December 2, 2013 Villa Lugano Happy Thanksgiving

Sounds like a fun week! Sorry I don’t know anything about Taylor’s video or anything. This week was a tough week. We haven’t really had investigators and we haven’t been teaching a whole lot. We work a lot with the members and the less actives. We are really happy because the less actives we are working with are coming to church and everything! But we really want to Baptize! This was the last week we had in order to have a baptism this week. And we didn’t find anyone, and so we are now praying for a miracle and that we find someone who has already been to church! But we are going to see. Thanksgiving was really fun! We had planned to go over to this Family’s house to have Thanksgiving. We showed up and helped them clean their house while he cooked and He made chicken wings! They weren’t as good because he just put them in the oven and didn’t Fry them but that’s okay. And we definitely did not watch Football, It did not happen. After dinner we went around and shared what we were thankful for. It was a really special moment. Very beautiful. But things have been good.

There was a day that we had planned to go visit a less active youth in the ward and we had another youth come with us, Well she didn’t tell us that she invited another girl from the ward. So there was 2 missionaries and 2 17 year old girls. And our appointment fell through so they wanted to go tracting. Nobody felt good about it, and so we called up one of the brothers of the girls and the 5 of us went out. Looking for the people that we had met previously and also talking to people on the street. We gave everyone either a pamphlet or a BoM that they had to give out before we were done. It was fun. I was singing, ”We are as the Army of Helaman.” Haha! We have gone out a couple more time with youth and I think we are going to try and focus on that. Getting the Youth involved. Have them think of a friend we could visit and then go visit with them. On Saturday we met a little 15 year old girl by doing this, she is living with a less active family and she is not a member. So we want to activate the family and get her baptized.

So On Saturday I fasted and also I had Hermano Valente (who we had thanksgiving with) buy me some steak because he said he can get it so much cheaper where he works. So I gave him 20 pesos (about 4 bucks) and I got 4 steaks. So I fasted until Sunday after noon and we didn’t have lunch so I broke my fast and made steak. My companion ``didn’t have food´` (we had a ton of leftover food) and so he didn’t eat anything, he just slept. (Oh and then steaks were small. and they had a lot of bone so it was kind of a rip off but that’s okay.) So I cooked up all the steak and put the left overs in the fridge, we were in the House of a member on Sunday night. And she asked if we ate, I wasn’t paying attention because I was talking to the other lady. And she asks me. Elder Olsen. Why did you have lunch today and Elder Estrada didn’t?!?! What did you eat? Steak... with what? ...more steak... She went on this rant about sharing on the missions with your companions. Because she was a missionary so she knows. And she spent like 20 minutes tearing me apart. Haha! It was awesome. But yeah. I have my reasons.... blah. I hate this because everyway I try to explain it. it sounds bad. Haha! Basically he spent all of his money at the beginning of the month and now he was out of money. I helped out where I could but it was like he would complain when I didn’t buy him things. Like I was his boyfriend or something. Haha. But now he has money so it doesn’t matter. Haha!

Sorry this is short. But I love yáll! Take care of yourselves and have a good week! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Chicken Wings 

 The Ruiz Family

 I Made Chicken Wings

 Elder Estrada

Burger King

November 25, 2013 Villa Lugano More Argentina Info

Hey!

My week was okay. Things are getting a little bit better. I would say I’m pretty well adjusted in Argentina, all except the language. But I can do what really matters. Teach and testify. The only problem is when it comes to like answering their questions or trying to teach people, not lessons. It’s a little harder. But I’m getting better. I talked with some of the other missionaries and I found out that I talk ALOT more than they do, Like in lessons and stuff. And so at least I’m trying and that’s all that matters. But yeah. My companion is Elder Estrada. He is from Culiacan Mexico. He is cool. Sometimes he is a little like a Mexican version of my last companion, Elder Hall. But it’s okay. Sometimes he is hard to deal with. But I think a lot of it is my pride. Idk. He just kind of expects me to know everything. To already know the language and the members and the area. And he gets frustrated when I don’t. And sometimes he’d be like okay. I’m not going to talk, or okay I’m following you where are we going. And its like, uhhhh, I have 3 days in this area. I know just about nothing... haha. But it’s okay. things are a lot better. He’s really funny and we get along pretty well. Just goofing around and stuff. When were we walking on railroad tracks? And ya. Well no. haha. There is a very interesting system of transportation here. There are buses called colectivos that just drive around and make their loops. They kind of rule the road. They drive very fast and shove as many people in as they can. Most of the time I am squeezed tight with people. A then there is a train or 2 no sure exactly. And so to get to the mission office, we have to take an hour on colectivo and an hour on the train.

