Life in Las Heras

I awake tangled in my sleeping bag and glance groggily at my wristwatch-- 6:30. Why hasn´t the alarm gone off? But a split second later the cell phone alarm sounds, right on time. I roll reluctantly but automatically off the mattress into praying position: knees on the floor, arms resting on Hna. Duarte´s bed. She´s already kneeling. There is a long silence-- it must be my turn to pray again. So I begin, trying to pronounce the words in castellano intelligibly with a tongue that is still half awake. I arrive at the amen and automatically turn and flop my arms back onto my own bed to say my personal prayer. When I´ve finished, I pull on my running shoes, Hna. Duarte grabs the keys, and we leave down the stairs and open the door
that leads to the street. The plaza around the corner is quiet, but not deserted. A handful of people are leaning against the train station, waiting for the train to arrive so they can travel to work. We begin to jog around the plaza. As we round the first corner a wave of glorious scent hits us--- fresh bread and facturas from the panaderia across the plaza. I can almost taste the bread-- it´s like eating and jogging at the same time. On the other corner a shopkeeper is sweeping leaves and bits of paper off his sidewalk into the gutter. The black dog that lives nearby trots up to us and begins to run along side us, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, taking breaks to chase the occasional car that slides by. All too soon we hear the
bells of the little Catholic chapel sounding the hour and we ascend the stairs back to the pension. My face is dripping sweat because of the humidity, but I don´t mind because I´ve somehow landed the first turn showering. As I wash I can hear over the sound of the shower the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack (allowed because it´s instrumental) that Hna. Daniels has turned on, which makes me think of home. I put
on my favorite skirt, throw my hair into a messy bun, and follow my nose, which leads me into the kitchen where Hna. Duarte is making the Paraguayan version of churros for breakfast. They look like little doughnuts. Is she going to share? Yes! I take my share of the "churritos" and a plastic mug of ultra-pasteurized Argentine milk to my desk. I kneel to pray again, this time to bless my breakfast and start my hour of study. Another day of the mission has begun.

Note: Characters and events are not intended to represent real people
or occurrences. Copyright 2011 by Hna. Clark. Haha, not.

So far I´m loving Las Heras. It´s small enough that I´m already
learning my way around. The sleepy tree-lined streets remind me of
Moscow, which may have something to do with the fact that I already
feel at home here. I had to master Luján-- the streets, the buses,
the taxis, how to order sandwiches in a kiosco-- to feel comfortable,
but Las Heras has welcomed me (metaphorically) with open arms.
The branch here is small, but great. There´s another super family, the
Familia Miguez, that (like the Peraltas in Luján) lives all together
in the same block and takes on half the callings in the branch.
Presidente Miguez and his brother, Maxi, are very funny.
We inherited two awesome investigators from Hna.s Claros and Daniels, Ludmila and Aldana (10 and 8) who can´t wait to get baptized, but we´ve visited
every day this week and still haven´t found their mom to get her
permission. What else? We had four investigators in sacrament
meeting-- Ludmila and Aldana and two other girls their age, Rocio and
Brisa. We found R and B this week and they already love church.
We´re teaching Rocio and Brisa´s mother too, but she slept in and
didn´t come. We`re going to focus on her more this week to see if we
can help her progress and come to church with the girls next week.
I love being companions with Hna. Duarte. She is funny and always
positive and easygoing. We laugh together a lot. In a lot of ways
she reminds me of Katie W.-- they both have curly hair and similar
facial expressions. And when Hna. Duarte practices English, her
accent reminds me of how Katie sometimes pronounces her vowels with a
Spanish accent when she´s goofing around. (cheeps instead of chips) :)
Hna. Duarte has been a member for about 9 years. Her mother was
super Catholic, but Hna. Duarte always hated going to church and
wouldn´t pray to the saints. Then one day she and her brother met the
missionaries and click! She knew almost right away she wanted to get
baptized. Her brother got baptized right then, but it took Hna.
Duarte about two years to convince her mother before she finally got
permission and was able to be baptized. Her parents still didn´t want
to anything to do with the church, but about two years ago they
suddenly changed their minds and got baptized. According to Hna.
Duarte, Paraguay sounds like a missionary paradise-- parents don´t let
their 11 year old daughters go dancing in clubs (but that´s another
story), people are lining up to be baptized (Hna. Duarte´s ward got so
big they had to split, which still left them with 60 girls in Young
Women´s), and mango trees grow everywhere (ok, so that has nothing to
do with missionary work, but it sounds delicious). Still, I feel
perfectly content to be serving here in Argentina. That´s how I´ve
been feeling in Las Heras-- very content and happy to just be here
with Hna. Duarte and be a missionary doing what I´m doing, working as
hard as I can to help people get baptized.

What else? Our roommates are Hna. Daniels and Hna. Scanlon. Hna.
Daniels has just this transfer left before she goes home. She has an
amazing, almost latina accent, and is helping us get in the swing of
things here because she´s already spent one transfer in Las Heras.
Hna. Scanlon is fresh from the states. She was in the same ward as
Rachel at BYU, so she knows her, which is cool. She´s very nice and
seems to be dealing well with the stress of learning castellano and
all the mission stuff at the same time.

Well, I´ve got to go, but I love you all and miss you! Mom, the only
thing I can think of for you to send me in my Valentine´s package is
spearmint gum (I can´t chew it in the street of course, but every once
in a while I like to use it while I´m studying to help me focus). If
you can somehow fit in peanutbutter (I saw some once that came in
snack size plastic cups), Hna. Duarte would be thrilled because she
loves peanut butter and it´s hard to find here, but if not don´t worry
about it. I will be perfectly happy with whatever you send. Oh, can
you send me the chocolate chip cookie recipe we use, a good brownie
recipe, and the tortilla recipe? You can just email those of course.
Ok, now I really do have to go. I hope you all have a great week!
Cheer on Dan in the pinewood derby for me.
Love,
Ellis