Hermana Urban's first e-mail from Argentina!

*Hey everyone, here's Elissa's first e-mail from Argentina! Enjoy! Love, Bethany

Alright people the email from Argentina!!! My pday is once again on Monday. First of all Dad did you get the email from my mission president? If not I will let him know.

Ok so we will start out with the plane ride. Very long. Not very comfortable. On the first flight I had a really good experience with this lady that I was sitting next to. She was a member of the church but has been through a lot. recently divorced and she was about 24. But I shared some scriptures with her and we cried. Ya know the girlie moments.

Well then the ten hour flight. oh man. it was fine but long and I got no sleep. They actually played "Becoming Jane" and me and Hma Dax wanted to watch it sooooo bad. And we were going to, but for some reason our side of the plane audio didn´t work. God works in mysterious ways wouldn´t you say?

Well we arrives in Argentina at about 8 am. 4 am your time. We went to the mission home. i met my new comp. went to my area. and went to work.

Ok so my comp is Hermana Garcia. AND I LOVE HER!!! We get along insanely well. She teaches sooo well. She is 29 but looks 23 at the most, from Mexico and just the cutest little thing. I am really lucky because I am the only one who got a native spanish speaker. But she speaks english fluently - really well. But she is just so great with the people. She doesn´t treat people like they are investigators or "numbers" but as friends. And that is how it should always be! Sometimes I think missionaries forget that these people could be their friends as well and not just an appointment.

My area is called El Dorado and is huge! We walk a ton. Part of it is slightly nice but majority are campos. Campos are what you see in those infomercials to support children. . . yeah i think that describes it correctly. Me and my companion dont live in the campos. they are too dangerous for Hermanas. But we live in a nearby apartment. The front is this orange garage door with a tiny little door that you walk in and then there are like 3 other apts next to ours. Well anyway, there are dogs EVERYWHERE!!! They are a disturbing matter really. Think diseased dogs roaming the streets. The nicer part of our area has sidewalk. But most of it is dirt. Well a combination of dirt and trash. Honestly trash is a major problem there.

But what really matters are the people. AGH! I am so lucky to be serving in this capacity. Everyday we go out and help people find faith. We serve in anyway we can whether that is cleaning, cooking, just being there, but most importantly teach about Christ and how His church is on the earth today. People are so interested when we teach. We taught 30 lessons this week! can you believe it? Everyday I am exhausted with walking, talking, and mostly listening.

Spanish. what can I say? All I know is that this is going to take faith, diligence and everyones prayers! It is a little funny if and when I talk everyone leans in and becomes very attentive. But I have had some people say that I do speak well. the only problem is that I am having a hard time understanding.

OK but some people I really want to talk about are:

Hermana Espinola. She is a member of the church she lives in the campos with her husband and her son. But she religiously feeds us lunch every thrusday and Saturday. I have no idea how she affords to do this. She absolutely amazes me. We offer to pay or help, but she always declines saying that we are doing the work of the Lord and she wants to help, she knows that she gets blessings from feeding the missionaries. And her food is so delicious! On thursday we had this potato and egg thing with a salad. And then we had Canelones - this delious italian dish. But as you know Argetina has a lot of italian in it, so it only makes sense! I love Hermana Espinola.

Well, if youcan believe it or not we had a baptism this week! Alejondro is a 12 year old niño that amazes me. He only lived with his mom in the campo but sadly this past December she past away from Cancer. Can you imagine? It just breaks my heart. His older brother moved down to live with and take care of him. Well, Hermana garcia and her past companion started to teach him and he started going to church and having purpose in his life again. He is still sensitive with the passing of his mom, but now he has God. He can always got to Him in prayer. When I think of Alejondro I think of how his life is going to be so much richly blest now. I am so grateful for the church and the importance of education. With the Perpetual education Fund that the church has, Alejondro not only is a part of Christ´s Church but can continue his education. I am just so grateful to be a part of this church. I don't think people realize just how much the church reaches out to the world in every capacity. Which is fine. People don´t have to know. But I get to see a lot of it first hand here.
well time is up. I have to go.

love all of you!
hermana urban´

- you can send packages to the mission office (the address on the letter from the mission pres a while back) but send it express - very important. if you put stickers on it of the virgin mary and write mission supplies it shouldn´t get opened. you cna still dearelder