Hello again!
Well, it was another long week. And a wet one too. Turns out that I bought shoes out of a leather that just lets the water in. But that’s actually a good thing for how much rain we’ve had. Each time it’s rained like that the streets have turned into rivers. A couple times we were up to our knees. And the thing with shoes that let the water in is that they also let the water out. But we are off to the Center today to buy Grandma’s shoes, and we will make sure that those ones are waterproof.
It was the Stake Conference last Sunday. That was really cool. President and Sister Lindahl spoke. Then there was another guest speaker: Elder Zivic of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and of the Area Presidency. They were great talks. Elder Zivic was sure dropping a lot of cain on the members about retention and reactivation. But that’s good.
I’m glad that you all seem to be enjoying yourselves. And I’m glad that Andrew Yip is thinking about a mission. Last I talked to him he wasn’t.
Mom, a favor please. I could do with some recipes. Specifically your chocolate chip cookies. And your email made me think that your peanut butter balls would be good too. Of course that one depends on being able to get peanut butter. I bet I could use crema de Bon O Bon, though...
Anyway, it’s time to move on. We’re treating the rest of our district to Sloppy Joes today, and I want to see the Argentines freak out because it’s too spicy (Argentines would think that the mildest Taco Bell taco without any sauce would be too spicy). But maybe they’ll like it.
Oh. There’s an Elder in my district from Buenos Aires and he looks just like Billy Nixon. Weird.
Well, that’s all for this week.
Love,
Elder Will Budge
December 15, 2008
December 9, 2008
Argentine Christmas Traditions?
Hello again!
Whoops. Better turn the language setting on Word to Ingles so that I’m not dealing with all sorts of red squiggles.
There we go.
So, this week has been full of travel. Did you know that I hate traveling? I love going to all sorts of places, I just hate the travel. It was another Zone Conference this week, so another trip to Mendoza. And there’s another trip there in the works for the 22nd for a Christmas Party. It’ll be fun there, but before and after, not so much.
Don’t really know what I’ll do for Christmas here. Argentina seems to have no Christmas traditions of its own. Mostly they’re all stolen from the US. There are tons of Santa Clauses with elves and snow. In Argentina. It’s summer here. So, Santa Claus and Christmas trees here are not an adopted tradition from European immigrants like they are in the US, but are stolen from TV and movies. But they do have one inherited Christmas tradition that does not exist in the US. They have panetone. Only here they call it pan dulce, or sweet bread. They have the traditional kind with fruits inside, but they also have kinds with chololate chips or almonds or other things. They also have smaller, pound cake-sized versions called budin. I have a goal of getting a taste for the fruity kind so that I can help you eat your yearly panetone, Dad. So far I’ve only had a chocolate chip budin.
There’ll be more next week.
Love,
Will
Whoops. Better turn the language setting on Word to Ingles so that I’m not dealing with all sorts of red squiggles.
There we go.
So, this week has been full of travel. Did you know that I hate traveling? I love going to all sorts of places, I just hate the travel. It was another Zone Conference this week, so another trip to Mendoza. And there’s another trip there in the works for the 22nd for a Christmas Party. It’ll be fun there, but before and after, not so much.
Don’t really know what I’ll do for Christmas here. Argentina seems to have no Christmas traditions of its own. Mostly they’re all stolen from the US. There are tons of Santa Clauses with elves and snow. In Argentina. It’s summer here. So, Santa Claus and Christmas trees here are not an adopted tradition from European immigrants like they are in the US, but are stolen from TV and movies. But they do have one inherited Christmas tradition that does not exist in the US. They have panetone. Only here they call it pan dulce, or sweet bread. They have the traditional kind with fruits inside, but they also have kinds with chololate chips or almonds or other things. They also have smaller, pound cake-sized versions called budin. I have a goal of getting a taste for the fruity kind so that I can help you eat your yearly panetone, Dad. So far I’ve only had a chocolate chip budin.
There’ll be more next week.
Love,
Will
December 1, 2008
¡Feliz Cumple Villa Mercedes!
Hello again!
