This is our little dorm style apt. There are 4 of us together. We passed this home coming from the airport.
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To preface this.. umm I dont know how to work these computers. Sorry for my grammatical errors.
Let's begin with the awkward/ hysterical/ random moments that happened this week: Elder Sok told us about his favorite childhood memory. Mis mom hired their two tongan neighbors to jump on their trampoline while Elder Sok and his siblings would sit in an inflateable swimming pool pretending to white water raft. Random times where someone will say something in class and all of a sudden a Nacho Libre or Hot Rod quote battle will begin. Hermana Warner breaks out yodeling in the middle of the cafeteria. I accidentally said "pescados" instead of "pecados" when saying God forgives us of our sins. Pecados is sins.... pescados is fish. I guess God can forgive our fish too. Finding out that other sisters in our zone had a leak in their pipe at their house and had to move out at 2am because there was carbon monoxide in the air. Well there is no way that I could do this without the help and patience from my loving heavenly father. (Pues, no hay manera de que pueda hacer esto sin la ayuda y paiencia de me amoroso Padre Celestial.) I arrived to the Mexico city airport arround 1 pm on June 18. Walking out of customs, I look for someone waiting for me. There were people everywhere holding up signs with names on them, but the name Hermana Hemmingsen was no where in sight. I walked around for a half hour and then decided to just sit and wait. Finally two men wearing white shirts, ties, and BYU lanyards found me. Thank goodness, however they didnt speak a lick of English. I stood around with them for three hours while we waited for the other missionaries to arrive. I went to get a drink from my water bottle and because of the pressure from the airplane it shot out at my face. Welcome to Mexico, Hermana Hemmingsen. After everyone arrive we piled into a stick shift bus and drove to the CCM (MTC). I dont know how we got there without crashing. The streets are so narrow, people park on either side and then there are other vendors walking in the middle of the road trying to sell stuff, but we made it! There is a wall slightly looks like the Berlin Wall that surrounds the CCM, but it keeps us safe. My companion's name is Hermana Rupp who is going to Houston and she is adorable. We have become so close just in the first week. I can't express how grateful I a, to have such a patient, loving companion (a companion is the sister missionary who works and learns with me). We are in district 13 and yes we did make the connection to the Hunger Games. One night we all whistled Rue's song and held up three fingers to say goodnight. My district is amazing. One minute I am laughing so hard and the next I have tears streaming down my face because of their powerful testimonies. On Sunday we heard from Elder Scott. He told us that we were called of God to this place to speak this language (Spanish). He knows we can do it with his help. I have been so frustrated because I know what people are saying but I can't respond. We had our first lesson with Betty on Friday (YES. two days in Mexico and we taught a 20 minute lesson EN ESPAÑOL). Hermana Rupp and I work so hard to figure out what we want to teach. We pray, discuss, read and them co into the lessons having no idea what is going on. But yesterday was our fourth lesson and it was so special. We were so frustrated with ourselves because all the other elders don't even study and then they come back saying that their lesson was amazing and she said she would be baptized. Our teacher showed us a passage in Preach My Gospel: avoid comparing yourself to other missionaries and measuring the outward results of your efforts against yours. We cried and realized that we just needed to be patient with ourselves and ask for every ounce of help from the Lord. We taught Betty the importance of baptism and Hermana Rupp shared the most beautiful testimony. Betty told us she wanted to be baptized before we could even ask! My heart sang and I just sat there feeling so happy. We did it. To make the day even better, with the arrival of the new missionaries (or niños, as we like to call them) yesterday came Elder Faldmo! I can't tell you how happy I was to see a face from home. He brought a little note from SD. (Shoutout to @mammafaldmo, @SpencerH_54, and @lilfaldy for the letter and crystal lite.) Thank your for all the support. This work is hasstening and I am honored to be apart of it. My heart swells with love for the gospel and I know that even though I am thousands of miles away from home that this is the best place for me to be right now. Hasta semana. All my love, Hermana Hemmingsen hola mamacita y mi familia!
