New area, new companion, new experiences!

Lots has been happening this week in my new area called Boulevares, Aguascalientes!  It is a lot different from Fresnillo - it is more developed (there is a Walmart!), there are no stray dogs walking around, and the streets are really clean.  It is hot like Fresnillo, but more humid here (and of course these are the hottest months of the year!) .... but I am staying hydrated and drinking lots of water ;) 

There is ton of "tenant like housing"

Another difference here is the living conditions: in our area there are two different types of living conditions.  First is the "sector style", which are clusters of 3-4 story apartment buildings. There are over 10 sectors and each sector has about 6 or more apartment buildings - so basically there are a ton of people living within a very small area. But it is nice for us because we don't have to walk super far distances to visit a lot of people, and there are always a TON of people outside. The kids like to play all together, and the adults sit in their plastic chairs talking or eating. 

This is the view outside our window

The second style of living is more like the housing in the common US neighborhoods- decent sized homes that are painted regular colors and are well built. There is a lot more traffic here (no dirt or cobblestone streets) and like I mentioned, a lot more Americanized (there is a McDonalds, etc.)

Opening a new area implies a lot of work. We have been doing a lot of contacting (talking with people in the streets, getting their address, and setting up a date and time in which we can begin teaching them). We also have been getting to know the ward members so they can have the confidence in us to share references (or people they know like family members, coworkers, neighbors, etc. that we can teach). The ward members are few (at church we only had about 45 people show up) but they are super friendly and so excited to have sister missionaries. We are the first sister missionaries in this area for over 25 years- and everyone has been commenting on how happy they are to have us here. Basically...we can definitely feel the love ;) haha

Me and Hermana Perez

My companion is amazing! I am training Hermana Perez who is from the state of Mexico and is 28 years old. Although I, at first, felt totally unqualified to train this native who is almost 10 years older than me... God has been helping me in so many ways and I have been learning so much this past week.  Hermana Perez is so kind and open to receiving advice on how to adjust to the missionary life.  She has been actively participating in the lessons and our contacting, and her testimony is strong.  She helps me improve my spanish (although she says it is about 95% perfect) and I help her with her english which she loves.  In fact, it was announced in the sacrament meeting on Sunday that I would begin giving english classes every Saturday from 12-1pm in the church and that all were invited and asked to bring their friends as well.  Hopefully it can turn into a great missionary experience as well as strengthen our connection with the ward members :)   I will be sure to update you all on how it goes this week :)   Kinda nervous though...

Right now we are living with two other sister missionaries which is a blast! Sister Mora is from Ecuador and is training Hermana Huff from Arizona. It works out great because we all help each other out and share in the responsibilities of the house. Today we ate together at Walmart - I got a footlong Subway sandwich with Hermana Huff, and Hermana Mora and Perez got Chinese food.  It was fun to sit and talk together about why we decided to serve missions and our future plans for when we return.  It has become a little weird to think about returning home in a year. The time here passes by so quickly and I realize more and more each day what a privilege it is to be serving a mission here. 

Here I am with Hermana Perez, Mora and Huff

I am so grateful for all the love and support I have been receiving and hope everyone is doing well. 

Hopefully next week I will have more stories because these past couple days Hermana Perez and I have just started to become more familiar with this new area and the people here :)  But all is going great and I am loving my time here with Hermana Perez!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Eliason

[cute picture from last week I forgot to include]

Hermanas Winsor & Eliason