September 30, 2009

Ok so they changed pday on us for this week. The temple is closing for refurnishing and they let us go one last time. I really enjoyed it and got some answers. So last week was great. We did have 5 baptisms that turned out really well, apart from rain and cold, shy girls not wanting to get in the water, and sister against sister fights it all turned out well. We also have 4 other people we are preparing to get baptized. Im excited to bring them and more to conference. So Dad is now an old hag...hahhahaha. You will be too shortly, no jk. I love you mom. So yes I do have enough money for the quads. Ill have to tell you later how I changed the gift cards for money. The interviews with pres were great. He asked me a lot about my short term goals after the mission, like 1 year. He was really impressed by some of my goals and gave me some good suggestions too. So the referal system. Nice! I really want to teach JW when I get home with the missionaries. And thats so funny about sammy girl, the sacrament and King. The kids here are so funny too. When we see them playing in front of the house we tell them to call their moms. They do and then say, oh shes not here. We say well ask her when we can come back. They then go and come back and say, she said another day...hahahah. So what did you give the missionaries to eat? What did you give dad for his bday? We have been eating pretty well here. Empanadas, bbq, pastas, fried meat, usual argentine food. Im not sick either. Well last week we had a miracle that I didnt share in my email to dad. We are working with this family. The mom is a member, her husband is not. They have a daughter who is like 25 and she has a little baby girl. Well the baby got her shots on the day before the visit. She had not slept all night and had kept the family up with her crying. They all looked tired and the baby cryed through the whole lesson. At the end they asked us to give her a blessing. When we put our hands on her head she was just balling and screaming. I could barely hear the annointing. Then I gave her the blessing and prayed that she would be fine and able to sleep. During the prayer her head began to droop and I thought that she was just jerking it around away from us. As we all said amen she was sound asleep. The Priesthood power to heal is real. I know that this is the only church that posses it as it was restored through a prophet of God. I love you mom.

September 21, 2009

Hi Mom,Sounds like you have had a busy week as RS Pres. So yes we do open the windows and just think of the bbq that is cooking below. Last week we didnt have lunch one day so we decided to buy some. Meat and french fries, what more could you need? We have had a great week here. Lots of work, 10 inv in church, and we have 7 baptisms for this saturday, and 19 in total in the zone! We are really excited. We have interviews with President tomorrow too. I love interviews with him because he is such a great man and gives me great advice. Last transfer he asked me to write down my goals. (Long term, short term, what I want to look for in a wife, and how I will maintain the spritituality after the mission). I wrote them down and will talk to him about them tomorrow. Thats funny that the Elders still ride bikes there in Austin. I figured that all of them just had cars now. Yep the ward meetings with the RS Pres and the missionaries and all the others. Our RS Pres here went and invited some investigators to a bday party last week. They loved it and we were so glad that she was helping us. People here really havent been talking about Poroto. Kinda weird because they just go crazy when an Argentine does somthing good. I hear about Ginobli from the spurs all the time. Well I got sprayed from mud from the street as the bus passed by this week, hahaha it doesnt even bother me anymore. I just laugh about it. Ok so when you go to the temple this week, if you are not going to be able to make it out there before I get back, I would like you and dad to buy me some more garments for when I get home. Yea after 2 years they are pretty NICE! I like the full neck, not the celestial smile. Cotton or Drilux. Im just about the same size 32 waist. Not a fat fat. Well Mom Im glad to be here and Im really enjoying the work. I love you so much.

Septembeer 14, 2009

Hi Mom,Mom not get an email...yea right. The cracker email place was broken and I only got off Dads and Alex´s. We decided to go eat lunch in the apartment and try another place in the afternoon. Mom just so you know I love you so much. I recognize all that you do and Im so greatful to have a mother like you. So the dead cat didnt smell, but then again all the houses smell a little weird anyways. The sewage just isnt good here, you know. So the mud has dried up and now its dust, NICE! We are kicking and just doing great. There were 9 investigators in church on sunday. This big family will be getting baptized the 26th and we are really excited. I really love this work and I love seeing success in it because it changes people. So we still havent taught the witch grandma but we did invite her to church and she said, no I dont go to that church...OK...well see you later! Then I think she tried to cast a spell on me but it didnt work. So the apartment is really nice actually. One of the better ones Ive been in. We keep it really clean and even have a little crappy washing machine that works kinda. No drier but we hang dry everything. Its above a restaurant that has a grill and ice cream thats pretty good. You walk in and its a big room that has the kitchen in it. Then theres a little hall with the bathroom on the left, and our room just pass it. Our room has a bunk bed for us, our study desks, and two wooden clothes things to hang your clothes. I cant even think of what thats called in english. My comp and I made a rule that we were going to talk spanish in the street and english in the apartment. We do very well. With my last comp the canadian, we always spoke spanish.

