Familia,
Well. I have successfully survived one week as a zebra. Wow.
It was something else. I didn't think only one year of being in the Spanish
program would make it so difficult to adjust back to the English world. But it
sure did. I feel super super awkward at the English appointments, and don't
really know how to pray in English anymore. . . Everything I say just sounds
weird. But, only one more week and then back to puros hispanos! Hooray!
The week was super super busy, because Sister Raymond and I
are covering both the English and the Spanish wards. Everyday is basically
booked, back to back appointments, and we've had to cancel or move different
appointments because we've been double booked. Its been crazy. Every morning is
even more difficult than usual to drag myself out of bed.
Soo. . A recap of the
week. Lets see. . .
Monday we went to the zoo. It was a very rushed, but fun
time. Then I dropped Hermana Carlson off at the mission office, and Sister
Raymond and I were off on our bilingual adventures. To push me right into the
english program we had a dinner appointment that night with an old, white
couple and ate beef stew and iced herbal tea. We weird. The whole experience. I
felt the need to be like super proper. Blah.
And then right after that appointment Sister Raymond got her
first taste of the hispanic culture. We went to the Sosa's house for our second
dinner appointment (which she's not used to having multiple eating
appointments). The Sosa house is trilingual. The Hermana is a member, from Brazil-
who served a SLC visitor's center mission and learned English and Spanish.
Hermano is not a member, and is from Peru and also speaks English. So that was
good for Sister Raymond that they spoke English, but it was still a new
experience just with the difference in how they interacted with us, and the
food. Sister Raymond is THE pickiest eater in the world. So this week has been
torture for her. Hermano Sosa LOVES to joke and play pranks. So when we got
there he asks us if we want anything to drink, we said yes, and as soon as he
says to me, "I got you the stuff you like" and winked, i knew
something was up. He comes back with three beer bottles. Opens them and hands
us each one. I took it, and being pretty sure he wouldn't actually give me beer,
gave it a smell. Nope- not beer. Ginger Ale. :) So I happily start drinking it
while Sister Raymond sits there just looking super super confused. She reads
the label no less than 82 times. I said to her. "Its okay, this is okay to
drink. Don't worry about it." And she says kind of nervously, "Are
you sure? It has an alcohol warning. .. " Me: "Yeah, its fine. don't
worry about it." She still just didn't drink it. And was super quiet the
whole time. Finally when the meal is getting close to finished, I'm getting
worried about her being super mad at me, so I ask in spanish how long we are
going to keep this up, and finally the hermano brings out a ginger ale bottle
and asks, "can you drink this?" she said yes, and he said, "
well thats whats in your bottle." It took her a minute to figure it out
and finally she got it. I think more than anything she was just confused and
relieved I wasn't actually drinking beer. :P Welcome to the Spanish Program
Sister Raymond!!!
For the rest of the week we've had many Spanish appointments
that Sister Raymond has just kind of had to sit through, I feel bad for her. I
can remember when I was green and only understood some Spanish, and how hard it
was. And she really doesn't understand hardly at all. Some words here and
there. But she is picking up on some stuff pretty fast, and can guess what we
are talking about, even if she doesn't know exactly what we are saying- as long
as its gospel related.
I've met some interesting people as well. One of the
Sister's investigator's is a reverend from Ghana named Brother Mensah. And wow
he is something. He is super philosophical and asks weird questions. Like at
one point I asked, "Does that make sense?" And he was all, "How
am I supposed to answer that?" umm. .
yes or no? so that was a trip. He says he is looking for an
"empirical experience" and wants to know for himself blah blah which
is good, but he refuses to pray about it. whatever.
As for the people I've been teaching they are doing pretty
well. Imelda will be getting baptized this week! She is the first person that I
have been able to find, teach, and be there when she is baptized. Like for the
whole process. :) She is super prepared. I'm excited for her.
The Rivera's are also doing good. Unfortunately they were
unable to make it to church on Sunday because they moved Saturday and were up
until 4 am moving, and were exhausted and then Modesta had to be at the
apartment all day waiting for the landlord. I called them to see why they
weren't there, and Modesta was pretty worried and stressed because if the girls
didn't make it to church yesterday that meant they can't be baptized this
Saturday, but I told her it was fine, we can just wait a week. It'll be better
so then I won't be so stressed planning three baptisms on one day, and she
won't be as stressed with the move and the baptism. But the girls are
definitely ready. Super ready. :)
Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty intense. 5 hours of church.
Yuck. Luckily the first three hours were Spanish, which were terrible for
Sister Raymond, but awesome for me, and then the next hour I was waiting with
and for Imelda to get her interview, and then we made it English Sacrament. It
was my first English Sacrament meeting in over a year. But I survived.
Something interesting/funny from yesterday is that for some reason Sis Raymond
had written into her planner that we had an appointment with someone named
David at 4 pm. Well. . neither of us had
any idea who David was. So we missed that appointment obviously. Still have no
idea who he is. . . But we were joking about it, like maybe we were supposed to
find a David and thats why she wrote it down. Well, we got out of dinner
appointment that night and still had an hour of work time left, so we decided
to go find one of my referrals. Guess what? Her husband's name is David. And
her son's name? David. So last night I got to teach two David's! And the
Hermano wants his family to learn more and to get baptized. He can't come to
church cos of work. . but we'll see what we can do about that. :) Thanks Sis.
Raymond for telling us to look for David!
Alright. I think thats about all I've got for you this week.
Its sure been an interesting one. Can't wait to see how next week goes. . .
Les Quiero Mucho!
Shaelyn
Hermana Carlson and I at the ZOO! We found a moose.
Sister Raymond and I with Rodney, a quadriplegic member in
the English ward.
No comments:
Post a Comment