Last week with President Villalba

The little brick oven where the Rios family cooked the chicken and potatoes Eric told us about

Thirty dollars worth of coins in the bag

Hey family!!! Hey, firstly I'll let you know that on my way to the ciber, we passed by the post office and I received the letter you had sent with the camera card in it!! It looks great, thanks for sending it. I still haven't received the padded envelope yet. If it was sent to the mission home, I will be receiving it this coming Pday, because the zone leaders go to the mission home this Wednesday.

I am sending you some pictures of things I told you I would, the brick oven and I am sending a picture of a 30 dollar order we paid with all 25 cent coins and lower, which in this country is a good thing. The man very happily accepted our big wad of coins with an "expactacular!!!" And yes, that's in Spanish, or Castellano.

Today for Pday we played soccer again, and it is a lot of fun to be able to play soccer again. It was a really good game, and we won 9-7. After that we just came straight back here to Villa and to do ciber, and due to all the traveling, it's already 4 o'clock so Pday is almost over already. After ciber we'll go and pick up our clothes, so we'll finally have clean clothes after wearing the same dirty clothes for so long. This is due to the weather, because you can't wash anything here when it's rainy. The best part is, I will have my jacket again, since I had turned it in to be washed on Thursday, and we've had some very cold weather lately. It gets super cold here because of all the humidity.

Our pench has two big holes above the windows where cold air comes in always, which would be nice to fix, but I assume it'll just stay the way it is. Despite the lack of insulation and big holes, though, our pench still only gets down to about 55 or 60 degrees at night so far (but that's with both portable heaters going full blast all night.) That may seem cold, but many missionary penches get down much colder and many don't have heaters.

I'm glad you got to enjoy really hot weather on your trip. And yes, I remember Tuacahn theater and really liked it.

Also, yes, people still take siestas here, and even if they don't sleep, they still get off work for those hours. EVERYTHING is still closed during the siesta, even though it's cold now.

To answer your question, the kids wear uniforms in school, in grade school they have something called guardapolvo, which are like little white lab coats, so elementary school kids look like a bunch of little scientists. The teachers also wear dresses. In the kindergarten, they have something similar, but it's more colorful. When you get to high school, it just depends on your school. A few require uniforms, but most don't.

The Rios family is doing good but didn't go to church last week or the week before, because they say they have to work on their house. Although they could have worked after church. But that attitude is something we see a lot here. People start going to church, keeping the commandments, and quickly they get blessings. And often the first thing they do when they get blessings is forget God. For example, the Rios's were blessed and got a lot of money from a random job, and a lot of other random things, so they decided to buy stuff to build their house and forget going to church. It's sad, but it happens. They're still great people though, and I wouldn't by any means consider them inactive. We will keep working with them.

That attitude is kind of how people drop out of school here. Many adults can't read and their kids are teaching them, or they are trying to go back to school. But a lot of kids still drop out of school. They don't really mean to drop out. They just sort of stop going for a while, and then suddenly it has been years.

This week they told us to make sure that all packages sent to the mission home have a green sticker on them, which declares to customs the contents. They say that by doing it that way, they will get here quicker and also they go directly to the mission home, instead of to the post office. Apparently they won't go to the post office anymore to get packages, so that's why they have to be sent that way.

Well, this is the last week with President Villalba. We'll have a new mission president already by next week, so it'll be interesting to see any changes. We'll also have transfers next week, of course, so a lot is about to change. I'll be sure and let you know.

I love you all very much!!

Eric

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An email two days late

The "birthday" soccer shoes. (Although it is a French shoe, the company has been the official supplier of Argentina's soccer team in the past.)

Hey family, how is everyone doing! Here I am, back from the dead, ha ha. Sorry about emailing so late, but it was due to complications. What happened is that Monday was a holiday (yes, another one) so everything was closed. (It was Dia de la Bandera, or Flag Day.) The majority of elders in our mission weren't able to find an open ciber, and of course here in our small town where there's just one, we had no luck. We were all told to just go do ciber on Tuesday, which we would have loved to do, but we just had a really busy day all day Tuesday, and we also had to do divisions that day with the zone leaders, so we ended up having no time whatsoever. If we didn't have to travel in our area, we could have done it, but with all our traveling and appointments and divisions, we just didn't have time.

