Weekly Letter

¡Hola!

Well, I hope this letter finds all in good health. Thank you for sending the card. I will let you know as soon as I receive it. My password to my bank account should be found on the Google Docs Document that I sent to you and Dad before I left, because, I can´t remember my bank account password now, cause I never use it. Don´t worry about not getting me the package as soon as you wanted to. Ahkunamatata. You can get it off to me when you find everything. Copies of the CD´s or no, it doesn´t matter. I would prefer copies because I want to keep the discs when I get home. Don´t fret if you can´t put a lot into my personal account, because at this point, I´m not doing a lot of purchasing. If I do make a purchase, it´s just something else I have to haul around when I get transfered.

Oh, have I got a story for you. On Wednesday, I thought I would be nice and take my companion out for dinner. We got something called "churipan". It´s a sausage on bread with a seasoning called "chimichurri". It´s absolutely delicious. Well, we ate and went back to the apartment to sleep. In the middle of the night, I am sick as a dog, throwing up and diahrrea, at the same time. The trashcan on the lap technique. I was confined to my bed for 3 days with a case of food poisoning. Bad case I might add. I am still on medications for it. But, I am feeling a lot better now, and we´re going to get back to work this week. That´s what I get for being nice haha.

I really hope that you didn´t get rid of anything of mine haha. I know you didn´t...

Ah well. The language. The language is actually going very well. At this point, I can understand the majority of what it said. I never thought that in my life, I would ever understand a different language. Now, the challenge I face is being able to speak better. I can speak, but it´s very...slow. I just need to practice more, and it really depends on the conversation. Every subject, like English, has it´s own set of vocabulary. So, if I want to talk about how to fix a car, or about piano and musical terms, that´s all different vocab. Good thing I get a half an hour to study the language everyday.

I know a great way to lose weight. Walk about 12 miles per day in the boiling hot weather with a humidity level of at least 80%, don´t eat food that contains high fructose corn syrup (that doesn´t exist here, even the soda contains pure sugar that is still more healthy than corn syrup), and when you eat, only eat rice and hamburger patties. It works. It´s worked for me so far haha. I´m down to 100 kilos now, whoo!

Gavin, get...your...project...done. Just do it. I know you´re busy, but when you have the smallest amount of free time, work on it. I know it´s tough, but I delayed my project for like 9 months. Worst mistake ever. Just get it done buddy. That car is waiting for you... By the way I love Cheers, because everybody knows your name. Hey Gav, if you could, could you put "My name is Lincoln" on the mix CD as well? I love that song.

Paige, just dress really classy when you go to the job fair. You will be asked questions about your profession by people who actually do your profession. Don´t be afraid to talk to people. You´ll be answering questions all day to professionals, representatives from colleges, and passers by who are interested to see what´s going on. My adviceis just don´t hold anything back. Be assertive (SP?) and don´t have any fear to talk. Get to know people and be open to those who want to get to know you. BE FUN AND INTERESTING!!!! Haha

I´m going to end with a story. My companion and I were going to visit this teenager who we talked with on the street about the Book of Mormon. We went to his house and clapped outside the gate. He came out and as soon as he saw us, he had a look on his face that he really didn´t want to talk to us. He opened the gate and we started to talk. He informed us that he took the flyer about the Book of Mormon and researched it on the internet. He found a lot of history vs. the Book of Mormon evidence that states that: historically, the Book of Mormon can´t be true. The people that Christopher Colombus found weren´t of the nature of the people talked about in the Book of Mormon. He said it just didn´t fit together and there wasn´t any logical way to believe that the Book of Mormon is, in fact, genuine scripture. At that moment, a little voice inside of me urged me to open my mouth. I opened my mouth and started to speak. I spoke about that gifts of the Spirit. "Cristian" I said, "do you believe that God can answer your prayers if you ask in faith?". He told me of course he could. I continued, "Is it logical that Jesus Christ turned water into wine at the marriage in Cana, or that he fed 5000 people with a few fishes and a few loaves of bread? That he made the blind to see and the deaf to hear? And took upon him all the sins of the world that we could live with him again?". He answered no. "The why do you believe it?" I asked. He said, "Because I have faith that it happened." At that moment, I could almost literally see then light bulb flash on in his mind. I said "That´s why I know that this book is the word of God". He told us, "I don´t know what to think. I´m really confused as to what it going through my mind right now." I knew that the Holy Ghost was testifying of the truthfulness of what we shared. We´ll see if he does anything with what he felt, but he knows what was there, and we were fortunate enough to experience that marvelous event. I know this Gospel is true. I will be honest. When I left for the Mission, I did not have a testimony of this Gospel. I went to Church because you went to church. I had never received that witness of the Spirit. When I entered the MTC, I had serious thoughts of turning back, because I was surrounded by missionaries who had burning testimonies and unwaivering witnesses that this church was true. And I had nothing. I was reading in the Book of Mormon one day and I started to cry. My teacher, Brother Puterbaugh, asked what was wrong and I asked to talk to him. He pulled me aside in a room and we talked. I started to tell him that I was afraid to go out into the field and preach the Book of Mormon, Faith, and the Holy Ghost because I would be preaching doctrine that I didn´t actually know was true. He asked me, have you ever read the Book of Mormon? Cover to cover, every page, every word, every article of grammar. I told him no. I had read a lot of the Book of Mormon in my life, probably enough to say that I had read it, but cover to cover, I had not. He said the only way to gain faith is to take that first step in the lessons. To read and pray. At that moment, I was the investigator. We spoke for about an hour and a half. We both left the room crying. After that, I started the Book of Mormon, finished it, and prayed afterward. I received nothing. I read the promise of Moroni in Moroni 10:3-5 and prayed with ´sincere heart and real intent, having faith in Christ´. The feeling I received in my heart was a feeling I had never felt before. It felt as if something was being poured into my body and I didn´t have room to hold it all. But it was a good feeling. I will always be grateful for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And especially for Brother Puterbaugh, who made me see what I needed to do. I know that we are all priveleged to feel the Holy Ghost´s influence when we follow the path of Christ in our lives. I close this message with an expression of love. I love you all so much and I look forward to that day when we will again be reunited. I say these things humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Garrett Brighton Rook

Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

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