Week 17~

Another great week here.  I am feeling really comfortable with spanish these days which is awesome.  I am even starting to understand the people from the Campo, which is a miracle in and of itself.  So I have one week left of my training and being a new missionary and I feel like the time has flown by.  I still feel like I know nothing and have so dang much to learn, but the good news is that my desire to learn more has continually increased.  I have started to really hunger to read the scriptures and look at knowledge of the gospel as the most valuable thing we have.

Since Elder Saez leaves for home next sunday, the new Branch president (my new companion) came to Feliciano a week before transfers to get situated here and learn how to be branch president in a week haha. So I already have my new comp! His name is Elder Cac and he is from Guatemala! And yes I know the name is pretty funny haha. The bummer is that it is very similar to the word for poop in spanish.. But he seems like a super cool guy. I can already tell we are very different and I am going to miss how similar Me and Elder Saez are. But I think we will have a good transfer together. He only has 10 months in the mission so he is still pretty young, so we will both do a lot of learning together and I will have to take a lot more of the initiative which I am actually kind of excited about, it will be good for me. But yes he is from Guatemala, close to where Grant is serving, but not in his mission. But he speaks one of the tribal languages that they speak there called Quiche, I forget how to spell it, but I am going to try and learn it from him. He has a book of mormon in the language and its crazy haha but I want to try and learn it. So this week we are in a trio and I have been sleeping on the floor which has been prettttty sweeet.I think I might go to La Paz for the week with my district leader where there is a bed for me while Elder Cac gets trained by elder Saez. 

Edgardo 

This coming sunday we finally have a Baptism. With Edgardo and his wife Eva. We have been working with them for a long time and really making sure that they are ready. Plus he had to quit smoking. He was smoking a pack and a half a day and now doesn’t smoke at all. Pretty awesome. Its amazing how the gospel helps people in every aspect of their lives. I have seen it and I know its real. I love that I can have complete confidence in what I share with others because I have witnessed it for myself. This will be an awesome Baptism because its a family so they can go to the Temple a year from now which is super exciting, they are awesome. Well thats all the news I have for this week. Everything is great! I love the mission. I do get sleepy sometimes but thats all haha its worth it.

Edgardo & Eva's home

Week 16~

Buenos Dias!

Another great week in Feliciano! Seriously it is another world here haha you really have no idea.. Its great here, but just very different and I am very grateful for where we live and what we have. 

This week I ate carpincho(capybara)~ (the largest rodent in the world, followed by the beaver, porcupine, and mara.  Its closest relatives are guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, chinchillas, and the coypu.~Wikipedia)

haha which I am pretty sure is guinea pig. But people eat it here all the time and I finally got to try it and it was super good! I want to eat it again.. I also ate this really nasty part of the cow called matumbre ~(the name of a very thin cut of beef in Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay, taken from between the skin and the ribs, a sort of flank steak~ Wikipedia)

or something.. It was like leather. I had to chew it for a solid 5 minutes and then you some juice to swallow it haha but at least the flavor was decent.

We were at our friend Edgardo´s house the other night and when we got there he had just finished killing and cutting up a cow and then hanging all the meat in what would be our living room/kitchen. He was covered in blood and there was blood dripping from the meat all over the floor which was kind of gross, but I handled it pretty well. Being here has helped me get over my fear of blood and stuff like that which is good haha.

But he offered to cook us some steak so he cut of the lomo. or the back. which is apparently like the best and most expensive part of the cow and he cooked it for us and it might have been the best beef i have ever eaten. It was super nice of him to do that for us because he was going to sell all the meat and that probably lost him a good bit of money. But I realized that that was probably the freshest meat I have ever eaten because he litterally killed the cow and then cut off the piece of meat and cooked it for us all within a couple hours.. Kind of weird haha but it was good.
This week all of Feliciano is getting ready for the big annual festival de Ternerro, which means festival of the baby cow I am pretty sure.. But the whole town is super pumped about it and talking it up so hopefully it will be cool.

Elder SAez only has two weeks left in the mission which is super weird, but that also means I am almost done with training which is exciting. I am really excited to kinda move past that part.

I have felt the love of our Heavenly Father in great abundance this week. I have been focusing on trying to become more like Christ and as I have studied Him and how we become like Him, I have realized how many weaknesses I have. I have so many things to work on and I know that my entire life will be a process of repenting and getting better. The key I have realized is that we never stop recognizing our weaknesses and always desire to reach our full potential. I know that I am in the work of the Lord and that makes me so happy. I truly am so happy. 

