Day 209

hola familia!
congratulations mollie! good job graduating. this week has gone ok but it wasn´t the best. i did visit primeros pinos with my district and that was awesome. a little cold there because we hiked down into the valley and then i built an asado for everyone. it was a little difficult to build a fire with all of the wind but i am an eagle scout :) and our chorizos were delicious. i included some pictures. hna sosa fell into the river and she got sick but other than that it was pretty fun. (i told her not to stray too far but she didn´t listen...pobrecita) i also learned how to make canalones and they are delicious. you guys can google it to see the deliciousness. the members teach us and we make them food. good deal because then they are more willing to come with us for lessons with investigadores :). this week in my english class, i felt so dumb because i was teaching incorrectly and i was corrected by one of my alumnos... i am forgetting english and now i am sad. i was teaching the short form of ´´there is´´ and ´´there are´´ in the negative and i said it was ´´ there is´nt´´ and ´´there are´nt´´. i´m so ashamed... i heard someone whisper ´´oh, poor elder...´´ but then the rest was ok. so sad. but this next week, i am going to give a prize to the person with the coolest sentence in english using the things we are practicing and i think i am going to buy simpsons stickers or something as the prize. that would be cool, right? my class is expanding and we have at least 5 people every week. it´s hard teaching people with the different levels of knowledge but we make it work. i am going to start teaching piano this saturday to a girl that really wants to learn. can you guys send me stuff to teach piano? i don´t want to give books away, just to use and demonstrate the different notes and timing.
this week, something really big and awful was supposed to happen on the 20th here in zapala and there were rumors that an earthquake or a volcano would explode and kill us all so some were scared. they believed something would happen because some psychic on the radio said something and people made a big deal but nothing happened.
right now there is some drama because my bishop from the ward is ticked that pablo was baptized in the other ward and they are very upset with our zone leaders. i no longer care and i´m more preoccupied with some of our new investigators. we found ruben this week, and he is very worried about his arrepentimiento. he feels like he can´t ´´get rid of the load on his back´´ and the churches he has attended can´t help him. he has a drinking problem but he wants to stop and take the necessary steps to quit. we met with him again yesterday and he really wants to come to church. he can´t read very well so reading the Book of Mormon is a little difficult for him, but he feels like it will be good for him and his family. he is 21, his wife is 23, and they have 2 small children. i feel like nobody here is progressing very well and i have been thinking of ways i can help them better but they aren´t doing their part. we are finding a lot of new people to teach but we haven´t found too many that are excited to do a whole lot. one day we were searching in the carpeta de area and found one family that the missionaries taught a long time ago, and we went looking for them at night and found them again. it is another young couple, she has 25 and he has 23 and works in the army so his schedule is a little difficult. they didn´t want to get married before when the other missionaries taught but i think that they are ready now. i think i will be able to see them get baptized while i am here because they have testimonies of the church and the members have had them over a lot for noches de hogar. they are mauro and samanta and we are praying for these families a lot.
helaman 12:1
it is interesting how we forget about God when things are going well but we always remember Him when they aren´t. we should always put our trust in Him!
lately i wanted to buy a tape recorder to send my voice but i can´t find anything very cheap. my limit is 100 pesos but i don´t think i will be able to buy it... you know what would be awesome to send? hand warmers!!! that would be so cool. right now i am just putting my hands in my pockets when it gets cold and some hand warmers on really cold days would be very nice. and candy! reeses pieces! i miss peanut butter...and more pictures of course! some pictures of the family, maybe some of the area where i live, i don´t know but i love getting ´´fotos´´. i love you guys! have a great week!
elder summers