Touring Colombia!

Hi Friends and Family!! 

I can’t believe I’ve been here at the CCM for 1 month! Wow. People ask me if it’s gone fast or slow. I feel like I haven’t been here for very long, but when I think about the last time I saw my family, that feels like FOREVER ago! Only two more weeks here though. That’s quite a scary but exciting thought!

I feel like this has been my favorite week yet. I’ve definitely been blessed with great people around me, the language is starting to pick up, I’m really getting to know the president and his wife, and living at the CCM is becoming more normal. And more great.

This week we got to go proselyting in the city of Bogota again. This time though, we took a bus a little further away and we went for three hours instead of one. We got there and since the whole companionship mix up, they paired me up to go contacting with one of the CCM teachers.. Who, I didn’t know at the time, didn’t speak any English. It was quite the adventure. They handed us two Book of Mormons, pass along cards and told us to come back after three hours. One thing I realized is people outside of the CCM talk really fast! It’s a very true thing when people say they think they kind of know Spanish until they get out in the country and talk to people who don’t speak extremely slow and use hand motions for anything they say. Haha. About an hour in, it started to rain hard (which is very unusual for Columbia) so obviously we weren’t prepared and didn’t have coats to protect us. It was cool to be able to observe how a contacting conversation would go. Even though I was lost about 90% of the time, and could barely communicate with the "companion" that was with me, I was able to bear my testimony and gave a Book of Mormon to two different people. And right now, that is enough and that is what I need. Definitely a cool experience, but it made me realize how important a testimony is, especially when the language isn’t there.

Today for P-day, my district got to go on a tour around Columbia. I really like this city! The mountains remind me of the Guatemala jungles and the city kind of reminds me of places in Europe. The driving.. is insane!! After awhile of watching, I decided to save myself and not pay attention, because there were MANY close calls. We got to ride a tram up the mountain and overlook all of Bogota. Beautiful beautiful! The city is also very busy. People everywhere. Crossing streets, selling random things on the side of the road, sleeping. It made me realize how many people there are out there who have never even heard of the gospel. We sure are blessed to live where we do! We also got to look around and shop at little gift shops, a lot like the ones in Mexico or Hawaii. There was lots of cool stuff, but because I’m the way I am and don’t like deciding or spending money, I just bought a cookies n cream Hershey’s bar and that was more than enough for me! :) Haha, I’m going to eat it sparingly because those things are very precious around here.

One of my favorite things about the CCM here is the teachers. They are so cool, so patient, and so good at what they do! We’ve gotten to the point where they only allow us to speak in Spanish and every time they hear an English word, they make us do five pushups. So... either we’ll get strong or good at Spanish. I guess it’s our choice. They always say random and funny things, like when we correctly conjugate a sentence or understand the grammar, they’ll say "Muy latina!!" or yesterday we heard a new one, "Latination" Haha they sure make the day fun!

They do something cool here at this CCM where the last two weeks, all the Americans get Latin companions. So since I’ve been here four, tomorrow morning we get new companions, new teachers and new districts. And what that means... It’s Spanish from here on out. Wow, this is going to be good for me, but I’m crossing my fingers for a patient district :) I’ve been so blessed with the most amazing district for these first 4 weeks. I was talking to the president’s wife today and she said it’s interesting that each group has their different personality. Some work hard, some just want to goof off, some ignore the Latins and just speak Spanish the whole time. Our district has been amazing and we all share the same desire to work hard and be obedient. We’re already planning reunions in 18 months and most of us are going to be in Utah, so we’ll make it happen. These girls have definitely encouraged me to be better and I feel like I’ve known them way longer than 4 weeks!

A cool moment was during sacrament meeting. It’s something small, but we sang How Firm a Foundation for our closing song. That’s the song we sang at my farewell and although I didn’t know the exact words I was singing, I felt the same Spirit so strong. Whether it was Hyde Park, Utah or Bogota Columbia, I was overcome by the feeling that this gospel IS the foundation that is firm and it is all over the world. 

We also had the opportunity to watch a short video clip called "The Atonement and Missionary Work”. It was one of those powerful videos paired with two conference talks, and by the end, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. A line that stood out to me said, “When you are discouraged and rejected, you are standing shoulder to shoulder with Christ, the greatest missionary of all.” I know that he knows exactly how discouragement feels and how success feels. When we cry, he cries with us. When we struggle, he has struggled that same struggle plus so much more. But I realized that if we want to BE like him, we have to DO as he did, and that is not always easy. But oh so worth it.

