Monday, March 26, 2012

211 days to go...

¡hola familia!
> this week, sofia was baptized in cordoba!! it counts for us because
> we taught her and she was interviewed here in cinco saltos so it was
> like we had a ghost baptism. we didn´t even have to fill the font...
> but i want pictures. on thursday, elder escobar came to cinco saltos
> with another missionary, elder frost (he started the same day as elder
> ruano, so it was cool to see him again), and we had divisions here in
> this area. my other zone leader was in plottier with elder frost´s
> companion for another baptismal interview. elder frost went with my
> comp elder zarceño, and i stayed with elder escobar. we stayed
> together all day, and we were able to enter a few houses together. it
> was awesome. i was still able to learn things from him, more than a
> year later. he stayed with us that night and then they headed out
> together friday morning for neuquen. elder escobar has one week left
> on him mission and it was a good experience being able to talk with
> him again. we are going to keep in touch.
> we were a little disappointed with the attendance in church this
> sunday with our investigators but we are seeing a lot of progress and
> i have been thinking that we might be able to split the area because
> there is a lot to do. we are going to maintain the ánimo this week!
> i have been thinking a lot about giving the Savior everything i have
> during my mission and i am very grateful for this opportunity to be
> here in cinco saltos.
> with the estandarte, we ALMOST did it... we only found 10 new
> investigators, and we only had 3 in church. i don´t know what
> happened sunday morning but i´m pretty sure that the bus to get from
> the neighborhood peron to the church broke down. we were going to
> have at least 6 easy. we have 6 investigators right now that are
> really prepared. we have 9 fechas for their baptisms in april, so it
> was a little disappointing that they couldn´t make it that morning.
> we are teaching one guy, franco. he is 18 years old and he has a lot
> of questions about God. we have helped him a lot and he has come the
> last 3 sundays to church. he was a reference from a member and he is
> progressing a lot. before he didn´t have faith but now he is doing
> awesome. we are preparing him for the 21st of april.
> grecia and melani- we don´t know what happened to grecia... she went
> to visit the grandfather of her kids and we think that she got back
> together with the father. i hope not because that guy is a jerk and
> treats her terribly. melani was really excited to attend church this
> weekend, and i think that the bus broke down because there was no way
> she was going to miss, or maybe one of her kids got sick... we will
> find out this week.
> brenda and daniel- they also live in the barrio peron, but they are
> being prepared for the 14th of april.
> this week, one of our investigators that we found is named dolores.
> she was a reference from a member and we went to contact her. when
> she opened the door, it was 10:30 and i think we woke her up. she let
> us in and we had an awesome lesson. she goes to the member´s house
> every day to drink mate together and apparently, she has gone to
> church many times, even to a conference in neuquen. we were a little
> surprised that she didn´t make it to church either because she was
> going to go with the members. those members didn´t make it either...
> so we need to verify what happened there. this week we only had 31
> people in the sacrament meeting. we lacked a few good families.
> i am growing a wisdom tooth! just one of them is coming in, but it
> doesn´t hurt. not a distraction, it was just kind of exciting that
> it´s coming in. i´m also really excited for general conference this
> weekend. i know it´s going to be awesome. we are going to go to
> neuquen to watch it. i want to see it in english but if we can get
> people to go with us, i will watch it in spanish with them. but we
> are really looking forward to it. i really enjoyed reading in mosiah
> 15:11-12 this week because it says that we can be heirs to the kingdom
> of God if we listen to the prophets and believe in Christ. it stood
> out to me.
> i have been thinking about the atonement this week, as we were walking
> the streets, and i was thinking about the lyrics to the song ´´His
> Hands´´ that talks about the Savior´s example and things that He did.
> it really impressed me and it gave me a new love for the people, that
> i could open my mouth more to give everyone the chance of accepting
> the gospel. i am very grateful for the Savior and the ability to
> share the gospel here in argentina. i am just thinking about how i
> can inspire the missionaries in my district to feel the same way that
> i do.
> we did a lot better this week! actually the sisters in centenario
> were almost able to get the estandarte as well. on saturday, luisa
> was baptized. she is an awesome woman, and i was able to interview
> her the day before to see if she was ready for it. i really enjoyed
> visiting with her and sharing the faith that she has. she is 84, and
> she wants to be an example for her grandchildren. hopefully i will be
> interviewing them as well really soon.
> the elders in centenario are also doing pretty good and improved a lot
> in contacts this week. they had 108 and they usually have about 20
> every week. it made me happy that they are putting more effort into
> their work. this next district meeting, i think that i am going to
> talk with them about how we can be more united with the Savior during
> the week, and see what they come up. i think that working by the
> spirit is something that we can really improve on. my district is
> full of ´´seasoned´´ missionaries and i want to make sure that every
> lesson we have is edifying and focused on the needs of those we teach.
> i think that these things can help us for this following week.
> this is the last week of my first transfer in cinco saltos. didn´t it
> go fast? i think that every transfer goes faster and faster as time
> goes by. i am thinking that elder hernandez and hermana rivera might
> be leaving this transfer. my companion really wants to leave this
> transfer because he wants to be senior companion. he has a year and 2
> months this next week and he wants to move on. i think that if he
> doesn´t leave this transfer, he might be a little whiny, but i´m doing
> what i can to maintain the ánimo in our companionship!! i hope i stay
> here until the end of my mission. it would mean a lot to me.
> ¡¡mañana, cumplo 17 meses en la misión!! i want to go to mcdonalds
> today to celebrate. there is one in neuquen inside walmart and i
> would love to go in and see how it is in argentina. i heard it was a
> piece of heaven and everything there is a lot cheaper. that´s the
> plan for our pday. jajaja, i guess it sounds like a boring day... but
> i´m excited. it´s not everyday that i can go to walmart. :)
> i forgot my camera so i won´t take pictures... i think elder zarceño
> brought his so we will see!
> i love you guys! this week was awesome, and i hope that this next
> week will be even better for all of you! i love getting your letters,
> oh! mom, i got your letter with the list of all of the missionaries in
> the stake and i loved being able to see all the missionaries that are
> serving. i guess that now i´m number 7 to go home. fetch. but i was
> excited to see that michael reynolds got his mission call to texas!
> that´s awesome!
> chau!
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

