By the way, I discovered
that some Spanish-speakers actually do use the word "freaking", my
companion being among them. I find that really funny.
This
past week has been a complete mess. I took flights from Mexico to Lima,
then to Buenos Aires, then to Mendoza, and I had such a headache after
all that. It was a total of 27 hours en route, with about 13 of those
hours being physically in the air. With no sleep. That was really rough.
But we arrived and had dinner with President Panzacchi and his wife,
then slept in a hotel for the night. The next day was orientation and we
received our companions. My companion is Elder Avila; he's from
ECUADOR, Dad! He also talks naturally slowly, so I can understand him
all the time except when he uses words I don't know, which is getting
rarer, now. We spent the night with the missionaries who work in the
mission offices. I slept with a pillow that someone put a shirt on as a
pillowcase. The other elderes called it a wacha, which is slang for an
illegitimately-born girl (from what I'm told). So, uh... yeah.
Anyway,
the next morning, we departed in the morning on a colectivo (which is
the local word for "autobus", which in English is exactly what it looks
like) for a couple of hours. We stopped in Tunuyàn for a few hours, then
proceeded on to Pellegrini, which is my new area in a city called
Alvear. So it took the entirety of four days for me to get to my area
from Mexico. That was WAY longer than I had expected. But I'm here now,
so I'm okay. (Well, I'm not there right now, but I'll get to that.)
Elder
Avila is a wonderful trainer! He is so energetic en la obra misional,
and I am learning a lot from him. Especially the fact that he speaks no
significant amount of English helps me, because it has made my ability
to communicate explode so much faster than it did at the CCM. Seriously,
now that I'm in the real world, I truly believe that the Mexico CCM is
not Mexico, but instead just a section of the US that happens to be in
the middle of Mexico City. We were babied. Perhaps that's what we
needed, but it was still nothing like Pellegrini. Elder Avila has been a
great help, and I'm so glad I have him as my companion.
As
for the area, our section of Alvear is mostly more rural, but there are
more city-like areas in the central parts of the city. Surrounding our
pensiòn (which is our apartment) are more rural parts, with dirt roads
and very small, spread-out houses. Neither of us had ever been in
Pellegrini before, so basically all of our time thus far has been spent
getting to know the area, which is difficult because it's really big and
we have no map. And the capilla (sorry, chapel) is about fifteen
minutes away by car. Which we don't have. And I still don't know the
way, anyway. We also don't know the addresses of any members, and
wouldn't be able to find them if we DID have the addresses. It's very
frustrating. We live right behind the house of the branch president, but
he doesn't have a map, either. This will be a rough transfer, I think,
but I'm still excited!
Granted, I also still
have no idea what many of the people here are saying whenever they try
to talk to me. Especially because most of what they say to me are
questions, which are so much harder to understand than normal
conversation, because every part of the sentence is important, whereas
in conversation I can often get a general idea of the meaning.
This
past Sunday I shared my testimony in Sacrament meeting, talking about
how the reason I'm here, a gringo in the center of Argentina, is to
share the gospel I know to be true. I felt the Spirit so strongly while
saying it, and it made me happy. It also seemed to touch the 25 or so
members in the branch. I have actually been told multiple times by
various people that my Spanish is very good, and that lifts my spirits.
Granted, it's probably like in English, where someone can say something
recognizable and we praise them as perfect. I think I am actually
decently good at it, though, at least considering my huge lack of
experience. I can honestly say that the gift of tongues has been with me
ever since I got to Argentina, because I have been able to speak
sufficiently. It's the gift of interpretation of tongues that I'm
seeking most right now, because all those people weren't joking when
they said that Argentine Spanish is the fastest there is. And they leave
out half the letters. That's not helpful.
Okay,
I don't have much time left, so I'll make the rest of this brief. We
traveled back to Mendoza on Sunday evening and then went to the
conference the next afternoon with Elder Renlund. We got to take a
picture with him, as a group, and even individually, as we shook his
hand! I don't know where those pictures are right now, but I'll keep
y'all posted on that. Anyway, I am now in San Rafael with Elder Vazquez
on splits because Elder Avila needed to stay an extra day for some
meeting. Oh, did I mention that he is both the district leader AND the
zone leader? He's insane. And awesome. So I'm here for my first P-day,
and having a weird time because I have no idea what's going on half the
time because Elder Vazquez is an Argentine so I can't understand him,
either. But I'm alive and surviving.
Regarding
the calls each week, we have been told that they are in addition to our
email time, so these emails will not cease. I believe those will be
allowed starting next week.
Regarding Jacob's
talk on the miracles, I learned a lot of really awesome stuff about
those, especially the one about the woman touching His robe, in the book
Jesus the Christ. I highly recommend it; it's a wonderful read. Jacob, I
think you would love it as I do. It's so simple and concise.
I
don't have any pictures to share this time around because my camera is
in Mendoza with Elder Avila due to a miscommunication, along with
basically everything I brought for this conference trip except my books.
Hey, at least I can read the Book of Mormon in Spanish; who needs clean
clothes, anyway? (But Elder Vazquez offered me some of his clothing to
use while I'm here, so I'll be okay.)
I'm officially out of time, so I'll stop here.
Con amor, de Argentina,
Elder Hill
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