Happy Mercedes Day!!! Yup. Today is Villa Mercedes’ 152nd anniversary. So, I really don’t know what working tonight will be like.
This past week Elder Opheikens and I got a special visit from one of the four Assistants to the President. That’s right, we have four of them. And they all have companions who are not Assistants. Weird. It’s mostly because President Lindahll has a bad back and can’t travel that much, so they have to do all the traveling for him. It was a good time working with them. We worked extremely hard. Found some new people, taught some older people, baptized someone. It was great.
The baptism was a bit of an adventure. Everything went pretty well. Until the font was mostly full. Then both of the water tanks at the Chapel went dry. But we still had enough water for the baptism. And the water was back by the end of the day.
Not much other news. Zone Conference this week. I got some letters this past week. One of them was in a fun plastic sleeve with a note from the Argentine postal service telling me to get upset at the USPS instead of them for bashing up my letter.
I am going to go ahead and get myself an early Christmas present today of an electric shaver. I’m out of razor blades, and they don’t sell my razor here. And an electric one will make traveling for things like Zone Conference much easier.
Love,
Elder Budge
Happy Mercedes Day!!! Yup. Today is Villa Mercedes’ 152nd anniversary. So, I really don’t know what working tonight will be like.
This past week Elder Opheikens and I got a special visit from one of the four Assistants to the President. That’s right, we have four of them. And they all have companions who are not Assistants. Weird. It’s mostly because President Lindahll has a bad back and can’t travel that much, so they have to do all the traveling for him. It was a good time working with them. We worked extremely hard. Found some new people, taught some older people, baptized someone. It was great.
The baptism was a bit of an adventure. Everything went pretty well. Until the font was mostly full. Then both of the water tanks at the Chapel went dry. But we still had enough water for the baptism. And the water was back by the end of the day.
Not much other news. Zone Conference this week. I got some letters this past week. One of them was in a fun plastic sleeve with a note from the Argentine postal service telling me to get upset at the USPS instead of them for bashing up my letter.
I am going to go ahead and get myself an early Christmas present today of an electric shaver. I’m out of razor blades, and they don’t sell my razor here. And an electric one will make traveling for things like Zone Conference much easier.
Love,
Elder Budge
November 24, 2008
Baptismbaptismbaptismbaptismbaptismbaptism!!!!!
Hello! Greetings from Argentina!!!
Big news this week: Another Baptism!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!
Her name is Yamila (Jamilla, pronounced the same too) and she’s 14 years-old. Her mother is an inactive member who just wanted us to teach her the discussions as a support for this difficult teenage time of life. But it really worked out for everybody in the end. Yamila loves the church and comes to all the meetings and activities on her own. Well, I don’t know about mutual, but she comes to our “Chapel Night”. And she is excited to go on a mission of her own. So, that’s really cool. The not so cool part is that her mother has never come to Church or anything with Yamila, not even her baptismal interview. Sigh. Oh well.
We didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving, but that’s fine. I’m very excited for Christmas, though. Can’t wait. I love Christmas. But it’s gonna be really weird. Especially in the likely event that I get transfered next transfer because transfers are on Christmas Eve. Oh well, it’d give me time to get settled into my new pench.
As for missionary friends, I haven’t written a single one. The reason: I don’t have any addresses. If I had addresses I probably would. A letter to India or Mongolia would no doubt be cheaper than a letter to the EEUU (Estados Unidos). Seriously, a letter home costs at least 5 pesos. And I know that it’s cheaper to send letters to Canada.
Twilight seems to be a rediculously huge phenomenon among the pre-teen+ female set in the US. Especially among mormons. No doubt due to the author being LDS herself. I really don’t know what the appeal is. Granted, I’ve never read it.
The general opinions of Argentines on United Statesians (Everybody in the Western Hemisphere is technically an “American”) is there’s really only one horrible one, and that is George W Bush. So, pretty much they don’t know anything of anything outside Argentina. But we did run into one man. The dialogue went something like this:
Missionaries: Hi, we’re missionaries...
Guy: No. Not to me you’re not.
M: Oh? What are we to you?
