Hermana Ella DeMordaunt's Mission: I lost my Voice!! September 27th 2023

Hellooo friends and family!! I am IN CALIFORNIA now! This week has been such an adventure. Lost my voice, got to be part of an amazing baptism, got called to speak another language besides Spanish.. I can't wait to share everything!

First off, my P-days here are pretty busy so I just want to thank everyone for the emails and let you know I read all of them, even if I can't respond every P-day! They mean so much to me and I'll get back to you each whenever I can I just haven't had a lot of extra time!

Last Thursday both my companions left in the morning for their missions. Shoutout to Hermana Zarco and Hermana Judd I miss you both sooo much!! I didn't have a companion that day because I was just supposed to pack and prep to leave, so that felt super weird. I'm so used to having comps 24/7 that I can only imagine how weird it will feel being alone when I get back home after my mission.

Friday morning I left the MTC at 4:30am. We were bussed over to the airport and I was EXHAUSTED but thankfully Hermana Buhrley (a friend of mine from before the mission - we met at AFY a few years ago!) has the exact same mission call and had the same travel plans as me so she and I got to talk on the bus ride and flight!

When we got here the mission president and his wife, President and Sister Rodriguez, were at the airport to pick us all up. They are the nicest people and I'm so excited to be working with them!

That night we stayed at one of the Senior missionary couple's homes and the next day I met my trainer, Hermana Silva!!! I LOVE her!!! She's so outgoing and fun! She's really on top of our schedule too, and whenever we're going anywhere she never passes up an opportunity to stop and hand out a pass-along card or share the gospel. Literally if I can be like Hermana Silva I know I'll be a good missionary. She moved to Utah from Brazil when she was 12 so her first language was Portuguese. Spanish and Portuguese aren't the same but they have a lot of similarities and she speaks amazing Spanish. I hope one day I can have the same kind of casual conversation she has with natives, but right now I'm just doing my best to understand what they're saying half the time.

So I hear a lot of missionaries struggle communicating in their new assigned language when they get to the field. I struggled with that but I ALSO couldn't even communicate in English for a while! The day I got here my voice was a little raspy and I wasn’t feeling great, but the next day I woke up and it was GONE. I tried to talk and the only thing I could do was whisper. I've never lost my voice that bad before. It was pretty frustrating because I knew I had a lot of first impressions to make that day. It was the day I met my companion and my district and I knew we'd possibly be teaching lessons that evening. Thankfully everyone was understanding, it was just funny because each person I talked to would look at me weird as I tried to push out a whisper that I lost my voice. Some people would laugh, others would start whispering back. It's hard to describe how rough it was not to have a voice those first couple days, but I guess the Lord was just trying to help me feel EXTRA grateful for my voice! And now that I have it back I should be shouting the gospel from the rooftops! haha

BIG NEWS: Hermana Silva and I are some of the few Sisters in our mission that have actually been called to speak a second language. The mission president called me into his office after we were assigned and asked me if I would be okay learning Mixteco as well. It's a dialect, so it's not a written or read language, only spoken. It's nothing like Spanish. I am seriously only going to be able to learn it through the gift of tongues. I am super excited to learn but it's also a lot to take in! I can explain more about the language and why it's so important to learn here in Santa Maria in next week's email, but basically a lot of the people we're teaching here are field workers that came from a certain part of Mexico that spoke Mixteco. Some of them have learned Spanish, but many family members speak only a little Spanish. Thankfully Hermana Silva speaks Mixteco pretty well. I have so much more to explain but it will have to wait until next week!

SPIRITUAL:

So I was blessed with opportunity to be part of a baptism this last Sunday! Our new convert is named Liz, she is 15, and although I didn't get to teach her before baptism, I am so excited to help her as a new member! She is the greatest example of faith! When she was found by the Sister missionaries (Hermana Silva and Hermana Woolley, the missionary who came before me), she told them she had a dream the night before that two angels came to her, and they were baptizing people with water and fire. Hermana Silva explained that that's exactly what happens in our church! We baptize by water and then the baptism by fire represents receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost! Liz said that they were the angels from her dream and started taking lessons, but her mom only speaks Mixteco and wanted her to stop. A few weeks ago, her mom started allowing her to have lessons again and get baptized, so we were able to baptize her this Sunday! Her mom didn't come to the baptism but her younger siblings did, and now they want to follow her example and be baptized in two weeks (Ashley and Irving)!

Liz has such faith and I am so grateful for her example, to both Hermana Silva and I and her siblings. This week I challenge each of you to pray for the ability to be an example in your lives! Treat each person as if you are representing Christ!

FUN FACTS:

-I am in a biking area! I love getting to bike everywhere but biking with a skirt is a serious hazard

-Santa Maria doesn't smell the greatest all the time because there are so many broccoli fields here

I love you all so much! I could tell a million other stories! Can't wait to share next week :)

-Hermana DeMordaunt

PICTURES:

-P-day tacos with my district!

-Weekly planning and strawberries with Hermana Silva (our apartment complex is the best!)

-Nighttime comp selfie after teaching lessons

-Last picture with part of my MTC district right before we left

-Getting off the plane in California!

-Airport selfie with all the new missionaries headed to Ventura!