> Thanks for all the e-mails. I´m glad to know that Isaac´s farewell was a success and that the family was able to crowd into our house. I kind of liked having a crowded house... it´s always intertaining when there are 27 or more people all in one house.
> Spanish is coming along (slowly it seems), but it´s coming. last Saturday was my favorite day of proselyting so far. I understood a lot of what the people said and I was able to bear my testimony to them better then I have in past weeks. Me and my companion were able to teach the Joseph Smith story about 7 times while we were out and it was incredible. We also taught other brief lessons, but teaching people about the resteration is my favorite thing to do.
> The neighborhood that we were assigned to was in a very wealthy neighborhood, but we had to walk through an extremely poor neighborhood to get there. That was a real eye opener for me. I´ve tracted in poor areas before (or areas that I thought were poor), but nothing like the one we had to walk through to get to our area. In the area we were in the people weren´t really interested in listening to us (I spoke through a lot of intercoms and had a lot of people turn us down that way). fortunatly some of the really large homes had lot´s of servants that were really nice and we got a few contacts that way.
> Walking around the streets of Beunos Aires with a little map with only a few street names is definitely quite the experience. (especially when my companion is no good with maps and leaves me to do the navigating... which is also not so good because I am not very good with maps either. It´s fun. but, I´ve only gotten lost a few times in this country. )
> There is one experience that I had tracting Saturday that is pretty incredible, so I´ll be sure to include it in my next letter home. (my time is running short on e-mailing... I hate the time limits here. geesh)
>
> Isaac- good luck on your last week at home. I can hardly believe you will be leaving soon. I´m on my last 3 weeks at the MTC and now your starting. Goooood luck. Be prepared to sit in class forever and feel like your head is going to explode with information.
> Remember our spanish class together? Well, I´m pretty sure I learned more in my 1st 3 days here then I ever did in class. grammer is still a killer for me, but I understand most of it. I just can´t apply most of it in my speaking which is a problem. I spend hours reading my Book of Mormon in spanish each week and that has been a huge help. I recommend it. I also spend a lot of time reading my grammer book ...the Book of Mormon is much more effective though.
>
> I love you all MUCHO!
> -hna. Grindstaff
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
April 23rd letter
Familia,
> Thank you for the letter. I was so happy to receive it (last night). I get so excited over the little things now, it´s a litte ridiculous. One of the elders in my district finally decided to share some of the peanut butter, that he got in one of his packages, with us this (the other members in our district) and I was so, so happy. (who would have thought that something like peanut butter would make me so excited).
> The english fast that we had last Friday was a failure. Some of the elders in our district forgot about it and eventually lost all interest in fasting from english that day. The teachers were a little dissapionted (and we were a little dissapionted too... kind of). BUT, me and my companion decided to have an english fast yesterday without the elders, and it was a success. I feel so much better when I try to speak spanish even though it is agonizing not to be able to communicate much during the fast. I think I understand why babies cry so much now. They have so much they want to say, but they can´t form the words to do it.
> On Monday, Elder Aidukaitis (who spoke in conference a while back) came and spoke to us... in spanish. I could understand almost everything he said (much to my surprise) and it was wonderful. We had a translater, but after the first few minutes he (the translater) realized we didn´t need him and stopped talking. Elder Aidukaitis gave us N. Americans some advice about learning a language that I thought was very applicable to me in my situation. he told us (in spanish) that we we need to make at least 5,000 mistakes while talking beforewe will speak the language well. Since almost every single sentence I try to speak is grammatically incorrect in about 5 different ways, I believe I am well on my way to achieving that 5,000.
> On Saturday we went tracting all day again. It is always nice to get to leave the MTC and it always makes for some good experiences. I´ll be sure to write about a few of them in my next letter.
>
> hmm, there is one fruit that they have here that I´ve never seen before. I don´t remember what it´s called, but it´s not all that wonderful... so it´s not a big deal.
> The weather here is pretty good right now. It´s definitely fall. The leaves are falling off the trees and everything.
>
> I love you all, Thanks for the letters and the prayers.
>
> hna, Grindstaff
> Thank you for the letter. I was so happy to receive it (last night). I get so excited over the little things now, it´s a litte ridiculous. One of the elders in my district finally decided to share some of the peanut butter, that he got in one of his packages, with us this (the other members in our district) and I was so, so happy. (who would have thought that something like peanut butter would make me so excited).
