Sister Schieving Goes to Albuquerque: 4.3.13 Avocado Pie!

Sister Schieving says....

"Deeeeaaarressstttt family and friends,

Where do I even begin? This week flew by but it's like I thought today would never come! So much happened. ish. All the days blend together so if I don't write in my journal there's no way I can remember things as they happen. So maybe I'll start with last Monday and move forward, the important things that happened day by day.

So you'll never guess what I did on Monday. I CUT MY HAIR! But it's pretty much the same. The biggest difference is I got bangs again. My companion and I were thinking about getting our haircut together and we decided if she got bangs, I'd get bangs too. So we did! I also got a lot of layers. The length is still there though. It's shaggy. If that makes sense. One of the members we love to visit and hang out with cut our hair for us for free. She owns her own salon in town. I saved some of my hair and Hermana's hair and put it in my journal. Nasty, I know. haha. So that night and every Monday night for the next forever we've been invited to the Barrone's home for dinner/FHE with the elders. They love food. They love company. They remind me a little of my own family! They are really great. They invited whoever wants to come and there's usually like 15 or 20 people there. There's always this older couple who are very eccentric and... theatrical you might say. very interesting people. The husband Alfie has like... no boundaries and will talk to you 6 inches from your face and spits all over, quotes all these poets and philosophers and whatnot... but he's very entertaining and fun to talk to. I can't think of someone to compare him to to give you an idea of who he's like.... maybe one of these days. From now on, however, I will refer to him as crazy Alfie. Anyway, the Barrone's have 3 kids, their daughter is 28 and just got engaged. Their two sons are like 26 and 23 and very lumberjackish. They are super funny and always happy. We love their company. Sarah, you should marry Dan Dan. He's the 26 year old. I think you guys would be great together. :) Don't be frightened by his full beard and longer than yours hair. ;) If you ever do get to meet him. lol. ANYWAY....

Fun times on Tuesday when we drove to Angel Fire. 45 minute drive to lunch at a member's/investigators house through the windy-est canyon ever. I was going like 20mph over those curves! This investigator (the elder's investigator) has seen complete blackness and it's heartwarming to see her change and watch her testimony grow. I see that with even the recent converts and all their stories. I love this place. (at lunch we had blushing pears. They sound disgusting but they're pretty good! Get a pear half, a dollup of mayo in the center, sprinkle it with cheese and cherry jello powder. gooood!) Our dinner appt that night was with the elder's (most are... that's a lie. ALL are... haha) at the patriarch's home. They tease that he's one of the three Nephites. I believe it! That man has incredible stories, should have died like 3 or 4 times (inhaled molten copper through is nose in an explosion... crazy, right?), and just the way he talks and quotes scriptures and general authorities, he's probably one of the three Nephites. he's also Native and so is Hermana so they connected. I mean CONNECTED. She has a tendency to do that with the natives. It's crazy. I love watching it and being a part of it. :) Later that night we went to a recent converts home and they have an untrained huge dog that was OUT OF CONTROL. I was doing my best not to freak out, I was like protecting myself with a chair. The elders had to like... wrestle that dog to the ground! They could barely keep him still. So they eventually (not soon enough) put him outside. I suffered only a minor heart attack...

Wednesday we had 'specialized zone training' which is code for 'let's get 100 missionaries together and role play all day.' It was pretty good though. I loved the end though, where President Miller spoke to us and shared a video about missionary work and the atonement. If you can find it you should watch it, I think it could apply to everyone. Elder Holland and Eyring were the main speakers with videos of Christ mixed in there and really sad-to-happy music playing in the background. It was incredible. I love being a missionary. I love the gospel. After the training we got mail! I got a few letters, and my box I sent myself from the MTC. YaY! Then we drove home. 2 hour drive to and from... unnecessarily exhausting. When I got home though, I had 2 packages waiting for me! Our land lord sister Gonzales picked them up for me at the post office. So you can breathe now, I got them! And I thank you! I am soooooo blessed. I say this a lot, but I wish I could do more than just say thank you and that I'm grateful. Even with all the members who do so much for us... we can't do anything but say thank you. but that's not enough! Oh well. I hope God blesses them for what they do. And for what you do! Is my family being blessed?! Please say that you are! Again, THANK YOU for all that you do. And for those packages. :) For dinner that night we went to the Ely's. They are crazy! The wife is poly and the husband is this 6' 8" white guy. They have the most beautiful children. We find ourselves at their home a lot.

