It's Been 5 Months!

Well hey fams,

Good to hear from ya! And good to hear you had a fantastic Easter! It sounded amazing! Easter here was...well, I’ll tell you more about it in the questions but this week went relatively well. It was a hard first few days with the new switch. It was really difficult but through prayer and patience and deciding that I'm just going to love and get along with my new comp it’s gotten easier. It was a hard week cause I had to show him around the area and I didn’t know the area really well so he was kinda mad about that.

 I guess we’ll just get it straight who my comp is.  He is from Alpine and as been here about the same time as Rasmussen, except he has not had a gringo comp in a year. He is, in looks, a combo of Michael Cera and uncle Mark. He is, at times, funny and nice but most of the time he is 1000% business and no fun and no smiles. He is a super hard worker and is very punctual and obedient but he is very bland.  Hopefully, I can slowly try to loosen him up. I’m all down for working hard but this guy just gets stressed, overworked, and too serious about things. I’m trying with all my might to just try to offer him service and be nice. It usually works all the time but sometimes, with having a comp like him, it makes me kinda sad. I think its possible to work hard and yet be happy and have fun. But I guess if that’s his version of happy then so be it....ugggh.

We had a good week once we got the ball rolling. We are finding and teaching a lot of people and something I noticed, when I work then I’m happy and not homesick and don’t feel bad (which has been on and off this week). This has been a hard week for me emotionally but it is slowly getting better through working and such. On some cool notes, I had fake wine! Which tastes pretty much horrible. The only thing I can describe it as tasting is like if someone poured a lot of perfume into a small glass of water so, nice! We taught a lesson this week and in the background I heard the theme song to Special Agent Oso. I had to giggle cause I knew that Molly wouldn’t stand of for any of that special-ed bear nonsense.

We are teaching this kid named Esteban who is a 16 year old punk hoodrat/ghetto kid (or as they call them here "changos" or "wachiturros") and his friends know about us cause he knows all the changos and every time we see them from a distance they will yell "Allphin!" (pronounced El Fin) and wave and say “what up”. I feel like Morgan Freeman in Lean on Me when he becomes friends with the ghetto kids. Maybe I can become the principal and turn their high school around then develop a soothing narrator’s voice. Well, I’ll just concentrate on one dream for now.

I went to Centro today and bought a musical shaker but not just any musical shaker, a musical shaker made out of llama toenails!....yeah, let that sink in. I read how Muse once used them to record a song so I just had to buy them—only 10 pesos! What a steal, ehh? ....ehh?.... guys?....But yeah, other than an awkward "getting to know your new socially awkward comp week" its been pretty good. I just pray that this kid will loosen up and realize that the President Hinckley quote (about taking the work seriously but not taking yourself too seriously thing) is true. Well, through patience and prayer and trying to love him then, hopefully, things will start to change. Well, that’s about it for the week. On to questions.

• Do they celebrate Easter there and, if so, how?

Nope, we only go one "happy Easter" and that was it. I presumed it would have been a big thing but nope, nothing. Bummer, but oh well. I read about Jesu´s resurrection in the Bible and that was a good enough Easter for me to know that yes, "He lives". I know that my Redeemer lives and I am so thankful for Him.

The Catholics are suuuuuper into Good Friday here. We saw about 2 or 3 different replications of masses of people singing with a guy dressed up as Jesus carrying a cross throughout the streets. Then, without hurting the person dressed up as Jesus, the crowd crucified him by tying ropes around his wrists and....yeah that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.

• Are you getting enough to eat?

Yes, between bananas, alfahores, frosted flakes, Tang, and eating at member’s houses, I’m eating fine and dandy!

• What do you like best about your new comp?

Ummm, well, he is hard working and is very punctual and stuff like that. And he has some good stories. I’ll talk to him about unicycling in a while and see if he’ll lighten up more with that as well.

• Any baptisms this week?

Nope, dang, nope. But we are hoping for a tidal wave of baptisms in the next little while here, so keep praying for them if you would, please?

• Anything you’d like us to send your way?

