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!

Insane Week...

WEll. Holllyyyyyy cowwwww. I have had the most INsane week of my
entire life. Not even exaggerating. Right now its 7:00 here, and we're
just now getting to do email. I'll explain why. So early this week,
they reopened an area that had been closed. So, they brought an elder
and a mini missionary in to work there in the middle of the transfer.
They called us at 10:20 at night to tell us they's be moving in with
us the next morning. Then today, we went down to the offices with them
to get a bunch of stuff they needed. While we were starting to do
Internet down there, we get another call telling us that they are now
closing the area because another elder in another zone got the visa he
was waiting for, and they couldn't find another mini missionary to be
his companion. SOOO, we had to come ALL the way back home, pack up
their stuff, then go all the way back to the offices with the elder,
and then back home again. Yeah. And that's just the icing on the
craziness cake. Monday. We get on the wrong train to go to the
offices, and when we finally get there, there's a sign on the door
saying that the offices now close at 1:00 in the afternoon. It was
2:00 when we got there. Tuesday. We spend half the day helping the new
elders move in and get them all situated. Wednesday. I ran (not
joking) 15 blocks to a members house with a bathroom because I was
about to dump a load in my pants. It was LITERALLY starting to come
out. I made it though. Juuuuust barely. It was a horrible experience
-_- The rest of the week was basically spent organizing the baptism we
weren't even sure we were going to have. We had to convince the mom
that the kids were ready. Oh yeah, by the way, we baptized three this
weekend. A girl of 14, a girl of 11, and a boy of 8. They're the kids
of an inactive sister. It took everything we had to convince her they
were ready. But we convinced her. Those three were the only ones that
made it to their baptism. It went really well though. I baptized the
little girl of 11 years. She's such a little sweetheart. I also sang
"Asombro me da." (I stand all amazed), one of my favorite hymns. I've
gotten a LOT better at singing on my mission. Well, I wish I could
send pictures, but the computer I'm using is ghetto, so I can't. Till
next time. There's about ten billion other things that happened this
week, but I can't remember any. I'm glad everyone at home is doing
well. I'm sorry that people are sick. Speaking of which, I was sick
too! I had a nasty cold which turned into a sinus infection. I'm
mostly better now though. Well, this week is looking like it might be
just as crazy as the last, so we'll see what happens. We get to go
listen to Elder Quentin L. Cook on Wednesday! I'm pretty excited about
that. okay, I'll talk to everyone next week. I love you all!

Me and Elder Call

Home Sweet Home

HAha thanks for all the pics! They were awesome. Can you believe that I was at that some concert a year ago? Wow... DAAAANG! Sydney made that???!!! That's rreeaaally good. Better than I could ever do!!! Well, nothing much to report this week. It was all pretty normal, other than it being FREEZING cold!!! Especially in the apartment. We have two little heaters, but they barely do any good because the apartment's huge. But it's okay, I've got like 5 blankets I sleep under, so I stay nice and warm when I sleep. It's just the getting up that sucks. And getting out of the shower... So we should have some baptisms coming up here pretty soon. We're pretty excited about that. Elder Call and I still get along really well. I get along better with him than I have with any of my other companions. We have a lot of fun. Well, I've got some pictures to send, so I'll get on that. I love you all!

this is called "asado." Argentine BBQ
two kinds of sausage.
One is called "Chorriso" and the other is called "morsilla."
Morsilla is blood sausage

doggy in a stroller

I found this in our house... haha

this is up on our roof

the front door and steps leading up to the roof.
The whole house is on the second floor

La cocina

the main room where we sleep

instead of trash cans, this is what they put their garbage in.
I think it's so the dogs don't come make a mess of it.

me and elder call

this is "El Gauchito Gil."
It's an idol that a lot of people here worship.

It always works out in the end...

Family,

It was SO awesome to get to see all of you too!!! You've all grown up
a ton (dad especiallly =P haha). It's been a whole year!!! ALREADY!
Time's going sooo fast. Yes, I am happy. Oh! So I have to tell you
what happened last night right after I got off skyp with you. So we
left the bishop's house, and we still needed to find three new
investigators. I was thinking reaaaaally hard about where we could go
to find them. I had not a single idea. Then we walked by the house of
this lady who we'd been trying to talk to for weeks and weeks, but was
never there. I had a feeling we should give it one more try. So we
knocked, and she came out, and let us in with two of her kids there!
They are an awesome family. A WHOLE family too! Married and
everything. The husband wasn't there but we'll talk to him another
day. I showed them the pictures of you all and told them how I just
got done talking with you and how big of a sacrifice it was. It
touched them pretty deeply. Then we had a very spiritual lesson about
baptism. At the very last possible second, everything worked out.
PERFECTLY. When I wasn't sure if it would. I think God's trying to get
it through my thick skull that he's in control and he knows exactly
what he's doing. I just need to not worry, and keep moving forward. I
challenge all of you to do the same in your own lives. Don't worry
about things so much, it ALWAYS works out in the end. Well again, it
was great to see you all. Just a reminder about things for the
package(s): Electric razor, socks, franks red hot sauce, more music
(like my regional choir songs, the other songs I made, scott joplin,
and anything else you can think of), and speakers. I think that was
it.... Unfortunately, there will be no picture again this week ):
Well, I hope everyone is doing fantastic and that you have a great
week. I love you all!