Thursday, December 29, 2011

306 to go...

> ¡hola familia!
> it was awesome talking to you yesterday! it charged my batteries to
> finish the year really well. just one more week until 2012! i´m not
> going to skype today because i don´t have any money to finish the
> month and i have to wait a long time for the computers with cameras...
> but that´s ok. for mother´s day i think that i will definitely use it
> though because elder roper and elder castillo were using it on their
> ipods in the church while i was talking on the phone and i was a
> little jealous even though my comp wasn´t able to call his family
> yesterday because the phone went crazy and wouldn´t make any phone
> calls after i hung up. we spent the morning playing futbol in trelew
> and elder escobar was able to call while we played, and then we went
> to eat some hot dogs before we got to the ciber to write. it´s a good
> pday so far and my companion really enjoyed talking to his family too.
> i was going to send some pictures and videos of our christmas fiesta
> but i forgot my camera this morning. next week i guess. do you guys
> have some big plans for new years? i think that we are going to end up
> doing the same thing this weekend so it should go well.
> the pictures you sent me of the whole familia together was awesome! i
> can´t wait to get my own summers´ shirt!
> i don´t have much to say this week because i feel like i said it all
> yesterday... but it was great talking with all of you. i love you all
> and i hope the travel back home goes safely. next monday will be a
> new beginning in a new year and i´m excited to hear about how this
> week goes.
> ¡chau!
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers
>

313 to go...

ola familia!
> can you believe it? the year is coming to an end... and christmas is 6
> DAYS away! i磎 so excited to talk to you guys! pte peterson set a rule
> that we can磘 skype on sunday, but maybe on monday... i think that i
> will just call on sunday and i need to coordinate with the other
> missionaries because there are four of us and only one phone in the
> church. i don磘 know if we can go anywhere else but we will see. i磎
> thinking that i will be calling some time around 4-7 (in my time
> zone). i磎 going to buy a calling card right now and you guys can
> call me at the number i call from? it should go well. we are going to
> be eating very well that weekend because we were invited to eat some
> 创asadasos创 with some families. that is like a huge meat barbeque
> and i磎 pretty pumped.
> leandro is doing awesome. he磗 good friends with some of the youth in
> the ward and his mom is pretty excited because he is spending time
> with other members. he blessed the sacrament again on sunday and he磗
> pretty involved. we just talked to his mom today in the street and
> she said that her family just attacked her (verbally) last night for
> being a member of the church and said a bunch of ugly things about the
> church but they don磘 understand anything about it... but his mom is
> really strong in the church too but it made her feel pretty bad. we
> are going to visit them tomorrow.
> we talked with silvia about her marriage status and she is going to
> start the divorce process so she can marry the guy she is living with.
> we are trying to get some of the hermanas in our ward to start
> visiting her when we aren磘 there so we are inviting them to come with
> us to the lessons. silvia really enjoys coming to church and she is
> feeling good about things. the members are calling her a 创mormon
> seco创 because she is only lacking her baptism to be a member.
> pte peterson did come this week to interview all of us and it was
> really awesome. i was able to talk to him about all of my concerns
> with the area and our investigators and he gave me some good
> direction. we talked a lot about prayer and i ended up studying more
> about it this week and i learned a lot of interesting things that
> changed the way that i think about it.
> one thing that i read in the bible dictionary is that we end our
> prayers 创in the name of Jesus Christ创 because we are praying for the
> things that He would pray for, and we should pray for things that
> agree with the will of God. i never thought about prayer in that way,
> that i磎 praying for things that Jesus would be praying for. i know
> that our prayers are answered when we ask for things that God wants
> for us.
> a few days ago, we went to clap some doors in the morning, but it was
> really hot and everybody either went to the beach or was eating lunch
> so we couldn磘 get into any doors. we didn磘 have lunch until 2 so we
> didn磘 have much to do at that time and it was kind of tough. i was
> getting really thirsty and for some reason, i started thinking that a
> nice glass of orange juice would be perfect at the moment. one guy
> answered the door, 创freddy创, and said he didn磘 have time to talk to
> us but he gave us 2 oranges. i was asking my companion how could it
> be possible that we got some oranges when i was thinking of orange
> juice, but we can磘 be directed to some good people to teach. we went
> to a corner under the shade to start eating our oranges. we ate half
> of our oranges when a gypsy couple with their young son showed up and
> started asking us questions about the church. they were out selling
> table cloths and other stuff and they weren磘 having any success
> either so we just started talking and we ended up teaching them right
> there on the corner. i thought that was really cool how all of that
> was planned out to meet those guys right there at that moment. the
> bad thing is that they aren磘 from rawson and they are moving to a
> different city on tuesday but we at least had the opportunity to talk
> to them and plant that seed for later. we were praying for people to
> teach and they presented themselves in a different way that we were
> expecting but we were able to teach. i think that i need to be a
> little more specific with my prayers but they need to be what God
> wants for us too.
> Alma 35:5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry
> unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou
> didst hear me.
> i felt like i was answered in that moment and i am very grateful for
> this experience.
> it磗 getting a lot warmer now and when it is a really hot day, the
> town shuts off the electricity and water. our freezer is full of ice,
> so full that we couldn磘 put our hands in to take stuff out, and when
> the electricity was turned off all of that ice melted and flooded the
> apartment. that was a fun surprise when we got up in the morning but
> now everything is good and our freezer is clear of ice. it was a
> blessing in disguise.
> on friday, the ward had an activity to celebrate the end of the year
> and it was on my comps birthday so he was able to have a semi-party to
> celebrate too. it went very well and there was a talent show and a
> dance afterward. we didn磘 stay for the dance, but we ate some good
> food and some of our investigators showed up too. nacho came with his
> friend and the familia dorrey came. it was a success. on sunday, the
> four of us missionaries sang a part of 创we磍l bring the world his
> truth创, for the primary presentation. it went very well. things are
> going a lot better here in rawson and we are starting to progress a
> lot more.
> i know that this is God磗 work and i know that i am supposed to be
> here in rawson with elder escobar. i am grateful for the opportunity
> that was given to me to be here and help with all that i can. it磗 a
> great feeling to know that my Heavenly Father can trust me to follow
> through with His plans and help those in need, and i磎 having an
> awesome time serving right now. even though christmas is coming up in
> less than a week, i磎 glad that i磎 here. i love you guys a lot and i
> really am looking forward to hearing your voices on sunday! i attached
> a short clip of my christmas song because i know my momma likes it ;D
> FELICES FIESTAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! I LOVE YOU! HASTA DOMINGO! CHAU!
> elder summers

Monday, December 12, 2011

320 to go...

¡hola familia!
> i received my christmas package last week! it made me so happy! i
> didn´t open the wrapped things because momma told me not to, but i´m
> excited! all the candy is amazing too! i haven´t opened anything yet,
> but i have eaten some candy canes, the peach rings, and some of those
> root beer candies. thank you for sending it! the calendar was just
> what i wanted too, and the jar of peanut butter! i don´t know why i
> like peanut butter so much right now...
> getting the conference in english was also really cool too! i have
> read the majority of the discursos and i really liked them. i really
> enjoyed the discurso by pte eyring in the priesthood session ´´i need
> your help´´, because my service as a missionary right now is helping
> me to become a better priesthood holder and future leader. i just
> need to stay diligent like pte eyring was and be ready to do more even
> when i´m tired.
> it´s interesting that trelew was on your world map because it´s not
> that big of a city. neuquen is a lot bigger, and trelew is about 15
> kilometers away from the ocean. rawson has a fishing port and it is
> the capital of chubut but it is really small.
> this week, leandro received the priesthood and was ordained a priest.
> on sunday, he showed up to church in a suit and he was able to bless
> the sacrament on sunday too. it was really cool to see him because he
> is progressing a lot. i don´t think his brother, rodrigo, has too
> much interest in the church right now. i think he is feeling a lot of
> pressure to be baptized and we don´t want him to feel like he´s
> obligated to do anything. we are trying to teach him though but we
> will see how that goes.
> silvia loves attending church. a lot of garbage has been happening to
> her lately and she can feel a difference in her house everytime we
> come to visit and there is peace in the house after we leave. some
> kids stole her chickens, one of her little dogs, and started a fire
> behind her house that damaged a bunch of trees. she has been pretty
> stressed because she loved that little dog... but she is now more
> willing to listen to us because she has seen a difference in her life
> when she is reading the book of mormon and praying. she admitted to
> us that she didn´t want a blessing of comfort last week because she
> was technically a member to another church for the last year, but she
> called that church and told them she didn´t want to be a member
> anymore so she could become more involved in our church. apparently
> she was baptized 3 times already so she wants to be really sure about
> the church before she is baptized the fourth time. i don´t blame her.
> but she tells us a lot that she is still ´´searching for her place´´
> and now she thinks that she has found it. the members are really good
> to her when she comes to church so she is feeling a lot better.
> it has been kind of hard to find nacho again this week and he didn´t
> come to church yesterday. we don´t know what is going on with him
> right now but we set a cita to visit him this week. we did find an
> awesome family to start teaching and we have a cita with them tonight.
> we are excited to teach them tonight and we are hoping everything
> goes well.
> i´m still not sure if i will be able to use skype but i spoke with the
> owner of the ciber and they are still deciding if it is going to be
> open. maybe i can skype on the 24th... or i can just call on the
> 25th. i will know for sure next monday, i think...
> but everything is going well here. elder escobar is pretty cool and we
> get along fine. he is a ´´lowtalker´´ so he sometimes gets impatient
> with me if i don´t understand but i understand ok when he talks
> louder. his birthday is on friday so i have to come up with something
> for us to celebrate!
> it´s getting a little hotter here so it´s getting harder to find
> people to teach. everyone wants to go to the beach during the day and
> at night, they are too tired to want to talk to us. it´s a little
> difficult right now but we are being diligent. we painted a ceiling
> this week and cleared a patio of weeds, lots of service. now we are
> going to see if that service will turn to new investigators. i read
> about ammon and his brothers this morning and i really liked how they
> just dedicated themselves to serving. we are offering a lot more help
> and some are takers while the majority still just say no.
> in preach my gospel, there is a challenge to break a habit to see how
> hard it is for investigators to break addictions. i decided this week
> that i am going to break my habit of cracking my knuckles and now i
> have gone 5 days without doing it. i failed a lot. i didn´t realize
> how often i was doing it... my fingers were getting really stiff
> without cracking them but now they are feeling normal again. it made
> me reflect on how much more difficult it would be to stop smoking or
> drinking but they will feel a lot more free. what i noticed with this
> challenge was that it was really hard for me to stop in the beginning
> but now i don´t feel the need to do it anymore. it gave me another
> perspective for people dealing with addictions that are a lot bigger.
> tomorrow, pte peterson is coming to rawson because he is interviewing
> all of the missionaries in the whole mission. we are looking forward
> to seeing him again tomorrow. now we are getting ready to go to
> trelew for the afternoon and playing basketball with the other
> missionaries there. thanks for writing this week! i always love
> hearing from you and seeing all the pictures (and videos) that you
> send!
> i love you guys!
> ¡con mucho amor y ánimo!
> elder summers

