Sick Comp / World Cup

June 15

Okay so yes it is Monday so that means it is PDay!

This week has been difficult.  My companion and I are not getting along very well.  I feel like my companion does not want to go out and work.  He will go because he knows that he has to but is having a hard time putting forth much effort.  But we are working on things.

Cooking Lunch

We had a leccion with our investigator that came to church and she was asking a ton of questions - like a ton!  But I was giving her answers by asking questions back to her.  But not sure if she will keep coming.  She told us that she doesn't want us to look for her.  Just if she feels something like going to church she will come.  She wants to just do it on her own.  But we plan to pass by another time and help her along.  I explained to her that we are here to help people come unto Christ not to make them.  We will do everything to help you out to receive an answer to your prayers.  She had a hard time understanding, but we will see what happens.

My comp has a problem with his foot.  It has been going on for about 5 months.  We headed up to the doctor in Resistnecia to see if he could help.  We always go to the "rich" hospital and its like 200 peso for a 5 minute interview.  The doctor ordered a test so we had to go look for another place.  Found it but the place was  closed be cause of the siesta.  So we headed to the mission office where Elders work on visas.  My good friend Elder Ratliff is there so I helped him pack things in boxes to send out to other areas of the mission.  We went back to the doctor to set up an appointment for the test.  We got a call a couple of days later to tell us the machine was broke so we weren't able to keep the appointment.  My comp got sick that same day.  We had to stay in the whole day.  Woke up the next day and comp still sick.  Had to stay in the pension the whole day.  That was tough for me.  But I made banana bread and I ate it all.  Yeah fatty.  My comp was sick for 4 days.  Lets just say I was dying a little bit every day.  We didn't get a chance to look for people to go with us to church due to my comp being sick.

Burning Dad's Ornament - Growing mold!

World Cup is going on.  They have all the games scheduled in the paper with a big score card to keep track of everything.  I have members help me out with how wins and loses.  All of the Elders call me and ask me who won and lost.  My comp doesn't enjoy soccer.  I tried explaining it to him, but he doesn't get it.  Today Matia invited us over to have some food.  We made empenadas which were great.  Matia had the game on while we were making the food.  We watched Germany v Portugal.  Matia is just the best person ever.

This week we have to go to Resistencia for our meetings and maybe for the doctor again.  Next week we will meet to say goodbye to President Heyman.  That will be fun.   Loved the pictures of Danny and of all the cousins at the BBQ.  My throat hurts but is better.  I have a stuffy nose but got something for that.  It is cold sometimes but we have a little heter in our room now so that is good.  Love ya all and hope everything is going well for you guys.

Chau

Finally Investigators!

June 3

Just read the about Gary's Wedding . . . really touched me.

Right now it is only cold if you are not in the sun.  A miembro gave me a sweater so don't worry.

This week was tough.  But we have found some people to teach.  We have talked to soooo many people.  We found one person.  We pass by her house all the time.  We passed by and this young mom with a boyfriend and brothers and hija were there.  The boyfriend did not want to hear.  He just made his Mate (tea).  But during the leccion everything was great.  She really felt the espiritu!  When I was telling her about las familias she was like I was waiting for something like this to come.  Yes!!!!  Finally found someone to teach and progress.  We passed by again another day and the boyfriend and some of the other familia wanted to hear this time.  We left some things to read for the family.  Explained to them to keep los madamientos de Dios and the you will have a great familia.  She said that she wanted to come to church, but she didn't wake up in time to come.  WHY??????  But we passed by Domingo and she was really sick so that is why she didn't come.  Is hard to see that.

Storm coming in

This other person that we found has a huge familia. They liked how I talked so I was able to teach really well.  But they didn't come to church because they don't trust their neighbors when they are not at home.  The neighbor's mom died so they will just come into the house and make themselves at home.

So my throat is still bad.  The doctor said not to talk for two days.  That is bad.  So I started with no talking on Tuesday and ended on Thursday.  I communicated with my comp by testing on the phone and showing it to him.  So this was the first time that my comp had to do everything.  He was nervous teaching the lessons.  He was getting stuck quite a bit with the teaching so I texted the leccion and he relayed it to our investigator.  Was tough not to talk.  Had some tough questions to answer from the investigators.  That was day one.  The next day was worse.  People were asking really hard questions and just took a long time to write and answer them.  But my voice is getting better.  The doctor said with time it will be better.

Transfers are this week.  We will get the call tomorrow, but tonight Matia invited us over to the house to chill for a bit.  That will be fun.  Our duenos we will visit tomorrow and out good familia Caballero we will also visit.  I will send pictures next time.  Franco is cleaning my memory card right now and hopefully the bugs will all be out.  It rained a lot lately.  I have two more months until I change out my shoes and start wearing a new pair.  My shoes have small holes in them but I wear little plastic bags inside.  I have been getting lazy working out in the morning but that will change.  My comp doesn't want to run in the mornings so that has been tough.

We are going to Walmart again tomorrow and I need to get some things.  This will be our last Reunion de Distrito in Resistencia.  Send me pictures and let me know how Danny's homecoming goes.  Miss him!  Love ya all.  Have fun with work and love ya!!!

Chao

Freezing Water Warm Feeling

May 26

Flying with Harry Potter

Comp, Fabian, Me, Matia

Okay this week was good.  We have teaching Fabian.  The amigo de Matia.  We have been meeting with him everyday cause this is his baptismal week.  Our zone leaders came down for the interview with Fabian.  I paired up with Elder Galindo and we went to do the entrevista.  Fabian has really changed.  He really came to see how much he has changed during the interview.  So on Saturday Fabian was ready to be baptized.  We met with Fabian at the house of Matia at 4.  Because we met so early we had some time.  It was the Champions League Soccer Final, Real Madrid v Aletico Madrid.  We just had to watch it.  The game was so exciting.  It ended in a tie so there was suppose to be over time, but we had to leave to walk to the church so we missed the end.  The other elders de la Leonesa told us all about it.  Love soccer!  We arrived at the church and was great.  Fabian was really really nervous but was ready.  The water was freezing.  I thought it was going to be okay when I stuck my hand in but when I got in all the way it was really cold.  Fabian had chosen me to baptize him.  My arm was shaking and I had never said the prayer soo fast.  I dunked him and he came up with a huge smile on his face.  Made me feel better about the cold.  After Fabian forgot a towel so I gave him mine and I used it after and was cold.  After we had to walk back to Las Palmas - just the wind chill kills ya!!!

