O Brother Where Art Thou?

Family guys!

This is going to be a challenging letter because the keyboard I’m writing on literally has no keys on it (like I can’t see the letters on it at all).  So please excuse any crazy, weird errors. Family, yesterday was just about amazing! I’m so thankful I got to talk to you. Those 40 minutes felt like I was home. Really, no exaggeration on that. You all sounded so great and happy; I loved every single moment of it. I’m glad everything is going great and that the call went smoothly. I’m so grateful for that.

It was an action-packed night. Literally an hour after I talked to you we got transfer calls and yes, I did leave my beloved Aeorparque for a new area far, far away....well, it’s in the next zone. I’m still in Jujuy but this area is kinda by Centro.  It’s called "Chijra" spelled like that, no error, but it’s pronounced like “cheek-ruh”.  It’s a very nice little area and I'm with a very cool comp. His name is Elder Adams. He has been out for about 20 months. He is a cool, easygoing kid from Kansas who loves cars. He’s got a George Clooney (in O Brother Where Art Thou?) vibe to him. I think we're gonna get along swimmingly. We live in a 4-man pench in a second story apartment. It’s pretty puny but cool. I live with Elders Langston (from Richfield, Utah I think) and Munoz from Columbia. They are cool, easygoing guys as well. I bet this is gonna be a sick area! I’m very excited.

I packed up last night and left this morning. It was a surprisingly easy transition. I thought I was gonna be sad from the phone call and then leaving Aeorparque but I was happy the whole time and it was a smooth transition from one thing to the next. I only got to say goodbye to one investigator and that was Gisela. She ran and gave me a big hug and said “thank you, thank you!” I don’t think we are allowed to hug but I was like, “whatever” cause there was nothing I could do about it then so it was very nice.  I miss hugs. Me and elfer skipenz said our goodbyes, it went well. The guy chilled out a lot later into the transfer.  He was still a little "ahhhhh!!!" at times but it was survivable.

Those 2 things were pretty much the dominating things that happened this week.  I told you I got my charango—which sounds great!  Also, I was going to say goodbye to Maxi and Noelia yesterday but they weren’t there. The word is that she went to the hospital to have her baby. I hope all is well with those guys. We kinda had a rough week cause we had run out of people to teach so we are pretty much referral hunting. I went on divisions with Elder Mori this last week and that was fun. We ate lemons with salt in a nasty little concrete block house and unintentionally bible bashed with a crazy Pentecostal lady at another house. It was terrific! I had a moment when I told her straight up that the only way you’re gonna know anything is true scripture-wise is to pray about it. I asked her, "Do you know who God is?" She came back with, "Who is God?”  “That’s the question" I said then told her that God is her Father, He loves her, and He wants her to know the truth and it’s only through prayer that you can do that. Its was cool, while I was saying that everything went silent: The cars in the road, the noisy kids in the street, everything went into silent mode. The spirit was undeniably there and we all knew it, even her. She kinda went silent from there. Its was a cool moment for me that I got to do that and have that help from Heavenly Father. Other than that nothing really happened this week so I guess it’s onto questions.

Any cool teaching experiences this week?

• Pretty much the story above is all that happened this week as far as teaching goes,  But there’s more to come!

Are your shoes holding up o.k?

• The eccos are still, literally and figuratively, kicking butt—I love them and they are still very comfortable.

Do you do much “door touching”?

• Now and then. I heard we were gonna touch a lot of doors here but we haven’t done a ton.  When we do, people are usually cool. Either they are nice and will want to talk now or sometime later on. Some people will try to be nice and blow us off kindly or else will get nervous and lie horribly to get out of that situation by saying something like "Oh....well...we have some...stuff...we have to....BYE!" or just something like that. It’s fun and you get to see the whole array of how people act on the spot.

Are you able to say pretty much what you want.

• Yeah, pretty much.  Getting all the grammar right still kills me. But really, it’s the listening I struggle with but I will keep working on that. Pray pray!

Well family, I best wrap this up. “High and Dry” by Radiohead is playing in this cyber and it is making me think of good old Austin, Ethan, and Kevin—oh those boys! But I just want you to know that everything is all good. So far, I love my new area, comp, the other elders in the pench, and everything. Its gonna be a good transfer, I can feel it. I loved talking to you guys yesterday. It felt so good to talk to all of you and hear your voices. I miss you all like I can’t believe but I know its all good and that you guys are happy and well. I am too. Thank you for all your letters, prayers, temple visits, and love. You are all golden! I love you guys so much. It’s really all good!

Con mucho amor,

Russ 

p.s. I did hear Molly say, "Hi Russ!" Hahaha that was just about the best!