Week 3 Was Crazy!

Hi everybody. I´m doing good and Some crazy things happened to me this week. I was unconscious, I had to speak Spanish to actual people in Argentina, and my companion has 300 dollars worth of American candy, which is like gold out here.

The Suitcase: My roommate has a brother that is just starting his mission and came here to the MTC two weeks after him and brought a suitcase full of candy and gave his half to his brother and kept the other half for himself. The candy was the most candy I have ever seen in my life. It was a carry on full of candy more than you could think of. It is ridiculous. He is already gaining weight from it. I asked his brother how much it cost and he said it was upwards of 300 dollars. Who spends 300 dollars on candy!!!!!! 300 dollars. I can do a lot with 300 dollars and my companion has 300 dollars worth of candy out here. It is insane.

Proselytismo: We do this thing out here called Proselytismo, where we go out and proselyte to real people in the streets of Argentina while we are in the MTC. They gave us a sack lunch and put us on a bus drove us to the middle of Argentina and dropped us off and told us to be back in that spot in 5 hours and they gave us a map. At first we didn't know what to do. It is a culture shock compared to California. It is poor and heartbreaking. There are literally dogs everywhere. EVERYWHERE!!! I probably saw 300 dogs in 5 hours roaming the streets. The people are poor, there are abandoned street projects everywhere. The trash pick up is, a horse, two guys, and a giant sack strapped to the horse. I probably saw three drug deals, while I was out there. All the houses are gated off, so it is really hard to get into the houses and knock on the door because there is a gate. I was talking to a guy in Spanish from his window because he didn't want to come out and talk to us. It was hard. Especially speaking Spanish. If you want to learn Spanish, then the best way to do is to be put in an environment where you don't have a choice and you have to speak Spanish, which is what we did. I've been out here three weeks and I could actually communicate and understand what people were saying to me and it was awesome. We do it again this Saturday and hopefully we do a better job.

The Pole: We were playing football during actividad fisica and low and behold I ran into a pole. Running full speed trying to catch and football. I don't remember anything. Hahaha yea it was pretty dumb. Everybody thought I was going to die and I made some girl cry on accident, but I hit the pole and I was literally out. I don't remember anything until I was being walked into the Presidents office and there were a bunch of people there. I have a huge bump on my head and it is spreading and now it is just a bruise. I don't have a concussion though, which is good but now I cant play basketball because the missionaries won't let me until next week. I'm lucky I am OK though and it definitely could have been worse. :)

Katie C :Thank you for writing me a letter! I sincerely appreciate it! I read it and I'm glad every one is doing well! Love you all so much.

My experiences here have already been awesome. I love it here and I am so glad that I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to spread his gospel. I didn't realize how much I loved it until I went out proselyting. The middle of Argentina, basically on the border of a 2nd or 3rd world country. There is no place else I would rather be than on a mission. Yea it is two years, but it will be worth it. In fact it already has been. While I will experience tons of rejection and sadness for the next two years, the times of good and happiness will much out way the bad times. I have been following all the rules and waking up and 6:30 am and going to bed at 10:30 pm and have just been loving it. It is only been 3 weeks and I have two years, but I will be done before I know it and the time will fly by. I love each and every one of you and I am so grateful for your support and for your love. Keep it real and don't forget to write or Email me Por Fa Vor.

Elder Jessop