Dear family and friends,
Here I am finally, in Puerto Rico. I got my call in July, and now, finally, I have set foot on the island itself. It is really different here! First of all, they are not afraid of color! There are crazy colors everywhere; pink, violet, orange, yellow, lime green (these are colors of houses I'm listing off here...). I am happy to report that my house is a light pink. How lovely. On the expressway the barriers were painted purple and teal. Seriously. It has a distinct island feel in that way, in that there is color exploding everywhere.
My companion in from El Salvador and doesn't know how to drive, so I have to do all the driving and seriously - you thought Utah drivers were bad? Puertoricanos have no idea; no clue how to drive. It is a nightmare. Mom, when you come to pick me up, you will put my name on the car and I will drive us everywhere, because I will not allow you to drive here; ah! It's crazy. People just stop in the middle of the road, people cross the street right in front of cars, people park in the middle of road, lanes are more of just a guideline than an actual rule, etc etc. You can tell that the government knows no one knows how to drive, because there are speed bumps EVERYWHERE. Instead to speed bumps, they're called "muertos" though; deaths, or something. They can be pretty bad sometimes, but, it keeps you on your toes, which is important in the kind of traffic here. So, it is an adventure everyday, to say the least!
My companion and I are "white-washing" the area, meaning we are both brand new to the area. This is kind of hard becuase neither of us knows where anything is, nor do we know anyone, and it is really hard to go and visit peopl because addresses here are really wierd; an address consists of the "Urbanization" which is kind of like a neighborhood, only much bigger, and then you address it to the street number, block number, and house number. It is really difficult to find where anybody lives because the addresses don't work the same here. Oh yeah, and there are no street signs. ANYWHERE! You just have to know where everything is and ask people who are walking around. Everyone is very kind, they're always ready to help (even though half the time they don't really know, and they're just making stuff up), but this is a good way we get in our 20 "unplanned" contacts a day; asking directions.
On Thanksgiving, the Elders in our ward planned dinner appointments, meaning we had two and ate a ton. Whew. It was a lot of food! The funny thing is that at both appointments we had turkey...with rice and beans. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Haha. We ate at the bishop's house and also at a recent convert's house; Luz is her name. She is nice, and now we (the sisters) are teaching her, because the Elder's are working in the other area.
My companion (like I said) is from El Salvador. She is pretty cool. She arrived to Puerto Rico last year on Christmas Eve, so she has been here almost a year. She speaks no English, which is very frustrating at times, because I have to think before talkng (which maybe is a blessing for me...). But, it also means that while I'm driving with the crazy Puertoricanos I can say whatever I please in English and she has no idea. Haha. She says all her American companions have done that. She taught me how to make tortillas yesterday, and it was pretty fun. You only need corn flour, water, and heat. It was kind of impressive. She is going to teach me how to make rice and beans and all that good stuff. I'm excited. She is a good missionary, and I can learn a lot from her. So, she is really short, and I am kind of tall and we look pretty funny together; she comes up to my shoulder. But, even though I'm tall, people still think I'm like, 17. Luz asked me the other day why Hna. L. is a 20 something and I'm just a "joven"; teenager. Sigh. I guess I'm doomed to look like a child forever.
My mission president and his wife are really cool. We (the new missionaries) stayed at their house on Tuesday night and until noon on Wednesday, and it was fun. Sister M., the president's wife is really nice, and knows almost no Spanish, but tries really hard. President M. served a mission in Guatelmala and knows how to speak really well. They are going to be done with their mission in July of next year, so I'll be able to work with two mission president's while I'm here.
So, something we do everyday is "tocar puertas," or knock doors. The funny thing is though, that we don't knock at all! We just stand at the end of the driveway (houses are pretty close to the sidewalk) and yell "Buenas Tardes!" or, if it is after 6 "Buenas Noches!" and wait for someone to pop their head out. It is really pretty strange, but I guess I'm used to it now. It is kind of ineffective, because it is a lot easier for people to glance out the window and see who it is before answering, so if they see it's the "mormones" they don't answer always. Also, the entire neighborhood can hear us coming down the street because we're yelling, and every house, I mean EVERY house on the street has a dog, so we kind of set off a chain reaction so that every dog on the street is barking as we walk down. It is a pleasent experience. Haha.
We have had some cool experiences tocando puertas though, we met a man yesterday, Manuel, who is pretty cool. He is from New York (ps. I tell everyone here I'm from New York because, EVERYONE is from New York or knows someone there. It is a good way to relate to the people), and he has a strong testimony of the bible. He listened to our message, because he knows that us running into him was not coincidence; he got out of the car just as we were walking past, and at first he didn't want anything to do with the Book of Mormon, but after we testified and shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon, he was willing to read it and find out more about the church. Unfortunately, he was visiting his mother and lives in another area, but we are giving his information to the sisters in that area so they can follow up. It is fun to find someone who is actually interested, because you get rejected so many times. Sometimes people even yell at you (!), but not a lot. Most people here are actually very nice and kindly say they aren't interested or something. It is sad that I can't save the world as I wanted to, but I can help a soul here or there. :)
Thank you so much for everything; I've been getting letters, and I really appreciate it. Keep sending them to the mission office, because I don't even know if we have a mailbox.
I love you all and hope everything at home is going well.
