Extreme measures

Hola familia!

This is so weird, because I never thought I would say this, but it is actually hard for me to type this in English. I never really speak English here so when I actually get to speak English its hard!

But this week was SO good! I dont even know how I could explain all of it. I dont have a ton of time but ill do my best to hit the important parts.

So first my companion is from Mexico. She is so sweet and we get along really well. We are different in a lot of ways, but it doesnt really matter because were here for one purpose, and that purpose is the same. Its hard when I am frustrated or confused because um, no hablo espanol perfectamente, so I cant really accurately express my feelings to her. It gets hard but she is patient and helpful and understanding. 

So I have to tell you something absolutely ridiculous. We live in the second story of a building, but we live with members of the church, and we have to walk through their house to get up to our room. The structure of buildings here is so interesting. So the people we live with live on the first floor, our room is on the second floor (after you walk through the house) and our bishop lives on the third floor. Another person lives on the second floor, but we just have that one room. I hope that makes sense. So one day, we couldnt get the door unlocked to walk through to our room. We tried everything, we pounded on the door and called the people but they were so asleep that they were basically dead or something. It was ridiculous. We had gone outside to run, and since it was like 6.50 am they were asleep. Anyway, it was so annoying and I know I need to be thankful for them, but REALLY? We were trying to get in for almost 2 hours. And thats wasting all of our study time and preparation time and everything. Anyway, since the bishop lives on the third floor, I resorted to extreme measures, and jumped out of the window in their kitchen to the small little porch that is right in front of the door to our room. It was an experience. I dont know how to describe it...it was just "an experience". It was higher than was probably a good idea to jump. I like hung out of the window, holding on to the edge, then just dropped down. Definitely not the best decision Ive ever made, but it worked out, we got into our room and continued the day. Daniel, I didnt land like you would have, but I did an okay job. Except my heel hurts a little bit, but I really am okay., Missionaries do crazy things.

Anyway, everything here is different from America. Literally every single thing. Dogs and cats just roam the streets, peeing and pooping everywhere. They keep the streets pretty clean which is nice, but theres always puddles of pee on the sidewalks. Roosters live in peoples houses! So thats a nice wake up call every day. People live in the smallest, dirtiest houses, but its just not a problem for them because its all they know. People make and sell food on the side of the road, sometimes it smells so good but we cant eat it because wed probably die. Not really, but wed probably get really sick because they do a lot of things differently.

AH I am sorry I just did not leave myself enough time. I love our investigators. As dumb as it sounds, I cant remember them all by name yet because we teach so many people, but theres one boy that we are teaching named Gustavo who is so so cool. He has so many hard questions about the church that make us think harder about the doctrine than we ever have. In our first lesson with him, he told us that he wanted to be baptized if he found out the church was true. The first lesson! It was amazing. He is just a very sincere guy, with a lot of interesting experiences and thoughts about life. He went to church on Sunday too, which was awesome.

It is a lot harder to teach in Spanish than I thought it would be. I honestly know a lot, but I dont know enough to say all that I want to. I get a little flustered sometimes, but the people always say that they can understand me which is good.

I am learning so much. Just from talking to people I learn the language. Its interesting to compare what I learned in the CCM to what I hear in the streets. I love the moments when I understand, but sometimes I just kind of zone out and think to myself "I dont speak Spanish I dont speak Spanish I dont know what youre saying because Im American..." Ya know, stuff like that.

I want to tell you more about the people we teach, but I will do that next week when I have more time.

There is so much to say! I love the food so much. Its so rich in flavor and theres so much of it which of course is good for me. Except yesterday we ate like 18 pounds of beans, and obviously there are consequences with that... :)

Next week I will tell you more. Im sorry I didnt use my time wisely enough, but I will send pictures and tell more fun stories next week I promise!

Also about the address, its the one I posted on Facebook. I am in the lima east mission. And all letters and packages need to be sent to the mission home, which I posted on Facebook! Dont forget that!

Thank you for your love and support. I miss you guys so much, I miss our house and moms home made dinners. but I am so happy here. I love being a missionary. Thank you for being the best! I love you! And I will talk to you next Monday!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Michelle Scott