Semana 16 - Back and better than ever!

Wow, what a month! Oh whoops I meant week! 

They say the second time you leave for your mission it gets easier. Well, it doesn't but that's what I get for having such awesome family/friends and a beautiful home for making it hard to say goodbye. Anyway, 2nd times a charm so hopefully I can stay out longer than 6 weeks this time :) 

My plane arrived a little early to a ghost townish, under construction airport so I walked around the airport with 2 ladies from the plane for a good 30 minutes trying to find the exit. They were both from the area so I trusted them more than myself but we ended up getting pretty lost. After a bit, I found my companions and the AP's there to pick me up. I'm in a trio! My companions, Hermana Eich and Hermana Barreda, are both from Utah and are amazing!! Also, I can't forget to mention our Chevy Equinox, which I was appalled was not given a name yet so I named it "The Blue Stallion" but reply to this if you have any other ideas. We then ended our night at this cool new place called Cafe Rio (not sure if many of you guys have heard about it, it's kinda underground).

For the rest of my life, I will not stop talking about how amazing and beautiful it is here!!! It is so so green which makes being quarentined a little better because I get to go outside to the coolest lakes, parks, forests, etc. Expect many, many, many nature pics :) 

We are in the Washington DC 1st ward and cover a pretty big area which includes Rockville, Potomac, and Bethesda. For one of our outings, we drove to see some mansions in Potomac and WOW. It definitely made me think for a second about marrying a politician and having a nice big house near the city, but I'm here to get work done so I'll come back to that later. 

My second day here, we were in charge of making a post for our Facebook page so we went to the park with some chalk. We wrote, "Jesús ama a todos" but I guess waking up at 6:30 (3:30am CA time) wrecked me just a bit and I wrote the "J" in Jesus BACKWARDS. I didn't even notice until we were done and I wasn't going to broadcast this to everyone but it's already on the internet for everyone to see and my misfortunes make for good content so I'll attach the picture. 

We went to the Temple Visitor's Center which is next to our church building and the temple!!! It's HUGE and so beautiful. We will hear from President Nelson about the details and if the open house this fall will be postponed or not. 

   

We've been doing lots of contacting, lessons with members and referrals, and studying. The apartment is small and sadly the DC area is still pretty behind with reopening stuff but staying positive is KEY! We have had a lot of success with people we are teaching and have the most awesome woman named Jessica.  She's a STAR and is getting baptized in July. She even fasted with us for a whole 24 hours! 

We meet on Zoom pretty much every day with our mission but on Sunday we had a testimony meeting and I along with the only other new missionary this week (my CCM comp Hermana Neff!!!) were asked to bear our testimonies and introduce ourselves. Our mission president's wife encouraged us to ask ourselves "How are we making the impossible possible?" Missionary work has changed in BIG ways and it's up to us reach people in new and creative ways and to adapt to change instead of dwelling on how things used to be. 

We had a really great devotional by Elder Gay of the 70 and he shared the story of Gordon B. Hinckley (my friend from the good old days) who had all the odds stacked against him but received the advice from his father to "forget himself and go to work". This is not about us and our will, it is about Gods. Years later, when President Hinckley's wife passed away, he went back to the same apartment he lived in during his mission in England and prayed to rededicate himself to forget himself and go to work once more. I plan to do this too and make the most of my time as a representative of Christ. 

JOHN 14:27

Con amor, Hermana Dangl 

If you love me, send me a letter! 

198 Halpine Rd. #1236 Rockville, MD 20852 

 The Washington DC Temple 

 Touching Moroni

 P-day fun

 "Jesus ama a todos" chalk drawing for facebook post.

It is so green here! 

 My "last supper" the night before I left to DC.

 Last pic in front of Newport Beach Temple

 2nd time to be set apart. 

 I love sunsets, and this was my scenery on the way home 

from being set apart. My last night in Newport. 

 At the airport saying bye to the family. 

 I can do this once again! 

Flying over my neighborhood to DC. 

Semana 6, 7, and 8 Spring Break on the Mish?

Sorry this should have been sent out last week.

¡Hola!

Another week just livin the dream! It's not DC, but Newport will do for now. I have In-n-out, Pressed Juicery, and home cooked meals, so it definitely could be worse. 

