ARGENTINA!!!!!

"Apparently the Atlanta Airport doesn´t like Mormon Missionaries because every pay phone in sight was not working. We were quite a sight, a bunch of nervous missionaries with nametags roaming around in a herd trying every pay phone in sight. The flight was great and I woke up Tuesday morning landing in the beautiful lands of Argentina!"

1st P-Day in Adrogue, Argentina

I`m glad you got a picture and letter from my President! Aren´t they the best? They are just as sweet as I imagined they would be. They spoiled us the first day with empanadas and pizza and then introduced us to our companions and sent us out into what is now known as REAL MISSION LIFE in my definition. All I can say now is that the MTC was a big, fat, delicious piece of Brucey Bogtrotter chocolate cake. Haha things are really different here but I love it. Okay, I don´t know why I EVER worried about the food. Oh my goodness everything here is delicious! I will never be able to eat American bread again. Most of the members feed us pasta and bread and soda. I haven´t gotten anything weird yet (knock on wood) but seriously it is delicious.

My companion is named Hermana Jimenez and she is the sweetest! She is from El Salvador and knows perfect Spanish and just enough English to help me out haha. She is also very hardworking and I am so grateful for that. In truth, she guides me around like a little dog sometimes so I´m glad she knows what she´s doing. :) It is lots of fun because I am trying to learn Spanish, and she is trying to learn English, so we have a lot of fun while we are tracting or traveling trying to guess which words mean what. I carry around my dictionary and we take turns learning new words.

There was one time she told me to guess the word for popcorn and I intelligently guessed 'maíz (corn) de poppo' haha and she started laughing so hard she couldn't walk. It was then that I learned the Spanish translation for 'poop'. Believe me that's not the only wrong word I have gotten funny reactions from haha it happens regularly! Good thing I know how to laugh at myself:) Burzaco is a little town with people who have big hearts. We live in a humble casa and we even have a dog named Cariz. Except she doesn't really like me haha. Last night we let her out of the gate and she took off down the street. Both Hna Jimeniz and I chased her down like crazy people. We do a lot of reinactivating because there are many less actives here. We also have a couple investigators named Laura and Yonathon ( less active) and they are my favorite! Laura plans on getting baptized as soon as they are married. We also do tracting here but get this: we don´t knock on doors, we CLAP on doors. It´s the coolest thing you've ever saw. We get around mostly by walking or bus and sometimes the train.

The people here are so incredibly nice and friendly it kills me! Every humble home I enter, (after almost being attacked by crazy dogs) I can feel of their special Spirits. Yesterday I got to meet all the members in the ward and every single person I met greeted me with their Argentina kiss haha.

During Testimony meeting after the Bishop bore his testimony, he asked me personally over the microphone if I would come up and share my testimony. I feel like it was really good and I believe everyone understood me! It's funny, that moment of me standing in front of a small Argentina ward in a humble little chapel and bearing my testimony for the first time is a moment that I´ve always imagined, and it was pretty much exacly how I imagined it haha. And then after my testimony a crazy lady with white hair got up and talked for about 15 minutes. My companion then told me that she has mental problems haha and finally the Bishop had to tell her to sit down. In truth, I never predicted that part.  Every person I meet tells me how good my Spanish is but again, that is just an example of how nice they

are.:) Sometimes, I feel like I´m doing really good with Spanish and I can hold a conversation and understand a lot and then other times, the only words I understand are ' Ella no entiende mucho, verdad?' Hahaha but I am finding ways to relate and show my personality. The way I see it, I can never go wrong with a smile and even though my Spanish needs a lot of work, I try to talk and ask as many questions as I can.

Everyone is really understanding and kind and helping me learn. When I want to make them laugh I just tell them my maíz de poppo story and it gets them every time.

Argentina is really starting to grow on me! Believe me, it wasn´t exactly like that at first. I didn´t just jump into a foreign country and feel right at home. Things are really different here, and it has made me appreciate so much already the way I have been raised and all the blessings I enjoy. I really am so blessed

A Letter from Hermana Jimenez:

I'm sister Jimenez! I'm from El Salvador, San Salvador. I have been out nine months. Nice to meet you. I need to tell you that Sister Flake is my best companion that I could ever have. She's so sweet, smart,lovely and obedient. :) I'm so happy for her. She's doing well. I'm learning a lot about her and your family. She's my example to follow. She's okay, don't worry. When I need something she say:"My mom, gave me this.. this and this.." she have every thing that we need here. hahaha :D 

medicines, clothes, shoes, books, all.!

 

I love her a lot, she's working really hard. I'm so proud of her. You can count on me. :)