dungeons and dragons‏

today was good. somewhat interesting. in the morning we played ultimate Frisbee for exercises. it been a while since i have done any physical exertion in a while. but it was nice. then we did our normal studies. i found an easy way of washing clothes. i just let them soak in detergent water for a couple of days and then the next time i take a shower i take the bucket with me and rinse them out as i shower. lol it makes it pretty easy. sorry that you didn't get my email from last week but i thought i sent it out. well luckily most of it was saved in the drafts so i sent what i could. i think there was a little bit more but i don't remember. so after showering today we ordered some empanadas and played dungeons and dragons. hahah. it was really funny. i can just picture the people that get serious about it. but we had a fun time messing around and having a good time. and that's really all we did today. on Sunday we had 170 people in the chapel. that's the most i have ever seen in any argentine ward. it was amazing. then we picked up lunch from an older sister in the ward. then slept and then the others showed up and said that we couldn't sleep the whole day then left. so we left as well. we tried to pass by some people. we talked with one investigator. and things were good there. he is our age and a pretty chill kid. his sisters are the ones getting baptized this weekend. hopefully all goes well there. i think so. they seem to want to. on Saturday we taught this family that me and elder Schmidt found while we were doing splits. they didn't show up at church because they had to go to some viewing, who knows, maybe someone really died. then on Saturday night we had dinner with this family out in the hood. also during the afternoon we went out into the farthest parts of our area looking for this man that we had talked to in the past. si this area is where allteh ghetto tin can houses are and its straight up trash. while walking i hear little puppies crying off to the side of the road and when i look over in the ditch i find 3 just stuck in there whining for the lazy mom to rescue them. well she was too busy titty feeding the rest so she just growled while i yanked them out by their heads. hahaha it was just a classic hillbilly moment. well the guy wasn't home but there was this adhd dog that wanted to play fetch with a rock. his buddy was carrying around a rock as well. we thought he had it stuck in his mouth. it was funny. on Friday it was raining lightly but we were out passing by our appointments and we got a little wet. well we passed by a part member family and played a card game with their kids. i didn't understand but the dad asked if we were going to stay a little longer and we were still playing so i said yes. well he understood it that we wanted to eat there. so they made us lunch as well. but we were supposed to be eating across the area with someone else. so we ate there, showed up late to the other and ate some more. we were also supposed to make tacos with another member but as we get in they said that the dad wasn't going to get off work till 9. so we said we would go by during the lunch hour one day. Thursday we passed by this family we found. they seem to like the message and all. and we also have a baptismal date set with them. on Monday we passed by an investigator that is a fisherman. he had earlier that day returned from a fishing trip and he was high on marijuana. he was really paranoid about something i didn't understand what though. then on Tuesday he had an emotional breakdown because of his situation with his woman. they separated and all and yeah its really complicated. but he wanted to make changes in his life and all but then on Wednesdays he must have let the devil play around with his head and changed his mind. he had a baptismal date set up but he rejected it in the end because he got back with his woman and did the naughty. but at least he was honest about it. well that's all the fun i can think of. thanks dad for the awesome pen! i like it a lot. and thanks for the tie and all those cookies. i got them last week and i have already eaten them all. lol. i swear they put crack in them. i couldn't stop eating. also thanks for the letters. i hope all is well.



¡hasta la proxima!

Hey

holas de aca. ok so this week was good. nothing amazing happening. today we just sat around the house and talked and ate food. we had like ten people in the house at one point. it was great. and i got the package!!! it was awesome. i have never seen so many cookies before! ha ha. and the cubes as well. those are going to be alot of fun for sure! it will be my breakfast for a whole month, lol. so on Sunday we had a couple in the church. two sisters that want to get baptized. so they are getting baptized the 26th. that will be fun to finally get some tisms. right after church we had an asado with a part member family. they weren't at church because they were at a family party till 4 in the morning. i ate a lot of meat. it was delicious. then we took the Sunday siesta and then left to go look for people. no one was home so no success there. on Saturday we had lunch with a part member family and it was also an asado. it was also very awesome. then later that night we were passing by a members house and as we were talking he asked if we wanted a chorizo sandwich. of course we did. so he made us one then left to go buy some more meat. so we had a weekend packed full of meat. it was good but it made my stomach feel weird. on Friday we passed by this inactive member and he seemed really happy that we came. he said he would go to church but he never showed up. i met him the first day we went knocking doors here and he seemed really weird. but he did like the visit. then we taught the sisters that want to get baptized and they were getting excited for it. then the mom comes and tells us her problems. we got the vibes that she wants financial help from the church and maybe that's why there is so much interest. but there will be no consolation as long as I'm here. freaking moochy argies! then we had dinner with some members. we ate chicken. so another meat item to the weekend meal adventure. on Thursday we had ward council and the bishop told us to pass by that old guy that i thought was crazy. we also taught an inactive family. we are trying to help them start again with the church again.








this is from last week. it must not have sent so you all get double this week!!!

Crazy Sauce 1.24.11

so i sure hope you guys weren't praying for a longer email because this week i have one of the most interesting ones at my personal expense. so on Wednesday the ward mission leader wanted to meet up with us in the church after lunch, so we go to lunch and she gave it to us to go. so we ate it in the church and waited for the member to show up. well we are in there for several hours and around 330 he still hadn't showed up so we left. well that day was kind of gay and i had a headache so we went home. well at the house that night he calls the house and it turns out that he was waiting for us outside in his truck. the wiener has a key and all but didn't bother to go in. so that was really annoying. then on Thursday i wake up and i have a fever. i felt like crap the rest of the day. well around lunch time we get a call from the zone leaders and they tell us that my comp has to call pres. it was pretty weird. so he calls pres and he says that there is a problem with his family and that he had permission to call home. so he calls his dad and at first there was just a lot of confusion. well finally he understand him and finds out that his sister was in a coma in the hospital and that she was in serious condition on life support and they wanted him to be at home with them. so he works it out with pres and pres works it out with the area seventy and at 5 that night we had him on a bus home. well everything is all weird after that and so i left with the zone leaders to work and i still felt like crap. i was really hot and thirsty. so we visited this investigator of theirs and we brought some members. the guy was really weird and they had told us about him and his theology. he believes that we are descendants from aliens who used a laser to transplant us into monkeys. anywho., the guy obviously was really weird. so we were there outside his shop for at least 30 minutes and meanwhile this 5 year old of the member we brought was jabbering and i sweat my ears almost fell off. so after that whole thing we passed by a less active family and then we went home. then on Friday i find out that my comps sister had died. that was weird. so i get a call from a member in this ward and they said that they saw it on facebook on his post. then later that day he calls me. he seemed OK. but i know him and he seems the type that holds back his emotions. poor guy. its been hard to see him like that. so on top of all this. on Saturday we got robbed. so we had an appointment with an investigator. well they totally failed us and so i call them on the cell phone. well at the same time there were 3 guys on a motorcycle cruising looking for trouble and they saw us. well the other elder gets a bad feeling and we start to head off. then then had come around and jumped off and were like "give us all your stuff." well first off i didn't have anything i really cared about, except the game of Uno in my pocket that we were going to play for a family night. and they took it all. pretty gay stuff. the funny part was that the guy that cam up to me was this weeny looking kid and at first i was like, " I'm not giving you anything,"and he kept reaching for my pockets but every time i pushed him away, then he gets closer and so i put my arm over his shoulder and grabbed his hands. then he called his friend over. so i let him go because his friend had something under his shirt that could have been a gun. so just to play it safe i gave in. so i lost my game Uno. as he was walking off with it just to get my last word in i said" hey its just a game, i hope you like to play" hahah, that was kind of funny. surprisingly i wasn't that mad after it. i mean i would like to find him and gouge his eyes out but i felt like he didn't really take anything i cared about. so it wasn't as bad. the act that they robbed us yeah but whatever, not much you can do now. well then on Sunday i was with the ZLs and went to their ward, and my ward mission leader was there and all. that was awkward. the guy bothers me. well the good thing is that neither me or my comp had to give our assigned talks that Sunday. lol. but what a price to pay!!. so today we went to Sierra de Los Padres. that touristic city where all the rich plantation owners live. and that was pretty cool. we just went and looked at all the shops and the scenery. they have these rock faces. kind of like the red rock and that park in st George. so i guess i didn't miss out on your trip after all. haha.. well I'm glad to know you are all fine. may your week go better and more prosperous than mine.




