President and Sister Ayre

We are thrilled to report that your son, Elder Roberts, has finally arrived safely in his mission this morning here in Buenos Aires.  He was picked up at the airport, and after a brief tour of Buenos Aires was brought to the mission home for a luncheon, followed by an interview with the President.  You should expect to hear from your missionary on his next P-day which will be next Tuesday, November 5^th.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

President and Sister Ayre

Parker has arrived in Argentina!

Aunt Diane and Uncle Chuck Eberhard are serving a mission in the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple. They woke up very early on Tuesday, October 29th and took a bus ride to the airport to welcome their great-nephew, Elder Parker Roberts to Argentina! We are so very blessed to have their kind service from 2 wonderful people. Here is their letter:

Buenos Aires Argentina

October 29, 2013

Dear Wayne/Pam and Ron/Bonnie,,

Yes, Elder Parker Roberts has finally arrived in Argentina.  We were at the airport by 7:30 am (it is about 20 minutes from the temple by bus) and within 15 minutes here came Elder Roberts through the main arrival entrance, with a big smile on his face.  He recognized us right off.  His mission president was there to greet him also.  He arrived along with 20 some odd Elders and five sisters, designated for the Buenos Aires North Mission.  There were also equal amounts of Elders and Sisters for the Rosario and Resistencia Argentina missions.  It was great to see him.  He looked refreshed from his long flight from Atlanta and excited to be here. 

His mission president is fairly young and appears very energetic.  He is new, having arrived this past July.  I was mistaken in thinking that the temple was in the Buenos Aires North Mission; it is actually in the Buenos Aires West Mission.  However, his mission president said he is planning a temple trip for the North Mission in February, and will do that every few months.  So we will have other opportunities to visit with Parker.

We had a good visit and met some of the other Elders that were in the MTC with Parker.  Finally all the missionaries had disembarked and were loaded on big two-decked buses to take them to the mission home.  Since another large group of missionaries are arrived next week, the mission president told Elder Roberts that he would be assigned temporally as a companion to a Zone Leader, and next week a more permanent assignment will be made.

We boarded our bus back to the temple, and as we were walking across the temple complex to our apartment, much to our surprise we saw Parker’s bus pull in.  It stopped for a few minutes for the new missionaries to see the temple and more photos were taken.  (See accompanying photos) We helped out taking group photos.

We were glad to be able to see Elder Roberts on his arrival in Argentina.  We work the afternoon shift at the temple this week, so we didn’t need to be there until 1:30 pm.  By this time next week there will be 270 missionaries laboring in the Buenos Aires North Mission.  There were less than 200 missionaries in all of Argentina when I was here 50 years ago.  The work is moving forward.

Love, Elder and Sister Eberhard

Photos:

Elder Roberts getting his first Argentine abrazo from his Mission President.

Elder Roberts with the Eberhards.

A scene from the airport gathering of missionaries – notice Elder Roberts with a group on the right side – his mission president, companion and Elder Eberhard.

Under a sign – can you read the Spanish?  Not to worry, there is English under it!

Elder Roberts and his group at the Buenos Aires, Argentina Temple!  A little haze in the air and the facing the glare of sun position – but if you zoom in on the faces, they are all clear. 

I am going to Argentina!

I don't know if I believe the pictures? Did max and Ryan really get deer? Haha that's awesome! I cant believe they got one! I didn't even know dad had a tag? Are you going to eat the meat? Ha. You need to send me some jerky when your done making it! How was Tyler's birthday? What did you guys do? Where did you get the deer? How far were the shots? Details!

I got my visa to Argentina!!! I am leaving October 28th so I have one more week in Utah. I think this is the last letter I will send you from Utah.  My mission President called me Friday morning and told me he is looking at my travel plans to Argentina and that he is grateful for my service here. I am so excited! I have to be at the mission office Monday October 28 at 7am and I will probably call you at the airport so make sure you have your phones with you.

Mom, how is your church calling? Try your best to find people for the missionaries to teach. A lot of missionaries here complain about Draper. They say Draper is difficult. You need to change that! If there are any young women in the ward that are non-members, you and a few young women should visit them a few times a week. Keep up the good work! If you know anyone who is a non-member, give their names to the missionaries. Keep working hard! The AP's serve in Draper and I told them to stop by & you could tell them where Rachel Nash and Riley Ogden live because I know they have friends even in the stake that are not members so they might stop by soon.

