August 29, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

I am so glad to hear that you survived the first week of the school year! The good news is that a school year is less than a regular year so you officially have less that 50 weeks left. Haha, comforting isn´t it. But speaking of regular years, I will probably be home in about a year from now! Isn´t that crazy!

 

I´m glad to hear that everything is going well, and that it looks like this school year will be a better one. I am also glad to hear that you are feeling better Mom!!!

 

This week wasn´t too exciting. And no, we didn´t end up having Christians baptism. He has decided that he does want to get baptized! Yay! But, his mom is out of town, and it is important to him that his mom be there, which we understand. She´s been gone for about a month, and a lot of changes have taken place while she has been gone. We think that she gets home next week, and we are also hoping that we will be able to have his baptism next week. He is progressing really really well, it is amazing how quickly one can learn and grow in such a short period of time!

 

How ever, this week we are going to have two baptisms! Norma, the mom, and Roberta, the daughter. Roberta has ten years, and Norma has about 35. I can´t remember...that's embarrassing. They are also progressing really well. At first they were hesitant about the whole baptism thing, but now when someone asks how they feel as it is getting closer they both say that they feel happy and excited. Oh, how they are growing!! It is so exciting! And our branch has been really great about everything. All three of our progressing investigators have friends in the branch, who talk with them regularly. It really is a vital part of the conversion process.

 

Other than that, this week was a lot of knocking doors. And a lot of people saying no. Or saying yes, and then saying no. Or saying yes, and then not being at home when we had appointments. So not much progress by way of finding new people to teach. And (if all goes well) we will have the only three investigators that we have baptized. Which is both good and bad. But when we got to SAO we started with no investigators, and we are going to have three baptisms. We know that there are more people in SAO who are waiting for us to find them. And find them we will!!!

 

Today was nice. We went and got all of the things that we needed for the next week. Speaking of which, SAO is expensive, everything here costs more than it did in Punta Alta. But Hermana Salas and I have developed a taste for ice cream. Surprise surprise, I know. Today we went and got hot dogs (which were giant!!!) and ice cream for lunch. And next week she really really really wants to get a kilo of ice cream for lunch. (Yes, a kilo. Yes that means two pounds). And you want to know the sad thing. I am actually considering it. I don´t know that I would have even given that a second thought at home. No way, are you kidding me, two pounds of ice cream? But now I am hearing Brian Reagan in the back of my mind "1/2 cup of ice cream ?! That's like two spoonfuls!" Oh how things can change during the mission!

 

Well you should all know that I am doing much better than last week. We still didn´t have the success that we are working for, but I know that we will be rewarded for the work that we are doing. We are obedient, and we will be blessed for that. And yes, that does mean that I am exercising in the morning. I still dont´like it that much, but I´m now used to it. It took longer than I wanted to be used to it, but then, I didn´t really exercise in the MTC so its my own fault. Haha...I am feeling much better this week. Things are going to change here in San Antonio Oeste! This branch is ready to grow and flourish, and Hermana Salas and I are ready to help it get there!

 

Transfers are this week, crazy huh? We are already in week 6. There is the chance that Hermana Salas or I could be transfered but we both think that we are going to stay here. Also coming up this week is district meeting tomorrow. When ever we have district meeting we have a 3 hour wait after for the bus to take us back to SAO, and tomorrow we are going to what all the elders say is the best place for facturas (Argentine pastries). So we´ll see if they are in fact, the best. Also, we will be going back to Viedma this weekend for District Conference, and Elder Arnold will be there. He is our Area Authority, and I am really excited to see what is going to happen. And, all three of our future baptisms will be going! It should be a good week, another week that is going to fly by.

 

Well, I think that's about it. I´m gonna try to get some pictures sent!

I love you!!!

 

Corinne

 

August 22, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

Good news, no dog bites yet...this week! Hermana Salas and I were just walking on the sidewalk and out of no where I had a dog biting my leg! I don´t think it was a stray, but who knows? It could have been. I wouldn´t really consider it "attacking" while I was mildly freaking out wondering what was going on Hermana Salas chased it away. And I am glad that I can check that off my list of things to do!!!

