Week 9: Do you fish pregnant?

Buenos Días Amigos!

Como fue su semana? Bien? Ooo! Yo tambien! 

Unhinged English (Ingles Desquiciado)

Do you remember my friend Leo? The one who refuses to speak Spanish during lessons? Well, the other day we're in Noche de Hogar and we're talking about who knows what, when out of nowhere he just says, "Do you fish pregnant?" 

I immediately burst out laughing, (because when has that statement ever been said in the English language?) and ask, "Repetir, por favor?" 

He restates with the straightest face possible, "Do you fish pregnant?" 

"Uh, no..." 

At this point, the other missionaries notice and are like, "Leo, do you even know what that means?" 

And Leo ignores it and asks the question AGAIN to Elder Brown.

Then Elder Brown, just casually goes, "Yep, I do." 

And then the conversation ended.

This happens somewhat frequently with Leo. I'm pretty sure he just likes to find the most unhinged thing to say in English and then tries to get a good reaction out of us. Which I mean, it works.

Clase de Ingles

Probably my favorite part about being a missionary so far is English Class! It's nice because it's the easiest thing to teach on the mission, and I get to learn more Spanish vocab as we're teaching them! 

It's also where I meet the most people! If we're not the main person teaching the lesson, then we get to sit down with a random person in the English class and help them practice. The practice tends to finish early, so you just end up having conversations with the person. It's normally these funky Spanglish convos, because I'm learning Spanish, and they're learning English, but I've still had tons of fun convos with people! Like about childhood, ditching school, bull riding, the arts, travel, etc. It's just awesome getting to meet people from all over the Western Hemisphere! Their stories are so cool!

Exchanges (intercambios)

On Friday and Saturday I got to do my first ever exchange! Now if you don't know what an exchange is, it's basically a more professional missionary sleepover! And you swap Companions! So for 2 days, Hermana Hansen was my Comp, and she's so awesome! We're both major Hunger Games fans, so geeked out over that a lot! 10/10 awesome experience!

Our first Bible Bash (sort of)

On Saturday, we had our first lesson with this guy named José. So naturally, we teach about the Restoration. And at one point, we ask him about his knowledge on one of the subjects, and he brings up Hell. And Hermana Lopez just casually mentions that we don't really believe in a Hell.

José is just immediately shocked, and basically asks, "Wdym there's no hell?" 

And Lopez brings up that a loving God wouldn't leave his children in hell. Then she asks why he thinks a hell is important to have.

Jose then says that it's for justice and some people need to be punished.

Hermana Lopez talks about Spirit Prison and other things like that. And I'm trying to listen as carefully as I can because everything is in Spanish and my Spanish brain is that of a toddler's. 

The conversation just continually gets more and more heated as this guy gets more and more appalled at there not being a Hell. 

And then suddenly I work up the courage to ask him, "If a person's sins here on Earth don't add up to eternity, then why would a person be punished for eternity? That doesn't seem very fair." 

I'm, first of all, very shocked that I knew how to say that in Spanish. And second of all, surprised that the heated discussion started to calm down. 

There was a moment of silence, and then Lopez transitioned the discussion back on the lesson and we finished with an invitation and a promise. 

Weirdly enough, I hope we get another lesson with that guy. 

Pensamiento Espiritual

As I talk and learn about more people's stories, I keep wondering, "Why Kentucky?" Why are people coming from Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru, Chile, etc to come to Kentucky of all places? To be honest, I don't even know if they know. 

But when I read in one of my fav chapters in the BOM, I came across this verse:

"For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding" (2Nephi 31:3).

And I had a bit of revelation that they are in Kentucky because God needed them to be here. They got the chance to see that God brings them truth in their language, despite being in the middle of a country that doesn't speak it.

Anyways, sorry for another long email! I promise they'll get shorter... maybe. 

Te amo!

Hermana Perkins