Traveling to Argentina

Hola!

Well, everybody, I´m alive!!! My goodness, travel is exhausting! First, a rundown of my last few days in the MTC. Let´s see... To be brief and because this keyboard is difficult, we cried a lot. We cried with our teachers, we cried because we´ll miss each other, the elders were thoroughly unphased at least outwardly. I managed to get the flu, which I got over a little bit after I arrived here. We had the best closing devotional EVA! I don´t even remember the lady´s name, but she was hilarious and left me thoroughly excited for the mission.

You know, it is so weird for me to be in places without mountains! Utah has mountains, Hawaii has mountains... So as we hopped from Utah to Georgia to Argentina, I was taken aback by the stark lack of mountains! Georgia has a lot of big, pretty trees, so I liked seeing that. As we passed through Buenos Aires I got my first glimpse of the Atlantic ocean. There were lots of statues and trees with purple blossoms that I liked. It is very very very very busy! It actually reminded me a little bit of Honolulu, albeit the part that tourists seldom see. So, I was fairly at ease other than my struggles with luggage. We went to what I think was a church office building and there were welcomed and had our first meal. I love empanadas!!! We also ran into some departing missionaries. They were very loathe to be leaving. One of them was a former companion of Elder Landon Willey! So that was neat. After taking care of some paperwork we then made our way to yet another airport, where we boarded a plane (that we almost missed) to Salta. There we met the mission president and his fabulous wife.

The mission president´s voice is sooo deep!!!! Apparently Salta is a tourist town. So, it was pretty nice. The climate is a lot like St. George, and there were mountains, so I felt at ease. We went to the home of President Levrino and had a great dinner. Then we were spirited away to a hotel for the night, all exhausted and in desperate need of a shower! My shampoo bottle broke on the plane, so I had the interesting experience of scooping shampoo out of a plastic bag.

The next morning we again began rushing around to get visa stuff done. Then we went to the chapel and were basically orientated. We were given our new companions and then whisked off to our areas. The area I´m in is I believe the Banda in Santiago. More on that in a minute. My companion is Hermana Aguirre, and she is from Peru. Ha ha she is my mama and I am her hija! She takes very good care of me. According to a lot of people here we speak pretty well for having just come out of the MTC (we being the people from my district), so that is good. I feel bad for others, in which case, because I still feel so lost!!!

Santiago is really, REALLY hot!!! It makes me feel silly to have all of my winter-friendly attire, period. I think it is supposed to get colder in the winter, but for now it is exceedingly hot. We do all of our study in the middle of the day, because that is when it is hottest and everybody is home for siesta. There are lots of dogs and cats, and I am unsure as to if any of them really belong to anybody. They are usually pretty chill. I almost wonder if the people just let them wander inside their homes. Maybe not a bad idea, they keep the vermin at bay I suppose. Our apartment is quite nice. Ah! My first time out of the apartment, we went to go get ice cream, and a puppy got ran over by a motorcycle and died right there! It was horrid! Needless to say I am very cautious about crossing the street. There are no discernable traffic laws here. People stop at intersections and drive on the right side of the road, that´s about it. Here in Santiago you see everything from the really nice house to houses with walls literally made from paper mache. It truly is humbling, you realize that you take for granted your everyday necessities, like washers and dryers, certain food, floors, walls, clean water...

The people are very friendly. Everybody says hi and will always offer you water or something when you visit. I´m glad I lived in Hawaii, because it allowed me to get used to the whole kiss on the cheek greeting, ha ha. I love my investigators! A lot of them are children over the age of eight, which can sometimes be hard because they are very indecisive. I want to be baptised! Eh, not today.

You know, the fact that missionary work is even effective truly testifies of the truth of the church. From day one I was participating in the lessons. It is amazing how receptive everyone is. Just the other day we approached a girl named Dalma. We started talking to her, she knows nothing about the church despite living adjacent to the chapel. And she was so receptive. She seemed down when we first contacted her, but as the lesson went on she seemed more and more upbeat. She agreed to a baptism date and wants to know more. Part of me can´t help but be in shock. This gospel is so different from anything else in the world. Weird even. But after five minutes with the missionaries people find that they want it. They aren´t sure why, but they want it. Because whether they realize it or not, they have heard it before. It is familiar to them, and even if they don´t remember, it is something they once knew and can know again. Think about it. Logically, why would anyone listen to and believe a bunch of 18-20 somthin year olds about something like this? Only if it is true.

Well I survived this first week, love you all, talk to you soon. Really, feel free to blather to me about your lives, like a journal, I really enjoy hearing from you. Love you, hasta luego!