Sacrament In San Lorenzo

Franglies!

Hey hey hey hey! How goes it? Good week, huh? That’s always nice to hear about the adventures of stuff and all. You guys are great. It really is so good to hear from everyone, in fact, I got a couple letters in the bolsa the other day (and I got one last week from good old Damon Hulsey, tell him I said "sup!") one dear elder and a letter from grandma. I was stoked to read the letters and, as I was reading them, I noticed they were kind of funkily written with sentences such as "...it was so good to hear your voice the other day..." and "...well it looks like it´s graduation is next week..." I looked at the dates on the letters...May 20th....it was a good laugh. That’s the only time I’ve ever gotten really late letters but it was fun to read them.

It was a good week for us here. I had what is possibly the only decent haircut I’ve ever got in Argentina from our good friend Jorge. He´s a cool, chill guy. All his family members are baptized and he loves the church. I believe he´s less active but he´s cool. He is gay but he is a way chill dude that loves the church all the same. He had "Papa don´t preach" by Madonna on repeat like 17 times at his hair salon and he has around 7,000 poodles (true story...maybe more like 6 poodles, though) but it was chill.

I had to get my haircut because we had zone conference.  It was nice. our zone set a goal to get 200 baptisms by year’s end AHHHHHRRRGGGH!!! but its chill, it can be done. Turns out my old stalker victim, Elder Huston, is in my zone (Russ read his blog when he first got his call to Argentina). He´s a cool kid, I’ll try and get a pic with him come general conference.

Elder Larsen had to do his papers this week so I went along with him and, since the offices are in the next zone, we went there and I got the package that you guys sent me with the tootsie roll stuff—thank you, it was much enjoyed. At the mission office I saw my picture is up on the board. It’s scary, my picture is in the same place as my papi´s was when I first got in the mission. Crazy.

We decided this week as a ward to hold a sacrament meeting up in this city in our area called San Lorenzo. It’s a nice, quiet little town. The house where we were going to have the sacrament meeting belongs to the Hermano and Hermana ------------, they are super cool. I guess the Hermana’s dad was good buds with Eva Perón. Hermano ------------- looks like the absolutely spitting image of Jeffery Tambor (George Sr. on Arrested Development) and he talks like him too. We went over there earlier this week to give his wife a blessing because she hurt her arm in a car accident a couple weeks ago. I gave her the blessing and it was really great—there was a nice spirit in that room. It was even better yesterday when we had sacrament meeting there. We rode up in the bishop’s Plymouth minivan (Mormons world wide are cursed to drive at least one in their lifetime). It’s really a beautiful house; it’s like 150 years old but it’s been all done up to look very nice. We had the meeting on the patio of their nice, quiet country home overlooking the Andes with the sun coming up behind them. The sacrament meeting had such a great spirit to it. It was just a small congregation in a tranquil setting. To know we were helping to expand the church and help build a branch in San Lorenzo (hopefully) is awesome. Larson and I blessed the sacrament and it was so cool. There was this nice breeze gently blowing through during the sacrament. It was such a great experience—one of the best sacrament meetings I’ve ever been to.

Now, onto Hermano ---------:  Great guy, super smart, rich, and insanely nice. At the end of the sacrament he asked me if I could save a little bread and a cup of water so I put some aside and he took it into the kitchen. I was talking to one of the people on the patio and I noticed the Hermano with his dog named Falcor (named that because he looks like Falcor from the movie The Never-Ending Story) in the kitchen.  He was giving Falcor the bread and water from the sacrament.  Now I just love the Hermano too much. Dog-gone it was a good sacrament meeting and it’s gonna keep happening there so we can only hope it’s gonna get better and better...

Well, how ‘bout some questions?

Who are your investigators?

This kid named Nico who’s about 15. He´s a cool kid, shy but good. We also have this guy named Santiago who had that disease that Michael Jackson supposedly had with his skin, except he´s actually got it. He is about 40 and he is a really funny guy. He´s one of those talks-with-his-hands Argentine guys. We also have this girl named Maribel who is this super nice, sweet, college girl who has a lot of interest in the church.  Then we have some others that I have not yet gotten to meet because they are super hard to find but I’ll be sure to fill you in later on that.

How did English class go?

Mehhhh. Nobody showed last time so we´ll see and hope people come to the one tomorrow.

Do you have an oven and sink in your pench?

No oven and, yes, a sink but it’s a bathroom sink and it’s the everything sink. That’s like the only bad thing about the pench, though.

How far away is your mission office?

Like 30 blocks into the next zone; a short cab ride from the pench.

Why is the food better in Salta than in Jujuy?

It doesn’t give you stomach infections. Naaah, it’s just like better quality stuff. It’s more fresh and for some odd reason it’s just tastes better.

Do the members still feed you

Yes, except for Monday and Thursday (and the occasional day we get dogged on a lunch).

I love you guys so much. I’m so thankful for your sacrifice and prayers. You are all more than amazing. Well, I best be going. Have a suburb week and do know that when Carol Burnett pulls on her ear when she gets up to speak at general conference, it means "I love you".  At least I think she´ll be at general conference. I love you guys, it’s all good!

Con amor,

Russ

Russ and Elder Larsen

Russell's Zone