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!!