HERE WE GO

Ok. Here we go. So this week we found a family that just moved to the area that are less actives, and they are AWESOME!! They just decided they wanted to go to church, so they went to church this past Sunday and nobody was there because it was General Conference, but they left their address so we could go visit them!! I just Love them! We are going to have a family night with them this week, and it is going to be so amazing. Miracles just keep happening! Freaking love the missionary life!

Transfers are next week.  I think Elder Benitez will go, but I hope not! He is probably one of my favorite companions!! But he has been here for 4 months and usually that is the limit with President Robertson.

  

We also had a man approach us this week  (I totally thought he was going to rob us) but he said hey why did you guys stop teaching me in my house??? long story short we are teaching him now. He came with us to church this Sunday and he was so happy! Things like that just make me feel so glad to be a missionary. Bringing pure and lasting happiness into the lives of others!!! OH YEAH!

We also have a new friend! There is a neighborhood that we have been doing a lot of work in. And there is a dog that lives there. The dog  ALWAYS follows us around. The barrio (neighborhood) calls it Sophia, and it follows us to our visits, when we go in the house it waits outside and when we finish it continues to follow us! I`m pretty sure the dog recognizes us as representatives of Jesus Christ more then half of the people we talk with. But whatever, that`s ok I guess....

Well I love you all and thank you all for your support! This week was super fun! Hope you had a fun one too!! See ya next week. 

Elder Ward

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Family!

Conference was awesome!! We went to the stake center to watch it! We had plans to watch it in the houses of members with some investigators but every member backed out at the last second... BUT all`s well that ends well. We still had people go all the way out to the stake center to watch it!!! WEEKEND FULL OF MIRACLES!

Obviously we listened to it in Spanish.  There were words in particular that I could not understand but I always understood the context of everything! So I was just doing great, it took me a couple talks to adjust to it, but it was awesome!


I am pretty used to hearing Spanish by now, haha, I think in spanish, read in Spanish, talk in spanish, dream in Spanish... And sometimes I honestly can`t remember English words! So that`s good! Haha

We had to move our baptism because the dad  works on Sunday and obviously his wife wants him to confirm her (converts get comfirmed on the following sunday) and the dad is a member! He`s just been less active for a really long time, but now he has come back!!  BOOYAH! We don't do much for the baptisms, in this ward the mission leader makes the baptism program! SO all we do is clean the baptism font and fill it!! But the baptism will be the 18th!

The main thing that happened this week were conference and a AMAZING EXPERIENCE of a less active named N****.

We have been passing by her house since got we got here, and she just hasn't been coming back to church or making any changes... BUT this weekend she she went to every session, and brought a friend to almost every one! and she told us an experience she had. She thought that on Sunday the first session was at 9 in the morning, but it wasn`t obviously, and even less in Argentina because the first session starts at 1, so then she walked home (her house is VERY far from the stake center) and was very mad at God for not telling her to go later so that she didn`t waste time. Then right after she had that thought she heard a voice tell her, Daughter, be still, and know that I am with you...... I AM JEALOUS! haha no, but this was just a testimony for me that God is always watching us, and that things happen for a reason. When she returned to her house her daughter asked her why she was so happy even though she got to the stake center and no one was there, and she told her because God is happy because I am TRYING!

That reminds me of a talk in General  Conference that I can`t remember that talks about how Saints are sinners WHO KEEP TRYING! So keep trying everybody! Even if you fail! It`s ok! The failures are there to make us better! 

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Ward

BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT

Ok so this week we did some pretty neat things. We had a GIGANTIC ACTIVITY IN THE CHURCH!!! We did a ton of service, and we had divisions with the other elders in our district! And a funny story... 

The Gigantic activity was with the ward and was on my birthday so it was a pretty awesome birthday present! We had an activity called MI GIRA POR LA VIDA or My tour of Life, something like that, and it was so awesome! We had 5 activities, Video games, a dance, Mormon messages, a family night, and a secret (iron the missionaries shirts) and the people had to choose 3 of the five activities, and depending on their decisions they would be separated in to the kingdom`s of glory depending on what they chose! Elder Benitez and I have been planning this activity for WEEKS! And it turned out so freakin awesome! We had so many people come!! At least like 150! We had members, less actives, and non-members! IT WAS SO SUCCESSFUL! Best birthday present ever!  Best birthday present a missionary could get (aside from all the cards and the clothes I got from mom!! THANK YOU!!)

