Safely in Argentina

Collin made it safely to Argentina and is in his first area.
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Hey everyone.


so i am using a different keyboard setup so the keys might be a little off... sorry if there are mistakes. a lot of the buttons are shorter so i keep hitting other buttons and there are weird symbols and things.

anywho, so after i got off the phone last night with you all, we boarded the airplane. however we didn´t take off on time. one of the air masks wouldn´t stay in its container thing, so they had to get someone to replace it. that took 10 minutes or so, and then when they got there they said they didn´t have the right parts and would have to go find (read: go buy) the right part, and tha took 30 minutes or so. then they replaced it, and they said they were concerned with another one of the airmask thingys, so they replaced that one too, and took another 10-15 minutes. so by the time we actually left the terminal we were like an hour delayed. anywho, on the plane, i was scheduled to sit in 41A. we were on a big plane, the one with 2 aisles, so it had 7 seats in every row. during this whole plane delay thing, most of the elders being in the very back of the plane, decided they wanted to move up, so 2 of them left to go further up the plane. and so one of the rows of the middle aisle was left with only 1 person, so i moved to it, and i had tons of leg room. it was actually quite comfortable. when i moved, i went to 42E, the very last row in the plane. there weren´t even seats next to me, the last rows on the sides were 41. i talked to the flight attendants quite a bit. it was pretty interesting. they had to help all of the missionaries with their customs stuff? whatever its called. i dunno, but nobody had ever done it before. so they helped us all with that. we were served dinner and breakfast. i actually fell asleep during the night, a good 4 hours or so i think. then we landed, and had to go through emmigration services.

me talking on the phone while in the airport waiting for the flight to argentina. i had to find a comfortable way to stand for an hour, so i look kind of odd, but thats okay. i think i am leaning against the phone...

this is my row on the plane. its all missionaries. but i eventually ended up moving from that position, to the row directly behind, as i had more room.

well, apparently the mtc was supposed to give us our mission debit card while we were still in the mtc. and they didn´t. so when i got to the emmigration services, i had to pay $131 to get in or something like that, and i had to use my wells fargo account card. the mission president said we would be refunded for that. they also called some church services or something, and apparently our cards will be here within 3 days. so until then, i cant make any real purchases, and my new trainer is paying the stuff, as the mission president directed everyone.

so we got off the plane, and they didn´t even make us really go through customs duty stuff, some guy just let us walk through, it was weird. then we walked out and we met our mission president, and he talked to us for a few minutes. we piled all of our luggage in a typical south american truck, and then all the missionaries got into a van. we drove to the argentine MTC and picked up 4? elders and 3 sisters. then we went to the mission home. this place is huge. its a typical home, but it also has the offices in it, as well as 2-3 sacrament meeting rooms, and a full sized church gym, just without the basketball goals. we had a really good lunch, had some quick informal training, and then did some more training stuff.

i got my new trainer. his name is elder rivera. hes from costa rica, and apparently the only elder from there. he knows english really well, so hopefully i can get him to talk in spanish a lot, as he likes talking to me in english.

the outside view of our pensión (apartment) with my companion standing in the doorway

we took a taxi cab thing over to our apartment. wow. the driving down here is pretty wild. i never really saw any lanes except for on the freeway. people change lanes all over the place, weaving in and out of traffic. dont really stop when they take turns. motorcycles dont seem to obey any sort of laws, they drive on the side of the road all the time. it was really entertaining.

so once we got to the apartment, i unpacked a bit of stuff, took off my coat jacket, as we dont have to wear it down here (and i have been wearing it for the past 2 months straight, it felt so good to take it off) and then we went to the bishops house (yikes haha) because his wife wanted to meet me or something like that. she is a very nice person. my companion said that she used to cook dinner for them every night until he told her that they didn´t have time for it or something. so i tried to talk to her in spanish, stumbling along and such. i guess i said what i really wanted to, but i definitely did not understand everything that she was saying to me. she gave us chocolate milk, using the unrefigerated out-of-a-pouch stuff. i didn´t think it owuld be very good at all, after what brother hunsaker said to me, but it wasn´t that bad actually. not the best , but what can you expect. then my companion remembered that the mission president told us to email, so thats what we are doing right now. we are in a little store on the road, that has like 15 computers or so, and some telephones and things.

so the apartment, as im betting youre all wanting to know. its a little (emphasize little) apartment, on the side of the road. it has a gate that locks, and the door doesnt stay shut unless you lock it. it has the main room, where we eat lunch and it also has a little desk that we use to study.

then there is a very small room where we sleep, just 2 beds about 3 feet apart, and a small closet.

then the bathroom. the good thing is he said their water heater is very reliable. its a small shower, with a toilet that apparently breaks a lot. he said last week they had to use a bucket for part of the day, hah. anywho, it also has a baday (spelling?) which i can´t exactly say i am eager to try out. it should be interesting to say the least.

