Family.

Nope- Does NOT seem possible. It really really doesn't. What neighbor person are  you talking about? AND..... no. I still haven't gotten it. I don't know if you heard that now no one can get packages in Argentina because of government problems. I don't know if it got here before that...  Yeah, missions change people, if people let it change them. Its pretty amazing how I've changed. I'm sure you all will notice right away how different i am. You probably already HAVE noticed! WEll, good news! We're going to have a baptism this weekend!!! =D FINALLY!!! I'm super super excited. And there aren't QUITE so many mosquitoes this week. Gracias a Dios... Well. I'll send some pics. Talk to you Sunday!!!!!

E' Bentz

i guess i never did show you the inside of our house.
So here it is!

fall foliage 

Salud!!!

He's getting married?!!!!!!!!! WOAH!!! To Kylie Hallsey? Haha woah. Who woulda thought! Ummmm, i think ill call home at 6 Argentina time, which would be 2 your time. Because my companion has to call at 7 our time (we're using someones computer this time. ). Sound good? (: So there is an INVASION of mosquitoes these past two weeks! I swear, I've never ever seen so many in my entire life. The storms a few weeks ago left the fields flooded, which created standing water. That mixed with unusually warm weather has created the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Seriously, SWARMS. You open the door, and like 10 fly in instantly. I have bites all over me =\. But it was a pretty normal week besides that. Well, we'll talk to you soon!

E' Bentz

yeah, see those things on my leg? Those are giant mosquitoes.
These things are EVERYWHERE!
Seriously we cant even walk outside without getting eaten alive. 

Family,

So, feeling pretty sick right now. I have a "resfrío" (cold). Hopefully ill get over it soon. Looks like everyone had a good Easter! That's awesome. So, a little cool experience from this week:

one morning we were clapping doors, and no one was answering or wanting to talk. Obviously, that's not the first time its happened to me. So we clapped another door, and a lady next door came out and said, "hi elders, no one's home." It was weird that she addressed us as "elders," so we asked if she knew us. She said that she is a member from the Ferrari ward, which is actually right next to Loma Grande, and that she was visiting her sister who lives in Saladillo. So, we went in and taught her sister! A super simple, but powerful experience. What others would call coincidence, I call divine guidance. Have a great week!

E' Bentz

This is "our house, in the middle of the street..."
Hah. Punny.

this is Zaira, one of our investigator's girls.
Shes adorable!!!

indiana jones, anyone...?

Family,

Well, not too much to report this week, other than that its been freeezing cold and windy and rainy. Just trying to keep finding people who will accept the gospel. We have a few good investigators, but they all have serious smoking problems. We're trying to help them stop, but its super difficult. So, here i am, just trying to help people change their lives how i can, while i can. I hope you all had a good week, and ill talk to you later. chao!

E' Bentz

Mr. Chicken!!!

Family,

What a CRAZY week!!! Obviously, we spent basically the whole week getting us and everyone else ready for general conference (which was awesome, from the sessions i was able to watch). Everything looked like it would work out perfectly. An investigator was going to let us use her laptop, and the people who live next door to the church were going to let us use their wifi, so everyone could come to the church to watch it. Perfect. What could go wrong, right? Welllll, Friday night, a HUGE storm came in. And i mean HUUUGE! I've never seen so much rain at once! We saw that the sky was turning pitch black, so we went to a members house that was close by to hide out from the storm. At about 8:30, we had to head for home. But, we walked outside, and the street (in that part of saladillo all the streets are dirt) was a RIVER. We almost literally had to swim to get out of there. And the power got knocked out, so it was pitch black and pouring rain. At some points the water was up to my waist!!! And towards the center of town, ALL the streets were completely flooded with a foot or more of water. I've never seen anything like it before. A bunch of people were even evacuated from their homes. Anyyyywayys, the point of the story is: the next morning when we went to connect to the wifi, we realized that the Internet service was down. And, upon making a few more calls, we realized that almost no one in saladillo had Internet. So, we didn't get to watch the first session. In the evening we got to see it because we all went to the house of someone who somehow had Internet, and Sunday the Internet worked just fine, thankfully. so, yeah. It's been a crazy week. Today, officially, I am what's called a "pastor," which is a missionary who's in his last transfer. My last six weeks. Its a really strange feeling. i just hope ill be able to make the most of it. We're going to rocky point??? YEAH!!! Lets go!!!! I'll be able to translate for everyone!!!!! =D  (I'm mostly just excited to be able to use my Spanish hahaha) And that sounds like a good plan for my arrival home. Well, have a good week! I love you all!