To answer your question, yes. In Spanish. The word for Appointment is cita. Anyone that speaks Spanish will call them citas. Or leccion. Or chalas (basically means informal conversation). The Ward is good. The people are really nice. The Bishop is loaded! He owns a company or something like that. I’m not exactly sure but he has a really nice house (which is saying something for Argentina) and they have been to the USA 3 different times, Utah Vegas LA Miami and ya. Haha. But they are really nice and really friendly. There are 2 sets of Elders in our Ward. In our half we basically have all the members. But on the other half they have like 3 active members but they have all the Villas. So they teach a ton. But it’s okay. We walk to church. The church is in our Area so I got lucky. It’s a 10 minute walk from the Pension (house). Eating is fine. Yesterday I had to eat Spaghetti. It wasn’t that bad, Last week I had to eat menudo. I didn’t know what it was. And I didn’t want to know. But one of the Elders asked and after I knew I couldn’t finish it. But it’s okay. Haha. I try and eat healthy. I try to eat fruit and when there is Vegetables I eat them. There is hardly ever vegetables. And yes I am taking the Vitamins. My Pday. Well we have studies until 11. Then we work. Then lunch with members about 1 or 2 depending on the member, then go out and work again until 930. We spend a lot of time visiting members and less actives. Because we work on getting real conversion. And then ask for references. We have started knocking doors and talking to everyone on the street because we really need people to teach and the ward isn’t giving us references. But its okay, the week. Church Sunday, Monday internet, shopping, and soccer. That’s about it... we might go play golf one of these days. And then wed is District meeting and Thursday is weekly planning.

So last Monday. We went to the Church to play soccer in the morning for exercise. We go about every other day. But for some reason this time was different. While we were playing we hear this guy yelling, at us. For playing Soccer at 630 in the morning. Then he started throwing giant rocks at us. Like the size of my hand. Through the gate. We just stayed cool and said sorry but this is the only time we can play. He called the cops on us... But in Argentina. There is Policia. And Guarderia. The police basically can’t do anything. But the Guarderia. I imagine they are more like Military. And they are everywhere. Anyways with bulletproof vests. And they have the power to do just about anything. They could walk up, punch some random guy in the face, and nothing would happen. I haven’t seen it done but it’s just an example. So the Guarderia was called. And we were talking to them and basically the guy could order a court day for us where we both discuss our sides. And everything but he didn’t do anything. The Law is weird in Argentina. So that was fun. But we haven’t been back to play = (  haha.

Saturday we did service for a family that owns a little shop like a Deli. We cleaned up a little bit and ya. I think the main reason why we were there was because the daughter (about 20 years old) is really pretty. And they have a TV play. Basically anytime I looked at my comp he was watching the TV. I had to keep yelling at him! But we had fun. They also had music playing and they played the song Boogie Wonderland! It brought me back. But I was sad because I couldn’t remember the dance haha! =P

Love ya! And my companion sends his love also!

Lunch at the Mall at Burger King with Elder Chriss

 Walking on the Train Tracks with Elder Chriss

 Elder Holland and Elder Christofferson

 First day in Argentina

Playing Soccer at 6:30 am.  Good thing they didn't get arrested

November 18, 2013 Villa Lugano Answered Questions

Hola. 

