Mike and Charmaine Anderson
Monday, June 25, 2012
DELAY AND STUDYING SPANISH
We have a new leave date...September 3. Mike is dealing with some nerve problems in his right arm and the Dr. wants a little longer to monitor it. We are glad for a few reasons. This will get us home at the beginning of March instead of February. No Quiero regresar en el invierno. (I don't want to return in the winter) We study Spanish every day for several hours. We are trying to speak some Spanish to each other every day. We speak for a solid hour every morning when we walk. I am not good at it but Mike is so I have an awesome tutor. He is working longer and harder than I am. It makes me depressed, sometimes, because I feel so hopeless. But it will come together eventually, I have faith.
I am looking forward to another month of summer here. (I can spend hours here in my Secret Garden with my notebook and ipad, studying, with an occasional glance at this) All my kids except Leif will be here this week for a family reunion I am having. In August I will be able to have a birthday party for Michael. Then we will be content to fly off to Spain. Hopefully the visa will be ready by then, which is the last good reason to wait another month.
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Oh, my, what an amazing story of your mission call to the Canary Islands--after first getting a call to Scotland! You are examples of dedication and patience.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll be fine with the language. My wife, with minimal speaking skills (but fairly good comprehension skills) taught music lessons (without my help in translating) during our first mission (Peru), and regularly serves here as shift coordinator. She gets help from English-speaking workers, just as you'll be able to get help from English-speaking youth in the young single adult program.
BTW, there are two sisters here in Madrid who are just completing there mission, who worked with JAS (Jóvenes Adultos Solteros) centers in the Canary Islands and then were transfer to work with JAS here. They were hoping someone would come here to replace them, but I guess you are going there to replace them!
Re iPads: Both Beverly and I have iPads, and we love them. Our iPads have scriptures in Spanish and English, all the hymns in Spanish and English (words and music), a wonderful Spanish-English dictionary, the Church magazines in both languages, maps and tourist information of Madrid and Spain, conversion calculator (we're always converting between km-miles, kg-pounds, dollars-euros, etc.), and coordinated calendars. When we travel, we just take along our iPads and get emails in our hotels and in McDonald's. And Beverly's favorite use of her iPad is FaceTiming with our kids and grandkids.
BTW, I love your blog title!
Best wishes,
Elder Scott Zimmerman
Madrid Spain Temple