G: North American spies.
M: We’re not spies.
G: Yes you are. You’re just here so that you can see how horrible our living conditions are and go back and laugh about it.
M: Um... Living conditions are about the same in many parts of the Unites States.
G: You people are horrible! You make needless war so that you can just make money off of killing people!
So, that conversation was very useless, but I guess there really are some people who think that we’re spies.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. More to come! Baptismal pictures too!
Love,
Elder Will Budge
Big news this week: Another Baptism!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!
Her name is Yamila (Jamilla, pronounced the same too) and she’s 14 years-old. Her mother is an inactive member who just wanted us to teach her the discussions as a support for this difficult teenage time of life. But it really worked out for everybody in the end. Yamila loves the church and comes to all the meetings and activities on her own. Well, I don’t know about mutual, but she comes to our “Chapel Night”. And she is excited to go on a mission of her own. So, that’s really cool. The not so cool part is that her mother has never come to Church or anything with Yamila, not even her baptismal interview. Sigh. Oh well.
We didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving, but that’s fine. I’m very excited for Christmas, though. Can’t wait. I love Christmas. But it’s gonna be really weird. Especially in the likely event that I get transfered next transfer because transfers are on Christmas Eve. Oh well, it’d give me time to get settled into my new pench.
As for missionary friends, I haven’t written a single one. The reason: I don’t have any addresses. If I had addresses I probably would. A letter to India or Mongolia would no doubt be cheaper than a letter to the EEUU (Estados Unidos). Seriously, a letter home costs at least 5 pesos. And I know that it’s cheaper to send letters to Canada.
Twilight seems to be a rediculously huge phenomenon among the pre-teen+ female set in the US. Especially among mormons. No doubt due to the author being LDS herself. I really don’t know what the appeal is. Granted, I’ve never read it.
The general opinions of Argentines on United Statesians (Everybody in the Western Hemisphere is technically an “American”) is there’s really only one horrible one, and that is George W Bush. So, pretty much they don’t know anything of anything outside Argentina. But we did run into one man. The dialogue went something like this:
Missionaries: Hi, we’re missionaries...
Guy: No. Not to me you’re not.
M: Oh? What are we to you?
G: North American spies.
M: We’re not spies.
G: Yes you are. You’re just here so that you can see how horrible our living conditions are and go back and laugh about it.
M: Um... Living conditions are about the same in many parts of the Unites States.
G: You people are horrible! You make needless war so that you can just make money off of killing people!
So, that conversation was very useless, but I guess there really are some people who think that we’re spies.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. More to come! Baptismal pictures too!
Love,
Elder Will Budge
November 17, 2008
Another Email From Villa Mercedes
Hey all!
I love hearing from you, so keep writing!
News! Actually this should’ve been in last week’s entry, but I forgot...
We have new hours for the summer!!! Ahem...
07:30AM: Arise
08:00AM: Shower/Breakfast
09:00AM: Personal Study
10:00AM: Companionship Study
10:30AM: Leave and Work
13:00PM: Lunch
14:00PM: Study at the chapel, in a park, with members, work
15:30PM: Work
22:30PM: Plan for the next day
23:30PM: Sleep
So, there it is. I must say, waking up at 7:30 agrees much more with me than getting up at 6:30. Not sure why because it’s the same amount of sleep, but it does. And it means that we can talk with more people because everybody says “Come by after 8:30.”
I’m sure you’re all eager to hear about transfers, so here it goes:
Elder Neibaur se fue. But now I’m three for three with comps. Every single one of them is from Idaho. First Shelley, then Paul, now Rigby. By new companion is Elder Opheikens (Oh-pie-kins). He’s from Rigby, Idaho and is a real cowboy’s cowboy. Even as a missionary he looks like a cowboy, well as much as a missionary can. He’s cool, and works hard, but doesn’t stress out about anything.
We have a new baptismal date for a girl named Yamila. She’s the adopted daughter of a less-active member. She’s very excited about the Church, and even kinda wants to go on a mission. Only time will tell.
Well, that’s about all the news from Villa Mercedes right now.