Bathroom is basically normal. warm water. we have electricy and everything. Except here there is toilet and one more thing. I dont know what it is called but it is for cleaning up underneathe, really weird. I dont think i will ever use it. haha! Yeah I like our pension. Its a little small but EVERYTHING in Argentina is small. All the stores. The streets. the cars. everything. they really pack things in there. haha. I found tabasco today, bbut it was like chapolte so its like sweet not spicy. and  it was 114 pesos. so its like $25 bucks. haha- Laundry, we call up a guy, its like a service. They pick it up. and do it. and drop it back off  the next morning. so about 30-40 pesos. 6-8 bucks. its not bad. makes it very easy. and it all comes already folded and everything. Including socks. The food is okay. Sometimes its like really gross but other times its like REALLY good, but usually in this area its empanadas and pizza. Every day! Yesterday. When we went to pick up our food. inside on the table they had Hamburgers. and churripan. which is like a hot dog or a brat type deal. and so we both were really excited. When we left the house and looked in the bag, it was like a rice and beans mixture with other stuff. Im not exacly sure. I didnt eat it obviously haha. And my companion felt sick all day after he ate it. soo im glad i didnt. since we go home to eat almost everyday I had hamburgers in the freezer and i had bought things to make empanadas. but its was just with cheese. so basically it was a quesodilla. haha! Really good! The best thing about Argentina so far... Idk. In all honesty. it kinda sucks. Its dangerous. the food doesnt compare to the us. alll the cars are tiny. and the people are grumpy. probably the best thing is that there is a meat shop on every corner! haha! I havent gotten anything yet but there are meat shop everywhere, and its really fun to talk music and movies. because EVERYONE knows american music and movies. last night the kid of a member was watching Tangled in spanish. haha! I wanted to watch, I bet its so funny in spanish. Whole different experience. but yeah. Everyone espeically the kids are like, do you know Eminem. rehianna. FUN. ACDC. and like everything. its funny. Im getting to know the area a little better. Yesterday ALL of our appointments fell through. and so we were just walking through our area looking for investigators or members to talk to. to teach. but either everyone was sleeping or out. and so we spent ALL day walking it was horrible. But it was worth it at the end, We went to this members house whose daughter isnt baptized yet. Her name is milagros. Which in English is Miracles. We went to their house and he ALWAYS has soda for us. (he is the guy that made us Chicken Wings) we were sitting and talking and suddendly he is like, Hey do you guys want some steak? reaches into his fridge and pulls out a giant bag full of New york Strip steaks.So he cooked um up for us! SOOO GOOD! its sad though because he is working towards going to the temple. but he smokes and everytime we go to his house we can smell it on him! So today we are going to have a FHE and Bajamos la Caña. Drop the cane! we´ll see how it goes. We arent finding that many. We have had a pretty rough week. alot of our appointments have fallen through, and alot of our investigators have told us they dont have desires to learn more or go to church. and so we have been doing alot of praying and fasting and really focusing on the little things to make sure we are exactly obident. So hopefully this week is different.

Okay . about the package. For christmas, or sometime in the near future. I want a thumb drive filled with pictures. more from the passed. In totality and LIGHT and sports and the family and everything. just all. Including pictures from recent. Pictures of Taymer, pics from Spencers mission. and after he got back. just alot more pictures. whatever you can find, whatever you can fit. And like random pictures that you see on Fb like of my friends or something like that. things you might think are importante. if this isnt too much to ask, haha! and you can take your time. not to send it off by tomorrow. !

Okay. So Elder Holland came on saturday. We left at 7 in the morning. and we left to go to the Chapel that it was in. and when we got there they had it like totally organized. and we had to wait to be asked to walk in. There was 3 missions and the MTC that came. so it was a big deal .I saw some ofthe elders from the MTC that went to the different missions. There was Sur and Oeste there also. (south and west. ). The area 70 spoke and Elder Soares. and Elder Holland. And all of their wives. It was really great. and i learned so much. Mostly that it doesnt matter what we say. It is who we are that matters and that the people are going to see. and that Elder Holland doesnt care about our Gospel and doesnt want to hear about it. He only cares about the Lords gospel, becuase nothing short of that is going to get us into the Kindom of God.

