Week 4 - Buenos Aires CCM

Okay, so this week has been fun! We got new people and a new room! The two Latinas in our room are amazing! They are already trying to learn English so we are always working together to translate for each other so I am learning a ton! And my other roommates are fun too! One is from Australia and the other is from Utah? I think. Anyway, their first day here, the Latinas woke up at 5 and thought it was six thirty so went and showered making a huge ruckus and then when she got out, she was like "Levantarse! Levantarse!" I was mad at my already lost half-hour of sleep and I was like "No levantarse! Dormir! Dormir! Levantarse no hasta 6:30!" So then, the other Latina got up and went to the bathroom. She crashed into everything on the way there and everything on the way back. Her bed is the closest to the bathroom so I don't even know how it was possible to hit so much.  Then at 6:27!!! She said "Levantarse ahora!!!" It was a struggle.  But we talked about it and they know what time to get up now! It was a hilarious first night! Apparently, the other night, one Latina went to the bathroom and when she came out, I guess I started yelling "Dormir dormir!!!! No luz! Dormir!!!" haha I don't know what's wrong with me because I don't remember that! 

Anyway, One of our teachers, Hermano Zacharías has been sooo happy and funny and nice since we had the district change! He calls us his daughters every now and then because we said we are just helping him get ready for when he has girls. He's hilarious because he has really broken english. Some quotes from the week:

Are you SCARY!? 

      He was asking us if we were scared to go proselyting and it came out like that.

You are rudes! 

      He was saying we are tough and we can handle the field.

I smell joking! 

      He popped his head in the door when we were all laughing.

You needs to defeat this scary before the field.

      when we said we were nervous for proselyting.

Those probably aren't funny to you but we all died laughing! 

Also, my friend Hermana G has lice. I was the one that found it in her hair so I have been going through her hair every day for the past three days picking out the eggs and dead bugs and spraying it down with chemicals. Its gross and I get checked several times a day to make sure I don't get it! It's certainly been interesting because G has a ton of dark curly hair and its super thick haha

So proselyting Saturday was fun! Hermana Simmons and I were a bit uncomfortable at first and we felt discouraged for the first few hours because it was lunch and siesta time so no one was out on the streets or answering doors. But, we still had a couple of fun experiences! One guy that we knocked on the door of noticed we were Americans (it's not that hard) and brought out his daughter because she speaks a bit of English and we talked to them for a while and they agreed to have us back to their house again this Saturday! We´ll see what happens! We also found a lady who like bore testimony of a ton of stuff that we believed in after we had and she wanted a Book of Mormon and we made an appointment with her for this Saturday as well! It was so fun to talk to those people! I am learning a ton at proselyting! It is so much fun to talk to so many people and to spend time getting to know them! We met some really fun people who had a lot of concerns that we were able to discuss with them. I loved that I could see little miracles work through Hermana Simmons and I with our Spanish and with inspiration to say what we needed to say. Also, the people are still just so nice and willing to help us, which means we have a way in to help them! 

So, a more specific miracle moment this week was while Hermana Simmons and I were teaching "Ruben", one of our teachers. We usually have our little red book of English to Spanish phrases that are useful for lessons and we go off of that for reference to teach. We also have notes of good questions to ask and everything. This week, he challenged our district to not use any notes and to give perfectly grammared commitments. Simmons and I were super worried, but we went in to our lesson yesterday and totally nailed it! The spirit was so strong, except for him taking out his phone and getting a picture of us haha (he said it was cool because there was a picture of the Savior between our heads on the back wall of the room) and we gave our commitments well and organized. When we got into class he said we missed a word. Instead of saying si lo que we said si que... oops!!! We'll fix that next lesson! It was amazing to see that when we completely let go of our fears of not being able to communicate, we were still able to teach a powerful lesson. 

So, the scripture I picked this week is Isaiah 60:22 

It says "A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in my time." 

I like that one because it reminds me that through God I can be a stronger person and that I just have to work my hardest and put my all into it and he will help me with what I can't do on my own. 

Also, my English has become very inefficient and hard to write, so, sorry! Not that Spanish is any easier right now though. I'm still transitioning. haha 

Also, scriptures are really cheap here. A Bible and BOM are only 25 American dollars! Total!  But they don't have quads which is a bummer.

