I finally heard back from the mission office, and I am not leaving until the 28th (I will be traveling with the 4 other visa waiters from DC South). So one more week in America! But I have no idea what time my flight is or when I will be able to call......sorry for that. How do you want to do the calling thing? From past experiences with church travel, I have learned that I might not have much time to call. In a perfect world you could all just take a day off of life and stay home all day until I call (not a bad idea :) but if that doesn't work out.... I can call Mom's cell phone and then call Dad at work. That leaves the kids out of luck though. Maybe they can take the day off of school to catch up on homework or something.....? Then I can call everyone at home, and if Dad is still working I can call him too. Ha....I don't know. You can all figure it out how you want to (: But I will call (promise!) and only call the cell phones since you cut the home one.
I'm probably not going to get to email again until I'm in Argentina though, so your best bet is to tell me what to do in a quick letter (I would send it today or tomorrow at the latest) via snail mail.
Woooohh. Now that we are past all of that. How was everyone's week?!?
This one was a terrific one for me. I got your letter in the mail, and I also got the calling cards from Debbie. I wrote her a quick note to say thank you, and its in the mail...they are so awesome. I will be sure to call with those.
We traveled all the way to Burke again! We picked up my passport from the mission office (I looked at it and my visa is stapled in there!) and then went over to the police station in Fairfax to get my fingerprints. It was very similar to a DMV experience.... I'm sure you can use your imaginations (: I had to get 2 copies, and it isn't something the mission office knew how to reimburse me for (as in the nice senior couples are still greenies and don't know how to do anything quite yet) so there is a $15 dollar expense on my card. I told them it wasn't a problem though, because it wasn't too expensive and they already seemed stressed.
Yesterday we had dinner with a family that was funny (crazy?). We walked in and were slobbered by their dog. Dinner was "soup" that turned out to be heated water with some salt, broccoli, and egg noodles. The rolls were hot dog buns with cold cheese melted on to them (and their family tradition is to smother jam all over this bun/cheese thing.....but we didn't dare try that), and dessert was a cake that had heart attack and diabetes written in the frosting. And their kids were off the wall nuts. It was a funny experience, and we just took it all in stride...but I realized how grateful I am for parents who taught me manners. And a Mom who enjoys to cook real food. And that you taught us how to clean and do chores. I have been spoiled with member visits out here in this wealthy part of America, it was probably good for me to have a gross dinner in a messy house...to bring me back to home base and get me ready for whatever goes down in Argentina.
This last weekend was something called a Rummage Sale, that all the locals rave about. A women's society collects clothes all year long, has a huge sale, and donates all the money to the hospital. It was a HUGE sale and everything was dirt cheap. We packed a lunch and went during our one hour break on Saturday, and it was nuts. My companion found some stuff, and the other Hermanas found a mother lode, and all I could seem to find were the cat sweaters and dresses with pearls sewn on them. I was fine with that, and didn't want anything anyway because I still have to pack what I have and get it to Argentina. But after they bought their stuff, the plastic bags turned out to be Costco garbage bags......and it literally looked like they were taking out the trash for this place. I decided that that is probably what they were doing, only that they had to pay for the garbage first. (: Ha just kidding, it really was for a good cause, and I was surprised they were able to find good stuff despite having to swim through piles of junk first. (:
There is a recent convert we work with who is this funny old man from Mexico. He took us to his favorite restaurant called Pollo Loco and got us this huge tres leches birthday cake. It wasn't anybody's birthday, but it was fun anyway! (:
We have been teaching kids a lot more lately (ages 10-14), because we were teaching their parents or older siblings first, and noticed that there are more members in the family so we are including the kids too! And the kids are moving so much faster, are more teachable, and setting a cool example for their family. These kids live in a rough neighborhood, many have sad family circumstances, and when you talk about gospel topics in super simple terms, they get it and say things like, "One miracle I noticed is that I got an A in math for the first time" or "One time I broke my mom's new TV and prayed that she wouldn't get mad." These are real things that these kids have said, and it is so cool! They are good kids, they know they are pretty poor, that their parents are illegal immigrants, they are learning English, and trying to help their parents keep it together....and its making them really mature. They are growing up way faster than they probably should be, seeing and experiencing a lot of hard things, and they still can recognize miracles. To me, that in and of itself is a miracle.
Thanks for all of your love and support, and funny stories about your adventures in Minnesota (and in Chile!).
I love you all more than the number of emails missionaries send and receive each week around the world!
Hermana Withers
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