A Miami New Years Eve 😀

 Hello everyone!! Hope you all had an amazing week!! Now I'm sure some of you are wondering, "what was New Year's Eve like in the heart of Miami?" Well let me tell you... we weren't allowed to be out after dark because things get crazy, but we all set our alarms for 11:55 and went out on the porch when it hit midnight and it was INSANE!!! The whole sky was filled with smoke from fireworks and everyone was playing Mexican music super loud and PARTYING IT UP! At 12 the fireworks went crazy and everywhere we looked we could see them in the air! A ghetto car went in the middle of the road and revved its engine for a whole minute straight and all the neighbors were screaming haha!! Then a car drove by suuuuuupppppeeerrrr fast and almost hit them!! We went inside after that hahaha! 😂 That morning, the senior couple that serves in our district and a lady in our stake threw a party for us!! It was sooooooo cute! They gave all the sisters SquishMallows (little stuffed animals) and the elders were really jealous, so the lady (Hermana Cruz) went and bought them some too!! 😂 Funny thing about Hermana Cruz: she served in this mission at the same time as my dad and Sister Morales' dad and she said she knew them both!!! 

My birthday was really good!! The sisters surprised me with decorations and cake and I had lunch at Olive Garden!! 

Funny stories:

We talked to a man on crack on the bus this week and he was so funny! He kept high-fiving my companion for literally everything she said haha! 

We did an on the spot object lesson at a ward FHE this week and had the elders close their eyes and walk through a maze of chairs. One of them was "the holy ghost" guiding the other one, but the ward wanted to make it difficult, so they kept moving the chairs right in front of his feet and eventually put chairs on every side of him. 😂😂😂 We were like... "hmm... what do we do with this..." GOD CAN CONQUER ALL THINGS!!!! 🙏 

Lastly, the Elders put aluminum foil down on a giant table and covered the whole thing with nachos. Not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome haha!! 😂

We had a lesson this week and the lady's dog was licking my foot the entire time!!!! I was trying so hard not to laugh and I kept moving my feet and he wouldn't stop! 

Miracles: There were a lot this week.

We met two of the coolest people I've ever met this week! They are both so prepared for the gospel!! Irlan is one of them. He had a very hard time traveling to America and went 12 days without food and water. That is when he found out that God was real! He saw Jesus' footsteps and knew that he had to follow them. Then a few weeks later he found our number!!! The other lady is Pilar. She is going through a lot and was very very lonely. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and to see the hope in her face afterwards is something that I will never forget. It was so cool and she is so excited to learn more!! 

Another Sister was struggling really bad this week and she was telling me all of her thoughts. She decided she wanted a blessing, so we met the elders at the church and she didn't tell them much at all about what was going on. They did the blessing and literally EVERYTHING she had talked about earlier was answered in the blessing. The spirit was so strong and it was so cool!!! She is doing much better now! 

Lastly, I was able to teach 2 lessons this week!! It was crazy!! Thank you for all of your prayers for my Spanish! Heavenly Father is helping me so much!! 

I love you all!! There is so much more prepared for us because of Heavenly Father's plan and because of our Savior. So don't give up!! You have the most powerful amazing friend on your side and He will never leave you. ❤️  Have an amazing week and keep praying. God is listening! 

You Have Really Pretty Feet

Sorry for slacking last week on the email!! Last p-day was crazy!!

I found out that when I ate the Haitian food in Coral Springs 3 months ago, I ate OX-TAIL!!!! So that's fun.

Dean and Darlie from Wellington got baptized!!! Happiest day of my life!! 

I was on the bus listening to all the Spanish and I heard someone say "hey!" In English. I got pretty excited and when I looked, it was an old man. He said, "you know; you have really pretty feet." 😂 What do you say to that?? 

Later that day we walked the streets with my ukulele and sang to people!! It was so fun! They all started recording us, so if any of y'all see me on Youtube... that's why. 😂 

Then we had a very... interesting experience. We heard someone outside our door talking on the phone and we didn't think too much about it until he started yelling and then we all got quiet. He was drunk and his girlfriend and him were breaking up. It was pretty sad because he was drunk to the point that all he could think of to say was "but I love you" and some lovely swear words included of course. It was like a TV show, so we were all standing at the door listening. Then he blew his nose into the phone and we all absolutely lost it!!! 😂😂😂 

We had a scary bus experience as well!! We were sitting there and I was talking to this cute lady. I complimented her gloves in español and she handed them to me!! I tried to give them back and she just kept saying "no, yours!" Then as I was distracted with that, a car pulled out in front of the bus and we almost hit them!! There was a man in a wheelchair in front of us and he flew out!! Luckily he caught himself, but it was scary!! 

The Elders we ward share with were having a baptism for these 2 twin girls and they were CRAZY!! So hyper. 😂 We got there and the font was about to overflow, so we had to stop it and mop a little! We tried writing the girls' names with chalk and apparently it wasn't good enough... the primary president redid it haha!

Miracles: People's hearts open at Christmas time!! It was so cool!!

