Editor/Mom note: I have tried asking Jill five questions with each letter as a way for her to tell me more details of her experiences and give her somewhere to start...like she needs the prompts...but so far that has worked well. She answered those questions with the numbered answers at the first of her letter. Here are the questions I asked, so her answers make more sense to everyone else:
5 or so more questions for you:
1) What is your typical schedule each day?
2) How much time do you have to email each P-Day?
3) Do you feel the time dragging by or flying by? How?
4) Will you get to watch General Conference in Spanish? Will you understand enough by then to "get it"?
5)
Would you like any info from friends in my letters to you? Like the
friends serving missions that I can peep in on with their blogs? Or
would you rather not?
Alright, first things first:
1.
Typical schedule? We wake up at 6 and get ready for the day. We have
study time at 7 until breakfast at 7:30. Then more study time
afterwards. Class starts at 9 or so most days, where we have language or
fundamentals or Book of Mormon or coaching. I think those are all the
options. Oh, we also teach during that time. Lunch is at 12:30 for us
and then right after we have gym. Usually we play volleyball but our
favorite district just left and we always played with them, so who knows
what's gonna happen. After wards, we get all cleaned up again (I shower
because I smell worse than a dog in a washing machine) and go back to
class to continue our studies. We do have two different teachers--one in
the morning and one in the afternoon now. (That's recently new.)
Hermano Villalobos is with us in the morning (he just got back from his
mission in Enero or so....) and then Hermana Valásquez is with us in the
tarde. She was also our first investigator (Enya). The both of them
also act as investigators for us--we now have two investigators.
Villalobos' person's name is David and Hermana V's person's name this
time is Erika. Back to the schedule: we do TALL in the evening, right
after dinner--it stands for Technology Assisted Language Learning. And
it's exactly what it sounds like. And then we go back to our classroom
for some more study, though usually without a teacher this time. We head
back to our casas at 9:30 or so and then write in our journals/talk
until 10:30 when lights are supposed to be out. But we aren't always to
bed on time. Frankly, we aren't frequently on time to anything. Which
slightly irritates me because I like to be punctual. But my hermanas
like to look nice everyday, even if it makes us late. But, it's fine.
2.
We are supposed to have an hour to email, but we are unsupervised so
it's not an exact hour.....what we've decided to start doing is go in to
the computer lab in the morning after breakfast or so and then take
pictures of emails so that we can read them but not use up that hour.
Then we come back later to respond. I think it's working, though the
computer screen is hard to read on my camera, even when I zoom in.
3.
The days drag by but the weeks zoom. I can't believe we're already
ending our second week. It's crazy! The schedule is pretty draining so
maybe that has to do with it. What's weird to think about is, on Sunday,
as we said goodbye to our favorite district (5D), we only have one
month left. Four sundays, then it'll be us saying goodbye.....oh man.
And this time next week, we'll be on the downward slope of this. Santa
vaca....it's insane.
4. I
have no idea if we'll be watching Conferencía General en Español o en
inglés. Hopefully in inglés.....but sacrament meetings are in Spanish
every week....so we'll see. If it is in Spanish, I will not understand
enough to get a ton out of the meeting....
5. I have no opinion on the matter.
Okay, on to business. I'm gonna try to work forwards from last week. Maybe. First off, some stories on my elderes:
1.
Elder Bronson is a class clown if ever there was one. He says the
greatest comments at just the right moments. He makes everyone smile, no
matter what. One great moment, from yesterday actually, happened at
dinner. {First you need to know that he is probably the whitest ginger
American of all time. He has a terrible greenie accent and doesn't
conjugate verbs....he's a treasure and we love him. But one of his
favorite words in spanish is "apuñular", which means to stab. It's
become a joke for our district and we say it all the time, at the top of
our lungs. It's actually quite applicable to many situations,
surprisingly.} (He's from Idaho, this is important.) So they were
actually serving mashed potatoes during dinner and then Hma Capps and I
found some potato chunks with cheese stuff (sounds gross now that I say
it but it was delicious) and so he wanted some of those too. (Idaho.
Potatoes. You know...) And then he and Hma Powell were having a
competition of sorts to see who could eat the most with just a knife. So
here he is stabbing these potato cubes with a knife and then eating
them. So he starts saying, in a sing-song voice, "Apuñular some papas,
put 'em in your vaca". He meant to say "boca", meaning mouth, but
instead he said "cow". Oh man, we were dying.....so fun.
2.
Elder Olsen is our district leader. Turns out he went to Copper Hills
high school and did pole vault with Tay-Tay. That was kind of a weird
coincidence. But anyway, he's six foot three or something and quite the
gangly, skinny kid. (You may have noticed from my pictures.) But he
started saying "¡sí se puede!" for some reason--or someone started
saying it--which is from a movie called Kick it Up or something like
that. It means "Yes you can!" But when Olsen says it, he does this fake
cheerleading move and jumps up, kicking his feet together to the side
and acting like he has tiny arms and pom-poms. It's straight up
adorable. I wish you could see the recording of it.... Oh my. So that's
become our district's motto: ¡Sí se puede!
