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