4/11/16
Okay. This is crazy. So last week we finished up our classes and got pictures with our maestros that they're supposed to send to us hopefully. I seriously...wow...the promise is so real that if you seek
or ask ye shall receive or find. I've never really seen how much these promises really are real in my life. I seriously prayed all the time before and during the CCM (and I'm still praying for it now) that God would allow me to feel a portion of His love for all those around me. Boy has He given me that blessing!! I just look at everyone in white...seeing them in the temple just glowing (it's a little hard to see the catcallers as beloved children of God sometimes, but it's amazing what does and doesn't matter when you focus solely in and on Him).
God really has helped me to develop this charity, just this crazy love and attachment for everyone. Thus, leaving the CCM was really hard....Conference was awesome and we got to spend some time with our little district. We said our last prayer together as a district Sunday morning. DL offered it up and we were all cryin (other than Stoker cause he and Cafe are stones). That night we watched our farewell video (they show those pictures I sent you of every district leaving then we all sing "Para siempre Dios esté con Vos"....my comp played and Hermana Spencer led the music....This was the only time we could sit next to the elders (cause for everything else elders and sisters can't sit on the same row) so it es Café on the end, Stoker, me, Hermana Spencer, Hermana Ashford, and then Hermana Gucake. I'm sitting there, trying to sing. I wasn't crying at all, but I just didn't have
a voice. I sang maybe half the song... It was sad... Then after the video session (we watched "Meet the Mormons") we had testimony meeting. Almost cried, but didn't haha!! Success. ;)
Monday morning we woke up at three, took our stuff down, got on the bus, said our goodbyes, and headed out. We got to the airport around five and I didn't feel very good. My stomach was really sick feeling (like I ate something bad...which I think I did cause Hermana Ashford felt the same but she actually ended up throwing up and getting a blessing from the elders before we got on the plane). We made it through everything fine, only I got buzzed so I had to get checked. We hung out with Elder T --he's serving in Chicago so he had a different flight (he's the big poly from west valley)-- boarded the plane, and we were off!
Well, since I talked to you guys on the phone at the airport, I hope you got the pictures the lady took of us:) I got off the phone and gave it to Cafe. It made me so happy to see everyone so happy!!:) Stoker's call dropped on him but his mom called him back so fast and he had this big ol grin on his face haha. It was so cute to see everyone so happy!! After the calls we all loaded up on the plane. Me and Cafe were by each other on both flights. Man, I miss that kid haha! He's awesome. Gonna do some great work.
Anyway, we landed in New York (they checked our carry ons in Atlanta cause there wasn't room in the overhead thing so we didn't have anything) and were running to try and find our luggage gate. We come running down the stairs and this lady comes just bookin it towards us and it was Hermana Reynolds. President wasn't too far behind. They gave us hugs and handshakes appropriately and were super welcoming and happy to see us. They helped us get our luggage and then we went to wait for "the van". It was raining a lot and we were loving it.
The assistants to the president drive the van and they were with the other missionaries coming from Salt Lake. We all joined up, loaded luggage, and piled into cars. I was behind president so we talked a
lot on the way to the mission home (we had president and his wife, and five hermanas; the assistants drove another van with the elders and the other two hermanas). The traffic here is crazy so we took almost 40 minutes to go 12 miles from the airport to Port Washington where the home is. The hermanas slept in the basement on huge bunk beds, it was so fun! There were seven of us total, only four Spanish speaking. The elders slept on the top floor and they were all English speaking I think other than our two elders. Maybe one was mandarin... Oh there were I think eight elders total too. We ate right away after getting to the mission home and HOLY COW. THE FOOD, OH AND THE DESSERT, AND THE BEDS THAT NIGHT.....man, they got it good over there!! Anyway, that was when we wrote our letters, had our little two minute interview with president, and got to just hang out. We talked with the assistants, everyone, and it was super fun.
We had a little devotional by the assistants and president after all was said and done, then they took our pictures with president and his wife --can I tell you, my eyes would not stay open man...and I haven't seen the picture so hopefully it was good haha!-- then it was finally off to bed!! We all crashed so fast!
Next morning the assistants made french toast which was AMAZING and then we did personal study for an hour all together in the living room. Our companion study was lead by the assistants and that was super fun. Directly after companion study we loaded into the vans and headed to the mission office in Queens. President Reynolds drove separately so I road in the front with Hermana Reynolds and got to talk to her the whole way. She is awesome. I love them so much!!
We got to the mission home, went downstairs, and began our little prep class. They told us about money stuff, iPad stuff, basically anything you can think of. Then they gave us our iPads. Right after we were handed our iPads--literally right after--we were lead into a room where all our trainers were sitting and president was standing here with a list of all our names and pictures with our comps names. (Fun fact: He told us he knew what missionaries would be training but he didn't know who would be training who when we got to the home. He interviewed all of us and then put us with our trainers) he read of Hermana Ashford first. Holy cow. Her comp has more energy than she does! I didn't think that was possible. They seemed perfect for each other. Next he read off a different elder, then Cafe. It hurt my heart a little haha! I didn't want to let them all go! But lo and behold I was next.
Ready aaaaaaaaaaaand drum roll...
