We Got Pictures!

Hooray! We got pictures! Here's the first one:

Isn't he adorable? It's like real-life Simba. This is one of the kitties she saw last week at the zoo.

Here's her email:

¡Hola!

Well every week in the mission isn´t just like every other week but this week was especially an exception. Wow.... ummm well this would probably be the best way to describe the events of this week.

Monday: When we went to the Zoo in Lujan I was talking about how much I loved public transportation and was wondering why we don´t have more of it in the states.... when it took us 6 hours to get back to our area and involved waiting along the tracks in the middle of nowhere for another train to come I figured out why :) It was good though and I was definitely glad we went... Mom you can be assured that I do still have both of my hands.

Tuesday: We had District Meeting which was normal except for the fact that the office Elders forgot to bring the mail!!! I was so bummed for the rest of the day. We had divisions that night with the other Hnas in Las Heras and I was with Hna Clark who has been out about 6 months so I think she was stressed because she was 'senior comp' for the first time. It went pretty well but I was bummed because Hna Daniels was visiting our incredible investigator and I was sad to miss the cita... and I was still bummed about the mail :). When we got back to the pench Hna Daniels informed me that Eva didn´t want to receive us anymore!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!! Ok here comes a doctrinal quesiton: if you are not baptized do you automatically go to spirit prison when you die? I thought that you only went there if you were a bad person in this life?!? So pretty much I was way bummed Tuesday night but excited for the next day because our District Leader and Zone Leader were coming to work with us the next day.

Wednesday: We got a call in the morning that we needed to go to Ramos to have a meeting with President Benton. This is like an hour and a half ride into the offices. So we took off for Ramos... Ha ha and to be honest I was happy because I would be able to check the mail while I was there! :) President interviewed my comp first and then me. He just asked me if I was being obedient and how the language is coming ect. Ha ha and then we headed back to work. Later that night we got a call from the Assitants that Hna Daniels and Hna Clark were being flashed to another area and would leave the next day at 3!!! Apparently this NEVER happens with Hnas!

Thursday: Hna Daniels and I visited her converts here to say goodbye and had lunch in which the members looked at me with piety because Hna Daniels was leaving... that is the worst look ever. And then she left and it was seriously so sad. As she was leaving she was like "I feel like we are breaking up" which is definitely the way it felt. Especially since neither one of us had been thinking about her leaving yet since she still has one more week in the mission!

Friday (Dad´s birthday): The first day of my whole life where not one person spoke to me in english...

Saturday: My first two baptisms!!! I also prayed, bore my testimony, and sang at the baptism. That tells you how many members we have in our ward :) My comp and I sang Jospeh´s Smith First Prayer to the tune (kinda) of Come Thou Fount... Remember how I said that latins can´t sing... yeah and neither can I so it was interesting but the spirit definitely helped us.

Sunday: My comp informs me that we are talking that day in Sacrament Meeting. We were also teaching a class that day... And had to leave in about an hour to get our converts.... and I wasn´t dressed yet... Once at church I was trying to joke that I would sing instead of giving a talk.... instead of getting out of one I ended up doing BOTH. Ha ha that tells you how good my spanish is.

Alright so there is a run down of my week. My new comp is Hna Duarte from Paraguay!!! I wonder which mission Elder Parke served in. I think she is from the north mission which is also the highest baptising mission in South America so we hear about it a lot. Spanish in Paraguay is way easier to understand because it is way slower so I can understand her pretty well. And she was a teacher before she came so she has a lot of patience with me.

Oh I keep forgetting to tell you, if you could date dearelders when you send them that would be great because they don´t date them for you!

