Soda and Kisses

Making Tang

"Hey everybody! Everything is going well here in Grand Bourg. I am starting to get a little more used to this life style, but it is still a little weird. It makes me appreciate where I am from so much. This place is crazy though, I have kissed more guys on the cheek... and drank more soda in the last two weeks than I have in my whole life! It is very different but it is great!

"This week the Castellano came a long a little more. I am starting to at least understand what people are talking about. I still cant really understand all they say, but I can pick out most of the words and put together what I think they are saying. And it really depends on the person too. Some people speak really clearly, so I can kind of understand them. But some people just mumble and speak really fast, and it is hard to believe that they are actually saying real words. My companion and I are trying our best to speak as much Castellano as we can out side of the pensión but it is really hard when we both speak english much better. If any of you can tell me real quick any tips or how it was for you to learn a language that would be awesome. Anyways I know I will be fine, because I have already improved a lot but I can get a lot better.

A street

"Anyways this week we were really struggling finding people to teach. We receive a bunch of referencias from people and we contact them and they seem good and they act like they want to know more. So we set up another appointment with them and we go and they are either sleeping or are not there. So it has been really annoying trying to find people. We talk to a bunch of people and we actually have lessons with very few people. We met a lady named Maria (which we have met probably 5 Marias) but she was awesome her sister is a member and most of her family is mormon but she said that she never got baptized. She wanted to meet with us so we set up an appointment, and we went over there and she was not there of course. So we were kind of mad, but a couple days later we thought we should just go back over there and try to get in. We went over there and she was there! She invited us in so just went! ... we went in and we invited here daughter who is 15 to come and listen in. We taught the lesson it went really well, they were really receptive to our words, and they seemed great! I invited her to be baptized and she said yes!... then Elder Laudie invited the daughter to be baptized 6 of June. And she said yes! ...she said she knows it is important to keep the commandments of God so we will see what happens with that... We have another appointment with them tonight so hopefully that goes well!

bowling on p-day

"This week some lady thought I was from Chili and another girl thought I was native to Argentina so that was pretty cool. That was also saying hello haha! I am just so excited to be able to communicate well so I can focus on the gospel instead of focusing on learning a language.

"Anyways it was a good week next week have a mission activity so I will probably not be able to email next Monday. But they said we can email Tuesday morning. Anyways love all you and miss you! Thank you for the emails and pics keep sending them and wish me luck. Love You."

La Primera Semana

We received Sam's first official email from Argentina the day after we video chatted with him for Mother's day. He seemed to be in good spirits and excited to do real missionary work. Here are some excerpts from his email:

"Hey everybody!

Where Sam will be hand-washing his laundry every week.

"I am in Grand Bourg, my area is Islas Malvinas and it is so awesome! I am starting to get used to walking these streets and not being too scared even though you do always have to be careful of robbers. I didn't take any pictures this week of stray dogs on roofs or horses walking down the street. I'm sorry. Anyways yeah this past week was crazy. It was a lot of brain work trying to figure out what people are saying, and trying to act like I know what they are saying. It is actually getting easier everyday to understand what people are saying, but it is still pretty bad. Today the old lady that lives in front of us came and yelled at us again for not paying the rent on time. haha I actually understood what she was saying today it was really cool. I know it will get better but is like torture trying to learn a language. It is harder than calculus haha but it is going to be awesome once I get it down in a few months. Yeah hopefully by the time I talk to you all at Christmas I will be a little better at castellano. I am starting to learn a lot more here than I did in the MTC. It is awesome.

The chapel for his branch.

"It is a lot harder to convert people to this gospel than I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be just teach a few lessons, and they want to get baptized, but everybody always changes there minds. I just hope we have some success here in Grand Bourg. I will probably be here for 3 months so hopefully I have some success while I am here.

"I guess this area is supposed to be dangerous. They don't let sister missionaries serve here but I have yet to feel really unsafe, it is a little weird sometimes, but I feel safe as a missionary. I feel protected, because if I was not a missionary I would not want to walk these streets and start talking to random people. But with my plaque I feel safe. It is cool to walk around with the name Jesucristo on my chest."

He just moved in and his room is already a mess. Shocking.

Argentina: Not like California

On Monday Sam bid farewell to the purple mountains and fruited plains of his youth for two years. Here's his first brief dispatch from the other hemisphere:

Sam didn't send any photos. This is the best I could do.

"I made it to Buenos Aires yesterday at 9 am. We got a little tour of the city and then we basically spent all day at the mission home. This place is crazy! It is not like California. Um I met my companion last night and we went to our area. I am in a city called Grand Bourg. It is about an hour north of the Capital. It is a pretty poor little town, but it is awesome. My companion is from Utah, so he speaks english. We are going to try to speak as much spanish as possible though... [W]e are going to go teach, so it should be interesting. Love you..."