Yeah don't worry about sending another shirt..... at this point, I don't need it. You're just going to have to see how big some of these shirts are on me now hahaha...

Thanks for the recipes, I'm just going to give Hermana Marin what you gave me, and hope that was what she was looking for. 

Sorry for not letting you know before, YES I did get the package. And yes everything was in it, but no, I have not taken a photo yet with the bunny ears... give me another week. 

We went to the ocean and threw a football around for a little bit and then we walked to the worlds biggest Parrot cove. On the side of this cliff, there are thousands of parrots that live there... pretty cool. We walked around and took pictures basically, it was fun. And today I just sat in the house doing records. I'm kind of behind and this is the last week of the transfer... I want to be up to date.

I'm sad to hear Aunt Paula passed away,  I was just thinking about her the other day... 

Next week another Seventy is coming to the mission, Elder Saballos. This is going to be great...

My comp as an infection in his foot and can barely walk... this is rough. It's kind of hard, almost impossible, to work when your comp can't walk.... 

Thanks for locating those addresses for me, that was pretty exciting seeing all those emails from old friends of mine :) 

Gotta go  love you!!! 

Wilder going to prom, that even makes me feel old hahaha...!

Another really busy week... We went to the ocean today!!!!!  I was going to put my sd card in this computer but almost lost my card because the port turned out to be just a hole... that was close... So I'm going to see what I can do next week. Today was the first time I had ever been to the Atlantic ocean, and the first time in Argentina haha.... Kind of ironic because a third of the missionaries in this mission are in areas right next to the ocean!

We had interviews on Saturday during the district meetings. In my meeting, there was my comp, Elder Harvey who is my zone leader and I'm his district leader haha (we get along really well :)), the two sisters, Sister Perdomo and Sister Marin... One is from Honduras and the other one is from Chile, the Assistant Elder Bird, and the President's wife Hermana Parreño. It was a full meeting with a lot of power in one room. I was pretty humbled but also told that I gave a good meeting. And that I was able to bring a lot of unity in my district.... that made me happy. 

And in my interview with Presidente... it was fantastic. Those are some good uplifting talks... :)

We had a lesson with an Evangelical Pastor the other day.... An Evangelical pastor that just happened to arrive in the middle of our lesson. It was interesting... at the end he said that he had to leave.. Let's say that we won that one but realized again that we have to be super careful to not drive the spirit away and bring contention in a lesson.

How's Walker doing en España? He's going to be in his own area soon right?

Thank you for sending packages :) I have one favor more... in one of those packages that you are going to send can you send more of the Hersheys chocolate with Almonds? I have an investigator that I want to give some to.. :)  I gave her some and she really liked it so i would like to give her some more.

Sister Marin in my district wants some recipes, one for some sort of oatmeal bread and another for chocolate chip cookies... I don't know what kind of oatmeal bread she's talking about ,maybe just thought that I would know being from the states.Can you help me out there Mom? :)

Here is our plan with Claudia... she's had some problems with the branch so our idea is to bombard her with members to show that yes the members love them and miss them going to church... Let them go for 2 weeks, just a bunch of different members going by to visit, that's going to help a bunch. I know that they have testimonies so we're trying to help them get baptized before the end of the transfer... 

And we are trying to find more new investigadores every day... :) so that we have a Quarry of investigadores as Presidente would say :) 

But I have to go now.... Love you Mom !!! 

Thanks for the pictures from Walker, Madrid is really big..! (whistle)...

Tendonitis from making cotton candy? Is tendonitis like carpal tunnel? (I have no idea how to spell that)... the thing that violin players can get later in life..?

Grandpa said to "send Wyatt 100 dollars"?? haha that's fantastic!!

I just read the letter you sent, from Mr. McLennan when I was in Kindergarten, hahahaha I hadn't read that before ever. I'll be honest, I laughed pretty hard right there haha...

You know what, I am 21 months into the mission, I think every one of the friends that I had have forgotten about me... Oh well :)

We've had a couple of rough weeks here, trying to find new investigadors and help even our converts get baptized. We're doing alright but it's just a battle, the good battle :)  We had to tell Claudia, in a careful nice way while being direct, that she didn't have the right to judge the members for their faults, and that it was foolish to let that get in the way of the real reason why she needs to go to church, and why she needs to take her kids to church so that THEY CAN GET CONFIRMED... And the cool part is, that she understood, I could see it in her eyes and I felt that it was told to her fairly well, she didn't get mad and close up. If we had gone blazing guns trying to boss her around, we would have been toast. Just like in any other opportunity when I had tried to boss my own brothers around...

the bad part is, is that she still didn't come to church and we're going to have to keep helping her so that those children can get baptized. I have a feeling that it's going to be alright. This is really interesting, I have learned more how to love people and know how it feels when people that you love don't make good decisions. It just makes you want to say, what were you thinking??  and makes you want to do what you can so that they can make the right choice. The whole mission, I have been feeling and seeing that, but it's even more now.

