Monday, October 17 2011

Wow Time has sure flown by fast! I cant even explain how i feel, but i sure am excited to come home. Ive learned a whole lot out here in the mish, now i feel like its time to come home. I guess this should be one of my most meaningful letters since its the last one that ill give as a missionary, yet i have no capacity to think... My brain is dead, scrambled, all that stuff. But as Dad had said, as ive been working this past week i truly have felt as if i have given my all, i have felt as if god was ok with the work ive done, i know i could have done more, yet with all my weaknesses i felt like i did the best i could in the circumstances that i was in.
My last sunday i was given a talk in sacrament meeting as my farewell talk. Ha they truly acted like family for me, and it was a very powerful talk, almost everyone was tearing up for a second. So i hope that made a difference. They all treated me like a king, man sure was hard to leave them all.
Ive spent the weekend working during the day and having dinners at night with special investigators, converts, and awesome members, so it was quite fun, i might come back a little chubbier than i wanted but its worth it, the food was great! Got tons of pics so its gonna be some great memories.
Im glad that God had found me worthy to be called one of his servants for two years, when i started the mission i saw it as a huge sacrifice, but ive learned to appreciate everything a whole lot more, come closer to my savior, and have learned alot of things and have had many sacred expericances. Most of all ive become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the promise in DC 18 is true, how great will be my joy if i just have converted myself. Now ive laid the foundation of my lifestyle for the rest of my life! And ive tried to enjoy those moments so difficult. Ive hoped to have touched the life of those that I had promised in the eternal worlds before this one, i hoped to have not have failed anyone id promised.
Well i dont know how great of a letter this has been, im not much for writing or thinking, yet i want all to know, that ive dedicated my life to the lord, that this is true, not just a belief, and that this is what its all about, we work for things eternal.


Ive fought the good fight, ive finished my course, ive kept the faith.

Tuesday, October 11 2011

!Hey Hey Familia!
Este semana fue lo mejor! That means that it was one of the best weeks. First off we didnt have power in our new apartment until thursday night, so everything went bad in fridge and we couldnt use our fans, it got quite hot haha. Yet it was a great week other than that. I did splits with an awesome elder named Elder Coppins hes super cool, those two days flew by. We spent the mornings downtown trying to resolve the problems with the power... They do anything to get money those twerps. It got super hot, super hot, oh man not that fun.. Yet i knew a storm was coming, and oh man it was a STORM! At 5 pm black clouds appeared on the horizon and in 10 mins there was not a ray of sunlight, the night lights turned on and then the strom started, like 3 or 4 lightning bolts a second, no joke, the power cut, there was more water than niagra falls! Every street became a river, and the only way we could see was by the light of the lightning, it was super cool! There was almost a constant blinding white light for more than 5 mins as lightning tore apart the sky! My favorite storm by far!Anyways on more religious topics, we brought 11 people to church! So much more than ive ever brought here in this area, and i have 2 baptisms this being my last saturday of my mish! Oh man god has sure blessed me these last two weeks, the Zone Leaders and Asistants are super suprised that im dying as well as i am! Take it! Im not that trunky haha, in fact this has been the least trunky that ive been since ive started the mish. Im loving the mish, just like dad predicted, my emotions are everywhere, especially last night, there is a family that its in the photo im sending that the mom is the only member, and the father was so excited about the church until he read some anti mormon doctrine, now hes full of doubts, he doesnt want to be, but as we talked the spirit was pretty strong, and a huge peace was present and it just never wanted to leave until i made sure that they are going to get baptised.But on the other hand i hate heat, and i dont want another minute of it, THANKGOODNESS for SNOW!! And plus im excited to be with the family again! And not to mention food! and AMERICA! Man im so grateful and excited!
The reason i get home saturday is because wednesday is transfers, so that day ill be with the Zone Leaders, then thursday i have to be in the office waiting for the rest of my district who came with me to get there, Thursday night we have a dinner with President, then they send us out on a bus to Buenos Aires, 14 hours from here, then the plane to the U.S. so its about right, that means i have the whole saturday afternoon to enjoy before the sabbath day. Whens my homecoming talk? Ive totally forgot about that. Haha.So some pics with the Navarro family, the one with the carnival clothes, of course its alot more immodest when missionaries arent the ones with the feathers on haha. But i sure did love my headress. The one with the little girl on my shoulder is the coolest family, the one i shared in my email above, then i forgot the rest, but here ya go, the last pics of my mish! LOVES YALL

Monday, October 3 2011

Oh crap... First off mom, i put my drivers licence in the mission safe... so that no one would steal it, but i have my old one, but i have a paper copy and ill try to descern what it says through the paint smugdes, and plus i have my old one... Oh man what a week, my emotions are everywhere, im a complete wreck haha, a chicken without a head running around. This has definitly been by far the most absolute hottest week here in Corrientes, i was laughing histarically because it was unbearable, its super impressive how hot it can get. But at least i dont cry anymore like my first summer. Rained just in time for conference, cooled down enough to enjoy conference. Oh man i hate how fast the conference is, i used to dread priesthood session, two hours on saturday, your crazy!! And now its totally different. Oh how grateful i am to a family who is converted to the gospel, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Parents, Brother, and Sisters. The first session had less than 10 members here, which made me pretty sad, my converts were the only ones from my branch that were there. Then just like last year we baptised between sessions, and Carlos did the baptism, oh man super cool! Betty got baptised and was super taken care of by the district. And the talks oh man super cool. I got home at midnight saturday after the priesthood session and was unable to sleep for all that was going through my head, ¨oh man heavenly father expects alot from me¨ i said to myself, it was quite a difficult night for me to sleep, as usual Elder Horrocks never thinks too well of himself. But then the spirit told him that hes doing his best, and that if this is his best than he will do well after the mission. For the mission is there to strech him and make him stronger than he could have done by himself. And Elder Horrocks was able to sleep. haha i loved the talk about the mountain climbing, that they made a promise to not look how much they lacked, but looked to see how much they had gained. What a cool analogy. I Loved every single talk. Elder Eyring, Elder Uctdorf, President Monson, i love mormon humor, its so simple, it has no need to be dirty or offensive yet it made me laugh my butt off. What a simple life we live as mormons, or at least can live. My testimony grew tons, and how grateful i am to have been able to serve a mission. This area has been the hardest, with all the trials, but ive made some awesome friends here, some super awesome friends. Conference made me sad to know ill never see many of them ever again. Well at least until the milenium. My mind is a scrambled egg right now. So if im not making sense just know that i have no capability to think, only two more weeks of work then its done, over. I cant think.
Anyways, we moved today, i hate change, it really does, if i had everything my way i would never change. But we moved like 4 blocks down the street, super close, and its alot smaller. We dont have power yet but tomorrow we will, we dont have any fans so im praying and hopeing that the heat doesnt rise or im not sleeping haha. We live on the third floor and its very, very similar to my first apartment in Posadas, the neighbors even listen to the same music as there, so im quite missing my first area haha.
Anyways, i dont know what else to say, im excited for working, schooling, sleeping, eating, exercising (a definite need), and growing an awesome beard/mustache combo.
Yet i am still working hard, dont worry, last week was the hardest, now its all good. I think. At least i know how to work hard, and my comp is always on my back helping me to be focused, hes super cool, we clash at times but its always to help both us grow. Ive learned alot from him.
Ill bring home some Jerseys, mate (like the cow hoof), and some toms, or apargatas as they are called here, but they are quite cheaply made. Im sure the states are higher quality, but if its for originality im all up for it. Loves ya all!
Im so grateful for our dedication to the lord as a family, the goal is heaven right?

