Tons of Traveling in Expensive Arroyito!

I've been in my new area for a week now, so now I can tell you a little more about it. So. Arroyito is a little town out in the middle of nowhere, centered around this huge factory of the company "Arcor". What they did was built this factory out in the country, and then just brought in a bunch of people from other cities to work there, and eventually the town was built up around it. So basically everyone in the town works in the factory. But this town is actually really different from any other part of Argentina that I've seen. Since everybody has a job, its actually pretty nice, a lot of the houses look American and there isn't a lot of poverty like there was in La Rioja. But the bad thing is, since everybody here has money, the store owners have raised the prices on everything. So its all pretty expensive here, but we still get the same amount of money as all the other areas in the mission. So that's kind of rough.

Another thing weird about this Area is that in our district there are only 4 missionaries, us 2 and 2 sisters. We have district meetings every Wednesday, and like I said we are out in the middle of nowhere. So we have to take 4 hours of buses to get to where they are. Thats 4 hours each way, and we also have to go there at random times during the week for baptismal interviews, stuff like that. The bus schedule is also really unpredictable, and we have no way of knowing without going to the terminal and asking. So sometimes we end up taking buses really, really late. We have to sit in the bus terminal a lot. For example, our bus left at 12:30 Am last Wednesday...we got back to our apartment at 3 Am. That is something I never would've expected to do in the mission. So with all the traveling, this area is really unique in the mission. We only end up getting about 4 working days in our area during the week because we have to travel so much. its interesting. 

It is also really really cold here, and it has been raining for the past 3 days. The rain feels like ice, but we have to travel on bikes always because our area is so big. Walking would just be a huge waste of time. The bikes make it soo much colder though. I never wanted to know what it felt like to ride a bike in the rain during winter at 3 AM, but I found out hahah. 

We have a couple of investigators named "belen". 4 of them, they are all girls, and they are sisters actually. Their parents just really liked the name Belen they said. So they go by their middle names, except the oldest one, her name is Belen Belen. There are some really weird parents in Argentina! But yeah they were supposed to come to church with us on Sunday, and we had promised them breakfast. we bought it the night before and then showed up at their house at 7:30 Am in the rain, but they didn't come out of their house. So we shared a breakfast for 6 people between us 2 haha. 

The ward here is bigger than in La Rioja, but it is just as strange. The bishop is a big red head (he looks like a viking, because he has a beard. Such apostasy!) and he is one of the only red heads I've seen in argentina. They do good with helping us out though with lunches and coming with us to lessons if we ask. 

I must share a nightmare experience from sunday afternoon. We travelled to the city of san fransico (2 hrs in bus) to give a baptismal interview to a lady to be baptized that night, by her husband. They are a pretty old couple. First of all, the baptism was planned for 5 pm. The couple had a bus ticket back home, leaving at 7. (another 2 hr ride, Everything is super far away here.) But the baptism was delayed almost two hours because there was no hot water...they were heating water in pots and pans with the stove, and then pouring it into the font. It was ridiculous, it would've taken a whole day to fill it that way. It was such a joke. So eventually they just used cold water to fill it because they were gonna miss their bus, but by the time they started doing that they didn't have time to fill it all the way. So they proceeded to the baptism with it barely half filled, and the poor old guy trying to baptize his wife had a really hard time doing it. The first 3 attempts she didn't go all the way under, and then he messed up the prayer another 3 times. Eventually a big tongan elder got in the water to help him out. Remember that the water is cold, and it was freezing cold in the church as well. So the lady is already suffering enough, but then this annoying little kid was nice enough to shout out really loud that her clothes where basically see through. So that was really uncomfortable. 

It couldn't have gotten worse right? wrong. They missed their bus...the last one of the night. Thankfully a member from san francisco offered to drive them all the way home. So we were all very relieved. But that was not the end...we found out that he EX boss called her and told her that she could not leave the city of san francisco because she has a misdemeanor in the city. So she basically got arrested. I don't think it was the wonderful day she was expecting, we are just hoping she doesn't go straight inactive. 

My new comp elder Lyman is really cool. He's from Dallas, and he is really easy to get along with. We might be speaking a little too much english but its okay haha. He has clippers to cut hair, and haircuts cost $100 pesos here. In my last area it cost 30. So I cut my own hair for the first time last night, it was interesting but I think it turned out alright? hahah I never thought i would try that. There are these wild peppers growing on plants here...my comp enjoys picking them off and feeding them to people who aren't expecting it (me ) and also the dogs in the streets to see their reactions. Haha its kinda mean i guess because the peppers are super super hot but its kinda funny too. 

We gave a blessing to a super disabled girl last week...she wasn't a member nor her parents, but some one told us to go to her house and bless her so we did. She couldn't talk or anything but she was smiling a lot after the blessing. I can't describe it very well with words but it was a really nice moment.

Another thing, right now there is massive heartbreak in Argentina...they lost the finals of the Copa America to hated Rivals Chile, and if that wasn't already bad enough messi announced his retirement from the national team. Everyone is sad even me. Its not a good time to be an Argentine!

The last thing Ill talk about this week is Mate...I think I've talked about it before but not in detail. My new comp got me into it, but its basically a bunch of leaves and sticks and herbs mixed up with all natural stuff. The kind I have has mint in it. So you put it in a little container and add hot water and sugar if you want, and then sip it out of this metal straw thing. Haha its weird explaining it in english because they don't have the words to translate the names of the container and straw thing. But yeah its really weird at first, the first time I saw people drinking mate when I got to Argentina i thought they were getting themselves high off of some crazy south american herbs. It its actually really healthy according to our mission president. I attached a picture of some mate.