love



elder seegrist

De Lugo pictures

Pictures from Jason's mission 1.17.11

1.17.11 Hee Hee

hey fam. same old this week. today we sat in the house all day playing cards. it was fun but it made my head hurt. we tried to get on a computer sooner but there were too many obnoxious kids on all of them. so we left to work then try later. well everything is good. sunday we had a bunch of bolivians show up. out in sierra de los padres there is this rich member that doesnt have anything better to do with his time and money than help out the elders and find people to teach. its pretty cool. if only all rich members could do that. he is very influential and so he usually has his way with them and then we teach. or the others teach that is. we get stuck with knocking doors. well this week we found 6 new people. all of them we were chilling out a this members house and she had the door open because we cant be there alone. so the first time this woman comes to the door asking for water and then this member she inroduces us to her and we set up a time to go by later that day. well they listened to us attentively and the woman really liked the message and they said they would all get baptized one day. then 2 days after, same house, almost the same thing. so we are sitting and talking inside with the door open and we see this guy pass by pushing his car so we helped him about 3 blocks to the gas station and then i was like, "hey would you like to hear a message about jesus?" and he was like sure come by. so we set a time and passed by and taught him his woman and his friend. his friend was polite about it all but didnt want a book. but they told us that we could pass by whenever. so we are going to try this week and see what goes there. if only it wasnt raining on sundy maybe one of them would have come. on sunday we were with that members family again and we had dinner. the dad made some good pizzas and we were filled. but she was really annoyed by something that day. we talked with a member that day and said that she had a fight with her husband. nothing new there. she is emotionally unstable. but they have come a long ways from what they were. well luckily we are being fed here, thats important for me. ive gotten pretty lazy when it comes to cooking. that and its fun to be with fun members. so on saturday we had an asado with the Paz Family. they are always niceto the missionaries. we have lucnh tomorrow with them as well. woo hoo. maybe well have milanesas. now that there is no fun in the mission the only thing you can enjoy is the food. haha i wonder if i will gain more weight. i guess we´ll see. so my comp has annoyed some members already and one day when we were with them they gave him a piece of their mind. it was kind of funny/annoying. he is overbearing and really defensive. just like all argentines. but after that we had a little talk and i told him he needed to take it easy and remember others and their level of thinking. he is always trying to throw down deeper doctrine. more than they need. and thet always get mad because they dont unerstand. but yeah its under control for now. well i hope all is well. ¡¡Nos Vemos!!

1.3.11

hey guachines!!  haha just kiddin. thats not a bad word here so you know. just in case you googled it. hahaha. in english its bad. hahaha this one argentine elder said it to me in english. lol it was silly chicken sauce. hey speaking of rooster sauce. so in our ward we have a freakin loaded member. he owns a plantation down here and they have a house in orem. so they travel a lot to the states. so one day we were eating at their house and he pulls out a bottle from the fridge. it was so delicious. i havent had it in forever. he said he went to the states just for that and to eat at cafe rio. haha. he picked up on the spicy when he studied at byu and hung out with mexicans. hardly any argentines like spicy. it was surprising. so this last week was good. laid back jason style. it nice going at my own pace. it makes me feel a little better about the work. so this ward is the biggest i have seen in my whole time here. which is ood because im sick of all these ward that dont function. the only problem is that the people arent always there in the head. some gut got up and bore his testimony about demons and how he saw one once. it was pretty redonk. so the good thing is that the members here offer us food alot. we are going to have lunches and dinners! we have already had a couple. its nice. this one family we ate with are recent converts. they are a strong couple. you never would have thought that they had problems before. its amazing to see how the gospel can change lives. it just goes to prove that its true. so tis too bad the dogs ran off. satin must have entered into them. little demon dogs. just like that herd of pigs that jesus cast the evil spirits into. well this new year started out with a bang down here. i was looking forward to it. so just like christmas they all light off fireworks at midnight. once again i was participating but with full force. i bought some legit stuff. i bought a mortar set, it doesnt make any cool light just has a deafening explosion. it was so cool. oh and the best part is that we were on top of a 5 story apartment building. it was nuts. haha you guys would have freaked out for how much fun i was having. haha. so today we went to the centro and went looking at all the shops here in Mar del Plata. they have some good stuff here. lots of fun. so yeah cant think of much else to say. so you wanted my address here. its Maipú 7248. i dont know how long well live here. we are probably going to get an apartment soon. we have to travel a lot to get to our area. it sucks. well all in due time. im living in the same house as my mtc comp. its fun to be back with him. hes changed alot. for the better. but yeah. well i hope all is well and you find those little mexican puppies. always getting in to trouble. sneaky little devils arent they!?!  haha thats for you b bop,   chau!!!

12.27.10

so not much has happened since christmas day when i called you. we blew some more stuff up. thats always fun. i took the broom stick and shoved it in the ground to make a hole for the firecracker and then we lit it and put a bucket over it. well it blew the bucket up. hahah not the most safe thing but very fun. then on sunday night we went to the terminal to leave. well the bus we get on was a little older and not as nice. before we left i said that it as going to break down. well lo and behold it breaks down. so we were stopped for about and hour and then a nicer bus shows up. so it was all good. it kind of worked out because it broke down in a city with elders. elder brown forgot to leave the cell phone with the zone leaders and so we left it with the elders in the other town. then we got in really late and of course there wasnt anyone there waiting for us. so i called my old zone from a pay phone and then 30 minutes later they showed up. then today was just all sleep, then bought some food. kind of suck because i dont have an money left so i had to use personal cash. but its all good. now we are going to meet up with the other elders in the area so he can show us whats ours. but yeah. hopefully all goes well. well thats all to say today. i love you guys. have a fun new year!!

12.21.10

well this last week was the worst one i have had in the mission. but its sure ended nicely. if it wasnt for that i would still be angry. we had super pday on monday. that was insanely fun. it was the same as last year. we went to this indoor sports center. it has a nice astroturf field and a nice gymnasium. it also has a small bowling alley. its a lot different than the ones back home. the first five lanes were using pins half the normal size. the last one had large pins and normal balls. so me and some other elders we played a round. i didnt do well but it was fun. the lanes werent oiled so i couldnt do the fun spin. so all straight shooting. then i played some ultimate frisbee since there was no soccer. that felt great to play a game again. i think i have gone about 3-4 months without playing a sport. which is a real bummer. it makes me feel better. then we had an asado there and the place. it was pretty good. not a whole lot of meat though, but still good. then we took a taxi back to the apartment where we were staying. showered and dressed up for the devotional and talent show. it was all fun. the best part was seeing all my mission buddies again. then at 11 this rental van service came and picked us up and then the 4 hour drive home. that van was nowhere near comfortable. i was really cramped and so i didnt sleep well. then this morning i slept in till 9. but im still tired. so i found out that i can use skype to call you guys. im going to try for that. i know some good members that might let me use their computer. they have a webcam and everything. so as for the time im thinking about 12-2 or 8 ish my time. were atleast 3-4 hours ahead of you guys, not exaclty sure, so figure out which time you will be home. it would be better for me at night. but let me know. here is our house number just in case. 011-54-228-442-9791. if you try to call on a normal day it will have to be at lunch or at night. so 12-2 ish or after 9. otherwise i wont be home. also just so you know you have my mission address wrong. ive told you a few times but here it is again, so write it down!




