HI!!!

Oh my goodness you have no idea how happy I am to be emailing you. Thanks for your emails, they brightened my day...and certainly my whole entire week. The original plan was that I would have pdays on Monday, but it turns out that they are on Thursday. So expect emails on Thursdays.

 

ANYWAY, let me tell you about my week! So, everyone always tells you that missionary work is the hardest thing you}ll ever do. Now I understand why. I{m not really even a missionary yet (technically I am), but every day is so hard. It{s super fun though too, so don{t worry. But this is my daily schedule: wake up, eat breakfast, study the scriptures, study Spanish. Study Spanish. Study scriptures. Role play in Spanish. Study Spanish. Eat lunch. Study Spanish. Get it....? Well, we study a lot. But we get one hour of physical activity every day, so me and my companion take full advantage of that. We{ve been running a lot, and she was on the track team at ISU so she has all kinds of work outs that we can do. And we play soccer and stuff. It{s great. And the food here is SO GOOD. Like...I may or may not come home 38 pounds heavier than I am right now. Just kidding, I won{t do that. But I love meal times, that{s for sure.

 

The Spanish is coming along really well. I learn so much everyday. I am no where close to being fluent in speaking, but when people talk to me I can understand almost all of it. Then there are also plenty of times when I don{t understand anything that people are saying to me and I just stare blankly back at them like an idiot and say "uhh...no comprendo" Hahaha you hear those words a lot here in the CCM.  But I love it so much.

 

So I want to tell you about some of my experiences out here! Every mission is broken up into districts, and so in the CCM it{s the same set up. My district has 8 elderes y 4 hermanas. We{re with each other all day everyday because we are always in the same class together. In the morning, our teacher{s name is Hermano Bernuy. He is sooooo great! He is so patient with us Norte Americanos, and he really works with us to help us understand. None of the people who work here speak very much English, so from day one we{ve literally only been taught in Spanish. Hno Brenuy can speak some English, but one of the kids in my district is really good at Spanish so she just translates for us usually. It{s so tiring to listen to Spanish all day. It{s great because it{s helping me learn a ton a lot faster than I would otherwise, but after every class my brain is just fried. Our other teacher, in the afternoon and evening, is Hermano Machuca. I think he{s my favorite. But I don{t know cause they{re both so wonderful. Anyway, Hno Machuca is so spiritual. He is just not a very loud guy. He speaks really slowly to us to make sure we understand everything. Don{t judge me for saying this, but I{m pretty sure he{s part African American, because there{s just no way he{s 100% Peruvian. I can{t figure it out. Also, I don{t speak Spanish so it{s not like I can ask him. ;)

 

I LOVE LATINOS. The Latin people are probably the best part of this place. And that{s saying a lot because I REALLY love this place. They are honestly the most friendly people I have ever seen or met in my whole entire life. I wish I could communicate better with them, because they just radiate happiness and love. I usually just say "HOLA! ¿Como le va? Oh...bien!!!" Haha it{s so funny. They just look at us and know that we can{t say anything else. The other day, part of our lesson was on how to bear our testimony in Spanish, and after we practiced for a while, our teacher had us go out and practice in front of other classes. Me and mi compañera went to an all Latino class (bad call). But I said it all correctly! So that was cool. But I guess I was blushing because one of the elderes pointed to me and pointed to his cheeks and said "Rojo" and all the elderes started laughing. It was a good thing, it wasn{t mean or anything. It was just really cute and funny. Anyway, that felt really good to be able to speak some real Spanish.

 

I have so much I want to tell you...!

My thoughts are so jumbled, sorry. Lima is amazing. I{ve only seen a little bit of it, because we are trapped inside here all the time, but from what we can see over the fence it is so beautiful!! Its usually cloudy because its winter here right now, but its not too cold or anything. But it was sunny yesterday all day, and it was the most beautiful weather Ive ever experienced!! I can{t wait for it to be sunny and warm all the time. But who cares about weather. Seriously.

 

On Sunday, we had testimony meeting. Our sacrament meetings are only North Americans, so we spoke English that hour. It was so cool to see all of these missionaries walking up to the stand to bear their testimonies. I couldn{t help but cry most of the time, because I just felt so uplifted by the faith of all of these young men and women. So many of the elderes here are 18 years old. EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD! And SO MANY Hermanas are 19. We are all so young, doing this crazy thing. I love the strength that I feel from seeing a whole huge group of people my age wearing those black name tags. Every day I have this moment when I think to myself "Holy crap I{m a misisonary." Except I don{t say crap because missionaries don{t say that word... but seriously, it{s amazing. After sacrament meeting, we had a sunday school lesson. Honestly, it wasn{t that spiritual because all we talked about was the rules and the fact that we need to keep them. It was a great lesson, but nothing too special, BUT, relief society was amazing. relief society is a meeting of just the women, and so lots of estrogen there. We bore testimonies for the whole hour. It was Americans and Latinas, so us Americanas were trying to bear our testimonies in Spanish. I was literally balling during that hour. The Latina sisters would share their testimonies in Spanish, and I understood so little of what they were saying, but as they cried and shared the reasons why they were serving missions, it just hit me that the gospel is true in every language. All over the world, people need the message of Jesus Christ in their lives. That{s why all of us leave our homes for 18 to 24 months. So that people everywhere can feel the joy that we feel. I tried to share my testimony in Spanish, and I did an okay job, but seriously the spirit in there was so strong.

 

I wish I had time to tell you everything. But me and my companion are really similar and really different and the same time. We butt heads every now and then, but she is so great, and I{ve been on time to almost everything because she keeps me in check :) My room has 4 girls in it, me and my companion Hna Thiel, Hna Day and Hna Brigance. They are so great and we have all become the best of friends. Its nice that I like these girls, because it would be hard if we didn{t get along.

 

I learn so much here. I{m learning so much. I can see myself changing already, but in a good way. I have a desire to learn. I{m tired, because the days are so long and we do so much, but every night I fall asleep happy. I have been sleeping REALLY well to, because I{m so exhausted at the end of each day. But I{m working my hardest and doing my best, and it{s really paying off. Just know that I am happy, I really am. Despite all of the hard things, it{s truly amazing to be here. I wish so badly that I had time to tell you more. But I just don{t have time. The people are wonderful and they are taking care of me. Don{t worry about that. I miss you all more than words can say, but I am also happy here. Please don{t worry about me too much, because life is good.

 

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week, know that I love you and that you all mean the world to me.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Scott