My compañera is Hermana Bugingo! *cough cough* women's conference anyone?? Sister Burton's talk?? Yeah, that's my trainer. Literally fifty people at least said "you've got the best trainer ever! She's awesome!" And she most definitely is!! We are serving in BROOKLYN, Dyker Heights. We are in zone two I think. It's crazy. We take public transportation EVERYWHERE. Our area is huge.
......Kay....this email is ridiculous.....so Imma send this and let you start reading through this novelia while I type up the rest of what happened the last, oh I don't know, five days - not too much, just background, base information and all, then I will reply to all of the preguntas!!)
Love you!!! I'll keep typin!!!
Sent from my iPad
Monday, April 11, 2016
Monday, April 4, 2016
Safe arrival Sister Gourley: New York New York South Mission
4/04/16
Dear family of Sister Gourley,
We just want to send you a quick note to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in New York City today. President and Sister Reynolds met them at the airport, will feed and visit with them, and then will send them all to bed to get some rest. Within a few days you will receive a letter from President and Sister Reynolds with a picture of your missionary. Tomorrow they will receive instruction and will meet their new companions who have been chosen by inspiration to train them.
Thank you for entrusting your missionary to us in the New York New York South mission. We so appreciate all you have done to get these missionaries to this point in their lives!
Sister Duke
Mission Secretary
New York New York South Mission
718-672-2031
Dear family of Sister Gourley,
We just want to send you a quick note to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in New York City today. President and Sister Reynolds met them at the airport, will feed and visit with them, and then will send them all to bed to get some rest. Within a few days you will receive a letter from President and Sister Reynolds with a picture of your missionary. Tomorrow they will receive instruction and will meet their new companions who have been chosen by inspiration to train them.
Thank you for entrusting your missionary to us in the New York New York South mission. We so appreciate all you have done to get these missionaries to this point in their lives!
Sister Duke
Mission Secretary
New York New York South Mission
718-672-2031
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
"You can´t talk to that bird in English. It´s Mexican. It only speaks Spanish." --Hermana Gapsar (our maestra) to Cafe
3/30/16
Last Thursday started off strange. We were in the comedor for lunch and I saw a dude who looked super familiar but I couldn't remember why! I sat down and after we all blessed our food and started to eat he passed by and said "Hermana Gourley, you were in my ward at BYU" and I was like OOOOOOOOOOH THATS WHAT IT IS! His name is Elder Wood and he just got here last Wednesday. I see him every day now and we talk for just a second every time. That was a good little piece of home haha!
Oh man! I'm going out of order but that's okay, still relevant. The devotional yesterday...hahahaha! So Elder Wood (the dude from BYU) played the piano for the opening and closing song. The closing song was Somos los Soldados (Onward Christian Soldiers) and oh my gosh. That. Was. Hilarious. hahahaha! Mi compañera was leading the music and oh man I felt so bad for them up there! So here is why... There is something you need to know about latinos. They love to sing. And they love to sing LOUDLY. Which is good! ......ooooother than when they are literally ten to twelve measures ahead of the pianist and chorister, while singing at twice the speed the song is supposed to be sung at, taking literally no breaths hahahaha! It was a disaster hahaha but it was totally hilarious. We watched a devo from Provo of President Nelson which was fabulous. His wife gave an awesome talk about being desperate and how she hopes we are desperate many times on our missions because when we are desperate we find ways to do what needs to be done, we depend on God more, we look at things differently, and we are able to do His will more effectively because we have to depend on Him. That's how I feel with the spanish thing too...I can't rely on myself because I can't say what I want to say in this language. We have to trust in God 100% to help us to convey His message His way. The devo was awesome.
The days are flying by so fast I don't know what to say about what has been happening haha! We have watched some pretty awesome videos since being out here so I thought I'd share just a few of them and some of my thoughts from my personal study...
--The Hope of God's Light (Mormon Message)
--The Holy Land in 4k
--I was reading about resurrection and read Revelations 20:6, then I had a question pop in my head about it and I didn't even really say a prayer, just kinda had the thought "help me find a answer to this", and then within a minute I came across Mosiah 15:22 which answered my question and was exactly what I was looking for. God is so good:) even just the tiniest things...
--Enos 1:8--"thy faith hath made thee whole" I think we all have a lot more faith than we give ourselves credit for at times...
--Alma 29. Literally just highlighted in different colors the entire chapter. haha! This chapter is AWESOME.
--Also D&C 88. of course. And a lot of other sections in D&C. And in Alma. Alma 26 and 32, 34, okay.....JUST ALL THE SCRIPTURES: JUST READ ALL THE THINGS!! :)
--A devotional video from Provo by Elder Holland I have named "Feed My Sheep" where he talked a tad about his conference talk about "Do you love me?" that devo was crazy powerful
--this quote by Elder Cecil O. Samuelson: "Just as we should not lower the standards that the Lord has established for the conduct of His servants, we are also not authorized to raise them...Be sure that you do not have higher standards for yourself or others than the Lord has established."
Anyway, i am about out of time to email, now I can send out all those pictures really quick (not technically counted as email time :) haha)
I love you all!!!!