218 Days to go....


¡hola familia!
> this week was pretty crazy. lots of adventures, lots of work, lots of
> drama, lots of laughs. i enjoyed it.
> grecia didn´t make it to church... but her sister did with her two
> young children. grecia had to go to the hospital late on saturday
> night with her daughter because she was really sick, and then grecia
> ended up sleeping in on sunday because she was really tired. we
> talked to her yesterday and she laughed about it because it seemed
> like something always happens to her to keep her from church. her
> sister, melani, really enjoyed going to church, so we talked to both
> of them and they agreed to be baptized this sunday after church.
> that´s the goal. we are also working with grecia to stop smoking and
> she is really progressing. we are hoping that it won´t be a problem
> for her baptism. this week, we had to go to neuquen a few times.
> elder zarceño is renewing his visa and then on friday we went again
> for a meeting with the zone leaders and all of the district leaders.
> it was cool getting to know the other district leaders and we were
> able to talk about the things we are dealing with and how to solve the
> problems. it helped a lot.
> the elders in centenario had a baptism on friday! they said it went
> great and that they are going to show me pictures today. we were
> really excited for them and they are going to start teaching the dad
> of the girl that was baptized. the hermanas are doing well too, and
> are planning their baptisms for this saturday so i will be going to
> centenario on thursday for 2 interviews.
> another crazy story. i don´t know if i explained the story about
> pastor and his step daughter sofi... but pastor called me and said
> that sofi is going to be baptized this saturday in cordoba. pastor is
> against the bishop here and bashes on everyone in the ward. he says
> that the ´´conditions of the church aren´t good enough cinco saltos´´
> and so they are going this weekend so sofi can be baptized with her
> brother that is studying there. we talked to the mission president
> about it. the situation is even more complicated than that because we
> don´t know a lot of things about pastor and he has some kind of wierd
> ´´dominion´´ over the girl and won´t let her talk to anyone solo. but
> pte peterson told me that the main focus is on sofi and if she really
> wants to be baptized or if he is obligating her. the guy is like a
> cancer here... and he ticks me off.
> anyways, the picture of my hamburger that i sent last week had mayo
> and ketchup, nothing wierd oozing out of it... and sí, the french
> fries were fried in oil, and they were espectacular. oh, and elder
> zarceño cut my hair this week, i have fotos! yes, i trusted him with
> my hair. jajaja. elder zarceño is awesome. we get along really well
> and i think he is probably my best companion that i have had in all my
> mission. like alma and amulek! we are working really hard and this
> week we are going for the estandarte, something that only the coolest
> missionaries can get. i only did it 3 times so far on my mission.
> it´s tough. you need to have one baptism, find 15 new investigators,
> 140 contacts (in this mission it is difficult because the people like
> to sleep a lot), receive and contact 10 references (the members don´t
> give us a lot), have 5 investigators go to church, and teach 8 lessons
> with a member, 8 others, and at least 4 with less active members. we
> are going to do it this week. we get close every week, but this week
> will be great. i can FEEL it!!
> a whole bunch of cool things happened this week. i feel like we have
> a close relationship with the bishop, he can depend on us and is
> giving us references to visit his friends. i believe that is key
> working with the bishop. he is really cool here and wants to help a
> lot. very supportive. this week in church we had 39 members in
> church. the familia sosa and aravena didn´t come this week, and that
> would be 10 more... but we had 4 investigators in church. we had
> sofi, melani, franco, and the mom of the first consejero in the ward.
> we taught her once but she says that she wants to ´´prepare´´ a little
> more before she listens to us. but the meeting in church went very
> well. i taught the lesson in sunday school about our Heavenly Father
> with the investigators. we had enzo, a 15 year old that is less
> active, accompany us and he was a kapo (awesome) in the lesson. he
> helped us a lot. we have another cita with franco this tuesday and
> then we are going to play futbol with him and the ward afterwards.
> franco doesn´t have a fecha bautismal yet because he was struggling
> with some questions about God and if He really exists, but we are
> helping overcome his doubts and we are going to try and put a fecha on
> tuesday, something to work for. we are so excited!!!
> i´m getting down to my last 6 months on my mission, and i really hope
> i will be able to finish strong here in cinco saltos. we are rocking
> it! bueno,we don磘 have a lot of time to practice piano together, but sometimes