Here is my address in the CCM: Sister Hemmingsen July 28 13 - A Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828 Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero 07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico things i have experienced so far: crying down the jet bridge and the man working told me it was going to be ok and that there was a photo of an animal on the tail of the airplane next to us.. like that is going to make me feel better? I SAW YOU SITTING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WATCHING ME TAKE OFF. That was so special. mexican standard time.. our take off time was 9am, boarding at 8:20. I got on the plane at like 9:05. miraculously we made it on time. I got through customs (tell Isaac to look at his example one in his packet. I was so confused) and come out to a wall of people holding signs up of names, none of which were mine.. walked around for 30 minutes, but then two men in shirts and ties with byu lanyards around their necks found me. I hung out with them as we waited for the other missionaries to arrive (aka 3 hours) They didnt speak a lick of english so they just talked at me really fast and then I nodded and they laughed at me. cool guys. I went to get a drink from my water bottle and it exploded all over me. Dumb airplane pressure systems. The other missionaries arrived, we got on the bus, and I only thought we going to die like twice. They people are CRAZY drivers. Every wall has graffiti. Every building is neon colored. I have my companion. Her name is sister Lindsay Rupp and she is adorable. The keyboards here are way weird. I guess there are a ton of people here that are going to McAllen. Everything is great, dont worry about me. They say this is the safest place on earth and that it is 3xs bigger than Provo. My Pday is on Thursday, so maybe I will talk to you tomorrow! xo, hermana hemmingsen Elizabeth left the Sioux City Airport at 6:30 am. this morning. I am so excited for her though I can't lie, I cried and cried. 18 months seems to be a long time . -Jodi
In our church we believe that everyone is a child of God. Being sons and daughters of the same God makes us brothers and sisters. Male missionaries are called Elders because that is their title of the priesthood they hold. Female missionaries are called sisters, it too is just a title to remind us that we are all apart of God’s family.
Hermana is sister in Spanish, and since I will be speaking Spanish in Texas, my official title will be Hermana Hemmingsen. My life always seems to be hectic and this week was no different. Last Friday my family and I decided to take a tour of Sioux City. Our first stop was Diamond Thai which is my little slice of heaven in the midwest. Weird side note: When my dad went up to pay the man at the cash register asked if we were on our way to Mt. Rushmore... Umm, no? Do we look like tourists? Next stop was the carousel in the mall. I personally haven’t ever been a fan of moving up and down and spinning in a circle slowly as people walk by and stare at me. But hey, yolo. The best part was that Claire won a punching balloon and ran through the hallways showing off her prize. Our next adventure was in the lazer tag arena. The instructor was way too serious and made us feel like we were going to battle. I just wanted to play a friendly game of laser tag, but I soon realized that no laser tag game is friendly. It was war! Spencer and Ellie beat Kate, my dad, and I by three. Then we celebrated with frozen yogurt, my favorite. The night was getting dark, but we didn’t give in yet. Next on the agenda was kubb, a swedish game that we like to play. Crazy thing is that we have been playing it way before Spencer ever got his mission call. But then it got too dark to see the game so we hung a sheet on the side of the house and watched “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. The day was seriously perfect. I love my family so much.
I am feeling so loved today. Spencer, Isaac, and I had an open house tonight at our church so that we could explain all about what we will be doing on our missions to the people in our community. We talked about basic missionary life (for example: missionaries get up at 6:30am, study and get ready for the day, leave the house around lunch time, then go out and invite people to come to Christ, dinner, teach more, and then go home and prepare for the next day) and shared two little video that explains what our church believes in. Then of course when we were watching, the download paused and we could only watch half. So here are the links! https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-2000-mormon-missionaries?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-02-1020-what-mormons-believe?category=missionary/introduction-to-mormons&lang=eng At the end we bore our testimonies. My thoughts were turned towards just wanting everyone to know that this is where God wants me to be. He has opened every door for me in order to reach this point in my life. There have been so many people that have influenced me and who have helped me become who I am today, and many of those people were in the audience. I just wanted to squeeze everyone so tightly after the meeting because 1: I was so happy they were there, and 2: This was our goodbye. The spirit touched hearts, tears were shed, and reality is setting in. It seems like I have been telling people about my mission for so long, but I never thought the day would come, and now look at me: I’m into single digit days! As we were cleaning up, a sister missionary who serves in the Sioux City area pulled me aside and gave me the greatest advice. She said to be yourself and be real. That’s when people know that you really do care about them and that they aren’t just a number checked off in the book. God gives us each different talents so that we can bless the lives of others, but if we are ‘robots’ who just teach the doctrine and not focusing on the people we are teaching then we loose the whole point of why we are serving. “Don’t forget yourself and go to work. Find yourself and go to work.” The three amigos since like... forever. Boy do I adore this bunch.
