Family Prayer and the Blessings of a Shoestring

YOWZA what a wonderful week! Seriously though. Sometimes parts of days seem so terrible, but every day. with. out. fail. turns around and is amazing by the end!

Here's one of my favorite stories from the week. It happened last night. So my district is awesome and I love them like nuts, but some of them are a little uptight and put a lot of effort into never being embarrassed (funny, I'm embarrassed almost always because I try to say things I have no idea how to say heh). Anyway. so we have a goal to have district prayer every night before we go back to our casas, but it doesn't usually happen because we end the day with language and we're all doin' our own thing and just kinda leave whenever it's time. BUT! Yesterday we were all getting up to leave, and I look around and right there in the middle of the group is Elder B., rather uptight-ly kneeling alone in the middle of the room. All the other elders are really tall and I don't think they even noticed him down there. We made eye contact and I said "family prayer, yeah?" and he said "well I was hoping so, but maybe not," and he looked kinda embarrassed and sad and hopped up and started to leave. Bummer... So! then we were all walking back to the casas and I felt sad for lil Elder B. so I said, "Y'all! we are having family prayer! Right here, right now!" So we all knelt down on the sidewalk and said a family prayer and it was happy. Kinda weird; kinda AWESOME. 

Something I've noticed here is that as we are learning how to say the things we need to in Spanish, I am learning SO MUCH about the gospel for myself. I know I've been told all these things before, but you just forget, you know?! For example. you can receive revelation in church EVERY SUNDAY if you want to! If you think about it, it's kinda obvious because that is where we go to renew our covenants and come closer to Christ. BUT I HAD FORGOTTEN! Silly me. Also through the scriptures! and prayer! so many ways! You just have to sincerely want to receive answers to your questions! I know I knew this, but now I know it again...and in Spanish...and I am happy:)

This week Hermana and I taught Jose Luis the plan of salvation and part of the gospel of Jesus Christ in ten minutes. We answered all the questions he had and it was GOOD. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! NO SE! GIFT OF TONGUES: IT'S SO REAL!

Also! Hermana and I got called to be Sister Trainer Leaders this past week and we get to meet all the new lil babies today! It's funny, because we are the same age, they might even be older than I am, but I feel like a cute lil mom for them. WEIRD. AWESOME!

I've found a way to put my creativity to work while I'm here. Here's how: Our dryers don't work, and we could not find any rope or string for the life of us, so our clean, wet clothes were just kinda rotting away in a laundry basket. SO! genius! We went to the tiny lil tienda here in the CCM and bought all the shoelaces they had, tied them together, and strung them across the room a few times. now our clothes are dry and don't smell like yuck mildew. Blessings:)

Also keep sending me all the letters!! I hold them in my hands and smile to read and reread your words! I read the pioneer family history one today and it was SO INTERESTING! Thank you!

Okay, I love you and hope you have a wonderful week and smile all the time!

HERMANA SIEBACH

Hermana Measles and I matched! We stood on chairs to make it a little different from every other photo ever taken... our backdrops are pretty limited here lolol!

Here is my roommate Hermana Lynch. She was a farmer in her past life and she gives really awesome hugs:)

Things That Make My Heart Smile

My Roommates! Hermana Andersen, me, Hermana Measles, and Hermana Lynch! We live in a shoebox together and we are all the best of friends <3 <3

Hello! It is me, Hermana Siebach, reporting from the middle of Mexico City. I have been here a little over three weeks now and I have not yet been run over by a car. Blessings. It might have something to do with the fact that I never leave the CCM but who is to know for sure??

It's been another wild awesome week. I love this place! I forgot to tell you what it looks like here, so I will tell you now. It looks like paradise! There are palm trees and parrots everywhere. Just outside the walls there is a mountain with all these little stucco houses on it and they are all painted a different color. Everyday I pick a house of the day and it is my favorite for a whole 24 hours:)

I thought Mexico was going to be mega-super-ultra hot, but it's not! It rains really hard almost every day and then the mornings and nights are quite chilly/Chile (hehehe). Anyway, I get to wear my cozy corduroy dress that mama and I made together whenever I want!  It feels like a hug from her all day long and it makes my heart smile.

