Mission Log: June 01, 2012

So. Sometimes I'm Jari instead of Hermana Santos. For example. Earilier this week one of the elders made a comment about how colorful my breakfast was and I started going on and on in passionate tones about how much I love breakfast, because I do. Especially at the MTC. I mean seriously there is just fruit and oatmeal and nuts and honey and cottage cheese EVERYWHERE. It's glorious. As I was giving my ode to breakfast some random cafeteria worker sat down next to me. So I turned to see who on earth it was and why he was there and it turned out to be a long lost EFY friend. So in about 0.03 second I had lept out of my chair and came within milimeters of wrapping him in a hug all while squealing "WILL HEAPS!!" (that's his name). So I pulled back, and gave him a handshake, and then I started shaking all over because I was already super excited about breakfast, and now I was excited about seeing my friend and I couldn't hug him and there were just way too many emotions for my little body to handle. And then homeboy makes it worse by telling me that he's engaged and I doubled over and again squealing "YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!" and at this point I turned around and realized that the entire cafeteria had gone silent and was watching me. Embarassing. So I waved, apologized, and then listend as a wave of teenage boy laughter filtered through the room, awesome. Then at lunch time I realized some of the elders heard me wrong, and thought that I had said "I'm getting married" and were wondering when I would be leaving the MTC to get hitched. Oh for the awkward.

Being a missionary means having absolutely no concept of time. Each day feels like two days and each week feels like one day. I don't know how it will be when I'm in the field, but in the MTC I'm learning so much that I hardly even feel like the same person from one week to the next. Some days are really hard and break my heart a little bit. Luckily though I have a really awesome companion who is so much fun and it's hard to be down on myself for too long when I'm with her. While we were cleaning bathrooms this week we got in a broom sword fight, and after I bombed one of our lessons she took me into the bathroom and we had a 2 minute dance party (complete with disco and hula moves). I'm lucky to have her.

The Spanish isn't easy for me. At all. But, that doesn't matter because like it or not I speak Spanish all day, every day. Not only do I have to speak in Spanish, but I teach in Spanish. It's exhausting...but it's humbling, and that's always good. And mark my words I'm going to speak Spanish at the end of this mission of mine.

Even though I feel like the whole point right now is that I need to learn the language, it isn't. At all. I'm learning how to talk to people, how to care for and love them, and (best of all) how to teach them about their Heavenly Father's plan for them. That through the Savior they can receive complete happiness. Even though we're only teaching fake investigators in the MTC I'm starting to see a glimpse of the amount of love I'm going to be exposed to during my mission. It's so exciting. I have lots of stories to share and I'd love to tell you each about them, but I only have 30 minutes at the computer and they have been over for 48...49...50 seconds now. So I'll try to write letters and share stories with you. Thanks to everyone for your support and love. It is greatly apprciated.

All my love,

Jari.