Buen dìa! I hope that everything is going well in the States! Elder Ryan and I just realized that we missed April Fool`s Day! Dah! We`ve got to stay on top of those Holidays.
Pintufo (peen-too-foe): smurf
The police here dress in all royal blue. They look like big smurfs so their "street name" is pintufo. Hopefully I don`t have to write about them more in the future.
Kissing
The way people greet each other here is with a little kiss on the cheek. They don´t actually kiss each other, they just make a little smooch sound. My companion informed me that missionaries aren´t allowed to do it.
A week ago, we were in a lesson with Pablo, a twenty year old baker. We teach him in his cute family bakery. Just as we were leaving, his mom (who is of a grandmotherly age) came in. Apparently I was in striking distance when I shook her hand because she gave me a kiss on the cheek. I didn´t know what to do so I made the little smooch sound back. Op. There goes my first kiss.
Doors
The doors here are a little different. Half of them have door knobs and the other half don´t. To exit those that don´t have knobs you need the key. This is fine unless you don´t have the key.
Last Tuesday, Elder Ryan and I had an adventure with our door. We walked out of our pension door, closed it, and then realized that neither of us had the keys. We ended up taping four broom handles together that we borrowed from a neighbor and reaching the keys from our sliding glass door (the sliding glass door can open but it has another door made of bars that prevent you from entering). I`ll attach a picture of our broom-stick-key-retriever.
Elder Ryan
Elder Ryan is fantastic. I left home worried about getting along with my companions and have thus far been blessed with who I believe to be the kindest, most genuine companions in my mission (Elder Pratt from the CCM and Elder Ryan). I love Elder Ryan because he tells me exactly what he is thinking. He is always focused on the people we are teaching and is extremely patient with my newness. And he bakes cookies.
That is a good companion.
The Hermana that sends you pictures is named Flaviana Maza. She is about 40 years old and has been a member for 1 year. Hermana Maza is the missionary mom. She feeds us once a week and always invites us over. Right now, we are working with her and her family to invite their friends to church. Hna Maza is the best!
Elder Ryan and I get along really well! He has been in the mission field for 9 months and is already a trainer. We like to sing together in the pension. He doesn´t have much technical music experience but he is really interested in it. E. Ryan is focused on the goals. We have 4 different goals that we set for our week and he is always thinking about what the goals are and what we need to get done today to achieve our goals.
We communicate very well. Fortunately, Elder Ryan is patient and can handle my bluntness and desire to improve. Whenever there is a problem, we talk about it right then. I´m am grateful that he listens to me. I have so little experience in the field that he could easily tell me that I don´t know what I´m talking about. However, he always listens.
We have some in common. Elder Ryan played basketball in high school and is really into sports. Also, he is planning on attending BYU. I have been giving him the run down of BYU and how great it is.
Other Things
Elder Smith
Pictures
- I weighed in yesterday at 83 kilograms. I won´t convert that to pounds for you but I will tell you that I have set a goal to eat only one treat a day this week.
- The nickname for blond people in the ghetto is soup (sopa)
- God loves you and has a plan for you.
Elder Smith
Pictures
- Elder Ryan and I after successfully getting the keys
- Lunch
- Soccer with our district on PDay
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