Chacabuco 1755

Bahia Blanca 8000

Buenos Aires

Argentina





ill be looking forward to talking to you this weekend!! love you all.

Two emails, one post

11.02.10        Hell Week
hey family how are you doing? so this last week was one of the hardest of the mission. i have no gotten along well with my comp at all. he really gets under my skin, sometimes i would like to know whats going on in presidents head. well i haven't killed him yet but i would sure like to. i just want someone i can get along with for once. well i guess we´ll have to see further down the road. i had to break in my last comp. in the end we got along really well. some elders are just trapped in an unrealistic fantasy. its not bad that they have unrealistic goals but that's it, they are unrealistic. maybe I'm just too pessimistic and lack faith. i think that's why i don't always get along at first. so i was completely right about him being some sort of cocky obnoxious band nerd. 100%. no lies. so this last week the weather was nasty and rainy but my comp was determined to go out and get soaked and find people. it was just a day of misery. i had no problem going to our appointments. but if we have nothing to do it bothers me. so one funny thing that made my week was on Sunday when we left. it was night and we were heading back to the apartment. well as we are passing the corner someone opens their door and hurls a cat out into the street. it hit the ground hard and olled a few times and then ran off. but it was kind of funny to see someone lose their temper like that. now if only my comp was that cat, hahaha that would make me feel better. well we dont have much time. yesterday the power was out in the city so we weren't able to write. Satan's work!!! well ill have to leave you hanging there. sorry, there will be sure to be more complaints the next week. love you guys. keep praying for my sanity!!!


10.25.10           olavarria, not ovaries......‏


hey family, I'M OUT!!! i just left the office, its such a weird feeling. its been such an awesome experience. time went by so fast in the office its insane. but it has really taught me a lot. more how to be a leader and its given me a better desire to do the work. i really miss my old area. i was really comfortable with all the members and the people. the only thing that sucked was the location. its such a nasty city, lots of dust everywhere. i was glad to get out. so in all i spent almost 6 transfers in the same zone. i got to know a lot of people in that area. its been cool.
 
 so i am now in a place called Olavarria. it reminds me a lot of necochea. but without the beach, dang it. the beach was a lot of fun. so my new house is freaking small. there are four people in one small room, there is no room at all. I'm going to b stuck here a while. my new comp is named elder Bennett, he is a weird guy. he likes to talk a lot and from what i can tell is that he was the popular band nerd. I'm not sure how to feel about that. i just don't feel like i relate to the guy so far.
 
so on Sunday night i took the bus solo and wasn't exactly sure when to get off. they don't really like to tell you things down here. so i asked and got off just before it left. hahaha then no-one is there to get me so i end up waiting for almost an hour, by myself. it was weird. then to the small shack with the others. it was really sad leaving my old area. i came to love the people there and also my comp. we still have our differences and all but hes been my best one so far. we both worked hard and we had a good time doing it. hopefully my new comp turns out better, maybe ill have to give him a slap of reality and then we´ll get along right. i guess we´ll find out, but pray for me!!
 
 but as i was saying about my old area. we gained a ton of confidence from the members and we were able to give a new breath of life to the ward. it seems to be slowly but surely getting back together. i sure hope so, it has a lot of potential. we finally got the members participating in the mission work. it was nice. i felt really appreciated there. not so at first but its all about that trial of faith. in the end we gained the confidence of the majority. the only thing i would change is to not be in the office. it would have been nice to have full time there. we could have done twice as much. but the lord does bless the office elders. he makes it possible to get the same quality of work in a shorter time. for the time we had we had better dats than the average companionship. it was a miracle. well whats happened happened,
 
 so i got to make the best of what i have here. which is hard to start over again getting accustomed to a new comp and all. it really sucks actually. the first weeks usually are hard. but i have hope that things will turn out well. just a new trial of faith that's all, fantastic!!!!
 
 so last Saturday we had a baptism. a great way to end an area. just two kids from a part member family. but it was a bout time. they put it off too long. the kids are twins and are 10 years old. we left a lot more to be picked up on, there are some that will get baptized with time. but it was a nice experience. it helped the ward out a lot to see a baptism. it was sad to leave them. ha ha they were all crying. or at least the women were all crying. they all loved us in that ward. thanks for your emails they were all nice and entertaining. mom. I'm not sure which package you are talking about. the dear elder one? if so i did get it a while ago. it was gone in 3 days, hahaha. its nice to get American candy. its just so much better. you should send more, like a bag of kit kats, reeses, and other stuff.
 
 hey for Christmas its a lot easier to receive packages if they are smaller. you can send multiple small ones and they get through easy, and on the declaration just put missionary supplies. its a lot easier that way. it will get through no problems. for soft stuff like a shirt or socks, as long as it doesn't have corners or is a box you can put in a large bubble wrap. those get through really easy, i imagine they are cheaper as well. but whatever, do whats best for you guys. and as for you guys coming down at the end of the mish. first i would have to ask pres. then if its good you can come, but he wont release us, so id still be a missionary. so im not sure if it would be worth your time and money. but if you want to I'm not against it, just let me know and ill ask pres. well my comp is getting antsy in his pantsy so i gotta go. i love you guys, thanks so much for all the emails, they were fun. until next week.

hey there little dogui...‏

well i don't have anything super exciting to say this week. but we are going to have a baptism here this next Saturday. more like cherry picking. they are the kids of an incomplete family. so they have already been going to church since forever. so kinda fakies but whatever.

 we have been teaching the husband as well. they just have to get married so the dad can get baptized. this last Sunday was mothers day here. its like the only country that has it a different day. but it was still nice. this inactive family came back for church. their son recently reactivated but he lives with his girlfriend. they aren't in our ward but they convinced their family to come if they went to ours. so we had most they're family there. they have twelve kids and they are all boys. they made up about a fifth of the congregation. lol.
then on Saturday we we out looking for people and we found a family. they are evangelical but they seemed fairly receptive. hopefully we´ll see some progress there. it was funny, we had to talk our way in and when we sat down the wife had some questions for us. originally we told the m we would only take a few minutes but as soon as she started asking we talked for about 45 minutes. then we lunched with a family, they really like to talk. these people here just don't shut up unless you leave. so we were there for about  2 hourssssssssqsssss. finally we left. but yeah. tons of fun. I'm sorry i don't really have a whole lot to say but that's just how it  is.   os dad to give you the insight on what goes on here. so most the people here are living alright. I've been in some nasty houses but there isn't a general poverty. they have an upper, middle and lower class.

 most the people live in the lower middle class. those people don't have cars. but they almost always have a moped. everyone here has one. as for the streets, only the main ones are paved. more in the main city everything is  paved. but alot of my area isn't paved. if you guys want to look where i live here's my address.    3 de febrero 3028, bahia blanca, we live in a town house dealio here . its actually really nice for a missionary apartment.

 im sad that im going to be leaving it. maybe ill get lucky again. i still don't know where I'm going yet. I'm kinda scared that ill be staying here in bahia again. pres wants to put full time missionaries into one of the office areas. that would be kinda gay. i just want to get out of bahia and go somewhere more tranquil. that would be nice. as for food goes: for me at first it was all kinda bland. but as soon as i got used to not so much flavor i really love it. the food pyramid consist of: pastas, milanesas, asado ( not so frequent), shepherds pie, raviolis, ñoquis, empanadas, oven cooked chicken , really simple salads-lettuce with diced up tomatoes and vinegar oil and salt.  i actually really enjoy that now.  potato salad. some sort of rice salad with peas. and that's really the extent of it . just all the basic food you can think of.