--
Mucho Amor, Hermana Karra Gourley
Last Thursday started off strange. We were in the comedor for lunch and I saw a dude who looked super familiar but I couldn't remember why! I sat down and after we all blessed our food and started to eat he passed by and said "Hermana Gourley, you were in my ward at BYU" and I was like OOOOOOOOOOH THATS WHAT IT IS! His name is Elder Wood and he just got here last Wednesday. I see him every day now and we talk for just a second every time. That was a good little piece of home haha!
Oh man! I'm going out of order but that's okay, still relevant. The devotional yesterday...hahahaha! So Elder Wood (the dude from BYU) played the piano for the opening and closing song. The closing song was Somos los Soldados (Onward Christian Soldiers) and oh my gosh. That. Was. Hilarious. hahahaha! Mi compañera was leading the music and oh man I felt so bad for them up there! So here is why... There is something you need to know about latinos. They love to sing. And they love to sing LOUDLY. Which is good! ......ooooother than when they are literally ten to twelve measures ahead of the pianist and chorister, while singing at twice the speed the song is supposed to be sung at, taking literally no breaths hahahaha! It was a disaster hahaha but it was totally hilarious. We watched a devo from Provo of President Nelson which was fabulous. His wife gave an awesome talk about being desperate and how she hopes we are desperate many times on our missions because when we are desperate we find ways to do what needs to be done, we depend on God more, we look at things differently, and we are able to do His will more effectively because we have to depend on Him. That's how I feel with the spanish thing too...I can't rely on myself because I can't say what I want to say in this language. We have to trust in God 100% to help us to convey His message His way. The devo was awesome.
The days are flying by so fast I don't know what to say about what has been happening haha! We have watched some pretty awesome videos since being out here so I thought I'd share just a few of them and some of my thoughts from my personal study...
--The Hope of God's Light (Mormon Message)
--The Holy Land in 4k
--I was reading about resurrection and read Revelations 20:6, then I had a question pop in my head about it and I didn't even really say a prayer, just kinda had the thought "help me find a answer to this", and then within a minute I came across Mosiah 15:22 which answered my question and was exactly what I was looking for. God is so good:) even just the tiniest things...
--Enos 1:8--"thy faith hath made thee whole" I think we all have a lot more faith than we give ourselves credit for at times...
--Alma 29. Literally just highlighted in different colors the entire chapter. haha! This chapter is AWESOME.
--Also D&C 88. of course. And a lot of other sections in D&C. And in Alma. Alma 26 and 32, 34, okay.....JUST ALL THE SCRIPTURES: JUST READ ALL THE THINGS!! :)
--A devotional video from Provo by Elder Holland I have named "Feed My Sheep" where he talked a tad about his conference talk about "Do you love me?" that devo was crazy powerful
--this quote by Elder Cecil O. Samuelson: "Just as we should not lower the standards that the Lord has established for the conduct of His servants, we are also not authorized to raise them...Be sure that you do not have higher standards for yourself or others than the Lord has established."
Anyway, i am about out of time to email, now I can send out all those pictures really quick (not technically counted as email time :) haha)
I love you all!!!!
--
Mucho Amor, Hermana Karra Gourley
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Re: Como estas????
3/23/16
This week was hilarious. We started our two weeks of attempted "solo Español"...it hasn't gone the best cause we keep forgetting haha. We fasted together as a district this Sunday and Monday. I am most definately (...I seriously cannot spell anymore because I try to spell it how it would be spelled in spanish but...--not like i could before either haha--and this is in spanish so it doesn't help me haha) am still eating. The food here is ridiculously good actually. I have acquired a really strange taste for Mexican food. Like, actual Mexican food haha!
This last week we decided to join the elders in the weight room so we've been lifting weights a little more than kicking or running, but it''s been super fun! I just want to get out into the field but i dont want to leave my district!! The elders are absolutely hilarious.
The funniest thing this week would have to be....hmmm not sure....the whole week has been great. We keep saying "estamos luchandolo!" which is a rough translation for "WERE LOSIN IT". Our zone was made up of three districts including us, and both those other districts left on Monday for the field. Now in our building (900 aka Joseph Fielding Smith Building, not the Joseph F Smith Building we learned the first day...) it's only us and then about six other latino districts haha. The latinos are hilarious. They come and talk to us in spanish and always ask how long we've been here. It's crazy to think the newbie latinos who just got here this week yesterday will leave when we leave haha!
I also stayed up until 12:35 last Friday talking with Hermana Spencer. We were just laying in our beds with the lights off and couldn't fall asleep. Our comps were out but we couldn't sleep, so we stayed up and talked until we were tired. That was fun.
Oh and the devotional was AWESOME. We got to shake his hand!! That was so cool. It was super quick but I got to shake the hand of an apostle of the Lord. It was awesome. We are also going to the temple for our final time today at 12. Hopefully I will be able to understand more than last time.
Yesterday we had a devotional by the CCM assistant president and he requested a song for us to sing as a choir so we sang Praise to the Lord God Almighty (??) I think is what it was called in english? We did it in spanish and I sang first soprano. It felt good to actually let my voice use its range a little bit haha! Speaking of singing, we saw the new Easter videos the church produced and in the Hallelujah Chorus one I saw Tammy! That was a good little piece of home - seeing her on there for just a quick second.
