Matt's email 6/28/10

After we got back to the apartment (after dinner on a p day) we got a call from one of the zone leaders. As it all turns out I got transferred and am now in the city of Godoy Cruz, which is pretty close to downtown Mendoza. It is right up against the Andes which is pretty cool but in our area there are 4 catholic churches, 1 Evangelist church, and a bunch of little Argentine sects so it makes for some interesting conversations. One lady the other day said that she believes in a book written by 3 theoligians. Their belief is that Jesus didn´t die on the cross. They claim that the tomb that Joseph of Arimethea built had some flaw so Jesus could escape and for three days he was healing himself and he came back after 3 days, had a family, and died of old age... It was pretty interesting and the only reason they think all that is because nobody could find the bones of Jesus´s body. She obviously just doesn´t get it. But yeah that is just a taste of what goes on here. The area is a lot nicer than San Rafael and the houses are somewhat realistic. My comp is a Latin from Buenos Aires. His name is Elder Benitez and he is way legit. He has only been here 2 transfers more than me so we are a way young companionship, but we work way hard anyway. Ten days before the mission he had a coach from a premier team in Spain come and offer him a spot on the team and promised him a bunch of money, but he declined the offer. Before the mission he played professional soccer in Paraguay and he´s a baller. Speaking spanish all the time is different, but we have pretty good conversations and I can communicate myself so I´m pretty satisfied. I was pretty disappointed when I got transferred because I had to walk away from 2 baptisms but whatever... Success on a mission isn´t measured by the number of baptisms you get. Anyways yeah that is the transfer. We live in an apartment with the zone leaders and that is way gay but what can you do. The ward here is pretty small and they are all a bunch of lazy Argentines. There is one Sister in the ward that is willing to work with us and everyone else claims that they are always busy. The lady that normally washes the missionary´s clothes said she won´t wash Elder Benitez´s clothes because he is from Buenos Aires. Yeah it´s pretty jacked up. We have to wash our clothes with a wash board in the sink. That´s about all the new news I have. It is freaking cold still.  Once we get out and start working and walking around I warm up but it´s just when I´m studying and all that. The winter only lasts until like the end of August so it should pass pretty quickly. That´s the hope at least.
That is a blessing that Mike won the election. It sounds like there was a ton of work that went into that deal. I´m happy for him though and he will do great.  Life here is going great. Argentina is about 180 degrees different from America. I can see now how blessed I am to be born in a place so great as America. Everyone here just rips on North Americans but they have no idea. I hope everyone has a good week there. Thank you all for the emails last week. It was great to finally hear from the rest of the family. I love you all and pray for you all daily. Keep on keepin on.
Love
Elder Burr