Guess What! I've Been Out for 2 Months!

Hola!

Guess what!  I've been out for 2 months! It's super weird... Oh how time flies! So, I've decided to add a new section to my letters called: "You know you're a missionary when..."  So, this week you know you're a missionary when you start introducing yourself as Sister Fields in your dreams. That happened this week.

 

Anyway, this week was a pretty good one, full of adventures both spiritual and just us getting lost. We do that a lot even with Elder Darcy, our trusty GPS. For example: this week we set aside a day to go out to the towns of Farmville and Fountain. We headed out, determined to find a brother that the bishop asked us to visit out on a road called Pocosin. Well, we know a sister that lives out there that we just recently had dinner with and so we put it into our GPS and headed all the way out to Pocosin. Once we got to the road, Elder Darcy said that we were at the house... and there was just a field there..... so we just started driving up this road that is really just out in the middle of nowhere with only maybe 10 houses on it. And then, we got to the end of the road and we still couldn't find the house! So we started driving back to look again and then we started talking about Veggie Tales and before we knew it we were once again at the end of this 5ish mile road! So we decided to try one more time... and we still didn't find it. We decided to just knock on a door that we thought might be it and so we parked by the house of the sister that we knew. When we parked she came outside to see what we were doing so we told her who we were looking for and she said that she didn't know who that was. Then she asked, "Does he live in Greenville or Fountain?" And that's when we found out there is a Pocosin Dr. in Greenville and a Pocosin Rd. in Fountain..... So that was awkward. It was a really pretty drive I guess. Funny story, anyway.

I just love being out here. As much as I don't like talking to people, I just love everyone that we teach! Last week we started teaching so many new people that I can just see have been being prepared for this gospel for a long time. I just hope they accept it! One example is a lady named B*. She is an older lady that we started teaching this week. She is some kind of Baptist, I think, but she said that if God tells her she should join our church that's what she'll do even if it takes all her faith. She really is amazing and already has soooo much faith! That was such a great lesson. As I was telling her about Joseph Smith being visited by Peter, James and John, and John the Baptist, I felt like I was talking to a sponge! She was just soaking it all up and the spirit was so strong! At the end of the lesson it somehow came up that we volunteer to come out on missions and she just looked at us so shocked and said, "God is looking down smiling at you right now. He is so proud of you." And I just wanted to cry. Heavenly Father really works through people to send you messages he wants you to hear. Especially when He knows that you are having a bad day. The night before we had had a kind of rough lesson with a lady that was very firm in her Pentecostal beliefs and I really needed our good lesson with B to remind me that people actually do want to hear this message. Being a missionary is super great. 

Something else I have learned this week, the opposition really really doesn't want people to get baptized. One of our investigators was set to be baptized this week and then this crazy thing came up with her mom in Philadelphia, and so she missed her interview and so we have to push back her date. She is sooo ready to be baptized, but of course something had to come up... She is doing really well though and is still reading and even went to church out in Philadelphia! Another time this week we were teaching another investigator that has been being taught for over a year and so we had a big talk about faith and right when we were getting to baptism her dog freaked out and started running around barking... I've heard stories about stuff like that happening, but I didn't know it was real! Sister Hansen and I just have to remind ourselves, in the words of Veggie Tales, that "God is bigger than the boogie man" and that everything will work out! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all!

Hermana Fields

*I'm not sure about posting names on Hna. Fields' blog - so, that's why the initial B instead of a name. [~Angela]  :)

Week 8

Sorry! This is going to be a short one today, and I don't have any pictures!

 

     This week was pretty great; a little rough, but good! We had interviews with President Baker and that was super nice and insightful. We have been teaching a lot of member lessons this week and that has been super fun. The ward here is awesome! We have had dinner every day this week! And through members we got 18 referrals last week! And just all together, Southerners are my favorite. 

