Letter #11 - December 7, 2009

Happy Birthday to ME! (Well, tomorrow that is...) I'm getting old.

Before I forget, here is the address to the mission that I got from my Zone Leader on Tuesday:

Mision Managua Nicaragua
De la Rotonda Del Periodista
150 varas al sur
Ofiplaza Suite #725
Managua, Nicaragua
America Central

So try that for packages and letters in the future I guess. I hope everything you sent gets here. If you used the mission home address in the call packet I'm sure it will.

Are you ready for this week’s bunch of questions? Well let’s start with your companion. What is she like? Well other than she likes to teach and find investigators. What kind of Branch are you in? Ward? How big is it? I’m still confused about how rotting food got in the fridge. Are you two new to the apartment and it was already in the fridge, or you just don’t fix food very often? Are you taking care of yourself?

So here are the answers to Dad's questions. My companion is just a bit shorter than me with really curly hair that she always tucks back tight in a braid. I've discovered that she's a bit obsessive and very set in her ways. She has a one-track mind for missionary work and I often feel like she forgets that she is supposed to be training me and helping me figure out how everything works. She has a very specific way that she likes to teach each principle and to be honest, I don't really like the way she teaches. But she wants me to do it her way and so I'm trying to learn. There are good things about the way she teaches and I'm trying to glean the things I like and then when I'm calling the shots, I can do it a little differently. Ha, when I'm calling the shots and also when I am able to actually express myself in Spanish the way I want to. I feel like there is just a huge communication gap between us most of the time. I want to work together more and implement my own ideas but it is just so frustrating to try to explain things to her especially since she really just likes to do things her way.

I'm trying to take care of myself because Hna. Bustillos never takes her own needs into account, much less mine. Her only concern is the people we are finding and teaching. So I'm trying to balance my own needs and taking care of myself with losing myself in the work. I didn't know this balance would be so hard to figure out. This week I got really sick with diarrhea and I spent Wednesday night in a hospital in Managua with an IV getting rehydrated and the likes. I worked for three days with a pretty sore stomach and diarrhea until finally Wednesday we had a multi-zone meeting and my stomach hurt so bad I could barely concentrate on anything but the pain and I was going to the bathroom every 30 minutes. Luckily the doctor for all the central american missions was there that day and he gave me some pills to take and when we got home I was able to convince Hna. B that I was too sick to go out so I tried to sleep between trips to the bathroom. But around 10:00pm the AP's called and said that President Fraatz wanted me to go to the hospital. So they came and picked me up and we went. The hospital in Managua is actually pretty nice and I was treated really well and stayed there overnight. The next day we hit the streets again. But the worst part was, I didn't know how long we'd be gone at the hospital so I took my whole suitcase and it stayed in the AP's truck for FOUR DAYS! Yes, I wore the same garments for 4 days. Luckily I had my toothbrush on me in the hospital and a change of clothes. Craziness. But we work and work and work.

Okay really fast, the fridge. We are in the same apartment that two other sisters were in just before us. They left all the food in the fridge and unplugged it for some reason before they left that morning for changes. So when we got there that night it already started to smell and a week later when we finally got to cleaning it, it was pretty much the worst thing ever. And now we have it plugged in but we don't use it at all. It still smells. But only when we open it, which is basically never.

Oh, the Branch. Yes, it is a branch and it struggles. The attendance is about 75 each week but there are about 400 members on record. There is no young mens or young womens president, but there are leaders of the primary. Hna B. and I teach the recent converts and investigator class each week and I think they have teachers of sunday school. The branch president has been the president for 8 years and he seems tired. There are only two endowed members in Nagarote - president of the branch and one other lady named yessenia. I wrote you a letter last week telling a lot more about Nagarote. I am pretty sure now that the coast I saw was the lake. You probably know where I am a lot better than I do. Um, there are no nice houses really. There are a few houses here that are painted nice and actually have tile floors and more than one room divided by actual walls, but only a few houses are like that. And Hna. B said that Nagarote is one of the nicest areas in all of Nicaragua. In most other places every house is made of rough cut boards, tin or zinc roofs and sheets of plastic. It's really overwhelming. Anyway, my time is gone. Love you all.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - even when you're in the hospital.

Love, Hna. Crosland