Well, I made it. haha Wow, so much has happened on both of our sides of the world. I'm glad that Tanner is doing great and that Alex is also starting. Woohoo Don't worry about the record, hey look at me. ;) haha and good job Braden. Thanks for all of your notes. I really felt all of your love. The Lord is truly watching over us and it will all work out in the end.
So my side of the story…after I was done talking with you I basically had a small dinner and then boarded the plane around 8:00pm ET. We had a 3 row plane and it was really nice, I actually got to sit in the emergency exit and have more leg room. We started off and had dinner, they started playing a movie but I did other things. Don't worry about me, but I only had 1-2 hours of decent sleep that night. The tv was on all night and sleeping in a shirt and tie wasn't very easy. We landed around 8:00am Argentina time and wow, what a culture shock. We went through the passport check area, oh and we had 35 missionaries on my plane, all going somewhere in Argentina. Then we got all of our bags and passed through customs and there was President and Sister Gulbrandsen and the AP's. They took all of us on a smaller bus thing and we all got to know each other better. We had a 45 minute ride to the mission home and we also passed by the temple on the way over. Then at their house we received our mission packet and took the pictures. Then we ate empanadas and took a group picture. Then we met our new companions. My new comp is Elder Secreten who has been out a year and is from Pleasant Grove. He's a really good elder and I have loved being with him. Then I learned that I was going to my area, which is Palermo. It is right in the downtown part of Buenos Aires! My apartment is on the fourth floor. The ride over was crazy because we had to ride for another 40 minutes in a smaller car and the drivers here don't have that many rules, the only thing they seem to follow is the red light green light, thankfully. haha My apartment is really tiny, like most houses here in the city and I'm on the top bunk, again haha. We have a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom with the sanitary, (not sure what this means) It's going to be alright.
I'm loving it here and it has definitely been a culture shock. There are so many crazy things that happen here that I would have to take another 2 emails to tell you all of it. Remember when we were walking the streets of NYC? That's me every day except less people, a different language and I'm in missionary attire. Our ward is a good sized one with around 70 active members that all live in this downtown area. First, our zone is basically the capital area, so everyone in the zone is either in the downtown area or the area called the villa, or the poorest spot or the ghetto basically. It's really cool, cause Elder Stocking from my MTC district is in my same district here and me and him are good friends and we were the only two I guess to be in the same district or zone from all of the new missionaries.
So about my area mission wise. We actually don't have any new investigators or progressing ones either. Our mission focuses a ton on teaching lessons with members, so our mission goal is that every companionship will teach 20 a week, if we do that we will have more baptisms. We had 11 this last week, which Elder Secreten said that was actually really good for this area. We have to solely depend on the members for references because street contacting is almost a waste of time here. Palermo is the richest of the whole capital area and also one of the most prideful, though we have faith that the Lord is preparing someone for us. So basically this last week we had all of our lessons with recent converts or less active members or part member families.
As soon as we first arrived in my area we went straight to work. That night we walked out to our tiny sliver of our area that is a villa and taught a part member family about reading the Book of Mormon. Walking out there, Elder Secreten had to put his phone in his sock, but that is the only area that we actually have any chance of being robbed. Since my area is really nice and wealthier we don't have to ever really worry about that. The villa is a sad place, actually. Almost everywhere we have been the standard of living is so poor from where our apartment is located. It's sad that everyone has a dish on their house that they've made out of an old train car (sounds like they live in old train cars??) Only in the villa though. Everywhere else we have to walk through the door and everyone has a tv, some have one or two computers and everything else is dirty and small. (not quite sure what he was meaning there) Not used to that haha. Some apartments though are nicer and they are bigger and have real furniture.
I have met a lot of people and I'm slowly starting to pick up the language. I still can't understand anyone because of the accents here, there's a huge Italian influence here and so imagine an Italian talking like an Italian but speaking as fast as you possibly can in Spanish. Then you have the Latino influence which is they slur every word possible and say it under their breath. haha It'll take some time getting used to. Speaking wise, that will also come.
Oh, while I'm thinking about it, you know the crazy drivers and motorcyclists here, so crossing the street is the most exciting thing that happens every day. Haha Don't worry I'll always look one way, because there are very few roads that are two way. Oh and even the bigger roads, one road we have to cross I counted 12 lanes all going one way so that was pretty cool. Luckily I don't see very many homeless people here but the graffiti is everywhere and we have to watch where we are looking sometimes. I guess it's like that in every city. It's amazing how much of an American influence there is here. There's a McDonald's and a Burger King, and a Wendy's just opened up in the district. haha Everything tastes different here and I'll just have to get used to it, but it tastes really good. Oh and I´m only using the water bottle as much as I can, but I still have the other water too, which actually isn't that bad and doesn't taste that bad especially since I can add some Tang powder to it. :)
We actually taught one real lesson to a woman named Jessica and we taught her lesson one. She said yes to baptism but works every Sunday and wouldn't commit to a date, so we will see where that goes. We've been teaching these new converts, Jose, Richard and Alex. They love trying to speak some English with me. Haha I guess that's what I sound like to them. :) Today for p-day we went to an indoor soccer place and played some soccer with the members, or the youth there. We played on a tiny concrete court. That was fun to get some energy out. There's not too much we can do otherwise for exercise because of our small living quarters. Showers are fun because we don't have a shower curtain and the water goes everywhere and we don’t have a hot shower. I've had either frosted flakes or fruit loops for breakfast every day. The milk tastes good here and yes, it's in a bag. I've been surviving off the snacks that you sent me for the flight. :) I've also started the LdM again and I'm in 1st Nephi still. :) Church was great and I was asked to give my testimony in sacrament meeting. The Church is still the same here and we meet in a building kind of like the one in NYC just right off the street and it looks really nice compared to all of the other ones.
Well , I love you lots and please let me know everything that goes on. Also, I haven't had a chance to write any letters yet so sorry to those that are waiting, I'll try to write them when I get a chance. I've got to go but just know that the Church is true here in hot, sweaty Argentina, haha, and I'm loving it. Oh and I can't really see the stars at night, maybe one day. Haha Oh, I love my mission president and his wife and the interview went really well. And riding the bus is also fun because once again they like to go fast on the downtown streets. I don't know if there is a speed limit. Oh and I don't know when I'll send pictures, I want to take more before I use another disc.
Good luck with everything!!!
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
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