Also, it is LITERALLY killing me to know where Daniel is going on his mission!!! Can you send a plane to write it in the sky so I can know pronto!? Its killllllling me! 

Also, Presidente always says "Otro día glorioso!!" Im gonna start saying that. I like it! 

I love you all! 

Hermana Sant

 

Tif's note:

Today Sari's future mission president posted pictures from a place called Otono on Facebook.  For your viewing pleasure:

 

 

 

 It's fall on the bottom half of the world!

Let's talk about Mormon missionaries...

I'm thinking of Sari and how excited I am to get her email in a few hours.  I thought it would be a good time to talk about Mormon missionaries.

Here in Baton Rouge when you say you or your child is on a mission everyone gets super excited!  They've all been on missions, or their kids have or their neighbor or their neighbor's kid.  The thing is Mormon missions are very different.  Here's how:

First of all, the Mormon missionaries all pay their own way.  Sari worked her tuckus off at Sonic as a skating car hop to earn a lot of the money for her mission, her clothes, and other preparation expenses.  She could have done a lot of things with the money but instead is using it to pay her own expenses in Argentina for the next 18 months.  She will come home broke but filled with experiences that cannot be bought.  Mormon missionaries are not paid for their work.

Let's talk about the time of missions.  This is another difference.  Mormon missionaries leave home and serve for a full 18 months if they are girls and 24 months if they are boys.  They do this voluntarily!  During this time that don't call or skype or text or facetime home or friends.  In fact, they don't even take a cell phone with them.  Their music players can't have video capabilities. They read and send email once a week on their "preparation days" from a public place, like a library.  They also use a preparation day to wash their clothes, clean their apartments, grocery shop, and send snail mail.  They can usually call or Skype home on Mother's Day and Christmas.  Click here for our first Mother's Day call with Sari!

Speaking of social networking, Mormon missionaries also don't date.  That's right.  People ask us if we miss Sari and of course we do but Larry always answers, I feel better about her being in Argentina than in Idaho!  I know she's not dating or out late at night alone. Haha.  That's a dad for you!

Alone is something Mormon missionaries are not.  They are assigned a companion of the same gender and together they work to bring people closer to Jesus Christ.  They work together all day, in the morning they study the scriptures and the gospel.  They eat their meals together and travel together.  They plan their day together.  They get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time.  When you are a Mormon missionary your companion should always be within eyesight.  Obviously you take care of your bidniz alone, but with that exception, you even sleep in the same bedroom!

How does one become a Mormon missionary?  Well, the first thing they do is prepare themselves by living worthily, such as keeping the Word of Wisdom, paying tithing, being morally clean, and so forth.  There are doctor and dentist appointments (get those wisdom teeth gone!)  When the young adult decides to go, they fill out the paperwork on line, then they have interviews with the Bishop (leader over a local congregation) and Stake President (leader of about nine congregations).  When everything is done it is turned into the LDS Church Headquarters, which is located in Salt Lake City.

The LDS church has Twelve Apostles, just like Jesus did when he was on the earth.  Some of the Twelve Apostles have the assignment to assign missionaries.  My favorite articles about how this works are here, here, and here.  Basically, the prospective missionary has no say or idea about where they will serve, the language they will speak, or when they will leave.  This is a gigantic leap of faith.  And it makes waiting for that big white envelope to arrive in the mail a real test of patience.

I am proud of the kids (and adults - senior couples can go on missions too!)  who decide to put their education, social lives, and jobs on hold and spend time serving the Lord by helping people have a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ.   Right now there are about 74,000 Mormon missionaries world-wide.  I hope that if you see one, well, two (companions, remember?) you will give them a drink of water and spend some time chatting with them.  That's what they are there for!

Week 3 - Buenos Aires CCM

Sari answers the questions first and then writes her stuff.

*How are you liking the MTC? 

I love the MTC! I am starting to realize more and more all of the things I am going to miss about it... like the food!

*How's your Spanish?

Ummmmm... It's fairly good. I am learning that part of the gift of tongues is people being able to feel the spirit testify of what I am trying to say along with helping me get the words. We kind of meet half way. My grammar is pretty terrible and I felt like I didn't progress at all the the past week and a half really, but I will explain latter why I have progressed more in the past 24 hours than I have in the past week. 