Things are going pretty well. Today we went to this place. called Jumbo. i didnt know what it was, i just knew it was a Store. and my comapnion said its basically like a walmart. with food and stuff. So i was like okay. Perfect. I brought my mission money to by food and nothing else. When we get there, It is literally like a mall. We all felt like we were in the US. I felt like i was in Mills Mall. I was mad because i didnt have any money! I mean i dont have any money to begin with but still. We went to BK and looked around, and then left. We are going to go back next week with money. No one bought anything. Oh I went with Elder Chriss, We hang out with him alot. hes fun. Okay. They want to go play Futbol and i am getting yelled at. Haha! 

Love ya! Hope things are good!

November 11, 2013 Villa Lugano, Argentina

Okay.

So I don’t know the exact address but it’s off of Anune and we live above a house. and so to get to where we live we have to walk around and up stairs. There is like 3 doors that we have to open and close every time we go through them. The keys here aren’t like the keys at home. They are like big and blocky and old time keys. It’s pretty cool. But yeah since we live on the roof we can go up on the roof. It is very beautiful and I got pictures. We live with us two, and another companionship that is in the same ward, and they have the bigger room. But it’s okay. And there is a little kitchen. I haven’t had food all week until today. I made a hamburger! mmmmm. Usually for food. We have lunch with members. We’ll usually they make or buy food and we pick it up. And that is the only time that we eat. Well I haven’t had breakfast food and so I haven’t eaten breakfast. But we eat lunch about 1 or 2 and then we don’t have dinner unless a member invites us over. But it’s rare. We eat a lot of Empanadas. I like the ones with cheese and ham. But usually there is hamburger and eggs and a bunch of other weird random stuff, or like a chicken and corn and potatoes and gravy. A lot of people make something like rice and meat and potatoes and random vegetables. It just depends but there is a variety or what they make here. I’ve had steak not a whole lot but yeah. When they make steak they make a lot and you eat a lot! OH!!!!!!!!! Best meal ever! So what my companion and I are doing is going around to all the members and sharing a little scripture and asking for referrals. And we went and saw this guy. He is about 70 or so and has been a member for about 6 years. He is super awesome! He knows a little bit of English so whenever I’m over there he will randomly say English words. Haha. But we went over there and shared a scripture about the temple- (Mosiah 2:6) and he said that was his goal to get his recommend and go to the temple! That was awesome. And randomly I thought about chicken wings. I can’t remember what we were talking about but he said. Hey you guys are eating here Saturday. I’m going to make chicken wings! And he did!!! He had this sauce that was basically red hot peppers in water or oil, and he said I could dip them in there. But basically there were just plain but it didn’t matter! They were so good! Haha.

But I’m glad to hear things are going well at home. It always makes me feel good when people ask. “And Elder Olsen how many members in your family are members” and I can respond and say all, and that we are all strong in the church and going hard. Haha! Sorry you’re not feeling well. I’m not either. Ever since I got here I’ve had like a Runny nose and a headache and everything but its okay. I´ll get through it. My area is pretty calm. There is like a shopping center right down the middle. Oh speaking of which. So there are these 2 sisters (like actual sisters like blood) that are from Bolivia and work in a store that sells fruit and vegetables and such. We always have great conversations with them and they are a lot of fun to talk to but as far as keeping their commitments or going to church or anything like that just forget it. But the other day I want to say Saturday. We were inside sharing a message about the Gospel of Christ with one of them. First off she let us help. She was packing eggs with newspapers... well wrapping eggs is more like it. And she had like a special way to do it and taught us so that was fun. And then suddenly when we were inside we heard this loud BOOM and a car alarm go off. And another BOOM. We walk outside. And there is this random parade just full of tons of people. Lighting off fireworks. Music. Smoke everywhere. It was like a rally type thing for a school or sports team or something. It was cool. We wanted to go in and watch and see inside but being missionaries we didn’t. Every time they light off a loud explosion (firework) the car alarm would go off because it was that powerful. It was fun! Haha!

Oh BTW. Elder Holland and Elder Christofferson are coming down to Buenos Aires to speak with us. I’m not exactly sure who but we will be able to go and to shake their hands!!!! HAHAHA! Whoooo! We just got instructs on how it will all work. It’s on the 16th.

