Sister Chloe Walker Buenos Aires West Mission: Oh, how I love camping!

Hi all,

So I'm not exactly camping, but I was transferred to "el campo" (the countryside). That is why I didn't email yesterday. After transfer meeting we took a bus to the bus terminal and waited for two hours. Then, we had a 5 hour ride to our area. We got to our area at 11 at night. Crazy. We seriously got so many new missionaries that almost everyone was transferred. It makes me feel better not to be the new kid, but since it is my first full transfer technically, I am a refuerzo, too. Nothing like being a trainee your whole mission to bring humility. My companion has been out for 5 months. She is great. I will send a picture with her after we have had some sleep.

My area is called 9 de Julio. I think that is the name of the town I am in. In Argentina, they like to name parks, streets, cities after important dates in history. 9 de Julio is Independence Day in Argentina. So, that would be like living in a town in the U.S. called 4th of July, kinda cool; I wouldn't mind living in a town with that name. There is a small branch here. My companion said that about 12 people come to church on Sunday. My companion is Hermana Sanchez from Chile. Again she doesn´t speak much English at all. And I still am not speaking much Spanish, so it is interesting. Especially because I cannot understand a word that she says with her accent. It is not fast, because she talks slowly for me, but even words I know, I don´t understand when she says them. Yesterday while we were talking, she asked what something was that I was trying to work on. I told her that I have been trying my whole mission to be better at taking correction because I am super sensitive and take criticism very personally, which restricts my growth. She just smiled back and said that is why we are together because I have the same problem.

So all I really know of my area so far is my pench, which is super beautiful. I love it. I am excited to see what missionary life will be here. I have a feeling I better like it because I think I will be here for a while. My companion has been her for a long time! We are on bikes. hahahahahahaha. So ya picture that!

Just like at the beginning of every big change, I feel super sick to my stomach, but I am a lot better than my first day in Argentina and know things will end up okay. Funny story. Yesterday when we were at transfers, Sisters Nielsen, Bangerter and I walked into the building to go to the bathroom, and the newbies were there. This super, super cute sister came up and gave me a big hug and said it is so great to meet you! And I had absolutely no idea who she was. But it turns out she is from Henderson and went to Coronado, and her name is Hermana Foutz. But she was like, I know you don't know me, but I feel like we're friends because I have been following your blog! haha. It was great. We became great friends in like two minutes of talking. She is feeling about the same way I was about three weeks ago when I arrived (overwhelmed and scared), and although I couldn't make her feel better from my amazing recovery story (because it is still one day at a time) I was able to tell her that it does get better everyday and that it was just as hard for me in the beginning, too. Sometimes people just need their feelings validated, and I think being scared the first bit in Argentina is okay.

Hey, I am almost out of time because we only have an hour on email today, but more cool stuff! Thursday is an Hermanas Meeting! And we get to go, so that is 10 more hours in a bus! But I am super excited to see my girls again! This month I am just going to keep moving forward. I can´t believe that I will be 21 in about two weeks. And that this week, I will have had my mission call for a year! In December we get to go to the temple! Yay! Thanks for the love and the prayers.

Love you so much, have a great week!

xoxo,

Hermana Chloe