Hi everybody. This is Amy, not Jessica. Just so you knows, before Jessica left she told me I could post copies of her emails onto her blog for everybody to read. I'll probably use her subject lines as blog titles. So here is the first email that my mother received and forwarded to me:
Hi mom! I dont completely know how to use this keyboard so I might emit some punctuation marks. I also dont really know what to tell you first. Right now Im at the MTC in Buenos Aires. We got here about one or two hours ago and just ate lunch. The flight was long. Really long. I wrote you a letter on the plane telling you about the first day and the other missionaries so I wont go into all of that right now unless I have time, I dont know how much time I will have. So my email is jessica.casebolt@myldsmail.net and I will email on thursdays. So make sure that you email me back by Wednesday. You can probably just reply though. I had a really hard time sleeping on the plane during the night so I feel really tired but at the same time so wound up that there is no way I could sleep. My comapañera is hermana smith. She is from st. george and I met her at the airport in Salt Lake. She seems really nice and I think we will have fun together. Im the only one in our group that speaks any spanish which will probably have pros and cons. It will definitley be useful, it already has been, but I think Im becoming the know-it-all missionary. Thats ok though. At the airport I came out of security first (I also am probably the most comfortable navigating through airports) and I saw this lady waving us over. She was just dressed in everyday clothes and I dont even know if she is LDS but she picked us up and drove us to the MTC. She is from Buenos Aires and doesnt speak more than a few words of english so I had to translate to everyone. It was fun though, I think they plan it to be that way where there is one missionary in each group that has language experience. I met sister crofts at lunch and she said it was the same when their group came and hermana gardner was the only one that knew any spanish. she also said that hermana gardner was only here for three weeks before she went to uruguay and that there is no six week program at this mtc so Im interested to see how long I will stay. Sister crofts doesnt have a companion right now and she still has three weeks here so there is a possibility that she and I will go to uruguay at the same time. I hope it works out that way because I dont really want to do nine weeks in the mtc. Not that I wont like it here, I think I will but Im excited to get into the actual routine of a missionary.
I also met an Elder here that was in my mission prep class at school. Do you remember me telling you that someone else said they were coming to this mission? Well thats him. It is funny because the MTC and everything is different than I expected. When I thought missionaries and the MTC I think classes and studying and all that, but really its just a bunch of kids who still like to talk and joke and socialize and laugh a lot. So its been fun.
On the plane from Dallas I sat by this guy from Vancouver who is originally from Buenos Aires. He speaks like 5 languages and is a scientist coming for a conference on a new drug to cure blindness. He said they have made mice, rats and 2 kids in montreal gain their vision. Anyways, I tried to speak Spanish with him and he literally cringed at my accent. Like turned his head in disgust. I told him that I learned spanish in mexico and thats why my accent is different and he pretty much said, well you will have to learn it the right way in argentina. He was super nice about though and i really liked him but its like, if youre going to act all sickened when i speak im not going to be very inclined to talk to you. so im hoping it wont be like tat everywhere. he was very excited to talk about the olympics though and the hockey game and how much fun vancouver was. he was also quick to point out how americans get a bad rap because president bush dogs on other countries that are all friends and allies. it was so weird because he was nice about all of it the whole time and would smile and laugh as he said it but at the same time i wanted to say, even though youre being nice youre saying some things that could be really insulting to people. it was kind of interesting.
I really dont know what else to say since not much has happened because we just got here. I hope everything is good at home and Im sure you will forward this to everyone so hello all, i love you! I hear people speaking spanish here and it makes me so excited to be fluent. I feel so conflicted in a way because little thoughts will pop into my head about home and how I miss you all so much already but then at the same time I get these huge bursts of excitement for being here, I think it is going to be tons of fun as well as a wonderful experience. So far it is beautiful and actually looks a little like the Bay Area, at least more so than anything else I could compare it to. I will send that letter as soon as I can, its just details not super newsy but I dont know when it will get to you.
I am so happy to be here, I can feel the spirit in this process and we havent even had class or sung hymns or had prayers or anything. I just feel like this is so right and almost familiar. It is a feeling I did not expect but is really comforting to me. I hope it is comforting to you too and that you maybe are feeling it on your end as well. I love you so so so much and I wish I could give you a hug right now. Cant wait to read your response next thursday, i wish i could check my mail tomorrow. tell everyone else to mail me too even if it is just short. In fact its probably best if everyone elses is short. Start sending letters too so because I dont want to have to wait for three weeks to start receiving mail...if it takes that long. Next time I email you i will have a lot more to say because i will have actually had a week here but until then, i love you! Talk to you later!
Love, Hermana Casebolt
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