¡Hola Familia!
‘
¿Como anda? Yesterday was the end of the transfers and guess what…I’m staying here in Centro! Pretty sweet! Elder Smith and I will be here for another transfer to enjoy the work in this area, I’m grateful. Also we’ll be here for Christmas! And I’m told its amazing here, tons of fireworks and such activities.

This was a good, hard week in the life of a mish. First off, I was cleaning the fridge and freezer, you know being a good companion, and I was getting into defrosting the freezer — taking out my stress with a knife to the ice, and I stabbed the freezer and the freon shot out. Thus leading to the lost of the fridge. So we haven’t had a fridge for a week and should get one this week sometime.  It’s going to be a brand new one, so I guess it was a good thing.  

When the members don’t feed us, me make our own food, but we always get fed. I’ve been getting pretty creative with the things I make and I’ve made some legit things and somethings haven’t been so good. Trial and error is the way of life, eh!

Last week we were going over to a museum to paint the walls for a service project and two other mishes were going to meet us there. And guess who that other mish was…Elder Lyons, he was in my district in the MTC. Needless to say, we relived our MTC days, talked about our investigadores, and laughed so hard. It truly was a blessing to see him.  My week was going downhill and the Lord blessed me with good company.

We’ve been having this little sprinkling of rain and it just makes everything wet, and the most wonderful weather follows those showers… the little thing called HUMIDITY. It’s been so humid here the past few days that I’ve had a constant bead of sweat. Fun days.

We were tracting in a sketchy neighborhood and three kids on scooters rallied around us and circled us. They thought they were cool, but little did they know scooters are cool. Entonces, they asked us where we were from and a few other questions. Then one asked if that was my real eye color…what the heck is up with all the gayness here. Geez! Well that was a fun experience I wanted to let you partake of.

There is a WalMart here and that is the only place we can find peanut butter, so I had a family buy me some next time they went, it’s really spendy, about 24 pesos, but really it comes out about the same in dollars.

The food here is really cheap, produce is mass cheap, I can buy three lemons, five apples, two tomatoes, and seven oranges for about 15 pesos! Everything is way cheap. For your information, one dollar is about 3.8 pesos.

I want you to forget everything you know about buffets — Chinese, American, everything. Just throw it out. Is it gone? All of it? Ok, so we’ve been threatening to go to this buffet for the whole transfer and so about an hour ago we went. It was AMAZING!!!! Argentine food, Chinese, seafood, crazy good desserts, everything. The place was huge. And the fire pit for grilling was easily 15 feet across. Amazing! Wow and just as suspected, my stomach hurts! Good days. Nap time soon. And it was only 30 pesos! thats not even $10. I will go back, but only for special occasions. Dad, you would be in heaven, and mom you would die in the dessert area.

This week, sometime during my studies, I came to the conclusion, from over the course of who knows how long, that what parents teach and say is usually right. Now hold on, I’m saying most of the things they say usually turn out right and correct because they have lots of experience. I wish I would have listened sooner. I really value the things they tell me and the guidance they give me. I know I still have a lot to figure out, but I’m slowing growing.

It’s amazing how enlightened our minds can become when we diligently study the Book of Mormon. We become closer to the Spirit, and I don’t want to lose that. I believe it allows me to grow faster.

Spanish is still coming slowly, I can understand more, not much but a little. I can also converse a little more too.

I’m so thankful I have this opportunity to be here to give people the knowledge they need to come unto their Lord and Savior. How great will be their joy when they accept Him!

So you at home, get on it! We don’t have much time. I hope my influence helps you and gives you strength, or rather, the Lord gives you strength, for He gives me mine daily.

Thank you for your love and support and pray for me and my knees.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Glanzer

!Hola Todos en Los Estados Unidos¡

This is the last week of transfers, craziness.  Ask me if I know Spanish…nope, not yet.

Parts of Argentina don’t have any water. No bueno, eh! We are in the rainy season, but you need rain to have a rainy season, and guess what…no rain!  So the Cuidad de Córdoba is going cut the water for the whole city for days at a time. Fun Days. It hasn’t happened yet, but we’re Eagle Scouts, entonces we’re prepared. We had a little rain, but I’ll talk about that little event later.

I had an Intercambio (exchanges), well two, because Elder Smith is now the District Leader, so I get the joy of going on exchanges all the time. Lucky!  First I went to Miralta, outside of Cordoba. That was an experience to get away from the intercity. Then I went to Ituzaingo, I loved it there. It’s a really ghetto area about 30 minutes from centro. And the heat, oh, the heat — 119 degrees again!  Then a random dust storm came up, the wind was so strong we could barely walk, and the dust was amazing. So then it cooled down a bit. Then when I got back home (to the pention) there was this amazing rain and lightning storm. There were at least 200 strikes a minute, easy. You need to get the amazingness of that!  And we got some rain too. My prayers were definitely answered.

We take the bus and taxis everywhere that’s far or if we’re late getting home. It’s always fun in those death traps. There is also a Puma store here, Oh yes! But I control myself and don’t spend much. That’s a little fun fact for the day.