 

And da da da!!!!! We have water again!!! And it lasted for longer than three days this time! We are clean, and our shower lengths have increased exponentially!

 

President and Hermana Detlefsen are Argentine, they have 6 children, 5 girls and 1 boy. Their two youngest daughters live here in Bahia with them, they have a daughter and a son who are studying at the university in Cordoba and two daughters who are married, also living in Cordoba.

 

There are a couple of missionary terms I will explain now. When someone is training they are the "madre" or "padre" and the new missionary is the "hija" or "hijo" aka mom and dad, and daughter and son. The second companion is the step mom or step dad. And when someone goes home from their mission they are "dying." I "killed" Hermana Durham, and chances are that I am going to "kill" Hermana Salas as well.

 

When we got home from Zone Conference at 2:30 in the morning we took a taxi back to our apartment. It isn´t very smart to walk the streets at night, two girls, with a suitcase. It appears that we have things that people would want to steal. Although really all we had were PJ´s, and a bunch of church materials. So we took a taxi, it was a million times faster and it meant that we got to sleep sooner!!!

 

Cool, so the pictures! The first one is a little place we found here in San Antonio Oeste! When the tide is in it actually looks like we have a little bit of ocean here! So when the tide was in, we took pictures to prove that sometimes there is water!

 

Then there are a couple from the activity we had on Saturday. Okay, so I told you that Argentine´s have a lot a lot of holidays, right? Well in August there is Childrens Day. But I dare you to find out when it actually is. No one knows. Everyone celebrates differently, and basically all month there are parties going on. They should just call it Childrens Month!!! Haha. But we had a church activity for Dia del Niño! It was really fun. Hermana Salas and I helped Noelia, one of the members that we have become good friends with, come up with games to play. There is a picture of us helping getting everything ready in the kitchen, and a picture of us with our faces painted. And I think that is all from that day. It was really fun and we had a good turn out! If only we could get that many people to Church on Sunday....

 

The other pictures are from today! We got to go to Las Grutas with Noelia, her husband Ezekiel, and their five year old daughter Meilan. It was really cool! The Grutas are about 20 mintues from SAO, and technically they are in our branch boundaries, but for now President Detlefsen wants us to work in SAO only so we don´t waste time travelling from SAO to the Grutas. But he did say that we could go on Pday if we wanted too. So we did! Its still winter time so the town wasn´t very busy, but it was really pretty and it was fun to go to the beach for a little bit! Especially since we probably won´t be able to go in the summer.

 

Tonight we are going to have a FHE with Christian, and we are going to find out if he is going to be baptized this week or no. He is having a little bit of trouble saying yes. He says that he is going to be baptized, he just feels like he needs more time. We are not quite sure what is going to happen. He has a testimony and everything, he just needs to bite the bullet and do it! However, at this point it is all in his hands. We have taught him everything he needs to know, we have done everything that we can do, it is all up to him at this point.

 

On one hand that is really nice, but on the other hand its kind of frustrating. It is nice to know that we don´t have to do anything else that we have completed our assignment with him, he is prepared, he really is. But on the other hand I kind of wish there was something I could do to help him make the decision. Or make it for him. But that would be taking away his agency. And I can´t do that. Even if it might be easier. Haha.

 

 

I hope that everything goes well today in your first day of school, tomorrow in your first day of school, moving into your new apartment, and getting both cars fixed!

 

I sure love you!!!

 

Corinne

                Hermana Orton and Michele

Hermana Durham, Herman Orton and Michele

                       Zone Conference

           Hermana Orton and Hermana Salas

August 15, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

I am glad to hear that everything is going so great! Okay, first things first, a run down of the pictures. I don't remember which ones I picked or in which order...There is one of a bunch of Hermanas, this is all the Hermanas at Zone Conference, Hnas Freeman and Collette (my Punta Alta Hermanas) with thier¨hijas¨, and Hna Salas and I. Unfortunately it was the only picture we actually got to take at zone conference. There is also one of me washing my hair outside in our patio area. That's right folks, we still have no water with which to bathe!! So we are washing our hair outside where there is warm water, and then quickly quickly showering with the freezing FREEZING water! There is also a giant wagon here in SAO. Don't ask me why, I don't know. But we went to go take pictures with it! And why you may ask are our head cut of in one? It is because a very nice, but very drunk man took it for us. Then when he walked away we took more, with our faces. Ha ha.

