Sunday, January 4, 2015
Letter from Ayutuxtepeque, El Salvador dated December 22, 1014
AHHHH! GRAMS AND PAPA CHUCK ARE THERE!!!! HOLA HOLA HOLA
GRANDPARENTS!!
I am so Jealous! Why didn’t they come to El
Salvador for Christmas?
Oh wells, tell them that I love them sooooo
much!! Hopefully they have a
Christmas card from me waiting at their house when they get home.
To answer some of your many many questions.....
I think you need to be logged in to Skype for it to ring. But just keep it open about 15 minutes
before 10:00 your time just in case I’m wrong. Let’s be real... You are probs gonna be sitting there
waiting... Right? Ha ha ha
I am so excited to skype y’all... I get to see
all of your beautiful faces!!!
Okay for my birthday box... Idk what you should
send. I have a Walmart here so I
can pretty much get everything that I need and I don’t really need
anything. I just haven’t been able
to find hair-cutting scissors. I
need to trim my hair. So scissors
would be nice. I do want MORE MORE
MORE MORE PHOTOS!!! And you guys
can write me hand written letters…from everyone. I just want things from you guys... like little notes or
drawings. If you could send my
polaroid photo albums, and take some Polaroid photos of you guys... don’t go
crazy….but take some nice ones of you guys. Please don’t send the camera though, just the photos.
Okay now for this week... so our showers are
freezing cold. Like ice cold! But it’s okay because we couldn’t even
shower for like 4 days because we had NO RUNNING WATER. Our pipe busted and we couldn’t find
someone to fix it for 4 days. But
it was okay, we had a bucket of water so we washed our hair once. Lol Hermana Patterson washed my hair for
me. She’s the best. Now all is good. We have WATER!! It’s been such a blessing to have
running water again. We can cook
and clean now.
I have been showing people the little photo
book we made on artifact.org
and, oh my gosh, people love it. They
all love you guys!!! They think I
have such a beautiful family. Which I do! But
I love showing it to them and they just love seeing you guys, which makes me
feel good, but then they ask if that’s really me in the photos. I look so pretty in the photos and a bum
in real life! The STRUGGLE IS REAL! Well, when you can’t shower for 4
days….it’s a little rough to want to get ready in the mornings and to look
cute! Lol
THE BUSES HERE are crazy. Seriously crazy! It’s so bad ha ha ha but I love it. I had to go to town 2 times this week
for immigration and then for a devotional last night. YIKES!!! I am going to try and describe this to y’all...
Put it this way, the buses in Hawaii are like a limo compared to the buses
here. Ha ha ha It’s so crazy, yet fun. The bus pulls up and you already see it
is full and then you pack 10 more people on and you literally have no personal
space. You are stuck in between
like 30 peeps. When people have to
get off they just push you against the chair or the window or another person
you don’t know. ha Then when its
your turn to get off.. OH BOY!!! I feel like I’m in a football game. You have to like ram through! Poor Hermana Patterson is so small. I go first and make a path and then she
follows. It’s funny. I like it, it’s like playing sports
everyday! Ha ha ha But... I don’t
like it when you have creepy old men by you. Then I just want to scream and do
some Manti Te’o moves but oh well.
All is well.
This week I am so grateful for my district
leaders. They are awesome. I know
the spirit is strong with them. First of all, they come to some of our lessons and every time
they do the spirit is so strong. They are so guided by the spirit! I love it. They also save our lives. The first time we had to go to town
we got on the bus and then realized we were totally lost. Then out of the blue, our phone
rang. It was Elder Morales, our
district leader, he asked where we were and told us to get off of the bus right
away and that they were going to come with us to town to help us. He told us that he had a strong feeling
to call us right away so he did and the first thing he did was ask where we
were. I’m so grateful that we were safe and that our district leaders listened
to the prompting to check on us.
The other night we were in our house and we
heard gunshots! We heard like 15
gunshots! We were a little
scared because they were getting closer and closer to our house. We think it was right behind our
house. The streets were silent
except for the gunshots. The
elders called us during this time to get our numbers and we were like freaking
out (more so Hermana Patterson hahahah) like on the floor… all lights off… kind
of freaking out. They elders said:
“Hermanas, don’t be scared. Just
get into bed and I promise you wont hear any more gunshots.” So we did... and he was right. No more gun shots. It was so awesome. I am glad they help us so much. Both of our district leaders only speak
Spanish so that has helped me learn Spanish faster and helped Hermana Patterson
polish her Spanish.
