Despedida Villa Mercedes y ¡Diga! General Alvear

 ¡Hola!

What a week it was! I can honestly say, “I'm exhausted.” The week started off when I said, “Goodbye” to all my friends in Villa Mercedes and I have to say it was probably one of the hardest things that I've done so far while on my mission. The 25 de Mayo ward treated me so well and they made me feel like I was just a normal member.

I’d like to share a cool experience that happened when I was saying goodbye to all my friends. I didn't have time to go out to Victor's house so, on Monday night I called him to say, “Goodbye” and we chatted for a second and then he told me that he wanted to come by my pench in the morning. So, at 7:30 a.m., in the freezing cold, he whipped up on his motorcycle to give me a farewell hug and he pulled out of jersey from our favorite soccer team and gave it to me. To be honest, this jersey that Victor gave me is probably was one of the best gifts I have ever received because of the meaning it has behind it. Before his baptism, I got to know Victor well and we became close and talked a lot. He told me that his family depends on him to put food on the table and when his dad got into a bad accident, he was the one who had to pay the bills. So, when he showed his love for me by giving me an awesome jersey I felt so lucky to have been able to get to know him and build a relationship with him. As missionaries, you are the ones that teach all the time but the lessons that I've been taught by other people are irreplaceable. Victor really showed me what's important in life and how to really sacrifice for the people we love. The jersey he gave me will be something I will treasure forever.

After being sent off by loved ones in the bus terminal, I started my travels back down to the south of the mission. On Tuesday, I was on the bus for about 11 hours. First, we had to change buses because the first one broke down and then, when we reached the checkpoint the police took a man off the bus to question him and go through his baggage. So, we were delayed for a long time. And…. I spent 5 1/2 hours of these hours alone on the bus and that was weird. We ended up getting to my area, General Alvear, on Wednesday morning.  The next morning, I drove through my old area of Salto and that was really weird to see all the familiar buildings and places again. I kind of wanted to jump off and say, “Hello” to all my friends there but I decided that it would be best to stay on the bus. Ha ha!

          My new comp is Elder Neto and he is such a stud! He's 18 years old and is from the city of Parana in southeast Brazil. He's only been in the mission for about three months so he is full of energy and excitement for the work!  I said he's a stud because he has a 21-year-old girlfriend. LOL! My new area is called Pellegrini and it’s a great one. We are a branch and there were about 40 people in attendance on Sunday. So, not too bad! There are a lot of families in the ward as well. So, that makes it a lot of fun. Something that's kind of funny is that we live in the backyard of the branch president. He built a two floor pench for the missionaries which is exactly what we need! In the area, we have a ton of farmland again and I forgot how pretty it is. We have bikes and we use them like crazy. One day we at least biked for 16+ miles so I'm getting a good workout every day. LOL!  

The work is going pretty well! This week we did a bunch of contacting and tracking which helped me get to know the area. One night we were looking for one of our contacts and asked a kid on the street for help and he showed us where to go. We knocked on the door of our contact and no one was there so we went back and talk to the kid who helped us. We introduced ourselves and he invited us into his house where we started teaching his family. It's amazing how the Lord puts people in your path if you are aware of it!

I love you guys!

Elder Roderick