French fries and railroad tracks

A month worth of letters

8-18 Como Andan??? How's the last bit of summer? Here it warming up a lot. This week went pretty well. Yesterday was a huge blessing for us. Saturday me and my companion fasted to find the elect in our area and we had a few people committed to come to church and they all backed out. We had stake conference and we were pretty bummed that no one came but after stake conference a missionary in my stake told he found a family that's looking for me and my companion. A family from Paraguay that are members came here to Buenos Aires for the weekend to visit family and they decided to go to church and they brought there nephew to church with them and they live in our area! We were so excited! After church we went to there house and taught the mom of the member from Paraguay. The rest of the family were not there Sunday but this week we have an appointment with them! They are awesome and please pray for them. The mom of the member is Yolanda and the nephew is aldo and they accepted to be baptized so please keep them in your prayers. The stake conference went really well. Elder Gonzalez of the seventy came and gave a really good talk. I think this was my third or fourth time in my mission listening to elder Gonzalez. Our stake president passed away a few weeks ago and they reorganized the whole stake presidency. They are all super young. One of the counselors is from china! That's about it for this week. Thanks for everything! Love you guys!

8-11 Hows it going? Sounds like an awesome summer? This week went pretty good. We are still struggling a bit to find investigators but we are finding more. The ward here is doing good. We had 59 people in church yesterday and we were super happy about that. We usually have about 40. We have a few members that give us a ton of referrals so we are working a lot with them. We found an hermano this week named Walter. He is awesome. He was a referral from a member and we contacted him and a long time back his friend took him to our church a few times but he never talked with the missionaries. He accepted a baptismal date but we have a lot of work to do with him. We are still working a lot with Natalia, la hermana that is going to Sam's mission but we are trying to work with more of the members but she helps us out a ton. This week I had lunch with a man that has 101 years old! It was kind of crazy. My ward is full of old people. In the young men's we have one active member and in the young women's there is like 5 active members. But i love working with the older people. Its super fun and they are all super funny! Pray for the people in my area. We really need to find. 

8-4 Lake Powell looks awesome! Who all went? How many days did you go? This week was good. We are working a lot with the members here. We have members working with us everyday for the whole entire day. It has been helping us out a ton. We still work almost everyday with the hermana that is going to Sam's mission. This week we found a few more people to teach. We are really excited about Patricia. She was a referral from a less active member. She loved the first message we shared with her. She is having a few problems in her family and she needs the gospel.  We are doing a lot better in this area but we are still striving to find more and more people. The weather here this week was really good. It was overcast and really cool. It was perfect. My companion is so funny. I love being with him. That's about it for this week. Sorry my details are horrible. Love and miss you guys!

Hows it going? That's awesome about grand daddy lakes. That's place is the best. Dad to answer your question about pday my mission is completely flat. There aren't even hills where I'm at. We have the city and then provincia. In some parts of provincia there are huge fields of cows or things like that but there are not mountains or lakes or rivers. There is the ocean and so a lot of people go there to fish so that's one thing i will do sooner or later. The provincia is like Anabella with out cove mountain. If the people are going to leave the house to get away or do something fun they usually go to the city to do something. But I will find some fun things to do here. This week we had interviews with president Ayre. It went really well. President Ayre is the best. He talked to us again about how there is no other thing like the mission. He said we just need to take advantage of this time and enjoy every minute of it. This week we found a few really awesome families but none of them came to church. We were a little bummed but its all good. Thanks for everything! I love and miss you guys.

Elder Neciosup is hilarious!

Hows it going? Dad how was your b-day? Not much happened this week. My new companion Elder Neciosup is hilarious. He is always making me laugh. He laughs at everything. I am really enjoying my time with him. We are working a lot more with our ward and it is helping a ton. We got more referrals this week and it helped us out a ton! We do everything we can to get referrals from the members. There are not a lot of members here, but the members we have are awesome! This week the weather was super good. It's been really hot but the nights get pretty cold. Earlier this week one of the dogs in our yard ran out of the gate and then came back like 5 minutes later and fell down and died. I am pretty sure it got hit by a car because I have seen it run around in the streets before, but the owners think it had a heart attack. They left it in the yard for a few days but yesterday we helped them dig a grave. My back is so sore.  That's awesome you guys are in a tennis tournament! I want to hear how it goes? And I took out 500 pesos from my credit card and it worked! I took it out of my savings but I haven't tried to use it as a credit card. Thanks for the pictures! Love you guys a ton!

Argentina made it to the World Cup!

Argentina made it to the finals of the World Cup!