the apartment doesn´t have any air conditioning, which was to be expected, but we do have 2 fans to use on ourselves.

my area, moron 2 (lol funny name) is COMPLETELY in the city. as in, everything. and he showed me a map of it, it is also quite a large area. we were walking back from talking to the bishops wife and he randomly says hi to some lady walking with her son, and the next thing i know he is setting up an appointment with her. i almost thought he was going to get an appointment with the taxi/cab driver, as he just kept talking and talking to him about our beliefs and things. and the taxi driver would respond everyo nce in a while and things. was interesting. our area seemed to be quite a ways from the mission home, for still being in the city.

i may end up buying a backpack, we´ll have to see if the ones you can buy from the mission home are worth anything or not.

other than that... i made it safely. my spanish is not quite worthy of buenos aires. buenos aires is huge. we´ll see how i do contacting people with my spanish tomorrow...

-Collin

Only a few days left at the MTC!

Collin leaves for Argentina on March 29th!  He is really excited to go and thinks he will really like it there.
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so i guess the first bit of news that everyone is wondering about is my FLIGHT PLANS! I got them last thursday, however i got them after we were allowed to email, so i couldn't tell anyone about them. i leave monday, march 29th. my first flight is at 1215 PM, out of SLC. i fly to atlanta GA, arrive at 558 PM. leave atlanta at 835 PM and arrive in argentina at 745 AM. thats quite a flight. maybe i will have some time to finally catch up on some sleep... :) i am super excited to finally leave. i only have 4 days left, and if you count P-day today and sunday as not really counting as days, i only have 2 days left!! there are 8 people in my travel group. i have to pay 50 bucks for my second bag, but i should get reimbursed for it in argentina.


the rest of my district got their flight plans on monday or tuesday. one leaves the following day to california, and the rest going to san antonio leave the next day on wednesday.

so anyways, a bit of news i heard, obama's healthcare plan passed huh?

our last day with one of our teachers, the one that went to buenos aires north, was yesterday. so we had a culture day. argentina looks amazing, and i really think i am going to like it.

later today at 130 or so, i have to get my second hep a shot, and its going to cost $70.

i put one of my suits in the drycleaners here, and after i got it back i went to put in my second suit, and i was one day off (they say you need to put it in a week before its needed) and so they wouldn't clean my second suit. that was really irritating. especially when they clean suits for one suit elders in like 2 days.

i got the package from mom and dad (even though it had the address as brianna... ;) ) a couple days ago. thanks for the package. i love the jellybeans, really good! i also got a package from jennifer a few days before that. it had cookies and milkyways in it, which are also really good. i hosted again on wednesday. i got to host 1 sister, and 2 elders. it was interesting i suppose, having to make chit chat, trying to make them feel welcome in a new place, but it was something different.

i started reading the bible a few days ago. i got through genesis so far. basically from the first half of genesis, the bible is basically people getting drunk and comitting incest... kind of weird in my opinion, but whatever.

my companion and i were chosen to complete a random survey. i just thought i would say that, the survery wasn't a big deal or anything.

my companion and i also said the sacrament prayers during sacrament meeting this past sunday in spanish. it went well.

during our temple walk this past sunday, 2 girls showed up in (shorter) skirts and put a blanket in the middle of the temple grounds and laid on it for like 30 minutes. this seems to be a normal occurence here at the provo temple when missionaries are around. some guy in charge finally went over there and asked the girls to leave, but not before several elders had already talked with them... pretty funny. there were TONS of people there this time. usually its only missionaries, but tons of families showed up too, i guess because it was the first real warm sunday.

my first 2 knuckles on my right hand are a bit dried out, and started bleeding a little bit because of the cracks. i tried putting aloe vera on it, but it didn't seem to do much, and they are still really dried out. don't know why my other knuckles aren't dried out though...

we went to the TE (teacher evaluation) a few days ago, and one of the teachers walked up with his laptop watching a march madness game and he had it playing through the speakers. several of the teachers came out during the next 10 minutes and sat and watched it with him. i thought that was pretty funny as well.

we taught our teacher outside this week, that was fun. he was playing an investigator he had on his mission, and we just walked all over the mtc campus as if it was a real investigator.

this past thursday, as we were walking back from the temple, the trio in our district stopped and talked to a guy that was sitting on the street in front of the temple just looking at it. it so happens that he wasn't a member(didn't even know what the church was really...), and they set up an appointment to teach him at the MTC. kind of weird i know, a kid in a backpack in provo, looking at the temple, and not knowing what the church is. we all thought he was an RM playing a joke. well anyways, he didn't show up to the appointment, so they called him, and they taught him over the phone for the next hour or so. they then referred him to the provo missionaries, so it turns out he was a real investigator?

