December 30, 2009

Christmas was awesome. We were with a German and Dutch family. They were speaking to me in German, Dutch(which I understood nothing) and spanish....quite confusing.We ate lots of food, and I am still full to this day. And we have new years tomorrow. I am a little scared....they feed us way too much food.We have just been busy with investigators this last week, getting Franco baptized and working with his mom and brother still.NOt really much to say, I just talked to all of you. Thank you for the support and the christmas gifts. I am loving where I am and what I am doing.I love you all,Elder Andy
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

December 16, 2009

Transfers.Whew...this has been a pretty rough transfer. Well, at least the things that changed... or rather things that didnt change. In Almost ALL of the companionships in this zone, the companionships stayed the same, and there is someone with less than 3 months in every area... In other words, there are a lot of people talking about home, and a lot of the time. I am with Elder Glassman again this transfer. This probably means that I will be here in Mar Del Plata until March, and then be going to my last area of my mission. I fear for this zone, and for this part of the mission because there is SO much potential. There is a lot of work to be done, and the older elders are starting to get lazy. And it does not help that they all have pretty much the same time. In all honesty, I get along with my companion great. We laugh, we have lots of fun, and we even have some investigators that have a baptismal date. So, for me, at least that is good, right?It is very hard for me to believe that Christmas is next week. Christmas is not very big here, at all. It is a rare occasion to see somebody`s house decorated, and even less for people to talk about it happening. NOt to mention, I am just used to Christmas with all of you crazies, so it really just doesnt feel like its real. But its all good.Tomorrow we have a barbeque with a member in the ward who always is doing stuff for us. She absolutely loves the missionaries, and her birthday is tomorrow. We know that the ends just always come tight in their family, and that they dont have any plans to celebrate tomorrow. So, we talked to her husband, and WE planned it out. We are way excited for it. Meanwhile, we have a lesson tonight with Rosa and Franco about living Prophets. They have just been so great, and they are so excited for it all.I am doing well, just marching along, keeping my self in the fight. I will be honest, I really dont know what else to tell you about what is going on right now, just good stuff going on in the mission. I have been studying the Old Testament lately, and that has been strengthening my testimony SO much about Temple, Temple Marriage, The Commanments of God, The Atonement, The real power and authority of the Aaronic Priesthood, and that this is the RESTORED church of Jesus Christ, and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. IT has been wonderful to me to have this time to truly study and embrace the Scriptures.I love you all so very much, and pray for you always. Keep your smiley faces...Its Christmas.Elder Andy
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

November 18, 2009

Absolutely incredible. We had a baptism last night, and it was amazing. After 8 years of investigating the church, they finally got baptized. The spirit was so strong and there were several people in tears. More than 100 people showed up just to see the deal. Damian (the son of the woman that got baptized) baptized her. The incredible thing about it is, is that he is deaf. But he had been practicing, and forcing the words out. Yes, he said the prayer. Not with sign language, but in words we understand. It was amazing. And they bore their testimonies after, and it was so cool. There were several investigators there, and so many less active members that had known them when they first got to know the church. Apart from that, we have a family of investigators that wants to get baptized and we havent even taught them about what baptism is. We had been with them, and they were looking for more unity in their family, and so we told them that one way that will surely do it, is to read the book of mormon daily as a family, and then pray together. The change was amazing in one week. And they had just read about baptism being a new beginning, and they all want to leave their sins behind them, and begin again, clean in the eyes of God. Yes, there is still work to do with them, but the doors are just opening up everywhere we go. A less active member came back to church with a renewed testimony, and now we are teaching her husband. We have a Family HOme Evening tomorrow night with An investigators and his neighbors who are members. He loves church, and we still havent really taught him that much. There are so many things that we have going on for us, and there is so little time to do it all. I thank the Heavens that my Heavenly Father understands my best efforts.Well, my time is getting short so I need to go but I love you all, Sorry its so short. Take care, I love you all.
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

