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!

Argentina takes second in the world cup!!

I think that I had a cold and that I also had some stomach pain thing too, haha I am not 100% sure. I had a bad headache and cough that was the worst of it but it is gone now. I really started feeling better after Pte Franco told me to take some medicine then in the following days I got better.

While I was sick last week my companion read a lot in the book of Mormon, Preach my gospel, and the liahona. Also he wrote letters to his family, girlfriend, and converts. He also did a considerable amount of cleaning. Pretty much a little bit of everything, haha

The World Cup final was crazy! With the final we basically had to stay inside the whole day. We went to church that morning and then we went back to the pensh at the end which is only 12 and from there we stayed in the pensh the whole day. We were lucky though because our neighbors were there and let us watch the game with them so we got to see it although it was a sad ending. It was crazy outside but it didn`t get quite as crazy as the last ones because they didn`t win. The fireworks and people speeding through the streets started early and lasted longer but it wasn`t as crazy as other times because it wasn`t a celebration. I am sure that if they would have won that it would have been madness. I was really surprised that they weren`t even more mad that they lost, I thought that everyone was going to be yelling and angry but I really haven`t seen it. I think that they are at least happy that they got 2nd. It has even been a long time since Argentina has gotten to the finals so that was even cool for them.

In my interview with Pte Franco he talked about what he learned about in the mission training conference for the mission presidents. He talked a lot about how we are going to be working more on the retention in this mission. We are now going to start teaching lesson 5 before baptism and that we are going to give reports as to the progress of lessons taught to the recent converts to our zone leaders. I think that this will really help them to stay active because I think that a lot of them get lost when they get baptized and the missionaries get transferred and the next missionaries just let the recent converts go because they aren`t their converts. I think that it will also really help to strengthen the wards. Then in the interview we talked about our stories like how he is from draper and how they are vegetarians etc. He asked me about how much time that I have in the mission and what has been my biggest obstacle in the mission, what my family is like, etc to get to know me better. Then I asked him about what are the requirements for taking the sacrament because I have had a lot of different less actives ask me about it and I was pretty sure that I knew but I wanted to check with him. He said that I was right that it is the same requirements that you would need for baptism and I also talked to him about the bishop of Alberdi because the members don`t have confidence in him and they don`t want to talk to him to see if they are worthy to take the sacrament or not and this is where the problem originates from.

We talked to Sixta and she is doing really good. She was a little sad though because her friend’s baby had complications and it was a miscarriage so we shared more about the plan of salvation with her and gave her a flyer to give to her friend and some scriptures to share with her friend. She is also going to invite her to go to church when she feels like it will be appropriate. The biggest problem is that Sixta still hasn`t gone to church! I don`t know what happened this week we are going to find out what happened. She really wants to go and loves reading in the book of Mormon and has seen a ton of changes in her life since she has started reading it and listening to us.

Transfers are this week; we will see what happens tomorrow night I will find out if I go or if I stay. I think that I will probably go because I already have three transfers here and I think that Elder Heaton is going to train or something. Plus the assistants pretty much hinted at it. We will see. I know that he is ready for it. I just don´t know what will happen with me though. I think that I will probably go to the campo in Corrientes, that is my guess. I have yet to go to Corrientes and I have always been in the city so that is my guess.

It is pretty crazy because this transfer that is happening right now is when all the hermanas that left with me are now going home. It is weird to think that they are going now and I have six more months. But that is crazy at the same time that I am down to the last four transfers of my mission. It seems like it has all passed so quickly looking back at it but I also can remember that each individual moment never felt like it was passing quickly. I don`t know how it works but it seems like the mission has flown by now.

Today we are going to go to a new Subway that has opened up here in Resistencia. I am excited for that it will be very delicious!

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

The week you ask about my health, ha ha.

