Semana 8

Hola Todos,

I got my flight plans on Friday......too bad I don't have a visa yet. Our whole district went to the travel office today to see what was up. Apparently 6 out of the 9 have their visas, 2 elders are going to a temporary reassignment until their visa comes in, and I alone am stuck on hold, which I'm guessing means I'm here at the MTC for a little bit longer. To be honest though, I'm more sad that our district is being split up than the fact that I'm not headed to Argentina just yet. The Lord has his purposes for everything though and I'm definitely keeping my eyes and ears open to find it. I'll tell you my flight plans just because I feel like telling you anyways: 8:30AM SLC -> 12:10PM DF (Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX), 2:10PM DF -> 6:00PM MIA (Miami, FL), 9:00PM MIA -> 9:00AM EZE (Buenos Aires, Argentina). I'm not sure if the itinerary takes into account the time zone switches (even though that seems awkward), but yeah, all the US flights are American Airlines. I got a calling card for the US and I'll be able to call from the airports, but the international cards will be purchased in Argentina. I'm told that they have them there for cheap. I'm guessing I won't really need stamps too much either. Again, I'll keep you posted as best as I can as things happen around here.I couldn't believe what I was reading about Rockwood! Good luck with working things out--I hope that things do work out in the end. Definitely keep me posted!Speaking of hard to believe: Drew had a vocal solo?!?! I never thought I'd see the day!!! :P
Dad asked about what church is like here. We are divided into branches here, so obviously headed by a Branch President. The branch consists of my zone of 4-5 districts. The callings that we have are more like assignments that are included in our callings as missionaries--in other words, I didn't receive a sustaining nor was I set apart when I became the District Leader. Priesthood is at 9:10AM. The Relief Society meets at an MTC-wide level (10:00) and has their own little devotional-type meeting. Lunch is right before Sacrament at 12:30 and we have a little chapel room in the main building that our branch meets in. One cool thing here is that our Branch President served his mission in Chile, so he knows Spanish. This is important because we get the opportunity to bless the sacrament in Spanish ;) We'll then have our own little district meeting where we take care of announcements and have a lesson, similar to Sunday School. After that is Missionary Directed Time where you can study or head to the temple for pictures out front. Choir practices at 4:15, dinner afterwards, MTC Fireside at 8:00, and then you can watch your choice of 1 out of 4 church films. They rotate every week between "The Testaments", "Legacy", "Joseph Smith", "Mountain of the Lord", and various talks given here at the MTC by general authorities.The Line of Authority works great, Dad, thanks!I haven't heard of an N1H1 vaccine here yet, but I'll keep my ears peeled.Everyone is back and completely healthy from quarantine. We actually got 2 of them back a day or 2 early! It's been nice having everyone together again--our district is so awesome!!!Thanks again for all your love and support. I hope all is well at home. It definitely got cold really fast here, which reminded me of home and how you sent the cold to us ;) I will probably send out my package on Thursday, which I hope I will know a few more traveling/sticking around details by then so that I can inform you.
¡Os amo muchísimo!
-Elder Powell-