One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced in life thus far is seeing people use and want to use the Atonment of our Savior. They really want to change and do their best in life and come unto Him. This is my joy. My heart is so full of the love of our Lord when people choose Him. I mean, their using that gift of the atonement which was meant for them and us. I wish more people would accept this.

One of our families we teach is the Familia Figoura. The family consists of Nelly who is baptized and has three kids, Nelly, Juila, and Deivid. Nelly has a child with Miguel. I love them and we’re trying to get them baptized, but they are Peraguanos and can’t be married here, then they can’t be baptized because they are not married because we don’t break up families. Same with Juila, who has 2 children with Luiz. Same thing. Then there’s Deivid. We planned a fecha (baptism date) with him for the 20th of December. We have a total of 6 fechas. The Figouras love the gospel and everything.

We also are teaching a guy named Fernando. He’s a student here and is remarkable. We contacted him and told him to come to church the next day. I never expected to see him again, but when we went to pick him up he was all ready and asked why we were late. HE was about to go by himself. Then he wanted to go to the activities that night. Maybe there’s a girl or somthing, but he loves church. We’ve taught him twice and he has a fecha to. Guys like him never happen, he is so ready to be baptized. I love this work…most days. Those are a few of our investigators. We have a total of 12.

Our Barrio (ward) is mainly young people. The Youth Singles here is called the JAS. They are very helpfull in aiding us. But our barrio is actually a bigger one and amazing — because they sing good. 

We have members do our laundry, and we don’t pay them. Some days I do some quick laundry the little a bit we have, those stinking G’s and sockies.

And yes, there are dogs everywhere. I would count them but I can’t count to 1 million. There’s all types, but sorry only a few weiner dogs.

The food is mainly pastas and Italian-based, Argentina is more European. But we eat pastas, empanadas, Lomitos (sandwich things) and such other things. It’s some way-good food….if its not Pollo! 

So that’s my life thus far. I continue to have faith and work hard and am still trying the whole Spanish language thing.

Thanks for all the love and support.

Rest, if you must, but don’t quit.

Les ama,

Elder Glanzer

¡Hola Todo!

Another week in Centro and another week of growing and learning every second. Learning what to do and what not to do in life.

On a typical day, I awake from my slumber at the time of 6:30 am, I pray in my bed and sometimes take a little nap. Then I get down and sit at my desk until I’m motivated to shower. I do those activities and a little work-out action. I sit down at my desk at about 8 am, then read my scriptures then study otra cosas. At 9 am, we have companion study time then head out into the world at 10:30 to teach and preach and do the things that missionaries do. We usually check on the contacts we made the week before or have a lesson with an investigator.

After that, it’s about time for lunch, we eat at 1 pm. Most of the time with a member, which is nice…or bad! We eat some good things and some bad things. It’s always interesting when we eat with Peraguanos.  I love to buy these things called “Panasitos”…it’s a breaded thing with meat or something in it. I was trying to translate panasitos and it came out “breadies”.  Oh, I cried because I laughed so hard…breadies. I guess you must have had to have been there. Then we knock some doors and talk to some people and share what we have for them. Sometimes we get a good contact, but the other 36 are no good.

I was walking along the road the other day and a bus came out of nowhere and was about three inches from my shoulder…I had to go change my G’s too. Once we were in a taxi ( I love taxis) and the driver swerved for this guy crossing the road. He almost got five points!  During the ciesta time is the best time to find people, because everyone is in their house and they are there until 5 pm. Then around 8:45 pm we head to our haven and plan for the next day and then do some studies and then the best part is night prayer. I go over the events with my Father in heaven and consolo with him, then I rest in Him as I sleep. Then it starts all over again the next day at 6:30 am.

This week wasn’t too hot, but I have a new love for clouds. They block out the sun — oh, our little miracles. We have members who wash our clothes which can be interesting sometimes. My kicks are doing fine, but are definitely wearing out.

While tracting, we found some amazing new people, simply amazing. First there is Andres. We knocked his door and came back the next day. When we taught him, it was one of the most amazingly spiritual lessons ever, the Spirit was strong. At the end of the lesson, he committed to be baptized. Yes, the first lesson and MY mind was blown. Also there is Fransico, we met him on Saturday, and on Sunday when we went by to pick him up for church we were a little late, not expecting him to be there, but he was ready and asked why we were late — he was about to leave on his own. Then after church, he wanted to go to the Young Adults activity that night. And we haven’t even sat down and taught him yet. This is an amazing work that I’m doing and I love the great days. I also got into my first house! She let us in and we taught her. She lives in a different area than we do, so we sent other missionaries to her. If feels good to be let into a house after knocking on 198 doors.

One of our families, the Figouroas, wanted to give us a Parilla de Pollo — Grilled Chicken. So we went and it was amazing to hang out and eat with them and build a stronger relationship with them. These are the people who we built the house for and are going to build a roof for today. Theiy are also Peraguano. The next day after eating the chicken was a horrible day. Horrible for my stomach. I was in the Pention (apartment) all day. I have never been so sick over anything involving food before. Those chickens were a lie, Steven!  I just got my appetite back today. Everytime I think about pollo I want to up-chuck. Now I have Argentina bacteria in my body and should be little better off. Funny days! So we took a roof off this week too…or rather took a tarp of the top of a house. When we do service we get to wear regular clothes and get out of our “Pros-Dress.”