Thank you for your support and love. This gospel truly is happiness and I’m so grateful for that. Have a great last week of July!! Talk to you soon!

Hermana Yorgason

From 3 to 2....

My wonderful family!!

Oh how I just love you guys and miss you soo so much! Sounds like its been another great week! I feel like so much more has been going on since I left! Haha - thanks mom for the letter and pictures. A wedding?? Wow, I definitely didn’t expect that this fast! I am so excited for you guys, and make sure you send tons of pictures! Also, so so cool that the boys are still washing windows and making so much money! Did you mean $500 in a week or in a day? Ill have to catch up with you guys when I get back cuz it sounds like you’re gonna be getting some pretty good skill :)

Another week down at the CCM. Its been good, but full of change! On Tuesday (the last time I emailed you guys) the new district came in and the old district left. The incoming district had 7 boys and 1 girl. Haha - I have never heard of that before!! We were all surprised that only one girl was coming in.. kind of wondering how that was all gonna work out, but obviously she needed a companion. President Duvall (our CCM president) was the one who had to figure out how to make that work, but since I’m in a three some, it makes sense that one of us would go with her and Pres. Duvall assigned me to be her new companion. It was honestly pretty hard at first because our companionship had been going so well and we had become so close. My new companion’s name is Hermana Nielson and she is very sweet as well. She grew up in Utah and also went to BYU, so more connections! I figured that this is good practice for me when I have to change companions in the field and luckily I still see Hermana Wise and Weaver quite often. How it works... since the new Hermana is in a different district, different classes and level of Spanish, I still am in class with my old district and old companions. Then, for everything else, I’m with Hermana Nielson and sometimes both, so I’m with 1, 2, and 3 companions at different times. Haha we sure get creative when planning. I also teach our investigators (our teachers who act like investigators) with both companionships so I get double the lessons. Ha, I guess I needed extra practice with teaching and Spanish because that’s sure what I’m getting. Because of that, I don’t have much down time to study and go over what we’ve learned, but I sure am busy! (Did I mention that I love being forced to go to bed at 10:30? I sleep so well!!)

This week I was also asked to teach Relief Society on Sunday to all the North American sisters here. Ah it was so nice to teach in English again! I based it on the talk by Pres. Uchtdorf, "Forget Me Not" which was so good for me to read and get to study in depth. Teaching to a bunch of missionary girls is so great because there were so many great thoughts and comments. We actually only got through 2 1/2 out the 5 points because so many people had things to say. It really helped uplift my spirits to talk with girls who were all going through the same thing and all have so much faith about what we are called to do.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week we had a different general authority come and speak. Apparently that’s really rare, but I loved listening to their testimony about missionary work and what we can do to make the most out of this year and a half. One of them talked a lot about our call and how even though it says the exact same thing in all of the letters, those blessings are personal and specifically for us. 

More rice this week, LOTS of food! PERFECT temperature. And when it rains, it feels like you’re walking into a mist machine. We teach our "investigators" everyday (or more than once a day). The language is still hard, its still harder than I thought it would be, (probably because I didn’t think about that aspect too much), but I hear time and time again that the Lord will help those who work hard. We watched a devotional from Elder Bednar and he said that many people don’t understand the lessons anyway, so the Spirit is what you need :) More classes, more running, did I mention more rice?! There were also a few times this week when I got homesick. I think that’s something that I’ll always have to go through because I just love my family so much, but there were also many times where I realized that this is exactly where I need and want to be.

Thank you so much for your letters and Love. I’m going to try and send a few pictures and exciting news... I get to write again on Tuesday!!

Love,  Hermana Yorgason

Second Week in CCM!

Dear my wonderful friends and family!!

Wow, I love having five days in between p-days!! I feel like I just wrote and here I am again. I think I was just as excited to come down to the computers though! I LOVE email time!! Last week I barely got two letters out and didn’t have time to send any pictures, so I’m sending more this week and hopefully I'll have a little more time to write a few more people. We’ll see. I loovvedd seeing pictures of you guys and it's so fun to hear how life is going. I LOVE that picture of all of us at the airport! Mom, if you’re ever going to send a picture to me in a package, that's the one I want!