 

Okay, your questions. There isn't as much mud anymore. It has been a pretty warm dry week. We´ll see if that sticks around or not, we are starting to get to spring and so the weather is going to be a little crazy for a while. I only wear my boots when its raining. Christian is doing great! He is progressing and looks like everything will turn out for his baptism for the 27th. And, the highlight of the week (drum roll please) Norma and Roberta came to church yesterday! We are so excited! She is really quiet, but from what we know about her, we think that she liked it, Roberta has been before, and she really really enjoys it. We are hoping that things will be able to continue and that they will be baptized September 3!!!

 

Okay, now the week! This week flew by. We were only able to work for a couple of hours on Tuesday before we went back to the house, ate lunch and went to the terminal to catch our bus. We were really nervous about being late, and we still hadn´t heard from the elders where we would be staying the night, and our phone stopped working!! Our bus turned out to be an hour late, but during the ride, the phone worked long enough that we could figure out where we were staying! We made it into Bahia about 11 at night, and President and Hermana Detlefsen picked us up and took us to their house. I love staying the night with them, it is so fun to be in a family setting for a little while, and Pres and Hermana are so great!

 

Wednesday we had a really great zone conference, where I got to meet the hijas of Hermanas Collette and Freeman, and I had a great surprise! Michelle was there! Michelle is a member of Barrio Atlantida, and she is a really good friend. The Punta Alta Hermanas invited her and it was really fun to be able to talk to her and see her again! The conference went really well! After the conference, the elders went to go buy our tickets for out return trip, and we found out that we wouldn't be leaving until eight thirty. Which meant that we wouldn´t be getting home until two thirty am. Talk about gross. So we went to work in one of the areas of the elders until it was time to catch our bus.

 

Thursday as always we had planning, so that took up a good chunk of time, and then the next thing we knew, the week was gone! And now we are halfway through this transfer! How crazy is that? How fast three weeks can fly! I am really enjoying my time here in SAO! Herman Salas is pretty great! I am learning alot! Oh, the really cool thing about Zone Conference is that I understood things! And I was able to participate! All in Spanish! And, some of the elders were dumb and were speaking in English, even though Hermana Salas was there (it is really bad manners to do that), and I was able to speak in Spanish anyways! I can communicate in another language! That being said, I have a long way to go until I am fluent, but I can communicate! I will take every small victory I can!

 

Also, I got bit by a dog this week. Don´t worry, it didnt´t break skin or anything, but I have a really cool bruise. Needless to say, I am scared of the dogs now. Everyone tells me not to be scared because dogs can tell when you are scared, but I don´t know. I wasn't scared before and I got bit, and now I am scared of them and they are staying away. How crazy this mixed up world is! But seriously, dont´worry. I am fine.

 

Love you!!!

 

Corinne

 

August 8, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

In all honesty the ¨ocean¨ isn´t really ocean. San Antonio Oeste is a little peninsula (sp?), and we have little tiny beaches, but when I think beach, I think Oregon Coast, and so far these have not compared. If I am still here in the summer, we´ll see if they get any better. SAO isn´t very big, it is long, but not very wide. It only runs about six or seven blocks in centro, where we live. So on either side of our apartment about four block is the ocean. And again I stress ¨ocean¨. I have noticed it being a little colder, but not too bad. I have had a couple of nights that I have been a little cold, but nothing I haven´t experienced in our house!! (For those of you who don't know, my dad runs about 10 warmer than I do, so when we have air conditioning on, it  is FREEZING!) I haven´t purchased a sleeping bag, and I don't think that I am going too. I haven´t really needed one yet, and to get one for the very end of winter only to have to haul it around till next winter really doesn't seem worth it to me. How ever, I am thinking about getting a new suitcase. I have two small ones and a big one, and I can have two big ones and one small one. Moving just showed me how much I don't want to worry about space. And I have a lot of books. A lot a lot of books. And I have gotten a couple things already, and there just isn´t space! We´ll see what happens though.

