Be Still My Soul

Tuesday morning I received "the phone call".  Not only did I find out that I was leaving La Serena, I found out that I was going to be training! I can definitely see a difference in myself and know that there is a lot about Kath that is "changing." I thought quite a bit about my life during my 7-hour bus ride from La Serena to Viña. I have always said how much I don´t like change but hi....look at my life....In the past five years, I´ve visited 5 different countries, been enrolled in 5 different colleges, lived in 6 different houses and my resume is 13 pages long because of the 18 jobs I´ve had in my life.....Throughout all these "changes", I´ve dealt with many different emotions (most of them difficult to control)....But right now, being in the mission, where every hour, day, week, month is filled with thousands of changes, the only emotion I feel is simply like I am floating down Lazy River at Cherry Hill, my eyes closed, the warm sun on my face with dark side of the moon soothing my summer afternoon. I´m just goin' with the flow and all is groovy.

This change is quite the experience. I am in Villa Alemana which is about an hour inland from Viña. I feel like I am in a different country compared to La Serena. Villa Alemana has a California neighborhood feel to it. It´s weird to be in a place that has "houses" and yards and grass and gardens. Honestly, it feels like America here...only everyone speaks Spanish. Clean, clear, easy to understand Spanish. It is such a blessing and I am here to testify that the gift of tongues is REAL. Heavenly Father knows what you need to know and when you need to know it. I am not evening kidding you, it´s as if I learned Spanish overnight. I am talking like Spanish was my first language AND my first night here.....guess what happened.......MY TONGUE STARTED TO ROLL!!! I am having no problems with rolling my tongue when I talk. I can´t consistently roll my tongue like a Mexican when he yells ARRRRRIBA pero, I`m not tripping over my words or stuttering my way through the lessons. It is absolutely incredible. I cry and feel so blessed when I think about the perfect timing of it all.

And in reality, it definitely was perfect timing for my situation. I have found myself in a TRIO!!! Wahoo! And it is quite the special experience for me. I am with Hermana Beu and Hermana Etchegaray. If you have seen the movie Adam before, Hermana Beu is the actor Adam to a T!!! (if you haven´t seen the movie, go rent it this weekend. Actually, I own it...so go look through all my movies and find it...It´s one of my favorites). She doesn´t have Aspergers, but she has Turrets. She is extremely intelligent (knows the lessons and does well with the Español) but has a nervous tic where when she is in a lesson or talking to other people, she hiccups really loud (it sounds like a sheep...don`t laugh....because it´s who she is and I love her tic) and the hiccup is followed with an extremely loud burp. She also has a stuttering problem and gets really confused when teaching the lessons. So I´ve been working with her on learning the lessons and being able to teach them really slow and simple.

This is Hermana Etchegaray first change in the mission so I´ve also been doing my best to teach her the lessons and simply how the mission works. She says she is from Argentina but I swear she is talking in Mandarin half the time. The Argentinian accent is so hard for me to understand... Hermana Beu was here before us, but doesn´t remember where anything is and has a really hard time with directions. Luckily, thanks to Daddy Scott, I have a great memory with directions and have been trying to find unique, creative ways to help Hermana Beu remember her way around. All in all, I feel like the parent of two and it´s totally awesome. I am constantly telling Hermana Beu how much I love her tic :) I have all the patience and love in the world for these two girls and know Heavenly Father is going to bless us.

As you know, in the mission when you are training, you are called "The Mom" and the person being trained is "The Daughter"...I made a joke to Hermana Beu the other day by saying "Lesbi-honest, we are the best mom´s in the world"...Either she never saw Pitch Perfect or has a pure, innocent mind because she didn´t find my lesbian joke too funny.... :/

Right now, we have two investigators with baptismal dates! Luckily, they were new when we got here so we were able to teach them from the start! We asked them to get baptized on Saturday and their fecha is for 16 Junio! Pray for them...Camila and Valeria. We are also teaching Camila English. She has an interview this week in English and if she passes, she gets to go to New Zealand! Wahoo. They are absolutely perfect. 

I love the ward. I love where I am. It really does feel like a totally different mission but the change is good. There are two things in my life that will never change and that is the love I have for my friends and family and 3 Nephi 24:6

"For I am the Lord, I change not..."

Love that. I love this gospel.

Thanks for the update! It sounds like things are normal at home. Mom and Dad, thank you SO much for your emails last week. They made for super great lessons with Ramon and Nibaldo...Continue to pray for them...I hope all went well with their family home evening. I have the best family in the world. I loved the updates! When do Jer and Tina find out about the baby?

Okay! I have to go asap.....LOVE YOU ALL! DYB!

Love,

Hermana Mama Pendleton

xoxo