*sweetpagene here...sorry about this post being out of order, i was experiencing technical difficulties when ben wrote this and by the time i was able to post, i'd forgotten all about it. forgive me please. life is now back to normal and i will dutifully return to my posting responsibilities.
8/13/08
well, i got transfered... i went from harbor city way up north to santa monica, which is the only thing separating hollywood and the beach, so its a pretty wealthy area. its quite different than harbor city. once again i flushed sisters, this had been a sisters area for over 7 years, so everyone was quite shocked when we came rolling up for church. we didnt have any investigators or anything when we came in, but now we have 1 family and then a couple of return appointments that could turn out. well see. my new comp is elder todd, from mount pleasant. hes 6'5, 270, played tons o' video games, not a big sports fan, hes just a big teddy bear. so whats going on with corey thats making him move back? that reminds me, i think matt has my ipod, so who, if anyone, is using my computer? tell matt congrats on the lifting test, does he know what position hell be playing? i was going to get my pants fixed/cleaned but then transfers happened and now were still working on figuring out our new area. we volunteered for an old people house da udder day, elder todd and i, it was way fun actually. we pushed wheelchairs across 2 streets to the beach for a picnic. i pushed bob. elder todd doesnt know who he pushed because you cant understand him when he talks, and elder todd had to feed him because he cant move his arms. i enjoyed it, bob wasnt too high maintenance, he just told me stories of the golden years. he invited us to his room on the way back to hang out with his girlfriends... we were too busy unfortunately. my time ran out with elder gene, he is getting transfered, and his snocone machine goes with. maybe when they inspect our new place i will win again. we live in a mini studio, our beds are in the living room, along with our minifridge, its all that will fit. our kitchen has a sink/burner combo and no counter. we dont have a table or anything like that. i can shower and poo at the same time, which is excellent in the mornings. i took a video of it on my camera. since im sending my pics to all of you, and they were on our computer, will they all be gone when you get it back? they erase the hard drive usually so everything will be deleted, like my itunes (:( im gonna miss my music, took me ages to get it all) and my pictures? or will they still be accessable? let me know if they are gone, and i will just keep all my pictures on my sd cards so they wont get deleted when the computer breaks again. hmmm. i dont know what else...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
...until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard...
8/18/08
here in santa monica, i only speak spanish about 1 time per week, which stinks, but its cool. the white people here arent very humble, so its difficult to teach any. we came into the area with 0 investigators or less actives to teach, but now we have 2 spanish families, which is odd. latins are just much better than white people when it comes to missionary work. i went to my old area this sunday for yahairas baptism, and it was weird, even tho i had only been gone for like 10 days it seemed like forever. we do a ton of stuff during the day so only a week seems like much longer. it was cool to see the branch again, i was excited, they were a pretty awesome branch. that makes 4 baptism with 2 more with dates where i was the one who started teaching, so im not doing too shabby. now i have to start from scratch again in santa monica, where it is slightly less productive, but its all in a days work. its odd coming from harbor city, which is a dirty hood, to santa monica, where there is nothing with graffiti on it, no loud music, no shiny rims, nothing that was awesome about harbor city. even tho its close from here to there than from our house to park city, there are 2 different worlds here. santa monica is bomb tho, we have the resident gazillionaires in the ward, which is cool when you eat in their mansions on the beach with elevators and everything. i think its funny that dad mentioned "left over sno cone syrup"... as if. we had a deep cleaning day on saturday, and we scoured our hobbit hole, so now its nice and shiny, hopefully elder gene and his sno cone machine will come stay with us again. not much interesting has happened since last wednesday... ok bye
here in santa monica, i only speak spanish about 1 time per week, which stinks, but its cool. the white people here arent very humble, so its difficult to teach any. we came into the area with 0 investigators or less actives to teach, but now we have 2 spanish families, which is odd. latins are just much better than white people when it comes to missionary work. i went to my old area this sunday for yahairas baptism, and it was weird, even tho i had only been gone for like 10 days it seemed like forever. we do a ton of stuff during the day so only a week seems like much longer. it was cool to see the branch again, i was excited, they were a pretty awesome branch. that makes 4 baptism with 2 more with dates where i was the one who started teaching, so im not doing too shabby. now i have to start from scratch again in santa monica, where it is slightly less productive, but its all in a days work. its odd coming from harbor city, which is a dirty hood, to santa monica, where there is nothing with graffiti on it, no loud music, no shiny rims, nothing that was awesome about harbor city. even tho its close from here to there than from our house to park city, there are 2 different worlds here. santa monica is bomb tho, we have the resident gazillionaires in the ward, which is cool when you eat in their mansions on the beach with elevators and everything. i think its funny that dad mentioned "left over sno cone syrup"... as if. we had a deep cleaning day on saturday, and we scoured our hobbit hole, so now its nice and shiny, hopefully elder gene and his sno cone machine will come stay with us again. not much interesting has happened since last wednesday... ok bye
Monday, August 11, 2008
Earthquake!