Monday, September 26 2011

Hellloooooo! As grampa would say. So this week was super fast, it suprised me how fast it passed, this has definitley been the week that i have dug in and gave it my all, i wouldnt let myself think of home, yet i thought only in my investigators, and it flew by! Theres the key haha, and we had tons of success, we are finding tons of people who seem to be quite willing, weve excelled all our goals, and the families are progressing. The Navarros daughters came to church, the parents couldnt because they were sick, but other than that they are all progressing and will surely get baptised. We had a baptism this week but it fell through, she was super confused with the interview and then she thought no one would come to the baptism, we filled the font and cooked the cake and the members were starting to show up and still she hadnt come, so i called her and she said that she didnt want to get baptised because she was the only one... wierd excuses, we were very straight with her, super bold and so she commited to get baptised between sessions at conference, so thats going to be sweet.
We have done a couple family home evenings every week and last week as we were singing the closing song the family started changing the words and started chanting, all 10 of them, ¨Elder cannot go! Elder cannot go!¨ Or something like that would comeout in english. If it didnt get hotter i would be tempted to want to stay, thank goodness i hate heat! But ive made some good friends here. I have no idea how life is at home, it feels like so long ago when i think of home i dont know if im capable of living that kind of life, super wierd eh.
I did splits with the Asistants, they want to make sure i dont die trunky, yet the asistant started the mission one transfer after me so we are way good friends, so it was a fun day, so much fun to teach with someone who has tons of experiance, there is so much power.
So i cannot even wait for conference! Im super excited, i love conference so much!!!
So family, i feel like its time to start looking for a few souvenires, wow i dont know how to spell that word, soveniers, suvenirs, gifts from another country... Anyways, i am wanting to know if there is anything special that you want, so let me know, that way in the last two pdays i can go hunting!
Well i love you all!

Hey Hey! Ha so youve liked my last few emails, ya ive been quite freaked out this week because its been so good, im afraid that something bad is going to happen to make me suffer like before, something definately has changed. One month left! It hit me thursday, i went to my last zone conference, we got to listen to Elder Foster, the 70, it was pretty good, not much deep doctrine like lasttime, more like capacitation, which was cool, one month to put it into practice, he practically talked about our job as a missionary is not only to baptise but to edify the church in the area we serve, so i felt alot better, he said something like a missionary at the end of his mission will not measure his success by the amount of baptisms but of the legacy he left in the areas he served. Pretty cool eh.I gave my final testimony to the 98 other missionaries that were there, if front of the 3rd of the mission. What a blast, to bare my testimony to every single one of my friends, i saw so many there, it was absolutely one of my favorite moments of my life, brothers in arms. I spent the day with many old friends from the mission, it has felt so long the mission, yet has flown by so fast, so many things have happened in my life since then!
This week was ok, i messed up alot in alot of descions i had to make, which brought very little success, but i learned and hope to never make such stupid decisions, but oh well, i learn from every event. We had some awesome lessons this week with Rokie and Betty! Oh man if all goes well they are definately going to get baptised, im super excited to see how it goes, they are praying, reading and have promised to go to church as a family, and they are always trying to get the whole family to listen to us at the same time, every time im there with them i feel like this is the family god had prepared for me! Super sweet, Navarro is their last name for future reference. Then the Casais family, the mom was the first lady i interviewed the day i got here 4 months ago, and since we inherited that area it is now our responsibility to help the rest of the family of 7 to get baptised, they are super cool, the dad knows its true, but he has a doubt that i cant understand yet, hes scared to make the change or something, i know he doubts jose smith and he doesnt like the fast and testimony meetings, but i dont like those here either, everyone says the exact same thing, but there is something thats holding him back, but they all listen and hes breaking down bit by bit, i sure hope to be able to make the change! Betty is going to get baptised this weekend, she had a smoking problem, i asked her to show me her brand of cigs to see what they are like, she showed me and i sacked them out of her hands and put them in my pocket, since then she hasnt smoked. and is super excited for her baptism! Super cool stuff! Romina is being a baby, she loves reading the book of mormon but doesnt want to commit, shes so cool yet frustrates me! Yet we will try to help her.
So i woke up 4 30 in the morning saturday morning to what i thought was a nuclear explosion, first i saw a huge flash of light, then the BOOM! almost shattered the windows, everything was rocking, sounded like someone shot a gun next to my ears, and we heard the roar for the next 30 seconds, the biggest lightning bolt, or thunder that ive ever seen or heard, SUPER COOL! I sure love the lightning storms here, dont even feel lke sleeping.So im sending a couple pics, the big church thing is a momument to where the catholics believed the virgin appeared to talk with them, super crazy, so i showed them who holds the real keys! Another is my pday activity that i did with Elder Brown, there is an american war veteren that lives here in corrientes, we went to his house and hung out with him for a while, super cool! Another of my zone here in Corrientes, the coolest bunch out of them all!
LOVES YA!

Monday, September 12 2011

Hey family!! Hows it all going? Im doing quite well, this is definitly going to be my favorite time in my mish, these past two weeks have rocked, and even though im so excited for home, im enjoying my time here, loving it! I have a major activity every week until my death here so i have something to keep me busy, and they expanded my area, the other Elders in this branch left, so i have to open one more area along with the other area i already had, so President is giving me alot more responsibility! So ive been super exhausted, and they added one more companionship to my district so i have had no time to sit down and relax, which is awesome. I love preaching, teaching, and suffering, because it wont last much longer haha.
We have worked our butts off this week trying to get everything into place, we need to find a new apartment, reorganize all of our work, and try to find all of the investigators of the other elders, and focus on ours, find new people, the list is infinite! But im loving it, the only thing that is a pain is that its getting a little hotter everyday, but im getting a little taste of summer before i go back and freeze to death, i wonder how that will be...
So we have a super cool family that we found, they had never listened to the missionaries but they have recieved a book of mormon from old neighbors, during the whole lesson i truly felt that god told me that i have the possibitly that this family can get baptised, that they are prepared, so that was super cool, now it all depends on me. Ive only visited them twice but man ill do anything to get them baptised, the oldest daughter, 28, is the ring leader, she gets her whole family there to listen, so i sure hope that all goes well, Rockie and Betty are the parents names so please pray for them!! Romina is having a tuff time, her kids are crazier than ever! She just wont come to church, but we will get her there!! Betty is an investigator from the other elders, shes getting baptised next week, so i get to baptise at least once in September haha, shes super cool, she gets Nephi mixed up with Joseph Smith, its quite funny. And we have a few other part member families that i inherited, that i have taught a few times since ive been here, and im excited to help complete the families, since that was my goal here in Corrientes, im glad Heavenly Father has given me the oprotunity to inherit this other area, now i can do it again!!
The Nordahls are coming back! Super cool! That is like the week i finish the mission, what a crazy week that will be eh! Ya i was pretty trunky yesterday with 9/11, time flies by.
Well not much new, next week will have plenty of info im sure! so LOVES YA ALL!!

