August 31, 2015

MOMMMMM!! Im alive!!! hahaha. Hows it going??? Life is good here! 

So many things happened this past week and I am unsure if I can describe all of them... hahaha. So, after I talked to you guys for 5 minutes in the Georgia airport, I went back to the terminal we were supposed to be leaving from and Elder Montague came up to me and said he just passed out a pass along card to this guy and talked a little about the Book of Mormon and the guy was interested and so I said, I have a Book of Mormon! Let's go give it to him! So, we went and gave it to him and talked to him a little more about it and what it was and all that. We told him we'd be back in 2 years and he better have read it and then he said I'll have read 2 or 3 times by then! haha. He was funny :) 

Then we got on the plane and me and Elder Anderson were talking to this Argentine next to us about Argentina. He knew English so it made it a lot easier. We shared with him why we were going to Argentina for 2 years because he asked what we were doing and then I gave him a pass along card. He was a nice guy. I got like 5 hours of sleep on the plane. 

Tuesday morning we got to Argentina in Buenos Aires and found the church official. He took us to a different airport that would send us to Mendoza because Buenos Aires is just international I believe. We passed the Buenos Aires temple as we drove.  We got there and met up with missionaries from the Buenos Aires MTC and then went to the terminal. Took a bus out too the plane.... which was a little weird but cool at the same time..... boarded the plane and flew to San Juan and then to Mendoza which was about 3 hours. Met the president at the airport, went to his house and ate lasagna and got to know him a bit, then to a hotel. 

Wednesday was training and we got to see the Cerro de Gloria which is a cool statue! You'll have to look up the meaning of it sometime. Then we went to where we hope the Mendoza temple will be built. The church has bought land but hasn't announced it or anything. Did AlB which is in English.... open the mouth.... or essentially walking the streets and knocking on doors. We got 2 or 3 contacts in 2 hours which was awesome!! Then back to the hotel. 

Thursday we met our trainers in the afternoon and went to our areas. That all happened in the afternoon. The missionaries left our pension really messy so we have a lot of cleaning to do.. haha. We just bought a bunch of supplies. 

Friday we went out to work! We met the bishop and ward mission leader which was fun kind of... 

Argentine is really hard to understand because they don't pronounce their words very well.. they kind of slur everything together and talk really fast! hahaha.... and they don't have a ton of the SHH. Buenos Aires is where they mainly do that. The rest of Argentina doesn't use it for every double ll or y. The people are really nice here and good people. Every time I see someone I say hi, how's it going.... and mostly everyone says hi back even though I am this huge white ginger gringo that doesn't fit in their culture!! haha. lets see... 

My companion is Elder Pinedo and he is Peruvian! He is way north in Peru like almost to Ecuador... I believe is what he said. He only knows a little English so it can be fun trying to talk to him and describe different things but we can usually figure out what we want to say to each other haha. 

Empanadas are good and so is the pasta! We had stake conference too and what I could understand from the Spanish they were using is that they talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy is very important. Yep, that's pretty much all I can remember hahha. It's all good though. 

I can't decide if i like Bidays yet.. They are kinda really weird... hahaha. People here really like them so i guess I have to get used to them. 

I am in Mendoza the city in a place called Favorita. It is a pretty good place. Way different than what I'm used to, but that's okay haha. 

Glad Cody is doing well and that Toro football is doing well. And the only reason you won in ticket to ride is because I wasn't there to beat you!! ;) hahha. Tell Emily congrats on being captain and to have fun with volleyball!! Tell Brent I said hi and David and Ness and Jace and baby Hakes soon to be and Dad and Jennie and Joe and everyone else oh and Ruby. 

I don't know what else to talk about.. hahha. Oh, when I start writing my journals at night my brain will switch from Spanish to English so my journal is a little of Spanglish right now! haha. It's hard to decide what I want to buy food wise at stores because I don't know how food words translate into Spanish hahaha. It's alright though because my companion is kinda cooking and helping out with that. 

Well, I love you guys and can´t wait to talk to you guys next week!! Nos Vemos!!!

Con amor,

Elder Hakes

PS...

Quick story about el don de lenguas..... gift of tongues. 

We were teaching a person yesterday and I was struggling a little that day with speaking and listening to what the people were saying in Spanish. And then when we were teaching Hermana Gonzalez, I could understand her and parts of what she was saying really well and I was able to speak and testify of God's plan for us in our life and what the plan of salvation was and how it could apply to her. So I guess what I have to say is, always trust the Lord. He doesn't always help us in the exact moment we think he should but in his own time when he knows it will benefit us most. In moments to allow us to grow and overcome our weaknesses if we choose the right and do as he commands us to do.

Love you mom and I hope you have an amazing day :)