So, first, I had to give my first blessing to someone in Spanish! Talk about nervous. Not only did I have to talk in the "Tu" form, but I had to give a blessing of comfort, not of healing. Healing is much easier because I don't have to talk about THEM very much. I can still use the "Usted" form because I need to say "he" or "the Lord", so it's much easier.
Anyway, I gave the blessing, and to be completely honest, I felt like I butchered it hardcore.
Oh my gosh. I felt like I was just slaughtering the poor man's blessing from God. The guy is super like, energetic about the church and... Well, let's just say he's a VERY bad person for converts to talk to, and I was blessing him. I felt so bad after, but thankfully, my companion told me exactly where I messed up, and he told me the ONLY mistake I made was that I said Usted once instead of Tu.
I'll explain that here really quickly for those who don't quite get it.
In Spanish, there's 2 forms of the word "You" There's "Usted" which missionaries ALWAYS use, for everyone, and there's "Tu". If you're giving a blessing, or performing an ordinance like baptism, you use the "Tu" form because that's how the Lord wants it. So, for a blessing, I have to use the Tu form of the word you. That means I have to conjugate words completely different. Instead of saying Usted esta bien, I have to say Tu estas bien. It's super hard to switch like that right now. But yeah, that's how that works.
Second thing, I had some random J Dub (JW or Jehovah's Witness) start Bible Bashing us. He stopped us and asked us what we believed in. We started to explain a little, and he started being SUPER rude to us like:
Cuantas personas se van a salvar?
(How many people will be saved?)
Pues todos! Todos tienen la hablilidad...
(Well, EVERYONE! Everyone has the ability...)
Cuantas? CUANTAS? Ciento cuarenta y cuatro mil como dice la Biblia.
(How many? HOW MANY? 144,000 like the Bible says.)
Super rude guy, and it was hilarious how we terminated the conversation. We were about ready to just walk away when he said:
Ustedes neccesitan estudiar mas la Biblia.
(You guys need to study the Bible more.)
My companion and I just said as fast as we could while shaking his hand,
Si. Vamos a estudiar la Biblia. Gracias por ayudarnos.
(Yup! You're right! We're going to study the Bible! Thanks for helping us!)
Like, really? He thought he could convert us? We're the LAST PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET that he should try to talk to about stuff like that! Oh yeah, because we're suddenly going to be like,
ELDER! OH MY GOODNESS HE'S RIGHT! WHAT ARE WE DOING? OF COURSE ONLY 144,000 PEOPLE ARE GONNA BE SAVED! WOW. WE'RE JUST DUMBER THAN A SACK OF HAMMERS HUH?
And then throw our nametags away to follow this one random dude who's misinterpreted the Bible. Yeah. Genius logic there.
Anyway, yeah. That was pretty cool. The funniest part was that I had like 3 scriptures to destroy all of what he told us. Pretty legit stuff mang.
Also, I'm starting to hear random explosions every couple of hours or so. People just like blowing stuff up here. Especially in Winter when a lot of people have fires and stuff. We'll just be sitting in a lesson and say something like:
Se que Jesucristo pago por sus pecados, por mis pecados, y por todos los pecados del mundo.
(I know that Jesus Christ paid for your sins, for my sinds, and for all the sins of the world.) and then
BOOM
Like, super weird, but whatever. As long as we don't lose focus, we're good. It's pretty cool, actually. I feel like I'm actually having experiences on my mission now that don't happen in any other culture but here.
Okay, now before I go:
IT'S SO COLD HERE.
I recieved like, 4 emails saying IT'S SO COLD. IT HURTS TO GO OUTSIDE!
I completely understand that, and yes. That's super cold, but answer me THIS, my friends:
IS YOUR HOUSE COLD?
Our house is cold. We wake up in the morning, and not only do we not have hot water, but it's around 20 degrees in the house. No joke. I woke up this morning and could blow my breath out like I was smoking (of course I wasn't, but it was THAT COLD.) There's no escape from it either. Our blankets offer warmth, but only the inside. Not only that, but we have no hot water, only lukewarm at best.
So no, it's not freezing cold, but at least you guys have some form of indoor heating, to ease the cold. I'm sitting in my desk shivering every morning in my hoodie, underarmor BYU shirt, and long sleeved dress shirt. It's so COLD.
During the day, it's not so bad. Like, just a sweater and I'm good. But at night, I have to have my hoodie on, socks, and a long sleeved shirt and pajama pants, or I won't be able to stay warm or sleep. It's just dumb.
So yeah, I feel ya on the whole "hurts to be outside" cold, but be grateful for indoor heating to make your lives a whole lot better. It's one thing I took for granted that I really wish I hadn't.
Finally, I'm starting to practice piano again! I'm trying to learn hymns so I can sit down and play whatever hymn I want. I'm super bad at piano, did anyone know that? I seriously stink at playing the piano. I can't sight read well, I can only play PARTS of SIMPLE songs, and I don't even have many hymns that I can play! I'm really frustrated with it, but I'll practice more. Right now I'm trying to learn "Que firmes cimientos" (How Firm a Foundation). Super awesome. Love that song.
Anyway, that's all for this week.
Things for Christmas:
I'd love to have my heated blanket. Is there someway I could get it? Well, now that I think about it, I really don't have room in my suitcase... But at the same time, I'd REALLY love it... I don't really know how I'd manage to take it with me everywhere.
A Scripture marking kit. I'd like to have one. That'd be pretty cool. It'd help a lot with my scripture reading. I have markers, and I HAD other stuff with them, but I used them all up, so I'm using a card to mark them.
Yeah. That's about it.
I'm uploading pictures, so I have to type so they're uploaded faster. Lets see what I've got here....
Elder Romero is utterly hilarious. He says stuff that just is so funny. He and Andy are really similar. It's kinda scary sometimes actually.
OH! plan for the call on Christmas!
The plan is to use Skype. I've been told we cannot use Google Hangout specifically, but my District Leader's going to ask again. He had heard that it was that way, but not from the Presidente himself. Anyway, I'm going to call on Christmas Day, I think, from the house of a member. I've got a total of 3 hours to talk with family. So, what I'd like to do is:
1 hour with Mom and Dad
1 hour with the whole Family
1 hour with Jack. (Okay, no not really.) With the kids. Like, a few minutes individually with them, you know?
We'll see what happens in a little bit. I'll keep you guys posted on that as time goes on.
Okay, pictures are up! I'm done!
Keep praying for me. I really really REALLY need it right now. We're in a crisis in our ward, and it's pushing me to my limit.
Con afan, amor, y un poco de la gripa,
Elder Carter