So when I got to the Area we didn’t have anyone so it’s been all about finding, finding, and finding! The first thing we did last week after P day was going to a member’s house to help with Service stuff. And we asked about her neighbor- We went straight over there, Met her. Had a quick lesson and then put her on date. We have seen her once since and that went very well. She likes to flirt with my companions I think. She touches his cheek and other stuff. Than one day she canceled an appointment. And we stopped by anyway to say hi. My companion gave her a little flower. Haha. I taught him the Phrase flirt to convert. OHHH important part of the story. She is like 80, haha. But yeah. We are going to convert her. We have found others but nothing really too promising and so its all about finding!

Love you, Connor

Ward Halloween Party in Taylorsville just before he left for Argentina 

The Elders had a Lemonade Stand.  If you took a pass along or a Book of Mormon, you could have a cup of lemonade, Taylorsville, Utah

 Elder Bridge from Canada, Taylorsville, Utah

Baptism of Julian and Christian the day before Connor left for Argentina

The LONG flight to Argentina!!! He left Salt Lake on Monday, Oct 28th around 11 am and arrived in Buenos Aires on Oct 29th at 7 am (there's a 4 hour difference). 

 Elder Roberts Visa Waiter with Connor in SLCS.  Traveled to Argentina together.

 Sight Seeing in Bueno Aires

 Me and Elder Roberts in the Airport. I look sooooooo tired!  Mcdonalds

What i slept in my first night. Literally a shak. Only there for a night so its okay. 

This is Dario. He is a cool little kid. When he realized that i dont speak spanish well he was like the only one that would talk to me really slow. I had a lot of fun expericences with this little kid in one week. Oh that picture of that purple bike i was on. with the basket. I was having so many problems with my bikes. They kept breaking on me. Finally a gilr from the ward let me use her purple one it was awesome but i felt more like a taxi. Becuase they would put stuff in the basket. and the kids from the ward and investigators would sit or stand or ride on the back. haha 

So last tuesday the day of transfers in the morning. All the missionaries in the ward. 7 of us. went to this families house. It is a hermana and her daughter. The daughter is 20 going to Mexico on her mission. They are the Luna family. We went to their house almost everyday. but o nthe day of transfers we went. Started off by playing quarters. Where you spin the Quarter and then chuck it at the losers knuckles. We all left with bloody knuckles. Then we played catch and monkey in the middle. It got very intense. Then we played a game where we wrote down someones name and something they had to do. but you actually had to do the thing you wrote down. So i had to do the worm. but its okay haha. We had alot of fun, Then we played spoons. haha The card game. That family is very close to the missionaries, haha

Elder Loza. Visawaiting to Venezula

Elder Estrada. our work area. both of ours

House with a View

Dusk

The Night View

Caffine is NOT BANNED

Connor's Kitchen

Nov 5, 2013 Villa Lugano First Area

Hey!

Sorry I don’t have a ton of time. Things are great! We got into Buenos Aires about 7 in the morning! Then we met the Mission President and his wife. There was 22 of us in this mission. We got to go around and take a little tour of the City. Took pictures at the Temple. And saw some of the main sites like the Pink house which is basically like the White house but the President doesn’t actually live there. Yes I met Elder Chriss. He was on the Plane with me. And a couple other Elders and sisters said hey my mom talks to your mom on missionary moms. Haha! It was funny. So after the site seeing we were dropped off at the mission Home. We ate Empanadas, got our Credit cards and had interviews. There was a little training on how things work here in Buenos Aires. And it is way different. Here they work SOLELY through the members. We don’t go tracting. We don’t knock doors. We don’t do any of that. We spend all of our time with members. And it is really strange. Because in Salt Lake, we got in trouble if we are spending all our time with members. So it is a weird change of pace but it is okay. Then we had pizza in the mission Home and then we given our assignments for the week. Because transfers were today and so vie just been waiting in a different area. So I and one of the Elders from the MTC hopped in a taxi. They sent us off to our area. When we got there it was literally a small little shack! And we have to fit 4 Elders in there. Me, my old companion from the MTC, Elder Johnson, and 2 others. The next morning they said that I am not in that area so I packed back up to move to the area I would be working in. Lopez Camelo. It was awesome. My companions were Elder Loza from Buenos Aires waiting for his visa to Venezuela, and Elder Vidal from Chile. They were awesome! Elder Vidal knows a little bit of English. He gets by but he still has a long way to go. And Elder Loza knows nothing of English. But it was a lot of fun, and I got to sleep on a mattress on the floor again. Haha. But now I am with Elder Estrada in an area called Villa Lugano. He is from Mexico and he doesn’t speak English and so this is going to be a fun transfer. All we have done is put my stuff away and come straight here so I don’t know him. So here we get 900 peso a month. And the exchange rate is about 1:5.8. So 900 pesos is about 160 bucks. so that’s pretty cool.- I’ve been with out money because you have to go take money out of the ATM and the only opportunity I had to do it my Companions didn’t tell me that we were passing by the ATM. Also it takes 35 pesos every time I need to take money out. I don’t need money. I’m good cuz I got some yesterday. But if I need some from my account I will let you know. Don’t have much time. Life is good! Had 3 baptisms this past week and everything! Way cool and a lot of fun! There is this kid named Dario. He is a boss. He was baptized a month a go. And has gotten 2 of his friends baptized already. He would go around with us and help us teach and basically he would do all the teaching, and me. Haha. He’s only 14. Straight up boss! Oh yeah! I saw a kid from HIGHLAND he is in the mission and I didn’t even know until I saw him. His name is Troy Hicks. His older brother Brenan Hicks would drive me to LIGHT. So that was pretty cool! I have tons of pics. I don’t know which to send because I don’t have time!

