October 2016

October 4, 2016 - 16 months

It rained today, so it's pretty cold and damp and it'll be like this for a week. Well we had a long day of travel and fun! 4 hour bus drive with chatting, playing suduko, and a small nap. Then we walked around down town in Rio Cuarto. And today we went to this book holiday/festival at the town square, was pretty cool. Then we played lots of ping pong, table soccer, and ate pizza with the other missionaries. Then we visted this really cool family from Peru. I really enjoyed the the conference, lots of focus on certain subjects which was intresting and shows the importance of the subjects. Love the second session from saturday when they talked alot about missionary work. I really enjoyed the talk from B. Kent Nattress and Kazuhiko Yamashita.

October 11, 2016

My week was pretty good. We've had a lot of bike problems this week but thats not anything new, just more then usually. We found and are teaching some really great families, really wanting to baptize. we'll see what comes out of these families, keep them in your prayes, especailly the S. family.

The new area is good, we are working hard. We are have lots of success in two neighborhoods. The ward has the assistence of a branch but the members I know are very nice.

My mission president is from Chile. And there are about 200 of us

Love you and miss you!!

October 18, 2016

It was pretty good we have everything nice and fixed up on our bikes right now, hopefully everything will last and we can avoid problems for a few good weeks. Been a very busy week with intercambios with the LZs and doing baptism interviews for my district. It has been pretty rainy here, we got caught in the rain riding home last night which was kinda of fun but we were soaked. We had a guy show up to church by himself this past sunday. We also had lots of service opurtinities this week which was nice! Love service. 

October 25, 2016

BIG NEWS will be training this transfer! Pick up my 'kid' tomorrow. We had a big thunderstorm last night and its still pretty gloomy, but the rest of the week was very nice and warm. We get alot of thunderstorms in Río Tercero.

I'm good in cordoba today and tomorrow, went to the temple and did a session and then we ate Mcdonalds. The week was good we have a lot of people that we are teaching and there are many who have baptism dates but the problem is that they aren't assisting church. Really pretty here lots of fields, horses, and love the river.

Been studying 2 Nefi (the isaiah chapters) and isaiah in the bible. I like to download the audio copy, I listen to one before I go to sleep or during personal study. I've only seen one primary program in my mission and that was when I was in Arguello. 

My first time training. The Mcdonalds menu is super tiny but they do have a few special burgers that pop up every once in a while that I've never seen but they arent anything really crazy or Argentinian. Do have a really good mcflurry thats of a argetina cookie brand/sweet. Super hard to find a Mcdonalds here, have to be in the city.

Nutella is hard to find here and super expensive, also peanut butter. I miss a bunch of stuff, there is not a big variety here. But I really miss salids, mexican and Asian food.

September 2016

September 6,  2016 - 15 months

We are having a lot of changes in the mission especially with rules and things we can do. We now have P-days Tuesdays. 

My comp was super sick this week had a 104 fever and we made a fun little hospital trip.

i'm just kind of stressed out and a bit overwhelmed. Just some of the changes and the the living situatuion still not being resolved. But its a trail and a learning experience everything will be fine in a week or so I'm sure. We have transfers this weekend, think i will be leaving which will be nice. A nice fresh start 

I miss you guys a ton! Only about 8 months left. Christmas is just around the corner too.

Things to send in my package - socks, tie, toothbrush heads, maybe a small cologne ( my clothes always seem to smell like dirt haha got to love washing clothes by hand )and some peanut butter!!!

September 13, 2016 - Transfer to Rio Tercero

Yes this week was very good! Yes, I transfered to Rio Tercero(third river) as DL. I'm know back in Cordoba but more south, Had two bus rides with 9 hours of travel. I'm pretty dang beat, but I'm all unpacked and already loving the area, we have a really nice apartament and we have bikes!!

It was pretty hard leaving Catamarca with all the family and friends I made there, each transfers seems to get harder. We baptized again Sunday night. We had to fill the fount with buckets of water for 2 hours because the water was cut off again but this time we found the place to turn it on. But the water was still pretty slow after we turned it on. Howevever everything ended well :) Sent a picture of me filling a bottle water of water so we could fill the water cups for the Santa Cena. 

Sending a picture of me and my new comp fixing our bikes up, feels so wierd to ride a bike... so much faster!

Don't have anymore stress really, just had a tiny meltdowna and was pretty overwhelmed with alot of things last week,

Love you!

September 20, 2016

The new area is treating me well! Legs are kind of sore from riding the bike all over but all is good. We had stake conference this past sunday so we had to travel 3 hours and the we had interviews with president and rode back in the car with him. Was good trip with him telling about life stories. Drank some really good real grape juice yestarday with some really good meat my comp made. We've been working hard and always seem to have little problems with the bikes but we always find a solution and fix them. Will be really good at fixng bikes. We went to this small meseum today where they had some cool bones from ancient animals here. I giant shell from a giant armadilo looking thing

Yeah I got a new suit it was pretty cheap  and plus lost some wait so kind of needed a suit a little bit smaller. My comp is ELder Venegas from Peru, he is from my group or better said we came into the mission at the same time. He is crazy fun

September 27, 2017

My week week pretty good, kind of dragged on but we had lots of fun and we talked and taught alot of people, sadly not too many people went to church becasue it was pretty cold (for argentina) here. We gave talks sunday, I gave a talk about the scripture and the importance of daily study and my comp about keeping the sabbath day. Very excited for General conference!!

