Week 045 - I May Stumble A Bit. But I Would Not Go Down.

Hey Family!

Hopefully you guys got my letter from last week, I sent it to Claire, and I should have sent notice that it was on her email. Don’t worry about sending your emails late, it just gave me some more reading for this week, and a ton has happened! For example, Katie told me the kids on Halloween didn’t want to take the Cow Tails. What’s wrong with kids today?

Every person in the street lets me know who won the election for President. But all they know is what they hear on the news, and that Donald Trump is a racist, and doesn’t want anyone coming into America. Most people agree with that around here. "Hey, Donald Trump is president. Good for you guys. We need someone like that to get these Brazilians out of here!” So the Argentinians are greatly excited. It’s funny how everyone outside of America knows America’s news, but I don’t recall even knowing Canadian news. Interesante!

Glad you guys could make it to Mexico.

I have been sitting at this computer for 50 min now, and the email has just opened. So I’m too pumped to tell you all about my fantastic week. Patience is key. This week, we were just hitting it off with new investigators and lessons. It was awesome!

I mean, if I got punched by Mike Ditka, I may stumble a bit. But I would not go down.

I started off the week with some divisions, with my main man, Elder Comar. Elder Comar, is a mini missionary from Parana. He’s one of those people from the other side of the river. He’s awesome though, because he got baptized 7 months ago, and has the firmest testimony, and is currently planning to go on a mission. We had a lesson with the brother of Kevin who is currently trying to get baptized, and it’s hilarious when you see these two brothers together in any church activity. Alejo (the brother of Kevin) pulled out his phone during Sunday school, and Kevin totally took it right out of his hands telling him to pay attention. Then Alejo asks to go to the bathroom, and Kevin says no, because they have to hear the whole lesson. The teacher ends up saying yes. So Alejo leaves, and Kevin watched him walk all the way down the hallway to make sure he was going to the bathroom.

Anyway, that’s just a few side stories.

Elder Comar and I are teaching them the plan of salvation, and Alejo doesn’t really understand what happened to Adam and Eve. So Elder Comar says, "Do you remember the Simpsons episode when what’s his face ate the fruit of the tree and they were naked?" Alejo - "Yeah." Elder Comar - "It happened exactly like that." I need to watch more Simpsons, because it seems that people here only understand things when it’s on the Simpsons!

By the way, there is a nice Donald Trump Simpsons special that just passed, and everyone is psyched out of their minds!

Check this… later that day we went to teach the plan of salvation to Isabel, and they live in just this hut with like 4 kids. And Isabel is a very quiet women and doesn’t know how to tell her kids no. Actually no one in Argentina knows how to do that. But we are teaching, and while we are teaching, their 6-year-old decides to start chucking this puppy on the ground. I start looking at Isabel, like… "You should probably shut down your kid." But no, instead the kid threw down the puppy one more time, totally breaking the puppy’s leg. It was horrible. The puppy just starts screaming. And then the 6-year-old joins the party, and then everyone is sad. Isabel looked over, shook her head in disappointment, and then looked back at us. So we just shut down the lesson from there.

But it was all good because the Chavez family made us some hamburgers after. Real nice! But not as nice as the dinner we had the next day, which included corn in every food item. Corn empanadas, corn pizza, and just plain corn. They liked corn a lot I figured.

The other day we had Brother Carbone come with us to a few lessons, and this guy is so funny because he literally talks the whole time. When we are in the car, on the way to the investigator, during the lessons, greeting people,… he is the real missionary. And he always makes sure to asks our investigators for an address of a family who might need missionaries, and also if they need some service! Brother Carbone is a real missionary, and has the best business ever. He said he didn’t really like school so he decided to make really nice brooms. So his family makes handmade brooms and dusters, and then sells them. He calls it an art. For reals, these are some nice brooms.

Oh my gosh… I almost forgot that we also had a record breast feeding fest at the Carbone’s this week. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but… people are pretty open about breast feeding here during lessons and stuff. So it happens at least once a day. But we were at the Carbones to give a little spiritual thought, and there are 4 couples that live in the Carbone home, and 3 have a new baby. And so when each daughter in law showed up with their baby, we knew what was about to go down. But you know, it’s the norm around here. What can you do?

Anyways I love you guys so much! You are too great. And Mom, I hope you make me a nice pair of wool pants by the time I get back!

Elder Greene