Week 19: The Little Dryer That Couldn't

Well, my new comp is alive and well! Besides the fact that she almost died our first day together… Of course. Seriously I don’t understand how these things happen haha. So I have a hair dryer in the bathroom that I have not used once in the mission.. My new comp thought it was way cool that we have one and asked if she could use it. I said si Glado! Because why not! I didn’t really think about how the plugs are different here. She turned it on and it was totally fine until the entire plug melted and there was smoke everywhere.. That dryer.. ya. Thankfully my companion, Hermana Torres lives… Sadly for the dryer, well he lived a good life.. I think.. I dunno I stole it from home but I assume with 5 girls in the house it lived a good life. We actually had a good laugh. The “little dryer that couldn’t” broke the ice!

She is super cool! She doesn’t speak any English though and has a different Argentina accent but we can still communicate pretty well! I’ve already taught her 3 sentences in English… 3 VERY important sentences.

1. Let’s go, buddy!

2. What’s up what’s up what’s up!

3. Don’t worry, be happy!

So she says those 3 things a lot.. But mainly we just talk in Spanish! It was hard to get her to open up in the beginning.. until I found out she LOVES Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz.. and now we are buds! So most of our days consist of singing, “Thinking Out Loud” or “Won’t Give Up” in the street…yeah it’s pretty trunky.. But I had to think of the higher law.. of what would Jesus do?

It was super weird going from an American comp to speaking only Spanish so it took me a few days to get used to it so we did a lot of singing haha… I’ve tried to help her have fun! It was hard to get her to laugh at first.. Thankfully now she understands my jokes haha! OR, she just laughs because she doesn’t understand.. no idea. I got her to laugh the other day when we were out in the street and passed this one church that was playing these drums and that one instrument that gypsies hold (I have no idea) [she means a tambourine –Carly]. But it sounded like some cool Indian camp fire jam sesh… and now that I am writing this I don’t know how to explain what I did..or in other words don’t really WANT to explain.. Haha! But it was pretty funny..all you have to know is that I went Indian for a second. She had a good laugh.

Oh! Also she is learning violin! The other day, I had it out because I like to pluck songs while I do Spanish study sometimes and she got super excited and asked me to teach her! So during lunch we practice.. I’m not really a good teacher but I tried to find stickers for her to know where to put her fingers and she has been practicing with a pencil how to hold the bow! She loves it!

The end of the week I lost my voice.. At first I thought, ok, either 1. God does not want me singing Ed Sheeran, 2. When I was praying in Spanish for help to communicate with my companion I said it completely wrong in Spanish, OR 3. I’m sick. I chose to believe it was number 2.. probably said something seriously wrong or in German or something.. It ended up being number…3! I just had a sore throat for a few days but I am all good now because I got a PACKAGE from my squad!! Thank you SO MUCH! It was seriously the greatest thing in the world.. ESPECIALLY because now I have my sugared almonds.. AND airborn :) The other Hermanas thought I was weird for being so excited for almonds. I laughed that you guys sent me DEVIL’S food cake.. Sheesh I’m supposed to be sharing the good word! Not Devil’s food! Haha just kidding.. I shared it. Thanks for the soccer jersey, too! The best part was all of the letters and pictures. :) I really treasure them.

I had a great birthday in Peru! The ward was hilarious. They surprised me with a birthday celebration.. at church. I honestly didn’t even tell any of them so when the APs walked in to the relief society room at the end I just explained, “Ok I had nothing to do with this!” It was fun though. But so awkward.. Birthdays are just awkward. Thanks for the emails too! I got the sweetest email from Megan Dial with pictures of my nanny kiddos and it was the greatest thing in the world! Haha I have Jack and Lainey to thank for knowing all about the cartoons that kids watch here.. My comp will look at me like I am crazy sometimes when I just go and talk to the kids about Sofia the First or Paw Patrol.. But then we became buddies. J

It has been pretty cool being full time in Spanish. Just in one week I have learned so much! Hna. Pattillo and I spoke in Spanish but usually just in lessons, at church, etc. because it was too easy to just slip back into English. Hna. Pattillo became a sister training leader! It was hard for her to leave though. The work here in Buenos Aires is about to explode! We have great investigators that I am now introducing to Hna. Torres and they love her so much already! We are making goals for families in the ward to enter the Temple, helping a few people prepare for baptism and helping bring back some less active members! There still are really hard days.. We had to let go of an investigator again and it was the worst! L It is still hard to see some peoples’ living conditions.. I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing somethings.. I get really frustrated thinking, “Why can’t I just go get blankets and buy them food or do something?! Why is that not allowed?!” The Church does a lot to help them, but personally as missionaries we can’t and I understand but it is tough!

This week I studied Chapter 4 in John about when Jesus teaches a woman of Samaria at the well. I LOVE verse 13-15 when Jesus says, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.. but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give shall never thirst…” This helped me when I had that thought, that I was useless when it came to helping these peoples’ living conditions.. because we COULD give them things of the world.. yes a blanket will make them warm, food will fill, BUT, the things of the world fade.. It is a temporary comfort. There is something that DOES NOT fade.. it brings warmth and comfort, fills not only just their body but their soul and makes them whole. And that is the Gospel! It is an eternal Well of Water and it is ETERNAL comfort and peace. We could give them the things of the world.. but only the WORD will make them whole. That is a very important thing that we are sharing and that has helped comfort me.. because it is a very hard thing to see.

I love you so much! Have a wonderful week. Read the Book of Mormon every day!! –Your Llama