  

     We were meeting with an investigator on Saturday.  She is in her 60's and is just hilarious. A little way into the lesson she looks at me and says, "I feel like I'm in a room with an Indian princess. You are Indian, aren't you?" I said, "Yes" and she said, "I knew it! I'm goin' to call you my little Indian princess! And, you are prettier than a Georgia peach, too!" It was hilarious and also very different because I haven't ever had anyone guess that I was Native right off! 

 

     There was another time we were meeting with a less-active sister. She was an absolute crack-up. She's an older black lady who is a recent convert. During our lesson she kept telling us about all these crazy superstitions that her mom had. One of them was that you can never wash clothes on Fridays. Why? She doesn't know, but she has been following that tradition of her mother's her whole life and then that day she had spilled juice on a rug and she had to put it into the wash on a Friday! The member that was with us said "That's okay, because it wasn't clothes." The sister was so relieved that she hadn't broken the tradition! She kept saying, "Oh, thank you! That is SUCH a relief!" None of us could stop laughing. She then said that she liked to keep people laughing because, "When you frown, you ugly." She is hilarious. At the end of the lesson she asked us if Sister Whitley was taking us out to dinner that night and then she said, "Miss Elizabeth said you had something with gluten? Or something. You got something wrong with you!" I wish I could just record the way she talks... 

 

     This week was very spiritual, too. I have seen so many little miracles and I have really seen Heavenly Father's hand in my life. We were working on trying to get the lesson on the Restoration down this week. It's crazy how the Lord has helped me learn and helped me teach our investigators. I also know that He definitely has a plan for me. I was pretty bummed and frustrated when I found out that I wasn't going to train in Spanish, but I have really started to see why this week. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to improve my teaching skills before I move on to teaching in Spanish. This English thing has been such a blessing. I would be sooo overwhelmed if I had had to just dive into teaching in Spanish, and God definitely knew that! That's another thing I have started to learn. Heavenly Father knows us all perfectly and loves us all more than we can even imagine. I have seen that and felt that as we have taught our investigators and members in the ward.

I hope everyone has a marvelous week! Love you all! 

Hermana Fields

Hermana Fields in Virginia!

Hermana Fields made it back to the US on January 6th, woot!

Chesapeake! I made it!

President and Sister Baker

Hermana Fields and Sister Hansen

Hola from Greenville! (Weeks 6 & 7)

Hola from Greenville!

After two weeks of waiting, here I am finally writing again! Sooo much has happened, so we will see what I can fit in in the next 15 minutes... 

I finally made it to the actual mission field! I am currently serving in the Greenville NC 2nd Ward and I love it.  The people here are incredible! As some of you may already know, I'm currently just English speaking. We got here to find out that there were only two Hermanas available to train. So, some of us are doing all our training in English. I have no idea what will happen after my 12 week training.  But I will continue to have my hour of language study every day and keep faith that the Lord has a plan! Which I know He does. I have seen in it countless times just in the last week, so I know everything will work out! 

So, before I get too ahead of myself, I'll tell y'all about my last week at the CCM! There isn't a lot to say, but it was a good week! The hardest part was saying goodbye to my district, we had all grown so close! We are planning a reunion in two years though... and we have a Martinelli's bottle that we all put our mission goals into and we are going to break it at the reunion! 

Oh, but guess who I met, though! So, one day I was standing in line for food and an Elder that I had seen around a lot suddenly stopped me and said, "Hermana Fields! Do you have family in Virginia?"  I told him yeah, and that I have an aunt out there. Turns out he is from Aunt Val's ward! Apparently she had told him to keep an eye out for me and it took him 6 weeks to finally find me! It's funny what a small world the church is. Anyway, so that is who Elder Padilla is! 

