THIS HAS BEEN THE LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE...

But also one of the best :)

Hola Todos!

I wish I had time to write all of the craziness that went down here, but I don't, so I'll just give a few of the top highlights-

1. I had a conversation in Spanish. Now, this is an everyday occurrence, but it is getting slightly easier and less awkward everytime. During a lesson this week, I spent like half an hour talking to the Dad of our investigator. Well, he talked for a long time and I had to try really really hard to understand him. And then he asked me what I had learned, and I had to talk. I managed to put together some sentences that impressed him, tho, cause he seemed satisfied. Meanwhile, a miracle happened...

2. Our investigator, a 17-year old boy, finally committed, like really committed, to baptism. My compa isn't really sure what she said that hit him so hard, but he was finally like "so that means I have to get baptized" and now he's really preparing for baptism, after months and months of teaching!

3. A kinda funny story... I had to talk on the phone! I am so awkward on the phone in English, so I can't even imagine talking on the phone, in a language I barely know, to someone I can't see their facial expressions or hand motions, talking really really fast. But one of the assistants to the presidente called, and I had to talk to him, and I about had a heart attack, because he asked for something really fast that I did not understand, but then he started talking in English, and I was able to respond in Spanish. Even tho it turned out alright, there is no way that I'm repeating that anytime soon.

4. I bought some hard-core abuelita zapatos today! I can't send pictures this week, but next week, you'll be able to see my hard-core grandma shoes. I'm gonna get some gnarly tan lines on my feet. Did you know that there is no word in Spanish for "tan lines"? What do they even talk about in this langauge??? Hair, that's what....

5. I wore my hair down and straightened to church and everyone went CRA-ZY!!!! People were touching it, random people were telling me they liked it, one lady said she thought it was ugly, and then one of the hermanos in the barrio, Brian, said that it looked good, to try to make me feel better, it was just all kinds of awkward (which I finally learned the word for in Español, is "incomodo." the discussion surrounding my hair was muy incomodo!) But I like my hair, and that's all that matters.

Well, that's all for this week! More stories, miracles and pictures next week!

Ciao! Les quiero mucho!!!

Hermana Long

ESTAMOS AQUI!!!!!

Family, friends-

Guess what, I'M IN ARGENTINA!!!!!!!

It was a crazy ride getting here, let me tell you! We left the MTC at 6:00 o´dark-hundred-hours. We arrived in Buenos Aires at around 7:00 on Tuesday, after flying thru Altlanta, Georgia.

While on layover in Atlanta, an LDS family at the airport to pick up their returning missionary saw our group, and recognized us as new missionaries just heading out. Understanding what it would mean to our families, they took a pic of us and texted it to each of our families. Yay for technology and kind passersby!

We then took another plane from a different airport in BA, arriving in Bahia Blanca around 9:00 that evening. And then on Thursday night, we took a bus to my area, Balcarce and arrived here the next morning.

I have so much more to write, but I'm out of time. I'm safe, happy, and loving being a missionary.

Con mucho amor DE ARGENTINA,

Hermana Long

Happy Week 6, Everybody!

Guess what, It's week 6! That means..... I LEAVE THE MTC ON MONDAY!!!!! Woo-hoo! Argentina, here I come!

It's been another week here at the MTC. Food was as bad and addicting as always. We taught our investigator, Maribel, for the last time. She's such a sweet lady. I'm gonna miss her so much. We also taught another Skype member. That was not as hard this week as it was last week. All I can say is prayer is the best thing ever, and asking people questions about what they love, feel and believe brings the Spirit. I'm excited and nervous to start talking to native Spanish speakers next week. I hope that they will be nice and speak slowly and not laugh at me too much.

We taught our hardest lesson yet- part of the problem was that the teachers did not have enough time to plan what we were doing, but we we're supposed to teach two of the missionaries from the new zone, so Hermana Avery, their teacher, told them to think up an investigator who they know in real life to play. We could have handled that, but then we had to change it to teach a whole family, 4 of the new missionaries. Problem was, they didn't have time to consolidate their families, so they all believed really different things. Then they didn't understand everything we said, because they had only been here a week. And it was just hard. But we got to the end, and it was kinda comforting to know that I can do it. That I can do hard things! I can teach people with really firm, really different beliefs.

