Hola! Questions first:
I did get a dear elder letter from Grandma and email letters from mom, dad, Nata, and Jasón!
I haven´t thrown the Sketcher's away yet, but I'm not sure if I´ll cart them home… we´ll see. If I have a TON of space in the suitcase, sure, why not… it´s amazing to see that I literally walked right through the sole. I took pictures, but it just doesn´t do it justice!
I don´t need any more Allegra… I´m well-stocked! Because I´m much loved!
I love the letters Jason writes for the magazine--will you save them so I can read them when I can sit down and be still.? I read the previous ones you sent when I was on a train because we have no time and I felt like I didn't get the full beauty of them. So go ahead and save the rest of them for me to read when I get back. Thanks!
Jason – CONGRATULATIONS! You will be sealed to your parents! That is such a miracle, a blessing and definitely “worth the wait!”
Today was the last p-day of the transfer which means the zone activity. We met up at the chapel in Villa TeSei and played soccer, volleyball, and had asado! Which means like hard-core, trumped-up, hecka lotta BBQ meat! It was super yummy! It was only my second asado in 10 months. I have been jipped up until now… I hope to have it at least 2 or 3 more times before I finish up the mission!
I´m being super blessed. The other day my Skene´s cyst came back, but within 2 days it had already healed itself (or in other words, it was inflamed and then calmed down again-- all quite naturally and pain-free!)
The other night for no apparent reason I broke out in hives. I woke up at 3 in the morning literally COVERED in hives. All over my tummy, hips, knees, arms, and neck. I was quite shocked because I was a sight to be seen. I puttered around cleaning the kitchen for an hour and a half and went back to bed. When I woke up at 6:30 they were half-gone and when we left to go out and work I was all better. Then later that day when we were eating lunch in the apartment all of the sudden I had this unquenchable itch on the soles of my feet. I took off my socks and they were covered in hives. I soaked them in hot water, scrubbed them a bit because I couldn´t resist, took Argentine Benedryl, rubbed Hydrocortizone all over them and voila!.... my crocks made their debut in Argentina. I broke a rule and wore them proselyting, but given the circumstances… I knew it was what my feet needed… to be exposed to air and not be touched by anything. Some people made fun, but I don´t care. I knew you sent me with those for a reason and I discovered it the other day… my hives went away and I seem to be cured! I am so blessed!
I swear the last few weeks have been “national hate on the states day” here in Argentina. I have such awful luck with my street contacts… like 3 of them ended up attacking me saying that Bush is a murderer and that I ought to remember that the states aren´t EVERYTHING and that we shouldn´t be stealing water from Argentina. I don't know how we could steal water from a country across the ocean that is over 5,000 miles away....what are we going to do ship it back in cruise ships? Hello! But I just bit my tongue, wished him well and left. Left that is with a migraine which led us to a kiosk to buy apple juice so I could drug up… it took 1 Excedrin and 800 mg of ibuprofen and about 25 minutes of sitting on some ledge in Argentina before I could bring myself to walk again. I wanted so much to be able to call it quits and go to the apartment, but we had an appointment and we had even managed to get a member to meet us there for it, so we really couldn´t bail. Plus our numbers for the week were CRAP (not that a missionary uses that word) Anyways, the meds kicked in, and I finished the day strong. By the way, that appointment stood us up and the member came all the way for nothing.
So the funny thing for the week that I have noticed is that the people here have absolutely NO shame in rolling their jeans up. You can cross a true hard-core punk with a Mohawk and gages in his ears and if you look down, he´s got his jeans carefully folded up like a true nerd. It is amazing. Everyone does it… even 17 year-old boys. No one is embarrassed by this. It is just the opposite in the states… no one would be caught dead with their jeans rolled up.
Since I know you are getting a peanut butter package ready....will you send me another pedometer? I just don't trust this one because some days we walk 12 miles and others 2… and I am the same level of tired at the end of each day leading me to believe it isn't working right. So yeah, I would love a new one so that one day I can say, "I walked ***** miles. Thanks!
The other day my comp and I saw a piece of raw meat that had escaped the notice of all the stray dogs and we thought we´d do a good deed. So we walked a half block, found a stray dog and then led it to this piece of meat so that it wouldn´t starve and then as we walked away we thought that maybe, just maybe, somebody had put poison in it. We hope not… we didn´t mean to kill a dog.
There are the coolest tricycle strollers here… do they exist there? The kid is pedaling a trike and thinks it´s all him, but there is a stick handle that the mom can push like a stroller. Some of them have visors too. If they don´t exist there, they should. The kids here seem quite content and hey… it´s exercise for both mom and toddler!
