Christmas

Pretty great week!

This week has been super crazy because of the holidays. Everyone here parties like crazy so it has kinda thrown off our normal work schedule.

On Wednesday we celebrated Christmas together as a mission. We all got together at the temple and then we headed over to the stake center at the mission office and had a Christmas party and devotional. It was super awesome. We even sang Christmas carols in English! It was so weird! It was so cool to see everyone in the entire mission. Mostly because that meant more English speakers!! Yayyyyy!!!

Christmas Eve is the day everyone here celebrates. The whole day they just cook a ton of food and then they eat really late later that night. We had dinner at Hermana Gomez´s house. She is seriously so fun!! It was just her and her son but it was super kind of them to have us over. Also Christmas Eve night is when everyone here does fireworks. I fell asleep before the fireworks started but later that night the nose woke me up. It was seriously so loud!!!! But right after that somehow I fell back asleep.

Christmas day was sooo weird! Everyone sleeps in super late because they are all wasted. So walking around felt super creepy. It was also super hot that day so it felt nothing like Christmas. It was so weird to see kids playing in the streets with squirt guns. 

On Sunday we spent two hours walking around our area before church trying to wake people up. We wear our suits on Sunday and it was so stinking hot!!! Sundays are always the longest days ever. The biggest let down though was our investigator, Alexis, didnt show up to church because he was sick. Which is terrible timing because we were going to announce his baptism for this Saturday but because he didn´t come we have to change it to the week after.

On the bright side I am getting transfered this week!!!! I am leaving Merlo and going to Marcos Paz!!! My new companion will be Elder Marple! He is going to be finishing me training. Apperently he is awesome so I am super excited!! He was actually trained by my trainer as well which is kinda weird. In the missionary world, the trainers are called dads and the missionaries being trained are called sons. So you can probably imagine how complicated this is going to make the family tree...

Anyways I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Elder Townsend

Another week in Argentina. It was a pretty long week but we were able to get a lot done. On Wednesday we had companion exchanges. It was actually pretty fun! I went with Elder Winzenried. He is awesome. He is literally a super nerd. Like 36 on the ACT and full ride to BYU type of super nerd. I stayed in our area and my trainer left for their area. Which means I had to lead us around. It was so stinking hard! I don´t know our area at all! Haha but Elder Winzenried was super understanding. Luckily he remembered his training when he didn´t know like anything, and was literally just trying to make it day to day. So that day was actually pretty fun and exciting.

On Thursday, we had lunch at the Bishop´s house. His wife always feeds us so much food! She literally made me eat 10 empanadas! It hurt so bad. Then later that day another family wanted to feed us dinner. Usually we dont even eat dinner so that was super difficult in itself, but on top of that they made us eat so much too!! On the bright side, I slept super well that night. Haha

Half way through the week we ran out of gas for our house. So we have also been enjoying ice cold showers. I love Argentina.

On the bright side our ward Christmas party was this week! It started at 8:30 at night though. So we were only there for like 30 minutes and then we had to head home. It was super depressing because I was really looking forward to it. We talked to a member family the next day though and they said the party lasted like until 2:00 in the morning. They said that they brought out some ice cream and everyone just went crazy dancing and singing all night haha.

Well I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Elder Townsend

This picture is 4 weeks old, but this is the Familia Torres

Another week. The weather down here in Argentina was absolutely awful! On Wednesday we were out working and then at like 6:00 in the evening it just started to rain so hard! We had absolutely no rain gear and we were only in short sleeve white shirts. No one would let us in and talk to us either! We basically spent 3 hours walking around in ghetto Merlo soaking wet. That is probably the closest I will ever get to swimming on the mission... I hope...

Then Thursday and Firday were even worse. It was so hot and humid it was ridiculous. Honestly probably the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my life. The humidity absolutely kills. At the end of the day when we got home, we were just dripping wet from sweat, hot sticky sweat. And even if we shower and change we cant do anything about it. Sleeping those nights was miserable.

On the bright side, the dog remote I brought down here (a remote that makes a high pitch sound that dogs don't like) is awesome. I use it every day!!! Everyone here has a dog and there are so many dogs everywhere. I just keep it in my pocket and walk down the streets and all the dogs run away like crazy. Sometimes the locals see me do it and the get pretty freaked out. They probably think I am Moses parting the Red Sea or something. 

