Week 38~

Elder Knight shined my shoes- que capo!

This one is going to be a little bit shorter this week because I am trying to send a bunch of pictures, but pictures are worth a thousand words so I sent like 9000 words.. But this week was so great as always. We had another week of craziness. As leaders theres always something every day that happens that makes it so we don't get to just work all day in our area and visit all of the people we have planned, but it keeps things interesting so I love it! This week we did divisions with the assistants so I went to Rosario for a day and worked there with one of my best friends in the mission Elder Holloway. We lived together in my last area and became super good friends so it was super cool to be with him for the day in Rosario. I learned a bunch from him and after divisions were over I had one of those moments again in the mission where I thought,¨what am I doing?¨ I need to step my game up. I have found that that happens fairly often to me on the mission. I get to a certain point or a certain level and just start to feel comfortable and limit my progress a little bit, but then I get a wake up call and realize I have so much to improve on and so many things to change! And I had one of those moments this week, I started feeling really bad about myself and about all of the things I need to work on. But I remembered a scripture in 2nd Corinthians 7:10 that talks about Godly sorrow and how sometimes we have to feel that sorrowness to help us remember to repent, and ultimately it brings salvation. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to feel that desire to repent and be better. And there are lots of things that I am trying to do better so that I can help more of my brothers and sisters come unto Christ! This week we had interviews with President Zanni and he talked to Elder Knight and I together. He reminded us of how God is literally our Father, Jesus Christ is literally our brother and the Holy Ghost is also our Brother and all three of them are part of this great work that we are doing. We have the blessing of the Gift of the Holy Ghost which is truly the constant companionship of a God with us at all times. We have a Father that is willing to give us any blessing we ask if it be righteous and with faith. And we have a brother that knows exactly how we feel and is pleading to the Father for us when we do what he taught. President always reminds us of the importance of having faith and making goals remembering that its not just my companion and I working, but My companion, myself, and the Lord! I wish I could properly convey how awesome President Zanni is and how much he inspires me and how grateful for him I am, but its pretty hard to do. But I know that I am becoming such a better missionary than I was before, due in great part to his advice and inspiration. This week we have a baptism planned! Maria is the mom of a recent convert to the church named Nicolas who is such a stud! He is about to get his mission call. But we have been visiting maria since we got to the area and have had lots of very powerful experiences with her, we love her a lot and are super excited for this step of faith that she is making. Everything is going so great. I am so happy and so excited about the area that I am in and the people I have met here! Next week is transfers so hopefully I don't leave! I love Alma 37: 6-7 Its the little things we do day to day that lead to salvation. I know this is the only Church on the earth that has the Priesthood of God, the authority to baptize, to give the gift of the Holy Ghost, to seal families for the eternities in the Temple, to give blessings of health and comfort, and so many other blessings. I love Jesus Christ and all that he did and does for us. I love my Heavenly Father that blesses me so much more than I can ever deserve. And I love being a missionary and feeling the love that God has for His children in Argentina. I love you all, have a great week!

We found chips and Salsa in walmart.. yeah walmart is in my area

Week 37~

This week was so awesome! We saw so many miracles! So we started working in our new area last monday and immediately found lots of success in finding people to teach and finding members that could help us out and everything just seemed to go so perfectly. We visited less active members that we found in our area book and knocked on doors (or clapped at the doors because thats what we do here) and we called all of the phone numbers we could find and tried to do everything we could to get established right away in our area and it went so well. One family we visited is a part-member family, the moms name is Marisa and her boyfriend Martin and then her daughter Daniella and her son José- Martin is not a member of the church and the rest of the family hasn't gone for two years, but we visited them and right away felt a lot of confidence that we are going to see lots of progress and changes in their family. And this sunday they all came to church for the first time in two years and it was just so cool! They are super prepared and ready to make changes in their lives and we are just the lucky missionaries that get to see it happen. Another person we have in our new area is a woman named Maria and she is the mother of a new member named Nicolas who is a total stud. He got baptized like 10 months ago and is already waiting for his mission call to come. He goes out and visits people with us all the time and isnt afraid to share the gospel with anyone. But his mom is Maria and she has a date to be baptized very soon too so we are working super hard to get her prepared for that. Yesterday we taught about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was a lesson full of the Spirit. Maria really opened up to us and shared with us a lot of really hard things that have happened in her life, she has lost a lot of loved ones. We talked to her about the Plan of Salvation that Heavenly Father has put into effect so that we can have eternal happiness. At the end of the lesson I felt prompted to share with Maria something that our Mission Presidents wife said, ¨that we need to look for the people that have ancestors waiting to have their works done for them that they need for their salvation¨ or in other words, there are people in the spirit world that have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and all they are waiting for is that someone does the ordinances in the Temple for them. And we need to find their descendents. That came to my mind in this lesson and I felt like i needed to tell that to Maria. I told her that her family members are waiting for her to accept the gospel and then afterwards give them the chance to accept it as well. I told her that she was one of those people that we needed to find. We all felt the spirit testify so strongly in that moment and we know she felt it. She is going to be a great member of the church of Jesus Christ. Besides them we have found a lot of other great people and we are so excited about our new area. I know we are going to have success. I feel more excited about this work than I have ever been probably. We are still looking for a new apartment because right now we have to either walk an hour to our area or take a bus and that is getting expensive so we are on the hunt! This transfer is flying by. Time needs to slow down on the mish. But I am enjoying every moment of it, even the lame ones! I love you guys. I love the Lord. I love being a missionary and I wouldnt trade it for the world. The gospel is the way to happiness! Have a great week!