Monday, September 5 2011

Hey Familia!! Como Estan todos? Man this week was an alright week, ive learned a whole lot this week. So first off i was only in my area for two days, the rest of the time i did splits with other Elders. So in my area there is no progress, noone came to church and we dropped eveyone but Romina, and we found a couple that has a chance to get baptised but we will see, they arent that literate and cant understand that much but im sure if we are simple that it will work out.So first off, the Hermanas in my district have had a super hard time, like us, bringing people to church, so the asistants had us do splits with them, My comp and i went with one sister one day, and the zone leaders with the other, then the next day we switched. These were the splits that i learned the most, and i will never forget, so amazing. So both days we drew the short straw, we didnt have any set meetings with any investigators so we ended up looking for people from 11 in the morning to 9 at night.At first i was like crap this is going to stink, but then man i fell in love with the work, we talked with every single person that came into our sights, and we werent light about any of it, we were super bold letting everyone know. It was super fun, and with a sister missonary we were super focused and our lessons that we had were some of the best ive ever taught, in fact every single person we talked to couldnt deny the fact that it was true, but had to decide if they were going to follow the truth or not. And since the sisters work in downtown Corrientes we got to work in the city, super fun. At night when we got to the apartment i was too excited to sleep, i wanted to get back out and work, and there was a feeling that i had never felt up until this moment, and i can say i felt very much like Ammon, now i understand why they would serve a 14 year mission a little better. For the first time in my mission i wouldnt have been too upset if they asked me to serve again. I liked it alot.I learned so much from the Sisters, so cool. When i got back to my area, i was quite sad, i loved those two days, but now i get to go put the same things in practice here in my area. So thats the plan and we will see how it turns out. Im super grateful, we went with the intentions of teaching the sisters and they taught us. A super success.
About other things, so Saturday we ate lunch with my converts, then right after we went down to the river to take a few pictures in a boat thats beached, super cool, so we took pictures and hung out there for 10 mins, then we felt the need to leave, everyone felt it. So we started leaving, but we couldnt go back the way we came because its a cliff, so we had to go around, so we helped everyone get off the boat, the kids got off first then we helped the mom and others, well the two kids ran towards another beached boat, which has a pathway behind it to get back up, and they saw a bunch of druggies coming down the path, so they booked it into the forest to hide, then the two girls warned us and we with the moma and two babies hid beneath the second boat,well my comp didnt understand what was happening so he didnt move that fast, and i was too nervous to tell him, anyways the druggies saw him, and they broke a bunch of branches and blocked the pathway so we couldnt escape, we hid beneath the boat for like 4 mins before they made eye contact with my comp through one of the portholes, but luckily they also found one of the girls at the same time, they knew that she knew who they were and if they did anything to us that she would report them, so they let us go, they didnt know that the family was with us.man it was quite nerve racking hehe, but we were super blessed, so you dont need to worry. And we got some cool pics out of it. I felt like i was in some kind of movie.
Anyways, so maybe in a few weeks ill have another baptism, Romina is progressing quite well, by our conviction she knows its true and she will pray and know for herself. And we will find some more people so im excited. But i cant believe i only have 6 weeks left, it flies by so quick, so im pretty sure that im not going to let this time go to waste.
Thats quite funny bout steph, but im glad that shes ok. The twins are always crazy, and im excited to get back to participate in the crazyness. Anyways, thanks for the candy and for the spice packets im super excited to use them!
Anyways, love ya all so much!!

Monday, August 29 2011

Hey Family! Hows it going? Im normal, nothing new. This week started out warm and got super hot, holy crap i felt like i was in Formosa again yet without the nice people. This week has been as tuff as the usual, not a single progressing investigator, Romina, the young mom we found this week, got separated this thursday, a crazy experiance, and so its been hard to talk to her, seeing as how her exhusband had already gone to jail for beating her up, she had to be quite careful on the whole breaking up thing. So anyways i hope she will start to be able to progress, her kids are crazy, 5 and 3, the 3 year old brought out a liter of milk and poured it all over me, quite a delicious smell the rest of the night lingered about me. The family of five hasnt been home, so that kind of stunk. The mom and daughter who came to church last week, the mom got bit by her pitbull, a huge gash in her leg, so she couldnt go to church, and many other difficulties with them, we are loosing them to the world haha. And thats it, weve found a few others this week but we will see, not to much hope. We had no investigators in church, but i did have 2 less actives come to church, but i did nothing but put myself in contact with them and invited them to come back to church, and they came back. Quite amazing. Maybe they will help us in the future.
So this week to lift our animo, or enthusiaism, a member took us to walmart and we ate at McDonalds for a lunch apointment, sounds quite normal eh, but no this was the first time in my whole mission that someone has taken us out to any kind of restaurant, so it was super cool. That happened to be the best work day, other than that. This week was super tuff, as usual. I just want to teach, yet noone is letting us in, thank goodness that this is my last area and that i didnt start here or man, i dont know what i would have done, i would have been destroyed. Super frustrated, and the branch is falling apart now also, every week more people go inactive, and no one new is coming... So i hope things start to change, i wanted to make a difference in this area, but its not turning out that well haha. But ill just have to continue and try to do my best, 7 weeks left to do what i can. Anyways, thanks for the info from home, my zoneleader called me last night, said i got the package, he took half of the seasonings haha, but THANKS!! I love you guys so much, im so excited to come home, my dreams kill me each night, yet i try my best to not be trunky but to tell the truth im ready to go home, yet ill do what i can to finish with my calling. Love ya all!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hey family! Hows it going! Im ok this week, super frustrated, but content because i found a family of 5 that at the moment i feel like they will progress and become members, so i hope that is how it goes, we also found another cool young mother, so hopefully everything goes well i would love for these guys to progress and become members. We have sure worked hard this week, yet not much progress in getting people to church, we did, for the first time here in corrientes, bring two new people to church, that made me feel good, but they came for us not to come closer to christ. We have had to stop teaching many people and start over. But this is the missionary life.
Since ive been with my newbie we have had to watch a bunch of preach my gospel movies and ive come to realize how much of the missionary life i havent put into practice, i feel a very very heavy burden over my shoulders and it just gets bigger, i have so much to do i cant focus, i feel like i cant help my investigators because i dont have many, in trying to help my comp i dont have much time to think about how i can help my district, and then i have to think of things that i have to do, very frustrating, yet i know that i just need to get lost in service with all of them, but its hard. Anyways, not much new is going on, i cant think of anything else to say. These are just one of these weeks when i need to just push forward, ive lost my patience but hopefully ill find it again, im not willing to stand down just yet.
Anyways, i love ya all, thanks for always caring about me, see ya next week!

Monday, August 15, 2011

This ipad thing is so cool haha, my president has one and his wife let me take a look at it, pretty jealous haha. Anyways, HELLO FAMILIA!! This week has been super hard, yet passed by super fast, i didnt even recognize what day was which this week so much stuff had happened. Haha yet it feels like a long time ago that i wrote you guys, yet its only been a week. I had a few meetings this week, which i loved alot, i learned a whole lot of stuff. I also had my last zone conference before i come home, that was quite sad to see all of the elders that have become such good friends over the two years, it finally set in that i wont see many again and it was quite sad, yet it feels like i still have forever until i get home, so its been a weird week full of feelings haha. Investigator wise, we have no one progressing, noone has come to church... Its super frustrating because i have focused as hard as i could, as hard as i can, yet no one either wants to listen to us or wants to complete, so thats super difficult, its alot easier to focus on the mission when you have alot of people to visit and you have to think alot about how to help them, yet i feel like very few people are listening to us. I dont feel like i have the confidence of the members because i havent brought a single new person to church since ive gotten here. Im very frustrated, at this point im not sure if ill baptise anyone til the end of my mission but at least im determined to fight it until the end, i want two more baptisms to reach my goal that i put when i got to the mish, so i really want to reach that. I love teaching but there are not much to teach, and many more difficulties but hey, im used to that haha.
Its been rediculously hot this week, supposedly we are in the middle of winter, but ive suffered so much this week from the heat haha, but im used to that, im sure god just wants me to get my fair share of heat before i come back to the paradise of UTAH!! So i can put up with it.
Maria got baptised, it was a very awesome baptism, so many people from many branches came and supported her in her decision, it was definitely a baptism that got the whole branch excited for the help she will give us. And her family came to watch so there is my hint of hope in baptising others, i sure want the whole family to get baptised, but its a huge job haha, but ill get it done. My camera broke, wont turn on so im camera hopping between Elders, its going to be quite the job getting all of those pictures back into the same memory by the end haha, but ill see what i can do to fix my camera, it broke so close to the end! FREAK!
I feel like my attention has been the same since ive started the mission, ive given the same focus to the mission as i do now so ive always been trunky, and always will be trunky, but i will always work and try to do the best that i can, this has been the ¨thorn in my side¨ as Paul states in the new testament, the weakness that god wont take away from me haha.
Ive learned some new ways to work so im going to do the best i can to put that into practice in the little time i have left.
Dad and Collin, i finally got the leather cases and man they are the coolest things ive ever seen!! Now i just want to read all of the time because i love holding them, so i feel like thats the greatest sovenir that i can bring back for you guys, your gonna love it! All crocadile and rattlesnake and iguana, its like im coming back from the jungle haha. Anyways, i think thats all. Send some more pictures, i need to see pictures, or im gonna die.
LOVE YA ALL!!
p.s. i cant wait to play the piano and eat crazy italian food with gramps again!