Its getting pretty cold over here.  Gets 7C but I found a sweater and the duenos gave me one without sleeves so I wear that too undermeath.

Sunday came along and we usually take turns who goes first in the shower.  So was my comp turn first.  He takes about an hour shower so I always have to hurryt.  Was about 7:10 when I heard him finish and we needed to leave at 7:50.  So I got up to get ready.  When I looked at the door handle it was broken.  He was locked in the bathroom!!!!  NOOOOOO!!!!  So for 30 minutes I was trying to get him out.l  I was close to kicking the door down like Matt Damon in Bourne Identity, but I cvalled Franco and he came up with his brother to break him out.  They tried everything.  Looked funny cause the looked like 2 robbers trying to break in.  Finally they just broke the door and got him out.  So now it is 8:45 and chruch starts at 9 and its a 30 minute walk.  Hurried and got ready and another missionary called me from the La Leonesa and told me Fabian was not at church.  We had to run over to Fabian's house.  Matia was over there and waiting for him to come.  Fabian had slept in but got up and quickly got ready.  We had to speed walk to church.  My comp was having a hard time keeping up so he would run ahead of me and walk then I would pass him and we kept doing that the whole way.  We got to church at 9:50 and at the last second was able to confirm Fabian.

Warm Feet

In our pension you can see your breath.  So I got a brilliant idea to turn on the stove to dry my shoes.  I turned it on and held my shoes over the fire to get them warm.  Really worked but my comp doesnt' like it.  But we have had to do it the past couple of nights.  Its cold here but our good familia Caballero always lets us in.  She is like my other mom here!

I called Herman Heyman about my throat.  Its been bad.  She suggested we come to Resistencia to see the doctor.  We went down and ended up staying at the pension of the lideres and Elder Creer.  They don't have appointments set at the doctors office.  You just show up and they will see you when they can.  We waited for a bit.  As you know when you are sitting anywhere in Argentina there is a dog sitting under the chair.  The same is true at the doctor's office.  The doctor called me in and told me to quit talking for 2 days.  So for two days I am not going to say anything and my comp will have to do it all.  That should be interesting.  I had to get a shot too.  I acted like the shot was killing me and it kinda scared the nurse.  It really didn't hurt at all.  She laughed with me.

This week will go by fast.  Getting along with the comp but he steals my food all the time.  He always denies that he is taking it but I can always get him to confess.  I just laugh it off.  I am getting to be a good cook.  I cook for both of us.  Comp doesn't even try.  Things are good here.  Love you all.  Til next week!

Chau

A Little Homesick

May 19

So another week is down.  Everything has been going so fast.  I hate seeing people come home.  It was very tough to see Hunter leave.  It was so tough reading Hunter's note that he left for me.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I hope the others can make it out here with me.

This week we had a multi conference zone.  We left to Resistencia.  We heard a mensaje from Pres Heyman about the Espiritu Santo and just soo many good things.  Everyone we asking really deep questions.  Pres answered everything for us.

After we had huge sandwiches.  They were really good.  I saw my good old best pal Elder Menjivar from Reconquista.  He is about to end his mision in 2 transfers but told me to keep in touch.  It was good to sit by him and talk to him about a lot of stuff.  He is just like a good friend that I would hang out with at home.  We had sandwiches, watched a slide show and then played bingo.  Hermana Heyman always does stuff like that.

I still don't have a voice.  It has been 2 weeks now.  I called our area doctor and he told me to buy this pill and just give it time.  It is tough cause I want to talk.

This week was hard.  I was thinking about home way too much.  We couldn't find anyone to teach and half of our investigators died.  The end of the week was the hardest.  Came home Thursday night and had to plan.  My comp does not participate.  He just sits and waits for me.  But I was planning and I just couldn't find anyone.  Our hours were blank - like nothing.  I told my companion alright we will be walking alot tomorrow to try and find people.  He just said okay but I know that he hates it.  During these days we walked and walked.  No one would let us in.  I was getting sooo mad.  One lady was being soo rude and kids heckling us.  Was tough.  Was thinking while I was walking that I could just come home and it would be so nice and easy.  Wouldn't have to do this.  I felt the same on Friday and Saturday.  But later on Saturday we went to Matias.  After that it was so hot and still couldn't find anyone.  I just wanted to stop.  I wanted this transfer to be over.  I am ready to leave this area.  But then I started thinking.  I need to be here.  I need to help these people that don't have anything in their life.  I want to get this language down.  So I got myself back up, I put my head forward and then thought about all those times in soccer and basketball and football when I was hating life.  I could remember those good times in sports even though there were some really tough times.  I remembered a lot of lessons learned about tough times.  I picked myself up when all my thoughts were of home.  I just decided to talk as best as I could with the voice that I have right now and move on.  People have a harder time understanding me but I thought to myself look how far you have come - why quit now.  This is a new week and we are looking forward to 2 baptisms.  I just need to enjoy the things we have and not the things we want and don't have.

Sunday came and it was good.  Monday came and we found a mother and daughter.  I think the daughter is more interested in me than the gospel but hopefully they can progress.  Matia told us that he has been keeping Fabian under his wing and Fabian has not been smoking.  Unfortunately Nilda has smoked twice so we will have to put her off for a while.

It sounds like everyone is doing great.  tell SJ to keep up the good work and have fun with soccer.  I am glad dad is having fun with the Mountain Men stuff.  I tell people over here about it and they think he is a cowboy but more super.  I always laugh.

Until Next week - Chau

Moving Day

May 12

Thanks for the great Skype really made my day so much better.  Its amazing to see all of you guys.  Everyone is really changing and growing up.  It is weird to see the time flying by.  In 8 months I will be able to see you all again and talk.

Last week we had nothing.  I mean like nothing to do.  No Reuniones de Ditrito or anything.  Some days were long but not I look back and really time flew by.  We are teaching Fabian and Nilda that are going to get baptized on the 24th of Mayo.   So that is good.

Nilda is having trouble leaving her smokes but we have found seeds that you chew and she is getting better with that.  She came to church so she is ready to be baptized.  This week she will be in Resistencia for some reason so we will have to wait for her to get back.  But she is ready.  She has a niece that gives me little things everytime I go over.  They range from little candies to little toys.  I have been adding to my collection.