Earlier this week we were going to visit David,
who is a less-active member. David
lives up a kind of scary street but we really wanted to visit him so we
went. His street has A LOT OF
DOGS!! We start walking and we see
this cute little boy and we say hi to him and keep walking. Then when we get by the dogs they start
going nuts! They really don’t like
us! I don’t think I have
ever prayed so hard!!! Seriously,
we were so scared. These dogs are
crazy. We passed the first group
of dogs safely. Then there is the
second group... and they are even scarier! We really wanted to see David but the dogs just wouldn’t let
us. We prayed super hard but they
weren’t backing down. We tried picking
up rocks and holding them over our heads like we were going to throw them at
them like everyone says to do but nothing! So we were like fine, we won’t go see David. We slowly back a way from the
crazy dogs and head back down. Once
we were in the clear we were so relieved but then we get to the gate and its
locked! You have got to be kidding
me. There was no one around and
the houses had dogs in front of them!
So we are like great, now what?
Then we see the little boy laughing at us. We ask him to open the gate but he keeps saying “arriba
arriba” and wants us to climb over this 10-11’ gate in skirts! Yeah, NOT going to happen! OMG!! I WAS SO ANGRY. Hermana
Patterson was a lot calmer than me. She was like “its ok its ok”. SO… we started walking towards the dogs again and they start
to get nuts again! We had nowhere
to go! A gate behind us, and crazy
dogs in front of us! Literally all
we could do was to pray and beg our Heavenly Father to help us. When we finished praying we opened our
eyes and looked around and we saw this little path leading into the jungle that
we had not seen before. All of the
other paths into the jungle are covered in barbed wire but this one
wasn’t. We aren’t supposed to go into
the jungle but we see no other option.
So we take it and it leads us back onto the street! It was a miracle and a blessing
from our Heavenly Father! Now we just
need to figure out how to see David!
Okay now don’t be scared Mom because REALLY I
am totally safe! But the gangs here
crack me up. We were out
contacting at like 7:30 one night and we heard gunshots. I didn’t think too much of it because
that’s normal here and we are getting used to it. I can now tell the difference between gunshots and fire works.
Lol Then as we are talking to this
old lady a line of cars comes driving by and thank goodness Hermana Patt was
facing the lady and only I saw but the cars were full of gangsters. They must have been looking for
someone! It was trippy. They all had their heads sticking out of
the cars staring at us. I didn’t
know what to do so I just smiled at them. Ha ha ha But yeah, I’d say they are my friends. (sarcasm)
I have a really good ward here. Everyone is so nice. Apparently the sisters before us weren’t
very nice... So we have been trying really hard to get the ward members to like
us… and I think they do. We have so many dinners scheduled, it’s crazy. It’s such a blessing! For the 24th, which is when
they celebrate Christmas, we have 4 dinners scheduled! I might just die... so pray that I will
be able to eat A LOT. But yeah, my ward is awesome and everyone is so nice and
loving. Funny story…the ward had a practice for Christmas caroling and
they invited us. We went thinking
okay yeah we can sing.... then once we got there they told us.... No, your in
charge! We had to come up with
songs and arrangements on the spot!
But it was fun. The youth love us.
They just laugh at me all the time. Probs because of my Spanish. But I don’t mind, I just laugh with them. lol
Another funny thing that happened…I forget what
was happening but one night Hermana Patt started singing... CHLOE'S MOM HAS GOT IT
GOING ON... and it was so funny. Cuz
she’s my mission mom....right… anyways… I guess you had to be there! It really was funny!!
Okay I’ll see y’all on the 25th!! AHHH I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I CAN’T WAIT!! Hug everyone you see for me. Thanks.
Okay mom can you get these peeps addresses for
me?
Tatiana I. Lexee. Mariel. Morgan L.
Thanks! I have letters for
them.
Love you!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!
--
--Hermana Kava--
First letter from El Salvador dated December 15, 2014
Okay so I am so sorry if I don’t have time to answer
all of your questions today. I
don’t know how the time always seems to escape me. I will be the fastest speed reader after my mission! lol.