I have a request... I would love a big box of Swiss Miss hot chocolate. Because I can heat water really fast here, and have something nice for when it's cold. And I think you can send that like you were able to send the Reese's Puffs, wrapping it up and just sending it. I would love that :)  The hot chocolate here, I have to make with milk... And I can get water easier :)

I can't believe it... Walker's package that you sent him gets there faster than mine gets here... I even think Madrid Spain is a little bit further!

I'm sending you a photo of the last leadership conference that we had about two weeks ago.

There are  a few places that I need to go to next Monday where I will be taking photos, a couple of murals and we're going to the ocean next week. Taking the bus to the Boca...

I think I already told you this but Elder Perkins, one of my comps from Santa Rosa is in my zone now. We are the 2 district leaders in the zone now, and it is great to be with him again :)

This Friday we have interviews with President along with our District meeting. And I think Pres is going to be sitting in my district meeting.. Pressure's on...

Love you mom :!!!!!!

Questions I asked last week that you did not answer or respond to in any way. Let's review: (sorry, sweetie, but Communication is a word that is almost always capitalized in my head...)

1. Has the new Pope being from Argentina had any affect on your work there? (conversational question--I'm curious...)

Alright you have a point, I didn't communicate myself that well last week, I can't remember why but whatever....
Several people have asked me about the Pope, even in the middle of lessons as a question that is completely irrelevant to the point when we are teaching. To my work personally, I haven't seen a whole lot of changes... a couple of people have shouted out his name as if he was the new football coach when passing by in a car, or like one time when we passed by an auto shop and they yelled out his name. And like I said, a couple of people have asked us our opinion, we give them an answer, and then we immediately get back to the point, and they forget they even asked that question :)

2. [door-to-door tracting]  It's just impossible without the Holy Ghost, isn't it? (rhetorical question--ok to ignore)

3. Speaking of Easter, I sent you some Easter stuff--too late to arrive before Easter, I know--but when it DOES arrive, I want a photo of you and your companion in the ears, ok? (question suggests a need for confirmation)

I didn't think it needed a confirmation because I took it into account that I would just automatically do it, "Make sure to put ears on, and take picture.."... AND the package hasn't gotten to me yet...
  
4. Longaniza sausage? (Also rhetorical. Move on)

5. I keep asking, and you haven't answered yet... do you have an official Release Date? I've been planning on the end of July sometime, is that right? (Third time I've asked, requires a response that includes specifics, if you want a ride from the airport)

Release date, I don't know the exact date, but I think it will be the 24th of July, when I will get into the airport in Salt Lake. I'll be honest, I think I'm being kind of a diva about talking about the release date because I don't want to think about it at all. In this case, I feel justified in blissfully ignoring the release date :) But yeah, I think it is the 24th, that Wednesday. I will embark on the journey that Tuesday morning the 23rd.

6. You sold your coat to another missionary? I don't understand why one of your companions would need a coat in Uruguay when your area is in Argentina??  (Actually, I sort of figured this out after I wrote and sent this question... your companion is not going to Uruguay while ON his mission, he wants the coat for when he RETURNS to Uruguay, where he is from, correct? Nevertheless, it would be nice if you would explain what was so different/special/better about this coat that he wanted/needed to buy it from you)...

It does get cold in Uruguay trust me.. apparently Santa Rosa was hotter than Rivera, a city on the border of Uruguay and Brazil... and Santa Rosa is a lot more south than Rivera. It was my special Krew jacket, and that particular jacket you can't find it in Uruguay ni Argentina, and if you could it would be extremely expensive. So I sold it to him for a good deal, and it was a lot cheaper than it would have ever been in my comps country. 

7. But you still have a coat, and everything else you need for the length of your own stay, right? (Needs clarification of your current status, so that I don't worry)

And I'm fine... Elder Yarger gave me a wind breaker, Elder Garrison gave me his warm liner jacket that he got from Elder King... I still have the long outer shell of that one jacket that we bought from Mr. Mac (my own liner got mold on it so I just threw it away), and I even found an extra long sleeve sweater here in Viedma that is really warm, and I have my scarf, and I think some members in Santa Rosa gave me some gloves... yep, I still have them, and somewhere along the way, I found an extra beanie, if I ever needed it...... ( sorry run on sentence...)

8. You're not going to sell your plasma, too, right?? (Sarcastic. ok to ignore)

9. You said something about an extra 30 minutes in the Cyber... is that an extra 30 minutes that you now have EVERY P-Day because of the who-you-can-email change? (Legitimate question based on something you mentioned in a previous email. Also want to confirm that you will still have time to write to your mother, in spite of the additional emails you may now receive.)