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

327 to go...

¡hola familia!
> we made it to december! things are going awesome here in rawson, and
> the weather is starting to get a lot warmer. the stores are starting
> to sell more decorations for christmas and i´m excited to celebrate in
> rawson this year.
> my new comp is elder escobar and he is a lot more tranquilo than my
> last comp. i can´t think of a better word... he´s pretty quiet but he
> still works and we get along fine. he is from guatemala and he turns
> 24 on the 16th. he was one of those guys that listened to heavy metal
> in english and played a lot of violent video games so he has one of
> those personalities... but we are doing great. the transition was a
> pretty big one because my last comp was a lot louder and now my new
> comp almost whispers the things he says.
> this week went great and the people are really progressing. after
> leandro´s baptism last week, he started spending a lot more time with
> the youth in the ward and his little brother rodrigo is getting a lot
> more involved too. right now the youth are playing in a stake futbol
> tournament, and leandro and rodrigo both came to play. we went to
> watch and our ward won 7-3. i thought that church basketball was
> intense... but it has nothing on futbol in argentina. leandro is
> getting ready for the aaronic priesthood and the bishop announced it
> in sacrament meeting yesterday. we have been visiting him and his
> brother to help him prepare and the goal is to have leandro baptize
> his brother. that would be awesome. his older sister has been
> studying in buenos aires and she is coming home for the navidad.
> elder colombres taught her a little bit before she left and now the
> family is saying she has more interest, so maybe it WILL be a white
> christmas after all!
> silvia is doing great too, the only thing she lacks is getting married
> to the guy she is living with but he needs to get divorced first. she
> probably won´t be able to be baptized for a few months unless they get
> going with the process but the guy doesn´t seem to hurry. él es
> satanás.
> yesterday, we went to eat lunch with natalia britez and her family and
> it was the first time they have given the missionaries lunch in over a
> year. they have been less active for a while but elder colombres and
> i got them to come back to church and to stop listening to the
> jehovah´s witnesses (because they have been confusing them a ton). it
> is so great to see them progressing, and her son lucas is passing the
> sacrament every week. natalia gave us an awesome reference for a guy
> named nacho. he is 22 and is the younger brother of her ex-boyfriend.
> last year he used to drink a ton and do a lot of drugs, but he found
> a church in trelew that helped him get over all of that and he
> completely changed. now he is very frustrated with that church
> because he found a lot of things in the bible that are against it and
> he says that he doesn´t feel satisfied after attending. we ended up
> going to his house last night to get to know him and we found natalia
> there visiting him. we were able to teach him about the restoration
> and about the church. he told us that all we wants in life is to find
> the right way and natalia helped us a lot with the lesson. it was
> awesome! we have another cita with him tonight and we are really
> excited to teach him about repentance and baptism. he already has a
> fecha to be baptized on the 17th this month.
> this week, i really liked these scriptures:
> mosiah 27:36-37
> 36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing
> many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their
> Redeemer.
> 37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did
> publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people
> that the Lord reigneth.
> mateo 19:29
> 29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
> or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s
> sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting
> life.
> i thought that they were really awesome scriptures and i know that
> there are a lot of blessings that come from our service as
> missionaries. i love seeing the fruits of our labors and i am praying
> every day to find the people that are ready! last night was a miracle
> finding nacho and i am very grateful for the help and support of the
> members. i think that we are finally gaining the trust of the members
> here in rawson and we are going to see a lot of great things in the
> next few months. i´m excited and ready to get going another week!
> today we started the week great and i was able to go and buy a new
> watch band (finally)! it broke a few weeks ago and i didn´t know where
> i could get a new one so my watch stayed in my pocket... we got our
> haircuts this morning too and the hermano morales did an awesome job.
> now we look more ´´missionary-like´´. today we are planning on going
> to the zoo here in rawson so i might take some pictures for next week!
> hey- thank you for getting that certificate sent. i think i am going
> to be able to get going on that this week but i haven´t heard anything
> so far. we haven´t checked to see if the bolsa arrived in the
> terminal yet so i don´t know if i got my package yet, but for sure
> next week i guess! ¡¡muchas gracias!! just 3 more weeks until
> christmas and i am so excited to talk to all of you! i´m thinking
> that i will be able to skype so that will be awesome! i love you all,
> and i´m looking forward to hearing from you again next week!
> con mucho amor y ánimo
> elder summers

Monday, November 28, 2011

334 to go...

to celebrate 13 months on the mission yesterday, we had a baptism!!!!!
> Leandro was baptized at 17:00 and it was awesome! my companion, elder
> colombres was the one to baptize him and then bishop detlefsen
> confirmed him afterwards. i stood in the circle and it was a really
> awesome day! i played the piano for the servicio bautismal, and then
> tons of people came and brought some goodies to share. it was really
> fun and i was so happy! there´s nothing better than being able to see
> the results of all your hard work. i didn´t get to see the baptisms
> of our investigators in comodoro and in zapala i only saw the baptism
> of brian... but to be able to attend the baptism is really special and
> i was glad to be a part of it.
> this week i sent 3 pictures. one of the 3 of us in front of the
> church before the baptism, after leandro was baptized by my comp, and
> the third is from our last district meeting together. my district
> leader is elder roper on the left, then his comp elder castillo, the
> chileno. they are both staying for the next transfer. my comp is
> leaving tonight and my new comp is coming in at the same time. i am
> really excited for the change because i know that i am going to be
> able to do a lot more, but i am still going to miss elder colombres.
>he is going to roca to be with another gringo missionary that is finishing his mission. all of elder
> colombres´ companions have been from the united states and all of my
> comps have been latino.
> my new companion is named elder escobar. when i heard his name i
> thought i was going to be with my trainer again and i got really
> excited but they said that he is a different escobar that started his
> mission a few months ago. he is from guatemala (or guatepeor...
> jajaja) and that is all i heard about him so i am looking forward to
> getting to know him better this week.
> thanksgiving was this week! i can´t believe it came by so fast! i
> didn´t remember that it was thanksgiving until the end of the day. i
> miss it... but next year i will definitely celebrate it. Shane- your
> birthday is coming up! i will be thinking of you on friday!
> i don´t remember a whole lot about the things that i did this week...
> but we met with leandro everyday to get him prepared and now i am
> going to pass by with my new comp to teach him the things for recent
> converts and to start teaching his brother, rodrigo! silvia needs to
> get married to her ´´marido´´ but he is still married to a woman in
> buenos aires so the divorce is very complicated. but we will see how
> everything works out. we haven´t found a lot of people this week but
> i can feel that we are going to find a lot of good people this week
> with elder escobar.
> last christmas i spent the holidays with elder escobar, and now i´m
> going to spend them this year with the other one! that´s kind of cool
> i guess. christmas is coming pretty fast, isn´t it? i´m so excited!
> and now i can start singing christmas hymns to people! that can be fun
> too. i hope elder escobar knows how to sing.
> my scripture for the week is 2 nefi 25:29 and jacob 4:10
> 29 And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in
> Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel;
> wherefore ye must bow down before him, and aworship him with all your
> might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye
> shall in nowise be cast out.
> 10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take
> counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he
> counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his
> works.
> there are a lot of things that i don´t understand but we can just put
> our trust in God and look for the things that He wants us to learn in
> our trials. looking back at the last few months that i have had, i
> may not have learned that much from my companion, but i did learn a
> lot about myself and i know that i am getting better as a missionary.
> i know that God loves us a lot and i am very grateful for the
> opportunity that i have to serve Him all day, every day, by helping
> others.
> i do love being here as a missionary, and i know that i don´t have
> that much time left so i have to take advantage of these next few
> months. now we have to get going because e´ colombres wants to say
> goodbye to all of rawson... we are going to be walking a lot, pero
> bueno, esta bien.
> i love you guys and i can´t wait for next week to hear from you!
> con mucho amor y ánimo
> elder summers

Monday, November 21, 2011

341 to go...

