Hermana Carmen Dunford: September 2009

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Juan de Garay, Rafaela: Lots of Dogs and Perfume and Bikes!

Yay! it finally arrived! Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - first letter from Argentina

Hello Family!
I´m not sure how much time I have but not much. I do have an hour to write the family but i had so many to read today!! phew! haha ok thanks so much for your letters though! I really appreciate it.
Ok Mom only send packages to the mission home and ONLY through USPS. ONLY. ok good and yeah that sounds like the right book! ok and for my scripture Alma 36:24 im pretty sure. I can only read it in spanish right now but i think it is the right one.
and ok, send everything to me, pckgs, snail mail to the mission home addres..
ok i think thats it!
ok argentina is wonderful. The people are so nice! Mary you would love it, THERE ARE DOGS EVERYWHERE!! haha running around all the streets. and everyone owns one too. seriously you can´t believe it until you see it. everyone wears lots of perfume, but so far it all smells good! bread is delicious here. we buy facturas (donuts kind of) they are so delicious esp when they are filled with dulce de leche. ok and there are lots of bikes and motorcycles, its cool! i like it here a lot.
ok except for the fact that i don´t understand very much. it is tough to understand anyone!
luckily i have an amazing!! trainer. Her name is Hermana Burns and she is from texas and she is beautiful and smart and a hard worker! I am so glad to have her as my first companion in the field. We live in a small apt called a pension. and we shower out of a bucket! haha im used to it already though.
we try and talk to everyone on the street, and we constantly have teaching appointments. it is really cool! I was scared about loving people but its super easy. I can´t explain it. I pray all the time. It is really tough to teach and speak and understand and explain in a totally new language! in the mtc we could just say ok whatever let me just tell you in english. but here, you cant! a lot of people we teach though say my spanish is good and they understand well! but i cant understand them! Chruch on sunday only 12 people were there, it was definitely a different experience. oh my city is Rafaela and my area is Juan de Garay.

It is apparently very clean for Rgentina, and peaceful. it is very cold here some days. I have a good coat though! but yeah i keep thinking its about winter but its nearing the end of winter here!
The other day we were sharing a spiritual thought with some non members that are the kids of members, Erika and her kids. ANyway, ok this is really embarassing, but I was trying to teach the 1st vision, and I couldn´t say what i wanted to really and the kids were laughing, anyway i started crying cuz i felt silly! But I calmed down quickly and had faith that i could do it and i continued teaching and I know that was the Spirit giving me strength to continue on.
I know that this is the true church. I know that baptism with the power of God and enduring to the end is the ONLY way that people can return to live with God! I know i can live with my family forever and I am so grateful because I love you all more than anything! I know that this is the Lord´s work and that He is doing it and I and all other missionaries are just here helping it along. I know that if I work my hardest everyday I can help a lot!
I love you so much and miss you. But I love this opportunity and I love helpìng people find the truth in their lives!
Love forever. Hermana Dunford
Good job Curtis with your work [he was telling some friends about the plan of salvation in the locker room after football practice and one of them later asked him if he could go to church with him, so Curtis picked him up and took him on Sunday], and the rest of you too! And mary good luck with your job [she got a second job at Red Robin]!
PS We went to the hospital today for my companions fingers, they are broken. we were there for five hours. very different experience. four and half were just waiting

ok bye i loveyou better letter next week i promise! there is no time to do anything
here! loveyou!!!

Carmen arrives in Argentina!

It is now 2:20 pm on Wednesday, September 9 - Oooh! 09/09/09!!! And we totally expected to have an email from Carmen by now (it is 6:20pm) in Rosario, Argentina. So, Bummer - we still do not know her direct address or any information other than what was sent us from Hermana Villalba, the Mission President's wife as seen below. So - here you have it!!

Dear Brother and Sister ….,

President Villalba & I are very happy to have received your son in the great Argentina Rosario Mission. We thank you for your wonderful support in the marvelous work of the Lord. Hna Dunford arrived safe and sound. She was very happy to finally get here and we’re thrilled to have her.

We thank you for your following the rules regarding the use of email established by the First Presidency in that missionaries are only allowed to receive and write to their families.

I have attached a photo of your daughter, President Villalba & myself. Another photo with her group.

Once again, thank you for your love and help,

Sincerely,

Hermana Villalba

P.D. Preparation day are normally on Wednesdays.

Carmen's Phone Call from LAX

Carmen left the MTC on Monday August 31, 2009. She flew from SLC to LA in the morning with a layover long enough to call us from LAX airport. She called Tom's 800 # at work and then he conferenced me in. In the meantime I texted Mary and she came home from work and got on the line as well. We talked for over an hour, and it was good to hear her voice, hear her Spanish and just touch base with her before she heads out of the country! She flew from LA to Lima, then on to Buenos Aires, then had a bus ride to Rosario - she said she was supposed to arrive at the mission home at about 7:30 the next morning. So she was traveling for over 24 hours straight.

She said that she had a really bad "episode" of feeling sick and woozy on Friday that had the doctors quite worried - they seriously considered delaying her departure. She had got up that morning and went into the bathroom and got really sick feeling and light headed and even started to feel that her sight and hearing were going. One of her roommates was a registered nurse and saw that here face and lips were white and came to her assistance. Carmen went to the doctor again and she tested ok, but they were very worried. The one who had examined her came to the conclusion that her electrolite balance was off - that she wasn't getting enough salt (she had also been drinking a lot of water). So she was OK'd to go -and now knows a bit more about what to watch for and how to care for her health.

A few other things that she told us:

she got a haircut- shoulder length
she sure loves her family
her nickname in her district was "Doogs" a variation of a mispronunciation of her name that was used for her dark side (the 'blunt' Carmen)
she wondered if getting such a great companion in the MTC was going to be like a "mean trick", knowing that she could not get another one so good!
They all got blessings the night before they left- I think she said Elder Hardy gave her hers (he is the one she is related to) and in it he told her "everyone who knows you loves you"
she really loves her family
she heard that she was going to have to spray all her clothes for spiders in Argentina (freak-out)
sometimes she still gets stress headaches
she loves her family soooo much
she is very thankful for all the letters and for everyone who wrote to her and sent her stuff
She met David Archuletta in the airport!! and got her picture taken with him!!!

We were so thankful to get to talk to her, and Sister Godfrey even got on the phone for a minute to tell us how wonderful Carmen is. Not that we didn't know already - but that was a nice touch. Hello to you all from Carmen! We certainly look forward to hearing from her in Argentina.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

More photos from the MTC

Carmen sent these photos before she left the MTC. The captions are the contents of the last written word I got from here, which accompanied the photos. So glad everything/one is so awesome and the best ever!! Love it.

The night before Elders Jacobs and Carpenter left (about the halfway point of my MTC stay). We miss them, they were awesome.