Sept. 29, 2014 Estoy en Argentina!

Sep 29, 2014 

 

¡Hola familia y amigos!

First, my new address is: 

La Iglesia de Jesucristo do los Santos de los Últimos Días

Hermana Breanna Annette Durfee

Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

C.C. 92

1702 Ciudadela

Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

At the Temple with Presidente y Hermana Robertson

 

So my mission is super huge. It takes probably 10 hours (on a train?) to get to the farthest area. My companion is from Northern Argentina, so the Spanish is coming along. I can say the basic ideas that I want to say, but it is still a little difficult to understand. But I can understand the general idea of what people are saying now if I pay a lot of attention. I figured out that that is a good thing, though. For example, we had a lesson in the street and my companion was distracted by what was going on around us, but I had to be super focused so that I would know what he was saying.So my goal this week is to have that focus and use it to teach according to how I feel and what I do understand. 

 

Mi mamá´s name is Hermana M-. She is taking great care of me! She makes me breakfast every morning and tells me where we are going (since I have no idea. Although I´m starting to recognize the area). And she translates things for me--I can understand her when she speaks spanish, but not always other people. Pero no sé por qué. ¿Posiblemente ella habla menos rapido? No sé.

 

We taught a lesson yesterday to A- and her dad and her friend B- after church. Both girls are about 10 years old. A- has a baptismal date, but her dad is less active. Yesterday was the first time he came to church for a long time. He said he wants to perform the baptism, so I think we are going to push back the baptismal date a little, but I am not sure. We taught about baptism and the Holy Ghost and making covenants. B- said that she wants to be baptized too, because when she came to our church she felt something (the spirit) and felt happy and good--which she hasn´t felt at any other church. So we are going to teach her and her family. Woohoo! 

Buenos Aires is un poco loco. Everyone has a dog, and there are a bajillion wild dogs running all over the place, too. I don´t know how the sidewalks work, but I think they are individually maintained, because one place is smooth and nice and the next is all broken, the next just rocks, and then dirt, etc. Also, the drivers are a bit crazy. You have to be careful when you cross the street to look for cars, because they do not stop. But it doesn´t feel extremely dangerous, just a little bit crazy. The bathroom in our pench is weird. There are two toilets--I guess the second one squirts you clean or something. But we don´t use it. My companion likes to store her stuff--like her straightener, etc. in it. So we buy toilet paper, but we have to throw it away instead of flushing it. I keep forgetting, so I have to keep fishing it out with the toilet scrubber, since it won´t flush. 

The work here is amazing! The members are awesome, and the people are super good. Everyone greets each other with kisses, so that´s really cool (except we only shake the men´s hands, we don´t kiss them.) And the little boys have a different handshake--you go straight on and then put your hand around the thumb. Sorry that´s a bad discription, but I don´t know how else to describe it. 

I played the piano for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and the wife of the Elder´s Quorum President was VERY excited. No one in the Ward knows how to play the piano, so that was a huge deal. She said it made such a huge difference, etc. etc. The Bishop also had me and the other elder new to the are bear our testimonies. One of the members thanked me for my testimony afterwards and said how much people needed to hear that and feel the spirit, etc. I think that is interesting  because my Spanish is not the best, and I need to pause and conjugate words in the middle of a sentence. But, THE SPIRIT SPEAKS PERFECT SPANISH! The most important thing is to testify and bring the Spirit. Even if people don´t understand every word that I say, they will understand the Spirit speaking to them!

 

Con mucho mucho amor,

Hermana Durfee