On Sunday I woke up and got ready for church, and Sara had suggested she
come to church with me. We ate breakfast with the girls and left in the
morning. There's a branch here in Noida, just like there was one right
by our old host family. Wow, God loves me! We got there and I instantly
felt better. I felt so loved and not alone or useless. Church hadn't
even started and I was crying already. There are about 15-20 people in
the branch, it seems. One boy holds the Aaronic priesthood and passed
the sacrament to everyone. We even met a guy from the States living here
on business.
What's even more crazy, is I met an anthropology major there, a girl named Hayley from BYU! She's doing a study here on fertility stigmas and I asked if we could tag along with her this week. She agreed, and asked if she could stop by the orphanage. Wow!!!!
The people in the branch were so friendly, and offered to set up meals with us because the food adjustment has been kind of hard. I miss meat because we don't get a lot protein here. One woman in the branch asked if I had been a member all my life, and I told her yes. She got this look of wonderment on her face, and said, "So you went from primary, to young women's to relief society? And your family, too?" I told her yes and she told me how lucky I was. She's been a member for 2 years and her sister is serving a mission right now.
After church Hayley took us somewhere to get meat. I was feeling really dizzy by this point, but I loved being around her. She's such a ray of sunshine! She served her mission in Denver, Colorado, and is just about to graduate BYU.
Back home, the girls were really, really excited to see us. But I wasn't feeling good so went to the room and took a nap. When I came back out the girls wanted to do some reading with me again! I had a fever yesterday, but was drinking lots of water. We went to the park later and had a really fun time! I went home early and laid down again because I was feeling really hot.
We continued to read with the girls, and listened to Hindi and American music. It was really fun! The girls are so great. I love them to death, my goodness.
After dinner Sara and I talked about how she felt about church. I had already given her a Book of Mormon a day or two before, so we had talked about some things before since she was showing so much interest. We talked for at least an hour. :) Wow, she's showing a LOT of interest and I love answering all her questions!!
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Today, Monday, we haven't been feeling well. We are really tired and Sara has been feeling sick to her stomach. But I don't have a fever anymore. We're going to call our coordinator pretty soon here to see what we should do next.
What's even more crazy, is I met an anthropology major there, a girl named Hayley from BYU! She's doing a study here on fertility stigmas and I asked if we could tag along with her this week. She agreed, and asked if she could stop by the orphanage. Wow!!!!
The people in the branch were so friendly, and offered to set up meals with us because the food adjustment has been kind of hard. I miss meat because we don't get a lot protein here. One woman in the branch asked if I had been a member all my life, and I told her yes. She got this look of wonderment on her face, and said, "So you went from primary, to young women's to relief society? And your family, too?" I told her yes and she told me how lucky I was. She's been a member for 2 years and her sister is serving a mission right now.
After church Hayley took us somewhere to get meat. I was feeling really dizzy by this point, but I loved being around her. She's such a ray of sunshine! She served her mission in Denver, Colorado, and is just about to graduate BYU.
Back home, the girls were really, really excited to see us. But I wasn't feeling good so went to the room and took a nap. When I came back out the girls wanted to do some reading with me again! I had a fever yesterday, but was drinking lots of water. We went to the park later and had a really fun time! I went home early and laid down again because I was feeling really hot.
We continued to read with the girls, and listened to Hindi and American music. It was really fun! The girls are so great. I love them to death, my goodness.
After dinner Sara and I talked about how she felt about church. I had already given her a Book of Mormon a day or two before, so we had talked about some things before since she was showing so much interest. We talked for at least an hour. :) Wow, she's showing a LOT of interest and I love answering all her questions!!
------
Today, Monday, we haven't been feeling well. We are really tired and Sara has been feeling sick to her stomach. But I don't have a fever anymore. We're going to call our coordinator pretty soon here to see what we should do next.
Great experiences. Sorry you're sick though that's no fun. Keep posting. I'll keep reading.
ReplyDeleteAh Nicole! I just got to read all of your posts! I'm on the bus from our quarterfinals placement show in Dayton to Pensylvania (Brass beat BDB by .3 tonight!) It sounds like you are getting a lot out of the experience, I love that you thought of teaching with guitar! Is the an address that I can send stuff to? I know that the postal service is kinda sketch and you might not be in the same place the entire time, but maybe the address for the program
ReplyDeletecoordinater place/person? I can think of a few things that I want now that I've endured the heat with some janky food experiences myself. If you know what's good for you, try and avoid any part of the united states that doesn't touch an ocean. We went from Idaho to Utah to Colorado to Kansa to Oaklahoma to Kentucky and in each state there was progressively hotter weather and nastier water.) Anyways, I love and miss you so much, don't stress out too much, enjoy yourself!
Elena, it's good to hear from you. Why do you want the address? If you were gonna send me something, I'm only here for 3 more weeks and I'm on the other side of the planet. Not sure anything will make it either way in that time period?
ReplyDelete