I will never have heat like we have it in the USA. We have little radiators. This apartment is a little bigger and we have two. You don´t need to worry about me being warm, it is cold and windy, and this week, rainy outside, but inside I am warm! I still don´t have very many cooking appliances. But, this apartment has a hand mixer!!! Such luxury! I dont´even know what to do! In fact, I haven´´t used it yet. I forgot until right now that we have one!!!  I am not quite sure when tourist season starts. I am going to guess end of November ish. If I am remembering correctly that is when school gets out for the summer. It sure is going to be odd to have an uncomfortably warm Christmas!

There was a funny thing that happened this week. It has been raining a lot, and that means a lot a LOT of mud. Everywhere. And sometimes it can be deceiving. For instance, you are walking to a cita (lesson).And you are doing great, so far you haven't gotten any mud on you, it is a record! And then the next thing you know, you are stuck. And your companion right next to you is NOT stuck. And you are wondering, we are less than five feet away. How am I stuck and she not? And I was good and stuck. Mud completely covered my feet. We had one of the YW with us and I had to have her and Hermana Salas help me out. How embarrassing!!!

There was also a ¨funny¨ thing that happened this week. Remember how in Punta Alta we were without electricity for 4 days? Yeah. Well I now have something that can up that. We have been without water in our shower since Wednesday. Yup. Almost a whole week. And why do you ask that we have water everywhere else in our bathroom and apartment except the shower. I will tell you. For some odd reason there wasn´t any hot water coming out of the shower on Wednesday. So we called the landlord and he came and looked at it. And in good old fashioned Argentine style, he started taking things apart, and then announced that he could not fix it so we were going to have to call someone and have them fix it. So we told him that we had and investigator who fixes things like that. So Christian agreed to come over that night. Christian told us and the landlord, that he would be able to fix it, but that he needed a part and the stores were closed. Not a big deal. We could go without showers for a two days. Well long story short, he couldn´t find the part. Nor could he put back together the shower. I don´t know why. But he is coming over tonight with the part and we are going to be clean!!! I am so excited! Its like coming home from Girls Camp! (minus the smoke smell).

By way of news about our investigators, Christian is on the road to baptism! His date is for August 27 and he is getting really excited! He is reading and praying, and has started to have family prayer when his sons stay with him. (He is 33 years old, divorced, has two sons Rodrigo 9, and Maxi 12, who live with him every other week). So far he has yet to have any problems with anything of what we´ve been teaching, which has been refreshing. Although, I am waiting for something to come up. No problems with the law of chastity, we´ll see how the Word of Wisdom goes.

We also have a mother Norma and her daughter Roberta! They didn't come to church yesterday, so we are going to have to change their baptism date, but they both want to get baptized and I am sure that it will happen!!!

We have continued to find this week. Oh, last Tuesday we went to Viedma for District Meeting. It is two hours each way! Because of the distance we only go every other week, instead of each week. But I like my new district, they are a group of good elders! This week we have zone conference, so tomorrow at four Hermana Salas and I will get back on a bus and head to Bahia Blanca. I´ll try to get a picture, the only good thing about riding the collectivos to Viedma and Bahia is 1) they are double deckers and I am just enough of a child to enjoy that and 2) they are ¨semi cama¨, which means they recline very nicely and we can sleep a little bit. So we´ll leave tomorrow, have district meeting on Wednesday, and we´ll either come home on Wednesday night or Thursday, we still aren´t sure. I am not very excited to be leaving our investigators for that long, but those that are progressing will be having members check up on them and make sure that they are doing well!!!

I will let you know if I get the contacts. If you sent the prescription as well, I don't think there will be any problems.  Is Zac really taller than Kami (don't tell him that she told me he was). I am glad to hear that the doctor and you feel like you are making progress!!

I am doing very well with Hermana Salas, I really have been impressed with how much Spanish I already know! That being said, I still have leaps and bounds to learn, and sometimes it is overwhelming how far from fluent I am, but we haven´t had any problems with communication! Such a miracle!!!