It´s funny how some Argentines look so American! One of our investigators looks exactly like Kelsey Lidstrom... It is super crazy... Funny story this week we were teaching her and a bird pooped on my backpack in the middle of the lesson... thanks mom, I am pretty sure I inherited that bad luck from you!

oh THANKS FOR THE PACKAGES!!! I got the one from mom and dad and the one from cali!!!! it was so great and I feel so loved! Holy cow though it costs a lot to send them! Don´t worry about sending them very often like maybe just for christmas because that was ridiculous! But thanks for everything! It was so perfect and had everything that I have been missing from the states. If you can only get that skirt in a lg that will work and can just send it with sophia possibly when she comes?

Ha ha I love that I hear so much about Sophia. I feel like I am being replaced ha ha :) She sounds cool and must be rich because it costs a lot to go to the states and is not very common here. I get a lot of questions about the states and people are usually pretty negative about it. It´s funny. Dad I have had the medicine candy and it is so gross. They also sell halls candy here... meaning they sell cough drops as candy... yuck. But other stuff is good so if she offers you more it might be good so I would take it. :)

Good news i got bug spray! Bad news sometimes I forget to put it on!!! :) So i still have tons of bites and am definitely allergic to the mosquitoes but one day I will learn!

Thanks for everything! I am doing so well! Hna Daniels warned me that I might feel lonely with a latin especially since I can´t speak spanish very well but I have been loving it. It was hard the first day or so but now we´ve found our groove and it´s good. It definitely helps me feel not as stressed about the language since I am constantly learning. My accent is interesting though since she is from Paraguay so I pick up on hers and the argentine one mixed with my american one.... oh my....

Ok i need to go but I did send a letter today. it is really expensive so I might only send them every couple of weeks even though i write them every week... what do you think?

Think about you often, pray for you always and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

That's so crazy that Hna Daniels was transferred a week early, but so cool that Jordan got a native companion. It will help her with Spanish so much. Here are some pix of her and her cute new companion.



Another great week!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Here is this week's installment:

Ok I am going to start with what we did for PDay today cuz it is so cool. We came to Lujan which is another area in our mission and went to the Zoo! Ok the first thing I saw when I got there was an open field with all sorts of animals in it... horses, cows, goats, camels, pigs.... you get the picture. Right next to it there was this cage with tigers in it. And I´m standing there thinking, wow there is like no glass between us and them... only this flimsy metal fence... then we realized that we got to go in and pet the tigers. It was so awsome. And they squirted milk into our hands so that the tiger would lick them. I took pictures and video of it so I will send them when I can... The whole time I was thinking "this would never happen in America". Afterwards we went and held and played with baby lions. Apparently usually you only get to hold them for a short time but the guy liked us so we got to play with them for a little while. They were adorable and it was so cool. I also got to pet an elephant and feed it. We also got to pet a younger tiger and some other lions. It was seriously so cool. Oh and we also rode a camel. All in all a sweet trip to the zoo. Now zoos in America will just never do it for me since pretty much this entire zoo was a petting zoo.  I am highly certain that the animals were drugged. Ha ha only in South America would this be allowed.

In Lujan is also like the biggest Catholic Cathedral in like South America... or so I am told. I am not sure but it was really cool as well. As we were walking there Hna Daniels was telling me how we were in the Elders area and would probably run into them. Less than 2 seconds later we here someone behind us yell "hna daniels" so they came with us to the cathedral too. The architecture was sooooo cool. I am glad I took that art history class because it definitely made me appreciate it more. Dad I thought of you the whole time and took pictures and video of it but you should look it up on the internet, that will probably do it more justice.

Also we went to McDonald´s today. All the other missionaries were lovin´it :) and it was cool to be there for me as well. It was strange though too because it was the first time as a missionary that I have done something completely normal and American. As we were standing in line a man walked through and said, "excuse me". It didn´t even phase me and I just moved aside and then my comp was like "hey you´re an american!" He just smiled and kept walking but it was cool. Apparently all the American´s congregate at McDonald´s... how stereotypical of us. McDonald´s is like a big deal here and was pretty nice and super busy.... but it tasted EXACTLY the same... especially the fries so that was nice!