Mama! Me! In our happy little dress!

You know what else makes my heart smile? The scriptures. I'm so frustrated with my pre-mission self because I definitely did not love the scriptures enough. You can find anything that you need in those guys! In one of my lessons I told my investigator that the Book of Mormon was my best friend and I was not even lying. I made a goal to start and finish the Book of Mormon before I leave the CCM. I am not sure that it is going to happen because I am learning so much as I read that it takes me a long time because I mark and write notes about EVERYTHING. Whether I finish it or not before I go out into the field doesn't really matter. I think the fact that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the love I have for reading it is growing will be enough.

Y'ALL: El don de linguas esta REAL (gift of tongues)! Sometimes in class I have a really hard time coming up with all the words and phrases that I have learned here, but when I am teaching an investigator or bearing my testimony, I am able to express all that I want to. Sweet little miracles. I love the LORD!

We got to go to the temple last week! it was such a sweet experience. AND WE GET TO GO AGAIN TODAY! I'm pumped. I love the temple with the whole section of my heart that is set aside for temple lovin'.

The best district in the world in front of the loveliest temple!

Here is my BFF Elder Bashford. He is a happy thing here in Mexico!

Here is BFF Hermana Walter. She is another happy thing here in Mexico!

I gave a talk in Spanish in sacrament meeting on conversion and I think it went so well! I don't know! I'm not really sure what I said but President Eves came up to me after and said he loved my message and we had a nice little chat about recognizing God's hand in our lives, even when times are difficult. WHICH I THINK IS VERY IMPORTANT. I know that my mission is not going to be all smiles and hugs and I need to prepare myself now to be able to recognize the tender mercies!!!

Okay so there are two things that I miss: one thing is hugs, but it is okay, I'm tough. Another thing is hymns in English. Spanish hymns are awesome too, but I feel the spirit most strongly through music and that is a little bit harder when I don't know what I am singing about. And so! If you have a second, and you wanna make my day, send me the words to your favorite hymns! But you have to do it on missionarpackagemx.com so I can have them with me always rather than for one hour a week on my email. Thanks, love y'all!

I have two investigators and I LOVE them both! Their names are Roberto and Jose Luis and they are awesome. Roberto is 40 and his wife is a member, but he doesn't know a whole lot about the gospel which is WILD to me. but, esta bien, we can help! Jose Luis is about to finish up university and he's strugglin' a little, but, esta bien, we can help him too! The spirit is way strong in our lessons with them and I feel like Hermana Andersen and I finally know what's going on! Lessons used to freak me out but I look forward to them now. More blessings!!

Ok, ok gotta go, Love y'all! hugs to everyone! <3

LOVE HERMANA SIEBACH

PS: Whoever can send me the lyrics to Un Amor by the Gypsy Kings first wins!!

Attacked...With the Sweet Word of Christ

SQUAD: 12 Hours before flying off to Mexico!!

HOLY NUTS I am loving it here. It's so hard but it's the happiest kind of hard. Also, hi, I forgot to tell you that Thursdays are my P-day and also I only have one hour to write and the computers are really slow and in Spanish so it feels more like 30 minutes and I'm going to try to answer everyone but if I can't I love you and I will catch ya next week!!!