I love you!!!

Corinne
 

August 1, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad!

 

I will do my best to answer all of your questions. I got the phone call while I was at a members home on Friday. I was told that I would be leaving to San Antonio Oeste, and that Hermana Salas would be my companion. I really wanted to talk to Elder Garcia about that in English, so I asked if I could call back when we were done with lunch with the Familia Martinez. He said yes, and I did my best not to cry my way through the end of lunch. Later he told me again that I was leaving, I was kind of hoping it was a joke, and that I would be opening the area for Hermanas with the Hermana Salas. Apparently everyone wants to go to Rio Negro, the province that I am now in, and I was supposed to be really excited. I really really love Punta Alta, and I was very very sad to be leaving.

 

Hermana Durham and I left Punta Alta Sunday evening, and we spent the night at Pres´s house. I got up very, very early (around 4:45) and it was off to the terminal by 5:30. Then it was an anxious hour of waiting to see if Hermana Salas´s bus was going to make it on time. It was really funny, most of the missionaries at the terminal were Americans and we are supposed to speak in Spanish all the time, and some of them were speaking English to me because they could tell that I was very, very nervous, and I was too nervous to talk back to them in English, probably for the better. Hermana Salas´s bus made it just in time. We ran from her bus to ours and as soon as we were loaded up, we took off! We had a 5 ish hour ride and then we made it to SAO!

 

And when we got here, no one was here. I thought I was going to cry. But we called the Branch President and he came right over and helped us out. And I think I told you this last week, but we had 3 hermanas from RS cleaning our apartment. And I think I have told you about the rest of that day.

 

So this week. Wow. What a week. We have a lot of work cut out for us that is for sure. I am pretty sure that we have identified the members that are used to having missionaries as their best friends, and we have made it very clear (but in a very nice, polite way), that we are here to work. So far they seem pretty supportive of our decision. Surprised, but supportive. It also seems as if there were some members who were getting frustrated with the Elders, and they are very excited to have the Hermanas here! I am hoping that as we meet the rest of the members that this trend continues.

 

We have also learned that there are some people who have some problems with the Church because of the former elders actions. So my plea to you, especially those who are preparing to serve missions is to think about your actions at all times. People are always watching, and what you are doing may change the way they will think about the church. Someone elses salvation may change because of what you are doing. Please be careful! Follow the rules! They are there for a reason!

 

Okay. That being said, we really did have a great week. Hermana Salas is awesome! She is a native Argentine, and she is from Salta. We are the same age, she will turn 23 December 23. She has 16 months on the mission, and chances are that I will ¨kill¨ her too. But she is anything but trunky. I am learning so much! We are going to have an amazing transfer. I am feeling a little more confidant with my Spanish and teaching abilities, so that is great. This week, was a week of finding. When we got here we had 0 investigators. (Is that how you spell investigators in English? Some words in English are hard!) But we now have 20. Most of whom have a baptismal date. Obviously some of them are not going to happen, that is just how it goes, but we have high hopes for a few of them. I am not sure what the elders before us were doing, but we certainly have a lot of hope for our area.

 

Next week I will send pictures. Our church building has been converted from a house! It is so teeny tiny! And super cute. We had 20 people at church on yesterday. I think we have about 80 on our records. We have a lot of work to do! Church was good. Hermana Salas and I had to speak, and good news! I didn´t spend the whole time reading from my paper!!! Improvement!!! Can you believe it?! I might actually be able to speak Spanish by the end of my mission!! Its a good thing I have another year to go, because I am going to need the time! 

 

I am glad to hear that things are going well. Oh, Kami asked which pair of shoes are falling apart and I forgot to tell her. One of my black pairs. I am only using one at a time in hopes that I can make them last a little longer. We´ll see. I might be asking for another pair of shoes for Christmas.... 

 

SAO is sort of surrounded by sea, but its the little baby kind that doesn't actually count as ocean.