Our investigators are doing well, Sixta was doing really good! We stopped by and asked her how her reading was going and she told us about how she loves it. She asked us if that her personality changing was an answer. She told us about how she is a lot more calm and doesn`t yell at her kids like she used to and how not only she has noticed but her relatives as well. We were super excited for her because she has finally started getting her answer! Graciela and Jermias we aren`t sure because we haven`t seen them this last week.

It is crazy every single time that Argentina has a game, haha. Every time there are a ton of fireworks, shots, horns, yelling, revving of engines, etc. But yes this Saturday there was even more than normal, haha they even started lighting them off before the game on Saturday. 

I feel that a picture is more necessary to describe Emily than a one page essay. 

 ``  /^^^^^^\ ``     -- Magical head

  [ O*   O* ]      -- Long eyelashes to attract those old men on the street

    [  U   ]         -- Smile

    /  *  \           -- Gimpy litt`l arms

       *              (or something like that :P)
       *               
     /   \             -- and she is a pickle so pickle legs right? haha

We had interviews with the new mission President and his wife this week and they are awesome. They lived in Draper and Daybreak. They are vegetarians (what is this? argentines that don`t eat meat, haha). Hna Franco likes to draw and do arts and crafts stuff and loves pintrest, haha Pte Franco I think worked in a watch design place if I understand correctly. Elder Soltelo told me that Hna Franco works at this watch place so I am with the family but he never said anything about president but I think that they both work there, haha

The doughnuts Grandma gave me the recipe for turned out great, and everyone loved them. The office saw the doughnuts and asked me for the recipe because they were all envious, haha

The week that you ask about my health, haha I got really sick this week starting on Wednesday. It has been a funny cold/stomach pain thing. But I have been taking a bunch of different things as directed by the mission nurse. I have had to stay in all of the days since and it has really sucked but on the bright side I am finally coming out of it. I am feeling better today than the last couple days so that is good. President and Hna Franco have been super awesome in helping as well. They both got a cold on the flight in and they took a medicine here and it helped them and so he called me yesterday and told me that I should take it. He said that he had the same cough as me and that the medicine was the z pack. But I took the first one yesterday and it seems to be helping more than anything else that I have taken so that is awesome! and President will call up on me just to see how I am doing and if I am better or what is going on. They are really awesome!

We were going to go to centro this week and eat at a new subway that is there is Resistencia that we found out about.. but I got sick this week so we will go next week..

I don`t really have much to tell from the hours of lying there sleeping, blowing my nose, sitting on the can and other such fun activities.

I love you guys and I can`t wait to hear from you next week! I hope that you all have a great week!

#IHeardYouLikeTashHashing

The week has been good. It has been a little slow on lessons but other than that everything good. We do have a few who are progressing right now though! With the Argentina games we have to stay in our pensh from when it starts until three hours later because people run out though the streets throwing fireworks, shooting, and other stuff, haha So we had to stay in almost all Tuesday. We have been able to listen to the game over the radio because our phone has that option but we haven´t had any way to watch the Argentina games really. I have only seen parts of a few of the Argentina games because we have to go back to our pensh but I did see the first half of the Argentina vs Iran and a little bit of some other random games I see here and there. It depends on the families that we visit for lunch. Sometimes they have the games playing others don´t. But I always put on my Argentina jersey and shorts in the pensh when they play and we usually listen to the game over the radio. If our neighbor is home this next game then we might be able to watch it. The problem is that our neighbors leave to watch it with their friends so we are usually there alone, haha What did the people say about his jersey, did they like it or no? haha And that is funny that Emily wore hers the next day, haha but don´t worry tomorrow she can redeem it and wear in on time. Plus tomorrow is octavos (eights?) and it is even more important. But everyone here is disappointed in how Argentina is playing and disappointed in Messi because he isn´t as good as Maradona. I did hear though that they played better in their last game against Nigeria. There are a lot of people who sing songs and stuff saying how Messi will never be as good as Diego (Maradona). It is crazy how much people love futbol here. It is more rooted in them than football in the states. The world cup here makes the superbowl look really weak, haha
It has been really rainy and cold recently and winter is starting to really kick in. Luckily today is a little warmer but these past few days have been downpours and freezing cold. I am probably going to have to buy another blanket soon. 

