1st Official Letter from Argentina

So August 6th was an exciting day at the Merrill household because it is travel day for Elder Ethan Merrill and he is leaving South Carolina to go to Argentina.  Which means that when he is at the airport, he gets to call home!!! We get to talk with him!!! Hear his sweet voice and chat!!!! Hooray!!!!  In fact, he actually called twice, as he was at a couple of airports. Wow, what a travel day those guys had! Traveling with Elder Merrill were the 4 other Elders from his class/district who had also gone to South Carolina to wait for their visas. We are glad they are all traveling together and get to finally go to their mission.

Then, after an anxious/exciting  week of waiting to hear from our traveling son, Monday rolled around again and we got an email from Elder Merrill. Whew, mom was getting a little antsy as the day kept progressing because when he was in South Carolina, the emails usually came by about 9am, thanks to that 3 hour time difference.  Argentina is actually one more time zone towards the east so it is a 4 hour difference from there to Tucson.  The day was ticking away and then finally in the early afternoon, woohoo!!! There was our email. So here is what Elder Merrill had to say:

How are all of you guys doing? I am fine here. My first week in Argentina is almost over now. Time flies over here. Although it can be a little rough at times, the mission is awesome. I suppose that the one thing that I had to get used to the most is the culture shock. It´s so different here! Sometimes I can hardly believe that this country is a place where people live. Houses are either really nice or really run down. My apartment is somewhere in the middle. We live in a house that in all honesty, feels more like a prison. Everything is made of brick, and the windows all have bars on them. And that just doesn´t mean our house. EVERY house has bars on the windows and they´re pretty much made out of bricks. Everybody speaks Spanish here too. That´s to be expected for sure, but the language is different than the one that the Hispanics used in South Carolina. Well, I know that the one thing that will help me learn the language the most is just getting out there and talking.

Argentina is a little hard at the moment for me. If I hadn´t gone to South Carolina first, I´m not sure I could´ve done this. No worries though, I´m slowly getting more familiar with this place. The area I´m in right now is called Bolivar. I had to go from South Carolina, to Texas, to Florida, to Buenos Aries, to Bahia Blanca. All those were plane rides and the whole trip took about 41 & 1/2 hours. That was a lot of traveling to be sure. I got here and sure enough, it´s winter. We don´t ever get snow though in Bahia Blanca. It´s just cold winds and fast days. The sun begins to set at about 4:00. Walking took awhile to get used to. My legs were so sore for the first 3 days. But I´m fine now. I just remember to drink alot and I´m fine usually. I like the food they have here, so don´t be too worried. I am doing fine with eating. I get fed by the members sometimes, but the branch here is smaller than the one in South Carolina, and the building we use to meet in is smaller than our house in Arizona. I wish I could send you guys some pictures, but the computer I´m using doesn´t seem to have a USB port. I´ll look around and see if there is another place that we can go, but I´m not sure. I´m glad to have heard from you guys. It's good to know that life is pretty much the same. I hope that you guys are doing good as well. I know that this mission is going by fast for me, and although I love being out here, I can´t wait to see you all again. See you all next Monday

So that is his adventures in actually getting to Argentina and his first impressions a bit.  We look forward to hearing more from him next week. You're doing great Elder and we love you dearly! 

 

Exciting News this week!

So this Monday morning found Elder Merrill's mom and younger brother Kyle at the high school doing registration for the new school year. In the middle of that, we get a text from Dad saying our favorite Elder has got his visa!!!!  Wow, it seemed like registration would NEVER end so we could go home and read his email for this week. But we finally finished, booted up the computer and joyfully read the news: [Since his dad currently works in another town during the week and comes back home on the weekends, Elder Merrill very kindly takes the time to send him a note as well as the family]

Heya dad!  Guess what? I'm going to Argentina! I got my visa and I leave on August 6th! I wrote Mom a letter, so she'll probably show you that. I just wanted to tell you too. I hope that the new job is going good for you. I know that the Lord watches and blesses you all, so don't miss me too much, and we'll see each other soon! love you all! 

 

Dear Mom,  Yep. I got it, MY VISA IS FINALLY HERE. I can't tell you how happy I am to be going to Argentina, I leave on August 6th, so exactly one week from today. I am a little sad because I have to say goodbye to everyone though, but you have to do that everytime you get a transfer anyway, so this is just like a transfer to me. Just to a whole other country is all. I will stay here over the course of this next week and try to get alot of pictures and then I'll send another batch of pictures to you next time I can e-mail.

Needless to say, we are so delighted for Elder Merrill. I found it interesting that in his last few emails, he had talked about not worrying about his visa anymore and just focusing on working where he was, and then presto, the visa finally arrives. Maybe the lesson he needed to learn from his time in South Carolina was achieved and God saw he was ready for the next part of his mission/adventure. Elder Merrill passed on some advice he got about the mailing system over there:

I have something important to tell you.  DON'T SEND ME ANY LETTERS OR PACKAGES.  The problem is, I sent you the wrong address. I sent you my address, where I live, but if you send me anything now, they'll never reach me. There is a mission office address that I need you to write to, but I never sent you that address. Also, people like to go through other people's stuff in the post office down in Argentina. So, I'm going to send you a picture of "la virgin." People don't go through your mail if you have a picture of that on a package. Just a few good tips.

We can tell that Elder Merrill is fairly excited about finally going to his permanent/original mission area:

I can't believe that I'm actually going y'know? It's funny to think that I'm going to a whole different country. I know that I'm going there to focus on the work and all, but it's cool to think about. I can't wait to take some pictures and send them to you.  Things are ging fine otherwise. I am going to get some pictures of the families that I met here, and say goodbye, but until August 6th, I'll just keep on working too.

I hope you guys are doing fine as well. I heard all about the renovations and stuff [at the high school], that sounds pretty neat. Everything seems so old and falling apart over here, it'll be weird to see how everything will look new when I return. Well, I don't have a whole load of time, so I'll let you go for now. I hope you have a good week!

I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for a son willing to serve as a missionary, to share the gospel that he loves and to be brave enough and willing enough to go to a new land. It will be so different from what he has known, with unfamiliar customs and sights and food and sounds, but he goes with a willing heart and spirit and the love and support of all his friends and family.  He did say that it will probably be a few weeks before we get his next email, but we will wait patiently, pray fervently and rejoice in his adventure. Good luck with the move Elder Merrill, and lots of love to you!!!!