Week 40: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Hermana

¡Buenas!

Feeling blue … in a happy way (:

I’ve come to learn that “buenas” is for when you very well could say a whole phrase, but find yourself too lazy to do so. Which means that I absolutely love saying it.

We’ve been having a lovely time here in Calvario! Finding, teaching. … Hopefully we’ll get to the baptizing part soon enough. But today, I’d like to examine this week through the lens of art.

I love anything to do with creating, if you couldn’t tell from how lovingly I craft each weekly letter, and I’m grateful for all the talents I’ve been given in the arts! Acting, singing, writing, and—specifically these last seven days—drawing.

I do not know why I look so angry in this picture where I’m looking at Elder Juarez as I’m drawing him. I promise we’re actually just good friends.

It all started on Sunday during our member lunch with la familia De Leon (who are some of the best people on the planet, btw). I sat there with a napkin and a marker that happened to be around and sketched the lovely Hermana Gonzalez. I showed it to her when I finished, and she loved it! So did everyone else at the table. They requested that I draw Elder Rivera as well, and I obliged. They were all super kind as they complimented the drawing.

The finished portrait of Elder Juarez (I just can’t get the nose right)

A little later on in the week, we were setting up our lunch with the Relief Society president, Hermana Norma. While we talked, I could feel that she seemed a little off-beat, so I decided to do what I could. Hermana Gonzalez and I wrote her a card, and then I drew her (with a little halo!) to show our appreciation for all she does for us. When we got there, Hermana Norma’s daughter Sharon actually helped us, and told us that her mother was feeling a little sick (she’s just gotten the vaccine), and so she was resting. Later that day, Hermana Norma thanked us for the card, and the next time we talked to her, she just seemed so much happier!

Then, on Wednesday, while we were with the other office missionaries for a meeting, I did caricatures for everyone! Elder Escobar was sad because I had drawn everyone else, and his expression when I started drawing him was so tender! Everyone else also enjoyed my versions of them, and I loved showing my love for them!

The best album cover of the mission so far.

The next afternoon, we had lunch with la familia Castillo. The kids all really liked drawing, and Hermana Gonzalez happily told them that I drew people while she sketched a cute lil flower. So I drew one of the kids, Izan. To make things even better, he drew me!  And yesterday, at the end of our English class, which Hermana Castillo was attending, Izan came in and gave me a more complete drawing of me! (He forgot the body the first time.)

Who knew about the heavily prevalent Korean influence in Quetzaltenango? Surely not me!

I’ve learned a few lessons through this experience. One, that the gifts we have really can be used for the work. And yes, that’s all of them. It can strengthen and uplift everyone, and in turn make them more willing to do the same! And kindness heals. It truly helps people not only want to become better, but to actually do it. It’s also helped me truly look around myself and recognize the beauty of what I’m living in.

A verse in Alma 30 talks a little bit about this:

44 ... The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

God created everything. The trees in our courtyard, the goats being guided through the streets, the mountains that hold Xela in a warm embrace. But the thing he loves most, and the thing that is most miraculous, is us. The Supreme Creation of the Supreme Creator. That’s part of the reason I love drawing them so much—as well as being able to put a smile on their faces. Both on paper and on themselves.

— All my love!,

Hermana Newton