ALSO something that's way awesome is that you can go online and go to missionarypackagemx.com and send me letters or donuts or whatever your heart desires! That way I can read your letters beforehand and be able to use my computer time to write instead of read. #protips

OK so flashback. It is senior year and I am having a school night slumbie party at Kate Blaser's house because Mom and Dad have abandoned me, once again, to galavant across Europe. Also because slumber parties w Kate were always 100 100 100. Well, I fall asleep on the floor, only to be woken up a little later by Kate shoving as many candied almonds as would fit into my mouth. Classic Kit. This is kinda how the CCM feels. It's a lil' overwhelming because from the moment you wake up at 6:30, you are being attacked with knowledge and doctrine and lessons and the sweet word of Christ. But at the same time, it's awesome because your best friends are shoving sweet lil' nuggets of Spanish wisdom into your brain and you just love them for it.

HUGE NEWS! I have taught myself how to whistle! I know about four notes and I can whistle that lil' doo dad diddy that happens every time you turn on BYUTV. I consider this one of my greatest accomplishments since being here at the CCM. Which is saying something because I am also completely kind of almost a little fluent in Spanish. Rock and roll.

Mi compañera is Hermana Andersen and she is also going to Santiago East! There are only three of us here. She's from South Jordan, Utah and we are about as opposite as you can be and I love her. BUT she doesn't even know Meet Me Halfway by The Black-Eyed Peas OR Glamorous by Fergie. So sad. But we are havin' a grand 'ole time learnin' about the sweet word of Jesus Christ together. We are the only hermanas in our district and our branch and maybe also our zone. So were tryin' to keep all these elders in line. It's tough stuff lemme tell ya.

My district is AMAZING. I love them all. We're like the happiest lil' temporary family. We've been teaching a man named Irving and he already committed to baptism! Miracles! One week ago I knew about zero Spanish and now I can confidently talk about so many things! The church is true!!

Today we woke up at 6 am to an EXPLOSION! It felt like all of Mexico was being bombed, but also I was still half asleep so it might not have been quite that bad. Never fear, I am unscathed and we're saying it was just some early morning fireworks.

I LOVE MY ROOMMATES. Their names are Hermana Measles and Hermana Lynch. Morbid names, yeah? But they're so great and we all decided we don't get enough hugs here in the CCM so we make sure there's a lil' hug fest every night.

ALSO I love President and Hermana Bennett. They are so kind and somehow they know all 59,462 missionaries´ names. Theyr'e amazing. One time in the cafeteria, Hermana Andersen and I walked up to the lil' freezer doohicky were the popsicles were. They were all gone so we started walking away but the Bennetts stopped us and said "Ah! Did you not get any?" And we said no but it's totally OK, and they said "What's your classroom number? We're going to make sure you get some ice cream." AND THEN THEY BROUGHT US SOME. How do they do it? How do they remember every little thing? I don't know but I love it. They're also some of the greatest speakers I've heard in my life I'd say. Every time we leave a devotional, I am leaving a changed woman.

The mangoes here are changing my life. I will never eat an American mango ever again.

Today I am going to the temple! I'm PUMPED! What a treat. I think I will get to go twice while I'm here.

 ALSO HAPPY NEWS: I see Hermana Walter and Hermana Stevenson and Elder Bashford and Elder Haddock every single day multiple times a day. All my friends are moving to Mexico, it's wild. I also saw Elder Norr all the time! But he left for Florida on Tuesday so no mas. Tears. Also I got really tight with all the hermanas in his district and some of them are headed to FT Worth! keep your eyes peeled for the cute lil' Spanish sisters who recognize the name Siebach!!!

I love y'all to Mars and back and I hope that you are livin' your happy lil' lives and not crying about me being gone because I will come back and give you the biggest squeezes<3  I'm not sure how to upload pictures to this computer, so if it doesn't work, I'm sorry. Just know that I am smilin' :-)

LOVE,
HERMANA SIEBACH

Estoy aquí!!!

5:30am at the airport!!

Hi i made it! i am here at the CCM and it is raining and i made some friends so i am happy. 

Update, the Mexico City airport still makes atrocious static noise always and we sat and waited for an hour for a missionary that never came. it became like music to my ears :'-))) i love y'all like crazy! don't cry too much while i'm gonzo!

kisses, 

Hermana Siebach