In the Ghetto

Oh boy this has been the hardest-coolest-I don't even know what to think week and a half! Sorry the keyboards here are different so all of my emails are going to suck. I have no time so if I don't write everyone I'm so sorry but the computer is going to kick me off. 

I hope everyone has the best Christmas ever and I'm so excited to be able to talk to you tomorrow!!!!!  I don't understand what anyone is saying to me so it’s hard to know what’s going on and what I'm doing. 

First off saying goodbye to my friends in the mtc was so hard!!!!!! I love them all and miss them SOOOOOOOOO much!! And second I have the best family and friends in the world for coming to see me at the airport!! I almost peed I was so happy to see you!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND MISS YOU!! All right well to start with Mexico. I'm serving in Ensenada!!! Woo hoo! Ensenada North!! Oh boy I tell you what this is THE GHETTO!!!!!!!!! There's dogs all over the streets and that means a lot of poop and just the sweet smell of Ensenada in general ha ha! I really can’t even explain the ghettoness of it all. The mail here sucks so I'm sorry there won’t be a lot of letters and I'm soooooo sorry if I didn't write you an email today! There's trash all over the ground and graffiti and I don't even know what. I wish you could walk around with me for one day and just see what I've seen. The people here are so awesome!! They have so little and they're so humble and willing to help us with anything even when they have practically nothing! Let me tell you some of the things i took for granted before coming here to Ensenada. 

1. Hot water. We have no running hot water so we heat up water on the stove and dump it in a bucket and use a cup to dump it on ourselves. Ha ha no joke that's what I've done the past week. Supposedly were getting that fixed this week so I hope so. 

2. English. Nobody speaks English. My companion, Hermana Ortiz, is a native from Ecuador. She really is so nice and so patient with me and I love her to death but she doesn't speak a lick of English. I've gotten used to having no idea what’s going on around me and just going with the flow. I feel like a penguin from Madagascar - just smile and wave boys, smile and wave, ha ha! OK, I have no time for pictures it's about to kick me off. ! I don’t even know where my companions are from the mtc.  They just started taking people away so that was really traumatizing ha ha, but it’s getting better and my Spanish is better every day!! 

Drivers here are terrible!! Literally stop signs are like guidelines and we just pile people into cars as we please ha ha!! We had 11 people piles into this 5 person car yesterday for church so that we could fit all of our investigators ha ha. You don't really have crosswalks you just do what you want. I wish I had more time to tell you everything but when I asked for the ghetto I tell you what, God listened. It’s so trashy but it just makes me love it all the more!

 There's no heaters in houses so I sleep with 3 blankets in my winter hat, gloves and study with my coat on and everything. You would think I would be warm here. I had to get a priesthood blessing Monday night when they took me away because I couldn't stop crying because they had just started taking people away and I didn't even know where Hermana Eye and Nielsen had gone.  I thought they were going to give us a night at the mission home but nope we just went straight to it. It’s getting better and I've made it sound more depressing than it is. It’s incredibly hard but I always feel more encouraged at night.

 I love the people and the members so that's what has made it all worth it. I hold on to the fact that hopefully I can see my MTC friends in 5 weeks at transfers. Hermana Muir told me she’s been crying every day too and she thought if only Hermana Rockwood was my companion then I could adjust easier which is literally exactly what I've been thinking about her. I'm excited to be friends when we get home because that girls the best!"

 Everyone was jealous I was going to Ensenada and kept saying how beautiful it was ad then I got here and it was so ghetto so I wonder what it’s like for Hermana Muir in the heart of Tijuana if this is the not ghetto part of the mission ha ha! I love you so much!!!!! I keep on trekking on because I know this message is going to help other people be with their families forever and if I can make this sacrifice to miss all of you for this short time then it will bless other people for eternity. Adios I love you more than I can say and miss you but here we go - lets save Ensenada!!