Monday, August 8 2011

Hey Hey family! Hows it going back in the States! Here its been quite a hot week, i have no idea why its so hot! Man its buggin me haha, its supposed to be winter so we are supposed to have a break from the heat but oh well, im pretty sure god just wants me to have my fair share of heat before i go back to the perfect weather! But anyways, that seems sweet that collin enjoyed EFY. Haha steph you hung out with Thaddeus? How did that come to pass? That brings back some awesome flag football, oh i cant wait to play that in a few months haha. Man gene got released? Hes been bishop for as long as i can remember! Im sure they released him so he can be the next stake president! And my Morgan got married!! aw man she promised she would wait so i could be at the wedding haha, but at least tell her she needs to send some pictures!!! Did you know that Candace moved! Crazy how fast the world changes...
So the mission has been quite the challenge this week, i have drastically tried to perfect my plans, feeling like i need to make the most with the little time that i have, since it usually takes one to two months to baptise someone, i know that the people im training are going to be the ones that are most likely to be my last baptisms. Ive felt good with my plans but there hasnt been much sucess on the completion of the plans, if we based my sucess on my investigators completing with their commitments then im not getting anywhere, noone came to church, most dont read and some sometimes pray, but i must continue. I have a baptism this week which im very excited about, Maria is like the coolest investigator ive taught, because she is one of the few that are truly super excited for her baptism, shes invited all her friends, and has already prepared to be a sunday school teacher once the calling comes haha. Shes so cool. But other than that, we dont have anyone thats progressing, except a 18 year old girl Imeali and her 20 year old brother Isiais, but niether have come to church... So im quite frustrated that no one is progressing, which makes me feel like i dont have the trust of the members, since i havent brought anyone new to church since the beginning of my time here, and thats the frustrating part, i have no idea what else i can do to help the people want to commit to living this gospel.
But im quite enjoying my time with my newbie, Elder Sharapata is an excellent elder, its nice that i have a comp that truly wants to work, i never felt like i had that desire and so thanks to him its not as hard to be able to get out the door in the mornings, and it doesnt matter how hard the day gets we stay quite happy, even though i would like to leave this area with some success. But i still have some time to be able to do it. Zone conference is this week so i will be able to learn exactly what god wants for me, since ive always recieved the help i need there!
Im doing quite fine, except that ive really been streching my patience, i dont want to leave the mission trunky, nor leave without making a difference in this place, so thats really helped me to stay focused, yet sometimes it gets super hard, i think i sometimes get scared when i remember how hard the first part of my mission was and how i do not want to ever feel that again, so i get anxious and hope for the end but when i sleep on it i always wake up and find a way to focus, so its not that bad. I have nightmares about starting the mission over haha. But ive sure learned alot.
Well im glad that al is well at home, im sure excited to one day get back there, but im doing a great work, and cannot come down, not just yet!
Loves ya all!!

Monday, August 1 2011

Hey Family!
Well quite the change has happened this week, it was transfers this week and we came to find out that im training again! So im going to die in the mission with a noobie! But man im so excited, hes an amazing kid, he learned alot of spanish in the MTC so really its alot easier to teach with him than with Elder Guest, His name is Elder Sharapata, from California, Concord or something like that, near the Sequoya forest. He has a strong drive to work so im quite excited to work along with him. Hes already taught me so much, i feel pretty intimidated by how awesome are all the new missionaries! Man i was nothing like that! Man they are going to be so much greater than i could ever be, ha ha but i am what i am. It was quite the story to go get him, i went to the Bus station at 8 am to drop off Elder Guest then i hung out there for a couple hours, i asked the Zone Leaders what time i needed to go, he told me 4 pm, so i chilled there, then i started reading some of the informs that he had and i read that all the trainers had to be at the Mission Office at 10 30 am, and it was already 11, so they sent me in a taxi to the bridge between Corrientes and Resistencia, then i had to wait for another taxi that could cross the bridge to come and pick me up, well i got in the first one that there was with an old lady that only said two words,¨gloria a jesus¨ and two more impatient ladies, well we got to the bridge and all of the traffic stopped, it was like 90 degrees outside and i was stuck between two old ladies for like an hour without moving, we finally started moving, a brick truck had lost its bricks and because its only a two lane bridge noone could pass.... Then the taxi would only let me off at a certain stop, ive only been in Resistencia like 3 times and i dont know it that well, but i had to walk around alone until i found another taxi that took me to the church, man it felt so wierd to be by myself, anyways i got there way late, but its alright, i ate lunch with my comp from the Mtc, Elder Clark and a few of my other friends who are training, i found out about alot of the families in Formosa, the Britez family is still going to church and Pablo got divorced, Jose is planning for the mission and all of the investigators that i left behind got baptised, so i was quite happy with all of the info that i heard. I feel bad for my newbie to have to have had such a week, it was so hard and not much was able to happen, we have two or three investigators that we can only visit once a week, so we have had alot, alot of time looking for people, but man noone has accepted us, im used to it but it must stink to have such excitement to preach and to get rejected all the time, i remember the despair i use to feel to have to do this for two years, but i hope all starts to turn around. We need to have success here. This has been a very hard three weeks. I dont have time to be trunky because im so mad at the lack of success, im going crazy haha.

Wow that sounds like a very few awesome stories! What a miracle about both dad and steph, its good to know that God watches very closey over our family. Im grateful nothing bad else happened. Ive been praying and meditating alot and ive been feeling the need to talk about the Atonement for my homecoming talk. So we will see how that goes. What a lucky duck steph, new laptop eh! And it sounds like some awesome activities are going on these next few weeks!
Well i think thats about all for this week, i cant think of much else to say! LOVE YA ALL!!

Monday, July 25 2011

Hello family!! How goes it all!! Time sure is flying by!! I only have 12 more emails to send and ill be in the states, but lets not get trunky eh, so this week was a super difficult week, we have two people investigating the church, im not used to this, the less i teach, the more hard it is to focus and the less i feel the spirit, thats why i loved Formosa, even though the weather always stunk there, i taught alot therefore it was alot easier for me to focus and i had the spirit alot, but here walking around all day trying to teach people who dont want to hear is quite difficult, haha we are really fishing in the dark for these elect, but they are super hard to find.

We found a family two saturdays ago that they seemed to be interested, and man they have progressed alot! im pretty sure they will recieve an answer that its true, they have a couple stumbling blocks but im sure we can overcome them. The girls boyfriend worked at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, small world, the first person ive talked to that knows where South Jordan is haha.

So Carlos got baptised, this pic shows it all! It was an awesome saturday! 16 People got baptised, so i was quite pleased, he was crying the whole time, hes a special guy, wierd but determined to work hard, and endure to the end, when he got baptised he threw himself backward, making the biggest splash ive seen, haha its like he cannon balled himself into Baptism.

I dont know if ive told you guys about Maria, but she teaches weight loss classes in the district, someone gave her a teachings of joseph smith and she has ate that up! We can only meet with her saturdays and sundays yet she progresses by leaps and bounds! So shes going to get baptised the 13th of August, we are quite excited for her, shes going to be an awesome Relief Society Pres, since she loves to walk, shes going to help alot of people.

Wednesday rained from 4 in the morning to 11 at night, we got in one house during that day, we walked the whole day... No one even answered their door, man it was tuff. haha so i sent a pic of our check point to dry off, we had huge trench coats on thats why the water only gets to there, but my garments were soaked from top to bottom becaues they just suck the water like a sponge, it was so cold! HAha but today is really hot, so i dont understand this weather, usually winter means cold, they have it all wrong here haha.

Im quite stressed with the work, but im sure everything will work out fine, in the end, i was called to search out the elect, not force every single person to baptise, i must complete with the calling ive been asingned and thats all.

To answer your question mom, im pretty sure you can hit it right on the bullseye but off the top of my head i would believe what ive learned the most is Patience and Perserverance, to trust in the feelings i receive from Heavenly Father and continue. Im not sure that ive learned much but ive grown a little, for the first time the scriptures and the doctrine have sunk into my heart, even though i knew it all before, i now understand it. A little better haha.

