I lost my companion!/My letter!(:!

Hey everybody!!!

So... I lost my companion. He left last night for Resistencia. So... I lost my hijo/newbie. It kind of makes me sad. To explain a little bit, he went to Resistencia because they called him to be the new Secretary of Materials. I´ve got a little bit of pride in that, because well, he´s the youngest elder ever to go to the office. :) :) But, it also means that I will be with a mini-missionary for the next two weeks until the transfer ends. It also means that without a doubt I will be in this area until the end of August. For those who are unfamiliar with the idea of a mini-missionary, it's a member that they assign to go and be with the missionary for a certain time period when there is a shortage of elders. The only good thing is that I know he is a member from my first area. :) Well, I just sent this quickly. I´ll actually write later. :)

Well, hello to everyone again,

Whew, now I´m here to actually write out all of my letter and my Internet time here. :) Which makes me happy. We got to come to Centro today. We´re going to be hanging around the plaza and stuff. Then going to play football in the afternoon, again. :) I´m actually getting back into decent shape these days. Elder Dumenes and I started going running every morning. We had to stop playing football because it´s so dark in the mornings right now because it´s winter. Haha.

Oh, and to answer Mom´s question, we played football last week, just like the week before. Next week we will be going to a little town in the middle of the desert called Canyon Profundidad. President Lopez told us about it and said that it was a really amazing place to go, so I´m excited to go there. :) To answer Mom´s other question, the one about when we are going to have a baptism is that it is this weekend!!! Wahoo!!! And the week after that too. And if all goes well the weeks after that, so in theory we should meet our goal of baptizing every week in July. And then comes the task of August, which should be a fun one. :) This brings me to the other question that Mom just asked me, if I am sad to be here in Santa Clara until August, and the answer is no, not at all. I love my area here. It´s just an interesting feeling to know that one is going to be here for eight more weeks. ;) But no, I feel that there is a lot more work for me to do here in Santa Clara. The branch is progressing well, we are getting ready to separate from the ward and start to have all of our meetings separate again. Our only problem is the lack of young men and women and their respective leaders. The members that are attending are starting to develop good friendships and are starting to have more excitement to work and showing more of a willingness to accept callings. :)

Fun events for the week.... Tuesday I went to Jardín América again for divisions. It was a nice day except for the fact that it was the day of one of Argentina´s games. So we had a couple of difficult hours clapping houses. We did actually find one family that was willing to let us in during the game, which was really nice. The day of divisions ended on a sour note because, Elder Taylor, the elder that I was with got really sick at the end of the night, and we just had to go back to the apartment to let him sleep for a little while. Hmm... what other fun events.... oh! Wow, yesterday. Yesterday Argentina playing against Mexico. We were all focused in getting Elder Dumenes sent of to Resistencia, in the middle of when the game was going on. Every goal Argentina scored sent off a round of fireworks and gunshots into the sky--absolutely crazy! Then afterwards we were in the buses to go back home, and lots of people honking horns, with giant flags in the street. Everyone was watching it, we even passed a police checkpoint, that they have going all day every day, and they were inside celebrating and watching the game. The whole city is involved, and during the game, there wasn´t anybody at all in the street. I also was reminded of something yesterday - that I have a very German last name. And, who is the upcoming opponent of Argentina in the World Cup? Germany. Haha, I decided that when people start to ask where I´m from I´m going to start saying Switzerland. Alot of people read my last name, and ask German? Haha. kind of sad, but funny at the same time.

Ah, and yes the mini-missionary lives with me, and he doesn´t get here until later tonight. That´s why I´m just wandering around with the zone leaders during Pday. And here, going to the office can be both a good and bad thing, just all depends on how you take it. To go into the office this young, like Elder Dumenes means that President has to have a lot of trust in the Elder as a missionary. :) My hijo is a success!!!!

So I was going to send a bunch of photos, but the computer´s USB port doesn´t work. They were going to be photos of the bathroom that we have, and the well where we take out water, and of my last moments with Elder Dumenes. Argh, sometimes the computers here frustrate me a little bit.... just a little. Haha. :)

Well, I think that I answered all of the questions... if I didn´t remind me, and I will respond to them. :) Sometimes I´m a forgetful person. ;) Oh, and Michael! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO, I didn´t forget! I went and got something for you, you just won´t get it til I get home in a few months. :) Haha. Well, I think that´s all I have for this week. I´m happy, healthy, and loving life. I hope everyone enjoys the vacation. Thanks as always for all the news and updates. :) :)
I love and miss you all!!!!!!
con amor,
Matthew

PS - This morning we got vaccinated against the swine flu. :) I´ve even got it on a vaccination record now. :) The rule is you have to have a receipt and specially qualify to get it free here. But the lady gave it to us free, and told us she had no idea why she was doing it, she just did it for us, ´felt that she had to´, but didn´t know why. :)