Monday, September 27 2010

Yahoo! haha man i woke up this morning with that same thought, that holy crap a year ago i gave my farewell talk, oh man what a great day that was haha, but what a difference i have felt from that day to now. A year ago i didnt want to do this, i was scared, more scared then i have ever been in my life and now i do love this, alot more than a year ago but i have alot of room to grow haha, but i am so grateful for this experiance, i really have changed so much. This week was by far the fastest week ever. I thought we had just hit thursday when i woke up and realized that it was sunday. The days were like 4 hours each haha. I think i know why also, i didnt have time to think about me this week, ive been so excited with the new preach my gospel that i have been teaching everyone i can, and its so much better! I feel so much love for when im teaching haha, now during nap time i dont love it as much, its been super hot here, reminds me of summer, and we work through nap time and noone answers the door so we have like 3 hours of melting in the heat, but its good practice for summer, im not as scared as last year, which is super cool, but i still dont like it, but i really didnt remember my discomforts when it was time to teach, Ramona, who is like 40 is going to get baptised in between conference sessions! I found her trying to find a contact and she said we could teach her, she thought we were false prophets and wouldnt believe us, but now a month later i can testify about the power of the book of mormon, anyone can be converted if they only read it and follow the promise of moroni! And i am seeing that with not only her but about 8 more other people who are going to be baptised in the next month!! I found another family here, i dont know if i have said anything about them but the family Pividori, shes a single mom with a 14 year old boy, 10 and 4 year old girls, dad died of cancer a year ago, well we taught them and they will do anything to get baptised! So im pretty excited, oct 9 will be their date. We ate lunch with them friday and i gave them pop rocks, i filmed it so dont worry, you will get to see their reactions haha, it was great! We watched the Joseph smith movie friday night as a branch and we brought an investigator named Daniel who has been trying to get baptised the past few weeks but his pair wont marry him. So we are trying our best to figure that problem out. But we are having alot of success here, i had a few difficulties with my comp, hes way super depressed, lost all desire to work but ive been working on it, and hes getting better, this baptism with lift his spirits. Well i cant think of much else, i dont remember anything much about me haha, as i have read andy and judds letters i have really wanted to become like them, they are the greatest examples i have, i never looked forward to going on a mission, i never remember wanting to be here, but as i see their examples it gives me such a drive to give it my all, to become the best i can be and to enjoy all i can, so thanks cousins. And also this week i have had a couple experiances that i have had the opprotunity to ponder about my grandparents, all of them, and the exampels they have been for me, and i just want to say thanks. In reality im super grateful for all my uncles, aunts, cousins. What a great family i got! Oh and i feel like i have become alot like dad, this year is argentinas 200th birthday so they have new money but its hard to find, so i have like 20 deals going around throughout the city so that when they recieve some they keep it for when i pass, haha im learing from the best, thanks dad! Oh and thanks for the talk, i remember him talking about that in a conference, its pretty great. Well i super miss everyone, but at the same time i cant imagine myself at home, i still have some souls to rescue hehe, plus the real world is full of stress... haha i love you all!

Monday,September 20 2010

Oh man it is a small world! That is pretty cool to hear about that i am helping people, thats been something that i havent felt like i have been doing here, so its good to hear that i am doing some good here. And its so great to hear about the ward, we do have the greatest ward and i really do miss it so much, i love hearing about anyone from the ward, and just like you said, ill only have to go one more year without them, ya it feels like time has flown by! As i have been pondering about these past 11 months its amazing the growth i have had, and also the ablitily to see the challenges i have overcome, i have realized how little the heat really mattered, its just a part of life, and how i enjoyed my months here, even if the whole time i was homesick, ive always had the feeling of wanting to be home but im enjoying being here also, and even more every week, im pretty sure alot will change when i hit the year mark also, this mentallity that i have alot to go will leave, and ill be able to fall in love with Argentina, and what really makes me love it is the ability to be able to progress, to improve, to overcome, i love these challenges i have, i really do. This week the Assisstants to the President stayed with us and we got to be able to work with them, that was alot of fun, i was able to learn alot. This week has flown by! Two weeks until conference! Im pretty excited for conference, it will be great to spend it here in Reconquista, the members here are awesome! So my investigators are doing awesome! Daniel only needs to get married to his wife and hes good to go! So were helping her understand, but shes a tuffy! The Pivirodi family is going to be baptised the 9th of October! They want to do everything they can to be baptised! Oh and Ramona is going to get baptised between conference sessions on saturday so that will be an awesome spiritual day! I only had one super hard day this week, homesickness really is the pits. But as i learned from Andy and Judd the cure is simple, work work work. Speaking of them i havent heard a single email from them in like a month, idk if you stopped sending them or what, but can i get them againg? thanks! Im really starting to change and its been really subtle and sneaky, my desires are changing to what our Heavenly Father wants and i havent even noticed it, i dont remember the last time i sang a Linkin Park song or thought about videogames or movies. Its been a great change to be able to feel the spirit in my life, to actually get to know him as my friend, its something that i never thought existed. Even though i hate the heat i love the mission! Well i dont know what else to say, i miss you all so much! Im always thinking of ways to make my whole family proud! And my friends and ward also, because i have the greatest friends, nothing comes close to them! Well i love you so much! Oh and Reeses Pieces, send those things!!!!!! And some carmel apple suckers!! Shock tarts!! OH YA! I want to hear from dad and collin and abbey and hannah also! Loves!

