November 17, 2008

Well i want to first say that it is nothing like i expected. NOTHING!!!! well i will explain that later. so lets see. our flight to peru was long but it was really fun too. we talked to a man named Gustavo for a while about the gospel. but he was atheiest so it was really hard not talk to him. not only was it in spanish but he didnt beleive anthing we told him.. all we could do was to bear testimony and gave him a pamphlet. elder kirk and chase were on the other side of the plane and they had people all around them and so they talked to all of them too. we gave out all of or pass-a-long cards and it was pretty fun. the flight from peru to argentina was, well i dont know i slept i was so tired. but when we got to argentina we had to go past immigration. which was hard because we had no idea what they were saying. but we made it through. at this time we still had no idea who was picking us up. we fininally found some guy that said he was picking us up. and another guy took all of our luggauge. for all i knew they could have been some person wanting to steal us and all our stuff. but luckily they were the right people. we drove to the buenos aires temple where we stayed til 3. buenos aires was just run down and dirty. nothing like i imagined it. but it sure was nice to go the temple. the temple was smaller then i imagined it. but it sure was pretty. i am going to send some pictures with this email. but we got to do a session. it was a lot different then all the temples i have been in. but the same feeling. oh man was the endowment session hard. we were all running on like 4 hours of sleep in 2 days and doing a session!!!! and to top it off it was in spanish!!!!! that was a hard session. but it was so worth it. the mtc in argentina is SO MUCH SMALLER then the one in provo. and the cafeteria is so small too. we even had to wash our plates. it was so long since i did that. haha but i do it now everyday.

well when we flew to mendoza we met up with 4 more missionaries. elders briceño, cardus and hermanas pinto and valleran. they were all really cool. all of them only spoke spanish but it was still fun to talk to them. elder briceño joined the church because his friends pullled a prank on his and had the missionaires go over to his house. but he let them in and now is a member.

meeting president lindhal and his wife was awesome. they are so amazing. right when he saw me he said. Elder smith i am so glad you are here. now because you 8 are here we are going to have the best baptism misison in south america. he made me feel so welcome!!! driving to the mission home was something else. mendoza in nothing like i expected. throw every thing you thought about mendoza out the window. i love it. but it is nothing like i expected. everything is so fast. there are like no traffic laws. or if there are i couldnt figure it out. everyone just went when they wanted to. and everyone is going so fast.

well the president did was i was afraid we were going to do. dropped us off in the plaza and had us work. i worked with one of the assistants. elder arario. he is the most amazing missionary i have ever met. he told elder kirk and i. there are people that God has been preparing for baptism in december we just have to find them. so we would go up to people and say. hola somos reprentantes de jesucrist. buscamos la gente que dios ha preparndo para bautizarse in deciember. ¿esta listo? i thought it was bold. we said we are looking for the people that god had been preparing for baptism in december. are you ready., it was so cool we all did like 4 contacts and gave out a book of mormon. oh it was a perfect way to get rid of the fear.

dinner at the presidnets house was really good. i like talking to him,his wife and the assistants. on the of assistants is gardna randalls grandson. elder west. it was good to see him but then he told everyone that i play the piano. ggrrrr. oh well. i will sent some pictures of the first room that i slept in. it is about the size of my room at home but with 6 bunk beds. that night was something else.

the next day i met my trainer. it was kinda weird because we both live in mesa. we both went to mountain view. and i am pretty sure that mom you know his mom. my trainer is Elder Lewis. mom he said his mom sold stuff to the orange patch too. her name is kim lewis. i dont know if you know her our not but it was worth a try. so we ate lunch together and we off.

my area is in the mendoza province(STATE) guaymallen(county) but my area is bermejo. my area is pretty long and we walk everywhere. i am pretty sure i will be deffinatley losing weight. on saturday. oh man saturday was rough. we taught one lesson. they rest of the time we were either opeing the mouth or talking to people of the street or knocking or clapping doors. but we walked from 1030 to 130 and 4 to 10. oh man was i sore and did my feet kill. ha ha i even said this to an old lady. i said we have been walking all day. my whole body it tired. my feet are killing me. no one has listened to us. can we please come in and talk to you about Christ. she had the nerve to say no. but we did get some cold water from her which was good. it was pretty good to have saturday because now i dont think a day could get worse then that. but it did get us charged up for the next day. }

well i will tell you a little about bermejo. we live in a small pench.. that is was they call the appartments. but our pench is like i want to say a little smaller then emily and joshes old appartment. but two stories. i thought it was a little sketchy but i get it is a pretty good pench which i like. but lets see. the neighborhoods. EVERY SINGLE HOUSE has bars on all the windows and a like 8 food wall aroung in. well almost every house. but still every house has somehing around it. so if their gate is not open we clap if it is open we go knock on there door. so they house are really small and i thing everyone makes their own houses. but they are really cool house. another thing about bermejo is that there is like a million dogs. dogs are everywhere. everywhere everywhere. and on every road there are acekias or little ditches and dogs are always playing in the water. i will send some pictures of that later. }

but as of right now we have a couple of people that we will go back and talk to and see if they are going to progresss. but we have one baptism date. david is getting baptized next saturady. i am excited for that. he is 19 and he is ready. other that that we did a lot of walking. elder lewiss last companion lost forty pounds in 6 weeks. lets hope i do that too. oh i forgot. the next area i want to serve in is called maipu. but it is pronounces my poo. ha ha i want to serve there. oh the hair cut that is popular here are mullets.

well here are the rules for emailing. i have to send all my emails through you mom and then you send them off to friends or cousins. i can only email mom dad brothers and sisters directly. same with people emailing me. they have to go through you. so mom can you send this to brittany. and brittany when you send me on back you have to send it through my mom. but mom can you send this to dad too. thanks. oh and letters i think i would rather get emails because we only get mail every transfer which is six weeks. but i mean it will still be nice to get mail too but i wont be able to read if for a while. oh and packgages i only get 2 a year. birthday and christmas. and they said to send them a month anda half in advance. i know it is a pain but its ok. well i think that is it i will be sending some pictures. but i love all of you and i am doing just fine. i am sore, but thats a good thing. well cant wait to hear from you all next week. love you. (actually the computers that we are at this week are so old that the pictures wont work. but next week i will send you all pictures because we will go somewhere else. i love you all talk to you next week.

Elder Smith