Please Bring Honor to Us All

This week has been crazy! So wow where to begin? 

My companion and I were talking the other day and we randomly started singing the song "Please bring honor" from Mulan. So in the end we realized a mission is kind of like Mulan, you represent two sets of people Christ(the church) and your family. You go out with your family praying you serve well, you train hard, you fight hard, and hopefully you return with honor. You are a different person, and you return with "gifts" your name tag, torn worn scriptures, etc. Don't y'all just love my metaphors? teehee. 

Random thing I love about Mexico... there is always music playing somewhere and very often its American. MWHAHAHA! 

Everyday I wake up and go what the heck I'm a missionary! AAAAH! It doesnt feel real, I am used to watching missionaries and thinking wow, thats cool, and now its me. CRAZY! 

Speaking of the word crazy, the family I live with just got a dog and they named it Crazy. 

For FHE this week all the missionaries in my district went to the house of a member family, we ended up playing movie charades and this one elder did Nacho Libre it was EPIC because he is Mexican. SWEET! 

Everyday I also feel like a hobbit because, well, Mexican's don't eat dinner and breakfast is a very different affair. Its like what about breackfast, second breakfast, levensies, tea, lunch, dinner, supper...? I always get soooo hungry in the evening, but lunch is huge, soup, main course with salad, fruit, dessert. WOW! It's often hard to eat everything. 

Another cool thing that happened this week, we were in the institute building and someone people were in this one class room and somebody was playing piano and then I realized I knew the song they were playing. My companion and I wen into the room and asked if they would play the song again so I could sing it. They said sure. It was Someone like you by Adele, I sang it and everyone was flabbergasted. People here love Adele. FUN!

Last but SO not least; the other day a sister in the ward came up to my companion and I in the street and said " Hermana Shingleton, I feel that you have a message you need to share with me and my granddaughter. will you and you companion come over later and have a lesson with us?" AAAAAAAH! I had no clue what to do. Of course we agreed to come by, but AAAH! What did I have to share with this family. I started to pray to be able to know what to share with these people. I ended up teaching about prayer, families, and charity. By the middle both this sister and my companion were in tears, and I almost was. The sister ended up telling me that what I said was exactly what she needed to hear, and would I talk to her son who wants to get baptized but doesnt want to marry his girl friend that he lives with and has kids with. I was like ok, but again aaah! So if I end up talking to him ever I'll write about it. I love this particular family its just the grandma and the granddaughter. The little girl is the same age as my sister Abbi. She is super cute and funny. 

Anyway there is a good look into my week. Love y'all! Hermana Shingleton XOXOX

I Like Trains and Bailar Bailar!

Hola dear blog readers!

First of all if you get the above references you are a winner! 

Let me start off by talking about the Metro; the Metro is the most insane thing ever! It´s the Mexican Subway. In the mornings and evenings people pile in like sardines, so many people that you are squashed up against eachother and your arms are glued to your chest. Its hot and aweful. This week my companion and I had to go to the mission home and to get there you have to take the metro. The first train came and my companion started to get on and there was no room for me and then the doors started to close so I had to physically pull her out. Later we missed our stop because we were packed in so tightly we could not get off. AAAAAH! 

My mom likes Zumba, and it just so happens that Zumba well dance of any kind is really big here. My family has this Zumba video game back home, and when it starts up it goes "bailar, bailar" Well I found out that the word for dance here is bailar. HAHA so it says "dance, dance" in English. 

Also on the subject of dance my stake here held a Relif Society activity where the sisters in each ward performed a traditional dance in native costumes. It was really fun to watch and my ward danced the best. 

This week I also watched people eat chicken feet! EWWWW! I dont think I could eat that! I think I would throw up. One hermana even ate parts of the bone yuk! 

The other day I was walking down the street and I relized a few things; I was feeling kinda down about my language skills and then I relized even though I may not speak well I speak Spanish! CRAZY! People around me dont speak/understand English so I am forced to speak in Spanish. YAY! The other thing is that I love Mexico! Its hard here and waaaay different from the States but I love it. 

Another good thing is that I am not as sick anymore. YAY! 

A couple weeks ago I learned the word for guinea pig in Spanish because guinea pigs are a popular pet here. The word is cuyo. Well the other day I was reading the first vision when I came across this "Cuyo fulgor no admiten..." AAAH guinea pigs in the first vision! I told my companion and she busted up. I know it actually in this instance means "whose" but it was still funny. Any way love yall! Until next week! 

Hermana Shingleton

Adventure is Out There!

Hola my wonderful blog readers! I hope everyone is happy and healthy! 

Life here in Mexico continues to be full of surprises! Here are a few random things about Mexico City

People drive crazy, you can basically go as fast as you want, nice. Oh and seat belts are non existent in most cars, whoopie! I actually kind of like riding in a car here, it´s strange.

Dogs hang out on the rooftops, it´s kinda scary as your walking down a street and suddenly hear barking above you.

Fruit here is incredible, bananas are my favorite! Tortas are my new favorite Mexican food. They are mix between panini and sub sandwiches and usually have some kind of guacamole on them. YUM! I also love these cookies called "Sponch" they are a cookie with marshmallow, coconut, and strawberry jam stuff. 

Today I went to a HUGE mall, and went bowling. It was great. My sister would die if she saw this place! Afterwards we went and ate at Chili´s it was good to eat American food. Oh and we went to DQ. YAY! It was really nice to spend part of my day in civilization. 

