Answering mom's questions

hutchins is interesting. People know that the H makes a sound, but in spanish there is no "uh" sound (as in umbrella) most people can't say it right. And for some reason, usually they don't put the S sound at the end...I guess they think in english everything ends with a silent letter? so it's kinda sorta oochen, Hoochen, or hoochens.

We have a member across the street who is the branch president's wife. we pay her for doing our laundry and we eat lunch and dinner from her...wich we pay her for as well. she is like our mother/grandma. She's great. her name is hermana cucul. She does the food shoping and preparation. She cooks really well, but I am not a huge fan of meat. I really never have been. almost ALL of the meat I have is chicken, and it is ALWAYS on the bone. I'm not even sure what part of a chicken I usually eat. I know it's not breast though because there is always more bone and fat then there is actual meat. But she really does cook well, and she gives us a BUNCH of food, and we have to eat it all to be polite...therefore, I am not as thin as I used to be. We have breakfast, made by ourselves (usually cereal, oatmeal or aroz con leche (rice and milk and cinimon stuff) usually at 8 am or so. lunch at about 2 and cena ...I mean, dinner, at about 8:30. 

There are not very many "stores" here at all. but a TON of tiendas. We have a joke that for every tienda there is a dog, and for every dog there is a church. haha. I don't know of THAT many churches, but there are a lot. a lot of evangelicas. The tiendas are like a cement building or part of a house or something, i don't know. but they are on all of the streets. they have gates in front of them and you ask the person there for the stuff that you want, you pay them through the gate, and they give you the stuff through the gate. they have candies and convinence store kind of stuff. cereals, salsa, toilet paper, oreos, pens....a lot of stuff. 

Yes we have 3 beds for 3 missionaries. Sadly, there is not a siesta here. so sad. 

I am so grateful for my clothes. they are great. My companions admire your skirt making skills. they are jealous. Crocs are an essential. they need to put it on the missionary shopping list. I wish I had more. I just hope these ones don't wear out. 

We usually have people to teach. We don't usually make specific appointment plans with a lot of people, we (meaning my companions) just know the times that everyone has work and we just show up at their house and hope they are there. It works out though. I'm not sure what people do here all of the time. just chill out in the sun and cook I guess. 

I think the whitness adds to the effect of bug bites. I don't know how all of the natives don't have bites, but I always do. I make a pretty good effort to keep bug spray on me, but I always have some nasty bites. I think they are usually ant bites. Probably mosquito bites too. There is not a lot of cocroaches, but the 3 that I have seen are about a whopping 2 inches long and can fly. great. I know. I was joking with my companion saying, "what if we got all of the ants in the world and put them in one spot, how much space do you think they would take up?" she responded, "probably a country" I responded, " I think they already have done that, and we are living in that country". haha. but really though. Sometimes we see ants with leaves the size of a dime or so on their backs all walking in a line. very discovery channel-ish. 

Hermana Watts (the president of the mission wife) is SUPER warm. and very close and touchy and sparky. We all love her. at first it's like, WOAH, but in like 2 minutes you know she loves you to death and wants to help you. kinda like sister sewell I would have to say. 

President watts is more serious and more of ...this is work, do it. But that is good. He is really nice though. I can feel comfortable with him. He is a happy man, with a purpose, so that is good. 

The church building is one of the nicest buildings here. it is like our chapels, but not quite that nice. the sacrament room just has tan chairs like the class rooms in our building. the piano is eletric, and right now, no one plays it. I need more practice to feel confident to play for a congregation. we have a little more than 70 people in our sacrament meetings usually. There are a bunch of celing fans, which are glorious. I think there is ac, but they don't use it, I don't know. in the offices though, they use AC. it's awesome.