April 29, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for all the updates! I love hearing for you all! So ya wanna know more huh? Well I felt like I needed to tell more. ha ha! So every day I wake up at 6:30 and do some sort of workout. I shower, cold lots of times and I get ready for the day. At 8 I go right into personal study and right after that companionship study. Here we prepare for lessons we will teach that day. Then after comp study we go right into Spanish study and then after that, I do my 12 week training program with elder Jassman. Then we have member lunches. Dinner does not exist in Argentina ha, the main meal is lunch, right before everyone takes a little siesta for about 4 hrs ha! After lunch we go out and work till 9, then at 9 we are back in the apt planning and getting ready to crash at 10:30. So always a really full day. There is a lady named Paula who we are teaching, she is a single mom with a 9 year old daughter named Venus. They are so cool and so ready to be baptized. They have been to church once so far and they had a great experience. So exciting! They didn't go yesterday though because Venus was sick and didn't feel like she could come, so that pushed back their date for baptism because they need 3 assistances before baptism, generally. Elder Jassman and I made it a goal to find more new people to teach through the members. We have some good plans for this week. This week is the last week of the transfer and so there is a small chance elder Jassman could leave next transfer but not likely, but who knows. Living situation gets interesting at times. We get 700 pesos per month which is lower than any other Arg mission because of car fees from this mission or something not sure just a rumor, but prices are high and at the end of the month everyone is always fighting for food somehow ha. At times our apartment will run out of gas, so the stove doesn't work and no hot water, so for the past few days we have had no money for gas and no gas so cold showers and no food haha fun fun fun stuff!! I love it, I feel like I’m camping haha. It’s funny because here we clap at doors, nobody knocks doors, they stand outside their fence (Everyone has some sort of fence or gate usually) so we stand by it and clap and wait haha. The milk is different here and the cereal too, but it’s so much better because the milk has more taste and the cereal flavor is enhanced, so good. Hand washing clothes is fun. I have crusty socks every day but no problem. The branch I’m in is small and interesting, way different than the states but solid none the less. More active members would help it a bit ha

Kind of interesting, this week I have felt a strong desire to learn in all things. I want to learn about cars, woodworking, planting, plumbing, electrical, cooking, farming everything I want to have experience in. I have felt like I need it. So Dad, don't be surprised if I come to you in 19 and a half months and say "Teach me all you know!" I just don't want to be helpless! haha

Today we hiked a mountain and had such a good time. We didn't take a train we just free climbed it. Some parts were pretty steep and exciting. We could look on one side of the mountain and see our whole area and the other and see Cordoba Capital. It was way cool. My camera is being weird so ill figure out how to get pics maybe this week or next. It was a very hard climb but very fun and cool!

Love you all!


Elder Nelson