 

Also, I was going to ask that you bring up Pedro Ortega, and Christy Powell at the next ward council. I am worried about them. Are they coming to church? If not, does someone know why? Do they have good visiting and home teaches that always do their visits? Do they have callings? Do they have friends? I don´t know how things work in Utah with recent converts, but now the ward has the responsibility to make sure that they are being fellow shipped. So many times recent converts get forgotten and right now they are so vulnerable. 

 

How is your medicine treating you? Are you doing alright? How is Dad? I hope that you are all doing great! I am praying for you all the time! And guess what, tomorrow marks five months in the mission, can you believe that that much time has passed?!?!?! Sometimes it feels like forever, but other times it really does feel like I have only just gotten to Argentina!!!

 

I love you!

 

Corinne

July 25, 2011 - Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

Are you ready for this? The picture that you are looking at right now is a picture of me and my new companion! In my new area! Ahh!!! It has been a crazy week. We knew that transfers were coming, but we thought (and everyone else thought might I add), that I would be staying in Punta Alta! I was very VERY comfortable with that idea, and I was only a little nervous for my new companion, but I figured that everything would be okay since I was going to be in an area that I knew and with people that I knew. We had a crazy week! Hermana Durham and I came up with a plan of what we were going to do different days so that the weekend wasn't too crazy and so we could still teach all week long. Well, nothing really went according to plan! However, we did have really really great days! We were able to sacar two fechas with investigators that we were concerned about, and it was great! We also found a couple of new investigators, it really was a good week. However, in terms of helping Hna Durham get ready to go home, not much was made by way of progress.

And then the big day arrived. Transfers. I was nervous, but really not too bad, and I was confidant enough to answer the phone when we were in a members house. And what did I hear? ¨Hermana Orton, usted se va a San Antonio Oeste¨ Which means, Hna Orton, you are going to San Antonio West. And my reaction? I started to cry. No joke. Not a ton, but a little bit none the less. And we were in the middle of lunch so I had to ask if we could call back after lunch. Which we did. I don't really remember much of what was said after the phone call though. I was in a mild state of shock. For a couple of reasons. One, I was leaving Punta Alta, two, I was going to San Antonio Oeste, which for those of you who haven't looked it up yet, is in the very very southern tip of our mission, it is actually in a different province- Rio Negro. And, they also said my new companion was Hna Salas. A latina. So needless to say I was a little scared. Then later I found out that I had good reason to be scared. Are you ready for this? Hna Salas and I are opening this area for Hermanas. In the eleven years that there have been missionaries here, there have never been hermanas. Talk about intimidating.

So we´re here. In San Antonion Oeste. And this is what we learned before we got here. That the elders that were here before left in the middle of the transfer because they were having some problems with the members. That the members are great. That the branch here only has 2 active priesthood holders. That it is a tourist town and that come summer time it is going to be pretty busy. That a lot of elders and a couple of hermanas really want to come to the viedma area. That because of the lack of priesthood, they really relied on the elders and that we shouldn't be surprised if the members here told us to tell our mission president to send the elders back.

This is what we´ve learned since we´ve gotten here. That part of the problems with the members is that they babied the elders a little. They would make them all three meals, and the elders would just be in their houses for hours on end for no apparent reason. And they let them! Also, we heard that one of the elders had little to no desire to work, so they just weren´t leaving the apartment or anyting like that. Among other things, but I´m not going to lie, I didn´t understand everything that was said.

But, when we got here, there were three hermanas from the branch cleaning our apartment and telling us how elders are a disaster and that they were going to make sure that we had a clean apartment to live in. We also met our branch president who picked us up from the terminal and he seems really great. So so far, so good! And Herman Salas is great. I was really worried about what I considered to be our language barrier, but so far it hasn´t been too bad. I heard alot of things about how latins will get really offended if you speak any English, etc. Which I understand because they cant understand a thing. But so far Hna Salas has been great. We had to talk to one of the elders in the office, and she had to run to the bathroom, but before she did, she told me that she is hoping to work on her English since I am her first yankee companion since her trainer. She asked me to speak in English to Elder Garcia to she can hear some English and try to understand. I don't know at this point how much she knows, but she really does seem very great, and I know it will be difficult to have a Latin companion, but I am grateful to have the experience to grow. Please pray for me these next couple of weeks, I am a little worried about how things are going to go! But I know that they will turn out well!!