On Thursday... you'll never believe what we did finally. WE TRACTED! We went to this super sketchy culdesac (not sure how to spell that) of trailers. And 2 out of the 3 people we actually talked to only spoke spanish. Thank heavens for my companion who speaks some! I just smiled and nodded and said "buenos dias!" when we left. But it was a good experience. I felt like a real missionary! This dog followed us around to each door we knocked on until we left. but he was a nice dog, thankfully. So this day and the few days before and the few days after I'd been sneezing like no other, my eyes are all watery and itchy, headaches, dry throat... I think it's a combination of allergies and a cold. Cause I began to have the sniffles as I left the MTC. So this day in particular was little harder because of all that. but I did my best to not be tired and visibly drained, but it didn't work very well... cause at dinner we went with the elder's (surprise) to a part member home. the wife is but her husband isn't. Their kids are all out of the house. But she was so sweet and knew I didn't feel good and kept asking if I was doing ok and she wasn't offended if I didn't eat much. And then on our way home we stopped by the elder's trailer and one of the elder's (Smith, he's a little harder to get along with) gave me some decongestant. :) That helped me have charity towards him which I had been (and still am sometimes) struggling to have for him. So he got some brownie points this week when he saved me from the jumpy scary dog and then gave me medicine. :)

So Friday was great. For lunch we went to a recent converts home.With the elders. The husband was baptized about a month ago. His family says they don't know who he is now, that they're all so surprised and all the changes he's made, his new attitude, etc. So after we eat we try to leave with a message and it turns in to him giving us an hour sermon. it was so great! I took notes! Prepare yourselves for "Wisdom from Louis:"

"Through prayer, we can deal with it."
"It doesn't just come, you EARN faith."
"Patience, patience, patience. Receive it as it comes."
"Sometimes I find myself thinking, 'give me, give me, give me. Give me blessings.' But what do I give Him?"
"I come to find out after I became a member: God was always there. I left Him."
"Jesus Christ did the hardest part. We have it easy!"
"If the snow is 20 feet deep, it's ok. He walked through it already, we just have to follow."
"Repentance... am I doing it because I have to? Or because I want to? Because I want to be better?"

Can you even believe this guy? I love it! After our message turned sermon for the missionaries, we went to the Ely's house again and..... PRACTICED SINGING FOR A BAPTISM THE NEXT DAY! My companion and I somehow got roped into singing for a guy's baptism that the elders have been teaching. Louis' brother in law. Everyone here is related somehow. I can't get it straight. But these guys are part of a family who all live on the same hill in trailers. The kids love us. They all do, really. Anyway, so we practice singing "I Am a Child of God" while Elder Lagerstrom played the ukulele (not poly... skinny white blonde kid. lol.) and while elder Smith (who I have a hard time loving) played the piano. We were there for almost 4 hours.... aaaahhhhh!!! Finally it was time for our dinner appt with the elders at a member's home. Single older lady and her grand daughter. It was pretty fun. She lives in a trailer but the inside is like a bazzar with all kinds of random odds and ends. So much character. Open fire inside and adobe fireplace. We smelled like campfire when we got home. Awesome!

After we were leaving the member's home, there was the most fantastic sunset. She lives on a mesa so the view was completely unobstructed. I loved it. I hadn't seen a beautiful sunset since... who knows when. Then we were about the leave but the elders had another package for me. :) The one that you send with my boots, more tights, and other random things I asked for. So again, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Really, I won't ask for another package until Christmas. Cause I've gotten 4 so far just from my immediate family. So anyway, we get to our home sweet cement block and there's..... 2 more packages waiting for me! One from Lisa, Laura, and Grandma. :) THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH TOO! My companion was so touched and excited that you'd send her something too. She loved it! I love it! Happy Easter to me! And I got the package from dad with paper and envelopes. So THANK YOU dad! I wrote you a letter on Saturday but haven't sent it yet... so it'll basically be a smaller version of this email... sorry. haha.

