Tucuman: Simoca

And there I was, clapping doors, but wait, how´d we get here? 'It's been over two weeks, Elder Shepherd.' Don't worry, I'll take you back. (Imagine VHS Rewind here). (And Here too, It takes a while) (And don't forget to stop the video first, or you'll ruin the tape) The last few days of the CCM wrapped up super fast, I got to say some goodbyes, take a couple pictures, and give my sage wisdom to a bunch of Elders who just got there, I felt like I was on my deathbed telling the youngsters how to live their lives before I passed on. Which I did. Moving Day: 3 days ish before we had to leave the CCM, the Elders in my district and I were evicted from our casa, and had to move all the way to the opposite corner of the CCM, and say goodbye to the giant lego hands in the sky. They told us mid day during class, and we sprinted to our house, and moved everything in about an hour and a half. I felt like I was in episode 22 of a 24 episode season of a series, always the episode with that little plot twist that changes your expectations for the two-part finale. And boy it did. We took this change with a positive attitude of adventure, and boy the new casa did not disappoint. Like the old casa, but everything was a little nicer, a little cleaner, and we had a minifridge to store my Mango Nectar Jumex for the next three days, so I was satisfied. Feels crazy now, again, thinking about leaving my district in the CCM, kindoff like leaving another family. I'm super excited for them though, and for everyone who gets to meet and get to know them as I did. They are all going to do great work. Saying goodbye to them all was another sort of daydream. Elder Siow left at 3am in the morning, 2 hours before me and others in our district, and I really didn't get to say goodbye. Our wave of missionaries headed to the airport at 5am, and like a scene out of a hallmark Christmas movie, we ran into Elder Siow in the airport, right before he had to run off to catch his flight. We said our goodbyes and goodlucks, and he walked off into the sunrise in his majestic maroon suit. A group of about 8 of us, some going to Rosario the rest of us too Salta(No one else from my district), flew together to Buenos Aires. 9 Hours, whoop whoop. Landed and got through security there at about midnight, in the heat and moisture, and headed to a Hotel for the ''night,'' and it was really nice. We got in and to our rooms, ate a tad, and then quickly got to bed. But by this time we had 45min to sleep before we needed to rise and head for the airport for Salta. I might have slept-ish 10, but somehow felt so energized and ready in the morning. Flew 3 more hours to Salta, and got a warm welcome from the Mission Presidente Palmieri y Hermana Palmieri. Got welcomed into the mission in Salta, met my new companion, the legend himself, Elder Brizuela, ate empinadas (So goood), and then jumped on 5 hr bus ride for Simoca, Tucuman!!! We dropped of our stuff and headed out to work... ...And there I was, clapping doors (Don't knock, when in Argentina you clapp, it´s what you do...if you wanna save 15% or more on car insurance...). We had a couple lecciones that night and contacted a few amigos before wrapping up this one long day. The first week was wild, just happened to be zone exchanges, my first full day so I spent the day with Elder Zaro in San Miguel, hopping buses, giving a bunch of lessons, and trying to keep up with the language. The next day was back with Elder Brizuela, went right to work again. The weather here is like if Florida was cranked up about 5 levels, very hot and humid. You are dripping sweat constantly, before you leave the house, but at least it's a constant variable, so you kind of forget after the first couple days. We teach lots of lessons throughout the day and get to talk with a lot of amigos, and in the first few days, it was difficult sometimes, just because I was in my head a bit. But, as I have worked to focus less on myself and not worrying about the right words to say in Español, I have been able to feel the spirit more and the words are there when I need them. And they say Tucuman is the most difficult dialect in the mission, but understanding is coming along more than I would have expected by now, and much more than I could have done on my own. But it's not easy. It's kinda-off like playing dodge-ball with a bunch of words just being thrown at you, and you try to catch all these words as they're flying past, sometimes one knocks another out of your hand, sometimes the just bounce-off and sometimes you catch most of them, but like over your shoulder, and so you understand about 2 sentences behind. I think I got the easier mission. Lots of people want to hear the message or at least are welcoming. And they are so humble and grateful for the little things, it inspires me to be better, to be more grateful for even one more day. To be grateful for every new day. Every new sunrise. We've had the opportunity to teach lots of families and other friends these past couple of weeks. One of those families was the Romano Familia. Getting to see their understanding and testimonies of the gospel grow has been amazing, and in the lecciones and teaching by the spirit, my testimony of so much of the evangelio has grown. And tambien how much of a blessing the gospel is in the lives of families and personally. And I am learning more and more not to take for granted the things of the gospel in my life, from having a living prophet, the scriptures (especially the Libro de Mormon), and the power of prayer in nuestras vidas. And the joy, light, and spirit of the baptism this weekend has inspired me even more. And I am so glad to be just a small instrument in the hand of the Lord to help these people. Here's some notes for these couple weeks Remember/Record your spiritual experiences/good days, because not every day will be as easy We should have verbs for eating every meal like in espñol, por ejemplo 'almorzar' Try not to take for granted the blessings of the gospel: Like We Have a Living Prophet, that 's legendary. (And perfect, it's almost conference). Be grateful for our trials and take them head on, with God and Christ to help us through, they are opportunities for us to grow and improve in this life Failure is Always an Option: Trials, personal and of the world, are not usually what we want, but our opportunities to learn to pick ourselves up, rise, overcome, change, and improve.