Oh and another funny thing, my zone used to call me "Hermana Brave" or "Hermana Merida" and when they left said I had to introduce myself as such to my mission president. We got pictures with all of them when they left but they are on Hermana Spencer and Hermana Ashford's cameras so when they email them to me i'll forward them.
I attached a picture of our schedule for this week for example so you can see kinda how it has been haha
We woke up this morning and our water was out, that was a fun time. But it kicked back on pretty quickly. I have never been so thankful for the fact that I have clean water in my life. When any water you drink has to be brought in by a truck in a bottle, you get thankful for what you have.
I wish we had been able to watch the temple dedication! That would have been awesome. We don't get to watch women's meeting this week either. We have to wait until next week so that the hermanas and elders watch at the same time (psssssh ;) ) we have a special devotional this Sunday though. We are watching it live from Provo. A member of the Twelve will be speaking to us apparently.
Pictures:
--the bottle. This is a Mexican drink thing anI is amazing and i get one basically every day (probably not healthy haha but it says it's organic and "all natural" haha;) )
--THESE STINKIN TREES. I don't know what the heck they are, but they are bright purple and every day they grow new flowers and then shed them all. But then the next day, they are full again. Then they shed them all. Literally everyday but Sunday the workers (who we have gotten to know pretty well, they always say "Hola Bonitas" or "Hola Hermanas" in the funniest ways, it's awesome) go out and clean them up. Literally everyday. They stick to your shoes, your clothes, you will just get hit by them. Also Hermana Ashford and Hermana Gucake have both been pooped on by the parrots. We think its a game for them haha
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
3/16/16
Okay. Where do i begin with this. Sunday we had church and another video session, also a devotional from the CCM president. Those are always awesome. I haven't had to speak yet (crosses fingers I don't ever have too haha) and there's only this Sunday that's my last opportunity to speak (cause of conference and Fast Sunday). Our whole zone leaves on Monday for the field except for us. That means we will be getting a bunch of newbies in. I am really excited to help them out a little bit like the hermanas in our zone did for us!
We had a devotional on Tuesday also. Our district joined the choir so that was super fun! We sing only in spanish here so sometimes we hermanas will throw together some a cappella stuff in english. It's super fun! We also have a special devotional this Friday...ELDER COOK IS COMING so we will get to hear from him personally just for us!! We are super excited about that!!
The spanish is coming really well actually...it's weird cause I go into a "lesson" and when we teach, the words just come back to us. Words we didn't even remember we had learned come back. I mean, this is hard, but especially since last Thursday I feel so much better about the language...you could say I'm over it :) in a good way! I know I will not be perfect at it but I know that if I give 100% of my efforts the Lord will help me out. We read in 1 Nephi 4 as a district and discussed what we learned... wow I learned a lot! I loved how in verse 31 it says something like that Nephi being large in stature and having strength from the Lord stopped Zoram from leaving. This to me means, after all we can do, after all our own efforts, after all our strength we have to give is not enough, the Lord makes up the difference. And I know He does.
The mission is the best thing I have ever decided to do. I have grown and changed so much in the short three weeks that I have been here, it blows mi cabeza! I cannot wait to get out into the field and start teaching those the Lord has prepared for me, but I know before I can teach those He has prepared, I have to be prepared. " You are your most important convert". That's what they say a lot here... I believe and know that this gospel is true and that through it and through the Lord, with Him on our side, we can do all things.
Oh hombre, where does the time go?? Exact obedience is one thing we can all strive for... thus, until next time... I love you all so so much, and pray for you every day!!! LOVE YOU!!!!
--Lots of love,
Hermana Karra Gourley
Okay. Where do i begin with this. Sunday we had church and another video session, also a devotional from the CCM president. Those are always awesome. I haven't had to speak yet (crosses fingers I don't ever have too haha) and there's only this Sunday that's my last opportunity to speak (cause of conference and Fast Sunday). Our whole zone leaves on Monday for the field except for us. That means we will be getting a bunch of newbies in. I am really excited to help them out a little bit like the hermanas in our zone did for us!
We had a devotional on Tuesday also. Our district joined the choir so that was super fun! We sing only in spanish here so sometimes we hermanas will throw together some a cappella stuff in english. It's super fun! We also have a special devotional this Friday...ELDER COOK IS COMING so we will get to hear from him personally just for us!! We are super excited about that!!
The spanish is coming really well actually...it's weird cause I go into a "lesson" and when we teach, the words just come back to us. Words we didn't even remember we had learned come back. I mean, this is hard, but especially since last Thursday I feel so much better about the language...you could say I'm over it :) in a good way! I know I will not be perfect at it but I know that if I give 100% of my efforts the Lord will help me out. We read in 1 Nephi 4 as a district and discussed what we learned... wow I learned a lot! I loved how in verse 31 it says something like that Nephi being large in stature and having strength from the Lord stopped Zoram from leaving. This to me means, after all we can do, after all our own efforts, after all our strength we have to give is not enough, the Lord makes up the difference. And I know He does.
The mission is the best thing I have ever decided to do. I have grown and changed so much in the short three weeks that I have been here, it blows mi cabeza! I cannot wait to get out into the field and start teaching those the Lord has prepared for me, but I know before I can teach those He has prepared, I have to be prepared. " You are your most important convert". That's what they say a lot here... I believe and know that this gospel is true and that through it and through the Lord, with Him on our side, we can do all things.
