"I'll never let go Jack"

First off, Dad, what you said in your email about small works and each little bee was exactly what I needed to hear this week cause I have felt like my seemingly meaningless drops of honey aren´t worth anything. So thank you for, once again, being the answer to my prayers :)

Anywho...CHEELAAYY. It´s an interesting place. 

Things from this week:

-There is this icecream truck that always drives around playing Christmas music and that sort of icecreamy truck nonsense, but the thing is...it sells gas haha. I just imagine grown people running outside waving pesos in the air in their pjs wanting more gas to heat their casas...makes me laugh every time. 

-The ward misson leader in my new ward owns a wicker shop...like wicker furniture. It´s pretty sweet! He makes it all and it is all legit stuff. Mom, you would LOVE it. If I could send you something that big I would....but I can´t, so a picture will have to suffice.

-In the good ole USA, I feel like public transportation is a dying practice. But in Chile, it´s hoppin! Everyone and their grandmother takes the bus or community taxi´s....We are packed like cattle in those suckers sometimes. Talk about cozy!

-I have come to know that the Lord gives us strength out the wazoo here cause there is no way in heck-fire that I could do what we do as missionaries (running, walking, talking, having the spirit, only having less than 8 hours of sleep, yadayadayada without the help and strength of the Lord! It´s honestly a miracle we don´t all fall over and die!

-We have pets here in my new area! Well...not officially, but there are about 3-4 dogs that take turns walking with as ALL DAY. Literally, they wait for us in the morning to leave, and they even wait for us outside of appointments! I think it´s the darndest thing! My companion hates them cause we get bit by their fleas, but I like to think of them as our little angels :) They keep us company and keep us safe throughout the day! Little stray, dirty rays of sunshine! Their names are Monsi, Bermudes, Diego, and Samson.

Okay so the moment you have all been waiting for...

I am in an area called Limache. It´s about half an hour drive from Viña I think. It´s kinda more on the ghetto side, but I really like it. My trainer´s name is Hermana Barros. She is from Argentina....and she only speaks Spanish. Literally, no english. (I blame the Mitchells´ prayers for that one). So obviously, communication is challenging at times, but with lots of pointing and dictionaries and my broken spanish, we make it work. She is really sweet though, and she is helping me be a good missionary! With the whole only spanish situation, my Spanish is going to be great by the time she is done with me hopefully! Blessing in diguise.

I get mail about once a month at zone conferences...so I haven´t gotten any yet. I WANT IT SO BAD...and I know it´s there...I can feel it. They´re hoarding it from me.

Just to be sure, my address is:

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631

Viña del Mar, Chile

Sorry this email has been so scattered. I don´t have a lot of time today and these keyboards are super ghetto so it´s taking twice as long. Since I didn´t get to tell you guys lots of stuff I´ll write a letter later tonight and send it off next pday.

Oh, one last thing... I had my first baptism of Saturday! Haha wow, almost forgot to put that. His name is Jaime and he is super cool! I obviously was only at the tail end of everything though, so I don´t really count him. But he is super comfortable with the ward and he has lots of friends, so I think he is solid, which I´m super excited about. The last thing Chile needs is another less active member!

I´m going to end on a note that Mom got me thinking of in her email to me. Martyrs is a concept of the gospel that I am particularly fascinated by. From countless Prophets of old to Jesus Christ himself to the brothers Joseph and Hyrum, the gospel of Jesus Christ is littered with countless martyrs that were willing to seal their testimonies with their lives. That right there is a testament that this is the true church and gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth once again. How flickel are we when we are asked to simply pray or visit a family in need once a month and we murmur. Don´t lie to yourself people, you have murmurred once upon a time. Why are we so stupid? We have the truth. We have the fullness. We have the Gospel! We have Christ! It such a wonderful blessing to have and know about this gospel in our lives..why don´t we follow it? Why don´t we share it? Why do we voluntarily fall short of all Christ and God have in store for us? ...Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Love always and always, 

Hermana Abigail Page

-ps. the picture thing on the computers are broken so I will just have to wait and send you my card when it´s done. Sorry Momma :/

-pps. Please spell check for me...these keyboards stink.

