This letter was wanted and hoped for for 4 months.
Poor busy missionary. . .
It's been a continuous effort since July 25th and it was received November 4th, 2011.
Long and awaited,
14 pages,
And here it is!
25/Julio/2011-->
-->18/septiembre/2011
. . . Sorry. . .
Hey There Nicole!
So. . . Once again I have a billion letters from you that I have not answered. . . :/ Sorry 'bout that. . . So first think first. This letter might turn out really random as I read through your letters quickly. . . You went to Disneyland! Lucky! And I could be you translator in México! Well. . . Guadalajara. . . ;) Well actually. . . the truth is. . . I'm not really too familiar with Guadalajara. . . Well I went there today actually. . . (I'm not forever away anymore. It's like an hour and a half away now, and your letters get to me a lot faster. :) ) to renew my visa. . . because I was an illegal alien in México. . . ;) since Dicember actuallly. . . But I do know a coupld of cool tourist atracting places that would be fun to visit! :) ¡Yes! send me a red rock! ¡Ja ja! JK LOL. . . but that'd be great! I . . . don't have the red dirt that you sent me anymore. . . the little vial broke. . . :,( wow. . . that was more than a year ago now! sidenote: Today is transfers, and my companion is packin' 'is bags. . . and I get a new friend today! His name is Élder Martínez, and he's from Chiuahuah, México (Chihuahua is the correct spelling. . . ;) but I don't see why it makes a difference. The "h" is silent in Spanish. ,':/ ) Aaaaaaanyway. . . So yes and no to I watch General conference in Spanish. I watch some in English and some in Spanish. (I like it in English a lot better.) (I like listening to their original voices. . . ;) ) Kirstie's engagged to be married!?! ¡Ja ja! (That's what my parents wedding invitations said on them. . . I think that what they told me. . . ;) ) Ha ha! Anyway, that's cool! I'll have to meet "that Mike kid" when I get back. Birthdays! Well, actually it was yours a long time ago. . . but I sent a card. . . Did ya get it? Ha ha! Yes, I will be there to "see what's inside and what [you] wrote to [your]self when [you] were a wee lass" in your time capsule! Ha ha! That'll be fun! Alaina ran up and hugged you one time? hmm. . . I don't remember that, but I can totally see that happening. Ha ha! That's kind of just how she is. I don't really know about Garret. He's walking now. . . and the last time I saw him he was just a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. . . ;) I have an orange tree in my backyard!. . . unless it died. . . but as fas as I know it's still there and producin'. . . well actually it didn't have fruit when I left. . . ;) but anyway, they do grow in St. George! So you can get one and plant one right now if you want! Go ahead! Right now! Stop reading and go! ;) Ha ha! I'm in a wierd mood. . . could you tell? I want an orchard too!! but I'm not sure how I want it yet. . . in rows, or just along the property line. . . I guess it depends on how big the yard is. . . hmmm. . . ;) Yes, it rains quite a bit in "my Mexico" There's the rainy season and the dry season and right now we're in the rainy season. (oh, backtrack sidenote: yes, I agree that you should feed your kids more than just oranges, peaches, pears, and cherries. ;) ) Lately there's been a ton of lightning and thunder. . . and it's kind of scary. . . ;) It's a lot louder than in St. George. . . and it comes like a second after the lightning so it's really close. . . but I'm a missionary, so I won't be struck. . . unless I'm being bad. . . but I'm not, so I'm fine. ;) ¡Pan dulce! Sweet bread! From México! Are you really learning how yo make ?! :D My favorites are named "la concha" or "shell", "la corbata" or "tie," and I'll have to look up the names of some other ones, because I don't remember. . . :/ *sticky note attached reads: "other Brand Names: Volcanes (volcanoes) Cuernos (horns) Paquél (?) Granilladas (?) Trompadas (?) Mante cadas (buttereds. . . ?) ;)"* You're going to have millions of children?! I'm not sure if that's a good idea. . . maybe 15-20, but millions?! ;) JK LOL! If you want millions you can have millions. ;) Amber still hasn't written me. . . ha ha! Oh well. I guess if she gets around to it great, and if not, oh well. ;) That's awesome that she's going on a mission! Tell her she at least has to tell me where she's going. That'll give her an excuse to write me a letter. ;) Hey, I'm sorry to hear that your grandpa passed away. I'm glad that you could meet some cousins that like you! :D And that my brother could be of some use. ;) In the pamphlets that we give away it says that the spirit world is "a place of preparation, learning, and rest from worries and pain." And Preach my Gospel says pretty much the some thing, just a little more detailed. I'm sure that you've already studied this topic much more thoroghly (spelling. . .?) than I have. From what I've heard unofficially (meaning that I don't remember where I heard it. . . ;) ) the spirit world is here on the earth, but on the other side of the veil. Actually, I think that Bro. King told us that. . . I think. . . ;) You've probably found the answer that you were looking for by now. . . (sorry it's taken so long. :/) but if not I hope this helped. :) *sticky note attached reads: ". . . Elder Gibson translation. . . Chap. 41 of Principles of the Gospel: 'The Spirit World in the Life to Come' Ezra Taft Benson, 'Sometime, the veil between this life and the next is very thin. Our loved ones that have passed on are not far from us' Brigham Young taught that the spirit world, where those who have died go to, is on this earth, round about us."