Week 36~

This week was so great! This week I went to Rosario for my first Leaders council with President Zanni and all of the zone leaders and it was so awesome. I love President Zanni. He is such an inspired man and he has so much love for the Lord. The faith he has really rubs off on everyone and he just tells us how it is. I was asked by President to give the spiritual thought at the start of the meeting and immediately a scripture came to my mind that I felt like I needed to share and it was D&C 58: 26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. 27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. 29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. 30 Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments? 31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled? I love that scripture. The Lord tells us that we should do good for our own free will and that we shouldn't have to wait to be commanded in all things and if we do so we will be blessed greatly. The Lord always completes his promises. I have come to learn on the mission that it really is that way. I know the Lord loves us and always keeps His promises. As missionaries we have such a short time to do this work and it is so dang important and we have to be agents unto ourselves and be anxiously engaged in this good cause. I am trying to take advantage of every moment in the mission! We also had our first zone meeting this past week and I got to give a talk or presentation.. I don't really know how to describe it in english.. But it went really well. I talked about Christ-like attributes and how it is completely necessary that we have trials and tribulations to become sanctified and really learn if we have the attributes of Christ. Isaiah 48:10 talks about that. Elder Knight and I are working super hard and having a bunch of great investigators and people that are progressing in the repentance progress and we can truly see a mighty change of heart that they are having! I love this work and I just wish there was more time every day to talk to everyone that lives in Santa Fe haha, but I am doing what I can. I know the Lord is happy with me for what I am doing, but I also know I still have so much room to grow and develop and be more obedient and be better. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth, restored by God through the prophet Joseph Smith. in the words of the Apostle, Jeffrey Holland, talking about the Book of Mormon, ¨No evil man could write such a book, and no good man could write it, unless he was inspired of God.¨ Love you all! Be good

Week 35~

Hey Family! Well this week was a super exciting one! I had to say goodbye to all of my dear friends in Venado Tuerto which was super sad, I was only there for 9 weeks but I already loved the people there so much and had a lot of really great friends that I was super sad to leave. I really didnt want to leave that area, but I am already loving my new area too! Santa Fe is HUGE. There are so many people here. Which means so many people to share the gospel with obviously. So that makes me super excited. I actually really love talking to people in the streets and there was hardly anyone in the streets in my last area so now I am in paradise with all the people in the streets haha.. My area is in the city so there are a lot more people with money and cars and with that comes more robberies and the people arent as trusting and willing to let two random grown men come into their house and teach them about God.. But we are working on it! I already knowing my companion and I are going to have tons of success together. Elder Knight is from Syracuse, Utah! I asked him if he knows the Warner family, but he said it sounds familiar but doesnt know them.. He has about 19 months on the mission and knows a ton about life and being a ZL so he is teaching me a lot. We are also like best friends. We get along so well and laugh all the time, it is so fun. We are working super hard but also having lots of fun which is great. I already know our time together is going to fly by. He is a super humble dude and loves the work and is willing to respect and support me and my ideas as the other zone leader which I really appreciate. Being a zone leader so far has been super fun. I have ten other elders in my zone and ten sisters and there are tons of new missionaries. We have four missionaries in our zone that just got here to argentina last week and then theres another 3 that are still in their first three months so there is tons of excitement and desire in the zone to work hard and see miracles. I already feel so much love for all of the missionaries I am leading and serving and I am learning a lot about how to make decisions and how to do it in the way the Saviour would. I love this work and I love being a missionary. I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is the only true church on the earth that has all of the truth and all of the authority that is necessary to make it back to the presence of Our Heavenly Father. The evidence is in the scriptures and I dont just know its true. I feel it. I know that Heavenly Father loves us soooo much. We dont even get it. We wont ever understand how much He loves us. We just have to do what He asks and He will give us all that He has.. Which is everything.. I love you guys.

Me and my buddy Elder Holloway- he was called to be a new AP

Week 34~

Hey Fam! Well this week was a crazy week! With the final of the World Cup going on, we didn´t have a whole lot of successful work haha but my mission pres let us watch the game!! It was so awesome. All of us missionaries went to another city (Pergamino) to meet the president and he is such an awesome guy. I seriously am so excited about having him as our president. He is giving us a lot more freedom to do what we want and says that he trusts us to do the right things, which I think is great. He is changing lots of things and I think the mission is going to keep moving forward and progressing. While we were there, president asked to interview a few of us and I was one of them and I had an awesome interview with him. He gave me some great council and I am even more excited to be in this work! So we got to watch the final and that was super sad. WE SHOULD HAVE WON! Argentina didn´t really play that well which was a bummer, so all the argentines are sad, but maybe now I can bring some joy into their lives with the gospel! This weekend transfers started and yesterday they called to assign the new trainers and zone leaders and I was actually really hoping that I might train because I think that would be super fun to help a new missionary in his first two transfers.. But I got a call from one of the assistants and they told me that I have been assigned to be a zone leader in Santa Fe.. I was super shocked. It was something that had never even crossed my mind. It almost never happens that someone goes from being a junior companion to a zone leader because normally they should have experience as a district leader or at least senior companion.. So I feel super unprepared and inexperienced and not ready for the assignement I have. And I am also super sad to leave my area here in Venado Tuerto because I love the members and we have some awesome investigators and I feel like I just got here. But I am excited for the new opportunities I will have to lead and help other missionaries and learn a lot from those I serve. I feel super humbled and not ready, but I know that God puts us where we need to be in the mission and I know that He will help me to learn and grow and fill the capacities that I have to fill.. So hopefully I don´t blow it! Haha. But My new area is called ciudadela, in the city of Santa Fe in the provincia of Santa Fe and my new comp is Elder Knight from the States! I heard he is awesome guy so I am excited about that. So I have a lot to do today to pack up and say goodbye to everyone before I leave tomorrow morning. And I have to do a lot of praying... That will help for sure. Other than the big changes, I am doing great, I am super happy to be a missionary and super excited about all the time I still have left. I know this is where I am supposed to be and I am doing what I am supposed to do and that brings me the greatest joy that I have ever found in my life. The mission is so dang hard. If anyone ever says its not, then they did it wrong. But it truly is the best two years. I love the Lord and I know He Lives and loves us. I love you all and am so grateful for your love and prayers. I am praying for you all and I know the Lord is blessing and protecting you during these two years. Always seek to recognize the immense amount of blessings we have. There are so many! Have a great week!

