Mon 9/18/2023 12:11pm
Brave, intrepid, and then some. If you're cool, you'll get that. Or not. Whatever.
So, I'm sure most if not all of you know that I'm in Argentina at this point, and while I'm sure you all want to hear everything about it, I still have a week of CCM to report about. So imma do that.
Alright, so last week in the CCM. It was honestly pretty awesome. There were a couple days where we all tried to do them Solo Español, and that lasted about until lunch, but we were still able to get our points and ideas across to each other. We did some Español grammar testing, and I somehow did well on that. Felt nice to know I've progressed.
If anyone wanted a scoring on the CCM food, it's 5/10. Very mid. At least they have milk boxes with every meal. I may or may not have drank a half gallon of milk with one meal one time.
Um anyways, I don't think I described how Sunday works there. Basically, everyone in the zone writes talks and the branch president calls up three or four of them to speak in Espanol for like five minutes. The whole time, no one in our district had gotten called, until the last Sunday, when they called me up. Bruh. At least I dropped the most banger talk about the Atonement (Alma 7:11 baybee). AFTER giving a talk though, Elder Noall and I taught the lesson for the elders that day. Out district also did two special musical numbers during sacrament meeting. They really wanted to see me before I left I guess.
They didn't really do anything for 9/11, which I expected, so I coerced the people in charge of our house devo to have us sing the National Anthem for it. It was amazing hearing nearly 26 dudes all belting the National Anthem. One of them also had a flag on a keychain. I felt so freaking patriotic, which also made me realize that when I feel patriotic, I feel the Spirit. I love America.
The last day was pretty much a testimony meeting all day. And a lot of singing of God Be With You Til We Meet Again in Español. We all finished packing, I somehow got everything packed, even with all the extra stuff they gave me. I also bought like four of these oreo tube things with the rest of my tienda cash. Freakin lit. But yeah, then we got on a bus at like five in the morning, and then we were outta there. Also saw some people off at one in the morning, so I got like zero sleep that night.
Now, onto travel stuff. First, hour bus ride to the Mexico City airport. Nothing crazy. Then, a nine hour flight to Buenos Aires. Longest. Nine hours. Of my life. At least they served us a banger hot breakfast and lunch, french toast sticks and pasta. I did finish the last Saints book on the flight. Those books are so good. Next, a nice gentleman in Buenls Aires took us to the legit nicest hotel I've ever been to, we ate some AMAZING beef and potatoes, took a four hour nap, (I didn't, everyone else did) and left for ANOTHER airport for a two hour flight to Bahía. Oh yeah, in between all these flights, we are waiting anywhere from 3-4 hours as a layover. Lovely. We finally touch down in Bahía, meet President and Hermana Marsden and the APs, take a thirty minute bus ride to the Iglesia, and we're officially in our mission area. On a quick side note, driving to the city reminded me of Idaho a bit: flat, brown, and nothing. Bahía has a lot more trash in the road. And on the side of the road. And everywhere. ANYWAYS, met with Prez, ate some BANGER empanadas, got assigned to the General Pico 2 area in the Santa Rosa Zone with an Elder Bain. I was psyched.
Alright, act 3. So, assigned to General Pico, was told I was leaving for it at midnight. So I go to the AP's casa, take a quick nap, meet Elder Bain, and then we hop on a bus and head to Santa Rosa, which is about four hours away from Bahía. Guys, my area is the size and shape of Texas. Freekin massive. Okay, then, we get to Santa Rosa, one of the companionships there meet us at the bus station, take us to their place, take another nap, get up, see if we can get another bus to Pico, about two hours away, and all of them leave at six that evening. Fab. So we spent that day helping out the elders we had roomed with until six. I was with a Latino named Elder Tapia. Bro is a stud. He speaks English really well, so he helped me out whenever I said something wrong in Español, which was pretty often. I didn't say too much to the people we met, but I understood most everything they said, which was cool. We did make it to Pico safely, we're sharing pension with a couple other elders, both of whom are super cool, one is Latino, so solo Español cada día en mi casa, pero esta todo bien, necesito aprender mucho. But yeah that's my travel. It was crazy, I was stressed and running on about three hours of sleep, but I'm safe and glad I'm here finally.
Yesterday was the first day in the area, and it was pretty dope. We went to sacrament meeting first and met the people in the ward. Literally everyone here is super friendly, but the members even more so. Elder Bain and I introduced ourselves to them and I actually spoke Español well. Super awesome. Then we went and ate with some members who were super nice and the food was amazign, AND THEN we went out and attempted to meet all the people who had been taught in the area. A lot of them were home and up for another meeting or lesson, but a lot more of them weren't home or were pretending not to be. Elder Bain and I are both nee to the area, so it'll be a bit difficult for both of us at first, but he says after a week or two, we should be alright. The weirdest thing about all of this is that I don't feel nervous or stressed about anything. I just know that the Lord is going to help me with everything, whether it be meeting people, teaching lessons, or hablando Español.
That'll lead me into a bit more of a spiritual rant. Recently, I've been kind of receiving revelation through song lyrics, usually from hymn verses, being repeated in my head. The two biggest things in the last week are from: First, the last verse of Praise to the Man, which says, 'Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven.' I've definitely felt that to be true and I know that as I sacrifice more of myself and my time to the Lord, that I will be blessed. Second, idk what the song is called, but there was this reggae song my dad liked at one point, and the chorus went like, 'If Jah's (God) on my side, then why should I be 'fraid?' Again, totally felt that to be true. There is no fear here, only the Spirit. It's amazing. I've also started incorporating Hymns into my study just so that I can have more material to be brought to my rememberance. I love music, yall. OH YEAH THAT REMINDS ME! An Elder in district 1H asked us to write our own verse of I Believe in Christ, and this is what I wrote:
I Believe in Christ,
He's paid my fee.
Through all my pain,
He stands by me.
I've seen His hand,
In all my days.
It lifts me from
My sinful ways.
I Believe in Christ,
His love is pure.
For sickened Earth,
It is the cure.
From lowest low,
To highest height,
I'll teach of Him
With all my might.
I wrote that within an hour of him asking us to. Anyways, this email is flipping huge and my fingers are tired. So love yall, I'll email next week, yes, Pdays are Monday from now until forever.
Until next time,
Élder Montgomery
Picturesssssss:
1: Districts 1G and 1H with our Assistant Branch Prez
2: Got a Hispanic CTR ring in the tienda
3: Me n Elder Noall underneath the Argentinian flag.
4: 1G with our actual Branch Prez
5: Personal Study Moment
6: Us with one of our teachers, Hermano Limón
7: The best meal I ate in the last six weeks
8: We're heeeeere
9: You wish prices were this good. It's legit 50 cents in American.
10: Breakfast this morning.
More to come next week. I hope.