The next time I write you I will have a new companion. There are some I know and get a long with really well. We´ll have to see...but whomever it is, I know I will be able to learn a TON from her!
Last p-day we had a sisters activity and went to Hurlingham to have lunch with Hermana Hansen because she goes home at the end of this transfer. She showed us all the cool souvenirs she had accumulated and I realized that I´ve got to get on the ball. I´ve got just 8 months to gather the cool things from this country to show off from my mission. Truth be told I just haven´t seen any of the really good stores yet… I´m told that in campo – there´s always stuff to be found. But I´ve got to start working harder on that… I don´t want to come home with like 3 key chains and a mug and say “oh yeah, I never got around to buying all that stuff.” What a travesty that would be.
Guess what makes me really happy. Profoundicizing (I´m sure that´s not a word, but in Castellano it´s profundizando… it means making my vocabulary deeper). I have learned how to say “dilly-dally” “to fathom” and “to assure” there are others, but these are the ones I can remember from this week. Especially dilly-dally – that´s an important word!
This month we all have to keep a budget to see where our mission money goes. It has dawned on me that a ton of mine goes to colectivos and a fair bit to ice cream… but you shouldn´t judge me. It´s hot!
On my 10 month birthday I had to wash clothes by hand because the people who run the laundry place went away on vacation for 2 weeks. So, we learned how to wash them and feel quite content that we would survive without a washing machine!
Well, you may be rest assured that there is a package on it´s way to the states with 2 picture Cd's given to me by the mission and 4 that I have burned here from my camera. One is a DVD – maybe 2. Anyways… you will soon be FEASTING on pictures. You will see some that will confuse you… especially one where I am taking a picture of the sore on my tongue… just let it go and I´ll explain when I come home! But feel free to ask questions to get captions about the pictures. You´ll have to describe them well because my memory is quite full--I hope you enjoy them! The rest of the presents in the package are for all yall's birthdays. You have to share, but I made sure to send things because I know that first comes Daddy turning 50! WOW! Then Mommy, then Nata, then Jason… Feliz Cumpleaños to one and all… enjoy your treats!
Would you do me a favor and pray for it to get to you safely… you can imagine what it must be like for me knowing that I´m sending the only copy of my pictures… I didn´t have time to make double copies and I wanted you to have them, so I am sending them off… please pray for them to get to you. And don´t be offended by the stickers of the saints that I put on there. You do what you gotta do. For the record: I don´t believe in saints. lol!
We found a family that is married and doesn´t smoke! They stood us up on the second appointment, but we aren´t going to give up that easily. Pray for us and them--so cool!
Nata – Davy likes mashed potatoes… that´s my boy! Keep talking to him about me. My companion said that if little kids see pictures of missionaries enough they recognize them in the airport. I hope little Davy at least isn´t terrified of me when I get to hold him again!
Daddy… guess who took advantage of the chance to push a car 17 blocks to the gas station after a long rainy day? Yep, yours truly! It is a family that really could be my dream family… the family that I want to baptize… We are going to go and visit them tomorrow. The dad works nights and tomorrow is his day off. Parents and 3 kids ages; 11, 13, and 19. Can you even imagine how cool it would be to tell that story… Yeah, I baptized a family that we met one night when we stopped to help them push their car when it ran out of gas. I swear it would be the story of a lifetime. But I have to accept that just because it would be a really cool story, doesn´t mean that it will come true. We´ll see. Antiquity is like ancient time right? Mountains… I´ll pass it along.
Mommy, thanks for sending me Ranch… I miss it so. I´m still trying to track down this fake sour cream… it´s harder than it sounds. I love you so so so much for sending me packages… I know it is a stress and a hassle, but I know you know how important it is to have little things when you need them. It´s like how we made Nata´s hospital room like a little home with things she would need.
We tried really hard to work with the members last week and were stood up like 4 of the 8 times. It made me quite frustrated. I´m not going to lie.
I hope I answered all your questions. I try super hard to. I had a really good week, considering the fact that I was verbally thrown out of the country a few times! The work has hope here, but everyone seems to be slow progressers. Like they´ll probably get baptized, but maybe in 4 transfers or so… I selfishly want to see the blessings and miracles that are sure to come after my trials and time here in Haedo, but I have to accept the fact that I may not be here to see them. What truly matters though is that they will come!
Take care, I love you so much!
Hermana Jensen!
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