Tried to make stir fry~didn't turn out so good!

Week 33~

Hola Querida Familia, This week was excellent! We saw lots of success and blessings this week! I knew it was bound to come soon.. This week we found several new people to teach which is what we have been lacking, so now we are going to be super busy visiting lots of people! We also have been visiting lots of the members that live in our area and we have been strengthening the relationships we have with them. I love visiting the members.. I think its something that a lot of missionaries undervalue, but they are people and families with problems and needs just as much as the people that aren´t members. I have seen that even the strongest families need the help of the missionaries to remind them of the little things they should be doing and also to help bring the spirit into their homes. I love that as missionaries we have the calling to invite everyone to come unto Christ. I love visiting families and helping them to keep progressing as a family centered in Jesus Christ and his teachings. Its the best way to have a happy family! And I am learning so many things about how I want my future family to be. Yesterday we contacted a man and his wife and at first they kind of rejected us, he was saying that he already had his religion and that he is busy and stuff, but we asked if we could just give him a pass-out card and he accepted and then he just began to talk to us and open up about how his dad had passed away a couple months ago. He began to cry and cry and share how he has been this way ever since the day he died. He doesnt sleep and doesnt eat and he has been having problems with alcohol and it was just super sad. It was sad for me to see someone with so much pain because he doesnt understand the great plan of our Father in Heaven. We shared some scriptures from 2 Nephi 2 in the BOM about the plan of Salvation and the purpose of this life and then also in Alma 40 about the Spirit world where we go after we die and the spirits of the righteous are in a state of peace and rest. I felt the spirit so strongly talking with this man and his family. I felt so strongly the love that the Savior has for him. We were able to testify to him that what he is going through is just a moment and that there is opposition in all things so that we can have joy and so that we can grow and progress in this life. It was a lesson full of the Spirit. It made me so grateful for the knowledge and peace that I have as a member of this church. And it gave me a reminder of how important it is that I share it with everyone! And every member of the church has that same responsibility to share it with their friends! Yesterday some drunk or stoned guy came wobbling over to us and tried to rob my companion haha it was super funny.. It was day time in like the middle of the street and he comes up to my comp and touches his beany and says, is that yours? ANd my comp said yeah and then he says to some other guy that he was talking to that he was going to rob us so then I said ¨okay we are going to go¨ and then he comes after us and says to my comp, hey give me your jacket and my comp said no and then he said give me your jacket again and then my comp was like no its mine.. And the guy grabs my comps arm and so then we just told him to go away basically and he like threatened us haha, but honestly I dont think he ever even saw me haha he was just looking at my comp the whole time. I think because I am bigger.. But it was silly, he wasnt scary at all and he was super out of it. But that counts for both me and my comp as our first attempted robbery haha it was funny. ALl is good here! I love you all and am super grateful for you guys. Thanks for all of the love and prayers that you are sending my way. You are all in my prayers and thoughts! Con mucho cariño

Week 32~

What up family? Hope all is well with you guys and that you are behaving.. This week was a pretty normal week, we didn't get a ton of work done because Elder Hokanson was pretty sick all week so that has been frustrating.. But we have been able to work with an investigator that is progressing super well and he came to church yesterday which was huge because NO ONE comes to church here.... But yeah he came and he really liked it and he is preparing to be baptized in the next couple of weeks! He has a desire to change and leave a lot of things behind that he has done in his life and we have the way to do that! Through his faith in Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to change and repent he will be able to feel completely free of all of the weight that he has been carrying in his life. I love that we bring that message of peace and happiness to the people. The satisfaction of seeing someone in the process of coming to understand the love that Heavenly Father has for us is something so fulfilling that I just want to do it for the rest of my life.. This week I did divisions with Elder Holloway (my ZL) and that was sweet because we both just want to work and get it done so we had an awesome day together. HIm and I have become super good buddies. We had a crazy lady flag us down on our bikes and she started saying ¨hey come here, get of your bikes..¨¨ and elder holloway said no we are okay and so then she comes over to us and said hey come here, there are two germans that live here and we are gonna say a prayer.. come here we are going to pray.. and then she asked us for our cell phone number and obviously elder holloway gave her a fake number and then she gave us hers but we didn't want to write it down so elder holloway said he was going to memorize it haha. I don't know if adequately explained how crazy she was but basically she showed a lot of potential to be someone we will be visiting in the future.. But it has been a good week, yesterday I had an interview with President Giuliani and it was his last interview because the new Pres comes like next week! So that was really good, he gave me a lot of good advice. He is an awesome guy! All is well, I am loving the mission and still trying to develop patience. Certainly the Christ-like attribute that I lack the most, but I am trying to get better! I love you all and want you to know that I love our Savior. Have a great week!

Week 31~World Cup Week

Hola querida familia! This week was pretty good! As far as working goes, we were pretty much a complete failure as a companionship, between being a little bit sick, the world cup starting, and other factors we struggled this week, but I haven't lost my excitement for the work that we are doing! I am actually really excited to do a lot better this week! Earlier in the week I got an ear infection and it was somewhat painful and I couldn't hear anything so I went to the doctor and he was not the best doctor in the world haha. He looked in my ears and what not which was good and then he just gave me some pills and told me I had to go next door and get a shot in my butt! I was pretty baffled.. I couldn't quite figure out why having an ear infection required a shot in the butt, but I followed his council.. And honestly I don't think it really did anything because I still had the ear infection for a while. But I have since then recovered so all in all I would say it was worth it. The world cup started this week as you all know so everyone is just all futbol all the time, which I love, but at the same time it is super hard to focus and find anyone that wants to talk about stuff other than futbol. I underestimated how hard it would be to be a missionary during the world cup because all I want to do is watch the games sometimes haha, but its all good! Everyone tells us the scores and what happens. It is just such a different culture here.. The other day we had an activity for fathers day at the church and every single one of the dads said their favorite thing is futbol haha it was so funny.. They have a passion for futbol that is on another level from even the people in the states that are huge football or basketball fans. So its been cool to be in this culture during the world cup, but also surprisingly difficult! Yesterday argentina played their first game and the streets were completely empty. The whole country I am pretty sure was just dead. Elder Hokanson and I are getting along well! I have really had to step up and be the leader in every aspect of the work which has been a big change from my last companions who always lead everything, but I am learning a lot! Lately I have been reading Jesus the Christ all the time, which I love. I would recommend that everyone read that. I am like super hooked on it. I feel like I am there with Christ and His apostles when I read that book and my testimony and love for the Savior is growing as I read and study. I love the Savior. I love that I have a knowledge of His love for us. It brings me so much peace and I know that He has given me the way to overcome any trial or weakness I face in my life! I hope I can always be seen as a disciple of Christ and someone that tries to be like Him. Its not an easy lifestyle, but it is the happiest there is! I know I lack so many of His attributes and fall short every day, but I want to keep progressing! I hope you all can have the same desire and find one thing that you can do better this week! I love you guys! Besos Copyright: doomko / 123RF Stock Photo

Week 30~

Como andan ustedes?? Well this week was great as always! Elder Hokanson and I are finding tons of new people to teach and have programmed several new people to be baptized in the upcoming weeks! We are super focused on trying to find the people that are prepared to accept the gospel so we invite the people to be baptized on the first lesson,which can be kind of tough, but we are finding lots of success with it! And the people are willing to accept the invitation. I am continuing to try to develop more patience for everything.. Companion, investigators, difficulties of the mission.. I have found that I am not a very patient person, so I am working on it! Its tough though.. But I am so grateful for the mission and how it has helped me to see how weak I really am without the help of the Lord. Yesterday I got way sick! So that was sweet! For lunch we ate a big asado (cookout of meat) and I tried blood sausage for the first time, which was a huge mistake. I actually didn't mind it that much, but yesterday afternoon right before we were going to leave to work, I started feeling super sick and from basically 6 in the evening until 1 in the morning, I was throwing up.. I think the blood sausage is the culprit (is that a word?) but yeah I kept trying to go to sleep but just kept throwing up and I had a nice fever, but I took some medicine and finally got to sleep and I am feeling a lot better today!. I am telling you this because I am okay now so theres no need to worry mom.. But just wanted to warn you guys to not go out and eat any blood sausage today. I am loving my area and the members are super awesome. Our branch is super united which is something you don't find here very often, but all of the members are like one big family which is so cool. A great example to me. It really is so important that we fellowship other members of the church and create that feeling of a family in the church. Hope you all know that I love you and am grateful for you guys! Families are ordained of God! And I am so grateful that I get to be a part of this family that our Father in Heaven has given us! Love you guys

Week 29~

Hey mom! Another good week in Venado Tuerto! This week was transfers so thats why I am writing today.. Elder Hokanson and I are staying together for another transfer so thats good! It will be a lot of patience and hard work on my part but its going to be a great transfer! The good news is that Elder Howe is coming to my zone!! My comp from the MTC whos like my best friend in the mission. I love that guy. And I havent seen him in 6 months since we got here so I am super excited for that! This week we have been working hard to find more people to teach and working a lot with the members of our branch to find people that are prepared to hear our message. Working with the members really is the key to success in the mission. I have realized more and more the resposibility that every member of the church has to share the gospel with others. It is a commandment from our Heavenly Father and as Joseph Smith said, the most important thing we can do. I am trying to keep being patient with my companion and know that I have a great opportunity to help him so I am going to keep doing everything I can to help him out! We are teaching a family right now that is so awesome that we are preparing to be baptized at the end of the month. Nelson and Maria and their son Gaston and they are so awesome. Everytime we teach them, the Spirit is so strong. I feel so much love for them and they lready feel so much love for us too. They always ask us a million questions about our lives and its actually kinda nice. It is impossible to teach a lesson in less than thirty minutes because the people take a topic or an answer to question and just run with it for 10 or 15 minutes without taking a breath. Haha its really funny, but the people are super open and willing to share their thoughts and experiences which I love. The people here are so great. So tonight this family invited us over for dinner so that will be good! But today is the start of my 5th transfer in the field and it is just flying by so fast. I cant believe it. But I m excited for another transfer to be better and improve my ability to teach and speak spanish and most importantly, strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ. I dont have too much to tell this week, but know that I am doing great and working hard! I love you guys!