One of the best decisions I ever made was deciding to impulse buy a ukulele on Amazon (it's probably up there with deciding to serve a mission). I was like a kid on Christmas day when it came and in my humble opinion, I'm basically a pro now. Playing it makes me feel like I'm on vacation in Hawaii, sitting on the beach with the waves crashing in the background, and the sun setting over the ocean, but in reality I've been stuck in my house for 17 days due to a worldwide pandemic and people are convinced it's the end of the world. It's quite ironic.  

This week I 

-Did 589273 puzzles with Jeffrey 

-Ate way too much avocado toast (this California girl reallyyy missed avocados)

-Made bread #domestic

-Started a side hustle selling old clothes bc I'm a bUsiNesS wOmAn

-Got updated on the latest tik tok trends 

-And most importantly, I watched General Conference!! 

Conference this weekend was AMAZING! Some highlights  

- My old teacher from byu, Brad Wilcox (Brad daddy) was called to the Young Men's Presidency

- 8 new temples announced and the new proclamation of the Restoration!  

- Fav quote by Elder Holland "you haven't come this far to only come this far" and so so so many more. It was all just SOO GOOD. Plz watch it if you haven't 

-Invitation for a worldwide 24 hour fast for our current world situation. I invite you ALL to join us in this fast on Friday April 10!! I know that fasting and sincere prayer can bring miracles!!  

During this time of change and uncertainty, I've learned to cling to the things and truths that I know will never change. I take so much comfort in knowing that our loving Heavenly Father is there for us every step of the way and that He is in charge. He will never give us anything we can't handle and can give us the strength to overcome any challenges we face. 

This weekend I was temporarily released as a missionary because it will be at least a few weeks until it is safe enough to send me out. Fingers crossed for next month! Because of that, with a heavy heart, I regret to inform you that I will probably hold off on emails until I'm back in the field :( However, I will keep y'all in the loop with any updates and hopefully I'll be back at it again in a hot sec! 

Con amor, Rachel :)

A walk in the beautiful Back Bay

Me and my brother.

 Geico the Gecko, mom's class pet is home with us now. 

Zooming with the extended family on Sunday for church.

Semana 5 - Here for a good time, not a long time

¡Hola todos!

And now for this weeks episode, it's HOMETOWN EDITION!! Yep you heard me! This letter is coming to you from good ole Newport Beach instead of Mexico City- mi corazon :(

Due to the coronavirus, the CCM is being completely shut down and everyone is being emergency evacuated back to their home countries. Coming home after 6 weeks was the last thing I expected to do, but even though it's been hard, I trust that God sees the path perfectly in this time of so much uncertainty and confusion. Hopefully after our 2 week quarantine, the party can continue and we can go to our missions! This week has been WILD, but I'm alive to tell the tale so stay tuned for some drama. 

Thursday night during class, a supervisor came in and announced that instead of leaving on the 31st of March to go to our missions, we were going to be leaving a week early on that Monday or Tuesday so we could get back in the states before countries closed their borders.  

We thought we had a couple days but the next morning, they came in again and called out 6 names, told them they had 45 minutes to pack all their stuff, and be at the buses to fly to their missions. The rest of us were told go pack up our stuff so we could be ready to leave at any moment. We lost more than half of our district that day and it was so rough to say goodbye to the people who had become like family to me. 

At 2 am that night, we got a knock on our door and were told that 2 Hermanas in our casa had 15 minutes to be at the buses to leave. There was still uncertainty who was being sent home or to their missions but they ended up sending all missionaries home. It broke my heart to not be going to DC, but I'll get there eventually! 

The rest of my district, including my companion, left the next day and I concluded that as the last man standing, it's clear that I'd survive the zombie apocalypse. I joined another district of a whopping 3 people for the next 2 days and finally finessed a flight to lax on Tuesday morning.

Also they ran out of masks so I improvised and used my hair scarf bandana as a mask at the airport (pic is attached). You know that relatable moment when you have to go to a music festival at 8 but you gotta not catch a deadly disease at the airport at 9? Yeah me too.  

I'm pretty sure I can have visitors but only from a safe distance of 6 feet! I think the kids these days call it "Social distancing?" 

And now for an update on my white dot story! One of the senior couples in the CCM presidency saw my white dot but said they thought I'd been there for a while. I just told them I was on my 6th week but just forgot to take it off. They're too sweet to joke around with so I ultimately retired the white dot.  RIP to a fallen soldier :( 

Some things I learned in the past 6 weeks

- I am an EXCELLENT bug killer.

