Updates from Elder Will Budge's mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mendoza, Argentina.
June 19, 2008
It's Official
Here's Will about an hour before entering the MTC. We dropped him off at about noon on June 18. There was a short meeting with family and friends, then all the missionaries were gone. Will saw one of his BYU roommates who was entering the MTC on the same day, and they walked through the Missionary Exit door together. He's now off on his big adventure. I'll try to keep his blog updated with information and letters as I get them.
Will here. Thanks for your interest in how my mission's going.
If you want to write while I am in Argentina, please use this address:
Elder William David Budge Misión Argentina Mendoza Casilla de Correo 631 Mendoza 5500 Argentina
I will try to write back to any letters. If not by mail, then in this blog.
I hope that you all enjoy my updates. Thank you again for your interest.
Elder Budge
Here are some other instructions for writing to Will:
For those who wish to continue writing me here are some options:
1) DearElder.com-- I hear that this works in the mission field. I believe it costs something, same as US postage, I think. I have heard that the mission president prints them off weekly.
2) Pouch Mail-- I believe that my pouch address is on the site here. At least it should be. This is probably the most reliable way for me to get a hand-written letter. You send a one-sheet of paper letter, folded in three and taped closed with the addresses on it, to Salt Lake through the USPS. From there somebody brings it down with them to Argentina. I get it at a mission conference or Zone conference. Apparently it comes every six weeks or so. For an article on how to use pouch mail, click here.
3) USPS international mail-- This is more expensive and not so reliable. The Argentine mail is rather corrupt. They open mail, so if you send it this way, cover it with Catholic stickers, they'll respect it. Also, I heard from a Chilean teacher here whose brother served in Mendoza that the mail workers went on strike and burned all the mail, so beware.