112 Days to go (UPDATED)

¡hola familia! this week has been crazy and full of awesome events. winter vacations started this week, if you can believe it. today is a holiday in argentina, so almost everything is closed for the day. we are writing in a different ciber! on sunday, president lovell arrived in neuquen with his wife. i was able to meet him on wednesday at a conference for zone leaders. we spent almost the whole day with him, getting to know him and his wife and it was really cool. i am very excited to work with him. he has a presence like president eyring and has a ´´quiet, but piercing voice´´. i know that he is going to be awesome. his wife doesn`t speak any spanish but she is very excited to be here. president lovell talked about his vision for the argentina neuquen mission. the church has only been in this part of the world for 40 years. we were trying to imagine what the church will be like in another 40 years and i loved thinking about all of the positive consequences that come from this work. we all ate lunch together in the mission house, and we ate lasagna. president lovell sat by me so we were able to talk for awhile. he said that bishop larsen mentioned me to him and was excited to meet me. president lovell is an awesome guy. tuesday, my companion and i went to cipolletti for the district meeting, and we were very impressed with how well things are going in that district. they have very high goals and they are almost meeting them every week. they are some of the ´´machines´´ in the mission and we are very happy with how they are doing. we got them all alfajores to celebrate with them. on thursday, we had a zone conference so president lovell could meet everyone. he is on tour for the next few weeks to get to know everyone. i don`t know if you guys know where all of the missionaries are in my zone, but we have the east half of neuquen, the city of cipolletti right outside of neuquen, the town of catriel, and another called 25 de mayo. our zone has the most missionaries of all of the zones and everyone came in for the zone conference. on friday, we ended up taking a bus to 25 de mayo to do two baptismal interviews. i did them both. quimey is a 9 year old girl that is more than ready to be baptized, but her father wants to baptize her and he isn`t worthy right now. he has the goal of stopping some things so he can baptize her in august. the other interview i had was with a boy that wants to be baptized but he isn`t ready yet. he is going to fix a few things. we got saturday afternoon to eat some lunch, then had our english class at 4. Gabriel and Santiago were both there, and we ended up teaching them after the class in the home of some members of the church. it went great and they both accepted to be baptized this month. gabriel`s family was already baptized and he feels the need of getting closer to God. Santiago is a 34 year old man from colombia that we met from our english class. he is a kung fu master and he teaches here in neuquen and practices tai chi. he is studying geology in the university of comahue and he had interest about the church. we also had more lessons with azul, she wasn`t able to go to church because she sprained her wrist and was in a lot of pain, but now her arm is feeling better. azul is a 9 year old girl, and her mom has been listening to the missionaries for a really long time but hasn`t been progressing because she drinks and uses drugs. it has now been 2 weeks without using, and isn`t drinking anymore. she has made lots of changes, and her boyfriend doesn`t live with her anymore. azul wants to be baptized the 28th of july. we found another family in parque industrial. they have fechas to be baptized on the 5th of august. the parents, rodrigo and claudia, both smoke so we are going to address that but they are progressing and reading the book of mormon. the kids are excited to learn more and their family is becoming more united. their daughter sharon is finishing high school, and she is very interested in the book of mormon. we passed by their house and had an awesome lesson with hermano gomez about the restoration. elder cortés and i are doing a lot better here in neuquen, and we are feeling very excited about how things are going. we are getting closer to meeting our goals and we are setting the bar higher. i feel very good about our accomplishments, and i know that we will see all of the fruit of our work very soon. on thursday at the zone conference, i received my ´´trunky papers´´. the office wanted my information and your email address so they can send me home the 30th of october. they are already buying my plane ticket... this morning, i was finishing the book of jacob in the book of mormon. jacob 7:26 says ´´ that the time passed away with us, and also our ´´missions´´ passed away like as it were unto us a cdream,´´ . that really called my attention and freaked me out a little. but i still have plenty of time left to enjoy being a missionary :). i also received a contract from president peterson that i signed, promising to God that i will ´´sprint until the end´´, giving the mission my very best over the next few months. i also really enjoyed reading jacob 5. i learned things that i have never thought of before and i am very grateful for the new insights i was given. in verse 64, it is talking about my area with my investigators, and the members in my ward. 64 Wherefore, dig about them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last time, for the end draweth nigh. And if it be so that these last grafts shall grow, and bring forth the natural fruit, then shall ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow. i am very grateful for this opportunity to help build the church in neuquen. i read another talk from bishop edgley (i think) from the priesthood conference, and he said that when he thinks about saving one individual, he is making a difference for generations to come. i am not baptizing hundreds of people in this mission but at least i am making a difference for those individuals, or families, for the future. that´s an awesome thought. i love being in neuquen and i am looking forward to another great week ahead. i loved getting all of the pictures this week! all of the kids are getting so big and it made me very happy. i have been thinking about our family and how blessed i am to be a part of it. i loved seeing the pictures of the ´´next generation´´ and i know that they will all be strong in the gospel. i love you all and i am so grateful for the love and letters :) con mucho amor y ánimo, elder summers