Letter #4 9/30/14

Hey y'all! It's once again time for the good ol' weekly email, which is a little bit nuts because.. wasn't I just emailing two days ago or something? The weeks are starting to fly by and all the people we grow to love seem to fly away. #literally. It's cray cray here because all of these beautiful humans that helped you when you were new and loved you when you were feeling weird and laughed with you all the time just leave. Haha, we're the second oldest district in our zone now which makes me feel the absolute weirdest! But it's like the happiest goodbye ever cause they're so stoked to be flying away to their respective missions and you're just as stoked to leave for yours sooner or later so it's all good. 

First, I will inform you that I left my notebook containing my detailed notes in a notebook somewhere around the CCM, so if this is supes lame it's because good memories don't exist en el CCM and I can't remember yesterday, let alone last Wednesday.. hahah. SECONDLY, let me explain the subject heading thing of this email. There are super awesome latino humans that enter the CCM for two weeks and then head off to their missions throughout Mexico and they COMPLETELY rule! They'll practice their english missionary door approaches on you and then laugh when you speak spanish like a two year old. It's a good time. Well, one of my roomies, Hermana Potter, gets SO MUCH GRIEF from literally every latino human that ever existed. Are you the sister of Harry? They ask in their thick accents and then bust up laughing, hahah. It's hilarious. One worker guy today kindly informed her that this was not Hogwarts and she can run through this wall to get to her mission. Haha, like Hermano Polo, our afternoon teacher, claims to understand little to no english but will wave pencils at her while saying "wingardium leviosa" every chance he gets, hahah. ANYWAYS long story way to long, the humans here pronounce my name 'Jost' always. Like, I have almost spelled it with a J like 40 times, haha. So the latino boys called me Hermana Jostin Bieber. Hahah, I dunno, it was actually so hilarious.

So, CCM life is basically the same old wonderful beauty that it always has been. Our teachers teach us, we teach them as investigators, it's a hoot. Hermano Polo was once Jorge, but is now an investigator named Miguel. He is like 55, has one LDS son and one crazy party drinker joven son and is baptized into like 5 churches already. He exclaims "hallelujiah!" often and, yes. So the first lesson Hma Flitton and I taught him was TERRIFYING. We had heard rumors of bible bashesque senarios and we frankly didn't know what to think. Like we knew it would be fine, but were expecting the worst. To top it all off, one of the main boss guys over our teachers was sitting in on the lesson so, super tons of pressure. It didn't go as bad as we had thought it would, but he wasn't too game for anything either. THE NEXT LESSON, though! We had gotten tons of advice from Hmo Vargas about how to be better, like.. each talking for a minute and really getting to know and understand the investigator and.. The spirit was literally incredible! It may go down as one of the happiest moments in my life thus far. As we testified of the reality of the restoration of the gospel and of the power the BOM has to change our lives and bless our families (I shared that story about how we started reading the BOM before school and how Dev and I were the happiest and didn't even fight and raced to the garbage cans hahah), I felt the spirit, I knew Hma Flitton felt it and I COULD SEE IN HIS EYES THAT HE WAS FEELING IT SO HARD. It was incredible. We (Hma F and I) nearly floated out of the lesson and I was just so happy to be here and to be alive and wondered why I couldn't teach every second of my life! Seriously, the best. THIS is why people swoon over missionary work so much, the spirit is literally the HAPPIEST feeling! I loved. 

The sad news of the world, however is that we have another investigator (Hmo Vargas) named Alejandro. Of course, having an investigator isn't sad news at all, and we actually love him sooooo much! BUT the events that transpired are a little sad. After this lesson with Miguel, which we really relied on the spirit for, led us to believe that we really didn't need to plan that much for our upcoming lesson with Alejandro. We planned to teach the Plan of Salv, after assessing his needs, and didn't really practice or role play or talk about it. As the good ol' pride cycle goes in El Libro De Mormón, we had been blessed and took a serious beating for it. His concerns and questions set us up for a PERFECT lesson, but the same spirit wasn't there because we hadn't prepared or relied on The Lord as much. I WAS SO MAD AT MYSELF, and it really got me down. I am, however, grateful to have this little opportunity within the walls of the CCM to mess things up. And I'm positive I won't be a perfect missionary ever, but I'm grateful for these times that help me see why the spirit and preparation and actually working on stuff before the second I need to do them and all the things that i've been terrible at my whole life, I'm actually learning the importance of. Gratitude for dayssssss. 