E' Bentz

the "Chivilcoy Sur" zone with our zone banner.  

tired out from travelling to zone meeting haha.

this is the storm the hit that day. 

The camera couldnt really capture it, 

but the clouds were pitch black and GREEN! with a ton of lightning

Family.

Wow, last week of the transfer. Only one left. One more transfer, one more general conference, one more fast Sunday, one more chance to do this right.... Once again we didn't have anyone in church. UGHHHHHH! these people drive me insane sometimes. They promise, promise, promise that they'll go, and they don't show up. SO FRUSTRATING! But, luckily, this weekend is general conference, so we'll have a lot of people that go to see it. This Saturday we went to the temple with 25 de Mayo. It turned out really well, and everyone that went (especially the converts and investigators) really liked it. They all said that they noticed a different spirit. To get to the temple in Buenos Aries, we have to travel 2 and a half hours in a van. Ha, and you all complain about having to go 40 minutes to mesa!!! Now, we'll have a temple like 5 minutes away! That's so awesome. Well, I'm glad everyone's doing well and i hope everyone has a great week. I love you all!

E' Bentz

remember when we first bought these bad boys?
they've lasted me two whole years!
But they're completely torn apart haha.

taking an investigators cigarrillos

havin' diversión en el templo

25 de Mayo

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just about fell out of my seat when i saw the ticket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Ugh this is insane. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That is a really, really good question. I actually don't know how to respond to that... Hmm. I think at first it would be cool to just invite family and extended family. friends can be at the house after president weathersby releases me. Yeah. That'll be good, i think. Well, looks like everyones doing well at home. Any big news besides that bear turned one? Haha. Holy cow emma went to prom?????? Shes getting old... We all are! O_o  Well this week was full of its share of challenges just like any other. Lately, we haven't been able to get people to come to church. Its frustrating me a ton. I've got like 8 more chances to do it. Oh, and i haven't tried my account yet. OH!!!!!!!!! Do you remember the Rose family that used to live in our ward? or maybe they still do. I cant remember. But anyways, one of our members was showing us pics of her baptism, and she said, "This is elder Rose." I looked closer at his face, and realized that it was totally him!!!! Ya know, brother Rose, who worked on movies and playes guitar. He served in SALADILLO!!! You have to get in contact with him! His converts want to hear from him!!! Well, imma send a bunch of pics. Talk to y'all later!

E' Bentz

bet you can guess whats going on my next christmas wish list... (;

Candela and her mom, Yolanda.
We're working to get her baptized too

i'm inside argentina

Family,

The eggs from one of the member families. They got it from some farm I think. But anywaysss. hows life at home? Everyones STILL sick? Woww must be a pretty nasty bug. Yes, I have my debit card, and yes i would like to have a little extra cash, for souvenirs and stuff (; So if you could figure that out, thatd be great. Things are going okay here. Frustrating as ever, trying to get people to come to church. Its the same story as always, but I'm just getting tired. I've been doing this for a longggg timeee. All I want to do is end my mission well. I hope God will help me do that. Time's FLYING! Other than that, everythings well here. The weather is gorgeous, fall starts the 21st of march. Ha so that means it'll be super hot again when i get back. But, we have AIR CONDITIONING!!!! =D I've also been practicing my Portuguese with those discs you sent me. I've basically got the pronunciation down, i just need to learn more grammar and vocab. I'm thinking about doing Rosetta stone or something when i get back to learn it better. Well, I'm gonna send a ton of pictures. I love y'all!

