10 points to sis. pierce (last week) for her correct response...a ferreteria is a hardware store. this week´s trivia: what is a gomeria?
i´m learning more about the culture here...elementry school kids wear a white lab coat or colored pinafore-type thing to school. it´s called a guardapolvo (or something like that). literally translated, it is a dust-protector. funny, eh? and school is held in shifts--morning or afternoon or evening. it´s weird to see kids coming home from school at 6 pm. and it´s weird to have kids at home during our lunch appointments with members. and the siesta. sheesh, i don´t think i´ll ever figure that out. if i weren´t a missionary, i think i would love it--a 4 hour break in the middle of the day to eat and sleep would be heavenly. but it´s a missionary´s worst nightmare. from 1:00-5:00, no one wants to talk to us or have appointments or come to the door or answer the phone because they´re eating their big lunch and then sleeping. all businesses are closed, no one is walking around in the streets, the buses are empty. it´s kinda wierd. sometimes because we have morning meetings we have study time during the siesta, and those days are the best. i just don´t feel like we are able to be very productive during that time. blah.
our washing machine broke two weeks ago, and we were able to find a part to fix it today. hallelujah! i have a testimony of having a two-week supply of all essential clothing (ie: undies).
just when i think i´m catching on to the language, we have an appointment with someone like norma...norma seems pretty normal, nice but a little wary of having us come in to teach her, as most people are, but once we´re in her house we have a nice conversation. during our visit, i notice that norma has a long scar stretching horizontally across her throat, almost from ear to ear. afterwards, i mention to my comp that i wondered why norma had such a long scar, and she said, "didn´t you hear? norma told us that some guy tried to kill her! he cut her with a knife. it happened just last month!" i could tell she was telling us about something that really upset her, but how the heck did i miss that??? and to be honest, i didn´t understand half of hna. roja´s explanation...i guess i need to work on widening my vocab a little...
we had interviews with the president and training with the zone leaders this week. president levrino gave us some good training on inviting people to be baptized without them feeling pressured. very timely, since one of our investigators that had a baptismal date for this last saturday bailed. she has probs with word of wisdom and is stressed with school...felt like everything was happening too fast. the training from the zone leaders was good too--one is from valencia, ca and the other from chile. they are a funny pair.
elder mata is the secretary to the president and he is from orem. his family is in gpa and gma´s stake and they are friends with carolina, gma´s housekeeper. i met his parents when i attended the spanish ward this summer. small world, eh?
we often take a remis (taxi) to appointments, or home if we´re going to be late. we took one to church the other day because we were going to be late because we picked up an investigator. anyway, i sat in the front seat and the driver, seeing my gringa self, asked me if i spoke castellaño. claro. (of course). then he asked me if i was from the united states. claro. then he chuckled and said, "obama?" uh, yeah? when we arrived at church and i asked how much it was, he said, "cuatro. pesos, no dolares." uh, gracias. funny.
this was kind of a blabbery email. hopefully next week i´ll have more juicy news for you. the church is true!
hermana magnusson
No comments:
Post a Comment