Email 20 June 2011

FINALLY!!!! Juan Carlos got into the habbit, with his mom, of only coming to church for the Sacrament meeting! But this last sunday, after a long time, he got to the class before! My hero, or better said heroine, is Beatriz! She had an interview with the Bishop and he talked to her about going the whole time to church and ever since she´s always made it to the class before! She´s old and fragile, but she leaves early and makes it! She even fasted and it made her sick becuase her body was not used to it, but she didn´t complain, she didn´t even tell us, we found out about it from Rosa. She also helped with a fundraiser and she´s just awesome! Always posotive! I´m gonna miss her when it comes time to go! We actually had a really good lesson about the temple, the father wasn´t there though, but we are unraveling the real doubts in Rosa.... she´ll come around.

Other good news, take that back.......FANTASTIC news is that Enrique is getting baptised this saturday!!!! I´m so excited for him, just to be able to see him washed clean after such a dark past! It´s amazing!

The Lionel guy threw the pamphlets back in our faces and doesn´t want to see us again.....enough said on that subject.

Wow....Ariel is going to have a baby! Andra is out and married! And April just sent me a photo with her new hair! TEENAGE HAIR!!! That really made my eyes go big! She looks older! I´m not going to recognize my little sis when I get back!!! So many changes!

I finished the Book of Mormon! With the markings and everything! It was really a fun adventure! I´ve now embarked on another great adventure! "Jesus the Christ"! I´m already past page 100! It´s awesome stuff! I´m eating it up like Christmas Dinner! I´ve also heard a lot of testimonies about the Book of Mormon! We´re trying to work better with members and get them excited about handing out Book of Mormons! That´s what we talked a lot about at the conference we had thursday! Elder Foster of the seventy came and talked with us, it was a really good conference! Oh.. funny thing too, we missed our bus to go to Mercedes for the conference, so we ended up going in the back of our mission leader´s truck! I took a video, so you´ll be able to see when the card makes it home! It was a 40 min drive, a little chilly!

That´s about all for this week! Thanks so much for all the support! Luv ya tons!

Photos: Helping make roscitas! (miniature doghnuts), Something really cool I got for the room back home!, Some statue we saw on our trip to the peninsula!

Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:09:30 -0300

We got done with a busy week this week. I was actually out of my area for 3 days! We´ve done quite a bit of divisons lately. The week before last we did some divisions just between us here in Dolores, I went with Elder Ropelato to his area! He and I have been in the same zone with eachother for over 9 months, I´ve been around him more than any other missionary, we´re gonna see for how long we can keep it going! He and I found a cool lady that made it to the Karaoke activity and they actually made her a judge! :) The activity was actually really fun, one of the funnest they´ve had! I got to sing "The Way You Look Tonight" and I danced a little, and I got a 10!!! Then I also did divisions with the zone leaders and I went to Fray Bentos for 2 days and actually stayed a third because we had a training meeting with the President up there! It was actually a really great conference, we talked about how to plan better and a new way to do it that is actually really cool and already helping us out! Then the next day we did some more divisions but this time it was Elder Ropelato and I in my area. We found another cool lady named Juliana who almost didn´t let us in but we got talking and she said just a few minutes and then we talked about half an hour more. She´s not really into any religion, she´s studdying philosophy! But she told us that we had gotten farther, or made more sense than anyone else she´s really talked to about religion. Really neat! And Enrique now has a date to get baptised, he´s had a really dark past but really has desires to change and do what´s right, we had a really cool lesson with him and the Bishop about the law of Chastity! Pretty sweet, the Bishop shared a story about a rich boss who had everything and didn´t believe in God, and he had an employee that was struggling financially and had many other problems in his life and he did believe in God and go to church. The boss invited him to go hunting and asked him why is it that I don´t believe in God and yet I´m doing so well, but you, who does believe in God has so many problems. The employee responded, I can´t answer that right now, but maybe later. So they continued hunting and the boss shot down 2 ducks over a lake and told the employee to go swim out and get them. He headed out toward one of the ducks but the boss said, no, that one´s already dead! Go after the other one first! It´s still alive! So he retrieved them both and returned and told his boss, I have the answer to your question! You´re a dead duck! Satan goes after those who are still holding on and gives them all sorts of problems, but you´re already dead, he doesn´t have to worry about you. Pretty intense huh?! Anyhow, let´s not be dead ducks! It´s alright if we have problems!
I actually had one of the most annoying lessons of my life, or at least here in Dolores, it was at Juan Carlos´ and Rosa´s house, the father was there too, he just has his own ideas about things and just wants to fight and show how right and smart he is. A member was visiting and talked about how she teaches a class of 4-7 year olds and he said he didn´t think it was right that churches push religion on their kids so young, they should be old enough to choose, he talked about how some churches baptise babies, we told him we don´t do that, we wait till 8, he said, do you think that´s old enough? YA! he said how do you know, THE SCRIPTURES! He just denied it and switched to the temples, saying if Jesus was born in a stable and was raised as a humble carpenter and wore robes and sandals, why do we have to represent Him with such giant and beautiful buildings?! To make a long story short, he continued on that thought for about half an hour, and we tried to explain and everything, but it was clear he didn´t want to listen, he was actually contradicting himself a lot too! And he wouldn´t answer our questions, it was like he knew he was wrong, but he couldn´t let go of his pride! It was really annoying. Luckily Carlos knows better and was actually trying to help us out.... I just worry about that family, and I think maybe he could be a problem in Rosa´s baptism.... it was just frustrating, but we kept our cool, and Carlos and Rosa were in church the next day so I was happy to see them there. But on a lighter note! My mission pop, Elder Roney, now home in the states, left me some root-beer extract that I´ve already put to good use and made some floats, and some jerky! Pretty sweet!
Well this letter is already long! A lot of stuff going on! I´ve actually thought a lot about people I could talk about the Gospel with when I get back! It´s a continous process, until it has penatrated every ear! I have to wait another 2 years to go the reunion!! Oh man! I could be bringing my wife by that time! HA! Anyhow... I have 2 favors! I don´t know if you´ve already sent something, but if by any chance you could sent me maple extract, to make maple syrup, and also lyrics to the song "Oh Lord, My Redeemer", the song that they sing in the choir every easter! That would be really cool! Anyhow, no pics this week. But maybe later. Thanks for the update! I hope all is well! I´m in Ether 13 now, it´s really great stuff! Luv ya tons! ¡Hasta luego!

Email 7 Jun 2011

Enrique Borjes is his name! And he´s doing good, came to church for his second time yesterday and he seems to be fine. Poco a poco (little by little) we´re gonna help him. The only problem is that he lives really far away! 3 miles out I´d say! But he really wants to progress, he´s had a darker past and wants to change! Sadly no one else made it to church, we were hoping to see a few that told us they would come, but alas, they didn´t. It was kind of sad. People just don´t have any interest in religion anymore, and I think the further and further time goes on that gorge that seperates the people of God and the rest of the world will just get larger and larger. I´m seeing the prophecies of Paul to Timothy like never before coming to past, that men will become lovers of their own selves, pleasure seekers, and without emotion... it´s really incredible, stuff you don´t see in Happy Valley as much. The prophecies are real! I can testify of it, they are being fulfilled everyday and we need to be ready!
I hope all of the partying and festivities are going well! We´ll be doing karaoke this friday for a missionary/ward activity! I´m extremely excited! I´m glad you got to see the slide show! And I am proud of Daniel for the pose! That´s some good stuff! And Alana´s bike is pretty much awesome! I even like the colors! But I actually have to say I´m even more impressed with the shirt she´s wearing! :) Makes me proud! So....it got to 80 dgrees and yet it was snowing just before? That´s crazy! Right now it´s raining and cold! But we press on!
I´m happy you´re pressing on in the reading! I´m loving it! I started Mormon today! Getting close to the end! Finished up all of the Savior in America! It´s been really great! We´ve actually found the Living Scripture cartoons on youtube and have watched some with Juan Carlos´ family! I love those videos even more now than ever! The stories just mean so much more to me now! If you guys leave a will when you die, I want the Living Scriptures series for my kids in the future!
So the photos, we´ve got our zone t-shirt from the previous change! A nice juicy, mouthwatering, steamy asádo! The area that Enrique lives in, way out in nowheresville! A bathroom I used while out in nowheresville! And a cool new tie I got!
Nice, thanks so much for the photos! For the love and support! Keep up on the reading as a family! It´s good stuff! It´s the truth! Luv ya tons! Hasta luego!