Jan. 22, 2013

Dear Family

Well, here's the news. My trainers leaving, and I'm staying here. My new companion is named Elder Pritman or something, I have no clue who he is haha. But this means that tomorrow I get to go to Durazno and play while I wait for him. And by play, I mean go work in some random ward. But everythings totally fine. Just as I had started to really get along with my comp too. I figured out how to make him happy, you just start talking about david archuleta. Ask me about that when we have our next phone call, there's some good stories there. 

So there it is. I'm excited to be the big man for about three days until my new comp meets everyone. 

Not too much else to say, really. OH YEAH THERE IS. So as it turns out, my trainers new companion is going to be my very own Elder Francis. So I'm pretty dang worried about that. We'll see how it goes. Elder Francis has really had a change of heart, he's working hard and he's ready to go, but Satan is really coming at him. There's been a lot of problems at home with his family, and I think he's about to have a real learning experience, haha. 

Thanks to everyone who sent me a Christmas card! That sure was cheery. And thanks to the Cutchinses for the sweet BYU gear. That was definitely lacking.

Anyway, things are marching here. Walking flying. Haha I love translating spanish sayings into english, because they make no sense. But I finished the Book of Mormon in spanish this week, so I guess I'm fluent now. There's a ton of words that I don't know, but speaking is for the most part without effort. Just vocab. It's weird to just be talking and suddenly discover a hole in your knowledge. And our investigators always laugh at me when I don't know a word. Oh yeah, we baptized Betty finally! That was a real pleasure. I thought I was gonna drown her. I explained pretty clearly that she should plug her nose, but as I finished the words of the prayer, she closed her eyes and went rigid, so I just dunked her. Moments of panic. Classic baptism, though. 

Two items of business. Unusual requests, really. First of all, after some investigation, I've found that things in Uruguay outside of candy are really expensive. That camera I had costs like twice as much here. I picked that thing up for like seventy dollars back in the states. So here's my proposition. If you guys are comfortable with this, take some cash from my account, go buy that same camera, and mail it to me. But the customs people are corrupt, so my friend Elder Hatch says to tape the package like it's government plastic and put pictures of the virgen Maria and Jesus on it. And never say there's more than forty dollars in the package. He's never had a package opened, whereas all of mine have been previously opened. So there's that. 

Also, because all the houses in this country are just nothing but concrete, apparently there's a big problem with missionaries being frozen to death at night. So again, advised by other missionaries, I'm supposed to ask you to send me a sleeping bag, because it will save my life. 

But the work goes well, I'm always learning about the importance of faith. I'm really starting to finally figure out spiritual promptings. I'm becoming a real missionary! But yeah, I hope you guys are having the best week! 

Love Andy

P.S. I need a favor. Can someone(Rachel, if she's not too busy) tell Jeff Nielson this message. Ask him if his mission is pouch, and ask him for his address. Tell him I said I am super pumped to be a collegiate Kronum player. I want to write him back without disobeying, haha.