December 2015

Andrews mom here...I have not been very good at keeping this blog updated as regularly as I want to, but I have gone back and updated the past few months.  We were able to skype with Andrew today-it was great to see him and hear his voice!  He is doing great! He is enjoying the mission, the people and the food of Argentina. ~ Sara 12/25/2015

12/07/2015 6 months
Hola como están? My week was very crazy and long but also good. Im super tired! We had a christmas musical program of missionaries this pass sunday. Consited of a choir and narrationes and some solos. Was super awesome experience. We practice for 4 week every sunday. And a few days here and there. It end out bieng incredible. A ton of people showed the whole chapel, cultural hall, and stage were jammed packed. Lots of members and investigadores. The spirit and the message was so strong. We sang great! We have the christmas conference of the mission coming up this next monday so im not sure if ill email then or tuesday, well see. Today we went to carlos paz. great area and very beautiful. A little toursity but lots of  cool stuff there. prayer for G that he will be able to stop smoking

12/15/2015
Sorry im a few days late, but Happy Birthday mom! :) Te amo muchísimo

Skype call 25 de diciembre! Send me your skype name that you all will be using the 25.  

12/21/2015

thank you for the information. Cant wait to talk to you guys too! Glad to hear thr funeral was good, i hope the family is doing okay especially grandpa. 

Well i was illegal or the past two weeks or so. So i had to go to tucuman from wednesday till friday night. which is en Argentina norte. Went with thirty other missionaries. We did paperwork and legal work for our DNIs. Now im legal again, i think... hahaha

Tucuman is outside of our mission so that was wierd. was very hot, 40 C  with lots of humdity one day and the other day it rained alll day. durning the storm the power went out  and i got stuck in the elevator for 10 minutes with 5 elderes, and the whole hotel sweated all night without airconditioner the power finally came on 3 in the morning. Ate some really good food there, had lots of fun, and did some long and boring paperwork, made some expercences and didnt get much sleep with 2 super long buse drives. 

photos:

-american candy poker

-Asado ( there is some intestine and stomach in there , but its not bad especailly the intestine) 

-trying to teach a statue in tucuman

~FELIZ NAVIDAD~

los quiero mucho! Espero que todo ustedes tienen una navidad buenísima. Estoy muy agradecido por cada ustedes en mi vida. Recodar el verdadero espíritu de Navidad, ha nacido un salvador.

November 2015

11/02/2015 5 months
That sounds delicious! Its rained here for the past two days straight so lots of humidity, mud, and flooded streets. My week was crazy but really good, we had two conferences a ward activity and meeting with our ward mission leader. The activity was great it was the "halloween fiesta" was a talent show with really cool native latin dancing and we did skit for the ward it was hilarious and the ward loved it and some of our investigadores came as well. Dont be afraid to share your testimony or talk abou the gospel, missionaries love referencias. Miss you guys so much! How was the 31? Cant believe that i have 5 moths in the mission, time is flying by!

Mission Zone-2nd row from the back 5th in from the right

11/09/2015

Im very good! we had a had bautismo this past weekend, i baptized M. super spiritualy defintley my favorite part of the week. It is super hot now and very humid some days. Today we played paintball with our zone and another today, was a ton fun. The rain storms are crazy here, lots of hail and rain. Thats makes sense, not very big here either but there are some tricker treaters. Yeah takes a little while to get ajusted, a little less for missionaries, feel super ajusted now.

Fotos: when i gave blood a while back, paitnball, bautismo, giant spider in our pension, etc.

11/16/2015

Been a super hot week, getting a really good farmers tan haha. Tranfers this past weekedn im still in Arguello haha, with Elder Escobar from last transfer. im pretty sure ill leave next month after christmas. We did a lot of service this week. Gaston "nano" and Yohana are getting married next month so we have there buatisms next month which is super excited, We are teaching a family of Jehovah wistnesses which is a little difficult but they want to get baptized they just need to know the restortion of the church and the book of mormon are true. They said either their church or our church is the true church of christ.  

