July 1, 2013

Sorry this is a week late!  It would not send last week, so my sincerest apologies... but you will have a new letter this week, too!

Hola, todo!

This was my first complete week here in Argentina and it has, of course, been interesting. 

My mission president has very high standards of performance for the missionaries here.  We have lots of requirements for numbers of lessons and contacts and everything here, which is definitely very different from how my mission president in Louisiana operated.  That has been a bit of an adjustment for me, but I am learning quickly. 

There a lot of old people here.  I dont know if its an average amount or not, but Hermana Costa and I seem to visit and talk to a lot of them.  Several times a day we end up having conversations with little old men on street corners that have a very wide, very interesting range of personalities.  Most of them like to talk a LOT.  Its interesting because I can either understand a ton of what they say because they speak slowly, or I cant understand a word of it because they have really thick accents.  Either way, it makes for a very interesting experience.  Almost invariably they tell us their entire life story.

We have been talking to basically everyone this week because we really arent teaching too many people who are progressing and learning and willing to listen.  We have a lot of work to do with those that are and desire to learn more.  Before someone can be baptized, they have to be willing to abide by the commandments, including those regarding the law of chastity.  Thats quite a problem here... almost everyone that we teach is juntada... living with someone unmarried.  My companion and I decided we are just going to have one giant fiesta for all of the people we are working with and get them all married at once.  That will work... right? 

I hope that everyone got to listen to the broadcast from the first presidency last week.  It was excellent, all about missionary work and how the missionaries need the members.  It is very true.  The work goes much smoother when missionaries have the support of a strong ward and members who are willing and able to help them in their efforts.  I hope you are all anxiously engaged to help the missionaries in your respective areas.  I can guarantee that they need it.