MTC Week 8

LAST WEEK !

I have a lot to say in this thirty minutes.

FLIGHT PLANS! We got flight plans this past Friday. I leave on Monday, and usually everybody has to report to the travel office at like 4 in the morning, but we don't have to until 10. So basically our plans are boss. So we report to the Travel Office and get all our paperwork, then head to the airport. I leave Salt Lake at 1:10 PM on American Airlines flight 2312 and arrive in Dallas at 4:50 PM. Then a layover and I leave Dallas at 7:35 PM on Oceanic 815...I mean American Airlines 997, and arrive in Buenos Aires at 8:05 AM Tuesday morning. So I might be able to call in Salt Lake, but if not, definitely in Dallas, because I have about 2 1/2 hours then. WHOO!

Also, we checked about our visas, and we aren't on the delayed list, but that doesn't mean anything I guess. They said they will know for sure on Friday, but I won't be able to communicate so that doesn't help. Anyways, expect the call on Monday, and if I don't man the phone, because they don't give delayed Elders much notice of when they leave. The last district here was told Tuesday night they were leaving Wednesday morning at 6:30, so it is just a toss up if I am delayed. Also there are some other snags. Airports are now only letting you check one bag for free, and the other is $25, so i will be paying that, but also they don't count a backpack as a personal item anymore, and you can only have one carry-on, so i either have to check my carry-on for another 25 bucks or something. I don't quite know what I am going to do yet. Also, I got my 2nd Hep A shot today and it cost 66 bucks, so I am taking money out of the ATM and if you could, would you please put about $2,000 dollars in my account so that whatever else comes up it can be handled? haha well not that much, but American Airlines charges up to 315 dollars for overweight fees, so basically I have no idea what I am doing, but hey, está bien, I'm going to Argentina!

Ok, I don't know what mail is going to be like in Argentina, but I do know you can still DEARELDER me and the Church will send it, but I don't know how long it takes to get to me. So that is probably a pretty reliable way to communicate. I don't remember the address to the mission, but Dad can put it up for everyone, and it is on my facebook, too. Also, mail closes at 2 on Saturdays so the last chance to receive a DEARELDER will be Friday night for me. I don't know when the cutoff time during the day is, but if it isn't going to get to me on Friday, I probably wont get it. um...I think that is it for travel plans.

I am pretty excited to go. We met Señor Consul yesterday, so that was cool. Meeting with him is only one of the requirements to getting your visa so just because we met him doesn't really mean anything. He told us a lot about the food and culture. He said that everything is safe to eat without washing, unless you buy it from a street vendor, but he usually buys bottled water while down there. He threatened us with our lives many times. It was kind of funny. Oh yeah you bet he was proud, but I was digging it. He said that meat down there costs nothing, and if he caught us buying a Big Mac instead of a Sirloin Steak, which costs the same, he would kill us. He also said if he saw us put any sauce on the steak he would kill us, even if we were already dead, he would find us and kill us again...creepy...but coming from a middle-aged foreign man...I didn't mind. He didn't sound Hispanic at all, he sounded way Italian when he spoke English...and then his Spanish...sounded Spanish. He didn't seem to like us very much haha, but then I told him I was going to Buenos Aires, and his whole disposition changed. SOY UN PORTEÑO! he was born in Buenos Aires and so he got really excited and smiled a lot more. It was a riot.

I will write more in my written letter. If Señor Consul is anything like the people of Argentina I am about to spend the next two years laughing.

Love you bye.

Sean