The area is good, lots of things we have to help the ward become stronger and we have lots of people we are teaching but we have lots of young couples that need to get married before their baptisms. Hopefully we'll see some baptisms next month.

August 2016

August 1, 2016 14 months

Been studying the bible alot recently, mostly the teachings of Christ and His parables.

Starting to get warmer, lots more sun and clear days. And at night it kind of gets chilly.

At first it was really weird because you usaully contect different types of weather and seasons with months, but now I don't notice at all and isn't something weird.

The time is flying, got to take advantage of every moment. The most important thing that I have learned is everything is possible with God and faith. There are small miracles every day that we tend to miss or discount. 

We had transfers, I'm now a districto leader and my new comp is a Chileno Elder Pacuay

August 8, 2016

What a great quote!! I usually pray and read the scriptures to clear my mind. Also one of the best thing for me is to keep the mind busy, such as doing something and working hard. One thing that has been hard for me is leaving the people I know and change of comps after a long time together.

Been a crazy but good week! I know this week will be better and we have lots to do here :) I miss you and are in my prayers

August 15, 2016

Hola Madre,

Hope everything is going well back home! It has been getting really hot here. We had the baptism of B. this past Sabado, it was very special for me and also for her! She is a amazing women. Been working hard in the heat with my comp and we had a week with much success. A little stressful being District Leader but it is a time to learn new things.

we are in ´spring´ but it feels like summer. We figured out the living situatuion, we will be moving soon.

Love you 

August 22, 2016

My week was busy but amazing! We had 9 investigadores in Catamarca Ward! And we should have a ton of baptisms next sunday!!! That sounds like a amzing trip, didn't Uchtdorf talk about Dresden cathedral in his conference talk?

And we are moving to our new place tomorrow!!

-Finally found the picture when the streets flooded in Córdoba a long long time ago.

-Spanish Scrabble

August 29, 2016

Hahaha oh my gosh those qoutes made me bust out laughing. Especailly the first one. 

We had 3 baptisms! M. and A. are amazing family that we found this month. and C. is someone incredibly special to me, is a very loving and awesome man. Will have to tell you his amazing story when I get home. We still haven't moved...... we had a problem with the contract it was for three years and the mission wants one for 2. The new contract was sent today, so we will see what happens.

palo santo- smells really good when you burn it, pension smells really good now.

July 2016

July 4,  2016  13 months

¡FELIZ 4 DE JULIO!

The indepedence day here is 9th of July, not to far away. It's been cold but I've been staying nice and warm. Yes we are still covering 2 churches. We have our new mission president, i think we are going to cordoba again for another conference.

Its crazy to think that half a year has passed by already, time is flying for me. But me and my comp are working our butts off here and really seeing the blessings and miracles. Love missionary work! We had a very succesful week and a had great sunday. We recieved a referral the other day from a hermana in Valle Viejo, the mom and the daughter game to the church by themselves. They came early to the church so we taught them a bit and invited them to be baptized, we have their baptism planned for the 23rd. They loved the church and are very interested in our message. Also we have a member that works in a little village a hour way that hasnt been touched by missionaries or has heard much or nothing of our church. She has some referrals for us there and we are going to try to get permission to go there and share the gospel with everyone possible.

July 11, 2016

I'm definitley enjoying and soaking in the mission. I don't know if they will have these things becasue each spanish country has its typical plates and foods but... empanada, matahambre, alfajores, 

facturas are the pastry thing I like, but they are only in Argentina. If you ask for a factura in spain people are goin to thing you are asking for a recipt becasue that is the meaning outside of talking  about the food or a bakery.

We dont have tapas here, tapas here means the dough to make empanadas, the cap of something, or cover a book. Spanish is a tricky language because one thing can have other meaning and it is based on context and in other countries words have different meanings. 

La siesta is right after lunch for about 2-4 hours(depends on the people and where you are) Dinner you would usually eat late but im sure if your in the city or touristic area stuff will be open. I would thing things would start to open around 6 after the siesta.

Cala means cove or inlet but a beach or the seaside is also playa 

We should have some baptisms very soon we got some people who are almost there. Hopefully this weekend or the next.

July 18, 2016

It took my stomach a while at first to get use to some of the food here.

Ooo that sounds super good, haven't eaten bacon here in Argetina. Miss good old bacon, haha.

I drank alot of fresh grapefruit juice here. Lots of orange, mandarin oranges, and grapefruit tress here in peoples back yard and in the streets. Eat atleast one madarin every day, super sweet and delcious! Also the other day we had a avacado shake really good actually. milk, avacado, and a little bit of sugar.