*What's your favorite hymn in the CCM?

Still Lead Kindly Light but also Tengo Gozo in Mi Alma Hoy (There is Sunshine in My Soul Today). And that one is mostly because A. its always in my head and B. I actually know the words haha I also love singing Called to Serve! When we sing "poder" we all shout "PODER!!!!" It means power and Presidente said he learned it from the "expressive brazilians" hahah 

*What is church like there?  Do you have Sunday School and Relief Society?  

We have an American Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society and Spanish one. We only go to the American one though. This Sunday is our first Sunday with two Spanish talks though! It'll be fun! 

*What has been the best, the most challenging, and the yummiest things of the week?

The transfer we had was definitely the best and the most challenging thing this week. On Sunday, Presidente said he was planning on splitting up the threesomes. And he did! On Tuesday, alll of the Latinos left to go out into the field for real time. So, the rest of us crammed into a room and were given the details on the new companionships and stuff. He started by splitting us up but Hermana Simmons and I are staying together. Then he switched the elders out of our district and made another hermana threesome in that one and moved some hermanas into our district. Our district was best friends with each other, but that is okay. I honestly think that this is THE most inspired thing to come about since the invention of the wheel (JK obviously there are more things!) Presidente said that the teachers have noticed that having threesomes make development of teaching patterns and Spanish worse because we have two people to share our talking time with instead of one. I fully agree. I love Hermana Sabolsky and she is going to do such a great job. I also moved rooms! Instead of having two bathrooms for 8 girls, we have one for 6. It'll be a learning experience, but I already like my new room a lot! 

The yummiest? They gave us squash last night that was absolutely amazing!

Also, we got a new missionary in last night. She is from Australia and her name is Morton. She's amazing! She is in our room, so we'll see her a lot! 

Let's see, I went proselyting on Saturday! I don't have time to share everything, though I want to tell y'all EVERYTHING! I think I have a great advantage at this MTC. We get better food, we get to go out and proselyte in our mission language every week, we have native missionaries here with us and native teachers! It's great! 

So, the three of us were dropped off on a busy road in front of a toy store. We took about ten minutes figuring out our map and trying to find out what area we were in and then ate our lunch. Eventually, we started walking around and talking to people. The people here are AMAZING! They are so nice to people learning the language, just like Presidente Benton said they would be. We could walk up to people and introduce ourselves as Yankees in our worse Spanish we could conjure, or just the best... its still pretty bad, and people would be like ohhh! Cute! Talk to us! haha Apparently they think we sound like little kids when we talk, so they think its cute. We spent about a half hour talking to these two sweet old grandpas. They were so nice and LOVED Hermana Sabolsky because shes a tall blue-eyed jumpy, bubbly girl! Hermana Simmons and I look kind of native. When we left we gave them the first pass along card we could grab. Turns out is said, "Where do you go when you die?" *facesmack* We didn't have time to figure out what the cards said before we met them! Then we talked to a few more people! One guy prayed with us... he said the entire Catholic Mary prayer (I forgot the name) to us... or he was casting out spirits. We couldn't tell what he was saying, but I heard Maria and Padre Celestial! It was so much fun to go out and talk to those amazing people! And I gained a testimony of the spirit and how it would prompt us to do little things. 

The elders the other day were like, "hey... do you want to sync our watches" Elder A  ".... Flip yeah I do" *silence* *beep**beep**beep* "cool" "word." Elders are dumb. 

So Presidente Benton is hilarious. This is such a small closely knit CCM. The other day, while we were playing volleyball outside, he leaned out of the top floor window and was like "I need Hermana SoandSo!" over and over and then when she went over he said with a huge goofy smile "You have a package from your family!" in Spanish of course. Its hilarious how chill he is. Also, on Sundays, almost every Sunday like clock work after our class with him he says, "Now I would like to suggest that you all go ponder the Lord in your beds for a while." Which means take a nap. He always tries to fit naps into P-Days and Sundays. Its hilarious. When we found out our district was being split up, we did a mock survivor where we voted who would be kicked out of the district. I was Jeff. It was a good time. Hermana Sabolsky and Elder taylor were voted off. It came true! 

