Monday, June 19, 2017

Seventy Six Weeks

Hello Everyone!

So this has been a very busy week! (But awesome nonetheless!) To start out, we had transfers on Tuesday and almost the entire mission had changes so that everything could be well set up for President Resek when he gets here and so he won´t have to change around a lot of missionaries right off the bat. Well, that was a very busy day and it went off without really any problems... ...except those that had to take a micro out to their area in campo (a micro being a two story busy that they use to travel long distances) were not able to take all their luggage with them, and so the next day (Wednesday) Elder Cespedes and I took it all out to them in the truck, once again going all the way to 9 de Julio (the farthest point in the mission, making a round trip drive of 550 kilometers or about 350 miles). It was pretty funny because along the way we saw a Mate dispenser along the side of the road as we went through a toll booth (Mate being an Argentine herbal drink that has a cup with shredded leaves in it and hot water which you drink through a special kind of filtered straw - making a dispenser kind of a bizarre item). Also, we replaced a couple of mattresses for the Hermanas in 9 de Julio, and the old ones we were able to fold in half with ease to get them to fit in the truck bed again. I think their lifetime was just about up haha. 

On Thursday then we were also able to go to President's house to have breakfast with him, his wife, and his son as they were going to be moving out Friday. It was really delicious and a really fun time. They've only got about a week and a half left now of their mission, and then they too will be on their way home.

The biggest news for this week though is that I was also changed in transfers! I will be staying in the offices a little while longer, but I got switched to the other area the office Elders work in. There are 6 of us in the offices, and before we worked in two trios, but President didn't want that and so I got switched and am now in a companionship of 4 missionaries! (With my two old companions staying in my old area). It is definitely an interesting experience, I have to say that haha. It means though that I am now in my 8th area and now have had 16 companions (17 with my MTC companion included). I am really excited though because this new ward is super eager to help the missionaries in what we do. I have had people on all sides offering to go out and visit with us, and there are lots of people that have been sharing the gospel with their family and friends that they now want us to visit as well. It ought to be a really awesome time here. The ward in and of itself is pretty interesting though - my new Bishop's wife is the daughter of one of my MTC companion's Mission President (and she had heard plenty of him from her dad as he was in the offices for some time as well in his mission). There are also a couple of members that gave us dinner one night that had lived in Australia for 7 years! Most people here dream of living in the states (and some do go there to stay, and lots go there and then come back), but they had decided to live in Australia right after getting married (and both of them are Argentine). I thought it was awesome, but they have now been back here a long time since that had happened. Another Hermana too then had some fairly recent Italian roots (her parents or grandparents) and it showed. One day she made us lunch that we went and picked up from her son while she wasn't there and took it back to our apartment to eat. At the end of that day though on our way back to the pench, we stopped by (just me and one of my companions - though we are a companionship of 4, we normally work in pairs all the same to cover more area) to thank her for it and see how her family was doing. She invited us in though, and sat us down to talk for a few minutes and while visiting she served us even more food - a bowl of soup each and a miniature chesecake too. It was very tasty. :)

Other than that though, there hasn't been all that much new. It has been getting really cold here and so we have been progressively putting on more and more layers haha. Oddly enough too though, I found a coconut in a vegetable store and bought it (this being the only time of year I have ever seen one for sale). It was tasty too. :) I am excited for this new area though and looking forward to finding even more people to help and to teach. I don't have any pictures of me with my new companions, but I will get some to you all next week.
I hope you all are doing well though, and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder McCollum

Photos:
1810 - The truck loaded up with all the luggage and two mattresses for the trip to 9 de Julio (leaving all the missionaries´ luggage with them in their areas along the way).
1811 - Same
1812 - Same
1813 - Mate dispenser passing the Toll Booth
1819 - The sad looking mattresses that we replaced
1825 - The coconut I bought. It was rather hard. A hammer was needed to open it.
1826 - I noticed that our paper shredder had a warning about getting your tie caught in it. It made me laugh. Hopefully it makes you laugh too. :)








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