Finally we have two forks!!

1.       What is this about you only having one fork in your apartment? Did you eat your food and then wash the fork and let your companion eat his food ha ha?
When we got here there was only one fork in our pensh and I really don`t know why or how it worked out. What happened is that we would go to the other elder’s pensh and rob one of their two forks. They didn`t always use theirs so we would take it but now we have our own forks and what not so it doesn`t matter anymore, haha

2.       So did I understand in your letter correctly that you cannot have zone activities anymore?
I was super excited with all the zone activities but the rule was established that only four missionaries can get together... which is no different from before. 

3.       Are you going to be able to go to the port while you are in Santa Fe?
I don`t know. The other elders went this last week but we wanted to go play sports for the last time that we probably are ever going to be able to during the mission. So I don`t know if we will go or not. 

4.       How are your investigators have you found any new ones? Do you ever do things like hand out so many book of Mormons in the town square etc?
Well we had to kill basically all of our investigators and were left with nothing but this week we have found a ton of new and awesome people. It has been all blessings from the Lord because we haven`t had much time to work in our area. These last couple weeks we have been really busy with meetings just about every day in Reconquista from district meetings to correlation, to branch activity, to branch council meetings. Also my comp has to go do interviews every now and then so it kills our time. But we have been able to find people who are very cool and I think that they are prepared to receive our message. The only down side is that none of them were able to go to church this week. But next week we are going to make sure that they all go to church. 
Not really. We have done things like that more for big events like ward activates, or holidays but not just a common thing. 

5.       If it is so hard for you to remember to ride a bike after a few years I am worried how driving will be for you. What do you think?
It wasn`t hard to remember how to ride a bike, haha it was just really small. If the bike was bigger it wouldn`t have been so difficult but I still rode it without problem. I don`t think it will be hard to drive again when I get back but we will see. 

6.       Do you want me to send you any more recipes etc?
Yes, if you could send me ones for spicy tai noodles, egg casserole, and any other one that you can think of that is cheap and easy, haha

7.       Have you had any funny experiences or people say funny things to you?
Yes, This week in church the lady who said the prayer started going off about how there are guardian angles all around us and how there is specifically one that is with her and that he knows who she is talking about then she started talking about how Christ is our shield and how we need to have the shield of Christ with us at all times. 
We were told that we can now be reimbursed for our tickets on the pantera and that is going to save us because we spend 60+ pesos on it a week and that was eating into our giro quickly. So now we have been hunting down tickets on the pantera to replace those that we threw away. 
One of the investigators that we found this week gave us a lot of food and that was cool. They gave us some canelones and a cake and they were very good. 
We saw this super cool sunrise Sunday in the morning. It was a super foggy day. I think that was the thickest fog that I have ever been in. While we were walking you couldn`t even see more than a hundred feet in any direction. When the sun came up you could even look at the sun with no problem it was the coolest thing. I really wished that I would have had my camera to take a picture of it but unfortunately neither of us did. 


I love you all very much and can`t wait to hear from you next week!

First time riding a bike in a year and a half :)

I still don`t know when my release date is going to be. The normal date is December 30th but President has approved moving it a few weeks earlier so that I will have time to get ready for school. The English test is for the Latinos. It is a test that they can take that if their English is good enough they get a scholarship or something like that.

We finally got our money this week. We were finally able to buy all of the things that we have been lacking since that we arrived. We didn`t have some really basic things like a broom, toilet brush, more than one fork, etc. We finally now have all those things.
Our investigators are kind of bad right now... We basically have killed all our investigators right now because none of them are progressing. No one went to church this last week even though they were committed 100% to going and somehow didn`t get there. We are going to have to do a lot of tracting and it won`t be fun but oh well, that is how it is.
I have been studying in the Book of Mormon a chapter at a time and I read Alma 32 today.
The coolest family is the Family Gonza. Two days ago we went to their house and ate empanadas for dinner and it was really good! They are probably the most active family here in Avellanada as well. We have been taking the daughter with us to go teach Beti and Leo but I don`t know if we are going to keep teaching them or not... The mom, Sonia, says that she will add you on Facebook and let you know what is going on here, but I don`t know how when she only speaks Spanish. I think she uses google translator or something, haha

It should get warmer in a month or two. It has been pretty warm recently but according to some weather thing on the missionary portal it will be a cold week...