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_25093179_capybaras-the-largest-rodent-in-the-world-in-pantanal-mato-grosso-brazil.html'>ckchiu / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 15~

This week was great! I am finally starting to really feel comfortable with understanding spanish consistently! I spent a day in another town called La Paz the other day and was working with another missionary there while our companions went to Parana for a leadership meeting and me and the other elder, Elder Cox, are both training. He came the same time as me so we were excited because we felt like we were home alone without our parents haha. But we were excited to see how we would do on our own and it went really well. We worked super hard and got a lot done and we were comfortable teaching together which gave me a lot of confidence. I also realized how difficult the people in my area are to understand because talking to the people in La Paz was so easy. It made me realize that my first experience with learning spanish is like a weird version. The people in Feliciano talk way faster and mumble and use all sorts of weird campo words that mean weird things, but the good news is that i am getting the hang of it and if i can understand the people in Feliciano, the rest of my areas should be a little bit easier. So I have gained a little weight because all I eat is any variation of pasta, rice, potatoes, beef, and bread.. lots and lots of bread.. Bread is the staple for every meal. And often we eat a pasta that has all of the things that i listed so I am eating just straight carbs all the time haha, but no worries.. Theres a chance that it might just be that my clothes are shrinking.

This week we witnessed a miracle in a very simple way. We teach this family that literally lives out in the middle of nowhere, where there aren't roads or anything and the kids don't speak at all. They don't say anything other than yes or no. Occasionally we can get them to say two words or something but they are incredibly shy. Because they never talk to anyone other than their family. But we have been visiting them for a while and they have gotten a little more comfortable with us but still say nothing. But we have been praying for them every day that Heavenly Father can help them to have confidence and help them to talk to us and for the first time, both of the kids said prayers in the lesson which was way more than they have ever talked before. It was seriously so cool. Such a small thing, but a huge thing for them and I know it was because of the help of our Heavenly Father. I felt th Spirit so strongly. It was awesome. 

Everything is going great. I know that the Lord helps us out when we put our trust in Him. I have seen that so many times.  Sending my love to the family!

Week 14~

First of all, that's super funny about the snowstorm haha that always happens in georgia. If theres like one snowflake everyone freaks out, but it is understandable cause they don’t have the equipment for it.  This week has been really good, the language has been way better, I think I have turned a new page and realized that I can always be doing more. So I have been studying the language harder, flashcards and grammar every chance I get, and focusing harder when people are talking to try and understand and I have seen huge changes in how much I can communicate which has been awesome. I feel like I can finally be me a little more and make jokes and communicate my thoughts so its nice.

Elder Saez and I also had a really good week as a companionship. We both realized that we can be doing more than we have been doing and we can work harder. We want to see more miracles and do better. We set some goals for ourselves and picked out things that we can be doing better and I feel like we are finally really on the same page about what we want to accomplish. I learned how important it is to set meaningful goals as a companionship because then you know that you are both working towards the same things. So it has been a good week for us.

La Paz is a city in the province of Entre Ríos in the Argentine Mesopotamia

Right now I am in La Paz for a special pday as a zone and for zone conference so there are 8 of us staying in one apartment so lást night I slept on the floor, but its fun being together with everyone. My zone is awesome and we are all good buddies. But I did wake up in the middle of the night with a giant bug crawling on my arm. The good news is that I don’t know what it was because I was too tired to care to find out.

Nothing too crazy exciting happened this week so I hope my letter isn’t super boring haha but I really am doing super well. Everything keeps getting better. Other than the mosquitos.. they still love to destroy me. But I am enjoying these opportunities and these experiences that I am having. Elder Saez has talked a lot about enjoying the moment and it is something that I want to do more because we only get to experience each moment one time and if we are living in the past or preoccupied by the future we are missing the now and there is a lot to be enjoyed about right now.

Well thats all for today, but thank you for your letters and the pictures. sorry I haven’t sent pictures in a while.. the computers don’t let me a lot of the time, but I will try my best to send some soon. The church is true. Heavenly Father loves us and we are literally sons and daughters of Him. Hope you have a great week. Also, sorry there aren’t any exclamation marks….this keyboard doesn’t have them, hahah.

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOSTON… insert exclamation marks

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_24952772_hola--hello-spanist-text--signature-cut-from-paper-and-pinned--vector-illustration.html'>julioaldana / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 12 & 13~

Week 12~So I saw the picture of the nutrial and it was way nastier than I was expecting haha I can't believe I ate that. But this week I ate cow tongue which was pretty good I guess! 

Things have been much better this week, we both realized this week that we are super similar in a lot of ways and I remind Elder Saez a lot of him at the beginning of his mission, other than the fact that I am white. By the way Americans are called yankees here (pronounced shankees because of the castellano). Argentines dont think they speak spanish, ¨its castellano¨ as they would say angrily if I call it spanish.. Haha. But things are going really well! The weather has been super nice here and not fiery hot like my first week.