(Sari asked Larry and I this but I am going to throw it out there to everyone and maybe someone has an answer:)

Also, I've had a big question on my mind: why is it that some people can not study and fall asleep and get Spanish and lessons down in a second while Im sitting here studying my butt off and going crazy trying to learn it all and I learn about 50% of what I try. Why does it work like that? It made sense in school because it was all academic but this is primarily spiritual. Why does that happen? 

Verse for the week! It applies to everything, but I used it in my Word of Wisdom lesson this week. 

Mosiah 7:33 "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart and put your trust in him and serve him with ALL diligence of mind, if ye do this he will according to his own will and pleasure deliver you out of bondage." 

Cool verse. Take from it what you will. 

I love you all and I miss you!! Kiss the shrine for me! 

Hermana Sant

Tif's note: This is "the shrine" that Sari was referring to:

This was my Christmas present - a bunch of pictures of Sari, from Sari.  It makes me laugh every time I see it.  Especially the bottom, middle picture.

Mother's Day Phone Call

Today was a great day because Sari called us from the CCM!  Here are the Santlads while we were talking to her on the cell phone!

Week 2 - Buenoas Aires CCM continues

This week Sari had a lot of questions from people so she answered in line.  I won't edit it but just leave it how she wrote it.  The links and pictures are added by me, thanks Google! -Tif

What is the popular sport in Argentina? 

Uhhh... Futbol! Duh! AKA soccer. I have already been forced to play it twice during our physical activity time.  There are so few people here that we all just play one sport with everyone during physical activity time. It's usually soccer or volleyball but the elders and I convinced everyone to play basketball a couple of times! Most people are shorter than Americans so our 6 foot elders weren't much fun during basketball - they just dominated. 

Do they eat horse meat? 

Uh no haha We eat a lot of cow! 

What do the houses look like?

We went out to the city to get our Visas yesterday and the houses that I saw were either short square houses with tin roofs or tall skinny buildings with TONS of little apartment in them. I can't quite describe it but I'll take pictures when I can! 

 

Is the keyboard layout different? 

Yes. It's only a little different. There is a ñ and an accent key for ó and á and everything. 

Are you in the city or the country? 

Right now, I'm a little ways out of the city but not in the country side. The CCM is a very isolated part as far as I can tell, but we do have a Holiday Inn next door! 

 

What is the popular music type? 

IDK! 

Are you allowed to know? 

There is no way I could know haha! We don't really leave the CCM. 

Are you having fun? 

I am having so much fun! There has never been a time in my life where I have been working so hard, having so much fun, with better people (well... better people my age!) or learning so much! 

And most importantly, what is the quality of toilet paper? Is it better or worse? 

Right now, it is exactly like any other public toilet paper, but I have yet to use the bathroom outside of the CCM or the airport. Actually, only the CCM. 

Do you miss Tony's? 

Yes, They do not flavor their food very much here haha, but they do have Tabasco sauce at request of Presidente because he LOVES flavor in his food! 

Are there more sisters than elders in the entire CCM? 

No, its mostly elders. They living space is set up for mostly elders. They have two floors and we have one. 

Is it always like that?  What is the turn over rate? 

We get new missionaries every three weeks! We are getting so many new sisters that each room is going to have an extra bunk bed! And I thought things were cramped now! That means 8 girls per toilet and shower! My room has two toilets and two showers and everything  but twice as many girls as the other rooms with one toilet  and everything. 

What size is your bed?  

My bed is a more narrow version of a long college dorm bed. I don't know if it is comfy or if I am exhausted, but I am knocked out every night! 

How are your sheets and blankie?

The sheets are good! But apparently pillowcases are open on both ends here, so my first day I slid in the pillow and it plopped out the other side! I asked one of the Latina sisters in our room (she speaks fluent English and is going to Temple Square!) if it was normal and she said... yeah! 

Is it getting cold there yet?

The breeze is cold, but I don't need a jacket when I'm not in the shade! 

 

What is your daily schedule like?

