Huge Letter

Mis seres queridos,

Well, you guys got to see your fair share of cool things! Let me share with you the GLACIERS! They were amazing! On top of that, we saw a huge chunk of ice fall... about the size of a house! It was like the movies... all slow motion... even the water spraying up from the lake. It was insane. I hope we can come back one day as family so you can enjoy it!  On the way up.... All the snow! The picture outside of us... it was VERY COLD and VERY WINDY out there... if you zoom in you can see hair being pushed up....

I think I said last week that I needed to buy boots... This is why --> After one day of work... (he sent pictures of his shoes) I bought some boots for 415 pesos... There wasn't enough money on my card so I bought them with cash that I pulled out from Calafate. Just so you know what's going on with the expenditure of the money I pulled out.

Alright... so I realize it's been 3 weeks since I've written an acceptable letter... so here's what happened; two weeks ago we went to Calafate (People say it's like Park City, Utah, huge tourist attraction) and then we scooted on up to the glacier about another hour north. We went with a member who had a convi (a van with lots of seats!) with the zone. We had lots of fun talking on the way up... It took us about three hours to get to Calafate. Once there, we got the elders there and started the drive up. The snowy landscape was incredible! The mountains were amazing and in places the mountains were orange from the reflected sunlight... it was so beautiful! The glacier was up in the mountains so we hit a windy road up (at least it's paved now... it wasn't a little while back). When we turned a corner and saw the glacier it was jaw dropping! You need a VERY BIG glass of root beer to put the piece of ice in it. Basically yea. So we got up to parking and President was there waiting for us with his wife and his son Brad. While we walked down to the observation balconies, President pulled us aside one by one to a balcony so that we could have our interviews. What a special experience! I am sure that will probably never happen again. While waiting we talked with Brad about his mission and what he did. (Let's just say he was very successful in the Philippines.) We were inspired and uplifted and received some very good ides. Now that part is to put them to practice. After everyone was done, we said good-bye and headed back down. We got some sandwiches at a local grocery store and headed back down to Río Gallegos. We got home around 10:30 or 11 and we were very tired. It was an amazing experience.

That week went well. We struggled a bit to find our investigators but everything turned out to be all right. The shocking moment came right after church. We were standing in the halls trying to set up some appointments and we got a call from the office elders advising me that my plane to Ushuaia would be leaving tomorrow and I would be going to Río Grande. Can you say shocked? We were just finishing week 2 of the transfer and I thought I was home free for at least until September. I guess not. Anyways, that was sad news. So we finished the day as normal as we could. That night I packed everything up and was filled with mixed feelings. Going to a new place and then leaving a place I had come to fall in love with. There are some amazing people there. Anyways, my plane left at 1 on Monday so a couple we are teaching and the Vera Family came to say good-bye. That was tough, but what are you going to do about it?

I got on the plane for an hour and then we were in Ushuaia.... NEVER thought I was going to ever go there! Well, I was only there for a couple hours, but hey! I was there. I took a van up to Río Grande at 5 and enjoyed the ride up.... the only bad part was that I was sitting above a heater. SOOOOOOO HOT. That wasn't fun with my jacket, suit coat, sweater, and shirt... Ugh. I was able to take it off but in doing so, my nametag (in Guaraní) fell off (yes David, I wear it sometimes...) and the magnet strip on the back of it fell into a crack that leads to the frame. So I still have the important part, I just can’t wear it now. I tried super hard to get it back, but we would have had to take apart the whole floor for it. Anyways, after the ride I got to the apartment around 9 and we left to go teach a family a couple blocks away. We finished teaching, came back, planned and I hit the sack. Traveling is tiring! I am still tired. 

All right, now we've gotten to this week. I am in Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego (for real this time). This area is amazing. Apart from being COLD.... it is ready to burst. We had two people come up to us and contact us... one a member from Corrientes another a former investigator that wants to start listening again with his girlfriend. This place is ready for a lot of work. I am in Centro (basically down town) so that is sweet. We have a ton of people to teach and baptize... we just have to help them progress a bit. :D I am SUPER SUPER SUPER DUPER EXCITED! Río Grande is really an amazing place and there's going to be some awesome stuff happening. The branch president is amazing; as well with almost every member I have met. There's going to be some great stuff. I'm excited! :D

Well, it was snowing earlier but now it's stopped. I am happy and things are going great.

Now to all the stuff you are doing. That's pretty sweet you were able to talk to a lot of people. So the Genesis is the Kat's replacement? Pretty gnarly. Hiking and Canoeing! I miss that. There's going to be a lot of stuff to do... After hibernating for the time that I can. I think I can take power naps with Dad now... haha.

Send my love to Kyoko and all the family. That's some tough stuff. We just need to trust in the Lord and His Plan for us.

Well, that's all I've got now.  I love you and hope all is well. Thank you for all the stuff that you for me. I really appreciate everything. Talk to you next week!

Elder Michael C. Watson

Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Norte

La Mejor en el Mundo y Lo sabes!