October 17, 2011   Tartagal  Argentina

Well I am waiting for my new companion right now. It was really sad to see my companion go. Another missionary from Columbia left from our apartment today to go home also. One other in our district left in the group too!

My new companion hasn’t arrived yet. They should be getting here in an hour or so. We are a companionship of three until they get here.  Anyways my new companion is named Elder Stevenson. That’s all I know. He was actually the comp of my companion who just went home. Sounds like he is really nice!

So about 4 months go I lost a plaque [name tag] and so I ordered a new one from the offices. They have to order them from Buenos Aires so it takes a while. It came in but I couldn’t figure out how to pronounce it... give it a try! They spelled it Oczkktnicz!!! They had my name in the office so I don’t know where it went wrong. haha. Guess I might get one spelled right before I go home!

So on Friday we had a zone conference with Elder Aidukaitis (a seventy from Brazil) and it was really good! They changed a few things that will take a little getting used to but I am sure they are inspired to make these changes. Oh, he has a really funny but cool accent too! Part of it is his voice but now I want to hear other Brazilians talk Spanish! Haha.
So right now we have lunch, depending on the family, at like 12 or 12:30 and we have 1 1/2 to 2 hours for lunch since we don’t have a dinner break. Now they are saying 1 hour for lunch (which is how long we wait for it to be ready sometimes) and we are to have a snack or dinner while planning at 9:30 or 10. I never liked eating at that time since I can’t sleep well but they also suggested grabbing a snack while working in the evening.
We study at 3 till 5:30 and between lunch and study we can’t tract because of the siesta here. Most would be eating lunch at that time. We are to go back to the apartment and use the time to clean and if we can get appointments for 4:30 or 5 then we will study sooner. That’s about the time the siesta is over. It’s also the hottest time of the day so it will be nice to be able to be inside during that time! I will have to get a sombrero soon. It’s required during the summer here in this part of the mission.

 We are working with a few people who have family in the church right now. Between them and references we have the best success here. We were walking out of the church the other night after a lesson there and a guy stopped us and wants to talk to us about how he can stop using drugs. It’s so cool when people contact us instead of the other way around! Haha. He didn’t come to church and we didn’t make it to his house yesterday so we are going to try and find him tonight if it’s not too far out of town.

Well I have to write the mission president and go to the bus stop! I love you all!

Love,  Alex!