Dear Family and Friends,
Oh dear, so much to say! I am glad we are given an hour to spend on emails, because I need every second! Thanks so much for all your messages.
First things first, I love the food here! :) It's easy to eat too much -- I am spoiled by being fed a constant stream of good food. We've had some interesting Argentine-style meats that were very delicious.
I LOVE my district!! ¡El distrito Nefi es el mejor! (on a side note, I also enjoy the fact that many words which have a "ph" in english have an "f" in spanish, like Nephi) We all get along so well, and have immediately bonded and become the best of friends. We spend much time together in class, actividad fisica, durante el desayuno, almuerzo, y la cena, ... we basically spend all day together. It's great.
I love my companion, Elder Gebs. He is from Wyoming, and like most of the elders here, he just graduated high school. He's a great guy and it's a pleasure to spend time with him.
I LOOOOVE my teachers!!! The Nephi district really was meant to be together, and meant to be with these fantastic teachers. First, we have Hermana Ríos. She is the nicest person in the world. Period. I think she is from Bolivia, but she just finished serving a mission in Argentina about 8 weeks ago. Her district-proclaimed catch phrase: "¿Listos? ¡Ya!" which means Ready, Go! Oh yes, that brings up the point that almost every "y" and "ll" here makes a "sh" sound, and it is super beautiful. We also have Hermano Pedersen, a super amazing missionary who served in Utah and is from Argentina. He can teach with great intensity and power. His district-proclaimed catch phrase: "¿Hay preguntas? ¿dudas?" which means Are there any questions? Doubts? Although some people, until yesterday, thought that dudas was "dudes" -- So funny!
Even on . . . I think it was Friday, certainly on Saturday and on Monday and Tuesday, we have taught lessons in Spanish!! So crazy. Our teacher Hna. Ríos poses as real investigator Micol. The gift of tongues is alive and well in the CCM. All of us have made immense progress in just a short week. I am loving spanish, even though I am sometimes frustrated because I cannot communicate what I want to -- now I have a great appreciation of how EASY it is to share the gospel in English! All of you: share your beliefs in your native tongue! You have no idea how easy it is! I certainly didn't. I love learning Spanish and I am slowly but surely increasing in my abilities to teach and talk. Speaking with native speakers during mealtimes is very rewarding, and the fact that our teachers are native speakers is very helpful.
The days here kinda fly by for me. I have lots of fun each day. The first day was a bit worrying, because I essentially lived two whole days in a row without sleeping, except for about 2 hours on the plane here. However, God blesses His missionaries with every conceivable blessing here -- I have always had enough energy and strength to get through the day.
Thanks for the notebooks, mom and dad! I use the moleskines to write down nuevos palabras y frases. It´s awesome.
yikes!!!!!! running out of time
funny moments and observations:
-when someone sneezes, you say "salud" which means health, and locals also say, when someone sneezes a second time, you say "dinero" which means money!!! :) so hilarious
-our bathroom has bidets in all the stalls??? weird . . . . .
-the kitchen and cleaning staff here are SO NICE and so patient.
no time!
much love!!!
write me using Dear Elder .com !
Love,
Elder Olivier
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