Loving Las Delicias

Thank you to Elder Anderson's family for sharing this picture of Elders Calvert, Anderson and Hanson in the terminal in Rosario. As zone leaders, Eric and his companion Elder Calvert stay in the terminal all day on transfer day to assist the other missionaries as they arrive and leave and make their different bus connections with their luggage, etc. The advantage is they get to see many old friends!

Hey family!!! How is everyone!!!

This spacebar on my computer is pretty bad, so some words might be misspaced and messed up. (Mom's note: I have made the necessary corrections so we can read his letter.) Anyway, I'm having a great time out here in the great city of Rosario. I'm really enjoying the new area as well as all the other changes that came with this transfer.

Firstly, I love the new pench. This is probably the best pench in the whole mission. Also, we have a big area and a great ward. We've got an amazing zone with great people in it.

First I'll explain about the pench. We have the craziest but best land lady ever. EVERY DAY (without fail) she cleans our pench, washes our clothes, makes us dinner, washes our dishes, and refills stuff we're low on, like toilet paper, sodas and alfajors. She is definitely a little bit crazy (I'd guess you'd have to be crazy to do all those things for free) but I don't mind. It's a very clean pench, and the perfect two-man pench. On top of it all, we've got air conditioning in the bedroom, couldn't ask for more! It's also awesome being with Elder Calvert, and we enjoy working together.

I randomly got an eye infection (bacterial) this week, but have been taking drops since, and my eyes are fine, so in case you're wondering why I'm wearing my glasses instead of contacts in the pictures, that's why. Oh, you are going to kill me, but this computer isn't loading my photos, so I'm going to have to try next week from a different ciber.

Anyway, today's been an awesome Pday. As zone leaders, we can go anywhere in the zone. Today we went to the Flag Monument, the Peatonal which is like the outside mall in Rosario, and then we ate with some other people at Las Tinajas, the buffet. Now we're writing to our families and sending our reports etc. to the President, and then will take a colectivo (bus) back to the pench, about a 20 or 30 minute ride, and then we will go back to work.

Being zone leader really isn't too much different, except it is more of everything. More stress, more work, more fun, and a little more of everything! I like it and enjoy it, and I'm definitely excited for mission conference in the mission home.

Like I said, I really enjoy the area. It's a big area and I love that. I also love being in a big city with lots of stores to buy food, etc. and being part of a big zone. We're working hard to try and find some cool people and get some baptisms, and I expect we'll be able to do it, because we have found some great investigators that we hope will progress. We don't really have any dirt roads in our area (from what I've seen so far) although we have plenty of villa (slums) and ghetto homes, but everything's paved. We have lots of cops on horses around here and things like that.

I'm enjoying the area and the easy life of our pench. I haven't cleaned anything or made any food. I haven't even hung up a shirt, because the landlady automatically does that!!!! I'll try not to get too spoiled, I hope I can stay here at least one more transfer. Either way, it's really nice. Tomorrow for the first time we'll have a zone meeting and I'll get to meet everyone in the zone, and not just talk on the phone to them. Our zone's pretty hardworking, although like every zone, it has a pair or two of lazy companionships, but overall it's really good. This Wednesday we're going to have interviews with President Villalba, which I always like.

Anyway, I'm sorry I don't have any more time to write, but I have to send in all these dats and reports and other things, and my computer time is going fast. Regarding the mailing thing, I'm not sure how you can send me packages now, and no one else knows how to do it with the new rules, either. So I'm going to have to ask at a post office about how to send it. From what I've heard, you can send to the mission home if there's no fees, but I don't even know which type of packages have fees and which ones don't because the post office never does it the same way twice. I will find out all that for you ASAP.

Lots of photos to come next week for sure, of the pench and the area, etc. I've got to go, but just know that I love you all very much and wish the best for everyone.

Love,
Eric


Since Eric was not able to send any pictures this week, I went on the internet and found a few photos that show his new area and the places he visited on his Pday.

This picture of the Las Delicias area at night. It is very close to where Eric's apartment is located

The Monument to the Flag in Rosario

The Las Tinajas buffet restaurant that Eric and Elder Calvert went to today for Pday

The Peatonal outdoor walking mall in Rosario

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Transferred to the zone Rosario

Elder Petersen on Christmas Day, with his treats from home and the Christmas tacos

Hey family!!! I hope that everybody's doing good. From the email it appears that all is in check. This past week has been good for us as well.