Well, now we're able to squeeze in ciber today, because we just got back from divisions. I did divisions here with Elder Romero, my old comp which was pretty cool just to be with an old friend. Elder Page went with Elder Allred, although that was really doing divisions within divisions so he could work with an American instead of with Elder Carrillo who is a Latin. We had good divisions, though, and it was nice to mix things up.

This last week the work went pretty good, and all in all this week's good so far.

We had a really good Pday this week, also, because we spent all morning from about 9:30 to 12 playing soccer. We played Americans versus Latins, although because only 2 Latins played it ended up being 4 Americans against 2 Latins and 2 Americans. I think everyone on our team ended up scoring about 7 goals each during the day. It was a lot of fun, and really good because we haven't played soccer in a really long time, and I haven't gotten good exercise like that.

I also finally bought the shoes I have been looking for with my birthday money. They are really cool new shoes and I loved playing in them. The new shoes were very cheap, only 200 pesos. The common soccer shoe here for indoors costs at least 400 pesos, which I would have paid if I had found a good pair of shoes, but amazingly enough I found an awesome pair, and they were only 200! Elder Page didn't buy any shoes, although he did end up paying 100 pesos to Elder Boon when he kicked his ball over the fence and wasn't able to retrieve it.

I'm trying to send pictures right now, but it is uploading so slow, I might only be able to send you one or two photos. We'll see how it turns out.

Happy Father's Day Dad and to all fathers! A little late but better late than never!! I'm glad to see you were able to enjoy your Father's Day even with rainy weather. Father's Day here is nothing special, and we didn't do anything exciting for it. It was a pretty bad day weather wise, which didn't help. The past week it's been cloudy and rainy and still is, which is a big problem, because we've been wearing dirty clothes for almost a week now, but can't have anything washed because of the rain! Yes, I miss washing machines and dryers!!!

The only good thing is that almost all of the mosquitoes have gone now. Yesterday was the first day of winter, and it's been pretty cold these last 2 days, so it's obvious the seasons are changing.

To answer your question, I've yet to have a final interview with President Villalba before he leaves, and haven't even heard anything about it.

I enjoyed seeing the pictures of all the family gathered together, and it looks like everyone was having fun together. I really liked seeing those photos and I'm glad so many could be there!

Well, I'm going to end because it's the evening and that's the best time to work because everyone's home! Sorry I am sending this so late, but will write next Monday. Say hi to the whole family for me. I love you all very much.

Love,
Eric

Another pair of worn-out shoes

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Special Stake Conference

Helping to "revocar" the Rios house

Sealing up all the cracks

Hey family, how is everyone!!! First, I'll let you know that I received my slump day card! (Slump Day is when there is only 6 months of the mission left.) Funnily enough, we received it as we got back to the pench last Monday after writing you! We checked the mail before leaving, so it came while I was writing you all telling you I haven't received it still. So I guess it's just been circulating for a while, but either way I have it now and love it. Was that something that you guys did yourself? I imagine in Utah it wouldn't be hard to find a slump day card for missionaries, but the card looks homeade. I haven't received any other packages or letters apart from that.

This week was alright. It was pretty cool because we got to revocar a house, which I believe in English means plastering, although here we're "plastering" on brick with a slightly different type of cement. I'm sending photos now, and will probably take some more photos of the now finished room today or tomorrow, whenever we pass by, because we finished the bedroom, so now it's all sealed off from the outside. I don't know if you can see in the photos, but before there was about a half inch of space in between the bricks, and so cold air, mosquitoes and anything can easily enter the house. Now that's it's all revocared it's sealed good, and they won't have mosquito problems at night, and it just looks a lot better, too. They're also going to paint it after. Of course, first he's going to finish plastering the whole house. It is the Rios family's house, by the way.

