October 2 2017 - General Conference

This week was pretty awesome.

I got to start out talking about what I did P-day. We went to the offices so I could buy these awesome things from Ecuador for super cheap. I am super pumped to use them and will probably buy more later.

But holy cow the area around the offices are so nice. I think I have been away from the US too long but I felt like this area is like nicer than the US. That is what the video is of. I ran into my grandpa (missionary term for the trainer of one's trainer).  He is a secretary in the offices. Also we took 6 boxes of copies of the Book of Mormon back to the zone. This was a huge blessing because we have not had any for the last two weeks which has make the work interesting. It is interesting that in the US missionaries have so many materials and it is difficult at times to receive these here. But it was awesome, I ran into the secretaries, the AP's and President. They rock. Also we played soccer as a zone today with the Elders. Last time we played I probably got nutmegged 10 times by an Elder from Bolivia. This time I only got megged twice which is progress. It was super fun and hanging out with other missionaries is the best

General Conference was this week and I could write about it for hours, but I can't so I will just say one thing. Did you hear Elder Ballard call out Essential Oils? If not go back because he definitely did. But it rocked, the Gringo Room was so lit. We snacked and just rocked out listening to conference. I learned so much and it was nice to have a break.

One thing funny this week is that I learned that racism is also a thing here in South America. It is not like super blatant but Latinos are just as racist as any other race.

My Spanish is coming along but it can be very frustrating when you share this awesome thought with an investigator that you know will bless them and they turn to your companion and ask what I just said. I wish I was already perfect at the language but I know it will come in time. The Gift of Tongues is definitely real because sometimes I can say it all, it comes naturally, and I am trilling those rr's. Nothing feels better than when your rr's are trill. But other times it is very difficult to speak. My goal is to sound like a latino and have people think I am from here. There is this other secretary who talks like a latino and people think he is from South America so I know it is possible. This week I have worked on trying to pronounce my Y's and LL's like a J because that is what they do here. It has been coming along nicely and it is just fun to experiment with the language.

We run into Jehovah witnesses all the time here. Every time I see them I just laugh. Not sure why but it is just funny. But I respect them because they all do missionary work and contacting.

One thing that sucks here is that all the electronic stores play movies on the TVs and as you walk by you can glimpse the movie shown. They have started showing Spiderman and it makes me want to watch that movie so bad. But what's worse is if they show Star Wars when it comes out I am done. I want to watch that movie so bad. We went to KFC in for lunch between sessions on Saturday and a Killers song came on. I was so sad I miss American music so much.

But I love it here, even though conference was amazing there is no work more satisfying than the Lord's. Going to sleep knowing you gave it your all is the best. I love studying the Book of Mormon and wish I would have done it more before the mission.

We have one investigator who we are trying to prepare for a baptismal interview this Saturday but we are going to have to work hard. The work goes well here and most of the people are pretty respectful to us.

Conference was so amazing. The photos you took are awesome, especially the one of the
van. That was so funny. I miss nana and gramps so much. There is this
old man in the ward who reminds me of gramps so much. He always come
out with us when we need him and he loves family history. He is as
enthusiastic for the work as gramps is which is so awesome. I always
see my grandparents in the countenance of the old people here. I miss
the food in the states. I lost all the weight I gained in the MTC.

I miss y'all so much but am having a great time here.

Elder Tucker