Ok on to the important stuff of the week! This week was really interesting because we had a lot of things out of the ordinary. On Wednesday the APs came and did divisions with us so basically they just came to all our citas with us. It was really cool because I got to see how they teach and contact etc. They definitely bring a different spirit then Hnas so that was cool to see and teach with. They are both from Chile and I´ve come to learn that Chilean Elders are the coolest so it also made the work fun. That night we took a remis (rented driver/car) back to Ramos with them and slept at other Hna´s pench because we had a meeting early the next morning. The meeting was for all the new missionaries so I got to see all the missionaries that I came here with so it was really cool. The first thing that Hna Svedin said to me was "wow you are so tan". My hair has also gotten tons lighter so that kinda gives you an update on how I look :) I love the bread here too but luckily I don´t think I have gained any weight yet!

After the meeting we had divisions and Hna Lopez and I went back to Las Heras. Divisons were only for 24 hours but it was cool to see how she teaches and a little different spin on things than Hna Daniels. It will be really strange when Hna Daniels leaves though. It definitely made me realize how much I depend on her.

Spanish. hmmm. yeah. I am feeling at kind of a low point.  I am also hoping for a latin comp for my next comp because I know that will definitely help me progress faster. Most of the time I am not too frustrated with the language and can get across what I need to. But yeah I still have a LONG ways to go and it feels like it´s been forever since I was around people that speak English. It is definitely teaching me patience with myself. So basically it´s hard but I am so excited to learn it and I am learning new things every day which is what matters I suppose, but I am still severely handicapped which is bitter sweet and I try to look at it as a once in a life time experience so why not love it right? Wow that was a long way to say, yes spanish is hard but I am working at it and I know with faith, prayer, and hard work I will one day be able to speak to the hearts of these people effectively with the spirit. ;)

We found the coolest investigator on Friday and she is amazing. Her name is Eva and she is from Brazil. So basically her native language is Portugese, my native language is english and we are trying to communicate in spanish... it´s pretty great. I can´t understand really anything that she says but my comp can and I just bear my testimony a lot. It´s great and has really built my testimony a lot.

Funny story, this week a man looked through his window at us and gave us the skweaky(sp?) finger. Ha ha I was glad that you all had warned me about that before, it was really funny.

Something that is still hard for me to adjust to is the hot and cold water knobs because they say C and F for calor and frio and I always turn on the hot water when I want cold.... Also not flushing your toilet paper is a really hard habit to break.. I beat that was more information than you wanted but there you go! :)

I love you all! Think about you often, pray for you always and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

(I hope she doesn't get too cheesed about me sharing her whole email with the world. Oh well, she won't know for a few more months!)

It's so good to hear from her. Mondays just can't come fast enough. There's an Hermana Lopez in her mission, who is actually training Jo's MTC companion Hna Svedin. Hermana Lopez's Dad Shaun got actual, real-life pictures of Jordan - as a missionary - in South America! WOOHOO!

(Thanks Shaun!)

Doesn't she look so great!?

Green Things Grow (that's what she titled her email...no idea what it means)

Hooray! This is her latest installment (well, most of it):

¡Hola!

As far as I can tell every missionary always gets their packages... but I have heard that it
helps to put religious things on the outside of the packages such as pictures of Christ or Mary (sad but this would probably help more in this country) and then just list missionary supplies on the package slip. I am sure that it will arrive one way or another!

