Hola Familia,
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| Final "Goodbyes" at the Provo Temple |
WOW! What a relief it is to finally be back on email so I can talk with my fam. The past week was literally the LONGEST WEEK of my life. The final couple of nights I spent at the MTC were awesome! Packing was a
little stressful because all of my bags weighed close to sixty pounds but I was
able to get the weight down. Don't worry. And, of course, seeing my bro and his
homies at the temple on Sunday was such a good feeling. Later that night we had
the wonderful opportunity to hear from M. Russell Ballard. The first thing he
said was, "I don’t have anything prepared so let’s hope the Spirit can
guide me.” It was one of the cooolest talks I have ever heard! He is such a
boss. Sunday night was also entertaining because we shaved Elder Poulson for
the first time ever! Of course, I did the honors and he looked so fresh.
Monday morning the Hermanas in the district asked the Elders for
blessings before our travels and it was an awesome experience! I gave Hermana
Edwards a blessing and it was so cool. We took Front Runner and then Trax to
the airport and it was a bit of chaos - fifty missionaries all traveling to
Argentina. It was nuts! AND, of course, my awesome cousins, Jayne and Scott,
just happened to be at the airport! Man! It was so good to get a big hug and
chat with them about life. And, they gave me the newspaper of the BYU vs. UTAH
game. LOL! It was great entertainment.
Then, my travels began. They started when I accidentally lost one of
my tags in the security screening conveyor belt. I asked a man to get it out for me and so he
stopped the belt, stuck his hand in the machine and pulled out a name tag. I didn’t notice until I was on the airplane
that he gave me the wrong name tag. (Apparently, I’m not the first missionary
to loose a name tag in the security line.) So, I was “Elder Mortensen” for the
travels. LOL! The travels actually were rather smooth. Of course, it was really
nice to be able to phone and chat with my fam and all of my other loved ones.
As it turned out, I had a little bit of a panic attack on the Buenos Aires flight
because I realized what was actually happening to me. I freaked out a little
bit, but that only lasted a few minutes. When we arrived in Buenos Aires we
dropped off fifteen of the Buenos Aires missionaries and as I said “goodbye” to
Elder Allen I had to tell him about the toaster choke! Man that was hilarious!!
The Church sent a man who only spoke Spanish, of course, to help us
get on our next flight and it was a nightmare. Forty missionaries had to put
all of their bags in a big van and then hop on a bus to go to another airport.
Some kids in our travel group had never flown before so they were freaking out in
the airport and it was chaos. We took a quick trip through Buenos Aires, saw
the temple and then hopped on the plane to Mendoza. This is when things got
crazy. Of course, the only language we
heard was Spanish and all of us Elders were just laughing. In fact, we got giddy as we started flying
over the Andes.
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President and Sister Goates greet Elder Roderick in Mendoza
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We landed in San Juan and there we met President and Sister Goates. They are really awesome. Then we had another
two and half-hour drive to Mendoza and that was probably the longest part of
the thirty-hour day. After we got to Mendoza they took us to a hotel where we
spent the night. The hotel was really similar to a European hotel. I concluded
that Mendoza has the climate of Southern California and has a poor man's
European architecture. We spent the entire next day, Tuesday, at the stake
center where we were basically familiarized with the mission and all of the rules
and regulations it has. Kind of boring! All of the missionaries also had an
interview with President Goates and he is such a boss! I really like him a lot.
Hermana Goates took us on a tour of Mendoza which included a visit to the grounds
where the Church intends to build a temple, but she said there won’t be one
there for a long time. We saw some cool historical sites too. Later that night,
we had dinner at the President's house and it was awesome. OF course we ate
well and I could really feel their love. At the end, we all went onto their
porch and sang a song then yelled, "HOLA MENDOZA!" It was so sweeeet.
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| Elder Fredrick and Elder Roderick |
On Wednesday morning, we went back to the stake center to meet our
trainers. My man, Elder Fredrick, was there and we thought for certain we would
be companions. HaHa! Of course, President teased us about it a little bit. I am
with Elder Hyer, from WX. He is such a cool kid and a dope trainer for me. For
the next three hours we had to just chill in the stake center. This gave
Fredrick and me plenty of time to chat. It
was so nice! He is such a boss and he’s helped make my transition into
missionary life in Mendoza a lot easier. Even though he is about five hours
away from me, we still chat on the phone most nights.
