July 23, 2012

HOLA. guys look how good my spanish has gotten since living with a native companion!

k well sorry i slacked at emailing last week. i caught sam in real time and just couldn’t help myself and i gave up writing home to talk with her. but here is it....what you have all been waiting for the deets on my new area. my new area, new companion, new piso, new ward, new district, NEW EVERYTHING. It’s crazy as a missionary you have your life one day and then the next everything is turned upside down and completely different.

new piso: well this new piso can be described as the best piso in the mission complete with air conditioning, a bikini maker, and all. i even have kind of my own room! as in my stuff has its own room cause you have to sleep in the same room as your companion. gotta love the white handbook! (that thing is being burned the second I’m released as a missionary) the piso however took about a week to disinfect it. elders just have a different definition of what clean is. and this is coming from me so you know it’s bad. Let’s just say quite a few gems were found. best part is though the location. It’s right in the middle between the hospitalet hermanas and the other barc hermanas. mediodia hangouts go down sometimes. and a slumber party is in discussion right now.

new area: welp lets see....the ayudantes left us with NOTHING. no citas, no investigators, no ward list, an area book that hasn’t been updated in about a year, no reason to get up in the morning, basically just no reason to live! i mean its not like they were super busy or anything having the responsibility of the mission on their shoulders or anything. the area is my struggle right now. (1 nephi 4:6...story of my life) anyway it’s gotten better since we first got here and i know it will just go up from here. we fasted this past sunday and we are already seeing miracles....like we finally got a ward list! YES!

new members/new ward: well this past week we have been passing by the members and introducing ourselves and trying to get to know them. It’s been super fun but also super detrimental to the body. they all feed us. they actually have all been really receptive to having sister missionaries in the ward. It’s the first time in yearssssssss. here are some of the members we have met:

carolina, the bishops wife. i walked into her house and she has the best bookshelf to ever exist in the history of mankind. one side is travel books of places she has been and then the other side were harry potter numbers 1-7 in Spanish sit. it was beautiful.

carola and her family. carola is 16 years old and i have never seen someone want to serve a mission so badly at that age. She’s super cute. she brought out her nail polish and we all painted our nails. she actually slightly reminds me of tyler. her mannerisms and the way she moves her bangs from her face.

veronica and her family. they fed us and then watched us eat. she made us food from el salvador. we asked them if they were going to eat and they told us later. then continued to sit there and watch us eat.

lady and her daughter jenny. jenny is like four and had a bunch of barbies she was playing with. hahaha so she is showing me her barbrie and then lifts up the barbie’s skirt and points to her "hoo-hoo" and starts to laugh and then turns it around pointing to her butt. mira mira! and then tops it off by pulling down her shirt for a good boob shot. hahahah it was the funniest.

okay and yesterday in church we got a new bishop. can you please guess what his name is? cacayorin. k and guess what this translates too in english.........poop and pee. jajajajjajajajajjajaja. rapr. (oh. em gee. see the section on my new companion hermana rejon to see what we got to participate in my first sunday in the ward. best moment of my life)

and the paces are in our ward too! I LOVE THEM. i was really hesitant about this at first but we had interviews last week. and president pace is the best. he has a real gift for sincerity and feeding your self-worth. i left that interview feeling on top of the world. best advice any leader has every given me...advice that prevans from the mtc would have never given me or president hinckley. he told me to always be myself. that i was called here for who i am. and here’s the best part...he told me now that there are hermanas in his ward he and hermana pace are going to have to have the hermanas over for dinner. score!

new district: well they are growing on me but I’m still quite unsure. It’s to the point where me and hermana rejon fight over which one is our district boyfriend. That’s how slim the pickings are. we are all in the same ward and they are the four elders that work in the office too.

elder tyler (district leader/ racist towards mexicans. good thing hermana rejon isnt mexican or anything. that was sarcastic. she is)

elder fica

elder garces

elder watkins (the elder that we both want as our district boyfriend)

new companion: hermana rejon straight from mexico. i bet you guys could never imagine a worse cooker than me or a worse singer, but here she is in the form of hermana rejon. like our first couple citas together we couldn’t even finish the song it was so bad and ended in laughter in the middle. and then get this our first sunday in the ward.... it was announced that there would be a musical number by the missionaries. i thought oh no big deal we weren’t told anything so it must be the elders. i was wrong. the time comes for the musical number and we are motioned by the elders to get up with them. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. i, michael ann oslund, did a musical number is sacrament meeting with the only other person in the world is worse at singing than me. never thought you would see that one coming did you? neither did i. it was by far the best moment of my life. worst moment of every one else’s but best moment of mine. the wards first impression of me was based off a musical number. hahahah i still cant get over that i finally got to do a musical number in sacrament meeting. i have taken it upon myself to teach hna rejon some english phrases.....fugly, don’t test these besties, and the best one....dingleberry. she’s so much fun though.

and here listen to the best moment of my mission....so this past week we had a cita with someone in front of the sagrada familia. just sitting there on the bench teaching someone about baptism. and there it hit me....i’m a missionary in spain. best moment ever.

and listen to the freaking funniest prank call ever. it wasn’t even a prank call cause we didn’t block our number. oops..epic fail. so on friday night we called up one of the ayudantes. elder reeves. one of the most serious people you will ever meet. hahha i just have too much fun messing with him because of it. he picks up the phone hola soy elder reeves. and hermana rejon starts singing.....friday friday gotta get down on friday everybody looking foward to the weekend weekend. and then elder reeves: OH MY GOSH SO NOT MISSION APPROPRIATE.

hahhahahaha.

last night someone prank called me on a blocked number. i still can’t figure out who it is but it was the best. I’m actually convinced it was a member from hospitalet. i pick up the phone and nothing is said only lo extrano que soy (tarzan in spanish) was playing. yesssssss. best song ever.

k well that’s it for now. i g2g.

talk to you next week!

love you alllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll send pictures next week.

love, michael ann