Hm, hm, hm OH saddest news of my life.. our dear friend and teacher Hmo Polo is going to conference tomorrow, and staying with friends in the states for TWO WEEKS so he'll get home like three days before we ship outta here. We're all super bummed because he's literally the best human that ever lived. Ah! We just had this perfect balance between serious, work hard Hmo Vargas (who really does have the most tender heart) and Hmo Polo, who turns the gospel into this beautiful fun thing that rules. And now we are getting a substitute teacher, Hermano Silva, and he is so classy cool mexican and he terrifies us, hahahah. I mean I love him already and I know he'll help us SO much, but yeah. Bummer, dude! BUT Hmo Polo gave us like a little beautiful talk yesterday and had me read from John 15 and I just cried so much! It's beautiful and like the PERFECT missionary scripture. It is the Savior talking about how we're not his servants, we are His FRIENDS. And it just made me feel so much that He's right with me through all of this. Because of the atonement, because of the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are NEVER alone in this life! He understands the ins and outs of our souls, and He feels EXACTLY what we feel. He's walked our path before, through the atonement, and is ALWAYS walking right beside us! I'm SO thankful for Him and His friendship! The neatest thing about Him, too, is that it's never been too long! If you've neglected this friendship for hours, days, months, years HE DOESN'T care! He just wants to chat with ya, and be there for you. I know that with every ounce of my heart. He CARES.

Sunday was a joyous day, we've all just been thinking tons about Joseph Smith and said baby prayers that they'd show The Restoration movie for movie night and THEY DID! WOOO! Prayers are answered, I know know know it! But, I dunno, we've just been studying his history and life and it just is such a comfort to know that He is just like you and I. He was super worried because, after seeing God and Jesus Christ, He kind of started slacking off because of all the persecution and what not. He had forgotten his call, and I think a lot of us do that, ESPECIALLY on missions. We forget that we're called of God, that He loves us, that He TRUSTS us and that we can do this! But, of course, whom God calls He qualifies and Joseph's prayer to say sorry for forgetting His call led to Moroni appearing to tell Him about the Book of Mormon. We are NEVER too far off. He has given us our specific trials to help us grow and He WILL help us. I know it, I feel Him every day! But I have to ask for it, even as a missionary. He requires our work and our action to come unto Him. But after we do this, He comes running to us! 

I LOVE IT HERE. I love missions! I love the spirit! I LOVE the scriptures and I love the converting power of the BOM. If you've been feeling off lately, try reading the BOM again.. it does WONDERS! I LOVE YOU ALL. And so does The Lord. It's that truth, ya know! 

Con 4,000 kilos de amor,

<3 Hermana Jost 

PS- Walking to lunch from Sacrament Meeting, we saw a bird straight fly into a closed window and die so #itsajungledownhere #watchoutforwindows

Our pal Jared from el comedor.  He tells us to be happy, we tell him we love him, and in turn he tells us all of his girlfriend probs.  He rules and is the light of the creepy Mexican food filled place.

The long awaited pic of cute Hermana Bartlome and I.  It's the happiest seeing her around and Dallin Fuell is her district leader and I just really can't handle it at all, hahahah.  #2funE

Letter #3 9/23/14

Hola, y'all! I hope life is going just great for you, life here is wonderful as always and I'm just super grateful to be here even when things are crazy or hard. It really is the neatest little place, and when I forget that life is beautiful, i'm greeted by a glorious tropical sunrise, bomb/firework going off in the distance or a Mexican man on a loudspeaker directly outside the gate singing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Elvis over and over again. #alwayssomethingtheretoremindme

