I might finally get my DNI (ID card) so I can be a legal Argentine citizen soon. This week at church
was a little tough: we invited so many investigators, but they all live too far away, so they couldn't
go and we couldn't get them... So none of our investigators showed up, but we already have plans
to pass by them all this week, so it should go better next week. I might be transferred in two week,
but there is also a huge chance that I'm going to stay here and train a new missionary! Only 8
missionaries (besides leaders) are NOT going to train this next transfer. That means all but 4
companionships aren't going to be training next transfers! Also, there's a weirdly huge chance I will
be going to the offices as well. Someone in my group is going to be in there, and there are only
3 of us... But I wouldn't mind, the offices sound cool, and I would love to learn more about how
the mission works there. My clothes are (mas o menos) holding up fine! Whenever my pants rip,
or my shirts get stained, which is sadly often, we have a cool member here who washes and mends
perfectly. And she is way awesome to the missionaries. The weather has been fine here for the
most part: it's starting to get warmer, which I hate -- its already warm here... San Juan is famous for
being WAY SUPER hot, like an average of 105 daily, and we are just starting to get there. It's been
pulling like 80 or 90 degrees lately.
Friday, October 7, 2016
I'm loving it here in the offices! I have a really cool job. I'm the "historiador", so I receive all of
the references from members and missionaries worldwide (sent to our mission) then I get to find
which area the person lives and send it to those missionaries. Also, I collect and put all of the
baptismal records into the church system, so new members can be members. The mission
offices are smack dab in the middle (mas o menos) of Mendoza, Mendoza (the capital). It's
really cool here, but way different. I've been in poor, wildernessy areas my whole mission, and
now I'm surrounded by huge rich people houses. Our pench used to be famous for being the
most disgusting in the mission, but not while I've been here! Thank you so much for teaching
me how to clean stuff, the pench was a disaster! When things stop working, missionaries for
some reason just leave it be until someone comes and repairs it... So I ended up fixing three
different toilets (and bidets) and a shower. Little by little, the office pench is getting better. I
can't believe people used to live in such gross conditions here... I've come to realize that I kind
of like cleaning. It's necessary, so I might as well like doing it.
In the offices, we do have the opportunity to leave and work after 4 every day if we have all of our
stuff done, but we have a lot of stuff to do, so we don't get out much. Also, there's this weird
"tradition" sort of deal here, where they don't go out to work, even when they can... I'm trying to
change that, so this week, we've already left to work more times than my comp has for three
transfers! We don't end up seeing President Goates very much, he's mostly out and about doing
stuff. Its really interesting having a computer to work on 24-7. I think I've seen just about all of
the mormon messages by now. Have you guys been watching the cool new bible videos? they
are really well made (a little stiff, but after a while, they get to you).
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Monday, July 25, 2016
HEY FAMILY!!!
I'm super happy things there are going well! The puppy looks adorable, and it sounds like you guys
are having a lot of fun there at home. I cannot believe you have not been to the lake yet. It's like halfway
through July--what is going on? Mom, have you found any new bike riding trails or other fun things?
Now to answer your questions:
Baptism challenges? This week we had a ton of success with almost all of our investigators, except none
of them went to church... So we have to move all of their baptism dates so they can come to church three
times. But besides that, everything with our investigators is going well. The members here are interesting:
they always tell us to call them up so we can go teach with them, but when we do call, they never can
(or they don't answer). But thats ok, we are going to keep trying to teach with members whenever we can.
The members give us lunch everyday though, so I'm cool with them. The only problem is they like to give us
A TON of food, and sometimes get offended when we don't eat two servings. Lately, I've been feeling
healthy, except for last night: I had really bad diarrhea and vomiting. At about 3 in the morning, I experienced
what is called a "Double Dragon", which is when the two happen at the same time...so that hurt. But right
now I feel way better, I'm just scared I will have to go do an emergency bathroom break at some point. Wish
me luck. We do not have bikes in this area (they are apparently very rare) so we pretty much just walk
everywhere. But I don't mind, the area isn't too big. Last night we had a VERY spiritual experience: we went
against plans and visited a menos activo, part member family just because we felt we should. When were
outside their door, I felt that we should watch a certain mormon message video (Mens Hearts Shall Fail Them.