So dad got an ipad also!! And stephs going to geta mac book? Thats cooL! I cant wait to get back to see how these are, cool stuff!
Anyways dont forget about me!! Continue praying alot!! I need people to teach!! I need to change! LOVES YA!

Monday, July 17. 2011

Hello family! Sounds like mom barely survived the ticks and the snakes, i cant imagine that our mountains there are near as bad as my bed room here, the mountains are quite clean, at least the snow and the cold repel almost all the bugs, but here in my apartment, no matter how much we clean, we always have a bunch of visiting cockaroaches, spiders, mosquitos and the occasional scorpion. This week was super hot, and so humid that our floors were condencing, like a glass full of water, so there was water everywhere, it was only like 90 degrees but with the humidity it was so difficult!! I thought it was winter here haha, and the work here is quite different in the heat, noone would answer their doors so basically i spent the whole day walking... Very difficult, but really the heat doesnt bug me near as much as it did before, thankfully Formosa helped me overcome that challenge hehe. 
  The work here is quite slow, alot slower than Formosa so im still getting used to that, almost all of the new investigators that we find dont progress at all, so thats been the most difficult thing for me to bear, its not that fun not having success, especially when you want to help the people so much, Corrientes is alot more frustrating because the people are so much more difficult to help, the religiones here have such corrupted doctrine, the most retarted explanations and even when sharing the scriptures most of the people will choose to believe in what their leader says than what the scriptures say we should do, but im coming to understand alot of things throught these difficulites, at least i have come to be super grateful for how simple the gospel is, and how easy to understand and how clear our doctrine is, there is not a church more perfect, and im super grateful for that. 
Other than that, we have an awesome baptism program planned for this saturday, every companionship in the zone, 10 companionships have at least one or more baptisms so we are all going to go to the same church and have a huge baptism! I think 16 people are going to get baptised, so we are quite excited! Carlos, our investigator is so excited that he invited all of his friends to go to the baptism also, hes visiting less actives and trying to help them go back to church so he is super cool. Maria, one of our investigators is always talking about how excited she is to get baptised, shes read half of the book of mormon in one week, but shes having a hard time waking up sunday mornings, haha so we are trying to help her, thats her only weakness, she loves sleeping in. Other than those we have lost everyone, but we must continue to find those that are waiting for us, we have a few future baptisms, i believe im going to have sucess in this area, even though it is so hard, But at least 21 months of experiance have given me the ability to be able to cope haha.
Today we played tennis, and i was suprised to find out that i also played quite well at that sport, i dont know whats up with that, but maybe ive been given awesome sports skills ever since ive come to the mission haha!
I made deep fried french toast this morning in honor of my three months left, it was super delicious, i love cooking when i feel like i have the time. 
Thanks for always supporting me and praying for me, i probably wouldnt have gotten this far without those prayers! LOVES YA

Monday, July 11 2011

HOLA FAMILIA!!! COMO ESTAN!! Wow those are some crazy pics haha, thanks mom for making me even trunkier hahah. I didnt even recognize Jake, Danny and Jessica are the ones that have changed the most!! And man on the Jacobsen side the Christmans have all grown up! What a fun fourth of July! Congrats Derick on your new baby!! Thats so awesome, and also Lindsay for being pregnant, im going to get home not recognizing anyone except for my grandparents!! (Because they never change). So this week was hard, but im used to that, but yet again another week with more setbacks, so thats been harder, each week i loose a couple more investigators and dont find new ones, i did divisiones this week and the zone leader and my comp destroyed one of our investigators and her son got so mad at her mom for not accepting the gospel that he destroyed all of her saints and wrecked the house, it was quite aweful and it took alot to repair the gaps ripped open in the family, its still not back to normal but at least she cant worship her saints anymore, i think in the long run shes going to learn.=).Carlos, the man who has been having problems getting baptised is now able to, so hes super excited for that, so am i. The 23rd hes going to get baptised. Also we have two more investigators that im sure will get baptised, ones named Maria and man she is awesome, she couldnt go to chruch yesterday because she was hosting a fund raiser but the whole day she felt guilty for not going to church, she went home and read the book of mormon and as she was reading the spirit started to drop the cane, or in other words chastise her for not going to church, she felt like she needed to get baptised so that she could be a home teacher and to help her family, she recieved a strong answer that the church is true, and she couldnt wait for us to come over to tell us, so even though we had an aweful week, hearing her story was an awesome way to finish the work week off.Some interesting stuff that happened this week, i got pushed down by a angry catholic man, that was fun, i did divisones with one of my great friends in the mish, and we got to go to an awesome cemetary here, they are so different than from the states so im going to send a few pics, it was so cool and im sure it would be even awesomer in the dark! Everything is so creepy and man its old, they have these family buildings that they just put the coffins in so you can see the coffins and stuff inside these beautiful buildings, my pics will explain but man it was soo cool! And because of the black magic people here, many of the tombs are broken into, and you can see skulls and bones and stuff, pretty creepy, nothing like our house. But something really cool.
I always have alot to say but right when i get to the computer i forget what i was going to say. Thanks for writing me and making me feel good, haha its tuffer now i feel than before, but maybe because its all coming down to the end.This should be when im the best missionary ever so i hope to give it my all. It looks like i need to start working out a bit more, if im going to be able to take on jake danny collin and shane, but after the crime controlled streets of corrientes im not worried =) I got experiance! Oh i got to talk with my New Pres, hes so cool, hes dead set on helping me with what i need, i had a good talk with him. His wife had an ipad! Woah the technology that the states has blows me away, i totally forgot! Haha she let me play with it for a while, so cool! Its like a big ipod. Im sure thats how andy and judd must feel right now after hearing from kims email, its going to be wierd being home but at least i have a few more months to learn some more! LOVES YA ALL!!

Monday, July 4 2011

Well, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! This day was spent singing the star spangled banner and doing all things american, i played basketball with some argentines, then as you can see in the picture, for the first time in 21 months i ate mcdonalds, and went to a wal mart, so that was awesome, its been a super trunky day, but its all right, i expected it to be.

So this week has been pretty hard, even though its been the week with the most success, its been super tough, but when has the mission been easy, its always been so hard for me to get out and want to work, i want to help families and stuff but its been really hard wanting to go out and do it. Luckily my comp is pretty awesome and is helping me do it anyways, ive fasted and prayed alot so that at least ill want to go out and work, its been quite difficult, i dont know why. Ive felt no desire this week to go out and preach the gospel, i have an interview with our new president tomorrow so hopefully he can help me out alot. I dont want to burn out after coming this far haha, im quite different from Andy and Judd but ill give it my best shot.So we had two baptisms this week, that was cool, we spent like all saturday filling up the font because the pipe beneath the ground is broken and lets in sewer water, which is quite gross, so we had to clean that up and bucket the water in, quite cold the water haha. So we completed the family i hope they can continue to come to church, most of our investigators have hit the wall of faith and are not wanting to overcome it, weve had some spiritual lessons this week but they arent understanding or are too scared, frustrating but my testimony has grown through it. We lost a few good men we were teaching, but we will have to continue forward, on a brighter note, Carlos, one of our investigators, is looking for ways to do charity, so he cooked 7 pots of soup and went around with a bunch of pamphlets we gave him, he would give the homeless a bowl of soup, a pamphlet and tell them he is mormon, quite funny when we saw him doing that, hes mad he cant get baptised yet but he needs to overcome some personal problems, friday he has an interview and he will be able to be baptised. maybeIf it wasnt for my comp this would have been a very hard week to keep going, he only has a transfer in the mish so the greeny fire is keeping me going, thankfully. I dont know where to find the drive, ive read every single general conference talk from april 2004 to now and in the book of mormon like crazy, praying and everything, hopefully its just a phase.How many times has dad lost that ring? i can remember quite a few times, so i know it will show up again, i hope you guys had an awesome time at the 4th of july, especially with andy and judd home, that sounds like a cool activity that you guys did with them. oh and mom, i didnt know that im an uncle, when did that happen?

