Haha, that´s just something that Elder Smith loves to say. He says it in a really funny way. I guess when he first saw the word, he thought- what a cool word! And so now whenever we bring out the jugito we have to announce it.
I printed out the emails that people sent me, to keep and finish reading throughout the week this week- really a huge comfort to me. When I think about all the amazing people, all the wonderful miracles I´ve received in my life- I´m a bit overwhelmed. The experiences that I had in American Rhythm, PHS Ballroom, CRS and all that- miraculous. All the true friends I´ve picked up- or rather, that have picked me up along the way. Really, I´m getting all gushy just thinking about it. Haha, I just really love you all.
Something that I thought about for the last 2 weeks and was meaning to write was- with it being 2017 and all, I thought about the people graduating this year... I mean, every single person is going through big changes, but I just felt a particular love in my heart for the people graduating. So far I´ve found out we´re all just kids, babies really. I really think this year is gonna be astounding.
So we taught this really cool kid, he´s the son of this lady we met that sold us corn named Luara, Matias was his name I believe. Anyway, halfway into the conversation he says, Ï believe in the devil! And I was like, What? No sé si yo entendí. Haha- cool guy though.
About the heat, haha there was a while there where I would wake up in the middle of the night and take the fan and sleep on the wood ground cuddling it, haha. Quite comical. Cool thing though, people keep complaining about it being hot, but it hasn´t bothered me ever since that day that I prayed about it... Crazy the changes that gratitude makes. It´s really been wonderful weather with a breeze and everything.
The RAIN here is a little crazy. But not anything too much crazier than I had in Hawaii and Utah and all that.
Last week was supposed to be deep cleaning, and after a while in the bathroom I thought, man I´ll have to come back to that. Then one of the Elders was like, Who cleaned the bathroom? It´s beautiful! And I thought, that´s the standard of clean? Hmm... Haha, I guess Presidente Nuñez visited while mi compañero y yo were gone, and said pretty much what I would´ve said about the pench. It´s getting cleaner now, which is great. :) It was better coming from a leader I think. Hopefully we can keep getting cleaner. By the way, I still haven´t officially met Presidente Nuñez (the mission president) haha and it´s been 3 weeks. I probably will tomorrow when the rest of my group from the CCM arrives (they did the full 6 weeks instead of saltando a tres como I did), and then they´ll probably give me my blankets and other stuff they weren´t ready to give me 3 weeks ago.
Yeah, Elder Baipás went home. It was hard. But he´s a great guy, I´m glad I got the opportunity to meet him.
I love having Elder Smith in nuestro pensión. He worked at Jamba, and he has a bunch of people who help him get packages and stuff. Anyways he makes great smoothies, so it´s nice to have him around. Plus he´s hilarious. He really makes me laugh all the time- usually when he hurts himself or gets robbed or something. It´s even worse because you feel bad for him but he just makes ya laugh. Oh yeah, we were robbed this week at the pensión while we slept. The newspapers were hilarious! Haha and we had a bit of fame for a while. That´s Elder Smith holding the newspaper of himself, haha. Someone (When Elder Baipás went home, Elder Smith joined Elder Bills and I and we became a trio) thought we were brothers, especially because ´both of our first names were elder´ haha.
Sometimes the dogs can stick their faces out of the fence and bite you when you´re not paying attention, haha! Oh, and Argentines greet with kisses, and our mission president rules that we don´t do that so we´re supposed to avoid it, but so far it´s happened twice to Elder Bills and I. Once with this sweet old lady that spoke so quietly I couldn´t hear her, and another with this interesting lady we found meditating on the bridge.
This week we had a translado con Elder Visick. He´s really energetic, and he wants to be a vet. He has some interesting music.
We found this really cool guy named Javier- he invited us in and everything, and he has a cool family and his house is small but nice... Just a really cool feeling around him. I love all the people we meet around here, but it´s really a blessing when we meet someone that feels so normal. Already living a ton of the gospel- he and his wife teach kindergarten and stuff. I think he likes us which is new. And he said he´d read the Book of Mormon. We´re hoping to meet with him again.
