155 Days To Go...

¡hola familia! > it was a very fast week for me. very busy. i love neuquen! it is > like a combo of all the areas that i have been in and i`m very excited > to be working here. my companion elder cortès is awesome too. i like > the way he teaches and we get along very well. he is very talented > with music and has plans to study in byu after the mission. he is > from valdivia, chile and it is very likely that he is going to finish > the mission with me. he has 2 transfers left. i am learning a lot of > things and it has been a humbling experience starting here. > neuquen is kind of a complicated area but we are having more success. > my zone consists of the east half of neuquen, towns outside of neuquen > called cipolletti, catriel, and 25 de mayo. there are 4 districts in > our zone, including the missionaries in the mission office. the new > district leaders in our zone are very cool as well so our zone will be > picking it back up very soon. > my area is downtown neuquen. it is similar to downtown denver and > things move pretty fast. lots of cars, lots of stores, tons of people > in a hurry. we live in a nice area, on the other side of a private > school called morning glory. we don`t have very much in this area. > when i got here, we literally only had 4 investigators, but now things > are getting better. in the last 24 months, the ward only had 4 > baptisms... we are contacting references and i can tell that we are > already gaining more confidence from the members (which is the key!!) > surprisingly, i already knew quite a few of the members here and the > members are really cool. i swear that the first counsilor in our ward > looks just like viggo mortensen. wasn`t expecting that one... but > everything is going well. we set some fechas with florencia and doris > for the 9th of june and they are looking pretty solid. tonight we are > going to have a noche de hogar with them and we invited a member to > come along with us. we found some other people to teach, but we are > going to meet with them again and put the fecha. one man is named > horacio, and the guy has the potential of being a stake president. i > am pretty sure that he is prepared to be baptized, but he made a > comment that made me think that he isn`t married right now so we will > check on that. > the members are anxious to work with us too so we will see the fruits > very soon. i`m so excited! it is very overwhelming to start in a new > place, so busy and fast in neuquen, in addition to all of the new > responsibilities that i have been given, but i know that i am > receiving a lot of help. these next few months with elder cortès are > really going to help me grow as a missionary and i`m ready for the > challenge!! i found one scripture that helped me a lot this week in > d&c 68:6. i know that our savior is always there to help us with our > trials and problems. everything is to help us grow stronger because > He knows our potential. > i loved all of the pictures this week! i`m glad that caden`s birthday > went well, and annie`s pictures were very cute. i will talk with pte > peterson about the ecclesiastical endorsement. everything is going to > turn out very well. you guys can look me up in neuquen! my address is > rìo desaguadero 647, the church is on la rioja 134. > my boundaries are from salta to illia, from the top side of neuquen > until perito moreno below on the other side of mitre and a huge park. > there are tons of things in our area, and we are working on > publicizing are english classes we teach every saturday. we are > getting some good results from that too. we also have a few more > neighborhoods outside of neuquen that we visit called parque > industrial, 14 de octubre, barrio copol, rincon de emilio, and nueva > españa. it is a VERY large area, but we can reach those neighborhoods > in 10-15 minutes on a bus. its very expensive here!! > but the great thing is that i can see walmart when i leave the > apartment, and we have 2 mcdonald´s in our area. even though they are > trucho, it makes me feel good for some reason knowing they are so > close :). are apartment is very unorganized. we are going to > dedicate a good few hours today to clean. we have tons of space and > we have 2 floors!! living the life in neuquen. i love it. > being here as a missionary in neuquen means everything to me. i am > very grateful to have the opportunity of serving the people and the > other missionaries in the zone. thank you for supporting me on my > mission and keeping me in your prayers. i love you all and i hope > this week goes better than the last!! > con mucho amor y ànimo, > elder summers