This past week we went up to Hollywood beach which is about a 20 minute drive from where we live. We really like Hollywood beach because it has a really great boardwalk with all sorts of shops and places to eat which makes it super fun. We went up at about 10 in the morning and stayed until 3. The beach is really beautiful up there and the water is so blue! We made sure to put on lots of sunscreen this time but we still got a little burned. It's going to take a while to build up our tans after living in snow for so long! Over memorial weekend we also went up to John U lloyd state park beach which was really fun too.
Today church was really hard for me. There are very few people in the ward who speak English and my Spanish is not good enough yet to just go talk to people in Spanish. I am also so shy that it doesn't help anything. Our gospel doctrine English class has about 5 people in it including Brandon and I and the other classes are not given in English. So I went to relief society today by myself and it was a bit shocking for me. I just felt so out of place and had a really hard time. Everyone in the relief society spoke Spanish and the lesson was in Spanish and there was nobody to really help translate for me so I tried to understand the best I could. I can understand quite a bit of what is being said but I still don't catch everything. There was a nice girl who talked to me a little in English and introduced herself so I appreciated that because I felt so out of place. Then after church we had a meeting with the bishop and he gave us callings today. Brandon was called as the first counselor in the young mens program and I was called to be a relief society teacher. I was hoping so bad I wouldn't get called to be a teacher because I am just so awkward with people but the Lord saw fit to call me as a teacher. The bishop said I can teach in English but nobody in the Relief Society speaks English so I don't know how I am going to teach the sisters. I am going to try my best to learn Spanish but it is going to take some time to get it down. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with the new life here. I am just out of my element with the Spanish and the big city but it is going to help me grow a lot and I need to just make the best of it and throw myself into the culture here. I'm really scared and nervous right now about being here but I'm sure I will get used to it soon. Other than that things have been pretty quiet this week. Brandon and I watched the French Open on tv and just hung out and relaxed this past week; it has been pretty nice :)
Fun to read your adventures. Looks like you're off to a good start enjoying the beaches. I miss NC beaches when I go in the garage and see our beach stuff. I'm impressed that you're even in a Spanish branch? What a cool opportunity to really learn it right! It'll always be a blessing.
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