> in the morning during our language study, we can play for about 30
> minutes before starting the day. i just wanted to show an example of
> my teaching skills. in the video we are speaking spanish, sorry.
> somebody will have to translate but it is pretty short.
> oh! i got the package from the hombres jovenes! i really liked reading
> the letters they sent me. i thought it was going to be from all of
> them but i think it was only the deacons quorum and a few teachers.
> dad- you said that the priests are starting to go inactive in our
> ward? who would that be? i can think of a few that would be that age
> but i don磘 know how the ward was split... are there a lot? i guess i
> will write a letter home addressed to the young men. is that ok? i磍l
> send it next week.
> how was st. patricks day? i wore a green tie, but nobody understood
> why i was pinching them... just kidding. i didn磘 pinch
> anybody, but nobody celebrates st. patricks day here. that was kind
> of boring. i was at least expecting a parade or something because
> they have parades on random days. its fun. last pday, we went to eat
> ice cream with my district in centenario. it was pretty fun. today,
> we are going to centenario to eat lunch with them. one hermana in
> their ward is going to make us 駉quis. yum. i磎 excited. maybe i磍l
> make some 駉quis at home, but it takes a while to make. you got to
> mix flour with mashed potatos and you boil them. it磗 really good
> with a tasty tuco sauce and chicken. we are living good. jajaja
> bueno i hope you guys enjoy the few fotos i sent and the video! for a
> scripture this week, i really liked the scripture that pte stevens (is
> that his name?) sent in the package. it was 2 timothy 2:3. it磗 great
> in spanish and i shared it with my companion, elder zarce駉. in
> church i noticed it was a scripture reference for the song we sang,
> but at the moment i don磘 remember which song it was. it says: tu,
> pues, soporta las afflicciones como fiel soldado de jesucristo. it
> makes me wonder, what can i do better to deal with the challenges we
> have as a faithful soldier of Christ? i磎 trying harder and i know
> that it磗 worth it. i love these people and i love the mission. it
> means everything to me and i磎 grateful for all of your support and
> love that you send every week. i love you all and i磎 praying for
> you! thank you for everything.
> con mucho amor y 醤imo,
> elder summers