September 7, 2009

Hey Mom,Yes it was a great week. This place is just so beautiful and ugly at the same time. Anybody who was not a missionary would never come here. Thats why its so great as a missionary because the people are usually willing to listen. We had 8 investigators in church sunday. We had more but they dont count if they are not married and living together. So we found this great family of a lot. The Dad is a member from a long time ago, then became a devil worshipper, and now wants to come back to the church with all his family. So we were going to enter in his house and he says, dont get scared, my mom is from another religion. Well there are a lot of people called bandistas here. They call spirits into their bodies and weird stuff like that. So we walk into the house and see a big sign that say, bandista temple...NICE! There was a skinned cat...please tell alex, hanging on the wall, tons of weird like devil statue things, african hats and necklaces to worship and lots of weird stuff. So we taught a lesson right there. All the kids loved it and the Dad said he needed a hair cut. My comp cuts hair and has a machine. So we said we would come by to cut his hair and teach again. We did on sat, and they all went to church with us yesterday! Its was sweet. So in the next couple weeks we should have a number of baptisms. We have great members here. The stake pres lives in our area. Everybody is poor here and the zone looks about the same. The Elders are really working too. Alls well. So the zone is not in the campo. Its more central but not nice. There is campo in the areas, like country and stuff like that, but its fairly close to the city. My comp is so cool. We like just about all the same stuff. We get along great and we made panckakes this morning with my bisquick that you guys sent. We made steak and mashed potatoes for lunch too. Dont worry about him cutting hair, hes not like that, hahaha. I checked out the blogspot. I look a little weak weak wetted down. I couldnt hear the song though. I like it a lot. So Im glad to hear that the family is doing well. Hows being RS Pres? I love you Mom and I know that this is the Lords work.

September 7, 2009

Hey Dad,
> The first week here was great. We taught a ton of lessons and some with member too. We were able to have 8 investigators in church sunday. The members here are great with investigators. Our bishop is a good man, and the stake president lives in our area. We are going to visit a family with him this week. The zone here is sweet. Most of the Elders are working really hard. We have an ex zone leader that is just working his area over. Of course there are a couple areas that are a little lazy. We had a meeting with president and the leaders last week. We ate bbq and got to play basketball at the end of the meeting. This guy gave a presentation on safety during the meeting. He is in charge of all the safety here in south america. He protects the general authorities when they come too. He was in the Marines, for 4 years here in argentina and then went on a mission. Well he did a couple practices of what we should do when we are robbed. He selected me to come up and get robbed. Well when I stood up all the missionaires said, uuuuhhhhh. The guy put a fake gun in my stomach and said give me everything. I looked at all the Elderes with a mad face, and then gave him all I had. Just have too as a missionary. He said that is the best thing to do always, and that when he was a missionary he hit a man that was hitting his comp...and they had to close the area. That would be by far the worst thing that could ever happen. The kids in the neighborhood here are pretty familiar with the missionaries and its all good. Well tomorrow we have a zone conference. My comp and I have to give a workshop on adapting the teaching to the needs of the investigator. Its going to go well. TELL SAMMY THAT I SAID HI. The roof looked like a mess with all the workers there. Well eat an eclair for me. So we are doing great and made some bisquick panckakes this morning. Almost as good as yours and moms. Well Dad I know that Im doing the Lords work. Love you Dad.