- I missed ice. Like a lot. 

- I have a new found love for poetry! They are 95% of the time very sarcastic, nonetheless they are straight fire. Special s/o to Hermana Warren for being my teacher. 

Amidst all this craziness it is SO important to have hope! A couple days ago, for the first time ever, it was a little cold so I pulled out my jacket and inside the pocket I found a fortune.  It read "Don't give up, the beginning is always the hardest." I know with out a doubt that God is mindful of each of us.  He know our joys, pains, struggles, and sorrows. When life throws you a curveball, tighten your grip on the bat, and keep swinging. Keep going and keep pushing. God loves you and I love you! 

Con amor, Hermana Dangl 

 My MTC District aka mi familia 

The Final Five

ALL ALONE :( 

Final selfie with Esteban 

 The Final Five go to their last meal.

Safety 1st, Fashion 2nd

Semana 4 - One month in the simulation!

¡Hola familia y amigos! 

What a boring and uneventful past week this has been! I hit one month on the mish woooo!! 

On Thursday we had a day of ALL Spanish! Well... sorta! We lasted most of the day, but for this week and next week we are in full spanish mode. To make things exciting, we play a game called "Quien es el Latino" where we pick one person to be the Latino(a) but we all make sure we speak all spanish to cover up who the actual Latino is. If by the end of the day our teacher doesn't guess correctly we get a point. When we get 4 points our teacher will bring us churros or make us all paintings. The stakes are HIGH.

Thursday night was salchicha noche (Costco hotdog night) and the boys in our district had the great idea to do an eating contest. 6 was the record, but in my opinion that's pretty weak. 

Sunday was probably my favorite day this week! I spoke about the Plan of Salvation in church and it was pretty fire. Also we were some of the only people in the world that had a church meeting. It caused me to count my blessings and be grateful that we have the opportunity every week to worship together and take the sacrament. We are no longer allowed to meet all together as an MTC so we met as a branch for devotional. That night we listened to "Character of Christ" by David A. Bednar and it reminded me of my special responsibility as a representative of Christ.  It was super bien. 

On Monday we had a service activity putting together packets for the new missionaries and I found a stack of white dots that we had to wear our first week so I put one on my tag as a joke. I had a good amount of people come up to me and ask me how long I have been here and I told them that I was the only North American to come to the CCM this week. (To provide some background, North Americans and Haitians can no longer come to the CCM, only Latinos). They were super surprised and thought I was 100% serious, it was great. Another girl said her whole table at dinner was talking about it so I'm pretty much the talk of the CCM. That's showbiz baby. 

Shoutout to the coronavirus for being a party pooper because we can't go to the temple :( Also, I've been hearing a lot about the toilet paper fiasco in the states, but thankfully the CCM is stocked with enough toilet paper to last about 10 years. We are safe and thriving here. Everyone else: take your vitamins, eat your greens, wash your hands, and remember to trust in the Lord! He loves you and is mindful of you :) 

Con amor, Hermana Dangl 

B for "Benemerito" but also for "baptisms" 

An international holiday: Ice Cream Friday

#Gainz #SwolSZN #GettinBig 

Semana 3 - Whoaa we're half way there

¡Hola todos!

I'm more than halfway through my time here at the CCM and I can't believe it! I think I've aged 10 years in the past 3 weeks but sometimes it be like that. 

Last Wednesday, we took a field trip to the Mexico City Temple! (I just realized I sent the temple pics in my last email so you'll get them again this week). It was our first time outside the gates of the CCM, however our freedom was short lived when the bus pulled into the temple grounds, a WAY cooler but nonetheless still gated place. The drive was about an hour and I was so tempted to hop off the bus and grab some street tacos, but I decided not too at the thought of having to tell people I got sent home because I ran into the streets of mexico to get tacos. We won't ever spend time outside on the streets because of safety and we are here to get stuff DONE, but a girl can dream. Anyway, the temple was amazing and we will get to go again in 3 weeks! 

This week we made the goal to memorize 90 words and 18 phrases a day and by the end we should have around 2,500 words. We are teaching lessons every day and tomorrow we will be speaking only Spanish for the whole day so that should be interesting! The days are exhausting and the work is hard but I always think of the quote "where much is given, much is required". Life's not easy and requires a lot of work, but diligence and hard work brings miracles and blessings. 