I feel like time at the CCM is going to start going by faster, and its crazy that I've already been here a third of the time. Exactly two weeks ago I was on a plane flying over to Columbia and oh how so much has changed for me! It's weird to think that life is actually going on like normal every where else in the world! But I’m actually really enjoying this little bubble I’m in. Food getting cooked for you, laundry done by a maid, no grocery shopping, and only having to worry about one specific thing all day everyday. My companion put it well... if you’re wondering what were doing here, we eat rice, feel the Spirit, and speak Spanish. So there you go. If you’re running out of time, no need to read my letter because there's my week in a preview. Haha. 

Well, the week started out well with getting locked out of our room, not waking up to the alarm in the morning (and having about ten minutes to get ready for the day) I’m getting good at that :) And then, I knocked off my bottle of leave in conditioner and shattered I think over the whole entire floor of our room. (Yes, right when we had to get down to a devotional. Those things always happen at convenient times.) My companions were so sweet and helped me clean the whole thing up. They even got their own wash clothes and I’m pretty sure they will never be white anymore! But it was a good adventure and I think we finally aren’t stepping on glass pieces anymore. 

We moved rooms today. I think I should get used to this 
whole packing thing!

Speaking of my companions, I told you who they were, but mom asked a little bit more about them, and sorry I forgot that in my last email! Hermana Weaver is from Cedar City and went to SUU this year. She is so sweet has such a great way of bringing the Spirit into lessons. We actually met each other at the airport in Atlanta and have been friends ever since. Hermana Kendra Wise is from Gilbert, Arizona and went to BYU this last year. She lived in Heleman so we didn’t know each other, but we found out we have some of the same friends in common. Imagine that!! She reminds me a lot of (aunt) Amber and Elissa Clark (one of my college roommates). She has such a joy for life and always helps us laugh about all the things that are hard or go wrong. They are both runners, so they push me everyday at workout hour which is probably good for me :) Hermana Wise has Fit Bit (which counts steps, tracks miles) so were trying to get 10,000 in everyday, which is very hard at an MTC where you’re sitting all day. Like I said last week, our companionship is just going so well! I could see how threesomes could be hard, but luckily it's not a problem because we get along so well!

A little more about the CCM here... its an old church that is on maybe 3 or 4 acres. Not very big. Its fenced in, so we’re mostly in this same area all the time. I feel like I live in a house/church/cafeteria/college dorm room/stake presidents office. I LOVE this CCM though! There are about 70 missionaries (which is sooo small compared to the Provo) but because of that, we get to know everyone. Our districts are really tight, and the President knows everyone's name and things about us. It has been perfect for me!

Like I said, we’re pretty much stuck inside the gates, but last Friday we finally got to go out into the real world of Bogota, Columbia and go proselyting! Ya, you’re probably thinking the same thing that I am. We had barely been here for a week and they were sending us to the streets! With our companions and a Book of Mormon. Its weird, but I honestly wasn’t that nervous. I've had Latins laughing at me all week for my Spanish so it couldn’t be much worse than that :) The first girl we talked to was sitting by a tree I think doing some homework. She was in college and soo forgiving of the little Spanish we knew. As we talked to her, I could tell she was lonely and she told us her family wasn’t very close. As we gave her a Book of Mormon towards the end of our conversation, she told us that she really needed that and when she looked up at us, she had tears in her eyes. Wow. I was really touched, and I realized how many people there are in the world that don’t have the truth, and don’t even know that it exists. The last lady we talked to was such a sweet little grandma. She was Catholic and as we talked to her, I don’t know if she'll be interested, but she said that she felt good when she talked to us. She said we looked like barbies from the US. Hahaha. But it really made me realize what Christlike love is like. We were three girls who weren't very good at what we were trying to do, but this lady turned around from where she was headed and showed us so much love. We were out for about an hour and it was probably the highlight of my week. It made me realize how much I don’t know, but it also made me realize how much I DO know. We got four peoples' contact information to give to the missionaries here. Who knows what will come out of it, but SUPER cool experience!

A few "you know you’re in Colombia when"s....