I guess the first thing I'll mention are the transfers!!! First, my son (Elder Larson) is going to.....STAY! He's going to stay here in Ameghino and I am going to......LEAVE! Our pench changed a lot. Elder Petersen and Rallison are going to still be the zone leaders, but they are moving to Centro.

Well, it's all revelation, so I'm excited for the change. I'm going to one of the zones I have always wanted to go to, Rosario!!!!! And get this, my comp is going to be....Elder Calvert! (They were in the MTC together.) I'm going up as zone leader, although that scares me also. But I'll be in an awesome zone with an awesome comp and living in what I hear is like the best pench. It's a two-man pench and the area is called Las Delicias. There's three zones in Rosario: Rosario, Rosario Norte which is where the mission home is, and Rosario Oeste. The zone Rosario (my new zone) is probably the coolest one because it has all the famous stuff in it, like the flag monument and other central stuff, so I'm way excited! I just got done talking to Calvert on the phone and we're both excited. All I know is that the Rosario zone is going to be the new Atlantis....underwater with baptisms!!! From what Calvert just said to me, our landlord lady makes us dinners every night, washes our clothes and cleans our pench daily, that's awesome if it's all real.

Tonight I'll take some pictures with some cool investigators, members, and other good people, although I only have three hours to do it in, and I have to pack. I am quite nervous to be zone leader, but in our mission, when you first go up as zone leader, you are the junior comp, so there is not as much responsibility as there is for the senior zone leader.

So yeah, I've got to get going now. Next week I will send you a good lengthy email with all those nitty gritty details you like. Health's fine, and everything's good here. I'm sad to leave my hijo, but he has learned to walk now.

Anyway, I love you all very much!!! Thanks for all you do!!!

Love,
Eric

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No time to write much this week

Hey family!! Finally I'm able to write you. It took almost all of my time to write to the President, thanks to the lovely computer I am working on in this ciber! So now I have no time left to write or send pictures, but I'll try and give you a quick summary of the week in the short time I have.

This week we had leadership training in our church building, so I didn't even have to travel to attend! It was an awesome training meeting and I really enjoyed it.

The week was good. However, we're a little sad because we had two solid baptisms, which are not going to happen this week now. One was because of an emergency. Yanina, she's about 35, has a son, and early on Sunday morning he fell and hit his head, so she had to take him to the hospital, and was there all day, and even had to go back the next day. But she couldn't attend church, so she can't get baptised this week. So she'll still be baptized, just not this week or transfer. The other one was because one of the parents changed their minds and won't give permission for their ten year old daughter to get baptized. Just the same, we'll keep working really hard.

Today was pretty boring, in fact, we just left the pench. We had to be there all day, because some guy came over to fix all the problems (outlets that don't work, leaky faucets, etc.) We cleaned it pretty good, too.

You asked about the Christmas zone conference. Our zone got together with Venado Tuerto and one other one, which I can't remember now. First we had some normal workshops, and then we had an awesome talent show. Some of my old friends were there, and we all enjoyed being together. After that we sang together and that was basically it. It was a really good zone conference.

This coming week I'll have transfer news! I have no idea what is going to happen. I wouldn't mind staying or leaving, I could go either way, whatever happens I think I'll be happy with, assuming I get a comp who likes to work.

Anyway, I have to go already, but I want everyone to know I love you all and pray for your well being!

Love,
Eric

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Happy New Year!

Christmas presents stacked on Eric's desk

Ready to open their matching gifts on Christmas morning

Looking studly in the new shirts

Eric opening his package

Eric with all of his ties. Maybe he had them all displayed for the "Tie Swap."

Elder Rallison ready to open one of his presents

Hey family!!! It's great to be able to write again! Today we are finally getting back to normal and on a more normal schedule after all the holidays, although today is a half P-day because of New Years. This morning we started off getting some facturas (donuts) and then going to the grocery store Carrefour, which is pretty big, and it seems like it probably originated in the States. Then we tried to get some money out of the ATM's but they are still all out of money from the holidays. So now we are in the ciber writing!

We enjoyed the holidays here (or as they call them here, "the parties") a lot, also! Christmas was awesome here and so was the New Year. I already said a lot about Christmas in the phone call, but I'll give a quick recap because I am still getting questions about it.

First, we had the ward Christmas party on the 23rd. It was really good, and the coolest part was that Jose was the first one there and the last one to leave because he helped set up and clean up everything. It started about 8:30, so we didn't have time for much because the party went until like 2 in the morning. We played a little bit of ping pong on the brand new ping pong tables that Jose and us had set up, and after that they brought out the food at like 9:15, so we just pretty much grabbed a few empanadas and a slice of pizza and headed for the pench, because we have to be back in by 9:30. Later all the members said it was a great party and that they loved it and that Jose fit in perfect with them.

