Elder Preston Vance: Week #9 ~Unplugged

Hola Familia!,

This week was great! We had so many contacts! We had so many this morning and it was a blast! Missionary work is fun when people want to listen to you! I can speak and understand a little, but they have very thick accents.

My companion has been out for 1 year during for the first 7 months he did not want to be here, so he did not study a bit. He just let his trainer do all the work. He thinks I am crazy for studying so much. We have been asked to do one Spanish lesson from our book a day, I have been trying to do at least 3 a day to help me to understand what people are saying. But I really want to be the best missionary I can be.

We now have a super market that we can go to! It’s called the Chino or the China it is run by a Chinese family so its called the Chino. The only problem is that we cant buy meat from them even though they have the cheapest prices. The reason behind that is they unplug their freezers and fridge at night! Crazy. It was semana de nino here this week and lots of places were having child oriented events and it was really cool.

It is starting to get warmer, but it is still cold in the morning. I have a ward here in Olivarri. The members are very kind, we have 6 young men. The members let their kids run wild, they run around during sacrament playing cops and robbers and do not care about the noise or distraction. It is awesome!

The other day we walked about 45 minutes to a ward members house. It is a single father with 3 small girls. I was so moved by how little they had and how much they loved each other and us. They live in a shed made from broken cement and rusted scrap metal. He lost his job about 2 weeks ago, his wife who is an alcoholic left him and her girls when she learned the news of his job loss. The man was so happy with a big smile on his face when we visited him. He offered us his share of dinner because he thought we looked hungry and because we were servants of the Lord. Their meal for the day consisted of 5 eggs for the whole family. We did not take it of course! We offered to do some service for him because we are missionaries and love to do service. He said no but sent us to a family that was having a hard time and needed our help more than him. Can you believe his generosity!

I love Argentina, I love the food, I love the members and I love the Gospel. Last night I could not sleep so I read Our Heritage and Or Search for Happiness, yes 2 books it was a long night, but a successful night. I am currently in the process of reading Jesus The Christ, yes dad I need a dictionary to understand it. I really love the Gospel and studying the words that will change my life and others.

I love you all and have to go. I will try to send some pictures tomorrow from our ward house. I cannot find a post office, so keeping my promise to you mom of in hand written letter a week, I have taken a picture of my letter. I love you!

Love, Elder Vance