we ate lunch outside this past thursday as well. that was really nice. it was kind of warm outside, so we all enjoyed being outside to eat lunch.

about the calling from the airport thing. they haven't told us anything about it... i have no idea how long we can call or anything. but i think we can call from the slc airport also, so be expecting a call as early as 10 in the morning, and then i dont know the timezone in atlanta, but i would be calling between 5-8 atlanta time. i will try and use that calling card thing that dad gave me, but if not i will call with the phone number of the phone i am at, and see how that works.

today, i wanted to wash my jeans and my normal shirt that i wear, so i am in a pair of black dress pants that i have, black dress shoes, and a green striped nicer looking shirt with thermal shirt underneath. i must say, i look pretty pimpin for only being half dressy.

so i get this email every week now, don't know how or why, but it tells me what my current balance on my "card" is. it must be the card that i get in argentina for my monthly allowance. anyways, this week it told me that i have $130 on my card. thats nice. i think i will have to buy a package of white socks. the first time i washed my clothes i lost one sock, and last week i lost another sock somehow, so now i only have 3 pairs of socks. they tell you to change your white socks every day in argentina, so i will definitely need some more. i think i might also have to get some boots down there for when it rains, among other things. i might even have to get a heavier coat, as i don't know really how cold it can get. the interesting thing is i am leaving winter here, just to go right back to winter in a couple months in argentina. yay for opposite seasons on the other side of the planet!

i think i am going to buy a couple journals here from the bookstore, since i dont think i will be able to get the kind i want down in argentina. i still have a bit of money left on my blue mtc card, so i will use that, and i may have to buy 1 more with my debit card, depending how much is discounted for being a missionary.

dont know if i said this int he last email, but we had our last TRc on tuesday. we had a really nice old man, who reminded me a lot of grandpa durham. he taught spanish at 2 high schools, and he was really cool.

anyways, i am now out of time. be waiting for my call on monday sometime!

4 more days!

-Collin

MTC Week #7 - March 18, 2010

Here is a rundown on what's going on in the MTC....
* I finished jesus the christ, all 796 pages of it. it was a really good book.

* decent news. i'm not the district leader anymore. i went through all the leadership training meetings, so they switched out the DL. it's nice not having to go to a ton of meetings all the time anymore.

* yesterday our district hosted all the new incoming missionaries. my companion and i were in charge of traffic, and we got to wear these huge bright neon yellow/green jackets.

* this week(starting yesterday) also started our "teaching week" where we only have 1 hour of class time with each teacher a day, and the other time is reserved for teaching a buttload of lessons whenever we can. so yesterday, we taught 4 lessons in spanish.

* first of all, EQLC. think about what that means... EQLC is for Elder Quentin L Cook. he came and talked to us this past tuesday, and guess what.... out of ~2200 missionaries, i was one of the only FOUR people that got to shake his hand! i was sitting on stage because my companion said the opening prayer, so we stayed up there until the devotional was over, and afterwards he came over and shook all of our hands.

* we should be getting our flight plans today! and if not today, should be tomorrow.

It's been 5 weeks now....

It's been 5 weeks since Collin reported to the MTC. Only 4 weeks to go before heading off to Buenos Aires. Here's a list of some of the things that occurred this week...

* someone from one of the newer districts who was good with music come into our district and taught us how to lead. i think it that was the first time i actually knew how to lead music, even if i don't know COMPLETELY how to do it. i could do it if i needed to... i think.

* the district that is right above us in the zone started hosting (taking in new missionaries and showing them where to go when they get here on wednesday afternoons). its nice to do because its a change from normal routine. you only host when you have been here for 6 weeks or more, so hopefully our district will get to start doing it soon.

* on sunday, we had a devotional, like always. however, this was probably the best speaker we have had yet. first of all, he let us take off our jackets, which nobody has ever let us do before. that was very nice. he also had us stand ulp if we met different requirements, and although most of them were 'funny' ones, like who has received a dear john letter since being in the mtc, it was fun to be involved. he also told lots of jokes to keep us interested, and to keep us from falling asleep.

* about a week ago, i actually had my 'first dream in spanish' even though it wasn't all spanish. i was running on the beach or something, and jumping across rocks, and everytime i jumped a rock i would translate a word into spanish. i don't remember what i was translating, but i thought it was pretty neat. i realized a couple of days ago that whenever i hear songs playing, i actually start singing them in spanish, and i don't even know the words in english. thats pretty bizarre. 5 weeks and i am already memorizing hymns in spanish, and coming up with the words without thinking about it.

* don't know if i told anyone this, but i started combing my hair to the side a little, with something different in the front. i think it actually looks pretty nice. hopefully i don't look too old...