So as you all have heard I´m on Tenerefe!! wow wow wow where to start...
Well first saying goodbye to everyone in the CCM was no fun, but we we´re all ready to get to work. We spent our first day in the field with the Jacksons. They are fantastic. They are so loving and such fun people, and mom i know they´ll take good care of us :) so after we ate and has some instruction from them we went to the stake center by the temple to meet our trainer and recieve our area. Of over 200 missionaries only 35 or so are in the islands so it isn´t super likely to serve here, so i thought i would also be close to madrid as well. I was the last person to recieve my trainer, and i noticed that there was no other trainers left in the room so i was kind of confused. Then they told me i was going to the islands i just cried like a baby i was so pumped!!
The first night in the field I spent just north of Madrid, because there weren´t any flights until the morning. It was fun, we taught any english classs! (which I felt way inadequat doing, but it went well!) Then that night I got really sick. I spent from 1:30 until 6:30 the next morning puking my guts out. Ahhh it was the worst. I was a mess. The office elders and aps came immediatelty the next morning to give me a blessing, and i felt so bad for them because i literally stunk so bad of vomit. They offered to reschedule my flight, but i insisted on leaving still! so that´s what I did!
My Trainer. My companion´s name is hermana Reyes and she´s literally a perfect person. haha actually that´s my only complaint she´s a perfect person. Ahhh I love her so much. She looks like Repunzel from tangled, she´s from las vegas, she is ity-bity but has the biggest testimony of the gospel. We have a lot of fun together and she´s really easy to live with. It´s her last transfer before she goes home, so i´ll actually have two trainers.. and i´m bummed, because i don´t know how anyone could top her! haha no, but she really is so great!!!
Santa Cruz is the coolest city ever. There are 4 missionaries in our area, us and the elders and the elders are a blast as well. I´m the only one who isn´t fluent in spanish, but i guess i bring the entertainment when i try and speak. ahhh i just wish i was fluent. But it´s beautiful. Santa Cruz actually is the least touristy part of the island. Most the people we run into live here so it makes tracking easier. The people are awesome. They are so funny. They are super exaggerated and so loving. Canarians are just a whole new cultural. Completely different from Spaniards. And they talk soooooooooooooooo soooooo fast. I´m so lost. Being out in the field makes you realize how much you reallly don´t know the language. So por favor pray for me to have the gift of tongues!! but know i really love it here. The buildings are colorful, the hills are green, you can see the ocean, all the sidewalks have fish carved into them, since tenerefe kinda resembles a fish shape. The two things everyone always has with them are their dogs and their cigarettes haha so the side-walks are covered with dog poop and cigarette buds. Are piso is way nice. We´re lucky! the ones i went to in madrid weren´t near as good!! We are really blessed. haha the men here you have to be careful about. they are always drunk and call out to us "hey blondies, you´re both so good lookin¨(here i´m considered to be blonde) haha there´s this bartender who always looks out for us. whenever we walk past his bar at night he comes out just to make sure the men stay away. It´s pretty awesome.
So we do a ton a ton a ton of walking! we walk all over the whole city, because the ward covers the whole city. and it´s all on a hill so it´s exhausting, but I love it. We are well taken care of. This member who lives in La Laguna (the area next to us) but works in santa cruz feeds us 3 times a week. her name is mari and when i say feed i´m talking 5 course meal 3 times a week with dessert and everything! and she´s the best coook!!! mmm.. so we always have food. Other members feed us too, so i have no complaints.
We teach a lot in our area which is good. we have about 3 investigators with baptismal dates right now and we´re working with one more (his name is mattias) so have one soon! I think he will be baptized.. he follows all are commitments he just has so many questions, and really struggles using prayer as a way for personal revelation. We work a lot with menos activos (less actives). our ward has a lot of them, and we teach a lot of lessons on the streets to anyone who will stop and listen. Being a missionary is just the best. I love it. One thing I´ve noticed is that we are here to dedicated ourselves to the lord and serve others, but I often feel like it´s the people who actually serve us. A lot of them don´t have much or have really hard lifes and they still do so much for us it´s incredable. This gospel is just amazing. I´m also so happy to be serving this christmas season. You really can just feel what christmas is all about as a missionary and I really am grateful for that. I love you all so much! Thanks for your prayers and your emails.
