Chicken hearts and stalkers

COLUMBIA, Md. — Happy Tuesday everyone :) I hope your week is all doing great so far. I know mine is. This past week has been great as well and crazy, too. Lots of fun stories to tell. I sent a bunch of pictures home to Dad to share some of my 'lil adventures out here in Maryland.

I hope you all find these as funny as I do.  If not, smile anyways for me and pretend. ;)

Hermanas Crotzer y Newman at the Baltimore Aquarium

 First story:

Well, my Spanish is getting better for sure, but yes, we all still makes mistakes. Especially Hermana Newman. For some reason, I am known for my cookies here. I make cookies quite often for my investigators, less actives and active families in the branch. They LOVE them! One of the little ladies asked me for the recipe, so I was trying to think of the ingredients to tell her. I told her they were really simple and just like any other cookie, but she insisted I tell her what was in them.

I began to tell her, "Chocolate, huevos, azucar, mantequilla y orina." (Speaking with a silent h)

She looked at me with a face that I can’t even describe to you and began to smile and chuckle. That is when I knew I had said something wrong. Yes, I told her that in my cookies were chocolate chips, eggs, sugar, butter and... 

Drum roll... 

Pee. 

Oh dear me. Yep, I meant to say harina (flour) but instead said pee. Amazing what one letter difference can do to the word. She sure got a kick out of it though.

Next:

Hermana Crotzer and I had quite the adventure this week during exercise in the morning. Usually, we go out for a run and then come home to do sit-ups, pushups and stretching. Well, we were out for our run like usual, and were on the way home. On the way home, we walk for the last stretch to cool down. We were just talking and enjoying the crisp fall air when suddenly in the creepiest voice ever, we hear someone scream "Good Morning Suya!" 

Baltimore Harbor on a P-Day

No idea what the last word meant, but his voice really creeped me out and gave me a weird feeling. It was a man on a bike that had been circling the complex for a bit that morning. We just walked past and kept on our way. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about it and how weird it was, so I decided to look behind me. Much to my surprise, he was there as well. I looked to my companion, "Walk fast hermana, he is following us." 

We walked very briskly and he kept following. I don’t know who he is or what he was doing, but I looked back again, still there. I had this bad feeling and suddenly Hermana Crotzer and I looked at each other and had the same impression... RUN! SO we did. 

We ran and he started yelling after us. We didn’t want to show him where we lived to we ran to another apartment building and found somewhere to hide. Long story short: we lost him and everything was okay. We haven’t had any more problems since,  but it was quite an adrenaline rush. 

Makes me wonder what my Argentina experience is going to be like ;) The lesson I learned from the adventure is listen to the Spirit no matter what. Even if you don’t know why just do it. We were protected and able to hide. Matter of fact, quite the tender mercy — we chose the only apartment that happened to have an extra panel to hide behind. 

Coincidence? Nope. Thank you Holy Ghost! We will be helped and protected if we are willing to listen to the spirit. Testimony builder for me. And MOM, don’t worry, that doesn’t usually happen and we are doing great :) No more weirdies!

Last story for today:

This is also quite the adventure. On Sunday, we were invited over to a member’s house for dinner. We sat down with the family and started to eat. We were having soup and tacos. Yumm! I am so good with that. As I sat down I looked into my soup to see 5 very big chunks of brownish gray meat. "Oh no, its some sort of organ I thought, but what?" 

 

My fears were confirmed when I turned a piece of mystery meat over and was able to identify the 3 branches of the aortic stem (Oh the joys of being a nurse). Yep, 5 chicken hearts floating in my soup. Lucky hermana right here, not. But, ya gotta do what you gotta do so yes, I ate them! Just in case you are every curious and wondering, not my choice of meat! Very chewy and weird texture. Stick with beef, chicken and pork! Hermana Crotzer only had to eat one but she was scarred for life. You should have seen her poor little face when she realized what was in her soup. 

To make it even better, after dinner we found out that the tacos we ate were "Taco de lengua" Or in English... Tongue tacos! Hahahahahaha OH I love the adventures we have! Eating weird foods, meeting awesome people, crazy stories, spiritual experience... all part of being a missionary and I love every second of it.

This is already a really long email sorry and I don’t have much time, but I want to share with you a quick thought I read this morning in personal study. I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Helaman chapter 15. I love the whole chapter is fantastic but I especially loved verse 6.

 Yea, I say unto you, that the more part of them are doing this, and they are striving with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth; therefore there are many who do add to their numbers daily.

Why were the Lamanites doing better than the Nephites? Because of their unwearied diligence and faith. They were converted to the Gospel and stuck with what they knew to be true. They knew the gospel was true and real and acted upon it. And they shared it! 

It says that they added to their numbers daily. That’s the part that hit me. Think about it....  80,000 missionaries out right now serving and preaching the gospel. How cool! That’s a lot of people being taught. But then add that number with the members of the church we have 15 million? Outstanding! 

The Ellicott City sisters with Sara and her companion

Imagine if everyone worked together like the Lamanites did and shared the Gospel with their friends. How amazing would that be? Our numbers are growing daily! This is the true church and I know it without a doubt! You do too, and if not, go pray about it and find out! And then, share with those who need it too! This work is all of our duty. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. Let's help with the work and bring it to the world! Have a wonderful week! I sure love you!

Give 'em Heaven!

Con Amor,

Hermana Newman :)