On Sunday, I got assigned to speak in church next week! They used to do a talk roulette sort of thing where everyone would prepare a talk in Spanish and during the Sunday meeting they would announce who would be speaking that day so you always had to be ready. Just a couple of days ago they changed it so now we get a weeks notice when we are speaking. It's a shame you all won't be able to hear it but I can guarantee it will be amazing!!

Also, my cute friend Kennidy (Hermana Johnston) from BYU left for Chile a couple days ago, but it was fun to see a familiar face here. 

On Friday, one of the hermanas in our district tripped on a curb and sprained her ankle so she spent the next 2 days in a wheelchair. Another girl also sprained her pinky playing volleyball but if you think that's bad, it's really just the beginning. The stomach bug has been spreading like nobody's business and on Sunday night, a girl threw up during our devotional. The next day 7 out of the 12 people in our district stayed home with the stomach flu. Unfortunately I took a phat L and was one of the people that had to stay home. Luckily I had 2 other hermanas in my apartment that were sick too so we had a sick party.  

Yesterday we had a devotional broadcasted from Provo by Neil L. Anderson and he talked about how the gathering of Israel is the most important thing happening on the earth today. I am so blessed I feel to be apart of it and tell people the good news the Christ lives and loves them!!! 

Love, Hermana Dangl

Only pro of waking up at 6:30 everyday

My friend from BYU, Hermana Johnston

Our district, slowly falling apart

Sick but still having a gooood time! 

Mi companera y yo

Semana 2 - Birthday, Packages, and Temple Visit

Hola!

Two weeks in the CCM! I'm pretty sure 2 weeks is also the average time a couple at BYU dates before getting engaged, but that's besides the point.

Last Friday I turned 20!! Thank you so much for all the birthday emails! I'm so lucky to have the best support system ever :) I also got the best birthday present: a GORGEOUS sunset. For dinner Esteban, the cafeteria cook, gave me a special birthday dessert and my teacher brought me a little box of chocolates, so it's safe to say I'm being taken care of here in the CCM.

Because we have super limited access to the internet, we have basically no idea what is going on in the real world, but we heard people say there are some cases of the Coronavirus in Mexico City. As a precaution, we were told that we are no longer able to shake hands, so now we do an elbow fist bump sort of thing to greet each other.

On Monday we had a service activity in the laundry warehouse. It was hot, stuffy and lowkey felt like I was working in a sweatshop, but the guy in charge played David Archuleta. So I've never been happier to hear real music. "Crush" by David A hits different when you've listened to only hymns for the past couple weeks. We were dancing and folding laundry and having a good time. It's the little things :)

To make that day even better, my companion, Hermana Neff and I got packages! Thanks mom!! It was supposed to get here on my birthday but it came a couple days late so we just celebrated twice and it all worked out.

Today, on Pday we were able to go the Mexico City Temple, which is about 10 miles away but with the traffic it took about 40 minutes. It was a beautiful day!

Monday also marked 2 months since I first opened my mission call. That day, my life changed a lot and I'm so grateful for this new, crazy, challenging, and awesome adventure. Thank you all for your love and support!!

-Hermana Dangl

Note from the blog master, Rachel's mom:

This week the church announced the Open House of the Washington DC Temple, which is in Rachel's mission, so that is going to be exciting. For 5 weeks in September and October the general public will be able to go through it on a tour. It closed in March of 2018, so 2 1/2 years later it will be a functioning temple once again. Read more below in the link.

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/washington-d-c-temple-open-house-rededication-dates

Also in the Church News just this week, was an article on the Missionary Training Center in Mexico City.  Benemerito was a church owned school for 50 years and then in a matter of a few weeks in the summer 2013, it was converted into a Language Learning Center. It  services 1,200 missionaries at a time.  Read the article below for more information. 

https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-03-02/mexico-city-mtc-missionary-training-center-benemerito-lds-175318?fbclid=IwAR0qLlMO3t-r1jQuwykQ_ocCt2EAF-mEO2tXctRRKaQtI3KuubabtUFXmdw

 Birthday care package from my family and Aunt Katherine's family.

The haul

Costco pizza and a special bday treat from Esteban!

 Our district at the Mexico City Temple for 

Pday on Wednesday, the 4th.