Fabian went strong all week.  We kept passing by and bringing Matias with us so we had a member with us.  Fabian wants to get baptized but tells us that it is hard to drop smoking cause his younger brother smokes.  Those two are always together.  This week he will spend a lot of time with Matia so that will be a good influence.  Had a great leccion with Fabian on Domingo.  I had studied right before meeting with him about the iron rod and staying on track.  So I talked to him about that and then the plan of salvation.

Matia and I are having a race to see who can read the Libro De Mormon first.  If I wing he will make a asado and if he wins he gets a new tie from me.  He needs the tie.

We met a lady that is young and has a familia.  Her name is Patricia.  She doesn't have clocks or calendars in her house.  We had taught her one lesson and then she told us she was moving.  We told her we could help out.  We got to wear normal clothes for the day. It felt weird, didn't love the style I was rockin but I can live with it.  We got over there and there was a huge truck to put all of her stuff in. We loaded everything in.  No order to the moving.  It would have driven dad nuts.  But we finally got her packed up.  The move was about 5 minutes away from where she lives now.  We start going in the truck and then the driver gets all nervous and just stops the truck.  He is looking around panicked.  He finally asked if either of us knew how to drive a truck.  I thought, well, I do know how but I don't want to drive this huge truck.  My comp said no.  The truck guy looked right at me and asked me to drive - something just blurted out yeah.  The guy gave me a quick lesson because it was different then the cars I have driven before.  He said things I didn't understand.  I was just watching his hands.  My comp was freaking out and couldn't watch.  The truck driver got out and hung on to the side of the truck, and just watched so things wouldn't fall out.  So off we went.  Just as we started out there was a speed bump so I just put it in neutral and coasted.  Looked back and the truck guy flew up in the air when we hit the bump.  He was screaming so I took it that I needed to put it in a lower gear.  So the next speed bump I put it in the lower gear - just grinded the crap out of it.  Ahh that is bad - but it was all good.  Had to make a turn.  Did that part great.  Then the next turn was tight.  In my head I was like oh crap I don't think I can do this.  So I just thought to myself hey we got to do this so just go for it.  Boom hit the turn really fast and I kind of tail whipped the guy in the back.  He was hanging on for dear life.  He said some words that I didnt understand again.  Finally got to the house.  Just put it in park and told the guy in the back that he had better back it up.  The guy just smiled - It was great.

We all helped unload.  We each got assigned different jobs.  I was assigned to make the bunk beds.  okay had no idea what I was doing, but hey its all good.  They can sleep in a slant - its good for your back.  Then there was a big pile of sand that needed to be moved.  One bucket and only one shovel.  Comp couldn't do it.  He was too hot he said.  So I just moved this huge mound by myself and got it done.  Finally we finished and walked back to the apartment.

It was the birth of Las Palmas so there was a huge party.  Told my comp we needed a pictures.  We really couldn't go in but could see alot of cultural things going on.

Hope you guys had a good week and love hearing everything.
Love you all til aproximo semana!

Chau

Conference / Some AC

April 6

Sarah is getting married?  Really had no idea that was going on but that is exciting.  I bet Laurie will throw a bumpin party for that!

Okay so this week was really busy.  We had stuff going on everyday of the week.  Monday was PDay.  Martes came and we had to go up to Resistencia for a Reunion de Distrito.  Was good.  One of my good buds in the office so I got to see him again.  He was in the same pension as I was when we lived in Santa Fe.  Our hours have changed back to the regular schedule.  We get up at 6:30 and study all morning then leave for an hour then come back at lunch and leave at 130 during La Siesta.  It is so hot - it really is terrible some days.  We hit bed about 1030.
We had a great conference.  We met up with one of the Lideres de Zona.  His name is Elder Creer.  He is about 6'3'' and so funny.  The leaders have a nice place to live in.  Their area they teach in is really run down and people like to rob the missionaries.  I decided not to take my backpack with me when we visited.  I just took my  Libro De Mormon and folletos  The kids on the street like to say stuff to us but no problems.  At the end of the day we went to a members house.  When we left the husband had to walk us past this road cause it is where the kids hang out and rob people.  Nothing came of it.

The next day was good.  I had to use a leader's hat because it was sooooo hot during La Siesta.  Got up to 36C.  We were walking down this dirt road.  About 20 feet ahead of us was a horse eating grass.  He was tied up.  Then a little ways down there was another road.  As I was walking down the left side of the road I saw 2 people come out.  They had on nice clothes like us but was a man and a woman.  I was thinking that they were JWs.  I looked down the street to see if there was an Iglesia (church).  Elder Creer and I were right next to each other.  I started to slow down right as the JWs were walking past and just as that moment the horse decided to kick its back legs.  It kicked its legs right between us.  I am talking right between us.  You could put two fists between us.  The horse actually scraped my arm with his leg.  If the horse would have made contact I would have broken my arm.  This really taught me that Dios is looking over us every minute and will help us out in strange ways.  Even if he sends JWs that makes me look down the street out of curiosity to make me stop right at the split second I need to.

Conferencia General came around the corner really fast.  We did a lot of walking on Saturday before conference.  During the first session we had a young kid named Ismael that is going to get baptized that was coming to watch conference with us.  We had to walk all the way down to the church.  So we picked him up on the way.  It got up to 39C (102F) and Ismael couldn't make it.  I was proud that he made it as far as he did.  But I didn't want to be late to conference.  I wanted to see if Pres. Monson was going to make some crazy announcement again.  We were about 10 mins away and it was about 3 mins before it was suppose to start.  I said okay, get on my back.  I picked that kid up and ran . . . made it on time.  I just went in and found a fan and sat right in front of it.  Really loved conference could really relate to everything they spoke about regarding missions.  Ismael got squirmy.  I gave him one of my sandwiches to make him quiet.

After it was over we started to walk back.  It was really hot.  About half way I decided to try to hitch hike our way back.  A truck stopped . . . it was during La Siesta and usually nobody is out.  It was a nice ride.  We dropped off Ismael and got dropped off at our pension.  We stayed over night at the other missionary's pension since it was closer.  We hitch hiked again, and we were so lucky we got a ride there too.  Liliana is our other investigator that is suppose to be baptized this week.  She came to the next session with us.  I am not going to tell you what I liked about conference because that would take a whole letter in itself.

