Letter 3/7/11

¡Hola!

Well, another week passes in Argentina. Please, don´t cry for me...haha. I´m glad to hear that the move is going well. I do wish I could be home with you helping, but I don´t miss hauling that piano around for sure. Some houskeeping first...

Yes Mom, I do have a card from the mission that I use to buy food and other miscellaneous things that are necesary for my survival. I get about $550.00 ARG every month (about $136.60 US). So, I´m doing okay, although things are a little tight this month, because we had to pay a little bit for travel back and forth to the main mission office, because it was transfer week this week. And, by the way, I didn´t get transfered. I´m still in my first area. After this transfer, I will have been in Moreno for a total of 4 1/2 months. Whew! Long time. And there is still a possibility that I will be here for another transfer afterwards, making it a total of 6 months in the same area.

To answer Dad´s question; my comp and I are doing great. He´s a little annoying sometimes, but he´s pretty cool. He´s from a city called Mendoza, here in Argentina. We´re working hard and we reel in about 10-15 new investigators every week. That´s the norm in this mission. If you´re bored, then you need to get out of the apartment and look for people, because there are people to be found. My daily schedule follows (with the exception of sundays and days when we have district meeting or weekly planning):

6:30AM - Rise and excersize

7:00AM - Eat breakfast and shower

8:00AM - Personal Study

9:00AM - Companionship Study

10:00AM - Language Study

10:30AM - Leave the apartment to begin proselyting

1:00PM - Lunch (usually with a member)

2:00PM - Resume proselyting

9:00PM - Return to the apartment and plan for the next day (and other miscellaneous things such as journal, a little something to eat etc.)

10:30PM - Go to sleep to start it all over again the next day

I did hear from Daniel the other day, and he is doing well. I wrote him last P-Day, because before my email had problems sending to his address.

Argentina is definitely a place to keep on your toes. The other day, it was political compaign day, and we had to go to a meeting in the Stake Center, about 2-3 miles away. And we had to walk, of course. We had to walk through the main square in Moreno, where all the speeches were going to take place. There was a crowd of a couple thousand people, all super buzzed to cheer for their favorite political nominee. There was some fights going on and a little bit of minor rioting. And we had to walk right through it. Plus there were all kinds of teenage girls that were whispering to me as I passed all kinds of sexual euphimisms in Argentine Spanish. The girls here all hope to go to the United States with a nice american husband. I am reminded everyday that I am living in a completely different world. To add to that, the next day; we were walking down the main street in Moreno, and a bus clipped the back of car, but stopped immediately. There was about 4 teenagers in the car. The driver (a female) got out of the car and started screaming at the bus driver, using certain choice words. The other 3 (all males) grabbed an item from the car and started banging on the bus. Then, one of the teenagers went back into the car and grabbed a tire iron and started banging on the windsheild. The bus driver left his seat and bolted to the back of the bus. The window exploded all over the street. As soon as the teens found out that they had done some damage, they all got back into the car and drove off. The bus driver got back in his seat and drove away in the bus (which was full of passangers by the way) and left a pile of glass in the middle of the street. And the world kept turnin´. No police report, no lawsuit, no nothin´. There is little police in the city of Moreno, and the police that are here are grossly underequipped.

Paige, that´s pretty cool about Mr. Wood. He´s a total stud and he was one of my favorite teachers in High School, along with Mr. Kracht. Send them both my salutations and tell them that I say hi. It would be cool to take the car to the scool next week, but I´m sure the family could use your help as well. But, it´s your decision.

Gavin, you look like a total stud! Glasses seriously make you look older. You´re going to be kissing all kinds of girls in no time with those bad boys! Haha, when it happens let me know. How´s the funding for Seattle going? If you are short at all, please feel free to use some of my CD funds to make up the difference, and when you start working, you can replace them over time. Because you need to go Seattle, it will be an experience that you´ll remember for a long time. But, it would be cool if you could raise the funds yourself too, haha.

Bueno, necesito irme ahora. Pero, me encantó recebiendo su carta esta semana. Por favor, envieme otra carta en la semana que viene. Más, hay otras notas que siguen.

Su hermano y hijo en Cristo,

Elder Garrett Brighton Rook

Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

La mejor misión en todo del mundo

P.S. The photos I sent are the zone after transfers with all of our "200" shirts on, since we accomplished the mission goal. The second is just me in my shirt in the apartment. As you can see, I´ve lost quite a bit.