All of my time is taken up with work in the Lord´s service

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!!! It´s amazing how family is so much more important when your life is centered on the gospel. Wow… Thanks for the photos and updates. I love to find out what is going on up at home. Truly, thank you. And thank you for all the letters you've sent. I actually got a CD this week, so thanks Mom. And to answer your question… we have a lot of freedom in the music area. My companion right now has a CD with a lot of soundtrack music that we listen to. And my last companion had Enya´s greatest hits. Things like that are great. And if anyone has it… I´d love Christmas music too.

On that note… Christmas is coming!!! But it is about 90-95 degrees here. So it really doesn't feel like it. And we have transfers right before Christmas… the 23rd. So I might not be in my pinch for Christmas. I might actually be in another area… actually it is very likely. So although we have a Christmas tree in my pinch… (2 feet tall and gold) I might not even have one for Christmas… sad, I know. But I am looking forward to calling home. That´ll be fun. Especially if Merry is there. I might now be able to understand her Spanish!!!

Also, it is almost Thanksgiving. What am I to do? Someone said that I should eat a lot of ice cream. But I just don't know about that. We have a lot of lessons set up for that day too. All well. Ill decide later and tell you all about it. If we do anything that is.

So this week was really crazy. We had a million set appointments with investigators… but almost all of them failed. So we ended up walking almost all week again. We did get a lot of work done, but not enough. It´s a good thing I got the shoes I did because if I got something else, I´d be dying right now. They are holding up really good… Especailly the outside. The insides could use some help though. Ill send a Picture next week… becuase I can now!!! PS I put some more just for fun/funny pictures up this week.

So, it´s funny how I don't really know what to talk about. All of my time is taken up with work in the Lord´s service. I wake up at 7 and leave the pinch at 10:30. From 10:30 till about 10 at night I'm in the streets talking to people or in their houses teaching them. It´s really not that exciting. I walk a lot. And I do a lot of sweating. I'm not going to lie. It is hot here and everyone sweats. The only difference is that we actually wear clothes… whereas others don't. That is probably why my hair is so blond and my skin is getting so tan. Now, I know that probably sounds lame and boring. But it really is a good life. We talk to all sorts of people. People drinking, people smoking, people doing drugs, people drinking and smoking while high… those are the fun ones. It really is good though. There are a lot of really good people down here who are just led the wrong way.

There are a lot of hardships down here that people face. People have physical, financial and/or spiritual problems. It feels so good going to help them. This transfer I really made it a goal to do service for people, because we are capable and willing. This Thursday we are going over to a man who has one leg and multiple other physical problems. He and his wife fight depression every day and the burden of financial needs. But faithfully this man has stayed true to the teachings of the gospel. He and his wife have been stricken and fight daily just to live… yet they have high hopes. Hopes that can only come through Jesus Christ. It is amazing to see that kind of power in the people here. And the wonderful thing is that the people here really are looking for the answers to life´s questions. And it just so happens that we not only have the answers… but we have the way to receive joy in this life and the next.

Believe you me, there is no better feeling then smiling at someone and seeing the hope that lies in their eyes as they smile back. We are just working on bringing that Light and hope out for them to see… so they know their true potential as children of God.

Time to change the subject back to the week.

Well, I cooked some cookies this week. It´s funny how 350° F does not exist here. But Burnt does… Needless to say, I ate a lot of cookie dough. So, for all of your information on recipes… I don't really have a lot of spices. And not a whole lot of mixes. And no shortening. So if you have alternatives that would be SUPERB!!! Súber bien. For shortening Ive basically been using butter… and it´s funny how I'm not really worried about getting fat anymore. I like this knowledge that Ill be walking it all of in the next few hours anyway. But yeah, anything simple you´ve got would be good. Like that tomato soup thing over rice… or taco soup… from my Mother.

What kind of pictures do people want? I have a lot of pictures of food that Ive cooked… because my camera is always on the kitchen table. Ive also got some pictures of things I think are interesting… but what would you all like?

So, I think I'm going to spend a little bit more time here talking about Argentina. Actually, Ill start with the first things you´d run into if you came here… the travel. Cars here don't exactly have rules. Cops don't pull people over often. But no one seems to get in any accidents. But the truth is that no one really drives much. Normally you hop on a bus and travel that way… which is fun. Drivers here drive fast, then just stop. So riding the bus is great every time. And if you are going anywhere far you take a train. Trains are still in high use here. They don't really have rules either. Any normally I like to sit with in the little area where you get onto the train. It´s great to feel the rush of the wind in the heat. AND DON'T WORRY... it´s safe. Well, as safe as anywhere else on the train. My only worry is that the ice cream man is going to hit me with his giant cooler and break my arm or something. It´s crazy. Everywhere there are people selling something. Cards, ice cream, music, cook books (I have some), power cords, EVERYTHING. If you cant find something in the store, I´d bet you´d find someone selling it on the train if you wait long enough.

Okay, my time is up. But I hope that you enjoyed this little letter to you all. And I hope that you all have lots of questions for me next week. I miss you all and hope you are all doing great... especially Melanie and Aaron and Little M. Thomas. Take my love with you this week... Ill see you soon,

All my love,

Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS Sorry... I couldn't send letters last week. That´s like a two week gap. But Im sending some this week. I did get a lot this week... so THANK YOU!!! It´s great getting letters from people, especially people I didn't expect. Gracias.