Prayers, Letters, and maybe some chicken ramen and gushers in future packages (:

Well family, I have to skip out this week on writing to Anna and Lauren cause we had a crazy morning because we had to print out the letters and then come back later and write (long story) but thank you for your letters you two. You are my most loved punky sisters, I love you! Well, I best end this letter so I can do some shopping and then go on divisions where I’ll be teaching a FHE lesson *gulp* Naaah, I’m not too nervous about it, we’ll watch a video ha-ha but do know that I am so very thankful for you guys, your letters, your prayers, your sacrifices, and your love. I can feel them everyday. Whenever I feel down I’ll pray and I can feel Heavenly Father strengthening me through, not only my prayers but always, your prayers as well. For that I am eternally grateful.

Well, have fun in St. George, go to In ‘N Out in my stead (and eat at least 2 double doubles, dad). Give grandma Ann and grandpa Mick a  big hug and kiss and “hello” from me (and an even bigger kiss for the cat).  Be glad that I’m not home while the dogs are around cause I have about a zero tolerance level for dogs these days.  Keep that spunky goofball Molly McGoo in line and, finally, keep on keeping on being the super, awesome, happy family you are. Please pray for me to keep learning this dang flibber-flabber language and that I’ll keep progressing on how to teach well. I can feel your guy’s prayers everyday and I’m so thankful for that. Thank you, thank you so much. Well, "Warning Sign" by Coldplay is playing right now on a computer next to me and it’s about to make me start crying in front of all these teens at the cyber so I’ll head out now. Thank you for everything. I love you all so much. Have a great week, I love you.  Remember, be Hinckley, its all good!

 Con Amor,

 Russ

Conference And Transfers

Hey guys!


So good to hear from you. Sounds like conference was a blast for you guys. And yes, I did see Lizzie! We watched it in the chapel and I was like "you guys! That’s my cousin!" it was so cool!! I’m glad conference was good for you guys as well. It was the first time I took notes in conference and I don’t know why I didn’t do that before, It helped me so much. 


I’ll talk a little more about conference in a bit but this week has been the craziest yet. We have been in and out of Centro helping Maxi and Noelle with their papers and it was just crazy. It took us a while but we finally got them to get a date this week for their marriage so that this week they can for sure be baptized. I was very happy about that. It was a seemingly normal week other than that on Friday we got the call that Elder Rasmussen is going to Tucumán and I’m staying here. I guess on Saturday conference really got to Elder **** and he said he has to go home to straighten some stuff out. Now my two best friends that were the chilliest, coolest, nicest guys ever, left this morning.  


I have a new comp. His name is Elder Seipert. He is from Alpine Utah and he has been here a year. He gives off a quiet, Michael Cera vibe and he seems nice.  Also, the new elder that replaced Elder **** is named Elder Borton (or something like that) and he is the same as well. They all seem nice and I learned from conference that I want to be more patient and kind and to love everyone so I’ll try my best ‘cause I want a happy pench. 


This switch is just hard for me. I feel a little isolated and sad my friends are gone. I’m nervous to really start doing more and everything. It’s hard to understand people all the time and I can’t speak as well as I'd like. I also don’t feel all that well as of now. I feel really nervous and sad. Please, this week pray that I can keep pushing forward and do my best. I’ve been praying a lot today.  It’s so hard sometimes. I know this is a little trial to overcome but I just feel so lousy right now. Sorry, I just have to vent big time right now. I really hope I can feel better so and everything will be normal again in no time. 


Other than that unexpected unwanted switch, I’m sure I’ll get something good out of it. I’ll just try to be as nice and hard working and patient as I can. In other words, I'll "let the boat do all the work". Sorry for this kinda sad email but I’ll go on to the questions now.

• Did you get to watch conference?

I did see conference, all of it and it was crystal clear. We watched it in a room with all my good buds like Elders West, Rasmussen, Jennings, Speakmen, Zulauf, Ackerman and a bunch of other good guys. It was really fun! I got a lot out of conference and, yes, we watched it all in English. I loved Elder Eyring´s talks, especially the talk he gave in the Saturday morning session. It gave me a lot of hope and encouragement

• Did you get your latest package?

