Familia!
Quick checkups 1st:
Brig - send pics from the Y! So dope about seeing Riley. Be diligent and smart, but have a ball.
Ned - praying for you and your knee. Join the scar club. Dope club.
Matt - Hope I'm not late, but tell Tori HBD from Elder Blake. She's def part of the fam. Also, man, how I'd kill to be at ZBB with my boy.
Fam - PMG recommends I ask you for cool experiences with keeping the commandments, sacrificing especially, stuff like tithing. Hit me up if you have anything.
Alright, so welcome to the Alberdi Ward, in San Pedrito, Jujuy (pronounced Who-Who-ee). My comp was comps with my absolute brother Elder Durrant (Mark Durrant now). Elder Molina is such a boss. He works hard, smart, and by the Spirit, even tho he's old. He's also hilarious. Has me laughing all day. Unfortunately for you, the jokes only make sense in Spanish...
Monday and Tuesday I was still a little shocked and a tiny bit depressed about the change, but I've adjusted quickly. I've gotten really good at packing my bags on short notice. The district is 6 elders, all good friends already. We played futbol this morning. I scored some goals (what? wow)
I love the area. Everything about it. The mountains are better than Salta and remind me of Utah. This week was SUPER cold, not really sure in temp, but I wore a sweater and peacoat. The apt is sick, but really cold (stone floors). The bathroom is the best I've seen in Arg, rivals that of my BYU dorm. The other elders are from Peru and Provo. Elder Adam McPherson is sitting next to me, who knows Benson.
I attached a pic of my pajamas - its that cold.
Alright, so we're working a lot with converts and contacts. The Sat before I got here, they had 4 baptisms in the area. Now, the converts are having us teach their families, which is an incredible blessing. We strive to do and often exceed 20 street contacts per day, which is more than I've ever done in my mission. My legs have been dead this week, luckily my bed is really soft.
The ward and the bishop are great. Dad - you'll be a great bishop too. Lead with love. I gave my testimony in Church, and afterwards, a lot of people introduced themselves. One woman got in my face friendly and said that she knows it's her responsibility to go out with the missionaries and help speed the work, but we never call her! Wow. Are you kidding? That's like the best attitude I've ever seen, and the only one of such a kind I've seen on my mission. She also told me that they need me... to play the piano in Sac Meeting! Yeeeee boy. I need to brush up, but she's wicked nice and said to start with whatever I can. Meet the newest Alberdi Ward Pianist, Elder DJSackman. We're about to see if my 1200 hours of practice will pay off. I'm pumped tho.
After Sac Meeting, the Bishop called a mini Ward COuncil, and said they're gonna start distributing lists of the less-active members for ALL of the Priesthood and Auxiliaries to visit. Wow. That's huge for us. The Ward wants to work! The Ward wants to rescue the sheep! Oh man, what a blessing.
Alright, so it's looking really bright, the immediate future. Have 0 complaints, and a LOT of thinks to be grateful for. We have a TON of work to do, I'm tooooo pumped.
I'm gonna be working a lot on the Christlike Attributes. Just today Pte. Levrino, in his last letter as our Pres, exhorted us to develop them. Fam, I'm choosing them all this week. Let's be more like Christ.
Gotta iron out some obedience and diligence kinks, and stay humble and running from house to house. There is nothing better than this kind of feeling. I've got my plaque on, ready to save souls.
Can't not share my testimony and my love. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it contains the plentitude of the Gospel. The Gospel changes behavior, and it changes lives. I know with out a doubt that "las oraciones de los fieles serán oídas" (2 Nefi 26:15) (Sorry, don't have it memorized in Inglish).
I'm on top of the world right now. Typing that just reminded me of the bracelet Mrs. Pich gave me, with water from Mt. Everest and mud from the Dead Sea in it. When you're at your lowest, keep your head up, and when you're on top of the world, stay humble, or something like that.
I love you all soooo much. I'm working on handwritten letters, but there's not much time. Like I said, there're a lot of souls to save here.
I love you,
send pics,
Elder Blake
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