Anyways, please continue to pray for me, this would be the time i need it most, ive always had problems being diligent in all things so it would be quite a useful attribute for the rest of my life, i felt like i gave up in swimming and im not wanting to do the same with this. I love you all. I hope all goes well.Oh ya, and a pic of some of the steak ive been cooking, my comps been pretty spoiled, every morning pancakes, steaks for lunch and peanut butter milkshakes after planning. Next week, Burritos!

Monday, June 27 2011

Wow i didnt recognize a few of the kids in the pictures. Well if this hasnt been a trunky pday i dont know what else has, i didnt believe that andy and judd would finish their missions, thats so crazy, time has flown by, i still feel like ill never finish the mission. I saw Danny and Josh in those pics, man theyve changed quite alot, it seems like so long ago... Oh man, it sounds like its been a crazy week, with the twins coming home and youth conference, here its been quite busy also. It sounds like the homecoming was quite amazing, they are powerful missionaries, if i could give a talk half as good at my homecoming ill be happy haha.
But in the meantime, this week we have two more baptisms, were completing a family, which is always so cool! Thats my goal here in corrientes, to complete families, because there are so many members that they are the only ones in their families that are members, therefore they loose enthusiasm and go inactive, we have three families that are part member families that are super progressing. Ive learned to become quite bold, or not having to go around things so im able to learn exactly why they dont want to get baptised, i can do it without them feeling wierd or mad so i think thats a pretty good trait, im hoping it will come in handy to help these families become members. Other than that there hasnt been that much progress, its been a week of organizing my time and efforts, i felt like i was spinning my wheels so weve been trying to get in the rythm of things as fast as possible, this week will be alot better, the people here are alot like Reconquista, so its a little bit harder than Formosa to visit people, but thats why ive been focusing on part member families. So i hope to make a difference here in Corrientes.
A very big challenge ive been having is the ability to recognize the spirit and to have him guide me in very aspect of the work, when i testify i usually feel his presence but as we are looking i rarely feel him guide me, so thats been quite the challenge and my greatest goal, to learn how my constant companion works with me, i wont get too far without him, and its frustrating, i dont want to waste time because i realize that i dont have much left, and this week we spent alot of time looking without a hint of sucess, i want every hour to be of worth, thats why i need the spirit so much, and to have him help me teach, and of course with the spirit its alot easier to not be trunky or sad, which is always a constant problem haha, but at least im used to it.
So ive been practicing my cooking skills when i have all of my duties done, and ive marianted some great steak, i think im getting better haha, i do love cooking, definately will become a hobby after the mission. Ill try to learn some argentine food, but its all about the same as the states, hamburguers, pasta, pizza, empanadas, thats all we eat, they dont have a large selection haha. Boring food.
Its so cold here lately, at least to me, i leave the apartment with four pairs of socks, my jacket, sweater, and a winter coat an elder gave me, and i still freeze my feet off! My comp doesnt feel it that much because he just came from Utah, but i came from Formosa and man what a difference, im not looking forward to the cold of Utah, i never thought id say that.... ive become steph!! Ill always be cold!
So this was the last week of my old mission president and now we have the new one, well at least thats what we were told but i havent heard anything yet, so we will see how it goes! Alot of changes will happen in July!
About the talk, i saw it here, a copy of the movie of his talk he gave there in the mtc, it was about Peter and the feed my sheep thing. Anyways it talks about these types of commitments being for life, it was super good, ill talk with the assistants so they can make me a copy, but maybe its prohibited...
Well thanks for everything, this has been a wierd pday, i cant believe their home, im mixed with emotions, im not sure if im trunky, or normal or what, but anyways, its wierd to think their home, well LOVE YA GUYS!!

Tuesday, June 21 2011

Wowa... is it really time for andy and judd to go home? i didnt think it came so fast, in fact i totally forgot until i just read the email, now im officially trunky haha, oh man. But im not that jealous, i have alot to work to do, i got transfered to Corrientes, Capital. Its like the catholic headquarters of our mission, and so its a super hard area, reminds me alot of Reconquista, the area is super beautiful and very nice, incrediably there is even a walmart!! oh man i thought i would never love the place, and mcdonalds also! The first time in almost two years that ive seen american stuff! Ha ha our apartment is full of peanut butter and salsa! So im with a newbie named elder Guest, hes super cool, from payson, and hes a hypnotist, so weve had some fun with that, i actually finally got it to work for me!! Its quite cool, as usual it amazes me to see how animated and better are the newbies than i am, man i remember when i was a newbie, i woudnt even be worthy to stand in their presence, they are going to be so much greater than i am or ever will be.
Our apartment looks alot like kim and genes cabin, smells like it too, its sweet! We have this balcony that overlooks all of corrientes, it has a picknick table and a bqq so we made hamburgers up there sunday for lunch! Finally i am able to feel like andy and judd when they talked about the missionary couple! In my district is the only missionary couple in the mission, The Larsons, from lehi, the sister is from mexico! so were going to have some fun! shes already made me salsa and we are going to make tortillas like crazy! They are a huge help! Finally a branch that are grateful for missionaries! Our branch is super organized, but i believe its because president and the larsons are always on everyones backs, we need to become a stake by the end of the year, 60 more melquisdick priesthood holders and were there, i need to baptise a man a month and reactivate a man a month, its crazy awesome here, finally i feel yet again that we are doing our work for a purpose! Im district leader again, i never got to feel what it was like to be zone leader, but oh well, i still get to interview everyone.

So we got some awesome investigators, i dont have too much time to explain them all but we have two that are particulary special, one who is named Carlos, hes reading three chapters in the book of mormon every day, along with two talks from the liahona and a chapter from gospel principles, hes awesome, he has some problems he has to overcome but im not worried, he has already expressed his commitment to continue to go even if they dont let him get baptised right now, we also are teaching a man named claudio, hes super cool, a true thug, tattoos everywhere, more scars than i had pimples, and was a hard core drug addict, he woke up one day and came to church, never wanted to live that life again, since then hes stopped, and is getting married friday... sweet!! Then we have a part member family! There is a little girl exactly like hannah, crazy and super smart! Shes 6 and isnt even member, yet she taught a class in the primary, so cool! Thier mom and two sisters arent members, but the two sons are, so we are working with the girls, and im sure they will get baptised. Oh we have so many but i dont have time to explain them all, but let me just say that thats the reason im not that jealous of andy and judd, because i have alot of work to do.
Sound like everything is going to go crazy this week! WAIT! as im writing this Andy must be on a plane!! Dude i thought they were going home next week but they write thursdays, crazy!! So let me know how that goes, i feel like i dont have any time, im so busy working, we have a hard time in front of us!
Mom i know we have pictures of the whole jacobsen side and the whole horrocks side, i would love if you could send me some! And also some fun pics from life(preferrably if im there) so i can complete my photo album to show people. THANKS!!
Also, i dont know how, but in January 2011, Elder Holland talked in the MTC in provo, and gave a very very powerful talk, i would love if you could find out how to get it, ive tried and i know you and dad are very effective in achieveing these kind of things, thanks!!
Tell laurie cousin (i think thats her name, she served a mission last year) that her trainee is in my district doing awesome!! and that i never ever got her letter!
So they say that this is a very dangerous area, i havent seen anything or anywhere crazy but to make things safe just keep me in your prayers =) Its so clean and normal here that i cant see how it can even be dangerous, but im used to formosa haha, you can tell danger by how dirty it is...
Anyways i loves yall mucho!! Keep on keeping on!