The package with the scripture cases and stuff I did not get yet but president will come down here in a couple weeks for zone conference and he always brings packages so I hope he’ll bring it then.

• What are your living expenses like each month?

About 500 or 600 pesos a month so about $150 American.

• Have you been able to use the ATMs okay down there?

Yes, I did get some money out of the ATM. It wasn’t much money but the ATMs do accept visa here so we got going for us, which is nice.

• Any mosquito bites?

Yeah I’ve got bit a few times but they always stay out of our pench.

• What's your daily routine like?

We wake up and get dressed and eat and then do personal study for an hour and comp study for an hour then we go out and work. Then we eat lunch and work some more. We teach about 4 or 5 lessons a day and do all the fun mission stuff like that and then we go home at about 9:30 and plan, write in the journals, and then we go to bed. That’s pretty much a day in the life.

• Have you been staying well.

Until now yes. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal this week but man, today has just been so hard with my best friends leaving. Keep praying I’ll be better and I'll do the same. If you have any advice, please, do tell!

• How did things go with investigators this week?

It was a very nice week for teaching and working. We met our goals and everything so yes, this week was a good show! Especially for Maxi and Noelle. They’ll for sure get baptized this week.


Well family, sorry about the dramatic letter but I just felt a little crummy. I’ll do my best, chin up and be happy and do everything that’s asked of me this week. I’m really nervous and sad so please pray for me to have some peace and that it will be a good week. I miss you guys more than you can imagine. I love you guys more than you can imagine. But we will only be apart for a little while. 


Can you believe on the 5th it will have been 2 years since I saw Muse and on the 11th it will have been a year since I saw Arcade Fire. Ha-ha, funny I remember those but at the end of this transfer I will get to call you guys, isn’t that great? I’m so looking forward to that. 


Well family, I love you all so much. I pray every night for you guys and thank Heavenly Father for you guys. I’m glad everything is all good. Thanks for praying for me and being there for me always. I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week. I love you, it’s all good!


Con Amor,


Russ

Holy Holi!

Well hey, hey!

How goes it fam? Everything sounds good and normal, awesome! That’s cool you went to the “argie” restaurant and yes, everyone here says "ciao" I have only heard like 2 "adios” the whole time I’ve been here.

Wow, that’s so cool about Jeff! When does he go in? Give him a commemorative fist bump from yours truly.  And a most “Rip-diddle-dip-dip it’s your birthday” to Ethan and Austin.  In the words of Richard Dunn from Tim and Eric, they are my "shining boys".

 It’s so good to hear from you guys, I love your letters so much. It feels close even though we’re apart. Sounds like you guys had an awesome week. Mine was pretty fun as well. Sorry about the random p.s. note to check out the “Raz Trent” video. We have a ton of Raz Trents here so you might want to know what I deal with sometimes. 

This week got really cold just like that (I just snapped my fingers right there) it’s perfect, you can wear long sleeves and everything. We did divisions this week and I was in pench with only Latins for a day and my comp for the day was just trying—he was robotic and sullen the whole time we taught. The purpose of divisions is to learn something new and I did. I thought everyone taught the same way (you know, happy and lively, like a real person) but I guess not for some elders. Me and Elder Rasmussen have a good system. Razzy is such a good guy, he really knows the right way to teach. 

Other than that it has been a super chill week. Literally and figuratively. It was really bland but chill. We went to Centro this morning and helped Maxi with his wedding papers. They are sooooo stinkin' close to being baptized so keep them in your prayers that they’ll pull through.  After that we did some shopping and met up with a couple of really cool elders there and ate breakfast in a little cafe and told funny stories and looked at Rolling Stone magazines from 2001. Speaking of music, we ate at this guy’s house yesterday and he had a guitar and he knew Radiohead...gold! It was awesome. Well , other than that, that was pretty much my week. Sorry it was a short entry but just know it was a nice, peaceful feeling week and it was great. 

