Sassy Doesn't Translate

Seriously. Peruvians don't have a word for sassy that isn´t offensive. Which is just about the weirdest thing ever because every. single. Peruvian I´ve ever met is the sassiest person ever. I LOVE it.

I´m loving it here :) This week has felt like a month and it's been an emotional roller coaster, but I´m honestly so happy.

The flight from Utah to to Georgia was perfect. Didn´t even make me nervous! But the flight from Georgia to Lima was.... just.... lovely. Horrible turbulence for 7 hours. Woo! :) We were all a little nauseous.

Mi compañera es HERMANA RUSSELL!!! :D You know, the super sweet girl that we met in the airport? She´s just the best. We work so well together and she´s also hilarious. 

My district is just about the coolest district you´ve ever met. It´s me and Hna. Russell, Elder Augat and Elder Martin (who´s name we always pronounce with a Spanish accent, and he´s the district leader), Elder Wright (his family lives in Kim Brown´s ward! Yaaaayy Eagle Mountain!!) and Elder Falslev, Hna Love and Hna Cooper (they´re two of the sassiest people I´ve ever met) and Elder Ludlow and Elder Budden. The Hnas all get along SO well and we just spend our whole time laughing our faces off. And the Elders are all just amazing. There´s not a single person who I don´t completely love in our district. God definitely knew we needed each other in the CCM. Everyone except for Elder Budden is going to Cusco though, so I´m sure we´ll see each other again. I already can´t believe that in 5 short weeks I won´t have the same district anymore!

So we have two teachers in the morning, Hermano Davalos and Hermana Chacon and they´re hilarious. Hermano Davalos tricked us into thinking he didn´t speak ANY English for an entire week. And then another Hna in the CCM told us that he´s the best at English in the whole CCM. And when we confronted him about it he just laughed and told us (in Spanish) that he had no idea what we were saying, and no he was not a liar, he doesn´t speak anything but he can understand, write, and read English perfectly. See what I mean about sassy? Hermana Chacon is the sweetest. Since Hermano Davalos is the teacher who speaks only in Spanish to us, when we have absolutely no idea what´s going on, Hna Chacon translates for us.

Our evening teacher is Hermana Villanueva and she is my FAVORITE. I really need a picture with her. She´s shorter than me, speaks English pretty well, but whenever she messes up on a word she laughs and sticks her tongue out and is like "aaggh. Pardon mi English! Is hard!" And when I like broke down crying in the middle of class because Spanish is crazy frustrating, she pulled me aside after class and gave me the sweetest little talk ever and told me about how her mission was just as hard for her and she didn´t even have to learn another language. There´s not a single person here that means more to me than her. And the way she teaches is perfect for me.

On Saturday there was a group of kids who came to tour the CCM, they were maybe 8 years old and they were the cutest kids ever! They all wanted to touch my hands, and a lot of the teachers that were with them wanted to shake our hands and kiss our cheeks and stuff. It´s funny that in the US everyone teases me about how pale I am, but in Peru they love it! Haha. Maybe like half an hour later a group of adults, maybe a singles ward or something, came and they wanted to talk to us, and the teacher said they could and this cute little lady walked straight up to my desk and talked to me in Spanish that was way faster than I´ve ever heard in the US or anything. And when I (obviously) had NO idea what she was saying Hermana Chacon told her for me and the cute little lady said that I was adorable. No no, lady. YOÚ´RE adorable :)

On Sunday we had meetings all day long and watched a couple of devotionals as well as a Joseph Smith movie (which I bawled my eyes out at.... Yes. I´m definitely the crier in my district. It´s cool, none of them are really surprised by it anymore, I cry when I´m happy, I cry when I´m sad, I cry when I feel the Spirit, etc.) and then that night we had a district meeting. Started out a little rocky cause we didn´t know what we were really supposed to be doing and then we each shared a message and our testimony and it was beyond perfect. I´m so impressed with everyone in our district. Elder Wright shared something that I thought was amazing. Put simply, it was that we are not our name tags. We are not supposed to be just another missionary in the thousands. WE were called to this specific place. Someone in Cusco (and Iquitos if your name is Elder Budden) needs our personalities. Someone needs US. Not just any missionary, they need us specifically. Every single Elder y Hermana´s testimony was perfect and beautiful and exactly what I needed to hear. I hope I know these people for the rest of my life, because they´re already some of my favorite people in the world.

Today is PDay! But for the rest of the CCM time it´s on Thursday. Scheduling conflicts with Immigrations. You know how it is. But this morning we went to the Lima Temple (GORGEOUS.) and shopped in Lima for a little bit. And got lost on the buses on the way back. Yaaayyy for Lima! I now have Spanish scriptures with AWESOME cases, a coin purse and some hangers cause they don´t have ANY. I also have Peruvian cookies and soda waiting in my room to be devoured. Yum.

Anyway, no more time. I love you all, I miss you, and I want you to know that this gospel is true. I´m exactly where I need to be and even though it´s incredibly hard and it´s weird to be living in a new country, I don´t want to be anywhere else. I want to help people come unto Christ, and the language and the awesome teaching skills will come with time, practice, and a little bit of faith. 

Hermana Hill