Oh hombre, where does the time go?? Exact obedience is one thing we can all strive for... thus, until next time... I love you all so so much, and pray for you every day!!! LOVE YOU!!!!
--Lots of love,
Hermana Karra Gourley
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Semana 2: Cantamos en Español y Hablamos Español, siempre
3/09/16
Holy cow where do I begin??? Okay, first off, mom, the big bag was a very, very good idea. Second off, Spanish is really, really hard but I know I can do it. It's getting so much better. It has been pretty weird here as far as weather goes, super super hot (I got burned kinda badly on my neck cause my hair was up that day...oops) and then it'll be like today and yesterday where it's super cold and crazy windy! I love it though. I wish you guys could all be here with me to experience it and see how pretty (and smelly) it can be!
We had some super funny moments as a district this week, got some good laughs in haha. XD My district is awesome. We all feel like we are a little family of our own (and all of us but Hermana Gucake are going to the same mission if i didn't already say that).
Also, i don't know if I said this already - in my sleep the first night apparently I kept repeating out loud, "trabajo...trabajo...trabajo" which means work work work!! looks like even in my sleep I know what's up. haha ;)
The first Sunday was awesome because I didn't have to speak haha ;) but this Sunday was Fast Sunday (oh and we fast for dinner and then breakfast here, so on Sunday we eat lunch right after sacrament) so we all had to bear our testimonies. I went up and started to do it in spanish and then all of a sudden my mind went blank. I felt like Elder Brown the day before in class when he couldn't speak spanish and yelled "THE GIFT HAS LEFT ME!". It is not a joke. El Don de Lenguas is real, hombre. So real. It is crazy. I am FAR from being perfect at spanish, but me and mi compañera can give whole lessons now with just a few notes and scriptures. I know the mission objetivo, moroni 10:4-5, the primera vision, and the invitacion ser bautizado all in spanish, and (on a usual day) can bear my testimony in spanish. No, itIs not very good spanish and i probably sound a lot like a five year old, but I can still do it! and that is a huge blessing.
Yesterday we had a devotional broadcasted from the Provo MTC to all of the other CCM/MTCs in the world. He talked about how a missionary is called and then went out into the audience and let people ask questions, then he answered them. The Spirit was so strong during that meeting, as it is during all of the meetings. I thought yesterday about how mom said when I was getting my patriarchal (WOOOOOW spelling...plus spanish keyboard...y'all know what i mean XD) blessing and how well the patriarch has to be living all the time to be that in tune with the Spirit to give those blessings and then I realized, we need to be living the same way on missions. We depend on the Lord for everything - where to go, what to say, when to do/say it, EVERYTHING, and that was a bit overwhelming at first to think about, but we are doing our best. And that is all the Lord can ask of us. There was something awesome said in one of our devotionals this past week - it was a broadcast from Provo by Elder Holland - and he said in effect, that the only question is "How much do you love the Lord?" and if you do love Him, "THEN FEED. MY. SHEEP." it was intense. but it was awesome. Got us all fired up and wanting to learn as much as we can. That is the biggest thing to remember. If you love the Lord, you will have a will aligned with His. If you have a will aligned with His, you will love all of God's children so much all you want is to give them the happiness this gospel gives you. When you have that love for the people, that is when el Don de Lenguas comes, because you are forgetting yourself and doing the work, learning the language, doing your best at everything so that you can be the best servant possible for your master. That is when you learn the language. That is when you speak with the power and authority of God. That is when you have His Spirit to always be with you. That is when you become who He wants you to be. I think that is another reason learning a language on the mission is such a blessing. You are forced to rely on God. You can't rely on your own knowledge and be prideful. You HAVE to be humble and you have to submit to the will of God because otherwise you will not be a successful servant. What kind of servant is told by their master to do something but then doesn't do it cause they think they know best?? A bad one...
Through it all, this has been a fabulous week. I've learned a lot about myself and about how God works, and I've learned to trust in Him in so many ways. Exact obedience my friends. If we strive to live our lives as perfectly as we can, repenting when we make mistakes, and constantly trying to be better, I know the Lord will bless us and work through us to help bring about His great and marvelous work. I know this gospel is true and that we are representatives of the Lord. I know this with all my heart and am striving my best to be more like Him. I would challenge you all to do the same. I love you all so so so much!! I pray for you everyday...please pray for the missionaries in the field and help their investigators to listen to the Spirit and allow it to teach them all things, because by the power of the Holy Ghost, we may know the truthfulness of all things.
--
Love love love, Hermana Karra Gourley
Holy cow where do I begin??? Okay, first off, mom, the big bag was a very, very good idea. Second off, Spanish is really, really hard but I know I can do it. It's getting so much better. It has been pretty weird here as far as weather goes, super super hot (I got burned kinda badly on my neck cause my hair was up that day...oops) and then it'll be like today and yesterday where it's super cold and crazy windy! I love it though. I wish you guys could all be here with me to experience it and see how pretty (and smelly) it can be!
We had some super funny moments as a district this week, got some good laughs in haha. XD My district is awesome. We all feel like we are a little family of our own (and all of us but Hermana Gucake are going to the same mission if i didn't already say that).
