GETTING TRANSFERRED!!

Family 

 Well I know about transfers.. and I´m leaving!!! I am so sad! I love it here in Lobos! This is the best area in the whole mission! But I am willing to go where ever the Lord wants me to go. So hopefully he puts me somewhere good! I am sad to leave but am very excited to go to my new area!

 Our investigators got baptized!!!!   It was such an insane and crazy hour and a half before the baptism you have no idea... so here we go... SO the baptism was supposed to be at 7 and we waited to abput 7:30 and then started to get worried.  So we called them like a million times and they didn´t answer.  After a while they finally called us and told us that something bad happened and they neded to fix it, and that they were still going to come. So after that we were just freakin out, we hopped into the car of a member and bolted it over to their house. When we showed up they weren´t there and it was just bad, so all three of us, me my comp and the Young men´s pres, all kneeled down and said a prayer, asking that everything would be ok, after the prayer we got a call from the hermanas that they just got to the church! We booked it back to the church to find out that the wife had fallen on the moto again (she fell 2 weeks ago) and that it was a bad burn AND she had a cast that couldn´t get wet... Satan was working so hard on this poor lady it just wasn´t funny. But she practically just gave satan a punch to the face, she cleaned up a little, put a plastic bag over the cast and said she was ready. After we started the baptism, everything from there just went perfctly. It was such an amazing experience and I was so happy to be able to be a part of their baptism! And I was so happy to be apart of this MIRACLE!! BOOYAH!

My comp is just a stud, I am super sad to leave him because we are just good buds and I have learned so much from him on how I can be a good missionary. We might play basketball today! I am crossin my fingers so hard because i wanna play a sport so bad!!!!

Well this week there were 2 other things that happened that I thought were awesome. So we were visiting a less active at his house and we are in the middle of the lesson when his friend claps at the door (yes, Argentina claps in front of the persons house instead of knocks on the door, sorry if I haven´t said that yet, haha) , so he went to go answer the door, and when his friend saw us he said (in spanish obviously) Hey! I have been looking for you guys everywhere! I wanna get baptized! So we did not deny a request like that! Sat him down, gave him a baptismal date for the 1st of march. And he was just raring to go! And to show us his gratitude he sang us a song...he was a super good singer!

So the other miracle was we were trying to find an old investigator, so we went to her house and she had moved, the family that had moved in said that she just moved around the corner to go live with her parents for a little bit. So we went to go clap the door, the old investigators dad invites us in and their WHOLE family is there, so we start talking to them and they are all super curious about our church. So we taught them the restoration, and here´s the miracle... THEY ALL UNDERSTOOD IT! And were engaged in the lesson and asking questions ans it was just the best! Just to give you a perspective on how awesome that is my comp who is just about to finish his 2 years, has only had that happen to him one other time on his mission.. Yeah... It was awesome. So you could say it was a pretty good week!

Well I love all of you and hope that you all have such a lovely week and I can´t wait to tell you about my new comp, and area!!!

 Elder Ward

ALOHA

Aloha! I mean Hola. From the lovely country of ARGENTINA!!!

This week has been a good, long, full of rain, week. So here we go!

But aside from rain nothing much happened this week. We did have interviews with President though! And me and my comp are now the official 1st and 2nd counselors of the young men presidency!!! I am so excited! it is going to be so fun, the only problem right now is that there are no young men... So that´s a little bit of a dilemma. But we are gong to fix that quick! And the Young Men´s President is so amazing.  He is a convert of about 2-3 months, so right before I got to Argentina. Yeah he´s just awesome and I am super excited to go out with him and find some youth! Especially because that means we get to ride in his car... Ooooooooooh yeah.

Aside from that we have just been killin it with our investigators because they have a baptism this weekend!!! And I am so pumped!  I feel like they understand completely why they are investigating and what they want from this gospel. But yeah. I am just super pumped to be able to see them baptized!! They are mega studs and hopefully all goes over well!! Our biggest worry is the wife's foot and arm.  She fell on their moto and she might have to get a cast. And we are hoping that doesn´t happen because casts down here are crappy and yeah... 

Well I love you all and hope that you have a good week!!!

Elder Ward

PICTURES!!!

Ok so this week was just awwwwwwwesome!!! So we have 2 main people that we are working with right now... a couple and a 14 year old boy. So this week the couple came to church and also committed to be baptized on the 24th of this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am literally so happy for them it is ridiculous. when we got back to the pench after the lesson that night I was just screaming and jumping around and man... I am just super happy for them, haha. And I am so glad they could get baptized while I was here in Lobos! 

The 14 year old boy is in a family of less actives. But his family went less active before he got baptized. And he wants to get baptized soooooooo bad. He is pretty much Joshie´s age and is super excited when we go visit him but he never reads the Book of Mormon, or comes to church, so now we have to help him realize the importance of those things in his life. and we are also working with the family too. And they are awesome! All of the kids just love us, so that´s definitely a plus! 