On Saturday we had one of the traveling assistants work with us. His name is Elder Christensen and he is so stinking funny. He goes home at the end of this month and he is so excited to see this girl he has been emailing that he hasn't seen in like 5 years haha. He is some rodeo kid from Alaska and Idaho and his spanish has such a hard core southern accent. He definetly spiced up that day.

This week we also found a new family. They are so awesome. The were a refferal that some sister missionaries found on a train. They are so prepared. We have already taught them lesson one and we have an appointment with them tomorrow so we will see how it goes!

People here started to decorate for Christmas. It makes me so happy! I even got to hear a christmas song last week in the grocery store.... In english!!!!

Till next week

Elder Townsend

December 7, 2015

Well another week in Argentina. This place is kinda crazy. It was a long week but it definitely had more flavor than last week.

On Tuesday we went to the stake center a few cities away and had a district meeting. It was awesome because I finally got to meet more people that spoke english! Then afterwards we went out and just did some contacting in the streets for about two hours to help the Elders who have that area. I still haven´t seen a single white girl that speaks english so thats been kinda weird but also nice...

On Wednesday we we had to go to the mission office to do a special training on how to teach the first lesson because we couldnt do it last week when my companion was sick. It was pretty fun. We got to do some practices. One of the assistants to the president taught us. He had to teach every companionship in the mission and he said we were one of the best companionships out of everyone!!! YESSS!! So that felt pretty great....

To get to this mission office though we had to take the public train. Public trains in Argentina are messed up. It wasn´t busy on our way up there, but on our way back home it was ridiculous. Like I totally understand public transportation being crowded, but here it is ridiculous. The train was SOOOO full. Like everyone was standing but no one had to hold onto anything because we were so packed. I have never felt so violated in my life.

The Spanish is coming along slowly. Some days are a lot better than others. All the other missionaries and ward members act really impressed by my Spanish but I think they are just being nice. However, I am starting to understand regular conversations a little bit better. Which is a good and bad because I can understand what they are saying about me. This past week someone someone said I look like I´m fifteen, and another person called me a not very nice word. But on the flip side someone said I look like I am 26, and everyone we talk to compares us to actors. My companion always gets Jim Carrey. Hahaha.. I usually get Ryan Gosling or Zac Efron. Which I guess I could kinda take as a compliment, but considering that they probably dont know any other white actors with my color hair doesnt really build my self esteem or anything. 

In regards to our investigators, some are progessing more than others. We have like ten baptismal dates set for the month of Decemeber but we will have to see how that plays out. The Torres Family, the family we have been teaching since I have been here, are having some difficulties. They have a baptismal date for this Friday but they still have some concerns with tithing. And every time we went to this house this week something would come up. The Dad couldn´t meet with us yesterday because he had to give someone a tattoo. Hahah... He isn´t even a tattoo artist. He just does it as a hobby to bring in some extra cash sometime. Haha... So we will see how that plays out.....

Saturdays are probably my favorite days of the week. Everyone gets so drunk here and walking through the streets is so much fun. People come up to us all the time

and mess with us. Sometimes it gets a little freaky because the like shake your hand and they dont let go and then they get really close to you and tell you like everything they have ever done wrong or something like that. Hahah. 

The weather here is pretty nice but it doesnt feel like December at all and I hate it!! I guess I only have to experience it one more time after this so that's not too bad.

Enjoy the holiday season!!

Elder Townsend

Well another week down in Argentina. It was very similar to last week but it was still ok. I hope my spanish is getting better, but I really can´t tell. It´s super easy to get so frustrated sometimes but then I just have to remember to take a step back. 

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I didn´t realize it was thanksgiving till  Thursday night, which was pretty depressing. But at least I remebered to tell my companion happy Thanksgiving later that night! Honeslty, I think I am more depressed that I missed Black Friday... Hahaha

We have been teaching a lot of less active members. They are all very nice. We haven´t done a single bit of contacting though. Which has been kinda lame because for some reason I have kinda been looking forward to that. We have been teaching this one family that has been progressing a lot. Their baptismal date is December 12th and we really hope they will be prepared by then. 

My companion has been sick for most of the week. He was so bad on Wednesday that we had to stay in the apartment all day. Which really stunk because we were going to have a zone meeting later that day. Which means I could have met other missionaries. I was thinking the other night and I realized that for the whole time I have been here, the only family or friend I have within thousands of miles is my companion. Which isn´t very comforting so I´m looking forward to meeting more people at our district meeting tomorrow. But even then there are only two other companionships in our district and I´m pretty sure most of them are native so it´s not like a will be able to talk with them anyways.

