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!!!