THIS WEEK, THOUGH. I thought last week was crazy bipolar and intense, but this week certainly gave it a run for it's money. Yipers! (Okay, I don't know where this has come from but the normal exclamation of 'yikes!' has been replaced by the alternate version of yipers and.. I'm sure the other missionaries loathe me, but it is what it is) Annnnnywaayyyyysss.. I'll start from the very beginning. Last Pday sure gave me a fright. I thought I had it together, and I definitely did not.. Wednesday was a joke of a day. Remember how they said I needed to survive day after first pday to be golden? Yeah, uh.. I survived, don't worry. Hahahah. But, yeah. Hermana Flitton and I struggle to prepare our lessons in a timely manner nearly every single time, and Wednesday's was no exception. We planned to teach Jorge about La Palabra de Sabiduria (Word of Wisdom), but we just went in WAY stressed and WAYY underprepared. Like, when you don't know Spanish, you basically have to translate everything you want to say into Spanish before you go in so it's just way hard. Lucky for us, Jorge decided to ask all the questions in the world and of course, couldn't answer them to save my life. I just kept going around in a circle, trying to use my limited vocab to ease his concerns.. no such luck. I couldn't even say Sabiduria to save my life, so yeah. Hahah, Jorge and I have a good relationship (He calls me Hermana Poof and I tell him to put his phone away and then we just laugh, haha), so he really just thought the whole thing was a huge joke. I left the lesson laughing my head off at the sheer terrifyingness of it, and smacked my head on an Elder in my district\s knee from the struggle. Hahahah. Not good. I dunno, it was bad. But then it just hit me how I wasn't the perfect missionary I want/expect myself to be, and I just got WAY down and it was bad news. Nice breakdown of the world. In my mess of a human state, after dinner I ran into none other than the cutest of all cutes EMMA BARTLOME. There she is, probably scared to death, first day, and I tell her i've been in near hysterics and i'm sure I didn't ease her burden. I felt real bad, but It brightened my day to see her and to get your cute things you sent, Momma Bear! #tearsfordaysforreal. 

Anyways, that day was over and I was hoping and had faith that life would obviously take a turn for the better and remembered that the Lord was there for me and all that jazz and so we went to planning our next lesson. It was the last lesson we would plan for Jorge, and we wanted to make it good and to show him and the Lord that we really did want to help him be successful. We started planning and translating and we've been going for a while and I look down at my clock and literally 5 or 10 minutes tops have passed. WHAT. It was crazy. That's how our whole planning session went, the clock didn't seem to move. I even thought my watch might be broken, but WOW. We had so much time. Heavenly Father CARES, ladies and gents. Mucho mucho! Then, to top it all off, Jorge had been late for the other companionships in our district, so we had even more time before we had to teach him. It went well, and I felt the spirit there. It truly was an answer to our prayers. 

In class, we've started studying El Libro de Mormon in Espanol and WHOA. I love it. I never knew that 1 Ne. 1 could apply to missionary work so perfectly but, WOW. If you read the scriptures like every verse pertains to you, every verse WILL! 

Surprise, surprise.. the best human ever Jorge has become our new TEACHER! Woo! I couldn't even handle when he walked into class. We'd heard rumors that this would happen, but I never believed that it would happen to us. HE RULES. I just love him and Hermano Vargas soooo much! They are POLAR opposites, Hmo V is cool as a cucumber, has a pet bulldog, just got home from his mission and enjoys the music samplings of Norah Jones, all the Hermanas throughout the CCM are totes in love with him and Hermano Polo (Jorge) is a straight up party animal. He pretends like he doesn't understand english but totally does, annoys me mercilessly and brings lots of laughter to the class. Them together really make the days wonderful and joyous and they are SO strong. Like, honestly. Their testimonies inspire me. I know I will never be the type of missionaries they surely were, but I sure want to be!

I FOUND MY SCRIPTURE DEDICATED TO THIS MISSION TRANSFER. Yo, It was perfect. Like literally an answer to every prayer. I sometimes struggle being patient with the Elders in my district and DEFINITELY struggle being patient with myself. It's in Alma 17:11, and it reads: 

              " Go forth among the lamanites, thy bretheren, and establish my word, yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."

HOLY PERFECT. It's been a real strength to me the past little bit and I'm super grateful. All I want is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and I can be through patience and long suffering!

