He's There!!!

Drake is now in Argentina and loving it already!

He went down on Monday. My family was just as excited for his travels as he was...it meant that we got a phone call! I wasn't going to be able to talk to him because I wouldn't be at home, but luckily, he remembered my cell phone number (just one number different from his own) and called me in between school and dance! I'll just say that his accent has gotten a lot better...I thought it was one of my Spanish friends playing a prank on me until I heard him say "Elder Ranquesto" (the Spanish last name that Drake and I made up years ago). We talked for about 30 mins about how the MTC was, how my life was going, and college! (AHHHHH!!!!! I can't believe college applications are here!) You'll have to ask my parents about his phone call home.

Then wednesday we got our first email. Though my mom doesn't seem to care for technology all that much, I'm sure she was grateful for it then. What could have taken weeks to recieve took a few seconds! It is a great letter, though Drake did manage to leave out important details like exactly where in the country he was. Hopefully we'll get that information soon.

Hola y Bienvenidos a Argentina,
Ok, I probably won´t be able to say all that I want or all that you might want (especially because this keyboard is sticky and doesn´t want to type) but I arrived perfectly fine with about 6 hrs. of rest on the plane (but not a lick of sleep I think. I really like our mission president and hope to follow his example siempre. I wrote a letter about this at the mission home which I hope you´ll receive in soon.
I´ll skip right to my companion, E. Nieres. He´s great, although he is a native of Chile. He is really going to show me the ropes and he serves others very well. He wants to go into mechanics and if he can, aeronautics. We´ll work hard together side by side.
Oh, one of the rules of the mission that I should say immediately is that I can only use email with family members. I don´t remember the address to reach me right now. I´ll get that to you on Tuesday, our P-day. Oh, and Jessica, can you change my status to the one I sent you about General Conference? Gracias.
We live in a fairly nice apartment. Nowhere has carpets, but we have a tile floor. It isn´t the nicest of places, but I like it nonetheless. This place is different than I´m used to, but I´ve grown to love it already, and I´m sure that will grow exponentially.
My first day was yesterday. We did a ton of walking. We use the bus for larger distances (and we´ll use the train today because my companion is going to a sealing of one of his converts!) but we walk a lot. A lot of the streets in our area are paved but there are a lot that are not. I don’t mind walking at all. We also do a lot of contacting. And we taught a few lessons yesterday. I think we´ll do more of it all as time progresses as well.
Ok, time for the difficult subject, Spanish. I can´t really understand anything. When someone is talking to me, I just nod my head and act as if I understand. Now, during lessons, I at least can get the topic and the generalities because I´m more familiar with that vocabulary, but while on the streets, I have no clue what is going on. Luckily, it seems like they understand me, even if it is slow and broken. It is also difficult since my companion doesn´t really know any English, so I usually have a difficult time understanding what he is trying to tell me. And I don´t know the best method of trying to learn. But, I´m sure the Lord will bless me in my efforts.
My companion had worked hard in this area before we came. We have two baptisms the Saturday after conference! Juan and Cesia. I haven´t met Cesia yet, she wasn´t home yesterday, but I really like Juan. He is abut 16 years old and is a great kid. He was studying English when he came, so I got to help him a bit with his homework. His homework wasn´t the easiest either. We shared a message about the scriptures (he really likes the Book of Mormon) and I shared how when I was younger I didn’t get much out of the scriptures because I´d do it when I was too tired, but now that do it during the day and focus while reading, I learn a lot. I can´t share too much in a lesson because of my Spanish, but I can testify that I know they are true.
Oh, Ranquist is extremely difficult to pronounce in Spanish. I try to simplify it for them by saying Ron-keest, but even that is extremely difficult for them. I´ll respond to Elder.
Guess who is in the other companionship that lives in our apartment? Elder Born! We are still together after the MTC! We get to continue to grow and learn from one another´s experiences and examples.
Not only am I learning a new language, learning how to preach the Gospel, and learning Argentina, I´m learning how to live on my own. I´m very familiar with dorm living, but I´m glad I´m being taught what I need to do in order to go out on my own. Elder Nieres has been helping a lot and has been sharing a lot of stuff to get me started. When we go to the store, I never know exactly what I need or how much of it. Luckily, we have lunch given to us every day. Yesterday we just picked it up from one of the members and went and ate at the church (I kept wanting to type, en la capilla). It was really quite good. And I haven´t had any beef yet, which kind of surprises me. Maybe it isn´t as large here as I thought.
Hmm…what else? I have more time to write email than I did in the past. A full hour instead of just 30 min. Of course, I´ll use that to read your email as well, so in the future I won´t have as much time. What do you want to know about Argentina? I´m not the best at just rambling on about stuff.
So, I tell you that I love you. And I know this is the work of the Lord. I have been amazed that while contacting and door knocking (actually, clapping outside the gate), that often people are standoffish, but polite enough to listen a little, but at some point, often after just one sentence my companion says, they soften some and give us their address or let us teach them then. And the folletos (pamplets) are amazing. They always help spark interest in listening to us. You can be talking and pull out a pamphlet and you can see in their eyes, “I want to read that.”
But to continue with my testimony, I know this work is the work of the Lord. I know that the Spirit will speak through us with power if we open our mouths and the person is willing to learn. I know that we have a living prophet and living apostles and I can´t wait until I get to hear from them on Saturday. I believe we as missionaries get to listen to all of the sessions (a change). And I hope that I can understand them, but I´m afraid I´ll have to listen to it all in Spanish.
I know the scriptures contain the word of God and we can draw nearer to God through prayer. Prayer is what we ask every investigator to do. Always. The 3 major commitments to developing a testimony is olas (orar, leer, assistir la iglesia, siempre) (pray, read, attend church, always). I have a testimony of prayer and you know that.
I hope all is going well with you and I can´t wait to have all the experiences that lay before me. But most of all, I want “Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo a fin de que reciban el Evangelio restaurado mediante la fe en Jesucristo y su Expiación, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepción del don del Espíritu Santo, y el perseverar hasta el fin.”

Again with love,
Elder Ranquist