missionary work, universal studios, & muddy shoes

Today was a wonderful day… it started out lame, but it turned fabulous. I woke up with a really bad stomach ache this morning… so I missed school. I slept for a good chunk of the morning… and then I did some odds and ends. I started writing my essay of a letter to Chase about Mexico. That was fun. It was raining SO much today… I could hear it all day. When Ash got home she told me all about it. Apparently the bus had to take a different route because telephone poles got knocked down on our normal route! CRAZY! Just with rain! Ash went to service, and then I got ready to go on splits with the sister missionaries. It was SO amazing. First of all, I got on the first bus to get to the temple… there was so much traffic from the rain. I was afraid I would miss the sisters if I took the second bus, so I got a taxi. It was POURING while I was taking the taxi. When I got out of the taxi, I was supposed to cross the street a couple of times. Excuse me, did I say street? I meant RIVER. I did not think that the Universal Studios tour was reality… because basically all of the water was rushing down the street. I cannot even describe it. I had to walk across it… in my church clothes. No doubt, I looked like a crazy white girl. I was laughing the whole time because it was so entertaining to me. My poor shoes. Haha. There were literally white caps on the water. AMAZING! I got to the temple to find only the boys waiting there for the elders (who never came to get the boys). I waited for a little bit longer, and Ashley and Jessica showed up… a few minutes later, the sisters showed up. We each got a tag to wear… which was way cool.
Here is me with the tag... I'm Sister Rich! Claro... haha.

We rode on the bus for a while to meet a few other sisters. When we got there, they divided up us three with the sisters. We were legitimately going from door to door! I was with Hermana Sladana Rios.
Here is a picture of us walking down the street...

close up!

She is so nice and so patient. She knew I was pretty nervous to be speaking Spanish to people, so she started me out slowly. I started by saying, “Good afternoon! We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My name is Sister Barton, and this is my companion.” Then she would say a few things and bear her testimony. She would ask them if it would be alright if we could come back, too. After a while, Hermana asked me if I would do the rest. I was really hesitant, but after a few times I got it right. I had to ask them what their name was, if they believed in God, and what God meant to them. I really liked it! It made me want to go on a mission. And it was really legitimate to me. I felt like it was a true mission-like experience. It had just rained, so all of the dirt roads were mud… we went door to door and people told us no… we even stopped at the bishop’s house to use the bathroom. I had to share a message on the spot at the end though… that was kind of scary. I just used my scripture mastery knowledge and then bore my testimony. There was one man that whose door we knocked on who already had a Book of Mormon. He didn’t really have anything nice to say about the church, but Hermana Rios knew everything to say back to him. The whole experience was really interesting to me. I am definitely glad I went. =)
Here is a picture of my shoes after the whole experience...

After we went to the gas station to get a little snack… and then we were going to meet some people at a park. We took the bus that they told us to took… but we did not end up at the park. In short, we were somewhere close to downtown, and then we took a taxi to the churro stand to meet our friends. We waited for a bit... Goofed off and such.
Don't mind if I do play on the train tracks... =)

Don't mind if we do sit on the train tracks...

And of course we broke down and ate churros. We drove home on an amazingly pimped out bus that had a black light… Our clothes glowed… it was amazing. Now I am home, and I am getting ready to go to bed! Love you all!!!