¡hola familia!
i got the voice recording from mollie and i loved hearing from you
guys! mollie- i´m so jealous you get to be there for thanksgiving... i
can´t believe that it is coming up so fast! i haven´t even been
thinking about that. it just isn´t the same being away. hey! but i got
my christmas tree! it made me so happy! oh! and i got my camel too!
they are both on my desk and i will take a picture next week with my
little tree. and my visa stuff, i am officially an illegal immigrant in argentina.
but we are working on that. have you guys received general conference
yet? i haven´t seen anything about that so far but i really want to
get that in english.
it has been an interesting week. we went to the hospital for my
companion to get his blood tested for diabetes and we had to sit and
wait for a few hours because he wasn´t allowed to walk. we are going
to pass by the hospital tomorrow to get the results. when we went, a
woman stopped us and asked if we were ´´elmers´´ of the mormon church
and then told us she was baptized a really long time ago and now her
husband is dying with cancer. we offered to give him a blessing in
one of the rooms for consultos, then the woman wanted us to go to her
house at that moment. we didn´t all fit in the car so she told her
family to just go without her and that she would just walk with us to
the house so we ended up going. she really needed a lot of help
because she feels terrible for her husband and doesn´t want to lose
him. it was crazy how everything worked out that day. we talked a
lot about how we can find the peace we need, about Jesus Christ, and
the plan of salvation. i know that God puts in the right place at the
right moment and i love being a part of His plans.
Leandro is doing awesome right now too. he came to church yesterday
and he really is progressing. he came to see mauro get baptized on
saturday and it was a really neat experience. the bishop didn´t come
because he went to a river futbol game and promised he would be back
in time but didn´t make it. our ward mission leader called him on it
in church on sunday and it was kind of intense. something he probably
should not have done in front of everyone... but we are making plans
for leandro´s baptism this saturday and are hoping everything works
out. the thing is that this weekend is stake conference so we might
have to wait another week i don´t think he can be confirmed on sunday.
silvia is also doing very well. she is the woman from buenos aires
that we found from the member in trelew. omar had us come over a few
times to help them prepare their garden but they didn´t want to know
anything. now silvia is coming to church and is studying the book of
mormon. she says that she doesn´t want to feel pressured to be
baptized because she doesn´t want to make a bad decision. she was
already baptized twice (evangelica y catolica) and so i think it might
take a little longer with her too but i know she can receive an answer
when she prays.
i finished the book of mormon this week and prayed again to know if it
is true. i always feel the spirit testify to me that it is when i
pray and ask. it is such a blessing to have in my life and that is
why i enjoy sharing it with others. it just sucks when people don´t
want to make the time to read too. yesterday, a whole bunch of
missionaries in our zone had a ´´tormenta blanca´´ (white storm) in
Gaiman and we had divisions with the members that live there to visit
a ton of old investigators and less active members and we had a lot of
success. i found 3 new people in that activity for that area and it
was really fun working with them. a missionary showed me that in 2
nephi 12:2, it says utah vertically in the book of mormon. i don´t
know if you guys have ever seen that but the scripture is really cool
too because it talks about utah. BUT! my scripture for the week comes
from moroni 7.
31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance,
and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which
he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the
children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen
vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.
32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue
of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in
their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner
bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the
children of men.
33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have
power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
finishing the book of mormon, these scriptures were a few that really
impacted me as a missionary. of course there are a lot of awesome
things towards the end too that i loved studying but with these
scriptures, i know that there are a lot of ´´chosen vessels´´ here in
rawson and it is cool to think that we were chosen to find them right
now. and from verse 33, i know that anything is possible as long as
we always keep our faith. i really loved reading doctrina y convenios
38:7-8 if you want to look them up too.
sorry for writing so late today... today we played foosball and pool
(i rocked everyone and i stay undefeated), then we played futbol for a
really long time. pero bueno, now we are ready for another good week
ahead. my comp is thinking that it is his last in rawson, but we will
see on saturday! next monday could be an awesome change for me and
i´m kind of excited! but if i stay another 6 weeks with elder
colombres, i will be ok with it. i have learned a lot by being with
him so i´m sure whatever is in store for me is for the best.
well, thanks for thinking of me this week and remembering to write! i
love you guys!
con mucho ánimo y amor,
elder summers

Monday, November 14, 2011

348 to go...




¡buen día, familia!
got my pictures this time! things are going ok here in rawson and we are still pluggin along. we did not have baptisms on saturday because they just weren´t prepared. the investigator of the other missionaries here is awesome and wasn´t baptized because he had to leave to present a school project and won´t be back for a while but leandro and rodrigo just aren´t ready yet. the pictures i sent are of us at punta tombo. i sent one of a guanaco with the penguins too because i never imagined to see them together before...
our ward mission leader had some problems with his health this week. he just had problems with his blood pressure and i think he had a stroke last monday, but he is recovering really fast. he is doing ok now and is resting.
tuesday we had a ward activity but only 16 people including 2 investigators. it wasn´t as successful as the last activity but we ended up changing our plans and we watched ´´the testaments´´ instead and ate some banana cake. wednesday we had divisions and i was with elder castillo in the other area and i had a lot of fun. it was a nice break and i really enjoyed working with him. we got a lot done and it recharged my batteries. it has been kind of hard lately because we haven´t been seeing much progress but ´´the night is darkest just before the dawn´´. yep, i just quoted batman. the hermana catalan passed away friday night and we spent saturday with the members at the funeral and burial. she was one of the pioneers here in rawson and she stayed faithful in the church for the last 40 years. she was an awesome example and it hurt the ward bad. on sunday, we went to a ward council meeting with the bishop and he said that they are planning on splitting the ward soon. they have the numbers but are lacking a few more worthy tithe payers on both sides to be able to divide. there are about 550 members here in rawson but only 130 people are actively attending every week. we want to start working more with the less active members to be able to meet that goal and help the church grow faster. since the time i arrived in rawson, i have seen a lot of progress because it was a disaster. the members were very cold with us but now they have opened up a ton and are more willing to work with us. the bishop wants us to teach some of the less active members the charlas again so they can remember their testimonies of the church but i think that the ward needs to do better retaining them and visiting them. our ward mission leader, hermano chemin is incredible because he has a very strong testimony and he likes visiting the members and strengthening them in his free time. that is why it is hard for him to stay in bed for now... but rawson would be full of active members if they were all like him.
it´s really cool having more trust from the ward leaders and i hope other missionaries after me don´t do anything else to screw it all up. before the mission, i always thought the mission would be really different. maybe it is just the argentina neuquen mission but it is really hard and i know a lot of missionaries are struggling right now. there is a lot of pressure to baptize every week but the people don´t want to listen to us and it is surprising how closed they can be! but i´m going to stay diligent for my comp.
i am reading in 3 nephi right now and i loved reading 5:13
13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
that is my responsibility as a missionary, and i just need to do all that i can to give everyone the chance to listen. i know that if i do my part, i am having success, even if the people reject us. it is difficult but i have realized this week that i am developing some new talents that i probably wouldn´t have if i didn´t come to argentina. there are a lot of good things here too. a lot of awesome people that i look forward to see every week. im still not sure what we are going to do today for pday. i wanted to go to the beach because it has been getting pretty hot lately but we will see what my comp, elder colombres, wants to do.
i don´t know why but i had a wierd craving for those circus peanut candies this week. mollie is making me a calendar? that sounds awesome and i´m excited to get it! time really is going fast, isn´t it? this week i will celebrate one year in argentina and in two weeks i will have 13 months on the mission! so crazy! well, i love you guys! and i love hearing from you every week. your letters/ emails every week really lift me up again and i really appreciate you thinking of me! thank you for everything!
con much amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

355 to go...