We are mostly teaching Graciela, Jeramias, Sixta, and the family Centurion. We just met Graciela this last week and she is really awesome. We went to her house for our appointment and she had just gone outside to move some bricks inside. We helped her move the huge pile then we had a small lesson afterward. She was really grateful for the help. She is an ancient investigator that has gone to church twice in the past but just stopped going. She is really nice and like the church. During the week we taught her again and taught the restoration and set a baptismal date for the 19th but I think that it can happen sooner if we can help her get over the word of wisdom soon. Then Saturday when it was super rainy and cold we stopped by to make sure that she was going to church the next day and she committed to going even if there was rain. Then the next day there she was in the church when we got there! It was great! We are going to be visiting her tomorrow and talking about the word of wisdom and get her ready so she could be baptized the 12th and have one more baptism this transfer that we weren´t expecting! 

Jeramias we have been teaching for a while now and he is really cool. He was an evangelist and a missionary for them and would go out and knock door to door but then everyone found out that their pastor was a fake and that he was using them for money and women so everyone left that church and he started doubting if God exists. We started talking to him and he still wants to believe in God but that was a really bad experience for him but while listening to the restoration he got a renewed faith. He accepted a fecha from the beginning but has been having troubles going to church. He always says that he is going to go but then had different things that come up and isn´t there Sunday in the morning even when we talk to him Saturday night. We will see what happens with him. He even started to quit smoking when we started talking to him without us even talking about the word of wisdom. He used to smoke two to three packs a day and now only smokes around two cigarettes a day. 

Sixta is really awesome as well. we found her a couple weeks back and have been teaching her as much as possible but she is very busy with her family and work, so we pretty much only can go Mondays and Wednesdays. She really likes listening to the gospel and is starting to recognize her answers. Before she was looking for dreams and stuff like that but is starting to realize that it will be though feelings. She wants to go to church but things have come up for her as well. Like this last week she was going to go but her family got up early and left her alone in the house while they went to the big race that was going on. She couldn´t leave the house alone because they live in a slightly dangerous neighborhood so she had to stay. I don´t know why she wasn´t able to go this week though.... maybe because of the mud :/ #ArgentineProblems

I am not even a cook. I just make a few meals following the recipes that you guys give me.I think anyone can do that. I did make the donuts grandma Peterson sent me! But no, no one stops by to sample food, but if they were then they would have to leave their areas so they had better not be :P well except the other elders in Alberdi and yes we usually give them some food too.


I liked the video that you put on! It made me really want to go to Lava really bad. It looked like the rapids were even better this time of year. I don´t know if there was audio but this computer doesn´t have it, haha if there is I will have to watch it again another time.

Emily:
I definitely remember going on the Atlantis ride, haha we totally saved the world a billion times but we aren´t only heroes of Atlantis but rather of the whole world as well, if you recall we saved the world from Megatron a few times by keeping the all spark out of his hands, haha I miss you too and I can´t wait to save to world again with you! But what else is going to happen when magic head unites with his psychic detective? #WORLD SAVING!!! That kind of sucks that the one girl was being a pain, but at least you had fun! Write soon!

Nathan:
haha, I am sorry that you lost your wager; good thing that it wasn’t too much considering you went to lava, haha. You will just have to look for those attractive girls elsewhere, haha I don´t quite know what to say in response to your letter about the nonsensical happenings in the trailer, haha but I still don´t understand this birdie G thing... I miss you and I can´t wait until I get back and we can hang out all the time. Write soon! #IHeardYouLikeTashHashing

Saying Goodbye to President and Hermana Heyman

We have a few people who are progressing right now. The biggest problem is that no one attended church this last Sunday so that pushes everyone back and makes us wonder if they might not be as prepared as we thought. We are going to have to stop by everyone and see what happened. I think that we are going to have to drop a few investigators and it is going to be hard because they have so much potential but just won’t go to church....

