Letter #2

¡Hola mi familia!

I´ve been here two weeks, and at times I feel live I´ve learned so much, and then other times I get reality checks that make me feel as though I´ve learned nothing.

I have to say i feel blessed to have been sent to the Argentina MTC. I have to learn quicker, because all our teachers speak mostly spanish to us.

So this past week has been pretty exciting for a few reasons.

First off, last Saturday, we had our first proselitismo. It´s where we go out into Buenos Aires and share the gospel with what little spanish se have. It´s tracting is what it is, but we´re totally handicapped! I was so scared! We (me and my compañera) had a handful of phrases to use, a few pamphlets (they´re called falletos), and a sack lunch each. So usually your first few times, you only go out for two hours. Yeah, so right before we were going to head out, they told us that our district was going out for the full 7 hours, like everyone else. At first we thought it was a mistake, and then we thought it was a joke. Nope! We were going to be out talking with people for 7 hours! I think I started hyperventilating!! I had psyched myself up for 2 hours, but 7 hours just seemed far beyond what i could handle! Anyways, thanks to my wonderful companion, Hermana Kubly, I kept from falling apart.

We were put in an area in the middle of a city! What a culture shock! So many things are different here! Like they don´t have trash cans here. They just have baskets they put their trash in. They don´t really have a trash pick up system, so they just burn their trash on the streets! We were walking around, and there were just piles of burning trash! No one was watching them or anything! And there are so many dogs here! Everyone pretty much has a dog, and then there´s all these strays that go around in packs. It´s scary sometimes! Well no one picks up after their dogs, so there´s dog poo everywhere! I mean everywhere. So gross! The houses are pretty nice. my companion says their kind of like the houses in San Francisco. Tiny, but nice. The people drive so crazy here! think of California drivers times 100! so scary, but interesting to watch!

The people here are different too. My companion and I were so scared to try and talk to these people. Children speak better spanish than we do! So we decided to say hello, how are you to every one we passed. Most people wouldn´t even look at us! it was so frustrating! Finally this man who was smoking outside of a building smiled at us and said hello back, so we talked to him. He was patient while we slaughtered the language, and listened to our message. He took a falleto, and then he started talking to us in really fast spanish. I´m pretty sure he told us to pray about the trinity! Looking back on it it was pretty funny! The day was progressively better as we got used to saying hello. I don´t know, it was pretty frustrating though. At the end of the day we ended up with 6 contacts, and we gave out a Book Of Mormon to this homeless guy along with one of our sack lunches! he was so forlorn! anyways, that´s a long story. So i did´t die, which is good, so i hope proselitismo is better this week.

So this week i probably ate two of the grossest things ever in existence. First was cow tongue, and the other was cow stomach!!!!!! I almost threw up both times. Don´t get me wrong, they tasted fine, it was just the texture that had me! Eating both was like chewing on silly-putty with sand that was mixed in. Apparently they are both delicacies in Argentina and Uruguay. I might die! just to let you know!

Well i have to go, but know that i love you, and i love all the prayers in my behalf. Please keep all missionaries in your prayers! I love you all!!!!!

Hermana Grow

Her first email home!

¡Hola! ¿Como esta? So I feel like I have been here at the CCM (MTC in Espanol) for months!! Not because its boring or anything, I`ve just learned so much in just a short amount of time! Mi Compañera (my companion) is Hermana Kubly. She`s from salt lake, and a convert of two years! She`s amazing! We have so much fun together, and though we are two completely different people, it works really well for us. Her strengths support my weaknesses and vice versa! We can talk about spiritual things, but also take a moment to talk about sill things. We have a really great relationship. We are very open about our feelings and our fears and the things we want and need. I couldn`t ask for a better compañera.

So things here go so fast. Our first day here we were surrounded by español. We had no idea what was going on, where we should go or what we should do. All the forms and schedules they gave us were in español. It was frustrating the first few days becasue during our orientation they didn`t tell us all the rules and everthing, so we would do somthing, and it would be wrong or against the rules.

Many of the teachers speak English really well, and teach well. I love being in class! Our teachers speak mostly in Español to us to "get us used to it." The first few days I`m pretty sure I just sat ther and took as many notes as I could. Thankfully my campanion is willing to work on Spanish even when we`re not in class, so I`m beginning to understand alot of what is going on. We are learning a branch of spanish clalled castisllano (cost-a-shan-o). It`s a bit different than what i`m used to, but we`re working on it. This morning was a good day for me in spanish. I was amazed at the words that were put into my mouth. The Lord has truely blessed me. I`m pretty sure I`ve learned more spanish in one week than i had in the 2 semesters in high school. It is amazing!

Well you`ll be happy to know that i`m eating really well here. The food here is so good! they serve really strange, new things, but it is always so tastey!!!! I`ve even eaten fish. TWICE and it was so good! I think i`ve only not liked two dishes. The servings are so huge here, my compaion and i share a plate and we never are even able to finish! It`s nuts how much they give us to eat!

So my espñol is coming along pretty well. I try to talk to the Latino Hermanas as often as possible. We have a hard time understanding each other, but most of the time we can get across what we are trying to say! There are only 7 Hermanas and 40 some elders it`s kind of overwhelming!

You know, the Lord has blessed me so much already. He has seen and heard my needs, and has blessed me with the strength and knowledge to do his work. I hope you have all felt his blessings too! I know, with all my heart, that this church is true! Every day i am slowly coming to know more and more of His love! I miss you all and i hope you all stay safe and happy!!

I love you!!!

Hermana Grow

ps-you can`t send packages to me, but they said that you can send me stuff in padded envelopes to the address you have! I love you, and just so you know candy is as good as money in this mtc! just to let you know!!!