This man walked into the baptism just in time and it turned out that he was walking on the street and decided to come in!! He only spoke English, so I got to teach in English and it was soooo freeing! A miracle for me! It was the most powerful lesson of my life and we all agreed that it was no coincidence! There was so much that led to that point. The store he was going to was closed, his Google maps wasn't working, a lady opened the door at just the right moment to let him in... it was insane!! SO COOL!! 

Fernando, our recent convert went missing!!! We searched for him for a while because he didn't show up to the temple and wasn't answering the phone, but turns out he was in the hospital, and he made it to sacrament meeting!!! Christmas miracle!!

I ran into 2 of the YSA this week!! One at the temple and one at a Christmas party!! So fun!! 

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and I love you all!! I pray for you all the time!! ❤️🎄🙏🥳🎶

I'm Going to Be Famous in Bolivia

 Hahaha! This week was tons of fun and miracles! Miami Christmas hits different. Let me just tell ya! The people go crazy with their lights and I LOVE IT!!! ❤️  I am missing the snow though! ❄️ We got to sing in the stake choir and they went all out for it! They had stage lights and decorations and even little costumes and Santa came! It was so much fun and brought a lot of miracles, which I will write in the miracle section of my email. 

As for the title though... I'm going to be famous in Bolivia!! We were sitting in sacrament meeting when these 2 ladies walked in in super fancy hot pink matching dresses! We went and talked to them after, and they told us they were from Bolivia! It was a mom and her daughter. They asked where we were from and when it got to me, I expected the usual reaction of "la fábrica" saying I'm from the factory of Utah. 😂 But instead they FREAKED OUT!! I was so confused until they told me that one of "their Elders" that taught them was from Utah!! After that they took TONS of pictures with me and said they were going to show them to that Elder hahaha. They wanted to see if we knew each other. I think Utah is a little bigger than they think... 😂 We taught relief society and they filmed the ENTIRE lesson!!! It was an hour long!!!! When the daughter's arm got tired, she handed the phone to her mom. And let me just tell you, she got ALL the angles. After relief society they took a whole photo shoot. It was pretty funny. They asked us to share a message with them at their hotel this Wednesday and we said we would. They kept bringing up Utah and how they wanted to visit and told me I was always welcome in Bolivia because they were going to show the pictures of me to everyone there. 😂 Later, we called their Elders in Bolivia to see what they wanted us to teach because it was so close to her baptism. They didn't know who they were at first... then one of them said, "oh!! We have her contact! My old companion taught her, but he got emergency transferred out because she declared her love for him..." 😳 SO AWKWARD!!!! Little does she know, he won't be there when she gets back... Anyways, that was the most interesting part of my week. Hope you all enjoyed haha!

Miracles: One of the people that we taught this week spoke some English and it was the most freeing experience of my life to be able to teach again!!! I can say my testimony and half a prayer in Spanish and that's about it, lol!

SO COOL!! We were practicing for the choir and this lady walked in and started crying as she listened! We talked to her and it turns out she was driving past and something told her to walk in. She talked about how she's been missing God so much in her life and the singing was exactly what she needed and that it was a gift from God.

I can testify that God knows exactly what we need, even when we don't. It's NEVER too late to go to Him. He is there waiting with open arms. He understands and He loves us. You've never gone too far. The spirit will help you know what you need to do. Just like the spirit told her that she should come in, the spirit will guide you to know what you need to do! God is waiting, but we have to reach out to Him sometimes too! 

I love you all!! ❤️❤️❤️

Tom and I Have Beef... Literally

 So, my first week of Spanish was soooo confusing, but also amazing!! If any of y'all have seen the movie McFarland USA, that is what my area looks like. I LOVE IT!!! There are chickens and cats running around everywhere! The people are so nice even though they tease me A LOT! "Poor Gringa!" But for real, they do it out of love. Some of the members tried to make me feel better about my Spanish reading by reading a scripture in English and it was so funny! They kept calling each other Tarzan. 😂 

So, as I mentioned above, there are so many cats!! 14 live in front of my house! I took out some beef from my leftovers and tried to give it to Tom (a cute little kitten) and he scratched me! I'm never feeding Tom again lol! 

Hispanic culture goes ALL OUT with Christmas decorations!! I'll put pictures! 

I had to stand in front of everyone and introduce myself at church in Spanish and say a prayer. SOOOOOO AWKWARDDDDD, it was definitely in Spanglish, but I'm alive!

We went to Calle Oche for p-day today and apparently that is PitBull's favorite street!! I got a picture with him 🤪 and some chickens. 🐔 

Also, funny story. Our carbon monoxide alarm went off this morning at 5:50. 😑 We called 911 and the firefighters came and said, "there's no smoke" and we were like, yeah... and before we could mention the carbon monoxide, they looked at us like we were stupid and just walked back out!! Rude! We called President (after 6:30) and we are just changing the battery 🤦‍♀️ RIP.

Miracle: God is helping me read in Spanish. That is the only thing that I can really do to help in lessons, and I'm surprisingly okay at it. Heavenly Father is definitely helping me. Gift of tongues is real!!! I love you all ❤️🥲