We have been walking a lot. Which has been really nice!! Sometimes we take a collecitvo which is like a bus, but they are always really crowded and uncomfortable. 

Nothing too crazy has happened this week. The jokes about me being white and not knowing spanish haven´t stopped but it´s not like I´ve been expecting they would. Actually, now that I think about it, one night, we were walking home in the dark and this crazy guy got all up in our face and and starting trying to tussle with us while quoting scriptures about Jesus being crucified. So that was actually really fun and exciting. 

Anyway, I´m realing looking forward to finally learning Spanish and feeling more like an affective missionary. But it´s just going to take time. 

I also miss carpet... They dont have it here and for some reason it bugs me...

Elder Townsend

November 23, 2015

Such a crazy week. I´ll start out with when we left the MTC. So we left and headed up to salt lake on the train and got to the airport. We then flew to Atlanta Georgia and then to Buenos Aires. The flights were miserably long. On the way down to Argentina, all the Argentine women around me were watching Magic Mike and Fifty Shades of Gray. So that was basically 11 hours of trying to hold back the puke in my mouth. Anyway, eventually I got here. When we landed we went through customs and everything and my mission president and his wife were waiting for us. We then went to the temple really quickly and then to the mission home. After we stayed at the mission home for a while, we went to the mission office. There, I was assigned my trainer. His name is Elder Bell. He has served for about 21 months. He is awesome. I´m the third missionary he has trained. Our area is in the suburbs of a town called Merlo. Apparently it is one of the bigger cities in the mission.

Anyway, Argentina is crazy. It is a lot different than the states. The people here are nice, but they talk so stinking fast! I can barely understand anything. Which has been lovely.... not... It´s super frustrating but it is slowling getting better. The time flies by so fast here. It is kinda scary. We wake up in the morning, we excercise and do our studies, we then go have lunch at a members house, and then we are out working for most of the day until 9:00. They dont really have dinner here. The food here is awesome. Tons and tons of meat. You cant drink the water from the tap here so everyone drinks soda. 

The missionary work has been going well. The ward is super awesome and they give us a lot of support. We have a few progressing investigators, but there is one family in particular that is really close to being ready to be baptized which is awesome. I´m kinda getting tired of being called the new missionary who doesnt know spanish but it is what it is. Luckily, my companions spanish is good so he helps out a lot. He sometimes does a little to much socializing wich is frustrating because that is the part I cant understand. We havent done to much contacting. We have to be really carefully because if we talk to women, especially women close to our age, they will try to kiss us which is custom here. Thats when we have to just shove our hands in their face. Hahah good times. Im slowing getting to exept the culture. It was hard at first but it is getting better. The only thing that is really the same down here is the gospel and the importance of family. Our whole mission is in a very poor area. It is a humbling experience daily. The poorest house i have ever been in in the States makes the nicest house i have been in here look like a dump. 

The people in general are very nice though. They all try to help me understand what they are saying for the most part. Some of our investigators call me Ken because to them apparently my face looks like ken the barbie. grrrr... 

At church yesterday the bishop asked me to bear my testimony and i actually did pretty well! Sunday was also the day the people here voted for a new president. We had to stay inside most the day in case things got crazy. I tried to take a nap so i went to bed at 5:00 and accidently slepped through the night till this morning at 6:30....oops...

Anyway, this week has probably been one of the most hardest, uncomfortable weeks of my life, but it is getting better and better each day! 

Sorry if my spelling and grammar are terrible.This computer is in Spanish and it says all the words im typing are incorrect....

Elder Townsend

Last week in the MTC!!!!! We are all so excited to leave. This week was fast but very long at the same time. Class was absolutely brutal because they packed so much information in to make sure we are ready to leave. Most of my district is leaving Monday morning, and the other part is leaving Tuesday. It is going to be crazy awesome! 

We have been mostly busy with class work all week but here are a few fun things that have occurred:

- On Wednesday we had an ice cream eating contest. My companion won at a startling six bowls. I was very proud.