¡hola familia!
sorry it took so long to write today! i went to see the penguins in punta tombo this morning! it was really fun and it took about an hour to go down in a bus with 6 other missionaries from the zone. i took tons of awesome pictures but i don´t have my cord to send them today. next week...
i did go eat ice cream to celebrate my one year mark on the mission and it was amazing. i love ice cream! but anyways, with the other missionaries we ended up playing futbol americano (2 hand touch) and that was pretty fun too. i was rocking it because these guys don´t know how to play very well. :) i did play futbol with the members on saturday too even though our investigators didn´t show up. we did have some less active guys come and it was fun. i did score a few times, it was awesome!
it was a crazy week. a little disappointing too because we found daniela outside of her house drinking and smoking with some older girls. when she saw us, she hid everything but we already saw it. we ended up just inviting her to church (and her friends) but they didn´t come. oh! and marina has been acting wierd lately too. she sent us a text message that said she wants us to find her a boyfriend that is tall, good looking, kind, strong, and THAT will be a sign for her that the church is true. then she was avoiding us for some time... one day we went with elder roper and elder castillo (because we found them in the street before the cita) and we saw her close the window before we came but she didn´t answer us when we clapped. that night she sent us another text and apologized for not answering the door and asked us if one of the boys we walked with were for her. we are wondering what her intentions are for listening to us...
we were getting 4 people ready to be baptized for the 12th of november (this saturday) but now we are thinking only 2 will be ready, the 2 sons of dalia, a recent convert that was baptized by my companion a few months ago. we had some awesome lessons with them and we are praying things will still go well for them. their names are leandro and rodrigo. the other missionaries are getting another guy, mauro, ready for saturday too and he´s got a pretty solid testimony. that´s awesome. hopefully i can send pictures of the baptisms next monday!
there is another woman, silvia, that we have been doing service for her in her backyard clearing out a whole bunch of weeds. she has a son in law that was baptized this year and he wants us to keep working with her but she doesn´t have a lot of interest. he promised to come with us to a lesson but it didn´t work out and we planned another cita. there are a lot more mosquitos lately but they don´t bite me that much. they go after the latinos more and i saw a guy with tons of bites. i think he was allergic to it or something because they were getting all swollen. im fine though :).
i haven´t heard any more about my visa but i think it is all ok. you had to send another birth certificate? i never heard that was necessary... but thanks for sending it! i never had to pay anything when you sent the easter package so i think a box is ok for christmas. christmas candy would be incredible! ummm... i don´t know why but i like those peach candies and the root beer candies were awesome too! reese´s pieces, starbursts, i really liked the skor candy bar too :). i don´t know. it´s been a long time since i have eated candy from the united states. there are some trucho versions here but it´s not the same. m&m´s and skittles exist here too but they are really expensive and i never buy. but i think a calendar for 2012 would be an awesome christmas present. something that i can hang on the wall and use for my last year on the mission. if you can write the birthdays of everyone, that would be even cooler and i won´t forget anything. it gets harder to remember when the days come by so fast but i´m doing my best.
i would love to write things for the young men in the ward for the campouts but i don´t know bro rydalch´s email address.
this week, i found 2 good scriptures to share. alma 7:23
23 And now I would that ye should be ahumble, and be bsubmissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
and alma 29:9
9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do anot bglory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
the first really helped me this week and now is one of my favorites, and then i really liked the second scripture because it applies to me a lot as a missionary and made me reflect more on my calling.
well, i´m looking forward to a better week and i´m thankful for all the letters and support i have been receiving. i love you all! next week i send pictures for sure.
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Monday, October 31, 2011

362 to go...


¡hola familia!
this week cumplí one year on the mission! (how do you say that? i got one year? i turned one year? fetch.) anyways, i didn´t burn anything to celebrate and i didn´t do anything big because it was the end of the month and i ran out of money. today i got more and i think i will buy myself some helado (ice cream).
my visa expires in two weeks so i had to travel to trelew wednesday and thursday morning to get it renewed. it was fun because we had divisions and i went with elder roper to trelew. he needs to do his too. turns out it is a pretty complicated process but we finished everything we had to do in trelew. we went to the bank to pay some fees and get some stamps and then went to another building to pay for more stamps and for another document. thursday we went just to pick up everything and i ended up teaching some people in the waiting room about the church and it was really fun. i think we still have to pay about 600 pesos and sign a few more papers in rawson but i guess it should go smoothly. at least i´m in argentina and nobody pays attention if i´m here illegally but it is still good to get it taken care of.
on friday we had a zone conference in trelew (i go to trelew too much...) and it went great. one of the best conferences that i have been to. we talked about how to study better with investigators in mind, how to plan better, and how to ask for references from members. we practiced a lot and it was a good day. the elders in my zone are pretty fun to hang out with too. i attached the picture of our zone. where´s elder summers? one thing that i really liked was that after the testimony meeting, pte peterson gave us all our own book of mormons to study and asked us to read the whole thing before the end of the year. it has been a really long time since i have seen a book of mormon in english and it is a lot smaller than the spanish version. i thought that he was giving us new spanish versions before i noticed it was in english. i really like it and i enjoy reading it everyday.
hey! i got my birthday package and tons of birthday cards! i am so happy and i loved everything! the shirt looks good on me and i will take some pictures with it playing futbol. thank you! all the candy is amazing too. i shared it with my companion but he doesn´t like the root beer candies. more for me! we played futbol on saturday with some investigators and i rocked it. i´m getting a lot better with my control and i love playing.
this week i really liked alma 29:9
9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do anot bglory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
that was a really cool scripture for me to read. i enjoy teaching a lot and we found some good people this week. it was wierd how so many peopled failed us but we ended up doing a little more contacting and had some good lessons. we were teaching one family and their 14 year old daughter daniela was very prepared for us. she said that she feels like she needs something else in her life and is searching for peace. she accepted to be baptized on the 12th of november. our area is progressing more and more every week and we are getting more excited.
thanks for thinking of me and sending me letters every week! it´s keeping the ánimo up and recharging my battery for another great week. i love you all and i´m looking forward to hearing from you next week!
con mucho ánimo y amor,
elder summers

Monday, October 24, 2011

Day 362

¡hola familia!
yes- flia is short for familia. sorry for not explaining that earlier but i guess i wasn´t thinking about it. we had another good week of interesting adventures! i am happy here in rawson and my companion and i are working really hard. elder roper, our new district leader is really cool too. he has 14 months on the mission and our whole district, the 4 of us, are rocking it here.
it´s funny with elder roper because we have all the same stuff and yesterday we wore the same tie to church! we both went to missionary mall! jajaja
on saturday, we had a baptism for a woman that´s about 45 years old and our ward mission leader, hermano chemin, was able to baptize her because she is related to him. elder colombres found her a long time ago and the other missionaries have been teaching her but it was really cool and i played the piano for the meeting. my comp made bread of mandarin oranges and bread of banana.
we finally found families that we have been trying to find for weeks! we were so happy and we had noches de hogar with them. more people in the church on sunday! it was a really good meeting and we even had some investigators there that enjoyed it a lot. yesterday were the elections for argentina so we couldn´t do much all day because everyone is obligated to vote or they get a fine.
my companion has been getting really sick this week because of allergies. he couldn´t sleep at night because he couldn´t stop sneezing. it got really bad and i gave him a blessing. hermano chemin brought us to a farmacia at midnight to get him some medicine! he started sneezing blood but he is still alive and well.
we got into marina´s house to teach her and it was the most disgusting place i have ever been. it smelled really bad and it was so cluttered and filthy that i have no idea how she could live like that. we put the fecha with her but now i am afraid to go back to her house. she doesn´t have any friends and nobody can enter her house because ´´black magic´´ is keeping them from entering. but i don´t think so. there is half eaten food, rotten on the table that you can´t remove. when we left the house, my throat was stinging when i breathed and people told me that my clothes smelled really bad. we went back to the apartment so i could soak my clothes in soap and then i took a shower. we haven´t gone back since... but i know we have to help her. the woman is very large and never leaves the house because she doesn´t have work. she told us that she wants to hire someone to clean but she has nothing else better to do... and i don´t think she should let anybody have to deal with that mess.
we also found this guy, gabriel, and we were able to teach him real quick. he was pretty cool but a little feminine. he said that he was living with his ´´companion´´ so elder colombres told him that we were ´´companions´´ too. the guy got really excited and acted really wierd with us. the way he shook my hand creeped me out a lot. we went to his house again to teach him but we found some other guy and he was definitely gay so i don´t want to go back there anymore.
the family dorrey is doing awesome though. it is hard to find the husband but we manage to teach them and they are feeling very good about things. did not come to church but they are progressing!
that´s so cool that the ward had those baptisms! do those guys have a lot of friends in the church or were they friends of the missionaries? a lot of people here get baptized and then fall away because the members aren´t the warmest but we are working with that. we are trying hard to get members to the lessons with us but it gets complicated.
i still haven´t recieved any package but i´m sure it will come pretty soon. you know what would be cool? if you sent me a calendar for 2012 with the birthdays and important dates of everyone. i wanted to ask for addresses this week too because i want to be better getting more letters out. the thing is that i am poor and it costs me 10 pesos every letter that i send in the post office. it´s the end of the month and we are running low on money so in november i can start getting stuff out. this thursday i am going to have 1 year on my mission! very fast! i still don´t know what i will do to celebrate but maybe i will burn that shirt i wore at marina´s house. i´m tempted because i don´t want to wear it anymore but i think it´s ok now. it doesn´t smell anymore and i need all of my shirts. speaking of my clothes, i am ok with everything. all of my shirts, pants, and everything is still alive and i think i can last the 2 years without having to buy new things. sure, there are some holes but i have fixed them. nada grave.
my scripture for the week is DyC 78:17-18
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good bcheer, for I will clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the driches of eeternity are yours.
i have been reflecting a lot about God and who He really is. i am so thankful for all of the blessings that i have in my life and they make all of the bad things seem so small. when i read these scriptures, they make me think about Him leading us along holding our hands. i know that He loves us a lot and is ready to bless us when we stay obedient and firm in the gospel. i love this work, and i´m grateful to be here. thank you for all of your support and i´m looking forward to talking to you again for Christmas!!!
I love you all and i hope this week is better than the last!
elder summers