8/4/08
ok, so about the only thing that has happened lately was of course, the earthquake. elder seaman and i were sitting at our desks and i felt the floor vibrate a little. the apartment next to us and under us are being rebuilt so i thought nothing of it. it happened again, really faint, so i asked "did you feel that?" elder seaman gives me a dumb look and replies "feel what?" as soon as he asked that the big wave hit and everything started shaking really hard, and it lasted for like 10 seconds. the only thing i could think to say was "i think its an earthquake." we got up and looked at the window, the telephone wires were swaying and the trees were shivering, so we stood in the doorway as a few more waves rumbled through. that was about all that happened, so we packed our stuff and hopped in the car to go to visit eileen. when we got there she said she was in the shower when it happened but turned on the news when she got out and it said it was a 5.8 on the good ol' richter scale, it started in chino hills (which is near where the ryan from the OC is from) and in just those 20 minutes it took to drive to her house there had been over a dozen aftershocks. i thought it was pretty cool, my first earthquake. the only people who were really freaked out were the kids we say in the streets through the day "is jesus coming?" "i hear the world is ending, is it true" it was fun to freak them out and tell them wild stories. one of our investigators, maria elena martinez guarrneros, from the spanish branch was baptized on saturday. she is already super strong, and i have been working with her since my first week, and she has a big testimony already. we have another on the 17th, this one is yahaira, the girl whose date elder fennell moved back. she is doing very well too, she went to maria elenas baptism and really liked it. transfers are tomorrow, elder seaman thinks im moving, i think im staying, so i guess 24 hours will tell. today we have a dinner appt with prez and sis blackburn, a bonus from having the cleanest apartment. were leaving for that soon, i hear prez is grilling steak. thats about all, ill let you know next week what happens with transfers. tell Dan good luck with his visa, we have an elder here that has been here for 2 transfers now and he is waiting for his visa to go to buenos aires also... ok, thats about all, bye
ok, so about the only thing that has happened lately was of course, the earthquake. elder seaman and i were sitting at our desks and i felt the floor vibrate a little. the apartment next to us and under us are being rebuilt so i thought nothing of it. it happened again, really faint, so i asked "did you feel that?" elder seaman gives me a dumb look and replies "feel what?" as soon as he asked that the big wave hit and everything started shaking really hard, and it lasted for like 10 seconds. the only thing i could think to say was "i think its an earthquake." we got up and looked at the window, the telephone wires were swaying and the trees were shivering, so we stood in the doorway as a few more waves rumbled through. that was about all that happened, so we packed our stuff and hopped in the car to go to visit eileen. when we got there she said she was in the shower when it happened but turned on the news when she got out and it said it was a 5.8 on the good ol' richter scale, it started in chino hills (which is near where the ryan from the OC is from) and in just those 20 minutes it took to drive to her house there had been over a dozen aftershocks. i thought it was pretty cool, my first earthquake. the only people who were really freaked out were the kids we say in the streets through the day "is jesus coming?" "i hear the world is ending, is it true" it was fun to freak them out and tell them wild stories. one of our investigators, maria elena martinez guarrneros, from the spanish branch was baptized on saturday. she is already super strong, and i have been working with her since my first week, and she has a big testimony already. we have another on the 17th, this one is yahaira, the girl whose date elder fennell moved back. she is doing very well too, she went to maria elenas baptism and really liked it. transfers are tomorrow, elder seaman thinks im moving, i think im staying, so i guess 24 hours will tell. today we have a dinner appt with prez and sis blackburn, a bonus from having the cleanest apartment. were leaving for that soon, i hear prez is grilling steak. thats about all, ill let you know next week what happens with transfers. tell Dan good luck with his visa, we have an elder here that has been here for 2 transfers now and he is waiting for his visa to go to buenos aires also... ok, thats about all, bye
Friday, July 25, 2008
Necesito lavar la ropa y tengo un acento.
