I made it!

Hola everyone,

I have finally made it to Argentina! It is awesome here and i have been loving every minute of it!

I arrived on monday and met the Mission President and his wife, and then we took a tour around Mendoza and had dinner together. After that we stayed in a hotel, (all of us new missionaries) The next day we had training and found out our new companions and Areas.

My First Companions name is Elder Anderson! He is from Utah. he has been here for about 19 months. We get along well! We both enjoy sports, and he is a Vikings Fan! 

We are serving in Maipu; Mendoza (yes you say it like My poo). so Yes i was born in on my mission in Maipu haha. We split the area with another group of missionaries who were already here. So We room with Them as well. (Elder Harrison and Elder Zagal.) Harrison is from South Jordan utah as well as Elder Anderson. Elder Zagal is from Chile and he is really hard to understand, but i love him.

It is a lot different here! Everyone is so happy even though they have like nothing. I love that about here. The people are great, although they are like impossible to understand!

Me and my companion have started to find success here and we have a streak of at least one new legit investigator each day! were gonna keep it going! I also had the opportunity to attend church here for my first time. It was awesome, but very difficult. they have sacrament meeting 3rd hour so everything was backwards... that was really wierd but i actually liked that! It was also fast sunday so i had the opportunity to bare my testimony to the ward. Fasting is really hard to do, because we do a lot of walking here in this mission and it is very hot so  i was dying for a drink!

I have had two meals with members so far, and my calender is full for the days to come! The food here is great, i have really been loving it. Oh but no one here eats dinner, so we eat at 1 and then nothing until like 930 that night. The people also have whats called the siesta here. Which is around 2-5 everyone goes home and sleeps! then they go back to work for a while.

so during that time is when we do most of our studying.

The money here is obviously a lot different its hard to know if the thing i am buying is expensive or not. but today we went shopping at a place just like cosco, and we are set for the month. We spent 1600 pesos which i am not sure what that is in American money.

Today is my first p day here and i am very excited to get wrecked in some soccer!

This up coming week will be great and i am super excited to learn more spanish and help everyone.

Take care everyone and thank you all for your emails and prayers.

I love you all,

Elder Banks

photos

These are some pictures of my zone and one of the Hermanas with one of my teachers.

The one with John Norwick is with one of my buddies here from the Mtc.

I hope all of these Photos work.

Elder Banks

Goodbye MTC

Good morning Everybody,

As many of you know this is my last couple days here in the MTC, I leave on Monday morning heading to Argentina. How crazy is that! Monday will be the last day here in America, and my last day speaking english for the next two years of my life. wow this day came very quick.

This week has been very good! I have felt the spirit so many times while i have been preparing for the field. We had our infield training on Thursday, and that really helped me be more prepared for this coming up first week in the field.

I have had many opportunities to feel the spirit and to learn this week. I have had the best two teachers here. Their testimonies are so strong and they have given much great advice. They have helped me so much and I thanks them.

My experience here at the MTC has been awesome! i love it. I gained many friends and i have had many awesome experiences.

I dont have to much time now because i need to get packing and a bunch of other things done today.

Just know that i love you all!

Dont forget to read your scriptures, It is my favorite part of the day. I am able to learn so much and i am reminded on many things i need to know.

The next time i will be emailing you will be from a place far from here. 

Thank you all for all of you emails and letters.

Take care,

Elder Banks

The day draws near.

Hello Everybody,

This has been a good week! 

We had the opportunity to hear from M Russel Ballard in one of our devotionals! That was an awesome experience! The spirit was very strong there! I am just super happy we got to have an Apostle at least once while i was here.  He talked about missionary work, and how you need to forget your self, and give the Lord your all. Very inspirational.

I Jammed my Hand pretty bad early this week during volleyball! My thumb was huge and purple! That did not stop me from playing though, volleyball is to fun to not play, so i just play through the pain. I am known to be the big smasher on spikes so everyone knows me. Its funny sometimes i will be walking and ill here, hey thats elder banks... he spikes it so hard! Whenever i hear that i feel like i am on top of the world! haha i really need to work on my Pride huh?

