Hola!

Wow ok this week has been crazy! 

I'm definitely in New Mexico because it's really hot here but it's starting to cool down I guess because we actually haven't gotten up to triple digits the past few days I think. Also, Las Cruces is the home of New Mexico State University so we actually live right next to it! 

The people here are AMAZING. Like seriously everyone is so nice and gracious and even the people who don't want to talk to us (usually) are still nice about it. 

The ward here is a lot smaller than I'm used to and we have a lot of work to do to help them but they are amazing and I am just astounded by their strength every time I meet a new family. The area Hermana Holding and I cover is huge and we just have the south half of the ward! Our little part is probable about the same size as Roseville (so like 20 to 30 minutes to get to the opposite side) but less populated because people her like to have some land and there's some farming area and orchards and stuff. It's really pretty in some spots, it kind of reminds me of driving down Riego Road back home. 

Hermana Holding and I get along really well (which I'm so happy about, two amazing companions in a row!) and we both just really want to get to work and do our part here as best we can. We have a couple investigators that we're working with teaching right now but I haven't been able to meet all of them yet. No one is really close to baptism yet but that just gives us more opportunities to teach them and get to know them! 

Oh so pretty much everyone here speaks English really well so we actually hardly ever use Spanish but Hermana and I have been trying to be more diligent and pushing ourselves with the language so that when we do teach someone who only speaks Spanish we can be ready. The members here are really awesome at helping us learn Spanish and there's this one really sweet elderly sister, Hermana Garcia, who loves to have us over and she helps us a lot with grammar rules and stuff. I think someone said she used to teach Spanish in a school somewhere but anyways she's an amazing teacher and we love spending time with her and helping her with her yard and stuff. 

Well we certainly have a lot of work to do here, we've mostly been focusing on getting to know the members better and showing them how we're here and ready to work and that they can trust us because this area has had a history of disobedient or just not hard working elders but we're here to fix that! So yeah, it's been a good but crazy week and there's a lot left to go! 

El Campo!

Hola! 

Ok so I finally made it to NM! The flight was a little tricky since we only had 50 min to get through customs in the Houston airport so we missed our flight by like 10 min and so we had to wait 7 hours for the next flight, but I had two other Hermanas who I absolutely love with me and we just kind of explored the airport and we ate at Whataburger which was really good. And there were a couple members who came up and talked to us at the airport and helped us out (that's how we were able to get Whataburger) and we just felt so blessed. Heavenly 

Whataburger!

Father really looks after His servants. 

We got to the president's house pretty late but we got some initial training done and we all slept really well. When we woke up we went to the transfer meeting where I found out my area and companion! 

I'm serving in the Las Cruces area (really south) and it's really hot here but there's actually some green so I think I'm really going to like it here. My companion is Hermana Holding and she's actually from Folsom! She came out just 6 weeks before me and normally you would never train another missionary until you were 12 weeks out at least but I guess President Miller really trusts us and has high hopes.

Me and Hermana Holding

 I don't have a lot of time to email but I have some pictures of my last week at the CCM and my new companion! Love you all and I should be able to talk more next week!

Probably Last week at CCM

Wow ok I'm on my last week here I can't even believe it! 

The days feel like an eternity but the weeks feel like a day if that makes any sense haha. My flight leaves here Monday morning and I have to be at the bus to go to the airport at 3:30 in the morning so that's going to be interesting but I'm so excited! 

All of the Hermanas in the Casa

This week was harder because we had two districts in our branch that were the week before us and all of us were really close (my old roommate Hermana Murphy was in one of them) and they all left this last week so we miss them a lot but I'm so excited for them and they are all going to be incredible missionaries! 

We're getting a new district in our branch later today to replace districts A and B and since Hermana Moss and I are the only sister missionaries left we're the new sister trainers which pretty much means that we're in charge of organizing the music in church this Sunday and making sure that the new Hermanas that come in are comfortable and settle in quickly. So we really don't do much but we get a cool title for a week. 

Finally a picture with our roommates

My Spanish has been coming along so well and this week I've been getting pretty good about being able to conjugate in things other than present tense as I talk and teach which is really cool because that's been the hardest thing for me here. 

Um there really haven't been a ton of noteworthy things this week but the elders in my district have adopted me as their mom because I sew up their ties and pants and stuff because they apparently rip them all the time and I always seem to be the voice of reason when they have bad ideas haha. 

ABQ Hermanas

The rest of this week is going to be spent packing and finishing up our last teaching practices and then next thing I know I'll be in Albuquerque! Wow ok. I'm pretty sure my P-days will be on Tuesday in the field so I guess start expecting Tuesday emails from now on! 

PS I've been so immersed in Spanish these past few weeks and so I'm starting to lose my English (especially spelling because I was really bad at that before too) so lo siento if there's a lot of spelling mistakes and stuff, I'm so glad you guys can't see how many of these words had to be fixed with spellcheck.

PPS I forgot to charge my camera this week so I'm waiting for the missionaries who just left to send me the pictures we took so no pictures this week but there's gonna be a whole bunch next week

¡Les amo!

Hermana Martin

One Month-Aversary

¡Hola!

Wow I can't believe that I've already been here for four weeks, it feels like I left yesterday! So I safely avoided the CCM plague of last week thank goodness! 

Ok highlights from this week, our morning teacher, Hermana Garcia, told us this past week that she's pregnant! She got married I think two months ago and her husband works here at the CCM too and we see them eating lunch together and they're just really cute. 

Oh and for TRC (I think I've mentioned it before, it's when we teach actual real people on saturday mornings) Hermana Moss and I taught Hermana Garcia's mother-in-law which luckily we didn't know until after because we would have been freaking out. She's an amazing woman and was such a joy to teach so we had a really great TRC this past week. 

Our night teacher, Hermano Beltrán, lost a bet we made like the first week he became our teacher and so this past week he brought us in churros! Real Mexican street churros! Holy wow they were so good. 

as the sun started setting behind the mountain last week (that B was from when this used to be a high school)

And the other major highlights from this week was that on Tuesdays we do service around the CCM for an hour or so and this week we helped fold all of the sheets and stuff in the laundry room and I learned how to fold a fitted sheet! Which normally is impossible but now I feel really skilled. And then in our Tuesday night devotional they broadcast it last night from the Provo MTC because the apostle Russel M Nelson was speaking and the MTC choir sang and as they were showing all of those missionaries I saw my roommate Keri! It was so nice to see someone I love and miss so much, even if it was just on a screen and she had no idea. I'm so grateful for those little tender mercies of the Lord! 

Oh and something I don't think I've mentioned yet about the CCM, there are mosquitoes everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. (I've actually gotten really good at catching them in the air and throwing them to the ground to kill them because there are a lot of opportunities to practice) but they hardly ever bite us. I think I've gotten a grand total of 6 bites while I've been here which is impossible with my track record with mosquitoes. Blessings man. 

Spiritual thought of the week, so lately I've been focusing a lot about Jesus Christ (I mean He is the center of the entire message that I'm here to learn to teach) and what it means to have my name right there next to His on my missionary name tag. There's a scripture in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 21:16, that has been one of my favorites since I've been out here serving. It's Christ talking and it says "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands". I love this scripture so much because it's a perfect reminder of Christ's perfect love for us. He payed the ultimate price in order to help us with every hard thing in our lives from sins so sorrow to guilt and without Him we wouldn't be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven and our families again after this life. I'm so grateful for Him and for the opportunity I have to be His representative for the next 17 months. I can't imagine anything else I would rather be doing right now. 

Love you guys so much and I hope you all have an amazing week!

Hermana Martin