-You know you’re in Columbia when you get sunburned from being outside for one hour

-You know you’re in Columbia when you’re riding on a bus and there is a motorcycle literally less than a foot away from you

-You know you’re in Columbia when they try and hide rice in the ice cream

-You know you’re in Columbia when there are sirens going off every night and you hear it all because the windows don’t close. But... you know you’ve been here long enough when you sleep right through that because its just like second nature now.

Yes, I’m loving this country! And I know there may have been some dangerous things going on, but we are totally safe right here in our gated little CCM community. 

I had a cool experience in class this week. We were reading the first few verses of first Nephi in the Book of Mormon... Trying to translate from Spanish to English. It talks about Nephi writing in the language of his fathers, and our teacher pointed out that learning a language is probably something we can add to the list of hard things that Nephi was asked to do. Missions.. can be hard. The mission schedule.. ya, that can get tiring, and learning a language has not been the easiest thing, but I know how Nephi responded to his problems. I think if it weren’t for the challenging things Nephi had to go through, he wouldn’t be as valiant, his faith wouldn’t have been as strong, and his stories definitely wouldn’t be there to help 19 year olds (or 30 or 50 year olds) many years later. Reading that really made me appreciate my experiences so far and the challenging as well as the great parts. 

Thank you all for your love, letters and thoughts. Have a fantastic week and I’ll talk to you next Thursday!

Hermana Yorgason

Week One!

Dear My Wonderful Family!! (And any friends who might read this)

Uno Semana!! One week guys! Wow, it has felt like one of the longest weeks of my life, but I am also so, so happy. This missionary life is pretty special.

So first of all, this feels like Christmas right now! I have literally been waiting outside of the computer room for so long, and the moment it opened, I ran in and snatched a computer. All the missionaries here keep warning us that writing family for the first week is so stressful because there's so much you want to say, new keyboards, and loading on pictures is hard to figure out, so I'm just going to try and tell you as much as I can in the time that I have. My fingers are flying. I opened my inbox and have 67 new emails.. Don't know how that happens!?? So I can only promise my family a letter and then we'll see what happens from there. But thank you sooo so much everyone for writing me. It honestly helps me feel like I'm not totally forgotten.

All the hermanas getting on the plane in Salt Lake

Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning... Last week on Tuesday we said goodbye at the airport, and wow it was a hard thought knowing I'm not gonna see you guys for a year and a half, but once I got over to the gate, I found so many missionaries and was overcome by the spirit of being a part of that group. There were so many cute sisters that I started talking to and it was great to know we were all in the exact same position. Well, we got on the plane to Atlanta and I'm pretty sure we all filled up half of it. Apparently as we were getting on, a few people asked if we could sing a hymn, so about half way through the flight we all sang Called to Serve. Nothing like I'd ever done before, but it was cool to sing with all the missionaries, and I think that's when it started to hit me that I was starting this great adventure. Most of the Sisters and Elders were going to Peru, so we split up in Atlanta and joined a few other people going to Columbia. My second cool experience was on that flight... I think like 5 hours long. I was sitting by one of the Elders in my district and then another girl who was just flying to Columbia. I later found out that she spent half the year there with her dad and the other half in the US with her mom. Well, towards the end of the flight I started talking to her and she told me all about her life. She's Luke's age, 17, is going to college soon and she started to tell me that she just feels like she needs a change. She asked what I was doing and I explained to her what a mission is, what I get to do, and she was totally surprised that that is even a thing. Well, she started asking questions and we got into a really good conversation about what we believe. We showed her the Articles of Faith, a few scriptures, and I told her a few experiences about how I know that it is true. She was eating it up.  I think she asked the Elder and I questions all the way until Columbia. We gave her our emails and told her that the missionaries would be happy to answer any questions. It wasn't much, I just bore a simple testimony, but it was so cool that the first missionary work I got to do was not even in my mission yet. AND in English!!

We got to Columbia late and it was quite the proccess to find all of our luggage, figure out where we were going and find the people we were supposed to meet up with. There's 9 in my district and we all crammed in a van, with our luggage and drove about 10 minutes to the CCM... the place I'll call home the next 6 weeks :) We had a good sleep that night, and then were put to work right away the next morning. I can honestly say, the first two days here were the longest days I have ever had. So many meetings, books, spanish, different food, crazy schedule. So mom, when you say you guys were hoping time was going faster for me... Ha, I guess time was not fast for you guys OR me, but I can already tell that time is picking up and it's going to go a lot faster. But man, those first few days I was sure thinking that my mission was going to be a Loooong 18 months.

