Day 292

¡hola familia!
> we started the year great with the baptism of aixa, leandro´s sister.
> aixa picked elder escobar to baptize her. i have no idea why,
> especially since he never talks to girls, but she decided on him.
> that was a little disappointing for me but it was a great baptism.
> everything went very well and then the other missionaries had a
> baptism on sunday so we are all pretty pumped. i played the piano
> for the baptisms and for church. the bishop said that i should be the
> official pianist of rawson and he would like me to play more on
> sunday. i just don´t want to get stuck playing the piano when we have
> investigators come to church but i guess the members can do more
> fellowshipping. this week there are no changes in rawson. an elder in
> the office told us that this transfer, pte peterson made 62 changes
> (pretty much half the mission got changed) but we are all staying in
> rawson for another 6 weeks. we are looking forward to some good times.
> it is really hot this summer! i don´t remember it being like this in
> comodoro... i think the sun here is a lot stronger and the wind is
> very warm. yesterday it was 38 degrees and i think that is over 100
> fahrenheit. we got a little more ceniza yesterday too and it was
> pretty tough. i´m just trying to keep my ánimo up, and the ánimo of
> my comp because the heat seems to suck out your energy. especially if
> you can´t get into any houses. now, most of the people go to the
> beach all day so we don´t see very many people in the streets... i´m
> getting jealous of the snow. me llamo veranos, pero prefiero el
> invierno jajaja.
> hey! i got my visa stuff done this week so i am no longer illegal!!!
> that was nice. i had to get my picture taken and i spent the day in
> the immigration office in rawson hanging out with the peruanos,
> bolivianos, and some africans. i got some good references for the
> other missionaries and the rest of them live outside of rawson. and
> now i´m waiting for my DNI that is going to come in the mail any day
> and it says that i am an argentine citizen so i´m really excited to
> get it!! the other missionaries usually get theirs really fast but i
> never got mine...
> nacho came to church yesterday and things are going well with him. we
> also had a noche de hogar with silvia and her family and it was
> successful. we are trying to start teaching oscar, the guy that is
> living with silvia, but he doesn´t seem to have much interest even
> though he does want to get married with her. a few days ago, we went
> to see if manuel, the viejito that we were teaching a few months ago,
> was still there and we found a guy named lucas that hasn´t been to
> church for a long time. he found the book of mormon that we left with
> manuel and he started to read it. he couldn´t come back to church
> this sunday but the next sunday i´m pretty sure he will be able to
> come. we are doing alright, just the heat is our challenge.
> i really liked president monson´s message in the january ensign about
> some ABCs for this year. he says ´´we can´t direct the wind, but we
> can adjust the sails.´´ having a good attitude really helps in the
> work and i´m trying to help my comp a lot. his weakness is the heat
> because he is negro and i think it makes him really tired because he
> always looks sleepy. i´m trying to help him stay animated or he can
> turn to a negative black hole that sucks out my joy, and it is amazing
> how much he can change if i just focus on all the positive things
> around us. i enjoyed reading in doctrina y convenios esta semana
> tambien:
> D&C 81:5-6
> 5 Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed
> unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and
> strengthen the feeble knees.
> 6 And if thou art faithful unto the end thou shalt have a crown of
> immortality, and eternal life in the mansions which I have prepared in
> the house of my Father.
> our goal is to find a whole bunch of new people to teach this week so
> we can keep baptizing every week. just got to keep that vision.
> i sent some pictures and i tried to send videos of the fireworks but
> they are too big. sorry. i guess we will watch them together! i will
> send some better pictures next week :) bueno, ¡les amo mucho y espero
> que tengan una semana increíble!
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers