2-13-2012

Hey Everyone

This is a family we´re teaching. In total they have 14! Most families are really big here, but this one beats them all! It´s really fun going here, and they´re very nice and very respectful, and I love talking to all the little kids, and they think it´s hilarious when I say a word wrong or something. They just laugh and laugh and laugh, but it´s a lot of fun. This is the familia Claro

Not a whole lot to write this week! We have been working really really hard, and the beginning of the week we placed a lot of baptismal dates, but the problem here is the people are really really lazy, and this area is a pretty wicked area, but we´re doing our best, and we´re finally getting a few people to come to church.

We are working with a guy right now his name is Goyo Rivas, and his son Mauricio, and his wife is an inactive member of about 20 years, and the first time we met him he told us he wasn´t a religious person, and he wanted nothing to do with religion, but he agreed to have us over, and now he´s come to church 2 weeks in a row! Which is great, but now we have to get him and his wife married, becuase here, nobody gets married, they all just live together, and have a lot of kids, and they say they´re married which is one of the hardest parts of Argentina.

Also because it´s not free to get married here, it´s pretty expensive, and a lot of people don´t want to spend their money on getting married, when in reality, it doesn´t change anything for them, but he´s been feeling the spirit, and he´s been reading all the assignments we´ve given him, so that is doing really well, and we are praying to know how to help him. He says he knows this is the right path for his family, and everytime we go to his house, he improves a lot, and so right now he´s our main focus.

We´ve got 14 people with baptismal dates in the upcoming month,and we´re doing our best to get everyone on track and keeping their committments. The people here are really lazy so that´s the hardest part.My castellano (language) is improving a lot. Every day it gets a little better,and a little better, and it´s fun to be able to say things in adifferent language. They tell me i´m improving really fast, faster than most, which makes me have a lot of confidence, because I still get a little frustrated sometimes, but it´s getting better.

It´s funny, my drive right now is that I can´t wait to talk to Rossy and Giovvani when I get back, and for some reason I think about that day often. Haha i´m not sure why.

The food is getting better and better though. My companion got a bugearlier this week, and he was up a few nights sick, which didn´t help. Hopefully i´ll be fine and not get it. We have been meeting alot of families lately, which is good. Right now we´ve got about 30ish investigators in total, which means we haven´t really had to clap doors yet, so that´s good.

The problem is people tell us they´re going to do all the things we ask.... and then they don´t do it. But we´ve got a few that are actually following through.I´m starting to really enjoy the people here, and starting to finally be able to love them enough to want to help them in their lives. I also feel this with the members as well, which is really cool to see the change not only in myself, but in the spirit and how it works in their lives.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy lately, and one thing I really regret is not reading it very often at all before the mission. I never realized how fun, and how meaningful studying the scriptures are. I´ve learned so much from reading, that I enjoy and value every single hour of study we get. I know every missionary encourages their family and friends to read it, but I completely understand why now. Each page has a message, and each page is inspired from our Heavenly Father to help our lives, and to ensurewe are the most happy that we can possibly be in this life.

Don´t really have any stories this week! Hopefully next week i´ll havea lot more. Thanks for all the support that I get from everyone, I hope that my emails are helping people and that people are having their prayers answered because I pray for everyone each night.

I remember one though, yesterday we were clapping a door, and this guy was out front of his yard and was putting this bag into this can, and like getting whatever was in the can all over the bag, and then putting the bag up to his face and breathing really really heavily,and we asked him what he was doing... all he responded was....oooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. And then we realized it was paint thinner, and he was getting high off of paint thinner, right in front of us... THe best part was the house we were clapping was HIS house! and he just sat there and acted like it wasn´t his. Hahahaha oh man, This place is absoutely crazy. something new happens pretty much every day. But I love it here, and i´m excited to bring everyone back someday to visit. .

I love you all thanks for all the support, next week i´ll let you know more about the investigators, this week i forgot to bring my notes of the things i wanted to tell you, sorry! But hope all is well, sounds like you´re all doing great. Love you

PS. Oh also, one last thing, I found out i CAN email any family member, no matter the relation, as long as their family, so tell everyoen they can email me if they want!

And i just changed the setting on my camera so the pictures aren´t so big, i found out that is the reason it was so hard to send pictures via email, so we´re making progress!

Dad, your email made me laugh. Hey son not much is happeng, but hereis a story of some guy scaring little kids with a snow man suit!hahahahahahaha that was so funny to me. thanks for the laugh! love youall