There is a huge festival going on here in called Poncho, it one of the biggest festivales that happens in Argetina. Tons of cool thing to see and buy. If you want some cool Aregtine stuff this is the place. Very talented people who make all kinds of thing from clothes to knifes.

(Mom had just read this talk given by Sister Oscarson Do I Believe? https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/do-i-believe?lang=eng )

That is a great talk! I remember it, ill try to reread it during studies this week. The investagadores are coming along very well. B and M brought there grandma to church and she has intrest in the church now. I'm now teaching english to several people which has been great. I hope that we will have there baptisms very soon. Best part of this week was interview with the new president. Was great to meet President and hermana Correa and talk with them and hear what they had to say.

Mom: Cup and spoon/straw thing? Andrew: It is MATE

Mom: do you like Mate? Andrew: I LOVE it. I didnt like it at first it was very bitter but after my first month i liked it.

Mom: Are the stars different? Andrew: The stars are different here,  you have go north of latitude 25 degrees South to see the big dipper it in its entirety. THe most north point in Argentina is 21 degrees

July 25, 2016

My favorite part of the temple is the environment. A place to think about the future and past. A place to feel peace and refuge from the world and your life.

My week was very crazy but we closed on a wonderful sunday thouhg. Friday the chapel water was shut off for some dumb reason and no matter what we tried to do we couldnt get a hold of some who had the key to open a door out back. Because they were in cordoba, or you have to talk to this person, blah blah, etc.. etc..We even tried everythin up to calling the fire derpartment to fill the baptism fount, but they said it wasnt important enough to do so in that moment. Then friday night my comp had to go to cordoba and i stayed with the zone leaders the whole day saturady. And saturday morning we did contacts in a park with all the youth of the stake during their youth conference. was a intresting experierence teaching with 6 others teenagers. Some have very strong testimonies. Finally we baptized sunday and had our ward conferences with the stake and their talks. Was a really good sunday.

Photos

-all the argintine stuff that I have slowly collected 

-Bautismo 

-Juan

June 2016

June 6, 2016

http://www.donquijote.org/culture/argentina/society/food/locro

​ 

This website explains what is locro better than i can, but it literally mix of all kinds of vegatables and meats, I like mine with beef and cow stomach. 

I had great week, it is slowly getting colder here but it hasnt been too bad. Some snow on the peaks of the mountains. 

​Saturday and ​y

estarday it rained all day and was pretty cold however we had some 

​more ​

delcious and hot Locro for dinner!

​ We hopefully should have another baptsim this weekend and another one next week. We are in the process of finding new people to teach but we got some good refferals to work with.

 

Love you!​

June 14, 2016

Finally get to email! Yestarday we had the farwell conference of President Alliaud, Sister Alliaud, and the Alliaud kids. Was a very spiritual, great, and sad conference. I've learned so much from them and felt their strong love for me and the other missionaries. 12 hours of travel, so we slept a little bit today.

Dont have much time but I miss and love you all very much!

Tell dad that i left my piece of paper with the scriptures in the pension but ill send it when i can, have some really good scriptures.

June 20, 2016

The weather was gorgeous this week, was the perfect temp. with sun, a bit chilly in the morning but thats about it. wow crazy to think that school is close to being done for owen and noah.

Gave a talk this past sunday about studing the scriptures and I used this quote, I think it help.

"...Sounds too hard for me. Don't be dterred. Hard can be good. Christ invites us to do many hard things because He knows we will be blessed as a result of our efforts."

-Devin G. Durrant

In the valle viejo branch I taught primary this past sunday while my companion was giving the lesson on the book of mormom class.

We had transfers. Staying my comp another transfer,very happy that! Really good friends and we got of work to do here and we just began to see some of the blessings.

We had una noche blanca (a white night) last saturday, look at all the white the foto, we baptized P.

Pollo al disco is the food pic

Love you!!

June 27, 2016

We got snow in the valley this Saturday and Sunday. Today we went up into the mountains to play with the snow that stayed. Wow 90 degrees, I'm sure you all enjoyed that change of weather. I've become weak to the cold, it's freezing. But the days when its cool weather with the sun shinning I really enjoy. Send some sweets/choclates from germany.

The best part of this week was thursday when we went to Valle viejo and went around everywhere with a hermano in his car and he introduced us to inactives and people to teach. We had lots of success with him that day, and now we have lots more people that we are teaching and possibly be baptized very soon. Also sunday there was a really great talk about why we do the things we do and how we should do things for ourselves not for fear, society, etc. and also to come more closer christ through the things we do. We had the baptism of V this past Saturday.

lots of people go up to the mountains to make small snowman that the put on the hood of their car and the drive around with it in the city, pretty funny site. The rarity of snow has its silly funny traditions here.

Fotos:

SNOW!

Drinking mate from a grapefruit(super good)

Baptism

Señor SUN