Okay, I wake up at 6:30, get ready until 7 and eat breakfast downstairs for 20 minutes, then I come back upstairs and get ready a little bit more or write in my journal until 8. Then I do personal study. Companionship study is at 9. at 9:15, my companionship teaches an investigator (a teacher acting like one of thew people they taught on their missions) and come back from that 20 minutes later for more studying. Then we have classes from 10 to lunch which is at 11:45. We have lunch for half an hour which consists of a large piece of meat, some potatoes or pasta and a salad bar with kiwis and apples. Then we have class at 12:30 which is usually Book of Mormon time. We sit down as a district and read the Spanish Book of Mormon out loud  Then we have another class and physical activity time starts at 2:15 and ends at 4. At 4, we come into the computer lab and work on a language program called TALL. I love that hour! I learn most of my words from it! Then we have language study in our district room. Then we go to dinner at 6:15. We eat for a half hour and class starts again at 7. Then we have classes until 9. We plan for the next day until 9:30. At 9:30, the girls in our district do our daily job which is cleaning the girl's stairs. We sweep and mop and then dry it off. The three flights take a while! Then we go to our rooms, get ready for bed and are in bed at 10:30! 

Some funny things that happened this week! 

My district is a particularly rowdy  distracted, loud group of Americans. Elder Asper was joking that they should put Xanax in our water. Then he said, no no, if they did that it would be silent in here and someone would say !shhhh! Listen! There are some feathers doing sign language on the 2nd floor!' I probably laughed too hard at that joke. 

When we do our computer language program, we say the words into a headset over and over again until we pronounce them correctly. Our teacher was in there with us one day and he sat down at a  computer and to make fun of us started saying 'car... car... car... listen... listen... jump... jump.... jump... jump...' It was hilarious! Cause that's what he hears when we do our program haha

Also, I cant find the quotation marks on here, so sorry! 

Oh... I found them """"""""""""""""""""" " 

I found this quote by Elder Nelson, "[we will be] privileged to watch the unfolding of one miracle after another-- always and only after[we give our] best thinking, most courageous efforts and most fervent prayers to the task." 

I really liked that quote because it shows that we always have to try and put an effort into things instead of just praying for something and expecting, for example, to have some light shine down and enlighten our minds into knowing perfect Spanish!

Also, last week, I was feeling a little bit discouraged because of my language ineptness. Elder Saenz, an elder who speaks perfect English and Spanish came into our district and asked the three elders and my companionship if we would come to his district and introduce ourselves and why we came out on our missions in Spanish. He said his purpose was to ease their fears of going to proselyte the next day. Apparently they were all nervous. We went in and in very broken Spanish, said who we are and why we came our on our missions. All of the Latinos started crying and saying how grateful they were for the opportunities they had and gave us lots of encouragement. It felt a little weird just because their work is just as hard as ours, but it was still really sweet. One girl said, in Spanish of course, "the impossible is only a little further." and that has stuck with me. I thought it was sweet of them because ever since then, that district has been a lot more receptive to us Americans trying to speak Spanish to them to practice. They understand now that we have to practice so it was a good experience! 

Sorry I wasn't able to email everyone... or anyone... back! It wish I could spend more time emailing each of you! Thank you for all of your sweet messages our encouragement and love! I miss you all!

Week 1 - Buenos Aires CCM

Wow! There is so much to write and so much that has happened and only an hour in my email time! In case you haven't figured out by today, my Preparation Day is on Thursday! Please forgive all incorrect grammar. Keyboards are weird down here! Also, it seems my English has to go kaput before I can learn Español. 

Alrighty! This week has been one of the hardest, but most amazing weeks of my life! I can't wait for more! 

I felt crazily serene the entire traveling process. So, when I got to Atlanta, I landed in terminal D and I had to go to E, so it was so easy and didn't take long to find my next flight. I immediately saw tons of missionaries right by my little flight terminal thingy too. It was easy to find them because they were all in skirts or suits and were talking English not Spanish  Everyone else was talking Spanish around our terminal. The plane to Buenos Aires was HUGE! The food was pretty good that they fed us and, all things considered, the sleeping wasn't that bad as long as I cranked my neck at a 90 degree angle. haha 

We got to Buenos Aires and went through crazy customs and people not understanding a lick of English, and us not understanding a lick of Spanish  and finally saw two guys standing with a sign that looked like our church logo, but with the letters all mixed up. Turns out, they didn't sent any English speakers to pick us up, so it was confusing but so fun! We all ran out to some little buses and two guys threw our luggage into one while we piled into the other. When they finished putting up our luggage they put out their hands and said "Tips! Tips" so many missionaries threw out fives and tens.  $1 equals fifteen pesos here. The driving was crazy, but we got to the CCM safely! 