Then Christmas Eve was a fairly normal work day, we ended it at the bishop's house eating a piece of pan dulce (sweet bread) and drinking sparkling cider......but with cockroaches! As we were sitting there enjoying our time with the bishop and his mother, we sat inside the house with the door open (Argentines rarely close their doors in the summer.) It being summer here, cockroaches are all over the place, and they were continually flying in as we sat there together, until one finally landed in my glass. After that we had to cover our drinks with a paper towel when we weren't drinking, so that more cockroaches wouldn't fly in and contaminate our drinks. It was a new Christmas experience, to say the least. Then we went home and just had fun with the other elders, although we didn't have anything to eat or drink. Then we tried to sleep through the endless all-night explosions, gun shots, screams and fireworks.

Christmas morning we woke up and opened our presents. Then we went to the church, played some ping pong and stuff while everyone called their families, and then we watched the Narnia movie. After that, we went back to the pench and ate tacos, and that was pretty much it.

New Year's Eve and Day were pretty similar. We worked as usual on New Years Eve day and ended it by passing by to see Jose and then we passed by the familia Salazar, where they gave us about 6 bags of food!!! They loaded us up with foods, plants, fruits, vegetables, and more, and all that after they already fed us as we sat with them!!!!!

Then we went to the pench and ate some more and hung out with the other elders. At midnight we tried to watch the fireworks but couldn't really see much, we could just hear them. We went out to our patio which is tiny and surrounded by four very tall walls, making it impossible to see any fireworks unless they were directly above us. It was cool, but a little sad because we couldn't see too much. Definitely it was the closest I've been to fireworks, though, all night there were explosions from fireworks above our heads, next door, and on our roof. It was pretty cool, even though we were pretty much housebound.

Then on New Year's Day, we couldn't go out to work for safety, but we went to the church and we got to watch the second Narnia movie (Prince Caspian) and then came back and made tacos! So both Christmas and New Year's were really cool and fun, both days!

No, we can't wear hats or sunglasses. But President Villalba just changed our work schedule so now we do not have to be out working in the hot sun in the hottest part of the day. We go out earlier to work, and then we come back and do most of our studying during the siesta, and then we go back out to work again. It's so much better that way.

Okay, that's all the time I have, but I want to say thanks again to everyone for your letters, cards, gifts, money, support and everything that you all did for Christmas, and still do for me! I look forward to this new year, and can hardly believe that this same year I am coming home!!

Anyway, I love you all,
Eric

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Christmas Day Phone Call

It was wonderful being able to talk to Eric on Christmas Day, although we had a few challenges with the phone lines and connections. It was the high point of the day to hear his voice and for all of us to talk to him. Eric's sisters think he now sounds exactly like his dad on the phone, and if they hadn't known it was really Eric, they would have thought their Dad was playing a trick on them! Eric sounded happy and healthy, which made us all very happy. Following are some of the questions we asked him and his answers:

How has your Christmas been? Great, it's been a really good day. We woke up, opened our presents and hung out a little bit, and then we came to the church to do our phone calls. We even got permission to watch the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on DVD. We started it and it is really good, but then we stopped because we are all taking turns to call home now. There are six of us elders taking turns with the phone here in the church building, because this building is the stake center. We have a planning meeting from 6 to 9 tonight, so we hope we can finish the movie.

Did you receive the package? Yes, it was awesome, thank you! I loved all the presents, I loved every single thing. The helicopter (toy that flies up in the air) is a big hit while we're all waiting for our turns to use the phone. We played some games with those blue balls that you sent, too.

What was your favorite gift? That's a hard call, because I enjoyed all of them. Everything was great. I traded a couple of the ties though. We all got ties and so we did a big tie swap. I kept a couple and traded two, so I ended up with the best ties of all!

What are you going to buy with the Christmas money you received? I'd really like to get an authentic Argentina soccer jersey, the real kind that costs like 300 pesos. (About 80 dollars.) I'll have to wait to buy it, though. We can't leave the area we work in, and in my area, there are no stores. But sooner or later I'll get transferred to an area that has stores.

How was your experience passing by the members' homes on Christmas Eve? Did you have a nice dinner? It was fun passing by all the members' houses, but here everyone celebrates by having a big asado (barbecue) at midnight. So no one had any food when we passed by, but they all wanted us to come back and eat with them at midnight. We ended up just having a piece of bread, because we can't be out that late. But that's okay, because we're going to make tacos today and they should be good.