Monday, September 13 2010

Well hello once again family!! Yet again this week has flown by! The weeks get faster as time goes on i guess. Tomorrow i complete 11 months! One more month and its all down hill. Man that weird to think. Well this week has been pretty awesome. The zone leaders have been in Resistencia all week getting trained so elder Hinostroza and i have had the apartment all to ourselves. Really it just means that i have been going to bed early because im so tired from the work. Its been super hot this week, and since we work during the siesta, or offical nap time, from 2 to 5 we are pretty much in the streets dying from the sun, its reminding me of the past summer and its not something that im looking forward to at all. Its not a feeling i like to have but im not sure how to overcome it, the fear is tremendus. But oh well. This week i have really been trying to focus on the work and the people and all of the mission. And i have seen some really cool experiances, there have been a few times that i have actually felt like the lord was using me and i have been able to help two of our investigators get to church and to overcome their doubts, we have another baptism in two weeks of a man who is 25 years old named daniel, hes a sweet guy. He will be a perfect man for the branch, since there is hardly any man in my branch. And the other person that is about to get baptised in 2 or 3 weeks is a woman named Ramona, she has been praying and praying and never could recieve and answer, we worked with her and i believe she will recieve an answer really soon. My comp is good, he just gets really discouraged really fast, its been an interesting time with him. But we work good together and never have any problems. The members have always washed my cloths, i have only washed my clothes once since i got here in Argentina. They cook for us everyday and always give us water, they are super awesome. They dont have money so they cant buy stuff for us like dad does, but they do what they can. Well sounds like life is normal and great at home, ive been having some dreams lately of home so its been pretty tuff to focus here, home is such a weakness sometimes haha, but i wouldnt change it for anything. The homesickness has never gone away, i wake up with that aweful feeling every morning, but i have learned to put it behind me, to forget about myself and try and help the people here, i have been fighting so hard to find the joy here, i feel like i havent found it yet but im trying, and thats what makes me happy, that at least im trying my best, one of my friends from the mish wrote me this week and that really helped me, i realized that i am trying. It is funny how we always recieve a letter right when we need it. OH i got the package!! Man it was sweet thanks!! Im pretty excited to film the kids here eating pop rocks, they have no idea the suprise their getting!! Hey steph thanks for the letter, just keep going and it will all go away soon, patience is a great skill to learn, and ive learned a whole bunch of it here in the mission. Wow hannah you have grown so much, 2nd grade! did you skip 1st? Thats sweet about collin, haha whatever it takes to do well in school haha, hows the team going? and hows collin, about three weeks to the blue and white meet i presume? Dad always did buy food for the missionaires, and always buys food for everyone haha, i had a dream about the christmas eve dinner and oh man that roast tasted so good in the dream haha. Well i dont have anything else to say, lifes great here, it has its ups and downs, but the heat has gone away today so i have nothing to complain about! I LOVE YOU!