Well, I guess it’s on to questions now, let’s do it!

• Did you get another package and did the pills get there okay?

Yes I got the package with the pills! They were in tip top condition and I read I have another package here that’s 24 pesos so I'll make sure to get it. Thank you so much for the packages!

• Do you each have a cell phone or do you share one?

We share a cell a cell phone, it’s from like 1998 but it does the job

• Are you writing in your journal? 

Haven’t missed a day yet! (:

• We saw there were a bunch of new missionaries arriving in Salta this week that had been delayed by Visas.  Did that change anything in your pench?

• Nope! I saw that too (in an email) but no nothing changed in our pench. We did get a new hermana in the district but that’s about it.

Is there anything you need that we can send you?

• Gummy worms, American treats, I don’t need anything super special at the moment but I’ll be sure to tell you when I do.

When you eat with the members is it just you and your comp or do others eat there as well?

• Sometimes it’s just me and my comp and sometimes it’s all four of us. Mostly it’s all four of us

• Do you know when the next transfers will be?

 Sunday April 1st...Ironically, April fools day...crap! But yes, that’s when transfers are and all of us in the pench should be all safe for now but do please please pray that me and Elder Rasmussen will have at least one more transfer together. And just in case anything happens that day and if you don’t get an email from me on next Monday (we should be ok for one more transfer but you never know) just know I’m all good but we should be good for one more transfer together but you never know

• Tell us how things went with investigators this week.

 Good.  It was a slow kinda jumbled around week cause we had divisions and we went to El Carmen a couple times to do interviews for baptisms (which, by the way, we ate in El Carmen and they were playing the best of Steven Segal movies—jealous?) but all of our investigators are going pretty good

• Are you getting good at ironing?

 A little bit, yes! Ha-ha

Well, I'll be ending this letter now. Can you believe its general conference this week? Crazy! It felt like just last week we were watching it. Time flies here. I’m going to go shopping now. And we all hope elder ****doesn’t mooch off of us. Seriously, that kid has the same amount of money we do and he blows his money on things like candy canes, umbrellas, peg legs, Smarties, batman masks, potato clocks, etc.  At least that’s what we think he's spending his money on.  We made a huge list of what we think he buys but he always runs out of money tries to mooch so I’m going to go hide my frosted flakes on the top shelf (he’s 5 foot 4) and do my laundry. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all your advice, prayers, and fasts. I can really feel them working this week and always. Thanks for your faith and confidence in me. I love and miss you guys so much. Until next week, I love you, it’s all good!

Con Amor,

Russ

P.S. Wow, Molly looks so big now, how crazy! Ha-ha!

LUNCH MADNESS!

Well hey, hey guys!

Sooo good to hear from you! I hope all that partying was a blasty-blast! That’s so sick about the iPad! I’m just green with jealous envy about that, papa, ha-ha.  Glad to hear you guys had a great week. Mine was an up and down week.

