Dear Fam!
WOW! This week has been rough! The first thing that is crazy is that it has been above 52 Celsius over here a few days! It’s about equivalent to 125 degrees Fahrenheit! Ridiculous right?! SO hot. The first was Tuesday and that morning we went and worked all day out in the sun attacking prickly mean bushes on the property of an investigator. I mean MEAN! One and two inch long spikes and we did it with machetes and dull shovels. The whole zone pitched in and we well all beat up at the end. I also got a killer sunburn! Sorry mom! Don’t worry I bought some really good protection!
But wait! It gets better... or worse. When we got back to our apartment we did not have water! In fact we did not have water this week until Saturday! What happened is- every house here has a tank up top. Water pumps under the street to fill up the tanks but not always. That’s why they have tanks so there is always water to use. BUT our tank is really tall, taller than the others on the street. SO when it is particularly hot? No agua.
Because of this, this week has been a mess! We have been heading back and forth from our area to another to use the water of other missionaries to bathe and wash clothing and everything. That means less sleep less studies and less exercise and less food! One night over there with four missionaries in a little apartment we were so hot we put the mattresses out back and slept under the stars. Great except for the bugs. We got so sick of wasting our time in colectivos (public transportation) that we just bathed in buckets that we carried from a different location.
Saturday a couple people came to fix the water! yay! We were so excited when we got home and saw the setup! There is now a tank below in a little patio area with a pump that we can plug in to pump water up into the other tank when there is no pressure. We hurried and plugged it in! That’s when we lost electricity.... WE called a member to help us fix the lights because it’s all different here. Turns out to work the pump we have to turn off the lights and unplug the fridge first. Then we can turn back on the lights while it’s pumping.
Well all was hunky dory and we pumped up the water and everything. We were happy as can be washing moldy dishes and scrubbing the floor with our golden water when my companion saw a problem. The patio area had flooded! We went to check it out and realized that they had used old tubes to connect everything and the pump pumped into the BOTTOM of the tank above. That means that when you turn off the pump it all floods back down the pipes without anything to stop it! Genius right? The other tank below works like a tank of a toilet with a little floater. It had refilled so that when the other water flooded back down it was just a mess...... blah!
Now we have it rigged so that we can use the hot water but not the cold. Its cooler and the tank is filling normally these last couple days but the piping is all messed up now... gah! 125 degrees and no water!
I am realizing more and more every day how blessed we are as a family! Just to have water! Electricity! My comp said this area is hot and no water and his last was freezing with no electricity. Not having to worry about where your crap goes after you flush! not having to worry about buying something in the store that will make you sick. Not having to worry about the water you use sitting in a tank and rotting. Not having the streets full of trash. How wonderful to have the privilege to wash dishes!
I have been thinking about home more lately. Not in a bad way... at least I hope. Just remembering things that I really love about all of you. It was wonderful to all get together in the evenings and cook a good meal. I love cooking! but here there is not much time. I remember BBQs and rushing to pick up gas with Alex for a big roast one night. I miss our pizza! Pizza here is weird lol It almost always has green olives with seeds on it. I loved just sitting around and talking with mom and Alex in the basement and laying on our carpet. Carpet does not exist here. You’re lucky if your house has all concrete and no dirt. I love wrestling with Xavy and making up crazy names for all of our awesome moves, or driving in the car with Shannon and laughing until we almost should pull over and recompose ourselves. I love you all so much!
The work has been rough over here. On one hand due to our physical and mental state with the water, on the other we are running into some interesting troubles. People here don´t realize that religion is more that something nice to help you be a good person yet they fight for it so hard. We also ran into a less active family that does everything they should except go to church because there have been a lot of problems between the members here. There are a lot of cases like that. People who don´t come to church because they got offended. All the members who do come to just like to get right up in your face and tell you all about what you’re doing wrong too... I want to help how to strengthen the love between the people. It’s hard when every Sunday is a lecture about tithing or something, hard to feel the love. This next week we will be applying some new stuff.
Surviving over here in La Rioja!
All my love!
Elder Jacob Green
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