Questions and Answers

Shane had some questions he wanted Kate to answer, but realized she really doesn't have a lot of time. So, to help her out, he made them multiple choice. The following are some highlights (Shane in black, Kate in blue):

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! I AM PRESENTLY DYING OF LAUGHTER, WHICH IS UN POCO SKETCHY BECAUSE I AM CURRENTLY IN A LAB FOR COMPUTERS! IN PUBLIC! WITH OTHER PEOPLE!!

Wow, ok, breathe! Ok, tus preguntas (questions), mis respuestas (answers):

1. (An 'oldie' but a 'goodie') What's your badness level?
A. Super bad
B. Slightly bad
C. Neutral (could go either way before the bar of judgment)
D. Not bad at all!
   1. Definitely A- JK! En serio (seriously), I have never been so not bad in my entire life! D!

2. What part of your body hurts the most?
A. Head
B. Shoulders
C. Knees
D. Toes (including feet)
   2. Right now, my shoulders- a combination of carrying myself like a representative of Christ, sleeping in almost the world's worst bed, carrying around a library of church literature and a touch of sunburn really aches. My feet aren't too bad- I have some old blisters that peel up, one of these I think is cancerous, but improving rapidly.

3. How much are you walking each week?
A. 0-3 miles
B. 3-6 miles
C. 6-9 miles
D. To infinity and beyond...
   3. DDDDD!!!!! We don't actually live in our area- we live in the other sisters' area, and it takes like 10 minutes to get to our area. And most of the ward members live in the other area, so we always have to walk back for almuerzo (lunch). Plus, we have a part MACR (menos activo convierto recien/less active recent convert) and part investigador family that lives seriously like three miles away. One week, the district leader told us to go over there EVERYDAY, because the son was gonna get baptized that weekend. Well, for many reasons that I do not have time to describe, that backfired! Some day, when I have time, I will tell you the whole story!

4. Have you met anyone who:
A. Claimed to be Jesus
B. Claimed to have seen Jesus or the Virgin Mary (this includes photo sunspots, burnt toast, and puffy clouds)
C. Claimed to be a prophet
D. Claimed to know somebody who had a '3-Nephites' encounter
   4. Ummm, actually A. And she thought she saw him in the moon. I dunno, that lady had issues! And E, other- one lady who claimed she could speak "in tongues" you know when people talk in gibberish and claim its from God or whatever. Yep. She had issues too!

Wilford Woodruff many years after his epic mission to the UK

5. How many discussions do you typically teach each week?
A. 1-3
B. 3-5
C. 5-7
D. More than Wilford Woodruff during his epic missions to England
   5. That's kinda a tricky one because we teach "lecciones (lessons)" when we do street contacts, or park contacts, or kiosko contacts (never underestimate the willingness of a person to listen to you when you buy their food), or door contacts. We teach a milllion of those. But "citas (appointments)" are when we go into an investigador's house and teach a full-on lesson. We teach maybe one or two of these a day. And then we have to teach MACR and member lecciones. We usually do one MACR, one member, and one post-almuerzo (after lunch) leccion a day.

6. What is church like every week?
A. Similar to our home ward
B. Similar to our home ward if you threw in a few 'candles' and 'speaking in tongues'
C. Similar to our home ward, but fewer 'candles' and 'speaking in tongues'
D. I don't know because I can barely understand what is being said
   6. Ummmm, kinda like our ward, but more casual.  For example, no one sits with their families, ALL the hombres jovenes (young men) wear sneakers, no joke, some of the men wear jeans, some of the women, especially MACRs wear pants, and I saw a kid wearing a Messi (Argentine soccer star) jersey yesterday. Only here. And backwards (3rd hour at home is 1st hour here, etc). 

7. How many folks are baptized each month in your mission?
A. 0-20
B. 20-40
C. 40-60
D. More than Wilford Woodruff's during his epic mission to England
   7. I actually have no idea. I´ll get back to you. I know in Balcarce we had one so far this month- a sweet 10 year old girl, who is the daughter of a MACR.

The Pope drinking mate

8. What's the strangest thing you've eaten so far?
A. PG-13 animal parts
B. Parts of animals that aren't PG-13, but still shouldn't be eaten (e.g. ears, tongues, stomach, tail, etc.)
C. Insects
D. I'm addicted to mate (that beloved South American beverage)
   8. I cannot, and have not, had mate in all my time here. But it's really not as sketchy as you think it is- just about all the members drink it. I can have mate cocida (cooked), which is mate in tea bags. I love that stuff. It's perfect when it rains! We really don't eat weird stuff here- I actually live in a pretty nice place. I'll think about it, look at pictures, and get back to you.


9. How obedient are you to the mission rules?
A. They're not 'rules', they're guidelines
B. 90% obedient
C. 95% obedient
D. Not sure, I'm addicted to mate....
   9. C. I pretty much struggle with basic human things- like it's really hard to wake up at 6.30 every day! Especially Sunday, because we can't work out, or even study before church. So I think; get ready for three hours, or sleep. But apparently that's not allowed. Also, we only have an hour for lunch, but there is no way we can get out of members' houses that fast. Stuff like that.

