About Budge and my apartment

Hola!                                                                                                   November 11, 2013

Its been a long week. It started out all good! I went on exchanges with Elder Whetten, he is from Arizona and has been on his mission for 3 months. He doesn’t speak very good Spanish, but I was finally able to speak English with someone! We had a pretty adventurous day, and between the two of us we were able to get by with the Spanish we knew.

Two days after that though I woke up sick. You probably don’t want to know what with... Just know that I was in bed all day Thursday and without TV or anything.  It was a pretty long day! Friday we went to see a doctor and they said I was fine, just change my diet for a few days. So I´m in the process of doing that right now. Luckily I felt well enough to work Saturday and Sunday. 

We have been working with a woman who’s name is Adriana, and we aren’t the first missionaries to talk to her. She has been seeing the missionaries consistently for the past 4 years? She hasn’t been baptized because she refuses to follow certain commandments, but finally, this week, she said that she’ll just do it, because she knows she needs to. Finally!

Funny Cultural note: Many people ask if we want a carmelo or a hard candy. Sometimes it’s actually a piece of candy, but more often than not, it’s a cough drop. For some reason they love them here. They eat cough drops all the time, and apparently if you´re sick and take some to church all the members ask if they can have one as well. So now whenever I´m asked if I want a carmelo, I still say yes, but I kinda know what to expect.

Love you and miss you all!

Elder Chipman

map of our area

 



Me and my pumpkin (birthday) cake.  The apartment only has a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom.  The kitchen area has our desks & laundry stuff (we do ours by hand, I'm learning how to do this little by little)

  Our bedroom 

Hi Mom!

You are right, I haven’t described a lot about Argentina, so I hope to do that a little now!

We are in the city of Budge. Its only about a 30 minute drive south of the capital. There aren’t any big buildings or anything, just houses and shops, occasionally a park or a field. Literally every square inch is covered up, there is a person living in every corner of every block of road. People build their own houses, and so they can form it to anything they have to. The governments roads are paved with cement, the roads made by the residents are all dirt.

There literally is garbage everywhere. Seriously. People carry their garbage out and light it up with fire, and that’s that. 

We take buses where ever we go. I’m glad I don’t have to drive because they have speed bumps randomly everywhere, no signs, lines, or laws in general. Motor bikes and horse carts are also very popular forms of transportation. 

I am in a poorer area, but they seem to get by, and honestly, they seem to live very comfortably. Outside their houses is filth and dirt and grim, but then you walk in and they have flowers and granite countertops and tile floors. It just depends.

Thanks for everything, hope all is well!

Love you

Elder Chipman

 

Buenos Tardes!

Buenos Tardes!

It’s been a great week here in Budge! 

We have two new investigators, and they have baptismal dates for the 30th of November! Their names are Alejandra y Angela. They literally live under a mountain of garbage. Their front courtyard is about 10 feet by 10 feet, and it is filled about 5 feet high with garbage! But we taught them about the plan of salvation, and they seem to have a desire to do what it takes! We meet with them again tomorrow--which might be a problem because we have exchanges tomorrow.  I’m going with an Elder who is from Arizona, and has only been here for 2 months, so our Spanish isn’t exactly good. Luckily the Spirit does all the work right? 

Anyway, about the soccer here. Every P-day we play soccer, and seriously, I get destroyed. A chapel in our zone has a small soccer court and we play games of 5 on 5. My companion played on a professional team in Paraguay. It is the equivalent to a minor league team in the States, so he’s really good. Then there are the rest of the Latinos that move so fast and quick, and I just can’t keep up. Luckily there are about 5 other Gringos that play like me, so we laugh and have fun, and dream about the day when we can play basketball again!

Mom: First off, forgive me but I completely forgot to tell you thank you for the Birthday Presents. Seriously, the CD was exactly what I wanted, and the ties are perfect. I’m actually wearing one right now. And the Candy Corn is gone. But I shared it and Latinos don’t really like it, so I didn’t have a problem!