Also, i don't know if I said this already - in my sleep the first night apparently I kept repeating out loud, "trabajo...trabajo...trabajo" which means work work work!! looks like even in my sleep I know what's up. haha ;)
The first Sunday was awesome because I didn't have to speak haha ;) but this Sunday was Fast Sunday (oh and we fast for dinner and then breakfast here, so on Sunday we eat lunch right after sacrament) so we all had to bear our testimonies. I went up and started to do it in spanish and then all of a sudden my mind went blank. I felt like Elder Brown the day before in class when he couldn't speak spanish and yelled "THE GIFT HAS LEFT ME!". It is not a joke. El Don de Lenguas is real, hombre. So real. It is crazy. I am FAR from being perfect at spanish, but me and mi compañera can give whole lessons now with just a few notes and scriptures. I know the mission objetivo, moroni 10:4-5, the primera vision, and the invitacion ser bautizado all in spanish, and (on a usual day) can bear my testimony in spanish. No, itIs not very good spanish and i probably sound a lot like a five year old, but I can still do it! and that is a huge blessing.
Yesterday we had a devotional broadcasted from the Provo MTC to all of the other CCM/MTCs in the world. He talked about how a missionary is called and then went out into the audience and let people ask questions, then he answered them. The Spirit was so strong during that meeting, as it is during all of the meetings. I thought yesterday about how mom said when I was getting my patriarchal (WOOOOOW spelling...plus spanish keyboard...y'all know what i mean XD) blessing and how well the patriarch has to be living all the time to be that in tune with the Spirit to give those blessings and then I realized, we need to be living the same way on missions. We depend on the Lord for everything - where to go, what to say, when to do/say it, EVERYTHING, and that was a bit overwhelming at first to think about, but we are doing our best. And that is all the Lord can ask of us. There was something awesome said in one of our devotionals this past week - it was a broadcast from Provo by Elder Holland - and he said in effect, that the only question is "How much do you love the Lord?" and if you do love Him, "THEN FEED. MY. SHEEP." it was intense. but it was awesome. Got us all fired up and wanting to learn as much as we can. That is the biggest thing to remember. If you love the Lord, you will have a will aligned with His. If you have a will aligned with His, you will love all of God's children so much all you want is to give them the happiness this gospel gives you. When you have that love for the people, that is when el Don de Lenguas comes, because you are forgetting yourself and doing the work, learning the language, doing your best at everything so that you can be the best servant possible for your master. That is when you learn the language. That is when you speak with the power and authority of God. That is when you have His Spirit to always be with you. That is when you become who He wants you to be. I think that is another reason learning a language on the mission is such a blessing. You are forced to rely on God. You can't rely on your own knowledge and be prideful. You HAVE to be humble and you have to submit to the will of God because otherwise you will not be a successful servant. What kind of servant is told by their master to do something but then doesn't do it cause they think they know best?? A bad one...
Through it all, this has been a fabulous week. I've learned a lot about myself and about how God works, and I've learned to trust in Him in so many ways. Exact obedience my friends. If we strive to live our lives as perfectly as we can, repenting when we make mistakes, and constantly trying to be better, I know the Lord will bless us and work through us to help bring about His great and marvelous work. I know this gospel is true and that we are representatives of the Lord. I know this with all my heart and am striving my best to be more like Him. I would challenge you all to do the same. I love you all so so so much!! I pray for you everyday...please pray for the missionaries in the field and help their investigators to listen to the Spirit and allow it to teach them all things, because by the power of the Holy Ghost, we may know the truthfulness of all things.
--
Love love love, Hermana Karra Gourley
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
for Adam: A Whole New World
3/02/16
Wow. Hola Familia and Friends!!
We can call this week by any of the following title: Entonces, entonces, entonces. Repiten por favor? Puedo hablar en ingles? Como se dice...? Preguntas y mas preguntas. Or lastly, El Don de Lenguas.
Week one is complete and WOW. Where do I start?? Okay, so here's what I have written down in my little notebook (thanks mom)...
On the way to gate C8 i passed a store and guess what song was playin? Don´t Stop Believin! God certainly has a sense of humor... :) also i ended up not sitting by Elder Brown because there were 11 of us on the plane and I got bumped up to an emergency seat with another hermana named Hermana Garcia (thought of dad then of course, with his long legs needing that seat more than me!) Elder Brown is our district leader. There are only around 200 American missionaries here now and we don't have a "trainer". Me and Hermana Ashford get along great, she is "a 100% Authentic Texan Girl". Hermana Spencer and Hermana Gucake are also in our district and we share the smallest room in our casa together. (Oh and Elder Stoker is Elder Brown's compañero).
Our flight was (according to the pilot who we met before boarding) exactly 3 hours and 17 minutes long. Me and Hermana Garcia were just dying to get off the plane and land! She is serving in the Xalapa (?? dont know how to spell it...) Mexico mission. when we finally landed all of the hermanas need the baño but we did take a picture first. After passing through customs we found our luggage which was neatly piled off to the side according to size, class, and color. To answer mom's question, all of us had a very difficult time maneuvering our luggage...it was kind of hilarious. Even the elders were dropping stuff, it was kinda rough :) We found the CCM people and waited for four more missionaries who were on another flight from Atlanta. We took a few more pictures there (and if I have time--only one hour to write--I will try to send those pictures I have). We all piled into the CCM bus and began the absolutely ridiculous drive through the city. Can I tell you, I don't think there are traffic laws in Mexico. half the time there aren't even lines on the road for traffic even moving in opposite directions! Its ridiculous. But we made it!!! Also, Mexico smells na-STAY. Pero, en the CCM it doesn't smell unless the wind blows it in.
