It was so good to hear your voice momma. And dad too. I wish it was longer.. yeah, but it wasn´t too bad. I got to at least talk about the highlights of my mission so far, which actually was only 2 weeks up till then. Still... it was a little short. Good news about grandpa and shane though, that was good to know.
Let´s see... oh yeah talking to greg. His accent.. my gosh. it´s so clear. I had a full on conversation with a mexican elder today. I still don´t feel comfortable at all talking to dominicans. That´s the difference. It´s ridiculously hard to understand them. And so I keep getting called callado. I just want to listen and understand but people expect me to talk. So I try.. and it´s hard because I don´t know what they´re talking about. Anyway, it´s pretty tough. I can´t wait till i´m to the point where I can understand what pepole are saying up to speed.
Here´s kind of a cool story. Last week we were walking to church. We were about a block away when we heard a yell ¨Elderes.. ELDERES!¨ It was a lady who was a member but not from this city. She had apparently been looking for the church for a while but didn´t know where it was. She had said a prayer and not a minute later spotted us. It was a cool feeling, being instantly recognized as a sort of beacon of the church. People know us.. we´re kind of a big deal. ok that´s a joke but seriously, it´s neat being the answer to someone´s prayer. One of those testimony building moments for sure. Those happen a lot on the mission. I appreciate all of them but it´s hard to keep track of them all.
Ok so right now im at an internet center. The lady here is SO dominican. The way to say come here is ¨venga para aca¨ but this lady just said ¨venga p´aca¨.. they cut words and put them together here. It´s funny sometimes when I can understand them but not at all when I can´t... which is just about all the time.
Also, yesterday I tried at awesome dish called arroz con dulces. It´s in essence rice pudding.. but better. It´s warm and homemade so it tastes SO GOOD. my gosh. I can´t even describe it. wow. and i´ve heard habichuelas con dulces is even better, it´s like rice pudding but with beans. I´ve heard it´s incredible. That´s what my comp said at least. I´ll report.
We have been enjoying that package so much, my comp and I. I can´t wait for the next. We checked monday like every week for mail and not a single person got anything. That´s a little sketchy.. we think they forgot to send it from santiago. With christmas and everything it would be easy but still... suck. I´ll let you know if we get our packages next week. The artist that you didn´t write down right was sufjan stevens. Matt knows of him.
Let´s see..... oh i was gonna ask you, what´s the name of the blog that I have? my comp has one that he just updates himself. I don´t wanna do that, the comps are too slow, but i wanna see it. So just give me the login and stuff, much much appreciated. ¨:)
hmmmm.. yeah i haven´t heard anything from matt. That´s the only kid that hasn´t written me. I have appreciated a ton the letters from mike, ellen and joy though. They have been exactly what I needed sometimes. I hate that it takes forever to get to me but it´s honestly better than nothing.
As a greeney i hope i´m appreciating how much success we´re having here. I mean, i know there are elders that are working really hard but don´t have much success. I don´t ever want to take for granted fantino, it´s been a huge blessing but at the same time i wish i would have had a really tough area before this one just so i could appreciate the difference. Another wish that I have is the ability to communicate. I love the members here, and they´re all really tight, but I can´t appreciate them either because i can´t actually hold a conversation with a dominican.
I still love the work. Life as a missionary is so good. My trainer and I work hard, he pushes me to be the best I can be and my legs hurt every night but it´s a great hurt. I love the people here in the DR, and I love you all too. A lot. I´m always gonna be homesick here because it´s not home and it´s not familiar, but i will work hard these next two years and I will not waste a second.
ya tu sabes (you already know)
elder c. rufus sweeney
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