This week was a really good week with one of our investigators, Edgardo, he came to church and really enjoyed it and you can just see in his countenance the changes that have happened in him since we started teaching him. He talked about how he has felt the spirit and described it as a burning in his chest and a feeling of peace. To be honest when he said that, it made everything thats hard about the mission worth it. I have been feeling like I have been doing everything I can since I have been here and not really seen much from it. So I had been starting to worry that maybe I wasn't doing enough, but the happiness that Edgardo has found in his life from meeting with us and learning more about our Heavenly Father has been a really cool thing to witness. Yesterday he committed to quit smoking to prepare for his baptism in three weeks and he didnt even hesitate to say he would do it so we are really excited about that. The Lord has prepared Edgardo to make these changes in his life, Elder Saez and I just happen to be the missionaries that get to watch it happen so I feel super lucky.

So I am emailing today instead of yesterday because of transfers. THe first six week transfer ended yesterday so that means Elder Saez only has six weeks left in the mish! Which can be a little bit distracting sometimes. I will admit, it makes it a little difficult to have a companion that is about to go home cause it makes me think about how far away going home is haha but I know it will go by super fast and I am glad that I have lots of time left because I still have so much to do!

Send everyone my love as always!!

Week 13~Another week has passed by and they keep getting faster!  This week I have been a little frustrated witht the language, I have been feeling like my progression has slowed down or almost stopped and I couldn’t figure out why.  I honestly felt like I was doing everything I could, but earlier in the week I kind of had an epiphany and realized that I really wasn’t listening as hard as I could be.  I found myself kind of letting my mind wander sometimes if I didn’t know what they were saying.  So I started to focus as hard as I could every time we would talk to people and I immediately noticed a huge difference in my ability to understand.  Since then, I have been understanding really well for the most part, but it is still difficult.  Something I feel very lucky to have that my Patriarchal Blessing talks about is the ability to always have peace and confidence during my trials to know that its going to work out.  Nothing is ever more than I can handle and I always know even during the hardest times that its going to work out so I don’t need to worry too much.  I feel very grateful for that. we talk to people and I immediately noticed a huge difference in my ability to understand. Since then, I have been understanding really well for the most part, but it is still difficult. But Something that I feel very lucky to have that my Patriarchal Blessing talks about is the ability to always have peace and confidence during my trials to know that its going to work out. Nothing is ever more than I can handle and I always know even during the hardest times that its going to work out so I don't need to worry too much. I feel very grateful for that. Yesterday in church our investigator Edgardo, that will be getting baptized pretty soon, walked into church right as it was starting and it was quiet and he kind of yelled and said "hola todo!" hahaha, it was so funny, he is such an awesome guy. And even though he is from the campo and I can still hardly understand a word he says, we are best friends. I love that! The only thing I have against him is that i stepped in the nastiest dog duece at his house. I didn't realize it until we got home and by then it had stunk up the whole apartment. I almost threw up while I was scraping the poop off my shoe. It was the worst smell I have probably smelled in my life.  

I have learned more this week the importance of putting my faith in the Lord instead of relying on myself and that is why I am a terrible teacher haha. We are so much better when we rely on the Lord. There truly is real power in faith. But faith is action. We have to do our part to have the power. I heard a quote that I really liked, "Pray as if everything depended on the Lord, and work as if everything depended on you." I thought that was perfect to define faith. We have to have that level of confidence in the Lord, but then do everything we can and he will help us out. Well that's all for this week. Everything is going really well. Things with Elder Saez are great. I am happy and healthy & working hard. I can't ask for much more. Hope you have an awesome week. I love you ALL!

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_14989263_curious-holstein-cow.html'>ghita / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 11~

So did you know that technically I am supposed to come home on October 18th which means that this week I reached my three month mark and i am one eighth done with my mission already! That might not sound like much to you guys haha but it has already gone waaaaay fast for me. Its crazy. This week wasn´t my favorite week of the mish so far but it was still good!

I ate a lot of weird foods this week. And I always get excited when I have the opportunity to try something new so that I can brag about it in my email home haha. I might have already said this but I have gotten to the point where I can eat anything that people give me. I can eat mayonaise now without wanting to throw up. This week I ate nutrial (which apparently is a giant rat)

I think I spelled the name right, you will have to look it up. I´m not gonna lie it was pretty mediocre at best. And the next day I got the sickest I have gotten on the mish.   I also ate lamb twice this week and both times it was actually really good. I would gladly eat it again. And the other weird thing I ate was.. wait for it..

