Hey Familia!!
Hola!! Que Pasa?
How are you all?! I hope all is well for everyone and I can't
believe its already November! It is spring here so it's kinda weird to
think we should be pulling out the turkey, plus, sadly, the pilgrims
didn't land here and so no thanksgiving! But it's okay! Well it's
been a great week. It's been up and down and all around (I sound like
Dr. Seuss)! So I told you a little about the situation here last
time, but I will try to explain a little more. My companion´s name is
Hermana Luquez and she is so sweet. It has been so interesting to
communicate because I keep waiting for her to translate things in
english for me and I lean over to ask her things in english and she
just smiles and asks me to repeat in espanol. She is so good at
helping me understand though. If anyone was to see us during companion
study they would laugh because she is always acting things out so I
can understand. It is interesting to learn spanish without an english
translation, but I can already tell a huge improvement in my spanish.
She is really funny and always happy. I feel so lucky to be her
compañera. Usually, in the mornings I wake up and I have to turn on my
spanish brain again and I forget that my whole world is in spanish.
Needless to say my brain takes a little warming up, but then by night
I fee I am a latino myself. It's funny because they call everyone
here either a "latino" or a "norte americano" and they will announce
on the loud speaker who they are addressing the message to. But in
class my companion is Hermana Garlock because the latinos don't need
to learn spanish! It's interesting though because one of our teachers
doesn't speak really any english and the other speaks pretty good, but
not a lot. So learning spanish in spanish is a little tricky. I think
my teacher has got to laugh when he looks in my direction because my
brow is always furrowed like I'm thinking really hard. He always says,
"Hermana Salmon, entiende?" meaning, do you understand? It's pretty
funny. Everything here is great though. We work a lot more than we
did in Provo and don't have any free time to do what we choose. It's
good though because it keeps me focused and working hard. We teach 2
lessons a day to our "progressing investigators" and that is way more
than before. It´s crazy becuase we only teach in spanish and we never
had to teach in spanish yet in Provo, but they are very patient with
us gringos and I feel the spirit strongly.
The food here is interesting. It's not bad, but it's not our
favorite. Lots of rice and chicken!! We are not supposed to leave any
food on our plates because it is offensive, but they serve HUGE
proportions. So I figured things out pretty good after I went to bed
with a big stomach the first 2 nights. I now ask them to give me less!
Ha imagine that. I just didn't know how to say it in spanish before,
but we are all in good order now! They have fresh fruit juice every
day like the ones at the mexican retaurant on main. They have
watermelon, cantalope, apple cinnamon, and purple corn. They are good
but we learned quick to stay away from the papaya. It is an
interesting one. They give us these bags on our silverware every night
and the elders learned quickly to put the food in it that they don't
like and put it in their pockets. Its pretty funny.
Some funny stories:
So first of all I feel like I have so many problems
miscommunicating things. I usually heard one or two funny stories that
people had on their missions about saying things that were totally
wrong, but I feel like it's a daily occurrence for me. Good thing my
companion just laughs and does not take any offense. For instance...
-yesterday during a lesson with "investigators" I was telling the
story in the book of mormon about how king Ammon was a mean man and he
made the people of Alma be his slaves. And instead of saying that the
king was mean, I said he was ugly! The latinos started laughing really
hard and i didn't understand until after our lesson. Ha, well he
probably was ugly too!
Then last night after we were teaching, I was trying to tell my
companion that she was on fire during the lesson and that she was on a
roll. So I said, "usted es inferno", and she looked at me so
strangely. She asked me what that meant and I thought she didn't
understand because it was an english saying or something. So I
explained it meant she taught with strength and power (the only words
I knew in spanish to use), and I repeated "usted es infierno" 3 times
so she could understand. She just looked at me and shrugged, as to say
"whatever..okay...whatever you say!" so I got to class and told my
teacher what I said. He started laughing really hard (becoming usual
for me) and said that I just told my companion to go to hell!
hahahaha. The whole class was laughing histerically (the north
americans) and I had tears cause I was laughing so hard. I said, "oh
my gosh I said that to her 3 times and I just told her it was an
american saying!" Ha, it was so funny. Then afterwards as I was
sitting in class and I started laughing out loud because I remembered
telling my companion at breakfast when we were drinking hot chocolate
that as a family we used to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate,
but instead what I really said is that we used to sit in hell and
drink hot chocolate! I wondered why the hermanas were looking at me so
strangely! Ha my teacher thought it was so funny and I had him expain
to my companion what I meant. Oh, good times.
