Weekly Letter October 17,2011

¡Hola! Otra semana pasa, y estoy viviendo el sueño. Another week passes and I`m living the dream. Housekeeping. I used some of the money for a few pairs of pants for the summer time, given that many of my pants were trashed from last summer. The sun takes the color out of the pants so they`re not black anymore. So, yeah, that`s what I used a little bit for. All I need is about 75$ from you guys to buy a really nice pair of shoes. I will get my other ones repaired, but all of the missionaires tell me that it will only last about 3 months. I found a nice pair of shoes in my area for about 250$ pesos argentinos, which would be about 65$. But the ATM takes about 17$ pesos argentinos out at every transaction, so 75$ would be wonderful. I am in dire need of new shoes. :-) Today would be nice, since the shoe store is going to have a pair in my size either tomorrow or wednesday. We`ll see. Yes, Chad did tell me about the offer that you gave him. I told him that he should do it, because my family is the bomb. And, he would love North Idaho. Plus, he could take some of my ex-girlfriends on a few dates That was a joke. He`s a super cool guy and I think you guys would love him. I`m sure though, because he speaks another language, that he would be able to get a job up there. Especially because he speaks mexican spanish. I need to learn mexican spanish when I get back. I`m feeling a lot better. Although, I think I`ve got a cold coming on, so we`ll see how that turns out. Bummer, I`m sick and tired of being sick and tired. Gavin, Cafe Chulo would be the bomb dude. I`ve been there. They make the giant burritos. I went there with Tysen after we saw Star Trek in theaters. Congrats Dad on your email from the Pres. Now, if he can just promote you to a higher position. That would be sweet. You are in my prayers every night. I hope they`re helping. Congrats to Paige on the new program that she`s doing to get into BYU. I pray for the best and I hope that you can get a job soon. You`ll be going to BYU the same time I am! Crazy. Really sad about Bro. Bell. I hope that it all works out for their family. This week has been kind of punch in the face. We worked really hard but nobody came to Sacrament Meeting. Even though nobody came, I wasn`t disappointed, because I knew that we worked our tails off. With that, I realized that my time in Argentina is half-way done. I cried the other night because I didn`t want the time to go any faster than it is already going. It feels like I`m going to wake up tomorrow in my own bed, it seriously goes that fast. I also realized the other day that I`m speaking in a foreign tongue. That was weird. I think it was the first time that I realized that I can speak to a native Argentine, understand every word that he says, and then respond as though I have been speaking this language my entire life. It is really hard for me to speak in English to other people. Our investigator, Andrea, is studying English, so she came up to me in church and started speaking in English to me. It really caught me by surprise and I had no idea what to say. She looked at me funny and asked me if I understood. I said I did, but it has been a long time since I heard somebody else speak English. I tried to pray the other day in English and I couldn`t do it. I had to finish the prayer in Spanish. The gift of tongues is real, because I`ve experienced it. We haven`t been able to teach Andrea this week, because she`s been on vacations with her Mom and Grandma. But, we have a lesson planned with her this week. So, we`ll see what happens witht the baptismal commitment. It is gradually getting hotter. The humidity is started to set in and my sweat glands are not ready yet. I am not looking forward to summer, given that it has been pretty hot this past week, and it`s not even half as hot as it`s going to get when summer comes in January. Can you believe that October is almost gone? Before you know it, I`m going to be talking to you guys on the phone at Christmastime. I am amazed at how fast the time flies. I`m almost out of my second area and I`m almost at 13 months in the mission. Where did the time go? We have interviews with President this week. He`s probably going to talk to me about extending my mission. Since he said that he wanted to tlak about it after my year mark. I don`t know what to do. I don`t think I will extend my mission. But, I need to pray about it. I am really excited about interviews though, I love talking to President. Bueno, ya tengo que irme. Gracias por todo el apoyo que me dan y por siempre escribirme. No puedo creer que ya hace un año que estoy acà en Argentina. La misiòn es increìble. Ojalà que mi misiòn estê llena de èxito de ahora hasta el final. Pero, estoy seguro que va a ser asì. Tengo un testimonio del evangelio a lo cual represento yo. Jesùs es el Cristo, y Josè Smith fue su profeta. El Libro de Mormòn es verdadero y contiene la plentitud del Evangelio de Jesucristo. La espero la carta la semana que viene. Les amo a todos y saludos a todos en Post Falls! Su hijo, hermano, y amigo en Cristo Élder Garrett Brighton Rook "Yo soy el maestro de mi destino, you soy el capitàn de mi alma"