I love it here! I am having a lot of fun. Its a lot better in a normal companionship. I am still with Elder Parks. Missionary work is so much fun when your really involved in it. Not a lot has happened since last Thursday, but I really do like this area! We found a few more people to teach but we are still trying to work with the members. We set up a lot of appointments but almost all of them fall through by the second visit, so that's kind of frustrating.  Thank you for everything and all the packages! I love you so much! Talk to you next week!  I love you all! 

Elder Roberts

ps What are you guys doing for Dillon's birthday?Make sure Dillon is there Monday morning! Are you getting ready for Halloween. You have been sending me Halloween candy for the last month so I would think your ready but I have loved all of it! Great job Jaxson. I can't wait to watch Jaxson play football when I get home. Keep it up!

Baptism!

Happy birthday Tyler!!!  Sorry that I am emailing you today. I got transferred into a new zone in Kearns and this week was their turn to go to the temple so they changed our p-day to today for this week. My new area is the area that I covered in English but I am there in Spanish now. I am really excited about that. My companion is Elder Parks. He is from Austin, Texas. 
The baptism went really well. Her name is Bibianna, but after the baptism a sister gave a talk and was calling her Biblianna- so I was really scared she was going to have to be baptized again. But her name is Bibianna so I was right. Right now she is the only member in her family, but her parents speak Spanish so I am going to try to work with them because they are in my area now. This week I was talking to a kid who played football for Kearns and he plays on the A-1 midgets team and he said his team lost to Corner Canyon 6-0. I  had a fun time telling him that was my brothers, Max and Ryan's team! He was a massive kid but only 12 years old. I love my new area! I speak a lot more Spanish right now, but Elder Parks and I got white washed so we are trying to get to know more people. The work is slow right now but it is picking up. We set up a lot of appointments but almost all of them fall through. The Spanish ward I am in is awesome. The Bishop is really missionary-minded so he is really trying to get the members involved with us, so I am really happy about that!
I had to go to the Sandy police station because the FBI wants new finger prints from everyone applying for a visas, so I had to get finger printed again.There were like 11 of us just in my mission. I am hearing a lot of missionaries that are getting their visas so I am excited about that. 
Is the hunt this weekend? There is this spot in my area where there are like 8 deer that just hang out and 3 of them are massive bucks. Good luck with everything! Keep praying for my visa! Thanks for everything! You guys are the best! I miss and love you all so much!!

Elder Parker Roberts

I went to General Conference!

Hope you guys are having a great time at the funeral. I have been thinking about grandma all week. President Chambers called me Wednesday and told me what happened and it was hard for me but I am so happy for grandma. I am so grateful for her and I love and miss her so much. 

I loved conference. I got to go to the Sunday morning session! It was so good! I was a little scared to see people I knew but the only person I saw that I recognized was Kyle Whittingham. I loved President Monson's talk! Me and my companions took an investigator and I think it was really good for her. The rest of the sessions I just watched at different members homes but it was a really fun weekend. When I was in my English assignment I was teaching this kid who was not progressing at all and his sister started sitting in on some lessons and she would keep all our commitments so we started to just focus on her. She is getting baptized on Saturday and she wants me to baptize her so I am excited to go back to that area. An elder in my mission going to Argentina just got his visa and so they are transferring me to a different Spanish ward in a normal companionship! I am excited! Dad, sorry I will try to answer your questions. A normal day for me is I wake up at 6 and 6:30 every other day. When I wake up at 6, I have zone workout and the whole zone plays some type of game in a stake center. It is pretty fun. Then  I get ready and have studies from 8 to 12. One hour of personal. Two hours of comp. And one hour of language. A lot of times we are busy so we have take out language study but that's my morning. We are trying our best to work with the members here but they are not helping much so we do a bit of tracting. We work until dinner which is at 5. For dinner I usually have tacos, rice, beans, Mexican soup and pasta and papussas! Then we work from 6 until 9. That is a normal day. P days I usually play basketball! Its really fun. Today we are thinking about going fishing so I am excited for that. Thanks for everything you guys are the best! I love and miss you so much!