During the week we cleaned up this old ladies house and it was so awesome. We took all of the weeds, pieces of couches (no idea why they were in her backyard) and threw it all in her old pool, then we just lit it all on fire. No that was not my idea, it was the member`s idea.  Here in Argentina they just burn garbage a ton and no one cares... even though I am pretty sure it`s illegal.

After the service we had divisions with the other elders, and I got put with an Elder that just got here! He has only been out 2 months! So I was the senior companion and I was SOO STRESSED!! But all is well that ends well, and the divisions ended amazing! We found like 3 new people to teach and found a less active while talking to people and asking for references!

The investigators are all the same, our best Family, and then some other people, haha.  Not this Saturday but the next, the mom and a daughter of the family will be baptized!! We are so excited for it! WE HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG!!!

But I am excited for General conference and I hope everybody else is to! I hope that everyone approaches it with a well thought-out question that you want answered! Pray about it and even fast about it so that you can receive personal revelation!! I promise you will not regret it!

And the funny story is that while I was sleeping last night one of the beams in my bed broke, and I rolled off the bed in the middle of the night because it broke... Guess I better eat less and exercise more!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful conference weekend and that everyone will be able to receive personal revelation this weekend! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Ward

OFFICIALLY AUTUMN!

OK. So this week was pretty awesome, especially because it is officially Autumn!!! And it has finally cooled down a little bit! It`s still hot but we aren`t being during the day! WOOHOO!!

Getting pumped to get wet (baptize)!!

In other words, investigators really haven`t changed much, we still have our main Family that have been amazing from the start!  They are doing super awesome as always! We going to have a Noche de Hogar (family night) with them at 6:30 tonight! And we are going to bake them some brownies! Also they tried the peeps and they said they were way too sugary, haha only one of the little girls liked it.  

We have really been focusing on finding other people to teach and reactivating less actives.  We have an investigator.  He is a super stud and wants to do everything except go to church! This last weekend he went to a car race (I wanted to go SOO BAD) with his friend that was a sailor that spoke English! So that was super fun to talk to him! 

This week we also found an old investigator.  He speaks English super super well and it`s super weird because our first visit with him I taught the restoration of the gospel in ENGLISH.... IT WAS SO HARD! During the whole lesson I had to translate the lesson back to English because I have taught that lesson so much I just have it memorized!

Also funny story, Elder Benitez is trying to learn more English, so we started to do practices in English, during one of the practices he accidentally said the the families could be sold (in place of sealed) for time and all eternity... I don`t think people are going to want to go to the temple if they will be sold into slavery for all of time and eternity, haha but it`s ok, I tried to say tail one day (cola) and I said the bad word for butt... Just a testimony that no ones perfect right? Haha.

Elder Benitez and I are great! We are pretty good buds, haha we have our little episodes, but we are way good friends, I hope I`ll be able to visit him after the mission!

Well I love you all. A LOT! Hope you all can feel it through my prayers for you! Hope everyone has a good week! 

Love, Elder Ward

P.S. My Spanish is coming along well - Si! Mi espanol es mejorando cada dia, ahora Elder Benitez esta enseñando me como hablar en la forma VOS es una forma de 3 para decir YOU en español. Estoy re agradecido para tener un companero latino y por todo su ayuda!!

Best Cereal Ever!!!

I LOVE THE CHURCH & THE GOSPEL

So this week was pretty sweet, especially because this week the members gave us 2 ASADOS (Argentine BBQ) for lunch!!! And it was seriously so good and I probably gained at least 5 pounds just from those, haha.  AND Also in food news, the main family we are working with wanted to eat something from the states and so I was thinking and thinking a ton for a food super American... And I came to the conclusion to make some good ol` SLOPPY JOES!!! OH YEAH! It was super good and I`ll send a pic of the final product. 

My Sloppy Joe Creation

Oh man, so this week we found out that there was a a part of our area that we hadn`t been to before so we were super excited and we were certain there was a baptism hidden in this new area! We went around contacting and we contacted a house. A girl came out and we started talking to her for a bit, but right in the middle of talking to her a dog tackled my comp and he fell flat on the ground. And Elder Benitez does not like Dogs. AT ALL. So he screamed  and I could not stop laughing. He didn`t talk to me for a little bit after that because he was so mad, but oh man. Too funny, haha. SO yup. Pretty neat.

But investigators wise. We have an investigator that we haven`t been able to find for a while, but we found him this week! And with good news too! He told us that he had been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon! Almost 50 pages! We were so excited to hear it! And then he explained to us that he didn`t really understand the begining of the book, so he had a briliant idea (this is what HE said), he told us that he started to read the Book or Mormon from back to front so that he could understand it easier... We asked him what he understood and he said nothing... Well at least his heart was it the right place right?

