1-28-2013
Monday (Second P-day in Chile)
Mom,
concerning my email address: I don't
mind talking to anyone through letters. The mission president would like us to
only write to family though. If anyone is interested in emailing who isn't a
brother/sister/-or /in-law, I can receive the email, but can't write directly
to them on email. However, I would love to be obedient and answer them through
you as part of family emails. We have an
hour and a half for email, but 35 minutes go to writing to the mission president.
To
my sister in law L----. Haha. It's
Chile, but it sure isn't [chilly]. It's hot and humid, and I would love to
complain about it, but I don't think it's worth my time. Almost everyone knows
what I'll say about humidity anyway. Like C--- says, you get out of the shower,
and you're still wet after you towel off...
38 pages is super good! Keep it moving! Don't stop at the Isaiah
chapters. View them as poetry, because they basically are. Isaiah was a master
of visual and metaphorical imagery. There's a lot packed in to one sentence
sometimes. Like Elder H---- says, "Craysee!"
Er...
My address is like... ah. Ratones! Okay.
Elder H-- says go to the mission home with cartas [letters] because we don't
really have a mailbox. We live in these apartment-ish things [en espanol se
llama pension?]{ In Spanish is called pension} on the almost top floor, and I almost
die every time we climb Mordor.
Send them there [the mission home]. Here’s my address:
Elder Jonathan W. Cattron
4 Norte 1112
Vina del Mar
CHILE
The language is much better. I still get a little
frustrated with my progress because I want to help them right now, but a lot of
the time I just sit there with a smile because it's all I know how to do.
Frankly it's hilarious that my vocabulary forces them to repeat themselves
about 14 times before I can answer them intelligently, and every day I am
teased that I'm a gringo [North American] from someone in a home or on a
street, and I take it proudly. - - I think that people that I pass by are super curious and confused
about why an American Gringo Ginger kid is smiling at them for no apparent
reason. Mostly it's because I love them, but more mostly it's because I'm
happy.
I'm trying to get the ”Ewok dog”'s picture. It's
perfect--but the darn thing won't hold still when I lift up my camera. I need
to practice the Batman picture taking approach. Candid Camera Cattron!
We don't have a cook. But the both of us make a
super great cold cereal. - Pero, en
sinceridad [But sincerely], I absolutely love our cold cereal. If there were
corn flakes like this in the US, they'd be in heavy business. They don't taste
like cardboard! I mean, who likes milk and Pringles? The ones here are thick
and delicious. And even better, Elder H-- and I buy yogurt and use that as
milk, and it's better than ice cream. I absolutely love it, and look forward to
it every night when I come home starving. The Chileans eat little for breakfast
and dinner at like 8 or 9, but have MASSIVE almuerzos [lunches]. There's like 2
main dishes—and a fruit which I am forced to eat due to niceness, but know I
should anyway. The people here are so giving, it's ridiculous. I love them.
Yes. We HIKE.
And if you are wondering if my tie touches the ground when we walk up these
hills... yes. They do. At times I wonder if I'm going to fall over backwards.
It is like the hike up to Rumble Lake; except constant [up]. And there are
flying taxis every couple minutes that you have to be watching for or you'll
probably die. I wonder if Heavenly Father is doing this to fix my knee, or kill
the other one. I haven't figured out if it's good for me or not. Either way, it
tends to bother me. Not badly
though.
Tell dad to study Spanish hard because it's super
awesome and the mission president says if you want to talk business, speak English,
if you want to talk love, speak Spanish, but if you want to talk to God, speak
in Spanish. It is the "Idioma Celestial"[“Celestial Language”]. I say my personal prayers in English because
I have always felt that, for me, my words and feelings and thoughts are sacred,
and I want to be able to express my feelings exactly how I mean. In my opinion, we are never too busy to give thanks, so we should do
our best to remember to do so.
Mom--Punch
the raccoons in the face. Where's that scarecrow sprinkler system I told you to
buy? You should rig it to shoot fire. That'd make 'em... well. Okay... Probably
dead, and a burned down house. Nevermind.
***(He is referring to
some raccoons that visit our place and eat cat food….they come looking for food
even though we now feed the cats inside the house.)
I haven't written to Sister A--- yet. I had a
letter in my art notebook, but didn't get to finish it. Maybe I can today. but
I started it about a month ago in the MTC.... er.... haha. If you feel like it, I'll read some blog posts if you send them in the
mail. Don't email them cuz I don't have time on here. We pay for our time on
computers in some crazy spaceship thing. I feel like I'm in an old arcade room.
Is it good that postage went up [there]? Does
that mean the government is doing better or worse?
I have been recording names to remember them. I met a lady today at the place where Elder H--
did something for his passport or I. D. or something. The lady is getting baptized on the 2nd of
Feb! She lives in the mission. She's the first person that I've had a
conversation with by myself that I actually understood all of. That is a bench
mark in my language progression. I plan on becoming a master... at some point. I recorded her name in my journal and her city but that's the best I
could do with my speaking skills.
I
don't know all the Missionaries. Still don't have enough time here to know. Just elders that use the same chapel building
because ours in Esperanza is being reconstructed due to some temperature issues
and the American ceiling tiles breaking cuz they're cheap... says one of the
super cool dads/brothers here. I need to figure out their names... oops.
I can write stuff like that as long as you remove
the important personal information.
Keep asking me, and eventually I'll know. Elder T---
and Elder M--- are the only ones I know so far.
I have 5 minutes left! ah! Picture uploading time!
Elder Cattron VI
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