Parker - January 2

Hey Everyone! sounds like you`ve all had a good time! Especially Jack`s adventures flying solo, and livin it up in Idaho with Jameson and Arianne. Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I`m excited because now I am able to say that next year I`ll finish my mission. And the reason why that is significant is because it shows me how fast time flies. Just a week ago, I was saying ``yeah, in two years I``l finish,`` but already the end is just next year. Whereas before, it felt like I had barely started, now I am saying where did all the time go? Anyway, about my new transfer, my companion is a Gringo from Utah by the name of Elder L, and you know, we were getting along fairly well until......we found out that we were both fans of Brandon Sanderson, and now we`re like best friends. He`s pretty cool, he`s a hard worker, which I am grateful for, and he also allows time for us to have a conversation about the Way of Kings or Mistborn, so yeah, I`m not having any companion troubles for now, which I am extremely grateful for. Now to describe Tucuman, well, imagine Arizona, just with about 15% more greenery and about the humidity of Maryland. So yeah, it gets pretty unbearably hot here. But anyway. Oh yeah, new years eve. We spent it with a member, and they made some pretty good food, and then, because we have three gringos in the apartment (we share an apartment with the zone leaders) we played Scum with some Uno cards until midnight, then we watched some of the fireworks, then tried to get some sleep, but people literally partied all night long as loud as was possible. And then we had Church at normal time in the morning. And Church was interesting. One weird thing here is the street names here are very poorly chosen in my opinion. First of all, they use the same list of street names for every city, so I was hearing familiar street names by the time I got here, and second of all, the names they use are the names of provinces and countries. So when my companion told me that the family we were gonna spend new years eve wtih were in Mexico, I assumed that they were Mexican, but nope, the street name is called Mexico. And then I hear stuff like ``you gotta go down Salta, then head through Jujuy, and park in Tucuman,`` I get really confused at first. But anyway, that is really it for this week, we are working hard and making a little progress, so I am going to keep trying to do my best.

Love,

Elder Blaylock