The end to sweat in sight...

Family,

Yet another week completed in Argentina. I realized something insane the other day: I only have ELEVEN transfers left. That's IT!!! Time is going by so incredibly fast. I'm trying so hard to make the most of it. The leaves are all starting to change color, which means fall is on the way. The end of the heat is finally in sight! Although, the heat hasn't been too unbearable lately. My health is finally better. I hope that it stays this way now. So I've been hearing people talk about a meteorite that hit Russia last week and damaged some surrounding towns. They even say there's videos of it! Have you seen it?! Also, they've been talking about some comet that's supposed to hit earth in 2014 and that NASA's preparing missiles to blow it up or something. Have you heard anything about that? Anything else interesting going on in the world that I should know about? We pretty much don't ever hear any news, so I'm curious (: I should be getting your birthday package this week sometime. I haven't had a chance to go to the offices to get it yet. That is if it's actually there... Anyways, I don't really have anything else interesting to talk about this week. Hope to hear from you soon! I love you!

"La Gran Torre" - The Great Tower. 

I made this for our apartment because it looks like a tower. 

It's funny because in the scriptures, the great tower referes to the Tower of Babel =P

A sign for the dogs we rescued. 

"Shaaarrornnn!"

Sickness and Storms

Family,

 

I loved all the spartan race pics! Looks like it was a ton of fun. Other than dad getting sick at the end. Speaking of being sick... I got really sick this last week. I got a pretty nasty flu that lasted about three days. The second night I had a fever of 104. It sucked. Having to walk literally everywhere when you're sick is terrible. But despite that, we were still able to catch up on all of our work from this week. And I'm doing perfectly fine now (: Asa for the missionary work, everything's going good. We don't have any upcoming baptisms so far, but we're working on it. Transfers is this wednesday. If one of us leaves, I'm almost positive it'll be me. But, we don't actually think either of us will be leaving. There won't be many changes this transfer. As for letters that I've gotten, there's a few cards from grandma and one from emma. I can't wait to get my package! It's probably sitting in the offices right now. Oh, so funny story. Yesterday evening, we had another really intense storm. We were visiting a member as it started raining, and we realized that we still had about 40 contacts to do to finish out the week. So, obviously, we went out and started talking to people. As we were doing that, it started DOWNPOURING. We ditched the umbrellas because we were completely drenched. At one point I just started laughing so hard because we were soaking wet handing people cards, and basically having to yell for them to hear us over the wind and the rain. It was so awesome! Anyways, I hope everything is well at home. Good luck planning the conference trip. I love you all!

Storms and Puppies

Hey family,

So I'm gonna make this pretty short this week so that I can send home all the pictures that I have. There's like 50 >_<  But, this has been another good week, other than a "refrío del sol" (cold that you get from being out in the sun too much) that I had. We aren't expecting to have too many changes this transfer, so Elder Dressler and I are expecting (and hoping) to stay together. So just a few highlights from the week: The other night we had a HUGE storm. There was a ton of lightning, wind, and rain. Half the neighborhood's still without power and it happened three days ago. Nothing really happened to us, other than a bunch of water got in the apartment. The other thing is we saved a bunch of newborn puppies that were just thrown out on the side of the road in a pile of trash! We were walking with a bunch of the youth to go visit someone and we saw them and decided to take them with us (: Well I'm gonna get to sending pictures. I love you!

David Fernàndez, an AWESOME convert of ours

We visited a cemetary one day.
Nothing like it exists in the US as far as I know...

Sometime you just gotta have a little fun...

Dear famly,

 

Wow that's great news on the scholarship!!! I'm sure that will help out a ton. I don't blame you for not trusting the argentine mail. The only thing you can ever be sure about when it comes to argentina is that nothing is ever sure. =P I don't really have too much to say either, other than that it's been another good week. We had two baptisms this weekend: an 11 year old girl named Brisa and a lady named elizabeth. Brisa picked me to baptize her. It's kinda funny that all the people I've physically baptized so far have been little kids (; Oh, and my toe is a LOT better. I can almost walk normally now. Thank goodness! Other than that, I really don't think I have anything else to say. There won't be any pictures again this week. I think my sd card has a bug or something, because the computer doesn't recognize it when I put it in. So I'll have to see what I can do about that. In don't know if you'd want to send me another card when you get the chance? Anyways, I love and miss you all very much, and I'm glad to hear that everyone's doing so well. I can't wait for my birthday package! (: Talk to you next week

The work must go on...