Ah hombre

HOLA HOLA mi familia y mis amigos!

(Here in Chile people say `hola hola` y `cho cho`...yo no sè why they do it twice, perro me encanta)

Anywho, where do I even begin??

So I got in Chile on Friday after flying all night. Usually I have no problem sleeping on a plane, but for some reason my back was hurting really bad so it was really hard. But they gave us all of the cool pillows and eye masks and blankets and TWO meals! Olè! :) So overall the flight was nice.

After we got to Chile and got picked up by our mission president, he took us on a really quick tour and than dropped us off in the middle of Viña with some Book of Mormon`s and said "See ya at the mission home"...yeah, we had to find our way there by asking for directions in a language WE DON`T SPEAK. It was un poco dificil. Luckily, an old couple had pitty on us and walked us the whole way (which was quite a walk). While we walked we gave them the Spanglish version of the first dicussion. That was a little hard to do while finding our  way, but we managed.

Since we got here early, I techinically don´t have a trainer yet. They put us with sister-training-leaders and zone leaders til wednesday, which is the actual day of transfers and all that.  So yep, I am with Hermana Ortiz from Guatemala y Hermana Plothow from Orem Utah. They are so great! Being with them for the first week was the answer to a pray I didn`t know I had! They are both patient and encouraging and obedient and super great examples of the kind of missionary I hope to be.

The first night after we got back to their apartment, we immediantly got to work. We tried to visit some less active membros, then we went to a ward activity, and than we went and I helped teach my first 1st discussion...AHH. Quite the day to start out with right?? I know. I wish our ward activities were like the  ones these Chilenos have! There is tons of dancing and singing and TONS of decorations and food. It`s a tad crazy, but I really loved it! I can already tell that I am going to love these people lots :) I didn`t know that I was going to speak during my first discussion. I was just sitting there, doing my thing (pretending like I understand any of the words people are saying), when all of a sudden, the Hermanas stop talking and look over at me. The only thing I knew was that we were talking about the Restoration, so I decided a simple testimony of prophets and Joseph Smith would be good. After I talked the Hermanas didn`t say anything for I solid 15 seconds, which is a lot longer than ya think. Afterwards they told me that the spirit was so strong during my little testimony that they just wanted it to sink in with investigator Rosa. I guess sometimes I can help people more when I don´t know the language cause I have to fully rely on the Lord and the Spirit to talk to them, ya know?

Since then, we have taught lots of lessons, and talked about the church with many people in passing. I even feel like I am understanding what people say more, which I am so grateful for.

Oh, funny story! So the Hermanas told me today right before we got on the bus that I had to talk to someone cause it`s good practice with my Spanish and that`s the best place to do it...So I brace myself and say a quick prayer. A little family gets on the micro (bus) and sits next to me..I look up and the dad is wearing a Carolina hat! Bahaha, I thought that was a sweet tender mercy from the Lord!

Something else funny that happened: we were teaching a lesson and the girl we were teaching had a cute little cat. She said that the cat was really shy and picky with people, but I said "Hola gato bonita!" and she came right over and sat on my lap and let me pet her the whole time we were there! Another tender mercy! And it made we miss my kitties...

Let´s see what else....

It´s really pretty here! It kinda reminds me of Utah and Charlotte mixed into one. The houses here are all different colors, so when you ask people for their address, you also ask what color there house is haha. I think that´s funny.

It´s reeeally cold here right now, so I´m so grateful that I brought winter stuff cause I´ve been wearing it everyday. (they call tights "panties" here...it makes me laugh every time someone talks about tights now..tehe)

I don`t know if I have mail here or not waiting for me...no one has given me any or said anything, so I have no idea to be honest. I´ll let you know though. One of these days, I am going to send home a package with extra stuff I can´t carry around and maybe some letters in it for people or something. I just have to find out where one is in my real area when I get there.

The food is good I guess...not too different to be honest. They eat vegetables cooked but cold here so thats different. But honestly, its just rice and meat and then fruit for dessert. I like it. And we don´t really eat dinner here...just a big lunch with a member family.