I got to talk to Renfro!  He called.  He was in Resistencia with my zone leaders watching conference!  Ahhhh was good to hear what is up.

After the first session had about an hour.  I said okay we are keeping the tradition alive and go out and buy some food or ice cream or something.  The other Elder are from Buenos Aires and don't get why we wanted to get food.  I was like everyone in the US buys food and need to make this a fun night.  They still didn't get it but we found some ice cream to buy.  Got the ice cream and ran back to the church.  Had to hurry so we were jumping over dogs and running through the bushes.  Got to keep it fun.  Sacerdocio was de died!!!!  Uchtodorf's talk was really good and Pres. Monson's was really just what everyone needed to hear.  Those 2 talks were great.

The next day we didn't have food for lunch.  We found some arroz and just had that.  We went over to Domingo session and that was good.  Afterwards we were just sitting there and dying in the heat.  We went in the President's office, took a nap with the AC on!  AHHHHHH!  Really loved hearing conference during the mission!!  After we walked home and cooked so much food cause we were starving!

Today was my comp's birthday so we just bought some ice cream and relaxed.  It has been so hot here and I thought it was getting into winter.  We had interviews with President on Friday.  We went back to Resistencia and bought facturas.  They are like little doughnuts but smaller.  The President just told me that I was in Las Palmas for a reason and to keep teaching.

Mom could you send me more fotos of the familia?  Someone took all my pictures.  Don't know who would do that, but its kind of funny.  Just need pics so I can show people.

Thanks.  Love you all

Chou!

Starving Missionaries

         March 30

Well hello familia Wester,

Thats how the people say my name. 

Well umm this week was calm nothing really big happened. Let me think.. really nothing happened this week so this might be a lame letter... okay so we started off with just going out and teaching our people that are getting ready to get baptized. Most of them are kids like 9 to 12 years old.  Hey, if they can get a testimonio then they are ready for bapitsm. Our investigator, Liliana, didn't come to church so she has to come to church next week to get bapitzed. She is the one that we have been seeing and she has a testimonio of the church so I don't sé why she didnt come.. we will pass by today.

We had a lección with one of our kids.. His name is Gaston. We have taught him every lección in the book so he just needs to come to church.  We stopped by his house and he was up, but he didn't want to wake up his parents to let them know he was leaving the house.  He let us in his backyard to wait. He had a look on his face like I can't go and I don't want to tell you that I can't come. We waited for about 30mins and now we were going to be late for church again.We told him we were going to pick up another kid and we would come back. SO this other kid is 9 and he cant really read or anything but he loves us and the church so why not. He was waiting for us outside shooting rocks at cabillos and trees. He was worried we were not going to come. Swung back to Gaston and he told us that his parents said no that he couldn't come with us. I think he lied but its all good we will talk to his paretns on Martes to see if he can really come to church or something. Walked 30mins to church and I had to give a talk.. wow thanks for giving me a heads up on being prepared, but that is what the misión is about suprises.. but its all good. I gave a talk on faith and the talk that Eyring gave.. Mountians to climb. Wasn't bad just gave some quotes and told a story that I saw about a USC professor. Some people could understand me and others not so much.. Ismael (the 9 year old) was doing good until Sacerdocio.. he got all poudy and I had to take care of him.. he didn't want to be in there and then his pen broke and he started crying. He kept looking at me when his pen broke and tryin to get my atención to confrot him or something.. but I thought to myself I am just going to ignore him and he will stop.. It worked finally. He stopped crying and got him in for the last 10mins. Matia the big guy got the Aronic Sacerdocio too so he is going to baptize Ismael.

Was the end of the week and end of the month so we had no food at all.... for a couple of days we just had rice and eggs and sometimes just rice and what ever we could find cause we ran out of money for some reason.. but now we have food and money.. we were just throwing whatever we could find with the rice. Our dueños had a Asado (bbq) going so I thought to myself.. I will get their atención and they will give us some.. I was up in the window trying my hardest but I couldnt get their attention… darn! Then our lighter ran out that we have to use to lite the stove. Was Domingo so couldnt go out and buy one.. was thinking hard.. I thought that our neighbors had one. They haven't been home for like a month now.  I went out on our balcony and jump over to theirs. I looked at the sliding doors and knew doors aren't that good and you could just slide it open. I pushed up on the door and pop, it opened right up. I was feeling like a theif but we are hungry boys so I jumped over some things on the ground and grabbed their lighter and closed the sliding door. I was talking with my comp and said go return it. But then I couldn't.  The door was stuck.. but said hey its good they always smoke so now we have helped them stop. 

But besides that things are going good this week.  It is Conferencia General this weekend and can't wait for that. We are trying to find ways to watch it in English because its just not the same in spanish.. but we will see. We have entrevistas with Presidente this week too. I think this will be my last interview with the President Heyman until he leaves. 

Hope everyone had a good week and hope SJ had a great birthday.. was thinking about her and hope she had a great day. SJ Feliz culpe años! Hope that you had a good time in Moab and hope that this week was a good birthday week. Was thinking about ya and saw a pic of ya and you have changed into a big girl ahhh its soo weird! You will be driving when I get home!! AHHHH!! But make the most of the time you only live once a wise man said. Love ya hope everything is going good!! As for the rest of the familia love ya all.  Have a good week. Make the most of it!

CHOU ELDER WEBSTER

A Trip to Walmart

March 23

Hooooolllllaaaa from Argentina

So this week was pretty good.  We had some good leccions with some people and might be having another baptism this week.  We are not sure if this will happen since the people have to come to church twice and they have been in other places the past week.  We will have to talk to the President to see if they have done everything that they need.

PDay was good this past week.  We walked all the way to the other Elder's place to chill with them.  Things were good, cooked some really good meat.  Tuesday we had a reunion de zone in Resistencia.  It is always good that we can leave and get away.  My companion wanted to go and by some rain boots   so we called the President to see if we could to shopping after the conference.  So after the conference we were off.  We went to Walmart!  Yes there is a Walmart here.  When we got to the store they had to zip tie my backpack so I would shoplift anything.  My comp wanted to get in and get out, but I was like hey we may never get back here again, lets walk around!  The other elders were with us as well.  As we were shopping, a woman came up to me to ask me a question.  She thought that I worked at Walmart!  I certainly could't pass this up.  She asked where cleaning supplies were located so I walked her over to where she needed to go and pointed out all the different options and talked to her about what she could get.  Then she asked about where the wine was located.  So I took her over to that section, but I told her that the wine here was not good for her and that she should replace wine with something else to drink.  Then I took her over to the grain section and talked about how healthy this was for her.  She finally left without buying anything.  The other elders were laughing and couldn't believe what they had just seen.  Maybe I should come home and be a salesman.  On our way through the store I saw doughnuts.  No way, haven't seen them in such a long time.  I had to buy them!!!!  I got those and I finally bought an umbrella.  We finally found the special car that could drive us back to our apartment.  It is about an hour ride.  It was a fun day and night.