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| Elder Hyer and Elder Roderick |
The area I’m assigned to is Salto de las Rosas and it is the “sticks”
of Argentina, to say the least. It is about a three-hour bus ride to the area
from Mendoza. One thing I learned this week is how big the mission actually is.
It covers an area that’s bigger than California!! So, we cover a lot of ground.
Our zone of San Rafael is the largest in the mission. Salto is kind of crazy.
Our ward is basically an extension of a bigger ward in the city and the chapel
is also our pench! So, we have a big pench, which is nice. Each week, one
bishopric member from the bigger ward comes to preside over our one hour of
church.
To be honest, these last couple days have been kind of rough. Adjusting
to everything has been a lot to deal with. I spend most of the morning
studying. My schedule is kind of whack and consists of a lot of studying
because the whole town literally shuts down for siestas, which is frustrating.
Our plan is to teach in the mornings too but we haven’t actually done that yet
because we have had other responsibilities in the mornings. On Friday we had a
district meeting at the stake center and then on Saturday we had to clean the
chapel (our pench). Our area of Salto is huge and all the houses are very
spread out but, we have bikes, which is really nice. We bike all day and a lot every
night. We have a few investigators but they are always really flaky and it is
really frustrating! I get all hyped to teach a lesson and we bike a long way to
meet them, but then we get shut down. It’s tough! But, we have been able to teach
some less-actives and they are all really nice and welcoming. I can never just
chat with them and be myself because my Spanish isn’t too great yet and they
speak really strong Castellano because we’re in the sticks. It’s like speaking
English in the South or something like that. But, when I am able to share
scriptures and bare testimony I can usually say what I want to say. The members
just nod their heads. So, I think they can understand me.
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| Elder Roderick and Elder Hyer's pench (apartment) |
Sunday we had ward conference so we attended the bigger ward that
Salto is an extension of and it was great. Everyone was really nice about my
limited Spanish and I was able to communicate a little. I understood a little
bit of what was happening and I knew the topic of the talk or the lesson and
that felt like an improvement. After church was the coolest part of my week. I
went with one of the zone leaders to take the sacrament to the shut-ins and
when we went to one man’s house, he asked us to give him a blessing too! First,
I first had to consecrate my oil (luckily I had some oil in my bag) and
then anoint it on the man’s head. It was really great experience. The zone
leader then gave an awesome blessing. This was probably the coolest experience
of the week. Following that, we went to
a member’s house for dinner and we ate so much! It was really great.
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| The Salto de las Rosas Chapel / Elder's pench |
We spend a lot of time in the pench for studying because I have to do
my language study and my "first 12 weeks" training so these last
couple days have been really rough. I can only learn so much Spanish in one day
and when I am listening to people I try my hardest to understand them but it's
really frustrating and exhausting. I often find myself just sitting there
thinking, “What in the heck am I doing here?”
Since I’ve been here, I’ve had constant doubts and trials to my faith
but I know that is just the Adversary trying to discourage me. I try to read
all of my encouraging scriptures and talks and keep them in my mind all
day. I guess you could say I’m just
cheering myself a long when I am feeling down but, it's all good. I found an
idea that has pushed me along this week in the book, "Our Search for Happiness."
Elder Ballard talks about trials and all that good stuff and he councils that
the LORD IS IN CONTROL. I try to keep that in my mind constantly and always remember
God's plan for me. I have felt the most alone and homesick during the last
couple of days, but I know the Lord is always in control and that is such a
good feeling.
Overall it was a really long rollercoaster week but I know more is in
store for me. On some mornings I felt as down as I ever have in my life and I
realized how much the Adversary does not want me here. But, I hope I can just
keep grinding! Having a loving family back home who I know cheers for me during
every step I take is always encouraging! I hope that during this next week I
can start getting into the routine of this mission thing!
Con Mucho Amor,
Elder
Roderick
