November 16, 2009

I cant wait to see you again. For two years I have been in the service of the Lord. I have been on spiritual, physical, and emotional rollercoasters. Some of the hardest and best times of my life. Through it all, I have gained a testimony that is like a rock. I have no doubts that this is the only true church. That Jesus lives, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have no doubt that the Lord will answer the prayer of a willing child. I have learned of humility and that the Lord only blesses us when we recognize his hand in our blessings. What a wonderful journey it has been. We have had a great week here, thankyou for praying for the baptisms because they were just great. All 5 were so excited to be baptized and to make a convenant with God. I was able to baptize one of the moms. Today we played soccer with the zone for the zone activity. No injuries...hahaha. So I forgot to mention this before or in Dads email, but Elder David A. Bednar is coming this Thursday! Im so excited to hear and see from an Apostle of the Lord. I know that these 15 men are special witnesses, and that they have a different witness than I do. What examples and heros they are to me. Well thanks for talking to Sister Hill. I was never comps with Elder Hill but we were always close in the mission. So we can fix it out when we get back. Mom I was thinking about what its going to be like to see you again, and I think it will be very similar to when we go back to see our maker. I love you so much and Im greatful for your prayers and support. Im so excited.

November 10, 2009

Yesterday we were on a tour of the capital of Buenos Aires and we didnt have time to do email. It was a completely different world there and I couldnt believe it. So nice and clean. We looked at a bunch of cool stuff like the oldest biggest tree in Buenos Aires, the grove where south america was dedicated, a huge catholic church full of cool paintings and gold, tango dancing, all you can eat bbq, a famous bridge that separates the ocean and the canal, and a lot of other cool stuff. Im doing good now and am gaining my weight back. I weigh 160, mas o menos. So im excited for TJ and the courage he has to go back and serve the Lord. The hospitals here are terrible. When sombody breaks their arm or somthing they put on the dumbest bandages Ive ever seen. I went into one really bad one when I rolled my ankle and it was so nasty. I though I was going to get sick just from being there. The didnt have anyplaces to sit to look at my ankle so I just sat in the sink. But there is a private one that the mission uses and thats where I go now if Im sick. Its really nice. Thats cool that you and Adrian went to Walnut creek.... but didnt do the root drop weak! Hhahaha. And no we are not going to eat tuna for thanksgiving. So the baptisms on the 14th. 3 are from the complete family. Mom Dad and 9 yr old kid. The rest of the kids are not ready and are really into the world stuff. The other two that are getting baptized are a Mom and her 19 yr daughter. They are friends with members. So Im really excited. They all came to church on sunday also. So youve got the lists ready...NICE! Ive got some things that I need you to do please.....OK so about living after the mission at UVU. My best friend here in the mission is named Elder Craig Hill. We want to live together so he gave me his Moms name and number. Can you call her and talk and try to arrange somthing? They are from Fresno, California. He is ending the mission with me and we met in the MTC. President Benton wants me to live in a BYU ward even if im going to UVU. I want to live in an apartment and not a house. OK so thats enough of that. Im so happy and Im gratefull for the blessings that you guys are recieving at home.

November 2, 2009

That was so cool when we were almost talking through the computer. I felt that too and it was special. Im so grateful to God for the blessings that he has been pouring upon our family. Its cool how the Lord blesses us in turn for our service. OK so Im not going to try and hide it from you. I lost 10 pounds last week...yea. Seriously. Ive been really sick and it stinks. We havent been able to work too much but when we were able to go out we were really blessed and the awesome families came to church...in the pouring rain. Also one of the recent converts, Segundo, the 60yr man, came walking in just completely soaked. He said that he had taken the wrong bus and that he had to walk really far. What dedication, thats such a wonderful thing to see as a missionary. We are going to have the family baptisms the 14th of Nov. We had some great Family home evening with the members and the investigators and they are really bonding and they love each other. We are so happy for them. Gladis`s baptism was really good too. Her family came and so did a number of members. So Im doing better now and I ate my first meal yesterday. Im taking some ati infection medicine for the stomach and some mylanta. So dont worry about me Im alright and Ill try to get those 10 lbs back. Theres this evil dog here that is a german shepard. He trys to get us through the fence everytime we walk by and just goes crazy. The other day I said to my comp. "That dog is like Satan, He just hates us." I thought it was pretty funny. The halloween pics looked good. Adrian looked so healthy and happy. We didnt have halloween here. Nobody does it here in Catan. We asked a member why and she said that if you knocked on sombodys house at night in a mask asking for candy they would open the door with a gun...hahaha. Thats cool about TJ and Arturo. What a sweet journey they have in front of them. Thats what I think when I see new missionaries get here.