I baked the cake (pumpkin cake) on Halloween, but it was really difficult. The oven doesn’t have degrees, it’s a fire oven and there is only a dial for how much fire you want. But it turned out to be perfect. The frosting was what I failed on. They have different measurements here, so I just did it by sight, and honestly, didn’t work out super well. But the cake as a whole tasted great! Again, my roommates didn’t like it very much, which is exactly what I wanted! I finished eating it this morning!

About the Aves, it’s about time they started to win some games!

Anyway, hope all is well at home! Love you all!

¡Chao!

Elder Chipman

My blue eyes and my height makes me exotic in these parts

Driving by the Buenos Aires Temple

View from our Villa

Enjoying good food

¡Hola Amigos!

It’s been a great week here in Budge! We have been working hard, and we’re finally making some progress with our investigators.

This week we were able to talk to a man named Alberto. He lives in a little shack, and his form of transportation in a horse and a cart, which honestly isn’t that rare here in budge. He lives with his brother who has a drug problema, but has honestly thought about God a lot in his life. We were able to talk to him about the first vision and were able to invite him to be baptized the 30th of November. And he accepted! Now we have the hard part of actually getting him there, but he is really sincere, and wants to do the right thing. Plus the lord is on our side, and if the Lord be with us, who can stand against us?

Also had the awesome opportunity not only to have Asado once, but twice! Asado is a special, delicious experience here in Argentina. It consists of chicken, chorizo, and steak being cooked over hot coals. Honestly its super good, but it wasn’t my favorite thing I ate this week. The couple who rent us our villa fed us on Saturday, and we had steak with eggs and onions. IT was supèr delicioso, and I look forward to learn how to cook that! Seriously, I don’t understand, they only season with salt here, yet the meat is really good! I guess all I need is Mayo and salt, and I can be a professional chef here in Argentina!

Also something funny: ever since I got here, I’ve been told how tall I am, and how weird it is that I have blue eyes. I´ve never thought of myself as foreign or exotic, but here I´m about a foot taller than everyone.  No one can pronounce the name Chipman, which is honestly the first time I experienced that problem. I´ve been compared to two things, the Hulk, and Kronk from the Emperors New Groove. Honestly, if I ever feel self conscious, I think I´m just going to pay a visit to Argentina to feel better.

The Lord has blessed us a lot this week, and I know that he will continue to bless us. The work will go on!

Yo sé que Dios les ama todos sus hijos, y ayudará todos con sus problemas y desafíos en esta vida

Its not perfect but its getting better!

Les Amo Mucho

Elder Chipman

In South America, the toilet flushes . . . .

Another Great week in Buenos Aires!

So Argentina is weird, and they have Mothers Day on the 3rd Sunday of October. Only Argentina does this, but anyway, Happy Mother´s day!

Things are becoming more normal for me here. I can usually understand what people are saying to me in one on one conversation, but I struggle with groups--especially lunch appointments. Here, lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It usually consists of a salad, either beef or chicken, and mayonnaise. Seriously, they eat mayo with everything, beef, chicken, salad, you name it. The water is also undrinkable down here, so there is a ton of Coca Cola and Tang. I haven’t yet tried Asado, but I hear its something to die for!

We’re still trying to get settled in our area. We´re opening up a second area in the Budge Ward, so we literally have 1 investigator that was there before the area split, so most of our time is spent visiting members for referrals. We are making good relationships though, and are helping many inactive members come back.

As far as the question that you have all been wondering: What direction does the toilet flush?

From my personal analysis, it flushes clockwise in Argentina. To be honest I don´t know what direction it goes in America, so you need to check it out for me!

Other than that, I don´t have much to say. We´re getting stuff done!

Les Amo

Elder Chipman

First week in Argentina!

Wow, what a week. Luckily the mission president here has given us an hour and a half to email.

On Sunday the 7th I received my call that my visa for Argentina has arrived. We then enjoyed conference and left for the airport on Monday the 8th. We had a two hour flight to Houston where we met up with other missionaries. Some had been waiting in California for 6 months! Others, fresh out of the MTC. We then had a grueling over night flight of 10 and a half hours. I slept about 4 of them. The rest of the time I had to read or do something because the person sitting in front of me was watching Man of Steel. But I stayed strong, and haven’t seen it yet!