Ok so I decided to sit down and make a list of the top things that I love about being a missionary in Argentina so here you go:

10. Feeling severely handicapped every second of every day...
seriously though. And it is even worse when people talk to me in
English because then I really feel handicap...
9. Living above a morgue. Last night when my comp and I were walking
to our pench we rounded the corner and I said, ¨"oh good no one died
today" not something that should be in my vocabulary (jk I said that
in english but still not something I should need to say)
8. Every day between the hours of 5 and 9 I eat an entire bag of
cookies (gallititos - remember to say the "ll" with an "sh" sound
7. Over all my extremities I am either being eaten alive or have an
allergy to something... including the metal portion of my placa
6. There is oil with either boiled eggs and/or mayo in everything...
yeah my comp and I even went to buy deli meat here (yeah it is totally
not the same as in the states) and there were hardboiled eggs in the
middle.... I didn´t even ask. I am turning Argentine. I now don´t mind
mayo with most things. The other day for lunch at a member´s house my
comp and I had what was pretty similar to a fried chicken patty that
like you would get at mcdonald´s with mayo and then on the side rice
with mayo and tuna... Kyle I thought of you... but it was actually
pretty good. I also like mayo with potatoes and boiled eggs... pretty
much like potatoe salad but they serve it hot. Don´t judge me.
5. I have the sickest tan lines I have ever had in my life... plus the
rash from my placa and mesquito bites. Really though I don´t think the
tan lines on my feet are ever going to go away.
4. The entire country of Argentina closes down for these conditions:
holidays (which happen about once a week), if they feel like going on
vacation, if it is too hot or too cold, if it is raining, and between
the hours of 2-5 EVERY day.
3. The Beso: I have successfully avoided it from men except for
once... it was awkward. But I still am awkward giving it to women. I
can never remember which side I am suppose to go on... yeah it´s
awkward and I still have my American space issues... that´ll probably
change soon. The worst is when I am leaving and just want to wave to
say goodbye but have to go around and kiss everyone. Ha ha also I
haven´t figured out the art of when I say ciao and when I say hola
when I am just walking by someone... wow I am still so awkward
2. The 80´s are huge for the first time here. In America the 80´s are
coming back because it is retro... well they are just hitting
Argentina for the first time. Everywhere we go I hear American
music... for instance right now we are listening to "Every little
thing you do is Magic". Oh yeah and hammer pants are huge, along with
popped calors and aviator glasses. Last night in the grocery store we
heard "Take My Breath Away" ha ha it´s so funny.
1. Being a huge creeper. All day every day all we do is ask people
personal questions and find out where they live and whenever they
mention anyone else we ask who that is and where they live. Then at
night we make flags and put their name on a map and I make lists of
people and their characteristics because I can´t remember spanish
names very well. And then we pray for then to see what they need in
their lives. THEN we stalk them until we can find them to teach them.
Any return missionary will understand what I am talking about. For the
rest of you.... again don´t judge me :)

Ha ha ok I hope that that was at least entertaining. This week has been really good. Cade I hate to break it to you but I don´t have small bananas here, just the normal ones and the milk here is normal but thicker and creamier than in the states :) Pretty much you´d love it!

My life this week was pretty much exactly like the movie the best two years. Yeah so I am the dorky new comp who can´t speak the language (i still severely struggle with rolling my rs) and one day we are walking down the street and see a lady in the doorway. I go to contact her and can´t understand what she is saying and then my comp lenas over and says,"she´s speaking english". ha ha it was literally the best day of my life. I don´t think I have ever been so happy. I got to teach, bare my testimony and pray in english. Sometimes I wonder why i ever struggled with anything when we were all speaking the same language. And then I remember organic chemistry and i am grateful to be learning spanish instead of being in school :)

ok so i tried to attach pictures this week as well and it´s a no go. sooooo sorry! I might have to wait until I am transferred to send some!

love you all tons! sorry if I didn´t answer all of your questions!

You´re all the best! Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hermana Scanlon

P.S. this list was just meant to be funny and know that I am loving
this and am not discouraged at all!

So, she seems to be doing really well...and building lots of character! She was definitely lacking in that department before the mission (ha, ha). I am pretty bummed about the whole picture thing and think I might die if I have to wait until she gets transferred to get any pictures. We'll have to figure out a way! For now, I'll just post a couple of the glamour shots I got of her before she left. This is what she looked like before all the funky tan lines!