Another funny story...on Monday we showed up for our physical
activity and there was this drill sargeant (seriously, that is what
they call him) and he had us all line up and start jumping over
benches and around cones and doing push ups while yelling "bien"!!! It
was so hilarious. I kept saying "enserio" which is "seriously?" the
whole time and we were all looking at each other and thinking...who is
this guy? Apparently he is here every Monday to kick us into shape. Oh
my, I have to figure a way out of the next one. some of the elders
vomited afterwards because it was so intense. Bless his heart.
Well everything is going pretty good. I am not discouraged about the
language, but I do get frustrated that I can't teach becuase i don't
know how to say what I want and I feel like my comp has to do
everything. It is frustrating at times, but I know it will come. And
sometimes I end up testifying of something else because I didn't
understand. But I am so happy and I can tell the lord is blessing me
beacause there are times I feel like I'm speaking so fast and don't
know where its coming from. I love it. The spirit is strong and I
pray every day for patience. It reminds me that the gospel only needs
to be taught in simple forms anyways!!
I'm sorry I don't have much more time but I'm glad that your things
arrived and that you killed those pesky stink bugs that you brought from
Virginia in your things. Eww! Maybe they will kill the scorpions! I will pray for Sister Miller, that is soHow are you all?! I hope all is well for everyone and I can't
believe its already November! It is spring here so it's kinda weird to
think we should be pulling out the turkey, plus, sadly, the pilgrims
didn't land here and so no thanksgiving! But it's okay! Well it's
been a great week. It's been up and down and all around (I sound like
Dr. Seuss)! So I told you a little about the situation here last
time, but I will try to explain a little more. My companion´s name is
Hermana Luquez and she is so sweet. It has been so interesting to
communicate because I keep waiting for her to translate things in
english for me and I lean over to ask her things in english and she
just smiles and asks me to repeat in espanol. She is so good at
helping me understand though. If anyone was to see us during companion
study they would laugh because she is always acting things out so I
can understand. It is interesting to learn spanish without an english
translation, but I can already tell a huge improvement in my spanish.
She is really funny and always happy. I feel so lucky to be her
compañera. Usually, in the mornings I wake up and I have to turn on my
spanish brain again and I forget that my whole world is in spanish.
Needless to say my brain takes a little warming up, but then by night
I fee I am a latino myself. It's funny because they call everyone
here either a "latino" or a "norte americano" and they will announce
on the loud speaker who they are addressing the message to. But in
class my companion is Hermana Garlock because the latinos don't need
to learn spanish! It's interesting though because one of our teachers
doesn't speak really any english and the other speaks pretty good, but
not a lot. So learning spanish in spanish is a little tricky. I think
my teacher has got to laugh when he looks in my direction because my
brow is always furrowed like I'm thinking really hard. He always says,
"Hermana Salmon, entiende?" meaning, do you understand? It's pretty
funny. Everything here is great though. We work a lot more than we
did in Provo and don't have any free time to do what we choose. It's
good though because it keeps me focused and working hard. We teach 2
lessons a day to our "progressing investigators" and that is way more
than before. It´s crazy becuase we only teach in spanish and we never
had to teach in spanish yet in Provo, but they are very patient with
us gringos and I feel the spirit strongly.
The food here is interesting. It's not bad, but it's not our
favorite. Lots of rice and chicken!! We are not supposed to leave any
food on our plates because it is offensive, but they serve HUGE
proportions. So I figured things out pretty good after I went to bed
with a big stomach the first 2 nights. I now ask them to give me less!
