Email from a 20 Year Old

So, I am now 20. the whole time I was 19 I was in the mission. Weird, no?

So we're going to show some photos but first I'm going to tell a story about why everyone needs first aid training.

So, last Monday I finished writing my emails and all, we ate some food, and went to the stake center to play futbol etc. I was inside and at about 3:30 pm several of the people who are outside burst in to tell us that an elder has cut his leg. I go outside and he has a deep cut on his inner thigh. I lay him down, elevate the leg, and staunch the bleeding. another elder brings a first aid kit and we put pressure on the cut a bit better. President comes and brings him away in his SUV to the hospital.

So. The moral of the story? don't cut yourself. It's dangerous. And when someone else cuts them self, help. It was a pretty dramatic moment. But, elder Ribeiro will be fine. he luckily only cut muscle, and now has some stitches and is recovering.

So moving on, it was my birthday this week... and I FORGOT

So I get a call around 7 am, and there is a lady who brings me breakfast.

Because my parents (sneaky parents) had arranged for this without telling me anything. How sneaky!

this is a little card that was also attached. it is in Spanish evidently but says happy birthday

And here is an image of the very impressive breakfast! it came with A LOT of food (we were eating it still the next two days), and, impressively, with real mugs.

​
So thanks, family, that was very nice.

And here is a roast beef with vegetables that I cooked during the week.

This week we did a LOT of service projects. Seriously! from Thursday to Saturday we had one every day. working is good, it helps release stress (for me at least.)

Anyways I wish all of you a good week.

From a newly 20-year-old correspondent in south america,

peace

(Fun fact: did you know that only about 75% of Toyota's ever get to be as old as I am and still be working? I'm just getting started!)

Edmonton Buses in Mendoza CIty?

So! it's been a good week for me here in Mendoza. I'm sorry I'm not going to write tons because I spent a good amount of time writing important particular emails but I will compensate with PICTURES!

Okay to my father in particular: there are these trolleybuses in Mendoza that are way old and they have a little ticket that says Flyer bus company Winnipeg 1960 or something like that and everyone says that they are imported from Canada (used) like ten years ago or so which makes sense because they have little signs in English and French which are not Argentina languages (photo included)

but see I was wondering, are they from Edmonton? because of a certain tell-tale no boom-box no food no smoking sign right up front that is identical to the ETS signs. So, if you recognize theses buses...

here I am in Kingo with elder Jacobsen and elder Fernandez and my companion and Fernanda who is a recent convert from another area in Mendoza that my companion was in previously, on p-day.

Good lookin'

Uno!

Okay so everyone we did lots of service projects this week which was good including cutting tree branches and digging a septic pit. Service is way good because it helps you gain confidence with people who would otherwise not ever listen to you (like the less active but way less active guy from the septic pit project)

So have a great week everybody,

Elder Backstrom

Note: Dallin's Dad looked up where the buses in Mendoza city were from in Canada and they are actually from Vancouver (sold to Mendoza in about 2005). Edmonton did sell some of it's buses back in about 1985 to Mexico city!

Letter Troubles

Alright everyone- time for some pictures.

A very bad picture of me!

Things to make me smell good

Very expensive, very small... but it's nutella. had to buy it. Imported from Brasil.

Elder Trelease went home this transfer. I was in the stake center and took some pictures with him.

That was a 4gb micro SD card that did not go into the letter I sent to my family because I made the terrible, terrible mistake of buying in it in a chrucho little nowhere cell-phone shop and they sold it to me failed. So. Sorry family, there will be no photos in the letter that I sent to you... 

and, playing some UNO on p-day Includes my cheek, the face of Elder Ribeiro (Brasil) and elder Nelson (Idaho)

So, This has been an interesting week. It was marked by the Argentina Mendoza mission's 25'th birthday party, at which we were invited to sing as a missionary choir (just the 18 missionaries in Mendoza zone). We sang "Ye Elders of Israel" although it did not come out quite as planned due to strange automatic piano misbehavior.

Last week I did not write very much and I would like to apologize for that and blame it on the above seen busted SD card which I was trying to force to function. This week I promise to write a little more.

In my gospel study and personal reevaluation this week I contemplated the important role of humility and the dangerous poison of pride. it is easy to be proud without realizing it- it is like a virus that hides inside a computer, trying to remain undetected and yet inhibiting progress and growth. You can never be free of pride- the most fatal mistake we can make is to believe we have liberated ourselves completely of the temptation to presume more, to boast, to speak of ourselves, to think highly and trust in our own strength- because then it strikes more powerfully and better disguised than ever before. I have a goal to be less proud in my words and my thoughts this week.