October 26, 2009

So this week I got to read two emails. That was good. Sounds like you had a great bday and I didnt even know they were going to do a surprise birthday party, pretty sweet. Ok so dont talk to me about chuys yet. My mouth is already watering. This morning my comp and I did make bisquick panckakes though. Im so happy that the family is doing great. Thats funny about you asking the lady if she is still smoking. I think I do that everyday and make people feel bad everyday and then try to bring them up. The only way one can do it is through the spirit. Here we have had a great week. The Elders went back to their area and are still living in the same apartment. They have new locks on the doors though. They told me they have seen the kid though who did it and that he is from a less active family...go figure. We have just been so blessed this week though. We were walking on a muddy day and I saw a little alley between two houses...its called a pasillo. There is almost always another little house back down the alley too. Well I said lets clap this one. We went back there, and 4 dogs just went crazy and tried to get us. I just tried to stand my ground and the dogs stopped right in front of us and just barked like crazy. An older man who looked like he was drunk, said come on in. Him and his wife are married, they have 9 kids and many of them live at home. The mom said that she had been waiting for us and that they want to go to a church and that they have mormons in their family. Well we taught them lesson one and it was so spiritual. The cool thing was that about a week ago I asked Heavenly Father to give us a complete family. I got an answer during the lesson that this was them. Well we went to get them to go to church on sunday and they live really far away from the church in the country. Like 30min walking. The Mom and Dad were waiting outside for us with two of their grandchildren. We took a bus in to town and they just loved church. The members helped us so much and we set up another lesson with some members that live close it was so cool! They are going to get baptized the 14th. So in total we had 5 gators in church. Two others are a mom and a daughter that is another miracle that Ill write about in Dads email. Well Gladis didnt get baptized last saturday. Her mom called us saturday morning and told us that her daughter was on her period...dangit. So she was a little uncomfortable and wanted to wait till the 31st. Oh women problems. Hhahaha. So we are doing great here.

October 19, 2009

Yesterday was mothers day here in Argentina. One member said that we should call home anyways. It would have been nice but no. So your big BDAY is coming up. I hope that you dont feel any older, but hahahah. 50! Well we have had a pretty crazy week here. Some Elders got robbed in our zone and are living with us. Dad has the full story. And we had a pretty funny meeting with President Benton and some american tourists. I also wrote that in Dads email. So you can read that together because its pretty funny. My companion and I are doing great. We are going to have a baptism this saturday too. Its a 13 year old girl hows name is Gladis. Her grandparents are members. We want to baptize her mom too, but she doesnt want to stop smoking. Oh brother. I saw a picture of Alex just booking it during his cross country race. What a stud. Im proud of him and cant wait to see him in the army with me...hahaha. But seriously. If he comes up to Utah with me he will definately join. I hope that Ben is doing well too. Adrian told me that she got a cool job in Austin training triathletes or somthing like that. And sammy and her cool picture of her as a nurse. She could fix all of my injuries. We are teaching some great people and helping them get ready for baptism. I just love the mission and love to feel the spirit. Yesterday in sacrament meeting I was feeling a little down/worried about the investigators. Since it was mothers day, we had some difficulties getting people to church. We went to look for about 8 and two came. Well I was sitting there in sacrament just thinking about that and the spirit wispered comfort to me that all would be well. Those are the little things that make me know there is a God who loves and cares about his children. This morning too during personal study I realized how much I treasure the scriptures and how much I have grown in the mission in scriptural knowledge. The other day these Jehovas Witnesses contacted us and I just accepted their pamphlet and told them thankyou. Well many times during the conversation I thought of the many scriptures I could have showed them and proved with their own bible that their church is false...but I knew that it wouldnt help, that contention is of the devil, and that real conversion is spiritual. So Mom I hope that your having a good week and get to talk to some of your real good friends on the phone or somthing. I know that Heidi, Sis McNeil, Sis Waites, and Sis Heywood are just some of them. Mom I love you and I know that this church is true.