Ha imagine that. I just didn't know how to say it in spanish before,
but we are all in good order now! They have fresh fruit juice every
day like the ones at the mexican retaurant on main. They have
watermelon, cantalope, apple cinnamon, and purple corn. They are good
but we learned quick to stay away from the papaya. It is an
interesting one. They give us these bags on our silverware every night
and the elders learned quickly to put the food in it that they don't
like and put it in their pockets. Its pretty funny.
Some funny stories:
So first of all I feel like I have so many problems
miscommunicating things. I usually heard one or two funny stories that
people had on their missions about saying things that were totally
wrong, but I feel like it's a daily occurrence for me. Good thing my
companion just laughs and does not take any offense. For instance...
-yesterday during a lesson with "investigators" I was telling the
story in the book of mormon about how king Ammon was a mean man and he
made the people of Alma be his slaves. And instead of saying that the
king was mean, I said he was ugly! The latinos started laughing really
hard and i didn't understand until after our lesson. Ha, well he
probably was ugly too!
Then last night after we were teaching, I was trying to tell my
companion that she was on fire during the lesson and that she was on a
roll. So I said, "usted es inferno", and she looked at me so
strangely. She asked me what that meant and I thought she didn't
understand because it was an english saying or something. So I
explained it meant she taught with strength and power (the only words
I knew in spanish to use), and I repeated "usted es infierno" 3 times
so she could understand. She just looked at me and shrugged, as to say
"whatever..okay...whatever you say!" so I got to class and told my
teacher what I said. He started laughing really hard (becoming usual
for me) and said that I just told my companion to go to hell!
hahahaha. The whole class was laughing histerically (the north
americans) and I had tears cause I was laughing so hard. I said, "oh
my gosh I said that to her 3 times and I just told her it was an
american saying!" Ha, it was so funny. Then afterwards as I was
sitting in class and I started laughing out loud because I remembered
telling my companion at breakfast when we were drinking hot chocolate
that as a family we used to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate,
but instead what I really said is that we used to sit in hell and
drink hot chocolate! I wondered why the hermanas were looking at me so
strangely! Ha my teacher thought it was so funny and I had him expain
to my companion what I meant. Oh, good times.
Another funny story...on Monday we showed up for our physical
activity and there was this drill sargeant (seriously, that is what
they call him) and he had us all line up and start jumping over
benches and around cones and doing push ups while yelling "bien"!!! It
was so hilarious. I kept saying "enserio" which is "seriously?" the
whole time and we were all looking at each other and thinking...who is
this guy? Apparently he is here every Monday to kick us into shape. Oh
my, I have to figure a way out of the next one. some of the elders
vomited afterwards because it was so intense. Bless his heart.
Well everything is going pretty good. I am not discouraged about the
language, but I do get frustrated that I can't teach becuase i don't
know how to say what I want and I feel like my comp has to do
everything. It is frustrating at times, but I know it will come. And
sometimes I end up testifying of something else because I didn't
understand. But I am so happy and I can tell the lord is blessing me
beacause there are times I feel like I'm speaking so fast and don't
know where its coming from. I love it. The spirit is strong and I
pray every day for patience. It reminds me that the gospel only needs
to be taught in simple forms anyways!!
I'm sorry I don't have much more time but I'm glad that your things
arrived and that you killed those pesky stink bugs that you brought from
hard. Yeah for all the new babies in the fam! How exciting. I
miss you all so much and I love you. I pray for you every single day.
This is the true church. That I know with all my heart. Thank you for
your support. The lord hears our prayers. If he didn't, I wouldn't be
here because I couldn't do this without him. I'm off to the Peru
temple today and to shop in the city! Te amo.
