Perservero

As I wrote the subject line, I wondered if Perserverar is irreuglar.

I don't remember, and I'm a crippled letter-writter without Google and Wikipedia at my fingertips.
I LOVE you all so much! I have gotten so many wonderful letters, it's really insane, and I'm so grateful and happy to all the people who took the time to let me know how things are going back home and to offer advice and tales of experience (I've recently had to figure out that my own experience is a bit... well... in progress, shall we say? So, I am so happy to hear from everyone else, but as you can imagine, it's sometimes difficult for me to find the time to respond properly to my letters... Daddy? Mommy? Could you let Bohden know that I'd lvoe to write him but I don't have his address? Anyway, he asked some really good questions, and I thought I'd talk a little bit about that stuff, but first I just wanted to say I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! MWAH! Seriously, I love getting so many letters.

So the Superbowl was magnificent?! I have to imagine it as such. On Sunday morning we had a massive meeting with the entire MTC and the presidencey and everything for fast sunday and When President Clegg said "You have to focus! I know that some of you are, today, preoccupied with that thing of the outside world, The Superbowl--but you need to stop thinking about that stuff and keep your mind on the work!" (I'm paraphrasing) anyway, the point is, I was totally NOT thinking about the Superbowl until he said that, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day! I was so stressed and I was all sweaty and nervous--is it possible I was channeling Chris?! So, the next morning, when our Gym "lifeguard" girl took pity on us and told us the details of what had happened, I was very grateful.

It sounds like it was a really awesome game, I'm happy for you all. Really.

oh! Back to that most frequently asked question: "How is Spanish coming?!"

Well... I thought it was going well, but then on Thursday in the TRC the three of us were preparing to go in and teach and pretend investigator lesson 2, in English, for the LAST time, and Hermano Richardson walked up and asked us something in Spanish. I had a moment of my mouth working faster than my brain and immediately said "DOS!" thinking he had wanted to know which lesson we were teaching. Hermana Thomas said "Dos!" as well, very confidently. Hermano Richardson looked confused, but he smiled and said "Bien" and left. As he walked away Hermana Gurney said "He just asked you how it went... and you said two."

Well, they say you have to make a million mistakes before you're fluent in a language, so I might as well start now!

So, I was feeling like a dope, as we went in to teach lesson 2 to this fake investiagtor, but it turns out that our Investigator is from Mexico and has only been in the U.S. for about eight months. She's struggling with English. It wasn't planned or anything, because no one we talked to had a similair experience, it was just the luck of the draw that we ended up teaching someone who asked us to please speak in Spanish whenever we knew how to say something! We ended up teaching most of the lesson in Spanish and it was amazing! She was really helpful too, she would corrected us when we messed up a word or nod encouragingly when we were doing well! Lesson dos, is definately meant to be taught in Spanglish. It was so cool, and I realised that i knew how to say a LOT more than I thought I did. And I could understand everything she was saying too (althought it was clear she was trying to speak slowly and use simple words... like talking to a Spanish puppy)

The language is gorgeous! I cannot wait to be able to speak it properly... I just need to be patient and not get frustrated, because I'm bound to have a lot more moments like "DOS!"

We had a good laugh about it, at least. It's amazing how hilarious everything becomes when you don't have television.

I do actually miss TV a little. I don't miss WATCHING tv, but I miss certain shows. Mostly, I miss Firefly. And arrested developement. And Ugly Betty. And Scrubs sometimes... There are some movies that come up a lot here... I can't figure out why, this particular list of movies is so commonly gleaned from by the teachers and student here. They are all gareenteed to come up at least once a week durring Gosple disscussions.

Count of Monty Cristo*
Rocky
Zorro
Indiana Jones
Princess Bride*
Lord of the Rings*
Harry Potter*
Jane Eyre*
Everything C.S. Lewis related*
Monty Python and the Holy Grail "On second thought, let's not go to the MTC, it is a silly place."

(*technically literature, though some people don't know that.)

I never saw Rocky, it was n my list of movies to see before I left, but I didn't see it! Everything else, I can totally relate to.

I finally found Lauren--I mean Hermana Porter LAST NIGHT! I was searching for her for two whole days, but we ended up running into each other on our way back to our rooms Thursday night! It was so great to see her! We only got to talk for about five seconds, but I hope she's doing well! I'm going to try to visit her in her room tonight, but it's on a different floor from mine, so I have to have the cooporation of both my companions.

I'm goign to have to put the reast of it in my written letter, because I'm running out of time again!

Just one last note about Spanish. I learned a new word (It's actually the name of a city) it's Paranguaricutirimicuaro! i can totally say that. I like to say it around Natives, or just people who really know Spanish well, because it always makes them smile. Hermano Anothry said it's "Money". You are cool if you can say it. He's a bromista (joker).

I've gotta go! You'll get my hand-written letter soonish, I hope! I love you all, so, so much!