October 19, 2009

Well, this week has been pretty nuts. We have had a lot of things to do, but we still know we can be doing so much more. We have been in the process of finding new people, planning baptisms, teaching our investigators, working with new converts, less active members, and a conference with Elder Bowen (President of the Area), and interviews with President Detlefsen. We have been more than occupied, but we know that we have the potential to do so much more. We have had a lot of doors open up for us in this last week, and so we are praying a lot, asking help from our Father in Heaven with these new people. We have recieved references from a member in our ward who is deaf. He wants us to begin teaching his other deaf friends, who have a lot of interest. And also we now have a blind investigator. We found out that some other missionaries in our mission had a book of mormon in Braile (the reading for blind people, dont know how it is spelled) and had them send it to us. Its going to be very interesting, so we are trying to get ourselves ready for this.Sorry this is so short today, we really didnt have a whole lot of time. I love you all very much, and thank you all for your support.Love, Elder AndyP.S. Happy Mothers day in ArgentinaP.P.S. There have been a few issues in the mission, and our mission President has had to revoke our internet usage to myldsmail only. I apologize if it is inconvenient, but I dont want to fight it. We had abeen given the opportunity to use hotmail, yahoo, and gmail before because this email has tons of problems and doesnt always work. Because of some things that have happened, he has had to change that. If you could please send your emails to elderbca@myldsmail.net that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.

October 12, 2009

This week went really well.

Charlie has in his plans now to be baptized on the 31st of October, and Nadìn this Saturday. They have both been making a lot of progress, and Charlie is so excited to listen to the words of the Prophets. He knows he can help his neighbor out because his neighbor just had a hernia. So, while Charlie is without work, and with desires to quit smoking(which by the way he started at 80 or more cigarettes daily, and now he is at 14, and going down), he knows he has to do something. And charlie told us, ¨President Monson said we should all reach out to someone and do something MORE.¨ So, he has been cutting his neighbors lawn, digging out trees, and much much more. Nadìn is truly getting baptized because her boyfriend is preparing to go on a mission, and has been teaching her everything, and working with us to get her ready. She is very excited. We had Zone conference which was awesome. And this week we have Elder Bowen (Member of the 70, and the President of the Area) coming to speak to us as missionaries. We have been working hard, and been having more and more success. There is still a lot more we could be doing, and we are trying to be better, and to get it done. We have been just getting to the house absolutely exhausted. Saturday was hilarious because we set out right after lunch with a few friendly clouds and a little wind-so we brought our sweaters. We were doing okay about 3-4 miles away from the house, when a Hardcore rainstorm hit. We tried to keep going to all of our appointments, but nobody was home, and it got dark. Needless to say, we got home frozen and soaked...it was way funny. I guess it serves me right for not getting my eagle. I was not prepared...hahahaha. It truly is so amazing to see somebody accept the gospel, and then to watch them change as their faith grows. We actually had this conversation with a member in our ward who told us that we should never go and get them to go to church, and that they should be willing to make the sacrifice on their own. I am telling you right now, that we should never have to think like that. Last week for general conference, we did go and help to inactive members get to conference. It was more than heavy on the wallet...but I will tell you I forgot about every cent when I watched tears roll down their eyes, and have them come and thank us an in countable number of times for helping them. They both came again this Sunday, with renewed enthusiasm. Andrès even went and found two more inactive members and brought them to church and they were more than grateful. Its true that sometimes we think that it is because they do not want to be there, but if we can help remind our brothers and sisters what light the gospel truly does bring to our lives, then we truly can feel the love of God pouring over us. It is truly incredible to me how much joy is found in this work. When you can truly see the atonement of Jesus Christ change somebody`s life forever. Or when a testimony of the Living Prophet touches their hearts, or when they are received by an old friend with open arms like the prodigal son. As we find in Mosiah chapter 18-we need to be their for our brothers and sisters. To cry with them when they are crying, to offer comfort when they need comfort. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly is the answer to our questions in life. And yes, as a missionary, we are submerged in the Gospel-and it is easy for us to say , ¨reach out your hand¨. But seriously, even if it is just a phone call, or in the world today, just a text asking if they are coming to an activity, mutual, the ward Halloween party, or to the meetings on Sunday-every little thing counts.Thank you all so very much for your emails, letters, and support. I appreciate them sincerely. I love you all.Love,Elder Andy D&C 123:17

PICTURES!
1.A real mans breakfast burrito
2.Escobedo and I...need I say more
3.This is what my neigborhood is named after...
4.Pretty cool picture eh?
5.PRETTY.....be jealous it was warm :)
6.At least somebody loves me
7.Its my compy
8.Its my compy again
9.Its the three gringos...
10.What more can you do on a Pday holiday?
11.Welcome to Mar Del Plata
12.This is my house everyone
13.Kickin it on the front porch
14.Having a good old Barbeque (I ate more than 5 pounds of meat that day)
15.When we eat meat, we EAT MEAT!

