Forgetting My NativeTongue

Que tal Familia?
Wow, I almost started typing this email in Spanish without even thinking about it! Ya´ll are going to have to help me assimilate back to English when I get home lol. Anyways, this week was great as we got to see the baptism of Celeste. President Hernandez and his wife even attended the service, so that was pretty neat. Little by little we´ve been gaining the confidence of the ward and especially the bishop through our hard work here in Villa Carmen, and things are really starting to turn around. I love being able to see changes like that. On Sunday we also had a huge blessing as Penelope finally came to church after 6 weeks of our Thursday afternoon appointments. I think she really felt the difference in Spirit as it was fast and testimony meeting. I can´t wait to see her continue to progress. Each day I grow to love these people more and more and it just makes me impatient to help them receive the blessings I know they can receive through the gospel. One thing I´ve had to learn over and over again in my mission is that TIMING is everything, and the Lord´s timing is always better than our own. Hermana Vera and I are also excited for the coming weeks as Kenia, Felix´s mom our next door neighbor and recent convert, told us she wants to be baptized. Felix got baptized a few months back by himself and now his whole family is sharing with us. What a wonderful blessing a good example can be in a family!
We also had a good laugh this week when we went out one afternoon with Michael, one of the single adults in our ward. As we were walking in the street past a bunch of teenage boys playing basketball and purposely ignoring them as they were all staring and whistling, one of them very loudly and bitterly told his friend ¨Ellas no se casan¨ (They don´t marry.) I had to strongly resist the urge to turn around and yell ¨Of course we do! Just not to little boys who play in the streets¨ ... but I decided to hold my tongue and just laugh. I can´t lie though, I´m very much looking forward to returning to my own country where I am largely ignored by the opposite sex. A blessing I used to take for granted.
Today has also been full of laughs and fun as we FINALLY had a zone activity. After playing some volleyball and bruising up our arms good, we played some games and ate lots of food. I made truffles as a dessert and they were a big hit. Although some doubts arose when one of the Elders asked me what the secret ingredient was and I, thinking of the process of making them in our hot kitchen, responded quickly ¨Sweat!¨ Hahaha. But anyways, things are going well and we are working hard and trying to aguantar...yet another word I can´t remember in English...the heat and sun. Hope you all have a fantastic week!
Love,
Hermana Bradley