Thursday, March 15, 2012

225 Days to go....

> ¡hey familia!
> my package arrived! actually it made it last monday, but after i wrote
> to you guys. it arrived fast from rawson... jajaja
> but MUCHAS GRACIAS! i loved the dulces and the t-shirt. last week, i
> was able to go to bambu with my district, elder colombres and
> castillo! they just kind of showed up and it was really fun. we ate
> really good too. colombres is training right now and it was cool
> meeting his new comp. he told me that the missionary i trained is in
> his zone in roca, and he isn´t the happiest... that made me sad, but
> i´m going to try to talk to him somehow.
> daylight savings? sounds fun springing forward. jajaja. nobody does
> that here. i remember last winter when the sun didn´t come out until
> 9 in the morning. it makes me happy that dad enjoyed his
> birthday-week. 7-0 avs? but there weren´t any fist fights on the ice?
> those are fun to watch too.
> this week went very well. the only downer is that grecia, brenda, and
> daniel, and sandra weren´t able to make it. grecia´s baby was sick in
> the morning and the day was kind of foggy and rainy so she decided it
> was a bad idea to go. the bishop´s wife passed by her house to bring
> her to church but grecia is really excited to go next week. she is
> very sincere and we love teaching her.
> the others are kids that really want to go to church but their moms
> don´t support them, and won´t bring them, even though they are members
> of the church. we passed by the house of sandra, and her mom told us
> that she couldn´t go because she is sleeping. it was almost 9 and we
> asked her to wake her up but she wouldn´t do it. she said that she is
> going to sleep until 12 (but church ends at 12). we told her we will
> pass by at 10:30 so she can be ready, but then they didn´t answer the
> door. i was pretty upset with that woman... but other than that,
> things went pretty well. we had 3 investigators in church and we are
> preparing them for the 24th. things are looking good from here. in
> church, we doubled the attendance in the reunión sacramental! we had
> 42 in church, and last week we had 18! we found some awesome families
> that are ready to start over and come to church every week. we are
> trying to inspire the members of the church to rededicate themselves
> to the gospel and invite all that they can to strengthen the ward in
> cinco saltos. i really liked that quote that dad wrote me this week-
> it´s not the hours you put in your work that count, it´s the work in
> the hours. we are having a lot of success because we are planning
> really well and we are cumpliendo! it´s makes me feel really good!
> this friday, the elders in centenario are going to have a baptism at 7
> in the afternoon. it was going to happen on saturday and i already
> had the interview with the girl this week, but the bishop was a punk
> about it and said she needs another day in church to get to know her
> better. she has been attending for a while... but this friday it
> should happen for sure, and now they can prepare a little better. the
> hermanas in centenario are struggling a little right now because
> nobody is really progressing for them. i interviewed both of them
> last tuesday before the district meeting to see what i can do to help
> them better and it went very well. they are preparing a woman with
> her grandson to be baptized on the 24th as well.
> my district is staying busy and we have a lot to do. that is the
> beautiful thing about cinco saltos and centenario :) .
> i sent pictures of the french fries and hamburger that i made this
> week for me and my comp. yummy, no? i love home made french fries! i
> will make some with you guys later. i sent some good fotos for your
> new desktop pictures! jajaja, es un chiste. i messed up my foot, but
> now it healed.
> we saw a lot of miracles this week. put some new fechas bautismales,
> brought a lot of people to church again, we were able to heal a dying
> woman with the priesthood. a lot of really special experiences that i
> will never forget.
> right now, i am studying the old testament. in levítico, it is really
> interesting how it describes all of the sacrifices that they had to
> do. that was part of the law of moses for an atonement of their sins.
> i´m grateful that all of that stuff isn´t necessary anymore! as
> elder zarceño and i prepared the sacrament this week in church, and it
> made me think a lot about how it would be as a priest in moses´ time.
> really bloody... but it made me a lot more grateful for the atonement
> that was made for us. i now have a new understanding of alma 34:10
> and i´m grateful for that infinite sacrifice that the savior was able
> to make. now i´m reading in the book of numeros of the bible, and it
> is very interesting as well.
> i have now made it to the point that if i talk on the phone, people
> think i am latino. it makes me so happy. and! i can pass as an
> argentino if i wear normal clothes without a nametag. i haven´t done
> that, but that´s what they say... just a happy thought.
> well, i love you guys! please keep sending the fotos and keep us in
> your prayers. la obra sigue!
> con mucho amor y ánimo,
> elder summers