E' Bentz

OWLZ!!!! 

I named him Clifford the big black dog.
He's seriously HUGE! But he's super nice

the beauty of campo...

this guy was teaching me the accordion
AND was going to get baptized, but he moved )))))))))):

Family,

So, here we are at the beginning of another of the few weeks i have left. In my email this morning, i had to fill out a paper describing the details of my flight home. Man......... that sure felt like a bag of bricks falling on me when i saw that in my inbox! It just makes it seems all the more real... time is short, short, short. And here I am, still trying to make the most out of it that I can. This week was pretty good for us. We found a lot of people, but it looks like most of them aren't going to be able to progress very well. Church this Sunday was.... weird. First off, it was raining like crazy the hour it was supposed to start. So, not a SINGLE person showed up until 11:15!!! By that time, there were only 45 minutes left of church. Including us four missionaries, there were only NINE people in church!!! It was so crazy. And my companion was sick Saturday so we couldn't work all day. Hopefully this week will be better than the last. I've only got a few of them left... Have a good week! I love you all!

E' Bentz

its an ostrich egg! one of these equals 12 regular chicken eggs

Family,

Well, this week has gone MUCH better. It seems like I've been snapped out of the down i was in. Thank goodness, because the way i was going, it wouldn'tve  ended well. But president talked to me about it, and helped me a lot. And he basically told me that I will end my mission here. I want to end it well. I just realized that I have 14 more Sundays to get people to go to church and to help the group. Tick-tock.... not much time left. But anyways I hope you all are having a good week.  Oh, and just so you know, i wont be able to write home until the beginning of march. Just three weeks. Some things happened with my companion and now we are both paying the consequences. Sooo, talk to you in three weeks. I love you all!

E' Bentz

Well this week was full of ups and downs just like any other. But, we're finally starting to find some people with good baptism possibilities. That's exactly what this group needs, new families, and good ones. We have a LONG way to go, but we'll do what we can. We've had some more crazy problems and stuff happening this week, so I'm exhausted. But, I'm doing better than I was, thankfully. I think this week will be even better. There's also been a bunch of crazy storms coming though, and it was actually cool this week, which was really nice. Ha, we've also been preaching to all our neighbors. Our neighbors love us here! Well, nothing really else to talk about. Hope you all have a good week. I love you, Chao!

e' Bentz

Family,

Well, this week was probably just as hard as the last. At one point, everything just built up and couldn't really take it anymore. I'd say i went through my own personal gethsemane. I'm just having a hard time. I am feeling better after my little breakdown though. But still... Im only 20 years old!!!! And to top it all off, this morning we found out that a for-sure baptism we had for this weekend isnt going to happen. I'm trying so hard to be positive and to have faith. But it's difficult. Anyways, I hope everyone had a good week and that you're all doing good. I love you all

E' bentz

Authentic Argentine Toms :)

Epic!

Family,

Ugh I wish that were the case. Unfortunately, this has been a very very bad week as far as the group goes. A lot of very ugly things have happened here with our main family which basically makes up most of the group. And thats on top of all the other problems we already have. It's been hard. Really hard. It's very difficult for me to focus on the work with all these other issues on my plate. I think that's why we haven't been finding good investigators lately. I've reached my breaking point various times this week. I can't talk about details but all I can say is that I'm worried about this group. I don't know how much longer it's going to last if things like this keep happening. But, there is some good news: E' Nacimento and I are staying together another transfer! Which is awesome because we get along great. I hope this transfer goes a lot better than the last. I want to end my mission well. This area's going to push me even farther than loma grande did I think. It already is. Well, I hope everyone has a good week. Till later. Love you all!

E' Bentz

Family.

Well. What a week. So, here's the story. My companion sprained his ankle monday evening playing futbol with some kids (he stepped in a pit), soooo we were basically unable to work until saturday and sunday. I think I almost went crazy being inside so long. Luckily, he can walk now, so everything's fine. But, yeah. Not too much to talk about for this week, haha. I'll send a bunch of pics instead. Oh, and I seriously can't remember what i wanted. Oh wel. Guess it wasn't too important. Ha, not like i have that much time left anyway. Well I hope yall have a great week. I love you! Chao!