With only 10 days left in the Midwest, why not do a Top 10 things I will miss about Sioux City, IA?
1. The smell of the Girl Scout Cookie factory when I drive from Exit 2 to Exit 4 on I-29 with my windows down. 2. Mornings when I wake up early for pictures and there is so much fog on the ground that you can’t see 15 feet in front of you. 3. When the headlines in the Sioux City Journal are things like “Siouxland seniors stay active on the dance floor” or “Sioux City may ban plastic bags”. It's so innocent! And yes, that is the current local news. 4. Boating days on McCook Lake where I feel like we literally know almost everyone as we pass them, it’s such a friendly place. 5. Drinking my favorite lemonade by the glass from Coffee King on 4th street. 6. The toffee at Palmer candy, life changing burrito at La Juas, and curry at Diamond Thai. 7. Running alongside the buffalo in the mornings. 8. Walking down the sidewalks eating kettle corn and visiting all the vendors at Art Splash during Labor Day weekend. 9. My dog on the Forth of July, and then driving down Northshore Avenue the morning of July 5, before the garbage men pick up all the towers of garbage from the fireworks. 10. Spending the whole day thrifting and talking to older people who seem so surprised that I am buying old records and then continue to tell me all about the glory days. Things I won’t miss? 1. The ridiculous construction downtown. It has taken all my favorite spots to take pictures and it is so inconvenient! 2. The smell right by where the old John Morrell hotdog factory used to be… I feel like the stench will never fade. 3. The dumb speed cameras on the interstate that everyone memorizes their location so they only go the speed limit in that area. 4. Hearing Jefferson Speedway races late on Sunday nights. As a child you never think of growing up. Actually, even adults think that sometimes they won’t ever grow up. Yet the sun keeps coming up day after day, and with each day we add more experiences under our belt and before you can open your eyes in the morning, you’re putting on your shoes to take your children to the airport, sending them far away. When I was a child I used to look at the missionaries and think they were so much older, wiser, and bigger than I would ever be. Yet I have 16 days until I leave for the Mexico City Missionary Training Center to learn Spanish and how to teach the Gospel. It will be heart wrenching, but knowing that I will leave for only 18 months so that I can help others to come unto Christ is the greatest reward and experience I could ever ask for. I love my family, but I know that we will be together forever, which makes 18 months not sound too bad. My family is quite unique. We’ve got a variety of personalities ranging from a violinist, gymnasts, athletes, pianists, artists, brainiacs, chefs, gardeners, swimmers, bookworms, and technology gurus. But we all have one thing in common; our love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ… and our last name is a similarity of course. My heart swells with love for them. Here’s a photo of the whole shebang at Claire’s baptism. We are in a unique situation. I am 19 years old, and my brother is 18 leaving within a month of each other, which means that we will be serving 17 months of our missions at the same time. I can’t express how happy I am that I can be gone at the same time doing the same thing as my best friend. However, it might be a little bit of a shocker for my sweet family in South Dakota/ Iowa area to suddenly “loose” their children for a time. Elder Hemmingsen and I definitely get the better end of the stick. Living in the Midwest, we don’t have herds of members like they do out west. The Faldmo family (our family’s best friends) has a missionary in Brazil and another getting ready to serve. People have been curious about what we will be doing. It’s difficult to explain everything in a brief conversation and feel like you answered the questions sufficiently, so we have decided to have a program at our church on June 8, 2014. Elder Hemmingsen, Faldmo, and I will talk about everything an LDS mission includes: daily schedules, costs, the purpose, our faith, and everything in between. Everyone is invited to come; we’d love to see you. Xo,
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a brief in photosclick below to see a slideshow
Hermana Hemmingsen
In our church we believe that everyone is a child of God. Being sons and daughters of the same God makes us brothers and sisters. Male missionaries are called Elders because that is their title of the priesthood they hold. Female missionaries are called sisters, it too is just a title to remind us that we are all apart of God’s family.
Hermana is sister in Spanish, and since I will be speaking Spanish in Texas, my official title will be Hermana Hemmingsen. month by month
January 2016
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