Okay, now to the second breakdown of the week. Hahahah, honestly, any other missionary wouldn't tell their family these things ever but I know it's important because through it all the Lord is breaking me down to become who He wants me to be! It reminds me of the scripture that paints a picture of us as the clay and he is the potter. He's bending and twisting and rolling out the clay, but there really is no other way to get the pot he needs. 

But, yeah. So we got a new investigator (Alejandro, AKA Hermano Vargas) and we were planning our first lesson for him. We had all prayed to know what he needs, and I really did feel as though we should teach him that God is there for him and about the plan of salvation (He struggled with his moms death and why God would give us hard times). So we went with that, and then found out that literally EVERYONE else was teaching restoration. Even Hma F had thought about restoration at first. And I know I shouldn't compare to other missionaries, but I was just really distraught why every single human would be told by the Spirit to teach restoration but me, and if I was listening to the spirit correctly or if I knew how to recognize promptings and why wasn't I like everyone else and why don't I fit the missionary mold and why do I care so much and why is the mission so emotional for me and why why why and, there you have it. Basically, after devotional  (and after losing my lesson plan for the second time) I just broke down. We were going back to the casa and realized that all us girls had been thinking that we needed Priesthood blessings, but none of us really wanted to ask and so me and Hma F went back to the classroom while Hma M and Hma P went to find our Elders. While were standing outside, two guys walked up to us. They asked if we were okay and I just told them that we were waiting for our elders. They walked a great distance away, out of our sight, and then came back. They said they knew I needed a blessing and proceeded to give me a wonderful blessing of comfort. It was glorious. They were prompted by the spirit to come and help me and I was so grateful. The hermanas and elders eventually came back and I decided what the heck, I'll get another blessing. So cute Elder Geurts gave me a blessing and it was so magical. It really helped me a lot and my testimony of the priesthood grew ten fold! 

The next day, yesterday, was wonderful. We taught Alejandro and I gave a great portion of the lesson from my heart and didn't even read and it was super wonderful and SUCH a blessing. The spirit was there and Heavenly Father was straight up answering all my prayers. And then every lesson we had that day was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. Hermano V showed us the video of the Elder Holland talk with the main point being that, how can we expect missionary work to be easy when it was NEVER easy for Jesucristo, our savior, the one we are representing and working hard to emulate. DUH BECCA. Then, later we talked about how we need to focus on the investigator and their needs. This was made so evident to me in the experience last night. Those random boys blessing was beautiful and helped me and I was so grateful that they had taken the time out of their night, but it didn't make me feel the way Elder Geurts did, because I knew he loved, cared about and knows me. It's the same way with our investigators! If they don't know this, the message certainly won't be as powerful and we won't be fulfilling our purpose as representatives of our ever loving, ever caring Savior.

 A beautiful quote I loved.. 'teaching with the spirit is teaching with understanding', oh boy did I need that. Everyone has a different take on life and everyone sees things a little bit differently. I am me for a reason, and I am me on a mission for a reason. I could teach with more conviction on the atonement/plan of salvation than probably on anything else because I feel it so strong. Maybe that is why I felt like he needed that, because, from me, he did. I was just so so so so so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who KNOWS us and CARES. Honestly, I know he does. And I know that mi salvador, Jesucristo, KNOWS what it feels like to have struggles on a mission. He also knows my joys, and He understands and loves me perfectly. I love him! And am so grateful for this opportunity to be shoulder to shoulder with Him in this great work. 

I LOVE THE GOSPEL AND MISSIONS AND THE CCM AND THE JOY THAT COMES FROM IT ALL. I am SO happy! I laugh more than ever! I can speak SPANISH! (some, haha) and I KNOW it is because the Lord cares about this work! And because of all the prayers from you guys and so many people throughout the world. I am SO blessed. 

I love you all! Share the Love of God and Jesus Christ with someone today! It isn't hard to share the gospel, just show forth that example. Help them to get a taste of how the Lord loves them and cares about them. It really is wonderful!

