Things here are just spectacular

Teaching, walking, eating, learning, praying, eating, sleeping, eating (we do a lot of that here), just doing the mission thing. We had zone conference with the mission president and the hermana and once again it blew my mind with all the things that the president knows. Next, we have one solid baptismal date (Juan Chocobar for the 9th) and then a few more that are up in the air but I think they will come through, probably for next transfer though. We had divisions with the Assistant to the president yesterday and it went awesome. Since we were in the offices for the morning I got to talk to the president about some doctrine topics and guess what happened. Yep, mind blown again. I guess every time it gets put back together it is a little bit stronger and better though. That is still to be proven.

I’m doing well. Oh yeah, I got bit by a dog this week. It was bound to happen at least once right. It looks like I got bit on the forearm by a vampire. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

President and Sister Cisneros from Pocitos Branch

Praying for baptisms!

Elder Jara and I had a couple slow days this week and we have the zone conference and divisions with the AP's coming up as well, so our number probably won´t be amazing, but what can you do right? Just work as hard as you can in the time that you have and make it all count. That is one thing that I have really realized lately. It will probably sound like old news to you all but I never really took full advantage of the time that I had while I was around before my mission. I took the work hard, play hard philosophy and forgot about the first part most of the time. But now I have really realized what it means to work hard so that you can play hard. The time that we are out working is so much more fulfilling and the time that we have to relax a little it so much more rewarding. I´m learning... slowly but surely... just me ya know.

But anyway, we have a couple of investigators with baptismal dates for the 9th of May so I will keep you updated on them. First, there is Juan Chocobar. he is 19 and the friend of one of the sons of the bishop. he is a stud, he just needs a little bit of a push. I imagine that if I was an investigator, I would be a lot like him. Then we have Natalia. She was a reference from another area in our zone. She took the discussions when she was younger but her parents never let her get baptized. And she has been going through some rough times lately so she felt like she needed something more in her life. Perhaps a case of forgetting God until you need something, but she is on the right path. She also has a daughter that is eight. Then there is a family that when we meet with them tonight we are going to see about talking out a few baptismal dates. The Ferrufino family. They are way cool, have tons of questions and they are super involved. Once again, just the challenge of getting them to church.

I am doing really well

Everything is going great, we are pretty much starting from scratch, but the area isn't being whitewashed again, I’ll tell you why. My comp, Elder Jara, was with another missionary who, because of some odd numbers of missionaries, was emergency transferred to another area and Jara didn't have the chance to work in his area for about two weeks. So there were a lot of investigators who were lost, and some references and things that fell through. BUT, everything is good. We have about a dozen decent investigators right now and a handful of really good ones. We have two people with baptismal dates and we are aiming for a goal of ten by the end of the week. Gotta shoot for the stars to hit the moon right? So we will see how that all goes but we have had some really good lessons lately, helping people out with problems and such. We have given a few blessings and dedicated a home for a family the other day.

The area definitely is way different from Pocitos. I´m really enjoying my area because of the little things. First, we can finally go shopping. Second, the pension is bigger and nicer, we can actually study well because we have tables and desks and such. We have a real church building built by the church where we are able to go and teach people because we have our own set of keys and everything. And the members here are really excited about missionary work and really want to help, especially the bishop (oh yeah, we are in a ward now.) So the work is more involved with members and recent converts and all that. I love it, it is super cool.

Our area is also way bigger than Pocitos was. Pocitos covered a lot more area with walking in between, but this area is more densely populated and actually about the same size. So that is cool. We started knocking doors over again in Pocitos while I was there because we ran out, I don´t think that will happen here unless I am here for quite a while.

Another Pin for the Mission Map!

I am no longer in Pocitos, I was transferred to Salta capital. My new companion is Elder Jara (pronounced Hara) and we are serving in an area called Solis Pizarro. It is way cool here, in more ways than one. I love the big city having more stuff at your fingertips and I love the weather, it´s like California just a little more humid. We live with six elders in our pensh. My companion and I slept on the roof of our pensh last night the weather was so nice.

I really do like it here. It was tough to leave Pocitos but I’m where I am supposed to be. So Elder Jara, he´s a Chilean, way chill, a super good teacher, and just a funny guy. P-day was cool today, we played some chess and I taught some of the Latino elders how to do the rubix cube. And they have an actual grocery store here where you can buy good stuff; it is owned by Wal-Mart so it is like that, just not nearly as big or with the variety but it is a far cry better than Pocitos.

Solis Pizarro, the pensh is right above a drugstore and across the street from the YPF which is the national gas station here. The church is right next door where we go to play ping pong on p-days. My area is ginormous. Way bigger than Pocitos but it is a city so no more cobblestone streets. We are about 15 minutes away from the mission offices so that is cool. And for the first time there are hermana missionaries in my zone. The pensh is pretty big. No more ants or mosquitoes, but there are the occasional cockroaches. I don´t mind them so far as they don´t mess with me.

So the language is coming very well actually, nobody can believe I have as little time in the mission as I do. I am still learning new stuff all the time. Having a Latino comp is definitely going to help a TON.

Everything is great here. I am happy where I am and with what I am doing. I’m working and I’m smiling!

March 31, 2009

The Church building is about a ten minute walk away, pretty close since it´s a smaller city and we live in centro. It is a rented house with a warehouse next door turned into a chapel. The attendance is good. It is going up ever since we got here. We had 65 in church last week which is unprecedented, and we had 10 investigators in church two weeks in a row. Nicholls said that is a mission record for him. So that was sweet. And the lessons continue going well. We just taught Norma Breto again and we teach Ramon Gonzales tomorrow. It was such a spiritual lesson. I totally see how loving the person is so important in the work. When you truly care about someone it is just easy to teach them. The church does have a full program. They are lacking priesthood holders and full tithe payers to have a chapel built. But it has all been going up. I really think that it will get there in a year or so.

The teaching has been great. The families we tried to pass by with Hermano Ovando all stood us up so we are still trying to talk to them. We will see what happens. Everything is going super good though. The cortes de ruta (protests) still continue in all parts and the dengue from mosquitoes is going crazy here, but we are all safe and healthy. No worries.

We have transfers this next week and conference which I am super dooper excited for. They set it up in Spanish and English for the elders so that is cool. I can´t wait to see what happens this time.

I am praying for you all and encourage you to share the gospel!