Last week we had lunch at the same member’s house and ate polenta with a ton of hard boiled eggs in it and I guess I didn’t eat a couple bites of eggs. Now, most people here are really cool about how little or how much food you eat. I’ve been pretty good about eating everything (just to be on the good side) but on occasion you run into true-blooded "I’m smart your dumb, I’m big, your little, I’m right, your wrong" people and this guy and his wife are those people.  I guess the wife got incredibly mad that I didn’t eat, like, two more bites of egg (literally, there were only scraps of egg and polenta left and I tried my best to eat them).  When we went to lunch with them again the husband pulled me aside and furiously demanded that I apologize to his wife for not eating the little bits of egg last week. Then he made all of us (especially me) feel awful and told us we aren’t doing our jobs. The other elders just blew it off and said “whatever” (as they should because this family is only about put downs.  Everyone in our ward says "never listen to them".  It really got me down though, ‘cause he really wasn’t nice about it. Then, right as we left the house, I got a massive cold/headache and I couldn’t think or concentrate for the whole day. It was awful, I felt so bad. That night I prayed that I wouldn’t be mad at this guy (and I was suuuper mad at the time) and that he would stop putting us elders down. Well, the next day I had a feeling it was going to be a good day and my anger towards this guy was sufficiently calmed. Even though when we saw him again, he called me a “failure” and “annoying” I wasn’t mad at him. However, I did get an impression which was: "start going to different families for lunch". Now, we eat with this guy’s family every single Wednesday (and it’s never at all pleasant) but I just had the impression to start eating at other people’s houses. I told Elder Rasmussen this and he said he liked the idea but we were scared to talk to this guy about it. As we were talking about this we were about two doors down from the bishop’s house so decided we would talk to the bishop (not about the lunch incident or anything, just to say “hey”).  When we got there he said to us, "Elders, you guys should start eating at other people’s homes for lunch so you can get to know the ward more. So tell this family you can’t eat with them every Wednesday, you can only eat with them once a month”.  I was speechless. I about wanted to kiss the bishop I was so happy! We don’t have to worry about this guy anymore! And really, I believe my prayer was answered. If you just keep your cool, pray for love, and kill them with kindness (just like you guys said) then it will all be good. That’s my crazy story for the week. I’m all good now!

We got a super good investigator this week. Her name is Mariel and she is 21 and was investigating the church online. She is gold and is ready to be baptized, pretty much. We had a super good first lesson with her and the spirit was really strong there. It was truly a much needed blessing.

Our other investigators are slowly, slowly—ever so dang slowly—getting towards baptism. They just need an extra push and they will be baptized in no time. It’s just kinda frustrating sometimes.

I gave my talk on Sunday and it went...hopefully o.k! I got good comments on it (it was about charity).  It may have sounded like a dyslexic kid wrote the talk but I felt good about it. I felt very at peace once I got through the first little bit of my talk and the closing song after wards was “Love at Home” and now, thinking about it, I think Lorraine may have had a part in that sacrament meeting somehow. Well, that’s just about all that happened this week.....question time!

• Do you want us to update your facebook to show the picture of you and Elder R. walking through the field?

Sure that would be awesome! You guys can do whatever on the facebook (just tell dad to keep his mitts off my music section cause heavens knows he will erase everything and put only Phil Collins in their stead).

• Do you ever print out your email?

No, not always. The printer here is horrible, to say the least.

• Are you taking lots of pictures?

Yes, yes, yes. I’m taking pictures all the time, for sures!

• Any baptisms this week?

No baptisms this week for us. We went to a baptism on Saturday for a little girl in our ward but that’s about it

• Is it cooling down yet?

At night, yes but in the day I like to think it is but I don’t think it really is. It’s supposed to get cool here pretty soon, though.

• Have you used your raincoat yet?

I’ve used my raincoat a few times but mostly the rain catches us off guard but we don’t mind getting a little wet now and then. In the words of Ricky Bobby talking about Powerade in his prayer: "It cools you off on a nice, hot summer’s day."

• Anything cool happen with any of your investigators?

Mostly just with that new investigator. She is really looking for some peace and stability in her life and she says, with this gospel, she is starting to find it.

Well family, that’s about all from me. I’m glad to hear everything is tip-top for you guys. I love you all and miss you all so much.  Thank you for your prayers and your love and everything. I hope you all have a great week. I love you, it’s all good!

Con amor,

Russ

P.S. Could you guys pray for me to be more relaxed when I teach? I’m kind of getting nervous with talking and stuff lately so if you could do that for me it would be nice. 

Oh, and they have good enough toothpaste here so you don’t have to send any, actually. 

I love you so much!

Russ (about to be translated)

We Don't Need No Stinking Daylight-Savings Time

Ahoy-hoy familia,

How goes it? Sounds like everything is ship shape! Sorry about you guys having daylight savings time there. It’s too complicated to have here.  We are so behind in the times that Northern Argentina hasn’t reached the year 1999 yet.  We still have Star Wars Episode One cereal boxes...yum!