My first companions!  I love them!

It's a little weird getting adjusted to being with someone all the time.. but I feel like I was dealt the best companions out there. I'm in a tri companionship, (I think the only one of the MTC) and I absolutly love them both. All three of our personalities mesh so well and I think we really push each other and encourage each other to be better. We've set so many goals and I've loved having two sweet and understanding companions by my side. We've been memorizing a scripture mastery in spanish everyday, we try and talk to the Latins as much as we can, and from a fireside on the first day, we decided to be 200% obedient here, because we need all the help we can get! Even if that means bringing our journals in the bathroom while someone else is showering, or finishing our room prayer in the dark because its past 10:30. Its a little more difficult to coordinate 3 people's schedules, but being in a trio has been such a blessing. We're definitely taking your advice mom and laughing our way through things. That has made our getting lost, or horrible spanish a lot easier to bare.

So besides my two companions, I have a district of 9, and there are 7 hermanas and 2 elders. I don't think that happens too much, but wahoo for girl power. I've honestly loved that because we've all gotten really close and it makes it easier to just totally focus on the gospel, studying, and working together to learn how in the world to teach. And do it in Spanish. All the girls in my district sleep in one room and I think we're all from Utah, Idaho, Arizona or California. 

All the girls in my district….

I also now what people mean when they say they feel like they're trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Oh boy. High school was hard, college was hard, but this is a whole different kind of hard. Probably because I WANT to learn everything I can, and have so much motivation to do as much as I can do in these next 6 weeks at the CCM. I guess I never really realized what it takes to learn a language, but it is sure hard. I think out of anything I've stuggled with here, it's definitely been that. Most of the other people came here with more Spanish than I did, so I already felt a little behind, but I'm grateful for patient teachers and companions. In personal scripture study this week, I opened up to Ether 12:27 and was reminded once again that THIS is a time where I have definitely been given a weakness so I can turn to the Lord. It's kind of crazy to me that there will be one day where I can speak it. As most people know, I'm sort of a perfectionist and love to work hard and get the hang of things, but I'm trying my best to remain patient with myself. But I do feel like this is school on sterioids. I sure appreciate night time now and I don't think I've ever slept so well in my life!! We can teach lessons, pray and I even bore my testimony in spanish on Sunday (very simple!), but I know it will come.

This might be a surprise, but one of the things I actually really like about it here is the food! Sorry to all my brothers, I think you guys would be jealous, but we usually get a big piece of steak and some chicken, rice or potatoes, amazing soup, fruit, juice and ice cream bars for lunch. Like we found out before I left, lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, so that is quite enjoyable! We also have a lot of hot dogs here. Ha, not my favorite thing, but I'm learning to like them. One day we had them for dinner and then again for breakfast. Guess they gotta use the leftovers :) For breakfast everyday I have hot chocolate, some really good homemade bread with jam, juice, fruit, and then there's usually some other thing. Dinner is also pretty good, so don't worry, I'm not starving over here:)

And obviously, since I'm letting myself enjoy the food, I also try and work hard during our workout hour, and that has become one of the things I love! Like I said, my district is really close, so we usually all workout together. Most of them are runners so we run for like 20 minutes, and then abs, push ups, wall sits, or some days "yoga" :) A few of the girls here played sports in college so we actually do some real workouts. It's also a fun time to talk, bond, and laugh with the hermanas around me. 

I've had soo many cool experiences here, mixed in with a few hard ones, but one of my favorite was going to the temple this morning. As I sat in the celestial room I realized that I may be on the other side of the world, but the Spirit is just the same. The other thing that really stands out was in a class on Saturday. It was one of those times when I was missing my family a little more than normal.. And my teacher told us that just like your family probabaly misses you and wishes you were home right now, God also is so excited for you to return home to Him. In that moment I realized how important it is that people know how much they are loved by their Heavenly Father. Although being away is so hard, I realized that these 18 months are going to be so worth it, because there are people who don't know that. It was a really cool experience that helped me focus on what I came out here to do.

Temple trip today with my companions

Well I love you guys. I miss you sooo so much, I love you, but I've been so blessed to be able to focus on being a missionary and realize that this is what I WANT to do!

Have a great week! Cant wait to hear from you again!!

Love, Hermana Yorgason