We only drink bottled water here, and they bring in all these huge tubs of water to refill with and such. We got our tour of the CCM and met all of the CCM presidentes y esposas and got a tour of the CCM on our "first day" (second, kinda). My bed is nice and firm, Adam would love it! ;) There's literally tile everywhere, and we kneel for every prayer entonces my knees are getting really strong ;) pero cuando I pray at night I use a blanket from mi cama.
The food is actually really really good (surprisingly), and the days are going by so fast I feel like I've only been here for two, but then it feels so long ago I was at home. We had pizza last night, and spaghetti the first night, entonces, we've had hour little bits of american food. Oh, and also I ate fish. It wasn't bad...pero, it wasn't good either... it was just meh. So yes mom, I am eating!
The Spirit is so strong here, I cannot believe it sometimes. We teach an investigator every day, and will be bumping up to two soon. As nervous as I was about the language, I know Heavenly Father is blessing me, and I can pray in Español, bear my testimony, and I already have a lot memorized. It is really hard to write in English now because my brain is trying to think in Spanish. That, my friends would be El Don de Lenguas. The Gift of Tongues. Man, it's awesome. We all were so overwhelmed the first couple days porque we are learning how to speak spanish...in spanish, how to teach the gospel in spanish...in spanish, and literally all of us had the thought at least once on the first few days of "WHAT AM I DOING. THIS IS SO HARD. I NEED TO GO HOME." pero, now we know that was the devil talkin, and we are doing incredibly well. Our investigator was sick yesterday so our maestro pretended to be one. He told me and my compañera after that he sometimes forgets we're only on week two (yes, technically I am now halfway through week two). We really are so blessed.
Everyone here says "just make it to Sunday". Wow Sunday. First we had relief society and then our district meeting (oh and our zone is pretty awesome too). After district meeting is sacrament. We are in Rama 8, pero we haven't met our Rama Presidente yet cause he has been sick. They do sacrament in spanish, and everyone has to write a talk on the topic for each Sunday, then the presidente gets up and picks who will speak (talk about anxiety inducing!! ;) ). After church we have "video" in the evening with all the missionaries. This Sunday's video... HOLY COW. Can I hear you say Spirit??? Cause it was so strong. I absolutely love the devotionals and videos.
We had a devotional last night by Elder Reyes of the Seventy, and it was fabulous. I took lots of notes.
The spanish really is coming pretty well, it's only that we can understand most of what we hear in spanish, pero, we can't express what we want very well... other than that, it's going pretty well! We also have to keep reminding ourselves we have only been here a week...
here is this much for mom...we will keep writing!
--
Hermana Karra Gourley
continued...
3/02/16
OH! and we are going to the temple today!! It is supposedly about 30 minutes away on a good day, but we get to go every two weeks! Also, Elder Cook will be visiting us some time in the next month, so that is exciting also!
OH MY. IF I HAD A PESO FOR EVERY TIME I WAS TOLD I LOOK LIKE "THE BRAVE GIRL" OR THAT MY HAIR IS "MUY...MUY *CURLY HAND GESTURES*" I COULD BUY THE CCM. I feel like I kinda stick out like a sore thumb, especially when we walk by the latinas and latinos during meals, but everyone tells me they like it entonces...
Oh and on our tour we learned the word entonces (means "so") and that was what the tour guide dude would always say. We also learned a lot of random palabras... like pasto and pies and edificio.
Can I tell you....I do not joke around when it comes to working out here! I was so sore the day after our first gym time, my hamstrings man...wow. Yesterday I was passing a soccer ball with an elder in my zone and he got a little crazy and TOTALLY NAILED Hermana Gucake in the head...I hit the floor trying not to laugh, I felt so bad. She said she was totally fine though.
AAAHHHH THE TIME WENT SO FAST. GOTTA GO. ILL WRITE FASTER NEXT TIME!
LOVE LOVE LOVE ALL OF YOU GUYS. MISS YOU LOTS. YOU'RE IN ALL MY PRAYERS
-- Love
Hermana Karra Gourley
Wow. Hola Familia and Friends!!
We can call this week by any of the following title: Entonces, entonces, entonces. Repiten por favor? Puedo hablar en ingles? Como se dice...? Preguntas y mas preguntas. Or lastly, El Don de Lenguas.
Week one is complete and WOW. Where do I start?? Okay, so here's what I have written down in my little notebook (thanks mom)...
On the way to gate C8 i passed a store and guess what song was playin? Don´t Stop Believin! God certainly has a sense of humor... :) also i ended up not sitting by Elder Brown because there were 11 of us on the plane and I got bumped up to an emergency seat with another hermana named Hermana Garcia (thought of dad then of course, with his long legs needing that seat more than me!) Elder Brown is our district leader. There are only around 200 American missionaries here now and we don't have a "trainer". Me and Hermana Ashford get along great, she is "a 100% Authentic Texan Girl". Hermana Spencer and Hermana Gucake are also in our district and we share the smallest room in our casa together. (Oh and Elder Stoker is Elder Brown's compañero).