You know, as missionaries we stand out — in a crowd we are easy to spot. Well here’s a story…we had to walk up to the north part to carry some mattresses back to our pention. We wanted so badly to stand out even more, so we carried those mattresses two miles in the inter-city, during rush hour, in a mild dust storm. You could say everyone was watching us but that would be an under-statement. It was a fun time, I would declare unto you.

Anyway, I hope everything is exciting and fun back in the US…and cold. I love you all and prayers are always accepted.

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Glanzer

!Hola Familia¡

What a week I had! Craziness everyday of some sort or another. I’ll start with the lemon trees. There are lemon trees everywhere. It doesn’t sound that cool, but I love it, they are way better than apple trees, I’ll tell you that. I really want to pick one off.

One night on our way to an appointment, two Americans came up to us and started talking. They were ex-missionaries. And they were definitely maricons (gays). They weren’t active in the Church and they invited us over for lunch. I myself didn’t really like that so were we like…ya…ok. Weird situation.

That same night, the President of Argentina, I think, was at the Plaza opening because it has been closed for awhile for repair. There was a huge protest and riot. And we, two white Americans, walked right through it…well to the side, but right next to it nonetheless. They were shooting guns in the air and yelling and there were policia everywhere with armor and bullet shields and such. Intense! But we got home safe and bullet-less.

Sometimes when we walk at night, guys like to yell the weirdest things at us. Once this guy was yelling ” Assassions of Bush, Children of Bush, white devils, you kill the poor!” It was in Spanish so I didn’t understand any of it, so the jokes on him! We all know what kingdom he´s inheriting. From now on I’m going to say this, but in Spanish, “I’m from Germany, I’m sorry.”

We were talking to a lady outside of her casa and there was this massive puddle/lake next to us. You can only guess what was going through the minds of the people in the cars passing by. It was a busy street, so everytime a car passed by, I flinched, and after about 30 minutes I moved a little ways away from the puddle, but was still in range. I never got blasted, maybe because I was praying the whole time!

I think I’m slowly becoming Argentine because I bought some Dulce de Leche and I put it on everything — bread, cookies, and facturas, it’s good for my belly. But don’t worry, I sweat it all out in seconds. One day it hit 117 degrees! And was 109 for a couple of days. What the heck, we’re not on the equator like Dana! And its only novembre! I wish I had snow…but I do sin in my wishing, I need to embrace the weather and stop complaining. I sweat in the apartment. I sweat when I go to bed and when I wake up. I sweat all day. Sweat. Sweat. Sweat. I want snow! You have no idea how lucky you are!!!!!!! I would hang the Christmas lights three times in the snow without complaining!

It’s good to hear that Dana is now on her way to Ecuador. I prayed for her every night and my prayers were answered. Oh how great is prayer!

The lango is coming but slow, like continental drift. I can teach a little more and understand a little more, but when I say little I mean a little…

They don’t do Daylight Saving Time here.

This is for the men, I bought my first Argentine steak for 9 pesos, that’s not even $4. It was amazing and massive. And I plan on buying more and trying more Argentine recipes.

For the people that we were building the house for we also cut down a tree with a their mother’s lucky machete. With solely that machete. And you thought cutting down a tree with a chainsaw was hard!

You know how construction workers in movies whistle at girls? They really do that! It’s so funny because all these little dudes will stop working and whistle at a passing lady. Funny days. Also it’s funny when we walk down the street and some people go into their houses and pretend like they never saw us. I know they are thinking “Oh no, the Mormonies are coming!” It’s not like we don’t see them.

We continue to find new people to teach but the going is tough, really tough. We knock on doors, talk to people in the street and do everything, with little or no success, but we keep trying. We teach some Peraguano families, but it’s so frustrating because they can’t be baptized because they are not married and they can’t get married because they are not citizens here and it’s too expensive to go back to Peru. It’s pretty disheartening, but we´re trying everything we can.

I was studying the Libre de Mormon the other dia and did you know Alma was translated? I didn’t. It’s amazing the things you can find in there if you look and study. It’s the hinge and keystone of our religion and is important in all we do. I’m almost done with Alma and can’t wait to start again. Also, as long as I continue to read and pray and have faith, I will receive the Lord’s help and I need it now more than ever.

I regret all the time I waited before my mission when I could have been building myself like I am now. Don’t waste time. Don’t get caught up on little things that may hold you back. We must become the masters of our own actions and attitudes. To let another person determine whether we will be rude or gracious, elated or depressed, is to give up control of ourselves. And really, the only possession we have is self-possession.

I had an amazing interview with my mission presidente. He counseled me with all of my questions and doubt. He is truly inspired of God and that is what I strive for.

Entonces…continue to walk in Christ and live in Christ in all you do. Don’t think for a second you can do anything alone, if you do you will crash and burn.

Christ has no hands but our hands.

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Glanzer