 

We were assigned to our companions. I am in a threesome with Regen Simmons and Molly Sabolsky (the nurse my friend told me about before I left! What are the chances?) The rest of the day we waited in a room to be interviewed by the CCM president. We got to go to sleep an hour early on Thursday and Friday because they knew we were jet lagged! There are only 75 missionaries at this CCM and most of them are Latinos. It is so fun to have such a small amount of people. The food at the CCM is AMAZING! But they give us huge portions!  They give us a piece of steak that's probably the size of a baby doll and an equally large serving of pasta or papas fritas with dulce de leche pudding or flan. It is so yummy! 

I am only allowed to take pictures on Sundays during an allotted time and we aren't allowed to send pictures from the CCM computers because it will crash the system. I will send them when I get out in the field. 

I absolutely love my companeras! They are so amazing! We have had our ups and downs this week because of stress, but we have been there for each other to help each other get going again. They are so sweet and have a great love of the gospel! And they're just really funny! 

The CCM president is hilarious. He is extremely animated. He is shorter than I am and always smiling the biggest smile you have ever seen. He is from Utah and so is his wife. They are just the sweetest, happiest people ever. 

Right now, I sleep in a room with 8 other Hermanas. Only two of them are Latina and one speaks English!! It is so fun being with these amazing, strong spirited girls! It's been a little cold lately. The water here does taste good. They filter it at the CCM and it tastes like strawberries a little bit. 

I think since there is sooooooooo much that happens in one week, each email will be "What is good, what is easy, what is difficult?" It seems I do not have nearly as much time as I thought I would have to email and I feel like I have done a month's worth of stuff in a week. 

What is good? What isn't good! Everything is so beautiful here! One of my teachers has a huge personality and is so good at speaking Spanish so that we can understand it instead of fast and with huge words. I love my district! I am with them pretty much 24/7. The food is great and I have started playing volleyball and enjoying because it's not competitive. I love the spirit that I feel here and that everyone is so nice and willing to help us learn. 

What is easy? Eating! The food is great! Did I mention that? Because it is yummy! Also, I think that gospel classes are fairly easy in comparison to everything else. It is also very easy to fall asleep at night! It's like I hit the pillow and I am out!

What is difficult? Spanish. It is so hard to keep all of the Spanish words straight. And not just that, it is hard for me to open my mouth and practice like I need to. I am definitely learning to do that, but it is harder than I thought. I am learning that the gift of tongues, or any gift from God does not always come easy. It is usually something that we have to put our entire heart and effort into. When we fall short after we put all of our effort in, then God makes up for what we could not do on our own. It seems I have to unlearn English before I can learn Spanish. It will be fun to continue on doing this! It is a such a miracle, really, all of the Spanish that we have learned already! BTW my two favorite words are servilleta: napkin and entonces: so. I like servilleta because of the Argentine accent of jzh for the LL's. 

Oh yeah! I went to the temple today! It was Spanish session, so it was hard to catch on to what exactly was gong on, but I am glad I got to go so often in Baton Rouge before now so that I could understand what I did get. The temple is beautiful here! 

 

Spiritual thought of the day: Alma 31: 35 

"Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."

When we are on the Lord's errand we need to make sure that our heart is in the right place with charity for the people we are meant to serve. That has been a verse that the teachers have been reading to us a lot this week

I love you guys! The next group for the computer lab is waiting outside already! 

See ya in no time! 

Hermana Sant

Pictures attributed to google.

Some pre mission pictures

The amazing Erika of DRYink came into town to snap some pictures of Sari.

 

 We also tried some fly the flag pictures but the wind, slope, angle, and Louisiana were not cooperating:

But a strong A for effort.

These pictures were taken while we were blissfully unaware of what was in the overnight mailer from FedEx that Sari received earlier in the day ...