Que paso changos!
It's your favorite Elder Gueller reporting alive and well in the city of Monterrico Argentina. A lot has happened since last time, en serio. Well we had our last week in the MTC. RIP the fearsome foursome of Me, Elder Kanan, Elder Booth, and Elder Jenson. Kind of sad, but I really wasn{t that sad. I ditched a couple of things at the MTC, but I am not going to say what because who knows what Momma G will think of it. We had a pretty good time the last week. Definitely going to miss a couple people from the MTC. And of course all the rest of my friends and families. Probably one of the longest weeks of my life though.
On Monday, the 24th probably, we left the MTC possibly forever. Not my favorite place, but also not my least favorite place. We left on a plan to Atlanta at like 2pm. It took like 3 or 4 hours to get there, and Atlanta was already like a foreign country. People in the airport definitely looked at this group of like 20 white missionaries in a pretty funny way. I guess I would have too. My last American meals were McDonald{s and Qdoba so that was fun. Then I left America forever, or for two years. It was so weird to actually leave America. I kinda freaked out internally like the whole planeride just because I had no idea what was going to happen and lots of people, well everybody else on the plane in fact, was speaking very fluent Spanish. So yeah, that is my life now. Anyways, we landed in Salta at whatever time. We met some random mission president and his wife and they directed us to another van and some members(probably) that were helping us all get to the next airport. We put all our luggage in this weird white unmarked van and then it just sped off. So yeah... It met us at the next airport though so it was fine. I really only would have been sad about the pants and the sentimental objects I have though. They could keep my other stuff.
Our flight to Buenos Aires, by the way was 10 hours, at least. Everyone on the flight was watching Kong or whatever except the missionaries. The guy in front of me watched Kong, John Wick 2, and some other random movie, so I count that as a little blessing. I could tell you all about those movies without any of the plot because he had headphones. Little blessings. So that was cool. Anyways, we got in a van and went to another airport, which I am sincerely glad that I don{t have to do again for a long time, and we boarded a plane to go to Salta. That took awhile too. It was like 2 hours on top of the 15 we flew before plus the time driving there and time of the airport. We finally got to the office in Salta like Tuesday afternoon. Then we went somewhere else and signed a document so that we would not be arrested, which was probably a good idea. Then we slept in some little hotel that night. It was cool.
We woke up on like Wednesday, yeah Wednesday, and had some really good like bread thing covered in honey that you dip in warm milk and eat... It was a good breakfast. Then we got picked up and taken to the government building to finish our passport stuff. We take lots of taxis here, also everyone in this country drives like they are in GTAV(just really crazy and close together) because there are like no traffic laws. Also there are rarely police. Anyways we went there and did that. Then we returned and all of us hijitos(new missionaries) got assigned to our trainers. I have the best trainer when he is not making fun of me. His name is Elder Batman. No joke. He is pretty great.
So then we took a bus to Monterrico because that is just where we are doing missionary things. His english isn't great sometimes because he has been here for a year and speaks pretty fluent Spanish. Hes got most of his English ability back at this point with me. He's good though. We got to the apartment and it is pretty nice, it was just pretty dirty, probably because I am in Argentina and lots of 18 or 19 year old boys lived there before me. So Elder Batman and I have been cleaning it up little by little. There is like a whole bookcase shelf thing full of books that go back like 50 years, so I don't think anyone else has ever cleaned this apartment. It is nice though, there aren't usually bugs all over, just sometimes. I've only seen one cockroach in there so far so that is pretty good. We have hot water which is a blessing for sure. The food here is also amazing. Empanadas, other meat things that I can't understand, and yeah that is pretty much it. I haven't found Dr. Pepper yet, but we found like a Mountain Dew type thing which is pretty good. The bread and meat and stuff is good. They have Oreos here too. And Bidets. Those are interesting. So instead of toilet paper, they have like a second toilet thing that sprays water at your butt and allegedly cleans it. I am yet to try it. There is a song about it on youtube that people talk to me about called the Bidet Song which is set to the Dave Matthews song Crash Into Me. It has become one of my favorite things, even though I haven't really used it. Matt and Jeff, you two need to listen to it. The missionaries say it might reference some bad words though so I don't know. Anyways, that is that.