I already love Chile. I know I am here to do the Lord´s work. I know that right now it is really difficult to feel like I am helping anyone cause I don´t know what they are saying, but even then I am so beyond greatful that the Lord is here helping me as well. I am nothing without Him, especially in this different country. I am so grateful for the peace and the hand He always has outstretched for me to grab. I know I say this a lot, but I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve in the Lord´s vineyard (literally..VIÑA del mar...haha get it?).

I love you all and I am BEYOND grateful with all my heart for your support and emails  and letters and everything. My time is short and limited, so I may not respond to everyone personally. Just know that your email of note helped lift my day ten times higher and I am SO grateful for you :)

Again, I love you all. There aren´t words to describe.

God be with you til we meet again. Do His work. Be Hiw discople always.

God speed mis amors.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

"Whatchu talkin 'bout Willis

I´m gonna start this week´s email off on a more serious note. One aspect of the gospel that I have been dedicating a lot of study to lately is the concept of grace. Throughout my life, I always heard the phrase "His grace is sufficient" but I honestly didn´t really understood what it meant. After coming on a mission, grace is a principle that I have to exercise and learn more about everyday in order to function as a missionary. In the Bible Dictionary, it says, "The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ...It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts...grace cannot suffice without total effort on the part of the recipient. Hence the explanation, “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Ne. 25:23)." (boldness of words added by me). In my life lately, I have had to turn to the Lord every 5 seconds it seems for help, understanding, support, and lots of other things. Through many different means, I have come to realize that Jesus Christ is mi Salvador. Yo sé que mediante Jesucristo, I can become the missionary He needs me to be, I can become clean oltra vez, I can return to live with my Heavenly Parents after this life, y I can be a part of many miracles in my life and in the life of others. I know that if I do the best and try to be the best I can, the Lord WILL make the difference. I have come to know that His grace truly is sufficient. No matter how little our best is, he CAN and WILL fill the gap. When we even exercise simply a twig of faith and effort, the Lord will recognize it. I know that He will never leave us helpless. I know with all the itty-bitty fibers of my being and with all the pumpings of my blood that He will help us through every time on our life (good or bad) if we turn to Him. And I know that sometimes having faith is hard. Stepping into the unknown and trusting/hoping someone will guide you through the dark is scary. But with everything in life, the first few steps are the hardest, but before you know it you´re strollin along with no problem. I know that God NEVER shuts us out...we are the ones that shut Him out. After all He has done for us, after all His son has done for us, we (in our stupidly frail pridefully human selfs) turn our backs on Him. He wants to bless us in our lives; in fact, He begs us to let Him bless us. The ONLY thing we have to do is follow Him, remember Him, turn to Him. In all honesty, we have the easy end of the deal if you think about it (be good, get a cookie). I´m so grateful for the Savior´s gift of grace in my life. He has filled my many gaps countless times, and I would be nothing without Him. I´m so grateful for His perfect example of what I need to be in this life. I´m so grateful that I have Him to turn to everyday of my life. And I´m so beyond grateful that I have this opportunity to be His missionary for the next year and 17 months. I know He loves us. "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of Him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of Him: That He lives!" (Doctrine and covenants 76:22).

