CONTRASTING THE WORD OF WISDOM

So, a few words first before we talk about the word of Wilson.

I am sure you all know that we lost a wonderful missionary a few days ago.  It was a very difficult experience for the mission and especially the mission president.  This is his last week of a very safe and successful mission.  However, all of us here believe what we teach and we have recovered and the work goes on.

We have gone out with the missionaries a few times before and we went again right in our neighborhood!  This was really hard for us at first until we were able to get "our self out of the situation" and concentrating on the salvation of the people we teach.  When the elders started speaking at the door we were overwhelmed with the spirit they radiated.  Their words were soft and gentle and right to the point.  Then, at the next house they made us go to the door.  Of course the little Spanish we knew went right out the window, but, we had a true spirit and stumbled through a a few statements.  As we went along we begin to "get the picture" and it became a very uplifting experience.  Just in our neighborhood we have four appointments set up.

So, the picture below is a building across the street from our church.  If you look closely the yellow part is a beer hall.  The place parties most of the night with lots of loud music.  The red part is a place that makes coffins.  We thought the contrast is interesting.   So they get drunk on one side, die of heart attacks and just roll over into a coffin a few feet away.

A NOTE ON SPIDERS AND SNAKES

We go to a friends house each week day to talk and Learn Spanish.   The son helps us with Spanish and his mother cleans our house.   None speak English.   So, this morning the mom was telling us something about our little yard (see picture).  She was making motions like she was raking and holding her fingers out like spider legs,  and at the same time repeating the word araña.  Which we have been told means spider.  Well, Kathy and I begin to panic.   We interpreted this to mean "if we didn't rake the yard we would get gigantic spiders"  gigantic because we have only been seeing small spiders, and, since it is the raining season, it makes sense that with all the growth that big spears would come.  We spent at least 30 min just racked with big spider fear.  Finally we drew some pictures and addressed the subject again.  Well, it turns out that here, araña means rake. So we all had a big laugh after figuring it out,  and as we left, they said no spiders only snakes!!

DIA DE PADRE Y BOM

We went back to the place where we bought Gary's machete, and, bought his Father's Day present:

Gary is very happy with his Father's Day gifts.  When we bought them, The two men that work there asked us if we liked the machete we bought a few weeks ago.  In reply, Kathy showed them the video of gary chopping the grass. At first they seemed shocked and horrified, then! they laughed a lot, then showed gary how to properly use the machete.  The way Gary was using it, would result in him cutting his leg off!

We went to a members home for lunch.  A very nice person, but humble circumstances like everyone else we visit.  The lunch was great, beans and rice mainly, and we arranged with her to have lunch with her each week, and, we would pay.  However, it took a lot of high level Spanish to get her to understand that we never wanted tongue or liver! (Or anything else inside)

Kathy and Gary gave presentations to missionaries in Spanish without help.  We hope they understood.   They smiled and laughed a lot?

We have mentioned before how we read out loud the Book of Mormon and had found that the messages we read helped us get through.  However, as we said before, many people told us before we came that reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish would really help us to learn the language.   At first, reading was very frustrating because we could not understand anything, but, now, it is the best leaning tool we have!  Not only do we get the message therein, but, it is really helping us with pronunciation and grammar.

So, we hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all very much.

ANIMAL MORNING

This morning was quit interesting:  we started out with Kathy yelling about a cockroach in her pans she was trying to remove, followed by a large spider on the wall, and, our continued thoughts as we look out the front window of the gigantic bats flying in front of our window last night, they are about as big as a magpie, then, running into our big lizard in the back yard while we were hanging our clothes, and finally, a big dead rat on the side walk as we walked by.  So, the air was filled with:  ahhhhhh, look out, is it dead, quick run, and, don't look.

EL LIBRO DE MORMON

we were told several times to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish out load then in English.  Doing this side by side reading, we were told is the best thing we can do to learn the language.   Some time ago we got set up with Book of Mormon audio, English text, and, Spanish text.  For one scripture at a time, We listen in spanish, read the Spanish out loud, read the scripture in english out load, then, we try to interpret the scripture.  We have been doing this for about a hour each day for several weeks.  We started at the beginning of the book.  Well, we are sure it has helped our Spanish, however, it has helped in other ways way more:

We have had some really tough "down days".  We assume that other missionaries have these kind of days.  For the times we are down, we seem to read the exact thing we need from our Book of Mormon reading to get through.  We are either uplifted, or, reproved, and lead to repentance. 

So, yes reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish has really helped, but, in many more was than we thought.

PRE-INCIDENT EDIFICATION

It may be that we have been "glued" together for two months or that we have Been married for a long time, 50 years this year.  But, whatever caused it Kathy has developed kind of a sixth sense. So, here is what happened:   Last night we were home studying Spanish and "out of the blue".  She began "edifying Gary" (the is a formal phrase for what happens when you pay dearly for crossing your wife), and, Gary had done nothing.  Gary said what did I do, and, she said it was what Gary was going to do in a few minutes!  He asked what am I going to do, and, she described the bad thing he  is going to say in the future!  Well, this is an amazing talent.  Just think what a parent could do:   Pre spank a kid before he will do something bad, allowing the punishment to be done at an earlier time when it is more convenient.  The mind just goes wild with possibilities.  So, Gary calls this extra sense Pre-Incident Edification, or PIE.  This is apposed to the normal Post-Incident Edification, or PIE.  It is convenient that they have the same name.

And, attached is a picture of a mountain and a lizard