* I'm so jealous that you can go to the temple grounds! Because I can't! It's like two hours away! . . . (and St. George's grounds are bigger and prettier. . . but don't tell anyone I said that. . . ;) ) I'm glad you liked you're b-day card! Ha ha! I'm glad you know that I'm not about to forget your birthday. ;) You're right, I've know you for too long! :) I'm doing pretty awesomely. Thanks for asking! I'm really enjoying this period in my mission. It's been the most challenging, but I also think that I've been growing the most in these last few months. So, I have a new companion. . . can you tell how long it's taking me to write this. . . ?. . . sorry. . . but anyway, his name is Élder Tiscareño (Tee-ska-rain-yo) He's pretty awesome. He only has six months in the mission, but he's amazing and he knows what he's doing. Well the marathon's almost here! :D Hopefully you'll get this before that. . . sorry. Ha ha! So. I made you not want to be a "haughty daughter of Zion"? Well, your very welcome. (sidenote: I just burned the brownies! ¡NO! But it's not fault! It's because all the ovens in México just have a know that says 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and I don't know if that's ºF or ºC!! They still taste kind of good, so I guess it's ok. ;) ) And now your want eight kids?! ha ha! You're right, I remember conversations in high school and you always said maximum. . . 5. . .? I think? But now you want 14 kids. Good for you! that's great! ok, I know you just want eight. ;) and that's great too! Ha ha, I told a member in this ward how big my family was, and he said, "Good. That's how mormon families should be." ;) Ha ha! It made me laugh. You're welcome, quarter-pop-gal. ;) and yes, it's POP! ;) Oh my goodness! You keep telling me how much time I have left in the mission! and it's. . . scary! ;) and funny, because when you were telling me that I had 8 or 7 months, I was just like, "that's foreeever away!" but know I have almost 5 and it's freakin' me out just a little. ;) so I'm just going to talk about something else. ;) Ok, so you want the Sacrament prayer in Spanish? ok! Here they are!
Well, there ya go! Enjoy! Disfruta! ;) And yes, I'll read them for you when I get home. (These brownies are completely raw on the inside. . . darn mexican ovens! ;) ) (Random note: My companion almost doesn't have a mexican accent when he speaks English and it freaks me out every time! ;) ) So, you quit the pageant. . . that's ok. :) Just as long you don't think that you can quit everything that you start. ;) But honestly, when I heard that you were going to be in the marathon, the pageant, working, and being the crazy cat lady, I thought whoa! You might want to slow down there, Missy! You might explode. . . (luckily it was just a blood vessel in your eye. . . ;) and not. . . you. . . ;) ) but yes, I will be supportive in whatever you do as long as it doesn't involve killing people or committing felonies or something like that. ;) ¿Está bien? (the brownies gave me a headache. . . too much sugar. . . ;) ) You're going to play "Give said the little stream" for me on the piano?! Awesome! I'm learning too, kind of, there just really isn't a lot of time. I've never been to Draper. . .When my brother and Ariane got married, they went to the Draper Temple. But it was snowing really hard and my mom told me to go straight to the church instead of the temple. (she didn't trust my driving abilities. . . and i don't either. . . in the snow. . .) Well, I'm glad that your work is going well. . . or busy/cranky/crazy. . . ;) I'm so excited to go home and speak Spanish to someone! Someone that needs my help to comumicate. :) So your're getting married! I knew it!. . . Oh, it's just cosmetology school, Ha ha! ;) It's ok if you have regrets. Scott sent me a great letter, and in it he said, "Don't have any regrets," great quote, but completely unrealistic. I think I'll change it to "Don't have any significant regrets" And I completely agree with that. Oh, what a wise brother I have. . . ;) Because it's not really possible to live life without regrets at the very least little ones. Do you tell Élder Rough how many months he has left too, or just me? Because HE has FOUR months left, where I have more than FIVE left. ;) *Gasp* my brother's an Élder now! Do you know haw weird that is for me? Soooooooooo weird! But oh well. Did you know that in total, I won't have seen him for about 3 1/2 years? That's almost 2 whole missions! It's ok though, he'll be serving the Lord, FYI his Birthday is May 28th. How about if I help you with his package? ;) It was the Mexican Independance Day last week! Remember when I wrote you a year ago about it?! It's all déjà vu! Ha ha! Well, I hope that's everything's going great, and that your job gets better/you get a better job or whatever that makes life easier! Super GOOD LUCK on the Marathon! That's way awesome! I would totally die! Unless I walked it. . . then maybe I would even beat you! ;) General Conference is in two weeks! I'm so excited! It's my last one in the mission! :,( super sad face! I love General Conference in the mission. . . ¡¡La Conferenceio General!! Nooooooooooooooooo. . .! Oh well. It's still good at home. I'm going to Guadalajara this week! There's a conference for trainers/District liders/Zone liders (Spanish spelling of "Leaders" ;) ) (actually spanglish) and I'm super excited! (Oh, quick Spanish lesson: When you, Nikki, are talking or decribing yourself in Spanish and the work ends with an "o" you're going to change it to a "a" because you're a girl and the "a" is feminine ie: amigo --> amiga) :)
My 10 things that I'm thankful for!!