Love love love love loves to all! Adios, carrita de arroz! (We just learned that this means goodbye little rice face and is similar to See ya later, alligator and that is all.. hahahah)

Love, Hermana Yost <3

PS, you can choose to include this story on the blog but it was absolutely hysterical! So Hermano Polo (Old investigator Jorge) was showing us a photo with him with a hat on.. I was trying to ask him how to say hat in Espanol so I could say that I liked his hat, but uhh.. he thought I said hot and then I guess that means.. horny.. in Mexico, so it was just this huge misunderstanding and he was so confused and I was confused and then the entire class just busted up when he found out I was trying to say HAT not HOT.. yikes bikes, it's a constant struggle down here and I'm sure i'll never live it down, but.. yeah. Haha. That's that. 

The roomies--love them, love this place! VIVA EL CCM!

These three girls were all in the same institute class at Snow and one is her roommate at the CCM.  She said that the cute random latino males enjoy jumping in photos with cool white girls like them. :)

Becca said "All hail Prince Dallin Fuell..All I wanted to do was hug him. I'm so grateful that she sees some familiar faces down there. :)

Letter #2 9/16/14

¡Hola mi familia y amigos! 

This is SO nuts crazy that I'm writing a general email on Pday at a computer surrounded by missionaries. It really is the strangest thing to be here, but literally the best thing EVER. Honestly, I have never done anything so rewarding, so hard, so frustrating, so magical, SO happy and so absolutely filled with the spirit as this. Holy smokes, I can hardly believe it. This week has been the longest week of my life, I feel like i've been here literally 400 years, but also can't believe it's already Pday. We got so much advice from very well meaning Elderes y Hermanas that ya know, make it toSunday, you'll be just fine. (Been there, done that) Make it to your first pday, you've really made it, and if you make it through the day AFTER pday, you're golden. So we'll see if that happens, as i'm crying tears and wigging out as we speak. Ah. Hahah, we could have emailed at any time after 8 today, but things just kept getting in the way and I was about to explode when we entered the computer room. 

Okay, enough of the small talk. I'll take you through a play by play of the gloriousness of the whole thang. 

So, we arrived, right? That was neat. And got a ton of orientation stuff (that's ALLL la ccm is, I swear. By now I am thoroughly, #oriented.) We then were taken by some sweet Hermanas to our casa. Its cute and purple, haha. Everything here is SO colorful, beautfiul pastels and it makes me soooo happy. We got our room, and GUESS WHO MY ROOMIES ARE. Well, Hermana Potter, she's from LA and super great and wonderful, mi Hermana Flitton, anddddd.. PAIGE MEECHAM. I know that probs means nothing to you, but remember the cute gal from Snow I told you about that's going to Chile? She's my roommate, which basically means she's my third companera. So fun. Us four have a serious BLAST. So many late (around 10:30 hahah) night giggles and jokes and I just love. Speaking of late nights, I am the WORST at getting to bed, obvs. Im trying so hard to be obedient, though. My companeras are equally terrible, so it's just bad news. The mish rules take some adjusting to. But thats what la CCM is for, becoming a missionary. I keep having to remind myself that I have only been here for four days and its all a process! 

First real day was crazy cray, I felt like a little baby ghost the whole day. Like honestly, nothing was real. Looking through my journal, I used the word bizarre like 40 times, haha. We met our teacher and jumped right into a tour. His name is Hermano Vargas and he is the mexican version of Adrian Romjue, if you're wondering. Its a titch creepy at times, haha. But I love him. He has only been home from is mission for two months, and he just likes to hear us speak so he can make fun of us. Hahah. His name is Rodrigo and he will ask us to say it over and over again and just laugh, hah. We also had to learn Mexico's national anthem (You'll find out why in a sec..) and he couldn't even handle our attempt at singing briskly en espanol. ***Let me just tell you, as a sort of precursor, I am already getting so Spanglish-y it's ridiculous. I am learning SO MUCH. I know 3 years of Spanish is helping me a ton, but there are times when I can sort of difficulty, and with the help of mi ever faithful diccionario, speak completely en espanol. The gift of tongues is REAL. It's so much fun. I pray often in Spanish and love it. Also the hymns in Spanish, KILL ME. <3*** I have seen SO many Elderes y Hermanas that I know from various walks of life here, but seeing Raleigh was the best thing ev. He totally rules. We had the happiest little reunion! (No koala bear hugs, sorry for the peeps who were counting on me getting kicked out first day)