Now onto the happenings of this past week here in the CCM...
This past week, as you all know, was 9-11. Being out of the country for that day was a bit weird... I really wished I had an American flag or something. It´s hard to believe that that was 12 years ago! All day I had songs like "God bless America" and the "Star-spangled Banner" stuck in my head. I even made our district do the pledge that morning (you´re welcome Unlce Sam). Being in Mexico has really made me realize how blessed I am to be in an American. And I know people complain about bad stuff going on governmently in the US, but honestly, even with the bad stuff, we´ve got it made! I think that instead of focusing on the bad, we should acknowledge all the blessings and good that the good ´ole USA has to offer. I mean think about it... we have TONS of freedoms, we have the cooliest national anthem, we have the most kick-butt "becoming a nation" story, we have pretty sweet founding fathers, we are a nation built on religious freedom, AND we have clean water everywhere! Huzzah for America!
Also in honor of America, the boys (the Elders in my district) all sang country songs all day. It was soo great! I didn´t realize how much I missed it til they serenaded me haha.
Last week in the middle of the night, I apparently started spouting out perfectly fluent spanish in my sleep. I have no rememberance of this occuring, and I think it´s pretty sweet! But my question is.. WHERE IS THAT WHEN I´M AWAKE?? Goodness, I gotta work on transfering it over I guess.
Hermana Nelson got a huge package full of delicious treatsies  from her Momma this week. We all attacked that box like a bunch of crazy monkeys after the last banana! Hey, don´t judge. Homemade is the best, and it happens to be it short supply here.
Oh! Friday was Friday the 13th..dun dunn duunnn! But don´t worry, nothin happened that I can recall..except we saw a cat! But it was white instead of black, so we took that as good luck!
Here at the CCM, we have to drink water from those little water filter cooler things (ya know..like the ones people stand around at work and gossip at). Anywho, so the boys have been stacking empty ones behind the door, so that when we open it they all topple down. So the other day, us Hermanas decided to get them back. While they were at a meeting, we stacked up about 24 big empty jug things behind the door, and then we covered all the windows and made sure that that was their only way of entrance back into the room. A few mintes later, they came barging in and BOOM BANG POW DONG. All of the jugs came tumbling down (apparently you could hear the ruckus from outside the building and across the street). Oh sweet revenge. Disclaimer: Don´t try that at home boys and girls. Forgive and forget. Don´t do drugs. Stay in school.
On Saturday night was our big Mexican fiesta for their independence day. It was crazy and loud and there were dancing latinos and sombreros and screaming and fireworks and "viva mexico´s"and rolling r´s and tons of Mexican pride in that little gym. My head and ears were ringing for what felt like hours afterwards, but it was really fun and interesting to see their version of the 4th of July. I love their traditional dresses that twirl all around and the dances that they performed for us. Let me tell y´all somethin, Mexicans have LOTS of pride. I wish more Americans were proud to be American. I feel like that´s a dying thing, which makes me really sad. I heart America with all mi corazón.
Random side story: I literally almost got run over by a zamboni floor buffer guy the other morning. I was walking past him, and then all of a sudden he lost control of the bluffer thingy and I literally had to jump out off the way. It made me laugh so hard, cause it reminded me of a time when all us Page chitlins were still youngins and we were at Food Lion one night with Mom and we were running from "THE BUFFER"...you guys remember that? And we were pushing Tory around in a Nascar buggie? Oh goodness...good times :)
And last but certainly not least, as I said in the quick email from yesterday, I am now leaving for Chile the day after tomorrow instead of in a week. Yes, I was just as suprised as you all probably are. I already explained the "why" and all that nonsense yesterday (and I assume Mom posted it to my blog), so I won´t repeat myself. I go in and out of shock/denial multiple times a day. It just doesn´t feel real yet, ya know? And I love the CCM a lot, but this isn´t a real mission. I haven´t experienced anything yet. It kinda just blows my mind that I´ll be in Chile on Friday.. I was mentally prepared for a whole other week, so packing and laundry and all the details and stuff will be taking over my life tomorrow. I´m nervous out my pants but also I´m really excited and I know that now I´ll just get to jump into the work of salvation that much faster, but part of me is really sad to leave my CCM family. These Elders and Hermanas truly are my family and I´m gonna miss them lots after I leave. But I´m so excited to see and talk to them after our missions and have a reunion like Alma and the sons of Mosiah after their missions. (Alma 17:2-3....Look it up). We will all be so growed up in the Lord by then :)

Welp, I hope you all have a wonderful day..or night (depending on when you read this).
My challenge for y´all this week is to forget yourselves, and go to work. That´s something I learned again this week. The Lord has need of all of his servants in the hastening of His work. Enlist in His army everyday of your life. (He gives great benefits to veterans ;)).
I´ll send another email Thursday before I´m off. Until then, God speed.
God be with you til we meet again.
Love always and always,
Hermana Abigail Page

I got a ticket for the long way ´round

Hey Momma,

I know today isn´t my p-day, so you are probably wondering why in the world you are recieving this email from me. Well that´s a really good question mi madre, and I have a rather good response para usted!

