From: Mandy Elsmore <mandy.elsmore@myldsmail.net>
Date: March 11, 2013 12:52:33 AM CDT
Kumusta!
So there is a new announcement for missionary work all around the world. Missionaries can now email anyone and they can email us in return. Family, Friends, Converts, Investigators, everyone! We also are allowed more time to email. YAY! So next week I will start emailing my letters directly to you and write you all individually. YAY!!!
Send Sister Mandy Elsmore E-mails to address below.
mandy.elsmore@myldsmail.net
This week has been hard, but fun. Lessons are still a bit crazy and trying to find a balance is tough sometimes, but we are working on it. Striving to become more unified. Being in a threesome is a lot of fun though.
Oh, to answer your question about the weather. ITS SUPER HOT right now. Its getting more dry and the temperature is rising. SUMMER is HERE! People think we are crazy to be walking around in the sun (well under umbrellas). Summer here is from March to May and it is supposed to get hotter in April and May. I'm glad I've been a desert creature for most of my life.
Cultural Fact:
People here are very open and blunt about appearances. They just straight up tell you if you are pretty, fat, ugly, skilly, white, dark, gaining or losing weight, body figure/ parts etc... Its really funny. People still can't figure out what race I am. I got someone who thought I was half Russian the other day, which was really interesting. Never have gotten that one before. Things that most people comment on about me is that I have really big eyes, pretty hair, have really small feet, and nice teeth. Oh, and I look better without glasses. HA HA HA! People have been telling me that I have been gaining weight too. Which they say is "bagay" (looks good) for me. HA HA HA!!!! Man, I love these people.
Another thing they have been telling me is that my laugh is contagious. That they feel really happy when they hear it. So now they want to joke around with me more or tell me more jokes to hear it. HA HA HA! :D
Funny Story:
So we are riding in this tricycle and Sister Aree and I are in the side car, while Sister Christensen and as Member- Cookie Quinto (about to serve her misison in Australia) are riding on the back of the motorcycle. We are close to our destination and there is this HUGE REALLY STEEP hill, which normally we would just ask to stop before is and walk us it because the house is not very far up it; however, Sister Aree did not want to walk up it and was curious to see if we could make it up it. So she tells the driver to go straight up it. We make it half way up, but then you hear the chain on the motorbike start clicking. The motor struggles, then dies. We then start rolling backwards, which then Sister Christensen starts screaming. The tricycle driver turns his wheel sideways and we skied to a stop. Sister Aree and I are laughing our guts out and Cookie starts apologizing to the tricycle driver saying we need to diet. HA HA HA!!! We pay the tricycle driver and make our way up the rest of the hill. As we hiked up this hill, Sister Christensen and Cookie were happy that we did not roll over and die and expressing this whole heartedly, Sister Aree huffing and puffing to get up the hill, but still laughing, and I was just laughing at the whole situation. Man, I love our lives. HA HA HA!
Mosiah 24:13-16 This is a example of how sometimes with prayers and in trials the Lord tells us that we need to wait. However, in times of hardship and struggle, if we cry to the Lord, depend on him, and keep trying our best day by day, the lord will ease our burdens and we will have the strength to overcome, and become better people than we ever could imagine. Learning more. Growing more, until finally, we see that at the end of our struggle and hardship, we see the hand of the Lord in our lives in the little miracles that occur. Then, when the time is right, the Lord answers our prayers and we are delivered from our problems.
I think this is something that is really hard to learn and to recognize as we go through trials. Many times we are searching for instant gratification from God for all of our problems. When we don't receive it, sometimes we feel the Lord is Forsaking us. However, he never does, nor ever will. He always hears our crys, and blesses us for our obedience all the time. We just have to look and find it. Then, in the Lord's time, which is the best time, he will deliver us. We learn patience, trust, and how to "submit cheerfully" to the will of the Lord. Life is better this way. It may not be easy still, but its better than going through life on our own. I'm eternally grateful for this chance to learn, grow, and become a better person. The person the Lord wants me to become. We just have to trust him and we will become this person. :)
Well, I shall write again soon. Love ya all!
Sister Elsmore
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