1. being able to speak Spanish
2. food
3. water
4. Clothes
5. Natural Gas
6. Comfy beds
7. the heat
8. chapstick
9. You and your letters <-- does that count as two? ;)
10. Life
tu amigo,
26/Septiembre/2011
So. . . I already finished your letter. . . buuuuuuut, I got two more letters from you last week. So I'm going to add a tich more to your letter. . . ;) (and sorry that this letter is super random. . . I just read a part of it, and I was kind of like. . . "This doesn't really make sense. . ." but oh well) Well it's cool and all that your going to Paul Mitchell the School, but they make you go emo if you go. . .? ;) JK LOL! I'm sure you'll find ways to express yourself even in all black. I love the smell of rain! I'm trying to decide which I would rather have: 4-5 months all bunched together of a lot of a lot of rain or rain all year round, but not near as much rain. . . Because here in México, during Autumn, Winter, and Spring, it doesn't rain. But in Summer, it rains a ton, like almost everyday! (FYI: In Guadalajara and Michuacán, it's prettiest in July. Super green, especially in Michuacán) But I think that the rain spell better in St. George. ;) You haven't been to Dixie Rock since I left? That's ok, I haven't either. . . ;) We'll just have to go when I get back. :) Sound good? Ok! Ok! I get it! Sorry I haven't written! Ha ha! No, but I really do feel bad about that, so sorry. But yeah, Kevin's gone so I'll try to write you more often. :) Ha ha! I'm glad that you might get a calling and even more glad that you're excited about it. That's a great example of how the members should be. So thanks for being a good example! Actually you've been one for a long time. So thank you! :) "Cup O 'Noodles" oh, my dear, dear Élder Rough. . . ha ha! That doesn't surprise me much actually. . . ;) Those are super cheap here, they're like $4.50 (pesos) right now that's like $0.30 in the U.S. Although I never bought a Cup O' Noodles in the states before. . . so maybe that's actually expensive. . . ;) You're telling me how much time we have left again! Nooooooo! ;) Ha ha, if I have changes again and I go to an area in a zone where not many of the missionaries know me, I am so totally telling everyone that I only have 13 months in the mission! Ha ha! ;) I'm glad you feel ready for the marathon now. . . . sorry that you're going to get this letter after it's all over. . . but. . . Good Luck! :) So. . . now you curl men's hair. . .? ,':/ Ha ha! Actually, I giggled when I read that. Ha ha! We'll have to see about the whole "Élder Jeffrey C. Gibson with curled hair thing". . . ;) I'll let you practice cutting hair on my head any day. . . With a few weeks in between ;) I'd rather not be more bald than I already am. Thank you. . . ;) (but seriously, I'm kinda a bit balder than I was when I left. . . receding hairlines. . . how I hate them! Is Élder Rough bald too? or is it just me by myself?) What a glorious day because you love your school and your in love with you straightener from school! Ha ha, you're right, I do know where you're coming from with the whole "have to wear the same thing everyday." Well actually I don't know, we do get to choose what color tie we want to wear. ;) ha ha! um. . . I''m not quite sure that I know what the word "frackin'" means. . . ;) JK LOL!
Randomness
Ha ha! So yesterday, we were contacting in the street, inviting people to church and we found these three people who looked kinda vagabondish (they were coming from the bus station), and they had all their belongings in bags. So we contacted them and the lady turned out to be a member ((two were from Nicaragua and one from Costa Rica)(they had funny accents. . . ;) ) (ie: Aren't you HUNgrey? That's what I'm SAYing. Don't you underSTAND me? that's how they spoke. . . if you can understand this. . . ;) )) but anyways so they told us that they had been traveling a lot and they were hungry. So my companion told them that they could talk with the bishop to see. Now I didn't think that that was such a good idea because I know how the bishop is when people come in and ask for stuff. (he's kind of a harsh/hard/not very gentle man sometimes) (Random sidenote: This week I made a four layer Jello! Going back to my Utah roots! ;) it's pretty amazing. ;) ) So we went into the church building and we see the bishop they have a little chat he tells them that he can't give them money and two of them get mad and storm off, but the other guy was cool and said, "hey, the elders just said that there might possibly be the chance that someone was going to be able to give us something to eat. They didn't say anything about money." Then everyone was fine and the Costa Rican left too. Then the bishop gave us a talk about what kind of people we should bring to the church. . . but it all turned out ok. I don't know why I told you that. . . Maybe I just liked the way they talked. . . But anyway here's your letter, and sorry again for how long it's taken. . . I feel really bad. . . :( Thank you for being so great and writing me even though you weren't recieving letters back. You're Amazing! And I really do mean that! Thank you!
tu amigo,
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| . . . really bad signature. . . |