It was actually really fun, and I enjoyed making the mix, and plastering, which is actually a more difficult job than you'd think. It's easy enough to learn, but difficult to do well. Everyone there struggled with it except of course the dad (it's his work) who does it very well, but near the end I was getting pretty good at it, and doing it pretty quick and fast.

Afterwards, we ate chicken cooked in their little brick oven, with potatoes, which was good, so I'm sending one photo of the brick oven, which the wife says she's going to use to make bread to sell, which she did before and averaged about 300 pesos a day. So that'll be cool.

This Sunday was really cool. We had a special conference, a stake conference, in San Nicolas, and it was by satellite transmission from Salt Lake City. It was great because President Boyd K. Packer spoke, as well as Elder Anderson!! Elder Zivic also spoke, and the president of the primary. Elder Zivic was the old area president of South America South (our mission area.) It was really cool hearing them, and they had great talks. Elder Zivic started it off speaking in Spanish, being a native. Most of the others just spoke English and there was a translator. After that we listened to Elder Anderson, who also spoke in Spanish, which is cool because I didn't know he spoke Spanish at all. He spoke fairly broken Spanish, and struggled pronouncing many things, and in the words of the Rios kids, "He speaks like Elder Page!!" After that, Boyd K. Packer spoke, and he didn't even attempt any Spanish, so it was smooth. All of the talks were really good, and it was just cool watching it. Us and all the branch members went together in a traffic (a vehicle that is a cross between a car and a bus) to get there, which was packed but really fun, because we played games on the way. Unfortunately the Rios parents stayed behind because they had to revocar the house, but their kids went.

Regarding some more of your questions, the electricity here in Ramallo is very good, it's yet to cut on us. In some areas of the mission, it would cut almost daily, and also any time it rained, but here it's very good. Also, they don't cut the water here like they do in Rosario. Yes, we've got a bucket shower, but at least it's a good bucket.

I don't really need anything special, I've got all the necessities. I would like to have some more mac and cheese mix, and taco mix, though, to have some good food.

We're doing good, but p.s. my camera battery just died, so I can't upload the last photo in the email which I believe is the picture of the brick oven, so I'll send that next week, along with many others.

Thanks again for the support from family and friends. I love you all,

Eric
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The work continues

Eric sent us this picture last week, showing Maya before her baptism, with her brother in the church

Hey family, how is everyone!!!

Today for Pday we were going to go fishing with the Rios dad, but it turns out that as of recently, the rule is we can no longer go fishing. Well, that's mission life. It is pretty cold and rainy today, so it probably wouldn't have been too fun, anyway.

So today we just went to San Nicolas to get our letters for the month, (I think the zone leaders are in San Nicolas and they had picked up their mail from the mission home) and the few pedidos that made it to us, and I was happy to get a few dearelders. I got a dearelder from Aunt Lisa, Nana and Papa, and some from you which include some of Jared's letters. I've wanted to send you a postcard for some time now, but it seems Ramallo just doesn't have any. There were lots in Rosario, but out here it seems like they don't even exist. I'll keep checking and see if I can get off a hand written letter, too. By the way, you asked if I needed another camera card, and I do now that I have them all full.

Well for this week, nothing too exciting happened. We found some really cool people that wanted to be baptised (they've listened to missionaries before in other cities) but now they can't because of husband problems, but whatever, we'll help them anyway, and other people too.

On Sunday, the whole Rios family went to church, even the dad which is pretty cool. The dad told us he'd go if he had clothes to go in, because he doesn't want to go in his awful work clothes, so I lent him 600 pesos from my personal money, and he went out and bought himself 500 peso tennis shoes, which funny enough, are the exact same type and style of shoes that he's bought for the last 10 years. (His old ones were pretty gross, though.) Then he bought a jacket to wear. So after he bought those things, he was ready to go, and on Saturday when he got paid, he paid me back in American dollars!! So the American paid him in pesos, and the Argentine paid the American in dollars, so go figure. Either way, it all works out equally so it doesn't matter, but I thought it was funny.

