The computer whisperer ha ha.

1.       What are the responsibilities of a district leader?

I have to call all the missionaries in our district every night and I have to plan the district meetings every week. 

2.       What are the responsibilities of a zone leader?

As a zone leader we have to do a whole bunch of things. Whenever anyone has questions they call us and we have to solve the problem. Lots of times the office has us do stuff like collect peoples rent tickets to make sure they paid and any extra money. Or collect their baptism papers and stuff like that. Also we have to interview the district leaders’ baptismal candidates and the districts baptismal candidates. Well this week has been a little crazy as a zone leader.. Yesterday we had a lot of craziness because some elders came to Resistencia for emergency transfers and we had to accompany one of them and then he slept the night in our pensh. We are a little behind on everything because of all of that. 

3.       Do the sister missionaries cause you any problems, I mean like drama ha ha?

So far we have been luck to not have drama. There is one new Hermana that is a little dramatic but not too bad, sometimes I just don`t know how to respond to her, haha It is always an interesting stage just getting here from the MTC and adjusting to the mission. But there isn`t any problems.

4.  Is your new apartment nice? 

Our apartment is really nice, the only thing that it doesn`t have is air conditioning. We are in the process of trying to convince our owner to put it in. We haven`t gone since I got here but it is now the end of the month and we will be going soon.

5.       Do you go to more than one ward on Sunday now that you are a zone leader?

No, our ward is the Rio Negro ward which meets in the same building as Barrio 1. We just have opposite schedules. We start sacrament first and then have classes and they have classes first and sacrament after.

6.   Is your mission president in your ward?

No, he jumps around to all of the wards in the mission. I haven`t seen him at church for the three weeks that I have been here. Last week I did see Hna Franco with the Hermana’s attending the Barrio 1 ward. 


7.   If you have any other great stories let us know.

Umm... a great story... We this week we had to go to the office and get supplies to send to las palmas (a small village outside resi) and so we had to wait there until the guy came to pick up the supplies to deliver them. While there we ate lunch with the office and we bought a pizza that was really good. It was double layered with a lomo meat inside and French fries on top. Then they asked me to help them with their computer because it was having problems and so I fixed it and am now known as the computer whisperer in the office, haha

CRAZY TAXI DRIVERS!!

I really enjoyed skyping but it passed by way to fast! It always does, but at least like you said next time we will just be able to talk in person and we won`t have any time limits then!
Nathan looks so much older. He has changed a lot since I left you just have to look at some pictures of before I left and you will see.

We are looking for investigators, it is going ok, haha there really aren`t any progressing investigators right now so that isn`t the best but we are working on it. 

The best thing about being a zone leader is that you get to talk to everyone in the zone and basically means that you will be a favorite in the zone unless they don´t like you as a zone leader then probably the most hated :P but Everyone seems to like us as zone leaders so that is good. The hardest thing is either having to plan the district meetings or not having any time at night to do personal things because we have to make calls to all of the areas. 

This week we had divisions with the Leonesa which is more in the campo. It was interesting to go because I never have before. We got in a long distance taxi and the lady was crazy. She almost crashed a couple times because she wouldn`t stop playing with her phone and dog. She kept having her dog lick her face and not look at the road and I wanted to throw the dog out the window so she would pay attention.

There at the Leonesa was pretty similar to the edge of any of my areas where the city starts to end. Lots of shanty houses and stuff. There I did an interview for a kid who was getting baptized this last Saturday and that was cool! That was the first real baptismal interview that I have done and it was cool. I like them because you get to know and talk to the people who are ready to be baptized which means that they are the prepared people and they are always fun to talk to.

Then on the way back to Resi we had another crazy driver but supposedly he is the safest of them all. He speeds around really fast and cuts a lot of people off but supposedly he has never crashed in his 20 years of driving and everyone else has. But at least he had good music and it was fun despite that he did crazy stuff that I would never do driving.


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

How do you like being a Zone Leader?

Saying goodbye to Elder Galindo

1.       How do you like being a zone leader? (Do you wonder how I know) My new middle names are Shawn and Spencer
It is crazy. I basically had decided that I wasn´t going to be one because I was at the end of my mission. Plus I thought that I was going to be staying in Avellaneda not leaving... Well you told me that it was because you saw the FB posts but I was going to guess that it was the letter that Elder Fraiser sent to you guys. I was in the office when he was sending the letters out and he showed me. 

2.       Where is your new area?
It is called Río Negro 1 and is in the same building as Barrio 1 which is the big church here in Resistencia where the office is. I am the zone leader of the office and a ton of Hermana’s. We have the biggest zone in the mission. I am also the district leader of my district so on top of zone leader stuff I also have to plan the district meetings. Our district is my comp and I and four companionships of Hermanas.

3.       Was it hard saying goodbye to people? (It looked like on Facebook everyone was sad)
Yes... I really didn´t want to go :( I thought that I was going to be staying in Avellaneda with Galindo or at least just stay there and finish my mission there. I had even less idea that they would take us both out! It was hardest to say goodbye to the familia Gonza-Yegros and Césor. I really miss them and want to go back and finish there but I know that the Lord has called me here for a reason.

4.       Did your old companion get transferred too?
Galindo got transferred to Corrientes as a zone leader. 

5.       Who is your new companion?
His name is Elder Smith; he is from American Fork Utah. He has one year in the mission. He has been in this area for two transfers. 