Spanish is still coming along, we are really trying to speak it always now, and that has been helping a lot! especially because the person who says the most in English loses, trust me you dont want to lose. For every word you say in English if its a word that everyone knows you get a point. and the person with the most points loses. there punishment is at dinner time we get to make some kind of creation for them to eat or drink. And how ever many points you have is how many things we get to put into this creation. Day one was Milk, gatorade, sprite, and diet coke. Day two was only two points so we had mayo and bananas! I am so glad i have not lost yet! I would of puked. This has been helping me alot though, because it forces me to speak only in spanish.

I have also found that reading in spanish is very helpful as well.

I received my Flight plans for Argentina yesterday! I will be leaving on the 27th, and my visa is good to go! Man its gonna be a smack in the face when i arrive there. My spanish isnt where i want it to be, but that just motivates me to work even harder. I will be flying to Georgia first and then from there i have a 12 hour flight to Buenos Aires. That is gonna be rough! At least it will be through the night, so i could try and sleep for most of it. I am super excited but also very nervous.

I am also now the District leader here, and that has been very fun. I enjoy getting the mail everyday! It also makes me really strive to be 100% obedient. so i can be a good example to everyone.

I had a pretty cool experience with my TRC investigator this week. Yesterday it was our last lesson with her, and she had been progressing all week long! She told us that she Knows the book of mormon is true! and that she know that the church is true. we asked how she knew this, and she said after I continued to read, and then i prayed I felt the spirit. and then i knew that it was true. She is set for baptism in a week. That was a good first experience for me with my first real investigator. I now know that even though my Spanish isnt great i am still able to help people! and that is awesome.

I am doing great here. The MTC is very fun, and i have made many friends.  It will be sad to have to leave everyone, but its all good.

Thank you everyone for your emails and letters. 

I love you all,

Elder Banks​​​​

MTC 2nd P-Day

It has been Amazing here! I have felt the spirit so much in my classes, and especially during the devotionals. I have taught about 4 or 5 lessons in spanish already, and let me tell you the gift of tongues is real. I have had the spirit help me so many times in my lessons, and i found that the harder I work and prepare the more The spirit is with you.  

I am very blessed to have such a great district, we all get along very well, which makes it hard to focus sometimes because we are to busy laughing. but my district is also very good at being obedient and following all of the rules, and we are progressing very fast. 

In the pictures below are my district, and the man in the blue is my companion. I also love to look at the mountains, they are beautiful here! 

That one is the Provo Temple, which is Awesome, and i will be going there again today. We go there every P DAY.

The food here is actually really good! It is hard not to just pig out everyday because we can get as much as we want! 

It has been snowing a lot here recently, but its never cold like in Minnesota. The snow is always perfect for snowballs and that is always super fun! we have lots of snowball fights in between classes. 

Spanish is hard but very interesting, I have been progressing everyday. I cannot wait to be fluent in this language. 

The district that got here before us will be leaving soon, so in about a week my district will be the old ones. That is crazy! Time has been flying by.

It has been wonderful hearing from all of you! 

sorry for my terrible pictures, hopefully ill figure out how to take better ones when i make it to Argentina.

I love you all,

Elder Banks

MTC week one

Hola amigos y familia 

       it has been a wonderful first week here at the MTC. I have Learned so much and it is only day four, which is crazy. I have already given my first lesson in spanish, and I will be giving one again tonight. The language has been a challenge so far, but i know that as I study and pray I will be blessed. 

As you can see Saturday is my pday while i am here in the MTC. so I will be emailing on saturdays.

I love being here in Provo and walking out to huge mountains as my view. It is very Beautiful here. 

The food is not bad and there is lots of it! Although it has been hard to sit all day long during times of study. I have already learned so much spanish in these few days and am working hard to learn lots more. 

my companion is a great guy, and an Amazing artist. and it has been interesting getting to know him and staying with him at all times. 

I will be going to the Provo temple later which is very exciting! but i will be spending the rest of my Pday studying and teaching investigators IN SPANISH! but i know that i will be blessed as i continue to work hard and pray.

I was unable to upload any pictures, i do not know why but i will try again next week.

I hope to hear from you all soon! 

Love Elder Banks