He enjoyed church a lot on Sunday, which was testimony meeting, and we expect to see him again. He also wants to have his baby blessed, so we'll see if we can work that out maybe even for this coming month.

After church, we celebrated the birthday of Juan's sister, Angelica, who is living with them right now, and to celebrate it we ate pig, asado style (cooked on an open barbecue), which was extremely good. It was a pretty fatty pig, which is good because Argentines love fat. I enjoyed it a lot, though, and I also ate some of the brain, tongue and other random parts, because they eat EVERYTHING here.

I've been sick pretty much this whole week, and every time I start to get better, we have to run 10 blocks to make the colectivo (bus), or I have to tear up somebody's yard with a pickaxe to level it for several hours. We do service stuff like that sometimes, and I can't deny helping someone, I like it too much. But I think today I'm doing much better, although my throat still hurts, and I'm pretty sore, but I think the flu or whatever is going. I may go to a doctor this week concerning my ears, but other than that I'm doing fine.

You asked about jobs around here, and like most places in the mission, the majority are blue collar jobs. Construction, what Juan does, is a huge industry, just because it's something that everybody knows how to do, and it pays decent, and because people are always adding on to or changing their tiny house, and sometimes they have to call specialists to do certain things.

I'm glad to hear you went to Elder Petersen's homecoming and met his family, I enjoyed seeing the photos.

This past week, three X-sister missionaries (he means former sister missionaries) passed through here, visiting after their missions which was pretty cool to see. We ran into one couple, the X-sister missionary with her husband now, which really stood out, because her husband was at least 6'6".

Regarding my shoes, they are kind of hard to wear right now because they rub my heels raw and put holes in my socks because the back just has jagged plastic sticking out, but I'll see if I can put some fabric there for protection so that I can keep wearing them.

I forgot my camera this week, but next week I will send you pictures. I am going to get off now because I am going to write to Marisa and Holly.

Love you both,
Eric


The email to Marisa and David:

Hey, I just decided to write you a quick email to say hi. I expect you guys already know this from reading the blog, but 8 days ago, there was a ward baptism for a girl named Maya!!! She's the niece of David, who was baptized about a month ago. She's a really cute little girl, and just makes me think of your Maya, mostly because apart from her name, she kind of acts like Marisa does, or like I'd imagine Marisa to act if she was a little 8 year old girl. Well, your Maya will grow up considerably different than this Maya. This Maya enjoys luxuries like her outside toilet, and her outside "shower", which is known to us, or any American, as the garden hose. I can't wait to see little Maya when I get home!! Well, have a great day, and enjoy the new car!! I really like Nissan x-terra's, so good choice on that!

Anyway, love you both, Eric


The email to Holly and Scott:

Hey Holly, how are you!! I just decided to say hi, since I have a couple of minutes!! I'm only sending this email to you, because it turns out I don't have Scott's email, so send me his email or tell him to mail me so I can have it and write you both. Or just share this with him. Sounds like you guys are having (or had) a long winter. We're kind of having the same thing down here. From what the weather forecast says though, that's about to change this week, but we'll see. I liked seeing that new car that you guys bought, how much was it, and second, have you guys found a place to live? I think that's really cool that you're both going back to college together, although it's too bad you can't go somewhere closer!! Of course St George really isn't that far, and it'll be cool to visit you guys down there sometimes because St. George is really nice. In Argentina, it is common to have your whole family live on the same street their whole life, and sometimes even in the same house!!! So 4 hours away would be hard for any Argentine, but I'll be able to manage it. Well, I'm doing good here, enjoying the peaceful life of this quiet city.

Love you both, Eric

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Ward baptism

Maya's baptism

Maya used Eric's camera to take this picture of her brother with the missionaries

The little Zapata boy

Preparing for church on Sunday

Hey everyone!! Good day to all!! I hope everyone is doing good today!!

