Sister Samantha Sue: Week 4

Another week has come and gone! It's crazy to think that next p-day will be the last email I send from the CCM. It has been such an awesome experience and I learn so much every single day here.

Our zone consisted of two districts that arrived on June 24th, and also one district that arrived two weeks before. Which means they left this Monday to serve their missions in Florida! We would always call them "the perfect district" because they basically were. They were so good at Spanish and so good at singing and were so nice all the time and had a lot of district unity. I looked up to them a lot and I know they're going to be such great missionaries! We get a new district in our zone tonight, and it's going to be weird being "the old ones". Also, my friend from BYU, Hermana Laura Marshall, left on Monday. It was so fun seeing her around the CCM and sitting by her during choir. She's going to be so great too.

Other news.. We got a new comedor! Before we would eat in a typical school-gymnasium-turned-into-a-cafeteria. It was pretty ghetto. And NOW, we have a brand new building that is so fancy! (At least compared to the rest of the buildings here.) Ahh it's so nice. I don't think I would appreciate it nearly as much if I hadn't experienced 4 weeks at the other one, though. The not-so-nice things in life really help us to appreciate all of the blessings that we are given every single day.

On Sunday night, right before the Latinas left, Hermana Valasquez gave me a note. It was in Spanish, but from what we could translate she said that the first time she saw me she thought she recognized me from somewhere. And she has these memories of us singing together or something. (I don't exactly know.. that part of the note was confusing.) Anyway, she said she thought we must have been friends in heaven because of how strange (and impossible) these memories were. Hermama Valasquez is seriously the sweetest person ever. For the two weeks that she was here she was always asking us to help her learn English because she wants to be able to listen to the prophet. I like to think that she and I were friends before this life, and that someday we'll be able to see each other again and tell each other all about our missions!

Other than that, not much happened this week! Sometimes it can be stressful learning the language or planning lessons, but I really like this quote:

Our lives cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.

Also, my motto for this week is to try to be a little more perfect than I was yesterday. We are commanded to be perfect (Matt. 5:48), and although it's not a commandment that we will be able to fulfil in this lifetime, we can try. I know that if we put forth our best effort, Christ will help us to become perfect.

I love you all and I pray for you every single day.

Love, Hermana Baker