Love you be safe bye.

 At the Airport

 22 New Missionaries - Buenos Aires Temple 1st Day

 The Pink House - Same as the White House

 1st Baptism

 Bike Riding in the Church?

Connor's New Buddies.  Doesn't take him long to make friends.

Oct 21, 2013 He got his VISA

We have great news....Connor received his Visa on Friday, Oct 18th, but he couldn't tell us until his pday on the 21st.  He let us know through an email that comes through as a text.  I read it at work and got really excited.  He was pretty excited, too.  He has had some great experiences in Utah, but it is time for him to head to Argentina!!! So that means a phone call on Monday, the 28th.

Well anyways. This week was a fairly strange week. On Tuesday one of the other Elders got sick and so they asked me to go stay at home with him. So I sat and watched Mormon messages all day long until 5pm. While I was there my companion went out with the district leader and they put someone on date and had a "lesson" with our investigator Maria Castro and her husband. Basically my companion just told them they needed to be married. And he said it got pretty intense and at the end he wouldn’t look him in the eye. But we have gone by since and there is no hard feeling... well yet at least. But still they haven’t gotten married yet or even brought it up so I’m not sure what is going to happen there.

Thursday was Elder Hall’s birthday. We went to KFC for lunch. And then we had an exchange. So Elder Hall went with the district leader to the English assignment and Elder green (who doesn’t speak any Spanish) came to our area to work Spanish assignment. So basically I had a whole day by myself. Surprisingly I did pretty well. We taught a lesson to some kids that are going to be baptized. They speak English and Spanish and so I and Elder Green both taught but when I was talking it was in Spanish and he taught in English. I thought it went fairly well, until after I realized I missed a bunch of parts but its okay! Haha. We got a lot of work done and I set up a lot of lessons for future days so I’m pretty proud of myself. One of the days we got to eat dinner with a ward mission leader that went on his mission to Argentina and married a woman from Argentina. And so she made empanadas and a bunch of other stuff and we almost spent 2 hours talking about Argentina! It was really fun! It was bad because we shouldn’t have spent that much time there but its okay! It was really funny because Argentinians are known for being very prideful. And she would talk and be like Argentina has the best beef. And the best Dulce de Leche and other stuff like that and she’s like I’m not saying that cuz I’m prideful it’s just the truth. Because the dairy is so much better in Argentina. It was really funny. I told her this joke and she got a really kick out of it. "Why do Argentinians go up to their roof during a lightning storm? Because they think God is taking pictures of them!" haha!

