The most robbed companionship :)

... The baptism of Vilma this week didn`t happen the way we had hoped... It was sooo much better!!! A couple days before the baptism we were talking with Jenni`s mom (Vilma`s daughter) and she gave Jenni permission to be baptized!! So it turned out that we had two baptisms instead of one!! Also they invited us to come over Sunday after church and eat asado with them!! It was really good. It brought back memories of Circunvalacion and the great asados we would eat every Sunday. We also ended up watching the Joseph Smith movie with them because some members came to visit and brought it to watch and we were there so we thought why not have a free member present lesson and watch a movie?

It is still hot in the day but it is starting to get cold at nights. The winter will start coming in a month or two.

Our water is kind of working again mah o meno. We usually have had water in the sink but not bathroom but recently it seems to be fixed (at least as much as it ever will, because we are in Argentina). The outside seems to always have water now and the inside does most of the time and when it does it is a powerful stream not just a dribble.

Lately I have been studying in Preach my Gospel Chapter 3. President Heyman has been giving teachings about it and about teaching the true doctrine. So I have been reviewing the true doctrine specifically on the commandments right now. I don`t know if you saw any pictures but he came and taught about it in a district meeting last week and took pictures. I`m not sure if they went on his blog or his Instagram (I think it is rheyman or something like that).

Everyday we clap houses... That is like all we do anymore. This last week we have been over at Vilma`s house and clapping the whole week. We seriously went there every day this week because of how many people we are teaching there. I think that a lot of their family will end up getting baptized especially because Vilma did! She is very well known in the area and has the kisco that everyone goes to visit. Then at nights there are always like 30 kids there playing. The whole street there are relatives. There are like 60+ people and they are all aboriginies (argentine Indians o sea the Lamanite descendants).

If you have time these are a bunch of questions Aunt Tammy has for you.

1.      How is the weather? Better?

 It is fine, It never was as hot as others made it out to be. I would rather have the extreme heat than extreme cold. But it is nice to not sweat quite so much, haha

2.      Alex says he used to get burned through his white shirts, do you?

No, I haven`t really burned at all. I have avoided using sun screen so that I tan more then don`t burn. I have only had one light burn on my mission so far.

3.      Do you have an awesome farmer tan?

Yes, haha I don`t know if you have seen the pictures but I will post more, haha

4.       Do you wear sunscreen?

No

5.       Do they have it over there?

Yes, haha

6.      Is it mountainous where you are or pretty flat?

It is very flat. The sky seems huge without mountains surrounding me.

7.       Alex says in Brazil all the poor people live up high and the "rich" people lived in the cities.

The poor people here live in dirt, metal, or wooden shacks they call houses. The rich people tend to live more in the city but they only have houses made out of brick and cement. Their architecture has not advanced more than the three little pigs story, haha me and my comp were talking about that today.

8.      Do the people there hate Justin Beiber?

Yes, me and my comp, haha the rest? I don`t know.

9.       I guess a while ago, he accidentally wiped his sweat on an Argentina flag and gave to a fan. I don't like Justin Beiber either, so I am with Argentinean's on this!

They are very very very prideful so I would bet that yes they were offended

10.  Do they listen to any American music over there?

Yes, half the music is random English songs and the other half is regaton and kumbia.

11.  Do you think the natives over there are prettier then American girls? ;op

No haha

12.  Have you eaten cow stomach or intestines or any other nasty things?

No I have avoided mondungo but I have eaten liver, pig`s face, I think kidney if I remember right but that is all that I can think of right now. Mostly we just eat rice or noodles with chicken or beef.

13.  What is the one food you miss the most?

That is hard... I miss it all... I miss flavor, I really want chick fil a and I want mexican food (although we have been able to make some) and lots of stuff

14.  Has your view changed on what you want to do (career) when you get back?

No, haha I still want to be a computer science engineer

15.  Do the kids go to school? Do they go until 12th grade? Is there a college around there?

Yes, they go in the morning come home eat sleep the siesta then go back to school until night. There are universities and they get to go for free but few people do. Most people just work in construction.

16.  Who cuts your hair?

We cut our own hair. We borrow a member’s clippers and cut it.

I love you guys and I can`t wait to hear from you next week! I will let you know how transfers go!

The picture of me with the flag is an award me and my comp got for being the mosted robbed companionship ha ha.

DANG THIS BAPTISM IS HAPPENING!

BEST news first! We HAVE a baptism THIS SATURDAY!! Vilma finally decided that she was going to get baptized!!! We are super excited! We went to visit Rocio and she told us that Vilma had decided that she wanted to be baptized but we weren`t sure, then she said that it was true and we still kinda doubted it. Then we asked her who she wanted to baptize her and she said Elder Clemons and at that point we were like dang this is happening!

Well, our favorite member family is probably the family Barrios. They live close to us and we visit a lot. They always make us good food and are fun to be around. The only problem is that it is just a mom and her daughter so we can`t really just visit them so we have to invite a man over to go in or stay outside. But the other family that we like a lot is the Family Gutierez, they are fun to visit and talk to, haha we always talk about random stuff and have a lot of fun. Like one time we were talking about the fact that we are Americans and not everyone else. I told them that they are southern americans (the continent) and we are both north americans (continent) and Americans (country). They wouldn`t buy it, they want to be Americans too. Everyone just wishes that they could be as awesome as Americans, ha ha.