The other night we had a huge storm.  It was really big.  We were having a lesson with a woman and all of a sudden the lights went out.  The woman was freaking out.  The first thunder strike hit BOOOOOOM!!!!!.  She got up and ran out of the room.  I looked at met comp and was like what just happened.  5 minutes later she came back into the room.  She doesn't like storms.  The lightening and thundering kept on coming all through our lesson.  The lights went out again so we decided it was time to go home.  She looked at us like we were crazy that we were going to go out in the storm and walk home.  I rolled up my pants and got my stuff in a plastic bag and said okay lets walk.  The streets were like a river, but didn't bother me.

We couldn't see anything.  When the lightening comes it lights up everything so we could see the street for about 2 seconds at a time.  The thunder was soooo loud!  Right when we got to our pension and were climbing up our stairs, 2 blocks away the lightening hear a pole and lit up the world.  We just ran inside.  It was intense.

This Sunday was good.  We had our progressing investigators bring her mom to church.  She is a little loco and doesn't follow things very well.  She is used to saying blessing on everything and amen to everything.  We also had a young boy come with us .  His name is Ismael.  This week was good for teaching.

things here are good.  Excited to hear about Alex and her mission call and all the other boys in the ward putting in their papers.  Love ya all.  Thanks for everything.  I will send pics next week.

Chou!

Baptism In Las Palmas

March 17, 2014

Yes we had a baptism on Tuesday.  We were worried that we may not be here for the baptism due to transfers.  We contacted the assistants to ask if we could still do it on Tuesday and they said it would be okay.  We were so excited to get the big guy ready.   Was so good to hear his whole story about how the gospel has come into his life.  Tuesday came around and we had to walk down to the church.  When we arrived at the church it was all locked up.  The other set of Elders had the keys.  Those Elders were about 30 minutes away.  It was 5 pm and the baptism was suppose to start at 6 pm/.  Finally the Elders got there and we got everything ready.  But before all of this Matia had to decide who he wanted to baptize him.  After thinking long and hard about it he sent us a text and asked if I would be the one to baptize him.  I was so excited.   Things were good fine.  The abuela and came and she helped us set up the chairs.  Matia came with his dad and some of his cousins.  It was awesome to have all his family there.  We all got changed into our whites.  Matia was having a hard time finding a white shirt that would fit him.  I had brought a white t-shirt that I used to wear just in case.  Some how he squeezed into the t-shirt.  It was pretty darn snug.  But he was ready.  Matia was a little nervous.  When it was time to start, I walked down into this small little pool thing.  It has stairs going up to it, but no stairs going down.  So I could barely get in and I was thinking how in the world is he going to get in.  Matia climbed up the stairs and they were creation.  He couldn't figure out how to step down into the pool.  Man I though this might be bad.  He slipped and kind of just fell right on me.  I tried catching this big kid in like a bear hug.  I just fell in with him.  We got settled in and did the prayer and I said okay bend your knees.  I wanted to make sure he went under the first time.  I helped push him down and the only way of describing this is like the movie Hitch.  At the very end of the movie when they are dancing at the wedding Kevin James does a slide under Will Smith and then Will Smith tries to pull him up and he can't.  That is exactly what happened.  But somehow with the strength of 20 moms I pulled this whale of a man out of the water.  Was great.  Then we had to get him out of the water.  So yep I just got my shoulder underneath him and pushed.  Thank goodness he was out.  I was dying laughing and so was everyone else.  But we were all so happy.  No one cared.    This was the first baptism in Las Palmas since they opened the area!  Woooo!!!!!!

The weather here is getting crazy.  It clears up then it gets really dark and pours.  The other day it was raining on and off.  Luckily we timed it just right and we could just run from Kiasco to Kiasco and we kept somewhat dry.  But we had a lesson way far from our pension and we say the clouds getting a little more dark.  Knew the big rain was coming.  There was this long street and we could see the rain just moving down the street.  It got dark and made it hard to see.  We could hear something coming.  Just kept getting darker and darker.  We had to act fast.  There was no cover anywhere.  It started to rain.  We ran to a palm tree.  Luckily my comp had an umbrella. We held it sideways because that was the way it was raining.  It just started to pour like you were standing under a shower head.  We started running and the streets were filling up like a rio!  I saw patches of hard spots and I started jumping across on them so I could keep my feet dry.  I made it across and then I hear a ahhhhh and a scream and SPLASH!  My comp fell into the rio.  It was pretty funny.  We ran towards a house where a guy came out and called to us and gave us a towel and a drink of warm milk.  That is really my favorite thing now.  After the rain let up the rain died down and we headed for our pension laughing the whole time.

Sunday came and we went to get Matia to go to church.  It was time for him to get the Espiritu Santo.  Went to his house to wake him up.  No answer.  Clapped his house for about 10 mins.  No answer.  Knocked on the door.  No answer.  I looked at my comp and I said I am going in.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  Nobody has a lock on their door.  They just put a plastic chair in front of the door to keep it from blowing open.  I pushed open the door and start walking down a dark hallway.  There were people sleeping in all these different rooms.  Finally I hear Matia snoring so I go in there. There were others sleeping in there too.  It was so dark I wasn't sure which one was Matia.  So I softly called out his name.  Nothing.  I heard another door open and it was Matia's dad.  His dad works for the policia and I got really scared.  He came out with no shirt and shorts with something in his hand.  I thought it was a gun!  No, was just a mate cup.  He looked at me and I said sorry we really need Matia to come to church.  He said no problem and got him up and Matia came to church.

I had to talk again at church.  It seemed to go alright.  I talked about faith and prayer.  Most of the people understood me, but they seem to have a hard time with my accent.