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Day 356

¡hola familia!
this week, i am proud to announce that i have not been reassigned to a new area and i have been given the opportunity to stay in rawson at least 6 more weeks with the same companion!!! the only change is elder taylor because he finished his mission and got on his bus for neuquen. poor guy has to travel a lot the next 3-4 days but i don´t feel bad for him because i will have to do the same next year. he told me that he is going to write me when he gets home and i´m sure i will miss him. elder suarez wrote to me today too. he is an awesome guy and i´m going to keep contact with him too.
our next district leader to take elder taylor´s place is named elder roper and i´m pretty sure i met him in comodoro. i think he has a month or two more than me on the mission but i´m not sure if it is the same elder that i´m thinking of. if it is the same, i am excited to see him again because he was really awesome.
this week went very well and we had 2 ward activities. the first on monday was a success and we had 62 people attend. it was great because when i started here, nobody came to the activities! we didn´t have a lot of investigators (only 2) but we did have quite a few that are less active. we played futbol, had a ping pong tournament, ate facturas and tortas fritas, our ward mission leader taught us an awesome game that i am definitely going to use again, and the youth performed. the other activity was for mother´s day because (only in argentina) their mother´s day is in october. i have no idea why because i think the rest of the world celebrates in may. even chile... the ward had a presentation about mother´s, we had a talent show, and everything was ´´de diez´´!
this week went very well and we ended up finding lots of people. the flia dorrey is awesome. i don´t remember if i mentioned them already, but praz is a gendarme (it´s a type of policeman that walk in the street, like a crowd control or something) and he is very excited to learn. we gave him a book of mormon and he told us he will read it for sure. he put it in his backpack and brought it with him to work, and his wife read the pamphlet we left about the plan of salvation. they both like the things they are reading and feel really good about it. they are friends of the bishop and we are going to plan a noche de hogar but the bishop is usually out of town. when we told the bishop about their progress, he told us he felt goosebumbs. i feel like we are gaining his trust again because the other missionaries before us were huge problems (with girlfriends and everything). crazy.
then we found pedro, and marina, and gustavo. they all live in different areas but we found them just because we prayed and asked where to go and we were impressed to go to certain streets and knock doors. i love the words of nefi in 2 nefi 4
35 Yea, I know that God will give aliberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I bask cnot amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the drock of my erighteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
i personally saw this scripture happen while working here in rawson and i am finding a lot more worth in my prayers. i´m treasuring the opportunity to speak with my loving Heavenly Father. i´m loving life and i can see how God is helping us a lot.
the mission president is changing some things for the week. now we have all of our meetings in the morning, including our weekly planning session on thursday. i don´t know if i like that because during the siesta, we can´t do very much when everyone is sleeping, but i know that it is for the better and we can do a lot more if we just plan our time better.
hopefully i will have more details on how these people are progressing next week because we only met with each of them once, but i´m telling you they were golden! i´m really excited about what we are doing and this week is going to go great! i know that as we look for unplanned opportunities to find, God will put those people that are prepared in our path, and this week we are going to find many people!
i love being here and there is nowhere else that i would like to be. i know that i´m here for a reason and i´m just so excited! i love you guys and i know this week will go incredible for you as well! hasta luego!
elder summers

Monday, October 10, 2011

Day 349

¡hola familia!
hey! things this week went pretty well and i had a great birthday! we didn´t do a whole lot to celebrate because it has been raining all weekend but my companion made me a cake, and then the familia Gonzalez brought me a cherry cake with peaches and dulce de leche inside. it was delicious. the other elders in rawson- elder taylor and castillo came over to our pensión last night to sleep over and celebrate with me. it was really fun but my companion was upset with one of the other elders so he didn´t participate... that was kind of a downer last night but i still had fun for my birthday.
where are you guys planning on going with those passports? are flights to argentina really expensive? :) i have one more year but i guess we will see! so it´s getting really cold in colorado? we are getting lots of rain and mud but that´s about it. now it is 13 degrees (celsius) so i am getting happier. it´s getting warmer because summer(s) is just around the corner! jajaja.
we did talk with susana about conference and she really enjoyed it. she said that it was very special but she won´t be baptized because she doesn´t ´´have time to read and pray´´ but she does have time to come to church...? i don´t understand that but then again she is always filling in her time with little things for her friends and she doesn´t want to make the time for the more important things. frustrating. but we did find a new family this week named the flia dorrey. they are friends of the bishop and his wife (they are both really young families) and they hang out a lot. we want to get a family home evening with them together but the bishop is out of town right now and the father of the flia dorrey has a difficult schedule. the best time to find him is between 6 and 7 in the afternoon but even that hour isn´t set. that is the hardest part for me here! it´s really hard for us to find people because they are never home.
this is the last week of the transfer so we are going to find out this saturday if there will be changes.
can you believe that i have a month in rawson already! that is crazy.
the 15 family plan is for each ward council to come up with 15 families for the missionaries to visit and teach. the missionaries come up with an informe (report?) saying what those families need to come back to church and the members take over in fellowshipping them. we are doing ok with that plan but it is hard finding those families for some reason. we made contact with almost all of them but it is really hard to find them again because something always seem to come up. more perseverance i guess.
it is mother´s day this sunday here in argentina! in centro, on almost all of the windows they say ´´i love you mommy´´ or ´´happy mother´s day´´ (in spanish of course) but it makes me feel kind of trunky.
at 4 today, we have an activity with our ward that we planned for people to bring their friends. we are going to play futbol, have a ping pong tournament, the youth is going to perform a musical act, and we are going to turn it into a family home evening for the ward. i really hope lots of people come (mejor con amigos) and i´m pretty excited. i think that a lot of members are going to come because our ward mission leader got up to give his testimony in church and he boldly invited everyone to come and enjoy the activity with us. he is really cool and calls us his sons. he has facebook too so i am going to keep in contact with him for sure.
i also gave my testimony yesterday and i felt really good all day afterwards. i think there is a lot of power in a testimony and i know it´s very important to share it as much as we can.
we had the opportunity to bring the sacrament to a recent convert because she had to work in the morning. it was very special because it was very personal for her and it made me reflect on how we should be taking the sacrament every week.
watching people take the sacrament sometimes makes me cringe because there are some people that don´t remember the significance and it annoys me. if they take the sacrament it´s just something for them to do and they don´t remember that it´s something very sacred and personal for them. i guess that´s why i enjoyed blessing the sacrament for dalia so much yesterday because i felt the spirit very strong and we sang a hymn afterward.
i finished the book of mormon again this week and i know that it is the word of God. i know it.
my scripture for the day is d&c 12:8
8 And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.
there it is. i really like this scripture and i am praying every day to have more of these things because without them, i can´t meet my goals.
i love you guys a lot and i am praying for you. i hope this week is even better than the last and i´m looking forward to next monday already! don´t forget to write!
elder summers