Rhea

10. What's the strangest animal you've seen so far?
A. Rhea (large, flightless bird)
B. Llama-like animal
C. Penguin
D. Feral, street dogs of Bahia Blanca
   10. Definitely A- there's a farm of them right outside of Balcarce that we pass every week to go to district reunion (meeting) in Mar de Plata. There are no llamas or penguins here. And there are so many street dogs here that it's strange when we don't see them.

11. How many investigators are you teaching?
A. 1-5
B. 5-10
C. 10-15
D. Only three, but they claim to be natives of the Americas, more than 1000 years old, and referenced in the Book of Mormon
   11. We have one with a fecha bautismal (baptismal date), 3 that are almost progresando (progressing), and a monton (lot) of not progressing investigators.

12. What one thing from your pre-mission life do you wish you could have on your mission?
A. Your longboard
B. Your Mac
C. Food from the BYU-H caf
D. Other
   12. A!!!!! Mostly because I feel guilty when we have to walk forever and spend and hour or two hours not sharing the gospel.

13. What's the hardest trial you've had to face?
A. Rejected by an investigator who seemed so promising
B. Low-quality email support from friends and family
C. Blisters big enough to be seen from the International Space Station
D. Fighting to speak Castellano/Spanish when my tongue and lips seemed possessed by the adversary
E. Don't know, don't care - I'm addicted to mate
   13. A, B, C, D. I'm ok on E- definitely not addicted to Mate.

14. Favorite 'sacred speculation':
A. My compa (Hma. Gomez) and I will be called as the first female sister-APs to serve in the mission office.
B. My next transfer will find me headed to the UK (Falkland Islands?) to follow in the foot-steps of Wilford Woodruff's epic mission to England.
C. The wild street-dogs of Balcarce will flee from me one day and some bystander will ask us "who were those three guys with pepper spray standing behind you when the dogs suddenly ran away?"
D. My compa and I will be the first missionaries called to serve in Cuba since the Three Nephites passed through that island nation a while back...
   14. E- none of the above. My favorite sacred speculation is that the zone leaders are gonna move here, we'll have 6 missionaries working, our area gets smaller, and we have zone reunions here!!! We waste so. much. time. going to Mar de Plata.

Well, I could prattle on and on Kate... but the quality of my questions is sinking - so I'll close for now. I love you beyond belief. Your goodness and willingness to serve is the brightest star in my constellation. Stay safe, keep working really hard at the language, and keep preaching the gospel.  I look forward to your 'one-letter answers' to all my pressing questions.  MWAH!

Love,
Daddy

Hola from Argentina

Hola mi Familia y Amigos!

This week has been another great week. Lots of working, lots of walking, lots of talking. Some of the highlights of the week:

The other Hermanas had a baptism- it was a baptism of a sweet 10 year old girl of a less active mom. The daughter got baptized, the family has been at church for the last few weeks, all in all, it was a success. There is such a powerful spirit at baptisms.

Last P-day we went for a hike. There's a rather large hill in the middle of a park, and we climbed up early in the morning to study. It was peaceful and I always feel the spirit really strong in nature. Then we played on the playground in the park like little kids. It was so much fun! The funniest thing was that while I was studying, my sweats hiked up a couple of inches above my ankle, and I got a sun burn at the base of my leg, and I went around for a few days preachin' the gospel in a skirt with a sunburn around my ankle.

View from a hill of a park in Balcarce. Picture from the internet.

Ok, a funny story- we were at a casa of a Ward member, with her and another member of the Ward, a recently returned missionary that comes with us sometimes. We were waiting for our investigator to arrive, and while we were waiting I tried to tell a funny story, but I could not in Spanish, and finally I was like, nah, it's not important. I don't speak this language. And the Ward member, Johny was like, don't worry about it, your Spanish is fine. And I was like, it's a struggle every day! There's a phrase in English, "Struggle Bus" in Spanish it's "lucha colectivo" and he and the lady whose house we were in thought it was the funniest thing ever! They laughed for like 5 minutes.

Ok, one more Spiritual story- in that same appointment (or cita in Spanish), after our investigator, Sandra showed up, we taught an awesome lesson. Both me and my compa talked throughout the whole lessons, and we asked some really great questions (thank you, Holy Ghost!) and after we taught the first visión Sandra took a deep breath and said "Wow, I didn't know" and I knew that the Spirit was talking to her. I love the Spirit- without it, we would be the two most awkward missionaries on the planet and no one would learn anything! But we are blessed to be able to work really closely with the Spirit. It's awesome!!

Well, that's all for this week!

Con amor,

Hermana Long

I'm out of time...

I dunno what happend today, but I am out of time. But I'm alive! All is well!! I'm planning on writing a letter by hand today, cause I have so much to tell everyone and so little time!!!

Mucho Amor!!!!!

Hermana Long

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