Family,

 

Thank you to everyone who wrote me! That means a lot. I'm sorry I still haven't hand written anything. And speaking of which, I actually have a letter waiting to send to Taylor. Grandma and grandpa as well. I just haven't been able to send them yet. I'm trying. And I don't know what happened, but I can't put pictures onto the computer anymore. The usb adaptor stopped working. I don't know when I'll be able to get another one. This week has been really good for me and elder dressler. We had a good baptism Saturday and we've seen a lot of miracles this week. The only bad thing is that it's REALLY painful to walk right now. I've been limping badly for awhile now. So last week I had an ingrown toenail. I was able to get the toenail out, and it was fine. Then it rained really hard a few days later. We got soaked and my shoes completely filled with water. I had to walk about 3km like that. So my toe got, and still is, really infected. Diego actually "operated" on it yesterday. He told me to take of my shoe, then he took my toe and squeezed all the junk out. Oh my GOSH it hurt!!! I screamed a little, I'll admit. I called the mission doctor this morning and he told me what I need to do to treat it. I'll have to take antibiotics for a week and soak my foot in soapy water twice a day. I'm serious, it's SO hard to walk. It's been a real struggle for me. I'll get through it though. About the cd, my companion actually has that same one. I think it's fine (: Again, thank you to everyone who wrote me. I'll try to get better at writing letters home. And no, I have not yet received any of your letters. Well, that's it for now, I think. Thank you for all you love and support. I love you all!

Lost in the work....

Dear family,

Wow, it's been that cold?! I wish it was cold here... although it hasn't been TOO bad recently. Or maybe I'm just used to it now. Anyways, I've been doing really good. Elder Dressler and I are getting along great, and we're working really hard. But we're always laughing at or about something, so we have a lot of fun at the same time. I think I'm finally knowing what being lost in the work means. We're going to have a baptism this week, and we're both really excited for this one. His name's David (pronounced dah-veed). Three weeks ago, he showed up in church on his own without us ever having seen him before! He told us he was trying to change his life, and we've been able to help him do it. He really is golden. The most prepared person I've met so far on my mission (not like I've been out THAT long, but still =P). My health is back to more or less normal, thank goodness. Argentina hasn't been very nice to me, except for making me really tan and a lot blonder. Oh, speaking of which, were you going to send me some more insoles? Those would be very much appreciated. And also, I don't need a rock climbing clip anymore. Elder Dressler gave me one of his extras. As far as the music goes, everything you said is good. Heck yes on the star wars and classical music! Maybe you could put that celtic christmas music and andean nation on there too? And all the ones that I made on garage band! I can't think of anything else at the moment, but it would be awesome if you could find me as many songs as you possibly can. ¡Por favor y gracias! Speaking of music, I have a new ambition for when I get home: learn the accordion! They use accordion in a lot of music here, and I've come to love the sound. Hey, isn't that what I wanted to learn when I was really little? Funny how things like that eventually come back to you. (: So I have a few requests/suggestions for you. When you send me pictures, could you just attach them as files instead of embedding them in the email? That way I'll actually be able to see them. The computer monitors here are pretty old. If you want to put captions, maybe you could just write them in the email. Also, sending me physical pictures in envelopes would be awesome! Another thing. I almost never hear from any of my siblings, so maybe you could all just use mom or dads email and write me throughout the week when you have time. I won't be able to respond to them all individually, but I would LOVE to hear from everyone personally! So, if you could do those few things, I would greatly appreciate it. (: Well, I think that's about all I got for now. I hope everyone is well and that you are all enjoying the cold weather =P I know I would be! Just be grateful you have heating in the car and in the house. Be grateful that you even have a vehicle that drives for that matter! (; Well, I just want to say that I love and miss everyone and I hope to hear from you next week! ¡Chow!

this is David (pronounced Dah-veed), one of our AWESOME investigators.

Transfers....New Companion!

Family,

Well, I guess I'll tell you the news you've all been waiting for, if you don't already know. I'm staying in Rivadavia another transfer more, but this time with a new companion!! His name's Elder Dressler, from California. He is AWESOME. We get along really well and have a lot of fun, but at the same time we work really hard. We completed 100% on our numbers, with only three days to do it all. I'm really excited to see what we'll be able to do this transfer. Oh, by the way, we did all that work with me not being able to eat anything for two days straight. I was having some really ugly stomach problems, so I called the area doctor and he told me some medicine to take, and also to eat absolutely nothing the first day, very light foods (like crackers) the second, and the third day back to normal. All I could do was drink as much liquid as I possibly could. It was HARD, but I'm better now. Mostly. It's still just as hot, humid, and air conditioning-less as ever, but I'm a lot happier now. I'm finally finding out what it means to be "lost in the work." Elder Dressler's technically the senior companion, but I've really been the senior companion because he's brand new to the area. It was super hard at first, having to know who to put in the daily plans, having to know everything about all our baptismal dates, having to know how to get around the area, how to find people, what members to go out with, things like that. But I am getting a lot better at it all. They say everyone needs to be prepared to train by march because we'll be getting a TON of new missionaries. I hope I'll be ready. Everything else has been good so far, other than the stomach problems. Oh, just an idea for sending me music: if you use mp3 cds it would be a lot easier, because you can put a lot more songs onto one cd. Well, I think that's it for now. Look forward to talking to you next week. I love you all!

This is Elder Dressler, my new companion.
Guess where he's from.... CARLSBAD!!! 

My old district

this highway is ALWAYS super busy.
This is what it looked like new year's day.

My old Zone