What a week. I think I start out every e-mail like that...
I received my first child this week! What an experience. Monday, Hermana Mercado and I spent the whole day dropping off our companions and getting stuff ready for the new ones to come in. It was, to say the least, a little stressful. I guess mission life isn´t about relaxing! Tuesday was the scariest day of my life! I had the same giant pit in my stomach that I had right before I opened my call, the day I left from Salt Lake, and the day I heard my first assignment. Man, that feeling never gets any easier to deal with! It feels like I´m going to throw up for a constant 48 hours. It´s horrible. The best part is that it lasts literally until the last second.
Hermana Mercado, Elders Levorsen, Merriman, and Garcia all headed to Pavones to pick up our babies together (thank heavens they were there). There was a quick meeting with President and Hermana Jackson and the APs, basically where they tell us what wonderful people we are and that they love us so much but warn us that our-babies-are-going-to-do-
The trainers walk into the room, see 45 brand new missionaries, and then comes the stare-down. Everyone´s trying to spot theirs. What a sight that was. 45 brand new faces ready and excited to participate in real missionary work. I´ll never forget it. It´s one of the most spiritual experiences that I´ve ever had on my mission. It was just a confirmation to me that Heavenly Father is pushing this work forward faster than ever, and the purpose of my generation is to participate in that work. It´s an amazing feeling. The whole time, I was thinking about a scripture in Esther. She knew that she had a work to do, but she was scared. I felt a little bit like Esther in this situation. Her uncle Mordecai, knowing that she was a little nervous to go in and talk to the king, said to her, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Ether 4:14) As much as I am terrified, I know that I have a purpose. And as young as I am in my mission, I know that there is a reason that I am somehow skipping a TON of steps and training on my third transfer.
Anyway, I have my new baby! Her name is Hermana Adair. She is not french, even though it sounds like it. Haha. She is from Las Vegas, NV. She is 19 years old. She had just gotten in from the Provo MTC the day of the meeting, and was exhausted. I know the feeling. We live with two other Hermanas: Hermana Vouemba from Paris, France and Hermana Scattalon from Rome, Italy. Between the four of us, we speak four different languages! We speak Spanish in the piso, and Hermana Adair and I speak English outside. It´s a little stressful to speak Spanish all the day long at first. I´ve never spoken so much Spanish in my ENTIRE life. My brain is a little fried, but actually, this has been the best thing ever for my Spanish. I understand things that I couldn´t understand before, and I say things that I´ve never said before. I lead in every single lesson (most times teach the whole thing by myself). It´s amazing how much the Lord helps us with the things that we are in most need of. The Lord knows our situation and, I sort of feel like, leading me by the hand.
We received some bad news this week. Jordy doesn´t want to get baptized anymore. He can´t agree with some of the doctrines in the church. Man, that was a real disappointment. I cried for a long time. Investigators are kinda like children; you´re not supposed to have a favorite. But, I´m a terrible parent, and Jordy was definitely my favorite. I thought for sure he was going to get baptized. He just needs more time. He told us that either the doctrine of the church would have to change, or he would have to, and he hopes it´s the doctrine. Unfortunately, we all know that´s not going to happen, so we´re going to have to wait for Jordy to change. He´ll come around someday. We did all we could do as missionaries. For me, it´s not the fact that Jordy isn´t going to get baptized. I couldn´t care less about how many baptisms I have as a missionary. My purpose, and the purpose of all other missionaries, is to "invite people to come unto Christ." If that´s all I do in my mission, I will come home happy. I know that we helped Jordy to do that. He now believes in God. He knows that God loves him. That´s a vital doctrine that most people do not understand here. I am so grateful that he knows this and can take that with him for the rest of his life.
Other than those things, life is life! Missionary work is amazing. I can´t imagine where I would be without it. I love every single thing about it.
I am happy that things are going so well at home. I´m sad about the trees. I liked those things. Maybe the next step is the house? :)
Mom, tell Karrie that I got her and Kai´s CUTE oragami dresses. All of the Hermanas and I were "ooohing" and "aahhhing" at them for hours. I´ll send them a note this week (hopefully)!
Thanks for everything! You know what I was thinking this week? Christmas is just around the corner! Haha. Time is still moving verrrryyyyy slowly for me, but they say that once you start to get the language down, things morve faster. So, I´m hoping that will start to happen for me very soon!
Love you guys!
-Hermana Endicott
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