pres just took away the siesta from us but its practiced around 2-5, these people are so lazy its awesomely annoying. but these people remind me of people from the east states back home. they act like them, its silly. another thing i told you about is mate. its that drink they're always drinking. every hour of every day mate in hand. i kinda like it. the other day i bought a mate kit. well i was thinking about sending you guys a Christmas package. ill try and burn all my pics on some Cd's and some alfajors as well. so for Christmas i was thinking you should send me some slacks and socks and some candy and toys. look for some pants about 34-34, i was thinking those heavy duty thicker material ones would be nice. and whatever you send make sures its sent light and in a small package.   thanks famerilious!!!! que estén bien!!!!   chau!!

vengo de un pais lejano, donde gritan hombres y mujeres se quejan.................‏

well this has been quite the week. lets tell you about it. so to start off. dad you were right. they changed our p day to Monday now. I'm not sure if i like it still. but its a p day and I'm going to enjoy it. its just one of the big and endless changes that they are putting into place. to top it off the office elders have to work. well its not all the color of poop. I'm going to be leaving the office in two weeks. this last week was transfer week. and now there is a new secretary. his name is elder morrell. he is a good kid. he is a natural at the whole office job and does it better than i do. i guess some people just have the gift. but its such a relief to leave. it also makes me sad. i have really enjoyed the office stress and all. its been such a fun and cool experience. its kind of like high school. you still have the work but your with several others. i would say that the office elders are some of my favorite mission friends. its going to be weird without them. but its all good. I'm just glad to have things more tranquil. its very hectic in the office sometimes.

 so this last week was very good and interesting. so Sunday was easily the best one that i have had in the mission. because of conference we had fast Sunday and it was the most inspired one i have listened to. being a missionary i see a lot of the problems that affect the ward and the members. and the testimonies were all focused directly and indirectly about the problems that the members have. i felt that almost all the members there needed to hear some of it. especially our investigator Julian. he is married to a member and he is the "stake conference man", the hard headed one that thinks he is so right. well we had a good lesson with him and his wife the other night. we talked really directly about the things he had doubts on. which would be tithing and Joesph smith and temples. for some reason its so hard for him to accept it. he doesn't think god is behind any of them. well in the end we just said that if you want to know its right you have to read to feel the spirit to know its true. well in the end we started to grow on him and we told him that we wanted him to say the final prayer and to specifically ask about his doubts. i was surprised by his prayer and he actually said it very sincerely. now back to church personally i felt that it was mostly focused on him. i really felt as though it was his answer. everyone talked about his doubts and testified about them and shared a personal experience. it was awesome. i guess we´ll see if he was too hard heaed to accept ore think of it as an answer.

 so in church here the relief society makes us a list of people to have lunch with. so i guess no one was able to on Sunday and this old woman says to the rest" your just going to leave the missionaries without food??" ill feed them. she is a funny lady. she is old but she still has the light on upstairs. so she is more fun than the rest of the old people. well she cooked us up a bit of everything she had lying around.. then we go back to the house and i fall asleep.

 it was such a nice nap. then my comp said that we had a meeting with the bishop at the church. so we leave and when we get inside it smelled like cake. so i looked in the kitchen and then next door in the primary and there was a cake and some food on the table. so i walk in and there were some members. it turns out it was a little party for me! hahaha. they knew I'm leaving the area in two weeks so they decided to throw me a little party. i was so surprised. i had no idea. but it sure made my day!! its nice to feel appreciated by the members! even though this ward has a lot of problems i love it! the members that are here are the good ones that are unshakable. it makes me sad o leave it. i feel like that we've done a lot here.

this ward is like a big fat guy that fell over and couldn't get up by himself. i feel like we just got him to sit up and soon he´ll be back up. i just wish i could see it happen. but as long as the next elders keep it up ill be fine. then later Sunday night we went to a family to teach. they had some family over. so we taught them. the bad thing thing is that the visiting family has a very cute daughter. the worst part is she was actually paying attention. lol it was hard not to keep looking at her. so we kept the lesson nice and short.

as for the rest of the week ill start at Saturday with general conference. i really enjoyed it. i really like the talks from elder uchtdorf. i like the way he talks. i really liked his jokes. i liked how he said to go at a steady and sure pace and to not over do it. i like the guy that talked about his ranch and the cow that ate the wheat and died "STUPID COW!!!!!" hahaahaha. i want to say the guy is the area president down here. I'm not sure though. on that Sunday we had to drive out to punta alta to get the elders out there because its getting womanized with sisters. so we loaded four elders and all their luggage i nthe van. it was packed tight. we barely got everybody and everything in. but it was all fun. then that night we went to the terminal. then back to the house. then Monday the leaving elders came to the office. i really hate having them here because they make me so trunky. on Tuesday morning we took them to the airport and i got out of there as soon as possible. then later that night the new elders came in. that was really fun. its always a good experience with them. for the whole night i left with one of them and we did the work. it was just fun being with them. it made it a lot easier to do the work.

 then on Wednesday we took them to centro to get their documents done. that ws a hassle. then we left to go work with them again. i was with this colombian elder. he was a cool kid. he was telling me how he served a mini mission and he was with an American. he said he likes the American elders more because we have more love for the people. hahaha. its not always true. i know a lot of good latin elders but i can see why he would say it. a lot of Latin elders are terrible. there are a few that i don't like very much. also a few American elders i dont get along with.

 then on Thursday just normal business. on Friday we had the leaders conference. all the zone leaders came. so we had to buy their bus tickets back but there weren't any trips to mar Del plata because it was a weekend and today is a holiday here. so we talked president into letting us drive them back and we could do some office stuff there. so he let us do it and we were off. it was a long but good drive. i drove the whole time because the other elder i Latin and doesn't have a license. it was pretty cool to just drive around.

 while there we made some surprise visits to revise some apartments. first we stopped at some sisters. it was really funny. we didn't tell them before hand. we knock on the door. and they look outside and here's 2 office elders with their zone leaders. the sister live just as disorganized as the elders do. i was surprised. i expected more from them. then while there we bought m comp a little souvenir, he was kind of sad that he couldn't come. but was happy with the gift. it was just a little mate cup. then we left for necochea. we stopped in my old area for a little bit. i passed by a family. it was interesting. the mom wasn't home. so we left. then we stopped by some apartments as well. then we got some sand at the beach. then left for home. on the way home we stopped at a place called " El Perdido" or the lost one. we took some fun pictures there. ill try to send a couple. and i think that would pretty much sum up my week.

 oh wait. there is another story to tell you. did i ever tell you about the little dog that followed us? well we were walking back from a lunch and this little puppy started to follow us for a couple of blocks. we pass by a house where the family is out front and the dog starts playing with their kids. they didn't like that and shooed it off. we just stood there watching to see if it would follow us again. then a woman was like" do you want something to carry it home in?" we said that it wasn't our dog but she insisted again so we´re like, we´ll take it home to give it some food. so we carried it home in a nasty rag He gave us. then we gave it some empanadas. he ate three whole. then we put him outside the gate but he just kept whining, so we let him inside the gate and then we leave for ward council. when we get back hes laying there sleeping. so we start planning and he starts whining at the door. so we get a box and put him inside. then my comp gives him some milk. he drank a whole cup. then we found some old jeans left in the house and put them over him. so he falls asleep and we finish planning and then the others come home. they just roll their eyes. then out of no where another companionship shows up with the van. they see the dog and we had this genius idea to put a new twist on doggy ditching. unlike Sadie with the laser this time you literally leave the dog on their doorstep. it was really funny. we made a sign that said" i need a good home. love me. my name is reptar" like the dinosaur from rugrats. haha. we drive off and hes just got his head outside the box. the poor thing. it was sad but we couldn't do anything else. i think someone took him in because we walked by and there was nothing there the next day. well that's the silly dog experience. hope you enjoyed the email. i have to go now. love you guys!!

