August 19

Hello hello!! Oh it is so good always to hear from you :) weird that you won't be on today (we were on a cruise)  BUT I have a million emails to respond to so that is okay! I got the birthday package and the cami package this past weekend. Oh man that birthday package is tempting...but I shall be patient and wait for Friday!! (her 21st birthday!) Love you so much :) and mom thank you for the camis and your kick butt letter!! Also the blouse is SO freaking cute :) going to wear it tomorrow.

I went to the transfer site this morning to help a sister with her stuff and went up to Sister Passey and gave her a hug! First thing she said, "Oh my gosh, your necklace!! That is just the cutest thing ever!" "Well I'm glad you think so (reach for my bag) because I have one here for you!" Oh you should have seen her face! She told me to tell you thanks :D and she put it on while we were talking! Sister Ramos also loves hers :) I've been wearing mine EVERY day haha!

Oh man, I'll put most of my stuff in the letter. I like those more :) as you well know. Your adventures sound so fun! And thank you for the pictures!! Made my life :D Can't wait for the cruise pictures.

So I gave 2 talks this past weekend! In 2 languages that were not my own. I gave a talk about Fear with Missionary Work in the Spanish Branch. Went so awesome! Members couldn't stop telling me after how much my Spanish is improving! And then I gave a talk about Honesty and Integrity in the Deaf Branch.   :D   I signed part of it and then used an interpreter for the other part. They loved me so much! I got to talk for Hermana Ramos and it was so fun! Hermana Ramos then told me after, "That must be how you feel with Spanish huh." Thank the heavens she understands now!!!!!!! Good times.

So last Monday at P Day, we were at Zone sports and Elder Tao (Millionaire boxer from Tahiti that gave it up to serve a mission :) such a stud) challenged me to a boxing match. And...you know me. So I went for it! He wasn't hitting me, then I side swiped him and got him in the nose and he started bleeding. "Now we are getting somewhere!" So we full on boxed! Oh of course he wasn't really trying, but man that was hard! I was so sore the next day. My cheek didn't have feeling for a few hours after one hit. Super fun!

I'll send you pictures now and tell you about the monsoon we were caught in last night in your letter! Super scary, but we survived :)

Love you all! Hope to hear from you soon!!!

Hermana Martin

Hermana Martin and Hermana Ramos

The aftermath of getting caught in a monsoon!

Two soaking wet sister missionaries.

August 11th

That is so cool about dad's mission reunion! I told Sister Ramos about that and she said, "Can you imagine us a few decades down the road doing that?" Haha! Weird thought. The idea of going to mission reunions is still weird. I am going to get to stay here forever right? 

 I'm so grateful for your package. Seeing pictures from home was a huge comfort.

Do you all really get that into me sending hand written letters? Haha! Okay, I will keep up on doing them :) I'm glad that you like them! I sent one off mid last week, hopefully you get it before the cruise. I will send you one this week as well. I love getting your letters! Makes me very happy and I feel so close to you! The pictures were awesome!  I absolutely loved the pictures! When I first picked up the package I thought, "Did she really need to send that many?!"  Then I got through them all and thought, "Why didn't she send more?!??" Ha ha!!!  I've been through them 3 times now and I have a ton up on my fridge :) Going to go buy more magnets today too ha ha! And may I add, I love that both Bryant and Laurel were wearing my jackets in some pictures. I gave that one to Bryant, but it is funny to see that Laurel invaded my wardrobe before I'd even been gone a full month haha! Tell her to be careful with that jacket, it is my favorite one. 

So I've been looking like crazy this week for a Utah License Plate. Still have yet to find one! Driving me absolutely nuts! I'm on the last week of the transfer and have not seen one. I forgot to mention this, but on Pantano Road where I live, there is a Larry H. Miller Dealership! Makes me feel a little closer to home haha. I can't wait to hear all about your cruise!! That should be so much fun :) And I am excited about the idea of more pictures! And I want pictures of moving Laurel down to school :) so excited for her! Jealous at the same time haha.