Ciao,
Elder Budge
I love hearing from you, so keep writing!
News! Actually this should’ve been in last week’s entry, but I forgot...
We have new hours for the summer!!! Ahem...
07:30AM: Arise
08:00AM: Shower/Breakfast
09:00AM: Personal Study
10:00AM: Companionship Study
10:30AM: Leave and Work
13:00PM: Lunch
14:00PM: Study at the chapel, in a park, with members, work
15:30PM: Work
22:30PM: Plan for the next day
23:30PM: Sleep
So, there it is. I must say, waking up at 7:30 agrees much more with me than getting up at 6:30. Not sure why because it’s the same amount of sleep, but it does. And it means that we can talk with more people because everybody says “Come by after 8:30.”
I’m sure you’re all eager to hear about transfers, so here it goes:
Elder Neibaur se fue. But now I’m three for three with comps. Every single one of them is from Idaho. First Shelley, then Paul, now Rigby. By new companion is Elder Opheikens (Oh-pie-kins). He’s from Rigby, Idaho and is a real cowboy’s cowboy. Even as a missionary he looks like a cowboy, well as much as a missionary can. He’s cool, and works hard, but doesn’t stress out about anything.
We have a new baptismal date for a girl named Yamila. She’s the adopted daughter of a less-active member. She’s very excited about the Church, and even kinda wants to go on a mission. Only time will tell.
Well, that’s about all the news from Villa Mercedes right now.
Ciao,
Elder Budge
November 10, 2008
Last Email From Villa Mercedes???
Hello all!
Well, here it is, the middle of November. Well, the beginning of the double-digits of November. Either way, it’s starting to get really hot. Seems like the middle to me because I was filling out dates through the 24th of December this morning. I’m sorry if I confused anyone, transfers are this week, so we find out tomorrow at District Meeting and whoever goes goes on Wednesday. The transfer ends just before Christmas, so that’s rough for whoever moves next time.
A funny story that I’ve been forgetting for the last few weeks:
We were meeting with a family and the eight-year-old daughter was looking through one of those DK visual encyclopedias, “The Human Body” to be exact. On the page with babies she looked at the picture of a human embryo and said, “Look! Before babies are babies they’re empanadas!” So, apparently human embryos, and pretty much any other embryo, are empanadas. I bet they don’t taste like empanadas, though.
I heard the news of the election this week. Everybody has been talking about it here, which I think is weird. We don’t usually talk about everybody’s new president. But Argentines are all very excited about Obama and glad that Bush is out. I’m pretty sure they have no idea how our system works. Theirs is very corrupt. I heard that Obama won by over 100 electors. If that’s true, wow. I can’t remember an election like that. Of course all the elections that I’ve paid any attention to are those with Bush.
One TV station even said (I think this is common belief among all Argentines) that Bush was possibly the worst president in the history of the United States. Clearly they don’t know very much about US history.
Argentine moment of the day: the stop lights turn yellow before they turn green. A practice that I think should be adopted in the US.
News: President Lindahl has authorized emails from friends and extended family. But only as short messages attached at the end of my parent’s email. [the.budges@verizon.net] So, if you have something important to tell me like “I got into such-and-such a school!”, or “I’m getting married!” (hard for me to believe that I’m at that point where friends may start getting married), or “Such-and-such a friend is getting baptized!!!” send it to my parents and I’ll get it through the free Parental Censorship Board. Any of the last one are especially welcome. I would love to hear about any friends, or even friends of friends who are getting baptized.
That’s all for this week. More to come!
Elder Budge
Well, here it is, the middle of November. Well, the beginning of the double-digits of November. Either way, it’s starting to get really hot. Seems like the middle to me because I was filling out dates through the 24th of December this morning. I’m sorry if I confused anyone, transfers are this week, so we find out tomorrow at District Meeting and whoever goes goes on Wednesday. The transfer ends just before Christmas, so that’s rough for whoever moves next time.