Nothing too exciting happened this week. It was just a pretty average week. Probably the most exciting thing was the ward baptism of Maya, David's niece who turned 8. (David is one of their converts who was baptized a few weeks ago.) Except her baptism almost didn't take place! As I have explained, I love our branch leaders, I really do, but they're all very new, and so they often forget things, or just don't realize certain responsibilities. Ward baptisms, as any returned missionary or church leader will tell you, are supposed to be directed by the ward, with no need of the elders or sister missionaries. Well, our branch didn't know that.

Friday night we decided to swing by David's house, just to make sure that everything was in order for the baptism on Saturday, because we didn't want anything to get overlooked. Although we had all been talking about it for some time, we realized after we swung by, that no one but us knew about it. I called our branch president to ask if he had done the baptism interview, and it turned out he didn't even know there was a baptism the following day. I explained it to him, and shortly after that he passed by and had the baptism interview with Maya, so she was ready. We had been talking to her before because of all our visits with David, so we knew she was ready, but you have to do things in the right ways. So we told the branch president that we were willing to help him in whatever way necessary, but that he has the responsibility to delegate the tasks, arrange the speakers, fill the font, etc.

So the next day we worked as usual, but then decided to swing by the church and start filling the font, just because we figured they'd forget, which they did. And then later at the baptism, they hadn't set anything up, so it was kind of funny, and it was all a little scrambled, but it turned out really good anyway. We had been hoping and encouraging David to do the baptism, but he was too shy and so he asked Brother Dieso, the second counselor, if he would do it instead of him, which is okay. It was cool, and it turned out really nice and I liked it and Maya was happy.

So even though David didn't perform the baptism, he did prepare the sacrament on Sunday which is cool. Both Jorge and David (Jorge is the recent convert in the wheelchair) have been coming every Sunday in their shirts and suits, which is really cool to see them dress up so good. The Rios family also continue coming, which is great although still not the dad though, and they don't have church clothes yet.

The mission is ordering DVD players!! They say that every companionship is going to have dvd players so we can watch the missionary training videos during studies, which is pretty interesting. And it's good because many families don't have dvd players to show them church videos. Many changes are coming, and I imagine that we're going to see even more changes when the new mission president comes (in July.)

Well, I've pretty much slept all day, and I might go back and sleep more!! I got pretty sick yesterday, which I thought was a bad migraine because my head and stomach really hurt, although maybe the Argentines were right because they said I was getting the flu, and since I still feel bad today, maybe it really is. But whatever happens, happens. I've gotten sick so many times, but I know I'll get over it. Right now I'm fighting sleep urges, because I am very tired even though I've slept a lot today.

But don't worry, I'm doing good out here. I love you all very much, and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Eric

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The baptism of the Rios children

At the baptism of the three oldest Rios children

Everyone is excited and ready to be baptized!

Eric and Elder Page with the Rios children immediately after the baptism

Hey family!! How is everyone!! Wow, it looks like everybody's doing great!! I was impressed with the two new cars in the family, especially nice cars like those. I would have liked to have my opinion asked, ha ha, but it's okay, I'll get over it, it sounds like Scott and David chose well.

Well, transfers came!! And it turns out that believe it or not....we're both staying!! So, we're excited, it's what we thought was going to happen, so yes, we got what we wanted. Here's a fun fact, from now on, all trainers are to be with their kid for 2 transfers with no exceptions. It used to be that there were occasionally exceptions, but now in order to be "trained" you MUST be with your trainer for 2 transfers. So my kid is halfway done being trained, and it actually shows on the transfer sheet now if they're in the first half of their training or the second half, so that's interesting and new.

After this, the new mission president is coming in, which I'm excited for, but mostly just to see what's going to change, because I really really like President Villalba. So nothing else changed for us, except now I'm district leader again so I am over a couple of companionships, which I am fine with, although it is easier to focus on missionary work when you have less leadership stuff to take care of.

So we're super excited for these changes, and we're excited to be here again, to watch over the new converts and baptize more!