Week 28~

Well this week was super great! I am always remembering the motto that Elder Saez taught me, ``Patience and Love, Elder, Patience and Love`.. So it has been a good week! We have been working our butts off and seen lots of results. The mission is not about numbers, but I am pretty sure we had the best numbers in the zone and from week to week we are progressing a ton, so that has been great! We found a bunch of new investigators this week and are teaching this one couple that is so awesome! We went and visited them on saturday and had one of the most spiritual lessons I have had on the mission. It was a little birthday miracle. They are reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true and they are already feeling the spirit every time we come and I have no doubt that they will be baptized in the next month! Interesting note about the area I am in.. there hasn't been a baptism here in like a year or two.. Which honestly doesn't scare me or affect me at all. I know there are people being prepared for us in every area, all we have to do as missionaries is do our part and be obedient and good things will come. I truly believe that If I do all that I can the baptisms will come! And we are already seeing the truth of that here! For my birthday in the night we went to the Yufra Family`s house and they had made a cake for me and it had this sparkler candle in it so that was sweet! They are a super awesome family that is always helping the missionaries and I am already super tight with them! Alejandro just got back from his mission in Sau Paulo and he gave me a tie as a present so that was super nice. A little more about Elder Hokanson: He is from Ogden Utah, he has about 18 months in the mission,he is an awesome companion.. He cooks super well and is super chill and patient with me so I am grateful for him. He is also my district leader!We live in an apartment house thing with two floors and our zone leaders live above us! Elder Holloway from Meridian Idaho and Elder Esteban from Bahia Blanca Argentina! SO the four of us get to hang out and see each other a lot and cook good food sunday nights so its been fun!

Venado tuerto is really growing on me and I am starting to love it as well as the branch here! There is a huge grocery store here which is sweet! As opposed to basically a gas station convenience store was the only thing we had in Feliciano so I can actually buy food now! But I am really happy and doing great! I know that I am serving my Heavenly Father in the best way I can! I have truly come to love my Heavenly Father and have the desire to do His will, sometimes it is hard, but I know that through diligent prayer and a sincere desire to change I can do all that He asks of me! Love you guys a ton and am grateful for you! Les quiero muchismo! Hasta la proxima semana!

Week 27~Leaving Feliciano

Well you have already heard that I got transferred in the middle of a transfer this week! It was an emergency transfer and I was the lucky candidate. To be honest.. it was TERRIBLE. I got a call last tuesday morning saying I was being transferred to Venado Tuerto in the Provincia of Sante Fe. So i had Tuesday to pack up my stuff and say goodbye to everyone and I left Tuesday night! I was so sad to leave. I felt like I was leaving my family again. When I said goodbye to Edgardo and Eva (my converts) we all cried like babies.. haha kind of embarrassing, but they were like my parents in Feliciano. Edgardo said it was the third time in his life that he has cried so I guess that is an accomplishment.. But for real it was super tough to leave. Elder Cac was such a good companion too so that was tough to leave him.. But hey it happens.. Tuesday night I had a 10 hour bus ride by myself to the complete opposite corner of our mission. Haha I left the very northeast corner and went to the very southwest corner. And I arrived here Wednesday morning. Honestly it has been the hardest week of the mission for me, maybe other than the first week.. But it has been super tough, but I am learning a ton and continuing to try and develop the attributes of Christ that I lack. My area is great, super chill like Feliciano and the members are awesome. We have our go to families and the branch here is like four times the size of Feliciano. It was weird because yesterday all i did was sit in church.. We ride bikes here so my legs are getting jacked. My apartment is a little smaller and worse but its still good! Everything is going good! I have learned a lot this week and everything is on the up and up. Well I am out of time, but i love you all and am grateful for you guys. Thanks for the birthday wishes. Be good and choose the right. The church is true and Heavenly Father loves us!

Letters to Connor~

Connor's Apartment

Hi friends & family~

Connor's birthday is coming up on May 24th, if you would like to send Connor a letter I know it would be the best birthday present he could get...... hand written letters are better than gold to him! 

Connor's Address~
Elder Connor Jamon Cushman
Argentina Rosario Mission
Blvd Argentino 7935
2000 Rosario
Santa Fe
Argentina

If you would like to send him a letter but don't want to have to deal with mailing internationally, you could send the letter to me, I would be happy to mail it to him.
  
Lisa Cushman
4435 Beckwith Place
Cumming, GA 30041

FYI~ at this time Connor has told me NOT to mail any packages, he will NOT receive them.  

Thanks for ALL the love and support you have shown Connor as he has been in Argentina!

