Tuesday, July 24, 2012

¡Bienvenidos a San Juan! (Welcome to San Juan!)

¡Hola de San Juan, Argentina!

Dang, that is kinda hard leaving an area like that with 6 good months
behind ya. Had some hard despedidos, but the tears make me stronger.
Psh, I didn´t cry...Especially with Chiquita reading a letter I wrote
her along with the one from my parents...Nah, but really, I will miss
just about everyone in that area that I got to know and I still will
continue praying for a lot of them because they are awesome. I hope
that É Toledo can keep it up over there and just baptize like Alma or
somethin.

Yep, I got here all safe and sound traveling with a few other
missionaries headed this way also. Man, I feel like my whole mission
just changed. I am in just a whole different environment. I love San
Juan. Back in my other areas, the things that I always heard from the
members about San Juan was that it is SUPER hot in the summers and it
consists of a lot of chicas lindas. There are more dead dogs than
normal in the street. Kinda sad. It has a lot of country area but
also got that city touch to it. It has been super hot since I have
been here. I actually think I got sunburnt today. It is just crazy
how the weather changes here. The Zonda here is just a huge weather
factor that just changes everything. It is kind of miserable when it
is pretty chili in the morning so you put on a sweater or two then an
hour or two later the sun comes out and burns your face of and makes
you sweat uncomfortably. Complaining doesn´t make anything better
though.

The mission boundaries are all of the region cuyo, to answer mom´s
question. Look it up on Google earth or something. It contains three
provinces. Mendoza, San Luis, and San Juan.

There is a lot more in this area than I have ever had. A few
Gridos(ice cream), a bunch of good panaderías, and much more close to
the house. I even feel a bit spoiled to have so much close to us.
This area is going to take a lot more out of my shoes because
everything is pretty spread out and there are a lot more dirt roads.
San Juan is supposed to be a pretty peaceful and tranquil part of
Argentina even though I we have had a couple super drunk, old guys
come up to us and talk to us(even though I can´t understand what they
are saying because all I can focus on is the stong smell of cheap wine
flowing out of their mouth). Don´t worry though mom, I´ll be safe
here.

We just live in a two-man pench that is rented out by some really cool
members. The familia Camargo is really nice and we have our own
washer and dogs(Mordisco, Negra, Ángel, and Agustín. I will have to
send pics next week). It is now a pretty good looking pench, small
but good, especially after we deep cleaned the thing all Wednesday.

My comp, Élder Wahl is from Arizona, he is tall, and he likes to
party. He is a pretty cool missionary. He is a hard worker and is
really good with people. A very soft speaker and one that I am
expecting will touch the hearts of many good people this transfer. I
am pretty stoked to have the opportunity to work with him and teach
him a bit and learn from him a bit so that we can have the highest
level of success in this area). We are going to baptize more or less
a thousand.

We are working in a ward that just barely got combined(from a ward and
a branch) and now for this transfer it looks like Presidente wants to
try something out. So he split up the work and put two other
missionaries in this ward. Unfortunately the part where the other
Élders are working is where the best investigators are that Élder Wahl
has been working with. But the good news is that we are just finding
a bunch of new investigators by completing our ¨open the mouth¨´s
every day. Hopefully the Lord is preparing some of these people and
their families to get baptized...

We have been working with Cecilia and Luis, an awesome couple that
just needs to get pushed into the water because they are too good.
Cintia is another awesome lady that everyone at church thinks she is a
member because she comes to church each week but is not yet baptized.
She also has an awesome son who just turned 7 yesterday that is super
smart. He is learning English and reads out of the Libro de Mormón
perfectly and fluently. Can Mallory do that? These people go to the
other missionaries now...ugh. That´s alright, we´ll just find more
awesome people here. We have already had some super spiritual lessons
with some less active members so we are expecting to see something
come out of that.

Today, I woke up feeling pretty sick(like with a cold or something)
with a bad coff and gunk all in the throat. So instead of doing
exercises, I just put a blanket out and layed on it doing mental
exercises with my eyes closed. The only thing that remains with me
right now is the sore throat. Hopefully that will go away ASAP.
.....due to these below normal quality computers I will not be able to
send pictures this week. I have a lot though so be ready next week to
be all caught up.

Well, gotta go. Thanks for the prayers. Till next week.
Abrazos,
Élder Deven Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera

That is awesome that Cade is doing a mini mission and is on the path
to receiving the priesthood and going on a mish. I am so proud of
that kid. He is going to be a changed person when I next see him!
Tell josh to write me more than 4 words when he emails me...
No, I don´t get to talk much to other companions. There are some
strict rules here on not calling other missionaries because obviously
missionaries have very well abused that privilege of having a phone.
So we don´t really get to stay too much in contact with old comps or
anything.
That is crazy about the flooding in St. George. I can´t believe it
went up to Luberta-long-leg´s thighs. Isn´t that like 4 feet tall? I
am glad they had a good time over there.
I can´t believe that dad just keeps winning races over there. He
needs to move up to bigger game. I have been able to share my pics a
ton here in these first few days getting to know everyone here so
everyone knows that my dad is a famous cyclist that always takes
first.
Have fun doing all of the 24th activities. I´m sure dad is going to
be the first one over to sleep at the parade. Catch a homerun for me.
Eat a hot dog for me.
That´s awesome with Jimmy, let me know where he´s goin.
Yep, there is a couple Élders here from Riverton. There was Élder
McMullin that was my district leader for a transfer in Godoy Cruz,
Élder Sorenson(don´t know him), who É Stearns from my last area
trained, and I recently met É Ethan Marsh who just barely got here and
is being trained in the area right next to mine(he worked with me at
Rose Creek as a sweeper but I didn´t know him very well).
Thanks for that analogy. I will totally use that this week in my lessons.