Wow, what a trip.

First things first. My address-

Mission...
Misión Argentina Buesnos Aires Sur
Italia 26, 4(NOTE... little degree sign in the corner... so 4degree) Piso Lomas De Zamora 1832 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Pouch...
Argentina, BS. AS. South
Pouch Mail
P.O.B. 30150
Saltlake City, Utah 84130

Okay, now onto the week....

First of all, I hate this keyboard. It has a million non-english keys. But it´ll work. Okay, my companion. His name is Elder Sagripanti and he is a native of Argentina... Cordoba actually. And if you watch conference this week you`d know that Cordoba Argentina is getting a new temple. He is pretty stoked. He speaks almost perfect English and is an amazing Elder. We currently have 6 ready and with baptismal dates. And lots more getting ready. He tries to break me in easy... but really I dont think anything could slow him down. I hope my sister is getting the picture of the two of us. He´s about my size and height. Which is weird for Argentina. We tower over everyone.

Well, Im in the area of Cruze. It turns out that not one of our areas are actually in the city of Buenos Aires. We are more the suburbs. But believe you me, I love it here. The air is great, the weather is nice, the area is flat and the people are humbled enough to recieve us. We walk everywhere all day. I looked at myself in a mirror last night... I guess I havent been looking in the mirror lately. I totally look different. My companion even says that I look different. And he´s seen me every day. I guess Ive lost a lot more weight then I thought. My face is slimmer and my pants dont exactly hang right anymore. We walk all day when we arn´t teaching. It´s doing me good. Either that or the fact that Im drinking the water and have already got a tapeworm. JUST KIDDING!!! Actually, the place we are staying has great water that is totally fine to drink... even though we use a filter. And actually, because our area is so large... we take a bus a lot. The buses here are AWESOME! I basically never sit down. It´s just boring that way. The bus takes off as soon as everyone is inside. Even if their butts are still hanging out the door. Trust me, that is exciting! Same with the trains. We got on a train our first day and for about 20 minutes I had my toosh hanging out in the breeze. Good times.

Well, as for other things... I dont understand Castillano. Here they dont speak Spanish... it´s Castillano. And trust me.... there is a difference. They dont really finish thier words... and their sentences all get dragged into one long word. And the y and ll sound like and English sh. That´s confusing. But Im learning. I get more every day. And we are actually finding a lot of members that know English. So that is sweet. My companion has me do small things at certain points because I can talk just fine... I just dont understand what they say back. I can repeat words exactly they way they are said... so my companion says I have a great accent and in time will mast the language... Fat chance if you ask me. But I have hope in God to make it work.

The people we are teaching are what my companion calls capos. Capo or Capa basically means stud it english. So, basically we have some goldens here. Ive got a tender spot for one in particular because she was the first one I ever taught. Her name is Belén. Which means Bethlahem in Enlish. She is just about 13 and acts about 40. She is intelligent, kind and mature. I love teaching here... it is so much fun. She gets the concept quickly and always follows though on her commitements. We were going to baptize here on Saturday, but we had conference... then this Saturday... but the chapel will be in use. So the next Saturday... the 25th we will be baptizing her and a whole lot of others. I cant wait. Another capo is Martin. He is so cool. He is funny and interesting. He is about 30ish and works at a nightclub. He looks like a performer, but I think he just does admissions. He is really getting into the subjects and tries his best at everything we ask. He really is coming a long way. Im so happy for him.
Well, there are more... but I wont bore you.

Um, lets see... Oh, the trip! Wow, what a trip. On the way from Utah to Dallas, I sat next to one of the Sisters going down with us.... Hermana Strasser. And on my left was a women from Boston area. We started talking and I eventually asked her to read the Book of Mormon. She agreed and promised to read one as soon as she got home. I trust her and was so excited to do that... and terrified.

Once in Dallas I called my family... that was kind of odd. Seriously people... perhaps you should write down what you want to say to me for Christmas and Mother´s day. Just kidding. Um, and then we got on the plane that would take us from Dallas to Buenos Aires... a total of 10 hours... which ended up to be like 11. Believe you me, not the coolest trip, but perhaps the funniest. I was in the middle column with Elder Jones and Schupple. That´s right. Take the 3 biggest guys on the plane and put them all together. Brilliant. It was fun though. Elder Shupple and I slept a total of about 3 hours here and there. While the rest slept for about... 10! Haha, longest night of my life. And once we got to Argentina we went to get the other missionaries who were in the Argentina MTC... all of whom are native Spanish speakers. I think there were about 14-18 if them and 6 of us. Good odds Id say. We It would take about 3 of them to equal Elder Jones, Schupple or I. JOKING!!! But seriously... it was fun. The MTC here is right next the the temple... I mean RIGHT next to it. So we took a picture there and went to get our companions. Then we traveled to our area and went to work. Wow, shocker... But in a good way. I understood about 5% of what was said... if that. But we taugth Belèn that night. So that was a booster. Oh, and on the way home we heard someone running up on us from behind. We spun around thinking we were going to get robbed... but it was just a friend of Elder Sagripanti trying to scare us. It worked. I later learned that seldom do Elder´s ever get mugged here. So that´s my first day.

And I just found out that I need to e-mial the president. So, Ive got to go. Wow. Well, words of advice... stay calm, say what you know and be friendly. That seems to work here. I love you all and am sorry this was so long. Take care everyone.

Love Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS um, letters are great... go for it if you want to.