A funny story that I’ve been forgetting for the last few weeks:
We were meeting with a family and the eight-year-old daughter was looking through one of those DK visual encyclopedias, “The Human Body” to be exact. On the page with babies she looked at the picture of a human embryo and said, “Look! Before babies are babies they’re empanadas!” So, apparently human embryos, and pretty much any other embryo, are empanadas. I bet they don’t taste like empanadas, though.
I heard the news of the election this week. Everybody has been talking about it here, which I think is weird. We don’t usually talk about everybody’s new president. But Argentines are all very excited about Obama and glad that Bush is out. I’m pretty sure they have no idea how our system works. Theirs is very corrupt. I heard that Obama won by over 100 electors. If that’s true, wow. I can’t remember an election like that. Of course all the elections that I’ve paid any attention to are those with Bush.
One TV station even said (I think this is common belief among all Argentines) that Bush was possibly the worst president in the history of the United States. Clearly they don’t know very much about US history.
Argentine moment of the day: the stop lights turn yellow before they turn green. A practice that I think should be adopted in the US.
News: President Lindahl has authorized emails from friends and extended family. But only as short messages attached at the end of my parent’s email. [the.budges@verizon.net] So, if you have something important to tell me like “I got into such-and-such a school!”, or “I’m getting married!” (hard for me to believe that I’m at that point where friends may start getting married), or “Such-and-such a friend is getting baptized!!!” send it to my parents and I’ll get it through the free Parental Censorship Board. Any of the last one are especially welcome. I would love to hear about any friends, or even friends of friends who are getting baptized.
That’s all for this week. More to come!
Elder Budge
November 3, 2008
Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax, of Cabbages and Kings! ... Okay, Just of Shoes.
Hello again and happy November!
Well, I got some new shoes last Monday. Hurray! Now I have comfy, keep my feet try, Argentine shoes. I hope they hold up.
I also finally got all my letters sent off, so some of you should be getting letters from Argentina in the next week. Fun story, it was the first time that I was paid to send mail. I was mailing (with the more expensive shipping for my absentee ballot) 58 pesos-worth of mail. Somewhere in the exchange of money and letters the teller got confused. He ended up giving me my 100 peso bill back with four extra pesos. Elder Neibaur and I argued with him for about ten minutes and the people in line started to get irate. Finally we just left. We were walking along and decided to write a note, put the note and the money in an envelope, and leave it in a suggestion box. About six blocks later we heard somebody yelling, we turn and the teller was running after us. He caught up and said that we were right. I gave him the money, but he only had a pocket full of 100s, so we went back to the post office. So, that’s my fun story of the week.
We have started having a Family Home Evening with the ward on Thursday nights. Last week we acted out some of the miracles of Jesus. Sadly, Elder Neibaur and I were unable to attend due to an emergency trip to Mendoza. But we’ll be there this week for a great activity about scripture study and baking cookies.
Well, that’s really about all I have for this week. I’ll have more to talk about later.
Elder Budge
Well, I got some new shoes last Monday. Hurray! Now I have comfy, keep my feet try, Argentine shoes. I hope they hold up.
I also finally got all my letters sent off, so some of you should be getting letters from Argentina in the next week. Fun story, it was the first time that I was paid to send mail. I was mailing (with the more expensive shipping for my absentee ballot) 58 pesos-worth of mail. Somewhere in the exchange of money and letters the teller got confused. He ended up giving me my 100 peso bill back with four extra pesos. Elder Neibaur and I argued with him for about ten minutes and the people in line started to get irate. Finally we just left. We were walking along and decided to write a note, put the note and the money in an envelope, and leave it in a suggestion box. About six blocks later we heard somebody yelling, we turn and the teller was running after us. He caught up and said that we were right. I gave him the money, but he only had a pocket full of 100s, so we went back to the post office. So, that’s my fun story of the week.
We have started having a Family Home Evening with the ward on Thursday nights. Last week we acted out some of the miracles of Jesus. Sadly, Elder Neibaur and I were unable to attend due to an emergency trip to Mendoza. But we’ll be there this week for a great activity about scripture study and baking cookies.
Well, that’s really about all I have for this week. I’ll have more to talk about later.
Elder Budge
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