Things that happen:

• Snapped a micro SD card in small pieces
• Spoke french with an Argentine-Chilean dual citizen who was living in Toronto until recently
• went to the supermarket twice and purchased extra fiber cereal because it is the only thing not coated in sugar; come on, I just want cheerios
• tried to do exercise every day of the week but didn't
• got my "trunky papers"
• Googled the definition of poison and learned that it comes from the Latin word potio meaning potion
• had my pen that I use to write in my journal run out of ink, leaving me no other choice but to finish the entry in terrible 5 peso agenda pen. which made me sad.

So that is a little about this week.

Some fun facts about Mendoza; there is a plaza (square) that has all of the banks in the entire city around it. to make making the banks secure easier. also to make it easier if you wanted to rob all of the banks at once.

It didn't snow today meaning that it will probably not snow this year in the city of Mendoza although they tell me there is a fair bit of snow up in Uspallata, a town closer to to mountains.

Well, I have nothing else to write about. Have a good week everyone.

Weekly email part way through July

Well, another week has gone by. 

• I'm having trouble formatting and passing images between the memory cards that I bought to send home in a letter.
• Both Elder Paz and I are staying for a third transfer together in la Favorita.
• I cooked sweet omelets with celery inside them for lunch the other day.

These are all things that happen.

What should I say about this week? Lots of our programmed lessons fell through but we did have two new investigators both of which are from part member families which is a pretty big deal since it is far easier to have that type of investigator come to church. Bruno, a less active member who is reactivating now, introduced us to his pareja (Carla, 19 years old) and we also started teaching the father of the Martinez family (don't know his name. He's just brother Martinez). So that was good.

Well, have a good week everyone. I'm going to keep struggling with technology.

Q & A with El. Backstrom

Well, another week here in Argentina draws to a close.

Time for a question and answer period to inspire me more how to write.

Q: How are you doing?

A: Pretty decent, really. Nothing bothering me significantly right now in terms of health or anything, we're eating lots and lots of soup to augment vegetable intake. Shaving takes way too much time. It's just so time consuming. Probably takes twice as much time to shave as to shower. ah well. what can be done.

Q: What sort of goals have you had this week?

A: Well, Elder Paz and I set a goal to improve significantly the quality of our companionship and language study. Language study, for reasons beyond our control, hasn't been such a success, but in companionship study we set the goal to read cover to cover Preach my Gospel together. I've been learning a lot and it helps to make learning more profound to hear the thoughts of another person about what you read. We also decided to do more practice teaching to improve our teaching unity, and, several painful hours of practice later, we saw a lot of improvement. We found new ways to teach the first lesson (with big pictures. I believe that the larger your picture is, the more people understand it. so we got pictures that measure 25cm by 40cm.) and were able to find various new investigators.

Q: What is your dream car?

A: Why are you asking that?

Q: How is the climate in Mendoza right now?

A: Cold. Or at least as cold as it gets in the year, which means about 4º most days.

Q: Tell me about how sad it was when Argentina lost la Copa America to Chile.

A: We were all sad.

Well, everyone, I think that's about it. Have a good week. Pictures next time probably.

Elder Backstrom out.

Sometimes we change -- and that is beautiful!

Well, a new week means a new weekly update.

Well, what have we done this week that is noteworthy- hm. let's make a list.

• Finally got into the house of a less active family that we had been trying to contact for a long time (the mother is not a member)
• gave talks in sacrament meeting but postponed a special musical number for next week
• planned another ward activity (movie evening)
• helped another (different) less active family get out to church
• cooked for ourselves two days out of the week, which is very strange because normally we eat with members every day. We cooked potato wedges.

Okay those are some of the things that we did this week. In good news for anyone who is following our investigators, Paloma, who was the girlfriend of Jesùs, a member, broke up with him but still wants to receive our visits.

Hm. What else to tell? This week studying with Elder Paz in preach my gospel, we were reading chapter 1 as part of our goal to read through the entire manual together. I was particularly impacted by the emphasis made on the importance of inviting people to repent and change their lives. It's very true; if we never invited a less-active member to church, they would probably never come. An investigator would never get baptized. In short no one we visit would ever change their lives, and our efforts would be very much wasted. However, when we do invite people to repent, sometimes, not always but sometimes they do- and that's beautiful.

Okay- Have a good week everyone.

Elder Backstrom out.

Third Quarterly Update: 18 Months and Counting

Well hello friends and family, Here we are with a much more significant update than perhaps ever before-

18 month mark quarterly update

So, three days ago- 19.6.2015- I passed 18 months in Argentina, in the mission. A year and a half. Three quarters of my mission. A pretty big milestone that I passed in a pretty quiet evening in the apartment writing in my journal, Thinking about how things have changed- mostly me- since I started the mission what seems like not so long ago.