We arrived in Argentina around 8 am. We then grabbed our bags and met our mission president. We were then taken to the mission home, about half an hour away from the airport in a very nice place called Banfield. The mission home is beautiful with a great yard filled with Ivy walls and a swimming pool. We had dinner and I was introduced to my companion Elder Suarez from Paraguay! He doesn’t speak a lick of English. But thats ok. We were then taken to our area, Budge (Bood-hey), Only 20 minutes from Banfield. That night we went to our villa right above a member. Its super nice, and has running water!

Budge is not beautiful, at. all. But that´s ok. There aren´t any buildings higher than 3 stories, and there is trash everywhere. We are staying with two other Elders, Elders Escobar and Rodreguiz from Peru and Chile. So yes, I am the only one speaking English in the villa.

What is it like down here? Crazy! The buses here remind me remotely of the night bus in Harry Potter. The roads don´t have lines, but I´m not sure if the drivers would follow them anyway. Once you get on, they take off. The insides are like a jungle gym, with bars everywhere. Mostly so you can make it to your seat without flying out the window.

We are very close to cities like Banfield and Lemus, where there are lots of American companies like Mcdonalds and Burger King. We actually ate at McDonalds today, but its expensive! When I tell the other elders that a burger only costs one dollar in America, they Gawk.

The wildlife consists of Dogs. There are more stray dogs than people it seems like, but they are all really nice, and honestly act like normal dogs, chasing cars, and eating trash. They truly are everywhere. I see them on roofs at times, just walking around. The stray dogs are better behaved than the domesticated ones though. The member we live above has a big golden lab named Toby, and every time we walk in and out, he tries to hump our leg.

All of the buildings are surrounded by gates, even the stores and churches. You usually have to have a key to get in and out. I have yet to see a window not barred, even the churches. Robbery is a problem here, and nobody takes any chance.

Soccer is a huge deal down here. Seriously, Saturday, everyone is playing it. Apparently there are two major teams in Buenos Aires, Boca and River. The majority of people ask which one I go for. Right know, I don´t know, but I think I´m leaning more towards River.

This isn´t everything, but its all I can think of. I love you all and hope you’re doing well! ¡Chao!

Elder Chipman

On his way to Argentina!

This morning Stephen called from the Atlanta airport.  He is finally on his way to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  He got notice that his Visa was ready just yesterday. Today, he will fly to Dallas for a two hour lay over and then board a plane for a 10 1/2 hour flight to his destination.  He was really excited about everything.  We look forward to getting his letter next Monday to hear about his new adventures and assignment.

Life is still going good...

Hola Todos!

Its been another great week here in Marietta Georgia! We've been teaching the gospel and seeing a lot of miracles everyday! We are continuing to teach Angela and Gladis, and continue to find new people who have been prepared to listen.

First off, there has been a new rule given out that we are to have mail sent directly to our apartment and not to the mission home. SO if you sent a letter this week, I probably won't get it until transfer meeting next Wednesday. Here's my apartment Address

Elder Stephen Burgoyne Chipman

1788 Austell Rd. Apt. E2

Marietta GA, 30008

Honestly, you probably shouldn't send anything after Wednesday, because if I don't get sent to Argentina this week, I will probably be transferred somewhere else in Georgia.

Honestly nothing out of the ordinary has happened this week. We had a lesson with Angela on Tuesday and we brought a member, Hermano C. He is this old retired Costa Rican who we like to call the "Camacho Bomb" because whenever we bring him to lessons, he just goes off, and teaches the Doctrine of Christ like nothing else. Anyway, we taught Angela about Faith, and she committed to come to church. She didn't come, but we'll keep working with her.

The rest of our lessons went a lot like that. Life is still going good, and I love being a missionary. It is the rare opportunity that I have to bare my personal testimony everyday, and in a different language! I feel the spirit direct my life and its just a great feeling! 

Hope all is well at home, I love you all!

Elder Chipman

Found the graffiti right outside our apartment door on Tuesday!
We literally are the only white kids in the complex.