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We got a call from Dustin on Monday July 20th saying that his visa finally came in and he was leaving Tuesday to Argentina. We were so excited for the news and grateful for all the prayers on his behalf. Here is alittle part of Dustin's first email in Argentina"It's taken awhile but I have finally made it down to Argentina. It is completely opposite here then in the states. Our flight took over 17 hours and was soo long but I talked with a lady most of the flight who sat next to me. She actually use to be LDS but got offended when she was a teenager and hasńt been back since. It was really sad. So we talked with her and convinced her right now while she is still searching for what religion to join to go back to an LDS service and try it out again because we told her the church is perfect, even though sometimes the people in the church aren't perfect, the church always will be. So she agreed and we gave her another Book of Mormon so hopefully she reads it and goes to church. Well after the flight I ran into the Asay's at the airport, it was pretty funny so I talked with them for a bit. They told me they would call you all sometime and let you know they saw me, I don't know if they did though. But I arrived finally in my area which is called, Beltran. It is about a half an hour north of Rosario. The first night actually that we arrived we stayed at the mission house in Rosario with the President and his wife and the missionaries that work in the office. It was such a nice house which is funny because I thought that is how all of Argentina was come to find out my pincḧ apartment is tinny ha, it's pretty nice though so I don't complain (especially comparative to other places that I have seen pictures of or heard about) we actually have one of the nicest showers in the mission and the nicest in our area so that is nice. I'll make sure to send pictures home. Well about aregentina now though, as I said, my first area is Beltrán and my trainer is elder Clifford from mesa, AZ. Hés been here for just over a year and is really competient with the language, and he really helps me out a lot. Everyday I am getting better and better at Spanish (little by very little ha) most of the times still I don't know what is going on and just sit off and listen and try and translate in my head then occasionally they will ask my trainer if I understand what is going on and I usually know when they ask that so I say si, yo entiendo ha when really I had no clue what they were saying I just know they are asking me if I understand ha so its pretty funny. Well mom here is some news for you, actually the area that I am in, is actually one of the safest areas in our zone ha, so for right now I am pretty safe and haven't had any troubles."Dustin's trainer seems like a great guy. His mom called me the other day to tell us that their son told them to pray for Dustin so that he would get his visa . Elder Clifford didn't have a companion for 2 weeks because he was waiting for Dustin to get to Argentina. Dustin has said that he is learning so much from Elder Clifford so far. Here is alittle funny story that Elder Clifford sent to his family about the first day with Dustin. He entitled the email "It's A Boy"...indicating that he finally got his companion, Dustin.
"That same afternoon I took him out to knock some doors. I did the first door and told him to do the second one. Little did he know that I had called a member family before hand and told them to act like investigators. He knocked the door and the hermana answered it acting like she was really annoyed with us. He did an amazing contact and then she invited us in. I noticed that all the pictures of the temple were put face down but they had left a triple on the glass table. Luckily he didn’t notice it. I just told him to start the first lesson and I let him teach all of it. He did such a good job. The hermano walked in acted like we had woken him up so I made hand signals to him saying to get his gun because he is a policeman. I was bummed he didn’t bring it out cause I wanted him to act like some crazy guy trying to shoot us. They started to ask Elder Graham all these hard questions so he would look at me to translate but I just left him out their in the water. Finally we asked if we could leave the family with the word of prayer and the hermano asked Elder Graham to say it. He said an amazing prayer and after saying amen we all starting clapping. Elder Graham had no idea what was going on. I then explained to him that they were members. He then looked super relieved. Ha-ha. It was such a good first lesson."He has his first baptism on August 3rd, Jorgelina Galliano. She is a 16 year old girl and a great example in her family. Dustin says the work is moving forward very well. His mission president did a "white-wash" in his area, where he replaced all the old missionaries that weren't doing so well with 2 new missionaries in order to get the work going again.
Dustin is working hard and having a lot of fun and loves his mission and the people of Argentina. His spanish is coming along well, but can't wait until he doesn't have to think about translating it in his head. But him and his companion have a deal that Dustin will teach him soccer skills and Elder Clifford will teach him spanish. Dustin's soccer background has really been a blessing already. He plays with the little kids and impresses him with his skills and tricks and also made a deal with a man named Señor Quintana. He is a huge soccer fan and calls Dustin "Micheal Owen". They talked soccer the first time they met and Dustin even made a deal that if senor Quintana's team won then he would have to go to church the next Sunday. Well, the team actually lost, but he came to church anyways. Dustin is having a great time and doing so well.
We should get another email today and so hopefully I can update his blog again. Thanks for the love and support from everyone. We love you and we love Dustin and are so proud of him.