3.
Elder Jensen. Oh man. This kid. He has got the sass of a middle-aged
black woman. He reminds me so much of Cameron, actually. Though I think
Jensen is actually more sassy, if that's possible. (Sassy en español =
atrevido). And this kid is the definition of sassy. But, story time: he
was eating this weird donut thing and Hma Powell saw and said it looked
like a crocodile (which is apparently a type of donut....though I've
never heard of it. And I know my donuts...) But Jensen either didn't get
it or didn't hear (and we're trying to speak solamente español at cena)
so his response is "¡¿Qué hora es?!" Oh man....so now, anytime we feel
incredulous or confused, we say that. That may not sound funny, but it
is. Pinky promise. Also, at dinner when we're trying to speak only
spanish, if we can't say something in spanish we say "¿Cómo se dice
_____?" One evening, Elder Jensen turns to us and goes, "I think we use
'cómo se dice' like hashtag..." And he makes a valid point. Because
that's exactly how we use it. So that's turned into a district joke as
well.
Right-o.
Last
week was Hermano Villalobos' birthday. But he didn't tell us. Hermana
Arnaud told us. So we made him a birthday card and then sang to him--two
days late. I wish I had a picture of the card. It was pretty good.
Hermana Arnaud also told us that Hno Villalobos told her that he loves
us. Which made us happy. Also, weird enough, it turns out that in his
last district he had three elderes/hermanas going to Chicago West. So
that was pretty sweet.
We
had a stress management class on Sabado. I think I'm doing fine in the
stress department, though I do seem to have made myself sick. Not happy
about that. I've got a fantastic head cold, not to mention the
alternating diarrhea/constipation. You know, CCM life.
Also,
FUNNY stories that illustrate how perfect my compañera is for me: one
day we were trying to write our lesson but our district was being
obnoxiously talkative so we went into the hallway for some quiet and
ended up taking "fat pictures". Oh man. We are....adorable. Then, she
also has a tiny bladder and has to pee as frequently as me. And when we
go, we have stalls that we use every time. The one time we went in and
our were taken, I was tempted to wait..... then, we were talking about
how the food here is upsetting our digestive systems, and then ended up
quoting Nacho Libre. So, from now on, we refer to diarrhea as Easters.
This is a companionship at it's finest, if I do say so myself. "Easters
is back/coming." It's great.
Here's
a quote from a video we watched: "Your first day [in the MTC] is like
trying to get a drink from a fire hose--you get a little bit of water in
your mouth, but mostly it just hurts your face."
One
day, the elderes asked Hno Villalobos if he drives a motorcycle
(they're trying to get him dates.....how they'll accomplish that I have
no idea) and he said no. They told him he should because then he'd be
like James Bond. But he'd be: Lobos. Villalobos. (He told us later that
James Bond in Spanish is Santiago Rubio. I was like, "James Blonde?!" He
said yes.)
Elder Olsen
also has developed a small fascination with one of the hermanas here,
who goes to BYU (where he'll be going after the mish) and the elderes
have nicknamed her Isabel, referencing Alma 39:3. Too good.....I think
he blushed when they made him read that verse.
Okay,
so, this week. Officially. Hermana Peréz left us for another
district...that was disappointing. But she hugged us before leaving and
said she'd see us again, so I suppose it's alright. That after noon we
were finding out who our new teacher was and when it turned out to be
Enay/Hermana Valásquez, we thought Jensen would have a heart attack. He
told her no more surprises. I am so glad we have her though. She keeps
us on task, whereas Hno Villalobos is usually too shy to tell us to shut
up and get on task. It's great. (Our district is not very good at
focusing....at all.)
Also,
here's how regular Sundays work: the week leading up to it, everybody
writes a talk. And then we get to sacrament meeting, and after the
ordinance, the branch president gets up and says who will be giving
talks. So, it's all up in the air until it comes crashing down. I got
called on to give the opening prayer so that was a little
nerve-wracking, but then I knew I wouldn't have to talk so that was a
bit of a relief. It's also completely in Spanish, so that was
intimidating the first week. But I can already tell that I'm
understanding more. So I'm happy about that. We also have Sociedad
Soccuro/Priesthood meeting before sacrament meeting, but that's in
english. We also have district meeting in between the two meetings.
Then, later, we have a devotional and sunday school with the MTC
presidency. This week Presidente Tenorio (used to be of the 70) taught
and he started out talking about celestial marriage....we were all
pretty confused. But he told how he proposed to his wife and whatnot so
it was cute. Then, at the devotional, the MTC director spoke about
staying on target. The whole theme of the day was kinda "leave what's at
home, at home, and focus on here and now". Then we watch a video later
in the day (this time it was The Testaments) and then we watch a video
of all the pictures of the districts leaving in the next couple of days
and sing the spanish version of God Be With You Til We Meet Again, which
is beautiful.