I am here in El Salvador!!! My area is called Ayutuxtepeque. It’s awesome. A little bit of a culture shock… but it’s fine. I have to admit that leaving the CCM
was rough. It was like leaving my
family again. But it is okay. I seriously have mad love for my ccm
district. The first two days here
in El Salvador I was a little “ccm-sick” but working helps me to not think
about them too much. I love my
teachers from the ccm! They are
awesome. I learned so much from them, its crazy! I will always be grateful for them.
I got the package mommy. Thank you so much!! Yeah, they just take the money out of
my account but it’s only like 3 bucks for the big box. So your’e fine. Lol. My p-day is now every Monday so just giving you a heads up. Its probably going to be like 9 or 10
am here. So that’s early in Hawaii.
Okay so for Christmas we found a place where we
can skype. Our bishop has 3
computers so my companion Hermana P can skype her family, I can skype y’all and
the bishop can skype his son who is on his mission too. So that’s awesome! Can you please send me my password and account name for skype
and check to make sure that everything works on that end and tell me what time
of the day on Christmas would be good for y’all so I can coordinate with Bishop
and Hermana P’s family. I am so
excited to see your pretty faces.
Anyway... on to my crazy week!! It has been one huge adventure!
First of all I am serving in Tara H.’s old
area. Her handwriting and name is
everywhere. We even found her name
carved in a tree. It’s awesome
because people here know her and they ask me if I know her and I get so
excited!! I’m like SI!!! It is so awesome. I even sleep where she slept. Ha ha ha Awks. Anyways,
Hermana P. and I are whitewashing so that’s been kinda hard but we have noticed
God’s hand in this work so much! Seriously
though, Hermana P. has the worst sense of direction and it cracks me up. She’s like you mom! :) We will be walking and all of a sudden she will remember
that she knows a family that lives on a random street that we have passed 100
times. We knock and there we find a
family that is ready for the gospel. It’s crazy. The
spirit is so awesome and I love having it as my constant companion. Hermana P is so awesome. We crack up all the time. She is so funny and such a good “mom”. We got to our apartment and the previous
hermanas had left it a huge mess. Seriously, it was gross. There were piles of rubbish in the back
yard. Not garbage bag piles but
just piles of nasty old rubbish.
Hermana P walked in and just got straight to cleaning it. She washed my laundry and showed me how
to do everything. She is just the
best. She went to BYUI before her
mission too. We were there at the
same time! It’s crazy. She finishes her mission in March so I’m
hoping that we will be together until then.
Okay now on to El Salvador. I love it here! At first it was a huge culture shock but
now I love it. The people!! OH MY!!! They are the best. I am in a small town (google map it) It’s small! It’s up hills all day for us so I am
going to have the best butt and legs after being here. Excited for that! Ha ha ha Since it’s so small everyone knows everyone, so by the
second day of Hermana P and I being here everyone knew there were 2 new nortes
here and they all smile and wave at us. They have so little and yet they offer all they have to us. It’s
the best! I love them all. I just love teaching them. Okay, I have to admit, I have been a
slob! We only have freezing cold
water in the mornings and then the pipe broke and flooded our apartment so they
had to completely turn off the water! So a shower has become... not even an option! Now I know why everyone said to pack
baby wipes! Lol Makeup... yeah
forget about that! But even though
I am all gross the people here
make me feel so beautiful. They
always tell me I look beautiful even when I look ratchet. I even got proposed to by a drunk 80
year old inactive member. That was.... nice. Ha ha ha But
seriously, the people here don’t
care what you look like! They are
just the best. My Spanish is okay.
I understand a lot but I can’t
speak all too great yet. I just
smile and nod, smile and nod. And
hey! It works! The people love us but it has been kind
of rough because the Hermanas that served here before us were not very well
liked by the people here. We have heard some not so good things
about them but we just try to be happy and smile and serve the people here and
so far people have been really nice to us. Actually, everyone has been SUPER nice. No one has been rude at all. I am so blessed. Gosh! Seriously though, I have been thinking
about how blessed I am and how much my Heavenly Father knows me and is aware of
my needs because He has just been pouring down His blessings and I am so
grateful for that.
It is crazy hot during the days but freezing cold
at night so that’s been weird, but good.
Okay so the people here think I’m a latina! It’s so funny!! People have already asked me if I am
from... Uruguay, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia, and even Taiwan! It has been so funny but once I tell them
I am from Hawaii they ALL call me Lilo. On Sunday everyone called me HERMANA LILO! I think it’s so funny!!
