Our little sleepover at the house of missionaries from a different district. We were on divisions, and arrived to their house late and decided to camp out there, so we set up our hammocks in the living room. They’ve got a nice house--tile floors.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sleepover
More Graffiti
haha, sorry Mrs. Donat. [Corey's high school art teacher] I don´t want to send pictures of my graffiti, but you can look at some of the local artist's work. Their spray paint stretches a little further than my materials. [previous letter said that he found some dried out shoe polish and was using it to do a little graffiti behind their place...]
Week 11 in El Salvador
Hey,
That’s crazy about all the ice and how warm it is. I told Elder Pena, and he said it was because the Alaskenue was gone.
This week I have been very tired. We’ve went on divisions every day this week, so I’ve been all over the place...been to san Vicente, San Juan a bunch. One time in San Juan, the other missionary forgot the keys. We climbed two stories over the barbwire and under the telephone wires to take apart the window, and break into his own house. It took a half hour, but finally we were able to pull the lock with a mop handle at the second story.
I saw people from the peace core on Tuesday, and another couple on Wednesday. It was nice to speak English. The couple that I met on Wednesday is from Wisconsin, and they are doing agriculture projects. They said they spent a couple years in Fairbanks Alaska also. My thought personally, is the peace core needs to help with the litter, and getting rid of all these dogs that look like a Dr. Seuss project that’s had time to ripen with diseases.
This is Elder Peña. [referring to a photo] He has become one of my best friends of the mission. He is an elder from Chile. He was kicked out of his house for joining the church, so he moved out on his own. He joined the military, and has never taken vacation time. He has fought in conflicts against Peru and Bolivia for his country. The first photo is a picture of a bullet scar he got while fighting in Bolivia. He was down on the ground, shooting, and the bullet ripped through his leg. He rolled over and continued shooting. Most of the Elders don’t like him, because he still has a very military attitude, and he still cusses. These are small things for me, and I can see he’s working hard and trying. He was the trainer of the new recruits into the military. He collected his vacation time so he could go on a mission two years and three months of vacation time. He said every war gave him more vacation. Anyways, I thought you might like to see the photo of the scar, and a little of his stories.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 10 in El Salvador
Other news...the bishop has restricted us from going into the southern side of the colony Santa Rosa, and the Colony Espesote (after 6:00), because of increasing violence. More people are cautioning us while we are walking after dark.
[I know this is not much at all...in most letters Corey has parts he only wants to share with Herb and I, and doesn't want me to make it public...as it turns out this week it was mostly private, and not much public. Sorry. Maybe more next week. No pictures, either! :( ]
Monday, February 8, 2010
Soccer fan
Just me in the house. BARCELONA--world cup, South Africa. I have to know who wins this year.
Elder Dennis & Corey
This is Elder Dennis. He is from Anchorage. The president said that I am the first Alaskan in this mission, and he is the second. Maybe you can find his mom online.
Week 9 in El Salvador
February 8, 2010
Ok, so this letter is just the generals of life right now---
The language---my Spanish is way better than before. I no longer need another missionary to translate for me in zone conferences. The members are suprised, because the two gringo elders that also started their mission in Zacatecoluca could still only say hola after the first change, at this point. The task has fallen on me to start teaching the Gospèl Doctrine class, which consists of about 15 people. They want me to learn more Spanish. They understand it, I think. I can talk to generally anyone, about generally any subject, but I am far from fluent, and still need more help than ever with this.
The food---by this point I have learned to hold down my gag reflex. There were a couple times the first week that I puked in my mouth, but I kept it in, and held it down. I finally figured out what the meat is that they´ve been feeding me every day---dog. Yum, no wonder I couldn’t place the flavor--it’s like very hard bear meat. Forgive me if the snoopy comics suddenly run out of business for the loss of their main character.
I had a soup the other day---chicken lung soup. The lungs were still intact, with all the arteries, and tubes. Lungs, even if they have been marinated in hot soup, are still surprisingly dry. Every bite dries out your mouth, and it is very gritty.
I made french toast the other day, when I found out the store had syrup. Manna from heaven.
Transportation----I have figured out the secret to riding on a crowded bus. When there is a crowd on the bus, there is nowhere to sit, so I have to stand. In the past, I’ve had to duck, because the ceiling only comes up to my shoulders. I found the secret----I just open the emergency exit hatch in the top, and poke my little noggin out the roof. No more cramps, and fresh air---life is good.
Hey, so about last week, to catch you up. ---I was talking to this one lady, and it was nighttime. I feel a something bump me, and almost knock me over into the lady. It was a drunk man. Of course. My companion took over with talking to the lady, and I went and talked to the drunk--well he had a hold of me, so I kinda had no choice. The lady said for me to be careful. The drunk grabbed a hold of my hand, yanking me down, and began to preach to me. So far, no different from any other drunk. My companion came over and helped me to get the mans hands off me, but he just squeezed harder. So, I decided to play his own game, he crushes my hand, I crush his right back. It got me free, and we ran. He was the first drunk to run after us, but lucky for us he couldn’t run straight.
Another story from last week...we went on divisions, and I was with Elder Pena. It was nighttime, and the bats were out. We couldn’t find a bus, so we got a hitch from one of the pickups. Pickups are faster (90mph depending which road), but more expensive to pay. Elder Pena was in front, and I heard a smack on his head, and he almost fell over. It was a bat, he had a mark on his head for the rest of the night.
To be safe, I’m emailing in sections, so you’ll get a lot, but they’ll be shorter, chow
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Spider
This my new pet that I squished the other day. It’s the size of my hand, and the Latinos describe the venom similar to that of a brown recluse--your skin will rot.
Graffiti
Graffiti of Naratu---Jared might like it. Anime is popular here--dragonball z especially. Even among the kids my age.
Week 8 in El Salvador
February 1, 2010
Sorry, the website deleted my email, and I don’t have time. This won’t have pictures and it will be short. I´ll try to catch you up next week.
Tuesday was interesting. We were chopping down brush and cactuses for a lady. I decided to chop down a tree, like the other ones. It was an inch in diameter. Of course when it fell, all the branches brushed my back, and deposited millions of ants. There weren’t just a few, I was covered, and my companions were freaking out. The lady must have thought I was crazy when I stripped off half of my clothes, and ran across the whole yard for the pila (a tub thing for the outdoors).
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