120 Days to go...

¡hola familia! sorry for writing a little late today, but today we have transfers and it has been a busy day. at 6 we are taking a bus to the terminal to help the missionaries get to where they need to. there are a whole bunch of missionaries coming in from all over the patagonia and are passing through. my zone is changing a lot. elder heaps, one of our awesome district leaders is going to trelew norte to be another zone leader, elder smith is heading for comodoro, and a few of the hermanas are going home. we are going to have 3 mini missionaries. those are members that accompany the missionaries for a few weeks. i`m pretty excited because one of those mini missionaries is going to be mauro alarcon, and i loved eating lunch with his family in zapala. it`s going to be awesome being able to see him again. elder cortés and i are staying together for his last transfer. he is going home in august and i think he is starting to realize how little time he has left. we are going to work even harder these next 6 weeks. i got new shoes! they are practically new. the only think is that they are a little big but i put some cotton in the toes to fill the space. they work out well. i was going to send pictures but they aren`t coming up. i already ate my peach rings so i wouldn`t be able to trade them for my comp`s shoes anyways :), but it was a good week. i had my haircut today and i am happy with it. we didn`t have any baptisms this week, but we did well in the zone. we have had 3 weeks en seguida with baptisms and we are looking good for the next few weeks too. we have to keep the baptisms coming. elder cortés and i are working with florencia. she is going to disney world in florida next week, and we won`t see her for 2 weeks... we are hoping things go well for her baptism this weekend before she leaves. we started teaching another girl named azul. she is 10, and is the daughter of some investigators in parque industrial, another neighborhood outside of neuquen. she was really excited to go to church, but sunday morning, one woman in our ward went to look for her but azul said she didn`t have good shoes to go to church, and didn`t want to go. :( pero bueno, we are going to talk with her this week. on saturday, i told my companion that i was in the mood to see a parade and a few minutes later we saw tons of people running in the streets and all the cars were honking. river, a major futbol team in argentina won their game and they were raised to the A division of futbol. it is a big deal in argentina and the people were crazy, we had to wait a while because our bus couldn`t pass with so many people. president lovell is getting here on saturday and i am excited to meet him on the 4th of july in a zone leaders council. it is going to be a long day because we have to wait in the terminal until 10:30, and some missionaries are going to need to stay in our apartment for the night. everything is going to go well and all of the changes are exciting. i am going to have the chance to see elder ruano again because he is passing through from bariloche. i am not sure where he is headed but it will be cool to see him again. i wanted to wish Grandma Summers happy birthday! it would have been awesome to be there celebrating with you. i don`t have much time but i wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and support. i especially felt it this week. i love you. con mucho amor y ánimo, elder summers

127 Days To Go

¡hola familia! > it has been a very busy week. we have been preparing a ton of things > for the zone conference on friday and everything turned out very well. > i directed the meeting, we prepared lunch for 30 people, and made a > presentation for 45 minutes for our zone while president and hermana > peterson had interviews with every missionary. they wanted to thank > all of us personally, and it was great. i am very grateful for them. > on tuesday night, we went to catriel to have divisions and we were > going to do some baptismal interviews but my companion ended up doing > one. in our zone, we had 2 baptisms this week!! now it has been 2 > weeks in a row with baptisms and we are hoping that we can continue at > this rate. for this month, we are still preparing florencia and the > familia becerra. > with florencia, we went to their house with the bishop so the bishop > could get to know her parents, and everything went very well. > florencia is ready to be baptized but she is so shy! it`s a difficult > problem to get over... > the familia becerra is from bolivia. we went to visit them yesterday > and they were grilling chicken and some chorizos (sausages) with some > other bolivian friends. the bolivians are great people. omar is > still having some problems with his shoulder. he traveled to roca to > have a doctor look at him and they say that they can`t do the surgery > because it has already been a month, and they don`t have the material > to do it. they have to order it from the united states and it is very > expensive. omar would have to go to buenos aires to be operated but > they don`t have the money. he wants a change in his life, and he is > looking forward to the 23rd of june for his baptism. he went to > church a long time ago, but with us he hasn`t been able to go. he has > family friends over saturday night, and they stay until 3 or 5 in the > morning. this week they promised that they won`t have friends over so > late and they are going to be able to wake up and go to church with > us. we even had an hermana from church go to pick them up in her car, > but they were sleeping... we are working on it with them. but at > least they are progressing, and that is the most important. we are > also visiting them with the hermano gomez and they really get along > great. > it has been cold this week. it snowed and rained a few times. doris, > the mother of florencia, gave me some other shoes that her husband > doesn`t use anymore but there are some holes in the leather. the > soles are strong though. i have been thinking that some missionary > will leave his shoes this week because there are 17 missionaries that > are finishing this transfer. we had lunch with the bishop a few days > ago, and my companion complained about some water in his shoes, so the > bishop gave him brand new shoes that he hasn`t used. i was really > jealous because i have been searching for some good shoes and my comp > has a few good pairs still but he gets brand new ones... but i am > going to be persistent in my search. > this is the last week of transfers and 3 missionaries from our zone > are going home. one sister missionary is having her family pick her > up on sunday and they are going to spend a week visiting the three > areas that she has been in! crazy... > hey! i got my package from you guys! muchas gracias! i wore the tie in > the zone conference. i really love it. i haven`t been able to play > the music yet but maybe i will get the chance today! i have been > hiding my peach rings from my comp because he really likes them too, > but i am sharing the peanut butter. i love reading the talks from > general conference too. i had forgotten some of them but rereading > them now have really helped me this week. > it has been a pretty crazy week, but i had some good experiences that > i learned from. i´m feeling pretty good and we are happy with the > progress of our zone. it is looking like we are going to have at > least 2 more baptisms this weekend. we are praying everything goes > well with florencia. > i found a great scripture in philippians 4:13 > 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. > i am focusing on improving in a lot of things, and some of those > things are a little more difficult to do... if we are always doing the > same things, we will always have the same results! > we want amazing results this week, so we are fixing a few things to be > able to help florencia and the becerra family be baptized this week. > i am very grateful for the things i am learning and i am grateful for > all of the support we are receiving from the members in our ward. one > family offered us to use their home for a family home evening with > some less active members tonight so we are excited. i love you guys! > i hope this week goes great and you are in my prayers! > con mucho amor y ànimo, > elder summers