So Heavenly Father has been performing so many
miracles this week. It’s amazing. Every time we are on a street trying to
figure out where we should go a person will walk by and we will talk to them
and they are always so positive and accepting. We already have meals this week and so many lessons! We have been having crazy good numbers and apparently this is
a really slow area. We should actually have 2 baptisms this month! That is SOOOO exciting.
I love all of my investigators and I’ll write all about them next week.
I love you all! I hope all is well!
I’m trying to email photos to you but my camera takes too high quality of
pictures so I have to send the photos one by one and it’s taking forever!!!
The photo of the water is crazy! It’s of when the pipe busted and our
house was totally flooded! It was
all kinds of crazy! The photo of
me in green is from today so y’all can see me today!!
Btw.. I’m super happy! I love this gospel and I love my
Heavenly Father! I love the people
of El Salvador! I love my
companion! I love being here! I love my family!!
I’m sorry but I didn’t have time to read all of
your emails so I will finish reading them next week. I will try to answer all of your questions next week. I’m sorry but my time is over. I LOVE YOU and I can’t wait to skype
with you on Christmas!
--
--Hermana Kava--
Fifth etter from Guatemala CCM dated December 2, 2014
WOW!!! HOLA FAMILIA!!
Mom... seriously. No worries beef
curry!! I guess my sarcasm didn’t come across in my last email. I
did live with the Kava family once... I know the struggle of a busy life. :) So
seriously, no worries. You could not email me for 18 months and I would
still know I am loved and cared about.
This week was really exciting. The new
group of Latinos that arrived last week are the BEST!! I absolutely love
them all. The Hermanas are so sweet and so loving to us Norte. They
speak a little more English than the last group so that helps but esta
bien! My Spanish has increased dramatically this past week. Maybe
because it’s our last week in the CCM until we are out there in the field!!!!!
When we said goodbye to the other group of
Nortes it was so sad. It was like saying goodbye to family all over
again. My eyes were like waterfalls. Seriously though.
It’s like a bitter sweet goodbye because we know we are out here to serve our
missions and serve the Lord but then none of us want to say goodbye to each
other. We all love each other so much!! I got 2 new roommates for
BYUI lined up already!! It’s crazy. I am so excited for them!
Look up Hermana Kenadee Ferre, she has become like my best friend and I
love her to death. She is serving in the El Salvador, Santa Ana
mission…so close…. but not really. Lol
Thanksgiving here was awesome. We didn't
get to do the turkey bowl because we had a live broadcast devotional from
Provo. It was Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the Twelve Apostles!
That was so awesome. I love him!! BYU Provo was lucky this past
week because they had two live devotionals from the General Authorities of the
church. The other devotional was with Elder Bednar, another Apostle.
We are so lucky too because we got a live broadcast of the
devotionals. The staff at the CCM decorated everything for us and cooked
a legit American-style thanksgiving dinner. It tasted so good!! Of
course not as good as yours mom, but it was good! Especially for a
bunch of latinos who had no idea what the dishes were. :) It was
awesome. I was fine all day until we had another devotional with
Presidente Cox (the CCM president) and all day everything was in Spanish... but
he took a minute to talk solo to us Nortes. He just paused, and said he
knew how important this day is for us and that he knows how hard it is… and idk
why but the water works started to flow. I had my watch set to Hawaii
time the whole day just so I could keep up with what I thought y’all would be
doing. 6 am...getting turkeys out of the IMU….the turkey bowl... all
sitting around eating dinner.... and then sitting on the couch not able to move
for a couple hours. That’s what I missed... eating and not being able to
just chill but having to go straight to a class then to another devotional.
It’s fun though.
This is my last email from the CCM!!! How crazy
is that??? BTW... I might not be able to email next week porque I leave
the CCM on Tuesday morning, at like 4 am! I then take a bus down to El
Salvador and so unless my pday is after Wednesday in El Salvador then I will
skip a pday. So if y’all don’t get an email from me next week that’s
why. Don’t worry Mom!
If you haven’t already sent the box will you
print all of the photos I emailed you from the CCM and send them too?
Thanks!! I don’t know about printing photos here... lol. Will
you also email me my pin codes for my cards?? Don’t forget to put Virgin
Mary stickers on the box.
Okay soooo, I was called on the give a talk in
sacrament this past Sunday. I was hoping to go the full 6 weeks without
being called on to speak in Sacrament but the odds were not in my favor.
