Editors note: From here on out Kent's letters will be as he writes them so that we can see the progress he receives from his experience.
All the new missionaries at the Mission home.
HOLA!
i am finally in the field! This is super anoying because this Español computer says that i´m spelling everything wrong. haha. i am doing great and i totally love it here. it is so cool! the food is really good and cheap. we live with a family. Familia Cano. I really love them both. Cano is a total hoot and is always laughing it seems. his wife, Cristi, is wonderful. she is our cook. we pay her monthly for lunch and dinner. it´s not hard to get clean water bc the sell big jugs of water on a truck that is safe. you just buy a few of those every week (the big blue jugs, ya know?).
i really love all the people here. so you know, the luggage was all fine. everything was smooth and easy. don´t worry about it. it seems like it can be pretty dangerous here if your stupid, but the missionaries are totally fine. we´re really protected here.
the members are pretty awesome, but sometimes i get the impression that they a bit impatient with my spanish. i actually can´t hardly understand anything here. they speak unbelievably fast and slurred. so this could take some time, but i am learning. after several minutes of picking our words with a particular person, i can make out there accent. after that, it´s like 20 percent understanding bc the vocab here is nuts. at first, i was just learning the most common word for everything. like perro is dog. but there are like ten for everything. so i can say a lot more than i can understand. i can teach lessons, then someone asks a quetion, and i have to look at my comp. who does pretty much all of the teaching anyway. haha. it´s tough but i will learn quickly i think. i actually learning more about how to learn spanish right now than actually learning it. it´s interesting, but i do love this language.
My comp´s name is Elder Polendo from Chihuahau Mexico. He´s awesome. We´re pretty much the youngest companionship in the mission. he has only four months in the field, about the same as Paul. and we´re in one of if not the hardest area. but it´s awesome, and i can tell that i am going to miss it a ton when i do finally get transfered. our apartment is really nice and we take good care of it. We stayed with another companionship one night in a tiny shack like house while we were traveling to our area. it was horrible. really really filthy. no matter what, i am going to take care of my place. i´m glad my comp works hard and is clean.
Eld. Polendo doesn´t really speak any english, so i haven´t talked a whole lot the last few days. but i´m learning to just fearlessly (seemingly) just jump into to stuff and start talking. very hard, but it´s a great way to learn.
obviously, today is my p-day (monday) so those of you who can email me, keep that in mind. Also, i only get dearelders and letter once every 4-6 weeks. 4 for dearelders and 6 for letters i think. so sorry if i can´t respond to you fast. PLEASE STILL SEND THEM. i will respond. :) That was hard to type. this keyboard is weird.
I wish i had more spiritual experiences to share about some great lessons, but to be honest i don´t know what´s going on durring the whole thing. haha. we do teach a lot though. maybe this week i will talk more and hopefully understand well enough to give a response. Sometimes i get funny looks. :)
Well, i hope this was interesting enough that you will read again next week. just have faith please that i will progress, and all prayers are apreciated. it is a little bit easy to get down when you don´t hear your native tongue for a week straight and you can´t understand anything. but all is well. i´m learning and i have wonderful friends. i do feel the spirit still, and am anxious to fully engage myself in this work!
i know that i can learn spanish because, like Nephi, in know that there is no commandment given without a way to accomplish it given by God. This is honestly the hardest thing I´ve ever done. I think that God knew that I had great desires to just start teaching and that I wasn´t going to be home sick (cuz honestly, i´m really not). So he gave me the next worst challenge, which is complete obliviousness. haha. i know that my life will be forever blessed as i grow and learn this language. hopefully, until then, I can find ways to help the work move forward without using words, bc those usually fail me. haha. This is the Lord´s work, and if i could be anywhere in the world right now, it would be HERE. i can´t even image being anywhere else. i love it here.
thank you for all your support.
les amo,
elder kent thalman
i am finally in the field! This is super anoying because this Español computer says that i´m spelling everything wrong. haha. i am doing great and i totally love it here. it is so cool! the food is really good and cheap. we live with a family. Familia Cano. I really love them both. Cano is a total hoot and is always laughing it seems. his wife, Cristi, is wonderful. she is our cook. we pay her monthly for lunch and dinner. it´s not hard to get clean water bc the sell big jugs of water on a truck that is safe. you just buy a few of those every week (the big blue jugs, ya know?).
i really love all the people here. so you know, the luggage was all fine. everything was smooth and easy. don´t worry about it. it seems like it can be pretty dangerous here if your stupid, but the missionaries are totally fine. we´re really protected here.
the members are pretty awesome, but sometimes i get the impression that they a bit impatient with my spanish. i actually can´t hardly understand anything here. they speak unbelievably fast and slurred. so this could take some time, but i am learning. after several minutes of picking our words with a particular person, i can make out there accent. after that, it´s like 20 percent understanding bc the vocab here is nuts. at first, i was just learning the most common word for everything. like perro is dog. but there are like ten for everything. so i can say a lot more than i can understand. i can teach lessons, then someone asks a quetion, and i have to look at my comp. who does pretty much all of the teaching anyway. haha. it´s tough but i will learn quickly i think. i actually learning more about how to learn spanish right now than actually learning it. it´s interesting, but i do love this language.
My comp´s name is Elder Polendo from Chihuahau Mexico. He´s awesome. We´re pretty much the youngest companionship in the mission. he has only four months in the field, about the same as Paul. and we´re in one of if not the hardest area. but it´s awesome, and i can tell that i am going to miss it a ton when i do finally get transfered. our apartment is really nice and we take good care of it. We stayed with another companionship one night in a tiny shack like house while we were traveling to our area. it was horrible. really really filthy. no matter what, i am going to take care of my place. i´m glad my comp works hard and is clean.
Eld. Polendo doesn´t really speak any english, so i haven´t talked a whole lot the last few days. but i´m learning to just fearlessly (seemingly) just jump into to stuff and start talking. very hard, but it´s a great way to learn.
obviously, today is my p-day (monday) so those of you who can email me, keep that in mind. Also, i only get dearelders and letter once every 4-6 weeks. 4 for dearelders and 6 for letters i think. so sorry if i can´t respond to you fast. PLEASE STILL SEND THEM. i will respond. :) That was hard to type. this keyboard is weird.
I wish i had more spiritual experiences to share about some great lessons, but to be honest i don´t know what´s going on durring the whole thing. haha. we do teach a lot though. maybe this week i will talk more and hopefully understand well enough to give a response. Sometimes i get funny looks. :)
Well, i hope this was interesting enough that you will read again next week. just have faith please that i will progress, and all prayers are apreciated. it is a little bit easy to get down when you don´t hear your native tongue for a week straight and you can´t understand anything. but all is well. i´m learning and i have wonderful friends. i do feel the spirit still, and am anxious to fully engage myself in this work!
i know that i can learn spanish because, like Nephi, in know that there is no commandment given without a way to accomplish it given by God. This is honestly the hardest thing I´ve ever done. I think that God knew that I had great desires to just start teaching and that I wasn´t going to be home sick (cuz honestly, i´m really not). So he gave me the next worst challenge, which is complete obliviousness. haha. i know that my life will be forever blessed as i grow and learn this language. hopefully, until then, I can find ways to help the work move forward without using words, bc those usually fail me. haha. This is the Lord´s work, and if i could be anywhere in the world right now, it would be HERE. i can´t even image being anywhere else. i love it here.
thank you for all your support.
les amo,
elder kent thalman
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