Hola!!!

 

So news from the south. I am now officially one province away from the end of the world. Did you receive my last pictures? or the ones I just sent?

 

So Rio Gallegos is kind of a mix between Mesquite, Nevada and Logan, Utah. It´s still pretty cold during the summer and the most windy. Hermana Milmont was here during the summer for two weeks and said that often the wind blew her against a wall it was so strong. I guess I lucked out when I came here in the winter. All of the missionaries here are telling me that hardly anyone comes to Rio Gallegos. Evidentally President Gulbrandsen said that only those the Lord trusts greatly are sent to Rio Gallegos. I don´t know what He wants me to do here, but I am grateful to be here. Yes, it is an opportunity to learn what it will be like in Logan, and I think that I will enjoy myself. I am sooooooo grateful for the coat you sent me. I would die without it. I am using my ski gloves so we shall see how that goes. So far I seem to be doing ok. I do need to buy some earmuffs, though. Which reminds me, I took out 25 dollars from my account. There are penguins here, but in the summer. One of the Elders here has a picture of one. I would really like to see the glaciers here. Sometimes President Gulbrandsen, during interviews, takes us to the glaciers. I would love that.

 

There are 10 missionaries in our area. There are so few of us that we are a zone and a district. We don´t have a district leader, we have zone leaders. I´m back in the same district/zone as Elder Haws. I wish that you could have heard his voice when he found out that I was here. It was hilarious. Also, Elder Ocares just got here too. He is in an area really far away, so they are on skype during our district meetings, because it would take them about 3-4 hours to get here. The areas are called Gaucho, 6 de Abril, Calafate, Centro, and (ours) Belgrano Sur. This is all of Rio Gallegos.  We play fútbol every P-day after internet until 5pm and then we buy food and work for the rest of the day. This district/zone is really close.

 

So about Hermana Alfarro. I have no idea about her cooking. She is more the athletic type. I am teaching her cross stitch and she is loving it. Never did she think that she could or would do things like that, but she really wants to learn things about the home (cross stitch, cooking, sewing in general, etc). She is from La Serena, Chile and returns home in October. She doesn´t speak very much english and her other companions from the states didn´t want to practice with her. She is excited that I want to help her learn english. Both of her parents are converts and she is an only child.

 

The Branch here is pretty small. The church is young here, but they have great leaders.  We are working on growing the trust between the members and the missionaries. There are two new converts named Virginia and Iris. They are the sweetest two young women you will ever meet. They are 23 and love music from the 70´s. They accompany us every day to visits and Iris really wants to be a missionary. We´ll see what happens. We do have our own church building and it is kept warm all the time (just like our pension).

 

I´m glad that you are all doing well. It´s not that mail doesn´t arrive in the mission, it´s just that there is not really anybody to bring the mail to us. It´s ok. I have a feeling, though, that I am going to be in Rio Gallegos for a while. The senior missionaries here have all been here for a while, so the idea is that next transfer, all the senior missionaries are going to leave and the junior companions will be the next generation. We´ll see what happens.

 

I love you all and wish you a happy Independence Day!!

 

Love

Hermana Alvey