.... Yes.....

Ok, now this... from your last letter... what does this mean? "Oh and by the time I get home make sure that the missionaries have my number... :)"  

10. What missionaries?
11. Um, what number? You don't have a phone anymore.
12. For what purpose?
13. What, exactly, do you want me to do??

Make sure that the missionaries assigned to our Stake/area have my cell phone number so that I can accompany them when they need somebody in a lesson... but I'll just take care of that when I get home, don't worry about doing anything now... 

I found a box in the garage that was full of old things needing to be scrapbooked, the letter from your principal at Newman Elementary, detailing the events that led to you punching Craig in the nose, on the bus. I still remember your dad incredulously shaking his head, and exclaiming, "But he's only in kindergarten!" :)

I want to see and have that letter from Newman Elementary.... 

This week was pretty rough, because my comp was sick for 4 days. Bahía was great in that leadership conference, and general  conference was even better.. It was absolutely fantastic.... 

I'm really happy... I want to work... and I want to teach.. to baptize... 

I love you.. :)

Well I guess I should keep you informed.... Those two kids got
baptized, but the mom got mad for some reason and decided not to take them to church on Sunday... so they didn't get confirmed members...

I'll be honest, it's super painful. I'm tired of stuff like that
happening, because it isn't the first time. So we're just going to
work. Start fortifying the branch better for when new people do come, because then they can have a good group of members that are going to take care of them.

It's almost like an orphanage... if you have kids that don't have any
support and they start going to an orphanage that doesn't have the true capacity to take care of the kids.. they aren't going to survive.
I'm not saying that we're all toast down here and the branch is a
failure, just saying that we have some things to do :)

I'm going to Bahía again tonight... Another leadership conference.
And I get to be on the bus with Elder Perkins... that is going to be
fantastic.. :)

This was a pretty rough week. We've had a hard time being able to
teach... a few little problems in the house, but we resolved
everything and we are re-creating the strategy... :)

I love you mom. I hope there is a package for me when I get to
Bahía. And I'm going to write to Walker now... Bye!!!

I just found out today, but YES! Now we can email other people, it's not against the rules anymore :) 

Yeah the other week was super rough, just because we've had a difficult time in finding some new investigators and we're having a difficult time with some of the investigators that we already had.... but we are doing alright now. Still trying to work with some people, but some things have calmed down...

Micaela and Lucas GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We were really happy for these baptisms. And we're working for one more this weekend, and for more later. We are really excited for a new transfer.... I'm still in Viedma and we are really excited to find more people and help them get to church so that the Branch can grow. 

Just so you know, I have a little bit more time in the ciber in order to write... 30 more minutes... Pretty cool huh?

Elder Thorton and Elder Perkins came to Viedma this transfer. Elder Thorton was an Elder in my district in Santa Rosa and now he's in my district again, and now he's my zone leader haha! And Elder Perkins, my comp almost a year ago in Santa Rosa, is the other district leader now here in Patagones. 

We're trying to help make the foundation of the branch so that when new people start coming in, they stay, and have a better experience. It's pretty difficult because it's a small branch and..... it's just.... small. There are faithful members that are amazing, but we need more of those faithful members :) 

I was studying about Charity today, and was was able to get a better insight about how having charity, one can really do great works in order to bless others. And something that I realize more and more is that Charity gives the drive to keep going, trying to do everything possible so that they can receive and see those blessings from God. Even when I'm dead exhausted or frustrated, or sad for trials that come... I really needed to study that this morning. If one really puts the well-being of others before himself, it will make the difference. 

I guess you can tell others that they can email me.... That would be really cool come back next Monday and there are like 20 different new emails in the account, that'd be really cool :) 

Is there Spanish salami in the states? Here it's called longaniza... it's super good. 

Mom thank you for everything. I know that you now have two missionaries in the field so the possibilities of sending money are kind of slim. I was wondering if you could send me around 40 dollars for emergency money in case I need to go to Bahía. If you can send more money that would be wonderful, haha for back up money and maybe some extra gift shop money. I sold one of my coats to my comp so I have some personal money. I didn't need to sell it, and I wouldn't have sold it, but he really wanted it. And he and I both know that it would be super difficult to get a coat like that when he returns to Uruguay... 

I love you mom!!! Chau!!!   

Your description of your crazy week reminds me of my whole p-day today... Everything went wrong haha. But whatever, there is always somebody worse off. But we were able to do some of the most important things, like clean the house :) 

Tell Walker..... Godspeed. And to read chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. Tell him not to ever give up... to be completely diligent... And that I love him...