Thanks Everyone

October 5, 2009

Well Hey everyone.

Our area is doing really great. We had the potential to bring 17 investigators to the church, and some more that we already knew they wouldn't be able to make it. Not all of them did, but quite a few did, and we were able to help some other less active and even inactive members get there, and some new converts too. It was a really great week for the missionary work. Missionary work truly is amazing, there are so many blessings and miracles every day. You can see that God truly is preparing his children to hear the gospel more and more all the time. I am so grateful for this time that the Lord has given to me to be his servant as a full time missionary. Yes, I have weaknesses, and I am not perfect. But I am learning so much everyday, about myself, my Savior, my Father in Heaven, and this Marvelous work.Conference was amazing. It was WAY too fast though. It almost feels like it didn't happen. It just came and went like it was nothing. Then the realization hit me that I only have one more conference here in Argentina. YIKES! Our investigators loved it too. What was your favorite talk? I really don't know where to begin for me. I loved Several. I loved President Uchtdorf and M. Russell Ballard from Priesthood. I loved Elder Holland as always-always saying things like they are. And then Elder Christofferson laid it down. I really couldn't get enough of it. INCREDIBLE! I just love conference. Always very uplifting.We have a lot of great appointments set up this week, and doors are opening up like crazy. I am grateful for all of your prayers in my behalf, and I want you to know that I am praying for you all.This week was busy with new shoes and foot problems, investigators deciding to make changes, splits with other missionaries, and MORE giant things.

PICTURES

1. I bought new shoes this week, and it has caused my ankle to swell up to the size of an extra golf ball on the side, and my socks and shoes to fill up with blood every day....I love new shoes....(both feet)

2.Charlie is an investigator who has had a lot of things just go wrong in his life. He came to us and asked us to help him make the changes necessary. In less than a week he has gone from smoking more than 80 cigarettes every day, to smoking less than a pack (20) every day. For those of you that have seen the Other Side of Heaven, you may laugh at what else we did to him...I actually did not remember that movie when I suggested it, but yes, we cut his hair... Looking good no?

3. Here's is our district without the Zone Leaders, who are a part of the district. and also when I was with Elder Decilia for 24 hours on Thursday... And then my zone in MDP

4. Yes more giant things. Its like I am in Giant World in Mario Brothers three...for those of you who know what that is...:)

5. Well, here is an idea of what I walk along getting to my appointments during the week.

¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

September 28, 2009

Hey family,

This week has been a week of getting to know everyone, everything, the area, and how things are working out here in the big MAR DEL PLATA. There is a ton of work to get done, and truly there is not enough time. Our area is absolutely massive compared to what I am used to. I really don't know how big it is exactly, but its bigger than all of the other areas I have had put together. We did a service project for a school in Mar Del Plata, where we painted the whole school together. Elder Simmons(another one, one that I know from high school...yes one from Bingham) got me good with a slap in the face...hahaha WE got to see some crazy animals, and then we tried to teach lessons a little bit more creative.WE are working with a lot of different people, and trying to get several couples to get married. It seems to be a problem we run into everywhere here. Couples that have lived together for 20 years, and still don't want to get married. So, we are working on that. AS far as being a full time missionary again, it feels great. I love working all day long. And Elder Gomez and I are both ready to make the most of it. Its really fun being with Gomez. He is just a happy guy, that loves to have fun. We talk a lot about culture differences and stuff. I think I told you, but his parents are Mexican, but he was living in Provo when he left for the mission. He was actually born in LA. Well, I am doing well, and I hope everyone is doing great. I haven't really heard anything new, so I imagine that life just keeps on going. I hope school is going well, work is going great, the ward, the EVERYTHING.

I love you all. Elder Andy

Here are some pictures for ya.
1. Way cool family, that loves Elder Jimenez and I....we are still not sure why...
2. Hermana Dewey at the Bus station
3. He is the new financial secretary...I think he might be a little bit tougher when he bargains..hahaha
4.MY NEW COMPY!
5. My new compy and I
6. HUGE SHEEP.
7. Teaching the Plan of salavation with a puzzle
8. Painting in Mar Del Plata

¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