Dat Boi in Argentina: First week in Argentina!!!

Thanks fam for all the letters and pics. I never realized how special it is to receive emails and pictures until now so keep em coming por favor.

Ok I know my letters are usually funny but this time I'm serious. I learned the WRONG language in the MTC!!! Like I'm dead serious when I believe that castellano is a different language than spanish. I literally don't understand ANYTHING here. Like nada. Maybe 1 word out of every 5 sentences. Actually I'm not even sure if they have sentences here because I'm not sure when one thought ends and one starts. Like it's impossible. I've never heard anything like it. The mtc sucks because they didn't even teach me my language. I could understand most everything in the mtc and now I'm here and I don't even know what they are saying when they ask where I'm from and I'm not even sure how to respond to be honest. I've never felt useless honestly.

But in reality I super super super miss the mtc. Like I was kinda sad to leave my cali life and all but leaving the mtc and my district was rough. I miss Ekblad, I miss my old new family, and I miss volleyball, and I miss warmth, and I miss understanding people.

Like seriously it's way rough. And the cold is manageable but the language might kill me. I'm not even joking when I say that I probably will come home after 2 years maybe kinda understanding people a little better but still won't be able to say anything. I haven't cried yet but it's been close a few times.

But to be more positive, like the normal Colin that I am, Argentina is dope on all levels except the language. It's only cold here in the mornings and at night and we are inside studying in the mornings so it's aight. Sometimes when we are walking I feel like im a vape lord because of air that comes out of my nose and mouth. It's easy to imagine that I'm in Russia or sometimes in some old ghetto port town in Maine. But actually we were talking about it and this place is really just like ghetto Utah to be honest. It hasn't rained and it's not that windy. More of like a nice cool breeze which actually I love. My beanie and the thermal garments are a LIFESAVER.

The food here is honestly sooo good. The first day for lunch I had pasta and chorizo which kinda tasted and looked like the stuff you make, Mom. The next day for lunch we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and the next day we had ravioli and beef. Oh my gosh it's so good but I eat SO much that I'm sick and then they bring out flan or cake and I can't turn that down. We don't eat dinner here and honestly I'm not hungry for dinner because I'm still stuffed from lunch. A veces I eat an alfajor from Holly as a snack before bed. I didn't like alfajors until I came here but oh my gosh they are so good. Amazing. Also for breakfast we either don't eat it or I have cereal. The milk here is so delicious and reminds me of the milk in Spain which was amazing. The cereal is way good too. But for real argentina is like ghetto Spain, I think.

Ok I probably should talk about my comp and my town. My new comp is Elder Kidd. He grew up in Venezuela until he was 5 but moved to Utah to go to school. He's totally a white kid but speaks fluent Spanish. He's been here 6 months. I'm actually blessed for an english speaking trainer because I'd probably be home by now if he didn't speak english. But I DONT UNDERSTAND HIS SPANISH EITHER so it's really no use. He's a quiet guy in general but he also talks super quiet. I'm not sure if it's called mumbling in spanish because everyone does it but ya it's mumbling. In lessons and contacts he really does everything and I sit there attempting to listen.

I'm in a city called Rio Gallegos which is a 12 hour bus ride south of Comodoro Rivadavia. At least it wasn't a 24 hour bus ride like it is to Ushuiah. The 4 hour plane ride to Atlanta was aight and the 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires could've been worse. It's hard to sleep on planes. Then we took another 1 hour ish bus to another airport. Waited a few hours in the airport then took a 3 hour plane ride to Comodoro. Luckily it was a plane. Then we stayed in Comodoro for a day and I don't have time to explain that really. That night we took the 12 hour super super nice bus ride to Rio Gallegos.

I've had Mate once already and tea twice. No me gusta tea or mate. I had to choke it down and almost died.

The work is cool though. We helped a guy work on his mission papers and he's cool. We clap outside of houses. We walk a lot. We work with the other elders a lot. Elder Teixeira (from brazil) and Elder Crawford who came over with me. It's nice to work with the other guys and it's wayyy comforting to see Elder Crawford struggle too. I mean that in the best way possible of course. But ya we are the same. The only thing saving me right now is the fact that I took 3 years of Spanish in school. And the thought that at least it's not an Asian language.

I took all of my courage that I had and I bore my testimony in Spanish. After that the other new missionaries followed my example. Just Elder Crawford and Hermana Osorio but she's from Chile and has been here for like 12 month so it doesn't count.

When I was in the airport I heard "the days" by Avicii so that was an added comfort because now it's what I sing in my head when I want to go home. It was a sign.

Also this one kid we were teaching was listening to Tobu which nobody knows so I was stoked to be honest. After I tried to talk to him about DJs after. He showed me some Tomorrowland clips and I died a little inside. EDM is beautiful.

For the spiritual stuff I guess the Book of Mormon has been my anchor here. It's keeping me sane I think. Also I'm trying to read talks in Spanish to help me and that's been cool.

I think that's most everything and I think I have to go soon so hasta luego.

Elder Ross