He was probably in his late 20's or early 30's and a Catholic theology teacher at a high school nearby. He had heard about the Mormons but had some questions about how our missions worked. We explained a little, and he commented on how young and adorable I looked, not believing I was 19. We needed to get going to an appointment, so my companion told him he could find any information he wanted on LDS.org, to which he responded, "What if I want to find her number?" gesturing at me. Cue awkward laugher and explanations for needing to leave again... ;)
Siempre,
Hermana Croft
(This is Sister Bennett, a friend of Rebekah's from Utah State University. Rebekah had told her to keep an eye out for Julianne. They met pretty quick after Julianne arrived in Jersey at a zone conference.)
