Okay so to start off, the keyboard here is really whack, so It´s extremely difficult to capitalize things, so i´m just not going to, so pardon the grammar. the planes here were crazy. the one to atlanta was forever long, and it was only 4 hours, but i got to sit next to a pilot, so that was cool.
the plane to buenos aires was pretty fun though, i got to sit next to an elder in my ccm district, which was great, and we got to laugh about all the funny things that happened. also, we got a meal that wasn´t too bad. we got off the plane at buenos aires, and had ABSOLUTELY no idea where to go, and we kinda just sat there for a minute, and they needed our passports and stuff, but they were talking so fast i had no idea what they were saying, so finally we found someone that was able to speak a little english, and we all just passed through that gate, and that was a relief, however, we didn´t really know what to do after that. we had absolutely no plans or anything saying where to go, or who to talk to or anything, so we kinda sat there for a little while, and it was a little scary because we just didn´t know what to do.
anyways after a little while a man came and found us, and then we followed him around for a minute, and led us to a bus..... still not sure what to do he told us to just get on the bus.... so we got on the bus and it took us to another air port, about an hour away, we didn´t get to do anything with the temple or the other ccm or anything, which was unfortunate, but we passed by it on the bus.
so we get to this other airport, the man says seeya later, and then left..... so we again had no idea what to do, we´re all disgustingly hot and sweaty and the humidity hadn´t really hit, because we weren´t ever outside, so i still dind´t know what the heat was like.... so we sat.... and waited.... and sure enough, another little man came and grabbed us, took our bags somewhere, and went to this little cafeteria in the top of this airport where we met a lot of other missionaries who were from the ccm in argentina going to various argentine missions, and they didn´t speak any english except one who spoke a little broken english.
we sit down, the man buys us all pizza and some drinks, and after we ate and stuff, me and another elder were super thirsty, so we figured we could find a place to buy water.... little did we know most people don´t drink water, they drink pure soda, that´s clear and looks exactly like water, so we bought a few of those, i pop open the cap and start chugging thinking it´s water, and about throw up because it´s so nasty and terrible!
anyways we are sitting in this airport forever and i´m starting to try and talk to the other elders and there was a few hermanas going to resistencia with us and a few going to salta, and i started teaching them how to read, and they´d help me with spanish, and it was actually really fun talking with them. it was fun to talk with them about things of argentina and things about the US and stuff. anyways we find out we´re flying to resistencia, which was actually the nicest plane we took the whole trip. it had lots of drinks, and it was only about an hour, but it was a big plane.
we are flying over argentina and we are nearing resistencia, and it honestly looked like africa, but with a lot of green. it was really wierd. it was really pretty and we all were getting really excited. so we land, get off the plane into this pretty tiny airport, and we were having fun.so we see our mission president outside, and we walked out there, and the second i stepped outside, the wrath of satan´s fire slapped me in the face. it is the hottest, most disgusting humidity on the planet, and it was hard to breathe! it was so hot, and so humid that i thought i was going to die. i started sweating out of places i didn´t even know existed on my body, and the sun was just burning me, and it was absolutely crazy! i was actually legitimately nervous for my well being, and how i was going to live here for the next 2 years. i couldn´t help but think it should be illegal to live in a place like this.
but the country is absolutely beautiful. the birds are really colorful, the flowers are colorful, the trees, everything is really nice. so we take a little tour of resistencia for about a half hour on our way to the mission presidents home, and they´re so nice, and really amazing people. and their house is abosolutely amazing. it´s got this huge room for the missionaries to sleep in the first night, and maps of all the missions and some showers and all sorts of really nice stuff. and they gave us this pizza, which was the best pizza i´ve ever eaten. so pizza here is much more of a gourmet food, it´s not like the pizza there, where it´s like an easy quick meal to pick up, it´s a lot more of a luxury to have, and this pizza had a pretty thick crust, and tons of chicken, some with ham and cheese, some with beef, all sorts, so i´m getting excited to eat and it was great.
so we met them, and we slept there the first night, and in the morning we all went to the chapel there and we are all sitting down waiting to meet our new companions, and then all the trainers walk in, and we are all getting excited and things.there were a lot of native trainers. probably most, and then this huge kid walks in, he´s probably like 6 foot 3 or 6 foot 4, a little bit taller than me, and i was like, man if i´m his companion, the people are going to open their doors, get scared, and allow us to come in because they´re scared. and sure enough, he is my companion. his name is elder taylor from salt lake, and he went to skyline high school. so we ate some empanadas which were really good that the mission president made, and then the mission president tells us all where we´re going.