11/23/2015

I miss snow and skiing haha And yes getting really toasty here! No my allergies havent been bothering me, havent had that many bloody noses either! I am enjoying it here Argentina, much life time experiences, learning, and fun! Not sure how exactly the celebrate christmas here. im not sure if there into the whole santa thing. But it is a big thing here. Think big parties both the good kind and bad kind 

11/30/2015

Its been a really good week. we had a wedding this past friday and we have baptisms coming up really soon and another wedding! Got my scripture cases the other day!!! and a package full of food from grandma and grandpa smith!! We also have a missionary choir doing a christmas musical program the 6th of dec. spreading the news like wildfire. trying to get lots of members and thier friends who arent members to come as well as nuestro investigadores. 

October 2015

10/5/2015 4 months
Conference week was great.We had a baptism inbetween the sessions sunday. Conference was amazing and it has different incredible light when watching it on the mission. Every talk applies to one of our investagadores or yourself in a way. Yes the prophet does seem pretty frail but it was good to hear what he had to say. Got a new comp. still in the Arguello area tho. Elder escobar from Chile. 

I really liked the talk by larry Lawerence

Speaking spanish is great, i love it. however my english is fading at the same timea little bit, especially with spelling and sentence strcucture.

Wrote lots of notes during the conference

Had my first big thunderstorm here the other day lots of rain, hail, thunder and lighting. was so hard to sleep that night. Its starting to get really hot, so summer is just around the corner for us.

Went to the temple again, got a lot of garden pictures.

My old zone

10/12/2015

Lots of motos and mopads, lots of trash on the side of the road. Sadly you kinda get use to it. The driving is crazy here also but also something ive gotten use to. What kinds of foods did you eat there. I hope learn more language after the mission. Thats awesome, think owen really could go somewhere with swimming!! My week has been very stressful, long, and also good. First week of new transfers are always crazy. Aesome having a latin comp. 

Me and my comp set a baptism date for a lady when i first starting teaching two months go said she wouldnt change her religion. 

10/19/2015

How was this past week? We did some servive on saturday morning at a member's house when we got a call that we needed to go to the church to donante blood, so i donated blood this past saturday. Been keeping up with the Rugby World Cup a little bit here with the members. Los Pumas de Argentina are doing pretty good so far. Been working with a lot with three people to help them live the word of wisdom before baptism, lots of people smoke here. Also been busy getting people on their way with all the marriage paperwork and stuff. Hoping that we can get three baptisms this transfer. we got M set for this weekend, pray that she can quit smoking by wednesday.

Oh and news about sending packages, send them by the government postal serivices, nothing private like fed-ex or similar.

I miss you guys a ton! 

10/28/2015

Next week i should be at a cyber that doesnt take forever to download fotos so look foward to recieving a bunch. Investigators are doing good, fasting and praying alot for M, Hopefully she will be able to get baptized this weekend. dang cigarrillos! We have a conference tomorrow with president looking foward to that alot also an activity this weekend in the church. That sounds really good!! Miss lots of food, not much variety here when it comes to food. 

Learn over the past week or i noticed, that when you have or strive to have (do your best) the spirt changes really happen and bendiciones come with out us really noticing.   

September 2015

9/14/2015

we had a batismal servivico this saturday for girl of 9 years. We also had ward conference this sunday and we also had a lot about keeping the sabadath day holy and how to better our selfs with the commandments of god. little a little and personally assessing. Been super busy and lots work! but i love it. Teaching alot of investagordes. will have to tell me how the german is because i might want to learn a little when i get back. I hope the unpacking goes well!

Con amor,

Elder Mendenhall

9/28/2015

Im doing great woeking hard to get people married and also working hard preaching the gospel. Yeah transfers are on the 3rd of Oct. No didnt feel the earthquake. No dont think its from the water and if it is im use to the water now. There was a lunar eclipse last night which was cool to see here.

Thank you for all your prayers. I hope noah likes it.(hockey)

And thats good, kinda want to learn german when i get back! isnt that the truth about packing and unpacking, but you have a little less to unpack with my stuff.

It the big issue here, very few people are legally married. No i will be staying in the same area. The best part was going to the temple gardens with one of our investigadores and after eating a candle light dinner with them because the power went out. The dinner was delicious and she is very close to being baptized.

no i will have a differnt comp.

i dont know why the power went out, but the power likes to go out in our pension easily, can barely have anything plugged in and if you plug one to much then it goes out.  they have 2 differnt plugs and our pension has both which is annoying sometime cuz you have to use that plug for one thing. but we have to use adaoter for american things