I don`t know why the stupid computer doesn`t want to read my SD so I don`t think that I will be able to send pictures today...

This week we were on divisions because my comp had to go to Resistencia for the leadership conference. The other elders here in Avellaneda have recently been approved to ride bikes out to the campo or translation would be field. I have a lot of pictures but I don`t think that I will be able to put them up today. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time that I rode a bike in a year and a half. It was pretty uncomfortable though because it was really small for me and the stupid seat wouldn`t stay tight and it would have to pointed end sticking up.... not fun. And since it was so small it made it impossible to stand and ride at the same time.

We had the multizone conference and now we know all the mission rules that have changed or really you could just say that haven`t changed... we can`t have zone pday activates, we can watch the mission videos like finding faith in Christ, etc. but you already could if you just called president and really nothing changed at all... everyone was very sad about that.

This next transfer there will be 26 new missionaries arriving in the mission and 19 leaving. There will be several new areas opened and a ton of trainers. 21 of those missionaries are elders. Who knows maybe I`ll have another hijo.

While I haven`t found a Frisbee here in Argentina I came across a patch of luck. There was an elder here who left his Frisbee and no one takes claim to it so I did, haha it isn’t in the best condition but it is ok.

Well I have to go. I love you all very much and I can`t wait to hear from you next week!

Getting hired at the photo shop ha ha

We have mostly been working with the same investigators as last week. We haven`t had a lot of time to work in our area this week with divisions, branch council, and an activity. We do have a few other investigators right now though. We have an investigator named Natalia. She is a single mother who struggles to keep up with everything including her three kids and work. She had a little trouble staying focused but you can`t really blame her with her three kids running all over. We have another named C. She will be a little difficult to help progress I think because she had a lot against her. She is currently in an affair with some guy who lives in Reconquista and she wants to stop but at the same time says that she likes it when he comes over and the messages he sends so she doesn`t want to stop at the same time. Plus she smokes and probably drinks. We have another investigator that is really snake. We are trying to decide whether or not to keep teaching her because we don`t know if she is just going to be snake the whole time and not keep commitments or what. this is the second week she hasn`t gone to church now so we will probably stop by one more time and see what she says. 

We have been waking up even earlier to get to church on time and it isn`t quite as bad anymore because we know the route and how long it takes before it passes but we have had to run for the bus quite a few times. But this last Sunday we didn`t have anyone go to church :(

We didn`t end up going to the port like we were planning because the Leader conference has been moved to tomorrow so my comp and the zone leaders were here and so we played a tournament of ping pong in the church. Sadly we came in fourth place, we were doing good but then we just flat out failed at the end of the game, haha

We will hopefully be getting the money for our heater tomorrow, well sort of because my comp will be in Resistencia so we will really get it Wednesday. 

We have a few stores here close. The puma is one block from our pensh but it is kind of expensive so we usually go to this really big one called Union Agricola. Before I would buy stuff from different places like fruits and vegetables from little stalls around and meat from carnicerias but here there aren`t any fruit stalls and the carnicerias are more expensive.

We do a lot of walking to get to our area and to leave it more than anything. Our area isn`t that big but we live a little far from where we work so every day we walk 20-30min to get to the part of our area where we work then we have to return another 20-30min in the night. 

Today we went into a shop to print photos and we had to wait a few minutes while they were printing them and so I decided I would play with Photoshop and I just cut out a picture and put in a different background and the people there were saying that they wanted to hire me to work there, haha. 

We had divisions this week with one of the companionships in the district and I went with a Peruvian and for lunch we ate a food called tacachos. There were really good. It is made out of plantains that are fried then mashed up with chunks of fried fat throughout it. There are pictures in dropbox if they all upload.

I love you all very much and can`t wait to hear from you next week!

We have a freaking water heater!!

