Hey everyone! My P-Day is now Monday, if anyone cares to know!
I’m not going to have much time to write this week. Usually I try to send at least one personal email to somebody and have been rotating through people, but this week I’m short on time so I won’t be able to do that or mention much about the field.
How is it, you ask? Really, I’m surprised at how much I love it. I have no clue where I am in the mission, but it has a lot of mountains (They’re short mountains, but hiking to the top every day to teach investigators is really difficult! There are muchas escaleras and they are really steep!). The name of the area is Machu Picchu (Not actually Machu Picchu — I wish!) and I’m totally in the ghetto of Lima. One of the families we teach doesn’t have electricity — or at least doesn’t use it — and so I’m glad the flashlight I have is so strong because reading scriptures in Spanish in the dark causes a lot of problems for me! Most places do have electricity — mi cuarto does — but it’s sometimes infrequent, like the hot water. Showering is really sketchy; there are wires everywhere in the bathroom (for heating the water) and I discovered if you touch the shower head after turning on the hot water you get electrocuted! It’s not a lot of electricity; just a tingling sensation in your arm. The switch to turn on the hot water is a different matter. My compañero told me I need to wrap my hand in a towel before I touch it!
Other than this, mi cuarto is nice: tile floors, iron doors, plenty of space for two people, a dresser and closet for my stuff, and a working toilet (I’ll include a picture or two). Depending on what room you’re in, it either smells like cat pee, cat, unidentified, dirt, or laundry soap, so that keeps things interesting (And, no, we don’t have a cat. They just use the landing outside our apartment as a toilet and the window is a little broken, so the smell comes in).
My compañero is Elder Terrones — obviously Latino — and is really awesome. Because he’s in charge of training me he calls me “hijo mio” (“my son”) which should give you an idea of what he’s like. He obviously speaks Spanish fluently, is from an area from Peru called Trujillo, has been on his mission for 10 months (Yikes! I’m a little nervous about this!), and is really fun, loving, and happy. He’s been teaching the lessons because my Spanish isn’t very good, but he understands this and is willing to work with me and has been a huge help in developing my Spanish. I’m glad he speaks Spanish with enough emphasis on each word that I can understand him, because otherwise I would be hosed! I’ll include a picture of him (Picture 5038)
My Spanish… stinks. I can understand a lot of what is said now (unless they talk really fast, slur words, or use words I don’t know) but my speaking is awful. I have a lot of trouble with conjugation and knowing words because I speak Gospel Spanish (I only really know words related to church stuff) and conjugation in Spanish is MUCH different than in English. I’ve never thought about language so much than when I’m trying to learn another! One of the most recent thoughts I had was, “How do I understand what people are saying in English? In Spanish I translate the words into English and THEN know what they mean, but then… how do I know what they mean in English? Do I think of a picture in my mind or feel what they’re talking about or…! I had this thought in church on Sunday and nearly blew my own mind! Something cool I’m starting to notice, though: I’m beginning to associate Spanish words with things the way I do in English! I realized I could understand people if I stopped thinking about the English translation of what they said! I don’t know how, but maybe Spanish is starting to click!
I miss you all! I don’t think I’ve said that in many previous emails because, well, I haven’t really missed you (Don’t take that the wrong way! I just mean I wasn’t homesick or anything!). Then I had a dream yesterday that I came home and I realized how much I miss everything. I’m still OK but I think it finally sank in that I’m going to be here for another 22.5 months. Crazy! Well, gotta wrap up; ¡Hasta lunes!
Elder Schroeder
