Another week has come and gone, and I think Spring has, too. We are already experiencing heat and much humidity. One day will be in the 80s, while the next day is in the 60s. Strange. But the humidity is always there. I´m just thankful that I grew up with humidity. I never payed close enough attention to the weather before now. But as missionaries, we live and die by the weather. Speaking of weather, due to the high intense heat that comes here in the summers, missionaries are required to wear sombreros. Yep, sombreros. Isn´t that wild?! I´m pumped.
San Vicente has two things; friendly people, and orange dirt. When it rains that orange dirt becomes...yep you guessed it.. orange mud. Just what every white shirt needs! I´m already finding dirt that I have no idea how it got there. I´m determined to find a more innovative way around this. I´ll keep you posted...
Another interesting thing about life as a missionary here is that we do not knock on doors -- not once have I knocked on a door. (So much for living that childhood dream...) Instead, we clap. We stand in front of the person´s house, and clap. I found this rather strange when I first started doing it, but I´ve adjusted quickly.
The language is continuing to come along. I´m still having issues understanding people, but I can hear all of the words fairly clearly, now. I just have the slight problem of processing all of it a little too slowly. They say you are truly fluent when you dream in the other language. Well.. Elder Escobedo says that I talk, both English AND Spanish, in my sleep. Is that close enough?
Tuesday, during lunch, I died and went to heaven. twice. One of our eternal investigators found out that it was my companion´s birthday on Tuesday. So.. she proceeded to make us the greatest thing known to man -- a calzone. It was HUGE. She also threw in delicious meat and homemade bread covered in sauce and cheese. What topped it off was that she let us have the leftovers. A missionary´s dream. Also as a side note: Her mother is 105 years old. Yep, I shook the hand of something that was alive during both World Wars. She doesn´t look a day over 85.
Today was a monumental day for me. I bought my first pair of Alpargatas. Everyone here owns at least one pair. I´ve already determined this will become a scattered tradition over my mission; to buy different colors. It is a small shoe that is known in the U.S. as TOMS. I paid a grand total of 13 pesos (basically just over 3 American dollars.). Definitely beats the prices in the US... like $60, right?
In my personal studies I´ve been reading the first few chapters in Mosiah. It is most definitely true that ¨When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God.¨ I´ve only just begun to see the effect that missionary work does with our fellow man; and I love it. Lately, we´ve really been pushing the members of the church to share the gospel and serve their friends and co-workers. What better way to serve others then helping them come unto Christ? I can´t think of many others.. :) So... Serve others!
Smiling and nodding when appropriate,
Elder McMurray
ps Thanks for the recipes mom! Argentina has very nearly the same food products as the US. The challenge for me is translating. :) So basically we cook simple things with rice, potatoes or some kind of meat. But there are many more things to use out there.
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