Avellaneda is a city that is on the other side of the river from Reconquista. About twenty years ago there were missionaries here and it was a pretty big branch. It was closed (I am not sure if it was for something a missionary did or not enough missionaries) and it was only recently opened again about a year ago. It was when I went to Fontana it was opened. The center of the city is very urban but the edges start to become more rural. There is a lot of stuff here in Avellaneda but the problem is that we don`t have a branch here so we have to travel to Reconquista to go to church. There has been a lot of talk about getting a place here to start a branch because the majority of the members in the Reconquista branch are from Avellaneda. My comp doesn`t want that to happen though because he doesn`t want to have to be a branch president. I don`t know if it will happen or not but it would definitely help Avellaneda a lot. It is difficult for a lot of people to save up 8 pesos a person who are going to church. It is 4 pesos each direction to take the pantera (the bus). Plus everything here in Avellaneda is really expensive. I have to pay probably about 25% more on everything that I buy here than what I would pay in Resistencia plus we don`t have members to give us lunches or to wash our clothes. It makes money a lot tighter but we will see how it goes. The weather is cold everywhere at this time of year. But this is the coldest part of our mission because it is the farthest south. This last week it has gotten really cold like it was last year. I just have been glad that it has only gotten cold recently.

My new companion is cool. He is from Honduras and has thirteen months in the mish. He was a zone leader in Resistencia before he came here. He speaks English almost perfectly, even better than Santoro. He really likes Futbol, movies, music, and girls, haha He knows Brayden and served in the same mission as him. He told me that Brayden was his zone leader and that while he was there he broke his leg playing soccer.

Our apartment is pretty nice! It is a little small and no we don`t have a heater. We have asked for a heater and all the things that we are missing but the money won`t arrive until about Friday. We do have a freaking water heater though! I love it! I have been able to take good showers for the first time on my mission since California. It also makes washing the dishes a lot easier. You only have to light the pilot and turn it to the heat and it works! It is great! Once we have all the stuff for our apartment it will be very nice, just lacking a little on space.

I am planning on eating my ¾ ice cream when I get my money for the month. We are tight right now but the money should come either tomorrow or soon... haha but we both want to go to gridos and they have a sale right now so we will buy a lot of ice cream and it will be delicious.

We will probably be online around this time every pday. We print the emails in the morning and write after we go and do stuff. These two pdays we have met up with the zone and played some sports. Last week we played ping pong and Ultimate Frisbee and this week we played volleyball and Ping Pong. I wanted to play some Ultimate but we were at the closer church and it doesn`t have a big field like the other one.

I think that just about every pday we will have activities. It is the funnest thing to do. But I think that next week me and the other two elders that are here from Avellaneda will be going to a port that is around here. My comp and the zone leaders will be traveling to Resistencia for the leader council.

This area is a lot a lot nicer place but beyond the port that we are probably going to see next week I don`t think that there is much sightseeing to do. I don`t know for sure though. Oh, and I don`t know why but my pictures aren`t working right now so I will have to figure out what is going on then I will be able to send them all.

We have a few investigators now. We are mostly working with four of them. Eduardo who is the son of one of the members here and he almost got baptized before but he wasn`t living the law of chastity so he couldn`t get baptized. Now he is so we brought him to church this last week and we will be getting him ready as soon as possible. We have to girls who are sisters of some members. Their names are Beti and Leonela. They are both really cool and excited to learn about the gospel. The biggest problem is that we were told that leonela smokes a lot. I will have to tell you about them more later I gtg, cya and love you all lots!

I never knew making it to Sacrament would be so difficult :)

Transfers have been crazy this time. I was transferred out of Alberdi and I got transferred to.... Avellaneda II in Santa Fe! It is super crazy because I didn`t think that I would go to Santa Fe because there is only one zone in the mission that is in Santa Fe the rest is in the Rosario mission. You will have to ask Rob what part of Reconquista he was in and what the two convert’s last names are of Walter and Gustavo. He wrote their first names but there are far too many people to find them by just their first names. Also if he knows about where they live would help find them too. It is a really nice place here. The overall area is a lot cleaner than in Chaco or Formosa. It is a nice change, but I heard that it is only here in Avellaneda that it is clean like it is here. Avellaneda is a side city of Reconquista, kind of like Fontana to Resistencia. The only down side is that everything here is a lot more expensive. We have been finding a few places that are closer to the prices that I was paying before but we still haven`t found any good fruit stands for fruits and vegetables at a good price or carnicerias for better prices on meat. 

