Week 1 Argentina!

First off, I hate foreign keyboards. Well, at least for trying to send emails in English. Anyway. I made it here! It only took 1 train ride (1 hour), 2 bus rides (9 hours), and 3 flights (17ish hours), and lots of layover time, and I am in the town of San Martín de Los Andes. (Yes, you can go google map it now.) It is awesome here! I would describe it as a mix of the following: Springville/Mapleton, the kind of town you would find in Montanta and Yellowstone, Park City, and poverty. It rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is super beautiful here, and very cold. It is still Winter here, but it should start to inch into Spring shortly. My companion is Elder Godoy, and he is from El Salvador. He doesn´t really speak much English, but I am teaching him, as he teaches me Spanish. There is another set of Elders in the city with us, and they are Elder Castillo, and Elder Child (the District Leader). They are all super awesome, and are doing a lot to help me catch onto everything. So far we have placed a few Book of Mormons, invited some people to church, and taught several messages about the restored Gospel. It is really hard for me to share with people, when my Spanish is so weak, but through Christ and the Holy Ghost, I have been able to share the things that I have needed to share. Yesterday, we were eating lunch with a family after church, and they had a non-member friend there with them. We talked a lot about religion in general, and at the end of the time, it came my time to share a scripture. I had originally had a certain scripture in mind, but the Spirit told me it wasn´t the right one. I quickly searched my Book of Mormon, and stopped on Alma 37: 36-37. I said a quick, silent prayer for confirmation that this was the correct scripture, and the Spirit confirmed it to me. I shared it, and it was exactly what the man needed to hear in order to be willing to accept a Book of Mormon, to learn more about our religion. Awesome! :) I love the Gospel! It is definitely not easy to be a missionary, but as said by Elder Holland, "Salvation isn{t cheap." I am headed to go play soccer! Hopefully I won´t fail! :) I love you all, and hope you are all doing well, no matter where you are! The church is true; if you don´t yet know that, ask God and He will tell you. Stay strong!

Con Amor,

Elder Thurman  

Last week in MTC!

So there we were. Helping the Senior Missionaries unload their things, and taking their bags to their rooms. (It was actually super cool, because only two districts a week get chosen to do this!) As we were doing this, some Elders came running with excitement! They informed us that they had just received their Visas for Argentina! Of course, me and my companion knew that we would surely not have the same luck they did; nevertheless, we decided to go look into the little hole in the mailbox, anyway. As we approached, it looked as though the box was very full. As I peered inside, I saw a stack of travel plans; ten to be exact. There are ten people in my district. My companion and I made a run for our district leader, and explained the situation! He wouldn't believe us, because we had already received papers that said we were going to get reassignments on Thursday. We finally convinced him to check, and he came and opened the box. As he slowly, and hypnotically handed out the flight plans, we all broke into a mix of cheers, laughs, tears, and excitement! And we all lived happily ever after. :)

...Anyway! Thanks to all of you that have written to me and emailed me while I have been here in the CCM! It really has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I am definitely going to miss a lot of the things from here, but I am anxious to get out and share my testimony with the people in Argentina! :) I have been coughing all week, but I don't really care! :) The Spirit is too strong here, to get down too much. All of you out there, preparing to enter here, study hard, and have faith. :) Yo sé que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Útlimos Días es verdadera. Yo sé que José Smith fue un Profeta. Yo sé que El Libro De Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Yo sé que Jesu es el Cristo y nuestro Salvador. Yo sé que soy un misionero. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.