Long reminiscey paragraph go:

I remember the first day of my mission, Getting off the plane 28ish hours after leaving Edmonton, hitting the wall of heat and humidity that was Buenos Aires. I remember some of the MTC, vaguely the mental struggle of trying to grasp Spanish, the frustration and also satisfaction that I felt as I made menial, insignificant progress. I remember the day that I came to Mendoza, and rio plata changed to Andes and humidity to dust. The heat stayed basically the same. I wish I had a picture of the day that I stepped out of the airport with president Avila- the vista of the mountains, the cap of clouds that lay over the city letting through a few stray beams of sunlight onto the city and the foothills, an incredible blend of subtle greens and browns. I remember that I slept on the bus to San Juan. Here and there I remember some of the hottest most miserable days some of the more funny butchered conversations in my first transfer. I remember the service projects. I remember that time seemed to speed up every day. Suddenly I was with my second companion, then my third and fourth. From San Juan to San Martin, from San Martin to San Luis, from San Luis to Mendoza, back to that grey-brown vista of the clouds becoming the mountains. I remember that at some point the Mendoza bus terminal started to feel like home to me. I remember a lot of different people, stories, lives that I sort of peeked into for an instant before moving on. I remember a whole bunch of different proselyting techniques, to try to find more investigators- And I also remember that ironically it never seemed to be by the way I tried to find people to teach that we found people to teach, but they did show up. And now I'm here, another Monday, another weekly letter, time is still flying by.

Alright, long reminiscey paragraph behind us, let's talk business.

First- How is Elder Backstrom of health? he had bronchitis and was in the offices for 8 days. we're very very worried.

I'm fine. My lungs are responding well to the medication that I'm taking right now, the bacterial infection part of the illness is long dead, and I am working again. The doctor said there will be no residual effects in my lungs; I will be able to work normally regardless of location; and that I need to stop being macho-Canada man and put on clothes when it's cold. even if I don't feel it, because I'm dis-accustomed to the cold and will get sick, regardless of the fact that I don't feel it. :P

Second- How is elder Backstrom looking?

Way Good. According to this artists impression,

​Elder Backstrom is very good at keeping his face very still for long periods of time. Gracias to Elder Moita for the drawing.

Third- How does Elder Backstrom sound?

mp3 attached.

No attached MP3 because blogger does not allow me to upload sound bites, but the recording is goofy Dallin saying, "this is how I sound now" you can use your imagination!

Alrighty, let's make some lists.

Who has been my companion?

Elder Spice (trainer) (California)

Elder Veintimilla (Spain/Ecuador)

Elder Ortez (Honduras)

Elder Fernandez (Peru)

Elder Inca (Peru)

Elder Enriquez (Peru)

Elder Saavedra (Chile)

Elder Paz (Uraguay)

>Fun Fact: every one of these elders except Elder Paz and Elder Inca are currently finished their missions.

What foods have I learned to cook?

Ñoquis (potato pastas)

Chori-pan (german sausage on bread)

Asado (Beef smoked over coals)

Pizza (Argentina style)

Milanesa Napolitana (Like shnitzel)

Ensalada rusa (a salad with eggs and potatoes and things)

Ensalada de tomate y cebolla (Tomato and onion salad. good with asado.)

>Since we have little time to cook and eat, the majority of the things that I actually end up cooking are sort of just quick-n-easy inventos, so as to have time to eat them.

What crazy things have I done in missionary efforts?

Building houses for free

Washing car windsheilds at a stop light

Making food-based prizes for those who keep their comitments to come to church

uno tournaments

surveying people

Handing out pass-along cards in buses

English classes (failed)

>Funny how the most normal seeming technique that I have listed here, English classes, has honestly been the hardest to realize. I have tried it many times. 

Important things that have happened:

1. I no longer have the chubby face that I gained in San Luis
   
2. I have achieved humor in Spanish. I can make people laugh! it's really quite important for me. Well, I mean, I can't make everyone laugh. but at least some poeple
   
3. I speak like a combination of porteño argentina BA accent and centro-americano papa-en-la-boca butchered pronunciation (this will mean nothing to you if you do not speak Spanish)
4. My beard grows faster now due to what I presume to be a gillette conspiracy to put growth hormones in shaving cream.

Well, I think that's about it.

Honestly, in these last six months the most notable thing that has happened to me is a significant increase in my personal understanding of the role that faith plays in every moment of my life. Through a collage of small spiritual experiences I have had questions resolved and have come to feel more happiness due to the influence of the spirit. I have also come up with a new moto to wake up to every day, o sea, I thought a lot about what I need to be achieving as a missionary and realized that really, I need to, more than anything else, be allowing the master to shape me into what he wants me to be. I will go where he wants me to go and say what he wants me to say in order to allow him to make of me what he, and, ultimately, I, want me to be.

I only have until the end of the year to enjoy this precious experience. I only hope that I can take full advantage of the time I have left. I feel tranquil and prepared. It'll be good.

We'll see each other,

Take care of yourselves in these next six months,

Don't run with scizors,

Apologies for the bad spelling and all,

Elder Backstrom