You have been called to serve in the Arizona Gilbert Mission speaking the Spanish language. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.
You will report to the Mexico MTC. You will be put in the bombest trio to ever hit Mexico City. Sister Hanson and Sister Coulam will help you figure out a little bit more what exactly it means to be a missionary. You will miss your family and think about how long 18 months really is. You will love your MTC experience though and eat your weight in pringles and ice cream. You will be able to meet the future prophet and always remember what he says - "The unlikely are called to do the impossible".
You will board a plane and be terrified out of your mind. You will walk off the plane with Sister Hanson and be welcomed to the greatest mission in the world. You will be so overwhelmed that you wont really sleep that night (especially since its on the most uncomfortable cot and the family's son was stabbed to death by his crazy wife and that is terrifying).
You will go on to meet your trainer, Sister Cedeno, from Venezuela. You will love her so much and she will teach you everything you need to know about being a missionary. She will make you knock your first door, speak some of your mangled Spanish and dance with you in the car to the only disc you will listen to for your first 7 weeks. You will find your first person to teach, Gloria, and will be with her every step of the way. She will patiently teach you how to speak the language. She will be your first convert. You will also get to know amazing people like the Hernandez family, Juan Lopez and Yulia. You will grow in your love for these people.
Then sadly, you will send Sister Cedeno home after your first 7 weeks together. It will be the most stressful time of your mission because President Wheeler will call you to train a new missionary and open a new area. You will have no clue what you are doing but will remember what Sister Cedeno taught you - "work, work, work". You and your daughter, Sister Shaffer will go out into the world of Gilbert Arizona and learn a lot of things together. You will learn the importance of 20-40-60, talking with everyone you see and eating as much McDonalds ice cream as possible to combat the AZ summer. You will laugh together often once you realize that its okay to be stressed and to trust in the Savior and have some of the weirdest interactions with people ever (Ana and Reuben??)
After 3 months together and after saying goodbye to your favorite zone, Sister Shaffer will get transferred and you will be put with Sister Garner. She will teach you so much about the Spanish Language and you will bond over your love of literature. She will hoplessly try and teach you how to sing. You will still not be able to sing. You will meet Elder Anderson of the 12 and be able to shake his hand. Gloria will get baptized during this time and so will Diana. You will hit your 8 months in this area and learn the importance of binding the Lord to His promises. You will teach Jimmy and come to love Hermana Teresa de Los Reyes so much. You will still continue to stink at scatterball. Rigo will not get baptized but you will have the faith that someday he will.
3 months later you will get transferred for the first time and asked to second half train Sister Neahusan. You will still be in the Queen Creek Ward and in the Bella Vista Zone. Two places you will come to love so much. You and Sister Neahusan will get lost in the car often and eat many many sweet potatoes together. You will see so many miracles as you begin to teach everyone that is related to Jose Villegas. You will talk to everyone and start teaching a household of men, namely Juan and Ramiro. You will also work with the Lopez-Cruz family often and they will get so close to baptism so many times and get to work with a lot of people from your first transfer. You get to go to the Mesa Lights and talk to everyone you see and it is awesome. You will be so busy that when you "get sick" you will refuse to stay home. You will grow so much this transfer and even bike to the boonies every once and a while.
After a transfer together you will be shocked to find out that Sister Neahusan is getting transferred. You both will be really sad because no one else loves WINCO as much together as you two. You will be called to be an STL and have no clue what you are doing. You will be companions with Hermana Fuimaono and love her to death. You will walk the fruit tree area and eat so many oranges that you definitely have your Vitamin C fill. You will see miracles this transfer as Rossy and Kimmy (of the Lopez-Cruz family) get baptized. You will start teaching a man named Daniel, who has gone through so much. You will grow in your love for these people. A member will bring a family to the Christmas party and you will remember having taught them in the past. They weren't ready then but they will be ready at this time in your mission. You will begin to teach them and see their lives be blessed as a family.
Then transfers will happen again and Sister Fuimaono will leave you. You will be sad and then find out that Sister Shaffer will be your companion again and you will be together for another 3 months. The area continues to explode and the two of you will drive each other crazy as you run around and try to handle everything. Daniel will get baptized and then so will Lorena and Marisol. The week before their baptisms will be some of the most stressful times you can remember and Satan will do his best to stop the work. You will not let him. You will start teaching the sweetest lady ever named Carmen and see her everyday. Within a month she will be baptized. You grow to love this area and the people even more. You don't think you will ever leave as you hit 14 months in the Queen Creek Ward and Bella Vista Zone. You will love your car and name her Josie. You will have the funnest house ever and love all the people you serve with. You will kind of be able to speak Spanish.
Then something shocking will happen.
You will be transferred up North. You will be put with Sister Neahusan again and just be amazed at her Spanish. It will be so different from the South and you wont really know how to handle apartments. You will miss Josie and the fruit trees and the dirt roads and the Queen Creek ward. But don't worry because you will come to love the Gilbert 11th ward and this area just as much. You will teach Angel, Javier and start teaching someone named Viviana. You will pass off so many referrals and wonder why you didn't know how to do that at the beginning of your mission. Food will become your enemy but you will press forward with faith. You will love Johnny your ward mission leader so much. Ana Machucha will be baptized and Angel will not commit but you have the faith that soon!! and you will start teaching a young awesome girl named Dalia. You will learn the importance of working with members and will want to hit yourself in the face for not figuring that out sooner.
2 transfers will go by and then Sister Neahusan will leave you and Sister Shaffer will come back to you for your last transfer. Dalia will get baptized and you will be working with Jesus and her family who are the awesomest. Viviana will accept to be baptized August 11th, your last weekend in the mission. You and Sister Shaffer will work so hard that this last transfer will fly by and you don't know where it will have gone.
You will look back and wonder how 18 months could go by so fast.The thought of taking off the tag and leaving it behind will terrify you out of your mind. You will want to cry but can't because you have too much love in your heart for these people. Gilbert Arizona will always be your favorite place in the world and your love for the Savior will grow to incredible proportions. You will come to have an unshakeable testimony in your Savior and in the prophet Joseph Smith. You will come to love the scriptures, especially the New Testament and Book of Mormon so much. You will come to be a little bit more like your Savior. You will truly come to see the Sunny Side of Life.
Needless to say Sister Showalter you are about to have the best experience of your life.
Best of Luck,
Hermana Showalter
PS Quick run down of the week
MLC- so good, everyone cried because half of us are leaving
zone activity - we went to a laser tag place, i ran into the wall
exchanges - was with hna fuimaono, we saw so many miracles and viviana told us she would be baptized this Saturday!, found a new investigator who is so solid and we had the most powerful lesson with her
dinner at johnnys- almost all the Spanish missionaries came and it was so fun!!
good week i am sad see you all soon #peaceout
to the moon and back,
Hermana Showalter
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