Day 251

¡Hola Familia!
my three favorite things to hear in argentina- ´´pasen, chicos. pasen´´, ´´coman sin verguenza´´, and ´´elder summers got a package´´. i was so excited and i love everything in it! the gloves are great and they fit very well. i´m excited to use them in the cold weather with my hand warmers because it gets really cold every night. i´m going to have to send lots of pictures next week because i keep forgetting my camera. one picture is of me and elder ruano bundled up to face the bitter arctic winds, and we look like mormon ninjas. the piano book will be great for teaching and i´m looking forward to using it. i´m sharing the candy and the peanut butter! i still can´t believe there was peanut butter! it is so delicious and there isn´t a lot that can compare to it. i think i might give some of it away because there are a lot of people that really want to try it for the first time. it was cool looking through the ensign because there were some things marked in it and i liked imagining you guys reading those talks before me. i am so excited to read more and i have already started studying it. i am one happy missionary :).
the week has been a little tough because we lost 11 investigators/ families and it´s been kind of rough for me. i don´t like knocking doors, and people don´t like opening them when its almost 0 degrees celsius, but we have to keep searching. we got kind of frustrated so we walked out to the tomas outside of zapala and found one elderly couple that have lived in the country their whole lives. i realized that i was able to understand every word that they said even though they mumbled a little and it made me think of how much i have grown here in argentina. a year ago i couldn´t have imagined that i would be here speaking castellano fluently. actually i had my mission call a year ago.... fetch! time really does go by fast.
we printed a huge map of our area and with pins we marked the houses of all the members (active and less active), our investigators, a lot of our old investigators, and the houses of the leaders in our branch. all color coated of course, and we are pretty proud of it. it should help the future missionaries a bit. we are planning a huge missionary activity for the 16th of july for the 3 unidades in our capilla. we are very excited because we are hoping to find a lot of new people that want to know more about the church and we are going to have games and music. we are hoping for a big turnout.
we didn´t find very much but we did have a bigger attendance at church because we were able to focus on the menos activos. we had about 80 people in church and we usually have around 40. i know that we are doing a good job but i want to start baptizing. i talked to my zone leaders about it and they said that difficult times usually come right before the baptisms so we should just keep working hard.
i also figured out that i might be able to send a voice recording next week because my mp4 that e´ suarez left me can record my voice. i´m going to try it next week so we will see. e´ taylor sends a voice recording every week to his family so i think that is pretty cool, especially since his family sends theirs too. isn´t technology amazing?
i have been thinking a lot about the challenges that i have had on the mission and i see my new companion going through the same things and it has made me really appreciate where i am. i love the scripture in 2 corinthians 12:9-10

9 And he said unto me, My agrace is sufficient for thee: for my bstrength is made perfect in cweakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may drest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in ainfirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in bpersecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am cweak, then am I dstrong.

i still do have a lot of weaknesses but it makes me very appreciative for the help of the savior when i can see my progression every day. i get kind of frustrated when my companion doesn´t want to accept my help when i just had the same weaknesses but i guess that is a personal decision for him to make and not mine.
i´m glad to hear the blessing went well yesterday and you´re having fun in nebraska! this independence day, elder taylor is going to make tons of pizzas and we are going to play some table games like UNO!! yahoo! i love it. i might have to sing the star spangled banner with my big josh groban voice once or twice. but we will see :) ¡bueno, disfruten el dia y estoy animado para escuchar como ésta próxima semana será! i love you guys and thank you for the awesome package!
elder summers