Dearest friends and family,
I have a growing sense that word “flexibility” is going to
be a major theme for my mission. It’s remarkable how much you can plan and how
those plans turn out becoming something completely different. It’s all good and
a useful thing to learn. I mean who would’ve thought I’d be living in a rural area
of the Narino province of Colombia? (I can tell you for certain Grandma Liz didn’t…and
don’t worry, grandma, I’ll be back in Ecuador soon). Or who would’ve thought, on
the day after Christmas, that Mother’s Day and a call home to my family would’ve
come so quickly? I know I didn’t! The months from August to December last year seemed
to go so slow and now January to May has gone so fast. Can you believe the
sister missionaries who came out with me return home in 8 months? Wow!
So my dad made a summary of my call home to serve as my
letter at Christmas and I am hoping he’s open to doing so again this week. I
just wanted to write a quick opener to say: I’m here, I’m alive, I’m happy and I’m
extremely excited to talk to my family. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers
in the world. Mom, thank you for raising me the way I am: perfectly imperfect.
I love you and I can’t wait to tell you that in person soon.
-- Call Transcript --
Hey guys, what’s up? How’s it going? Trust me…you guys look better.
So you guys are going to have to tell me if I am speaking in
the missionary up-speak voice, ok? Mitch, I laughed so hard after the Christmas
call because you said I was using a…what do you call those people who call…ah,
ya, a telemarketer’s voice.
Wow Nathan you are getting tall. I don’t like that at all.
So today is a really rainy day. It’s pouring a ton outside
right now. It rains all the time. But it’s cool. I really enjoy Colombia. Pres
Murphy asked me this week what the major differences are. The work is the same
and the people are happy and the same. The food is infinitely better here, which
is weird because I’m only 20 minutes from my last area. I laughed the other day…Ecuador
has high tariffs or something so there’s no American food there, but here I saw
some Heinz ketchup which was great because ketchup in Latin America is pretty terrible.
Where I was in Tulcan, they had more money there. The people
I’m teaching and area I’m working in over here are in a lot more humble circumstances.
I’m basically living in a cave right now – it’s very similar to our apartment on
the coast. But I do have a shower!
Daily schedule? When I first arrived, every part of our day
was planned out, every single minute. Now we have a lot more choice when we
want to things. We have 90 minutes in the morning. We have to get up at 6:30
but we can choose when we want to take shower, do exercise, etc.
Today was a really good but sad day in Church. I have been
really focused and working hard and not thinking about home for the last 3-4
months but today I was really sentimental. We sang a Mother’s Day song in Sacrament
Meeting and I got really emotional. My ward is Jose Galan. It is really small and
only about 70 people regularly attend. Our start time is 8am which is a huge hindrance.
The area I am serving in is called Los Lirios.
We learned this week that the law about North Americans
being out of Ecuador for no more than 90 days which would cap my time in
Colombia is only a proposed law [so I may be here more than 2 transfers]. Our zone
is all men and we’ve bene working out really hard because, well, we’re all guys
here. They send us materials - boxes of books of Mormon, pamphlets and stuff - so
we made our workout bench out of our microwave, these boxes, and 3 blankets. And
we found this iron bar and got water jugs full of cement to make our barbell.
The people take advantage of the North Americans here so I
have to be really careful when buying things. But I love Colombia. The only
thing I don’t like is that the people get really offended if you eat too slow
or turn away food – so we are eating a lot. If I don’t talk at first, people will
typically ask where I’m from like it’s a possibility I’m not from the US. This is
a good thing.
Hey Grandma – Elder Soto says he loves you. He asked if you
are the grandma who sends me all the sweets. [Laughing off screen]. His
favorites are Reese’s. Elder Soto is wonderful and we get along great. He wants
to come visit San Diego and is relieved to hear there are Peruvian restaurants.
[We show him cans of Colombiana soda we purchased at the Latin market and they’re
impressed.] Oh, man. We love that stuff. The running joke here when ordering a Colombiana
soda is to say “Deme una Colombiana, pero que sea bonita” which means “Bring me
a Colombian but make sure she’s pretty.” All of the Latins say that when they
buy it.
I am eating a ton of sausages called Rancheros? We don’t
have mamitas. We have pensionistas and we go to same house every day for lunch.