On our second day, Friday, we got to teach our PRIMERO INVESTEGADOR. Wooo! I got so down on myself as we prepared, not knowing what he needed or what we should teach, but the plan doesn't need to be perfect as long as you put in the work to PLAN. That's huge. The mission is already changing me. I was so nervous, but once we got into the room, the spirit seriously took over. It was SO FUN and I loved getting to know and talking to him. His name is Jorge and I just love him. We had planned to teach about Heavenly Father's love and the happiness we find through praying to him and also the gospel, and our teacher encouraged us to extend a baptismal invitation. When we did this, he said he didn't know because he had muchos pecados.. both Hermana F and I had seen this word in study but COULD NOT REMEMBER what it meant. So we spent years searching, right in our lesson (that's what's so nice about actors as investigators) and eventually remembered it meant sins! At that moment, I knew I should bring up la expiacion (atonement), but I didn't know any of the words cause we hadn't planned so I flipped open our little language book right to the page title Christ Can Cleanse Us From Our Sins. Okay, kill me. Heavenly Father cares SO much. It was just such a wonderful testimony to me that the promise that we will be given the words in the very moment we need them doesn't necessarily mean they will pop into our minds, but Heavenly Father will make a way. I was on cloud nine after teaching the lesson, when we exited the room I ran over to some of the Elderes in our district and punched the one several times on the arm (oops) and just happy danced for days. It was awesome. Surely a blessing to have such a happy first lesson. 

We taught Jorge again the next day, and it defffffinitely didn't go as well. I was so stressed in planning and I am just way good at making things more difficult then they need to be (imagine that), haha. SO we literally spent so much time planning what to teach him, and not nearly enough time preparing the lesson. It was just the worst. We had to stop to pray again and again cause we were just getting so frustrated. But I learned that personal revelation is REAL on the mission. I pretty much immediately thought of ways to change, and that was to do things SIMPLY. It's hard for me, but I know I will get better at it. It's just hard to be on the same page, I love Hma but I wasn't totally prepared for how hard it is to work with a companion. Definitely a lesson in humility and charity. The lesson didn't go too bad, though. Heavenly Father really helps things to go well because He cares. 

SUNDAYS ARE THE BEST THING EVER IN THE MISSION. Honestly. Ah. Relief Society ruled, Sacrament Meeting (totally en espanol) ruled even more! (Raleigh, or Elder Allen, was actually in my branch so I got to hear him bless the sacrament in Spanish! Tell Heidi and Jay that he is doing SO well. Ah, I just love him. His distict is only Elderes, and they came in and just chatted with us the other night. They rule!) But, I dunno. Sundays are just the happiest. We had a welcome devotional by the single most hilarious mexican man, Presidente Rubalcava, who is the second counselor en la CCM. It was on the temple and worthiness and all that jazz. It totally ruled, and He is SO funny. Afterward, we met with our branch presidente, Pres. Martineau, and it was good. The adversary started working REALLY hard on me, though. Making me feel like I wasn't good enough to be here or because of mistakes id made in the past I would never be a good missionary. I was so super down. But after that, we had our Sunday devotional, and it was EVERYTHING I NEEDED. We talked about Lot's wife, and the importance of not looking back. I just cried and cried, the spirit was SO strong. I had been praying to feel peace and Heavenly Father gave it to me ten fold. On Sundays, we get to watch a movie in the evening as a whole CCM and that is super happy. We watched the testaments, and if youve seen that it defffffinitely has a lovey dovey side story and you could just feel the awkward missionary tension in the room. Hahahah. It was the same video of the life of the Savior that they showed at the baptism I spoke at before I left, the one that changed my pre mission life? So, obvs, it was there to change it again. It just reminded me that the SAVIOR is with me! This is HIS work. If I'm going into a lesson nervous or doubtful, I am not keeping my promise made when taking the sacrament to ALWAYS remember Him. AH. Alssssssssoooo, they played this goodbye video for the distritos leaving this week and guess what song it was set to, the efy medley EN ESPANOL. All four of mis hermanas were straight bawling. After the movie, we had a sort of testimony meeting with our district. It was magical. I got to know and love them so much more, they really are the best. We have 6 elderes and us 4 hermanas. We have really happy times. Not to mention, there were fireworks (not literal) hahah, when I was sharing my testimony because Monday was LA DIA DE INDEPENCIA DE MEXIO!!!!! Mexico 4th of July completely rules, let me tell you.

