AJ's email from 7/24/12

    this week was definitely weird for me. it felt like it went by extremely slow. i dont know if its cuz we have pday today and not yesterday, or if its cuz we didnt have a very good week, or what it is, but im just tired. every week more though that im in this sector, i realize more and more just how small it really is. i was looking at the map, and thinking about it as we walked around a couple days, and i figured out that our sector is a little bit bigger than a square mile, cuz we can walk a full circle (walking normally) around our whole sector in less than an hour and a half. and thats absolutely tiny for a sector. normally in a sector you MIGHT knock every door over 6 months if you cover the whole sector well, knock doors very often, and get lucky. but here i feel like ive already covered almost the whole sector and its only been one change, not even. so im pretty sure that if im here for a long time, im gonna knock the same doors at least 3 or 4 times. but i guess thats what we get for having such a small mission.

     wednesday i did divisions with departamental again but this time i went with elder martinez to their sector. it was a lot of fun being with him. its funny cuz its seems to me like the missionaries from argentina are all either prideful or just hilarious. and he is one of the funny ones. so we had a good time. the coolest part of our day is that we found this family that has 2 daughters that are world champions in speed roller blading. they had been to japan, venezuela, colombia, the states, and are going to italy next month for the world championships. and they showed us all the pictures and medals that they had. the cool part about all that though is that we first talked to the mom out in the street in front of a little store. and the first thing that she says to us is that she is REALLY catholic and doesnt want to talk to us. so we asked why and she said that she didnt want to talk about religion cuz she is happy with hers. so we just talked to her about her family and those sports stuff and some things that are happening in the world. and at the end we asked if we could go by her house sometime to talk to her more and meet her family. and she said sure so we got her address and walked away. when we got to the corner of the street, we stopped cuz we didnt know what to do from there so we stood there thinking for a few minutes when all of a sudden we see that lady running after us and calling us so we went to talk to her. when she caught up, she asked if we wanted to go by their house now and talk a little more and so we said sure and followed her to the house. so that was pretty cool.
       saturday morning we went by to teach daniela. something new that we are doing right now in the mission is leave a pamphlet or little part of the book of mormon with the people we teach and tell them that they have to teach us about it the next time we go. and it seems to work out well cuz then the people remember better the things they need to know and its easier on us cuz we dont have to teach so much. so we had left a word of wisdom folleto with her and she taught us that morning. it made it so much easier cuz sometimes those commandments can get a little tricky to teach but by doing that, it was easier and she committed to follow it from now on. then after lunch carlos had his interview so that he can get baptized this sunday and he passed so we are all good to go for this week. we just need to plan it all now.
       sunday was really stressful for me although im not really sure why. maybe cuz it was just the end of a really long week and i felt like there was so much to do and so it was a little rough. it started in the morning with ward council and we had a long discussion with them about whether daniela should go to the young womens or relief society. thankfully almost everyone was on my side and thought that it would be better for her to go to young womens for now. so that was an answered prayer. and then daniela ended up showing up an hour late to church which drove me crazy after all the arrangements that i was having to make for her. but at least she came so thats good. then after church we went to lunch with the bishop. im not sure if ive never tried shrimp before or if i just didnt like it but i loved it now. we had that with ravioli and so it was a really good lunch. its weird to think back on the times before the mission when i was so picky and wonder why i didnt like so much.
      then today we had our zone activity. we went to buin zoo which is just south of our mission boundaries. its definitely not as big as others ive gone to in the states but it was still fun. the only thing that i didnt like about the activity is that it was supposed to be as a zone and there was a companionship that didnt go and there wasnt a single moment when everyone was all together. but i guess thats just how it goes sometimes. although it left me basically without money til next week when we get more for next month.
       i hope everyone is doing well. take care