Monday, October 3, 2011

Day 342

hola familia!
wasn´t conference great? i was able to watch every sessiona but i had some problems hearing pte. eyring on sunday morning because the satellite wasn´t working very well... but we went to trelew to watch all of it in english. the priesthood session we watched in rawson in spanish because we got special permission from pte peterson! our ward mission leader told us that he was going to be the only one in the building to watch it so we asked pte peterson if we could watch it with him and he said it was ok. i really enjoyed conference and i was surprised how many of the general authorities spoke directly to me as a missionary. it was a very special conference for me and it answered a lot of the questions that i had. i especially liked the talks from pte uchtdorf on saturday, pte monson, and elder cornish. the prophet had a lot of energy this weekend and i loved listening to his messages. it will be great to get the conference in the ensign!!!
we had an investigator come to conference in rawson but we weren´t there. her name is susana and is a woman that has been talking to the missionaries for a few years. the other day we went to her house and sanded two of her tables and then invited her to come to conference. some of her friends that are members in trelew already invited her so she was planning on attending in trelew with them but i don´t know why she came to the session in rawson. she got emotional listening to one of the talks because she felt the spirit and we are going to talk to her about it.
we officially dropped manuel because he told us not to come back, he doesn´t want to listen to us anymore and then told us to shoo. que mala onda.
but this week wasn´t too bad. it is really hard because we don´t have many investigators and the people we are finding hear stuff from their ´´friends´´ and decide the church isn´t for them. we only have 6 investigators. i don´t know what it is but the people in the south are really cold and finding those people that are ready is pretty difficult. we knock a LOT of doors and the members say that all of their friends are already in the church and it´s hard for them to get new friends... my companion asks me why i even bother asking the members for references because they never give them to us. i talked to president peterson and he said that we are going to have to receive our own revelation to find those people that are prepared. elder colombres and i are planning on teaching english in the church on saturdays and we are also planning an activity for the 10th, next monday for the youth to bring their friends. we are getting more excited. the conference yesterday was also a boost for us in our ánimo.
pte. peterson is also stressing the 15 family plan that the prophet made. we are searching for those people that the ward council gave us but it has been difficult finding them too. we did make contact with some and we already got a few of those families to come back to church.
this week, i ate puchero and i really liked it. it is just the meat off of a cow´s ´´forearm´´. the food here really isn´t that strange for me and i actually love all of it. food has always been difficult for me to understand because everyone has a different name for one thing and i get mixed up. i´m sure there are tons of names for puchero that i have never heard of but i thought it was interesting. it was perfect with mustard :).
my companion has been having a hard time sleeping lately and he says that i talk a lot in my sleep. 1/3 english, 1/3 spanish, and 1/3 nonsense. it is funny to hear the crazy things that i say and i know he isn´t making it up because some of the things i remember dreaming and i can´t believe i said the things outloud.
right now i am in trelew and we went to play some pool and air hockey with a district of missionaries here. i stay undefeated and i loved playing. it´s just too bad we don´t have foosball. it doesn´t make sense since everybody loves futbol!!! oh well... i think i need to do better taking pictures because we have awesome pdays. we are planning on going to see the penguins next monday but there are no buses to take us and we aren´t sure if some members can take us or not.
this week is full of birthdays! ¡feliz cumple! ¡que kpo! no puedo creer que voy a cumplir 20... pero estoy animado! it has been one really awesome year and i will never forget the days i spent as a 19 year old missionary in argentina, the best place for me. i really liked listening in general conference when elder waddell talked about how my mission here at this time was specifically set for my personal, eternal progression. everyone i meet, all of my companions, my mission presidents, and all of my challenges are exactly what i need in the moment that i need them. that gave me a new perspective to the work that i have been doing and gave me a new deternimation to ´´look up, step up, and cheer up those in need´´.
my scripture for the week is DyC 5:24
24 Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not ahumble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bbow down before me, and humble himself in mighty cprayer and faith, in the dsincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a eview of the things which he desires to see.
it really stood out to me this week and i started working harder on my personal prayers. i guess that is why i really liked the talk from elder cornish when he talked about the personal relationship that we should maintain with our Heavenly Father through prayer. he also said that prayer was the passport to peace and i have personally felt that here with the challenges i have had.
i really enjoyed the talk from pte uchtdorf because i know that we are not invisible to God and He is always there. He has comforted me many times and i am learning to put more of my trust in my Heavenly Father. i also liked the story from pte monson when he put a lot of trust in announcing the first speaker that wasn´t even in attendance... he really is an amazing man and i know he is a prophet of God. I am very grateful for this opportunity to be here and the chance to listen to conference gave me an extra boost. thank you for all of your support, birthday wishes, and love this week. i won´t be letting you down and i will be working extra hard my last year here in argentina. i love my Savior and i love serving Him. i really love you guys too! I hope that this week goes great for you all, and i can´t wait to hear from you next week!
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Day 335

¡Hola Familia!
bueno... el bautismo no pasó. estoy un poco enojado porque el ´´amigo´´ de manuel llenó su cabeza con tonterías y ahora no tiene los deseos de bautizarse. faaaaaaa! le contó cosas sobre nosotros ´´adorando imagenes de jesucristo´´ y por eso no quiere. que tonto.
AY! it was kind of sad because he doesn´t want to be baptized now but we are going to work with him a little more because he changed his mind after we talked with him a little more. i think that he needs to understand better i guess. we had the day of spring this week and the weather is getting a lot better. right now it is 17 degrees celsius and that is awesome. it is usually between 8 and 13, and i´m not sure how much that is in fahrenheit. it has been beautiful here in rawson and the trees are starting to bloom. we met a woman named laura and we had an awesome lesson with her. she told us that we really helped her and she felt really good about it. she said that she would pray but she had other things to do this sunday but maybe the next sunday. we saw her in the street a few days later and she told us that everything seemed to get better for her after talking to us and she was able to get a job. we will see how it goes! she has two daughters and is a single mother. she lives with her brothers and her mom. on sunday, a member brought one of his friends to church and she wants to listen to us too. things are getting a little better for us every week so we are doing good. we fasted last wednesday and it went very well. that day, everyone we visited wanted to give us tons of delicious treats and we turned them down... but we had a good fast. i know there are blessings from the fast! we haven´t seen too many so far but i think we will soon.
i really think that this week is going to be awesome and i´m really excited.
i got my package today!!! yay!!! i haven´t opened it yet but thank you! thank you! thank you! i also got letters from annie, jamie, and my pápi. makes me so happy :). i will have 11 months on the mission tomorrow! i´m feeling good. time is going so fast. i am really excited to see general conference tomorrow too. i think that i will watch it in spanish on saturday with some investigators, and then in english in trelew on sunday.
momma- the snake bat won{t be necessary because i also hear that i look like papelucho, some chilean cartoon. i don{t soo the resemblance, pero bueno...
my computer is dumb and everything just shut down on me... now i dont have much time. sorry. now i am going to go hang out with the other elders in trelew! colossians 3:23-24 is my scripture for the week. last week i played futbol and scored 3 times :). i love you guys and i hope that the week goes well for you!
con mucho amor y animo
elder summers

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Day 328



¡Hola Familia!
I´m spending the pday in Trelew this week and i love it. it´s only 1/2 hour bus ride and we got together with 2 districts that are serving here. we are going to play some futbol pretty soon and i´m so excited to play again. last week was awesome going to the beach and we took some good pictures.
Manuel is doing great. I hope everything continues to go well so he can be baptized this Saturday. we asked him if he remembered the date of his baptism and he said ´´of course i do. the 24th!´´. that made me really happy and we are working with him every day to make sure that he is ready. he couldn´t come to church yesterday because it was his nieta´s birthday and he went to eat an asado with his family. we didn´t have anyone else in church but next week for sure, we will. i think that this week was the first week on my whole mission that i wasn´t able to find anyone... but i hope it is the last. we knocked a lot of doors but for some reason, not a lot of people were home. for the día de Rawson, the people celebrated with a huge parade in the street so we couldn´t do very much that day. we spent a lot of time outside because people weren´t answering the doors and we ended up getting a lot of sun. i´m now walking with short sleeve shirts and it feels so good outside :). it usually gets colder when the sun goes down but lately it´s been really nice.
this week was a little difficult and i shared this scripture with my comp.
Mosiah 23:21-22
21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to achasten his people; yea, he trieth their bpatience and their faith.
22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his atrust in him the same shall be blifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.
it came from a talk that i read by Elder Christofferson about willingly accepting and seeking correction with the trials that we have. we spent a lot of time in the street so we have been thinking about all the things that we can do better. we are re analyzing the way we do contacts and thinking of things we can do to plan better. we don´t have very much in our area because there aren´t many members in our area and we don´t have many investigators. we are going to fast this week because i think that will help us a lot.
but i know everything is going to go a lot better this week.
last monday i got my haircut and now a lot of people say i look like a movie star. do you guys think i look like someone? i don´t think so...i don´t know where that´s coming from but now i have a few snakes :). it just makes me laugh.
now the other missionaries are getting impatient with me so i have to go. we are going to eat and then play some ¡¡¡footchy-bol!!!
i love you guys! hasta luego!
con mucho amor y ánimo
elder summers

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Day 321

¡Hola Familia!
Hey-OOOO! i loved all the pictures that i got today! very awesome!
life here in rawson is very different... but it is great. it isn´t a lot bigger, but it is a lot more ´´modern´´. all of the streets (or almost all) are paved. it has more plazas with huge green trees and little parks that i haven`t seen for almost 8 months! and it is spring time so the trees and flowers are starting to bloom and it so beautiful! í´m excited to work here.
rawson was split in 2 parts to have 4 missionaries and we have the southern part below the street called vucetich. most of the investigators that the other missionaries had lived above vucetich so we don´t have very much to work with right now but we are going to fix that soon. we have 4 people that are progressing right now so i guess that´s pretty good. 3 of those people we found this week... but we found 6. yay! this week should be a lot better. i have never walked so much! we are on our feet a lot... before i was able to get into a lot more houses and visit a lot more people but i guess we just need to build that up. i have an interview with president peterson tomorrow because he is coming to rawson so i am sure we are going to talk about that a lot.
we live on sarmiento a few blocks from the chubut river. rawson is half an hour away from trelew on a bus and about 15 minutes from the beach. i´m really excited to see the beach again! we are going today in half an hour with our ward mission leader, hno chemín. he is really cool and he really wants to help us in any way that he can. there is one ward in rawson that the four missionaries are sharing and it is very large. there were about 80 people there but i was impressed with how many priesthood holders were there. i would say there were about 15 but that´s pretty awesome. our priesthood meetings in zapala had about 3... but it was awesome!!!
i am with elder colombres and he is really cool too. i am really excited to work with him. he has a lot of energy with people and he serves with a lot of love. i know that we are going to see a lot of miracles in the next few weeks here in rawson. his last 2 companions were a little trunky so he had a few problems but he is excited to be working harder with me... but it´s going to be good and we have a lot of fun. he speaks english perfectly but most of the time we speak castellano. oh! he is from tucuman, a province in northern argentina and he says that the difference between his house and in rawson sometimes scares him because the people here are a lot ´´colder´´ (pun intended jajaja) because it´s cold here... pero bueno.
we had 3 people in church yesterday!!!! jajaja. i was so happy! i hope it helps us build more trust with the members. one of the guys we brought is named manuel and he is 70- something. he is golden! we asked him to pray and ask God if it was the correct church and he said that he already knew it and his son is a member in chile. awesome. he told us that he wants to be baptized and we are preparing him for the 24th. but then he told us that he killed someone. fetch. but i think we will be able to baptize him still because he didn´t really kill anybody. he got in a fight with his step dad when he was beating his mom and he stabbed the guy. his step dad didn´t die but he ended up dying later because of those wounds that he gave him. it was a really long time ago and he has repented but still feels really bad and we are going to talk to our mission president about that one... then another woman noemí is getting ready for the 24th too but she doesn´t have any big problems. two other guys martín and daniel (cousins) came to church with us yesterday. the dad of daniel is a pastor for another church but his mom´s family are all members. church went very well and i was happy to bring them into the building! oh! and those people that i interviewed for baptism in zapala were all baptized except for one because she decided that she isn´t ready yet. but her family was baptized. i have to go now! but i love you guys and i will have pictures of the beach next week! and a scripture... perdón!
elder summers