With love,
Hermana Miller
Here I am finally, in Puerto Rico. I got my call in July, and now, finally, I have set foot on the island itself. It is really different here! First of all, they are not afraid of color! There are crazy colors everywhere; pink, violet, orange, yellow, lime green (these are colors of houses I'm listing off here...). I am happy to report that my house is a light pink. How lovely. On the expressway the barriers were painted purple and teal. Seriously. It has a distinct island feel in that way, in that there is color exploding everywhere.
My companion in from El Salvador and doesn't know how to drive, so I have to do all the driving and seriously - you thought Utah drivers were bad? Puertoricanos have no idea; no clue how to drive. It is a nightmare. Mom, when you come to pick me up, you will put my name on the car and I will drive us everywhere, because I will not allow you to drive here; ah! It's crazy. People just stop in the middle of the road, people cross the street right in front of cars, people park in the middle of road, lanes are more of just a guideline than an actual rule, etc etc. You can tell that the government knows no one knows how to drive, because there are speed bumps EVERYWHERE. Instead to speed bumps, they're called "muertos" though; deaths, or something. They can be pretty bad sometimes, but, it keeps you on your toes, which is important in the kind of traffic here. So, it is an adventure everyday, to say the least!
My companion and I are "white-washing" the area, meaning we are both brand new to the area. This is kind of hard becuase neither of us knows where anything is, nor do we know anyone, and it is really hard to go and visit peopl because addresses here are really wierd; an address consists of the "Urbanization" which is kind of like a neighborhood, only much bigger, and then you address it to the street number, block number, and house number. It is really difficult to find where anybody lives because the addresses don't work the same here. Oh yeah, and there are no street signs. ANYWHERE! You just have to know where everything is and ask people who are walking around. Everyone is very kind, they're always ready to help (even though half the time they don't really know, and they're just making stuff up), but this is a good way we get in our 20 "unplanned" contacts a day; asking directions.
On Thanksgiving, the Elders in our ward planned dinner appointments, meaning we had two and ate a ton. Whew. It was a lot of food! The funny thing is that at both appointments we had turkey...with rice and beans. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Haha. We ate at the bishop's house and also at a recent convert's house; Luz is her name. She is nice, and now we (the sisters) are teaching her, because the Elder's are working in the other area.
My companion (like I said) is from El Salvador. She is pretty cool. She arrived to Puerto Rico last year on Christmas Eve, so she has been here almost a year. She speaks no English, which is very frustrating at times, because I have to think before talkng (which maybe is a blessing for me...). But, it also means that while I'm driving with the crazy Puertoricanos I can say whatever I please in English and she has no idea. Haha. She says all her American companions have done that. She taught me how to make tortillas yesterday, and it was pretty fun. You only need corn flour, water, and heat. It was kind of impressive. She is going to teach me how to make rice and beans and all that good stuff. I'm excited. She is a good missionary, and I can learn a lot from her. So, she is really short, and I am kind of tall and we look pretty funny together; she comes up to my shoulder. But, even though I'm tall, people still think I'm like, 17. Luz asked me the other day why Hna. L. is a 20 something and I'm just a "joven"; teenager. Sigh. I guess I'm doomed to look like a child forever.
My mission president and his wife are really cool. We (the new missionaries) stayed at their house on Tuesday night and until noon on Wednesday, and it was fun. Sister M., the president's wife is really nice, and knows almost no Spanish, but tries really hard. President M. served a mission in Guatelmala and knows how to speak really well. They are going to be done with their mission in July of next year, so I'll be able to work with two mission president's while I'm here.
So, something we do everyday is "tocar puertas," or knock doors. The funny thing is though, that we don't knock at all! We just stand at the end of the driveway (houses are pretty close to the sidewalk) and yell "Buenas Tardes!" or, if it is after 6 "Buenas Noches!" and wait for someone to pop their head out. It is really pretty strange, but I guess I'm used to it now. It is kind of ineffective, because it is a lot easier for people to glance out the window and see who it is before answering, so if they see it's the "mormones" they don't answer always. Also, the entire neighborhood can hear us coming down the street because we're yelling, and every house, I mean EVERY house on the street has a dog, so we kind of set off a chain reaction so that every dog on the street is barking as we walk down. It is a pleasent experience. Haha.
We have had some cool experiences tocando puertas though, we met a man yesterday, Manuel, who is pretty cool. He is from New York (ps. I tell everyone here I'm from New York because, EVERYONE is from New York or knows someone there. It is a good way to relate to the people), and he has a strong testimony of the bible. He listened to our message, because he knows that us running into him was not coincidence; he got out of the car just as we were walking past, and at first he didn't want anything to do with the Book of Mormon, but after we testified and shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon, he was willing to read it and find out more about the church. Unfortunately, he was visiting his mother and lives in another area, but we are giving his information to the sisters in that area so they can follow up. It is fun to find someone who is actually interested, because you get rejected so many times. Sometimes people even yell at you (!), but not a lot. Most people here are actually very nice and kindly say they aren't interested or something. It is sad that I can't save the world as I wanted to, but I can help a soul here or there. :)
Thank you so much for everything; I've been getting letters, and I really appreciate it. Keep sending them to the mission office, because I don't even know if we have a mailbox.
I love you all and hope everything at home is going well.
With love,
Hermana Miller
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