Sorry for not writing a message last week. A member had a bunch of us over to have an asado with his family, and we were there all afternoon. An asado is just beef, but the cuts are all different from the US. They are usually pretty fatty, especially the good ones. The rule of thumb for the gringos (North Americans) is that the better the asado tastes, the worse your stomach is going to feel the next day. It was an incredibly enjoyable meal, therefore my stomach was absolutely churning the next day. Then I got food poisoning the day after, so the first half of the week was pretty fun.
Water is another thing that makes missionaries really sick. Somewhat fortunately for me, the tap water in Tartagal is so bad that not even the locals drink it. Everyone just gets 20-liter jugs of clean water delivered. This means that when people give us water or juice when we’ve been walking around in 110 degree heat all day, I can drink it without worrying about getting sick from it. Speaking of water, we do have running water to shower with and it’s even hot if you’re the first person to shower in the morning.
As far as food goes, we ate a “meter-long” milanesa sandwich last week. Milanesa is just a breaded and fried piece of meat, either beef or pork. Milanesa sandwiches are the cultural equivalent of hamburgers in the US, being the fast food that is everywhere. Disappointingly, the sandwich was only two-thirds of a meter, but it still tasted great. From my experience so far, Argentine food isn’t super flavorful. Most things are eaten with either lemon juice or a lot (seriously A LOT) of mayonnaise. Also we drink soda at almost every lunch, which is not really helping with my endeavors to not gain weight.
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can change in myself to be more Christlike. The answer that I’ve come up with is that I need to have more charity. In Moroni chapter 7 of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Moroni says “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail, but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” Charity here isn’t giving away everything we have, it’s having patience and loving those who disappoint us and fail to meet our expectations. We should all have charity with others, because at many points in our life we will be wishing to receive charity from others.
I’ll step off of my soapbox now. Have a great week and know that Jesus loves you and wants you.
Elder Hansen
