July 29, 2013

Wow, i pretty much get a stream of the same questions. 
Hermana Stepp is from Washington State and she has almost 11 months in the mission. BUT, her spanish is a tiny bit better than mine. she´s fo sho senior in transfers but....i´m kind of in charge so its been a little bit of a transitions process for me. thankfully, hermana hansen wasn´t leaving for a caruña until 2 days later, so we were about to talk it out a little bit. i´m good ahora :) we speak in english in the piso and a little bit of spanish outside. hahaa not smart i know. i never realized how good my spanish is!! i can hold some dang good conversations and i´ve learned to argue. my favorite is que no!! que sí!!! que no!! que sí!!! hahaa its a little childish but i love it. we´re talking with Old Man José as we call him. his real name is just José, but the old man part fits perfectly. he´s probably around 75 and he is UGH a little irritating. i argue the most with him. he calls me niña mala now. thats my point now, back to my companion...
we´re good, she´s very sweet. loves to serve others. but of COURSE i miss my little norweigy!!! but its good that we´re separated. wow this sounds like a break up. but the scary thing is the train wreck. so. i´ll start with that story...
hermana hansen was going to leave after picking her new one up from the stake center. first off, that was a little strange because usually they send you to your new area (hers being A Caruña) and the new one comes up later. but she was opening up A Caruña so thats probably why. ANYWHO she and her new comp. and Elder Ward (who was also going to a caruña) leave at weird oclock in the morning for their train. the office elders accidently gave him a ticket that had left the day before and so they had to buy another one for later that day. Hermana hansen and her new one left for their train ride and elder ward waited. well, you know what happened. he was writing in his journal, driver liked to go a little faster than sane, remembered thinking it was weird how fast they shouldn´t be going then blacked out. he´s fine and recovering at the mtc ahora. i talked to him yesterday and he´s looking sharp in his neck brace. but he is fine. i was asking this other elder if he was related to Holsts in caldwell (he´s not) and then elder ward asks me if i´m like related to 3 of the church´s presidents. hahaa he´s a funny kid. but i was talking with a few missionaries and they said that if anyone would be a great ambassador for the missionaries, it would be him. he´s so positive and a great speaker. elder Uchtdorf called him too. he´s pretty jelly cuz he´s not in the field yet so i´m thinking of asking president if he can help with some of our lessons. 
well thats the story! 
we´re teaching this man named gregorio and he is a mormon in disguise. i kid you not. our district leader called to ask if he had a weakness or not and i couldn´t give him any. his baptism is for the 17th of august :) he´s a great man. he and inussa get along great. but who couldn´t get along with inussa!! 
the majority of our help from the ward are 3 jovenes. we have noche de hogar once in awhile but the majority of the older people that help us are missionaries living in the hostel for the temple. we were at a couples apartment in the mtc yesterday and Hermana Shillenburg had the most AMAZING quilt!!!!! it literally had the plan all on it. i´ll take a picture and send it to y´all. 
i have loved the mission more and more this week. we go out in the heat and ring some door bells and i am literally having the time of my life. poor hermana stepp, who is about 7 inches shorter than i, has to run to keep up with me. i´m so not used to slowing down at all. she´s the complete opposite of hermana hansen. hansens the type to GO GO GO GO GO GET ÉR DONE! and stepp is the la lala la la la oh a flower!! i kid you not, she gets more distracted than i do!! but the beginning of the week was super hard and i was way to stressed. but i received a letter from bishop tidwell on monday and that letter was just what i needed. i read that thing like 7 times in 3 days. it really strengthened me and gave me the courage and strength to move on. 
well i love you guys so much!! you da best. i´ll send pictures soon!! whitney, HOOORAAAHH!!! i´m making my list of possible areas!!
loves
hermana smith