Week #7

Our transportation

my companion Sister Oleachea, me, sister Cunningham and  her companion! 

I'm on the top bunk

The best addition to our cuarto! HOT WATER! before we got this nifty little gadget the water was icey cold and it was just a little drizzle.Like the kind of cold that you cant breathe in!  But with this new shin dig we have water pressure and its hot hot hot! yayayayayyaya 

IM IN THE FIELD!

I think the three words to describe my first week in the field are long, confusing, and sweet.

We left the MTC bright and early on Tuesday morning, President Erickson came to pick us all up. We got to the Missionary Office and had tons of orientation, all in Spanish. So in the MTC I thought that I could somewhat understand Spanish but it was just because all the people there knew to talk very slowly to us. I honestly dont understand anything. After tons of orientation we got our new COMANIONS!

My companion is Sister Oleachea. She is from Lima south but has been living in Argentina for the past 8 years. Shes 22 and very nice. She is the head of the sister leaders so I basically got paired with the best trainer in the field. She has trained about 4 other north Americans because shes been in the field for 11 months, and understands a lot of English! Even though she knows some English its really hard for us to communicate. I've been struggling with being myself around her because I cant really talk to her.... but hopefully I figure out a way to get to know her better and show that I love her through other things besides talking. 

After we got our companions we were basically on our own. I had no clue what we were doing but hopped in a taxi with Sister Oleachea and two other elders who helped us find our apartment. Ohh boyyy our apartment!

So when we first got there it was basically a room with some wood, two mattresses on the floor, and a dirty bathroom. I was so confused nothing was put together. But some more elders came to help us get everything sorted out. We put together a bunk bed, desks, and chairs. No AC, no fridge, no warm water, no kitchen and no telephone. We were roughin it. But after a lot of work it actually looks like an apartment that people can live in, actually more like a dorm room. I wish I had picture of the before shot because it was ridiculous. I'll send some pictures after we put everything together and CLEANED.  Now its pretty sweet. A couple days of cold showers wasn't tooo too bad, later the elders came and installed a hot water shin dig so I'm sooo so grateful. We also got a mini fridge which is luxury! But it was hard for us to haul it up the little stair case. Overall I think its sweet to have to live with hardly anything. Anything extra we get like a fridge or hot water is just the best thing in the world! So I've been fine with it!  I'm in South America living in a ghetto apartment, I don't know the language, and I'm still alive, that's kind of awesome (:!

We have a pencinista who cooks for us, Rosa. She is wonderful! She understands that we cant eat a lot, and gives us tons of fruit and yogurt. Sometimes we get weird things like hamburgers for breakfast... whats up with that??  Most of the time we have tostados with avocado or jam, so that's good. Dinner at members house['s has been kind of tough, but I just tell them I cant eat a lot. No puedo comer mucho! They think I'm weird that I don't eat a lot but oh well I just cant. Sometimes my companion will get mad at me for not finishing my plate, so i'll just give it to her and she will eat it, then shes fine. I think I have actually lost weight while being in the field which is rare because most people gain a lot!!! Its funny you can tell who has been on their mission for a long time because they are nice and round.  Oh its also rare that I haven't gotten sick yet! Most people get diarrhea their first week in the field but not mehh, thank goodness, (sorry if that's TMI.) I'm sticking to the bottled water! Most of the time my companion and I don't even eat dinner because we want the time to go proselyting. So we just skip dinner at 5 and go to Rosa's house around 9 to get a little snack before bed. Not to toot my own horn but we are hard workers.

Both of us are new to the area so the first week has been a lot of getting lost which is frustrating. We don't have a cell phone so we have to rely on the map which is wrong most of the time. We spend lost of time walking, and walking, and walking. Saturday night was the worst. We were trying to find a house and we walked all the way to the limit of our area and then walked in circles, for literally hours. Then finally when we asked someone for directions they said we needed to get out of there because apparently some one was just murdered!!! scaryyy!!!!! We ran back home. I was so tired by the end of the day that I literally just fell into bed. 

The people in Lima  are so open to talking about God, I love it.  Our lessons can last for hours, and when we are contacting, people are genuinely willing to listen. They also have really thoughtful questions for us. One of the families we are teaching are the A's.  The parents are inactive but we are trying to get them back to church and baptize three of their kids, Valentine, Fabian and Gabriel. They all love me so much! They call me Barbie which is pretty funny. Whenever we walk past their street they'll come out and give me kisses on my cheek. I taught them the little boom snap clap thing and they thought it was the coolest ever. I like talking to kids because i'ts much easier, 

This fast sunday I bore my testimony in church. I think it was okay. Elder Lee (our district leader who is North American and has been on his mission for 17 months) said that I only made 3 minor mistakes which is good, but I also had everything written down. The ward and the members are awesome! I love them all!

This week was the first time that I got really homesick. While I was  in the CCM my district was my family and I could get help for any one of them, but now its just me and my companion. I couldn't be homesick for long though because we are so busy! 

Well, its time for me to go! We are going to play soccer and go on a picnic with our zone for p day.

I love you guys so much!

I'm doing so great and there is no need to worry.

See you next summer,

Hermana Huish