E' bentz

just kidding the computer wont let me send pics

Mini's again...

Family,

Well that was a really awesome conference! I got a lot of good things out of it. I think my favorite talk was Elder Holland's, about how god's love is there, whether you deserve it or not. Anyways the rest of the week was pretty good too. My mini went home Tuesday because he had to start school, so I was left in a trio from Tuesday to Friday. Friday I got another mini. Ugh this has been the craziest transfer ever. It's been nothing but changes and changes and changes. Hopefully things will settle down soon. Other than that, I'm doing pretty good. Nothing too very exciting to talk about. Just workin' along, trying to figure it all out (I've been out for 17 months and I STILL feel like I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing sometimes =P). This week, I complete a year in Argentina. How insane is that?! So, did you get all my Christmas requests? Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love you and I'll talk to you next week. ¡Chau!

E' Jacob Bentz

he dog looks scary, but she's the sweetest thing ever!

Doing my nightly calls... hands free =P

My new mini!! Well...he's not exactly mini... ha 

Elias, the coolest little kid ever.
He's getting baptized this saturday!

spring is here

Does almost really only count in horseshoes?

Family,

It was another pretty average week. Nothing too amazingly exciting to talk about. Once again, we came reeeeallly close to completing with our numbers this week, and we didn't. That's REALLY starting to frustrate me. Every single week is the exact same story. We always ALMOST make it, but we never do. I'm pretty tired of "almost." I just want to be able to DO IT! I don't know if there's something I'm doing wrong, or what. I've been trying so hard, but like I said, it's always "almost." Anywaysss, sorry about my rant. I'm just really frustrated right now. But, I'm glad everything's good at home and that you're all having a good week. Can you believe it's already general conference again? I know I can't. My mini is going home on Tuesday because he has to start his studies. So, looks like I'm going to be in a trio again, which will complicate things significantly. But, with faith all is possible, right? Well, I really don't have much else to say, so I'll talk to you next week. I love you all!

Ohhhh! One more thing. I have another Christmas request. I would LOVE to have the Book of Mormon audio cd in Portuguese. I've been studying it quite a bit lately, but I don't have a way to hear how they talk. If you could somehow find that, that would be awesome (:

Amá siempre,

E' Jacob Bentz

this might be the coolest flower I've ever seen...

I hope one day I'll go to an area where
EVERYthing looks like this...

 

Spring is in the air....and so is the rain!

Family,

Well, this was a pretty normal week. As normal as a week can be on the mission, anyways.... haha. It is definitely starting to warm up here a little bit, though the temperature still changes pretty dramaticly sometimes. I'm still doing fine with my mini missionary, and we're still working hard. I can't believe it's almost general conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAHHHHHHHHHHHH! That'll make two in Loma Grande! I can't even believe that I've been here for that long... I might even be here for Christmas! Hey, speaking of that, the things I want the most are some more franks hot sauce, more ties, and another photo album, maybe with some pictures of me and my band. (((: That's all for now. So i just have one cool little story for this week: Saturday, it was raining and freezing cold, and I forgot my umbrella when we left. We had a bunch of visits planned for that day, but they all fell though. So, we were left with clapping doors in the pouring rain, in the richest part of the area. NO ONE would let us in, even though we were both soaked to the bone and obviously freezing cold. But then, the idea came to my mind to go see someone we had talked to the other day. I doubted the thought, because I didn't think he'd be home. But, we had nothing better to do, so we went anyway. And sure enough, they let us in!!! And we found two new families living there! God always is watching out for us. Well, I hope you all have a great week. By the way, thanks for telling me the Katie Wagner story. That is a pretty amazing experience. I love you all! hasta la proxima

E' Bentz

this is what we were working in the day that no one let us in.
Yeah..... :P

My mini missionary!

my new suit!