Hermana Brittani Larsen

Lately I've been able to see more cultural fun around here and I'm so happy! There were people dancing in the street next to our house. It was so cool there was lots of hip swinging, haha and the guys were dancing so well! They had these cool boots with bells on them. There was a talent show in our ward on Friday. We were going to sing in it but it started late so we couldn't. There were some cool acts. And its crazy the people here just don't get very nervous. They played music so loud, because some young men were in charge of the music, haha. It was really fun though. We have some references because members brought their friends who aren't members. I am so happy. I'm back in Belen! Can you believe it. I love it. Its like coming home. I got so many hugs from the members and I got to see my convert Aide. She has her own chocolate business that is going to get started really soon. Her chocolates are so good! I love seeing her. It almost made me cry to see her doing so well and she has a calling as a young womens counselor. We have three baptisms coming up this month and three more for next month. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be here. My companion now is hermana Randall. She is from Utah. I've never seen an American hit it off so well with the people here. Everyone automatically loves her. I feel very lucky to be her companion. I just hope I can learn a lot from her and help her out if I can. Guess what, a monkey was climbing around the patio of some investigators we were teaching. It was their pet. I was a little nervous I have to admit because it was a kind of big monkey, haha. And it walked around making a growling sound that I didn't know monkey s made,haha. Me and my comp had our first fight thing the other day. It was because I am not talking as much. It's just hard because I am not used to the way she teaches. And I can never tell when she is going to stop or when I need to come in. So to punish me she made me say the prayer at the end of every lesson. I got ticked because she was treating me like I was under her and I had to explain that I'm just trying to learn how to teach with her. So we figured things out and now we're good. We had a baptism planned this last Saturday but the little girl was terrified of being in so much water even though she goes swimming at water parks with her family. I think she was just nervous and the water was really cold because the water can't get heated up in that chapel. We tried to convince her, along with everyone who was at the baptism haha, but it didn't work. We even put our feet in the faunt to try and calm her down. But nothing worked. That was a first for me. I'm hoping it'll be the last too. I'm having so much fun here. I feel like I can be myself and be a missionary at the same time. It's different because I've been very strict in my conduct and how I talk with people but being with my new companion makes me realize its so much better to be yourself. People really respond to that and open up more and its just natural.