- On Tuesday we practiced teaching the law of Chasity. When we practice we usually practice teaching our companions but because we are a trio, usually one of us has to go with our teacher. So of course our teacher picked me to go with her... I think it was partly because she was curious if i could keep from laughing.... Anyway, the first time I taught her, it went great; my Spanish was on point and I asked good questions and used great scriptures. But then i had to teach it a second time, and i wasn't expecting this. I didn't want to teach it the same way so without even thinking, I started with the question "Le gusta su cuerpo?" which honestly was a bad question to begin with because technically i asked her if her body pleases her, and she answered "ummm... si" and then without even thinking I said "yo tambien"... After a few seconds I realized what I just said (basically I agreed with her implying that her body pleases me) and then we both start dying of laughter. It was so bad we had to leave the classroom and take a break.... so yeah that was awesome...not... At least I got that mistake out of the way with before I get to Argentina.

- On Thursday we had a mini testimony meeting as a district. It was so nice to talk together. We have all grown so much and it will be very hard to go our separate ways. One thing that I have been thinking a lot about lately is a quote I heard earlier in the week that I think is from Joseph Smith that says, "Hell is looking into the eyes of the man you could have become". I love this because it is absolutely true. I don't want to end my mission, and i especially don't want to leave this life, knowing that I had more to give, more to offer, or more to sacrifice. I'm so proud of my district and I know we will all serve honorable missions. They are the best. I love them so much.

I'm not quite sure when my next email will be. I will start to have preparation day on Monday but I'm not quite sure how that will work out this next week. 

Have a great week!!

Elder Townsend

Crazy week once again! 

So on Monday, we headed to the travel office and did all the paperwork to redo my FBI clearance. We got all of that done, but we couldn't do the fingerprint part because the cop they have that does it wasn't on duty that day. So we were told to just wait and that they would call us back in when the cop contacts them.

So on Tuesday night they called us into the travel office again and told us they made me an appointment for the next morning. Which was fantastic because I was super eager to get that taken care of. 

On Wednesday the cop picked me and my companions up (they were super excited to tag along...) and took us to the police station on BYU campus to get fingerprinted. It was awesome!!!!!! We had temporarily escaped!!!... under the watchful care of a police officer of course... I can't even explain how nice it was to get away and see new scenery. When we got to the campus and parked I was looking around like crazy for anyone I would know... Sadly no one:( He dragged us straight into the police station.... But it was still really nice to have that feeling of something familiar! I've actually  run into several friends at the temple which has been really cool and fun as well!!... not planed meeting of course because that would be breaking the rules....Anyway, we got the fingerprints taken care of, which was a huge relief. 

In regards to the people we have been teaching, we have finished our lessons with Angela and Jose. Both of them to committed to "baptism" which is awesome but won't happen because they are both members of the church acting as investigators. We are still teaching Lucio though until the day we are leaving.

Friday this week was our teacher's birthday!!! Which was a super fun change!! We threw her a surprise party with the limited resources we have at the mtc. We even made her a pinata in the shape of an Orca Whale out of tissues and cardboard.  It was pretty fun!!

On Friday everyone got there flight plans, and I got mine too! I don't know how the travel office does it, but I am headed to Argentina next week when I am suppose to!!! Which is awesome! And I guess that means I will have some sort of visa because they didn't give me any instructions on how to sneak past security. 

And today we got haircuts. We were all pretty nervous because we have heard some scary stories about the haircuts at the MTC. The barbers are basically just local BYU or beauty school student so you never know what you are going to get. I even heard one kid got a haircut so bad he went home..... But honestly they turned out pretty good!

It was a pretty great week! Only one more week to go!

Elder Townsend

Week 4, Received on 10-31-15

Well, this week has been kinda crazy. My whole district is really anxious to leave this place because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

On Tuesday, Elder Neil Anderson (an apostle) came and spoke at the mtc for our devotional. It was a pretty big deal so there was a lot of excitement, which was fun. It was broadcasted to all of the mtc's around the world. He did an awesome job! He is such a sweet guy. The focus of his message was on sacrifice. 

Also, later that night we had a district meeting and our branch president sat in with us. At the end he basically told us that he had been a branch president at the mtc for 4 years, was a mission president in Chile for 3, and had been in charge of thousands of missionaries in his life and he had never seen a district as awesome as us.... Pretty cool stuff. I love my district.

On Wednesday things started to get crazy. I got called down to the travel office after dinner and was told that Salt Lake hadn't received my FBI clearance I applied for at the beginning of the summer. Which wasn't good news. Lucky it was just a mix up on who the government sent it to. They sent it to me instead of salt lake for some reason. I got it at the end of August and luckily I kept on to it and brought it to the mtc because i just thought it was a receipt or something. So all i had to do was go back to my room and get it and turn it in. Apparently, a lot of people have been having this problem and it hasn't stopped them from going to Argentina when they are supposed to. They apparently just give the missionaries a travel visa while the rest of the paperwork for the real visa is processing. Which was great news to hear. 