> The english fast that we had last Friday was a failure. Some of the elders in our district forgot about it and eventually lost all interest in fasting from english that day. The teachers were a little dissapionted (and we were a little dissapionted too... kind of). BUT, me and my companion decided to have an english fast yesterday without the elders, and it was a success. I feel so much better when I try to speak spanish even though it is agonizing not to be able to communicate much during the fast. I think I understand why babies cry so much now. They have so much they want to say, but they can´t form the words to do it.
> On Monday, Elder Aidukaitis (who spoke in conference a while back) came and spoke to us... in spanish. I could understand almost everything he said (much to my surprise) and it was wonderful. We had a translater, but after the first few minutes he (the translater) realized we didn´t need him and stopped talking. Elder Aidukaitis gave us N. Americans some advice about learning a language that I thought was very applicable to me in my situation. he told us (in spanish) that we we need to make at least 5,000 mistakes while talking beforewe will speak the language well. Since almost every single sentence I try to speak is grammatically incorrect in about 5 different ways, I believe I am well on my way to achieving that 5,000.
> On Saturday we went tracting all day again. It is always nice to get to leave the MTC and it always makes for some good experiences. I´ll be sure to write about a few of them in my next letter.
>
> hmm, there is one fruit that they have here that I´ve never seen before. I don´t remember what it´s called, but it´s not all that wonderful... so it´s not a big deal.
> The weather here is pretty good right now. It´s definitely fall. The leaves are falling off the trees and everything.
>
> I love you all, Thanks for the letters and the prayers.
>
> hna, Grindstaff
Thursday, April 16, 2009
April 16 letter
Hola everyone,
>
> Since everyone´s been asking... the english fast was hard (and I have another one tomorrow). They want us to speak as much of the language as we can, and I understand why, but geesh... a whole day of no english!?!
>
> Last Saturday I went proselyting in Buenos Aires for 7 hours. It was a very different experience, and a real eye opener. We (me and my comp.) were not as succesful as we would like to have been (obviously), but we did have one miracle while tracting. We had been ringing doorbells at the end of all the gates (people here all have gates and fences that you are not supposed to cross) and were not having much success, when we saw two young men on the corner (by their little wooden box that they work in. In nicer neighborhoods the corners all have watch boxes where gaurds watch the streets for theives and stuff). Since it was during siesta time, the gaurds were pretty bored and were really interested in what we were teaching. So, me and my companion taught them the 1st lesson and I even got to recite one of the scriptures that I memorized last week. (the 1st vision). It was not a perfect lesson, but the spirit was there. it was a great experience.
> most people here are really nice, so while we were out tracting we got to talk to a few people, but unfortunatly our conversations are not able to go very far because even when we do understand what they are saying, we don´t know how to respond. ugh.
> I had one breakdown this week (I cried in the middle of one of our spanish lessons that we weren´t allowed to use cards for)... so it´s been a good week. :) I feel like I´m learning really slowly sometimes, but the teachers tell me otherwise. I guess it´s normal not to learn the language overnight. ah, if only I could though.
>
> I look forward to receiving letters from you ALL. So far I´ve only received one letter from the family. I know you´ve sent one though and I´m excited to read it.
> I love mail!!!
>
> I love you all,
> hna Grindstaff
>
> Since everyone´s been asking... the english fast was hard (and I have another one tomorrow). They want us to speak as much of the language as we can, and I understand why, but geesh... a whole day of no english!?!
>
> Last Saturday I went proselyting in Buenos Aires for 7 hours. It was a very different experience, and a real eye opener. We (me and my comp.) were not as succesful as we would like to have been (obviously), but we did have one miracle while tracting. We had been ringing doorbells at the end of all the gates (people here all have gates and fences that you are not supposed to cross) and were not having much success, when we saw two young men on the corner (by their little wooden box that they work in. In nicer neighborhoods the corners all have watch boxes where gaurds watch the streets for theives and stuff). Since it was during siesta time, the gaurds were pretty bored and were really interested in what we were teaching. So, me and my companion taught them the 1st lesson and I even got to recite one of the scriptures that I memorized last week. (the 1st vision). It was not a perfect lesson, but the spirit was there. it was a great experience.
> most people here are really nice, so while we were out tracting we got to talk to a few people, but unfortunatly our conversations are not able to go very far because even when we do understand what they are saying, we don´t know how to respond. ugh.
