Week 8

Peace like a river!

Me and my comp

P-day fun

Last day at the CCM

Hola Amigos!

LANGUAGE BARRIER PROBS!

1. I have to carry around two sets of scriptures. The bible is heavy enough and with a new language i carry around the Bible and Libro de Mormon and i carry around a Book of Mormon. On top of that i carry a dictionary. All those books add up and  my little bag is HEAVY! haha Also in lessons when i want to find a scripture sometimes i have to look for it in the English BOM then the Spanish BOM and by that time the scripture wouldn't even be relevant any more. However I started reading the BOM in Spanish and my goal is to finish the whole thing soon. It was promised that if you read the BOM in a different langauge all the way through you will be fluent in that language! So im starting and even though I don't know every word, i understand the main concepts. 

2. Names and Directions: When I ask some one for their name it literally comes out like "BLEHH". I dont know why names are so hard to understand and write down. But i literally have to ask 3 or four times to finally get the correct name down. And forget about spelling there is no way. I just make up the spelling for most of the names, i spell it how i would pronounce it so when I talk to my comp in planning i can say it right. And directions aqui aya atrac espalda! I tried explaining where the church was to someone and it took about 15 minutes because its so difficult to explain.

3. TALKS: Now that i have to write talks in Spanish i could write hour long talks in English all day long! Its so much harder to write in Spanish. I was called to speak in church on Sunday and didn't know until Saturday night after planning! OMG i was freaking out. Its was only about 8 minutes or so, ont the importance of the Book of Mormon. It actually turned out pretty well considering the prep time!

4. Jokes: So during lessons or lunch with the members every one will be talking and someone will make a joke and everyone will laugh..... except me because I didn't understand the joke, so I just look like a fool. And then after everyone is done laughing i have to ask my companion to repeat it. It's very humbling to not be able understand people and  I hate missing out on anything funny (: Most of the time i just pretend i understand and laugh along with them.

5. Zoning out: This is probably one of my biggest problems, zoning out. I can understand lessons decently because i know all the gospel slang in Spanish because that is what i was taught in the CCM, but when people start talking about other things I just zone out. Haha one time this week i was doodling in my agenda and my doodle looked like a sin and cos graph so then i started write the unit circle in calculus. Definitely, zoning out is a huge problem because i want to contribute to conversations and understand but its just going to take time. Pray for me to understand the language. My companion is patient and for the most part has me explain pamphlets, and bear my testimony because that is easy.

As far as health in the mission we are very open about everything that goes on with the body. Pretty much you just go back and forth between letting everything go, and not being able to go. I couldn't tell you which is better because they both are pretty awful.

This week i had to go back to immigration and I FINALLY GOT MY VISA! YAAY praise the Lord! Immigrations was actually pretty fun this time i was able to see my old companion and elder sitton and elder jones! It was really fun to hear their experiences. After immigration's we got to go to the mall for lunch!! It was sweet because it was like being back in AMERICA! I found a Starbucks and there was AC, it was magnificent! 

Some other quirks about being on a mission. Songs you didnt like before... now you love them! If I hear a song I know i jsut go crazy even if i dont like it! 

Missionaries are easily entertained and find joy in the oddest things. For example, last week for p-day we traveled an hour into the mountains to go to a river! Everyone was so excited to see a RIVER! it wasnt even that pretty it had some trash and stuff but jsut because it was a RIVER and we havnt seen a river in a while it was AMAZING! 

For anyone that follow my blog please send me emails about yourself! How your doing? Or how you see God play a role in your life! I would love to hear what's going on back home. 

See you next summer,

Hermana Huish