MOM. im having such an incredible time i have been wanting to email you every single day because i seriously have enough to talk about everyday to fill an entire letter. my first day, in class all the teacher did was talk in spanish the entire time. i learned how to pray in spanish on wednesday, testify in spanish on thursday, then teach someone an entire 30 minute lesson only in spanish. no joke.
OKAY so when i got here i was so excited i was wondering why dad was hugging me so hard and not letting go and i had to keep reminding myself that i wouldnt be seeing him for a long time but i was just so excited and ready to get started! lo siento padre. basically all of the teachers that teach here are recently returned missionaries. our spanish teacher just got home this january from costa rica. how cool is that! he has an incredibly strong testimony and we have been learning so fast.
p.s. im going to tell you every little detail i can bc mom i know you like to hear about EVERYTHING so if anyone else sees this theyll have to bear with me.
so my companion is Hermana Riedelbach!!! the girl i met in september and drove up to rexburg with!!! i couldnt believe it. when i saw her name i freaked out because i already know her so well!!! that was definitely divinely predetermined!! our district consists of 6 girls, all going to Villahermosa and we all live in a 3 bedroom ONE BATHROOM ONE SINK apartment. usually a district has boys and girls, but our branch president said he hasnt seen one of just girls in two years. our branch is made up of our zone. so about 6 districts. you have class and basically do EVERYTHING with your district, so im with these girls all the time. i feel like ive known them my whole life!!
so my companion. shes 5'9 and her family LITERALLY lives a block away, she can vaguely see her backyard from a classroom winow. OH YEA im not even at the main campus mtc!! i live at west campus, where all the spanish speaking missionaries are. everyone walks around saying hi and how are you, except in spanish of course. mi companera said its better than Disneyland, bc this is literally the happiest place on earth. everyone is so excited. so our classroom is in an apartment at the old raintree byu housing complex. they honestly kicked out a bunch of students, so now basically this whole area serves as our mtc, then we live in our apartment across the street. so our classroom is in an old bedroom!!!!! ridiculous. they put desks in there and theres still the sliding closet mirror doors and its just so crazy how they got this all together. SO MY COMPANION has never taken spanish in her life, instead she has a background of 4 YEARS in sign language. soooooo were on completely different pages. i understood everything the teacher was saying to us thank goodness. but its so hard to form my thoughts into spanish!!! knowing what you want to say without having the words to say it is extremely stressful.
SO THEN in our first lesson, its with this girl Samantha who speaks no english, AND NEITHER DOES MY COMPANION so i taught her the entire time, then made my companion say the closing prayer, even though she read it out of our handbook! she told me after that she felt so bad but she forgot her own name and all english right when the investigator opened the door. HOW COOL though that Heavenly Father blessed me with her!!! im forced to learn humility, patience, obedience, and so much more. he gave me her so i would be a better teacher and be more patient, and now im able to help her whenever she needs. she sometimes gets discouraged and has informed me that she has adhd, so im like ALRIGHT I NEED THE SPIRIT FOR THIS ONE.
all of the girls in my district have incredilbe voices. the classes around us say that they stop class completely when we sing our opening hymn for our little class bc they want to listen. last night L. Tom Perry came to the mtc to speak!!!! we sang Redeemer of Israel and i was in the choir for him!!!! on tv, hopefully you can find that footage somewhere. but im in the front row so whatever. really cool experience. right when any general authority walks into the room i immediately have tears in my eyes. the first day we got here all the new missionaries sang the army of helaman and they changed the words to "we are now the army of helaman" and that was the first time i really broke down and cried. the other time was when i started talking about Duke because i miss him a lot. i honestly started crying when we were all talking about our dogs yesterday. im a freak!!! and i know if i start crying i wont be able to stop because this has been the most influential spiritual uplifting week of my whole life and i have enough memories from these 7 days to last a lifetime!!
one hermana in my district Hermana Weaver is the movie quote QUEEN. shes totally my kind of girl. she brings up the most RANDOM quotes and songs from olllllddd disney movies and cartoons and yesterday thumbelina and im like where did you come from!?!?? and im the only one that understands. shes SO funny. yesterday she clogged the toilet by our classroom and we were all quietly studying and she ran in saying "ayudame ayudame!!!!" which means help in spanish, fyi. and i ran out to see the the toilet was FLOODING the whole bathroom, like a broken fire hydrant. i threw one leg up on the side of the bathtub and tried to plunge it hahahah but that didnt work so we ran out the elders in the next room. luckily she hadnt gone to the bathroom yet so it wasnt a total mess, still SO FUNNY that for some reason in this dire situation she felt the need to yell at us in spanish for help. im laughing just thinking about it right now. plus the way she tells stories makes everything 10000 times better.
another hermana is hermana armknecht (armconnect) and she is 6'2 with the loudest most beautiufl voice, and she just turned 19, just graduated in 2013. crazy.
THANKS FOR NOT SENDING ME ANY LETTERS. I GOT MY FIRST ONE YESTERDAY FROM MICHELLE SAAVEDRA, THANK GOODNESS SOMEONE CARES ABOUT ME.
my companion has already gotten 3 packages and 5 letters and ive gotten nothing. except i did get 18 emails, most in my zone helloooo. so thanks guys. SEND ME LETTERS. THEYRE MUCH BETTER THAN WAITING A WEEK FOR EMAIL. and apparently dear elder is the easiest way to reach me right now bc the letter will get there that day. i have had so many spiritual experiences and learn so much about myself every day. the first day we were observing a lesson and i was feeling bad for myself bc i dont have any major trials to be able to understand another persons trials, but then i realized that i DO have the answers. THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. i know all the answers to obtain perfect happiness! thats why i am so blessed, bc i have always grown up with a loving family and a deep undersstanding of where i have come from and where i am going. IM SO BLESSED. i miss duke the most though. and i miss hugging people. i remember my last hugs to everyone and that makes me feel better.
i see Ty Whitaker like everyday!!! AND katie sundberg!!! shes so close to me always!!! along with my friend elder yitref and a kid named elder henderson that knows my friend Joel Clark.
LOVE YOU ALL. my zone has so many 18 year olds and freshly 19 year olds and theyre such babies in my mind!!! they joke around all the time and think theyre so funny but im just like okay give em a couple years and theyll straighten out. elders are the BEST they are all so funny and say the most ridiculous things. i have so much more to say, but write me a tangible lettter and THEN ill give you a deeper low down. LOVE YOU ALL!!!! PRAY AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN. its so cute to see everyone bless their own food in the cafeteria. I PRAY LIKE 30 TIMES A DAY. ok i overexaggerated but i cant count right now bc i have 2 minutes left. TE AMO MUCH
CON AMOR,
Hermana Zimmerman
Jordy is wearing my dress that I wore to Brad's baptism 20 years ago!
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