Monday, June 13 2011

Hola familia! Como estan? Life here has been great this past week, the usual. Half of the Britez family got baptised friday, it was a small simple baptism, three members came, but a whole buch of investigators came so at least they felt some support. This week for sure has been one of the funnest weeks in the mission, just the work and preparations for the baptisms and divisiones and stuff like that. I got to meet all of the coolest investigators from all of the companionships and that just makes life so much cooler to see so many interested people, thursdays we have family home evening in the church and it was fun to see all of those that i taught come to the activity, we taught them how to play mafia, it was a whole lot of fun. Then that same group came to the baptism the next night, they are so cool, then to a service project saturday morning and then stake conference downtown sunday! Which was pretty cool for people who arent even members to participate so much in the things of the church, if all goes well we will have a huge addition to the church that will already be used to attending activities, so hopefully they will be examples for the rest of the members. The baptism was very nice, the water was freezing and as i baptised the third person i had been in the water for more than 10 mins and it was so cold i could barely say the prayer haha. When my comp baptised one he was so cold that he said the prayer in english haha. It was very nice. We have three more baptisms this week and then two or three more in two weeks but im sure that i wont be here, wednesday is transfers and this time im pretty sure its time, i feel like i need to leave, i need a recharge, i felt like ive talked with everyone, i dont want to leave because i love the people and my friends so much but im not working near as hard as before, ive lost the drive to work so i feel like i need to change, but if not ill just have to change my attitude.
Wow a Ipad, ive heard of it but never seen it, im in formosa haha, Elder Tagge told me about them, but im excited to see how they are. thats cool that you guys are in nebraska, is there much there? So Morgan got engaged! She just told me! Thats pretty exciting but im pretty bummed that she gets married in august, so yet another weddding ill miss, STOP GETTING MARRIED WHILE I CANT BE THERE haha, i now forbid any of my friends to get married unless i could be there. Yesterday was one of my best friends last sunday in the mish, so i made him bruch! We had omlets, i have to brag a bit, ive become quite the chef hahaha, made pancakes this morning, you need to try and put marshmellow spread on pancakes with syrup, its so good! Well i dont have much more time but thanks for always writing me. Ill let you know whats up next week! BYE BYE

Monday, June 6 2011

Whoa, Thats crazy to think that Andy and Judd only have three more weeks in the mission, its pretty much unbelievable, time really does fly by, it hasnt felt like its been 2 years at all, and what an example they have been for me, its going to be great to be able to see all of those pictures that they took in a couple months, and to hear about all of those sweet experiances! But as we teach every single investigator, its necesary to endure to the end, and that sometimes is the hardest part! Its hard to stay focused sometimes when so much new is at home and so many of my friends are finishing the mission, haha, but i do believe thats why they have us have a schedule, so that we dont have time to focus on stuff like that. But man it sounds like Chris´s wedding was awesome, i would have loved to be there also but duty calls hehe, that stinks that dad wasnt able to go, and wow! Taylor sure has changed alot, its been a very long time since ive seen him! Anyways, the mission is going well, its been quite tuff this week, the Britez dad, Manuel couldnt get to the church so about half of the family will get baptised this week and then half the next week, which is alright but i wont be here for the other half which is the sad part,.but either way they are doing awesome, many apostate members have visited them, because they cut hair, and theyve heard that they are going to get baptised and they are filling their heads with all sorts of stuff, but they dont listen, they feel good in the church and thats all that matters for them. All of the other
baptisms got postponed for this week, one of my investigator´s baby is super sick, it hasnt been able to eat for 3 weeks, it eats then throws it all up, and it hurts the baby so bad that it passes out, the worst thing ive seen in my life. So they are having alot of challenges. But a big difference in me now and from before is that the lack of success doesnt bring discouragement, only more opprotunities to change, become better and problem solve. I havent been the greatest missionary this
week, in fact, it was very very hard for me to put in practice everything that i need to do to be a missionary, i was super inefficent and it was very hard for me to follow the spirit, thats been the biggest challenge, im not sure why its like this but im figuring it out, ive come to realize that my prayers and studies are
sloppy, therefore i believe thats whats leading to being a sloppy missionary, but ill get it all figured out, i truly dont feel like god is satisfied with my work ive been doing this transfer, every sunday i dont feel the satisfied feeling that should come when one feels the spirit, and thats the frustrating part, im not sure what to do but ill just have to step it up and start being what i need to be, thats
the hardest part haha, i feel like i dont have a strong mind to be able to achieve my goals but im working at it, anyways, im glad to know everything is going good at home, i hope mom and dad have a great anniversary this saturday! HAHA i remembered! Loves and see ya all next week.

Monday, May 30 2011

Hola Familia!! Fa there are alot of changes going on at home, whats with all this wedding stuff!! Everyones gettings married, likes its something important or something... OH my three weeks left and Andy and Judd call it done, thats crazy, how time flies, in honor of their departure that weekend before i have 12 baptisms planned! The Britez family is dead set on getting baptised, they are so cool, they took us to visit a friend of theirs who also is getting baptised the same day, they practically are members, then we have a 20 year old kid named Abel who already is doing missionary work, inviting other kids to church even though hes not even baptised yet, then another of my investigators who moved away in January came back last friday, and hes dying to get baptised, so after months of struggle im seeing fruits of my labor, im loving the work right now, whenever im down or trunky i just head out and get to work, and oh man what joy i feel, preaching the gospel just makes all worries go away, and just brings a happiness, a purpose to life, and the mission is setting up the rest of my life, and the more i live it the more i understand the purpose of my life, and of my patriarchal blessing, what a great experiance to grow. there is not much new news here, the weather is perfect, freezing in the mornings and warm during the afternoon, we go out running everymorning and yes this week, ive eaten my first bean burrito in 20 months, what a delicious creation. Yet tragically everytime ive made pancakes this week they have come out flat, and i dont know how to make them fluffy, it came naturally before, but it must be that im so far from home that the fluffiness left me, so mom help me, how do i make fluffy pancakes!?! Other than that life is normal, my newbie is learning very much, hes a super cool kid, as are most mexicans, haha. Anyways sounds like life is crazy at home, oh and all the baptisms are the same day as mom and dads anniversary and tay tay habermans wedding, so what an epic day that will be!! well love ya family!! see ya later!! oh ya and mom, if possible i want pictures of my WHOLE family, grandparents, aunts uncles aunts and stuff, i know we have those big group pics so send me some!!! por favor, and pics from my baptism! SO i can show people here my baptism haha! lovess!!

Hello family! Hows it going? All is well here in formosa, it has been a beautiful week weather wise, yesterday and today being the only hot days, but im used to it so it doesnt really matter. Not much new things have happened, We talked with the Father of the Britez family, he came to church and believes that the word is true but its a wierd belief, because he believes the word has nothing to do with the organization and therefore believes that he doesnt need to be baptised again. He believes the book of mormon is true and that what we say is true, but im sure he hasnt prayed or else he would understand it a little differently, hes quite a difficult man to teach, he can practically quote the whole bible. But the rest of the family is super excited to get baptised so thats great. Pablo, the ex policeman that i found in January and who has listened to us for quite some time is finally going to get baptised this Saturday!! So im excited for that, we have had to drop the Franco Family, that was quite sad, they just wouldnt do it, they didnt feel like they were able to live the gospel, they have no self confidence, even worse than me haha. But hopefully ill get to see a miracle, we will see. We found this one guy named Julio who has a family of 6, all beneath 7 years of age and man, he just wants peace in his life haha, kind of impossible with 4 kids haha, but really as we shared the message he felt our conviction and is really excited to get baptised, i know he will get baptised, his best friend is the sunday school president.Oh and we also found a family of 4 who i met the dad as we were heading to our zone conference, he was our taxi driver and it was quite the experiance, right as i got in i felt the impression or the feeling that i dont want to talk to him, that i should just be lazy, well when i usually feel that it means i need to do the opposite, so i talked with him, found out he had gone to church as a kid and was always interested in learning more, we passed by the house and the family is super excited to get baptised, yet more miracles, so if i play my part well, we should be baptising every week until i leave this place. I feel like im working hard but in a way that is super inefficent, i dont have the support of the members or im not doing something right to get them to help me or what. Our bishop has been struggling for these past 7 months that ive been here, hes been to church like 8 out of the 30 sundays ive been here and he only has one counselor and noone is stepping up to complete with thier callings, we have two men who have callings in the stake that are trying to keep the ward alive, we have over 30 new converts just from this year and only 4 or 5 have visiting teachers, so alot of our new converts go inactive if the missionaries stop visting them, and i dont even have time to find people between visiting all of the new converts, and my progressing families. So im quite frustrated, i half dont even want to baptise anymore because i feel that they will all go inactive like my converts here in Formosa, only 1, Jose who got baptised a month ago, is getting stronger and stronger.Many times this week i have come to realize that a hero cant save anyone without team work, it just wont happen, Aragorn himself couldnt stop the orc army without the help the fellowship and his countrymen. Ive come to learn alot here in Formosa about how the church needs to work, maybe this will be a huge benefit for me after the mission, everytime i get frustrated i always say that i wont let this happen in my ward, but we are trying to get everything organized, the stake realizes whats going on and are trying to bring orden to our ward. Anyways, that sounds quite crazy about all of the weddings and stuff, the world is changing super fast haha, one month for andy and judd, thats crazy, i have 3 transfers left, it feels like nothing, and i still have so much to learn, i havent even got close to who i should be! Anyways family! I love ya all! Thanks so much for everything, i love your examples and keep it up! The church is true!!oh i ya forgot to explain the pics, i got attacked by flour on my birthday, my converts came and i begged them to let me change first because i had my suit on, then that happend, my eyes were red for a week! MY newbie and i, the Britez family, and a few of the elders that came with me, and that we will go home together! lveos!

