Family,

Wow this has been the craziest week ever. Early in the week, we received word that me and elder davila would be receiving missionaries in loma grande! In other words, they split the area, so now loma grande has four elders. Ha, and I thought the area was already small... My new companion is Elder Santizo. He's from guatemala. He is awesome so far. AND he loves music like I do!!! Haha it's been sooo long since I've had a musical companion =P. He and I get along really well so far. So our half of the area was the half that we never worked in because it's where all the rich people live, and there's only a few members. It's going to be difficult, but I have faith that we'll be able to have success. This week, it rained four days straight without stopping once. It was FREEZING cold and soaking wet. The bishop makes shoes for a living, so he's going to make me a pair of boots so that my feet aren't soaking wet all the time. Also, the other half of the area has all the baptismal dates that we had, so me and elder santizo are pretty much starting from zero. Should be interesting... Are you all back from oregon yet? I hope you have a great week. I love you!

E' Bentz

Family,

This has been a pretty good week for us. Early in the week, we had another companionship come and stay in our area and work with us. They're from a really far-away area and they had to go to the capital to do a bunch of papers, so they just stayed with us and helped us out. So we had four elders working at once in our area! Then elder davila started having some weird stomach pains, so the next day we went to this hospital in capital. After they did some tests and stuff on him (and being there literally ALL day), they decided he didn't actually have anything and just told us to go home. They didn't even give him any medicine to take! Guess they were right, because the next day he was completely fine haha. So, interesting story. We've developed this funny tactic for finding new people. We'll knock a house and say, "Just a quick question, we're looking for "María" (or any other common name from here). We think the other missionaries were talking to her. Do you happen to know her?" And so on and so forth. Well, the other day, we asked a guy if he knew maria, and he showed us a house right down the street. Turns out, there actually WAS a maria that lived there. We went back to them a few days later, and it turns out that they are an AWESOME family. The husband actually got to know the church because he works in personal security. When the prophet came here a few years back, he was one of his security escorts. Pretty cool how that all worked out! Heavenly Father always has people prepared for us, we just have to have the faith we'll find them. And also work like we're going to find them. Anyways, we also had a baptism this weekend. FINALLY! Last month was pretty difficult for us in terms of baptisms. It was a 11 year old girl named Luciana. We've been working with her entire family now for awhile. We're trying to get the rest of them to do the same thing Luciana did. Well, I hope everybody enjoyed oregon. Send me lots of pictures!!! I love you all

elder jacob bentz

one of our investigators. We have a dog, they have a duck. haha.
Woah... we have a DOGGGG????????????????????????????????????? =O

this is the Breppe family. I love them!!!

Family,

Man... all the pictures made me really miss oregon!!! I want to go there again. To remake good memories. Hopefully I'll get the chance. Sounds like you guys are having tons of fun. (: Nothing really new to report on my side of the planet. The weather's been pretty nice lately. Cool, but not absolutely freezing. Me and elder davila are still getting along good. Still walking fast, and still working hard (: We were actually supposed to have a baptism yesterday, but it didn't happen due to some medical problems in the family. That's okay, more baptisms for this month! (; It's already july!!!! That's crazy. What else is crazy is that I'm already half way through this transfer... my "district" still hasn't gotten here. Ha, I honestly have no idea when they'll get here. Maybe not till next transfer. But, either way, I'm still happy (: Why is it that the happier you are, the faster time goes...? Oh! I did my first baptismal interview last week. It was actually pretty fun! That's one of my responsibilities as district leader, interviewing investigators before their baptism to make sure they're ready. Anyways, I hope you all are livin it up up there away from the heat and the dust. Tell grama and the sharps and shawns family that I love and miss them all. And the same goes for you all too! Till next week! 

elder bentz

me and elder hall

me and elder smith

District Leader, kind of....

Family,

yes, I am now a district leader. Of a district that doesn't exist yet
haha. They're going to split my area and the area next to me as more
new missionaries arrive during this transfer. So, I have no idea when
I'm actually going to have a district to lead. Haha weird right? My
new companion's elder davila. He's from Mexico and was serving there
for 5 months waiting for his visa. Hew walks. So. FAST. he practically
runs! I can't even keep up with him. He's a great missionary, though.
I don't even know how much time I'll have with him until they split
the area. I'm glad youth conference went so well! I always loved going
to those. Well, I have zero time to write anything this week; I've
been fighting with this dumb computer the whole time to even load the
email page. Just know that I'm happy, healthy, and tired. (; I love
you all. Send me lots of pictures from Oregon!
elder bentz

Family,

Well, it's been a pretty good week. We found a lot of great people, though we're still having problems getting them to come to church. That's been our biggest struggle lately. We had elder viñas from the 70 come talk to us, which was really good. He talked about the atonement. We've also been setting up this week for a karaoke night we're going to have this coming friday. Should be tons of fun and hopefully lots of people come! Yup, the mission's going to be doubling in size. That's so crazy! I still have no idea what's going to happen this week as far as transfers go. I hope I'm ready for whatever's about to come. I was kinda sick a few days this week. I think it's because of the crazy weather changes here. Freezing one day and warm the next. It kills me. Well, I don't think I have much else to say about this week. Hope everyone's doing well, and I'll talk to you next week. Love you all!

Elder Bentz

typical argentina

argentine pizza 

giant spider

Family,

 

HEY! Are you guys in Oregon??? Send me more pictures if you are! Well, this week was pretty normal. Nothing super special to report. All I know is that this transfers almost over, and I have NO idea what's going to happen! It's kinda freaky... I hope I'm ready for what's to come. Man... I can't even think of anything to talk about this week! I don't have any pictures either... I've been good. Me and elder call are still getting along really well. There's a bunch of elders leaving for home in a week that I've become very good friends with. It's so weird to think I'm so far into it. Michael's already coming home??? Holy cow!!! I can't even believe that... I feel like I've come a really, really long way in this time. Even though I still have a ton to learn and a lot to improve on. Today I went to do a practice for a little choir they put together. There's another general authority coming to the mission this week! He's a 70 named elder viñas. I love it when general authorities visit!!! Well, I'm sorry I don't have more to write, but this week was pretty uneventful. I hope everyone is doing well and that you're enjoying your summer. I love you all and I'll talk to you next week. ¡Chau!

Family,

 

Well, this week wasn´t AS crazy, but it was very unsuccessful. As far as numbers go, we ended horribly. The worst I've ever done, actually. Even though we worked just as hard (if not harder) as usual. But, we talked about it, and we figured out a few things we can improve on. Hopefully this week goes better. We just received word today that between now and august, we will be receiving 150 new missionaries!!! That's a TON! Looks like the entire mission will be training. I'm kinda excited about it. It would be an interesting experience. These next few transfers will be pretty crazy, I think. Man, I always forget that it's hot in AZ right now. The weather's actually been really nice lately. Not too hot, not freezing either. Hearing from Elder Cook was awesome! I got to shake his hand!!! =D We learned a lot of good stuff from him, but he couldn't talk very long because he had to go talk to the buenos aires north mission. It was still really good, though. Well, I hope everyone's doing good and that you aren't sweating too much (you shouldn't be. You lucky Americans have air conditioned everything =P). I have a bunch of pics to send, so I'll get on that. I love you all!

 

They live in a Poki-ball!!

the only convenient thing about people burning trash
is that it's nice when it's cold

Autumn in Argentina

the three little kids we baptized. Macarena, Evelyn, and Marcos

its a floating castle!

these funny little cars are everywhere here

fayya powwah!