Weekly Letter January 23, 2012

Hola familia mia!

Well, another week passes in Argentina, humid, but dry at the same time, since we haven´t had a rain storm in a long while. Argentina is in big need of rain. Last week, the country annouced that 80% of the corn harvest was lost due to dry weather. 80% of the country´s corn harvest! Crazy! But, the thing is, nobody buys the big sprinkler systems, so that makes for a loss too. They were showing pictures on the news of cows in the middle of the fields lying dead from the heat and shortage of water. If you look something up on the internet, you´ll probably be able to find something about the mini-famine thats going on. The heat lately has been incredible. I honestly don´t know how I come home at the end of the night alive. Last summer was nothing compared to this summer. And, we still have about a month and a half left. On saturday, we had lunch with a family and we ate outside because it was too hot inside (nobody has air conditioning), but we ate under the big tree they have. I kid you not, I got sunburned sitting under the shade of the tree. The air is so hot, that nobody is safe, even in the shade.

I talked to the medical advisor about my headaches, but she just told me to drink even more water than what I´m already drinking. Although, I still get headaches. I think its because of my genes to tell you the truth. I think I´ll always have headaches. But, she did tell me to lay off a little bit on the pain meds, which I´m doing. I haven´t taken an ibuprofen in almost two weeks.

I went to Chivilcoy this week to do some interviews and the Zone Leaders had a package for me that they picked up at the mission offices when they went. I opened it and it was from Chad Reeves. He sent me an awesome tie! And a nice note for christmas to go with it. Mom, I´m going to send you a letter through email for Chad. When you get it, just send it to his email, which I will also include. I love that guy, and I hope that we can see each other again after the mish.

Yes Dad, Asado (BBQ) is way better down here. The States BBQ doesn´t even hold a candle to what is Argentine Asado. I look forward to making it for you guys when I get home. And, we are going to have an awesome party, with Thurgoods, Hathaways, and Stewie´s family too.

Dad, I am yet to get a new companion. I will get him next week when we have transfers. I think on Wednesday he´ll be rolling in to Argentina. Keep looking for a job , Dad. Something will turn up. It always does.

I kind of figured that Marisa´s Wedding would be like a high school prom. She was always kind of like that. But, I hope that you guys had fun. If I was to be in charge of the chocolate fountain, nobody would get chocolate fountain.

Mom, if you get along so well with Kim; you and her should totally hang out (for lack of a better term). I love that family. I need to write them here pretty soon. If you see them again, tell them to write me because I´ll be writing them again next week.

Gavin, buena suerte (good luck) on your state solo. If you´re going to be singing Rolling down to Rio, you´ll probably be judged by Prof. Max Mendez from NIC, since he judges that class of voice. He´s such a stud. He may remember me when he sees your last name. Who knows. Have fun with it though. Don´t be nervous and do your best. You´re going to love it.

Paige, I´m glad that your schooling is going well. Have fun at the Kroc center. I miss swimming so much.

Now from Argentina...

This week was really tough. We worked so hard, and nobody came to sacrament meeting. It was a little disappointing since we worked our butts off to get people there. But, somedays you get the bear, and other days the bear gets you. We´ll be working double this week to get people to church.

I have become an expert at making rice. I think I´ve made about 20 different varieties of rice these past couple of weeks. Eating so much rice, I´m going to get really skinny. I think my eyes are starting to squint a little bit...

While we were waiting for the bus in Chivilcoy to go back to our area, we were seated outside in the shade. We looked across the street and noticed that there were two women, relatively young, waiting for the same bus. We looked at them for a little bit and my companion made some comments on how pretty the one on the right was. The bus showed up and everybody got in line to get on the bus. The two young women got a little closer and we noticed that something was a little different about them. They got even closer and the difference was apparent. My companion felt a little embarrassed at the fact that those young women turned out to be dudes, having had extensive surgeries and alterations. Although, their facial features were unmistakable, with the low cheek bones and the cut chin. My companion swore to me that he would never make a comment about a women in the street again. Our Heavenly Father has his way to perfect his missionaries I guess. Funny story though.

Well, I´ve gotta go. I love getting your letters and I look forward to them every week. I love you guys and I hope that you have a great week. With how fast the time is passing, I´ll be seeing you before you know it.

Chau!

Weekly Letter January 16, 2012

Hola, todo bien?

Writing at the end of another quick week. I was looking at the weekly news letter that the mission sends out and I saw that a lot of elders that I was really good friends with are starting to leave the mission now. My good friend, Elder Bush who was one of my first district leaders, is leaving at the end of this month. When I showed up in the mission, he had about a year, now I have more time than he did at that time. The time is going by so quick I can´t believe it. I was talking to Elder Alkema last night (my companion from the MTC) and he was saying that we have a little over 8 months left. Where did the time go? But, coming to that realisation only makes my want to work even harder for the last little time that I have left.

