Dear Family,
So arrived in
Buenos Aires went to baggage claim to pick up bags and everything was there except
for my carry on that I had to get checked because there was not enough room on
the plane so I get it checked. Entonces I go and find someone to talk to and they
say oh Frampton yes here and gave me a slip wrote down some info about me and
said where my final destination is and I said Bahia Blanca and they say okay
tomorrow we will send it to Bahia Blanca airport and you come pick it up at 6
55 at night it will be at airport. So went through Customs no problem then
found a guy waiting for us; he threw us in a van and drove off we didn’t know
where or what we were doing (all kids going to Bahia Blanca). We arrive at an
airport like 30 minutes from the big Buenos Aires airport we were just at. This
one is a small like passenger airport. We wait then check our bags and take a
bus across the airfield to a plane we get on the plane old fashion way not like
a terminal or thing we walk through but like they lower down the stairs of the
plane and we physically climb up the stairs into the plane. Get on and it was
only a 1 hour flight to Bahia Blanca. They gave us some juice and a cookie on
the plane; I was happy for food for such a short plane ride.
Got to Bahia
Blanca and the mission president and the assistants are waiting for us. We say
hi, greet each other, then get in a van and go to the mission president’s home.
They talk to us there and then feed us empanadas for dinner. Then they take us
to the assistants like house and we spend the night there. Wake up, walk like
10 blocks to the church and we sit there and wait. The mission president and
his wife and missionaries make us breakfast eggs and bacon and chocolate milk.
Then we play charades then they take us into the chapel give us the low down on
what is going on and introduce us to the missionaries that work in the office,
the finance guy, the housing guy, the social guy, and give us speeches and PowerPoint
presentations including telling us half the missionaries are Americans and half
are Spanish people. Then they pull up our pictures on the screen and pull up
trainers pictures and they tell us a little about what’s going to happen.
And I got
assigned or matched to Elder Searcy. He has been here for a year and a half and
is from Lehi, Utah. He is really great and we went to the office and took those
pictures then we had lunch which was vegetable soup and grill cheese
sandwiches. Then we gathered my stuff headed over to the bus station and we
waited and then took a bus 3 and half hours to Santa Rosa and stayed there for
the night at the zone leaders house just so we had somewhere to sleep. Then
woke up went to the bus station and took another 2 hour bus ride to my assigned
area which we are at now called General Pico. Look it up on the map so you know
where I am.
So we got here
Thursday and then did some proselyting and then had lunch at a members home, then had dinner at the ward mission leaders home, and we have lots of meat and lots of bread or pan and had some stew kind of
soup but not really then went back to house and called it a day.
Friday was like
my first real day as a missionary. Went running in the park and around the
plaza then showered got dressed, studied then left had lunch somewhere. I think
someone made us lunch and we brought it back to the house. That night was
family night so we all met at the church and played soccer at the field next to
the church. I was the goalkeeper or goalie and for the first like hour that we
played. I didn’t let one goal go in and Elder Searcy was offensive and we had
like 3 other boys on our team that were all like 14 years old. It was the five
of us and the first hour the score was like 7 to 0. Then finally they scored (the
other team) which are like all these 16, 18, 20 year old boys here are
investigators or friends and like a couple of them are members of the ward. But
they were big tough guys and they scored once.
Then we
returned to the apartment and went to sleep. Saturday we had some appointments I
invited one lady Veronica to be baptized and she said yes and we are having
that in 2 weeks and then I invited one guy Jonathan to come to church on
Sunday. We just walk around and go to appointments. If we ever have free time
we have to clap our hands outside people’s homes because there are no things
such as knocking doors or tracking or anything. We stand outside their gates
and clap and they come outside to the gate and then talk to us. We have handed
out at least 5 pamphlets of the Restoration that way.
There are tons
and tons of dogs here like thousands on the streets I really like it; none of
them are mean or bite or anything. But I get excited when I see a cat because
they are far more uncommon. And with so many dogs I set a goal to see a certain
type or breed each day and one day I set a real hard goal to find a dalmatian
and lo and behold I saw one I’m pretty sure the only one in all of Pico - here I
saw a dalmatian that day.
Sunday went to
church. I had to bear my testimony we are part of the rama or the branch and
meet at 9:30 as the ward meets at 9 and starts with classes first. But we are
part of the branch. And yes Jonathan the investigator we invited came to
sacrament meeting actually.
We had lunch at
the branch president’s house and we had ravioli tortellini things, pasta manicotti
things, and it was good. I liked it and cheese and crackers and bread of
course. Then had jello for dessert it was like jello with fruit like floating
inside of it. Then we left had some appointments elsewhere.
Yesterday was a
holiday of some sort I didn’t find out it was Columbus day until like half way
through the day so everything was like closed and because of the holiday they
moved our P day to today which is Tuesday but normally it is Mondays so watch
for Monday next week.
Then today we
went shopping and we are emailing and stuff.
Now for some of
the other little details:
1. we live with a pair of other
elders from Peru and from Chile; the four of us in our
kinda house pension thing.
2. Kitchen is nice. Elder Searcy
and I make cookie banana bread, empanadas, tons of stuff in the oven.
3. We have a mini laundry room
where we wash our clothes and then we have to let them air dry in the house.
4. We don’t drink the water. We
mostly drink milk a lot and we have to buy clean water in huge jugs and then we
make juice so we have tons of tang and lemonade and stuff. So we drink juice
and milk mostly.
5. Breakfast we have a 10 pound
bag of cereal and that is what we eat every day for like the month. It is not
even close to being like even a 1/8 of the way gone. It is a huge bag and we
eat it for breakfast.
6. We go running every day.
7. When I got here with all my
American dollars the bank exchanges them for I think 8 pesos per dollar. The
government and money and stuff is bad but instead one elder traded me at a rate
of 14 pesos per dollar so I gave him 200 dollars and I have 2800 pesos so I am
pretty rich.
8. I’m doing good though the
weather is not cold. It may be cold right in Bahia Blanca but General Pico is
so far away it is hot here. I sweat sometimes.
9. My Spanish is good and coming
along the first couple days I understood no body. it was super hard but now I
understand like almost everyone. but I still am not that good at talking I need
to work on talking more and sounding more Argentine with ll and y and che so people
can understand me better.
I think that was about
everything for the week. Wait I forget I got a real nice cool short haircut
this morning for 30 pesos so about 3 dollars and I feel so nice and I showered
and shaved after I got home from the haircut and I felt real fresh and muy
guapo. I think I look good. That is it for my first week here. I guess I will
talk to you next Monday.
Love,
Elder Frampton
