Monday, April 25, 2011

Mon, Apr 11, 2011, Salta Argentina
 
We are here at the internet place late again... following the Oczkewicz tradition I guess :)
 
Anyways, some really cool things are happening here! We have been teaching  a couple really great families and one of them just went to the place to schedule a date to get married so they can get baptized! We are waiting on another couple to get their ID so they can go get a date to get married. This morning the soonest they could get married is the 1st of June so hopefully I don´t get transferred in 3 weeks. Another family we have been working with is REALLY excited to read the scriptures and pray together. The 16 year old daughter never wanted to read or pray but she would read for us when we were there just not on her own. At the end of our lesson last night the oldest son (18) said the prayer and at the end the daughter exclaimed that she wants to says the next one! It is so neat to see families pulling together and finding purpose in life and a greater love for each other and Heavenly Father! It hurt when only 2 investigators came to church but it was Fast and Testimony meeting and it was really great! Some people came who have been inactive for a long time who shared their testimonies! The members who are there every week are really strong but right now that's about 50 or 60. This last Sunday was voting Sunday so alot of people weren´t there. I guess they do it on Sunday in Chile too and everything shuts down - stores and everything. Church gets shortened to an hour on that day there too.
 
Our zone leaders found an apartment and moved out so it's alot nicer at ours now (with only 4). They took the bunk bed I was on so I won´t get leaked on anymore :) Last week it rained super hard and there was a ton of lightning and thunder. I woke up at 3 am to a wet bed and it was still dripping from the ceiling. I sat up and was watching the lightning while catching the drips and dumping it on the floor for  about ten minutes then I just laid back down with my hand under  the leak. I don´t know why I thought that would keep my bed from getting soaked but I didn't really care. I was pretty tired and didn't feel like getting a pan from the kitchen. To my surprise it stopped a few minutes later even though it was still raining just as hard! A cockroach probably plugged the whole for me :) Did I mention that those things are everywhere?!?! Ha-ha -  those and ants! They were  in my bed frame and they are all  over the place. I don´t know how but they don't really bother me that much. We are putting some stuff out for them and trying to keep the dishes cleaned up so that should help. People were just leaving dishes till they needed them but that is changing slowly with less people living here.
 
So the washing maching is kinda weird but it works alot better then a 5 gallon bucket like I was expecting to use! It doesn´t spin the clothes but after I wring them out pretty good I put them in a ¨dryer¨. It spins like 60 miles an hour and gets them almost dry! I was really surprised the first time I used it (after I figured out how to use it with out killing myself). The trick is to get the clothes in it evenly so it doesn't get off balance. Ha-ha! You can only fit a couple pairs of socks and a pair of pants in at a time. I´ll take some pictures of our place now that it´s cleaned up and send them your way.
 
We have been knocking on alot of doors recently so I can practice my Spanish and contacting! It's pretty funny sometimes but we have taught a few people this way so I guess it's not too bad. From one side of our area to the other is a good 30 minutes fast walk!  We do alot of walking since our apartment is outside of our area a little ways. We usually take a taxi back at night since we are usually teaching till the last minute and about to drop! I have never slept so good in my life except for when we get off the boat in Alaska! Ha-ha!
 
Did I mention I want to change my last name?... ha-ha! Should have done it before the mission though. It provides a good starter for conversation though so it is actually a blessing alot of the time! 
 
Oh, we went bowling today with some of the other missionaries and you haven´t seen ghetto till you see what I saw at the bowling alley! Ha-ha! First off, there was a dog sleeping in one of the gutters. It got up when some of the others tried to take  a picture and I guess it hangs out there too much cause it had a broken leg or something!  Not very funny, I know, but there are so many dogs here it's crazy! The next thing that I noticed was that the pins all have a string tied on them to reset them. So sometimes they wouldn't fall down all the way and would lean on other pins without knocking them down (the strings triggered something to tell the machine if it fell over or not)! It was entertaining! Tdog was in a different lane sleeping again when we left. Oh, and they don´t have shoes for you so you just use whatever you are wearing! Elder Pringle wiped out a couple times due to the type of dress shoe  he had on. It was pretty fun. We almost hit a motorcycle in our taxi today. There are no stop lights or anything in most of the areas. It's just a free-for-all. I guess that's one way to learn how to drive carefully. Then there was a couple on a motorcycle and the lady was holding  a beautiful birthday cake or something! I was secretly hoping to see it start flying apart in the wind. It was pretty hot and sunny too so I don´t know how it wasn't melting. 
 
Look up Dulce de Leche on google and see what it is. It is almost like carmel but creamier and they use it on everything here! It is pretty amazing stuff!  Their cakes (tortas) have it in the layers often times. I don´t know where the US went wrong with desserts, but since being here and in Germany, I can see we are really deprived of the the good stuff! Sorry, but it's true. Ha-ha! Bakeries here are great too! 
 
Well, I have to get going but I love you all sooo much! 
 
Elder O

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