The bad news is, last night I got called to the travel office again. Apparently, the name on my passport and my FBI clearance don't match. My passport has a space between the "c" and the "L" in my first name and my FBI clearance is correct... thanks Obama... Not so great news. It wont be accepted until it gets fixed. So on Monday, I have to  get another FBI clearance. And it sounds like im going to be picked up in a police car and taken to do my fingerprints again. Which is kinda exciting because I get out of class but still is just a big hassle. I asked the travel office guy working if this was going to delay me going to Argentina in the next two weeks and he said he didn't think it would and that they could work around it... But who knows, he is just a minimum wage paid college kid... If it turns out I cant go to Argentina in the next two weeks, I will be temporarily reassigned to a new mission for a few weeks until they get it fixed. Which is again, kinda exciting but still a big hassle. The most frustrating part however is that I have no clue what the heck is going on.... which is great.... Anyway, my district and i get our flight plans next week so I will probably find out by we next email. I know it will all work out but it is still pretty stressful.

Elder Townsend

So this week was pretty good. In terms of the schedule it was the same as last weeks. Weeks 2-5 for us are all the same.... which is lovely.... But it honestly was a pretty good week! In terms of investigators, we have been continuing to to teach Lucio and Jose. Our lessons are continuing to get better as we are learning more Spanish. This week we also taught two member lessons. It was harder than i thought, but towards the end we were getting the hang of it. We also started teaching our other teacher this week. Her fake "persona" is named angela who is 16 years old. Our lessons with her have been going great as well! The main focus has been trying to keep her attention throughout the lesson because she does a really really good job at acting 16. After all of our lessons I wink at her and give her a piece of candy. She always breaks her character and starts to laugh. So we always walk back into the classroom with grins on our faces because we are the only ones who can break the teacher.

In terms of the classes, we are continuing to learn more and more Spanish. Mixed in with those lessons, we have classes on gospel stuff and how to teach better; always in Spanish of course:) The main focus has been "teach people not lessons". And if i got a day subtracted from my mission every time i heard that phrase i would have been home last week.... 

In terms of entertainment, we get mail twice a day; once after lunch and once after dinner. I'm the district leader so i get the pleasure of going to get the mail and bringing it back to our district. In case you didn't know, mail looks like a piece of heaven in the MTC, and every time I pass at the mail I feel like Santa Clause.... Which has been pretty fun:).... My district is super awesome. We own the MTC. We all get along really nicely and our branch presidents wife is basically in love with us. One of the hermanas's mom got us all yo yo so that was pretty awesome too!!!!  

But anyways, this week has been great. My companions and I have been growing a lot in all aspects of becoming the best missionaries we can possibly be. We are all really excited to leave this place but are enjoying the MTC as much as possible.

Elder Townsend

Well, another week down at the MTC. I think the rumor about time speeding up in this place is an urban legend. It's getting better though. The longer we are here the more busy we get, which is good. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... so I'm told... It doesn't even feel like im in Provo. The MTC is like a world of its own. We are all starting to have dreams of escaping. Whenever they announce on the intercom they are looking for someone we cheer because that means someone actually did it.

The MTC itself isn't terrible, it's just the countless hours spent in the classroom. I'm loving all the lessons and the things im learning, but I'd much rather be down in Argentina walking around and teaching and talking with the people. Honestly, I think the MTC does this on purpose to make us excited to go out into the field... Elder Bunker's mom sent us yo-yo's d that has offered some amusement over the past few days.

The food here isn't actually that bad. It's the exact same stuff the had at the Cannon Center so that kinda stinks, but unlike the cannon center they have this salad  wrap bar which is stinking awesome! They have salads already made for you and you can also have them make you a salad wrap whenever you want. And they are good salads! They sometime have meat or fish in them and nuts too. it's different every meal everyday. They also usually have a lot of fruit and yogurt. So honestly, I guess i don't know what the rest of the food is like because I've only eaten from that salad bar for the past week in a half.... And, put simply, I feel great!! Everyone is getting sick and feeling crappy when I'm just chugging along! 

Everyday we get an hour to exercise. What i"v been doing is lifting weight upstairs by the indoor tack for about 30 minutes and then ill head downstairs to do whatever on the gym floor. They have volleyball, basketball, and four square. I've played a little bit of both, but my companions and I have really been loving four square! We tear it up!

