11/24/14

TALIHINA Week 1

"The struggle is real." "Where am I?" And "....what just happened?" Three phrases that have been used at least a TRILLION times since I got here. OH BOY haha Talihina is the weirdest, craziest place on earth. I'm just gonna hop right in. So Sister Burrows is my new companion she's from Reno, Nevada...kinda she's lived in a bunch of different places but she's just finished training and she is really nice. I think my bluntness might scare her a little but I'm working on it. :) We have had a couple of the most strange days of my life. I'm just gonna make a bullet list cause it's unreal haha:

1. We live on what the natives here call Blood alley.....a woman was murdered walking down the street for no reason and her blood left a stain on the road for a bit....yep.

2. We woke up to no water on Sunday and successfully "bathed" with a jug of distilled water the sisters had stored.

3. Our Branch mission leader is AWESOME! He just got home from his mission 2 months ago and he was an assistant...cool. He also called the place where our apartment is "The Sketch" haha ok.

4. Our car's battery was dead this morning and we had to call a non-member Native American guy who loved the past sisters a lot and he saved us :)

5. We met the guy that owns the subway down here and he told us to go to the subway and get free food whenever we wanted and when we went there today the workers also handed us a bag of produce cause we mentioned we didn't have any...:) What in the world? SO nice!

6. Our water came back on...it's solid brown. We found out the water plant or whatever is right next to the sewage place...yum.

7. The sisters before us were like the Favorites of the whole town...hard to follow that one but! The thing is they spent like all of their time with about 3 people and so we have HOURS of everyday that are wide open and no one new to teach...GAHHHHH that's the WORST! Give the sisters referrals and have the lessons in your home! Remember missionaries are in areas to help the MEMBERS with THEIR work...sigh. Be good to those in our ward.

Ok I think that's the main points, dulled down haha. Goodness. I don't know what in the world to think about it here. It's so hard but yet there are such great people here but yet they're super easily offended and stuck in their ways. I just hope AND PRAAAYYYYY that I'll do my job here and that I'll make some lifelong friends along the way. I'm just so afraid of wasting God's time or of missing out on people or things because I don't know where to find them, but we talked to Brother Shaw, our mission leader and he reminded us that it's their job as members to provide people for us to teach we just have to do our part and be prepared and keep talking to everyone we can. Yay OTM! :) Anyhoo, I think that's it. I'm excited for Thanksgiving. The Shaws, aka one of sister Vendel's friends haha are having us over and they'll have a bunch of non-member family over too so it'll be awesome! And! The branch president, President Ingle and his wife are literally some of the Vendel's bffs haha and I LOVE them already. They are SOOOOO sweet. President Ingle reminds me of Dennis Quaid...in an older version. He has the thickest accent ever haha he is adorable! :) He's the nicest man on the planet and when he talks about Talihina it comes out " Tall-uh-hin-uh" So cute! haha Anyway. I'll have to let you know how this week goes. If sister burrows and I survive our stay here, IT WILL BE A MIRACLE! :) Have a GREAT Thanksgiving! I'm so unbelievably thankful for ALL of my friends and family. I'm truly blessed to have all of you. My love for each of you and for our Savior has only grown in these past 11 months!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

PS Kascey is getting baptized this weekend in Henryetta! And Sister Alward (aka my other mother) Said she'd come get me all the way in Talihina for Brian's baptism on the 6th...:) I LOVE HER!!

 

PPS I said goodbye to my favorite cashier at walgreens in Okmulgee before I left Henryetta and she gave me a big old hug and teared up. Her name is Annetta :) I gave her a Book of Mormon too. She's the sweetest. DAHHHHH SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE OUT HERE!!! I'm so blessed

Our Appartment

Sis. Burrows

Previous Sister's food storage

Drinking water?