Hola Familia Querida,

What an amazing week this has been! I thought it couldn´t get better after last week´s birthday celebration! (I hope M&D have been forwarding photos because these describe the festivities a little bit more) but it absolutely did! I think part of the key of what has been making me happy these past few days is making a concerted effort to do three things: 1. be on time to EVERYTHING (which, haha, if you know me at all, you know punctuality is not my strong suit...except in the morning because I am the lowest maintainence girl you will ever meet!) 2. to be more friendly with everyone--missionaries, staff, teachers, EVERYONE and 3. speak spanish ALWAYS because that is the only way I will learn it.

Of course, I haven’t been perfect in any of these things, but making and working on goals really is the key to happiness and satisfaction, at least in my life. Plus I have gotten to make friends with a lot of Mexicans here! They are so patient, even when I talk in my terribly slow, broken Spanish. Echoing the words of Hermana G., I love Mexicans! They are really amazing, and one of the women I ate lunch with one time, the hair dresser for the CCM, is named Rosie too! How cool!

We travel in style! our bus to the temple
was a Mercedes Benz!    Hahaha

As you may be able to tell from this week´s photos, I have a new name on my plaque! How did that come about? Well haha I was going to thank Presidente P. for a talk he gave, and he took one look at my last name, and said something like, Sister, do you know what your last name means in Spanish? And I said that I did, and he suggested that I might prefer a different name, since ´´Sister Cheap´´ sort of sends the wrong impression! So after some deliberation, I chose Hermana Romero (Romero = Rosemary), which STILL gets a lot of comments from the natives, because it sounds Mexican! Haha you just can´t win! Lately, I´ve started telling people my last name is Italian and that it sounds Spanish because it is just easier that way!!!

Another fun fact about my name change. When Hermana N. found out I could have changed it to anything, she said, ´´You should have changed it to N.! I´ve always wanted to teach an Hermana N.´´ Haha I love her. Both my teachers actually. They are great!

Haha so you are all probably wondering what on earth a bubulubu is! (Pronounced boobooloooboo, and if you were saying it any other way, you are wrong!) It is the strangest Mexican jelly candy I have ever encountered. Nobody likes the way they taste, but the name is SO fun to say, that in our district, it has become sort of a catch phrase to say that to each other.

In addition to being an amazingly hilarious and fun experience, the CCM is also really spiritually uplifting. I think it was Sister J. of the Boston mission who told me, ´´As a missionary, you only get one hour to study each day´´, and at first, I was confused why she would say ´´only´´, because, before my mission I would read scriptures for probably max of half an hour. In the past few weeks my scripture study has exploded. I have so many things I want to do, but not nearly enough time--I want to study how to be a better missionary in Preach My Gospel, keep reading the New Testament (to read of the example of Christ), look for scriptures our ´´investigators´´ need, read the Book of Mormon in Spanish, memorize scriptures, etc, etc and there just isn´t enough time! I am so grateful for the days when my district can actually be silent, because getting really good morning scripture study just makes my day go sooo much better.

This week, I have been thinking about my incredible spiritual inheritance. I have been blessed with talents and a testimony and I really feel a desire to share the Gospel with everyone. People out there in the world are so amazing, and I want to help them discover the great joy I have found in being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Good thing, huh? Because I have 18 months of that! :)

Love you all, and eagerly awaiting any letters and emails you send!
Hermana Baratta

P.S. I am 99% certain you can still address me in letters as Hermana Baratta, and 100% certain you can still think of me as Hermana Baratta

In Rosie's first blog post, she commented:
"Oh, and fun fact: it rains every day here! for only about an hour, but I am so grateful to have my umbrella."
This week she sent us two photos documenting a couple of her experiences with those daily rains.

We got back from exercise time to find that it has begun down-pouring
and ´´The calle {road} is a rio! {river}´´

On our way back to class that evening, we waded barefoot through the water.
I felt bad for the elders--they couldn´t avoid getting wet so easily!