Well this week has
been crazy and I don’t have a lot of time to write so I gotta type fast haha.
So we got into Salta
Monday night. All the plane rides were not fun but I guess that’s ok. The first
night we ate at President Chaparro’s house and had some delicious meat. I’m not
sure what it was, haha but it was good haha, and we had some other stuff. The
next day we had interviews and meetings in the mission home and met our new
companions and we had empanadas! Holy smokes those were amazing!!! My companion
is Elder Hermansen. He is from Sandy Utah and he is a very cool guy and a good
Missionary.
I am in Tucuman in a
city called Alderetes. So before I left on the Mission I said I wanted my first
area to be super ghetto and have to shower in a bucket. Well I got exactly that
except for the shower part haha. We have a shower and we also have a biday. Ya
the biday is weird.
This area is super poor. All the people here live in one room
houses made out of cinder blocks. It is really sad to see how some people have
to live and it is very humbling. Tucuman is known for people getting robbed
haha, and today we went shopping and Elder Burr, the older Elder in our pension,
almost got robbed haha so I will be careful. I don’t carry my wallet with me. I
just carry 50 pesos on me if we need a taxi or a bus. We walk mostly though.
We eat lunch everyday
with members. I eat a lot of rice and meat and a lot of soda. I have been
staying away from soda for a while but here the soda is more common than water
so everybody has soda.
Today we went to a sandwich
place for lunch called Dogsy and it was really good. I had like a steak sandwich
with a bunch of stuff on it and then we went shopping. There is pretty much
nothing American here so all the food in the store is different, but the food
is alright. We have bread with like every meal and the bread is really good
here. I have also had pasta too but empanadas in Salta was the best thing I had
so far.
I know why they call
it Salta La Linda now. It’s because everywhere else here is ugly haha,
especially Buenos Aires. Alderetes is very poor and ugly too. There is trash
everywhere and there is always a fire everywhere cuz people just burn their trash
and leave the fire haha.
The people here are so
cool and I love teaching our investigators! I already had a Baptism haha!! Her
name is Cecilia and she is so awesome and her son and daughter have already
been Baptized, and she just got married so the husband and other daughter are
getting Baptized this Saturday, and the next, so I am way excited. They are a
great family. The first day I got here me and my companion went downtown to
drop off their papers and stuff to help them get married.
Baptism of Cecilia August 2, 2014
So the other night we
went to teach a family that I haven’t met yet and at the end the father gave me
a hug and then kissed me on the cheek.... I was shocked but didn’t say anything,
and after we left the house I started crying haha, and my companion is like,
are you ok, and I’m like dude, he just kissed me!!!! Ya they do that here so I’m
gonna try and avoid that.
Our apartment is a lot
nicer than the people’s houses here, and I’ll just leave it at that haha. So
they don’t call it Spanish here, they call it Castellano and I always wondered
why, but since I’ve gotten here I now understand. It’s because it’s not Spanish.
I barely understand anything like I just sit there and am like whaaaaa? But I
am getting better each and every day.
It has been a pretty
good week but pretty scary. The first day we got on a bus and I’m hanging half
way out the door and the dude starts driving. I’m like bro you are gonna kill
me!!! They drive crazy here like it scares me to get into a taxi! Other than
that it has been good.
The first couple days
were very hard adjusting but I had a few things come to my mind! 1. 1 Nephi 3:7
-the Lord doesn’t give us anything that we can’t accomplish. I am having a hard
time with the language and was wondering how in the world am I gonna do this,
but the Spirit reminded me of that scripture. 2: Romans 5:3 - Bear your
afflictions with patience. I also thought of Joseph Smith and everything that
he went through. I thought a lot about this and it’s tough, but I know that I
will adjust to living here and things will work out. And number 3, is the story
of the starfish. I was thinking earlier this week, how am I gonna help all
these people. I want to help them all but I know I can’t do that, so the story
of the starfish helped me. There was a man walking on the beach one day at low
tide and all the starfish were washed up on shore, and he was walking down the
beach picking them up throwing them back in. Another man saw this and said that
will never make a difference because there are so many, and as the man said
this, the other man bent down again and picked up another starfish and threw it
back in the water and said, it made a difference for that one. I may not be
able to save everyone and help everyone here, but I know that the Lord has
people out there for me that I can help make a difference. So faith, patience,
and making a difference for that one, are the things I learned this week!
Oh ya we played soccer
with the our district today and that was really fun. Other than that everything
is great but crazy. Love you all and hope you have a good week, and I got
pictures.
Love,
Elder Lester
Time in Salta
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