Golf and the Lake. There is not much more one could ask for. Those two things are the absolute best! I'm glad I got in my fair share of time in both of them before I left because I know I'll miss them a bit while I'm gone! The good thing is we stay super busy here so I dont really ever have time to think about things like that, it helps me stay focused on what I need to be doing. Its good!
Dad I appreciate the sports updates, I was actually gonna ask you in this email if you would be willing to send me some every week. You're all over it tho! And mom your spanish is probably better then mine already! haha. This week I have actually made some serious strides. Most people in our group are pretty even in the spanish now. You do learn so much so quick. We learn grammar, phrases, conjugations for probably 4 hours a day. Then we just do a lot of gospel doctrine teachings where we learn how to teach investigators. Our teachers speak about half Spanish half English while they are teaching us tho. It is nice because then we can understand what they're saying, and also pick up on some spanish words at the same time. Most of our teachers are like 21 to 23. its crazy.. they are mostly just RM's here from Buenos Aires. They mostly served in spanish missions but they picked up English from their North American companions. They are all pretty sweet dudes, although we are there students it seems like we are friends with them.. Its a blast. For me Just hearing Spanish all the time has helped a lot. And having all the latino's down here helps, we speak to them all the time. It's incredibly hard but it is also so fun. Mi gusta apprendo Espanol. I've mostly got down how to communicate with someone and how to tell them that we are missionaries. We've been working on how to tell people about the book of mormon so that is coming along slowly.
So the last week has been really good. Days are long but super rewarding. But the weeks seem to go by fast. We did go to the temple last Thursday and I totally forgot to mention it in my email. I was so rushed I forgot to tell you guys a lot. But yes we do get to go to the temple every pday which is super nice. The temple here is beautiful. Luckily they had translators so I was able to listen in English haha. We are going again today at 3 o clock and i'm going to try to listen in just Espanol. It's super nice that the temple is so close, it is very convenient.
So on Tuesday morning all the other missionaries left, there were about 40 north americans and 30 latinos. So for the past 2 days it has just been our district here, 13 of us. It's been super lonely but kinda fun.. all the new missionaries are starting to get here today so i'm excited to meet them. I'm just hoping there are a couple more Canadians! We are a rare nationality down here, me and Hermana Drew are the only one's from our district. Then there was only one from the districts that just left, Elder Filis, he is from Cranbrook. The only benefit of being here all alone is that we get good water pressure in our shower, and we got to eat McDonalds the one night haha. All the Hermanas hated it but us Elders were in heaven. The food is good but I do miss food from the outside world. Before the missionaries left on Tuesday it is tradition to go to the temple to take pictures.. We are allowed to send some today so I'll attach some in a seperate email! And then the night before they leave all the Elders meet together and sing "Called to Serve" in Spanish, it definitely didn't sound too good but it was a pretty neat experience. They were all excited to leave, only quatro semana's till thats me! 4 weeks :) haha.
What I'm probably most excited for is the fact we get to go proselyting Saturday! It's gonna be so hard and I'm super nervous, but I'm excited for the opportunity to get out and try to use the little Spanish that I have learnt! I'm sure I'll have lots of good stories about that next week. It's pretty nice that we have the opportunity to proselyte before our missions, I'm not sure if any other MTC's do it. So the past couple days we have been trying to learn and memorize all the basic spanish things we might need to say. We've had a little experience just talking to random people on the street outside the MTC, and all I can say is they talk sooo fast and they slur their words really bad. I honestly can't understand anything they are saying. Dad you were so right when you said that you can start to understand the language when you can distinguish between words. If people talk slow I can pick out a lot of the words, but when they talk fast it just sounds like jibberish. I'm super excited tho.
As for your questions dad. We do have an hour and 45 minutes everyday for physical activity.. outside the MTC they have volleyball nets, basketball hoops, soccer nets, and a ping pong table. We mostly play basketball and ping pong. It is a lot of fun. I have never played this much basketball in my life, so Carter you better be ready when I get home! The hoops aren't very good tho so you pretty much have to do lay ups if you wanna score, but it's fun.
I haven't used my debit card or any pesos yet. On Saturday we aren't really supposed to go shopping but I might just try to buy something small with my debit card just to see if it works. And as for the sleeping bag it's still in the bag. It's pretty hot most nights in here, so i just sleep with a small blanket they supply.
There are no missionaries from my district or the one's before that are going to my mission. So hopefully some from the next district will be. Most missionaries are going to Uraguay and Paraguay. So all the kids going to my mission will be up in Provo. And yes this area is in my mission. Supposedly there is a street right around here that separate the South and the West mission. So when we go proselyting Saturday we will be in my mission boundaries, so hopefully I can get a head start on some contacts!
One quick story before I go. Yesterday we had a lesson with an investigor (our teacher) but they are actually super realistic. So we were teaching him and my companion tried to ask him where his wife Juana was (de donde Juana) and instead he said (cuando Juana?) which means when's Juana. And our teacher was trying so hard not to laugh, and was like when is what? And so we all panicked and I tried to save my companion and said "quien Juana" which means who's Juana. And he was like Juana is my wife. We already had a whole conversation about his wife, so me asking who's Juana was soo stupid haha. It was an ok lesson still, but that moment was definitely pretty funny. The language is hard and at times frustrating, but It's going good. I'm learning a lot and I love it here. I love you guys with all my heart. And I know the Lord does too! I appreciate your prayers, i do feel the comfort of them everyday.
Love, Elder Hansen.
Buenos Aires Temple
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