Saying goodbye to the CCM was hard, but I can't describe how happy I am to be back in the States. I absolutely love it here in Greenville.  Their accents are the best. There are so many things that I have heard of as being stereotypical Southern things, that I never knew were real things until I got here! It's just so Southern! There are literally churches on every corner, and EVERYONE is religious. I have not met a single person that doesn't already have a strong belief in Jesus Christ and it makes me so happy! The people here are so receptive to the gospel, and it really is such a joy to share it with them. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell y'all about my companion! Her name is Sister Hansen and she is the greatest. She's from Arizona and she has been out for 15 months and so she is a great trainer:) We live an apartment and we have a car named Maximus and a GPS named Elder Darcy. :) He always saves us damsels in distress when we get lost... so all the time, haha.

Anyway, it's great to be out here. I have already seen so many little miracles and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for next week. I love you all! Be good, say your prayers and read your scriptures!

Sister (for the time being) Fields

 

 PS - Sorry for the lack of pictures of North Carolina!

 

Christmas lights at the CCM

District 12C

District 12C

Elder Padilla

Me and Hermana Reed

Me and Hermana Arnaud!

District 12 Hermanas

 

Package from home! It says "baby girl" on it... that made for a good laugh!

 

My CCM wish came true!!!! Horchata!!! (And, Christmas)

¡Hola!

My #1 wish of all the CCM came true today. ¡¡¡¡¡There was horchata for lunch!!!!! I have been wishing for this the entire time I have been here, and it finally happened!!! A worker came over to our table and said something to us in Spanish that we didn't understand. So, Hermana Reed said, "¿Qué?" He looked at us both again with a puzzled expression and said, "Oh, sorry!" And then he told us that there was horchata over by the drinks if we wanted any. It was the best horchata in the entire universe, and guess what? Hermana Reed hates horchata! That's the lamest, but I still love her anyway. Hermana Reed is actually a quarter Mexican. It's so funny, because everyone always assumes that I'm the Mexican one. Countless workers and teachers have asked where I'm from, or if I have a Latino background.  And then when I tell them that I'm a little Mexican they always say, "I knew it!" And then I just have to laugh. 

The highlight of this week was definitely Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had a Festival de Coros where all the zones were assigned different Christmas songs to sing. Our zone was combined with a Latino zone. So, rehearsals were very interesting because we couldn't understand each other and they just made fun of us the whole time, haha . Hermana Reed was assigned to be our choir director, and she did a really good job trying to get through the language barrier. There was this little Brazilian Elder that wanted to just take over the whole time. It was pretty funny to watch. We sang, "¡Regocijad! Jesús Nació" and "Oh pueblocito de Belén," ("Joy to the World" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem"). The Latinos kept suggesting that we should sing in English and they should sing in Spanish...  I don't think very many of them realize that everyone here is learning Spanish.  Anyway, it went really well. At the very end they had a special choir, which Hermana Reed and I were in, sing "Santa Noche" ("O Holy Night") . It was so powerful.  I love singing!  

 

So then Christmas day happened. We did a service project for an old men's home somewhere in the city. They were telling us that the home is just so destitute, even to the point that some of the old men are sleeping on the floor. So we made fleece blankets and tied them and made them sack lunches. Unfortunately, we didn't know that everyone was just going over right after breakfast and we missed it all because all there was left to do was tie the fringe... I was pretty disappointed, but I did my part by buying cookies for the sack lunches. After that, we had a devotional by Elder Nelson and it was super good! And then we had two more devotionals.... They were all really good but it's hard to stay awake that long... The definite highlight of the day was calling home. It was super great to hear everyone's voices! 

So this is my last week in the CCM! It´s so insane how the time flies! I'm so excited and scared at the same time! I'm really going to miss our Elders. I'm going to miss the Hermanas, too.  But, we are going to the same mission, so it's not as bad. We have all just grown so close in the last couple weeks! I have really loved watching how in just 6 weeks we have all grown so much! So anyway, this is my last email from the CCM. I won't be able to email until the Monday after next, because we leave at four next Tuesday morning. 

I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, happy New Years! And I hope that everyone in Orem stays warm and you don't freeze to death! 