Monday, May 16 2011

Hey family!! Como estan! I had a great birthday here in Formosa, i was super taken care of, it was a great time, it started off bad because no one came to church, we had 19 people commited to come and i dont know why but half ended up sick because of the cold front that came in the night before, so i was quite disappointed that i didnt have investigadores in the church for my birthday, the first week since december that i have had noone. But all of the members remembered my birthday and it was a very great time, then i had lunch with converts that i found here in december, they made ñokies, its a potatoe/ flour pasta thing that is super delicous, we had cake and it was a good time, during studies i was quite perturbed about the lack of success that i had this week and i prayed for quite some time, well i had super spritutal lessons and i saw my investigators react in ways that ive never seen before, it was really nice. So my day ended really nice.
This week was a great week, i felt like i had alot of success and that my investigators are progresing, we have at least 12 secured baptisms for this transfer, about 3 weeks left thats all. And i can have about 6 more if all works out, i know that they are all looking for the truth, but its so hard to help them realize that this is the only way to happiness. The Britez family is a family of 9 and they are all going to get baptised the 4th or 11th depending on the dads progress. They are so awesome, everytime i talk with them my heart fills with gratitude that heavenly father lead us to them, because its like weve always known each other, they are always reading the book of mormon and they are really excited for their future baptisms, its going to be a great experiance.
So new news in the mission, we cant play sports any more or get together with other missionaries, the worst rule ever, it makes pday super sucky, but oh well, 5 months left and then i can hang out with all my friends so i guess its not that bad. Theyve really buckled down on a few things that make it so that the only way for us to renew our excitement is just the work, before we use to discharge our stress getting together and playing soccer but now they dont want that, so we will see how it goes, so many elders and sisters are taking it so badly but even though i dont like it ive seen it as a little blessing, but we will see.
So i know how my new mission president is, hes from arizona, he served his mission here in argentina in cordoba and his son served here in resistencia in 2001. But i forgot his name, Hydes or something like that.
Well thanks so much for everyone sending me emails, i love getting emails and reading them, i miss home alot and its good to hear from everyone, i cant believe that andy and judd have a month or so left, thats crazy!
So i got the package, super thanks!! Im so excited to be making some refried beans and burritos, its going to be pretty awesome! Now that i have so much time on my hands i think thats what ill be doing next week, and im excited to show people how to cook some American BBQ! Well i cant think of much else to say, thanks so much for always thinking of me! I do love the mission even though its hard, because its something worth fighting for!
OH ya and dad i would like if you could send the measurements of your and collins scriptures so that i can get them ordered, their going to be super sweet!!

Monday, May 9 2011

Wow that was suprisingly easy last night to talk with my family, i felt scared the whole day, i didnt want to call, the only reason i called is because i already told you guys i would, i didnt want to be sad afterwards, ive found it just easier to not think about home and it helps me stay here. But i really loved listening to everyone, i still dont believe that i talked to abbey, steph couldnt fool me, haha. Well we are all anxious for these next few months, i have to admit, but i do love it here also, its a whole different world with new experiences every day, i get excited for anything that has to do with the gospel, i love life thats all, yesterday and today have been a little hard but it will all go back to normal, im loving life, but my only goal right now is to immerse myself even more with the spirit, to be sanctified, because i dont want to give up all that i have recieved. Anyways, thanks so much for all of the emails, this has by far been my favorite time reading everyones emails, Robin i im quite impressed with what you and dave have done, thats soo cool!! Always have been a great example of how to go the extra mile, never satisfied with normal. Lindsay, i loved the 21 reasons why im cool, especially the red cream soda one and the clue ablities, and yes joe, ITS ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!!! I didnt even know that maximus talks!! Shanon, thanks so much for that email, it helped me so much, its exactly what i needed in this moment. Its amazing how much help one can recieve from reading emails. Thanks mom with all of that information, now that helped me alot. Im so grateful for the chance that i had to talk with my grandparents, they are sooooo COOL!! Oh man im excited to spend soo much time with them after the mission. ANd yes grandpa, im strong enough to push that elephant back up the cliff, TAKE IT COLLIN!! Well i just wanted to write this week and say that im so grateful for my families, i know that there is not a kid more blessed than i, to have brother and sisters and cousins soooo cool who are my examples, for aunts and uncles who are legendary and for parents and grandparents who are too amazing for words to explain, im not even going to try and explain, but wow im so blessed, and beyond taht to live in an amazing ward, city, state, and to be able to have the most awesome friends ever!! THANKS YALL!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Monday, May 2 2011

Hey Family!! So this week has been pretty cool, weve been pretty busy helping our investigators gain their testimony, the weather has been great as far as i can tell, these past weekend i have frozen to death! Its been great, ive been able work even harder haha, The Britez family took so well the law of chastity, usually everyone doesnt react too well to this law but they were super excited to either get married or drop their husbands, because three of the girls have their boyfriends who live with them, so man they are so cool, i have no doubt that all 9 of them are going to get baptised, and who knows maybe some of the husbands also, but they work all day so its been hard to find them. The Franco family has had some challenges with getting married, hes having a hard time making the commitment, even though i dont understand, he has 4 kids and has lived with her for 12 years, kind of interesting, but we had a good talk with him, so we will see how it goes. We baptised Claudia, oh man she made us chicken enchaladas and guacamole, the first time that i have eaten mexican food it 18 months, oh my gosh i cant even explain the excitement i felt, it felt as if someone gave me my greatest wish! So cool! This week i did divisones with Elder Holden, one of the elders who came with me, at the same time 2 more elders who were with me at the mtc came to our zone, so it was pretty cool to see all of them again, transfers are wednesday, im not sure what will happen, i dont want to go, but president called the zone leaders and asked alot about me so im thinking that im leaving, oh ive worked so hard this transfer, and i really want to stay to see it, but oh well, usually when im having alot of sucess i leave, its happened in every one of my areas. So im excited to talk this sunday, im not really able to think so much right now, i didnt sleep at all last night, its like i forgot how to haha, and we had a sick game of soccer, oh i love it! im able to put up quite a fight, yes im pretty prideful about it because ive never been that great at sports haha. We are having so much sucess right now, im starting to enjoy everyday and have sure found the happiness that i have wanted, im able to find the happiness in alot of things, i believe i have been able to conquer my mind for the most part, thanks so much for always praying and fasting for me. I love you all so much, congrats abbey for winning student goverment!! Thats pretty cool, i hope all is well at home. So my birthday is in two weeks, and the only think i ask from everyone is to get a email from everyone!! Dont worry about taking up time ill print them all off, i just want to hear from everyone haha, it seems so long since ive heard from everyone, anyways i love you all! Ill let you know what happens sunday, im pretty sure ill call around 7 or 8 here, if i stay but if i go i have no clue what will happen, im not sure what my comp will say, but it will be after your lunch. haha so good luck waiting haha, ill try to make it for 7 or 8 my time, i have no clue what that is your time. So good luck i love ya! The computers stink at sending pics here so sorry, ill try and send photos whenever i can! LOVE YA!