I miss food from home

Pday is here again! All the Latin Americans left and it was so bittersweet to see them all leave. But more are coming tonight and tomorrow. The sisters are so amazing here although I could only understand so little of what they said. On my birthday, President and Hermana Dyer made a birthday sign for me and placed it on our room door and classroom door. I seriously forgot it was my birthday. I woke up forgetting it until I saw the sign. Thank you family for the videos for my birthday. I loved them a lot. Happy birthday, Jesse!!! I wish I was there to celebrate it. President Dyer and Hermana Dyer also got me a spanish temple recommend holder :). It was a good day. One of the Latina Hermanas wrote me such a sweet note and gave me two pairs of earrings. It was adorable. When she left she cried so much telling me all these things in spanish.....all I got was, "I love you. You have the light of Christ within you". hahaha But I just felt so much love from all of them. One of the hermanas learned how to sing a birthday song in English and she sang it to me. Last night she sang it again and literally broke down in tears because we knew that we would not see each other again for awhile.

I have been so exhausted that this past sunday, I literally was falling asleep during class. It was terrible and embarassing. Even in the temple.....most of us are so tired that we have a hard time staying awake. Oh which reminds me, WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE THIS MORNING! It was amazing as usual. We were also given a special tour to see the bridal room, sealing rooms, family sealing waiting areas, and baptismal font. It was incredible and absolutely beautiful....the spirit is so strong in the temple. It really is. I have honestly have been having a hard time keeping the spirit with me because of my constant doubt in myself....but from lots of struggle I found that I need not to have confidence in myself...but to have faith and confidence in Christ. One of my favorite things I have learned this past weekend is that during our deep doctrine lesson on sunday, President Dyer was telling me how we sometimes wonder where did the Lord appear in the temple. Then he made us all realize that He has been in all of the rooms...ALL OF THEM because this is His house. So today when I went to the temple, I looked at every inch of it as if He was there and that really made the experience a lot special. Family you have to watch a CES devotional called Christ and his Blueprint for us sometime! I think that is what it is called.

My companion and I have our ups and downs when it comes to teaching, but we are getting better as we go through the days. We learned how to teach with the spirit and to not just teach lessons,  but teach people. Yesterday we taught an acting investigator who told us that he no longer wanted any more lessons from us..and it was devastating. We made the effort to pray for each other while we teach and from that we found that to be really helpful in the ability to teach in unity.

I have been here for two weeks now and in two more weeks I will be having an Latina compañera! Ahhhhh it scares me so much but I could not be anymore excited. When the Latin Americans left last night, I have felt it to be just as if I were leaving my mission in 18 months and just feeling so sad to leave people that you love so much. Since time is going by so fast the maestro was like "Are you ready for more intense spanish?" Then I yelled out loud, "Bring it on!!!" Everyone laughed....hahaha

This language is so difficult......but its coming I know it is. An elder who was in the CCM 11 months ago came yesterday and shared his experience with the language. He is gringo...(foreign) from California and his spanish is INCREDIBLE. He sounds like a native speaker. He inspired us to really pray and work hard to get the language. He said we have to expect to not understand ANYTHING for awhile when we go to the field because the language has different accents in different countries in South America.

I still can not believe that I am here. I am so tired. I miss napping and I miss you all. But I know that I am here for a special purpose. 

Did you know you can get more than one patriarchal blessing? But that is only if your blessings are completely fulfilled then you can get another. I thought that was really cool.

Unfortunately I could not meet with those people I met on the plane and asked me to come to their house here in Bogota. But I sent the address to the mission here so they can teach them. I am also planning to email them today hopefully.

We went prostelyting the first time last week Saturday. It was SCARY, but so rewarding. Mi compañera and I had a hard time finding people to talk to because they either did not believe in God or just was not interested. But one of the guys was actually reading the pamphlet we gave him. I also gave flowers to this homeless woman. I am striving to develop the Christlike attributes of Charity and patience. I have to really humble myself. I honestly wish I have memorized all those scripture masteries in seminary...that would have helped a lot. 

It's really cold here...well for someone like me because I am from Hawaii. Its like 60 degrees. The food is alright. I have adjusted yet I miss food from home. That is why I am eating all my snacks right now hahaha. I have stepped on the scale and I think that I have not gained yet....thank goodness. We will see how that goes. 

It was so funny in the temple today because people quickly assume that I am south American and that I can speak spanish already. The temple president shook my hand and started to speak to me in spanish and asked if I spoke English since all the other people around me were white and obviously American. 

Yo se que mi familia es eterna. Estoy muy feliz de ser misionera. Mi Redentor vive y nos ama. Continue to pray and study the scriptures as a family. God will give you muchas bendiciones for your efforts. He will. Yo lo se porque Dios nos bendice  con el Evangelio y la expiación. My next Pday is next friday. 10 days to wait for my next email. Paciencia is a virtue.....haha 

Les quiero mucho.

Siempre con amor,

Hermana Santeco

oh and the sisters always tell me how much they love my smile....and they describe it with the hand gestures of slanting their eyes with their fingers....hahahaha One of the sisters in the temple was excited to meet me because she heard about me from another sister. She did the same thing with her eyes. But they do love my smile they said.