Happy Birthday dad! How old are you? I think your almost at 50 and that's so weird for me to think. Have a great day! Welp today was transfers and I am staying in Pablo Nogues but Elder Damitz left. My new companion is Elder Neciosup from Chiclayo - La Victoria, Peru! He is awesome. He is a super funny kid. I will send you pictures of him next week. This week was pretty good. The bummer thing is that Argentina lost in the finals of the World Cup. I got to watch the semifinal game against Holland with members. It was awesome. Argentina won in a shoot out! Everyone was going nuts after the game. I have never seen anything like it. It was so crazy! Since they lost the finals everyone is a little depressed. In the city I heard everyone was going crazy and it was super dangerous. Sunday we had to be in our apartment from 4 until the rest of the night. The work here is going alright. We dropped a ton of our investigators so we are focusing a ton in finding. We are still working with Estela and Mariano. They are doing pretty good but are searching for an answer about the church. It is starting to rain a lot here and I love it! The only problem is it is so humid so my shoes and clothes don't dry. It is horrible. That's awesome about grandma and grandpa's mission call!!! I am super excited about that. Keep going to cove! Keep playing tennis! I want to hear how the tennis camp went? Thanks for everything! I love you guys so much! Remember Elder Ballard's conference talk- it's the least we can do as members of the church is invite at least 4 people to talk with the missionaries every year. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel. 

The countryside

This dog reminds me of JR - he is so skinny and his ribs are sticking out!

Soccer!

Hows it going? How was Boise?  This week was pretty fun. Tuesday, Argentina had a world cup game and we got to watch it as a mission! We had a devotional and then watched the whole game. Argentina won in double overtime! It was super fun to watch. And this Wednesday Argentina has a game against Holland and we have permission to watch it in the house of a member! If they win Wednesday, they go to the finals! Right now they are in the semifinals and they haven't made it this far in like 20 years. It is huge here! This week I passed my year mark and I can't believe it. Time goes by so fast. This week we found a few good investigators. We found a man that is 85 yrs old named and isn't a member and his son served a mission. We had a really good lesson with him and we are working hard with him. He is pretty lonely but he loves when we visit him. We got a hold of his son that served a mission and he is helping us out with him. I just got dad's letter about Grandma and Grandpa's mission call!!! That's so awesome!!!! The food from Peru is the best thing I have ever had! There are a lot of Peruvians in this mission here in Argentina and they are hilarious. Yesterday in church we only had 44 people come. It was not a lot. I think it was the smallest Sacrament meeting I have been to. The hermana in my ward that is going to Chile still comes out with us every single day for hours. She helps us out a ton. We are starting to find a lot more and its helping us out a ton. Pray for Mariano that he can receive an answer. Thanks for the pictures mom they are super funny! I love and miss you all!

PS The picture of Grandpa on the diving board- That's the funniest thing I have ever seen. That's awesome!

The death of our Stake President

Hola. This week went pretty well. We are starting to work with the ward a lot more. Some Active members are starting to work a lot more with us. This will help us out a ton. This week our stake president passed away. I never met him but everyone is super sad. He is only 40 something years old and has like 4 or 5 kids. He got sick really fast and they couldn't do much to help him. We have a member in this ward that works with us every single day. After lunch we go to her house everyday to pick her up and then she stays with us until 8 or 9pm. Yesterday she got her mission call to Concepcion Chile! She leaves in November but I am sure Sam will meet her! She is so awesome! Right now we are working hard to find people that are going to progress. Every person we talk with we teach them the lesson right there on the spot to see if they will progress. We find a lot doing this but we really need to find more. That's about it for this week. Pray for Vanessa. She is a single mom with 3 young kids and is super lonely. We have a lesson with her tonight so we are super excited. I just got a letter from president saying that tomorrow the mission is having a cultural event. I have no idea what we will do but i am excited. I am loving it here. There is nothing funner than missionary work. I love you all!

On my way to Pablo Nogues

Me and Elder Damitz

This week was a little crazy. President Ayre called me Tuesday night and told me I am going to Pablo Nogues. Its the area right next to La Cabaña. My companion is Elder Damitz from Huntington Beach California. He is super cool. He reminds me a lot of Jimmy Carter. Its kind of funny. He is my first companion from the states.  My ward has like 40 to 50 members every week. It is really similar to La Cabaña but with not a lot of active members. Also Austin Collie served his mission here in this mission and this was one of his wards. I live with a family of members and they had a byu hat signed  by Austin collie and they told me all about him. There is a hermana in this ward that works with us every single day from like 2pm to 9pm. She is waiting for her mission call and loves helping us out. She is awesome. Saturday Argentina had another game in the world cup. The streets go empty during the games. They only scored one goal but it was super quiet and when they scored I felt like I was in the stadium. It is so crazy. The work is doing good in this area. We worked a lot with the members this week and we received quite a bit a referrals. Your summer sounds awesome. Trek sounded fun. This ward has horrible luck with trek weather. Thanks for the letters and pictures. Love you all!

My Shower!!!

The River between Argentina and Uruguay