Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Para/por language barriers.




Dear all,

I really enjoyed reading the update. You guys are busier than me!

Mostly its homemade fireworks but theres been canons, pistols and all sorts of commotion. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is alive outside the walls. 

I can´t believe I have two weeks left here. Our district is now the oldest district in our zone. Its really strange when someone from 14B comes into our room and asks me a question. It's even more strange when I reply with the answer. I don't feel very confident in Spanish but its a miracle how much I've learned already. 

This week was humbling. You all know I have a huge head but now (hopefully) its less. I have been struggling to memorize, and grasp some concepts like por/para and why they don´t have a lot of conjunctives. Ive spent a lot of time on my knees and every other time, working as hard as I can. Hermaño Cayetano gave me a scripture because he saw that I was having a rough time, its D&C 89:3 I believe. My goal is to have 20 scriptures memorized. So far I have 4 so I have confidence.

There was only two days where it rained. It was unusual to have such clear skies. Because its always cloudy, there isn't sunsets really just gradual shifts in light, from natural to manmade. But this week we had three solid sunsets, and a double rainbow. Super gorgeous with all the palm trees and mountains. I'm going to miss how green it is here. The church has immaculate lawn care.

The reason I am emailing so late in the day is because we just came back from the temple. What a beautiful temple, even if we only got to be outside (renovations). Their visitor center is crazy cool and way high tech. Its a maze that I got lost in several times. The thing that blew my mind was there was bookshelf of copies of the book of mormon with a tv screen in the center. "Pick one!" the screen said in spanish, "and we will read to you." You picked up a copy and the screen started reading Moroni´s promise in whatever language the book you were holding was in. Haha I was like a little kid. They showed us a video about families and wow it was powerful. I felt very peaceful in a city that never rests. The ride to the temple was also exciting. Since there wasnt enough room on our bus, Elder Sperry, Nykamp (my comp that I never had but is super funny and can always crack me up. He makes this face that cracks me up anyways), and Elder Clyde who is going to Salt Lake City West, we all got to ride with the latinos. Holy cow did they get vamped up about sitting and singing with gringos. There was this one guy from the Dominican Republic who spoke the fastest spanish Ive ever heard in my life. He did D&C4 in like 45 seconds. They made the cramped ride enjoyable and something I dont want to forget. 

I forgot (I think I dont remember what happens) to say that I saw Jonas Johnson here. He left a week ago but before he left we got a picture and talked for a while. I didnt have my camera or Id post it. Trever Wilkey arrived and besides Parker, thats it from Davis. Not much of a reunion pic like the famed one Ben sent me.  Ah ok so this week I really wanted to give a talk in church and I asked the ZL to tell Presidente Rodrigez that I volunteered and I got so excited about it, I even had a cucumber turning into a pickle story. Sadly I wasnt called and I felt sadish. I mean it was a dang good pickle story too. Oh well I have one more opportunity before General Conference which Im excited out of my gills about, its unreal. To answer Dad´s question, we do have large group meetings, all the missionaries fit into the auditorium now, but mainly theyre prerecorded talks from the Provo Mtc. Last tuesday night though, we had a live broadcast of Elder Holland. I think I had three pages of notes from that one, it was immenssly powerful and uplifting. All of the apostles that weve heard from have said that their missions was where all of their joy has come from and that they wish to have personal interviews or something of its kind with each missionary. Its really neat to know that the apostles and I share the same calling- to bring the gospel to the world. Im really excited for this week and the week to come. This whole thing is just really cool. Can you tell Im in a super good mood? I love this church and the message I have to share. And of course I love you guys. 

¡Adios por está semaña!
(right por/para?)
Elder Bryan

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