The stake center is taken over for the next 2 Saturdays, so Israel's baptism is likely being moved to September, if we can't find another church building to do it at. We are working on it. Angel (from that miracle week) has some Word of Wisdom problems, as does her boyfriend, so their baptisms won't happen on the 23rd but they are still working strongly for it! And yesterday at church, this young boy came up to me and touched my arm. It was Diangelo! (Angel's son) and he told me that he just spent the weekend at Scout Camp and he loves the church and knows it is true! He is still getting baptized that day. You should have seen his face. When we left the church I just cried. The change in his face is amazing! He is literally glowing! :)

I love you so much :) and I took a TON of pictures this week :) because I love you. Hope everyone is doing well!                                                                                                                -Hermana Martin

Sierra's Zone (she is 3rd from the right kneeling in front row)

Holding a member's 4-day old puppies;  made her day!

August 4th - So I got kissed this week!

That should catch your attention no? ;) Haha so I began to contact a man that was looking at us funny, trying to tell what our deal was. Turns out he speaks neither English nor Spanish, but he is Arabic and is visiting the US. He then, with his broken English, told us about his trip to Chicago. He showed us pictures and us trying to understand each other was a very fun and interesting experience! But at the end, he shook H'ma Ramos' hand then gave her a big ol' kiss on the cheek! I began laughing so hard (on the inside) but then I realized...'Oh crap, I'm probably next.' and I was right! Except I was closer and I got a big ol' kiss on the cheek. When we drove away in our car, we could not stop laughing haha!

I got a haircut last Monday, you can see it in the pictures. I needed to cut more off because it is so hot. He cut my bangs to so that eventually I will be growing them out. Had the same hair for a long time. Time for a change!

I ate a Sonoran Dog finally this week! They are hot dogs with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mayo, mustard, and...that might be it. SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Wow, can't even describe it. but then it came with a guerro pepper. Everyone was eating them so I was brave and did the same. And it was hot, but not so bad. Then I took another bite...which left me in tears. Oh everything burned!!! I thought that I was going to die. The elders thought I was being a wuss so they each took a bite of it. Between Elder Ferguson's dry heaving and having to get water twice and Elder Williams also tearing up, I felt much better.

So, I have never been hit on more in my life! On Tuesday, H'ma Ramos was playing BB and I was working out and there was a young man there. We didn't talk to him, and right before 7 we headed back to the apartment. It was quite the walk back and we were almost there when I hear, "Hey!" I turn around and it is the guy. "What is your name?" Pointing to me. "Sierra. I mean Herm....Sister Martin." Don't even know my own name. "Do you have a boyfriend?" And we just get hit on by all sorts of people. Super fun.  

Went to a Senior Center this week and volunteered! Super fun :) makes me miss the service symphony.  (from her young adult singles' ward back home)

Anyways, things are good! Again, I put lots more in my letters, but these are the main adventures :D Miss you all, can't believe it is August....talk to you soon!            Hermana Martin

Sierra's apartment complex

Learning to make sushi

The sonoran dogs Sierra mentioned in her letter (and the pepper!)

Sierra playing Ninja with an investigator's kids.

July 28th - Just had the best day of my life this past week, no big deal!!!

When we reported our numbers last night, I felt like we had failed because we really really did not reach any of them. But looking back, plus having the best day of my life this past week, I don't really care :)

On Thursday, we went to check on a potential investigator. With no luck, we decided to go tracting. Before going tracting, I hurried back to the car. My heart said, "Go back and get an English Book of Mormon."  Good thing.  4 apartments in, we tracted into a lady from Wisconsin who just moved here. Angel opened her door. She said she was busy shredding paper to recycle and we offered to help! So I sat on the floor with her 6 year old, Deasia, and 13 year old, Diangelo, and began teaching the Restoration. She said she believed a lot of the same things we did. She then told us that she and her children had just been talking about and prayed this morning to find a church, and then we showed up! She said she was taking this as a sign from God, she would read the Book of Mormon, and come to church on Sunday! We came the next day to see her with the English elders. They told the story of the First Vision. She said, "That is exactly what happened to me!" At first I was scared....we run into a lot of people who claim to have seen Jesus many times. She then said, "Except I prayed and they (meaning Sierra and her companion) showed up." She turned and looked at us. I could not stop my eyes from tearing up. That is why I'm here. This is why I'm serving. She is being Baptized, as well as Diangelo on August 23rd.