Thats about all I have to say this week. I hope it was long enough, but don't get used to it haha! I don't always think of this much stuff to say. 

I love and miss everyone!

Elder Christensen 

(see if you can find Ethan!....click on it to enlarge)

(nice haircut!) 

(kind of a creepy cup!) 

Transfer to San Francisco!

I have been transferred from La Rioja! There were a lot of tough times there but also a lot of good times, I'm really really going to miss the converts and investigators that I have spent a lot of time with over the past 4 1/2 months. I never thought it would be hard saying goodbye to an area in the mission, but it was! The people made it hard by crying a lot and giving gifts and coming to see me off at the bus terminal at midnight. Its crazy how fast we can become such good friends with people especially when Im only just beginning to speak the language well haha! But it was a good time and I hope I can come back to La Rioja and visit one day. 

So I stayed up till 3 Am packing on saturday night, and sunday went around saying goodbye to everyone, took the bus at midnight, arrived in cordoba at 6 am, waited there 2 hrs and then took another 2 hr bus ride to san francisco. So im pretty tired and I miss sleeping in my bed. Sleeping in a bus sucks. My new area is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of open fields. It reminds me a lot of South Dakota. My new companion is a gringo from Texas, he seems like a good comp so far but im scared that we are going to talk too much english!

I have no money left for the month, we spent it all on taxis to drive people to church. We are seriously always poor. 

We celebrated fathers day yesterday, it was nice in the ward because people made cookies and stuff. On thursday we had an activity to make banana bread for fathers day, but the sister who invited us didn't follow our directions and it turned out really bad, so we had to make an extra one hahah.

Im already out of time, I have a lot more to say but no time to say it!

I love you all, I hope all is well.

Elder Christensen 

(Sad the email is sooooo short, but look how good this guy looks!!!)

Mission President Farewell

This week was pretty crazy with a lot of travelling, the farewell of our mission president and also a baptism! I almost forgot about the baptism with all the other stuff that has been going on. I probably have forgotten a lot because I haven't slept in a bed for 2 nights and im really tired. The reason I haven't been sleeping in beds is because we traveled to Córdoba sunday night, stayed there monday only and came back monday night. Its a 6 hour bus ride and the buses always always leave at midnight. So that was a rough two nights haha.

The conference was really good, it was nice to see all of my old companions from the MTC and my old area. Presidents last talk was really inspiring. If I had more time I would quote a lot of it but he talked a lot about how Satan tries to tempt us into forgetting that we are sons and daughters of God, and that we have unlimited potential. Read moses 1, and notice how God always says that moses is his son, but the first thing satan says is "son of man". Its interesting to think about. 

We also had a miracle baptism last friday! The lady with cancer finally returned on wednesday night, we encountered her daughter in the street and she told us she was home. We ran over there and baptized her two days later. The ward has been really good at helping her out with food and clothes and anything that she needs. 

There is one catch when baptizing in this ward. Its that the drain for the baptism "pila" does not work whatsoever, so after the baptism we have to take out all the water with buckets, like a sailor who has a sinking ship. It takes about 2 hours and is really hard on the back, arms, and patience. It almost makes baptizing not fun haha but if someone is saved because of it its worth it haha. I can't wait to get transferred to an area with a working drain haha.

I don't have a lot of time, I feel like there is a lot more that happened but I just don't have time and I can't type fast enough. I love you all I hope all is well!

I love you all, 

Ethan

Delicio "Pan De Banana"!

We worked pretty hard last week, we found 18 new investigators. The trick is getting them to progress. We set two baptismal dates last week, one for the 11th and one for the 25th! So hopefully those baptisms happen. The girl to be baptized on the 11th still needs to speak with her dad first and she is so scared to do it! I don't think he would get mad we know him and have talked with him a lot. We explained how the lord helps us in times like this when we are trying to do the right thing, so hopefully she will have the courage to do it now.

Ive been trying to learn how to cook lately, If you'll believe it. My favorite thing to make is "pan de banana" which is banana bread. I promised one of our new investigators named "belen" that I would bring pan de banana to our next lesson, and I did. I made it in the morning and brought it fresh to the appointment but she wasn't home, so we ate it right then and there on her porch! 

My favorite family of investigators right now is the bedoya family. They are super good friends with us and very funny. They have a bunch of crazy kids too. One especially crazy one is named santi. Last week we found him at 9 pm wandering the streets alone in the freezing cold because his parents went to the store or something. He's 3 or 4 years old, but I guess thats normal here. I paid the mom 30 pesos to cut my hair, and while she was doing it he spilled a huge bag of powdered milk all over the floor. It looked like it snowed in there haha. But yeah,that family is really cool, but they smoke, so it might be hard for them to get baptized before I leave this area.

Sunday was super cold and rainy. I predicted we would have nobody at church, I was wrong. We had 10 people. Still an all time low! 

Today for pday we went to this free robotic bed massage place in the city...everyone was super excited but for me it was terrible. Maybe I'm too skinny or something, but it killed my spine and neck! It was the most painful massage of my life. No wonder it was free! 

The best scriptures I read this week was this:  

3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

5 Remember this, which I tell you before, that you may lay it to heart, and receive that which is to follow.

Yes hard times and bad things are going to happen...we just have to remember that God has a plan, and if we continue with faith we are promised to recieve blessings. However, if we lose the faith and stop trying we aren't promised anything. 

I love you all!! Keep the faith!

Elder Christensen