We had a great baptism with the Rios family. The three kids got baptised, and it was great. The mom really wanted to be baptised, but due to certain things, she has to wait, which is good, because that's how things should be done. It was a really really good baptism, as you'll see from the photos. I baptized Jesica (Yuli) and Emanuel (Ema), and Elder Page baptized Juan (Juancito.) It was a really good baptism, and a good confirmation as well. I confirmed Jesica and the Branch President and First Counselor confirmed Emanuel and Juan. So, it was really good, and the mom absolutely loved it and wished she could have been baptised with them, but she understands, so she's still working on the not smoking and doing well.

We scheduled a Family Home Evening with them for tonight, which was going to be a farewell party if we were being transferred. It'll be in the church, which will be super fun because the church has everything, ping pong, soccer, piano, etc.

By the way, I thought I'd let you know that the portable dvd player you all gave me played a big role in their conversion, as we used it many times to watch the church movies, which of course they loved, and they always want to watch more. Since then, they've bought a dvd player, so now we don't have that problem, but that little portable machine helped them feel the spirit. They especially loved the Joseph Smith movie!! Also, we have played "El Gato", the pounce game, many times which they love.

Our other recent converts are doing great. Jorge got his official wheelchair in the church now, which he'll be able to use from now on, which will make the transportation arrangements so much easier now. (Before this, Jorge's mom would drive Jorge on the back of the family's motorscooter to the church, while the missionaries would take the bus out to Jorge's house to collect his wheelchair and carry it onto the bus and then meet them at the church. Which meant a lot of time traveling on Sunday mornings for the missionaries, as well as more traveling after church to return the wheelchair back to Jorge's house.) We're also expecting to see his whole family in church this week. The mom promised us that she would come with all her relatives, because she said that they decided to all reactivate for Jorge, which is fulfilling something I had told Jorge, which is that he would be the door opener (portero) to the kingdom of God for his family. They're a great family, and the mom just loves us, she's really nice.

David's also doing just great, his niece is going to be turning 8 either this weekend or next, and we're trying to get David to baptize her. She wants me to baptise her, but we definitely want David to do it, so we're going to be talking to him about that more so he can use his priesthood!!!!! I absolutely love using the priesthood, and to me it is a huge blessing to live in these days when we actually have the priesthood. I hope that David and Jorge can both receive the Melchizedek priesthood soon, too, possibly in the next leadership conference in about 6 months. As much as I want them to get it, I of course wouldn't want them to get it before they are ready! But I don't have to worry about that, as the president will know when it's the right time.

Today has been very rainy which isn't too fun, but we went into San Nicolas and I found some really cool Central jersey's (Rosario's team) and they were only 35 pesos. I also got a 40 peso Boca jersey (B.A.'s team). Pictures to come soon.

To answer your question about getting to church, yes, most people take the bus. Most people take the 500 bus, which is the bus that goes between Ramallo Pueblo (where we work) and Ramallo Villa (where we live and where the church is.) On a good day at the church, we'll get 2 or 3 cars and a couple of motos. And everyone else comes on the bus.

Still haven't gotten your letter sent to the pench. Elder Page got one a week or so ago, but it looks like mine never arrived, so maybe it's too risky to send here.

So it was a good week, and we expect a really good transfer here! Love you all very much!

Love,
Eric

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A weekend of miracles

Eric and Elder Page with Jorge at his baptism

Eric and Elder Page with David (and his niece) at his baptism

Zone Conference May 2011

Hey family, how is everyone!! I enjoyed reading the letter and hearing how everybody's doing. We had a pretty good week here as well.

First of all, the Rios family didn't get baptized, which is okay, because even though the kids really wanted to be baptized last week, we decided to wait until this coming week. That way we can baptize the mom and the kids together,and that way the mom could have more support and a reason to stop smoking. She wants to be baptized with her kids, so she was happy when we changed the date and it's really motivating her to stop smoking, and she's doing good with it and is on track. So this week we'll have four baptisms!