-kate
Hey, I just found out I could still write you! Goodie! I have so much
more to say! I just want you to know that things are going really
well. At times I have felt frustrated because I'm not able to just sit
back and enjoy the spirit of a meeting because I am trying so hard to
concentrate on what they are saying. But I prayed really hard that I
would be able to feel it, and it came. The spirit is in every
language. I know with all my heart this church is true and every time
more to say! I just want you to know that things are going really
well. At times I have felt frustrated because I'm not able to just sit
back and enjoy the spirit of a meeting because I am trying so hard to
concentrate on what they are saying. But I prayed really hard that I
would be able to feel it, and it came. The spirit is in every
language. I know with all my heart this church is true and every time
I testify of it in my weak spanish, I know that it is. Heavenly Father
is there for us and he is so loving and kind. I feel so grateful for
the atonement and that I can lay my problems at the feet of the Savior
and I feel a literal change inside. I am so grateful to know who I am
and where I came from and I love teaching others about these blessings
that they can have. I can't imagine not knowing the Savior and I want
everyone to know the relief they can find in Him. I love him so very
much. I am continously humbled every day and realize that without the
help of the Lord, I cannot do anything. This is His work and I need
him to help me. These are his children that I'm teaching and he knows
what they need, I just need to listen and that is the tricky part. We
have to be obedient and in tune, but I am so happy to be a missionary
for him!
Other things I thought you might like to know...on
p-days...today...we go to the temple on different shifts and then get
to go to a store called "todos" after and it's like a big walmart. I
already have a grocery list of the good foods I'm missing so bad. I am
living off the granola bars you sent with me mom!! The MTC or "CCM"
is small and there are only 140 of us. It's so cool. On saturday we
are going out into "the world" or outside of the small 4 tall brick
walls that surround us to teach a lesson to real people! Oh my, I'm
scared but excited. It's going to be interesting and oh so humbling.
Dad, I think you would have a lot of fun here. You would be the talk
of the place because they'd think you are just so funny. I think of
things that you say and I say it in class and the elders laugh hard.
They especially like the ginea pigs in a blanket. That will never get
old. As for now...nariz thanksgiving!!
Oh, ha, I sang at the fireside on Sunday with another elder
because my companion volunteered me because i'm singing all the time.
It went okay, but it was in spanish! Here, they think that anyone who
can hold a tune is a great singer, so I feel like Celine Dion.
Seriously, I love it here though. We get to keep our latina companions
for 2 more weeks and then they leave. After that it will be only me
and Hermana Garlock that are the "advanced sisters" meaning those who
have been here 3 weeks and we will get all new sisters coming in. We
may have latina companions or we may be with each other. We shall
see!!
is there for us and he is so loving and kind. I feel so grateful for
the atonement and that I can lay my problems at the feet of the Savior
and I feel a literal change inside. I am so grateful to know who I am
and where I came from and I love teaching others about these blessings
that they can have. I can't imagine not knowing the Savior and I want
everyone to know the relief they can find in Him. I love him so very
much. I am continously humbled every day and realize that without the
help of the Lord, I cannot do anything. This is His work and I need
him to help me. These are his children that I'm teaching and he knows
what they need, I just need to listen and that is the tricky part. We
have to be obedient and in tune, but I am so happy to be a missionary
for him!
Other things I thought you might like to know...on
p-days...today...we go to the temple on different shifts and then get
to go to a store called "todos" after and it's like a big walmart. I
already have a grocery list of the good foods I'm missing so bad. I am
living off the granola bars you sent with me mom!! The MTC or "CCM"
is small and there are only 140 of us. It's so cool. On saturday we
are going out into "the world" or outside of the small 4 tall brick
walls that surround us to teach a lesson to real people! Oh my, I'm
scared but excited. It's going to be interesting and oh so humbling.
Dad, I think you would have a lot of fun here. You would be the talk
of the place because they'd think you are just so funny. I think of
things that you say and I say it in class and the elders laugh hard.
They especially like the ginea pigs in a blanket. That will never get
old. As for now...nariz thanksgiving!!
Oh, ha, I sang at the fireside on Sunday with another elder
because my companion volunteered me because i'm singing all the time.
It went okay, but it was in spanish! Here, they think that anyone who
can hold a tune is a great singer, so I feel like Celine Dion.
Seriously, I love it here though. We get to keep our latina companions
for 2 more weeks and then they leave. After that it will be only me
and Hermana Garlock that are the "advanced sisters" meaning those who
have been here 3 weeks and we will get all new sisters coming in. We
may have latina companions or we may be with each other. We shall
see!!
I'm praying for ya!! I miss you all!
Sorry for the novel.-kate
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