Surprise attack: I´m leaving for Chile on Thursday! (as in 3 days... yes, about a week before schedule). I would have told you eariler, but us Chilean missionaries didn´t know we were leaving early til yesterday. After we heard a rumor that we were leaving early, we went to the front desk to figure out what in the world was goin´ on. Turned out that the rumors were true, and we are peacin out this week. (Glad we heard the rumors though cause otherwise we still would have no idea) Communication around here struggles a bit to be honest.

Not gonna lie, I was in shock for a few hours, and then during sacrament meeting, the closing hymn was "God Be With You Til Again"...that pulled us all out of shock and got our whole district crying. We have all become so close and we are kinda like a little motley family here at the CCM. I´m really bummed to leave them here for a whole week without us. Also when I found out we were leaving earlier, my first thought was "Holy humpty dumpty, I don´t know any spanish!!" So I´m a bit nervous about that as well.

It´s all just so weird cause I was mentally prepared and scheduling for another whole week, so the change is  kinda messin me up a bit.

The reason we are leaving earlier is apparently because next week is Chile´s independence day celebration stuff, so there were NO empty flights. So since there was no room in the inn for us missionaries, they are sending us a week early, so we can still get there. And it´s only the Chilean missionaries that are leaving early.

I guess with us, the Lord is hastening the already hastened work, huh? :)

I´m excited and nervous and still kinda in shock and all the other things I could logically be feeling under the sun...I´ll tell y´all more about all that in my real email tomorrow.

Until then, no worries, I´m good!

God speed.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

A snack that smiles back!

 

O-la me uh-mE-goes! Que pasa con ustedes? Nada? Bueno.

This week has been a lot like the past 3 before it... LOTS of studying, sitting, strollin´, silliness, spiritualness, and lots of other things beginning with the letter S. When I look back at the week as a whole, I always think...Wow, nothin really happened. But for y´alls email, I think really hard and come up with a few random stories that may entertain or uplift you for a bit. So sit back with nice american snacks and enjoy, por favor!

First things first: Happy monthiversary to meee! Yes, it has been a complete month (4 weeks) since I have left the fine state of North Carolina (or been in the fine country of America for that matter). So crazy, huh? It´s crazy to think that I only have 17 more months left of my mission!! Ahhh, that´s not enough time! Even though this month has been a rollercoaster of emotion and change and growth and all that, I love being a missionary so much! I haven´t even really done anything yet and it´s already been the best experience of my life! I can´t wait to see what the other 17 months bring!

So y´all know how I worked at the Provo MTC cafeteria? Well something that some of the missionaries do there (if you didn´t already know) is a thing called "the tower challenge" (dumdumduummm). The tower challenge is when your whole district (ours is twelve people) eat an entire tower (container thing) of cereal in one sitting. Literally from the tiptop til it´s empty. In Provo, this challenge of champions was forbidden cause lots of people were getting sick and all that nonsense. It was on my bucket list though, so I told our district about it and they all thought it would be way fun to try to do. So at dinner, we filled up over 50 bowls of Fruit Loops and (sneakyly) carried them to our table and plowed in! Don´t get mad Mom...I ate 7 bowls to help contribute, which ended up being more than all the boys did on their own haha. Thanks for letting us eat cereal for every meal growing up Momma, it trained me well ;) And since the CCM is new, we started the legacy of "the tower challenge" down here south of the border! Booya.

Speaking of meals here at the CCM, I am glad to announce that we haven´t seen spam in a few weeks!! Yay for no more spam! The other day, I seriously thought I had died and gone to heaven...we had wings and calzones for dinner. And they were sooo good!

Also, the other day at dinner, there were grapes and I got really excited cause there are never grapes. I was so excited that I decided to stick as many in my mouth as possible without gagging. I got 17. And they were pretty plump little fellas! Hermana Nelson tried to do it too, but when her mouth got full, I told her that it made her look like the evil old lady from ´Chicken Run´. That made her laugh so hard grapes spewed everywhere from her mouth and she kept laughing so hard that she peed herself. Again. And when I say peed herself, I literally mean, there was a huge wet circle on her skirt and a nice wet spot on the chair. She has the funniest bladder problems. But never knowing if laughing will make her pee makes the act of laughing a lot more fun haha!