Well, I had a pretty good week! We are very close with 3 investigators getting baptized (Maxi and Noelle, Griselda and Esteban) so everybody keep praying they’ll be baptized soon cause we are sooooo dang close! I was at an investigator’s house and they asked me to pray in English so I proceeded to give the most awkward prayer ever because I have not prayed in English in 4 months. I totally forgot how to pray in English so it sounded as if Beavis and Butthead were giving the prayer so yes,  it was sufficiently awkward.

I ate a pizza this week that may be the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. It had this feta cheese stuff on it and was soaked in anchovy juice—tasty. I didn’t want to throw up at all! Oh, and on another “good eats” note, I had some blood sausage at a member’s house yesterday. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t good. It tasted like straight-up irony blood so I really can’t see why Andrew Zimmern is jumping out of his pants about how good it is.

On another note, we have a band by our house now. They played Paranoid by Black Sabbath so I stayed outside and head bobbed for awhile.  They are good for an Argentinean band so that’s saying something. In other music news: Grease (the movie) is massive here. You can’t go down a street without hearing "You're the one that I want" so you know how much I love that! Other than that, that was pretty much my week. Still walking around, teaching, and doing all that fun jazz. I have to give a talk this week in church so pray for me about that and that I’ll keep learning the language and everything. 

But other than that, let’s do some questions:

• Did you get rid of the “ghosts”?

Yes, with some vacuum cleaners and Whoopi Goldberg as the member present… or we just said a little prayer that the house would be peaceful.  With that, we got rid of the ghosts in Rodrigo’s house (and we celebrated with tea and tortillas, party)!

• Tell us a little about teaching an investigator.

When you teach an investigator it is really about teaching around their needs (which is cool ‘cause when you give them scriptures and things to give them strength is when they come to be converted and their hearts are really softened). That is the best way to teach.  We usually teach them the first 3 lessons and about the laws of chastity, tithing, and the word of wisdom and whatever else that would help them...it’s really fun, sometimes tiring, but fun! I hope I answered that question right.

• Are you sleeping o.k?

Yes,I’m sleeping superbly! Once my head hits the pillow I’m pretty much out.

• Have you had any allergies down there?

No, no allergies yet. We had lunch at a house were I had about 1/4 of a watermelon and I felt a little bit of my fruit allergy kicking in but then I was fine. I’m not having allergic problems with fruits, or the climate, or anything so I got that going for me—which is nice!

• Are folks generally nice to you down there (when you’re out clapping doors and such)?

Yeah, mostly. If they say “no” they will say: "Sorry, sorry, I’m busy, sorry" but we’ve never gotten like, really yelled at yet at a door. It’s funny, on the doors people will have stickers that say, "I am catholic" but usually those are the best doors to knock on ha-ha.  But other than that, most everyone is super humble that they would want to hear the message.

• Can you pretty much get what you want in the stores?

Yeah pretty much all the basics like sugar, flour, milk (which never expires) and cereal, treats, and stuff. But yeah, you can get anything.

• What do you like best about your comp?

The fact we are the same person. We have the same tastes in music, humor, and really, everything—he is such a cool guy and is way, way, way, nice and awesome.

• Do you study Spanish every day?

Yes, yes I do but still please pray for me to keep learning the language, the doctrine, teaching, and everything else!

• Have you ever had to speak in Sacrament Meeting?

Funny you should mention that but yes, this Sunday I’m giving a talk (pray for meeeee)! 

• What's your ward like?

This ward is like is pretty much like our ward only the hallways are twice as clogged with people.

•  Do you have a particular kind of candy you would like us to send?

I would looooove some gummy worms from Winco! Just a bunch of them would be splendid! And some more Cadbury eggs too but mostly just a lot of gummy treats would be awesome.

Well family, that is about all the time I have today! Its soooo good to hear from you. Thank you so much for all your prayers and everything.  A Happiest birthday to Papa, Wes, Anna, Chris, Carl, and Van.  I love you guys so much!  Keep praying for me, everything is good here! Until next week, I miss you and love you so much! It’s all good!

Con Amor,

Russ