Also this week we found a TON of new people to teach! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! Practically every person we talked to in the street wants us to come back and talk to them, but we will see if they are telling the truth or not! Because that happens a lot down here. Even the little kids lie and tell us their parents aren`t home when I can see the parents sitting in the front room watching the TV... but what ya gonna do right? 

Well I love the Church and the gospel... Like a lot, cause it is super true and I am super excited to keep preaching it for another year and a half!!! Crazy to think that already 7 months have passed by! Well love you all! Have a good week!!

Elder Ward

WORKING TOGETHER

We are not getting transferred!!! We found out last night!!! And it was super stressful but we are both working together for another whole transfer! Hopefully President doesn't change anything before the next transfer!

Everything worked out great with the package/suitcase.  It was perfect! A member went to the temple to pick it up and we took a taxi from the members house to the pench because it was so MASSIVE!!! I thought it was just going to be a little package but it`s HUGE! I was definitely content when I saw it! I think it`s the biggest package in missionary history!

This week we had a little trouble finding people to teach, and it was super hot here, like really hot. But on Sunday and Saturday, Elder Benitez and I just worked super hard despite the heat and had some miracles!! We found 2 GIGANTIC families to teach! So we are super excited for that! Like I said Elder Benitez and I will keep working together and we are super excited! We are super good friends and we have enjoyed our time together! And we are excited to be here for the baptism of some of our favorite people ever!

Some art work made just for me from one of my favorite families!

Not much happened this week... A lot of heat and for some reason a lot of rejection, but this week we learned a lot that even though we don`t see success in the very moment we might have success in the future!

Elder Benitez at the BBQ

I was sad that I couldn`t be at the Aggie game!!! I love that so much! Glad gramps is doing good and that he is going strong with his Aggie pride!! Because I am too!! Haha. 

I'm sorry that this weeks letter is short... despite the shortness of the letter I am so grateful for the prayers that are said in my behalf! I had such a great feeling during this week sacrament meeting, a feeling of renewed strength! And I know it was from your prayers! I love you all so much! Have a good week!

Elder Ward

Walking up the stairs to my pench

And you wonder why I've gained a little weight

GOOD WEEK

This week was pretty sweet. We worked with 2 of our investigators and just drilled them. We drilled them both for their coffee and  tea so that they could be ready for their baptism on the 14th. We have a bunch of coffee and tea in our pench right now... Hopefully our mission president doesn`t go in there any time soon! And also our investigator that had surgery is doing amazing! It all went perfect! We received a call from her husband on Thursday night after the surgery was over. She had a tumor in a major vein and usually when the doctors take it out there are a lot of problems.  They can easily hit other organs which means that have to do more surgery to put everything back together. BUT NOTHING BAD HAPPENED! The doctors took it out perfectly! We can`t go see her sadly because the hospital isn`t in our mission but we are planning on calling her tonight to see how she is! Thank you for your prayers for her!!!! 

Catch of the Day - 200 pesos of tea

 I do have a funny story.  Here in South America they use bidet (the toilet that shoots water) and here the knobs say F & C not H & C because frio is cold and caliente is hot. So I used the one that said C thinking it was cold... And I was gravely mistaken... As I was sitting on the bidet at first it felt fine, but 2 seconds later the water was literally boiling,  I jumped off of the bidet and hit my head on the wall.  I burnt my posterior... SOOOOOOOOO BAD, and it stung for like 4 days... Not fun... 

Odd Toilet Sign 

We just had a good week numbers wise too, so that`s always fun to see the work end up good both spiritually and numerically.

The members here feed us every day and it is not good for my waist.  I AM GETTING SO FAAAAAAAT..... Hopefully I can find a way to lose some weight fast! Because my pants aren`t growing like my stomach is! When I get home I will cook you all of my favorite Argentine food like Asado, Milenasa and Empanadas.  It is all so good!!!

Transfers are next week. We will not know until Sunday if either of us is getting transferred, but I am hoping that neither of us leave! I love my comp!! He`s so awesome! And I haven`t had a comp for more than one transfer so far! He`s my 7th comp for cryin' out loud!
 

Well hope all is well and that all these babies being born all stay good and that Lizzie and Clark name their baby Spencer because he is due on my birthday!  Congrats to Peter and Jessie and their cute baby Bennett.  The family is growing like crazy!!!

Love you all!!! And hope you have a good week!

Elder Ward