6 Months~

Elder Cushman Cooking with Albina Cardoza

I don't think I am gonna write too much today because we will be talking on the phone next week!! I didn't even realize that until today haha.. But I think I am going to try and use google hangout so that everyone in the fam can join in! And I hear you have been talking with my friend Alvina on facebook haha. Hopefully you guys aren't sharing too many embarrassing stories.. But thats cool that you get to see pictures!And no worries about the glasses. I use them pretty regularly to conserve contacts and also rest my eyes. I have a feeling there is probably going to come a time when I run out of contacts so I am starting now to conserve them haha. But no worries all is good! I honestly don't know what to do about that whole situation to be honest haha.. I am going to look into to seeing if I can get more here. I am sure I can.. So no worries. 

This week went super well. We had a lot of success in finding new people and also preparing a few people for upcoming baptisms. We have one baptism coming up this weekend which is super exciting too. We have branch family home evenings on friday nights with the members and I lead that this past weekend and it was super good. I have gained a testimony of family home evening and how important it is for our families and for the love and unity we have in the home. Whether it be the whole family or just two people. It is a time to grow closer together and strengthen the family bonds we have here on earth. 

It has been raining a bunch here and all the streets are dirt roads in Feliciano so we are pretty muddy these days.

Hope all is well at home! Love you guys a ton and I am super excited to talk to you next week! Tomorrow I complete 6 months in the mission.. Pretty dang crazy how fast time is flying!

Albina Cardoza

Week 25~

This week was super good, we worked hard as usual and have a bunch of people that we are preparing for baptism in the upcoming weeks. One of which has been investigating the church since naum.. Literally.. I think they have been listening to the missionaries for like 20 years but things are looking good with her! We are also teaching a girl named Natalia that doesn't speak at all because she is deathly shy because they live out in the country far away from everyone.. I think I have mentioned them before, but she is progressing!

This week we started up english classes again which is going to be better than the last time because I actually know spanish now... Turns out you need to know spanish to be able to teach english.. 

But we are getting lots of activities going with the branch and putting more time in to helping the branch and organizing everything and things seem to be moving in the right direction. I am really excited about these next five weeks that I have here to help the members more and leave this branch better than it was when I got here. But its definitely not all flowers and butterflies.. I am learning lots of patience and love for the members. And also realizing what a lazy bum I was before the mission. I didn't do anything! But the good news is that I am changing that! Things are good with my comp Elder Cac. He is always just super chill and he is glad that I am still here to help him out and push him so things are good!

This week in one of our contacts this guy told us that we came from monkeys and that he wasnt convinced that the world is round. He thinks it might be flat.. So you can assume how that conversation ended up.. Haha it was interesting. You meet interesting people on the mission! But you also grow to love people that you have only known for a short period of time. And thats what I love. I feel the love that God has for His children every day. I am trying to act in the way that he wants me to because I don't want to let him down and I know that we are the happiest when we do what He asks. I love the mission and I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for all of the many blessings I have. Especially my awesome family that I have at home. I feel so lucky for the life I have been given!

As far as fluency goes, I have come to find out that being fluent is very hard to define.  There are lots of levels of fluency, but yes Ihave definitely hit a very comfortable level of fluency which is great! I am super comfortable with the language and can converse naturally so that's good!  

Week 24~

So I just got the call and I am not being transferred! To be honest I was fully expecting to be. And I am not going to lie, I am a little disappointed that I am staying, but I also know that the Lord calls us where we need to be for certain people so I am okay with it, there are lots of positives to staying and I would have been really sad to leave! But I am pretty sure I am the first person to be companion to a Branch president for more than three transfers and I will have spent a quarter of my mish in Feliciano after this transfer which is crazy! But all is good, this week was another pretty normal week. Easter was very different.. There is no Easter bunny or eggs or bright colors or anything of the sort here.. Which made me feel like it wasn't Easter, but I was able to focus on what is really important and the significance of Easter. I gave a talk which went really well, I talked about how we as members of the church can show our gratitude to the Savior for all that he did for us. And i did a little bit of what they call "dropping the cane" on the members. Basically I was very direct about the things that they can be doing better. But it was out of love and by the spirit so its all good! haha. We had Easter lunch with "Abuela" Alvina and she cooked asado, which is a bunch of meat cooked over a grill that is on the ground. Its something that you eat on special occasions basically because it is expensive. So that was good, sometimes there are some weird meats though which is a trial of my faith haha..

Everyone has parrots here as pets and I was holding one on my lap at someones house and it dropped a sweet deuce all over my suit pants, so thats my cool story of the week. Haha

And something else interesting that is happening with me is that I have started to realize that I am always thinking in spanish and I have been having dreams in spanish and it is really hard to speak english now haha. The other night Elder Cac and I were going to say a prayer and I decided I would say it in english and it was so hard, I couldn't even form a sentence. Its weird how my mind has shifted to spanish.

Everything is good here! Love and miss you all!

Week 23~

This week was pretty not interesting.. The work has been so dang slow here. The hearts of the people are getting harder by the day and finding someone to teach has been a real challenge for us lately.. We have been dedicating a lot of time to organizing the branch so that has been good but we did find one new investigator named Eduardo who is 72 years old and come to find out he is under house arrest for stabbing someone (he claims it was self defence) and I pretty much believe him because he was super friendly,but we will see how he is on the next visit haha. 