September 1, 2009

Hi Mom,Im doing great and am in the best place in the mission. Gonzales Catan. This zone is called the heart of the mission. It is all dirt and mud streets, villas, very dangerous, no sister missionaries, and tons of baptisms. This is why its called the heart of the mission. Im so happy and excited to be here. Its a privledge to be here. My companion is a capo (stud) named Elder Zollinger, from North Dakota. He has a transfer less than me. We are so excited to be together here in Catan. We are going to baptize a lot of people and are ready to do work. The zone looks great and we are really stacked to have a good transfer. I do miss my last area, but am so excited about this new area. I said my goodbyes to the people I really liked, and some I didnt...no jk. We had a couple good meals before leaving too. We didnt have any baptisms last saturday but the week before they were great. The people are happy and are going to stay active in the church. Some people do get attatched to the missionaries though. Many have told me that they stopped going once the Elder left. The family sounds like they are doing really good. Im so proud of you and your new calling. What a challenge! The RS Presidnets here are such great women and I know that you will be a great RS President. Here in spanish the word for relief society is really close to the word, society of wispers. I like to say it wrong in front of the RS President to see her reaction. You should ask Bro and Sis Riquelme what Im talking about. My I love you and I know that this is the true church. I have no doubts. Somtimes I have questions but I always find the answer. I used to be scared to question and looks for answers, but that is the only way to make your testimony sure. Love you Mom.

August 25, 2009

Well its seems like I will be getting transfered this coming monday. Im pretty excited but will surely miss this area. And stop calling me surely. Airplane. Unfortunately today I dont have time to check the blog. We have a meeting with pres and the stake pres in about an hour. Well Mom order an extra chimichanga por mi. Today we played volley ball for about 4 hours. Yes Im sore and thats so weak. We also ate a ton of bbq. Well I hope all is well and I love you mom.Ok Mom so I didnt have time to finish my email because we had to go to a meeting that didnt happen. We got there in Ramos Mejia which is an hour away by bus and we waited for about 15min outside the offices. Well finally the Elders showed up and told us that they had forgotten to call us and that we didnt have the meeting. Then we had to wait about another 30min to get a ride home. So it was a little crazy. The weather is getting hotter here. Its nice now though. 70s. I heard that its been really hot down there so I hope alex is mowing lots of lawns...haha. I dont have alergies anymore. The vicks and a few kleenexes and a few push ups got rid of them. So Im good. I just saw my last companion Elder Grange and hes doing great. We had so much fun together and worked so much. We are definately going to be close friends after the mission.

August 18, 2009

Hi Mom,Thats so funny about slick rock. Yes I did do the whole trail. I did it alone the first time and with my buddy seth the second time. You turned left right? You have to turn left. But yea either way its still really hard and yes you can die on that trail. That what I told Adrian when she wanted to go. So I will gladly volunteer to go with you the next time, and yes I think I could explain very well how you passed on...died. Hhaha. The pictures from graduation looked great. All of you looked happy too, especially George, hahaha what a nice hat. So the baptisms went great. My last comp came back to see them too. Him and I did the baptisms and they were swell. The girls were really happy and so were all the young women. We had 3 investigators in the baptisms and they loved it. 2 of them will be getting baptized this Saturday! So all is well. It is starting to warm up a bit. Thats nice. I felt a little sick last night so I bought the vicks tea. It helps a lot if you take it right as you think you might be getting the flu. Hopefully its not the pig flu? Does it mean you have the pig flu when you want to eat bacon? Ok that probably wasnt too funny. We have interviews with President this Friday. I hope he tells me where I will be going to finish the mission. Ive got 2 transfers left and surely will be going to my last area. I want to go out to campo if its possible. My comp is doing great too. We are having fun and working hard. The zone is doing pretty good too. So hows Ben and Alex? Let me know. Mom I love you so much and am greatful to be here right now.

August 11, 2009

I have grown so much here and haved learned so many things. Doctrine, how to preach, teach, baptize, answer difficult questions, speak a new language, patience, and to recognize the spirit. So many good things. So finally we got some more stuff done with that couple thats getting married and then baptized. Its a mess with all the paper work here and stuff. Well the investigators are doing good and should be getting married the 27th and baptized the 29th. We have 2 baptisms this Friday! They are two young women that are almost as tall as me! One is named Barbara and the other is Joana. They are sisters and their mom was baptized about 30 years ago and went inactive about 29 years ago. They are 15 and 13 years old. The youth just love them and really helped us out with them. They love mutual and all and really have testimonies. There are some other great ones that will be getting baptized the 22nd and the 29th. We had 10 investigators in church last sunday! I think thats the most Ive ever had in the mission. Its was sweet. Some came with members. Some with us. And 2 came alone. The zone is doing pretty good too. My comp is applying to BYU and I have been helping him with his essays a little bit. Hes going home one transfer before me in October. Well they just split the ward too. Our area is now half the size but its no big deal. We usually work on the other side anyway. Also last sunday one of our recent converts Kevin 16yr, blessed the sacrament. It was so cool to see him up there. Well Mom Im doing good and all is well.