6.       What kinds of things do you do as a zone leader?
Basically the big difference is that we have to do verifications with the zone every night so we have to call everyone instead of doing other stuff. We also have to do all the baptismal interviews, we have to do divisions with all the Elders in the zone once a transfer, and we have to answer people´s questions all the time (they call us about anything). We also have to go to a leader council once a month and do a zone conference based off of it. Also since I am the district leader I have to plan the district meetings.

7.       I am sure there are more things that I don’t know what to ask so just tell us everything ha ah!!
Well, I am sad that we had to leave all of the investigators that we had. We had some people who I am sure where going to be baptized this transfer. We worked hard those two transfers to get the area going and now we have to just leave it... oh well that’s just how it is. The sad part is my new area is also a dead one so we got a lot of work in front of us... at least I am a zone leader to keep me busy with other things as well. 
We had interviews with president this week. During the interviews we had to give the training and we were told by the assistants 20 min before it started. So we had this 2hr improv training. They did give us a planned schedule so it was at least a lot easier with that. 


Well, my time is up. I love you guys and I can´t wait to skype you this Sunday!!!!

Letter from Pres. Franco

We were anxiously waiting to find out if Cameron had been transferred when we received this letter from Elder Pickle's Mission President.

Dear Pickle Family,

I am so grateful for the outstanding service your son, Elder Cameron Pickle, has given thus far in his missionary service here in the Argentina Resistencia Mission.  He has distinguished himself by his obedience to the commandments and mission rules and by his unwavering dedication in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am pleased to inform you that he is now called to serve as Zone Leader in the grand zone of Resistencia 1 in the Rio Negro Ward.  This is a calling of great importance to the Lord’s work.  As a leader, he will be expected to be an example of righteousness and service to all missionaries, members and local church leaders.

He will work closely with the missionaries in his assigned zone, and with the Mission President and his Assistants.  Zone Leaders are expected to teach and motivate missionaries in zone conferences, zone meetings, through companionship exchanges and other frequent contacts.  He will help them to give their very best efforts to the Lord’s work.  He will report weekly the performance of missionaries in his zone.   He will assist in solving missionary problems within his zone.

Because of the rigors of his new assignment, he will need your constant love and support.  Please know of my confidence that the missionaries with whom he serves will be strengthened by his faithful service. 

May your family be blessed as your son continues to magnify his calling in the Lord’s service.

Sincerely yours,

President Rodolfo C. Franco

Misión Argentina Resistencia

My best part of the week was conference!!

We were able to watched conference in our church this time which was awesome. Everyone watched it on the projector in the chapel while the gringos watched it in the family history room in English. My companion and I watched it in English except when it was a Spanish speaker then we switched it to the Spanish channel. We had two investigators that came to watch conference! We had Aylen who is César´s sister. Also we had Diosnel who has been saying that he was going to come to church for a few weeks now. It was really great that they came. We had a few others we were hoping that would come but they weren´t able to make it. Most people thought it was interesting that they are starting to allow general authorities to speak in their native language in conference. I still think that Christoffersen should have talked a little longer in Spanish, haha

It is really hard to pick which was my favorite talk from conference; I really liked all of them. One of my favorites though was by Uchtdorf when he was talking about asking the question, "is it I?” I think that one was during Priesthood session, I can`t remember. But he talked about how we should not say or think, oh this talk would be perfect for that person but we should think of the example of when Christ was at the last supper and told his apostles that one of them would betray him and they all ask, master is it I? I thought that that was a really good talk. 

My companion and I never have time to work in our own area which can be really frustrating.  Since my comp is the district leader we often have to go to Reconquista to do interviews or other things like that. Also we have a lot of meetings in Reconquista every week. The pantere (the bus that takes us there) takes 30 min to go there and another 30min to come back. So between our meetings, interviews, and protecting the investigators that we already have it is really hard to find time to find new ones.

The pictures in dropbox are Xiomara´s birthday pictures. That is the daughter of Sonia. They are the only active family in our area and we are always bringing them to lessons with us. We got her a triple combination for her birthday. They are only recent converts as of February and she still didn`t have one. They are really awesome especially for how new they are to the church. I lots of times forget that they are recent converts.

We will find out about transfers tomorrow night. My companion and I are really hoping that we both get to stay here. No matter what I hope I die here but I know that when you love an area it seems that God soon has other plans for you. We will see.

My favorite thing of the week was Conference!!! sí o sí! I loved it and it is kinda sad that it was the last one in the mish, but it´s ok this next time I will get to enjoy it with you guys!!

I love you guys very much and can´t wait to hear from you next week and skype the following!!!

Cesar's Baptism

Cesar’s baptism went really good! Well there is always some sort of problem but that is the nature of the baptism because Satan doesn`t want it to happen. Of course when Cesar went to wait for the pantera it didn`t arrive for an hour so we had to start the service an hour late but it all worked out and was awesome! There were five people who got baptized in our branch that week! Afterwards we all ate doughnuts (that I made in the picture on drop box) and there were some cakes too. Everyone LOVED the doughnuts, haha. 


We rode a Catybus to the zone conference in Resistencia this week. We didn`t spend the night we came home and that was the end of the day. It is closer to go to Resistencia than it was to go to Saenz Peña like we did for the Multi Zone conference the other week.

Well today I made pecan pie (in drop box) it just doesn`t have pecans because there are far too expensive in Argentina.

The worst part of last week was that we hardly had any time to be able to work in our area with my comp

I got the scripture cases ordered and they are going to be super awesome! I bought them from a guy who is doing them for a super great price. I think that he is just starting! I bought all the stuff for half the price that I would have paid at any other guy and it is the best ones that I have seen!


I love you all so very much and can`t wait to talk to you on the 19th!