Two months down!!!!!!!

 Um, wow.  Time has flown by.  I love everything here!  I´m SOO happy!!!

Sometimes my heart hurts a little though.  The people here are SOO humble.  The small portion of the city where we live is paved roads, but most of the residences are dirt roads.  Most houses are small shacks with concrete floors that just hold their beds, and then they do everything else outside.  Laundry, cooking, everything.  The rich houses have everything inside- but even those are TINY.  One of our investigators hadn´t eaten in a few days and her kids were hungry because they didn't have the 14 pesos that buys a GIANT bag of bread for a family.  14 pesos- that´s less than $2  in the U.S.!!!

There are 4 hermanas including me in our apartment, and Hermana Acosta of Colombia didn't filter hér water and got an intestinal infection.  We had to take her to the hospital and it was WAY scary.  You could hear children screaming from the outside, and pretty sure our house is more sanitary.  I hear in other parts of the mission there are really good hospitals.  So, lets hope I don´t get sick here.  P.S. (She is totally fine now!)

Cleaning and cooking here is WAY different.  We did a lot of service this week.  First off, you have to get dirt floors wet before you sweep so that you don't erode their house.´ And for insides, you dump a bucket of water and then use like a window squeegee to push all the water out.  Also, recipes don´t exist here, so the first time a member asked me to make abolndigas she was really confused when I just stood there.  But I learned how to fold empanadas!

I had the chance to take a 2 hour bus ride to Salta to finish paperwork for my visa.  It´s a real city.  It was crazy´,I almost had shell-shock- i'm so used to my area here!

Now to answer your questions:

Things I wish I had brought to Argentina:

A washer and dryer.  The first time I did laundry here, it was really fun.  We have this giant open top ice cream maker thing that you put our clothes in, then add soap and it really slowly wooshes them around.  Then you pull them out and put them in this basin and hand scrub the dirt out like old time movies, then rinse them, wring them, and hang them to dry.  Its very tiring.  ´

Miss most about the USA:

Milk that doesn´t come in bags.  Animal control.  Reliable utilities (our water and power go out a lot).  And paved roads, no good with skirts.  Sometimes I think I´m getting really tan, but then I go home and bathe and realize I was just dirty.

Foods I will miss the most:

Everything.  The providence I'm in doesn´t import ANYTHING.  Everything ís industrial Argentina.  There is no variety, and we eat the same things a lot.  There is one kind of cereal.  The biggest grocery store here is smaller than our house.  The fruits are really cheap, and really good.  I eat them every day.  Sometimes oatmeal.  I feel like grandma and grandpa Shumway!

Wish I had brought more of to Argentina:

Hand Sanitizer (Soap dispensers don´t exist)

Photos.  Everyone wants to see pictures of my family.  When I show them the picture first thing they do is comment on Marissa.  Then how beautiful Nicole is.  Then, its a tie between ´Dallin´s(Nicole's fiance) beard, or how tall we all are.  Everytime.

I love you all! I´m doing great.  I don´t have the language perfect, and things are hard sometimes but I´ve never felt the Saviors love so strongly in my life. 

- Hermana Shumway

Week 2

 

While tracting down a dirt road, I kicked a stray soccer ball down back to some kids.  So basically every missionary fantasy I've ever had.

Thank you for the prayers and words of encouragement!  

I do take vitamins everyday, and I haven´t lost too much weight.  I´m positive I´ll gain it back.  I always eat what the members feed me.  We don´t do dinner so we eat a HUGE meal around 1 and then proselyte for the rest of the day.  With some families the meal is like an infomercial.  Here´s more delicous food than you could ever eat in your entire life.  And when you think it´s almost over- BUT WAIT, there´s more!!!  The food is really good.  There is a big italian influence, so we eat pasta a ton.  Empanadas all the time.  There is also a german influence, so we eat snitzel (not sure the name here), and chorizo (which is like a brautwurst).  Everything i´ve tried has been really good, but there´s not a ton of variety.  