I love you!!!

Corinne

PS I am so happy to hear that your levels are going down!!!

July 18, 2011 - Lettter

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week was really good!!! There was one minor setback, and that is that I had my first real melt down in the field. I don't really know what happened, but on Tuesday, Hermana Durham and I were in the house of the Famila Martinez, (Michelle was with us), and I had had a mildly emotional day, just feeling insecure about my speaking habilitéis and all that. And then Hno Martinez asked me to say the prayer, and I Could hardly get it out I since yup, you guessed it, I was starting to cry. I think I scared everyone there. I have been really good about keeping my emotions under control. And then I cried about the whole way home. Thank goodness it is just two blocks away. And then I cried for the rest of the night. How embarrassing!!!! But, its been about a week since the “incident” and no one has really mentioned it, so we can all put it behind us. That is great!

But, there is great news!!!! We have electricity!!! We finally got electricity on Thursday afternoon! It is a really complicated story. Basically, they didn't have record that one of the church buildings had paid their electricity, and somehow our apartment was linked to that building, even though it is Bahía! So our electricity got cut last Monday, we went and tried to get it reconnected, but all they could do for us was print a bill. Which was a LOT of money so we couldn´t pay. We then had to take said bill with us to Bahía on Tuesday when we went for district meeting, where we left it with the office elders. Then the nice man who is in charge of the church buildings came to pick up the bill in the afternoon. However, we must keep in mind that I am in Argentina, and in Argentina things close for the siesta. And some of them don't open up again after the siesta. One of those establishments is the electricity company. So he couldn't get everything figured out on Tuesday. And, he couldn't do it on Wednesday, get this, because it was day of the electricity worker. Yup,that's a thing. So the electricity company was closed, naturally. So he was able to go (finally) on Thursday so we could have electricity!! And just in time for Friday!!!

And why was Friday important you might ask. Well because on Friday President and Hermana Detlefsen came to our apartment to do an inspection and interviews. So we spent Thursday night, (with electricity!!!) and Friday morning frantically cleaning! And I am thrilled to report that I think that now our apartment is cleaner than it has been in years!!! I was really nervous for interviews, because this time instead of doing first, one with the companionship, and then a little bit one on one, they were only one on one, and I was feeling very insecure. But it went really really well!!! Although we did learn that we will be getting a lot of new hermanas in the next 3 transfers, which is great because our misión is growing, but it also means that I have about a 95-100% chance of training by October. Talk about the biggest heart attack of my life so far. I have a lot to learn before I can train!!!

And on Sunday I gave a talk! It actually went pretty well, I was surprised. I didn't speak for very long, but that is okay! I think what I said, I said okay. And, I even felt the spirit when I was speaking! Which did not happen last time I gave a talk. I only felt terror. I still have miles and miles to go until I will sound like I know what in the World I am talking about, but I think that people at least understood what I was trying to say. So that was nice.

I did get your Packaged mom! Thank you so much! I think I ate the tootsie rolls in about a day. And that was rationing them. Also, we really liked the flag lanterns. The elders were there when I opened it, and they really really wanted one, so I gave one to them and the other one is hanging up in our apartment! And, I love the stickers!!! Also, for those of you who are interested in my attempts to bake in Argentina, last week we made a squash cake. We wanted to make pumpkin cake, but 1) everything was closed because of the siesta, and we hadn't really seen pumpkin for a while anyways. And 2) we already had squash and it was already cooked. So we made pumpkin cake but with squash. And it actually turned out quite well!! I have been impressed with my ability to adapt. 6 months ago I never would have considered putting squash into a cake. And, look at me now. Baking in a soup pot and putting squash in cake. Look how I'm growing. Ha ha.

This week we have transfers, and I am a little nervous!! I know that a change is coming since Hna Durham is leaving. And we know that there will be a lot of changes in preparation for all of the new missionaries. AHHH!!! This is the sort of intense that I do NOT like. Oh well. Such is the life, right?

Well I love you a lot!! I`ll let you know what happens!!!

Corinne