How was the ward Christmas party? It was fun, we had a ping pong tournament!

What part of Christmas in the States do you miss the most? I guess mostly having a really nice dinner on Christmas Eve with the family, and just being with the family.

What is it like there today? Christmas here seems more like a crazy, intense 4th of July. There are fireworks going off everywhere, it sounds like we're in the middle of a war zone. They have lots of fireworks here that would be illegal in the States.

How is the work going? It's going great, we hope to have some baptisms in the near future. The districts all got changed up a few weeks ago. There are still six in my district, but now there's only one set of the hermanas, and some elders. So yeah, the work is going really good. Ameghino (his area in Pergamino) is a good area.

Have you had any "tummy troubles"? Well, that's just a fact of life here in Argentina. But I haven't had anything out of the ordinary. Everyone has to deal with that here.

Are you reading the talks and articles that we send you? I've read them all in the past and really enjoyed them, but right now it would be hard to read anything you send me, because we started a Book of Mormon reading challenge in the mission, where we read the Book of Mormon in 120 days. So that's taking most of my personal study time.

Will you be able to email us on Monday, your regular P-day? No, because we're talking to our families on the phone today. So on Monday we will have a little time to get our laundry done and buy groceries, but then we just go back to work as usual.

We asked Eric if he would speak some Spanish for us. He laughed and told us that he can't, but he could speak some Castellano for us! He reminded us that the Argentines think they have their own language, Castellano, from the Castilian region of Spain, even though it is exactly the same as Spanish except for pronouncing "ll" as "sh".



In this clip, Eric is describing a typical day in the mission.




Eric is bearing his testimony near the end of the phone call. The baby that you hear is Eric's little niece in Utah, because of course she needed to be in on the phone conversation, too!


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Merry Christmas!!!

The bedroom in the Pergamino pench. Eric's bed is against the wall with the navy blanket

Hey everybody, Merry Christmas!!! Wow, I can't believe it's already Christmas. Of all the Christmases I've had in my life, this Christmas season has been the shortest ever! I can't believe that in 5 days it will be Christmas! A combination of hard work, hot weather and being in a country where Christmas just isn't all that important make it hard for me to believe it's almost here. Either way, I'm very excited for the phone call, and feel like it has been FOREVER since my last phone call, even though the time has gone by fast. (Eric last called us on Mother's Day.) I think it will maybe be around 5 my time that I will be able to call.

Christmases here are a bit unique. Christmas Day we have to be in the pench the whole day for safety reasons, except we can leave to go and call our families. And Christmas Eve is just a normal day of working, the whole day! I was afraid that the members wouldn't really want the missionaries hanging out with them on Christmas Eve, but to my surprise lots of people in the ward want us to pass by on Christmas Eve. So we're trying to plan it so we can pass by to see many people, and I imagine we'll be well fed that day. Definitely not the same as Christmas back home, but I expect it will be enjoyable and fun.

Regarding our pench, we have no decorations or anything like that, but just the same we're enjoying the season. I still have my gifts which I just took out of my bag and have sitting on my desk waiting for Christmas morning. For Christmas, we plan on opening our gifts in the morning, eating tacos for lunch, and making the phone calls later!!! I'm very excited!!!

Our ward is also going to have a Christmas party on the 23rd, so that should be pretty fun. Regarding the Christmas traditions, they're somewhat the same as they are in the States, except just reduced about 20 or 30 times. Everyone has a tree, but they're just usually one foot tall, and many people have like one string of lights, or maybe they have one star in a corner somewhere, and most kids know who Santa Claus is. Many people treat Christmas just like any other free day from work, to dance and get drunk, but some take it more seriously. Fireworks are thrown wildly from what I've heard. Of course, there's fireworks or explosions almost every night in this country, and often right outside our pench, too!

Church is going good here, we're still needing to help out a lot with the Sunday meetings. Just about every week now we have to teach Sunday School and/or Priesthood, or give talks in Sacrament meeting without warning. At this point, however, I just know it's going to happen, so even though we act like it's a surprise that we have to teach classes and give a talk that day, we're already expecting it. I enjoy teaching the classes, especially because we get to teach to our recent convert, which is always good. I really liked teaching a class about Christmas (since I just so happen to love that holiday!) One thing that I mentioned in the class is that we could think of "Christ-mas" as Spanglish for mas-cristo, meaning more Christ, which really is what Christmas (more Christ) is all about!

