October 24, 2011

HI.

So yeah. This Sunday was election day in Argentina. It was strange to me because in America, people always talk about how few people turn up to vote for our President even though everyone complains about the political/economic situation of the country. There is a lot of political ignorance and there are far too many people who like to talk and do nothing about it. Well in Argentina, it is the law that each citizen must vote in the elections. Or they get nailed with a huge fine. Yet these people are a hundred times more ignorant than Americans!! They just go and vote for whoever they want because the government is so corrupt, it's all the same to them. That's just a random thing I noticed this week.

This week was a blast though. Being in the office, I get to see all the missionaries who go home as they leave, and then all the new missionaries as they come in and begin the next 22 months of their lives. The week was relatively stressful though because we were busy non-stop all day long making sure everything ran smoothly with all the meetings, meals that were fed to the new missionaries, taking care of luggage as it was delivered in vans, explaining procedures and rules, and dealing with the trainers and all their requests all while managing our own assignments in the office. And then we spent all of Thursday moving houses. (We left the dark, dim, dirty old house we lived in before to live in a brand new house that belongs to a member of the church that currently lives in Cordoba. We're renting it now because it's huge and has space for new missionaries/leaders that come into Bahia Blanca each transfer for meetings). So on Friday I had only a few hours to get 20 boxes ready and shipped off by 5 o clock to all the zones in the mission! I am sure you all find this super interesting but that's all I did all week!

As for teaching the gospel, we found some cool investigators this week but most of them have already told us not to come by anymore for some reason or another! And as for Rodolfo, the man we have been teaching for a week or so, he could not come to church because he had to go vote (which is a complicated matter here I suppose). But I'm sure he'll continue progressing and investigating because he actually went to Institute on Wednesday night! Just not church on Sunday, like I said.

Elder Araya and I continue learning a lot together about how to teach, how to live together, how to study and learn from each other. I have really learned the importance of good planning each night for the following day, and the importance of doing our daily practices to improve our teaching. We try to help and motivate each other as often as possible (and trust me that's necessary with the circumstances in our area) because we know that we can have success no matter where we are. Its interesting living with a whole new set of people at all times. It allows me to really see who I am as a person because I have to learn to react in new situations away from the comfort of home and those who I already know.

As for driving stick shift, I've got it down. I like it a lot actually, it's really fun. And Mom, you would be scared to death were you to drive in Argentina. It's basically void of traffic laws. Except one: don't get hit or hit anyone else. So yeah, I'll be able to return and drive the Mustang with no problem at all :D :D :D And hey, it's good to hear that Angela's chocolate business is going well. Tell her to send me some, that'd be super cool of her. And Christian's email made me laugh a lot because I hear the same thing all the time from the Argentines!! "Chicos, I'm currently bathing my baby!" Lies. Oh and that reminds me, Mom you haven't managed to forward any Tanner's emails to me in months! If you could, that'd be great. I would like to hear how he is doing. I wrote him but he's Tanner so he has yet to respond. And if you could also get a hold of Jordan Wheeler's address for me, I'd like to respond to the letter he wrote to me from the MTC. But now he's in Mexico I'm sure.

Anyways, I am done with this letter now! Thank you for all writing me! And thank you for reading. Chau!

-Elder Garrison