> I had one breakdown this week (I cried in the middle of one of our spanish lessons that we weren´t allowed to use cards for)... so it´s been a good week. :) I feel like I´m learning really slowly sometimes, but the teachers tell me otherwise. I guess it´s normal not to learn the language overnight. ah, if only I could though.
>
> I look forward to receiving letters from you ALL. So far I´ve only received one letter from the family. I know you´ve sent one though and I´m excited to read it.
> I love mail!!!
>
> I love you all,
> hna Grindstaff
Thursday, April 9, 2009
April 9th letter
**Emily Disclaimer-I'm not editing Sandras letters, the wonderful spelling is all hers and all Grindstaff**
> Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 15:55:17 +0000
>
> Hola! Another difficult week at the CCM has past and I´m still trying to drink as much from the firehose(all the info they´re trying to stuff into my head) as I can without talling apart.
> Last Friday we got to go out proselying again. I don´t know if I mentioned it, but there are about a batrillion dogs here in Buenos Aires... and me and my companion had the priveledge of meating like 100 of them during out 2 hour proselyting time. Most of the dogs are nice, but then there are a few that are just plain mean. At one time we had a whole neighborhood of dogs barking at us (it was a little frightening :) Fortunatly for us, one of out teachers taught us that if you bend over like your picking up a rock, the dogs will run away. We were a bit skepitcal when he told us this, but to our great surprise we learned that it works! Oh, and I´ve also learned not to way "let´s just see what the dog does" while approaching (sp?) a house. Most likely the dog with the evil glare in his eye, sitting on the porch, will chargeat you and scare the living daylights out of you. ah, good experiences.
> Conference was really good. It was nice to have 2 full days of hearing a laguage that I understand (it was even better that the speaking came from prophets and leaders of the church)
> On Sunday we had a testimony meeting before conference started. The meeting was completely in spanish and I surprised myself and stood up and bore a simple, short testimony (despite my fears of speaking spanish). The presidents wife told me I´d be blessed for my efforts to speak the language. There have been times that I have felt like giving up (don´t worry though, I won´t give up even when I feel like it)
> Tomorrow is my first English fast and I am a little nervous....
>
> I love you all and I look forward to receiving all those letters. Don´t be slackers in writing your missionary OKAY!
>
> -hermana Grindstaff
> Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 15:55:17 +0000
>
> Hola! Another difficult week at the CCM has past and I´m still trying to drink as much from the firehose(all the info they´re trying to stuff into my head) as I can without talling apart.
> Last Friday we got to go out proselying again. I don´t know if I mentioned it, but there are about a batrillion dogs here in Buenos Aires... and me and my companion had the priveledge of meating like 100 of them during out 2 hour proselyting time. Most of the dogs are nice, but then there are a few that are just plain mean. At one time we had a whole neighborhood of dogs barking at us (it was a little frightening :) Fortunatly for us, one of out teachers taught us that if you bend over like your picking up a rock, the dogs will run away. We were a bit skepitcal when he told us this, but to our great surprise we learned that it works! Oh, and I´ve also learned not to way "let´s just see what the dog does" while approaching (sp?) a house. Most likely the dog with the evil glare in his eye, sitting on the porch, will chargeat you and scare the living daylights out of you. ah, good experiences.
> Conference was really good. It was nice to have 2 full days of hearing a laguage that I understand (it was even better that the speaking came from prophets and leaders of the church)
> On Sunday we had a testimony meeting before conference started. The meeting was completely in spanish and I surprised myself and stood up and bore a simple, short testimony (despite my fears of speaking spanish). The presidents wife told me I´d be blessed for my efforts to speak the language. There have been times that I have felt like giving up (don´t worry though, I won´t give up even when I feel like it)
> Tomorrow is my first English fast and I am a little nervous....
>
> I love you all and I look forward to receiving all those letters. Don´t be slackers in writing your missionary OKAY!
>
> -hermana Grindstaff
Friday, April 3, 2009
April 2nd letter
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 16:28:11 +0000
>
> Hola Everyone!
> It has been so nice to get your e-mails and hear how you are all doing. Unfortunatly I don´t have a lot of time to reply, sorry.
>
> Last Saturday me and my companion were sent out tracting for two hours. Even though we could only say a tiny bit in spanish, we were so excited. We were so excited because for 2 hours we were free from our MTC confinement. It was actually a very good (eye opening) experience for me. The people we tried to talk to in our broken spanish and give folleta´s (pamphlet´s) to were pretty nice. Some of them even took the time to show us folleta´s they had already received from previous missionaries before sending us away with a nice "buen dia!"