Yesterday
was our Mexican Night, as it was Independence day for México. We got to
watch some of the natives do a bunch of dances and one chica sang two
songs. It was amazing. Mexicans have so much more culture than us
American swines. Also, they are SO patriotic. I thought we were, but
when you compare what they do with what we do....it honestly really
doesn't compare. So good. We also watched a video highlighting some of
the things that are distinctly Mexican, as well as some people that are
distinctly Mexican (that I didn't really recognize....so I think that
was the point...but I'm not entirely sure.) Oh man. It was spectacular.
Loved it. So now I wish I was Mexicana. Desperately.....ah well.
Speaking of ethnicities. Elder Jensen one day, randomly said, "You know,
if you had told me you were of Asian background, I would have believed
you." So, I guess I really do have Asian eyes...And I told my hermana
that I'm like a mash up of all the ethnicities, with Asian eyes, muy
blanco skin, and black woman lips. And she agreed. haha If only I were
Latina.....
Unfortunately
I don't believe we are allowed to access Dropbox here in the CCM
otherwise I would definitely do that. But....nope. So, sorry for all the
emails. I'm gonna try to get two in one. If only I could compress the
files or something......but I dunno how to do that. In this email I'll
just include my darling compañera and I. I did end up taking
approximately 150 photos from Mexican night, but I won't send all of
those....maybe just a couple.
Oh,
I will send some pictures of people you won't recognize because they're
from district 5D. They gave us their soft chairs last night since
they're all leaving soon. Plus, the hermanas from that district gave us
Paco. A rain coat. Of tradition. I don't have a picture at the moment,
but I'll send one sometime. It's kind of really sweet.
But,
I think that's about it..... I'm just gonna apologize right now to
anyone who doesn't get a direct response from me: Sorry. I still love
you.
Anyway,
I think that is really about it. So I look forward to hearing from you
all next week. Also, will you please somehow coerce Cameron into writing
to me. I want to hear from him too....
Love you!
Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana DeBuck
This is the decor in the comedor. (I can't remember if I've sent this picture or not.) We are really hoping that they don't take these down. The squares almost all say "VIVA MEXICO". So sweet.
And then this is our casa, where we live. There are four or five rooms
that each hold four people. Though it's not totally full at the moment,
it might fill up tomorrow.
One day we had this giant rainstorm. And I convinced Elder Olsen to pose
for me. Isn't he adorable? Plus, look at all the puddles! Oh man. SO
MUCH WATER.
Same day as the previous picture. All of us were wet, but the elderes
were sopping. Dripping, even. But, I would like to say that their
mothers raised them right: we were eating in the comedor with them but
then they left us and we thought, oh well, they're lame. But then they
came back from the classroom with umbrellas for us. So sweet. I would've
hugged them if I could.
Back row: Elder Hoffmann, Elder Knight, Elder Johansen, Elder Bronson, Elder Dahl, Elder Olsen, Hermana Haws
Awkward middle row: Elder Wasden, Elder Wilkerson, Elder Ruiz, Elder Jensen
Front row: Elder Black, Elder Gonzalez, Elder Macdonald, Elder Bradbeer, me, Hermana Capps, Hermana Powell, Hermana Soliz
I
honestly don't know what we'll do without these guys...already miss
them. They also gave us their American flag decoration for our door.
What sweethearts....they said we were their favorite district, and they
were definitely ours..
Okay, also, just remembered: I found out from Hermana Jones that Josh
didn't make it here to el CCM because his Visa didn't go through so he's
at Provo. You probably knew this already but didn't say anything in
your email so I figured I'd check. I ended up just buying a slip from la
Tienda. I did find out that we can exchange American dollars for pesos
so I'll be just fine. I'm planning on getting a scripture case from the
temple/visitors center when we go, so I'll just exchange some money
before then.
I am wishing I
would have brought more notebook/paper....my one notebook is already
practically full and I only have on regular spiral notebook that I'm
beginning, plus my little study journal....I can get notebooks at la
tienda though so I should be okay. Did I tell you I got a CCM t-shirt?
Oh man, it's sick. We're planning on getting a district photo one day
when we all have them. Then you'll see what I'm talking about.
Lastly,
if you would make a dropbox or something and then just email me the
link, I can upload pictures to that instead of emailing. I just don't
want to take the time to create the folder and whatnot... If not, no
worries. You'll just have loads of emails.... Plus, I have been told
that we get locked out if we try to send more than 30 emails, so that
would be no fun. If you do create a Dropbox folder for me, I'll upload
all my photos from last night's fiesta. I'm just gonna send two of the
dancers and then one of Presidente Pratt with the flag, just before we
sang the national anthem (their's has eight whole verses!)
Anyway, now I'm really done.
Love you lots momma. You mean the world to me.
Love, Su Hija, Hermana DeBuck
They men all worse masks and carried canes, acting like old men. This was by far the funniest part of the night. For some reason, it just reminded me of Cameron. Maybe because he too has acted like an old man on more than one occasion...
This is one of the photos that turned out the most clear. It was the first dance of the evening. I just love their dresses. They look so fun. Plus, they danced beautifully. All in all, it was just a fantastic night.
Okay, one last (maybe) picture. I take it back, I have two more. This, I think, accurately describes our companionship....
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment