ARGENTINA

Sooooo i got my travel plans and i got my visa! I leave Monday. I fly to Atlanta Georgia, we have a 4 hour layover. Then after that we fly 11 hours to Argentina. After that we take a bus, anywhere from 8-12 hours... So ya it will be like 3 days of traveling. But still I’m super pumped because I’m going to Argentina. Other than that the life of an MTC missionary is pretty low key. We got our first (fake) baptismal commitment. YAY. And yesterday we finished that last mandatory lesson of Spanish. So the rest of week is just going to be review. The Spanish is coming but i definitely don’t feel confident, let alone go to another country where everyone speaks it. And plus all this Spanish is making me forget how to speak English so it’s kind of hard, But a week and a half from today I’ll probably have a native companion that doesn’t speak a lick of English. Hahaha i don’t know but this next 2 weeks should be really interesting. I don’t even know what to expect. One of the Elders in my district had his birthday last Wednesday, so we ate some cake took some pictures and what not. I went into his room at like 5 in the morning on his birthday got a whole bag of starbursts and just made it rain. On P-days we are allowed to go to jamba juice, today we went and Elder Gonzalez bought 10 wheat grass shots and we drank them. I might as well have just chewed the grass straight out of a lawn mower bag. It was pretty gross. But i heard they are super healthy and so that’s a plus. Ok the Sister Missionaries in my district..... i know God put them in my district to help me grow my patience. OOOOOOOHHHH MMMYYYY HEEAAAAVVENNNS. Where do they get off.  I’m sorry but i had to blow some steam right here. They never stop talking, the only people that laugh at thier are jokes are themselves. And no matter what i do I’m doing it wrong. Hopefully marriage isn’t like that.  I’ve been praying lots for my future wife, so i think I’ll be fine. Today was the last time ill probably go to the temple in 2 years so that’s crazy.  It won’t fully hit me that I’m a missionary utill probably i get off the plane in argentina. But it’s getting real, real fast. There are real people that I’ll be teaching. That’s crazy. Like i said i just don’t know what to expect but it ought to be exciting.

Oh fun fact,  my companion has no facial hair whatsoever. But he gets shaving creme and shaves every single morning because it says to shave every day in our handbook. (He shaves his ears too.) So today we were running a little late, and i asked if him if he was ready to go and he said almost and then what and shaved for ten minutes hahahah... I dunno the kids a walking mystery but he pretty good at teaching the gospel. Well you know what they say... Strict obedience brings miracles.   Anyways as for gospel principals I’ve learned this week it’s the Atonement. We owe everything to Jesus Christ, Because he saved us. I guess that’s part of why I’m out here to pay him back. The thing is even out here while I’m paying him back he is still helping my more than I’m even helping myself. We are eternally indebted to him, so that we really can return with him and our Father in Heaven. Jesus didn’t have one bad thought in his whole earth life, think about that, and those people that were supposed to follow him were the ones that killed him. Then he overcame death, so we all can to.  I really do know this church is true. Even if my companion is a walking question mark, and sister missionaries drive me nuts. Talk to you in Argentina :)

-Elder Simmons