Letter from Sept 11, 2006

Hey all! Well, this week was great! I probably answer more questions in the email than I remember to answer in the blog and I don´t want to waste time writing things twice. The mail is horrible. I finally sent the letters I wrote on the plane to Argentina. It costs tons and I can never find a place to send the letters. Please forgive, but I’m sticking to email. As for packages, we would have to pay half of the price for the package in pesos if customs stops it.

Weather: We actually don´t get snow here. It is too humid. Actually, it´s like someone put an ocean in southern Utah. The closest we´ve had to snow is a little hail/rain the other day and we’re moving into spring now. It’s not too cold, but it is windy.

Puerto Madryn is beautiful. We live in an apartment. We have a ward full of wonderful people who feed us lunch everyday. We try to teach parents, we teach women and try to avoid the drunk men that try to kiss us. (It’s the culture here to greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. We can only greet women that way and we shake hands with the men.) There are 8 other missionaries in our zone. We have some elders that also attend our ward.

MTC vent: The MTC is great. I feel like I wasted 9 weeks of my life because I have to pretty much start over. Language is going good. I understand most of what everyone is saying. I hate when they tell me “milk before meat” when the people are giving me meat and I’m giving them milk because I have to think about what I’m saying. They tell me to “fill our well”, which is memorize the key points in the lessons and stuff, but we can’t do that during personal study time and when I´m on the street, I’m trying to contact people. I feel like the MTC could be structured a little better. Okay, that’s my vent. I actually learned a lot from the MTC. I learned how to waste time so I know what to do better here in the field. It’s so easy to waste time, but I love when we don’t.

Stories: I can´t think of any stories. What I don´t get is why people aren´t willing to try the best religious alfajor ever! Some quotes of the week would be, “That´s not a request!” I felt that way when the alarm clock went off one morning. It was the beast. Elder White asked if we had a good week. I smiled and nodded and said, “No.” We hadn´t had the best week, but we smile and move on. I felt like the guy on Pirates, “Like I said, there’s no real ship as can match the Intercep…”

Well, I think that’s all for now, with the exception on a few poems which I will send separately. Today we went to the Old Man and the Sea Museum. It was cool. Oh, and can you please mail me some family pictures that I can take around with me to show people? Thanks! Love all! April Vay Madsen

PS. Thanks for your letters and emails! Please keep sending them!