Evelyn, who hasn't been active for several years, has also not been to church in over a year. We saw her this past week. I felt bold, so I said, "Evelyn, what is keeping you from coming to church?" She said it is her medication. I asked her permission to come wake her up on Sunday morning, she agreed. So...we showed up yesterday and she came to church!!!     Win :)

Then, we were going to have to move Israel's baptism/drop him because of some things. I'll explain more later, but everything worked out. It was nothing short of an absolute miracle. We are full speed ahead for his baptism on August 16th :) less than 3 weeks!

2 month mark....wow, weird right?! Some days it feels like I've been serving forever. Then I see I've been gone for 2 months and I think, "I only have 16 months left of the best calling ever?!?" Depends on the day ;)

Well that is about my life in a nutshell! We were at the Martinez's house this past week and they have a cat that is a big version of Trixie (Sierra's cat).  I pretty much LOVED having him crawl up on my lap and fall asleep there. Made me actually miss the little devil ;) haha!

I went on exchanges this past week with one of our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Houston. It was really awesome! But really hard and draining. There is a lot more poverty and sad things in her area. I went into details in my letter.

Love you :) Miss you all so much. And I hope to hear from you all very soon!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Martin

Taking cheesecake to Hermana Maciel on her 95th birthday!

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.

July 14th

Wow!!!! So much to respond to! Haha :)    I love coming on and having 15 new emails. With only an hour I hope I can hit most of them! 

Okay! First dad's questions...

         Hermana Ramos is from Bothell, WA, This is her 2nd transfer in this branch, she hits her year mark in August.

We are interested in hearing details about your first Sunday in the Spanish Branch where you are assigned.

--- Number of members?    80's or 90's

--- How is the member missionary support? It is okay, we mostly find investigators on our own

--- Do you have daily dinner appointments with members? Every day we get dinner :) we are spoiled.

--- Are there many recent converts being fellowshipped in the branch? We have around 3 but we share the branch with another set of elders who have a few more.

Okay...think I hit everything you needed! Now I shall quickly tell you EVERYTHING. Or close to it.

     So our main investigator, Israel, is getting baptized on August 16th!!!!! It was pretty awesome :) he is progressing so much and is so willing to be baptized. He and his caregiver came to church on Sunday. One of his sons is baptized and the other is working on it. They didn't come though because there was a shooting at 1 am at their apartment and they were too tired after a long night of that. I'm not in Utah anymore that's for sure. 

     PS I've never seen more shirtless people in my life!!!!!! And I never want to again. Blech.

I went to my first Quincianera this past week. Super cool! I will share pictures. They are like, wedding big. It was awesome.

     So I was feeling frustrated with Spanish this past week. Hermana Ramos and I went to Panda. There, I got a fortune cookie that was made for me. "Allow yourself time - You will reach Success" Stupid fortune cookies, they know everything.

     Saw my first mini monsoon yesterday! Again, I shall send pictures. But it was super cool! I love the rainstorms here :) love love love. But the heat plus the humidity (yes, I said it) from monsoon season make some afternoons a little miserable. But all is well in Zion.

     I have so many stories, but as you know, I'm better with hand written letters so I will send one out soon and you can read up on my many stories!

I love you all so much :) I hope to hear from you soon!

Love Hermana Martin

PS Guess who is the new RS pianist. Apparently they prayed for a pianist and got me. They shall be sorely disappointed.

This may be a good street to go tracting on!

Um.....this doesn't look like a desert?

Sierra's first experience with a mini monsoon.

Two happy (albeit soggy) sister missionaries!

July 8th

It still feels like I'm in a dream. Then when I step out into the hot air outside I remember that this is real and I'm really in my mission!

I got packed up on Saturday and Sunday, had a wonderful last weekend in the MTC. Said goodbye to my wonderful companions yesterday morning. Got to call you at the airport! Then boarded my flight to Arizona! I got assigned a short term companion, Sister Grange, and we had SO much fun together. I've already made so many friends with the other missionaries :) makes me so happy.