Much love, Hermana Staker
Well first saying goodbye to everyone in the CCM was no fun, but we we´re all ready to get to work. We spent our first day in the field with the Jacksons. They are fantastic. They are so loving and such fun people, and mom i know they´ll take good care of us :) so after we ate and has some instruction from them we went to the stake center by the temple to meet our trainer and recieve our area. Of over 200 missionaries only 35 or so are in the islands so it isn´t super likely to serve here, so i thought i would also be close to madrid as well. I was the last person to recieve my trainer, and i noticed that there was no other trainers left in the room so i was kind of confused. Then they told me i was going to the islands i just cried like a baby i was so pumped!!
The first night in the field I spent just north of Madrid, because there weren´t any flights until the morning. It was fun, we taught any english classs! (which I felt way inadequat doing, but it went well!) Then that night I got really sick. I spent from 1:30 until 6:30 the next morning puking my guts out. Ahhh it was the worst. I was a mess. The office elders and aps came immediatelty the next morning to give me a blessing, and i felt so bad for them because i literally stunk so bad of vomit. They offered to reschedule my flight, but i insisted on leaving still! so that´s what I did!
My Trainer. My companion´s name is hermana Reyes and she´s literally a perfect person. haha actually that´s my only complaint she´s a perfect person. Ahhh I love her so much. She looks like Repunzel from tangled, she´s from las vegas, she is ity-bity but has the biggest testimony of the gospel. We have a lot of fun together and she´s really easy to live with. It´s her last transfer before she goes home, so i´ll actually have two trainers.. and i´m bummed, because i don´t know how anyone could top her! haha no, but she really is so great!!!
Santa Cruz is the coolest city ever. There are 4 missionaries in our area, us and the elders and the elders are a blast as well. I´m the only one who isn´t fluent in spanish, but i guess i bring the entertainment when i try and speak. ahhh i just wish i was fluent. But it´s beautiful. Santa Cruz actually is the least touristy part of the island. Most the people we run into live here so it makes tracking easier. The people are awesome. They are so funny. They are super exaggerated and so loving. Canarians are just a whole new cultural. Completely different from Spaniards. And they talk soooooooooooooooo soooooo fast. I´m so lost. Being out in the field makes you realize how much you reallly don´t know the language. So por favor pray for me to have the gift of tongues!! but know i really love it here. The buildings are colorful, the hills are green, you can see the ocean, all the sidewalks have fish carved into them, since tenerefe kinda resembles a fish shape. The two things everyone always has with them are their dogs and their cigarettes haha so the side-walks are covered with dog poop and cigarette buds. Are piso is way nice. We´re lucky! the ones i went to in madrid weren´t near as good!! We are really blessed. haha the men here you have to be careful about. they are always drunk and call out to us "hey blondies, you´re both so good lookin¨(here i´m considered to be blonde) haha there´s this bartender who always looks out for us. whenever we walk past his bar at night he comes out just to make sure the men stay away. It´s pretty awesome.
So we do a ton a ton a ton of walking! we walk all over the whole city, because the ward covers the whole city. and it´s all on a hill so it´s exhausting, but I love it. We are well taken care of. This member who lives in La Laguna (the area next to us) but works in santa cruz feeds us 3 times a week. her name is mari and when i say feed i´m talking 5 course meal 3 times a week with dessert and everything! and she´s the best coook!!! mmm.. so we always have food. Other members feed us too, so i have no complaints.
We teach a lot in our area which is good. we have about 3 investigators with baptismal dates right now and we´re working with one more (his name is mattias) so have one soon! I think he will be baptized.. he follows all are commitments he just has so many questions, and really struggles using prayer as a way for personal revelation. We work a lot with menos activos (less actives). our ward has a lot of them, and we teach a lot of lessons on the streets to anyone who will stop and listen. Being a missionary is just the best. I love it. One thing I´ve noticed is that we are here to dedicated ourselves to the lord and serve others, but I often feel like it´s the people who actually serve us. A lot of them don´t have much or have really hard lifes and they still do so much for us it´s incredable. This gospel is just amazing. I´m also so happy to be serving this christmas season. You really can just feel what christmas is all about as a missionary and I really am grateful for that. I love you all so much! Thanks for your prayers and your emails.
Much love, Hermana Staker