We've been learning the national anthem so we could fully celebrate the holiday, and let me tell you.. it is joyous!!!!! Look it up on youtube, then imagine me singing it. I could die. But yesterdaywas just like any other, had wonderful times and also many an emotional breakdown (we constantly feel like we're living in that scene from tangled, you know the one where one minute she's frolicking through the happiest of fields and the next moment laying face first on the ground crying? haha, that is a mission for you), but we got to have una FIESTA en la noche! Woot woot! They had this mexican dance group come and it was SO funny. Full of lots of stomping, waving of handkercheifs, and sensual music and dancing.. hahah. Then we all shouted lots of VIVA MEXICO! And sang the anthem with much gusto. Walking back to la casa, there were fireworks and the sounds of happy mexicans shouting and singing all around. It was glorious!

Sorry this email is THE WORST. I do not know how to email well yet, and ahhhh.. it's the most stressful thing. But I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. When I think of you, I get teary, but it's the happiest of tears. This really is the most wonderful work and I am so incredibly grateful to be living my life's BIGGEST dream.. and i'm serious! It's better than Maroon pants or France or anything. Serving the Lord is what we were MADE to do! No matter how the day has gone, I can always go back to my casa content and even full of joy because this really is a message of JOY! 

I love love love you all! Te amo MUCHO!

Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro salvador y su expiacion es verdadero. Yo se que el evangelio y El Libro De Mormon es verdadero. Estoy muy muy muy adegracidos por mi Padre Celestial ys su amor!

Love, Hermana Yost <3

She loves her district

She says "If I could say I love my roomies en espanol, I would!  They are the best"

The infamous green circles.  Where they would go if there was an earthquake. :)

Celebrating Mexico's Independence Day

She says she is learning to preach the gospel in paradise.

First email from Mexico

Momma! Familia!  I am HERE and holy moly, it has been quite the day.  Flights were fine, my travel pals (Hermana Hansen and Elder Harmer) completely rule and we had some wonderful chats/naps! When we got off the plane in Mexico I way wayyy too stoked and just took the first carry on I saw thinking it was mine---WRONG.  This adorable Mexican man came running after me, taps me on the shoulder and explains that I have his luggage...uh, oh.  So that was that, got quite the bad rap of being a chic loca throughout all the missionaries (there were like 15 of us traveling together, totes #peculiar).

But I'm here at the CCM and it has been wonder/terrifying so far.  Due to torrential downpour rain (flying in was NUTS...so sick..) we are super late and missed tons of good stuff, but the lady is telling me I need to go to dinner so I must go but just know I am so safe and super happy and super trying to speak a language I do not know and SUPER loving it! Also--cute Hermana Flitton,the girl that was getting out of the car at the same time as us, is my companera!  I'm so excited and I always sort of knew she would be and she's just so sweet.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!  Don't cry too much, Mexico is magnificently gorgeous and colorful and I was in love/almost crying for the duration of our crazy bus ride (when I wasn't cat napping).

Once again, LOVESSS to all!  My P day is Tuesday so get excited for that!

Love, Hermana Yost

Here is a picture of Becca and her companion Hermana Flitton that I took at the airport.  They are going to the same mission and recognized each other from a Sister missionary page that they were both on and they were even color coordinated! :)   Beccca also knew a girl from Snow College that was flying down with her too.  It's a small world.

Hermana Yost's grand adventure beings

After a last minute, late night of packing in true Becca style, we took her to the airport this morning so she could begin her grand adventure starting in the Mexico CCM.  It is truly a bittersweet day.  I will miss her so much, but I know she is where she needs to be for the next 18 months.  I can't wait to start getting her emails and hear about all of her experiences.  I am so proud of her and know that she will be an amazing missionary.  I will start posting her emails as soon as I start getting them.  She would love to here from everyone!

rebecca.yost@myldsmail.net

Hermana Rebecca Yost

Virginia Richmond Mission

9327 Midlothian Tpke Ste 1B

Richmond, VA 23235-4965