Anyways. Wed I got a call from mission President. Basically he said that Spencer can’t come up here to see me. He said it’s written pretty strictly in the Mission Pres handbook that missionaries can’t see or work with siblings. And he said that if he expects his missionaries to be obedient that he should be too. So that kind of sucks. But oh well. I'll see him in 20 months. But hey! I don’t remember if I told you this but my goal was to be in Argentina by the End of October! And I was right! Boom! I am so good! Oh also! When I am down in Argentina DO NOT send me packages. What happens is the Argentina Government opens up the packages and goes through them, Puts a price on each thing in there and I have to pay that amount. So say you send me down a $200 camera, they will charge me $200 in order to get my mail. So it is so much better to just put money on my debit card. Also. They will steal things. Even if it is just like a birthday card with money in it. They will open up the letter and take money out of it. It sucks. But that’s how things are down there. So if there is anything you need to get to me before I leave, send it like today!!

Sounds like you guys had a fun weekend! I can’t wait till mine! Haha! But it will be with Spencer’s baby in stead of Lauren’s. Or maybe both! Haha! Anyways. Yeah I’m not sure how calling is going to work. I have a calling card. But I don’t know any details about it. Like if I am going with a group or if we will have time at the Airport. All I know is that I have to be at the mission office at 7am, and that I can have 2 bags under 50 lbs., that one will be hard. Ill probably be sending stuff home. Like my back pack/ I have to get a side bag, I’m going to look at Walmart today but if I can’t find one I will look in Argentina. Idk. Guess we'll just figure it out on the way.

Super funny. So President called me on Friday at 9am right after Personal Study. I was still praying when he called. He said, "I am looking at an itinerary for you to go to Argentina" It was awesome! We talked for like another 3 minutes about what I need to do. And then I called my old companions Elder Julian and Toborg. They were like that’s awesome but we got to go do Comp study. So I hung up. Then I realized that I had Elder Roberts phone number (the Other Elder going to Argentina that is from Draper) I was going to call and ask if he got his and either rub it in his face if he didn’t have it or congratulate him. Haha. His companion answered and I asked if I could talk to Elder Roberts. He sounded confused but was like ooookkk? And in the back round I hear "Give it to me". Then Elder Julian gets on the Phone and is like what the freak are you doing! This is companion study! Get back to work! I was like what? You are having companion study with them? Oh and did he get his visa? Yes he did, He is freaking excited, go back to work! Haha! It was pretty funny! But yeah so I’m guessing that everyone in this mission will be headed down together! Basically I’m just super excited! Love ya ALL!

October 14, 2013 Taylorsville The Tracks.....

Hila!

That’s cool that Spencer is going home! Crazy! I’m a little jealous! When I get down to Argentina I won’t be jealous anymore though. So the other day I got a call from the mission office telling me that I need to go down there on Monday at 10 because all visa waiters need to be refingerprinted, and so I went and did that this morning. There was about 12 of us, and it took forever just sitting in the waiting room at the police station. Some of the sisters had been in the mission 6 months plus. And we heard rumors that when you go to get fingerprinted it meant that you were getting close. And so they were all made that us Elders that have only been in the field for 2 months were there. But we'll see what happens.

So I got funny stories this week. So quick to answer questions yes it is getting cold. It has snowed once on us but it didn’t stick. And it rains super often! So we were riding our bikes home to go get food. A lot of times we get the food dropped off at our house or something like that and we have to drive through a church parking lot to get home and as we were riding through I saw a weird green bug on the floor. So my companion turned around to look at it and as I turned around my bike slid and it just slid out from under me and I landed right on my belly. Nothing hurt. It was all pretty Graceful. I just kind of landed on the floor haha! I got pictures. It was really funny and quite fun but I wasn’t going to try it again! =P

2nd funny story! We are riding our bikes kind of towards where we were having dinner on Saturday (Everything bad happens around dinner time apparently!) so as we are riding along I just hear this LOUD BANG!!! And suddenly I feel a gust of wind and smoke come up in-between my legs! I knew exactly what had happened. My back tire just exploded. There is this Giant hole in it, I didn’t run over anything. It just randomly exploded. And so we have been walking and begging for rides everywhere. My companion says there is a bike shop that will come pick up the bike. Fix it all up and everything and all I have to pay for is the cost of materials. For missionaries they don’t charge for labor. Just my companion hasn’t done it yet. I don’t know why. So when we got to dinner we were eating with what seemed like a single guy. Super nice and we had a Great conversation. But he asked us where we wanted to go and my companion said Fortune Buffet. Which you could imagine was just a Chinese buffet and so we all ate way too much and we all just felt like throwing up and taking a nap! Only difference was that he could go take a nap and we still had 2 hours to work! And had to walk our bikes home from the furthest point from our home! Haha! Good times!

