Letter #1 (From Last week)
Dear Family!
I´m so glad to finally be able to talk to you! It seems like it has been forever... The reason they moved P day is because transfers came a week early. I think its so people could pack up and move and all that stuff. But I am staying with Elder Maude in Villa Maria of course. So much stuff has happened in the last 10 days! I'm really glad the office told you our P day would be moved. Man I don´t even know where to start. Last Sunday we had our first Baptism! His name is Hernando Rinta. He is a really cool guy. I only taught him once so I don´t know him that well. Baptisms here are a lot different than baptisms in California. A lot smaller. But it was really cool. I am really enjoying our ward here. The people are all really awesome and really nice. Tomorrow we have a big cook out sports night at the church. It should be really fun. The weather is hot! Except we had 2 way random days where it was pretty cold. One day it rained a ton. The streets completely filled up with water. It was like a river! We got soaked. We were just walking around in the mud and water trying to find somewhere to go. Finally someone let us in. But that day was really fun. I'll always remember it.
OK so the pictures.The first is me on the top of our pension. Pretty sweet view huh? The wind is blowing really hard right there. I actually took that today. The other one is of a sweet basketball hoop ha ha. Isn't that awesome? I have seen some of the craziest things since I have been here. Sometimes I forget I'm in Argentina. I really love it though.
The bakery is so good. I usually get what are called facturas. They are like 30 cents. They are really flaky and in the morning warm. Some are cream filled and others are just sprinkled with sugar. Dad I don't know if I am gaining weight. Nobody here has a scale thus far. I'm trying to eat somewhat healthy though. We eat just about everyday at members houses. We have had some really good stuff and other stuff that isn't so good... But its a great experience to try all the food. So far we have only had the Famous Argentine Beef twice. SO GOOD! Its expensive and members just cant afford it. Tomorrow will be really awesome at the cook out i bet.
Halloween looked awesome!! Sounds like you all had lots of fun. Joseph and Olivia I really love your costumes. You both looked great. It was hard to be away from you on Halloween. But we had a really cool day on Halloween to make up for some of the sad feelings. We spent the whole day helping this family move houses. And get this we only had a little cart thing to move everything! Luckily it was only 3 blocks down and 2 blocks to the right. But they didn't want to throw anything away. I felt like we were just hauling tons of junk. Its also kinda hard to move when you have no clue what the person is saying ha ha. So after we got them all moved the Dad made Asado. That is like the best known Argentina Dish. He bought tons of steak and sausages and then you cook it on coals in this little brick oven thing. It takes about 2 hours to cook. It was so good! Definitely the best meal I have had so far. The funny part was we were all just sitting around the table and I just felt like something was missing... It was plates!! Everyone just started diggin in ha ha. It was so funny. You´d grab some salad with your hands and then pass it around. And there was 1 cup ha ha. I have never experienced anything like that. It was so crazy. What a Halloween.
This last week we on Saturday the coolest thing ever happened. We had another service project where we actually helped some people to build a house. We mostly just moved rocks around but it was still fun. I have always wanted to combine my 2 favorite things into 1 while I have been here. That is teach a lesson, and play basketball. On our way home from the service project we did just that. We walked through a park and these guys were playing. We asked if we could shoot with their other ball ( of course we knew they´d invite us) and they invited us to play. It was way fun. I don´t think they expected us to be as good as we were ha ha. We kinda killed them. I even broke a piece of the backboard off with a dunk. It was really fun. Then after we talked about the church and what we are doing. some of the guys were interested in the libro de mormon so were going back in 2 days to share it with them. What a great way to do missionary work ha ha.
I miss you guys lots. But I'm having a really good time here. Its so so so amazing! I'm so glad to be doing the Lords work. I'm learning a lot everyday. Even though its hard its so rewarding. This is truly the greatest mission ever. I guess Ill talk to you all on Monday!
Riley
Letter #2 (This Week)
Dear Family,
This week was really awesome here in Argentina. I feel like i learned alot. Both my Spanish and my Gospel knowledge. I also am getting to know our area pretty good also. I feel like I'm getting more and more settled in so that's nice. It still seems weird that I'm in Argentina though. So last Tuesday a Hurricane hit Villa Maria! Seriously! It was crazy. Elder Maude and I had 30 minutes left before we had to be back at the pension so we decided to go to this less active members house. He lives 4 blocks away so we thought it would be perfect. Out of nowhere the sky totally just got way dark and there was tons of lightning. The lightning was so cool! It wasn't vertical, but horizontal! So so so weird. and there wasn't a single second where the lighting would stop. Then the rain came. One minute we were dry and the next we were soaked. We were knocking doors like crazy to try and get into houses, but nobody would open up. Its the most rain I have seen in my whole life. Just buckets and buckets. The streets filled up within minutes. There was tons of wind also. you couldn't look up without getting tons of rain in your eyes. So we started for home. Then all the power in the whole city went out. Not one single light anywhere! We were trying to cross streets with water up to my knees. The only time you could see was when the lighting would light up the street for a split second. It was the weirdest thing, I was completely wet and cold, but I was warm. I was happy. Just happy to be a missionary and to have the Gospel. We finally made it home after 35 minutes. 4 blocks is all! So crazy. Me and Elder Anderson went up on the roof of our apartment and watched the storm until it stopped about an hour later. I thought about the Nephites when Christ visited them. It had to be like that. The thunder was deafening. The wind was knocking down trees and stuff. So so cool. Its funny how you can feel the spirit in a time like that. The sad news is... My camera broke. Everything in my bag got soaked. Luckily my memory card is OK. Does it have a warranty or what? I don't really know what to do. Cameras here are pretty cheap? I don't know tell me what you think.
OK we had another cool meal. We ate at the same house that we helped them move on Halloween. We ate rabbits ha ha. It was so weird. Yes without utensils or anything. No beer this time though so that was good. Also they had raw pork that was salted a ton. It was very weird. I don't know why they didn't just cook it. But it was a way cool experience. Other than that haven't eaten to many weird things.
We found 3 new investigadors that I am really excited about this last week. I know that we can help them. Its good because now that we have set progressive investigadors we have something to do. Its alot better than just knocking doors ha ha. As fun as that is..
Well I love you all very much! Thank you so much for your emails and more than anything for your prayers. It really means the world to me. Have a good week everyone.
Love Riley
I love the pictures!!! He looks like he's doing great :)
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