Someone I've taught, brought to church, and committed to be baptized however, did get baptized this past week. Her name is Yanina, pronounced like Janeena. We found her (Elder Larson and I) in Pergamino and always referred to her as the blind lady, because she was going blind in one eye. Well, we found her just knocking doors one day and we brought her to church and she loved it and we committed her to be baptized, which she eagerly accepted until her lovely boyfriend showed up and forbade her from being baptized and going to church anymore. She couldn't separate from him, either, because she needed his money for her eye surgeries. Well, it turns out that she finally broke up with him about two weeks ago, found the elders and got baptized, so that's cool. So it was a weekend of miracles.

It was a great Sunday also, because both Jorge and David received the priesthood. I loved seeing Jorge wheel up in his new shirt and suit he bought, and David too, it was really special seeing them both go up to the office of a priest.

Also, we had 8 investigators in church! It was some relatives of the family Rios, and they loved it of course! It was great because in total we really had 15 investigators, but only 8 counted because you have to be over 8 years old to count as an investigator. They took up the two widest rows in church, and luckily they didn't take the sacrament this week or we would've run out, NEXT WEEK FOUR OF THEM WILL THOUGH!!!

Also, the branch president brought his dad, who told me he loved it, so we expect to see his baptism soon. Well, hopefully I'll stay here this next transfer, because this area definitely has lots of good people that are ready to progress, it's just loaded right now. I expect we'll both stay because a trainer usually stays with his hijo (son) for two transfers.

As far as other investigators, the best people we have are the familia Rios and the people that went to church, which we're really good friends with. We're also teaching Ruben who wants to be baptized. Expect lots of baptisms in Ramallo cause they're coming!!

We're super excited for the baptism of the Rios family this weekend, although we may end up doing it in the church, because it's kind of cold now, and the river is definitely not warm water!! We had the baptism interview for the kids last Saturday, but the other kids were gone so Jesica was the only one who did the interview. It was a good interview and pretty funny from what Elder Laws said. He told me that he asked her if she'd killed anyone before and she responded, "Never, and I haven't even TRIED to kill someone before!" So that was pretty funny.

Then afterwards, the Rios mom who was there, but not ready for her interview, enjoyed upsetting and teasing Elder Laws (who doesn't know she's very sarcastic). He was very concerned because she said she doesn't want to be baptized until she's 33 because she wants to do it just like Christ. He tried aimlessly to teach her to resolve her "doubt", and he never figured out that she was kidding, and he left quite upset until I couldn't hold it in anymore and told him.

Well, the area's doing pretty good, and we enjoy the work here in Ramallo. We also had our zone conference this week, which was pretty good, and the last one we will have with President Villalba before he is released.

To answer your question, I never got the year and a half card, the last card like that I got was at my one year mark. Yes, we receive bills in the pench to the direccion (address) I gave you, so sending it directly it should have gotten to me, but since I never got it, I can't say it's a sure thing.

It amazes and frustrates me the amount of theories and beliefs about the most random things here. We've gotten some grief about the US killing Bin Laden this week, just from misinformed people, because by the time the news gets here, it is changed quite a bit. For example, on the news here, they're saying that many kids, women and adults were killed, all of them weaponless and defenseless during the murder of Bin Laden. Which even though I've never seen the report in English, I'm almost 100 percent sure is not true. The news here always represents the States as just loving to kill people, for no reason. It's frustrating sometimes, because there are lots of people who really believe what they hear, although there are some who don't believe everything they hear and so they like us.

I'm now hearing a song playing here in the ciber which I've probably heard at least 99,999 times in my mission, although to my comp it's something new!! It makes me laugh because last time I heard this song, I was told that "pan americano" was a sort of drink, when it's really referring to a street in Buenos Aires which people use to avoid the police when they're drunk. Anyway, Argentines are funny people sometimes, which I think helps me love them, because they really are the best type of people ever. I'm definitely glad I'm here. Anyway, I love you all very much and p.s., I would like some taco seasoning in the next package.

Love,
Eric

Inside a cybercafe where they write their emails home. Eric said "This ciber is really nice, they are not usually this nice!"

Another view inside the "nice" ciber

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