We went to the last big conference with President Heyman this morning at 8am and we had to practice the efy medley that we would be singing for Pte and Hermana Heyman. Then they all arrived and we listened to some really good musical numbers that had been put together and testimonies of president Heyman´s councilor and his wife then Elder Heyman (who has been here the last three weeks. He is has been teaching in different areas with president and the assistants), Hermana Heyman, and President Heyman. Then we had the efy medley. After that we all got in line for lunch (It was Subway! They have recently put a new subway in Corrientes. It isn´t as good as Subway at home but it was still really good!). The best part was that I got to see everyone and talk to them. I talked a lot to Elder Fiabane, Elder Delgado, Elder Taylor, Elder Mossman, Elder Perez, Elder Clemons, and others that I know. During lunch they played a new mission video and also a video that returned missionaries sent to be played. Then after that we took a mission picture. After they started a line to say goodbye to President and Hermana Heyman and the line was super long and took forever to move so I just talked to people until the line got short. It was a lot of fun. Also President Heyman and Hermana Heyman gave us covers for our planners and a random food item from their food storage. I got coco crisps, haha It is crazy to think that they are leaving! It was sad and I am sure that I will miss them. I am excited for President and Hermana Franco to come though. We will see what happens and the changes it brings. 

We haven´t meet President Franco yet. He doesn´t get here until the 1st of July. At that point I am not quite sure what will happen but I think that we will have multi zone conferences and interviews either starting when he gets here or the next transfer which is two weeks after he gets there. I really hope that he changes stuff. I heard today that in the mission posadas (the mission that branched off of this one) that they are allowed to get together for zone activities on pday and drink matte, etc. We will see what President Franco says..!

I will have to read the scriptures Grandpa Pickle sent for me! I have been more than anything studying in the Liahona the last session of conference. We just barley received it this last Tuesday and I hadn´t even heard the priesthood session so I have been reading that and others.

We have had to stay in our pensh during and the hours following the Argentina games in the world cup. The people go crazy here when Argentina plays, haha Half of the people are wearing Argentina jerseys and everyone is watching the game. Whenever there is a goal then you will hear fireworks, shots, and lots of noise, haha It is crazy and I am sure as they progress to farther rounds it will get even crazier. I don´t know if they will make it that far though because everyone has been telling me that they aren´t playing very good and that Messi has been disappointing them. 

I am very grateful for the letters that you write me every week! Hardly any other missionaries have such great families that write so much. I am very grateful because I love to hear from you guys and what you are up to. I hope that you know that I appreciate your letters every week!

Sorry if the letter is kind of short, I feel drained and I don´t know what to write, haha

A baptism!