Now, something kinda funny- there is another teacher in our district, Hermano Barrett, who teaches us during study block sometimes. He just barely got off his mission, about 4 months ago, in Tijuana, Mexico. Up until a few months ago, we were not his biggest fans. Because he's awkward, both in personality and physically, and kinda strict, and didn't laugh at our jokes (part of being a little awkward and shy) and my compa told him once that she was scared of him. When Hermano Pitcher told us that he was going out of town for Thanksgiving, Hermano Barrett was our sub, and no one was happy about it. But over the last few weeks we spent more time with him, and he's started laughing at our jokes. And now we really like him. And then Hermano Pitcher told us he wasn't gonna be here later in the week and he told us to guess our sub and we all said "HERMANO BARRETT!!!!" He looked at us like we were cray-cray and said, "uh, no Hermano Tuft" who's our other real teacher. It was pretty funny.

My favorite thing about this week was playing four-square. I've decided that it's pretty much my favorite thing ever!! I am actually getting pretty good. And everyone gets so into it. And I'm making new friends. There's one Elder, Elder Galvez, who reminds me of Leo Valdez from Percy Jackson. Every time I see him, that's all I can think about. 

Also, we had Christmas early this year. We had to open all of my compas presents because we're pretty sure that if we took wrapped presents in our suitcases, Argentinian customs workers would steal them. No joke, that's how it works there. There aren't really regulations, but if they see something they like, they'll take it. I hear Argentina is a little bit sketchy. 

And on a language note- the other day I was just thinkin to my self and I realized I was thinkin in Spanish! It was really great. I don't always think in Spanish, but I've gotten to about 50/50.

Well, signing off from the MTC. If things go well, I'll be e-mailing from Argentina next week.

Ciao! Con mucho amor-

Hermana Long

Hola From the MTC

Hola everybody-

Another week has come and gone. Exciting parts of this week-

Devotional on Sunday- BYU's VOCAL POINT!!!!! They were awesome. They sang songs, shared mission stories, gave us Spiritual thoughts and were overall amazing!

A really sweet note from Hermana Bond, one of our floater maestros. Love her!

We got new missionaries- WOOO-HOOOO! There are 4 Hermanas and 4 Elders. They're all a little quiet and I think most of them are scared of us. Awkward.

Elder Hwang, our solo Elder, was missing the company of Elders, so he told us to dress like Elders for one day. We called that day "All Black Saturday". I think it was a win!

Funny story- there was this kid in my racquetball class in Hawai'i who totally showed up at the MTC a couple of weeks ago. And he straight up didn't seem to remember me. It was really awkward. So I finally went and talked to him last week. I asked him if he went to BYU-Hawai'i last year and if he was in coach Akina's racquetball class. And he said "yes I was. I knew you looked familiar!" I felt much better after that. Guess I'm not totally forgettable. Now I have a new friend to talk to when I pass. I think the total is up to 4 now. Woo-hoo!

And on a more spiritual note- Hermano Pitcher is seriously one of the best teachers I have ever had. He is this great combination of caring about us and being able to relate to us and being so close to the Spirit that he know what and how to teach us. He taught us the most amazing lesson last night about pride, humility and grace. And we all needed it. I really needed it.

And a note about the food- all the food is bad. Nothing really tastes good, and everything is on the greasy and indigestible side of things. And I can't stop eating too much. It's a problem.

Ok, one more spiritual note- two of our investigators agreed to be baptized this week!!! The first investigator, me and my compa barely said anything and Maribel, our investigator talked and talked and cried and talked, and then my compa asked her to be baptized and she said yes! Best feeling ever! And then our teacher, Hermano Tuft, plays an investigator named Juan, and we talked about the importance of baptism and how you can be made clean thru Jesucristo, and he agreed to be baptized! Woo-hoo!

Our sweet investigator, Maribel. I love her so much!!!!!!

Well, that's all from the MTC where the Sisters are tired of skirts, the food is BAD, and the Spirit is well and alive!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Long