Ramos Mejia- Week #79

I promise this is the last week I am sending an email late....

Hey there clan,

We just got back from my last P-day activity. I finally made it to some of the clay courts of Buenos Aires to hit a few tennis balls, and I had a great time. I had Patrick McEnroe’s voice in my head the whole time like he was commentating on my French Open debut in Arthur Ashe Stadium. I kind of had a little moment…anyway…they also had some little miniature courts to play “paddle tennis” which was actually really fun as well. It is basically like racquet ball, but on a small tennis court. You can use the walls and your racquets are small and fat. Do we have that in the States? We should because it would be a hit!

So the call home was great! I really enjoyed it and it really helped to make my Christmas special! (That was for you Mom) It went by way fast, but it always does. I experienced similar feelings as you did, Mom and Dad. The last two calls I was really trunky after and it took a few hours to get back into gear, but this year I hung up and wasn’t down at all. I felt nothing…haha what I mean is that it didn’t make me trunky. Maybe it was because I feel at home now or something, especially in the mission home. Christmas Day was really good. I think I mentioned last year that everyone lights off fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve, and this year was no disappointment. I am surprised there aren’t more injuries or fires. Maybe there are and I just don’t know, but in any case, it sounded like a war was going on outside. It is kind of an interesting way to celebrate, and now comes a week of cease fire until New Year’s Eve!

Anyway, this week is transfers, so we will find out where I will be continuing my missionary service. My replacement comes in tomorrow. We just found out who it was last night. His name is Elder Page from Idaho, and he is currently companions with…Elder Tyler Burns Sabey. So Elder Page is going to come in tomorrow and I will head out to 9 de Julio with Elder Sabey…just kidding, haha when we called last night to tell them I told Elder Sabey we were going to be companions again and all he said was, “Please tell me you aren’t lying.” That would be funny, but no, we won’t be companions again. So tomorrow I will start the training…and then 5 days later I will leave…I heard in other missions elders are trained for a whole transfer…not here…the longest training is for the finance secretary…he gets 2 weeks…I guess it doesn’t really take that long to figure out how to sort mail…or how to make sure the sacred funds of the Lord are managed properly and efficiently. We have IMOS now anyway…so I am pretty sure Elder Maxwell just presses a button and it all fixes itself. I am not really sure what he does in his office all day.

Anyway, I don’t really know what else to say this week, because we just talked on the phone…but hope all is well. Oh yeah, Lucio got baptized on Saturday, so my goal of having a white Christmas was fulfilled. We ate lunch with them on Sunday, and all I have to say is I wrote a long journal entry on my personal experiences seeing how the gospel changes lives. Lucio is a completely different person now. He was cold and always looked angry before, and now every time we see him he is smiling and cracking jokes. I was talking with Gladys, his oldest daughter who lives there as well with her husband and four children, and she mentioned that she hadn’t seen her father like that since before her younger brother passed away. Suddenly the story of Lucio unfolded a little more, and I realized a little more just how important the plan of salvation is to everyone. He never told us about his son passing away. Gladys says he doesn’t ever mention it. I can only imagine how he felt when we talked about the plan of salvation. I just sat there and watched him play with his grandson and one of those surreal moments washed over me like you see in movies, and I felt pure happiness. It was one of those moments when you feel like an hour has gone by, but only a few seconds have passed. The best part of all of this is I GET ANOTHER SIX MONTHS OF THIS STUFF!!!!! Who even knows all the great experiences that are waiting for me in my new area, or the great people I am going to meet. In Ramos Mejia I have realized what everyone means when they say they love the people on their mission. I thought I did before, and I did, but my understanding is broadening, and for the first time, I honestly feel kind of sad about having to leave them and go home in six months.

Speaking of going home in six months…about this whole apartment thing, everything sounds good. It actually just so happens that I was talking with a sister in our mission while her companion was in the office calling home for Christmas, and she was talking to me all about BYU. She said stay far far away from Glenwood. Also she said that she heard King Henry was bad, and then she said the best place to live is Liberty Square…what a coincidence! So there is another testimony. That is cool too that Trevor would be living with us, then we can have a party when he opens his call letter. So yeah sounds great. Also today was pretty interesting (it is Tuesday now by the way because this week started off with a bang and I have been swamped with stuff to do for transfers) We were out delivering mail to everyone, and a sister missionary named Hermana Daniels asked me if my first name was Sean. Not a question I usually get, but I answered in the affirmative. She then told me that her mother said that she knows my parents and talks with them all the time on the missionary mom site…I muttered under my breath, “Miguel strikes again…” I don’t think she heard me, but Elder Varela did and started laughing because of his time and association with me in the office. Anyway, Shout-out to the Daniels family.

Love you guys!

Elder Vuestro-hijo “that is for Brett and all those Spaniards out there”