Okay, so to clear up a couple of things, whenever I slip and say CCM, I mean the MTC. It´s the spanish translation, (Centre de Capacitacion Misional), and sense I´m speaking spanish it´s what we would call it. Second, the dearelders are sent to the Mission Office/home (aka I don´t know) and rumor has it that we get them about every two months. I just asked my companion, she said we usually get it every time we have a zone conference or interviews with the president. So about once a transfer. And you are in luck. God loves me and knew it would be my birthday this week and told the mission president to schedule interviews for our district. So I should be getting anything you sent this week. In theory, tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. I can´t believe I´m going to be 23. I am older than my trainer, but there are elders out here that are 26, so I don´t mind. As long as I´m not the oldest!
We do exercise in the morning. Our first week we ¨exercised¨meaning we did floor stretches, I almost became flexible. But then I couldn´t stand it so I asked my comp if we could go running in the morning. Now we go running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and clean on Mondays which means we do floor stretches and strength the other two days. I actually feel good about myself. I don´t feel like a ball of lard and we powerwalk every where. So I don´t think I´ll ever get to heavy. P.S. have you ever powerwalked for a full day? It is ridiculous and my legs KILLED that first week. My feet were totally fine, legs? Wanted to shoot a finger to take my mind off my legs. That was rough. But it´s all good now.
Church: we usually walk or take a collectivo (bus) to church. It´s just one ward, not super big, but we don´t share the ward with other missionaries. We do share the building, but I don´t really see them much. Usually on Sundays there´s so much sitting I´m focusing all my energy on not falling asleep. Next week I´m going to focus on not looking like an idiot while not falling asleep because I´m pretty sure this week I failed. I´m just trying so hard to keep my eyes open! The cool thing about church is that apparently there´s a deaf hermano in our ward. I don´t know if the signing is the same but I´m going to go try to talk to him. And since I´m neither fluent in spanish OR signing it´s going to be a huge adventure that I´m stoked for!
Investigators: we have a couple right now, but most of them aren´t progressing. My favorites include Vanessa, who is a mom of two, lives with her ¨husband¨ (not actually sure if they are married), and was the first lesson I had where I invited someone to be baptised. It went a little something like this (in spanish) ¨ahem, Vanessa, as you are reading and praying, wait, no, uh, I mean, as you read, following the example of Jesus christ, baptized by authority of the priesthood?¨ Yeah.....I did. It really started out as one question, then changed to a different one, and then I forgot some words. I may or may not have panicked a bit. The good news is, this isn´t my church, it´s Gods, and the Holy Ghost stayed through that catastrophe and she accepted a baptismal date (after my companion explained what I was trying to ask). Bad news is she didn´t go to church this Sunday, so close!
Then we have Ricardo and Ricardo. They live in the same complex, and I don´t know their last names. I refer to them as Ricardo the Older and Ricardo the Younger. Ricardo the Older is my favorite of the two (although I like them both). Even though he called me out on being scared out of my mind. He may have noticed that I didn´t really add much to the conversation....ever. But I understood when he asked me if I was scared, and I said yes, because I´m still learning spanish (and how to be a missionary, and how to have confidence, and a lot of other things but we didn´t go into that). oh well. It´s okay though, because Hermana Jones keeps telling me I´m really humble, and teachable and everything is going to be okay. I think she´s crazy. We´re probably both wrong.
And now for some fun stories. First: Things you didn´t know about my body, and neither did I. Why yes! I´m so glad you asked, it is possible to walk outside at sea level for 15 minutes and get sunburned. Thank you sensitive epidermis. I didn´t get sunburned to bad, but I´m definately tanner than I ever was in the CCM (MTC). Second, when I go to sea level and in a humid climate, my face likes to swell up like a grapefruit. But´s it´s okay. I know I´m pretty. I know this because I have latino men whistling at me every day....oh wait. That may just be the culture. Well, I still think I´m pretty.
And now the moment you´ve all been waiting for. My first street contacting experience. It actually happened yesterday because there was a Boca vs. River soccer game going on. which meant everyone was either sleeping or watching the game and refused to be interrupted. So we were walking home from Barrio Mitre (a very poor neighborhood where we actually have a lot of investigators) and we pass through a huge park! Which some day when I´m not a missionary and am back in Argentina I want to come play at this park. But that´s not the point, the point is, there were a lot of other people there too. And since we had all this extra time, Hermana Jones decided we could practice contacting. At which point....my heart stopped. She said she promised to pick easy people and gave me the opportunity to contact this very old, nice looking lady. When my knees didn´t move she asked me if I wanted her to go first. To which I quickly responded yes. Well, I tried to say yes, I think just a little bit of fear left my eyes and Hermana Jones understood.
So, she goes up, talks, I think I said my name. Good contact. Got the address, shared a pamphlet on the Restoration. No problem. Now I HAVE to do one. So, we´re seriously scoping out the park trying to find someone nice that I can talk to and I am being the biggest baby of all times. I´m so ashamed of myself. But we find a woman, and it seriously takes me 5 minutes to get up the courage to walk over and start talking to her. Which wouldn´t have been so bad (but it was bad, it was ridiculous actually) but we had a member with us, and this Hermano kept, well, I hope he was trying to make me feel better, but really he just made me feel like an idiot. Telling me it was the Lords time, and they are really nice, and why was I on a mission if I wasn´t going to talk to people. Yeah, not the most helpful man of my life. Hermana Jones was a lot more comforting, she also understands, because she says she was as timid as I was when she first got on the mission. There are other people like me! Anyways, after 5 minutes of deep breaths and prepping how to say hello, I walk over and interrupt this woman while she was reading the newspaper. Good news. She´s just reading the comics. I don´t feel to bad. I pretty much ask her how her day is going, and her name, and then tell her that we´re missionaries. Then I ask her if she believes in Christ. And then I forget where to go from there. So like an angel sent from Heaven, Hermana Jones swoops in and carries on the conversation. Whew! Close call. I don´t say anything except goodbye after that point.
But the point is, I did it. Close call. I almost felt worthless as a missionary. Not so! I can totally talk to people as long as I have a senior companion who knows and understands the language. No problem! .....It will get better with practice. I promise.
Welp, gotta jet. Sorry this letter is so chatty. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Oh! Quick thing I almost forgot. We have a family here, Familia Llerena, that we absolutely love. They remind me of Uncle Carl and Aunt Heidi so much!! We visit them all the time. They just moved into their own apartment which is good because they used to be sharing with another family. So cool.
Okay, love you all. Thanks for everything. Sorry this letter is so incredibly long. I hope it´s atleast entertaining and spiritual. I promise I have a testimony.
Hermana Reed
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