Yes! The baptism that we have been waiting forever for finally happened! The assistants even called us and congratulated us because that was the first baptism in Alberdi in almost a year. Elder Perez even was a zone leader here in this zone and knows how Alberdi is with its bishop and all its glory. But we are getting things to turn around.
We have been focusing on finding people who really want to listen. We don´t have a lot of new investigators but we have some people who are really cool and want to listen. We could just waste time teaching every person who lets us in but that wouldn´t be very effective. Me and my comp were talking about this just yesterday. How at other times and places we could have something like 30 new investigators in a week (Formosa) but the next week they wouldn´t be progressing. But we have been focusing on finding people who really want to listen and we have about four or five people who are going to really have a chance of progressing. 
A normal day right now would be getting up at 6:30am and doing exercises until 7, then breakfast and getting ready until 8 when we have personal study. Then at 9 we have comp study and at 10 we have language study. At 11 we leave for an hour and maybe get in a visit or something but it isn´t effective time because everyone is making lunch. Then at 12 we have lunch and either go to a member’s house or go to the pensh and make it. Then we leave again for the rest of the day until 9. We usually have at least a few set appointments but often times they don´t end up happening. We spend a lot of time searching for the members on the MLS list (member directory) and try to help the less actives return and find references or new people by visiting those families or their neighbors. We usually have about three lessons in any given day. Then at nine we are back at the pensh and have to plan. Depending on how many set appointments we have the planning can be fast or long. Then we usually make some sort of food for the night and I will usually go and talk to the other elders and my comp likes to write in his journal a lot. and that about sums up and given day, haha
We already had the last interviews with President Heyman. There is a mission activity this coming Monday to see them off. That should be fun; I think it will be kind of like the Christmas party. But I might be able to make them something.... but I would imagine that probably a lot of sisters would have done something like that and they probably have a lot of sweets. Because as missionaries we don´t have a lot of options as gifts and sweets usually end up being the most common. But I will think about it.
Well, I imagine you mean my favorite day besides pday because that is the obvious favorite, haha but probably Saturdays or Sundays. I like Saturdays because there is usually lots to do and you don´t just get stuck knocking doors for a long time because you have to pass by everyone’s house and make sure that they are going to church the next day. Also that is the day that there are baptisms if we have one, haha and Sundays are nice because they are a little different from the rest of the week. We have church in the morning and studies in the afternoon then we leave for a while and it is pday the next day! haha
The cinnamon rolls turned out ok... they didn´t raise very well for some reason. The ham and cheese rolls raised better and were softer but the cinnamon rolls were a little hard. They were still good but just a little hard. 
Recently we made a couple sourdough pizzas and they were good! other than that we made a cake thing for the baptism because we found out last minute that we were going to have to be in charge of dessert and we didn´t want to have to ask a member the day of to bring a dessert so I made this cake/brownie thing. It was just a bunch of stuff like flour, eggs, sugar, butter, milk, etc. and I based it off of a cake thing that Hna Lugo had made the night before and it turned out good. We also had a sugary substance to but on top that was left over from when we had made pancakes.
Everything here has been kind of crazy with the mundial going on. Everyone is really excited that Argentina won their first game. We have to be in the pension when the games are going. The first one was yesterday night and it was also father’s day here so all of our neighbors were gone. I think the next game they will be here and maybe we will watch it with them, we will see. 
Today we are trying to make cookies for Marlen, one of Hermana Lugo´s daughters, because it is her birthday. The biggest problem is we can´t find any brown sugar. The only place that Hna Heyman told me to look is kind of far.... haha

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

And you thought you had crazy sacrament meetings ha ha

I stayed here in Alberdi with Elder Heaton. Elder Taylor left to Formosa with Delgado. Elder Soltelo stayed and is training Elder Medina. Elder Medina is from Lima Peru (same as Elder Soltelo). He is cool, a little reserved but that is probably because he just got here and is fresh from the MTC. 

