Thursday, May 3, 2012

Time



 An investigator gave us some coconuts!  
Now we just have to find a machete!
See my hairdo!  The only thing I can do with it is my old "Dance Zone" bun.
 Below are some pictures of the Zombie Dogs 
I was talking about last week!


Hey Family and Friends!
   Well it has just been another crazy week filled with barking and growling dogs, drunken old men yelling English words at me expecting me to talk to them, and taxis honking every time they pass by.   But I thought I would just like to let you all know that my Spanish is improving but it is coming a lot slower than I thought it would.  I am understanding more and more of what people say but the people on the coast talk really fast.  I always have to ask them to repeat what they said or tell them to talk slower to me but they are really nice especially when they realize that I have only been here three weeks.  I don´t think that the members realize how much I understand they just talk to my companion during dinner appointments.  Sometimes they will ask my companion, "How is your companion´s Spanish coming along" Or something along those lines and my companion always says "Preguntal"  When I respond to their question they seem so surprised that I understand them but the tricky part is talking to them.  
  
   But one thing I don´t think I will ever understand about this culture is their sense of time.  It is really difficult trying to get people to church on time and especially when we have dinner appointments.  But I think that I will just get use to it.  But this is how they all react to a schedule here.  Even though their watch says 4:00 P.M. and they know that their meeting doesn´t start until 4:30 and they also know that it takes a 15 minute taxi ride to get to their destination they are not going to leave the house until 4:45.  Because they know that everybody is going to be there at 5:00.  How do they all know to show up at 5:00? Is there some secret code that they are not telling me or am I just missing something.  
    
     We walk to our dinner appointments at 7:00 and ring the door bell at 7:15, "Hermanas!  You are here so early!!!" Uhhhh.... "You said 7:00 right?"  Yes I know that we scheduled 7:00 and they let us in and continue cooking until 7:45 and eat and leave at 8:15... But there are other families who call us at 10 minutes after the appointment wondering if we are going to come.  We tell them we are on our way... But I don´t think I will ever know when to show up.  That´s one thing that I miss about America... When someone said 7:00 they really meant 7:00, not 7:15 or 7:30 or 7:45... They mean 7:00 you don´t have to wonder when can I show up for this? Church starts at 9:00, when we get to the chapel at 8:45 there is no one there and sacrament meeting starts at 9:15 every week.  Families trickle in throughout the meeting and by 9:45 the chapel is filled... It is so confusing but I am not bothered by it as much as I was the first week. 
     We have two progressing investigators and we always invite them to FHE on Thursday nights in the chapel.  Well this past Thursday we had planned to meet Manuel there at the chapel at 7:30 after we had picked up Byron.  Well our dinner appointment ran over and Byron wasn´t home so we had to find the cyber spot that he was at.  As we walked into the cyber place we saw that he was on Facebook.  I thought... oh crap he isn´t going to come, but he closed the window and paid for his time and got into the Taxi with us!!! 
  
     But we got to the church at 8:00 and NO ONE WAS THERE!!!!!! Uhhhhhhhhh PEOPLE!!!! Well Hermana Romero opened the gate to the church and she called the Bishop, he said he wasn´t coming.  Then she called the friends from the ward that we invited for Byron... They said they were on their way but I was just thinking, "On their way for what??? WE are not having an activity no one is here!!!" About three minutes later the Vince family showed up with the refreshments and they were also in charge of the lesson and Byron's friends came in right behind them.  It was about 8:15 when I remembered about our other investigator Manuel... 
     
     I felt sick to my stomach just thinking that we totally forgot about him!!!! I felt so bad and when Hermana Romero called him he said that he came and was here at 7:30 and waited for fifteen minutes and WALKED back home!!! It takes fifteen minutes to walk from his house to the church!!!!!! Ahhhh!!! I was thinking the whole time I am the WORST sister missionary in the whole world!!! Who forgets about their progressing, GOLDEN investigator!!!!!! I do!!!!! But Hermana Romero hung up the phone and said, that he was coming to the activity!!!! WHAT???????????? Man this kid is awesome!!!!! The activity went well and we all stayed till 9:30 playing games. 
    After the activity Manuel said,  "See you Saturday!" (He goes out of town every weekend with his mom to Guayaquil!)  Uhhhh aren´t you going out of town? He said no,  "I want to go to church.  It is at nine right?"  This 17 year old kid is awesome!!! Heck yeah church is at nine we will fill the font for you when you stop by!!!! Byron also said that he wanted to come to church!!!! Holy cow!!!! These kids are awesome!!! At least someone wants to hear our message!!! 
Well that is about all for this week,  I love you all more than I miss you and I hope you are getting my letters from Ecuador!!!! 

Love Hermana Welch # 1

1 comment:

  1. yay, finally pictures! Only Jessica Welch would look that pristine while in South America... :)

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