July 1, 2013

I getta take driver's ed in french.

Ma chère famille!!

Wow. Soooo much to say, so little time. Good thing I keep a pretty good journal. I'll try and catch you all up when I get home, but until then, I'm just gonna see how much I can type in 20 mins.

Ok. haha. So, first of all, the subject line. This is not a joke. So I may have forgot to mention, but we've had about 3 car accidents here in New Cal in the last month ish. This is bad. And I dunno how we found out, (it may have been because of our not very awesome driving record this last month...) but apparently, the Americans and Canadians, and actually everyone that does not have a French license are not allowed to drive after they have been here for a year. This is bad news bears for a few people. Most prominently, the zone leaders, because both of them have been here for more than a year. Also, the two Elders of Tontouta. Because one of them was the driver of car crash number 3, and the other has been here for more than a year. Oh. And Tontouta is currently the sector that covers half of the island. Tontouta jusqu'a is near/next to Kone... (Look it up. C'est grand.) And also the entire district of Magenta who rely on the zone leaders to take them everywhere. And also, all the Americans and Canadians now... Because the way that we have decided to fix this is that we all get to go to drivers ed... in FRENCH. C'est grave. It's serious/intense. Le code is the first part. It's the rules of the road and all that jazz. And apparently it's kinda intense... And then we got auto ecole car school/driver's ed. in a manuel car. Applying all the things that we learned. So yah. hah. that's the news! The zone leaders started yesterday, and Soeur Lamb and I are heading out the Soeurs since we're the oldest of the gang and our licenses expire in November. Chyeah. So yah. Prayers please!! I'm gonna need them. But, I know that Heavenly Father will help us pass this stuff quick too, so that we can be legal and all.

So yah. That's exciting news number one. haha. Soeur Tere's being a champ though and helping me out with vocab and all that. Every time we get in the car now, she quizzes me and stuff. It's hilar. Oh. Also, apparently there are some exceptions to this rule. We were playing chauffer for a few elders today since no one can drive at the moment, and Elder Shumate, who's from Texas apparently doesn't have to do french driver's ed because he's from Texas... And apparently Texas has a deal with France where they can just change their driver's license in for a French one... Anyone wanna riddle me that? Is there like a Texas-France exchange that I missed in my hours of History class? Megs? Leave it to Texas...

Also, this week we got to do exchanges with Sixieme. Soeur Raney came to Paita with me and Soeur Tere went to Sixieme with Soeur Lamb. It was great! I learned lots. Comme d'hab. As usual. Seriously though. These soeurs that are coming from the MTC are amazing!! Soeur Raney taught me how to ouvre ma bouche open my mouth, more than normal even, and also to talk to everyone. It was good. She is a good missionary. Also, she's a singer, so we sang lots during our 24 hours together. It was great. Also, I almost killed her with the dinner that we went to that night. Soeur Kailiponi and I had a motto that we coined when we were in Paita together, with Soeur Blucker, "I can't even keep a goldfish!" Because she'd always get sick with us for some readon... And I was reminded how true that is this week, with Soeur Raney, who can't eat gluten, and ate half a baguette this week cause I forgot to take it away from her when the family offered it to her. hah. Mais bon. Elle est toujours en vie, donc ceb.  Oh well...she is still alive, so ____ (don't know what "ceb" is short for.  From context, I'm gonna guess she means, "so that's good."  She's abbreviating words I don't know...so sorry...I dunno...)

Mince.(literally means thin, but colloquially here it means "darn", "shucks", "oh no", you get the picture...)  I have three minutes. We also had lots of miracles this week!! Firstly, The Work of Salvation. I know mom and Keala, and Elder Santos watched it, but everyone else who hasn't gotten a chance, hop on the computer ASAP and watch it. It is incredible! And it is TRUE. I loved it. I was completely inspired and uplifted and I am ready to work with the members more than ever before. Guys, this work belongs to YOU. Vraiment. Truly. We are simply the instrument, the teachers of truth. But you are the finders. The finders of our Heavenly Father's children who are ready!! And it's incredible. It is a work of SALVATION!! I am soooo honored and happy and forever blessed to be a part of this work that is rolling forward and that cannot and will not be stopped, despite the evils of the world!! I am sooooo happy and blessed.

I love you all! Pray for and actively look for missionary opportunities and have the faith to ACT. You are in my prayers. I pray that you can be effective missionaries in this work of salvation!! I love you SO MUCH!! Until next week!!

L'evangile est vraie!!

Love, Soeur Santos