Hey
hey hey!!!!!
I’m
writing this from a cyber cafe in a town called Santo Tomé. I’m in Argentina,
and if I look across the river I can see Brazil. What?!? When did this happen?
haha
So,
May 5 we boarded a bus at 8:30 and rode to the SLC airport. From there we flew
to the Dallas airport, and then to Buenos Aires. That was a 10 hour flight, and
I wanted to die. I got about 4 hours of awkward, uncomfortable sleep, and we
arrived in Buenos Aires around 8 local time (but it felt like 5 am to me). We
were able to drive to the Buenos Aires temple, walk around, eat lunch (hey
Jaron, I finally ate a “real”dulce de leche alfajore!), and shower. Then we
went to the airport again and met up with a group of missionaries from the
Argentine MTC. Another Hermana and I boarded a plane and landed in Posadas
(only about an hour flight, thankfully). We were picked up by the Mission
President, his wife, and his assistants. Then we went to the mission home, ate
dinner, and got to sleep! I felt like I had taken two days and crammed them into
one- probably because that’s what I did. I didn’t really sleep or eat real food
from 8 am May 5 until 9pm May 6. But I’m here! And that’s all that matters!
Wow,
and here is amazing!!
First
off, there really are dogs and cats EVERYWHERE. They just run around free, begging
for food and attention. It’s hard for my companion and I because we both love
animals, but luckily we have enough self-control to just keep walking past them
all :( It’s a little easier because the people who live below us own a cute
little puppy named Lolee, so we do get to spend a little time in the morning
when we leave and in the night when we get home with a dog.
It is
so humid. As in, it feels like a sauna in the afternoon. And some of the trees
here look like they came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. There’s a species
that’s fairly short, but the leaves are HUGE. As in, bigger-than-my-head,
more-than-a-foot-across huge.
Now
that I’m here, I understand what it feels like to be a foreigner. It’s not very
fun to not understand what anyone else is saying. To not be able to communicate
is super frustrating at times, but luckily my companion is super patient and
nice. She’s from Chile and doesn’t know much English, so on the bright side I’m
learning the language SUPER quickly, since I really have absolutely nobody to
speak English with.
The
people here are so great! Everyone is super friendly and nice and welcoming.
The other night we were out contacting and decided to give a pass-along card to
a group of people who were just sitting on their porch, talking and drinking
their máte (Jaron wasn’t kidding, everybody drinks máte ALL THE TIME). When we
got over there and explained that we were missionaries and just wanted to leave
them a little card and invitation to church on Sunday, a man named José
asked me why I wasn’t saying anything. I explained in my broken Spanish that I
had just arrived from the states and still couldn’t speak very well. Without
hesitating, he said, “well, that’s because you need to practice.” Then he
quickly put two chairs in front of my companion and I and told us to start
talking. He and his two friends (Lordes and Victoria) were super great! They
had so many questions and we got to teach them a little about the Church. And
when we told them we had to go-we have a curfew- all three of them made sure we
wrote down their addresses and told us to come back! It’s so great seeing
people who truly want to know more about Christ and really want to have a
stronger relationship with Him.
Alright,
one last slightly humorous thing. To put it simply, I am a very white person.
I’m super pale, I have blue eyes, and my hair is kind of a dirty blonde, light
brown. People notice right off the bat that I’m not from around here. In every
single visit this past week, everyone has made a comment about my eyes! haha I
never thought about them much before, but when nearly everyone in the country
has brown eyes, I guess blue kind of stands out. Also, people feel like they
can get away with saying anything they want around me because they know I can’t
understand that much. The other day Hna Tapia and I were walking down the
street, and we passed an older gentleman. I smiled and said “hola” like I do
for everyone, and he said something back. As soon as he passed and we had
turned the corner, my companion started busting up laughing. Apparently he said
“Que tal, muneca!” Which basically means
“what’s up doll.” I was a little taken aback, considering this man was quite
advanced in years and didn’t seem like one to use slang haha.
I love
you all and wish I had more time to write! But here’s my quick thought for the
week! Isaiah 40:31- those who trust in the Lord and rely on Him will find that
living the gospel is not work, it is WINGS. When we are humble and depend on
the Lord we can truly reach our full potential. Considering I walk
basically 7 hours a day (that’s not an exaggeration, we literally walk
from one end of town to the other, and back as we do visits and contacts), I’m
so grateful that living the Gospel helps me to “run and not be weary, to walk
and not faint!” I know that Christ strengthens us! I know my Heavenly Father
blesses me so much! I know that this is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and I could not be doing anything of more importance right now than serving a
mission and bringing the good news of Christ to the people of Santo Tomé!!!!
I love
you all!
Hermana
Simmons
yikes!
Sorry no pictures this week! There’s no time!!!! I’ll try to upload them next
week!
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It really
is amazing all the miracles and blessings we miss if we aren’t looking for
them. Just being here in Argentina I realize just how super incredibly easy I
had it and how crazily cushy and comfortable my life has been. I mean, I’ve
always known that I’m blessed, but I think there is a huge difference between
“knowing” something and actually
understanding. It’s like the difference between testimony and conversion. A
person can have a testimony but not act on those promptings of the Spirit
because they aren’t converted. I always knew that I was blessed, but now I have
real actual experience to contrast with my life before. Now I understand
exactly how much I’ve been blessed. Thank you so much (and you can tell Mom
this too!) for all you do!!!!! All your working and saving and serving and help
you have given me is seriously amazing to me!
Love
Hna Simmons!
My MTC Branch.
My MTC Branch.
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