heeeeeeeee eeeey!! ‏ 9/29/10

hellos everyone. its that special time again. sooooooo to start off this week. today we went downtown again to go lookssss for some stuff. well i needed to get some new flippy floppies cuz my other ones broke. so i have been walking around the apartment like a resource child so i don't have to walk around barefoot. so i found some cheap decent ones and now I'm happy. then i we bought some super delicious alfajors. I'm thinking that ill send you guys a Christmas package with some yummies in it. nothing special but if i had my way the whole world would try and alfajor and some dulce de leche. then we bought some delicious mentos. watermelon is tasty. then we went to the civil register to see if our Argentine documents were in. but since we are in Argentina things like that just don't happen when you want them to. so we took a bus back home. then i ate some empanadas. then i took an enjoyable siesta. then we came to the office . so i have been here for a coupe of hours. so no surprise the mission is going to see more changes with the the schedule and tons of gay stuff. they are moving p day to Mondays in a couple of weeks. not exactly sure when but ill let you know.

 so yesterday we tried to go teach a lesson. we even found a member to go with us but the perwon decided not to be home. i felt bad for the member because he is "special". he was all ready to go in a white shirt and tie. hopefully well have an appointment that doesn't fall through and he can come.

 so on Minda nothing exciting. recently president thought it would be fun that i take the mission dats. so we went in early to the office and for about four hours i was taking dats and entering them in and making them all pretty. after that i felt mentally drained. so after lunch i fell asleep on the couch. on Sunday i had to give a talk. i called out the members for not doing their part. i don't like doing it but sometime i feel like if no one does it they wont even try. what can i say i was just the same. but its al good.

 I'm liking my area alot. i feel like we have the support of the members or at least they see that we are trying and accept us. i wish they would find us people to teach but whatever. so Sunday we also went to a baptism for some other ward. Saturday was a long work day and we taught a few people. one with Julian (the conference man) he doing just as tough as ever. today i was reading in the bible and i read the parable of the talents. 3 men receive a few talents and the first two invested theirs in the bank but the last hid his. when the reckoning day came the first two had doubled their money and had great satisfaction in the masters eyes. but the third hid his and didn't have anything else to give back. it reminds me of this particular investigator. he is really hard headed. the type that thinks that you can only have so much spirituality. but this scripture openly explains that we need to develop our gifts so that way they produce more. if only he knew, oh that silly man ... its all good though he´ll burn in hell one day.

 well Friday we passed by some people with a member. it went well. this one family, the Roche family. they are always nice to us and give us something to eat. but they have been inactive for years until we showed up. we got the daughter activated. shes coming every Sunday now for the past month or two. i have noticed a big difference in her as the time has gone by. she has had a big spiritual change. the other day we found a family friend of theirs so we brought her over and we taught the restoration the investigator was really attentive and then we asked Belen if she would share here testimony. it couldn't have been more perfect. over time she has had a lot of questions about religion and stuff and she is starting to realize that she can find the answers in the BoM. she also talked about the importance of going to church. you would have though she had been going to church her whole life. but yeah.. .it all turned out well... so yesterday i finally got a letter from Matt. it was fun to hear from him. its about time too. it made me really trunky thinking about the good times before the mission. hopefully its better after the mission. i guess we´ll see right? well just some random memories.

 so i don't think i told you guy these. the lst week we were walking to an appointment and this guys tops in his car and opens the door and greets us. hes like. i really admire you for the work your doing. and shook our hand and then left. it was a cool experience! then another day we were walking to the house and this crazy guy on his bike stops and hes like "" heeyyyyy ammiiigos!!" he looked hammered drunk or just extra special. but he had hi arms out for a hug so i went in and shook his hand instead. i was like how you doing bro?! hey we gotta go now but you keep it real!! not exact words but something like that,, hahaha. it was pretty funny. well ithinks that about it. anything new exciting fun cool.??' id like to know. gotta go!!!! have a good week, seeeegrissssst

holy barjona‏

Hey family. this week went by a lot better and smooth.  today was a fun day. pretty laid back but still fun. so just barely i made chimichangas. they were super delicious!. so we took re fried beans, jalapenos, chicken, some seasoning. and put it all inside. ill send you a picture of it all soon. then earlier we went into town. we went to a bookstore and i got a pocket size bible in Spanish. haha. you guys know how i like small stuff like that. i couldn't resist. then i bought a french dictionary. i was reading it this last week and its not that hard to understand. so i wanted to read more. then me and my comp bought a matching tie. were going to wear it to the district meeting tomorrow. that will be fun. then we walk along the shops in the plaza. there is this store called ANIS. so i got a picture to add to my anis collection. hahahah. that's all that happened today.

yesterday a new elder came in the mission. he was a late arrival so only him. the others came in 4 weeks ago. so when i called president to get everything worked out he just wanted to bring him to his house without any other missionary. that's when pres gives him the interview and then has dinner. with the missionaries. but being the smooth talker that i am i was like. pres this elder doesn't speak a word of Spanish hows about me and my comp come and translate just in case. hes like "that's a good idea elder".   can you say Free Dinner!!  hahahaha. it was good.

on Monday a family gave us lunch. they gave us a whole chicken and some potato salad. there is so much left over still. i love getting fed so often in this area. then after the office we went to the bishops house to help his kid out with his English. that was actually fun.

so do you remember the guy at the stake conference that stood up at the end? well we had  lesson with him as well. this guy is just too prideful to read and pray. the whole lesson he was like. i already have all i need. i feel as though I'm full. so i was like. God never stops giving us blessing and the only way to feel full is if we put a lid on our " spirit tank". it reminded me of the scripture " A bible a bible we've got a bible"   but you have to say it like Jordan at 630 am during family study.  hahahahaha. but yeah he is a very hard man to get through. if only he would read and pray. that's all anyone has to do. but even if we think that he would be too prideful to accept an answer and be wrong. i hate people like that. he must be an evangelist. they are just as bad as the JW. probably worse. they go around saying whatever they think they know. really overbearing people. but the best way to shut them up is through a good testimony.

 then Sunday was a good day. in church the bishop gave an amazing talk. our ward has had lots of problems and especially with the authority. people have no respect for others here. generally speaking they are very prideful. then the stake president and the counselor both spoke. basically saying how the bishop isn't superman and how he needs a lot of support. he was supposed to be released from being bishop this Sunday but i guess they had  talk with him.

 on Saturday we had a really good day. that morning we did a lot of contacts and i was like, hey do you remember that woman that we contacted the other day and she gave us her direction. well lets go pass by here. the woman had only given us a direction to a corner. so we went to the first house and knocked it. well it wasn't the woman we were looking for but even better. we presented ourselves and she was like i know here you are and i have actually been needing to talk to you. so they let us in and we gave the whole family the first lesson.  oh but he mom was an inactive member since she was 15 but remembered the church and knew that we could help. so they had a family friend that needed help and so we passed the reference right there. 3 new investigators!!. the only problem would be that no one here likes to get married and yeah. so we have to talk them into marriage first. that's quite the task. we set so many appointments that day!! i have never worked so long. but it was all good because we were pretty much teaching the whole day.