Last week I had to do my laundry by hand, crazy huh?! Lucky for us this week one of the hermanas in the ward let us use her washer this week, but we still had to hang the clothes out to dry. 

I LOVE the people here, they are for the most part really nice, it´s just frustrating because I don´t fully understand them yet. 

Let me say this though I am super SUPER glad to be an American! America is a wonderful place. 

Yesterday an American hermana told me that on the front of a dollar bill there is one letter for every month of an elders mission and on the back there are 18 letters in  "federal reserve note" so for every month of your mission you color in a letter. Dollar are useless here and I happened to have one so yeah I started filling them in. I can´t believe I have almost been on my mission for two months! AAAAA! How did that happen!? 

I miss home a TON! But am finding things I like about here. 

I have become something of a sanitary freak in my house, I really don´t want to get sick! So I bleach all my dishes and the bathroom. And haha I use Fabuloso for the floor. Thanks boss for helping me get used to the stuff. 

Also this last week we ran out of gas for hot water in the shower, so we had to use a livestock water heater to heat up water in buckets and then use a bowl to dump water on ourselves. Life is a huge adventure. Also my dear blog friends you can still use dearelelder to write me! YAY!

Well Love y'all! Bye!

Narnia

Hey everyone! This week has been crazy, and by far the craziest, herdest one of my life! 

I am in Mexico! AAAA HOW DID THIS HAPPEN! It´s pretty interesting here.

Here is something I have been thinking about all week: 

Going on a mission is like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia you are a child when you come, you are filled with excitment and wonder. Then you discover that you have a work to do, and people to serve. You have to step up the plate, fight battles, and help the Lion save people. You learn and grow imensley. And by the end you are strong and you know with "Aslan´s" help you can do anything. Then when you return home, you are changed, you are still you but different. It´s like my branch president said in the MTC quoting C.S. Lewis "Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia." or "Once a missionary, always a missionary." 

I don´t have a ton of time but just know that I am alive. I am learning the language pretty well. I have been sick off and on ugg. My companion Hermana S is awesome! I got a guitar, yay! Oh, and I ate pig skin...interesting. Love y'all! 

Hermana Shingleton

"And I'll Never Go Home Again"

This week has been interesting and super busy! I was a host for new missionaries, I was an example missionary at how to begin teaching, I met elder now brother christensen from the district, I went to infield orientation. said goodbye to my teachers etc. Oh and how lovely but I found out that my family is moving. Oh joy! (Just in case you couldn't tell that was sarcasm.) Pero there is nothing I can do about it, and everything is in the Lords hands so I guess I just have to pull up my muck-boots, deal with it and go to work. 

the other night i was reading a letter from someone and I just broke down. I realized I don't get to come home. One of the ways up till now that I have kept motivated when things get rough here at the MTC is by reminding myself that I would get to go home in July when the fireflies are out, and the stars shine bright, and I could go outside and play my guitar in the blanket of humidity. I had a dream, I had a dream, I just wanted to see the lightning bugs gleam, and with ever passing hour I'm not so glad I left my tower... this was my song for most of last week. 

The number one thing I have learned while being here is that it's all in God's hands, we just have to trust him and do what he asks even if it's super hard. 

Every sunday at the MTC we watch a church movie, this week it was the Joseph smith movie. In the movie there is a large portion dedicated to the Saints time in Zion I realized as I watched it that I was being slightly selfish. The Pioneers loved that beautiful place probably just as much as me, but they were sent away in much more dire, and sad circumstances. I started to think about what that might have been like. And it made me realize that I have it so easy, and I also realized that I have been so blessed to have enjoyed living in a place that they were so brutally sent away from. But look at all the good and growth that came from the early saints leaving. I know I can do hard things! 

When I broke down the other day this song came to my head "And I'll never go home again, place the call feel it start, favorite friend, well nothings wrong but that's not true...and all the things that we do for fun, can not be anymore..." Those words stung, I will never go home again. I wrote my name in that land, and I don't want that to change, but God knows what he is doing and I know good will come of it. 

this week has also brought me and the other sisters I live with closer together (don't know if that's a good thing as we all leave on Monday), but once when I was crying they all came in and sat on my bed and Herman T and Hermana L cuddled me. I am glad we are all friends now. Herman L reminds me of my Sister Smurf the way she tried to comfort me. It made me smile because God knows me and he knows how to comfort me. 

I also had the pleasure of playing "nurse" again this week. a sister from my zone got a really bad cold, I went over and took care of her and the next day she was a TON better. I love helping people. First Aid rocks!

I can't write a ton more, but one cool thing that happened was that my companion and I met our TRC investigator as a real person not as his investigator persona. He told us that usually he doesn't remember lessons or missionaries, but he will always remember the times we taught him because we showed charity, tailored the lessons to his needs, and didn't judge him when he told us about his "drinking problem". He told us he could really tell that we cared and he could feel the Spirit. I had also made a "bold promise" to him that if he would have faith in the Lord and read The Book of Mormon everyday that he would be able to stop drinking. He said that really hit him. We also introduced him to the ARP program. HA! Thanks Brother E back home! This work is all about humility and charity. 

I could write a ton more on this week but I don't have time. I love y'all! Joshua 1:9 

Hermana Shingleton