Trunky for Tarija

"Trunky" adj: A term missionaries use when describing themselves or other missionaries that are ready to leave, to pack their bags- aka their "TRUNKS".

Example:

A lot of the time, Elders are "trunky" their last transfer. If they are still working hard their last transfer, they are not considered "trunky". On the other hand, if they have become lazy and use excuses such as ".. Pero ya me voy",(but I'm leaving)  they are DEFINITELY in the category of "Trunky".

"Otro Ejemplo" (Another Example): When a FUTURE missionary is at home with their call and they are ONLY thinking about their mission and just want to FREAKING LEAVE ALREADY.. also.. "Trunky"
 

Shoutouts..

My new cousin.. er.. second cousin? Beckham was blessed yesterday. Hopefully someday he'll read this and it will mean something to him.

Okay...

So I am no longer in Tarija. Remember when I told you all last week that Hermana Lyon was probably heading out? Yeah, that backfired. And this change was the hardest thing I've had to deal with in my mission so far. 

People always told me that you learn to love your investigators, and I thought I knew what they meant. 

I didn’t.

I didn’t realize how unconditionally attached I was to each one of my investigators in Tarija. The night of Cambios, when the Elders call and let you know what is happening… was the most stressful thing EVER.

-          ON THE PHONE    -

Elder Merkley: "Okay, Hermana Cedeño. Before anything, you have to promise not to scream, cry or.. freak out"

Me: "Yeah, Elder, what?"  The elders allllways mess with us.

Him: "Okay.. You´re going…   "To Stay…"

Him:  "To Yaquiba."

Me: "Yeah, whatever, Elder. Who's my companion?"

Elder Boman in the background: "I told you she wouldn’t believe you."

It took a LOT of convincing before I believed them. And when I finally did, I handed the phone to Hermana Lyon and left the room.

I think literally some of the happiest moments I've ever had in my life have been on my mission. But I feel the same way about the saddest moments.

My companion is Hermana Ruiz from La Paz, Bolivia. I really love her she is awesome. She is definitely the highlight of this transfer so far.

The ward... isn’t very excited about missionary work. 3 other Elders and I gave talks in church yesterday and we all tried to get the ward excited to help us with the work. It didn’t help much. 

We went to ward counsel, and when we told the president our goals to baptize at least 30 people this transfer... he said it was too high. That we couldn’t do it. We have 6 missionaries in this branch and... I think we can do it. We´ll have to work hard.

Yaquiba is more south east of Tarija. Part of Argentina is in my Area. It is blistering hot and I feel like I'm swimming, its SO humid. There are bugs… everywhere. This is the first time in my mission when I've left the house with my hair already up. Its just TOO HOT. 

This transfer is gonna be.. something. I feel like sometimes I just get sent to areas to clean up messes and then as soon as I can see the blessings coming… I get changed. Its rough. It makes me really sad. 

But apparently… everything happens for a reason. So I really want to find out what that is because at this point.. I'm just upset. I really want to get the ball rolling here because I feel like this branch – too small to be a ward – is at a complete stand still. I just want to work hard. 

The opening song at church yesterday:

"A donde me mandes iré" ("I'll go where you want me to go")

I think God was trying to tell me something.

Sorry, it’s a short email. But a little update. Pray for the people here in Yaquiba, that they will be prepared to hear the gospel. 

Because I'm not leaving this area the way I've found it, and I'm not leaving this area with any "un-knocked" doors. 

Love,

Hermana Cedeño