Thanks for everything.  Have a fun week.  Tell Emmy that when she goes to do her missionary stuff this week that she should teach simple like to a child.  Ask questions like "What are some ways to follow Christ",  "Will you pray about our message to see if it is true?", describe the Holy Ghost and ask if they will follow Christ and be baptized by the authority of God.

Love ya all

Elder Webster

The Spirit and Matia / Lost Keys

March 3

This week went by fast.  We had a district meeting in Resistencia this week.  This means that in the morning we don't have time to do much since it is an hour ride there.  A special guy comes to pick us up.  His name is Laucha.  Rained all day long.  It is always good to get away and see some new people.  After the meeting some of the missionaries in our area had to go to a special bank.  That bank is about an hour away.  So they left for the bank which left me and my companion in the city.  We got to walk the street of Resistencia. It was sooo crazy.  So many people.  It was fun to chill out there for a little bit.

The other day we had this investigator named Matia.  He is about 300 pounds and is 18 years old.  My companion had taught him earlier in his mission but then hadn't been back to him for a little bit of time. We went back and found him and taught him the lesson of resurrection.  He really liked it.  We gave him a Book of Mormon.  We went back to see him a couple of days later and he had forgotten what he was suppose to read.  We asked him to read again.  He started reading that night and read the first 15 chapters of Nephi!  Yeah!  Was so sick.  Asked him about being baptized on March 15.  He told us that he had prayed and had not received an answer.  He was pretty mad that he had not received an answer. A couple of days went by and nothing.  He prayed every night before he wend to bed.  One night he woke up around 3am to get some water.  He saw his little brother on the couch watching soccer.  He said that he watched the tv for a little bit and then tried to go back to bed but couldn't.  He told us that all he could think about was the church and out message that we had talked about.  He felt so calm.  I told him "That is the Espiritu Santo!!"  Yeah said he really want to be baptized!  We told him he needed to come to church.  He said that he would try.  My comp wanted to leave at 7 am to go pick him up, but I told him that no one is going to be up at that time.  Sunday came and we clapped his house and no answer.  We waited outside his door for about 45 minutes.  We clapped again and his little brother answered the door.  That was Miracle number 1.  His little brother usually sleeps until noon.  Then his brother went and woke Matia up.  Miracle number 2.  Matia came and talked to us and said that he would come to church.  We noticed that his moto outside, the chain had fallen off and we knew he couldn't walk all the way to church.  So we left him at home a little depressed.  But soon enough here comes Matia at church all cleaned up.  When we talked to him about how he got to church he said that he had just taken his dad's moto.  Miracle number 3.  Then his aunt was at church the same day with her son.  She hasn't been to church for a very long time.  Mirachle number 4.  Matia loved church.  He invited us back to his house on Monday to play a little soccer with him.  Was soooooo fun. He had invited some of his friends to play with us.  Just tried to play calmly since we aren't suppose to play "games" with the natives.  All the boys thought I played pretty good.  Wondered if I was really from Brasil.  They all say that I have an accent like Brazilians.  They wanted me to speak in Portuguese, but I told them I was too shy.  That was a great time.  I am excited for Matia.

Earlier in the week we got ready to leave the pension and I am in charge of the keys.  We love on the second floor and with an little alleyway down the middle.  We we have two keys, one for the apartment and one for the front gate.  We got our stuff and I shut the door.  You need to have a key to open the door because there are no handles on the doors.  You insert the key and twist.  I shut the door and I forgot the keys.  We were locked out of our apartment and locked inside the gate.  We just stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out what we were going to do.  I remembered on the side of our apartment our bathroom window is always open.  It is not a big window at all.  I was like, alright here we go.  There is a small ledge on the side of the house so I had to climb up on that to get to the roof where I could lower myself down into the window.  Got up there no problem.  Looked down from the roof and it was a long way down.  So the roof was a little bit further out from the side of the house so I was going to have to drop down and then swing myself into the window.  I lowered myself down so I could touch the bottom of this little window.  I am hanging there and really just barely hanging on.  I knew that I could not get back up so I was committed.  I had to find some way to swing my feet into this little window.  I tried some different ways, but I couldn't get it to work.  Then I had an idea.  If i swung myself a couple of times I could time it and put my fee through the window, then let go and hopefully sit on the window sill. I knew this may not be the best idea, but it was the only thing I could think of.  My comp is watching and shaking his head.  I take a deep breath and boooom I swing my legs, let go and I am landing hard on the window sill in the sitting position.  It hurt so bad!  Then because of the momentum I started to fall backwards.  I grabbed the side of the window and  pulled myself through.  See no problem.  I made it in.  Got the keys and we were off.

This week the weather had been good.  It rained for about 4 days hard and I am yet to buy an umbrella.   With the parties still happening, Lunes y Martes, we have to be in our pension at 7.  Already seen people getting drunk.  Got a little homesick this week, but all is good.  Kalina the one that is in the picture does't have interest in being baptized but we showed her a movie about Cristo so we will see how things go.  We had her pray with us for the first time.

Love you guys.  Thanks for everything but can't wait for did de Madre on Skype.  Love ya.

Chou!

The Black Market

This week has been pretty fun, just been chillin doing my thing. My comp and I are really good buds. We have like the same sense of humor so that is good. The language is coming along really well just sometimes frustrates me but I know that it will come. Umm we had a fun and just been hangning with the other Elders. I always do movie quotes so that makes time flys when we cant find people.. our area is pretty tough we cant find anyone.. and pres is coming for his daily 3 month interview tomorrow so we are going to get a nice lunch and yeah. SO my comp and I Elder White cleaned the pentch so clean like spotless.. the other comps didnt want to really help but the ZLs know that. But guess what big news! So the Assistences called my Friday and said they found my Christmas Package!!!! It was in Sanez Peña just got kicked around and was hidden!!!! SO that is exciting so this tuesday I will be able to open it! YEAH!!! So maybe write pres to be nice but that is so happy for me!! 