Thursday, March 8, 2012

232 Days To Go...


ola Familia!
> api!  eliz Cumple!!! it磗 your magic birthday too! jajaja. i
> hope i can live to my day too... at 91. pero no creo. jajaja. i am
> going to be thinking about you a lot tomorrow. this weekend, elder
> aidukaitis spoke in our stake conference and it was incredible. one
> thing he said to the young women, was that they should look for
> awesome guys to be their husbands because a father is the greatest
> gift that mothers can give to their children. that made me think of
> you, and i磎 grateful for all the things you have done for me and
> because you have always been there for me. I love you Dad!!
> this week was awesome! elder zarce駉 and i are rocking it in cinco
> saltos. right now, we are preparing 12 people to be baptized in the
> next few weeks. most of them should be ready for the 24th of march,
> so we are praying we can make it with all of them. we are really
> excited, and we are working really hard. there are a lot of inactivos
> in cinco saltos, lots of people that haven磘 attended in years. we
> found a whole bunch of cool people that want to come back, and some
> have kids that really want to be baptized. we are so pumped and
> excited! we know that a lot of these people we found will be awesome
> leaders in the church once they start coming. a lot of ex misioneros
> that stopped going because of 创vagancia创 or laziness.
> my district is doing awesome too. they are preparing some others for
> baptism and i think that we are going to do divisions again this week
> so i can interview them for baptism. this week was difficult because
> our stake conference was an hour away in neuquen, so we didn磘 have
> many investigators in church, but next week is going to be awesome,
> even better than this week
> i learned about some new skills that i have this week! i cut elder
> hernandez磗 hair with scissors on top and with the machine on the
> sides and it turned out really well. he is really happy with it and i
> never knew i could do that. another skill i found is that i磎 good at
> hitch hiking. i can lift my thumb and get anywhere i want, and nobody
> picks up my comp if he sticks his thumb out.
> we go hitch hiking to get to centenario for meetings with the other
> missionaries in my district. my district is really cool, i sent
> pictures of them. my comp, elder zarce駉 is the smallest of us and he
> is really cool. he is from guatemala and has 13 months on the
> mission. elder hernandez is from oaxaca, mexico. he just started a
> few months ago and is excited to work hard. then me, the only gringo.
> elder gomez is the giant. he is from rosario argentina and he has a
> little more time than me. like a month or two. he was in my district
> when i started the mission in comodoro, so it was awesome seeing him
> again. hermana rosas is half way done with the mission with 9 months
> and is from buenos aires. hermana rivera with the glasses has a
> little more than a year and is from guatemala too. we hung out with
> her on pdays in trelew. she磗 pretty cool. we all get along really
> well and we are going to eat at a restaurant called bambu in neuquen
> with elder castillo and colombres (because they are in roca and they
> are coming for lunch). bambu is an all you can eat buffet and i磎
> really excited! just have to make it on the bus...
> momma- my package arrived in rawson because elders in the office
> messed up... but elder escobar promised me that he will send it to me
> through the bolsa this week. he calls me and tells me about all the
> cool things that are happening in rawson after i left. he is really
> funny and the people we found together are really progressing now.
> raul, the drunk-drug addict, cleaned up everything and no longer
> drinks or smokes. i have no idea what happened but miracles do happen
> every week, and he is going to be baptized next week. ue kpo!
> i have on question- how long is a cubit from the bible? i磎 studying
> the old testament in spanish and it gets into the measurements of
> everything. it would be cool to know that.
> i just finished reading the story about moses when the people were
> bitten by the poisonous snakes and all they had to do was look up to
> the brass snake to be healed, but wouldn磘 do it because it was so
> simple. there are a lot of 创snakes创 in the world today (especially
> in the mission, jajaja) but the worldly snakes that want to destroy
> families. all that we have to do as a family is do the simple things
> to keep ourselves intact and to protect our families but a lot of
> people don磘 do those things because they are so simple. things like
> family prayer, studying the scriptures as a family, and having family
> home evenings every week. i have noticed a difference in the families
> that do these things and the families that don磘. the simple things
> help a lot, and make a huge difference. these are the things that we
> are sharing with the less active families. in alma 31:5-
> 5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead
> the people to do that which was just梱ea, it had had more powerful
> effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else,
> which had happened unto them梩herefore Alma thought it was expedient
> that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
> this is what will help my families in cinco saltos return to church,
> and we are putting it to the test.
> i know that throught the small and simple things, we are going to see
> many miracles in this area. i know that through the word of God
> alone, we can help these people more than doing anything else and we
> love these people in cinco saltos. being here on my mission at this
> time means everything to me and i磎 very grateful for the priviledge
> of serving God and leading these people back to where they are
> supposed to be. i love being here.
> oh! and my address here is 425 Ant醨tida and the church is 98 Avenida
> Argentina so you guys can look it up on Google if you want. and we do
> walk through that plaza everyday!
> bueno, i love you guys, and i磎 looking forward to next week. oh! and
> i couldn磘 watch the videos that you sent me because this computer
> doesn磘 have a program to watch anything...
> con mucho amor, y mucho 醤imo,
> elder summers
>