Tuesday 14 May 2013

3 Months - time's flying :-)


Hola!

So today marks 3 months on the mish! I can hardly believe it. And yesterday I was able to skype with my family for Mother' Day! It really was the best. A lot of people had warned me that it would be awkward or dissapointing because it is so built up and you have so much to catch up on but I really just loved it. Not nearly enough time to say everything that I wanted though! 

This picture I attached is from transfers, the two girls to the right of me are the new hermanas in our house! Hna Prestwich in the purple was my trainer my first 6 weeks and is now training the 2 new girls. The Hermana next to hna Prestwich is her trainer (my "grandma" in mission lingo - haha) and the girl in the stripes is who she's training right now. Crazy how intertwined we all are!



The other is of Hermana Laughlin (my new trainer) , Hermana Avery (who used to be in my house) and Hermana Cofe (who took me out on intercambios my first time when I was still in the CCM).


So this post will definitely be a short one, but I've gotta make good on my promise to fill you in about our bunk beds!

The Bunk Bed Saga

So about a week ago, we had bunk beds put into our house so that we would have more room in our two tiny bedrooms. The men showed up and built them and they were HUGE. No joke, I was on the bottom bunk and I could sit up with a good foot of space still between my head and the bunk above me! Hermana Prestwich was up top and everything was totally fine; we just had to make sure not to turn the fan on, or else we might decapitate her.

I guess in some of the other houses though, the ceilings weren't as high as in our house and some of the girls on the top bunks were hitting their heads on the ceiling. Hna Mero from my CCM district sent me a letter saying that every morning she would forget and smack her head on the ceiling.

So ... they decided to switch out the bunk beds in everyone's houses. They showed up one morning and took apart one bunk bed, and moved everything around but then realized something was wrong with the bolts and they didn't match up and they couldn't get the right pieces until the next day. So two hours later, they had taken down and put back up the exact same bunk beds (I feel like this kind of describes how a lot of things work here.)

The next morning they came back and set up the new bunk beds. I went into the room to check it out when they were done and just absolutely started cracking up. (It was one of those I-can't-breathe-or-move-or-talk kind of laughs, with tears running down my face.)
The other girls came to see what I was cracking up about, and pretty soon they had all joined in.

Turns out the new bunk beds were a lot lower, but now the person on the bottom bunk had to army crawl into bed, in order to squeeze into the little cave of space under there. It was hilarious watching Hna Avery sneak into bed. (don't worry, I documented this with a video).

But it really was the best, I laughed so much that week, and it still makes me smile when I think about it getting into bed (except the night that I somehow kicked the top bunk because my leg was up too high when I jumped in, or the night hna Avery sat up in her bed and hit the ceiling so hard, Hna Laughlin felt it above her)


Life is crazy, but life is beautiful. So hard, but so worth it.

This week has been so full of neat tender mercies and special experiences for me and it really has shown me that -

"if the Lord brings me to it,  He'll bring me through it".

We've survived all of our lessons even when our Spanish was rough. It really just reminded me that that isn't what its all about. As long as we are studying our hardest for our lessons and have the Spirit with us, everything always turns out just the way it needs to. 

If I know anything it's that Heavenly Father loves His children.

love,
Hermana Coe


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Note from Sue:
  My Mother's Day this year was sweet! Grandpa came over; we had Kenzie on skype & Abbie on facetime, and we all got to chat for a quick 45 minutes!  (Our next skype date will be on Christmas - already looking forward to it!)

Kenzie sounded and looked fabulous! I loved to hear the strength in her voice, her amazing attitude, and see her beautiful face!  She is doing well, has learned tons, and is completely dedicated to serving God & the people of the Dominican Republic.  We miss her so much, but it is softened by the knowledge that the message she is sharing is worth the small sacrifice we are all making.

She spoke of the realization the no one was going to make appts for her that first day out of the CCM - that she and her companion were responsible to fill 6 hours a day searching for people who had a desire to hear the word of God.  She is working diligently to do that!

She spoke of how blessed she feels to have had the companions that she has had. She is particularly loving Hermana Laughlin, who has a sense of humor that is very similar to Kenzie's and they have a great time finding the humor in the crazy things that happen on a day to day basis :-)

She also spoke of the difference between the volunteer work (medical, educational & labor) that she did in India, and how it was so different because the people she served there wanted & needed her help, and were so immediately grateful for it.  Now she is serving people who either don't know her message can improve their life, or don't want to hear it.  It takes a lot of perseverance & faith to push forward thru the discouraging days, but it has certainly given her a chance to solidify her own testimony.  And truly appreciate the times when she finds someone she can share her message with.

It made me think of when the Savior was on the earth, teaching and sharing his message of hope.  He was also met with those who were not interested, or didn't realize that what He had to share would enhance their life, and the knowledge they could gain from allowing Him to teach them would comfort & strengthen them in times of trial, when no earthly source could help them.  

And here's the fun part ... she shared a little of her hard earned spanish with us :-)
Ugh...can't get my video to upload to blogger - abbie posted a video on facebook last week, so you can check there if you want :-) 

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