SO we had a BBQ with one of our progressing investigators and their names are Oscar and Romona. He works none stop for this security thing so it is hard for him to come to church.. sad but he loves us. the last visit just expressed how greatful he is that we came and always and always bags on the Calthlics him and his wife it is so funny. He is kinda a weird guy but I will tell you more later about him.. umm oh yeah the other day  My comp and I were walking and saw this guy sitting outside. (They just sit outside and drink Mata) so we walked past him and called us back and said De Donde son? Estados Unidos.. all scared.. and said hey want to buy some pasos for dollars and said yeah lets do it. We found the black market. He really wanted our dollars so we went to tell the other guys about it. Out of 4 we had 180 in dollars. So we walk on back the next day and we clap his house. The son comes out and gives us this nod thingy. He comes out and goes into the calle and looks both ways and gets on his cell phone to call his dad. About 10 seconds later this car all tinted out all just decked out with sick things pulls around the corner. The dad comes out carrying a brief case. Like the ones you see in the movies, the silver one. HE said follow me.. so we did. The son closes the door behind us. WE walk in and see 2 doors. And said whos first? We told him that we had to be together.. and he left and came back and said Bueno come on in. WE walk in and see this desk, stainless steal desk in like a banana shape with a lap top, smart phone, and a notpad thing. We sit down and this Dad guy is kinda big and had his nice cut off. He looked like Mr Jasnback from school. We sit there and just getting the chills left and right and then a door opens and we cant see. The room is dark and just have a light over us and the desk. We hear footsteps and this old looking lady walks in. In here 50s she has like a fro thingy and wrinkly face. She has a lot of jewrly you know how old women where it, was like that. She sits down. SHe askes for our phone and she turned it off. She thought we were like police or something. She said okay how much you got. I was struggling to take the money out and things were getting intense you could just feel the it in the moist air. I lay down 180 in all 20s. SHe grabbed on and examined it to make sure it wasnt fake. Just remember her long nails.. ehh.. and gave a nod to the dad behind us. He puts the silver brief case on the desk and she started calculating the money with 1 dollar to 9. WE stopped him and said we want it for 9.4 and said fine.. was scary. He got the money and she made sure was the right amount. We grabbed our money and shook our hands. He did like a knock on the door to make it fine that we could come out. We got into the calle and started walking.. right before I turned the corner I look back and all the people were staring at us.. was so intense! 

Things here are good just good. Big Tim wrote me same with Andooooooniieeee so I was happy about that. I got Andonie a sick Jersey and I am going to send it to him. It is like his home country but I am going to send with and Elder that is leaving this transfer and he lives in Utah so will get to him safe. Umm yeah nothing really just trucking along, tomorrow hits my 5months so that is fun! almost 1/4 done with the mission!! Well love you guys I will talk to you next week! Love hearing about everything! Tell the Wiscombs hi!

Elder Webster

January 5, 2014

Well hello family Webster,

Umm okay I will start off with New Years. We had to be back to our pentch at 8 in the night cause yeah the streets were crazy ill get that in a little. We did our work and got back and planned for the next day.. we really had nothing else to do.. my Comp has a rubix cube so he tried to teach us that. Took forever but I can finally do one!! Elder Brough (he lives in the other room) we were trying so hard to do it that night.. so was about 11:30 and we could hear fireworks going off all night but we kept watching the clock. Everyone started to get lazy and lay on the beds and go to sleep. I said Elder Brough you better not go to sleep here, he said no way I am missing this. So about 11:50 we got onto the roof. Just me and Elder Brough cause everyone else feel asleep.. and started to count down and hit midnight and the sky just glowing with fireworks! We have a good open view and we could just see everyone it was just crazy.. kids in the streets shooting themselfs with roman candles and throwing like bombs at passing cars, was a sight to see. About 5 mins in to this maddness Elder Brough and I saw this bright light out of our corner of our eyes and looked and just got huge. Was like this huge fireball that was getting bigger and brighter. Then all of a sudden.. BOOOOM! The power exploded right across the street! Shook the ground. We could hear everyone say like wow, what is up, all that fun stuff in Spanish. Everyone stopped with the fireworks cause it was pitch black we couldnt see anything. Really have no idea why everyone just stopped. Then all of a sudden this kid lights a huge firework like what we see on 4th of July screams Feliz Año Nuevo!! And the sky just got lit up with fireworks. So many were going off so loud so many things were just going on. About 45mins things were still going and we decided to go to sleep. Went into our room and was just sooo hot.. cause we had 6 Elders sleeping in there. Everyone wanted to sleep together. So I got a nice soft blanket put it outside and went to sleep on floor of our balcinie. About 2 hours in power got put back on and I climbed into bed. Was a fun night.

We dont have any zone confrences yet but the 14th we have a interview with the Presedent. We have one every 3 months so that will be something. Same with zone confrences every 3 months so in about a month in a half we will have one if I dont get transfered.

About Martin. We have tried last week to baptize him and he had to go on the trip thingy, so this week we called him in the morning and said yes it will all be good things are working out. Called him in the afternoon and said si things are great ill be there. The baptizm started at 6 and told him to meet us at the Capilla.. church and no show.. about 625 rolls around and we decided to call him and Soledad finally answers her phone. She said or Martin went with his other Dad to go play soccer. We were so pissed. So hermano Agonil shows up.. and took the phone from us. (He is the one that got her a new life pretty much) and just gave her the cane for everything. Soledad isnt really keeping her covents with the lord and being lazy with everything so he just gave it to her. All in all we didnt get to baptize Martin this week.. which is a bummer. We are going to have a lesson with her and Agonil to see what is up with everything so yeah.. 

Later that night we had a youth activity. All the youth came and set up a Volleyball net and started playing. They wanted us to play and so we did cause we thought you cant play competive soccer or basketball. Called the ZLs about 10mins later and they said no.. we had to stop. These people are so funny when they dont really know how to play a sport. After that the kids and some adults just sat around and didnt really do anything. I had to do something. I got a soccer ball and just started juggling it. One of my favorite boys came over and juggled with me. He is from the Agonil Family. Then his little brother came over. I started to do some tricks to show off a little but these kids were good. They said I am good for a gringo. Then they said lets play keep away.. they said that it is not playing hard to passing it around. Another person came over so we play keep away. My comp kept eyeing me and said just passing not playing or anything. Was so much fun I miss soccer so much. I kept putting between the persons legs when they tried to get it. And here if you do it to people that is humilating to them. They were laughing so hard just having such a good time! Then they wantd to play this game on how to score on the goalie. I will have to try to learn it more cause they spoke so fast and couldnt understand them that well. But they said that I was pretty good just need to practice more. I was like I am on a mission and said what is stopping ya? Laughed about that. 