A bit more about food: this week everyone has been missing American fast food, like: Chickfila, Zaxby´s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cookout, Yum-yum, Panera, Mickey-D´s ice cream, Wendy´s, Red Robin, 5 guys.....I think y´all get the jist. Entonces, enjoy what y´all are blessed with cause you guys are livin´ the American dream right now! And also now I know why all the Mexicans hop the border...it´s for our food!

Speaking of Mexicans, Friday is Mexico´s independence day! Apparently the President of Mexico goes on a balcony with a huge Mexico flag and waves it crazily yelling "VIVA MEXICO". There is gonna be lots of fireworks and crazy people everywhere and the fiesta doesn´t stop all night long. In the CCM, we are gonna have a little celebration on Friday night too. I´m really excited! All week everyone has been decorating and giving us little mexican candies. Should be a good time :)

There are two Mexican men that work here at the CCM that have become two of the cooliest people in my life: 1) Mario the mower guy & 2) Marco the janitor. I have never actually talked to Mario the mower guy so I don´t know what  his name actually is. I call him Mario because he is FOR REAL the reincarnation of Mario (like super mario brothers..mario and luigi). He has a red little newsie boy cap like Mario does; he wears a red shirt with overalls; he wears white gloves while he works; he has a stache; AND to top it all off, he has a little backpack thing with the handle thing that he holds around front (like in super mario sunshine or luigi´s mansion). IT BLOWS MY MIND. We have tried to capture a creeper picture of him, but to no avail. We will keep trying though! And then onto Marco the janitor. Every morning when we would go to class, this nice janitor guy would talk to us, but we never knew his name. Finally, the other day we asked and he said he was Hermano Marco. So now, every morning when we see him, we yell BUENOS DIAS HERMANO MARCO. Seeing him seriously makes my day every morning :)

Lots of people this week have been getting sick. It´s pretty gross. One of the Hermanas in our district was sick, so I got to sub in for her and teach with her companion. We started the lesson with singing "I Stand All Amazed" and then we taught about baptism. It went so well! And the spirit was so strong! I look back at it now and I realize that it was totally a gift of tongues moment for me cause I was flowing and saying everything I wanted to say. Lenina (the investigator) was sitting there smiling and really feeling the words we were saying. It was so wonderful! I love teaching this gospel. It brings such joy into my day and into the lives of those we teach. I love seeing the light in others eyes as they begin to learn and understand how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change and bless their lives. It must be kinda like how Heavenly Father feels when He sees us learn and progress and grow spiritually closer to Him... So cool :)

Random tidbits for this week:

-Our CCM president is the grandson of Parley P. Pratt! I think that is so awesome! I wanna tell him "dude, your grandpa so AWESOME", but that might not go over so well haha.

-One of the counselors in our branch presidency looks EXACTLY like the evil guy with glasses for Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark that gets his face melted off and his eyes come out at the end. Yikes. I realized it in the middle of sacrament meeting on Sunday, and I can´t look at him the same now.

-I play a TON of basketball here, and the other day I made THREE three-pointers in a row! Whooop whoop! I hope you´re proud Daddy!

-New Hermanas moved into me and Hermana Avery´s room this past week. They are super sweet but kinda really creepy at the same time. They just stare at us a lot, so it´s a bit uncomfortable. They also like to sing opera and read other people´s journals...let´s just say, it has been quite the adjustment.

-Hanging out with my district (especially the Elders) makes me really miss my brothers. I miss messing around with you 4 knuckheads. You four fellas are my bestest friends ever.

-The other day we were practicing some spanish phrases and my teacher (in spanish) asked Hermana Avery why she had not been baptized. She responded by yelling "CAUSE I DIDN´T GET AROUND TO IT, ALRIGHT?" (quoting Stephen from Nacho Libre). I almost died laughing cause of it was such a successful usage of a Nacho Libre quote in real life!