 on Friday we had an appointment with this guy named Lucas. he is a very interesting sort. he just doesn't quite get it all. hes more interested in proving thing through knowledge and science. but at least we got him to pray right. some people have the lords prayer just ingrained into their heads. they just don't get it.  freakin Satan!! there are so many people that just don't understand what they are being taught. they just do it by tradition. hahahaha. so one point of emphasis that we have been working on is to set up baptismal date the first lesson. its a lot easier than you would think. but it caught him off guard. he was like why do you want me to get baptized?   lol  his reaction was just too funny! then on Thursday we had district meeting. that was fun. nothing super special worth telling. well i cant think of anything else to say. i really liked your emails. they were all fun to read. i liked moms smoker experience. now the seegrist family really is going apostate!!! hurray apostasy!!! jk hope your doing well and have a good week. later!
 Elder Seegrist

Hola

hey family how are you doing? this last week was OK. luckily it went by fast. i was super anxious to finally have a little free time. my comp has been kind of a wiener. same with the other office elders. i think its all because of the conference with the GA. for some reason they planned a service project on p day then to top it off they asked if we could come. or should i say my comp. he said yes of course without bothering to ask me. its just kind of makes me mad. that's really not how i wanted to spend my p day. its no that i don't like service but its just the timing. i love service because its a brake from the proselyting. but whatever. i guess if he feels like he can make my decisions for me we´ll have to sit down and have a talk. then our pres is getting really gay as well. he pretty much canceled all activities until he sees more improvement. this mission is becoming quite the bummer. i don't mind changing a little but it just makes me wonder when hes going to stop. i really think he might take our p day entirely at this rate. i think i would have a mental breakdown. its my only mental release. aaaaagh! well its not entirely bad. luckily the week went alright. yesterday something funny happened. so recently what i do to some people when i answer the phone is i make dog or cat sounds. i only do it to this one zone and they picked up on it as well. so yesterday they called me and they are like hey seegrist we found something you might like on the piano in the chapel. so they played it and they replace the key sounds with dogs and cats. hahahah. it made me laugh pretty good. lol this all reminds me of a couple years ago we went to the cabin after Christmas and Brandon got the Sim's game on his Nintendo ds. well it was like one in the morning and he decided to record himself. so as loud as he could " MMEEEEOOOWWWWW!!!!! MEOOOWWW!MEOOOW!" lol then dad says " Brandon shut up and go to bed!!!!" hhahah, do you guys remember that??




so do you remember when i told you guys about that guys that ot up at the end of stake conference and said how he was offended, well he had an appointment with him and it turned out fairly well. the guy is what you might call an eternal investigator. but we were able to take out his doubt. when we were talking i said straight up to him, "look, we want you to get baptized" then he goes off and tell us his life's story and how he thinks he has enough.. well what it directly came down to is that he doesn't believe what happened to Joseph smith. so we had to explain to him really clear that when people tell him to read the BoM and to pray its not so that way you will know how you should believing your life but to accept that god has called a prophet to restore his church. i think he finally understood and i think he will actually read and pray. the guy is pretty much in agreement with what the church teaches and he is living almost all the commandments. we also explained o him about eternal marriage. and how its only possible under the authority of god. which we have. all he has to do know is read and pray. on Monday we found out that our bishop is getting replaced. i think that he asked for it. but maybe positive stuff will come out of it. I'm hoping someone with more time and experience so that they can fix our ward. i guess we´ll see.



so on Saturday we found 2 new investigators. that was cool. we haven't had any in a while. it suck when we don't because it means we usually pass by the same people every week. we had a little success that day. hopefully there is more on the way. well i cant think of much more to say. love you guys, hope your doing well

informe semanal‏

hey family, pretty crazy this last week, we had lot of conferences and stuff. well today we did nothing, my comp has the flu or something, not sure. but he feels pretty bad. so we just stayed in the house all day. so i listened to music ate cookies and granola and buzzed my hair, it was really long. so now I'm off ot enlist in the Hitlers youth, ha ha jk. so as i was saying this week was full of conferences. we had a seventy of the area come talk to us about how to do things better, he teaches really well and it makes me excited to try some of his suggestions. so one of the conferences was just with the office elders. that was pretty nerve racking. he pretty much layed the hammer and said we have a lot of room to improve. which is true. especially with the schedule and leaving the office on time. then we had a zone conference with two other zones and he also spoke at that.

not to mention he spoke at stake conference. that was really interesting. he gave a great talk, more directed at the less active and inactive members. a lot of people here get offended easily and just for that the go inactive. so he said it straight up. "brothers we will all be offended at one point or be the one offending, we just need to forget and forgive, we want you to come back." it was pretty cool. he also talked about eternal marriage. he told all the young women to never marry outside of the temple because its a guaranteed divorce. as soon as you die you are separated. this is where it got very interesting. that was pretty much how he ended his talk. and as soon as he sat down this guy comes up and is like. "i respect the church and all but this man really offended me, me and my wife were married outside of the church and we are not going to et divorced!!" it was all ironic because he had just talked about not getting offended. then he sat back down, i think he just heard the part about divorce and stopped listening. well the only problem now is that he is the husband of a member in my area so we will probably have to teach him in the future. great!!

 that also reminds me of something that happened in my ward. one Sunday at church they were sustaining someone to be a counselor in the bishopric. well i guess it was all a surprise to everyone and hadn't informed anyone before church so during the sustaining the other counselor voted in contrary. it really threw me off. i had never seen it happen before. after the meeting i asked if he was OK and he said that he just didn't understand and he wasn't informed. the weird part is that he lives in the other ward but the stake assigned him to help out the priesthood in our ward. kinda weird right? but anyways. cool experience of the week,,,

 so we have been working with this inactive family, well they have 2 kids, one just turned 8 and the other is around 5. so the little 8 year old has a ton of interest. its been cool seeing his desires and knowledge grow. he has already read 60 pages in the BoM and he has a ton of questions you would expect to hear from an adult. i think he will be the key to reactivating his family. he tells us he wants to come to church and we picked him up once. but yeah i think there is alot of potential here.

 so this last Thursday was the year mark. to celebrate we made hot wings and i finally used that ranch sauce you sent me for my birthday, lol. it expired right on the 2nd. hahaha. it was still good. then while the wings were cooking i took and old shirt and drew on it. i forgot my camera but i send some pics soon. but i wrote on the back of it. on the left side in blue i wrote 1 año, then across the bottom i wrote SEEGRIST. the on the rest of it i wrote "Eat This Satan!!!" hahaha, then we had a fun ceremony and i attached it to the end of broom handle and then i took a can of insect repellent and i torched my shirt like a flamethrower. it was really awesome!! it all burnt in the matter of about 5 seconds and all that was lift was the collar, lol. in all a good week.

 so how are things going at home? its warming up nice down here. hope you are all jealous, its about time it warmed up. luckily the winter seemed to go by fast, we are just hitting up spring now but its starting to get really nice. hopefully it means more fun activities. so father your birthday is coming up here before next week. hope all goes well!! and you too chelsa! well i hope things are fun and delicious! remember, its never too late to send Jason lots of candy! lol talk to you next week

9/01/10

en este momento tan grande de mi vida les felicito que ahora tengo un año en la misión!! me basta decir que ya soy un maestro en el idioma castellano y que nunca he tenido tantas mujeres. puede decir suerte pero a mi digo "los frutos de servir una misión"!! lol.

 well you probably didn't get that. but its all silliness anyways. this last week has been normal. today was a very normal p day. just some more soccer. for some reason i got really bored with it though. and i stopped trying. then the zl decided to tell us how things should be blah blah blah. whatever. but we did go into town and look at some cool shops. they are typical Jason shops. like mini REIs. but i loved it. i like that type of stuff. if only i could use it here.

