Greetings from beautiful Salta Argentina

So things are going super well here and I am happy to say that the progress of the work is speeding along. Since Elder Marsden and I have been working together we saw a little bit of a slow start but the work picked up and we worked hard the first week and the fruits are being seen. This weekend we have two baptisms scheduled along with a ward baptism. The people who should be getting baptized that day are Gustavo Vilte and Gozalo Tapia. Gustavo is the son of a member who had been less active for 15 years when we found her. Now her son wants to get baptized and she says that she is never going to fall away form the church ever again. So that is sort of a double whammy because it is almost as if she has been reconverted, and we actually may have to re-baptize her because nobody can find her records.

The second, Gonzalo Tapia is the guy we have been working with forever in Rosario de Lerma, and technically we are not sure whether he will be able to get baptized because he is still not married but he said he is doing it this Friday. So that would be the wedding on Friday, interview and baptism on Saturday and the confirmation on Sunday along with the Aaronic priesthood maybe.

What a weekend right? We have also been spending a lot of time with Isabel Cayo who still needs to fix her situation with living with her boyfriend, which she is trying really hard to do but he isn’t making it easy, and she has the goal of a baptism not this Saturday but the next. Along with her we have Rocío Lozano. She is the 16 year old daughter of a family who listened to the missionaries a long time ago. We are teaching the mom and one of the brothers as well but they aren´t progressing as quickly as she is. She has a baptismal date for two Saturdays from now as well.

Elder Marsden and I have been having a lot of fun while working and have seen some really cool stuff happen. Like I said, it started off slow but now we have gotten into a rhythm and we are just cruizin´ along. We have found a few new investigators, had some good experiences with members and I have been learning a little bit more about what it means to run your area since this is my first experience with being the companion with more time in the area. It is a great experience though. I am super glad that I have the opportunity I am having to learn at this point in the mission and not later.

Well, some of you have asked about some interesting expressions that we have down here in Argentina. Let’s see what I can think of. It is kind of funny how many English expressions sneak there way into Spanish. For example: “a Full” means exactly that... like “to the max.” A lot of the kids down here say “de diez” which literally means “of ten” or “out of ten.” It could mean something like “that´s awesome.” I figure it comes from on a scale of one to ten who is it... so it is 10. Instead of saying “como está” which means how are you, they say “como anda” which means “how does it walk.” When someone asks you something or tells you something and you want to say you agree all you have to say is “meta.” Which means “goal.” There are a lot of expressions that also mean absolutely nothing in the real world but in the mission among missionaries they have there own special meanings. Here is an example of a typical conversation between two people.

¿Che! Como andás?
Todo bien! Y vos.
Acá estamos. No pasa nada. ¿Y que pasa con vos?
Todo de buena honda.
Ese partido anoche, ¿lo viste loco?
Nah che, estaba renegando con trabajo, me dio bronca el jefe.
Que lastima, che... bueno, nos vemos la proxima.
Que bien, cuidate ¿no?
Dale che. Nos vemos.

Yeah, so that is pretty much it. It is super cool now being able to pick out people´s accents and tell where they are from and understand pretty much everyone says. It is a huge difference when you hear someone talking as they pass you in the street and you can just pick up on what they are saying right away without having to listen too intently. I still have a lot to learn though.

So everything here is just going great. It is good to hear from all of you and know that you are doing well. Thanks for your emails and for letting me know that you care. I keep you all in my prayers and think about you every day. Love you all a ton. Talk to you later.

Hasta vernos juntos algun día. Les quiero todos. Cuidense. No hagan nada que no lo haría yo :)
Elder Rose