June 6, 2016

(As usual, the stuff in italics are translated from Spanish, or are my editorial comments.)

Madre! te amo mucho! Estoy bien acá  en Tucuman, pero yo extraño ustedes también. Ahora tenemos un nuevo Elder de Brasil en la pensión. El esta teniendo un tiempo difícil con la transición. Estoy agradecidos por ustedes y por la abilidad que dios me dio para vivir acá con fuerza y con un conocimiento que ustedes me aman.

pero bueno, yo creo que mi español es un poco mejor, pero ahora English...

(Mother! I love you so much! I'm fine here in Tucuman, but I miss you too. Now we have a new Elder from Brazil in the pension. He's having a hard time with the transition. I'm grateful for you and for the ability that God gave me to live here with strength and knowledge that you love me.

But hey, I think my Spanish is a little better, but now Inglés.)

This week...

I got a question about the people here and how they give to us, so here is also more about the people.

The people are so nice they always give us this drink called mate cocido. A lot of gringos think its bad but I love it! It’s like a grass tea basically and we are allowed to have that form of it. We put sugar and eat it with pan (bread) and tortilla. The people are very poor and their houses are usually brick with cement floors. It’s a whole other world, but they are always so humble. A less active member always gives us dulces (sweets) despues the leccion (after the lesson) because she owns a kiosk. We have a ton of citrus in the pension (apartment) ahora (now) because almost everyone has a tree of mandarins or oranges and they give some to us. Also the paltas (avocados).  The children play marbles in the street, and are a little crazy at times. They always ask me how to say English words. It’s because I am a gringo...haha. The people here like their drama, too. Sometimes it’s hard to manage our time when they want to tell us stories haha.

This week I felt a greater bond with my companion and I’m so grateful for it. It’s hard living with someone else at times but it’s also fun and I’m learning a lot from it, haha. I took the initiative a little more this week. I taught the Gospel Principals class and creo que fue Bueno (I think it went well)!  Elder Guzman me aydo tambien (helped me, too). Pero si (but yes), we talk about cars and, no se como qualquier! a veces yo siento que es mas facil para hablar en español, y para pensar en español (castellano)  tambien. Haha yo se no es perfecto pero puedo ver la transición. (I think my class went well, Elder Guzman helped me too. At times I feel that it’s easier for me to think in Español. It’s not perfect but I can see the transition.) It’s a little frustrating at times because Elder Guzman asks me about English and sometimes I don’t know what the correct form is in English.

Other things that happened, We got to her the testimony of an investigator, and that was probably the highlight of this week. It was Belen and her testimony of prayer. Elder Starkey is our new district leader

I love you family!

Elder Wolf

In the street

Making oranges

In el colectivo

Elder Sarky y yo. He is in the area Universidad, hence the U and I am in the area Victoria Haha just a fun little picture.