June 20, 2011

"There was a big volcano in Chile. The volcano erupted literally tons and tons of ash, and the ash is making its way all the way across Argentina to Buenos Aires.  There is tons of ash falling from the sky and covering everything here in what just looks like dirt. In the western part of Buenos Aires it looks like feet and feet of snow. When we get back to our apartment for the night every night, our white shirts are more like grey shirts. But the best part of the whole thing that I have been loving is that the falling ash makes sweet sunsets like I have never seen in my life. I make Elder Stokes stop (no matter what we are doing) and watch the sunset for 10 minutes or so. It's too good.
Funny Story that happened this week: Elder Stokes and I go to the same little grocery store every time we buy food. At the grocery store we go to, the cashier is a girl who is about 22/23 years old. Every time we check out with her, she just stares us down and is really shameless about it, but will never say ANYTHING to us. (Lots and lots of Argentines just really like American boys) Elder Stokes and I contacted (gave her a church pamphlet and tried to have a gospel conversation) one of the first times we saw her and she just would not say a single word. So Elder Stokes and I have made it a game that every time we go to this grocery store and see her to act like we have never contacted her before to see if she will finally say anything. One day this week we did the contact again with the same result. But as she handed me the folded receipt for the things we had bought, I felt something folded into the receipt. I didn't really think about it at the time and just shoved the receipt into my pocket. As we were unloading the groceries back in our apartment, I took the receipt out of my pocket and found a note that said, in English, "I dream about you last night." In Argentina, saying you dreamed about someone is just kind of a pick up line. I just started laughing and showed it to Elder Stokes and we couldn't stop laughing for a long time. This girl who will NEVER EVER talk to us and we think that she hates us, just gave me a love note. Maybe the next time we go back she will finally talk to us."