 well tomorrow i will be hitting one year in the mission. its all going down the slide from here. weeeeee!!!! i don't feel like I've really been here that long but at the same time i do. it feels like I've always been doing this. so last night we started "hat night". that's where we make delicious food and we wear a hat. so we were walking downtown looking for hats and doing other "office" stuff. my comp bought a bright green neon hat. and i bought a red hat with gold prints of money and coins and dice with a money sign on front. it was looking pretty gangster. but most important is the food that we cooked. we made some bratwursts and grilled some red peppers and onions and put it on top. it was super delicious! then we ate an oreo alfajor whole. me made a fun video to go with it. the whole idea of hat night is to get closer to your comp and have fun. so we decided it was OK to do it. me and him get along really well. some things annoy me but for the most part we get along really well and we both understand each other fairly well.

earlier yesterday we had a lesson with an investigator. like most people they just simply have no desires to know anything about god or religion. its kinda sad, they have no real reason not to care. but the lesson was really good. we brought a member and he really helped her to understand. bringing members can really make a big difference in a lesson. so don't be afraid to help out the missionaries.

 on Monday we went to pass by here with a member but she was leaving right as we got there, i swear every time we bring this member all of our lessons fall through. i feel bad for him. it kinda hurts our rep with him as well. but at least he is always willing to come with us. so after the splits we made him and his wife a cake. i think it made him really happy.

on Sunday we had a few people at the church. I'm starting to finally see more and more show up. so maybe we are doing something right. i just wish there were more. we also had a good chat with our bishop. he is really good guy and has high expectations for the members. a lot of times as members we get caught up with the flow and don't realize how it really should be, he is just trying to fix this and make it work like it should but at the same time a lot of members got offended. at the end of the lunch he thanked us and said that he has never felt so much support from any other elders before. its been cool gaining his trust. at first he was a little down that he was getting office elders. because we have less time and all. but i think he is more than content to get elders that actually are trying. not boasting because it doesn't feel like I'm really doing anything different or special that any other elders weren't doing but it really feels good to be appreciated by the members.

 in my first area i didn't feel as though the members really cared that they were there. they were just fine and dandy the way they were. really sad that there were like that. so enough rambling. just do what you can to help out the elders. just don't buy them food. the Utah elders are too spoiled. and rides either. they are probably walking to do contacts for the first time that month. lol. those lucky dogs. they don't know how lucky they are.

then later that Sunday we had our weekly planning session and then we left to go to a baptism. so first we passed by romina, our investigator, and we brought her. it was a big activity, there were a lot of members. and the mission Pres showed up too. but we had to leave early because an inactive family invited us over for dinner. we showed up late but they had just finished up making the food. it was a very awkward dinner. they had some family and friends over and it seemed as if they were all inactive members and they started to drink some wine, and then their friend show up drunk. he was really quiet but you could tell he was hammered. in all super awkward. but we ate ñoquis. they are really good, they are little balls made of mashed potatoes and flour and then with some sort of sauce or meat. they have a tradition down here of eating them every 29. so I'm figuring ill eat some for my b day. that will be fun., well that's all i can think of right now, i hope you guys have a wonderful week and keep it safe. love you guys!

8/28/10

hey, sorry i didn't write this last Wednesday. but this last week was transfer week and us in the office don't have pday till Saturday. but finally it has come! transfer week is usually stressful. i have to deal with all the old and new missionaries, its hard because I'm in charge of all that and if I'm not there no one knows what to do. its annoying having so many people ask stuff. especially with Latin's. they are the worst. you have to say everything like 3 or 4 time before it clicks in their heads. they only listen to what they want to hear. lol

But one thing that gave me a good laugh is that 2 annoying Mexican elders were delayed going home. hahaha. these elders really bother me and the day they were supposed to go home the travel agent called and said the Mexican airline workers were on strike. so they stayed here for 3 more days. they were so annoyed! . lol i just about died laughing when i told them. to top it off they had to take a 10 hour bus ride to buenos Aries to fly out. normally they fly there. i know I'm horrible for getting kicks out of it but it made my day. lol. another thing i hate is that seeing all the old elders makes me really trunky. i have to take them to the airport and get everything ready for them. if it wasn't for the new kids the next day i would be dead. i love seeing their faces.

so this last Friday we had lunch with a member. we have eaten at her house several times. the last time we talked about empanadas. so we decided we were going to make some. so we wen over early and she showed us how. they were some of the best i have had in the mission. now i know how so I'm going to try. i have some fotos of al this. i just put them on face book if you want to see them.

so this last Monday they cut our gas. so we have been showering cold this whole week. definitely an exciting shower experience. so we made for sure that we got the bill paid. but yesterday the other elders we live with called the gas company to have them come by and connect it and tehy said that we still hadn't paid. but they reconnected the gas anyway. its kinda funny because the guy that did it is a member. hes like, well you still haven't paid the gas bill but i like you guys and i know you so ill unlock it. but on Monday turn it off before you go and pay it.

so Monday we have to go and show them that we paid it. so finally today i was able to shower warm, but i made it cold at thee end just for good times. lol. it feels really good after your done showering. well its starting to warm up down here really nice. last p day it was pretty hot. luckily it cooled down again. but today was perfect. i was really cloudy but not cold with a nice cool Oceanside feel to it. so today we went to a park where there is a flea market. it wasn't set up completely so we left to go wandering downtown. after looking at stuff we went to McDonald's. i got myself a triple mac. it was pretty small but it was really good.

Now we are back at the office and we ware waiting for the others so we can go back to the flea market. maybe ill be able to find some cool stuff. oh, last night was pretty cool. we went on splits because my comp had to do a baptismal interview, so i left with elder frias. he was one of my old comps in punta alta and now he is the assistant. so we left for some of our investigators. it was a really good time. we taught 3 lessons. one to a less active woman, we have been working with here and her husband but he wasn't there but we talked to her and helped motivate here towards a marriage date so the husband can get baptized. the husband is really receptive and i think he will get baptized. he had a really cool experience where he felt the spirit really strong. then we left for another investigator and she was a little more stubborn, she doesn't want to read or pray. but we had a good lesson still. in the end she said that she would read. we´ll be passing by her some more. then we went to another investigators. normally we pass by for the husband because we seems more interested but boy were we wrong. it was just her and her kid( and a member of course) and we had a really awesome lesson with her.

She seemed more willing to do the necessary to get an answer. to me it seems that the husband is just listening to us just because he likes what a church does for the family. he wants his kids to be raised in the gospel. not because he wants to know the truth. just me saying but that's how it seems. well when we were talking with the wife we had a really good spiritual experience. she basically told us about her marital problems and how she really needed help and an answer in her life. she even prayed too. in all the best day of the month for the missionary work. crazy how that goes.

 well i don't have much else to say right now. but... would any of you care to send some goodies down?? i would really appreciate it. or in the words of Nicole... Who wants to be my favorite family member?? lol. well i hope you have a fun week. love you guys.