I am a lot healthier this way – I’m not as sick to my stomach this way. The
food in Colombia is really good. We have cream of mushroom! Take a chicken, pound
it out, roll it up with ham and cheese and pour cream of mushroom on top. I
enjoy it a lot. We eat a lot of liquid yogurt. We eat arepas every day. It’s a cornmeal
patty that they fry and add crumbly cheese – it’s called fresh cheese – and
butter and then just fry it as little discs. Super good with eggs and hot dogs.
We eat a lot of hot dogs here. I eat a lot of eggs. I’m probably going to have
cancer or something – I’ve eaten like 5,000 eggs. But I think I’ve gained the
weight back that I lost in the MTC and on the coast. [Someone hands him some
juice.] Oh man, one thing I am really going to miss the most about Ecuador and
Colombia when I come home is the juice. Every day we get fresh juice – like
whole fruit blended up, fresh juice.
I’ve met and been talking to a lot of Venezuelans and their
stories have impacted me and really changed my life. It’s really bad there.
People in South America have cedula which is an ID card and they come with a
number. In Venezuela, depending on the last number on your card, you line up
for food like every 9th day and you wait there for like a week to
get your food. The people are eating once to once every other day. They are
really special people and have a special place in my heart.
Pres Murphy is really funny – like unbelievably funny - and
I love being around him. Quick story – so one of the missionaries here took his
watch in to get the battery replaced and it turns out the watch guy took out
all the metal pieces and replaced them with plastic ones. So we get this call
that Elder XX is really mad and we run across town and find him fighting with
this watch guy. So we had to report it to President Murphy because, well, you
can’t do that. So Pres Murphy starts talking to Elder XX and keeps asking him “what
time is it?” And Elder XX was like “what, you have a phone, you know what time
it is” but President kept on asking. Finally, pained, Elder XX says “its 5:30”
and President responds, “great, so it sounds like your watch is fixed.” I lost
it. We are so very lucky to have him.
So my shoes are rotten. Not that they smell bad, but they
are legitimately moldy from constantly being wet. Any tips? We are back to
doing laundry on our own.
Something I need is a suitcase. The black one is great. We
can have two big ones and a little carry on. I only have 1, everyone else has
2. So I don’t have very much room for the things I’ve acquired. So I’m looking.
Other than that, I’m really good. I’m a lot happier. I am a completely
different person because I was pretty depressed for a while – but now I am happy.
I have like 5,000 things to tell you. I slammed a guy’s
fingers in the car door coming here. And he didn’t have thumbs. I got in the
car normal and didn’t see him and went to close the door as he was trying to
get in. Ugh – I felt so bad. He said a lot of bad words.
Every once in a while the kids come from school to interview
people who speak English. So they come and ask us questions – basically the
same questions every week. They always ask about Donald Trump. But I don’t know
anything about him which is good.
Elder Cave (spelling?) is my replacement in Tulcan and he
came to zone conference and told me the people there miss me. Which made me
feel really good. I really miss the family Caliz. Hermana Caliz got sick and the
dad had to sell his off-brand ipad to cover hospital bills. We gave her a
blessing and she was doing a lot better. He’s really cool and I miss him a lot.
He was always embarrassed to go to church because of scars on his face. It
broke my heart that he worried about it. I’ve learned so much from the people
there…I really loved that branch.
So here there are no laws about selling things in the road and
there’s no FDA so no restrictions on what they sell. Selling things on the bus
is especially popular. This one guy came on the other day and started singing a
love song, just to me, and kept repeating “but love is stronger” like 50 times.
It wasn’t like an attraction thing. So he started talking to me after, and
shaking my hand, and said he needs the support of the US because he can’t get
any bigger in Colombia than he is and needs to come to the US to hit the big
time. I am definitely tallest among the people who I see every day.
The cyber costs $2.50 every week.
So my time is almost up. Every letter, thank you, they mean
everything to me and help me survive. I really, really appreciate it. I love
you guys. I’m not going to see you for 7 months. Some days it feels like its
going fast, other days it feels like a time warp. Today was bad. I was thinking
about mom a lot today and being home.
But thank you for everything. A lot of the missionaries seem
to forget about home and I really appreciate you writing me and keeping me
grounded. [Breaks down.] Christmas is a perfect time in the mission.
Wait, we need to do a family picture. [We move in close.] How are you doing
Allie? I miss you so much, honestly. I love you so much. Write and tell me about
the movies and music.
Bye all. I love you.
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