Coconuts-The spoils are sweet!

Some things happened this week.

As I am sure you all can imagine.

Soul-stretching, sucker-punching, and character-building type things. The good stuff.

Let's begin with my eye infection. The first I have endured in many years. It was weird and I was perturbed and I had to wear my glasses which makes my new compa and I look even more similar which makes literally every person in Belmopan stop and ask if we are sisters.

no.

Ha ha ok it’s not that big of a deal. But also literally every person here asked me if I was German this week.
Maybe that is due to my last name--which is in fact German--but something tells me it had more to do with the fact that Germany was playing in the world cup this week. So I am white and naturally must be German. It is only logical.

Then on Sunday something pretty fun happened. Due to some wild and unusual circumstances, the missionary who normally translates the Spanish church meetings into English was unable to do so, and thus, I was called upon to translate.

This was fine, except that I have never once translated before. I put on the headphones and set to work. I will be honest and say that I was extremely nervous at first, but miraculously, it was a breeze to translate the Spanish speakers. The difficulty came when I had to translate the Americans speaking Spanish back into English. Why? Because their accents are challenging to decipher. This resulted in something of a train-wreck and me apologizing to my listeners for my inability to discern what the heck the Americans speaking Spanish were trying to say.

Awkward.

But actually. Translating is super fun. I'd like to try again. But I think I am probably fired. I'll let you know.

Yesterday we were surprised by a baby emergency. We lost power. Boo! Well it was fun until we realized how poorly prepared we were and that we had nothing to eat. As night fell, the situation grew dire. Danger seemed imminent to me and another sister in the house-Sister C. We decided to patrol the perimeters of our home and to search for alternative food options, fully realizing that soon we may need to cultivate the land.

The coconut...our dinner
 

To our delight, we found a coconut tree. I hoisted her up and she secured a coconut. (After I dropped her about 5 times). We spent the next 15 minutes trying soooo hard to bust the dang thing open. It was a test of our strength, wit, and intelligence. But the spoils were sweet! Finally we got the thing open and ate! And surprisingly the coconut was really good. We wanted to make coconut meal but realized we needed a blender--or in other words power. And we were back to square one.

Also Sister C's parents have recently purchased a house in Spain and she has invited me to come live there with her after the mission.

Porque no?

I can dig it. So yeah. It has been hard still dreaming of San Ignacio but still waking up in my new area. But I am getting nearer to loving the people and the place. There was a function this week though for all of Cayo and many of my San Ignacio friends came. What a joy. But my already cracked and healing heart was re-opened when a little girl from SI ran up to me, gave me a big hug, and looked up and said, "are you coming back now?!"

Ouch.

The thing is, I am doing my very best to learn charity--or the pure love of Christ. I know He knows more than I do. I know I have to love like He did and does. To me charity means that you don't always have to be right, it means that you clean up your companions puke, it means that you don't envy the missionaries who have more baptisms, it means that you are kind to those who everyone else thinks are strange, mean or rude, and it means that we are patient. It means we do the right thing for the right reason. Not to be glorified of men, but to glorify our Father. It means not getting angry when we are in the grocery line too long and we have somewhere to go. It means not freaking out on people when they utterly disappoint you. It means always, always, ALWAYS, giving people the benefit of the doubt.

"Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul (see 1 Nephi 11:23). "

 

I'm trying to be like Jesus. I trying to do as he did in all that I do and say.

Love that song.

 

Guys I love you all. I’m on my way to loving my new area

. Another day another story. It’s neat. Keep me in your prayers. You're in mine. Christ lives. God lives. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true in Spanish and English.

Love always,

Sister Hirschi