February 1, 2016

Ahhh Maddie!! I´m so happy for that little chica. She is going to make miracles happen out there. 

Well familia, I´m in Clavero again for this change and I am still with Hna. Laura. It feels weird because I´m kind of getting up there as far as time on the mission goes and I have only been in one area but I like the area too so it´s a conflict there. I will hit 6 months at the end of this transfer! It actually blows my mind how fast time goes. I am almost one third of the way done with the mish! Can you believe it?

This week we were going to help set up a wedding for a less active on Wednesday for service, but when we got there everything was already set up so they had us make the salad. Salad here is a loose term for any vegetable drenched in vinegar and lemon juice. This was onion salad which is literally just straight up onion in lemon juice. We cut so much onion and I have never cried so much chopping onion! Tears were literally rolling down my face and my companion was like ¨Don´t worry, we are almost done!¨ As huge fat tears were streaming out. After that the bride came in and asked if we knew how to do makeup and hair. She had nothing! And she had to leave in a half an hour. So my comp did her hair while I did her makeup. I don´t even know how to do makeup, but I threw something on there. It was a surreal moment to be doing someone´s wedding makeup when I can´t even put makeup on my own face. I´m not really sure how it turned out. She had to run out of the house to go get married. Odd happenings.

This week we also learned more about some of the myths and traditions here. There are a lot of tribal histories and tales. One is this spirit called Tunche. He is basically all evil and would be kind of like the boogie monster. The babies here wear little beaded bracelets to keep them safe from bad spirits. The pink dolphin, el buffeo, also supposedly transforms into a beautiful man at night and lures women into the river never to be heard from again. There is a lot of spirity stuff that happens. Oh, and also one of our less actives this week told us his dad is a shaman and makes a hallucinagetic drink that brings all the spirits of the plants together so that you can see the future and the past. I had to do the old ¨ummm, sure, ya, ok¨ and try to get back on topic. 

Oh and this week is the last week of Carnaval so this Sunday is going to be CRAZY. Every Sunday has been getting a little bit crazier and next Sunday is the culminating day. Yesterday it was pretty crazy too though. People just stand on the side of the streets with buckets and water balloons and throw them at motos passing by. It doesn´t matter who passes by. Usually they leave the missionaries alone but yesterday we were going to the Family History Center in a moto with a recent convert and all of a sudden we felt a sudden rush of cold. It took me a second to realize what happened but then I realized that someone had thrown a bucket of water at as. When it hits you as you drive past it´s like water whiplash to the face. We all laughed and were soaking but dried off doing the work of salvation!

My pensionista made empanadas this week and they were so yummy!! They are like the ones Hna. Neumiller makes! I also learned how to make leche asada so I will teach you all when I get back. This week I´m going to learn how to make arroz chaufa! 

Love you all!! Choose the right and don´t look back. 

Hermana Fitz