Hermana Fields

 

My CCM wish came true !!!    Horchata!!!

 

 

A Christmas Toast

Christmas breakfast: peanut butter and nutella. (That green stuff in the corner is my real breakfast)

Our Christmas presents under our Christmas tree

The most beautiful Hermanas in all the CCM (Yeah, Mom captioned this one!)

Cool Sunset

 

Week 4: La Semana de Navidad

¡Hola amigos!

     I feel like all my letters have been pretty just silly, so I'll try to make this one a little more serious/spiritual. The truth is: the spirit is so strong when you are a missionary, it's hard to describe. It's almost like everything becomes more clear, feelings, promptings, everything even my brain is more focused in class! It's also very true what everyone says about obedience. You really can't have the spirit with you if you aren't trying your very hardest to be obedient. 

     It's just crazy how blessed you are as a missionary. Some days I will just be sitting in a devotional that I hardly understand because it's in Spanish and I will get answers to prayers that I have been looking for for years. I also feel like it's so much easier to love everyone, too. It's weird but it's almost like my heart has grown, and I just love everyone here. We have the best Elders in our district. They are hilarious and the biggest dorks sometimes, but they have the biggest hearts and the strongest testimonies. Don't even get me started on the Hermanas... I just love them and I could write novels on how great they are and how I wouldn't be here anymore without them; especially Hermana Reed. She is the most patient, loving, strong, forgiving, all-around amazing person. I know for a fact that companionships are inspired. 

     Our teachers are super great, too. Hermana Arnaud is super cute and an amazing teacher! I really just hope I can teach like her by the time I get home! She just got off her mission 5 months ago, and she's getting married in March!! Our other teacher is Hermano Hernandez.  He's a super great teacher, too! He's hilarious.  In class he seems waaay older than us, but then he says silly things and suddenly it's very obvious that he's only 22. The other day we were all walking to our classroom and we saw Hermano Hernandez walking from the other end of the hall. So Hermana Earl and I started to walk fast so that we could beat him. He saw what we were doing, so he started full-on running.  So, of course, we had to, too. So, there we are, all in church clothes running down the hall! We won:) It was hilarious.  I wish you all could have seen it! 

     Oh, and I can't forget the workers here. There are the best people ever, especially the kitchen workers. They are the absolute sweetest! They all know me now, so I don't have to say, "¿Tienes sin gluten?" anymore. And, they even give me extra desserts and things that they definitely had to go out of their way to make.  I just love everyone. That's all:)

     So anyway, on to news from this week:

The beginning of this week was a little rough, especially teaching-wise.  Hermana Reed and I were struggling, and then Hermano Hernandez talked to us during coaching and told us that we just needed to go in and speak from our hearts. So we did, and it was one of the best lessons we have ever taught. We didn't get through very many doctrinal points, but the spirit was so strong that it didn't even matter. It's so cool. When you are in tune with the spirit, you can do anything. There are some days that Spanish is just not working in my head and then other days that I just talk and don't even have to think too hard about it, because it's all the spirit guiding me  in what to say.

     So, anyone remember how mourning doves used to follow me everywhere? Being in Mexico didn't change that. Every morning there is a dove outside my casa or classroom, or the comedor. It drives me crazy and Hermana Reed just thinks I'm crazy, which I most definitely am...