This is a long story, haha. The baptism didn´t happen :( We went to church and it was fast and testimony meeting because we had stake conference last week. Right after the sacrament had finished and the testimony meeting began one of the members (we will say john for his sake) got up to share his testimony. As he went up to the stand he was very excited and walked briskly up to the stand. Once there he laid down his prepared discourse with his scriptures in hand. He started off by telling us how he had been studying fervently in the Doctrine and Covenants and he wanted to share with us in section 121 verse 41. It talks about how no one should have power by virtue of holding the priesthood. He then whipped his head around facing the bishopric and the first councilor from the stake presidency who happened to be in attendance in this meeting. He repeated the verse to them focusing that they should not exhort power over others through virtue of the priesthood. (I thought that he just wanted the bishop to let the members have more activities in the ward because he doesn´t allow it and I was all for it, but it goes farther than that) He then went on to relate to us that it doesn´t matter if we are the bishop or the janitor if someone in the church throws garbage on the ground we don´t say, well I´m the bishop so pick the garbage up. We should persuade them with scriptures and say no this is the house of god and it is a house of order and we have a garbage bin, so will you please throw it away. Then he started apostatizing.... He then started telling us how the local leader’s aren´t inspired of god and how no one can make him get down from the pulpit like the bishop did the last time (apparently this happened a couple years ago as well) and that not even a general authority or an apostle or President Monson could make him get down, that not even an angel could. He declared, I have been baptized in the name of the Lord and I have been called by him to deliver this message. At this point the first councilor of the stake stood up and started talking to him asking him to please sit down. He replied saying, No I just got through saying that no one can make me get down. One of the women from the ward stood up and said, I think that this is just a personal problem that you have with the local leaders and this isn´t the place or time for this. You should schedule an appointment with the bishop and talk to him. We would all appreciate it if you got down. At this time members of the congregation started leaving. The first councilor pointed this out to him and he replied back that it was the first councilors fault that they were leaving because he scared them when he stood up. They continued bickering back and forth for a time while more and more members left. Then the only investigator in the church stood up and walked out and the first councilor said, look now you have made a nonmember leave. At this point he asked all of the Melchizedec Priesthood holders to gather and for the congregation to leave. He had all the priesthood holders kneel in prayer. He prayed that we/he could be forgiven if he didn´t handle the situation correctly because he has never faced anything like this before then he asked that we could all have love and forgiveness for one another. He asked for special blessing for John. Then after the prayer everything was calm again. A few members started to hug John and he got mad and said, No I don´t need your hugs I need you to listen to me! Then the first councilor, the last bishop, the first councilor of the ward, and various ward members tried to get him to stop and just be calm. Eventually twenty minutes later after agreeing to meet with the stake council he calmed down a little and we were able to go on with the remaining meetings. He just sat in the back and didn´t say anything. Unfortunately during that time Joel and his family left so we went to visit them and the baptism will be next week. haha long answer

On a sad note Santiago doesn´t think that he can progress and he said that we were wasting our time so we have to drop him for now. I am sure that a little while down the road that he will get picked back up again and it will be his time.

I don’t mind that I didn’t get transferred. We don´t have a lot going right now but it is better staying here than going to an area that is worse or changing for a comp that I don´t like. It wasn’t a bad transfer, I am sure that it will pass quickly. I just want us to be able to find new people to teach we are lacking on that and it is my least favorite part of missionary work. The thing is that it doesn’t matter where I go.

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

P.S. I don´t think that I am the best cook, haha I can cook a few things but the food that you and dad cook still is a ton better.  I remember that we always ate really good food! Even all my friends who came over would always comment on how good it was! But it is time to go so I will write you guys next week! Love you very much!

Why are you going to Resistencia?

We are getting ready for the baptism of Joel this coming Sunday!!! Now just to see if I will be here or not, haha I think so but you never know with transfers. It is really cool because even though he is only nine years old he really loves learning about the gospel. Really all of the kids (there are eight of them, haha). They are always fighting over who gets to pray or who gets to read and they are sad if it isn´t their turn, haha. They are all really awesome. The mom of this family is the half-sister of Hna Lugo. She hasn´t gone to church in a while and had been thinking about going back but it was just a small thought. She said when we came to visit her that inspired her to go and she has gone every week since! 

Santiago we are working with him right now... He is more just playing around right now. He is always laughing and not taking a lot of things seriously. It is ok if we laugh but he only will talk about how he isn´t getting an answer from god and then take the answers we give him as jokes. We will see how it goes.

As far as tourist locations in Argentina there aren´t really any here in my mission. There is Iguassu falls that is out of the mission in Misiones. That would be a must see. Also I think that there are some ruins over there as well. The other thing would be visiting members and converts like the familia Lugo, Lopez, Barrios, Junco, Rosa, Puladas, Fletes, and a few others. The biggest thing would probably be visiting them because this area isn´t known for tourists. If you arrive in Buenos Aires and tell them that you are going to Resistencia they would ask you why? And tell you that there is nothing there, haha that happened to a lot of the missionaries here: P

We don’t have furnaces in our pensh just an electric heater. It is a little smaller than a square foot. It works pretty well for now but when the winter comes in full force it will still be cold. I don´t know anyone here that has a furnace I don´t think...