It's my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMwKxmTLaCs. When we walked in, they immediately
asked for a blessing for their sick baby, then went on to tell us about a large numbers of problems and trials
they are currently passing through. Then we watched the video, and literally every point of the video had to
do with what they were feeling. After a quick discussion, we ended up doing a really spiritual prayer with
everyone, and even got a nonmember involved with everything. In the end, we got to set up a future visit
with just the nonmembers because they saw the effect the blessing and the video had on the family. It was
way cool!
HEY FAMILY!!!
Everything here in Argentina is going well! These last few weeks have been really cold, but today,
it is crazy warm. Right now a "Zonda", basically a huge hot dust storm (with very little dust), is
passing through the area, making the temperature skyrocket. Because of the weird weather, we
should be expecting a super cold week after the Zonda. For everyone here, this is normal I guess,
but for me, it is weird. My comp, Elder Toone, and I are getting along really well: he really likes
music, Starwars, and the ninja turtles, so we click well. This week my comp and I tried hitting
people up with the baptismal invitation right in the first visit, and now we have a bunch of new
investigators who are getting ready to be baptized on the 30th of July! We are so pumped!
This last week we had the 4th of July, which just so happened to be a p-day, so we did some fun
stuffs. I'll send pictures. To answer your question, the only thing that happened here because
Argentina won against the US in football: everyone in church brought it up for the whole week.
I was kind of hoping for more action, but whatever.
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Monday, June 20, 2016
HI PEOPLES!
So last night we got transfers... and I'm going to a new area called Los Pinos! Im going to be
companions with Elder Toone, who has literally been in the same district as me in every area
so far. Elder Ruiz Diaz and I are pretty sad, because the mission is closing our area. We were
making such great progress there, and now all that we worked for is for nothing... we have 3
investigators that have accepted the baptism invitation, but watev. Ah well, if its the will of the
Lord so be it, I'm not going to fight it. My comp was so angry, this morning, he called up the
president while I was in the shower. But anyway, I'm going to a new area and I am super excited!
This last week we ate with the family Kim. The father and almost all of the kids are from Korea,
so we had a great time eating KIM CHI (I don't know how to spell it) and BEE BIM BOP? Also
everything was super spicy, which was a change, because NĂ–THING is spicy here. When you
buy something that says "picante" (spicy) it just has the flavor of spicy, and is really sweet. So
Yeah! Dinner with the Kims was way cool, but it really made me miss home (I miss you Ali).
Today for our last pday in Rivadavia, we went to the mountains with our convert, Roberto
(Robertito)! It was super fun, we felt like part of their family. While we were there, we found
some cool caves, took some cool pictures, and ate the pie my comp and I made last night.
It was all spectacular. I am going to miss these guys here - I definitely want to visit Rivadavia
again after my mission, mostly so I can visit with the family Martinez some more.
I'll try to send as many photos as possible this week, i'm looking into maybe putting the photos
on google drive to make it faster.
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Friday, April 29, 2016
Hey y'all!
I'm sorry that was gross...
Hi Family!
This week was super fun, Elder Chamberlain and I are trying to get new investigators, because
things were slowing down a bit here in La Consulta. This week we knocked so many doors and
it worked! We have like three more people interested in the gospel! It is starting to get cold here,
but it is a weird, different kind of cold. Because it is so humid, the cold seeps into your bones
and makes me cold for hours after I'm back under blankets and stuff. I guess I'll just have to get
used to it though, I'm here for a year and a half more. Today is my cumplemes, so today marks
my five month mark in the mission! Holy cow that went fast!
Since the bikes have been out of commission for a while, we have been walking everywhere
(like an everage of 6 miles sometimes) and everyone lives super far apart, so I'm getting some
good leg exercises! These last few weeks have been different for me, because I can talk in English
again (I don't have a comp from Chile anymore), but now I have to hunker down and study a lot
more Spanish. But anyway, things are super cool here right now (literally and metiphorically,
because it is cold), and people are starting to listen to us more. We finally got a whole menos
activo family to agree to do a noche hogar with us! I'm really excited! I miss you guys, but I love it
here! Sorry I can't do fotos this week, this computer does not have a working usb port... BYE!
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