Normally each companionship cooks separately, but for Christmas we're doing all together big Christmas meals, like tacos and stuff like that, so it will be fun. It's crazy to think this will be my only Christmas like this, with a fan instead of a fireplace, and fireworks instead of family, but I'm going to enjoy the season however it is. I'm definitely excited to be able to call home this Christmas, so it'll be good. I'll be sure and take lots of pictures, I promise, of all the Christmas stuff I do, as well as the gifts and all that. Also, we have zone conference in two days, so I should get the package you told me about then!!!

Well, I hope you all have a great Christmas together!! If there's one thing I've realized being here in Argentina, it's what a great family I have back home. I miss you guys a lot, and love you too, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Love,
Eric



The following paragraphs are a few excerpts from the letters that Elder Larson (Eric's companion) has written to his family in the last few weeks:

José is doing great. He should be receiving the priesthood sometime in the next few weeks. He has been reading in the scriptures and a lot of the other pamphlets we gave him. We went over to his house on Friday to watch a movie with him. A big storm was rolling in and we went inside and talked for a little bit. José asked what movie we were going to watch, and Elder Hanson jokingly replied, "Transformers 2". Not even a second later, a huge bolt of lightning struck super close to where we were, and it made all of us jump in surprise. He then said, "I'm just kidding, we're watching The Testaments!". It was pretty funny. I always thought God had a sense of humor, but I guess not when it comes to missionaries joking about watching worldly movies. Haha.

The weather here is getting pretty hot. It's also really humid, pretty much like Texas. I am actually surprised at how much the weather here reminds me of Texas. A lot of times there will be not a cloud in the sky, and then an hour later it will be raining. We have a fan in our pench that we keep on all the time when we are there. It helps the heat to not be so bad. Also a lot of the countryside looks just like Texas.

I have a funny story.... Earlier this week, Elder Hanson and I were walking down a road and I felt something hit me really hard in the back of the leg. I realized that it was a rock from a kid's slingshot. (Every kid here has a slingshot they carry around to shoot birds with). I turned around but whoever it was had already hidden in their house. It hurt a little bit, but it just left a little bruise. Then, yesterday, Elder Hanson got shot in the head and he turned around and yelled at the kids "¡Ojo!", which means "eye" or "I'm watching you". Then the kids ran away. He was okay, too.

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It's almost Christmas!

These are the packages Eric received that contain his Christmas presents. Although they are fairly small boxes, a lot of fun things were squeezed into them!

Hey family, what's up?! I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing great. I'm doing good here, too.

Christmas is coming up pretty quick, but I hardly even realize it, it just doesn't feel like Christmas here. I admit I miss having a good Christmas in Utah, snowy, with decorations and the family all together. It's funny to think that last year at Christmas I was in the MTC! It's very hot here now, and the biggest decoration I've seen here is a Christmas tree about two feet tall, the type that you put on a table. I guess their houses are so small that they couldn't have bigger decorations anyway. I've yet to see any big lights, or a big tree, or a big anything. Above all, it just doesn't feel too much like Christmas in 100 degree weather to me.

Either way, I'm still excited for Christmas, it's just going to be a little different this year. I'm definitely excited for the call home I get to make! We have to plan the call with the other elders, because we are all going to use the same phone in the church. Elder Petersen and Rallison have set up to call in the morning and early afternoon, so I will get the latest time I can. I'll try to sign up for around 4:30 my time, but I'll let you know for sure next week if I can have that time. I think it will be okay.

The area is going good and Jose is doing good, getting prepared to receive the priesthood in the next few weeks. We had a good week. We made our goals and so we helped the hermanas out in their area on Sunday, and did really good there, so that helped them and it was pretty fun. Plus we found a really cool family for them to teach! Also, Elder Larson had his birthday this week, so we ate pizza and cookies, so he had a good birthday.

It has rained and rained here this past week, which means everything shuts down and nobody leaves their houses. It is hard to get people to show up to church or do anything in the rain. There were also some awesome lightning and thunder storms.

I still have the Christmas gifts you sent me, still all wrapped and put away. The other elders have already opened their Christmas gifts, (although some are expecting some more packages, too, but they have already opened what they have received.) But I'll have an awesome Christmas day.

Regarding packages, in the future you'll be able to send them directly to the pench or to the local post office! So far I have not received any of the things you are asking me about that you and Dad sent long ago. But I will still be able to receive any packages and letters that might be waiting at the mission home because we are having a special conference a few days before Christmas.

Well, thanks to everyone for all that you do!

I love you all,
Eric

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