Leaving Feliciano

Hey everyone!!!!! It was so great to talk to everyone Sunday, I'm glad you could all be there!!! I miss being together as a family talking like that, it was so fun! I loved the 3 pictures you sent me, too, they turned out perfect. The small file size on the pictures worked out great, because they only took a second to download!! I loved the pictures and almost fell out of my chair when I saw Marisa!! (No offense, Marisa, ha ha :) ) It was a great call, and now I look forward to the Christmas call!!!

Well, you're probably all wondering about transfers so I'll let you know. I'm going to........Rosario Oeste!!!!!!!!!!! Woooooo hooooooo!!!!!! This was my absolute dream zone, I was pretty sure I was going to stay in Feliciano but instead I'm going to go to the NUMBER ONE ZONE that I was hoping for!!! This is the zone where my "dad" went and still is as zone leader. (In their mission, the elders call their trainer/first companion "dad" and the trainer calls the greenie they train "hijo" or "son.") So I'm going to be in my dad's zone. I talked with Elder Petersen for quite a while last night, we're both pretty excited, and what's even more exciting is there's another old friend in the Rosario Oeste Zone. His name is.....Elder Anderson!!!!!!!!! My first comp in the MTC!!! Elder Anderson and I talked for a long time yesterday, too, it was awesome. What's really interesting is that I'm going in to Elder Anderson's old area and replacing him!!! (He is moving to another district but still in the same zone, which rarely happens.) I'm going to be with his old comp, in his old penche and everything, it's going to be awesome! Oh, and Rosario Oeste = Rosario West. Also, my comp for this transfer is another Latin, which is just what I wanted for language purposes!!!!! I found out that both Elder Rojas and I were originally planned to remain together in Feliciano for this next transfer, but at the last minute, the assistants changed it. My new comp is from Chile, and his name is Elder Reyes. I only talked to him for a few minutes yesterday, because I wanted to talk to Elder Andersen, but Elder Reyes seems pretty cool, and since he's a Latin, the pench will be full of commotion always, even though it's a two-man pench. I'm very excited about this new transfer.

My specific area is a town called Casilda, which is about an hour from Rosario, it's secluded and separate, but Elder Anderson tells me it's a good-sized city still. :) It can't be smaller than Feliciano!! So it'll be cool. I am hoping we get meals with members there sometimes, since that doesn't happen in Feliciano.

Today is also going to be an awesome day. After I finish my letter, we're going to an asado with our branch president!! He doesn't know we're leaving yet, he's going to be pretty sad, but the asado will be fun just the same!!! So it's pretty funny, that we are eating our first time with members in Feliciano when we are leaving.

To answer your question, yes, Elder Rojas got to speak with his family for Mother's Day too, but not until yesterday (Monday) because his mom couldn't call on Sunday for some reason, so he had to go buy a phone card and call her himself. So he talked to her Monday and said that all goes well with the family!!

No, we can never let anyone else (that's not part of the mission) into our penche, so having members over could never happen.

Yes, the kids study English in school, but can only say three phrases even when they have finished school. They can say, "How are you, What is your name, and How is your family." A member who went to school and has studied English for 6 years showed me her work book for the year. I thought it was her homework for one day because it was so small!!! They really do learn nothing! 6 years and she was learning the words for I, you, he, she, we, they. How they're so far behind and learn so little I'll never understand, but I love Argentina all the same. But it's okay, they feel special when I talk to them in English anyway.

I'll be taking a few different buses tomorrow to get to Rosario, then Casilda. The bus system is modern, and the buses are all good, most of them double deckers, and pretty nice.

Yes, I am getting better from this sickness, still coughing but feeling pretty good.

Well, I better go, let me just say, thank you to everyone for being there Sunday, it was the best and happiest phone call I've made in my whole life, and it was so great to hear, actually hear with my ears, all of you. Also, I know that relatives like Nana and Papa and all the others who live far away would have been there to talk if they could've.

Thanks for all you do and all your love and prayers. I love you all and hope the best for everything you do. Next week I will tell you about my new area as well as send photos. (I'm hoping and assuming the computers in my new area will be able to read USB at least, ha ha!!!)

Love you all,
Eric

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