October 24, 2011- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

As always I feel like I have no time whatsoever to write. So I will do the best that I can! I am glad to hear that you had a good birthday! I was thinking about you all day. Are you feeling better now? (Speaking of how you are feeling, are you taking your other medicine? And have you had any doctor appointments?) 

Things are going great with my HIJA! Who finally arrived!!!!! It was a long week, that was for sure. It started, as you know, saying goodbye to Hna Salas, which was super sad. But, my companion for a couple of days, Hna Araya was fantastic. We had a really good time together, she is so great. We had a couple of antsy days waiting for our new companions to arrive. Tuesday was a day of errands, we went to her district meeting, since we were close, and then to the office to get things all figrued out. 

Wenesday we had our training, and we got to learn who our hijas were going to be!!! The only sad news with that is that my hija wasn´t there. She would be arriving  the next day, so I had to wait and extra day! The training was great, and it really helped us feel like we were prepared to help a new companion learn how things are done. I hope I can do a good job. After the training meeting there was about an hour and a half of confusion. There were 25 new missionaries, so the nuevos and their traininers, we were 50. And trying to get  all the busses figured out for 50 people, especially when some of them are going to new areas is not an easy task. So we took a bunch of pictures while the poor elders in the office scrambled to get everything done. Oh, speaking of the elders in the office, 3 of the 4 elders in the office are elders that arrived with me! So we´re good friends, and that is the picture of me and those three. They are pretty great. 

Then there was confusion about where we were going to stay that night. To make a long story short, there were 7 hermanas that had to stay in Bahia for the night, and Pres can only have 6 in his house. At first, all of us who were going to SAO (Hermana Nava, Hna Linco, and I) were going to stay with some of the other Hermanas that live in Bahia, but we thought that my hija would be coming in the morning, so after I got dropped off at the house of the hermanas in Villa Floresta, pres called and said he was coming back to get me so I could stay at his house. So then I went to Pres´s house, and had a fantastic night talking with the Flia Detlefsen and the Hermanas who would be going to Pringles. We learned that night that my hija would not be coming untill Thursday night. It was a sad moment.

Thursday was really good. I got to do my studies at Pres´s house, and after the Pringles hermanas left, Pres went to get the other SAO hermanas, and we talked for a good couple hours about the area, how we were going to divide it, the investigators, the members, ect. We ate lunch with Pres and his family, and I have to say, the Hermana is an amazing cook. I would love to eat at her house every day. 

We then waited for a little while longer, and then we went to the airport to pick up my hija!!! But again, I had to wait. Her plane was an hour late, and she almost couldn´t leave Buenos Aires. Why you might ask? Volcanic ash. Thats right. We still have ash. Apparently it will be here for a couple of years, aka, my entire mission. What joy. So we waited at the airport, some of us more anxiously than others. It was really cool to go to the airport to pick up my companion, it was the first time that someone was able to do that! 

And she finally arrived!!! Her name is Hermana McWhorter, and she is great! We went to the office, and did a quick training, then we went to Pres´s house to eat empanadas, and sleep for a couple of hours. Our collective left at four in the morning. So we got up at three, got everything packed in the car, and went to the terminal. We then had to wait another hour because it was late. A lot of patience this week. Haha. 

But we arrived and we are working hard! We found new investigators every day that we have been together, and we are hoping that that continues!!! She is great! I will write more about her next week, I just don´t have time this week!! I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your support!!!

Love,

Corinne