-Random songs that have been stuck in my head this week: "Come Thou Fount", "The Candy Man Can" (from Willy Wonka), the chorus of "Called to Serve" in spanish, "Bailamos", and the last song from A Muppet´s Christmas Carol when Scrooge is singing around the town.

 

Welp, this is the end of yet another not too exciting yet somewhat entertaining email from me this week. I hope y´all enjoyed yourselves.

I miss you all, and I pray for you lots. Thank you for your emails and for your prayers or for even thinkin about me. It really does mean a lot to me!

Thank you for your examples that have helped shape me into the missionary I am now! I can´t thank you guys enough.

 

I´ll just end by saying that I know that this Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is God´s true church on the earth. I know that this church and gospel is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ from when He was on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet called of God, and that through the power of God, he restored this wonderful gospel again in its fullness. I know that our God is a loving God, and that He wants to hear from us, as His children. I know that if we turn to Him, he will do many mighty things through us in our lives and in the lives of others. Oh how wonderful it is that Heavenly Father trusts us and allows us to lift up one another. I am so beyond grateful that I am able to do just that for a year and a half. I am so grateful that I can have this gospel bless my life multiple times every single day. I can testify that if you want more happiness, peace, love, or Christ-like feelings in your life, you need look no further than this gospel. I testify with all the surety I have in my heart, that it can change your heart if you let it. I know it can, I have seen it, in myself and in others. Let Christ change your life.

 

I love you all. More than you can ever know.

God be with you till we meet again.

 

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

 

 

Caution: Slippery when wet

Hola mi familia! Què pasa?

The weeks are starting to run together and fly by and through and up and down and sideways, so this email will have no real order to it because I am going to type it as the stuff comes to my memory. Entonces, lo siento ahora.

I`m going to start by explaining this week`s email subject name and the purpose thereof. As I have said in a past email, it rains a lot aquì in Mexico City. However, this past week, the heavens must have been having a pool party with a slip`n slide or something cause it has been pouring buckets down on us. (And it always seems to be at dinner time, when we actually have to be outside). Anywho, speaking of  slip `n slides, that brings me smoothly into my story believe it or not. On Friday, we had just finished eating dinner and it was pouring outside, and while mis hermanas were huddling under umbrellas howling about their hair, I did the most logical thing and grabbed off my shoes and made a run for it back to our classroom building. As I begin running I think "hmm, wow this sidewalk is slippery, I better stop running til I get to the street" so I tiptoe fast walk to the asphalt and then make a break for it across the road. Little did I know that in Mexico, the paint on the roads is SUPER slippery (especially when wet) So I go "slip, catch, slide, slip, catch, SLIPSLIDE SPPPLLAAASSSHHH" right into the river (road gutter thing) of water. I quite literally slip `n slided across the street. I was soaked from head to toe, and I cut up and busted open my knees and my elbows and my ankle. But there I lay, in the running river, laughing my head off cause I for some reason thought it was so funny. I ended up having to go to la clinica, but I couldn`t walk there so my compañera gave me a pigggyback ride across campus. She`s a champ. The doctor cleaned me all up with iodine and the such and bandaged me up quite nicely. Now I have some pretty narly scabs (ew, sorry scab is a gross word), and I`ll most likely have a scar of some sort on one of my knees. But I`m alright, and it makes for a pretty exciting story, right? I thought so too.

Also on Friday..I GOT MAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME!! It was so wonderful! I`m the mail lady for our district so I go and check the post office every day and it felt sooo great to finally have my name on something instead of one of the stinkin elders` name with heart and stuff (bleh). Momma, the galletas (cookies) were still sooo good, and everyone in my district loved them. It just tasted so good to have something homemade, ya know? Hearing from you guys was so wonderful! Thank you for letters!

One of the most spiritual experiences this week was when we had TRC on Wednesday. Hermana Avery and I ended up having to teach one of our teachers. We were teaching him as himself, which was a bit weird cause we always teach people as pretend investigators. Anyways, we started in Spanish and then he switched the conversation to english so we taught in english pretty much the whole time. To get to use english in teaching for the first time was such a wonderful experience! There was no language barrier, so the spirit could prompt us to say anything! The spirit was so strong, and Hermana Avery and I were crying as we bore testimony. Goodness, I can`t even accurately describe to y`all how wonder of an experience it was. We really helped a real person with real problems they were facing in life. I felt like a real missionary and representative of our Lord and Savior :) I can`t wait to be able to do that for real for a year and I half of my life! What a great blessing!

