How to make instant friends!

Dear Family,

What I learned this week: missionary work is harder to do in Spanish than English.

Profound, I know ;)

All I can say is that I am SO THANKFUL I know so much Spanish already because it makes my life a lot easier. I'm used to being able to express myself easily in English, and I just don't have that knowledge in Spanish. But that is what study time and practice are for and also a LOT of depending on the Lord. I seriously could not do missionary work without prayer and a lot of faith.

I am in a lovely new area called Bayonne. It is really near Jersey City and is right on the water. It is SO beautiful. We have a better view of New York than New York does! It is great. It's definitely not Paterson, though. It's....not ghetto. There are driveways here. And I think I saw a gringo the other day.

WEIRD. # reversecultureshock

I love it though! We work with an English branch and a HUGE Spanish ward. Oh my goodness it's so big. I've never been in such a big Spanish ward before, not in all my Latin American wards. It's really fun :)

Also, I have found the formula for INSTANT FRIENDSHIP!

friendship=live in home country + speak some of their language

THAT'S IT! All you need is to have lived in the home country of the person you are speaking with and speak a bit of their language and you are FRIENDS! It works! Hence I am friends with all the Hondurans, Mexicans, Ecuadorians and Costa Ricans. Haven't met any Paraguayans yet. I only wish I lived in the Dominican Republic! We have so many of them here! We also have a lot of Hondurans, which is great! I love that country.

My new trainer (my Spanish mom hehe) is awesome! She is also from Salt Lake so that's fun:

"Where are you from?"

me: "Salt Lake City."

"What about you?"

companion: "Salt Lake City."
"...are you sisters?"

me: "kind of..."

Yep those conversations are pretty great. My Spanish trainer's name is Sister Larsen and she is hilarious. I cannot wait to spend Christmas/New Years with her!

Speaking of Christmas I am SO EXCITED FOR THE HOLIDAYS! I've heard that Christmas is awesome on the mission and I'm super excited! Christmas is the BEST!

Highlight of the week: going to six hours of church (one of the lovely benefits of working with two different wards)! Talk about spiritually uplifting

Also had a great Thanksgiving dinner with the Bishop and his wife! Yay for holidays :) Even if they are weird on the mission.

Good luck in all your various endeavors! Remember the Church is true and the Book of Mormon is scripture! Read it and love it. It's what gets us through the difficult parts of life. The mission is definitely one of those. 

Choose the right and know what you stand for! 

Love,
Sister Reed