Monday, September 6 2010

Well hello my dear family! I really couldnt believe that its already Monday, when i woke up this morning i didnt believe it. This week has flown by! First it rained Monday to friday, so i dont want to even explain how dirty i have been, they dont have paved streets, its all dirt, so its been muddy muddy muddy! Im walking up to my ankles in mud haha. So ive gone through all my pants this week, the sun came out saturday so the members have had a great time washing our clothes haha. Well tuesday i got to go to Resistencia, which was a fun little trip, i met Elder Bradley Foster, who is a seventy and i got to learn a bunch from him, mostly we learned from the Book of Moses the power of being a child of God, and that was amazing to sit and ponder about that stuff. They talked about the literal power of satan and it was pretty interesting stuff, his wife couldnt even give her talk she was so distressed, it was very clear that god let her feel the feelings that satan has on the wicked, all in all it was a very powerful lesson.They have totally redone how we teach as missionaires and its amazing the difference that there is! I got to see my old companion there, Elder Soclle, and it was amazing how much i missed him, we were comps for a long time and it was great to hear from him, THe gomez family in posadas who were going to get baptised got in a huge fight with the zone leaders there during their interviews and they couldnt get baptised, but they are still pushing forward to become members. The family that i baptised right before i left there are super strong! They are definatlely a chosen family, the dad has the melchesidik priesthood and everything! I got to see a few of my comps from the MTC which was so awesome! It made my whole week to be able to visit with them! Wednesday it continued to rain, and ive never felt so exhausted in my life! Because of the trip i didnt get much sleep and i totally screwed up my neck, so it was a pretty painful day haha. Thursday was even more exhausting and my comp didnt really put much effort into the work so i felt like it was all on my shoulders, and man it was tuff. I spent most of the afternoon praying in my heart for strenght and desires, because i was beat! Friday was about the same but i felt the spirit really lift me up during the afternoon and that made a night and day difference, from that moment on the week was freakin amazing!Guess what i got to eat friday night, ROOTBEER FLOATS!! Elder Hogge had rootbeer extract so we made some rootbeer and showed these latinos what a good drink is! oh man it was delicious! And i finally have found brown sugar! Its taken me since may but i finally found a little store that sells it, so now i can finally make syrup! Ive been making omlets all of the time and im getting pretty good at that! Saturday we talked with a couple from Vera, a little town, they now live here but listened to the missionaries there, well he is awesome! his name is daniel and he came to church with us and actually wants to get baptised! So he will get baptised around General Conference, also we have had a tuff time talking with the parents of the twins, the dad is super tuff and never wants to talk with us, the kids come to church every week but the dad wont give them permission to baptise, but i have felt very strongly, as has my comp and our leaders here, that the dad is about to give in, the spirit is telling me we are going to see a miralce! Also sunday afternoon, we were going to do splits with two of the recent converts here but one didnt show up, now my comp gets discouraged super easy, so when this happened he lost all hope, well we started to work and it was tuff for him to do anything but follow, well the last house of the night that we clapped i testified that familes can live forever and she let us in, we had a super spiritual experiance, she told us of her difficulties in her life and it was the same as my comp had passed through, so we testified and my comp was so excited to help her, they definitly are going to be baptised and it was pretty sweet that my comp was able to help them like that! Today on p day my comp and i chilled in front of an ice cream shop drinkin milkshakes then watched all of the new Preach My Gospel dvds which are so awesome!It sometimes makes me jealous, they have this huge support from the ward, with tons of members ready to help, air conditioning, cars and all of that stuff. But my Mission President told me something that changed how i look at these perfect missionaries, he said "They live in fancy aparments with airconditioning, and we die of heat, they have fancy airconditioned cars, and we walk through the mid day heat, they work in beautiful houses and walk down nice clean streets, and we get to work in mud houses and walk through the mud, were all missionaries of the lord but we sacrifice a bit more to spread the word." I loved that quote, it makes me feel a bit more tough! Haha well it sounds like all it good at home, thanks for the news from home and for the help that you guys give me, sounds like steph is loving it now, thats great! Man i forgot a little about the house, thanks for the pic! Mom, thanks for sending the letter! You could also send some chewy gobstoppers... yum! And did you ever recieve the letter i sent to the house? Well i love you all, and ya its flying by! The only thing bad about it flying by right now is that its getting closer to summer haha, im not looking forward to those feelings but im hoping ill be a little bit more prepared, a bit more focused, and have the spirit a bit more with me this summer, that should help alot! Well i lvoe you! BYE