Hola! Reporting from el campo (the field) from a somewhat
sketchy ciber (internet cafe) trying to type on this spanish keyboard, which
yes is really different. Also, as I´m typing this spell check is marking all of
my words as incorrect, and that would be because the spell check is set to read
Castellano sooooo lo siento if my spelling is rather terrible.
Anyways, it´s been exactly one week since I left the MTC!
Wow...is that all??? Is it bad that I miss the comfort and safety of its walls?
Yeah, never thought I´d say that...Don´t get me wrong, being in the field is
100% better, but let´s just say that this very first world Hermana is currently having a very difficult time adjusting to, all of this...and that is all I will
say about that for now.
Okay, so flashback one week ago, hna. Walters and I were
crying like babies as we left our two compañeras behind. The bus took us to the
frontrunner where we took the train up to Salt Lake, and as we rode I had a
rather emotional goodbye to my mountains. yes, it was a little emotional and
sappy. once we got to our stop we had to transfer to the trax station to reach the airport. As soon as we stepped off the train there was literally a fleet of missionaries charging the stairs. The level of ANIMO (new word) in the vicinity was incredible. 4 hour plane ride, Atlanta layover, lots of crying and stress with the lack of pay phones to call home, getting to facetime on a members iPad, yeah that was really awesome, and then the 11 hour flight to Buenos Aires. Next, I had to say goodbye to everyone in the Buenos Aires Argentina South (BAS) mission, which meant more tears for me and Hermana Walters. Wooo. And then it was just Elder Bethers and I and the other Hermanas going to Posadas, but saying goodbye to the District family was real real rough.
Next we took a bus to a domestic airport to head to
Posadas! As soon as we passed through security, there was a small gathering of
Elders who were on their way home!!! They had nothing but good things to say,
obviously, so it was just a good extra motivational umff for the long journey
ahead.
We went to our gate to find 10 native speaking Elders who
had just come from the Buenos
Aires MTC! They are all so awesome and are going
to be great missionaries! Our flight got delayed by an hour so good thing I had
UNO!!! The language barrier was too real. they knew ZERO English and I felt
like we knew ZERO Spanish, especially when trying to talk to the Elders from
Chile. After a short flight we touched down in POSADAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH It is very very humid, my hair is having a pretty good time with
it and likes to go into afro mode if I don't get rain on it.
We met President LaPierre (who is awesome) and Mama Lapierre (who
is adorable) and our Assistant to the President's (APs). We spent the next two days in the city of Posadas
staying in a quaint little hotel (with no bugs) and completed all of our
tramites (paperwork, fingerprinting, visas, etc.) On Thursday we got assigned
our trainers! My entrenadora is Hna. Tapia. She is from Chile, but speaks with
a Castellano accent (still not sure why) and is 32 years old...So we don´t have
to much to say to each other...I am her 5th child (the 5th trainee) in the
mission, which means she is a pro!!!!
*Kay really though I´ve only been in my area for 5 days and
already I can understand casi todos (a little of everything) of every conversation, which is so awesome!
I know there´s would be a better way to learn the ways of the mission.
Ahhhhhhh there is so much to say about this past week, I
could literally write a novel, oh wait I have been, and my journals are going
to be way entertaining to read when I get home.
Okay. So, I´m staying in Posadas for my first area in a area
called Barrio Jardin. The people are very humble, as is this lifestyle. There
are SO MANY MEMBERS, but most of them are inactive, so that is our primary
focus here. It´s really hard, and people are set in their ways but little by
little we can already see change in some of the people we´ve been working with.
One of the families is la familia Ledesma. Hna. Amopola, who
runs the house, is the matron of her 3 grown son and husband. They´re all
members, but Hna. Amopola is the only one who "lives" the gospel, but
she hasn´t been attending church for 20 years. Any ways the first day we
visited her she did not like me because I told her that I didn´t drink soda and
that I wasn´t hungry. bad bad idea. But she kept insisting she feed us and was
asking me a question I did not understand at all...finally my companion told
me, "she wants to know what kind of food you like with your salt"
What kind of question is that? Well, we ended up just having some sandwiches on this heavenly bread, known as MILENESA (it comes close to being better than Pandesal (Emily's favorite bread/roll from the Philippines)!!!) and it was delicious!
So the food situation, and the secret to not getting
fat...everyday we eat lunch with a member. 9/10 they stuff us completely full
of potatoes, pasta, protein, and pan (yes my favorite food groups). So the
rules is that for our other times of eating we eat practically nothing, and it
is FORBIDDEN to eat food when we get back to the pension (home). Well, okay
it´s not as serious as it sounds, but kind of, because thankfully my companion
is just as serious about not having to roll all the way home after the mission is over.
Back to the less active members...so yesterday was my
first Sunday!!! And after visiting and encouraging 4 of our menos activa
members we waited anxiously for them all to come, but of them all I really
wanted Hna. Amopola to come!!!
Anyways sacrament meeting starts and the rumors
from the CCM were true, the bishop had all the new missionaries to the ward go
up and bare their testimonies. Now let´s just remember that I AM THE ONLY ONE
THAT DOESNT SPEAK SPANISH,. Anyways, it turns out that it is just as difficult
to share a testimony in Spanish as it is in English. Esta bien...
 |
| Me & Hna. Amopola |
well i have two minutes left and i haven´t answered any of
my emails, so my emails will never be this long ever....most likely....
anywho....serving a mission is hard, but i already knew that
it would be so it´s fine...really though every minute of this experience is so
incredibly humbling!
Te Amo
Hermana Cannon
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