The bike Hermana Newman ended up borrowing was this super nice, tricked out Mongoose. Super nice. The bike I ended up borrowing was a three speed Huffy with back pedal brakes. Nice bike, but NOT for a missionary. I kept almost falling over whenever I tried to get off the bike because there was no way to stop it from just roooolling forward.
The first day of our biking adventure we biked about 10 miles. And our behinds were very sore. It turns out that it isn't very safe to bike to the church, which is about 3 miles from our house. At one point, the bike lane and sidewalks just end and you have no other option than to ride on the road or walk though the weeds. On the way there, we chose the weeds. Which resulted in some weed stickers hanging onto my skirt.
On the way back, we rode as fast as we could, which was pretty fast because it was all downhill. We almost got hit a couple of times but we made it home safely without any scratches.
The next day, I decided I would rather ride the 21-speed bike with handle bar brakes that some elder left on our deck. It was a little rusty (had to make sure the chain was good) and there were little spiders all over it (eeeww), but it worked out just fine. Getting on and off was a little more tricky because of the high center bar, but it was a little bike so everything was good. Although, at one point I decided to hop off a curb and I found out exactly how low the bike was. I ripped a hole in my shoe (don't worry, mom, they were a cruddy $5 pair) and the Ped socklet I was wearing. And yet, somehow, not my toe.
Hermana Newman and I decided that we were going to do a better job at saving our miles this next month.
Halloween was interesting. The mission didn't want us out driving around so all of the missionaries in my area met at the stake center and played volleyball and basketball for three hours straight. I think the reason they didn't want us out was because the point of Halloween is to roam the streets looking for candy and the mission didn't want any of us missionaries to be involved in an accident. Like us running over some little kid who darted across the street without looking first.
On Saturday and Sunday we went on exchanges. I stayed in my area and Hermana Newman went to go and play with the YSA [Young Single Adult] branch. It was a very stressful two days because the sister who came to my area doesn't speak Spanish. So basically I planned everything for two days and dragged her around to places and then taught everything by myself. But I did learn some new things.
Here is a picture of the trees here in Maryland.
They are pretty pretty. :)
The three boys in the next picture are the sons of the Relief Society president. Jorom, Mosiah, and Reuben (but he goes by Mati). And the oldest son is serving a mission in Brazil. I'm not really sure what they were doing but we got a good picture of it anyway.
Hermana Newman broke the blinds this morning and we have to call the handy man AGAIN to have him come fix it for us. We are going to be really good friends before long. :) He's already come and repainted our apartment and replaced our washer. It's a nice washer.
We made some new friends when we went to get our car washed. I think he was really happy when he found out that we could kinda speak Spanish because it made explaining that our bike rack was a problem waaay easier for him. And his friend thinks it's awesome that we are going to go to Argentina. Maybe... :)
I don't care one way or another. I like it here.
Oh, and one of our investigators has this sign in her bathroom. Hermana Newman and I think it's great. You can look up what it says and then agree or disagree. But I still think it's great.
Con mucho amor, nos vemos la proxima semana,
[Much love, see you next week]
Hermana Crotzer
Editor's note: Missionaries only have a limited number of miles that they may drive each week. The limit keeps costs down and serves to encourage good planning while teaching them management and budgeting skills. If they exceed their mileage limits for a given period, the overage is treated as an immediate reduction when the next period's allotment is made, forcing their average to hold steady. It is not uncommon for missionaries to be looking for rides from church members in order to conserve mileage, and Catherine has already stated in previous posts that some members of her area live a little further out, requiring that the missionaries be particularly clever in the use of their car and other available transportation resources (such as utilizing rides from church members when possible, or taking the bus or riding bikes).
A local congregation is called a "ward" (or "branch" for a smaller congregation). A "stake" is made up of multiple wards/branches in an area. A "stake center" (or stake building) such as where Catherine went to play volleyball on Halloween is a church building that is larger than a normal chapel building. Stake centers are capable of accommodating a larger gathering of people. In addition, by opening accordion-style partitions a pretty big gym area can be made available.
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