I am trying to send some pictures but my card wont accept it. Think it might have a small bug on it when I tried last week in this cafe so I am giving it to one of my good Elders that just knows computers left and right and can fix anything so I will keep trying and when I do I will send a ton so dont worry they are coming!!

Well almost my 5 months and just feel like the I left yesterday. I always think about home and want to be ther but am having a great time here. Things will go fast once I hit a new area and get more comps. Well love ya all tell Reenne Hi love how she is so intrested. Cant wait to see her and just talk Spanish with her, love that family so much!! Love you guys hope things are going well love getting pictures and hearing what everyone is doing. Tell freaking ANDONIE to write me, you call his mom and make him write me! But thanks Ill let you know if I get my packetage or something!!

CHO!

Elder Webster

December 30, 2013

Christmas.. wish I was there made me miss home when you showed me everything that everyone got and the traditonal movie thing which was one of my faves. But it is all good got back on tract and started thinking about the mission a little more.

So we have to come in our pentch at 8 till thursday so we dont get introuble or anything like that. Hopefully something here happenes at midnight really excited might pull another one of those christmas nightings. I wrote it so you could post it or something so here it is:

But that night we had to be at our pentch at 8 at night cause things here are just crazy!!!!!!!! A memeber brought this like Asado which is BBQ here and it littleraly is one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life! ITs meat and fruit salad thing and some homemade rolls just soo much stuff!!! But the streets here just get crazy they light up with fireworks so got this brilliant idea to get on the rough and watch the fireworks. We were watching them then our neighbors right besides us start lanuching these huge fireworks that you see at the 4th of july and something came flying at us! Like really started coming, the first guys jumped out of the way and boom hit me right in the leg. My comp grabbed it and threw it.. to this day have no idea what is was but was such a fun night. 

OKay back to what I was saying.. Um so yeah we were supposed to have the baptizm with Martin but went all wrong.. So we had the interview with him and the ZLs said that he passed so problem so the next day we were going to pick him up at 5 and walk him over to the church. We started walking over and he answered the door all happy and we were like yeah this kid is going to get dunked today so we walked up stairs to the apartment and Soledad was there sitting with her Mata. Said LISTO!! Means llike ready? She said that Martins dad is coming to pick him up and go to Resistencia to see his other grandma in the hospital.. this couldnt be happeing we were sitting there in shock like why didnt you tell us this Soledad whyyyyy.. all of a sudden the day pulls up and we book it down there to try to talk to see if we could stay for an hour then he could go. Got down there and said Martin get in and I jumped in front of the car, he slammed on the brakes and ran over to the side he was on and said what is up why are you leaving here?? Told us that he is going to see his mom and needs Martin. I was trying so hard to convince him to let him stay like I was saying like come on this is what god wants, we can just dunk him real fast like 10 mins and then he can leave.. he wasnt having it, so my comp pulled me away and said he better be here for next week. So hopefully next week...

During Church it was like 101 degrees and we had ac and fans going. During the 3rd hour of Church our electricity goes out... o my crap this was really hell that we were in.. Everyone was like lets go home but pres wasnt having it and some other people wanted everyone to stay.. us missionaires were just hidding till they figured it out. SO this huge guy started like playing with something and 3 fans got turned back on. THey were in the chapel and so they sent all the kids outside to have class and everyone else came in the chapel to get taught the 3rd hour. The 3 fans were working so when people were trying to find seats everyone ran to the seats with the fans underneth. tHERE were like 30 people just on top of each other trying to get cooled off. Was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! They were pushing and shoving was like the last seat on a bus and everyone wants it! So us missionaires were having a hard time just sweating and everyone else was too but we were nice and let them sit under them. Went back to the pentch and our electriity was out.. whyyyyyy so what I did was went to our next door neighbor and got this huge icecube and put it in a bucket and sat in it. Was really nice to cool off..

My Comp and I have gotten to know each other and just really started to connect with each other so that is good. Still likes to talk but I just let him talk so not too worried about it. Umm nothing much just thanks for the photos love them! I couldnt send them this week but I will send them this next week forsure! Got some sick pics of this sunset so get prepared! Looks like the fam is fun and healthy and yeah they are getting huge!! Love you guys thanks for everything cant wait to get that late christmas hahaha love you thanks for all!!

Cho Elder Webster

December 9 2013

  So the other day we had an activity at the church and it was one of the members birthday.  She was turning 18 and there were other kids.  After the kids grabbed me and said, "Elder, vamos jugar futbol!" I just couldn't resist and had to play for about 5 minutes.  Went in the back and started playing, these kids are so good!!  Got a little depressed how much I miss soccer!  I really want to play when I get back!

Can't wait for SKYPE!

Dads carving thing sounded way fun!  Really want to see how everything goes down when I get back! There weather here is so hot sometimes when it rains it poors then 20 minutes later the sun is out and it is a sauna and then at night there are a lot of bugs out there but getting bit isn't that bad any more!

The people in my ward are really awesome!!  They help us out so much!  We have lunch with them a lot!!  They always say hi to me and some things that I have a really hard time understanding but other times it's fine!

Yesterday was the Christmas Special thing so we watched that.  All the other missionaries that were close from here came and members and investigators.  So that was in Spanish and all the gringo missionaries cane in the room with a computer and watched it in English.  Was good and we got to stay out until 11 and right when we got home we all fell asleep.  Had no idea that the Church put on this kind of stuff.  (Shows how aware I am about everything right?)

  Soledad and her sone Martin have a baptizmal date for this Saturday she is really just ready for it.  But that family that was helping us got a call from her crazy boyfriend and said he wanted to start having the discussions but we know that he was just trying to get close to Soledad.  Not sure what we're going to do about it but we'll figure it out.  He keeps saying that they are married but Soledad says they aren't and so we are going to sit down together and figure out what's going on.

This Saturday we are having a big Christmas Activity right after the baptism.  It is a reenactment of the Cristo Birth.  I can't remember wha I have to be but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

My Comp leaves next week.  Not sure if I'll be staying in the area or leaving.  I feel like the mission is starting to pick up not sure why.  Seems really slow I just want it to be a year all ready.  

Yeah that's pretty much what happened just been walking around and trying to find people.  It is hard cause we have suck a small area to work in and everyone is kind of rich and never want to listen to us.  Can't wait till I am fluent!  Love you all hope Christmas is going to be fun!

Elder Webster