Ostrich egg. Yeah theres lots of ostriches here believe it or not. The egg is like the same thing as a chicken egg but like the size of a baby´s head and not as good tasting. I wasn't a huge fan, but it did the job. So yeah this week was interesting food wise. But the good news is that there is always food. We are definitely not going hungry here in Feliciano. The Members are super loving and giving. I have lost about 15 pounds though so thats good! It was much needed after the MTC.

We did a bunch of service this week, we painted the outside of Abuela´s house (our favorite member) and we also dug this GIANT hole at our investigators house. He is using the hole for where his bathroom activity will go so it was like five feet in diameter and like 10 feet deep which is super hard to dig that deep so we dug for like four hours and got about 3 feet in. My back was destroyed the next day but I enjoyed the service.

The past three days have been super tough for me companionship wise.. The differences in our cultures and the way we have grown up is really starting to show at this point.  We are just different so I am trying to focus on the good. I made a goal at the beginning of my mission to love all of my companions and always find the good in them and the lessons I can learn from them so I am not going to let little things get in the way of that. I am realizing how much the mission is going to prepare me for marriage haha so thats a plus! Not that I am thinking about that ever..

I have been studying the Atonement a lot this week in Jesus The Christ and in some talks and scriptures and I have come to understand more how much love Christ has for us to give us the opportunity to repeatedly receive forgiveness over and over and constantly improve ourselves to become more like him. The Atonement is a process of love. I think a lot of the time we have (or at least I) this perception that the Atonement and asking forgiveness is this scary thing that only really bad people have to do. But if we were to truly understand the Atonement and understand the love that our Heavenly Father has for us I think we would spend a lot more of our efforts using the process of the Atonement. So thats my little lesson for the week haha. I love that I get to study the gospel every day and learn more and learn how much Heavenly Father loves us. Our trials are for our learning and benefit and we are given the trials that Heavenly Father knows we can handle because Heavenly Father would never set us out to fail. He wants the best for us and gives us every opportunity to learn and grow. I know the message I am sharing is true!

Thats all for today, hope everything is good! I love and miss you all at home and you are in my prayers!

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_20224168_ostrich-with-egg.html'>peternile / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_21691588_nutria.html'>alein / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 10~

 I am going to send a little shorter letter to try to send pictures instead of taking so much time to write the letter. This week was really good! Slow and steady I am getting more comfortable and learning the norms of missionary life. The language for me kinda stalled this week for a couple days, but i figured out that I need to listen more intently and I have been doing that and trying to really focus on the investigators words and nothing else. I have seen a change since then! This past week I started teaching english classes! We are having them every wednesday night and anyone is invited to come. There was only five people at the first one, but I think its going to grow into a really good thing and a good way to bring others to the church! No one here can say my name haha. No one even tries. I introduce myself and there just like, oh whatever. We walked out to the campo super far for the first time this week. It took 45 minutes to walk to this house in the middle of nowhere.

I'll send pics of it!  We committed two people to baptism this week which was exciting. One of them is Edgardo and he is from the campo and we went to his house yesterday and helped him take care of all his animals. It was actually super fun. We had to chase sheep around to gather them into the fenced area and these two wouldn't go in  and we had to chase them around for a while. But it was really cool for me because the scriptures always talk about sheep and the fold and bringing in the one and it helped me understand better how important each person is. And the shepherd doesn't just give up on a sheep if he doesn't want to go in the fenced area. The shepherd keeps trying and tries different ways to gather the sheep. Sometimes with love, but sometimes with a little push or (throwing sticks at it) haha but i also fed a cow and when we walked in his house he had all the parts of a whole dead cow hanging in his kitchen so that was interesting. I almost threw up at first but then I got over it! Well it really has been a great week, my ears are fine! I didn't go to the doctor, just the pharmacy. So a branch president is basically the same as a Bishop, they do everything that a bishop does as far as I am aware so yes I spend a lot of additional time at the church while he is doing interviews or hosting activities for the youth because we are basically running the whole branch. Theres honestly like no leaders in the branch that help us out so we spend a lot of time teaching members and trying to train them to be leaders. We clean the church on Saturdays usually and go early on sunday to set everything up so yes it is very different from a normal missionary. A lot less time for the actually missionary work. Probably about half. It can be frustrating, but I know there is a reason that i am here and i am learning a lot of things that other missionaries don't get the opportunity to. Feliciano is an awesome place. It is super calm and tranquil and everyone is super friendly. There is like a town square and paved roads for maybe four blocks by four blocks and then after that is dirt roads and tiny little brick houses. Houses have dirt or cement floors and often roofs are tarps.  As always I have no time so please thank everyone for the letters and I love the pictures! The church is true!