> Me and my companion did have some success though. One of the first doors we knocked on was a young mother (named Sandra) who listened to us and seemed interested in what we were trying to say. She accepted the Book of Mormon (that we were told to be careful about who we gave it out to) and even accepted our invitation to come to church. I don´t know if anything will come of our efforts to talk to her, but it made me happy anyway.
> There was one lady that we talked to, while we were out tracting, that tried really hard to hold a conversation with me and my companion. She wasn´t interested in our message, but spent about 5 minutes talking to us... I have no idea what she said, but she was very nice and seemed to be saying good things about us. (who knows?!)
>
> yesterday I embarressed myself trying to speak in spanish. I was in class and my teacher wasn´t letting us say anything in english.. anyway, I was trying to say something like "I don´t say", but instead I said " I don´t shower". I still don´t know why I got those words mixed up in my mind, but it was pretty embarressing. My companion got a kick out of it though.
> I´ve often heard the phrase that you should think before you speak. That is especially true when your trying to speak a foreign language. I have to think really hard to say something that makes since and even harder to conjegate the words correctly (which I rarely do, hence the reason one of my roommates said I sound like Tarzan when I talk).
> I´ve decided that going stateside on a mission isn´t such a bad idea. :)
>
> Isaac, you are pretty lucky that you don´t have all those conjegations, but there are plenty of other things in the Swedish language that you will have to struggle through. ha ha ha (me laughing at you)
>
> Aaron, I haven´t heard much from you yet. You better be writing me lot´s of letters.
>
> Anita, sounds like your having trouble speeping on my nice big bed. :)
> Are you still enjoying band?
>
> Mom, thank you again for that e-mail. I wanted to hear from you so bad...
>
> dad, the branch sounds like it is keeping you guys really busy. don´t forget to tell me all about what´s going on.
>
> I love you all, I have to go now (Thur. is temple day)
>
> -hermana Grindstaff
>
> Hola Everyone!
> It has been so nice to get your e-mails and hear how you are all doing. Unfortunatly I don´t have a lot of time to reply, sorry.
>
> Last Saturday me and my companion were sent out tracting for two hours. Even though we could only say a tiny bit in spanish, we were so excited. We were so excited because for 2 hours we were free from our MTC confinement. It was actually a very good (eye opening) experience for me. The people we tried to talk to in our broken spanish and give folleta´s (pamphlet´s) to were pretty nice. Some of them even took the time to show us folleta´s they had already received from previous missionaries before sending us away with a nice "buen dia!"
> Me and my companion did have some success though. One of the first doors we knocked on was a young mother (named Sandra) who listened to us and seemed interested in what we were trying to say. She accepted the Book of Mormon (that we were told to be careful about who we gave it out to) and even accepted our invitation to come to church. I don´t know if anything will come of our efforts to talk to her, but it made me happy anyway.
> There was one lady that we talked to, while we were out tracting, that tried really hard to hold a conversation with me and my companion. She wasn´t interested in our message, but spent about 5 minutes talking to us... I have no idea what she said, but she was very nice and seemed to be saying good things about us. (who knows?!)
>
> yesterday I embarressed myself trying to speak in spanish. I was in class and my teacher wasn´t letting us say anything in english.. anyway, I was trying to say something like "I don´t say", but instead I said " I don´t shower". I still don´t know why I got those words mixed up in my mind, but it was pretty embarressing. My companion got a kick out of it though.
> I´ve often heard the phrase that you should think before you speak. That is especially true when your trying to speak a foreign language. I have to think really hard to say something that makes since and even harder to conjegate the words correctly (which I rarely do, hence the reason one of my roommates said I sound like Tarzan when I talk).
> I´ve decided that going stateside on a mission isn´t such a bad idea. :)
>
> Isaac, you are pretty lucky that you don´t have all those conjegations, but there are plenty of other things in the Swedish language that you will have to struggle through. ha ha ha (me laughing at you)
>
> Aaron, I haven´t heard much from you yet. You better be writing me lot´s of letters.
>
> Anita, sounds like your having trouble speeping on my nice big bed. :)
> Are you still enjoying band?
>
> Mom, thank you again for that e-mail. I wanted to hear from you so bad...
>
> dad, the branch sounds like it is keeping you guys really busy. don´t forget to tell me all about what´s going on.
>
> I love you all, I have to go now (Thur. is temple day)
>
> -hermana Grindstaff
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