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Day 314

¡hola familia!
fa! i really wish i could have been there for the blessing! who knows, maybe i´ll be there for jamiés next kid :). jajaja! you are all traveling a lot these days. today is labor day? fa. oh well. today i will not be laboring that much because i will be on a flipping bus ALL day. i really enjoyed being here in zapala and i´m looking forward to my next area.
yesterday, i was able to give my testimony in church and thank my family zapalino for everything. it was kind of an emotional day and i will never forget it. i didn´t realize the impact i had on these people and they were really upset to find out that i am leaving. one hermano teared up as he told me that i have changed his life forever and will never forget me. another thanked me and told me that i was the reason he started coming back to church with his family, because he felt a sincere love everytime i visited them in their house. another family told me that for the past 7 months, i have taken the place of their son while he is on his mission in mexico and they made me an amazing cake :). i took some awesome pictures with them. some of the awesome things they said to me made me tear up and it was even harder for me to leave. i will keep in touch with these families and i will always remember them. my branch president thanked me for all of the hard work that i´ve done and told me that he has felt a difference in the branch since i have come and it won´t be the same. it meant a lot to me yesterday. hermana cruz (she´s in my district) made me an awesome scarf with a note - ´´para el mejor líder de distrito´´
i felt like i didn´t have too much success in zapala because i didn´t have many baptisms, but things changed yesterday. i´m looking forward to being a part in other people´s lives in my next area. now for the big news!
Elder Jacob B. Summers ha sido llamado para servir (has been called to serve) en Trelew- Rawson B!!!!!! i talked to pte peterson on the phone and he told me that Rawson is a small city like zapala and it just got split in two. he told me that i will be helping to open that area and that i need to baptize a lot. woooooooooo! i´m so excited!!!! my new compañero se llama Elder Colombres (spelling i´m not sure...) but i heard that he is Argentino and that he has about 5 months on the mission. my district leader will be Elder Taylor, the one that lived with us here in zapala 6 weeks ago so i´m really excited to see him again.
rawson (pronounced RAH-OO-SON) is in the Chubut province close to the beach (i´m thinking i will see some penguins because we are getting closer to the summertime!!!!). i´m not sure how far away it is from Trelew (pronounced TRAY-LAY-OO), like an hour or so, but i´m leaving today at 17:00 (5 o´clock) to get to Neuquen (3 hours away). i´ll be on a bus from neuquen to trelew at 22:15 and will arrive at 8:20 tuesday morning. from there i have to buy another ticket to get to rawson and i´m not sure how much that will cost or exactly how far away it is from trelew... but it will be an awesome adventure.
i think i inherited some of my mama´s packing skills because i was able to fit everything very well in 3 suitcases, a small box, and my backpack. sweet. it´s awesome because i acquired lots of stuff here :) i left some stuff too, like my futbol :( but it was getting trashed from playing too much.
it felt so good handing off my keys to the kingdom to elder ruano. now he is going to have to be more responsible and he will need that to grow a lot. i feel like a load has been lifted off of my back and now i have another waiting for me in rawson. i feel so good right now and i am psyched to get started in my new area. i really will miss this area and i know that i will come back again. it´s on my list of things to do before i die to return to the patagonia. i love serving and i am grateful to be able to see the fruits of the things that i have done. they have given me a stronger desire to work even harder in my next areas. reading these scriptures really hit me this week.

DyC 123:12-14
12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are ablinded by the subtle bcraftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to cdeceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they dknow not where to find it—
13 Therefore, that we should waste and awear out our lives in bringing to light all the bhidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—
14 These should then be attended to with great aearnestness.

Moroni 9:6
6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor adiligently; for if we should cease to blabor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

i am hoping to rest my soul on the bus too but then again, the guy next to me won´t be able to run when i
:). i know that i am following the path that my Heavenly Father wants me to follow and i am grateful for this new opportunity to serve His children where ever i am called to be. i am so excited!!! i love you guys and i will be praying for you while youre traveling too. i hope you continue to have a lot of fun this week. mollie- have fun in Idaho!!!! when do you start school? fa, no recuerdo. pero vas a divertirte muchísimo! les amo, a todos de ustedes, y estoy re agradecido por todo su apoyo. ¡muchas gracias! ¡vamos a empezar nuestras aventuras juntos! jajaja. oh! and i loved those 2 pictures that mollie sent me of you guys together. awesome! just missing my padres! hasta luego!
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Monday, August 29, 2011

Day 307

¡Hola familia!
i now have 10 months in the mission!!! that´s pretty much a year already! or almost a year... hahaha. there was an earthquake in colorado? crazy. did you feel it? i did see something about that couple that served here but i didn´t know them. they were replaced by the johnsons in august i think, before i got here. they wanted a list of my companions? well, i was with elder escobar, elder suarez, elder taylor, and now i´m with elder ruano. elder escobar has about a year and a half, elder suarez went home a few months ago, and elder taylor is going home in october.
i was promised that you would take lots of pictures when all of the family is together for the baby blessings but i was never promised that they would be sent to me to see them. please send them. i would love to see them. the week went pretty well and i´m excited to finish up this transfer this last week. i find out who goes and who stays on saturday night (the 3 of septiembre) and i might be leaving on the 5th. we will see. the hermanas in my district think that i will be leaving but i´m not sure. they had me write in their notebooks to say goodbye and how awesome they are but we will see if i have another 6 weeks in zapala. i was thinking this morning that it would be very strange to leave zapala and i don´t really want to go anywhere else... i guess that i´m used to the area now (after 7 months). fa. the mission is not doing well with baptisms right now so the zone leaders are really pressuring us to do a lot more than we are already doing. in the district meeting, i talked about that with all of the hermanas and my comp and we decided that we just needed to talk about the investigators that we already have, and as a district we came up with some really good ideas to help them progress better that we haven´t thought of before. it was a really good meeting, i think. on wednesday, we had an activity in the church. a movie night!! we watched finding faith in christ and the short video of the restauracion. it went very well but we didn´t have as many investigators there that we thought we would have. oh well. i am hoping to get some baptisms this saturday but i don´t feel like it will happen because it is really difficult to find the investigators right now... but we were able to find a few new families. should be great this week.
on friday, i had 4 baptismal interviews with the members of a family that the zone leaders found a long time. i was there when they first found them a few months ago and they weren´t that interested in the church, so it was cool to hear their testimonies in their interviews with me. on saturday, we had another activity for the youth called ´´mtc for a day´´, and we were the mtc teachers and we assigned them companions and taught them how to do contacts in the street and share the gospel with friends. it went very well. after that, we went to a reference that the hermanas gave us, a testigo de jehovah that tried to convince us that we were wrong and that we should rethink where we are. he said that the church wasn´t logical and that i needed to start using my head. i really wanted to leave but he kept talking and wouldn´t give my bible back. the thing that bothered me the most was that in the two hours we were there, elder ruano didn´t say a word. afterwards i told him, ´´hey! you have to help me! all you need to do is bare your testimony with me. if i do it alone there is no power and i really need you to support me.´´ he told me that i can do everything by myself and that i don´t need him to do anything. that really hurt me and made me a little upset with him. he doesn´t realize his potential yet and i think he is starting to give up. i´m talking with my mission president and praying hard for him. i don´t think that i can be carrying him on my back for another transfer but if i need to, i will do it. i´m pressing him hard to do his part so we will see how he does this last week.
pero bueno.
i talked in church too yesterday!! that´s awesome. i talked about john 21 when jesus asked pedro, ¿me amas?. i talked about ways that we can show the savior that yes, we do love him, and how we can leave everything behind and follow him like pedro was asked to do. it went very well and i felt really good about it. well, that was my week. i hope everything goes well this week too, it will be lots of fun! i think someone should print out a card board print out of me so i can participate too. maybe that would be a little extreme but i think it would be awesome. i love you guys!
con mucho amor y ánimo
elder summers