Elder Heaton stayed with a new comp Elder Webster. Also the two peruvians next door stayed there in Alberdi. Elder Soltelo will die there and then Elder Medina will `probably stay a transfer or two more to be greenie busted. 

I should be getting my trunky papers this transfer. I am not 100% sure though because I am trying to change my departure date so they might come a little late. Elder Soltelo tried to change his so he got his trunky papers late. President Franco said that he is just waiting for the missionary board to tell him if it is ok if I change my date. Elder Callister also is trying to change his for school as well so we are waiting for the same thing. 

Of the Hermana’s in my district only one went to my mission and she is from Kentucky or something like that. The other sisters that left at the same time as me there was one that went to Carlsbad Hna Sheffield that is from Provo. The other was from Oregon. And I don`t remember where Hna Tomas is from.... Hna Jones was from Nevada or something like that. Hna Rich was from somewhere in the east I think, ha-ha the only one that I remember was close was Hna Sheffield in Provo who went to the Carlsbad mission. I know that a lot of them were going to go to BYU after the mission. Sorry not much help. But if you want I can find some missionaries that will be going home to Utah in the next few transfers to Utah and find out where their homecomings will be. 

So this has been a pretty crazy first week here in Avellaneda. We whitewashed in and when we got here we found out that the last elders hardly left any teaching records and the few they did make have no directions and are therefore useless. So we got here and haven`t had anything, ha-ha Thursday the day after transfers we had interviews here with president and Hermana Franco. It was cool because me and my comp got two interviews with them since we already had interviews in Resistencia. My comp is Elder Galindo. He is from Honduras. He has been in the mission a little over a year. He is the district leader so we did divisions after the interviews and the following day with the other companionship from Avellaneda so that the elder who knew the members in our area could show him where they lived. 

The craziest part of the week was on Sunday. Here in Avellaneda we have to take this bus that drives us 30min to Reconquista to the church. We were in divisions that day as well so that the other elders could help us learn where the stops where so that we don`t miss the bus because on Sundays it only passes once every hour and if you don`t catch it you won`t make it for sacrament meeting. So I went with the other elder to get their investigators while my comp when with the other elder. Me and the elder left really early because we have to catch the bus and we knocked a bunch of houses to wake people up to go to church. After we had gathered the group that was going to go with us to church we headed to the bus stop. There we found that it had already left.... we were in trouble. So what we did was walked to the main road that is right there and decided to start walking. As we were walked a horse pulling a trailer passed by. We asked them if they would take us with them and they agreed! It was super cool we all jumped on and started riding it toward Reconquista. They were only going a part of the way then were going to stop. The other elder that was with me made a deal to give them the watch that he had on that he found in the pensh the day before to take us to the route. They agreed and took us a little farther to the route. There we still had a long ways to go and church was two minutes from starting. So we started throwing up our thumb to try to hitchhike to Resistencia in the back of a truck. We lucked out and a truck passed by that agreed to take us to the hospital (which is right by the church). So we all hopped in the back and he took us into Reconquista. There we ran the last three blocks to the church and made it just in time to enter before the sacrament started. This was definitely the craziest attempt to get to church on time in my whole life. But we brought three investigators to the church and a bunch of recent converts. The other elder has pictures and I will try to upload them but the computer is being funny so I might have to upload pictures next week. 

Today we had a lot of fun because we got together as a zone and played ping pong and ultimate Frisbee. We got there a little late so the big game of Ultimate had already ended but we played ping pong and then afterward we played a small game of ultimate with six of us. It was a lot of fun. I haven`t played ultimate since California. 

Well it is time for me to go so I will write you guys next week. I love you all very much!