Recently, I have been getting a lot of headaches, more than normal. I think its the sun, but that doesn´t make it any less annoying or painful. I don´t have any ibuprofen in the apartment, but I can buy some really cheap whenever I want. Although, I am trying to get off of using so much pain killers, and I think that is one of the factors of my constant headaches. I will be calling the medical adviser today to ask some advice and I´ll also be calling the Area Doctor to see what he says. Meanwhile, don´t worry about me.

Mom, congratulations on your phenomenal weight loss! I am so happy for you! Losing weight does wonders for the body. Now, I am running every morning and I feel a lot better. I have more energy and I can do more things. Thank you so much for the package and I am now really looking forward to it. I can´t wait.
Dad, I´m sorry for what´s happening concerning the job. I feel bad in a sense that I´m not home and working like I did in the past. Cause I know that would be a big help. But, I know I´m in the right place right now, and that you will be blessed for the sacrifice that you´re making.

Gavin, that would be awesome job bro. Playing outside and getting paid? Sounds good to me. Also, thanks so much for the pictures! That last one that you made was awesome! I remember the song Rolling down to Rio. I played it for a lot of people when I was in school. I love solo & ensemble. Are you competing or are you just doing it to sing it? You should compete. To answer your questions, I did get your pictures and they´re awesome. No, we don´t go to the temple because the Buenos Aires Temple is closed for now, but its going to open in a few months. It´s been closed since November of 2009. And, when I need some more pictures I´ll let you know.

Paige, I hope that you enjoyed the fireside with Elder Holland. I had the opportunity to listen to him in the MTC and it was an amazing talk. Great man.

And yes, an all night pizza and movie fest would be the best. Looking forward to that for sure

Not much to report here. Just heat and humidity. Nothing exciting this week. We´re just working really hard to see if we can prepare some baptisms for February. Our recent convert who we baptised is leaving with us about twice a week to accompany us in teaching appointments. She is way cool. Her Mom is going to get baptised next month.

This week, I have to go to Chivilcoy (a city about an hour away) to do some baptismal interviews for the Zone Leaders. That's always fun and I look forward to being with the Zone leaders.

On the 30th of this month, we have transfers. I´m getting excited to get a new companion. My companion is awesome, don´t get me wrong, but he´s really hard to live with. I am getting excited to train too. I found out that we are getting a missionary from Belgium. Go figure that one out. First time I´ve seen a missionary from Europe in all my time here. Maybe he´ll be my companion, who knows?

Well, I´ve got to go. Just know that I´m happy, healthy, and living the dream. I´ll write you next week and I look forward to your letter as always. I love you and have a good week!

Buen día,

Okay, to start...right now, its over one hundred degrees outside. And, the loser running the internet business has a giant air conditioning unit above all the computers that is turned off. Gotta love this country. Now, a bunch of little kids from the age of 8-12 just walked in the door to all play an online military game. Get a life for heaven´s sake.

Anyway, writing after a somewhat slow week, even though it went by quickly. I only say slow for the lack of exciting news. But first, I´m going to handle some housekeeping.

Gavin, congrats on your goal to do senior photos. I want you to take my pictures for my next CD when I get home okay? It would be awesome. I also want you to play on it. We could be the IL ROOK someday, haha.

Paige, congrats on getting your Pathway program off the ground. Do a good job and get good grades. Work hard, "sin tregüa" (Without letting up).

This week, the President and the Assistants came to my area and brought us a box of mail. There were a few Liahonas inside and some things that we asked for from the mission. I found a letter from Marisa Buffaloe. Turns out that she sent me a wedding invite. I couldn´t RSVP because I got the letter on the 8th and the deadline was the 5th.

Mom, that´s awesome that you got the job to start subbing in school. That means that the whole Rook family has now been a resident, at one time or another, of Post Falls High School. Interesting.

Dad, I don´t want to hear anything about the ice, snow, freezing temperatures, or frost on the windshield in the morning I have been telling myself that I only need to suffer about two months more to get through this summer. Its really hotter than the seventh level of down here. I have been getting headaches like crazy lately. I think its the sun. That last three days; we´ve had temperatures just under or just above 100 degrees farenheit. And, we still work anyway, sun or no. I told President about my re-occuring headaches, but I´ll see what he says later.

Okay, MY WEEK........

On Thursday, I had to go to the city of Chivilcoy to do some baptismal interviews for some elders in my district. An hour long bus ride at 4:40 in the morning. Fun stuff. We were there all day and even stayed the night. The good thing was that I am super good friends with the new zone leader, Elder George. The zone leaders live in the same apartment with the elders in my district. I´ve sent pictures of him home many times. In one of my pictures, him and I are wearing matching blue ties at a zone conference. So, we had a tone of fun.

