Man, oh, man it’s good to hear from you guys! I got about 5 Dear Elder letters in the bolsa (the mail bag) at district meeting and it sounds like everything is (in the words of George H.W. Bush) "fine and dandy like sour candy!"
Sorry you got sick as well Mom. It really is no fun but I’ll pray for you to get better for sure! I am finally better and have learned my lesson to not tangle with Argentine pizza for awhile.
This week was great. We are doing a lot of teaching and I’m learning a lot more. We are expecting a baptism this week for this lady named Griselda. She is suuuuper nice! She is this sweet abuela who is really nice and is so patient with me and my broken Spanish. She is for sure getting baptized and I’m gonna get to baptize her so, cooooool beans! But yeah it’s been a good week: A lot of good lessons and I got to jam on the charango again and I learned to play some Arcade Fire songs on it ha-ha.
The churches here are quite the story, they are pretty much always available for birthday parties/soccer matches/Bar-Mitzvahs...you know, the works! We went to the church one
weekday and found a kid’s birthday party was going on along with an intense futbol match (which almost ended in a fight)...it was awesome! Things have been pretty good. It’s hard to believe its 3 months in the mission this week and already a month in Argentina! The time sure does fly here.
I went to Centro today in Jujuy (Centro is kinda like the Salt Lake City of Jujuy) and bought a new pillow and a nice Argentine man purse. Apparently Jujuy is like the only place in the mission to get really good souvenirs so we will have to have a p-day
when Elder Rasmussen and I go souvenir shopping and what not.
I saw Elder Zulauf and his trainer today in Centro and that was way cool. We talked and ate lunch with him and his comp and it was really fun. That’s just about all the adventures I had worth mentioning this week. Oh, and yeah, that’s really cool to hear about Tom’s call. That Tom Andersen, he’s a good boy! Other than that I believe its question answering time.
Brian, Carly, and that Molly sent me a Dear Elder (thank you!) and asked me some questions:
First off, the weather—it’s hot, hot, HOT and, on occasion, humid but Jujuy is actually like, the most tranquil place weather wise in the whole mission so I guess I should be thankful in a way, ha-ha.
I’m not sure how many missionaries are here but I heard it’s a lot. Maybe 250+.
It’s a pretty gringo-heavy mission. Probably about 65% of kids are from the States and the rest are From Latin American countries. I gotta say, the Chilean kids are the coolest here cause they loooove all things American. The locals can be a bit prideful and stubborn at times cause Argentina is like the Texas of South America.
I have had rice a few times but so far beans have never been featured (thank goodness) at the table. Eggs, on the other hand...*picture me shivering in disgust*
We use Argentine pesos here and it is so crazy. Like, every week for groceries we spend about 100 pesos and I thought that was soooo crazy expensive but it turns out it’s about $25 American money and, yeah, they have debit cards down here. They’ve got Chase ATMs just like everywhere else in the world ha-ha
Yes, my pench is all English speaking. We speak it a ton but in lessons and church and almost everywhere else we speak Spanish.
Now onto Mom’s questions:
What recipes am I looking for? I’m thinking stuff like pancakes and other things that are simple. The stores here are just like Allen’s so I can get flour and sugar and pretty much anything I need.
Do people have many pets? Almost everyone has dogs as pets and some people just let randomly-wandering dogs into their houses....it’s...great?
We have a nice little Utah-looking church here with classrooms, a chapel, cultural hall, a stage—just about everything 'cept for drinking fountains :(
The houses here are pretty much all cinder block and have about 5 or 6 rooms. Some are really nice but some are just horrid because they have a hot tin roof (and yes, sometimes there’s a cat on it). Carpet is unheard of here....I miss it so.
How long am I with my trainer? It’s about a month and a half (that’s usually the time frame) but we could be together for another transfer. I hope so, cause Elder Rasmussen is like, my best bud. We have rollicking good fun! We can talk about anything cause we are just like the same person and he is way way way way nice. We are, for sure, hanging out after the mish.
Our schedule is pretty much the same ‘cept we have to do this program that is called "the first 12 weeks" where we just fill out stuff and it’s not too hard or anything. Just kinda the basic need-to-know teaching stuff.
Well, well family. I love you guys so much. I had a few questions for you guys but I have to go right now cause we have an appointment and the questions aren’t that critical so I’ll save them for next week. But I love and miss you guys like crazy but I’m glad to know you’re all well. Thanks for all your prayers this week for me; I can really feel them. I love you guys so much and I’m always so glad to hear from you. Well, until next week. I love you and it’s all good!
Con amor,
Russ
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