We had zone conference this week with all the elders and hermanas from our zone as well as president and his wife and the assistants and it was super good! I learned a lot about how I can be a better missionary and person in general. One thing I have been able to realize on the mission is how hard it is to be perfect haha. That sounds weird, but for real, I want to be perfect, but it is so dang hard.. I dont even come close. I fail every day. And for that I have come to realize more and more how crucial the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ is. We need it every day. Because we are so far from perfect. So yeah I am super grateful for the mission helping me to realize all the things that I need to change about myself and all the things that I can do better. I know I will still be very far from perfect when I get back from the mission but I will at least be a little better in a few things and for that I am grateful. This upcoming week is transfers so I am expecting to be transferred to another area.. We will see if I stay, but I would be the first person to be the comp of a branch president for more than three transfers so I am pretty sure I am leaving. Which is sad! I love the people here, I love Feliciano and it will be hard to leave, but I am also ready for new experiences and new opportunities!

The floors by the way are a lot like you heard. No one cleans their floors because they are just dirt and rocks.. Sometimes cement but either way pretty dirty.. As far as the shoes and socks go do I need to send pictures? Basically they all have holes in them so I don't know what the policy is but I can take pictures if needed!

Week 22~

This week was good! This week we did a lot of organizing for the branch here, honestly this week I didn't really feel like a missionary that much.. We spent a lot of time in the church, organizing the calendar for the rest of the year, reading leadership manuals so that we can training the leaders,  also we set up a bunch of interviews and did paperwork, made calls and plans for a trip so that the members could travel to see the conference, we planned activities for the branch, we also organized our area book that hasn't been touched for months, and then we did a little bit of missionary work. Its been good, I know it is helping Elder Cac to feel a little bit more comfortable and have a little more peace of mind and although we aren't getting to do a lot of missionary work, we are doing things that are going to help the branch here in the long run. 

I still always feel like we can be pushing ourselves a little more and working a little harder.

This week my comp taught me how to roast a banana.. We cooked bananas over a fire and it was delicious. Definitely going to eat that more often, apparently it is something they do in his house a lot.. For real though, Elder Cac is awesome. He is an awesome companion. I don't think his emotions every really change, he is just like super chill all the time, which is nice cause he never gets mad at me. He is also super smart and knows a ton about the scriptures so that has inspired me to keep studying hard and learn as much as I can. He also has a very diverse vocabulary so he always says a word and I give him this confused look and then he laughs and has to explain it to me. So far in the mission I have been blessed with incredible companions. All three have taught me very important qualities that I want to have and all three have been very different, but awesome missionaries. 

I feel super lucky. 

General conference was super awesome this weekend. I hope you all got to watch it. There is really something special about hearing the words of a living witness of Christ. Boyd K. Packer yesterday told us that he has seen Christ and he knows Him. What more do we need than that powerful witness of Christ to remind us of our purpose here in this life? Like Boyd K. Packer, I know that Christ lives. Maybe I haven´t physically seen Him, nor will I in this life most likely, but my assurance of His reality is as if I have seen Him. I have felt His love and the power of the atonement. His grace is the way we can return to live with our Father in Heaven and we receive his Grace by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The scriptures say that His grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before Him. Be humble and recognize God´s will in your life. Remember why we are here on earth. And don´t let the world make you forget that. I love you Mom, lots of love to Dad Ryan Brittany Jordan Brooke Kaylie Jonathan Summer Hallie Boston Blakely and Avery. And I guess Brylee... Not sure if its love to brylee.. but give her a pat on the head for me.. 

Have a great week!

This is how we cut the grass here! I was prepping the ground for where we were building the house for the Piriz Family!

Week 21~

Dinner with the other gringos that live in Feliciano. They live way out in the campo for a service mission. James and Jolene Ficklin! We had peach cobbler and beef stew and all sorts of american things. It was incredible

This week was super good as usual. We have had pretty much no success finding people that want to listen to us and many many failed appointments and rude people, but its all good! It makes me sad that people don't give us the chance to share with them the joy that we have but at the same time I know I am doing my part. I am learning more how to handle the rejection and just keep working, searching for the people that are waiting for our message. 

I was feeling a lot of weight the past few days from all of the rejection, but yesterday it all went away. I have really come to understand better the power of the atonement and the opportunity we have every sunday to partake of the sacrament and start over. Leave everything behind that happened in the week and just start fresh. I have really been feeling that on the mish. I get so excited for sundays because I truly feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders every time I take the sacrament. So that has been a great lesson for me and has strengthened my testimony of the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and going to church. 

I am trying to learn how to cook more and more and this week I made tacos which were super good. I found some sauce that is like tabasco sauce in a store and even though i didn't even like that before i came here, i was super excited about it because its kind of american and the food here lacks flavor a lot of the time so I put it on everything. So yeah I made tacos and they were really good. Elder Cac enjoyed them too because here no one eats anything spicy ever. So we made them extra spicy.  Last night there was a big soccer game between the two best teams in  Argentina and every time something big happened the whole town erupted in yells ans cheers, haha it was nuts.  All of a sudden everyone was just yelling.  It made me excited for the world cup, but also a little nervous cause it is going to be crazy.  Everything is super good as usual.  I am happy and healthy and learning a lot.  I know I am super blessed and have so much to be grateful for.   

Week 20~

Buendia!

Estaba pensando en escribiendo mi correo en Castellano pero despues pense que problamente nadie podria entender que estaba deciendo entonces voy a terminarlo en ingles!

