23 August 2012

Thu 8/23/2012 10:30 AM

Happy Birthday Mom!

                First off, Happy Birthday (on Friday the 24th) to the most wonderful mom in the whole wide world! I love you mommy. You are so awesome.   So things with my companion have been a lot better. I just kind of changed my attitude; he is still pretty immature and weird and what not (he is only 18) but I just don’t really mind anymore. It’s whatevs, I only have 4 days left! Crazy!  So I asked my companion if he is Asian in any way and he said, “No.”... But I swear he is because he looks like an Asian, plays ping pong like an Asian, smells like one, is obsessed with Disney, and even has an Asian accent. haha So the others and I are still pretty sure he is a ninja or something.  Today he said his name was Bruce Li, so I think he is finally accepting it.  My companion is interesting; he is classic. I just smile and laugh at the things he does now. He is kind of annoying to the people here but I just smile and say "he´s a keeper ain’t he?" It’s not a biggie. 
                So dad, you said you noticed it hasn’t been too hot here… the humidity makes it so hot here and all the Paraguayan Elders tell us that we will want to come back to Argentina after one week in Paraguay. So I guess it’s pretty hot there! They said that it is always hot, always. Maybe for one month of the year it is a little bit colder! So I’m ready for the heat! Woo! Oh, and dad, guess what? I saw a Disney store on Saturday. I thought you would like that.
                There is this Elder in my district from Paraguay and every day he has been teaching me Guarani, which is a crazy language, but I love it!  Like to say it’s hot is “hakueterei.”  The pronunciation is wacko too, but I love learning it.  I can’t wait to be fluent in it, I guess I need to learn Spanish first, but the Latinos say my Spanish isn’t too bad. I had an Elder from Chile tell me the other day that my Spanish is already better than a missionary by his house that had been out for 4 months. So that kind of made me feel better about it, but I still need to practice and learn more! 
                 Saturday, with a Latino companion, wasn’t so bad. We even bought a pizza. It was so good!  But it was nice having someone there that could understand and speak or save me when my Spanish was lacking. We have an appointment with a lady this Saturday too! I’m stoked.  It was so funny, this other lady asked us to kiss her on the cheek and my companion was so nervous and like freaked out that she asked that. It was funny, but I told her kindly that we are missionaries and we can only shake hands. And it was all good… in da hood.  This area is kind of ghetto, but I’m used to ghetto now. Like, if I went somewhere where there was no graffiti… whoa… I haven’t seen any places here that don’t have graffiti now that I think of it. Dang.  I also realized another thing - I haven’t had to walk up or down any hills here. It’s flat, no mountains, no hills, nada. 
                 So next Monday, I think, they give us some time to write you all and tell you our flight plans and what not. Then, I think, I actually leave Monday. That’s the rumor around here, but I will be able to tell you on Monday! I’m way excited. The MTC has been a party. Really, it has been, but I’m ready to leave.  This place gets pretty crazy at night, I must say. It’s very entertaining! People like box, dog pile, have rap battles, and who knows what else. It gets crazy at night.
                 Oh, we took a group photo the other day and, I don’t know when, but it should show up online at lds.org.ar group 522.  Elder Osborne and I were making funny faces; it was a good time :) Elder Osborne is my buddy here, and I’m sad to be having to split up from all my North American district next week. We have all become so close! It’s crazy! I’m excited to see them when our journey is done. I hope I can be a companion with some of them in the field.  The MTC has been a great experience and I’m ready to start my journey in Paraguay! I may not be able to speak the language that great and I know that Paraguayans are super hard to understand, but I will have the Lord with me! So I’m stoked! I love you all! Good luck in school! 

Elder Rigby