Soo, guess who I see around all the time since last Tuesday...JOSEPH NANTO!! When I ran into him on Tuesday, and yelped for joy and I almost tackled him in excitement...I probably looked like such a spaz haha. It`s so different seeing him with a missionarytag on. But he seems to be doing great and his companion seemed pretty nice and cool, so that`s good. Goodness, I love having Joey here. It`s so nice seeing a bit of home every once in a while. And let`s be honest, he`s a hoot! Nothing phases that kid :)

Also, there was a live MTC devotional broadcast last week with Neil Anderson. It was pretty good. And I saw KAITLIN BAKER in the Provo MTC chior! The camera loved her cause I saw her about 9 times. Such a ham ;) When I saw her, I accidentally said really loud, "HOLY COW THAT`S MY ROOMIE!" I scared a few elders that were sitting next to us.. uhhh lo siento fellows.

Què màs.....

We teach A LOT here. The other day, we taught about 6 lessons in a day. I was soo tired by the end of it, but it was a good kind of tired (kind of a `joseph after the first vision` kind of thing).

My companion Hermana Avery is really good at Spanish. She understood it before she came here so that helps a lot in lessons. At first, she used to have to help me with about every other word, BUT the other day during a lesson, I had to help HER with lots of palabras! It made me feel so good! Even though I know I`ve made lots of progress, it`s hard sometimes to see it from the inside looking out, ya know? It`s easy to get discouraged. But when I got to help my "spanish-smart" companion, I realized in that moment "wow, I`ve made LOTS of progress!" I even can understand the jist of what people say a little bit better without having to make them slow down to kindergarden level. Whooop whoop! Confidence boost: check. Paso a paso, my friends.

I got a letter from dad yesterday..Thanks Dad! It completely made my day :) I love the little funny smiley faces you draw on the envelopes. The talk by Elder Bednar you sent me about grace and the atonement was wonderful! That is a principle of the gospel I have be studying up on and trying to get better at exercising in my life, so it was perfect! Also, on Sunday multiple talks and classes and devotionals were on grace and the atonement, so it was doublely perfect! It`s in moments like that when I know Dad`s an inspired guy :)

Random comments and thoughts that don`t fit in anywhere else:

-I organized a game of trashketball as a review game to study spanish during on of our study times on sunday. It was pretty fun, and it made the boys way happy, so score 1 para me.

-During gym time, I have been playing lots of basketball lately. $teah, you`d be proud! I can make so `nothin but net` free throws. And a few of the elders in my district that played basketball are teaching me how to shoot 3-pointers. I`ll be an all-star at the rate I`m going in no time! I`ll be able to hussle Daddio by the time I get home!

-One of the only fruits they have here that aren`t sketchy is cantalope. I honestly eat it with every meal. I think by the time I get home, I will no longer enjoy cantalope.

-I am already sad about the day I will have to go home and go back into the "real" world of craziness. I love the spirit that constantly abides with me as a missionary. AHH, I don`t even know how to explain it...It`s just one of the best feelings in the world.

 

I would just like to end this little dohicky by saying I love you guys so much. Thank you so much for all your support and prayers. I`ve come to feel so close to the spirit, the Lord, and my Heavenly Father over the past few weeks. I love them, and I love this work. I feel so honored and blessed to be a part of this work while the Lord is hastening his work. I know that the Lord will and does support us through anything in our lives (good and bad). I know we are his children, and I know he will never EVER in a million trillion years leave us helpless. We are the ones that forget he is there, not the other way around. Seriously you guys, turn to Him. Look to Him always. Follow in His footsteps as closely as you possibly can. I know he can change hearts. I`ve seen it in myself and in many others. Always trust, never doubt. Our God is a God of miracles, but miracles require work and lots and LOTS of faith.

 

God be with you til we meet oltra vez.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page