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Sunday, May 15, 2011

5.09.11

hola. it was so good to talk to the family last night. It was way awesome to be able to talk to you all two times in a week. I have to remember that is not normal. I wont get to talk to you all again till december but it was so great to hear your voices. I was sad when I started hearing the beep meaning the time was up and it cut out but its all good. at least we were able to talk. Well like I told you I am in a whole new world. man is it different here. i am def not in the united states anymore that is for sure. but like we talked about last night it is good that I went to kiribati and jerusalem to get me ready for argentina. At times it feels a lot like kiribati but obviously a lot bigger. Peoples houses are all made out of cement and the floor is cement too. The houses are very small. Some dont even have a living room and if they do no one has couches its mainly just chairs. We walk A LOT. this is kind of hard for me to get used too. I am tired. our area is pretty big and its just me and my companion in the area so we walk a lot every single day. but the weather has actually been pretty nice, it has been kind of hot a few days but its not too bad.
For the people that read this that I didnt talk to last night I some some things that I already told my family. I am in a state called Corrientes and we are in the city Corrientes Capital. I think... my companions name is Hermana Schmidt and she is from Houston, Texas. ummm can I just tell you how excited I was on wednesday night when our trainers came and I found out she was from the united states. not that I have a problem with someone from here but since my spanish isnt very great I wanted someone that knew english that could understand me and help me learn. It is a blessing for me. Anyway she is awesome she has been out for 12 months so she knows spanish but its pretty funny because she is about my height with super blonde hair and blue eyes and so when the two of us are out on the streets walking it is ridiculous because we stick out so much. Most people here are pretty short with dark hair and dark eyes. so yes we stick out. im pretty sure everyone knows who we are. Some things about argentina... everyone greets each other by kissing each other on both cheeks.. this is kind of different to get used to because half the time i am touching cheeks with some random lady that i have never seen in my life, so this is going to be interesting to get used to. there are a million mosquitos. here... ahhhhh my first day in my area we were out walking and finding people to talk to and when we got back to our apt that night my legs were a mess... still are a mess... i have at least 50 bites on my legs. it is rediculous and my ankles and legs got swollen because of that i think so they are like blown up like balloons. i just laugh everynight because i look rediculous.. As far as the mission work here.. most of the time people are pretty open to listening to us, pretty much everyone is catholic so they believe in god and jesus christ and they will go to church but most of the people just dont want to change their lives so i think baptisms in this area are pretty challenging. but we are trying.. its difficult because I dont really know spanish.. i mean i know some spanish but I cant just go off and speak spanish so when we are talking to people i dont really speak. and I cant understand the people at all when they are speaking.. they talk soo fast and they have their accent that is super hard to understand so I am struggling because I want so hard to get to know these people and share the gospel with them but I just cant speak. I always feel super awkward because I just awkwardly stand there in silence. but its nice because when my companion speaks spanish i understand her because she is more clear. so i practice with her and hopefully over time i will be able to understand the people and be able to talk more. but the people are really understanding and they are all very nice.. from what i think... hahaha the members are all really sweet and are excited to meet me. which was awesome. and its awesome because we have lunch appointments everyday with members so we dont have to go home and cook. ohh and here their big meal is lunch and they dont really have dinner. so we always have big lunches but dont really eat anything at night. its kind of hard to eat a big meal and then go out and walk the rest of the day because it makes me tired but its good. and boy do they eat here. my first meal we had rice with chicken and they gave me a huge plate and then my companion said that they show their love through food so its good to take seconds man i was full after the first plate but took seconds anyways and I just couldnt finish a whole huge extra plate so i didnt and the family was like.. ohh she isnt accostomed to the food yet huh.. hahaha im pretty sure i am going to get fat.. no bueno oh and there are dogs EVERYWHERE... it is so gross but yes dogs are everywhere..
ohhh.. i found out from my companion today that you all can send actual letters... i thought that you could only do letters from pouch mail but aparently you can send regular letters in envelope and put pictures and stuff. because i like pics. and im guessing you just send it to the mission home. so that was good news because letters are so much better than pouch.
anyways i cant think of anything else right now. but everything is good here. it is a whole new world and is a little bit different to get used to but its going to be great. pray for me with my spanish I need it.. and know that i am doing good and i am still going strong. i love and miss you all. and hope you are doing great. write me.. cause i want to know whats going on.. letters are still so great to recieve and from what my comp said i think they always get here. anyways love you all lots and have a great day. we are off to go teach people for the rest of the night.
love, kara

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