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!

Number 10!

So I am sure you are wondering what the whole "number 10" thing is about. Well, that just so happens to be the number of investigators that we had in church on Sunday. It was super cool. One of our branch members, the second counselor in fact, brought 8, EIGHT, people from his English class at school. He told us he would go with us to teach all of them this Friday so I am Super STOKED for that. Then we had the father of a member family. His name is Daniel Rodas, he is a way good guy, he said he really does want to get baptized but he is taking things slow, so who know what will happen there, but he is coming to church every week, so there´s that. And then perhaps the best of all, my man Ramon came to church and brought his own investigator with him. Ha-ha, he is so awesome. His friend wasn't able to stay for sacrament meeting but it was cool to have him there. And as for Ramon, he is a stud. He was participating in every class and even volunteered to do things. And to top it off, after sacrament meeting (which this was his first week in church by the way) he told us this (the English translation of what he said at least "I will never miss another Sunday again." I was so so so so happy on Sunday. It was just amazing. And then to top it off we were invited to a barbecue by some members and it was SO good. We have a few other investigators who weren't there. Liliana, who is very promising but just has some issues with her husband being accepting. And then a lady named Norma who is so interested. It was sort of a shot to the heart when she told us she didn't know if she could be baptized and change from being catholic for her whole life. But who knows, anything can happen right? So that is where the investigator situation stands at the moment.

The Work Continues

Not much new going on. It started getting hotter again. So that is fun. But the work is going well. In my interview with the mission president, he told me that this area that I am in is probably the most difficult area to work in and stay motivated in because of it´s history with trucho missionaries here and the lack of member confidence. But we seem to be doing well and it has been difficult, but if it was not it would not be a mission right? But I’m good. The work moves on no matter what people say or do and whether they want to listen or not. I always keep the hope, always keep the faith and always keep smiling. That last one helps a lot.

We never actually went to Salta to do divisions (exchanges) because we were stuck in another cut in the route for 9 hours. (A cut in the route is when the Argentines get upset so they cut trees down and block the road. Usually, it only lasts for 30 or so minutes. This is their way of protesting.)

We got part way down there and then there was a cut in the route. So anyway, we were on the bus waiting for 9 hours before we decided it wasn't worth it. We were able to get our money back though which was good. So we are going down there this weekend instead.

So the work just keeps going on same old same old. We find so many really great investigators, but like I said, they just don´t go to church. And we can only do so much in going to look for them on Sundays because of the size of the area and having to walk. But it´s still going, yeah, it is frustrating sometimes, but you just have to remember that even though you can always be doing more, you can´t do everything. And if you are being righteous and doing what you should, you´ll be blessed sometime down the road for it.

I´m excited for the last week of this transfer because it is general conference. We will get to go down to Tartagal, a bigger city, and watch it down there with all the missionaries from the zone. And then we have transfers the next day, so if one of us leaves, we will just bring everything with us down there. It´ll be fun to see a conference in the mission and get the chance to see it (some of it at least) in Spanish. They set it up in English for the elders who would like to listen in English.