141 days to go...

> ola familia! > it has been a great week. president peterson asked all of us to have > a special fast this weekend for our investigators so that we can meet > our new monthly goal for baptisms. part of his vision for the mission > in neuquen is to have 100 baptisms every month. that means that each > companionship needs to have at least one baptism in the month. i felt > really good with the fast that we had and we were able to find and > teach a few more people. we have seen many miracles in neuquen this > week. > omar and grisel becerra are a young bolivian couple with two young > children. i met them for the first time this week but my companion > found them a few weeks before i arrived. grisel wanted to learn more > but omar didn`t have much interest. omar had an accident on his > motorcycle and he was hit by a bus. he should have died in that > accident and the doctors are amazed how fast he was able to get > better. it has been almost a month since his accident and he is able > to walk again. his shoulder is still shattered and a few nerves in > his face were cut so it is a little disfigured, but he is going to > have a few more operations. he has completely changed and is very > grateful to God for another chance of living and taking care of his > family. he told us that he really wants to know God and get closer to > Him. he has a baptismal date for the 23rd of june and he is going to > talk to his wife about it. > florencia is a 14 year old girl that is preparing for her baptism this > weekend. she attended the stake conference that we had yesterday with > her niece, gianina (also preparing to be baptized), that lives in > cipolletti. we are hoping everything goes smoothly, but she is really > progressing and has the desires. > we also found an older woman named alicia. she has been an > investigator for about 6 months, but she recently told the > missionaries not to come anymore because it causes problems with her > husband. i wanted to meet her, so we passed by her house. she said > that she felt terrible sending the missionaries away and she wants to > learn more about the church. her husband hugo was very 创buena > onda创, in a good mood, and everything went very well. she accepted > to be baptized on the 23rd of june as well, but hugo is not ready yet. > i feel like this area has turned around a lot these last few weeks > because we started at zero with nothing to do. i know that there are > a lot of people that are prepared to be baptized in this area, and > elder cort閟 and i are working hard. > in our zone, everything is getting better. we did not have a baptism > this week, but for the next 3 weeks, we have many investigators that > are progressing. the goal is to have a baptism every week in the > zone, and we should be able to do it with 13 companionships. i am > excited to see the enthusiasm the missionaries have in the neuquen > zone. things are picking up in 醤imo :). elder cort閟 and i are > calling at least one companionship every night to see how they are > doing and check on their progress with investigators to keep them > excited. > tomorrow is our zone leader conference with president peterson. we > are very excited for it and i know that we are going to learn a lot of > great things. > this morning, i finished the book of mormon for the first time in > spanish. i know that the book of mormon is the word of God and it has > blessed my life in many ways. it gives me the strength and energy to > work diligently every day because it testifies of Jesus Christ and i > am very grateful for the messages it contains. i loved moroni 9:25 > and i felt this scripture speak directly to me. > 25 y son, be faithful in Christ!; and may not the things which I > have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but ay > Christ lift thee up!, and may his sufferings and death, and the > showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, > and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind > forever. > i am so excited this week! today we were going to go play bowling with > the elders from catriel and 25 de mayo, but their ride got sick... i > guess we will play next week. my companion, elder cort閟 is writing a > song for president peterson so i think we are going to go to the > church and see what we can come up with, and then we are going to make > some empanadas :) i love empanadas. dad- mcdonalds here is trucho > because the burgers are very small with a little plastic-y disc of > meat, and it is very expensive. i think that the ice cream is ok but > i never bought it. it`s getting a little chillier right now. i磎 > looking forward to watching the avengers with you guys. were there a > lot of awesome things in the garage sale? i`m excited to see the bike > you bought! i loved all of the pictures that were sent this week. > jacie`s new house looks awesome and emelia is very cute. thank you > for keeping me in your prayers in thinking of me in neuquen. i love > you all and i`m looking forward to hearing from you next week. > con mucho 醤imo y amor, > elder summers