Food  prices are a little funny.  They have 2 kinds of chips.  Original lays, or carne asada lays.  40 pesos for a bag.  For 30 pesos you can get a huge bag a strawberries + a few apples + a few pears + a few oranges.  For 5 -20 pesos you can buy a candy bar.  A whole loaf of bread is 4 pesos.   

They don't drink a ton of water here.  We drink so much soda with all the members and investigators.  The soda here is really good, the carbonation is a lot smaller and it´s really smooth.  They have 5 flavors.  Coke, Pomelo (squirt), orange, apple, sprite.

They put Dulce de Leche on EVERYTHING.  It´s basically just caramel.  I like a little in my oatmeal or with an apple in the morning.

I accidentally broke the missionary rules here and kissed a man.  Well, a very convincing tranny.  He asked what we people thought of people like him/her.  I decided not to say that I watch RuPaul all the time, and went with we are all children of God instead.  Here when you contact on the street- you say hello, you kiss on the cheeks.  Then, even if they don´t want to hear more they kiss you again after you´ve said goodbye.  I've kissed more girls than Dallen.  Ha ha!

LOVE YOU!

- Hermana Shumway

 

 

 

 

 Courtney and her companion Hermana Lopez of Honduras, Courtney is 5 foot 3 inches  her companion is tiny.

  Service project with the ward. (She didn't say what they did)

The outside of her apartment

 

 the side yard of her Apartment

 

The apartment that she lives in.

 

Her laundry in Argentina(I wonder if it is still her favorite day?)

 

 The neighbors house and their laundry.

 

Typical street in Jujuy, Perico.

The Field

Um, wow.  Things here are CRAZY.  And very, very unsanitary.  But I love it. 

I´ve changed a lot.  Basically I´m a white gaint. Seriously, I have a good almost head taller than any of the girls here.  Some of the guys are my height.  It´s fabulous.  The people always comment on how tall I am, and how light my eyes are. Apparently I talk very beautifully, even though its 12x slower than them.  I had to speak on Sunday and everyone commented on how much they love to hear me. All the kids and teenagers ask me to tell them what certain words are in English, and how I feel about Obama.  And if I personally know Will Smith.  One of our investigators name is Benjamin.  And he said, "Like your president.  Benhamin Frankin."

No one here can say my name, and whenever I say it they giggle.  The bishop couldn´t either when he was reading my name over the pulpit!  My companion (Hermana Lopez of Honduras) says it almost right if I´ve recently said it.  Most people can say shoom-waiy.  They don´t have a lot of u´s or w´s in their words.  Hermana Lopez is fantastic.  She doesn´t know too much english, but for the most part we communicate fine. 

Everyone here sounds like that grizzled old chicken farmer from Napolean Dynamite that is impossible to understand.  They don´t open their mouths, a lot of them are missing teeth, and there are a ton of shah and jhuh´s. I love them.  The people here are so humble and willing to hear our message.  We never wander long before finding someone to teach.

We left at 6 on monday morning. And it was a long journey.  The flight here was crazy!  When we landed in Buenos Aires (tuesday), the weather was bad and we had to wait in the plane an hour because there wasn´t a portal to deboard.  Luckily, Mark Ruffalo´s Argentinian look alike got us out, and we were on our way- or so we thought.  We waited at baggage claim for not 1, 2, or 3 hours, but 4.  4 HOURS!!! The workers were on strike.  The worst part was that we could see our bags from where we were waiting, 10 feet away outside.  After 3 hours some of the Elders asked if we could move the bags ourselves, but they would not let us. Because of this delay, we missed our flight to Salta and needed to wait for a later one.

We then were quickly whisked to the Buenos Aires temple for a few minutes, lunch, then back to the airport.  Our flight was delayed and we had to wait an extra 3 hours.  There´s something about 60ish well dressed american teenagers talking about God, that sorta freaked everyone out. 

