Week 38: What Kind of a Week Has It Been?, Pt. 2

¡Buenas tardes!

I’m so glad I get to be near the House of the Lord, even if it is in Phase 2–B.

Even if it’s not the afternoon, I always end up accidentally saying “buenas tardes” when it’s supposed to be “buenos días” or “buenas noches,” so it’s fine. Except for yesterday, when I had finally gotten used to saying “buenos días” to everybody, but it was 12:05. The struggles of salutations.

Whatever time it is, hello everybody! It’s been a while, and a lot has happened. Far too much for me to cover in one email, but I’ll try to get the especially good snippets.

First day with Hermana Gonzalez (also our first P-day haha)

If you haven’t been paying attention for the past few weeks, I’m in a foreign country now! My companion is beautiful, Spanish is beautiful, and Guatemala is beautiful. Those are the things that are most important to cover, but I guess I’ll elaborate on a few things.

The plane ride to a foreign country is surprisingly stressful. My carry-on was filled to the brim with my heaviest items, namely my Spanish copies of Saints and all of my notebooks and studying materials. I probably didn’t need to bring Santos, but I needed the comfort in these times of constant change.

So I got to the airport, and my flight from Nashville to Houston actually got delayed. Luckily, I was originally supposed to have a gigantic layover in Houston, so I ended up being just in time. A nice little milagro in my travels.

Rolling with the Rodens!

It was crazy being with all of the American missionaries. We all talked about our different reassignments and the rules and structure each of them had. While it was interesting to talk about, it made me extremely nervous to face adjusting to an entirely new mission. Luckily, President and Sister Roden make this an incredibly easy task. They are so kind, so hardworking, so amazing. It was such a privilege to be able to stay the night in the mission home and to get to know them.

When I was in my first interview with President Roden, he told me that he wanted me to serve as a nurse with Hermana Gonzalez. Suffice it to say I was a bit confused, seeing as I’m a theater arts major with no experience in medicine, but I accepted the calling. Seeing Hermana Gonzalez’s face when I explained that I was but a simple artist was absolutely priceless. She’s studying dentistry back home, so she knows quite a bit more than I do.

It’s not the Parthenon in Nashville, but Roman is still all Greek to me. With another new missionary, Hermana Woodbrooks, and the STLs*, Hermana Franco and Hermana Villatoro.

My real role, however, is that I speak English. Now that American missionaries are starting to come in, President Roden wanted to provide a line of communication that allowed all missionaries to be able to explain their problems in their native language. In this past week, as I’ve talked to my fellow North Americans, I’ve seen how real the relief is when you’re able to say exactly how you’re feeling.

Since I’m an office missionary, that means that 1) my P-days are on Saturdays (I miss Wednesdays, but it’s OK), and 2) I’m serving in Xela!† Before leaving, I was really mentally preparing myself for being in basically the jungle, but we actually have a pretty nice living situation. Not as nice as the Bowling Green apartment, but I don’t think many missionaries live in as nice of a place as the Bowling Green apartment.

Who knew that murals had gone global?

Our area is Calvario, and let me tell you, it is tiny! So much so that Facebook finding doesn’t work, so we actually do a lot of street contacting. I like street contacting, but it is incredibly intimidating in another language. I continue to trust in God and try my best, though. And he’s blessed me immensely with Hermana Gonzalez. Seriously. She is an absolute unit of a missionary.

Bonus photos of the temple.

In my personal study the other day, I was looking at Moroni 10. It’s the last chapter in the Book of Mormon, which of course means that it absolutely slaps. As missionaries, we quote verses 3-5 all the time, because it contains the promise of how you’ll be able to know if the Book of Mormon is really the word of God, but this time around, what followed just after caught my eye:

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

There is a lot that is hard about being a missionary. Sore feet, sunburns, rejection. But there is so much good in it, too. For me, all of the blessings that have come from this week and my entire missionary service point to this idea that what I am doing acknowledges the reality of my Savior. And through all the change I’m experiencing, that will always stay the same.

—Adios (that’s the same no matter the time of day),

Hermana Newton

* Sister Training Leaders.

† Xelajú, or Xela for short, is Quetzaltenango’s Mayan name.