Elder Russell Allphin: PEACH PIZZA--IT'S ALL THE RAGE

Oh Fams!

How's it goin'? Sounds like it’s all good and busy and stuffs with you guys. Glad to hear it was a good week and that you saw a little bit about the temple dedication! It was great. They had a youth culture celebration and that’s why all those G.A.s were wearing the ponchos. They all spoke for a few minutes at the celebration and that was nice. Christofferson is amazing at Spanish! He sounds like a real old Argentine guy—that was way cool. We went to the stake center to watch it and I saw a bunch of old members and missionaries from Aeroparque including this one kid I recognized but couldn’t quite remember who he was. He then saw me and ran up to me and gave me a hug. It was Gisela’s little brother (remember Gisela, one of my converts). We were teaching him before I left and he got baptized about a week after I left. He’s a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood and everything! I was soooo happy. He had such a glow to him.

Also, I saw Elder Scipert who told me this next Friday that Maxi and Noiela are getting married!!!!!! I about passed out! Remember me telling you how hard it was to get all their papers and stuff in order (‘cause everyone’s records here are in shoeboxes upon shoeboxes of records....I wish I was kidding). They were super 100% ready for baptism. They just had to get married first. Well now they are finally gonna be baptized. I was so happy. For one reason or another this last week, I felt that I should pray for them a lot in my nightly prayers. Idk if that was just the littlest bit to help with them to get their papers but I hope it was. Such good news.

The temple dedication was very nice as well. Every one of the GA´s there spoke. The temple president’s wife spoke and she had the prettiest, clearest, most tranquil accent I have ever heard. It was so cool. The temple president told about a story of a 88 year old man who went to the temple every Saturday. The temple president asked him why he went every Saturday. They man said that he just kept going to better and better himself. President Eyring talked about when he first went to the temple. He said the first time he went to the temple he felt something. It was the Holy Ghost manifesting the truth to him so he kept coming back and he´s been coming back ever since. It’s so true, that’s what I felt going every time. They had translators at the sides of Eyring and Ballard when they spoke, it was pretty cool. There was a very nice spirit there, it felt like being in the temple. I really enjoyed it.

That was about the highlight of the week. So cool. Oh, and also, Bruno accepted a fetcha for the 15th of September (Adams’s last real day) so we’re hoping to help him to achieve that this Saturday. That would be cool. We also found a guy named Francisco (that’s a fun name to say) who was really interested in talking to us and wanted to know a lot more. We felt the spirit really strong in the lesson with him so we hope to continue teaching him.

Guess what? The circus is in town! And, yes, it’s exactly what you’d expect. Just imagine how sketchy U.S. circuses are then times that by 5. It’s tight! Speaking of cool and sketchy stuff: I had the best pizza I have ever had today And what kind of pizza was it, you ask? Why, nothing but peach pizza! Yes, and its sooooooo good! We ate at this fancy restaurant with Elder Carlson and his comp and my comp for my Adam’s last p-day. It was really good. We´ll have to make it.

Today we were at a member’s house and the kid there got a Wii with Mario Kart. Poor guy just couldn’t get past that Donkey Kong mountain level. Luckily, I remembered spending almost all of x-mas break 2010 just playing that one level so we helped him get passed it. Also, that same family has a banana tree in their backyard and they picked some bananas off it and gave them to us. Just saying, natural bananas are super weird. It’s like eating a warm Monkey Bar; it’s just too texturally insane for me to handle. Oh, and yes, I forgot to say, we had some changes this morning. An elder on the other side of Jujuy had to get an emergency transfer so with that, Elder Langston got transferred and taking his place is good old Elder Angell. You know, the one from my last zone? So that should be cool. But yes, this is my last p-day with E. Adams. Good kid. He's taking his leaving well but he’s really is ready to skedaddle. It’s all cool. I had a good time with him. Good guy.

Well, other than that, ?´s

Do you ever get to go to see any of the sights?

You mean like Argentina’s biggest ball of string? We stick around Centro. President is pretty strict on everyone staying put. During the old president´s era yes, it was a big thing to go see places but we’re pretty much restricted to seeing the cool things in Centro. That’s okay, though. They have some really cool cathedrals there and stuff.

Do you keep your pench clean?

Yes. Coincidentally, Pres and the hermana came today (for the first time ever in anyone’s memory) for pench inspections. So all our girly posters and cigarettes had to be hidden. But seriously, we always keep it clean, beds made and such.

Can you get everything you need at the Argentine version of WalMart?

Almost everything. Mr. Pibb and red vines are still nowhere to be found.

Is there anything you’ve had that you’ve thought, “This tastes just like home”?

With food, not so much but like, the feel of the air or the breeze and certain smells sometimes just feel so much like home it makes me a little homesick. But yeah, it happens every now and then.

How do you stay hydrated?

Of course. Tang, is the answer to that.

Well, well. I’m peacin' out. But yes, pray that we´ll have a great last shebang/kick butt week this week. We´ll do everything we can to have that happen. Thank you family so much for everything. You guys are most certainly keen! This is gonna be a great week. I love you! It’s all good.

Con amor,

Russ