Where I am at now it is very different from Formosa for a lot of reasons. First of all is that now I have a lot more experience as a missionary. When I was in Formosa I didn´t have any experience and I didn´t really ever have a trainer to teach me what to do. I had to learn everything for myself. So now that I have gotten things figured out it makes a lot of difference. Also the area is very different. In Formosa the people are a lot more receptive than here. We still have people that accept us but not as much as Formosa. At that time I didn´t and couldn´t understand the difference because I had never seen anything else. Now I can see what it is like in the rest of the mission and I would like to go back to Formosa capital! Haha We will see if that ever happens. 

I like the Mormon Message that Dad did! It was awesome! You´ll have to send it in to the church and get it put on Mormon.org I didn´t get to see the end though because it wouldn´t let me for some reason....


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

Grilling like an American

Our American meal was very delicious! There are pictures in drop box. We set up our oven rack suspended on two pots over the gas stove to make our grill ha ha. It worked perfect. It wasn´t even very hard to clean up either. That was the first steak that I have eaten in over a year. And both me and my companion felt like we were in heaven eating mashed potatoes, THANKS GRANDMA.

Joel who had his fecha date for the 31st but that is stake conference. Because of that we had to talk to the bishop to see if he would let him be baptized and confirmed the same day. As usual his answer was no. He wants the whole Ward there so we have to wait until next Sunday the 8th. The biggest problem with that is that he is excited to do it now and it is transfers the fourth. So we will see if I will be here for his baptism. I probably will end up staying here with Elder Heaton, but you never know.

The other person with a date is Santiago. He is progressing slowly but surely. He has started boxing training again so his days are full again. The good thing is that they aren´t on Sundays. His date was for the 7th but because no one could go to church the 25th of May, they all had to go to the plays about the argentine revolution that the schools made mandatory, it is very likely that it will have to be pushed back one more week, we will see.

There are no hot water tanks here unless you are rich. We just have these little electric heads that heat the water when it comes out. The problem is that it was burnt out because Delgado tried to fix it but it was burnt. We were just waiting for the money to come from the office to buy a new shower and now we finally got it then I installed it. We finally have hot water (first time in seven months)! Just in time too because the cold has hit. It has been freezing here the last couple days. It wasn´t this cold when I got here a year ago. It got this cold later but that isn´t for another month or two. I hope that doesn´t reflect how this winter is going to be. I will soon though have to buy another blanket so that I can keep warm at nights. It isn´t bad yet but soon it will get to the point where you can’t sleep even with the heater at full. For that reason I want another blanket this year, haha

We have zone conferences every month, well here really every week because our district is our zone. But in zone meetings it is really always the same thing. We go over the presentation president Heyman gave on one of a couple things, what are liders, How to follow the Spirit, and Watchmen over the watchtower. Then we will have different Little practices that we do and sometimes share about what is going on in our área. That is about what usually happens.  

We found out that one person that we were teaching has Schizophrenia (or however you spell it) and she always tells us lots of crazy things. I wasn´t sure if she was crazy or not at first because of how detailed everything she said was and also she would tell us the exact same details more than one time. She would tell us about how she was a Jew who came from the Middle East to live here in Argentina. She really missed her people and knew that they were waiting her return. She told us about how the people here would miss treat her and they forced her to change her name from nariu to Maria.

I did use the magic tricks you sent me until they were stolen. I thought I told you that the magic tricks were in the bags that i had when they were stolen. The first one had the thumb and the second had the coins that change color. But we use the origami for things like family home evenings. The kids really love it because we do things like read the story of Nephi making his boat then they make their own boat. They really like it!

You know you are an Argentine if:

Your plastic bags only have one whole it them.

You didn´t drink matte this morning and now you have a headache

Your grocery list comprises of: noodles, oil, and bread.

The family vehicle is a moto.

If there is a football game going the rest of the world is on hold.

It rains and the world shuts down.

The only options of drink you have are: lemon-lime, orange, Apple, or cola.

You want more oil on that.

Salads consist of lettuce with a lot of oil.

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