Monday, August 22, 2011

Day 300

¡Hola Familia!
i can´t believe that we are almost done with august! time is going really fast. the transfer ends in 2 weeks. we are starting week 5 right now and there are 6 weeks in a transfer. things are going very well.
Jamie- ¡¡HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! you just need to imagine that i am there singing happy birthday with everybody else! and eating your cake.
speaking of cake. yesterday was día de niño here in argentina so the family that we ate with made a huge cake (4 layers with dulce de leche, chocolate, some peach jam stuff, and lots of orange sprinkles). my companion liked it so they gave us half of the cake that filled a big tupper dish. fetch. i don´t think my comp can eat all of it and i won´t be able to help much. i kind of felt like that fat kid from matilda trying to eat all of that chocolate cake by himself.
i think today is a holiday too because the streets are empty and all of the stores are closed... i just found out that it is día de san martín. i´m not sure who it is but apparently he died on the 22nd of agosto. should be interesting today because nobody likes us on holidays. they just want to sleep all day and i don´t understand how they can do it. a lot of people stay up until 4 in the morning just watching tv and they get up and eat lunch at 5 in the afternoon. for me, that doesn´t sound like a very fun way to celebrate a holiday.
we found another great family with a lot of faith. the wife was reading the book of mormon but she said that she wasn´t able to pray because there was something in the house that was keeping her from doing it. apparently they were having lots of problems and it was scaring all of them. their priest of their church came but couldn´t help them. we blessed the house and invited them to come to church but they didn´t show up. milton (the dad) said that he didn´t want to ´´play with God, going to different churches´´. we just need to explain a little more.
a lot of people think that zapala is cursed because they have lots of ´´evil dreams´´ and bad experiences in their houses. we have had to bless lots of houses here and it is really sad to hear people tell us about the things that have been going on but they never asked for help before. everything is going ok though, but they won´t come to church afterwards!! fetch.
my comp is doing well too. sometimes i feel like our relationship is like marlin and dory from finding nemo. i seem to be the more serious one while he is... well, dory. i always need to be paying attention to him and make sure he isn´t doing dumb stuff. he really wants to use facebook right now so i need to keep checking on him... or sometimes while we are studying, he just gets up and walks away. when i look for him he is just lying on his bed. he told me the other day ´´Go away, i´m studying.´´ ´´yeah? what are you studying right now?´´ ´´nephi´s dream, of course!´ that made me laugh but now i´m getting worried about him. we had 10 weeks together and i´m worrying about what kind of missionary he is going to be when i leave. i hope his next companion will have more patience than me to treat him good and keep him on his feet (sometimes literally). his brother just sent him his mp3 player and he did not listen to the best music before. i think i need to help him delete that music and put some motab.
there are a lot of missionaries but few elders of israel. is my comp going to be an elder? my relationship with him is getting kind of complicated but i want the best for him.
we are planning some awesome activities for our investigators. we are going to have a movie night in the stake center (with the big screen) on wednesday. on saturday, we will have an activity called ´´mtc for a day´´ for the youth for a few hours. we are going to help prepare them as missionaries and talk about how we can best help our friends. it will be great. my scripture for the week!
Joshua 1:9
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the aLord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
i know that we have Him with us all the time and we can rely on Him in everything. i love my Savior and i want to fulfill my part for Him because he already did His and is always there for me. i´m doing my best, searching for those that are ready and i read a scripture in Alma about how the Lord prepared people by the spirit so they were more susceptible to the teachings of the missionaries. i know that those people exist, but we just need to find them.
i love you, family! i hope everything goes well for you this week. ¡Hasta luego!
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Monday, August 15, 2011

Day 293

¡¡hola familia!!
i think this week was the only week that i only received letters from my parents... oh well. i guess it´s fair to say that my parents love me the most but i don´t want my awesome family to get out of the habit of writing a quick happy note! (at least, ¡por favor!). things are going very well, as usual, and the weather has been improving a lot. still lots of wind, but the sun is getting warmer. i´m pretty sure that we are getting closer to springtime :) . finally got our heater fixed. working well.
to answer questions- all of the missionaries here walk, except the assistants to the president sometimes drive a car. i guess there would be problems with people stealing our bikes all the time but here in zapala would be pretty easy going with a bike. i think i could probably ride across my area in 5 minutes, all of Zapala in 20. it´s a very small town but it´s great. i really love being here and i´m not looking forward to leaving... the last transfer, i was talking to my branch president about staying and he said that it´s only going to get harder to leave the longer i stay and i agree with him.
i think that i would be able to skype for christmas! that would be so awesome and lots of fun too. i don´t know if a computer ciber would be open on christmas but i´m sure we would be able to. sure, why not? i think my only pedido in a package would be another stain stick for my white shirts. that thing is great. cocoa packets would be great as well. i might be in another area when it arrives so i don´t know if it would be cold or not. i could be in the mountains, in the neuquen province still, far south with tons of wind, or close to the ocean somewhere.
i´m starting to get sick... i think i´m going to spend my pday napping during the siesta because i don´t feel like running somewhere today. we got everything that we needed done. we got haircuts, we bought enough food for the week, cleaned the pension, delivered letters to my district, and now we are writing to our families. it has been a good day so far.
this week i gained a testimony of our daily study time. i decided to be more flexible with my study and just do whatever i felt like i needed to and now i am actually using the things i am studying a lot more during the day. it´s been very interesting how i felt inspired to read a certain talk, or study a certain principle and find myself using that information later the same day. i know that we are being guided in the work and i´m grateful to know that we are never alone.
my scriptures for the week.
1 Thessalonians 3
12 And the Lord make you to increase and aabound in blove one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the acoming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his bsaints.
these are the things that really stood out to me this week because i have been thinking a lot about our responsiblilites that we have in this life. love has stood out a lot in my studies this week, maybe that means i need to improve a bit... but everything i read talked about how we can purify ourselves through our love for others and the love that we have for our Heavenly Father. i know that He lives, and i know that He is counting on us to really try and be the best that we can. we can´t let little distractions get in the way. usually the reasons that we have to get frustrated are pretty lame anyways... pero bueno. that is my pensamiento para la semana. i love you all, i´m going to eat lunch now. have a great week!
con mucho amor y animo
elder summers

Friday, August 12, 2011

Day 286

¡¡hola familia!!
this week was VERY cold. the snow was very wet and it only got the streets wet and muddy. that with the cold wind made this week a little difficult to trudge through town but we made it ok. nobody answered their doors, we couldn´t find anyone, and some of the families were seperated because of dumb arguments that they had and it doesn´t look like they can resolve them for some time. it was a little depressing this week and i don´t understand why we had so many problems... but i found an awesome scripture in 2 corinthians 4. the whole chapter is pretty great but the last two verses really stood out to me.
17 For our light aaffliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and beternal cweight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are aseen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not bseen are ceternal.
i will never forget this week that we had but i know that all of the challenges that we have, big or small, are for our eternal progression, and we aren´t able to get any better without them. it was humbling to start the mission in a foreign place, and i thought the challenges would get easier after 6 months, but then you just get others... i know that my padre celestial wants me and my companion to grow a lot here in zapala, and it has been a great experience overall.
we had an awesome zone conference this week and it was centered on the atonement and how everything that we teach should include something about it. it was a great conference and it made me think a lot about what we will be doing better to use it more. with all of the things that we can teach, i guess we lose that focus on savior sometimes, and it was a great reminder for me. e´ ruano and i have been doing a good job about teaching about Christ but i know there are some more things that we can improve in. the conference was very uplifting and i performed a musical number with two other elders. we sang and i played the piano too. pte peterson told us that e´ ruano needs a haircut and that it wouldn´t be a bad idea if i wanted one too, so we went to get one today but it wasn´t open... later today i guess. in our zone there are about 25 missionaries and the others came from san martín, junín, plaza huincul, and cutral co. all of those areas make up the zapala stake.
our branch is part of a stake, and we attend church every week in our stake center about 5 minutes from the house. it is great having it so close! the requirements to make our branch a ward is to have more members paying tithing. i think we are lacking 2 more tithe payers and we are reactivating lots of people. this week was bad finding people, but we visited a lot of less active members and the attendance at church was the highest it has been all year. (almost 90 people!! :) ) we sure do have lots of work to do in the branch and we are working on helping part member families become more unified in the church. baptisms are coming...
as district leader, one of my new responsibilities is to interview the people before they are baptized to see if they have a testimony and are worthy. i had my first interview on saturday but he didn´t pass... he didn´t really believe that the church was THE church of Jesus Christ, and said that baptism just sounding like something ´´lindo´´ (beautiful). i said that he probably needs some more time to prepare...
all of my puppies officially disappeared. i think the chimangos ate the last two. have you ever heard of chimangos? they are awesome hawks that live in the patagonia. really cool. there are tons outside of our house and they pretty much eat everything. oh well. last week, i bought a harmonica! it was about 6 dollars and it is a pretty nice one so i figured it would be awesome. and it is. i attached a sample of my skills :) . well, family, i love you guys. enjoy this next week, and i look forward to hearing from you again!
con muchísimo amor y ánimo,
elder summers