Our flight was (according to the pilot who we met before boarding) exactly 3 hours and 17 minutes long. Me and Hermana Garcia were just dying to get off the plane and land! She is serving in the Xalapa (?? dont know how to spell it...) Mexico mission. when we finally landed all of the hermanas need the baño but we did take a picture first. After passing through customs we found our luggage which was neatly piled off to the side according to size, class, and color. To answer mom's question, all of us had a very difficult time maneuvering our luggage...it was kind of hilarious. Even the elders were dropping stuff, it was kinda rough :) We found the CCM people and waited for four more missionaries who were on another flight from Atlanta. We took a few more pictures there (and if I have time--only one hour to write--I will try to send those pictures I have). We all piled into the CCM bus and began the absolutely ridiculous drive through the city. Can I tell you, I don't think there are traffic laws in Mexico. half the time there aren't even lines on the road for traffic even moving in opposite directions! Its ridiculous. But we made it!!! Also, Mexico smells na-STAY. Pero, en the CCM it doesn't smell unless the wind blows it in.
We only drink bottled water here, and they bring in all these huge tubs of water to refill with and such. We got our tour of the CCM and met all of the CCM presidentes y esposas and got a tour of the CCM on our "first day" (second, kinda). My bed is nice and firm, Adam would love it! ;) There's literally tile everywhere, and we kneel for every prayer entonces my knees are getting really strong ;) pero cuando I pray at night I use a blanket from mi cama.
The food is actually really really good (surprisingly), and the days are going by so fast I feel like I've only been here for two, but then it feels so long ago I was at home. We had pizza last night, and spaghetti the first night, entonces, we've had hour little bits of american food. Oh, and also I ate fish. It wasn't bad...pero, it wasn't good either... it was just meh. So yes mom, I am eating!
The Spirit is so strong here, I cannot believe it sometimes. We teach an investigator every day, and will be bumping up to two soon. As nervous as I was about the language, I know Heavenly Father is blessing me, and I can pray in Español, bear my testimony, and I already have a lot memorized. It is really hard to write in English now because my brain is trying to think in Spanish. That, my friends would be El Don de Lenguas. The Gift of Tongues. Man, it's awesome. We all were so overwhelmed the first couple days porque we are learning how to speak spanish...in spanish, how to teach the gospel in spanish...in spanish, and literally all of us had the thought at least once on the first few days of "WHAT AM I DOING. THIS IS SO HARD. I NEED TO GO HOME." pero, now we know that was the devil talkin, and we are doing incredibly well. Our investigator was sick yesterday so our maestro pretended to be one. He told me and my compañera after that he sometimes forgets we're only on week two (yes, technically I am now halfway through week two). We really are so blessed.
Everyone here says "just make it to Sunday". Wow Sunday. First we had relief society and then our district meeting (oh and our zone is pretty awesome too). After district meeting is sacrament. We are in Rama 8, pero we haven't met our Rama Presidente yet cause he has been sick. They do sacrament in spanish, and everyone has to write a talk on the topic for each Sunday, then the presidente gets up and picks who will speak (talk about anxiety inducing!! ;) ). After church we have "video" in the evening with all the missionaries. This Sunday's video... HOLY COW. Can I hear you say Spirit??? Cause it was so strong. I absolutely love the devotionals and videos.
We had a devotional last night by Elder Reyes of the Seventy, and it was fabulous. I took lots of notes.
The spanish really is coming pretty well, it's only that we can understand most of what we hear in spanish, pero, we can't express what we want very well... other than that, it's going pretty well! We also have to keep reminding ourselves we have only been here a week...
here is this much for mom...we will keep writing!
--
Hermana Karra Gourley
continued...
3/02/16
OH! and we are going to the temple today!! It is supposedly about 30 minutes away on a good day, but we get to go every two weeks! Also, Elder Cook will be visiting us some time in the next month, so that is exciting also!
OH MY. IF I HAD A PESO FOR EVERY TIME I WAS TOLD I LOOK LIKE "THE BRAVE GIRL" OR THAT MY HAIR IS "MUY...MUY *CURLY HAND GESTURES*" I COULD BUY THE CCM. I feel like I kinda stick out like a sore thumb, especially when we walk by the latinas and latinos during meals, but everyone tells me they like it entonces...
Oh and on our tour we learned the word entonces (means "so") and that was what the tour guide dude would always say. We also learned a lot of random palabras... like pasto and pies and edificio.
Can I tell you....I do not joke around when it comes to working out here! I was so sore the day after our first gym time, my hamstrings man...wow. Yesterday I was passing a soccer ball with an elder in my zone and he got a little crazy and TOTALLY NAILED Hermana Gucake in the head...I hit the floor trying not to laugh, I felt so bad. She said she was totally fine though.
AAAHHHH THE TIME WENT SO FAST. GOTTA GO. ILL WRITE FASTER NEXT TIME!
LOVE LOVE LOVE ALL OF YOU GUYS. MISS YOU LOTS. YOU'RE IN ALL MY PRAYERS
-- Love
Hermana Karra Gourley
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