the first night i slept at their house, he explained all the places of the mission, and all the different areas, their success, their climates, the food, people, and us gave an overview, and it was really excting. so after he explained all the places, we all were wanting to go to the state of misiones, because it sounded the coolest, but the president said only 1 person was training there, and that it´d be a new area. misiones is like the jungle part of north argentina and we all wanted to go there, because that´s where the water falls are, and we all want to see those. so we are sitting there and he starts telling the companionships where we´re all going, and we´re all just dying to hear, well elder rogers went to formosa, which is the farthest west section, and i got called to misiones! this place we all wanted to go! i was the one going there to train, and to open this new area in the jungle part! i was exstatic and everyone was jealous of us haha.
so we say all our goodbyes to our old companions and it was kinda rough saying goodbye to rogers, but i was so excited that it wasn´t too bad. and we take this taxi to the bus stop, and my companion starts teaching the taxi driver the first lesson... and i´m sitting there blown out of my mind, and i couldn´t beleive he was just talking to this smelly, wierd, random guy, and i couldn´t really understand what he was saying, because they all speak so fast that my mind can´t comprehend it. i´m able to understand it a lot better now after a few days that my ears can be trained to it, and i figured out, they don´t really say their ´s´ so if they say como esta... it sounds like comota. and they blend their words a lot, and it´s really weird, but it´s really cool, and they actually speak EXACTLY like italians. it´s actually really cool. they say a lot of italian words, and they pronounce things italian, and they have italian accents when they talk.
anyways he starts teaching this guy, and i coudln´t believe it. so we get to the bus station, and we begin our 6 hour bus ride to our area, which is called Miguel Lanús in Misiones. and it starts to rain. it started to rain super super hard, and it was crazy, the whole sky would light up orange because of the lightening, it was really cool. anyways we get to our area, and our pension is super tiny. like 2 rooms and i can touch both walls with my arm lenght, one for sleeping, there is like 2 feet inbetween our beds, and the other room is for our study areas, so it was a little nerve racking to see that, but it´s a lot of fun, and i actually really like it now. it´s got air conditioning that works decently, and the shower works pretty well. we´ve got running water, and a fridge that works well, and it´s home for the next 11 weeks.
we are openign this area that´s been closed for like a year, so we just started to find the bishop, and then we found all the ward leaders and things. the ward has about 70 members per week, so it´s actually not bad, and we have been going around to their houses to meet them and find referrals and things. so lunch here is HUGE. it´s the only meal, so they eat like crazy people, and we are at the bishops house eating, and his little boy that´s maybe like 3 falls down their well where they put all their trash, so there is like rusty barrels and things down there, well this little boy slips and falls, it´s probably 10 feet down, and i coudln´t beleifve it, i thought for sure he was dead... we walk over there, and he´s crying but only has a few scrapes, his dad goes over there brushes him off, sets him down, and lets him play with all the bugs... it was crazy!!! hahaha oh and yeah there are a lot of bugs. lots of really big spiders and things. it´s a really great area, it´s really jungly and lots of trees and stuff, and every day for lunch we eat with a member, and we don´t eat dinner or breakfast really, i mean there are snacks but not really. the first few days my stomach was trying to adjust so i got a little sick, but i´m great now.
i had my first empanada, and they´re super good. however you eat like 10 per setting because what they do here is eat a HUGE lunch, and then they have the siesta, where everyone takes a nap and everything shuts down for a few hours, and we go have our study times during that part. but i really love it here. the kids are really funny and i can understand them a lot better, but the second i mis pronounce something i have met my death ahaha. they laugh and laugh and they think it´s so funny that i can´t say something, but it´s really fun, and i´m doing great, and i´m excited to start the work. i´ve already seen miracles happen right before my eyes, it´s amazing. i have a lot more stories to tell more specifically about the people and some of the awesome experiences we´ve had, and i´ll mail you a letter that you´ll probably get in like 3 weeks, or maybe i´ll just explain them in the next email, i´m not sure. whatever is easiest.
we only have an hour to email and aren´t supposed to email really anyone but family, so next email i´ll explain more. it´s fun learning all the lingo and stuff, and i forgot my notes of all the things i wanted to say, so THE NEXT EMAIL I SENT WILL HAVE A LOT MORE FUN STUFF TO READ AND HEAR ABOUT ALL THE EXPERIENCES, but say hi to everyone for me. i´m doing great and i´m really excited. i love you all, and i´m really excited to start the work! love you all, say your prayers, have fun.
i´m pretty sure this is the mission address
entre rios 435
resistencia, chaco, argentina 3500
casa de correo 1
mision argentina resistenciaoh
also, i can only receive 2 packages a year, and they go through them so don´t send anything crazy or embarrasing. but like a pouch or padded envelope doesn´t count as mail, so those are fine. i´ll send more details next week. sorry i ran out of time and don´t have my notes for everything to send so next week will have much more, just tell everyone who wants to write me to write it and just not send it yet. love you all
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