July 21

Hello hello! 

     

Gosh I love and miss you all so much! And thanks a bunch Laurel....sorry that the house is so quiet without me ;) how will you ever deal with the peace and quiet?! Haha!

    

So...no pictures this week. I'm so sorry. There will be many next week though so you have that to look forward to. Dad asked me if I'm Sister Ramos' first 'child' (as I am called here) and no, she had one a few transfers back but the sister only made it about 2 weeks here then went home. 

    

 I got your package! Only because we had to go to the mission home this past week. I loved it :) thank you mom! I wrote a letter with my details. But Frank (the gray truck that they have been driving) died this past week :( he had almost 70,000 miles on him and they switch out vehicles before 55,000 miles. Now we drive a Corolla, same car as Clark (Sierra's brother-in-law), but it is an automatic. Super lame. But I can park it much easier! It didn't come with a name so we tried to think of an obscure Book of Mormon name to give him. We named him "Save only One" from Alma 23:14. #youknowyoureamissionarywhen

    

 Israel is getting baptized in less than a month!!!! How great is that? :) He told us yesterday he hopes the date comes soon, but he is set on the 16th so we couldn't convince him to make it sooner ;)

I. Am. Going. To. Get. Fat. The wonderful people here serve us food and they think we are starving or something! And it is of great offense if you say you are full or don't finish your food. AND it is also offensive if you say no to seconds. I seriously have never sent a more fervent prayer than I did last night, praying I could finish my food. I almost threw up I was so full.

We also were warned not to wear blue or red anymore at the apartment complex where Israel lives. There is some gang violence going on (same place with the guns going off last week) so now I need to watch what I wear. May I repeat, I'm not in Utah ;)

Things are good! Doing really well :) Love you and miss you! And I am so sorry that my emails are kind of lame. In my defense, I send awesome letters which make it all okay ;) love your guts! Hope to hear from you soon!

Hermana Martin

From Sierra's last handwritten letter:

Can I just say......wow!  I'm so grateful for the amazing family that I have. For the beautiful, safe city that I live in.  For the gospel to anchor our families to and the love of God I can feel every day.  I've seen families, children, living in very sad living conditions.  All the houses have bars on their doors and windows.  There is a loss of peace here. It is really sad.  

The moment you've been waiting for...............(this is what I call the Parent Payback Paragraph!)
Thank you for forcing me to take piano lessons!  Thank you for dragging us out of bed to read our scriptures!  Thank you for curfew!  Thank you for the rules!  Thank you for being parents.  For giving a crap as to what we were doing in our lives. I can go on and on. I would not be the woman I am today if it weren't for your loving care.  I miss you.  But being here is getting easier, because I'm getting to teach all these people what you've taught me over the past 21 (almost) years.  Love you.