Letter Home 2/21/2011

Hola family and friends, 

I am sorry but i only have about 30 minutes
to write this email but I will try to answer all the questions. So to
start off, I love this place. I am in Perico which is more north than
Salta and it is the best area in this mission. It is perfect weather
everyday and our pencion is actually pretty nice. 

Mother, my living conditions are obviously way different here than in your 

perfect house. There is a huge kitchen, a now warm shower and I have a
great room with big windows and outside is grapevines. I will upload
tons of pics next week of the mtc and my mission so far. Funny story,
so the other day I came out of the shower and a 4 inch cockroach was
on my foot and, of course, knowing me and my love for these things, I let
it go but my comp. came and just smushed it in the hallway. My
companion and the 2 other elders I live with are crazy fun to be
around. They are elder Johnson from los angeles, elder Silva from lima
peru and, of course, my comp. from Buenos Aires who knows approximately
20 words of english. 

I love this mission and I am working my freaking butt off. We get about 

20 new investigators a day which is leading the mission but no baptisms 

so far. Of course it is only my 13th day so it is not expected yet, but we 

have a few potentials. One is Diego, he is 13 and just a hoot, he loves 

our lessons but we need to teach him one more lesson before he is baptized. 

He was sick 2 days ago so I bought him a Flash Incredible doll, it made 

me think of going to Pixar in Berkeley with the family and Kevin Peters. 

Anyway, it was 3 pesos which means 75 cents in american money. 

Diego is an amazing boy and he has been changing so much since we 

first saw him. We have taught him 4 lessons so far and he is so mature 

and receptive to the spirit. 

What else, oh right, mother do I spend money? Well yes, don´t I always!!! 

The church gives us a credit card with 600 pesos each month and I buy
mangos and oh my goodness tons of juice. I was a juice fiend before
the mission but now I drink about 3 liters a day and spend no time in
the bathroom because you sweat it all off. I love it here and
especially the power outage last night. It was out for 5 hours and boy
was it dark but wait, mother, thanks to you I had my head lamp and I
actually cooked brownies, carne empanadas and even oatmeal and I am
gonna eat my jello I made tonight. I am now elder Darby the chef so
Danielle, look out - I am gaining more skillz everyday. Besides the
Spanish, everything is literally perfect and I mean perfect. 

I am not sick even though 90% of the missionaries that arrived in 

Salta the same day are and there are 30 of us, so I am one lucky 

son of a gun. The best part is that in my apartment (dad you will love this) 

we can drink from the tap and boy do I hate the taste of water here, but it
keeps me hydrated. No, I don´t really drink from the tap but I would
love to see Rustys face during that one haha. 

As you can tell I am happier than ever even though we walk a lot, 

sweat a lot and my jaw is dropped a ton by how fast they speak spanish.
FOOD!!!!  It is amazing here and I mean that. Empanadas stuffed with
chicken, meat, jerky, and ham and cheese. They are amazing. Also
pasta, chicken with the head on and off and just the best tasting with
no preservatives. The members here are so nice and we have dinner
appointments on Sunday and usually 2 or more during the week. I love
teaching and eating with members because they ask me all about my
family, famous singers and of course, my novia meaning girlfriend. My
comp. tells everyone I have an angel girlfriend and he has as big of a
crush as I do on Danielle. No, he is amazing- I love my comp. and I love
the people here. 

One thing I hate is dogs and wow!!!! there are easily about 20 dogs 

per 2 houses and I am not kidding. You see cars hitting
them and you see them doing otherthings which aren´t really appropiate
but the worst is a lot of missionaries get attacked, it is nuts. I
haven´t had one problem but every other missionary I have talked to
has. I don´t get it, no sickness, no dog attacks, no discouragement,
no bad roomates,and no bad moments. It makes my prayers full of thanks
because I am in a new place and so many things can go bad in an
instant. I freaking love Argentina and I sent Danielle a letter and my
teacher in the Mtc, I lost the letter I wrote for the fam. but I will
rewrite another one. Also Bro. Toole, I would love to write the priest
quorum every week that would be great and very inspiring. I will get on
that tomorrow for sure. Well no mas tiempo para mi so yo amo ustedes
mucho. I love all of you tons and know I am here working for the Lord
and inviting others to the gospel that we all love. I will upload pics
next monday. I love you all but for now nos vamos. See ya later