But yeah, that is all the pretty much happened this week! Aside from my bike just breaking every day! I have probably used like 1000 pesos on fixing that bike in the past month, haha so yea. The Rusty Stead strikes again. AND I GOT MY PICTURES TO WORK!!!! So i am gonna send a handful! Haha but i love everyone so much. Whoever reads this just know that you are a blessing in my life and i feel the prayers of all of you!! Have an awesome week!!! 

Elder Ward

 Me, Elder Young, Hermana Ramos and Hermana House (The Pack) Get it? we are all serving in Lobos and lobo means wolf yeah... it´s pretty funny

How are you feeling?  I hope better!!  Give me a health update.

No I am honestly feeling fine! I haven´t felt even a little sick in the past while, but I think my comp got what I got this last week, so I hope we never see it again because it´s passed through both of our systems!

So they made an announcement that there is going to be a new mission
starting July 1, 2015 - Buenos Aires East.  Have you heard anything about
that?  Will you be affected?

It depends, because there are 2 zones in my mission right now that will go to the new mission and if I am in those zones at the time of the change I will go to the new mission, but I am not worried, whatever happens will be the Lord´s way!

How are things going with your new companion?  Tell us about him.

He is awesome. I love this guy to death, he is from Oregon and was a freaking beast before his mission, he wrestled and went to the pros for MMA!  Like the fighting stuff! But yeah he´s super chill and is just an awesome missionary. and he is very old. After this transfer he only has 2 more left, so he´s coming up on the end of his mission!! Crazy!

Have you received any letters, cards, etc. from any of us?

Well I just don´t know yet because I haven´t been to the office yet. And I probably won´t receive them till transfers or something because of how far out we are. But I will definitely get them eventually! One of the secretaries said there was a lot of mail with the last name WARD on it so I am assuming that is it mine, haha

You have said how much you love your mission president.  Tell us about him and his family.

Hmm well not sure... They are just awesome! They do so much for the mission and it is just awesome! They have 2 kids that are living with them here and a daughter that just got back from Russia on a mission but yeah, I hope that I can be in the offices so that I can work with them more because they are just so awesome and just such a blessing to this whole mission! But yeah, haha

The Beautiful Argentine Flag

FELIZ NUEVO ANO

Feliz Nuevo Año!!

Hope you all are just doing dandy and setting some sick ill nasty goals for this next year!! Because I got one, to be in Argentina for ONE WHOLE CALENDAR YEAR!!! I am so excited for this year!! It is going to be awesome to just have it filled with miracles and all that good stuff! I hope you are all enjoying the snow over there in Utah, cause I miss it so much!!! I just want Argentina to be a little cooler, but oh well, haha probably won´t get my wish for a couple months. But annnnnyways. I pretty much started the year like I started the year last year. Sitting in my bed sick, haha so I laughed so hard when I turned the page of my calender and saw the picture of my broken face because I  had a little repeat. I didn´t break my face, but I did puke my guts out for like 3 days and didn´t drink or eat anything because anything I ate or drank came right back up almost instantly. so that was fun! Hopefully I lost a little weight from that, haha. Because I am still a little chubby. So that´s fun....

But in other news I got a new companion! His name is Elder Pennington and he is from Oregon and is a total grandpa in the mission because he only has 2 transfers left including this one. I had a ´flash´ and sadly I had to lose Elder Young. He was a stud and we were getting along super well , and even got a baptism in the short time we were together. But Elder Pennington and I will work some miracles too. He really likes to be obedient so I guess I will learn a thing or too from this guy!

Elder Pennington, Hermana Ramos, Hermana House, Elder Ward

We also got to go to the temple this week! It was super amazing but super weird because it was all in spanish, and it was just a little stressful for me, haha I was sweating bullets, but all in all it was an awesome experience and am excited to do it next Christmas! AND I GOT A CAMERA SO I COULD TAKE SO PICTURES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL BUILDING!!!!!! I am so excited I finally got a camera and am now able to take pictures!!! booyah!

Yeah so that´s all that really happened because I was sick in bed most of the week. Luckily now I feel better! Have no idea what happened or why but luckily it is over! Because I was SOOO HUNGRY!! But yeah! It was a good week though! Thank all of you for your support that you give me and for all of the prayers that are said in my behalf! I can and always do feel the strength from those prayers! Love you all so much!

Elder Ward

FIRST BAPTISM!

