Stuff I Know......

Everything is going perfect… I'm speaking Spanish without any doubts or anything.. It's not perfect, but I can understand everything and respond to everything….. I love it… I see these new kids that came in and wow…. It's like, "How did I never not know Spanish?"... but it's tough for them… It has been nice to get to know the new guys (newbie Elders in the mission)… The North Americans, I can feel for them.. I was in their spots….. I'm getting to know them really well and they are doing great… Their moms would be proud .. They aren’t afraid to talk to people, even though they have no idea what they're saying, or what the people are saying back, but it seems to me that they are better at Spanish than we were when we entered. I don’t know, it just seems like that..

¿Opinión qué?

"It's pretty tough to speak English right now. I am in the process of doing a sound (audio) tape, and I sound like an idiot, haha. I can't speak my own language, let alone spell things right. Man, I'm going to struggle after two years, but it's all well. The Spanish is there. I can understand pretty much everything, and I can say what I want to say, and not sound like a gringo, so that's good."

Ame la lengua

From the latest email:

I’m getting pretty good with Spanish. 5 1/2 months out, and I can say pretty much whatever I want. I can teach really good, and joke around with people too. It’s great. I can understand probably 90% of things said. All is well down here.

Laugh of the week

I'll usually start my letters to Landon, by saying "Hi Hon" - as in honey..... This time I thought I'd try it in Spanish, so I said, "Hola Anamorada" - guess I didn't get it quite right.....

"Mom, hahahahaha, you called me your boy friend, or something like that. Spanish is like that. One word has about 5 meanings, and if you don’t put the word in a sentence, it doesn’t specify which meaning, haha, but no worries."

"Funny story, so I’m learning how to speak “Quechua”. It’s what the Inka’s spoke. It’s really hard. Way, Way, hard, but sweet. So I’m learning, and ya, I said a bad word and I didn’t even know it. Well, not a bad word, but I asked, “How is your butt?”, but like in detail. The word “butt”, was a word (that was) a little more strong. Haha, it was funny. It wasn’t the first, and won’t be the last. I love it."

Interesting....

You know how we all say Peru? Puh roo'.
When Landon says Peru, he says Pay'roo, with the emphasis on the first syllable.
He's getting an accent! Hope we recognize him on Mother's Day (haha).

Did you know that Peruvians speak the most "pure" Spanish spoken? Whenever the LDS church needs Spanish translators, they ALWAYS get a Peruvian. Interesting, huh?

We received an audio tape from Landon. It was great to listen to Landon, from his first days in the MTC in Provo, to December 18th, the day he went into the field. He sounded SO excited that last day - you could just FEEL IT.

Speaking in church

I spoke last Sunday in church. All in Spanish, and I’m the only person in the room who knows English! I spoke for 5 minutes on Helaman 6:3 and the obra misional. It went good. I was really nervous, but I spoke alright, and it was fine.