June 4, 2012

 Antonio and I (holding The Book of Mormon)

 The members love to give us crackers for some reason

 Ramos, me and the family of the Presidente de Rama

Me and Retamal (a member who gave us lunch every Wednesday)

I'm jealous that you are all starting summer because the winter just started here and I am so cold. So windy, so humid. 

Lots of big and unexpected changes this week. I don't know how you knew Mom, but this week I was transferred from Solano to Avelleneda. Seeing to how I only had three months in Solano, the change was totally a surprise. In my letter to President this week, I told him that I would feel totally comfortable finishing my mission in Solano. Bad idea. I pretty sure that upon reading my letter, he decided to take me out. Whatevs. I was super sad to leave Solano, but am totally excited to be in Avelleneda. The goodbyes in Solano were not quite as hard as they were in Longchamps. I am proud to say that I did not shed a tear. hahaha I am a man. I have hair on my chest. Lots of it. Anyways.....It was rough, but it was good. Probably the hardest goodbye was to Elder Ramos. Elder Ramos was one of my favorite companions. He is one of the most positive people I know. That is super valuable to have in a companion. I am sad to see my little Peruvian go. He's the best. 

My new comps name is Elder Ruvalcaba from Gudalajara, Mexico. He is super tall and is well known in the mission for his work ethic as well as his walking speed. (Really fast) We will see if my stubby/super thick Lewis legs can keep up. I don't really know anything else about Elder Ruvalcaba yet.

 Avelleneda is very very different than the rest of my mission thus far. Avelleneda is the most northern area of the mission and the most urban area in the mission. How urban? Today we bought our food at a WalMart. BOOM. It felt so good to buy food from someone who wasn't sending my money to a Beijing-based mafia. Avelleneda is famous for being really urban and really ghetto. Half of our area is city with lots of tall buildings, and the other half is a real big, real nasty villa. But no worries, Ruval will protect me. 

I am super happy to be in Avelleneda now because a lot of my best friends on the mission are in my zone. My old companion, Elder Borgersen (Tim Tebow) shares the same chapel with me. Our zone is the biggest in the mission with 20 missionaries, so it will be a little different to be a zone leader here.