Family-

The baptism at first was super stressful. First, the ladies showed up like 2 hours early, at like 3 and the baptism was at like 5. So we just had to let them sit in the chapel while we tried to do other preparations because there is a missionary rule that we can`t be in a house with women unless there is another man there. So then as 5 rolls around no one else shows up, not the 2nd counselor, not the people doing the baptism. NADA. So then we went home to get our baptism clothes because we were planning on members doing the baptism. We grabbed the clothes and when we came back EVERYBODY was there, in a matter of like five minutes (because we live really close to the church).  Everybody showed up and it was SUCH a blessing and a MIRACLE! Yeah we started an hour late but other than that the baptism went perfectly! So yeah it was a super fun day!  My comp said that`s pretty much how every baptism goes here in Argentina, so I am very excited for more stressful days!!!  The feeling afterwards was so awesome!  Especially after confirming people the next day!  Elder young and I got to do the confirmations, and it was just amazing. It is an indescribable feeling to bring people to this gospel!  I can definitely tell you that it is a feeling of extreme joy!!!  Just a whole lot of other feelings too. but man was this an awesome weekend!

The Lobos Rama (Branch)

It was so great to talk to the fam on Christmas!!  Just so good to see everyone!!  The rest of the day was pretty basic.  We just went out proselyting, we finished cleaning the font and went on our way teaching other people! 

We stopped by our investigators house just to make extra sure that they were ready for their baptism. But yeah, it was just a good ol' regular day!

Baptismal Font

Christmas Eve was really when we celebrated Christmas I guess.  We had dinner at a members house and we were allowed to stay out till 10:30, if we had a car ride home (usual curfew is 9 or 9:30) And we just had a giant fest of some super good chicken called pollo al disco. So yeah, nothing too exciting!

We have a short p-day today because we are going to the temple tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED. The Buenos Aires temple is soooo beautiful, and it is just going to be a dandy time to have my first session in spanish... I am actually super nervous, haha but we`ll see how it goes!

Buenos Aires Temple

Well nothing much else exciting happened besides the preparations for the baptism. I went on exchanges with my zone leader because he had to give our investigators interviews to see if we taught them everything well. And then our other investigators totally promised to go to church but they didn`t!! We stopped by to see why they didn`t come and he said that he stayed up till like 6 in the morning for a reason that he wouldn`t tell us... So yeah! But it was a super awesome week! FINALLY GOT MY FIRST TWO BAPTISMS! CANNOT WAIT TO GET MY NEXT ONES!!! Oh, and these past couple days have been the hottest days of my life. it has been pretty terrible. there is just always sweat on my face because of the humidity. So yeah, haha

Love you all so much!!!

Elder Ward

FELIZ NAVIDAD FROM THE ARGENTINA BUENOS AIRES WEST MISSION!!

THUMBS UP!

Elder Ward and Elder Young - Photo sent to us from Hermano Gimenez

Family!

Missionary life is really just starting to become a blur now, I gotta start taking weekly notes or something.

But Anyway! This week we had transfers! And luckily me and my comp are not going anywhere! We are becoming pretty good buds! But the Hermanas that were in Lobos left and to get to the transfer meeting we had to sit in a taxi for 2 hours and I was the fortunate one to get the Hermana´s luggage on my lap.  It literally weighed like 90 pounds, so by the time we got to the office I could not feel my legs.  Luckily I was able to see all of my mission buds!  I got to see Elder Udall so that was super fun to see my papí! A papí is the person that does your training.   We had this awesome, massive Christmas party for transfers! We had a huge feast and then we listened to music and did a sing a long to a bunch of Yankee (that´s what Argentine´s call Americans, pronounced shankee) songs!  We listened to Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and I freaked out, but they started playing JINGLE BELL ROCK!!! It made me so happy. Then after all the fun we had an awesome devotional with some narrations and singing, and then we got to watch this movie called Ephriam´s Rescue, if you haven´t seen it I highly recommend it! It was super good and uplifting! And one of the actors went to Skyline and I totally know him! So that was kinda wierd.

But other then that nothing much has happened here in Lobos! But our investigators are going to be baptized this weekend on Saturday!!! I am so happy to finally have my first baptism! It´s going to be so awesome! It is going to be such an awesome day!! Can´t wait to finally have my first convert to this AMAZING gospel!! 

Love you all so much and I hope you have a super happy and joyful Christmas!! I´ll be praying that it doesn´t snow on christmas so Dad can be with the fam! Christmas with Dad there was always a million times better! But I have a challenge for all of you! Try to think more of Christ this week! Even if you are buying gifts, think of what the FIRST gift of Christmas was and the sacrifice he made for you! I just had to give a talk yesterday about Christmas, and it was awesome! It definitely helped me think more of Jesus Christ as I prepared that talk! So try to think more of Him, and share this wonderful message with somebody that probably doesn´t know about it or doesn´t have a strong testimony! That is the best way to think of him! I love you all so much! Have a SLPENDID Christmas!


Elder Ward

Photo sent to us from Hermana Olson with the caption - "My Favorite Elders!"