October 12, 2009

So we just had transfer meeting and Im here in Catan still with my same companion Elder Zollinger. Im very happy to be here and to finish here too. Our last week of the transfer was a hit. 2 great baptisms, new family of gold, the perfect storm, and helping an old man back to his home with blood running down his face. Segundo and Aldana were both baptized saturday night. They were confirmed sunday after a 6 peso taxi ride because it was just raining bad. So the perfect storm formed to try our faith and we over came it. Yes my shoes are still wet and the apartment is muddy from our shoes, but we got it done. So we were walking down the street sunday after noon and we see this grandpa walking toward us with a lot of blood running down his head. We stop and talk to him and ask him what happend. He was all normal and calm and said that he was robbed. He had a huge gash in his forehead and I said, I think you have to go to the hospital. He was like no Im fine. Well we kept walking with him to help him to his house, even though he didnt want us too. When we finally got to his house, I told the neighbor in front to come over. I started talking to him asking him if he could help the old man out. Well the neighbor told us that its really the old mans son that hits him. Poor guy. After we said our good byes he asked us for 2 pesos...go figure. In church sunday our ward misison leader told us that we had done a contact with one of his moms friends and that she wanted us to come back. She was just like any other contact and said that she was busy with a party for her daughter. Well we decided to go back for what the member had said and we finally found the house after a 30 min search because we didnt write down the address. Well we found it, clapped our hands, and she came out with a smile. She let us in and we taught her, her daughter, and two family friends. It was one of the most spiritual lessons Ive been in and one of the girls started to cry during the first vision. We are going to visit them in the week with the member that is her friend. Also they had a church movie in their house which I asked about. She said that her friend gave it to her and that they watch it when they are feeling down. It was so sweet! So Im doing great mom. I hope you are too. Ok so I hope you buy me some protein upon my return so I can become large in stature. In 6 months, Nephi would just be scared of me...hahaha. Well I would say about 60% of the converts are women. So I have definately found true friends in the mission. And more than 1. Here are some of the best men and I know I will find them after the mission. Well tell sammy girl that I love her and that I miss her.

October 5, 2009

Conference was awesome and we had some good investigators there. The talks were just great, and yes I was blown back by Elder Hollands talk, just amazing. I really like Elder Hales talk on Saturday, and Elder Christoffersons talk sunday. He speaks spanish so he translated his own talk, so that was nice to hear his voice, not some spanish translator. Yes we always watch it in spanish, interesting huh? The members were so glad to be there too. Thanks for booking some spots to go when we get back, Im excited. Also I need you guys to book me a visit to the dentist...yea sorry. Well I have been brushing and flossing the whole mission but a lot of my teeth just hurt. So we will be having two more baptisms this saturday. An older man named Segundo, it means second, and Gladis. Segundo is 60 years old and I always enjoy baptizing priesthood into the church, because that what the church needs here. So yes I do have all the names and addresses written down of the people I have baptized. When Ringwood got up to talk I nudged my comp and said that he went out with my mom. I told him that he read every street sign on your road trip and that was enough, hahaha. He did give a great talk though. What tsunami? I just dont hear about anything here. So tell me where it happend and what? Im glad that you all enjoyed Dads bday. Yours is coming up. Thats so cool that Ben and Emily took a trip to California and stopped by the temple. When I prayed about Ben I got an answer that I just need to keep working hard till the end of my mission. I hope that him and her will look to me as an example and they too will come to the truth. President told me during our interview that I will be a Nephi for my family, and I was just humbled, what a blessing. Mom I love you so much and Im greatful for the example you and Dad have been to me. I love the Lord and know that this is his church.