On Saturday, the Assistants and President came to my area in the morning. They did an apartment inspection, and they didn´t find anything because it was spotless (thanks Mom!). Then, they interviewed me and my companion. When he called me in for my interview, I was a little nervous since It was a little out of the norm for him to come about two and a half hours to talk to me. But, the interview was really awesome. I love President so much, he´s my hero. Turns out, he wanted to talk about the branch to see how it was going. He said that he wanted to see double the attendance that we are having now every sunday by the end of the year, but that he wanted me to start teaching the branch to do home teaching, visiting teaching, and stuff like that. I said okay. Okay, you guys remember that I just got done training a new missionary right? So, President wants me to train a new missionary again starting at the end of this month. My companion right now is going to leave, and I´ll be training...again. So, I´ll have two kids in the mission! I´m excited to train again, because it really helps me to work hard. Plus, he said that I would be training an American, so I get to teach spanish to a new missionary.

Other than that, not much else has occured this week. Same ol´ same ol´. Are you guys going to be sending a package? Please let me know so I can tell you what I want. Plus, Gavin; send me some pictures from my facebook of things before the mission. Such as, friends, family, guys night at Argo´s cabin, photos from the picnic before my mission, SNOW, stuff like that. I would be really appreciative if you did so. I love you guys and have a good week! I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Con amor,

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

"Sé el cambio que quieras ver en el mundo"

p.s. The photo that I sent is a sister in our ward. She has two daughters, but the other one was taking the picture

January 2, 2012

¿Todo piola?

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Happy New Year! I hope you had a good one filled with joy and festivities. Now we´re in 2012! Good thing I´ll be home by the end of the world right? Haha

Sorry to hear about the bad news for the week. Dad, you´ll find something soon. I just have a feeling that this will just be a short time without work. "Blessed art those who are faithful and endure in my church, for they shall inherit the Kingdom of God" D&C 50:13. Just keep swimming. I´ll be praying for you guys that Dad can find something soon.

Just a little something I want to ask. Are you guys going to be sending a package? I forgot to ask you on the phone. If its too much now, don´t worry about it. Let me know next week and I´ll tell you what you can put in it. Cheap stuff, don´t worry :-)

Well, all of my friends are going to be married when I get home. That´ll be strange. Weird. By the way, I wrote Stewie and his letter in on its way. He should get it in a couple of weeks at the most.

Our week was good, a little slow, but good. The New Year weekend was nightmare to work in. Nobody wanted to talk to us. But, its over now, and we don´t have another holiday for a while. Can you believe that we are already in 2012? So crazy! I just completed a full year in Argentina. Thats so nuts. Where did the time go?

I´m glad you had fun at the singles ward dance. I do have to disagree with you on something though. I never went to a singles dance where the guys asked me. Hahaha joke.

Gavin, I don´t hate you. I still love you. Being a missionary has made me realize that repentance is real, and that no matter how far we have stooped in sin, we can always repent. So, repent plase haha. Naw man, I like Carrie Underwood. Her voice is incredible. Have fun at guitar center!

I saw a preview on a television yesterday while passing by a member´s house of a movie thats called "Tintin" and it looks way good. That´s one I want to see when I get home. If you guys want to be really nice, you can give me a stack of movies for my coming home present. Thats something that I miss. Saturday night, with pizza and a movie.

This weekend, I probable ate about 3 asados. I still have meat in my teeth. This new family where we baptized the daughter on Christmas Eve, they gave us two of those asados. They love us and the Mom says that we´re like family. I hope that she doesn´t get really sad when we leave. I will be though.

So, I got a surprise call from the Assistants today saying that President and the Assistants are going to be in my apartment on Saturday morning at 10:30 saying that President wanted to interview me. Uh oh. ¡No fui yo! (It wasn´t me!). I don´t know what´s going to come out of that. I´ll let you know next monday. Pray for me though

On New Years Eve, we went to bed at 10:30. I know...lame right? But we were so tired. Although the fireworks woke me up at midnight, so I got up and watched them for a little bit. They were really cool.

Well, I´m sorry but there is just not much to write this week. The week was somewhat boring and went by slowly. Hopefully next week will be filled with some good experiences to write about. I sent you some music from a group called "Il Divo". They´re really good, we listen to them all the time. I think Gavin and I should get together and sing the song "Aleluya" after the mission. I love that song. I love you guys so much and I appreciate all that you do for me. I´ll be sending some more pictures next week, since I don´t have my camera with me today. Question: Are you guys keeping all of my pictures that I send? On what? It would be nice to know that not one of my pictures has been lost since the beginning of my mission. I´ve got to go. I´ll write you next week and I look forward to reading your letters next monday!

Chau!