7/23/08
package recieved, thanks a lot for the sno cone stuff. after i polished off 3 bottles myself in the last week and a half or so i was getting worried about having to find more, so that package was truly inspired. everything is going well, other than my pants ripped da udder day. i was getting in my district leaders car to drive and they drive a little corola, so i had to step all the way down there and they split at the seam. the only thing i could think to do was wear my other pair the next day, and sure enough, they split that day, same spot. so without mom here to fix them im not sure what to do now. i guess just wear them until they fall off or wear off. i started making eggs benedict for us in the morning for breakfast, its better than toast. now i know why papa smurf whines about his egg pans so much. the only pan i have is convex, so the eggs just run to the rims and drip into the flame. i still can get a little bit to cook tho, so im not doing too bad. and i really dont know what eggs benedict is, im really just putting a fried egg between 2 pieces of toast. my pants are quite dirty, i have realized. when i rub them or scratch them, it brings the dirt to the surface, and it shows well. elder mullins (my district leader) and i spent sacrament in the spanish branch playing tic tac toe on them, but its hard to get it removed. ill wash them one day, but i need to sew them up first, so once they get sewn up somehow, ill dry clean them. my jacket and my pants dont even match anymore. i think its funny that you are happy for me that im not getting sick, because ive had the boo more here than in my entire life put together. 2 weeks ago i spent from 9.30 pm to 11.20 ish on the toilet, destroying it. i took a shower, its easier than wiping in this case, and got in bed, and as soon as i laid down i was up again for another go. ya ya, this is the US, but the food is still prepared the same :) my spanish is doing well. ive realized the difference between serving here and in native spanish countries. those elders come back accent perfect, while everyone here has the worst white accent ever (my companion included) one of my good friends elder simicich is from chile, and so the last 2 transfers i have gotten my accent pretty close to non existent. i can talk with everyone just fine, teach it all whatever, the only problem is when they say stuff back to me... there are like 30 different dialects here in spanish, 3 or 4 from each country, i wish they would all just speak normal spanglish. people who go out of the US only have to learn one language, here i have to learn a million, especially in harbor city where all the mexicans and chapines come. the chapines are the worst because in there (guatemala) there are like 23 dialects of just spanish, not counting all the indian ones people still use. thats ok tho, when i can finally understand them all i will know spanish pretty well. ok, thats about all for today, this is a temple preparation day so its on wednesday by the way. thanks for the packages.
package recieved, thanks a lot for the sno cone stuff. after i polished off 3 bottles myself in the last week and a half or so i was getting worried about having to find more, so that package was truly inspired. everything is going well, other than my pants ripped da udder day. i was getting in my district leaders car to drive and they drive a little corola, so i had to step all the way down there and they split at the seam. the only thing i could think to do was wear my other pair the next day, and sure enough, they split that day, same spot. so without mom here to fix them im not sure what to do now. i guess just wear them until they fall off or wear off. i started making eggs benedict for us in the morning for breakfast, its better than toast. now i know why papa smurf whines about his egg pans so much. the only pan i have is convex, so the eggs just run to the rims and drip into the flame. i still can get a little bit to cook tho, so im not doing too bad. and i really dont know what eggs benedict is, im really just putting a fried egg between 2 pieces of toast. my pants are quite dirty, i have realized. when i rub them or scratch them, it brings the dirt to the surface, and it shows well. elder mullins (my district leader) and i spent sacrament in the spanish branch playing tic tac toe on them, but its hard to get it removed. ill wash them one day, but i need to sew them up first, so once they get sewn up somehow, ill dry clean them. my jacket and my pants dont even match anymore. i think its funny that you are happy for me that im not getting sick, because ive had the boo more here than in my entire life put together. 2 weeks ago i spent from 9.30 pm to 11.20 ish on the toilet, destroying it. i took a shower, its easier than wiping in this case, and got in bed, and as soon as i laid down i was up again for another go. ya ya, this is the US, but the food is still prepared the same :) my spanish is doing well. ive realized the difference between serving here and in native spanish countries. those elders come back accent perfect, while everyone here has the worst white accent ever (my companion included) one of my good friends elder simicich is from chile, and so the last 2 transfers i have gotten my accent pretty close to non existent. i can talk with everyone just fine, teach it all whatever, the only problem is when they say stuff back to me... there are like 30 different dialects here in spanish, 3 or 4 from each country, i wish they would all just speak normal spanglish. people who go out of the US only have to learn one language, here i have to learn a million, especially in harbor city where all the mexicans and chapines come. the chapines are the worst because in there (guatemala) there are like 23 dialects of just spanish, not counting all the indian ones people still use. thats ok tho, when i can finally understand them all i will know spanish pretty well. ok, thats about all for today, this is a temple preparation day so its on wednesday by the way. thanks for the packages.
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