Like I said, Sister Grange and I met a lady who was trying to figure out what our deal was! We told her we were going to Arizona for 18 months for a service mission for her church. "You get to visit home right?" "No." "Well you have a cell phone at least then, to talk to them?" "Haha, no. But we do get to call them on Christmas and Mother's Day." "What about Thanksgiving?" "Nope!" "How much school credit are you getting for doing this?!" Haha, the conversation went on for a moment. We gave her a pass along card but then she had to hurry on to catch her flight. Really fun :)

I was reading the book Mimi and Papa gave me on the flight to Arizona. "Do not attempt in heels" haha it calmed me down ;) the gentleman I sat next to flies to Tucson on Mondays then flies home to his family in Washington on Thursdays. He is an RM though! He went to Hungary, has 2 little boys :) he was really nice.

President and Sister Passey picked us up at the airport. It was a really fun experience!! We then drove to downtown Tucson. Smaller than SLC, but the valley may be just as big! We cover A LOT of area. We got out of the car and the APs told us how the Lord is hastening the work and we need to keep up with it, "So let's go hasten the work!" And they then took off at a dead sprint up the street. And so...in my skirt, slip on shoes, and 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I ran about half a mile with these elders and sisters to a Mormon Battalion Monument that is in downtown Tucson. We spoke for a while there about hastening the work, and then ran back. I beat the other sisters ;) like a boss.

We then went to the stake center that is connected to the mission home. Ate lunch, then after several hours of meetings we went to President and Sister Passey's home. It was fun there. We all talked and got to know each other. The APs took us for a walk around outside and pointed out all the different types of cacti. There is NOTHING green here except for the cacti. My pictures shall show you. We then had dinner, a devotional, and then everyone separated out to different homes. 5 sisters and I stayed the night at the President's house. I went up right before bed and found Sister Passey upstairs busting her butt in the kitchen to start the meal for the next night for the leaving missionaries. All the sisters went to bed around 8:30 but I stayed up with Sister Passey until about 9:30 making potato salad and keeping her company.

This morning, we woke up at 5:20, got ready, then we were off to Tucson where....I met my trainer!! Her name is Hermana Ramos. She is from Washington, oldest of 6 children. Her parents are from Mexico. AKA, just as I have been praying for, she is a fluent Spanish speaker!!!!!!! Yes......God loves me.

Anyways, I will share many pictures. But we had several meetings, then we left to eat lunch at Eegee's. It is an Arizona thing. Awesome slushies! Food, eh :P haha the locals overrate the food. OH!!! Okay, so our zone is South Tucson, but is also a lot of East Tucson. We are over the Spanish branch here with another set of elders. And we have a beautiful...Truck!! Haha and guess who is the driver, me!! My companion doesn't have a license so I drive Frank :P and it is kind of awesome. Not a manual, but still a truck. Yes I'm that cool.

We are off to grocery shop and then play sports. But then tonight we have a dinner appointment at 5, we teach English at the church around 7 and then we have a meeting at 8 with an investigator who we are actually committing to baptism tonight.  As I typed that I seriously got the stupidest smile on my face. My first day out as a missionary and I get to teach about baptism and hopefully set a date with someone. Is this normal? I feel so blessed to be here and I could not be a happier person.

I love you so much :) hanging up yesterday was really hard. But now, I feel so blessed to be here serving a mission. Can't wait for the many adventures that are ahead. Write soon!!

Hermana Martin

PS at Eegee's I started a conversation with a man who was looking at us funny. I think my trainer was shocked that I just went up to him and started talking. He actually grew up in Heber and his daughter is turning in her mission papers soon. So...still was brave ;) so I get 10 points yes?

PPS after him, this woman and her son walked in and she just waved and smiled at us like a crazy person. She pointed to her son and said that he had just returned from the Panama Mission last Thursday. He is home, and my great work is just beginning :)

Calling home from SLC airport

Arriving in Tucson  -  "Nothing is green here!"

July arrivals at the Mormon Batallion Monument in Tucson

"Frank" the truck that Sierra will be driving!