Argentina is actually really great though. I love it so far, besides not being able to understand people. Everyone is pretty poor for the most part, so there are lots of "creative" inventions that we get to see. It is interesting. We were definitely going to baptize this 8 year old girl named Macarena, but then her converted brother, Alejandro, told us that she doesn't want to be baptized because her parents one time made a promise with one of the virgins that none of her daughters would cut their hair before they are 15 and that they would never be baptized. Weirdly tied together I know, but hey, welcome to Argentina. So we are teaching her sometimes, she came to church yesterday, so that was good. Also, some of her little cousins came and liked church so we will probably teach them in the future because we got their referral.
Also, we gave a blessing to a man in the hospital on my first real day here. It was my first anointing for a blessing in Spanish in my life and it was interesting. I made it through though. There was a strong spirit there as Elder Batman said the rest in Spanish. We got the number of the son of the guy, named Juan. We visited him sometime last week and taught him and his mother the lesson of the Plan of Salvation. Well mostly Elder Batman taught them because I still don't understand much, I sometimes share a scripture or bear a testimony, but I am working on it everyday. Anyways, the mom said she felt warm inside and then we told her it was the spirit and then she said that she didn't really understand me so she wanted Elder Batman to say the closing prayer. Kind of an unnecessary sucker punch, but message received. It is ok, because she felt the spirit and that is the point. We have taught lots more people, but nothing else that cool has happened. We had a pretty great district meeting, strong spirit.
There are like less than 30 people in the branch-ward thing here in our area, which is pretty weird too, but also cool because they are pretty good friends. I talked on Sunday since I am new here and Elder Batman said that everybody could understand what I was saying for the most part. That was nice. He says I talk pretty well, even though I feel way more like Enos in this situation because I am slow of speech and the people hate me. But it is cool. Lots of Argentina is cool and lots of people here really do need the love of Jesus Christ. I believe that me and Elder Batman are really going to do some good in here. Also we are the only Elder companionship in our district of Jujuy so that is cool. We work out almost everyday too now which is different than the MTC. I might actually stay thin. Maybe. The food is fighting hard against that. Yeah I am actually pretty happy here. Oh also we talked to this drunk guy in the street once and he just would not let go of my hand so that was weird. Also today is my first Pday and we went hiking in Purmamarca. We had like a picnic and climbed rocks and ate ice cream and stuff with the district. There is a drink here that reminds me a lot of the Monster energy drinks too, which is whatever. But it was a good time. It was cool, I took a selfie thing. That felt weird, but mom said she is going to kill me if I don´t send 5 pictures a week, and my momma ain´t no liar...
SO MY P'DAY NOW IS MONDAY and I don't have much time to write so:
Pues, Yo testifico que Jesucristo es nuestro hermano mayor. Veo el poder de Dios cada dia conmigo y el poder me ayuda hablar la idioma de espanol y del espiritu. Les amo las personas aqui especiamente cuando les conuzco. Entonces, Quiero compartir una escritura en DyC 122:4-7 y dice que Dios nos da veces dificiles para que nosotros podemos crecer y llegar ser mas. Yo se que estoy en la lugar correcta.
Well, I testify Jesus Christ is our older brother. I see the power of God with me everyday and the power helps me to speak the language of Spanish and of the spirit. I love the people here, especially when I know them. Then, I want to share a scripture in D/C 122:4-7 and it says that God gives us difficult times so that we can grow and become more. I know that I am in the right place.
PS Purmamarca is like a cool little village thing so yeah
Love you all! Don´t do anything I wouldn´t do without me!
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