8.18.10

Hows it going again, luckily last week went by fast and p day is here, to start off, sorry about last week, it was just a big letdown of a pday. i was just in a bad mood. just one of those days when nothing goes your way. but today was awesome. we did had an asado as a zone. and we played soccer. it was insanely fun. it helped out that i had bought some actual soccer shoes too. lol. we went looking for some this morning and the very last place i went i found the ones i wanted. they are pretty cool. then we played mafia. that was actually really fun. i was one of the assassins and they never caught me. hahaha. we did that the whole day. i never really got really tired though. normally it just wears me out. but lately me and my comp have been going on morning runs and then some exercises. it really helps out alot. especially with my mood. hopefully I'm losing a little weight. I'm nowhere near fat but i have gained several pounds and i don't want them. so hopefully i can continue with the exercises. so this last week wasn't bad. kinda fun actually. yesterday and Monday i had a lot do. transfers are next week so i have to prepare for the missionaries leaving and coming. one thing i was doing is the missionary cards. just a card with the picture and some of their simple info. we use this to make a visual list of the missionaries and their areas. so i designed a new style because the old one was really ugly. just have to see what pres thinks. then on Sunday none of our investigators came but we have been working with this inactive family and the daughter has been coming. she skipped out on work to come. lol. so i gave her a high five. oh this last Monday i went on splits wtih a guy in our ward. we passed by alot of inactive members. back to Sunday. in elders quorum they made alist of names of inactive and we passed by them. it was cool to see them finally take initiative. that's how it should really be. later that day we went to a less active members house. we have been going over there alot recently because its an incomplete family. so there is potential to baptize. they are really fun though. they always feed us something. last night they gave us this homemade chicken noodle soup but without chicken. but it was super good. and the son that never wants to have anything to do with the church finally sat down and we got to know him a little more. on Saturday we had splits with the zone leaders. i went with elder decilia. he is and Argentine and he is super funny. not that he has a joke to say but just the way he says it is really funny. he teaches really well too. we did contacts like crazy and we met a lot of people. the thing i like is that he is able to ask alot of different questions to get them to open up. i still haven't developed that really well. but its getting there. I'm more direct with how i say it. i should probably change. also on Saturday the ward did a party for one of the old ladies. she turned 80. so we had good food and good music. one member brought in his computer and some speakers and he was playing all the popular songs. it was really fun. there is this one inactive family that we pass by. we have been trying to get them to come again. but anyways their son wanted a book of Mormon but as all little kids go he was shy to ask. so he told his grandma and of course we gave him one. but only if he would read what we marked for him and if he prayed. so we go back on Tuesday and the parents said that he was wondering when we would come by next because he had already read. i told him if he did i would come back with a surprise. so i gave him a dollar. then we gave him something else to read and hes like, can we read it now? so we all took turns reading and we got almost everyone to read. then he said he wanted to come to church this next Sunday. so i think we´ll use him to get the family activated again. then on Thursday we had district meeting. i was really tired and i guess i take after mom because as soon as i stop doing stuff and take a moment to sit down i immediately fall asleep. ha ha. jeez thanks mom, hahaha. jk i love you. then we had some awesome ice cream. if only people realized how much having food and some sort of meeting will excite people to participate. lol. at least that's how it works with me. so to give a highlight of last week a well. i don't remember much but on Sunday we gave lesson one to a young couple, they are members and they gave us lunch. then we decided to show them how the first lesson goes. that's actually something that helps gain the members trust and then they can help out in the lessons when they give us references. its not very often but occasionally we do get references. its weird how many members don't know how to talk to someone about the gospel. but if we only practiced we wouldn't be as afraid. we would know exactly what to say. i think that would have had a big difference if i had know how to teach someone. so maybe what you can do for a family night is sit down and try to make a fun interactive lesson for family night using preach my gospel. then make it a challenge to go teach someone or to be ready in case someone ever asks. so the other day i made some Yahtzee score sheets. i just need to play it now. maybe one of these nights before we go to bed we can. that would be fun. so recently i have been reading in second nephi. i just finished it yesterday. even though the Isaiah chapters are still hard to understand i kind of enjoyed them. i like how nephi put all of it together. for me its like his version of the first lesson. i like how he uses the Isaiah chapters to back it up. and at the very end there is a quote that i really like, he says how if we believe in Christ then we will believe in his words. and then he says, " And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye,-for Christ will show unto you with great power and great glory, that they are his words, and at that last day; you and i shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that i have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness", then later it says how if we don't heed them to have caution for they will judge us in the last day. i love how he words it all, he says it so powerfully. it kinda makes me wonder if anyone has ever thought that i have said something with power like that. if not its OK. either way nephi will see them at the last day and he is going to wrestle them to the ground and rub their noses in some dog poop. hahaha. i think it would be funny if he was there just pointing saying to all the people, " I told you so!!!!" probably wont ever happen but it would still be funny. another thing that i was thinking about is how i have been able to use what i have read in the scrips in a lesson later that day. it happens so often. its like god waits until we are prepared a little beforehand so we can be ready. its all these small things that are testimony builders. well family that's about all i can think of for right now. hopefully you will enjoy this email more than the last one. hope everything goes well for you dad, and your operation. your guys are always in my prayers. you guys really worry me, I'm always hearing about family and relatives that are always sick, they're in my prayers as well. i wish there was something more i could do. or at least be there for you guys. so don't make me worry and keep safe. I'm pretty sure you re in more danger than i am. ha ha. well keep it safe and fun. hey if you guys want. you could send me some goodies sometime. that always makes a fun day down here. maybe a random letter as well. its kinda depressing seeing so many others getting lots of letters. its not a big deal but it would make me feel happy. if you have time that is. well hopefully all goes well for you guys this week. until next Wednesday!!

August 4, 2010

whats up family,?¿?¿ this last week has gone by fast right? lol its been good, so i have officially 11 months now, in less than a month ill be halfway done, its a cool feeling, in the beginning of the mission your just like, this will never end, but now there is light at the end of the tunnel and it makes it that much easier to enjoy the work. 2 years is a long time. but it goes by so fast. so it sounds like your all having fun, that's good. I'm super jealous that the boys get to go to Alaska. I've always dreamed of going there. well maybe if i get lucky dad will give me the Honda, jk that is if it still runs, lol. well this week has been super busy. theres been alot to do, so last week on about Friday we got a new elder, he came late because he didn't get his visa in time. but hes finally here. the poor kid had to spend 3 more weeks in the mtc. haha then he had to take a bus from buenos aires, hahaha that's another ten hours on a ten hour flight from Houston. surprisingly he didn't seem too freaked out. so we had bought him empanadas but he didn't want to eat them, the silly child. if only he knew how good they were. last week we finished up the conference. i went in for one of them and it was actually pretty interesting, i kinda wish i went to more. but thankfully its all over now. it was really stressful having so many obnoxious elders in one spot, and then they like to come in and crowd the office and its really hard to think straight. not to mention they are all asking me for a ride. pretty gay. but anyways. so on sunday we didnt have many people in the chapel. only one investigator. its kind of annoying how lazy people are here. it drives me nuts. society down here is just degrading into nothing. there are now values. its ridiculous. its no wonder why there are so many problems in the world. geez. so yesterday we drove out to punta alta and dropped off some mattresses. that's always fun. then today we went to walmart and got some goodies. i bought some decent donuts. they are really hard to find down here. but no peanut butter. so i was pretty pissed. but i finally bought some new pday socks. the other ones were way nasty and crusty. im surprised they have lasted so long. then i bought some tweezers so i can trim down the unibrow. not that its bad but it annoys me a lot. then i bought some snickers. i think it will be the first in over 9 months. pretty crazy. then a giant bag of cereal. coco puffs!!!! its a big bag. so im happy. then we played soccer and the church with the zone. i was actually doing really well. i enjoyed myself. but now im super tired. elder rain es un gordito. y no le gusta jugar futbol. pero está bien porque sé que es un buen chico. y me prometió una princesa de su ciudad. asique todo está bien conmigo. jejeje well thats my random spanish paragraph for you. que la disfruten como yo la he disfrutado. har har har har, well im in a eird mood righ now. but today we also did a practice on the things that we learned in the conference. we had to teach anything from the book of Mormon and then make some questions. we are focusing more on questions that make you analyze, apply, and find. well me and my comp did the example and we all agreed that we did it perfect, that was cool. another thing is that i was reading the Isaiah chapters in first nephi and it was starting to make alot more sense. it was a pretty cool experience. i don't have my scriptures on me right now but the next time ill share a little bit of what i learned. its been a good week being a missionary. its about time i hit one of the highs again. i swear before that i was on the low for a whole transfer. OK well i really cant think of much else to say, keep say and be sure to take lots of fun pictures. they entertain me. especially from Alaska. you have no idea how jealous i am. but yeah, i love you guys, till next week