     This Sunday was super great. First, we had an amazing Christmas readers theater relief society lesson that was just incredible. And then, I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting... in Spanish... that wasn't so incredible. Okay, it wasn't that bad really.  But when you are speaking in public in a different language, you suddenly know the real meaning of nervous. After that, we had an amazing devotional by Shawn Cates, who is the Director of Instruction for the CCM. He is actually from Orem, so that's cool. It was a really, really good talk.  Something that stuck with me was a quote he gave from Elder Holland, "Give me your heart, I'll give you my strength, and together we will change the world." (speaking on behalf of God, of course). I have, like, four pages of notes from that talk that I wish I could share but I haven't the time... Later Sunday night, we watched the new Christmas video, "He is the Gift." If you haven't seen that video: Stop reading right now and look it up. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs] Next, we watched a nativity video with David Archuleta and the Piano Guys and a bunch of other people and if you haven't seen that video ( I don't remember what it's called, sorry) look it up right this second. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg] Afterwards, we watched the Joseph Smith/Restoration movie and I cried the rest of the night. It was marvelous. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xVw6PsSinI]

     Well, because everyone keeps asking about Christmas: to be honest I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing.  All I know is that we don't have class, and we are having a bunch of devotionals that are going to be amazing I'm sure:) And, we get to call home!!!! 

     Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Remember that you are really celebrating Christ's birth and please always remember what He did for you!

 ¡¡¡Feliz Navidad!!!

Love you all!

Hermana Fields 

Typical Meal at the CCM

Our Classroom Christmas Tree

Classic shot: Name Tag and Scriptures

Nativity Scene

Water Tower

Christmas Card from the First Presidency

Week 3

Hola!

Guess what everyone? I missed The Hobbit. But it's okay, because the work I'm preparing to do is far greater than even my favorite movie!!! It's actually way insane, being here at the CCM.  It's hard because, well obviously I can't speak Spanish, but because we are just teaching our teachers as our investigators. So it's hard to really feel like we are helping anyone or accomplishing anything. But every once in a while I get a little glimpse of what it's going to be like when we are teaching real people, and I get so excited! 

So I've sorta had this cough since before I even got here and it's been a while, so I finally went to the doctor this week. He thought having a cough for three weeks with no other symptoms was weird, too.  So he gave me antibiotics.  But it's still not going away... My companion hates it. She says that it's not that bad, but I know that she secretly hates it. Sorry, that was really random, but now you know.

I learned something this week:  Mexicans LOVE fireworks. One day last week was apparently a Catholic holiday and there were non-stop fireworks all night and then all day and then all night, again. They even caught the hill on fire AGAIN! The hill is magic though. It burns itself out every time! During all the explosions around us I just pretended like I was in World War II and that it was just another air raid.  I even wore that dress that I stole from Soni. The one that looks sorta like that time period. 

On Saturday a folk dancing group came and performed an amazing Christmas program for us. And guess what? At the end, they had fireworks go off -  INSIDE the auditorium! Mexicans love their fireworks. The program was actually really, really good and it made me so excited to go out and teach these people.

We are now the oldest district in our zone. We said goodbye to the older district last night... It was really sad... We all had gotten really close to all of them, especially the two hermanas! They are actually both going to the Provo mission, which is way cool.  I'm excited for them! But it was sad, nonetheless. Our zone has a tradition that every Monday night we all go and play signs together and it is the funnest. But last night was our last night with the other zone, so it was very bitter-sweet.

Today was the greatest, to make up for last night being so sad, though. We got to go to the temple! Well, sorta. We got to go to the visitor center because the temple is closed for renovation. Their visitor center is sooo much cooler than any we have here! If any of you are ever in the area, go to the Mexico City Temple and visitor center! 

I wish I had 15 hours to tell you all about all the crazy growth and learning that happens, but that would take 15 hours, and I only have one. So, just know that the church is the perfect restored gospel on the earth today. 

Love you all! Thank you all for all your support and prayers!!!

Hermana Fields

 PS How could I forget? We started a new tradition! So, every breakfast and dinner they have bread and jam and honey and peanut butter and Nutella out so we can make toast or sandwiches. They also always have a bunch of fruit. So as of this week, every Sunday we eat bananas with Nutella and peanut butter! It's the best thing I have ever tasted!

Christus - In the Mexico City Temple Visitor Center

Our Silly Elders

 

Visitor Center

CCM Sign

Mexico City Temple

Our District