Esta Bien. It was good. I know enough Spanish to give a talk. I am
so thankful for the gift of tongues!!!
Our teachers get transferred every 2 weeks but
so far we have been lucky enough to keep the same teachers. Then at the
beginning of last week we got a new night-time teacher. But I love him!!
HE HELPS US SO MUCH!! Seriously, my district has grown so much this
past week. We only speak Espanol to each other so it’s awesome.
Since we got a new teacher we also got a new
investigator. His name is David. He is awesome. We went to
teach him one night on the Restoration, and oh my goodness, I don’t know what
happened but the spirit was so strong! Put it this way, me and my 2
companions (who don’t cry easy) were crying by the end of the lesson.
David was crying too. He committed to baptism on the second lesson!
He hasn’t agreed to any of the elders. It’s muy entusiasmado!
This past week has been sad because every day
that goes by is a day closer to saying goodbye and I literally have so much
love in me for the people here. I can’t explain it. I love my
companions, my district, all the missionaries here, the teachers, the senior
missionaries, the staff, the chefs, the president and his wife, the people who
deliver the water and ice cream once a week. Literally EVERYONE!! I
am so lucky because I am starting to feel a little bit of the love the Savior
has for all of these people. I love the people of Guatemala.
Sometimes we sit outside to study just for the chance to watch the people walk
by because we just love them all. I am so excited to meet the people of
El Salvador. HUH!! I CANT WAIT!!
Okay time for your questions:
Yes, I loved watching Meet the Mormons
again. Everyone was crying because it was pretty much everyone’s last
movie that they watched with their families. So that was rough but good.
Aww tell the guys thanks!! It’s good to
hear that they read my emails... I think… lol Sometimes I don’t have a
very good filter, so remember that.
I just love Mele and Vela. I miss those
two crazies. I also miss Emma’s girls. Hug them all for me!
200 trays at the imu!!??!! SANTA
VACCA!!! That’s crazy cool. I love that our family does the
Thanksgiving imu. I love the social part of it but also the service part
… a lot!!
Wow... the boys played video games at the yard
overnight??? Cool kids huh?? Nah, but that sounds fun. Can’t do
that here or you’ll get eatin by bugs! lol I got some bad bites
from sitting on the grass outside.
Wow. I just love Aunty Josie. She
is the best! And Aunty Emma too!! I miss them!
Oh and about Aunty Nan always going about
quietly helping and cleaning and organizing... I KNOW!! She is the best
example for service and selfless love. I love her too!
Good to know you read not just my letter to you
but Luke’s and Sophia’s letters too. hahaha Then again, who am I
kidding? I knew you would read them… hahahaha Like the neon paper??
It’s all I could find lol.
Umm I don’t really care which shoes you send
first... maybe the black Crocs or the brown Keens? But either of them is
chill. I am just so excited for new shoes! My shoes are
already dying. :(
Thanks for the box! Everything you said
is in it sounds good! Honestly, if you can’t find something, no worries,
I can live without it. I love you!!
Please tell Grams thanks!! I love her so
much! I am so jealous y’all get to see her and Papa soon. I wish
they could fly out here :) but its okay because in 17 months I’ll see them!!
I’ll email Grams next time I get on a computer.
I love you all and miss you all!! I am
excited to get out there and start collecting the valiant ones. BTW I
have been reading my Patriarchal Blessing a lot this week and it has blessed me
so much!! Will you please encourage Luke, Sweetie and Josh to all get
their Patriarchal Blessing? It is so special and I know that each
of them are special to our Heavenly Father and that their blessings will be so
special too. I love you all!! :) Stay strong!
P.S. Tell Aunty Wendy I pray for to have an
easy goodbye with Mele. I just keep imagining how hard that is going to be for
her. But I can testify that letting Mele go will be the best thing she can do
for her. I already love my mission so much and I know that this is going
to be the best part of my life. The relationship that she will grow and
build with her Heavenly Father will be so magnificent.
P.P.S. Daddy, AAHHHHH sorry I didn’t get
much time to read and reply to your email but I love you!!! I pray for
you to have mental and physical strength every day. You are the world’s
greatest man. I am so thankful for a daddy like you and thank you for
finding Mommy. You are one lucky man. Love you Papa!! Oh yeah, the
food is SOOO GOODD!!!! Almost too good!!
I love you all!! Talk to you all next week
<3
--
--Hermana Kava
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