Next I’m going to talk more about food. So one dish that is very popular in Venezuela is called Arapas. They are a tortilla. But not one of those flat tortillas. It’s a thick one. And they cut into it and they put food inside. Meat, Lettuce, butter, sauce, etc. Anything they want! They are SUPER good! I took a picture of some that we ate! It was really fun at that house cuz they were helping me with my Spanish. They didn’t give me time to think I would just talk and whenever I said something wrong he would correct me and then finish the sentence haha! Super nice guy he is in the Young Men’s.

So Sunday night we got to take the Rubio’s family to Temple Square. We were really struggling with finding a ride. But we found a ride for our investigators. They brought the whole family. So there is Emilio and Raquel.  They are the parents. They are on date for this Sunday. And their son Alejandro and his wife Maria. And they had their 3 kids with them. So we found them a ride and me and my companion were going to take the tracks(basically the light rail). When we got on the tracks we got a call from the people who were going to take them and they thought that there was going to be 2 cars and they planned on taking the whole family. So we weren’t exactly sure if they would be able to take them and we were getting on the tracks anyways. So the family took both of their cars and they just brought everyone! There was 14 of us with like 5 little kids! Haha it was crazy! So the Tour went really well. It was bad cuz they thought it was supposed to be in English. And so they sent us English sisters. But one of them was like its okay I’m from El Salvador I speak Spanish. So it went over really well and the other sister just kind of hung out haha! But it went really well and we put Alejandro and Maria on date for the 27! Whoo! So after wards we had planned on taking the tracks. We sent them off and started walking to the station. We looked for the schedule to see when the next one was. A train pulled up. It was a blue train going to draper and we needed to go to west valley on the green train so we let it go. We found the schedule. And that was the last train that ran on Sunday night!!! On every night it runs till midnight. Except for Sunday! So we were stranded in Downtown Salt Lake City! We started calling people for a ride but it was 845 and NO one was answering their phones. Finally we called one of the WML (Who is a BOSS) and he said that he could come and get us. So we got home about 920. It was a super intense night but it was a good one.

So one of the nights this week we had to do a Lesson exchange with the zone leaders because they speak Spanish. And so I got to go over to their area for about 2-3 hours. Elder Roberts who is also waiting for his Visa to Buenos Aires Norte used to be companions with these zone leaders (same situation I was in) and he just got transferred out to my old zone. so while I was with Elder Birch we talked in Spanish the whole time and we taught a inactive lady and talked to one of their investigators and when he dropped me off he told his companion that he was mad at himself because my Spanish was WAY better than elder Roberts and that he failed as a trainer. And he just kept talking about how good my Spanish is. And a lot of people have said how good my Spanish is compared to our people at 3 months in. So that’s pretty cool! =P

So just a quick report about our investigators. Maria Castro. She fell off date because she didn’t come to church. She still needs to be married but we are going over there to talk to them tonight. And she works on Sunday at a Swap Meet and it closes when it gets cold and so once it closes she will be able to start coming to church! Then we have the Aburtos. They are 2 kids. We haven’t gotten in to talk to them but they were on date until they didn’t come to church. The mom is less active and the dad is non member. Basically from now on we aren’t going to let the parents stand in the way of those kids salvation. And so we are going to send members to pick them up for church and try as hard as we can to get into lessons. The parents don’t have a problem with the kids getting involved, it just seems like they don’t want to do anything. So we will be seeing them soon. Hopefully good things happen! Hope things go well this week! Love ya! I pray for all of ya every day!  

 The Mission Home Borrowed Bike had a Blow Out!

Arapas A Venezuela Tortilla Sandwich

 Wait Elder, I see a Cool Green Bug

 Rubio's Trip to the Salt Lake Temple