Eric Hanson: Hola from Rincon!

Eric with church members in Yapeyu/San Agustin

With Elder Hernandez, who was in his zone. It looks as if this picture was taken in the morning while Eric was getting ready to put on his tie. (Sometimes other elders come from different areas and stay at the pench overnight to be there in time for an early-morning zone meeting.)

With Elder Kaipelea

With young friends in Yapeyu/San Agustin

Hey family,

What's up?! Another week has blown by for me here, and I'd imagine the same for you guys. I loved seeing the photos you sent me and everything. I am sending you some, but my camera battery just died so unfortunately, those are all I'll be able to send this week, but next week I should be able to send you many more. The fotos are all from the area I just left.

Well, I'll get right to explaining all about my new awesome area. My new area is Rincon as you already know. It's really only about 30 minutes away from my last area by taxi, but seems far away because it is across the huge river and has its own river. In fact, that's how I got to my new area, I just took a taxi!!!! Anyway, do you remember in my last area how I mentioned there was a Wal-mart that we went to, well my new area is on the other side (east) of Walmart.

I love Rincon, it's an awesome area. Rincon is also like a pueblo (small town) and is surrounded by campo (countryside) and lots of rivers but is not too far outside the city, so it has the benefits of a pueblo, as in it's peaceful, safe, etc. and it also has the benefits of the city, like we can still take transportation to get to stores and McDonald's and Walmart in Santa Fe. Rincon, although small, is really spread out, and we have to take the bus a lot, because our area is HUGE. It's awesome though, all of Rincon is sand. The streets and plazas and everything are sandy, just like we're at the beach. I really like it, this whole city is just like a beach town. I'm sure Holly would love it here. Also, the weather's very nice despite that it's winter. In the mornings and evenings it's very cold, but during the day, I usually only wear my suit jacket and sometimes even that can be too much! It seems like spring here, it's crazy.

Like all of Argentina, there's lots of dogs and birds, but as a general rule, the dogs are much nicer here. Our pench is nice, not the nicest or anything, but it's fine. It's a two-man pench, so it's a lot more quiet. In the pench I have a huge study table which is nice, and a bed that looks like a fat person slept on it in the same position for years, because there's a dramatic dip where I lay my back, and my legs are higher up.

It is really nice to have all of Rincon to work in. We have some cool investigators that I hope to see baptized. One guy is pretty emotional all the time, and it seems like he is always upset about something, but even though he was supposed to work last Sunday, he came to church and really liked it. Our church is pretty nice. We have a nice building and a bishop that shows up. Also we have counselors that show up. Probably the best member of all is this one guy who was actually excommunicated but recently came back. He's an awesome guy and is almost like a missionary, always sharing the gospel with people and helping people and giving us the names of people to teach. He's the one who guided us to the emotional guy.

My comp's name is Elder Boudreau, as you already know, ha ha, that's so funny about knowing his mom on missionary moms. He's a great guy and loves to work. He's a good workhorse and is nice to all.

A member washes our clothes, and she does it in just one or two days! She's an inactive member, so hopefully we can work with her a little.

Don't worry about me, I'm doing fine, and don't worry because I won't have problems getting the allergy stuff you told me about unless they don't have it in Argentina. Prescriptions don't really exist here, EVERYTHING is over the counter, including many drugs that I'm sure are illegal in the States. I'll look for the stuff you said to get, and try to get some. I might have to take out a little money, but I'll only take out what I need. I always check the balance before taking out money, so I'd never take out more money than the card has. And yes, I am changing my contacts and using new toothbrushes regularly.

We just went to McDonald's to eat, and when we are done here at the ciber, we are going to Walmart to buy our food for the week. That part makes me feel like I'm in the States!

President Villalba does the transfers, and we don't have any say in where we are assigned. Every week we write to the President about how the work is going with our area, and in this email we can ask to be transferred to other areas, or stay or whatever, but in the end it's his decision, and he's going to put you where he puts you. As President Villalba puts it, he can't do whatever he wants to either, it's all the Lord's decision and he just follows the inspiration. I love moving around and seeing different areas, and there are lots of other elders who move around a lot too, although there are some elders who seem to stay in areas for a long time. Whitewashes happen all the time here, because there are usually lots of transfers. (A whitewash is when both missionaries in an area are transferred, and the two new missionaries to the area rely on the previous elders' notes and instructions to find the families they were working with.)

I am so sorry to hear about Uncle Roland. He will be missed. My prayers are especially with Aunt Lisa right now, and I hope the services go well and the family can all be together for them.

I want you all to know I love you and miss you all, but will continue forward with the work here in Argentina!

Love,
Eric

Mom's note: I found the following pictures on the internet which show some views of Rincon, Eric's new area.