Oh, I love you! Thank you for your prayers. I honestly felt them. :) I had been so flustered and stressed about learning Spanish and knew I needed help. The night after I e-mailed you, asking for your prayers, we went into a lesson with a family and by nothing short of a miracle, I was able to understand them. It was incredible. Thank you. Prayer really does work and I know that. :) Actually speaking Spanish is still a hefty challenge, but I was able to bear my testimony to the ward this week! My knees were shaking and my broken Spanish was probably abhorrent, but I communicated! Huzzah! I'm struggling to open my mouth because usually this weird English, Portuguese, Spanish thing comes out. I like to call it Spantuguselish... It's really a delight. :) But, I'm working on it! :)
Everything is happy and well with me! I love my companions. Really, I should just make a quote book of the things Sister Franklin says. Hilarious, I tell you! The other day she was giving me a noogie and I said, "Hey! Don't mess up my mane!" to which she replied, "Oh! This is your hair? Sorry, I thought it was a giant pot of ramen noodles." I don't know why, but it just tickled my funny bone and I laughed so hard for so long. Daddy-o, do remember that story you used to tell us about the awful, cheap dishsoap you bought on your mission? I have a great appreciation for that story now. :) This week we bought something called "Italian Shreds." I think they were created to resemble shredded cheese, but they sure do not taste like it. I tried to make a quesadilla and the "Italian Shreds" would not melt. I looked on the package and it said, "Not Formulated to Melt." I had a good laugh. I probably won't be eating Italian Shreds anymore... :) But don't you fret, Mother Dearest, Hermana Serano is feeding me very well. She's an adorable member of our ward who is constantly worried about the well-being of the missionaries. Like almost to a humorous degree. We just love her so! Her fiancé, Hermano Neri, is our Ward Mission Leader who also happens to be the BEST Ward Mission Leader in the world. Those two are incredible and they do so much for missionary work. Members are absolutely essential to our cause here!
Previous to getting here, I imagined mission work as just knocking a lot of doors and teaching lessons. I was bit off... :) The mission work here in NYC is very unique and so incredible! I absolutely love it. Our Mission President is truly an inspired man. He realized that while NYC is very crowded, busy, and populated, most the people have good hearts, families, and tend to stay in little communities in their neighborhoods. He's created a system that we call the "Eliptical" in which we work mainly in the community surrounding the church buildings. We do various activities with the community and it's a blast! Rather than knocking doors, I'm singing hymns on the subway, in the park drawing the Plan of Salvation with sidewalk chalk, giving out lemonade and Mormon.org cards, teaching people about Family History and my own family, serving beans at the soup kitchen, giving free shoe shines, and teaching public English Classes. It is so fun and I love it! I'm so grateful to be here. I love New York City! :)
As much as I love it, there are plenty hard days too. I won't sugarcoat it. It's frustrating sometimes. Sometimes you walk into church and your investigators don't come. Sometimes people yell at you and take stabs at your beliefs. Sometimes a member gets offended and doesn't come back to church. And your heart breaks. Try as I may, things always come up. I don't know. Maybe I was thinking it'd be more like I'd walk out side my apartment every morning with little birds whistling Sunshine in My Soul and I'd throw my hand in the hair and say, "Alright, lovely people of NYC! To the baptismal font!" and families would come barreling out of their homes and we'd parade down the street to the church! Umm.... Nope. This is a great deal harder than I anticipated. But it is also, a great deal better than I anticipated as well. Sometimes I get down on myself because I'm not a perfect missionary. I'm not even kind of close. But you know what? It's okay. It's okay, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I always imagined repentance as little angels in heaven at golden desks, taking tallies on the good and bad you do. And each time you'd repent, you could get a bad tally erased. Then at the judgment day, they just totaled it up and stuck you somewhere according to your number of good and bad. Nope! Not even close. Repentance is not a uncomfortable or scary topic. It's a message of joy and mercy. Repentance is saying, "Heavenly Father, I am not perfect and I need help. I'm going to try harder. Please forget who I was, and see who I want to be." Our Heavenly Father looks at our hearts, not our past. Christ was the perfect missionary and He had far greater trials than I. Even making a comparison seems ridiculous. He suffered every pain. In fact, He descended below all things and suffered persecution to such an extreme degree, that he was crucified. As a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ, it only make sense that hard times should come. I love Him. I will follow Him always and I will go with Him all the way.
Family, you are my best friends. Thank you for making me better. Just the thought of you makes my heart a little lighter and my soul a little brighter.
Be brave always,
- Sister Amelia Mann
P.S. Hi, Donna Lou! I love you and I miss eating raspberries and squash with you! :)
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