This week was quite the week of rejection and failure and cancelled appointments haha.. It was kind of a tough week and I think there is a lot that Elder Cac and I can improve on to see more results this week. But I also have to work on not being too hard on myself when others reject our message. But we are working hard and we have a few investigators that have potential. We are working with a guy named Julio who is super awesome and is really familiar with the church because he drives a van that the church always uses to make trips to the temple and what not so the only thing that he needs is to recognize the answer to his prayers. He really likes everything about the church and is willing to follow the truth, he just needs to recognize the answer, so pray for Julio. He is married and has three cute little kids, they are an awesome family. And he was super excited that i know how to play chess so we are going to play sometime haha. 

This week I ate duck for the first time which was super good, enjoyed that. And i also found the best facturas (little pastries) that I am probably going to be eating a lot of. They are bread with dulce de leche inside and powdered sugar on top. So good. 

Story of the week: I got kissed by a drunk old man.. It was awful. We were walking in the street and all the drunks love us here for some reason. I think its cause we always say hi to them. But he comes up to greet us and he's all excited and he is talking in drunk spanish which is still kind of hard for me to understand. I have gotten sober spanish pretty much down but drunk spanish is a little different. And it didn't help that he didn't have any teeth, but he shook my hand and then started going in for the kiss on the cheek and I got all weird and backed away.. As any normal person would.. And then he got kind of sad and asked if he could give me a kiss on the cheek and I don't know why on earth i did but i felt bad and allowed him to give me a kiss on the cheek. And let me tell you, he really planted one on me.. It was way too long. It was the worst. The funny  part was that afterwards Elder Cac had to let him give him a kiss too haha.. But yeah it was awful.. I have since recovered I am pretty sure.

I am loving every day here! My gratitude for this opportunity grows every day and I know that I couldn't be doing anything better with these two years!

Se que este evangelio que estoy compartiendo es el Evangelio de Jesucristo y por medio sus enseñanzas podemos ser felices en este vida y tambien tener un seguridad que estamos en el camino de Dios. Estoy tan agredecido por mi Salvador, Jesucristo. El sufrio para que podemos vencer nuestros debilidades y llegar a ser como nuestro Padre Celestial. Amo Jesucristo, Amo mi Padre Celestial, y amo la obra en que estoy! 

Les amo mucho! Que tengan un buena semana!

Con mucho cariño, Elder Cushman

Week 19~

This week was super good. My comp and I get along really well, we are pretty different but in a good way, I think we complement each other really well in our teaching and in our personalities, which is a little different from Elder Saez because we were really similar..

This week we were very busy helping members of the ward as well as visiting all of the members so that Elder Cac can get to know them better. We helped build a house for this one family which was several hours of work for a couple days in a row and it was pretty tough but Edgardo did basically all of the work. Edgardo offered to basically build the house for this family at a price that was so low that it basically covered the costs of the materials and paid for his friends to help him. Edgardo works out in the campo so he knows all about that stuff so he basically did everything and he had two friends helping him and Elder Cac and I helped where we could. And in three days we built the whole frame of the house which was so cool to see. This member has been waiting and saving up for this to happen for like two years now and it has finally happened for her, there have been so many miracles along the way that have happened to make it possible.

It was amazing to see the amount of service that Edgardo was willing to give to the members, literally the week in between being baptized and being confirmed. He is seriously such an example to me of someone who gives everything. He is always thinking of others and serving. Its so cool to see how God works. He had to help the missionaries to find Edgardo in order for Edgardo to help this family have a home. 

Yesterday we were with Edgardo and Eva and they were telling us how they feel like we are their sons haha and its true, they are like my family here. They are always giving us food and taking us places in their truck to help us out, they are super sweet. Also yesterday I was sitting in their kitchen and all of the sudden a chicken jumped on my lap and it freaked me out cause it was so unexpected haha but it was funny. 

Lots and lots and lots of animals here. Still don't really love them though, but I have definitely become more comfortable with them.Everything is good here!  I am loving the mission. I am so happy all the time.  The church is true! 

Photos from Feliciano~

Week 18~

This week was my last week with Elder Saez, and we were in a trio because Elder Cac was learning how to run the Branch. It has been a really good week. I love the area that I am in and feel like I am really developing strong friendships with the members here. I know it is going to be hard to leave.

We had our first Baptism here on sunday and it was just pure happiness. Edgardo and Eva are married and have no kids and we have been visiting them for quite some time and they finally got baptized. 

It has been so fulfilling to witness the changes that have happened in their lives. Edgardo was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day about a month ago and their marriage was pretty rocky and now Edgardo hasn’t smoked in two weeks and has no desire to. And their marriage is better than it has been in a long time. 

I learned something very important this weekend that I realized at their Baptism. Often as missionaries we put the focus on getting someone to commit to baptism because we know how important it is, but we forget to recognize how awesome all of the little changes are that happen on the way to Baptism. I reflected back on all of the awesome lessons and spiritual experiences we have had with them and realized that those moments were just as satisfying as the baptism. I realized even more, that all I am here to do is help people. And I do that by inviting them to Follow Jesus Christ.  This gospel really does change lives for the better. With the help of our Heavenly Father we can overcome any challenge in our lives. My testimony of that principle has grown immensely being here. 

Elder Saez left on sunday and I was super sad to see him go. We were super close,we were like brothers, so it has been weird not having him around but my new comp is awesome. I am learning a lot from him and I know we are going to have a good transfer together. He is new to the area so I have to take the lead a lot of the time now which I am enjoying. I am officially done with my training so I am not completely useless anymore haha. Everything is going really good! I am super grateful that I still have so much time here because I have so much to learn.