Not really much has gone on this week but we do have a bunch of one liners from our investigatores/members.

1.      I want to go to the Bermuda Triangle to go through the time portal there. I want to get back my youth.

2.      The angel Moroni revealed to me where the golden plates are.

3.      Elder Clemons is in love with dark skinned women. He has been starring me down since you have started teaching me.

4.      (to e Clemons) Why do you love Selina Gomez?

5.      (to me)Do you have a daughter in the states?

6.      Jiraldo is such a good boy, it doesn`t matter how drugged up he is, he always remembers my name!

7.      The children in the area are so good! They love to shoot at the police cars and break their windshields, all in good fun of course.

8.      Why do you get out cookies for the missionaries? you don`t do that for me and I am your boyfriend (Girlfriend)No, don`t worry about it, they are just old men

We do have a cool schedule today and tomorrow where we have to come back early at 7 p.m. because of Catholic strip parties that are going to be taking place in the streets. They all dress up in feathers and that is about it and dance around.

Oh, and I HAVEN`T HEARD ABOUT THIS NATHAN VALENTINES THING, WRITE ME ABOUT IT, haha It sounds funny.

I love you guys so very much and can`t wait to hear from you!

Things you might not know about Argentina

Yes! Rocio was baptized and confirmed this last week! Unfortunately Vilma didn´t want to... But we are going to be working with Jenifer (Granddaughter-daughter of Vilma) and we hope that Vilma will want to get baptized at the same time as her. We have set the date of the 8th of March for Jenifer and we think it will happen. We want to be able to have that one more baptism before the end of the transfer.

The best day this week was the baptism day! Baptisms are always the best! Rocio was really excited and it all went really well. The only bad part was the sacrament meeting that was right after her confirmation was probably the worst that I have ever been to in my whole life... maybe... It is debatable between that one and my old primary teacher’s homecoming, haha. The whole meeting was old people giving talks and they didn´t give talks... they just pulled out principles of the gospel, teachings of the prophets, bible dictionary, etc and read from them very brokenly. It was super long and boring... ugh. If I wasn´t a missionary I probably would have left and came back after sacrament meeting. 

We haven´t had any success in finding any new investigators. It has been really bad in our whole zone right now. Fontana is pretty down on numbers specifically the sisters who are having only 3-5 lessons a week. The zone leaders are in the same spot too. But hay que trabajar no mas. (I don´t know how to translate that well... You just have to keep working... but it sounds better in castellano)

We are yet again without water and still no other penshs to move into. We are looking all over and there just aren´t any. Almost all of Fontana are these houses called viviendas which are government funded houses that can´t be rented. Sometimes they do anyway but it doesn´t work for us because that is illegal and we aren´t allowed to rent them.

There is a huge problem with Argentine money right now. The value of the money in Argentina is failing super-fast and our monthly income hasn´t gone up. I am fine for right now but I spend my money well and don´t have problems. I think it will make it very hard for other missionaries really soon. One liter of milk when I got here was 4 pesos right now it is 12.... TRIPLE!! That is ridiculous! Prices keep going up each week. Luckily eggs are still only one peso so I eat a lot of those. Also rice and noodles are cheap so we eat a lot of those as well. Our monthly allowance started out at 900 pesos and around Christmas time went up to 1000. So while the prices have tripled here our income has gone up less than ten percent. Also the price to take out the money has gone up from 20 pesos to 50 pesos. So really the extra hundred we would have gotten is just taken away and the collectives (busses) were only 2.50 and now are 3.75 but never have change so they end up charging 4 pesos each time. I don´t want to take out the money here because it cuts the value in less than hallf and that isn´t worth it. I also am not allowed to take the money out in dollars because the argentine government knows that dollars are worth way more than pesos and that pesos are worth a lot less than 5.5 to the dollar. It is really more like 13 to the dollar and going up each week. 

There are a lot of missionaries that go home but I hardly ever hear about it. The other day I heard that 9 went home last transfer but I heard that they were all medical. The only one that I know for sure was a Hna Patterson who went home because she was sick. She left at the same time as me and she has had health problems the whole time.  

Things you might not know about Argentina

1.     All the houses are made out of brick and cement. They then cover the brick and cement with a layer of cement and paint it. That is how an Argentine house is made, haha

2.     The sky seems really big here because there are no mountains where I am at.

3.     Every Sunday the people make asados and the streets smell like it

4.     The biggest pastime of the people is to drink matte and people watch or just play soccer

5.     People sweep there dirt here, they also water it

6.     The city of Resistencia is named so because when the Spanish Catholics invaded the indigenous people were resistant to change their religion (today they still are, haha)

7.     The biggest worshiped things around here are gauchito gil and the virgin maria because people say that they relate more to them than Jesus

8.     The main form of transportation is the moto

9.     The main food consists of guiso (noodles or rice with a sauce and beef or chicken), milanesa, or if we are lucky empanadas or pizza. All things are covered in lots of oil though si o si

Oh, can you send me the recipe on how to make a sourdough starter? I would like to make one! I have been making lots of stuff recently like tortilla (the only ones here are super expensive), pizza crust, bread and I would like to try to make a sourdough starter. 

I love you guys and I can´t wait to hear from you next week!