Oh, hey there

So not a whole lot happened this week...and by not a whole lot I mean EVERYTHING happened this week. Holy Moldy Peaches and Cream. First and foremost, we got our TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!! Yahoo!! Here's what's going down: I gotta be to the travel office by 8:00 am here at the MTC. They'll give me ticket and ship me off on a shuttle to the airport. I'm in a group with 5 other people going to Mendoza (including Elder Sargent and Elder Summers). We fly on Delta Air Lines flight 1912 at 11:00 am to Atlanta GA. I should arrive around 4:35. Then I have at least 3 hours to call y'all, so that should be deliciously delightful. I don't have a calling card so if you wanna try to send one here the last time we get mail is Saturday morning, if not I'm sure I can find somewhere to buy one, either here at the bookstore (I have no idea if they have them or not) or somewhere in the airport. Then I leave from Atlanta on Delta Air Lines flight 101 at 7:50 pm to Buenos Aires....ARGENTINA!!! ....and I'll get in around 7:50 am. Yeah, that's right, 12 straight hours on an airplane... and 24 straight hours of traveling at least (we'll only in Buenos Aires, which is kind of on the other side of the country from Mendoza). It's cool though because the others who are going to Rosario will be on that same flight to Argentina, even though they're on a later flight the Atlanta. Sooooo I'm not really sure what happens after that, we dont' have any more flight plans so either they're going to give us some in Buenos Aires or we'll be driving for a longgggg time. I'm stoked out of my mind.

What else happened this week... OH! I sortof kindof barely dreamed in Spanish!! and by that I mean I said one phrase, "Puedo ayudar usted tranducir?" Which means, "Can I help you translate?" Like I could help anyone translate who wasn't speaking in basic spanish about gospel principles haha. I don't really know what I was thinking but I was stoked that I at least said one phrase in Spanish. I want most of a dream to be in Spanish soooo bad. Speaking of Spanish, it's coming along well. I can understand practically everything in Preach My Gospel, and am getting better at understanding the Scriptures too. I have to look up more words when I read the scriptures and it took a while to get used to the different conjugations (the scriptures use vosotros which is kind of like the old english "ye" but we never go over it because you never use it in regular conversation) but I'm getting better and better. I want to be able to start doing my Personal Study in spanish scriptures and be able to get as much out of it as I do in English. I also want to be able to understand a talk in Spanish by the time I leave. I'm getting better and better at it, but right now I can somewhat pick out the main topics and a couple full sentences here and there. They use such a larger vocabularly than what we've been studying which makes it hard. I think I'll start reading a talk first and look up words I don't know and then try to listen to it and see if I can understand most of it then.

Another awesome thing this week was the Devotional last night by Elder Holland. It was off the hook blow your brain out good. For some reason Tuesdays days are never that great, they're not horrible but for some reason that's like the time of the week for me to get a little discouraged, haha I don't know, it's really strange--but in a way I love it because without fail the Tuesday Devotionals and our District Review (it's just a meeting where we all go around and say what we learned or what we took from the talk) always bring the Spirit like a boss. All Elder Holland had to do was walk in the room and my feelings changed, which I don't think I can say has ever happened before. It was pretty decent. He starting talking about how Preach My Gospel came about and how its whole focus is to convert the missionaries and then they can figure out how to teach people. I sometimes wonder why God gives goofy, immature, awkward 19 year old guys who really have no idea what they're doing, the responsibility of carrying out his greatest and most important work. But he talked about the importance to change and become what the Savior wants us to become. He talked about Peter, and told the story of when Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Jesus more than his nets, or more than his past life and wordly things. He talked about how Peter had denied Christ three times and then didn't know what to do and went back fishing--how he didn't really get it--but how when he said that he would leave behind the things of the world and do what his Savior wanted, at that moment he changed into the incredible Apostle that he was. I thought that was such an interesting story to tell. I've thought a lot about change and what it takes to truly change and I think the major thing is our desires and having our desires swallowed up in the will of the Father. Anyways, it was a really powerful talk. Sorry about that mushy missionary stuff, I'll try to keep it to a minimum next time haha.

Well I love you all, sorry I didn't more about what all is going on at home but it sounds like you are all doing fantastic so keep up the updates!! I cannot wait to talk to you all in a couple of days.

Much Love, Elder Lounsbury