We're planning on at least 2 baptisms this weekend, and we are going to have a great week. This is the last week of a transfer that was 9 weeks--that's pretty long. We are going to to the best we can. 

Mom I love you.... And I'm gonna go work right now.... :)
Thanks for everything... 

So this was a super hard week. To be honest, one of the more difficult things for me to handle. This investigator that we were teaching didn't get baptized this Saturday as planned, and it just killed me... We are teaching this whole family (La Familia Campos) and unfortunately every person is at a different stage of progress. Obviously that's something normal... but this time the unbalance of progress hurt us bad. Because Camila, the girl that was going to get baptized, all of the sudden changed her mind because (we think--actually, we're pretty positive) her sister was telling her not to get baptized, that the mom wasn't going to let her do it and just a bunch of other things... 

This girl Camila was so excited, and I'm positive that in a couple of weeks, more from her family are going to get baptized. After the interview we walked them to the house, went in, and sat down by the older brother and Claudia, the other girl who's going to get baptized soon. And Camila went into her room... Soon after followed two of her sisters, one who was good, and the other one who seemed pretty sinister, and later the brother... Everyone was talking to her, trying to see if something was wrong, while we sat away by the table waiting. Later came the sinister-seeming-sister, Florencia, who told us that their mom didn't want Camila to get baptized--which was a lie--and even tried to make up reasons why not to be baptized, trying to misconstrue the truth. She said that Camila wasn't going to want to go on a mission because it was an absolute "requirement" for baptism... also, not true. Later, Camila finally came out with tears in her eyes and a heart full of embarrassment, and said in a really mousy voice that she didn't want to get baptized, didn't even want to tell us why, nor talk to us, when we ask her all the time HOW SHE IS DOING, TRYING TO DISCERN WHAT IS GOING ON IN HER HEAD.

We still have to figure out why, and I have the confidence that the others in the family are going to help her, and one another, so that they're all fine. And I know that others are going to get baptized soon... But just the fact that someone gets so close, with so much happiness and excitement to accept the gospel, and then jumps off the cliff not wanting to be helped, and having a family where some are against it and some that want to respect the agency so much that they do not dare say anything that will seem in favor for the baptism because they could be hurting the agency of someone that the only thing they tell her is to just decide. Then comes more pressure and nobody wants to come out and talk about the situation (Camila). And then even more, runs the risk that she won't get baptized..... IT JUST KILLS ME and it's not the first time that it has happened in the mission. It kills me because I love these people so much that I think about them all the time, and I try to do the necessary things to help them get closer to Christ. I'm not perfect at all, trying to figure out what I need to do, what I need to get better at so that I can be a better missionary... to make sure that more people can get closer to Christ... 

I have to go, but I love you all...

Mom, eight of our investigators went to church last week... and it is possible that 4 get baptized this weekend.... Vamos todavía... 

No, don't throw my prom posters away, just fold them up and hide them with my snowboard stuff. Nobody sold or threw away any of the snowboard stuff did they.....? Especially my coat and snow pants... Unless it is necessary to throw those posters away...

You know what? You're right. Just take pictures of them, throw them away... Ya fue... :) 

Sorry I'm short on time today, I was reading some news from the mission office elders...

Biggest news this week is that we have investigators that are progressing and I love them so much. We're gonna keep working so that they can have that faith to keep going to church... for life. 

I love you mom ! 

The same thing that happened to Jade this week, happened to me... My comp, Elder Alvarado, who was from Buenos Aires, got emergency transferred, o specially transferred if you want to call it that. President switched Elder Alvarado with Elder Lopez and now Elder Lopez is my comp. And Elder Alvarado went to (Azul).... I was pretty bummed out also because we were doing pretty well, but Elder Lopez is just as great.

He is from Uruguay and was a lot like me before the mission (maybe that isn't a good sign... kidding :) He skated before and did a lot of the same things that I did. He a very... peaceful person... doesn't say stuff unless he needs to, a really good teacher actually, and I have enjoyed these past few days here with him. 

There aren't a whole lot of new things that have happened. The Campos Family is getting closer to baptism, and more people are getting closer to going to church. We found 15 more new investigatores last week and in one lesson we taught like 9 teenage kids at the same time... it was great. All the kids had some porcion of interest but there were a couple that just looked like they were shining.

I love Viedma... It's the best... 

Thanks for the pictures of Wilder and his prom date. Wilder is super tall, I think I'm going to look like a little kid compared to him when I get back. And yeah, we were the best at planning dances :) 

Thanks for those "why-I-go-to-church" reasons, those are really great actually... I think I'll be able to help some investigadores mejor ahora me parece :)

I need to go.... I love you!!!  I hope the package arrives soon. Tell everyone I say... Hi Everyone!