No socks with my shoes

Hey Mom and Dad and Family!

SO, the first week in the CCM was a roller coaster of emotions and just filled with fun and pain and excitement and wow. I don't even know where to begin. My companion is really cool. We are already best friends, however we are also really opposite with certain things so it is hard to stay patient. She is late a lot. Which is very difficult. But I love her a ton and feel like I can tell her anything. We are in district 11 B and are the ONLY girls in our district.

 

Our District leaders are the elders from Hawaii, Elder A and Elder L, and then there are two from Utah; Elder T and Elder C. HP if you are reading this, Elder T is from Alpine! Then there are Elder To and Elder H, they are a really interesting pair. Elder H had anxiety problems that need to be medicated so I spend a lot of time with my companion talking him out of anxiety attacks. He also is a little OCD and ADHD and doesn’t know a lick of Spanish so he spends a lot of time freaking out and crying. But we love his little awkward face and want him to go and serve his mission successfully. Then there are Elder M and Elder B, funny kids really nice. I think that is everyone, I think. I am trying to write this super fast! I played some ball with the district and owned. It was really fun but kind of sad at the same time because the Elders aren´t allowed to touch you and so playing physical is literally impossible. But we still had a good time.

Gym is my favorite part of the day. I have been playing a lot of soccer, one of the Zone Leaders, Elder LL always takes the outside court for soccer instead of basketball so I just roll with it and play. All the other Hermanas in the CCM freak out that my companion and I play sports with the Elders. We have a really good time :)

Our ‘fake’ investigator is named C. It is really hard to teach someone who you know is ‘fake’. It’s like an imposter on your efforts. I hate it! But I really love C and I try to picture him as someone real out there that needs the Gospel. The language isn´t too difficult, my companion is fluent so that´s helpful. But seriously el don de lenguas is crazy. I will be struggling all day practicing a lesson for C and it will be 8:00pm and we will go and teach and I can speak perfectly fine and it all comes out and he understands everything, and then I leave and sound like an idiot again haha :) But we have taught him three times and the first time we all really felt the Spirit and I bawled afterward, the spirit was palpable it was awesome. Second time I spoke the entire time and Hermana said nothing. She said she was tongue tied. I believe it, we all have lessons we need to learn and she said she was feeling like she needed to focus more which was nice to hear. I love that girl so much. We are already planning trips together for after the missions. Third lesson was terrible. I cried after because I was so disappointed. I know that we need to pray more for guidance on what C needs rather than just making a lesson plan. We are teaching lessons not people. (but in my defense he is a fake investigator so how am I supposed to be invested?) But me and hermana are working out the kinks.

Elder C and Elder T are probably my favorite. We have so much fun with them. Elder T is super short and blonde and is really focused and dedicated and Elder C is just off the wall and hilarious. C reminds me of Nairne a lot, he is a red head too.

We taught this one guy named M. He was real. And holy cow. That was the most crazy spiritual experience of my life. It was in English and we as a whole group of missionaries were trying to teach him stuff abot eternal life because his mom passed away and he was crying talking about how  much he missed her and we were all like , GET BAPTIZED! No we weren't but we talked him through stuff and he felt really good. Then this guy Elder P(think of a really adorable cute chubby guy that has a really good singing voice and loves drama- quote from Elder Pack: ¨The Pack's are like hobbits, short and hairy.) Anyway he asked if we could pray for M and M said yes. Imagine 30 Elders y Hermanas all kneeling together and praying for M. He was crying when he got up. It got me so excited to leave and go to Chile! Everyone here is going back to the states, Honduras or Chile. I only know 2 people going to Chile and none of them are in my mission. Elder C is going to Roncagua (sp?) and one of our roommates, Hermana B is going to Osorno.

I LOVE MY ROOMMATES! Hermana Mc is like 23 and super cute, has the funniest laugh ever. I tailor make jokes just to hear her laugh. Hermana B is really small and cute and is 19.

Presidente P sounds just like Obadiah from Iron Man and reminds me of Grandpa. A LOT. Nice people, but Hermana P told me I couldn´t wear socks with my shoes sooooooooooooooooooooo rough life. My feet are cold all the time.

The food here is really Mexican and weird. I eat all of it, but dinner is my favorite because they are so nice and have 12 grain bread and peanut butter and nutella. So I have one of those every night. With a glass of milk. Highlight of the day.

I love it here A LOT. I will try and send some pictures of our temple trip today. But my camera is broken. LAME. I cried when I saw the picture you sent. I miss you guys but not like too much to where I can't focus.

I really do love it here and I am growing so much and I can´t wait to go to Chile! It is a big culture shock here so it will be real bad in Chile but I am totally cool with it.

LOVEEEEE YOUUUU SOOOOO MUUUUCCCHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Hermana Farner

Safely arrived in Mexico

Hola mi madre y padre!

I have just arrived at the CCM! Or in English it is called the MTC. Probably one of the greatest days of my life hands down. No competition. On the plane from Washington I was super scared that I was going to not really know what to do. But then I was eavesdropping on some conversations and turns out the girl behind me was on her way to the CCM as well! And there was an Elder that was on his way too. Super cool! So we stayed tight. Then in Phoenix we went to our gate and there were a whole slew of missionaries! Two Elders from Oahu (one of them gave us all lei's), one Elder from Idaho, and a sister and Elder from Arizona. They are all super cool and we all were joking around and having fun within the first 10 minutes. They all think I'm a super big spazz! Which is kind of true, I have never been this happy before so I am just on cloud 9! Then we landed in Mexico and OH MY GOODNESS that is literally the prettiest place I have ever seen. I don't know what it is, but I looked out the window and saw the AMAZING sprawl of the BIGGEST city I have ever seen and my mind was blown and Mexico City is now one of my favorite places in the entire world. The air quality is less than ideal though.

My companion is from San Clemente California and pretty much is already fluent in Spanish even though she claims she doesn't know much. I am talking pitch perfect accent and understands everything. One of the ladies that was checking my suitcases at customs had a conversation with me. I understood most of it when she didn't say anything too quickly, but basically we talked about how I wasn't going to have any friends here for the Christmas. Super awkward. Anyway, me and Sister McB sat next to each other on the way to the CCM and my goodness the driving is crazy and it literally is VW Bug heaven out here. Dad, I saw some sweet VW buses and some even sweeter colors on the Bugs. You should get one!!!! I took a picture. I will send it to you when I learn how and have my stuff all organized. I am a little discombobulated with the whole weight restriction thing.

This is seriously the most fun I have had in forever, the Idaho missionary going to Osorno Chile asked me if I was ok because I was giggling and smiling and being super happy. I guess I am normally like that around people, but he seemed to think it was out of the ordinary.  The Arizona sister missionary going to Raleigh NC is super cool and I am a little bummed she isn't my compañera but hey life goes on and my companion is legit. Ummmmmm let's see. What else is there to say? Everything smells like Hawaii because of the lei that elder  gave me, so I basically feel like I am in Hawaii doing the best thing in the entire world.

I better go, I think I have to do something. I wasn't really listening because I am so pumped and wired.

P-day is Wednesday! Love and miss you!

Love,

Hermana Farner

Departure

Hermana Farner left Seattle today!  She arrived at the airport at 3:30 am all smiles and energy...she and her dad spent 20 minutes 'adjusting' and removing some of the contents of the luggage to meet the weight requirements.

Setting apart

Seattle was set apart Sunday evening, November 17th, 2013 as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She is excited for this new chapter of her life to begin.