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