Editor's note: The other sections in this newsletter may be short as most of the editor's (me) time was devoted to being sick and writing about this weeks miracle.
Fashion
Me and my companions bought matching dresses and we wore them on Sunday! We got lots of compliments and we looked pretty dang cute if I may say so.
We forgot to take a picture, but when we wear them again I'll add one in.
Hair
Someone talk me out of cutting my hair. I grew it out for a while and I was planning to grow it out more on the mission, but I'm seriously considering going back to a bob. Next thing you know I'm going to want bangs too. I always used to say people made the worst hair decisions on their mission and I think I'm next!
Goodbyes
In the CCM you have latino/as and Americans. All the native speakers (latins) only stay at the CCM in person for one week, while the rest of us stay about 4 weeks. The sad part is, when you befriend some latinos, they're destined to leave well before you are.
Our beloved latinas left today to go to their missions and it was tragic. It was so fun trying to talk with each other in Spanish and together we joked about the poor quality of the food at every meal.
I can only hope my Spanish sounds as good as theirs at the end of my mission
Sports
I played volleyball and I was actually kind of good!!! I hit the ball a couple of times, I served the ball, and I even managed to get my team a point! It was so fun! We played volleyball as a district and were having so much fun that other people joined our game swapping in and out. At first we played 5 on 5, then to save time swapping people we played 8 on 8 since so many joined.
Most of the week I was feeling too sick to exercise so not many updates on sports. I played ultimate frisbee with some of the district and realized there is way too much running in frisbee and ergo it should be abolished.
Leaving the Country
We went to the temple today and it felt like leaving the country. The CCM has a massive gate and security so we have to stop before leaving to go. Once you get outside the gate it feels like a different country.
Inside the CCM are fields of grass and trees and nice paved paths and maintained buildings, but once you leave you're just in the heart of the city. It's all packed traffic, graffitied buildings, big advertisements. Reading them gives us a great opportunity to practice our non religious Spanish though!
Miracles
I experienced a personal miracle this week. On Wednesday I started feeling sick. I had a sore throat and was a little congested, but it wasn't very bad. Then on Thursday I woke up and I felt worse. It was hard to even swallow and the only thing that felt good was drinking water so I ended up leaving class like every five minutes to refill my water bottle. I bought a gatorade because I was so sick of the taste of water.
Then on Friday I felt really sick. My throat hurt and my nose was stuffy and I couldn't speak because I felt so tired. My companions took me to the infirmary after our morning classes and they gave me some kind of medication that I took right away.
It helped for a while, and I felt really good and talkative at lunch, and didn't drink a gallon of water. But once we sat down at dinner everything changed.
It was like an out of body experience. I was eating food, but the hands putting the food into my mouth didn't feel like my own. It was hard to think and to put things into focus, or hold onto a thought for long. I heard people talking around me but they were all loud and yet far away. It was like I was hearing all the conversations at once. I told one of my companions, but reassured her it was nothing to worry about.
Right before our evening class after dinner I started crying and I didn't know why. One of my companions asked if we should go home, but I insisted I didn't want to miss class so they asked if we should get one of the elders to bless me instead. We went to the classroom with some other Hermanas who heard my struggle and asked Elders Eldredge and Egbert to bless me.
All the elders were in the class and they were freaked out to see me like that and asking for a blessing. They put a chair in the middle of the room and Elder Witter hurriedly pulled up the words to a priesthood blessing as Elders Eldredge and Egbert crowded around him to see how to do it. It was kind of funny as they laid their hands upon my head with Witter standing aside holding up the phone to them. It was scary how quiet everyone was, and how serious the Elders were. It made me scared that I had underplayed my illness, and I was afraid for what would happen.
But I hadn't needed to fear at all. As Elder Eldredge spoke words from God as directed by the spirit he said, "God knows you. And he knows your struggles. When you wake tomorrow you will be well."
It felt important, that he felt prompted to bless me that God knew I was struggling before blessing me with health. It was a testimony to me that no matter what life challenges me with physically, as long as I trust in Christ, and I have faith in the God who sees me and knows me, I will be okay.
I knew I would be okay because Christ trusted in me, and he knew I would be able to endure my trials and emerge stronger in the end. And I was okay. When our teacher walked in after the blessing he had us check in the infirmary to hear a doctors advice. He told me to rest in our apartment and return in the morning if I was still sick.
I wasn't. Aside from a runny nose I was perfectly well. My mind was clear, I taught a lesson in Spanish that day, I played volleyball, I drank very little water, and I did Duolingo. I was well in all the ways I could be, physically, mentally, and even stronger spiritually.
It was a miracle that I was healed. It was a miracle that I went from (in the words of my teacher) "looking like Hermana Voss was going to die" to being stronger and healthier today. Every single time I served the volleyball it went over the net. I've never been more athletic in my life.
In my evening class as we prayed to end the class together the teacher asked if we could thank the lord for "salud de Hermana Voss" and I really liked that. I'll be thanking him for my health every day that I'm alive, but not for my physical health, but rather my spiritual health. I feel blessed to have experiences like this that strengthen not only my testimony, but the testimony of others. Thank you for this miracle nuestro amoroso padre celestial.
The Funnies
Well in lighter news... (seriously guys, I'm fine now)
Elder Eldrege looks AI generated in this picture
Turns out Elder Solomon can play Journey??? He literally can't play any other song and can't read music. This is the only thing he can do on the piano
Hermana Jefa signing off, wishing you a buen día!
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