Whew, what a life! It´s almost been a month in the field. I can barely believe it, except that my dirty, and over-worked shoes testify that time has indeed passed. Also, the fact that I can now understand sometimes what the people here are saying is another key indicator. Most of the time, I just nod my head and say “oh…” It seems to work most of the time cuz people here just like to talk (like people everywhere) so I have officially turned into the world´s best listener.
So to answer some of the burning questions I´ve received, here are your answers:
1). Yes, I shower out of a bucket and no, it is not with warm water. You just get used to it after awhile.
2). I realized after the last entry that I was not clear about a couple of things: a facial handeshake refers to the fact that you greet someone by clasping hands and kissing checks. I usually just feel bad for whoever has to greet me since as I´ve mentioned, I have a bad case of faucet face and they probably wonder what is wrong with the white girl who sweats like a dude and is more or less mute. Actually, there is a mute man here, and we are teaching members of his family the gospel. They call him mudo. It literally means mute, and supposedly it´s actually an endearment here.
·3. Yes, I eat a lot for lunch. Everyone here does. It´s just how they roll here. I´m almost used to bloating myself up before I walk up and down huge hills for six hours. But the good news is, I could probably punch a hole through a wall with my legs. They are looking gooooooooood!
4. No one asked about this, but for good measure, I thought I¨d mention that I am officially the music director for any ward function. This just means I stand up in front of everyone and wave my arm to the beat while my companion Hermana Brown plays piano and I lead. Now I know what my old band director had to put up with. God bless ém, but these people can´t carry a tune in an airtight ziplock bag.
Well, it´s been a pretty good week, I will say. I had my first baptism with Frankeli, and it was an experience because earlier that day, about 8:30 in the morning, he had his wedding with his girlfriend. My favorite part about that experience was when Erika, his girlfriend, spilled the McMuffin-like thing she was chowing down on all over her white dress. She seemed terribly unconcerned but I was like "NOOOOOOOO!" I busted out with my Tide to Go pen and and proceeded to help her remove said stain. Luckily for me, the stain was on her chest so I got to repeatedly poke her with this pen, and rub, scrub, rub. People were probably wondering why I was sexually harrassing the bride. Oh, well, it came out, at least. And the reason she was unconcerned was the signing of documents isn´t the big deal here, at least, not for everyone. She got her hairs all did and wore her fancy dress later for the reception. But anyway, at the baptism, I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. I wasn´t as nervous as I should have been, considering I was asked to give it 5 minutes beforehand and I had no idea what to say. But that´s the joy of being a missionary. You never know what each day will bring.
Which brings me to the latest news: Right before I started writing, I received a call from Frankeli letting us know that Erica FINALLY dió la luz (gave birth), so that´s pretty darn exciting. We´re going to go visit them later and see the new slice of life. I´m not the biggest baby fan, but hey, life is life. And I´m gonna go continue living mine now. So till next time, remember: Por lo gusto, se hicieron los colores.
Abrazos y otras cosas,
Hma. Sweeney
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