When we finally got to Salta, it was midnight (Wednesday)- and I had been up for nearly 48 hours.  Instead of sleeping, we went to the President´s house for dinner!  It was amazing- but I was so tired.  We went to bed at 3 am , and had to get up at 7. 

Wednesday night we took a 2 hour bus ride to our area Jujuy, Perico.  (huhuey).  We went to bed at 2am and got up at 7.  I was sooo tired on Thursday, it was really hard to try to focus on understanding spanish.

Our apartment reminds me of Venice.  Run down, dumpy, and sad.  It photographs beautiful though!  It really grossed me out at first, but I´m used to it now.  It´s 100X times nicer than any house we´ve visited. The toilet doesn´t flush, so you just throw a bucket of water in after you are done and hope everything goes down.  Toilet paper can´t go in there so their is a rank bag next to the toilet for disposal.  And their is no light- so I try to only go in the day time.

It´s hard, but I´m really happy.  Its nothing like I expected.  Dirt roads, shack houses, wild dogs- EVERYWHERE.  If we could convert them, it would take a year alone to baptize all of them. 

Love you all!  More next week about everything, I´m doing great!

- Hermana Shumway

Courtney and her Mission President Ariel Chaparro and his wife Ana.  This was taken atleast 42 hours after she left the MTC just after arriving at the mission home.

Last look at Hermana Herrera and Shumway together

The Buenos Aries Temple

Selfie

She looks good for traveling so long it was about 30 hours into her trip and still not to Salta

Last look at her MTC district before they  separated to their missions.

Waiting to hear

We still have not heard from Courtney in Argentina.  Here is a picture of Courtney and one of our favorites Elder Scott. I guess mission rules are such that you must have your companion in the photo when it is with the opposite sex.   I asked Courtney to take a picture of the two of them but Courtney did not have her camera with her so Andrew took it.  He emailed it to Amy who then sent it to me.

I have not heard from Courtney but her camera sent me this photo the day she arrived in Buenos Aries. It is of the Buenos Aries Temple.  I know Courtney was hoping to go to the temple there before they went on to Salta.  I have not heard from her so I am not sure if she did a session. 

Her new P-day will be Monday so we should hear from her then.  I have heard the internet described as spotty so  it is not uncommon to not be able to send an email.  Because of that we may not always get an email.

Leaving the MTC

 The Sisters got up early to be dropped off at the Front runner station in Provo.  They along with 70 other missionaries were catching a flight at 11 am.  their suitcases were loaded onto a truck and trailer that meet them at the airport. 

 Courtney was reminiscing as the train pulled into the Thanksgiving point station.  Only to see one of her best friends sitting at the station.  She immediately started pounding on the windows and caught Megan's attention.  Courtney said Megan immediately started crying. She ran onto the car and they couldn't stop hugging.  Megan was headed up to the U of U for school.  They were able to spend the train ride catching up with each other and they even called Kortney.   I got a text from Megan and Kortney with a photo from Megan's phone. (this one is from Courtney's camera)

We were able to talk to Courtney while she has a layover at Atlanta.  She said when she got off the phone she was going to have her last American meal at Chick-fil-a.  Twenty minutes after we hung up we got this photo.  She arrives in Buenos Aires at 8 am tomorrow then when she gets there she finds out wither she has a 15 hour bus ride or a 3 hour plane ride to Salta. We should get a short email tomorrow from her Mission President saying she made it safe.  Her next P-day should be a week from today.

She said her MTC experience was amazing and she can't wait to start her mission.  We look forward to hearing from her next week.

Goodbye MTC

 One of the teachers at the MTC Hermana Pullan

 This is Hermano Byers he was Felix the first week, then the second week they found out he was their teacher

 This is an artist rendition of the Hermanas

I hope Courtney knows that you don't have to hide in the suitcase if you have a plane ticket.

The last Photo of the district They all leave for their missions Monday

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