Finally onto Saturday. (hopefully some day I'll find a more efficient and effective way to email... right now it seems like I'm typing endlessly, still not being able to say everything I want to!) It was such a fantastic day. Morning... not much. After lunch though, my companion and I finally taught our FIRST INVESTIGATOR THE VERY FIRST LESSON AND I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO INVITE HER TO BAPTISM AND SHE ACCEPTED FOR NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it! I did the invited! By the spirit of course. ;) So I start teaching and get like halfway through when Hermana gently stops me. She was sensitive to the spirit and could tell that our investigator didn't really know much of what we were saying. So we kind of started over and explained it very simply and slowly. After I caught on I continued teaching and made that invitation. I know it happens a lot that and investigator is invited to baptism but doesn't really understand it and doesn't follow through. I'm prepared for that to happen. But we're also prepared to continue to teach her tomorrow and in upcoming days and weeks. And hopefully be baptized and come one step closer to eternal life! That's what it's all about! And I love it! So that experience REALLY made me feel more like a missionary. It only took us a week and a half to find an investigator... but it came nevertheless and I'm that much more excited to be a missionary! :)

After our amazing teaching experience, we went to the baptism. It was such a wonderful experience! All our favorite families were there and my companion and I sang our hearts out. A couple of the little girls of the families came up and sang with us. :) The elders did a wonderful job playing their instruments. I wasn't even nervous cause I know that I don't have the greatest of singing voices but I can at least carry a tune. And I'm singing about being a child of God, which everyone there was. And I prayed and prayed for Sarah's spirit to be with me so I could sing with her spirit and hopefully people enjoyed it. :) It was a fun time. That night we had a great "easter eve" with the family that got baptized and the other families on the same hill. We had a great feast and I let the little girls paint my nails and we had good talks, played with puppies, and it was such a good time. I'm so grateful that heavenly father prepared more families to take us in and help me adjust to leaving my own family that I love so much. :)

EASTER SUNDAY! You'll never believe (AGAIN) what I did. I sang with the relief society choir in sacrament meeting! What's with all the singing! I never would have done this at home! It's amazing what being a missionary does to you. Anyway, we sang "I Heard Him Come." I love that song, I have fond memories of Mom and Sarah singing and playing that song as along as I can remember. It was somewhat of a tender mercy to sing it. :) After church we had 4 lunch/dinner appointments. 4!!! Lunch at the Thomas's. Where dessert was AVOCADO PIE. So amazingly delicious! And you all know how much I LOVE avocados. So look up a recipe for it. It's super delicious. Graham cracker crust, avocados, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice. You would love it. Super tangy. MMMMM. Next lunch was ON A REAL LIVE LEGIT INDIAN RESERVATION! I cannot even describe to you how cool that was. Driving into it, the structures that have been preserved since the beginning of time... and all the run down homes that people actually live in, I felt like I was on another planet. The feeling though was so peaceful. There were, however, real functioning houses, one of which we went to. They're members and live on the Pueblo. That's what it's called there, the Taos Pueblo. They were so nice and so sweet. And again my companion just connected with everyone there. Speaking her native tongue, swapping stories like natives so. So awesome.

Next appointment was at the Barrone's! We had an easter egg hunt! I found an egg with actual money in it... I'm $5 richer! :D Lots of food, good conversations. Crazy Alfie complimented my high forehead and modelesque figure that some famous European painter would have liked to paint.... creepily flattering... I guess.... haha. Elder Smith lost his glasses but I found them. More Charity! THEN our last dinner appointment and one of the families that live on the same hill. Pretty much all of the families were there though. We had a good time watching old school conference talks and looking up all the missionaries facebooks. So Sarah when you get on mine, start accepting friend requests. :) I just love all these people! It was such a great easter. I had the opportunity to say a thousand prayers, the heads of households seemed to call on my every time yesterday. It was great that I could thank Heavenly Father for our brother's sacrifice for us. And for our ability to live again because of Him. I really have a testimony of the atonement, even though I don't fully understand it. I came up with an analogy. (I think it's my own, but you may have heard it from other creative people... ;) ) Here's us, on earth. We want to get back to God. But imagine a brick wall that separates us from God. Each brick is a sin. One sin. Each sin ever committed by anyone that ever was on the earth, is on the earth or ever will be on the earth. Jesus Christ painstakingly ripped off each brick. Tore down that wall brick by brick so we can step into heaven to live with God again. BAM! Good one, right? I thought so. :)

One more random thing... I invented a new sandwich. Nutella with apple slices. Super yummy! I'm addicted to Nutella. I went through one jar in one week. no lie. I loooove it. Ok that is all. :)

anyway, I've spent and hour and a half typing this... pictures to come... sorry it's so long... I won't be offended if everyone doesn't read all of it.... but I love you all! I hope all is well! My prayers are with you! I hope you write my beautiful sisters letters sometime this week. Keep calm and Carry on!

Much love,
SISTER Hannah Marie Schieving"