This week we also got a new investigator. His name is Jose. We have only had two lessons with him so far but it is going super great. He is really funny and a lot more open than Lucio (our other investigator). Our Spanish is coming along very well and we are getting a lot better at sharing the message we have. Jose is probably a member who is just hired to pretend to be an investigator but out of the two lessons we have had with him we broke him down to tears. And when we go out to talk about how our lesson went as a companionship and to do our evaluation, we don't even remember like anything we said. All we remember really is the topic and just spitting out stuff in Spanish guided by the spirit. Super cool stuff! 

For Lucio, our other investigator, it was a lot harder. Everyone in my district has been having to teach him and everyone was struggling with him. But last night a fast one was puled on us. During our study time in the classroom, stinking Lucio walked in a suit and it turns out he is our other teacher!!! My companions and I kinda saw it coming because we had heard some rumors, but it was still hard to except. But it turns out he is a powerhouse! He taught us from like 6:00-9:00pm last night. Simply put, ive had a lot of incredible lessons over my life and have been taught in person from some incredible people growing up in the church and going to BYU, but no one has ever taken control of the room like Lucio. The whole lesson he just rocked our socks off. His lesson was basically on obedience and fulfilling our purpose as missionaries to be the best missionaries we can be. Never in my life had i been so mentally, physically, and spiritually drained than after that class. Not to be melo-dramatic but he freaking changed my life and total view as a missionary in three hours. He is incredible. Apparently he has been teaching at the MTC for three years since he got home form his mission and is just a stud!

So for the last few weeks I'm here we will have 9 hours of class almost every day. 3 of those will e spent studying and preparing on our own, the other three with our first teacher (Hermana Richards), and the last three with Lucio.

Also, for those that care, we found out today the days we are returning home. Mine said September 19th 2017.

I'll send pictures in another email

Well, it's been a crazy past few days. Life at the MTC isn't exactly glorious, but its doable. The days are soooooo long, but everyone says that once you hit Sunday its starts to speed up and then when you hit the mission field everything goes lightning fast.... but we will see about that... So far, in the past 3 days, we have probably spend 30 hours in our classroom learning Spanish and less than one third of that was with our teacher Hermana Richards. The rest of that time we have been on our own. I have two companions, Elder Bunker and Elder Broadhead. They are awesome! We have been having a lot of fun together so far.

Learning Spanish is going ok... We are in the advanced class so sometimes it seems like a little much but it's never too bad. Our teacher is really nice and cool but its frustrating to only hear Spanish for several hours. Whenever she slips up and starts speaking English I swear she start to look like an angel. We taught our first lesson to Lucio yesterday. We taught him about God and how to pray. He is a native and only speaks Spanish so I'm not going to lie; it was difficult. I'm also a little ahead of my companions so it was a little stressful because he would only look at me and I had to do most the talking. Which, isn't too bad at first when we are all learning, but it's hard when I'm not as quick on my feet.

Our p-day for the next five weeks is going to be on Saturday. Which is awesome. Also, something else I've learned is that we can receive mail everyday. There is a website that is called dear elder and you can go on and type my name and unit number ( Which is 102) and I can receive that message later the afternoon and evening. So hit that up!!

All the instructors and leaders here are so incredible. They are powerhouses. We met our branch president yesterday and the whole time I was kinda freaking out because I realized my top button on my shirt wasn't buttoned, and apparently, he is a SUPER big stickler on that type of stuff. So the whole time I just beamed into his eyes hoping he wouldn't break I contact and look down at my shirt... And im proud to say.. It worked.

My companion  Elder bunker is going to the south tip of Argentina and Elder Broudhead is going to Manchester New York Speaking Spanish. I've only heard of one other person ever going to my mission and that was from a guy in my district whose older brother went to my mission a little while ago. He was telling me that his brother got robbed twice at gunpoint, 3 times with knives, and 4 other times with no weapons. Apparently, he also got special training on how to avoid that type of stuff. He would carry a wallet full of fake cards and strap his real wallet to his chest. Whenever someone would ask him for the time he would just carry an extra cheap watch to give to them because apparently whenever missionaries would look down at their watches, the thugs would punch them in the face and knock them out and take their stuff.... So basically what I learned from those stories is that I have the potential to become Jason Bourne these next two years.

Oh, and I'm sorry to my Mom and Hanna who had to read that....

Well, we only have an hour to write, so till next time.