This really awesome miembro named Hermano Miranda came with us to teach a second lesson to this really promising investigator named Diego, and they weren´t there. Diego´s wife Eva and her brother have also heard the message, but I don´t think they´re as in to it, haha... I mean Fabian (the brother) seemed all excited when he said he´d come to church with us but yesterday when we went to pick him up, he saw us in the window and proceeded to pretend to fall asleep, phone in his hand and everything. People sure do think we´re stupid sometimes, haha... It was both funny and sad. I don´t know why people don´t just do what they´ll say they´ll do.
Speaking of which, we had 7 investigators that said they were coming to church and we had plans to help ´em come and make pancakes and all that and... yeah nobody came. Speaking of which, Jonathan´s mom has really been... Yeah, pray to soften her heart. I mean I think that a 29 year old should be able to make his own decisions, but still it´s unfortunate how crazy she gets. I feel like I know how to better help Jonathan now, though. Haha... Some of the girls from institute asked if we had anyone for them to invite, and they´re going to invite him. Haha, something he keeps talking about is that he wants a girlfriend, and lets just say that it wouldn´t hurt if when he saw how awesome the women in the church are he gets converted. I mean it´s not ideal for me, but when we prayed for a way to help him get out of the house, those two girls from institute walked right up.
So, Julia, that sweet old lady with a baptismal date who is doing really well... Well, we think her family doesn´t like us. Her kids (full grown men, she´s 89) have given us fake numbers more than once. I think they´re trying to keep her from getting baptized because the one guy is a catholic minister, and... yeah. We keep praying that we can find Julia, because they keep telling us she´s with her sister or something, but... Yeah. Her sister Marta already kinda got, ah, let´s say ashamed after eating the fruit because of the people in the great and spacious building. I hope Julia keeps her awesome, sweet and pure testimony.
People keep telling me that I speak really well, even that I hardly have an accent. I usually don´t say that I´ve only been out here for a few weeks, because they get really impressed and stuff and I feel a little uncomfortable. El don de lenguas, really... But Elder Bills thinks it´s cool, so people hear about it. He´s an awesome entrenedor.
People here eat everything with mayonesa. I kinda miss other toppings and flavors sometimes, haha. ;)
Oh, there´s a Seventy in nuestro barrio, he and his family are SUCH A BLESSING. Hermana Kaznoselsky (I believe it`s spelled) does our laundry sometimes- and it´s GORGEOUS. It smells so good, and she folds it all up and everything. They have a little granddaughter that´s so cute and funny. Makes me think of my little sister, Lydia. When they had us over for food, I about cried because I was like- this is a MOM´s cooking. And when I say that, I mean a mom like mine. It was gnocchi and it had real spices and vegetables and everything. It wasn´t necessarily like my mom would have cooked it, but I could just taste the motherly love and wisdom with which it was made. Just a gorgeous blessing.
We went out on divisiones ayer, with some really cool priesthood brethren in the ward. I went to a inactive family who just lost the mom to cancer... Really difficult. Anyways, I went with the attitude that, because I didn´t really know what to say I would just listen to the spirit and to them to discern what they needed. Anyway we get there and the husband is just talking and talking a ton, talked for a long time about a ton of things. I was trying to figure out what he needed, he seemed fine, talking about the blessings of the temple and all that. Then at the end, his son through tears (a grown man) asked for a blessing. It was really special. It reminded me that we´re always ministering to ´the one.´
Who´s the `one´ that you can find in need?
Every day, I feel more joy... The missionary life is really SO FUN! I definitely recommend it, haha! Life sure is a joy.
Annnnd... This email sure took a lot of time and money to write haha. It sure is long. Love you all.
Oh, one of the pictures is our zone. It doesn´t even have me in it but it´s the only picture I got. The other picture is that- while deep cleaning today, I found not only an ecosystem under the sink but I found this weird bag of stuff... I thought it was family history stuff that some missionary left, but the more stuff I read the weirder it got. x-rays and old pictures, with writings on the back saying that- (en castellano por supuesto) I found this nazi and he tried to win me over! or something like that. Anyway, whoever´s stuff this is wrote a ton about the country and there´s conspiracy stuff. I thought it was old but actually the most recent one is 2016. We´ll see what to do about it later. There was a tarjeta with the name of one of Elder Bills old companions, and a description of some fracas that happened on the train with it... So whoever´s stuff this is, they had some run in with the missionaries. Anyways, I thought it was hilarious. But super weird. If I was Michael Bourne I´d totally be on it.
