Happy Independence Day in Argentina! 05.25.2009 (Email)

Hola! ¿Cómo andan? Todo está bien acá. So, it turns out that May 25th is Independence Day in Argentina! And, it´s also ¨Independence Day¨for Allen. Allen is 99 years old today. I was actually a little nervous that we wouldn´t be able to find a computer today, but a little kiosko (really mini grocery store) is open that has computers. Yay!

I´m trying to remember to write who I get letters from so you know. I got letters from Mom, Dad, and Shari. Gracias!

Oh, the new Elder here is Elder Taylor from Rigby, Idaho! Good old Idaho. :o)

So things here are going well. We had a good week. Dad, I read a little bit of your letter about how many lessons missionaries should teach. It´s true. The help of members helps a ton. There have been weeks that we haven´t taught as many lessons as we would have liked, but this week was better. We were able to find more less active/recent converts and more lessons with investigators as well. The thing we really lacked was lessons with members... I need to work on that.

So we were able to meet Sergio and Patricia this week. We usually go only Saturday or Sunday to their house, but we talked to Sergio in the street and said he would be leaving town. So we made an exception and went Friday night. They have lot of questions, and I need to be better at guiding the lesson / conversation! But I´m glad they have questions as well. They mentioned that they were going to go to church the week before, but something came up and they weren´t able to go. And when Patricia was praying, she asked for help to be able to go to church. I thought... hum.... great! A good step.

So Sunday morning we headed out to find investigators. We went to Adriano, and he wasn´t there. Then we went to Graciela and Mariana, and we woke Graciela up. I felt a little bad, but not really. It´s funny the things you do as a missionary. :D Then we went to Sergio and Patricia. To no avail. And we tried to find the house of an investigator, also named Patricia. We have been teaching her in the house where she works, and she couldn´t remember her address. So she said the neighborhood, and the color of her house, but I think she´s a little confused about what neighborhood she lives in. The house was not to be found... Anyway, none of them ended up going to church, but we made the effort, and they atleast know we want them in church!

Last night we stopped by really quickly at Patricia and Sergio´s house, and said, ¨So, did you hear us this morning?¨ And she said, ¨That was you?¨ We assured her that it was, and that we´ll be sure to say her name next time through the door so she knows it´s us. :D We´re going to go to church together!

We had a good lesson with Daiana. She´s 25. We had taught part of The Restoration the week before, but we finished up this week. She said that this is a really good time for her to learn more and that maybe it´s ¨her time¨. That made me happy. We´re excited to teach her again this week.

One thing I wish is that people didn´t have such busy schedules! It complicates things when people have to work like they do. jaja

Oh, I believe I wrote about Andrea, and how her husband, Carlos, had wanted to watch the DVD ¨The Restoration¨. So we went over yesterday, and we taught all L1 to them, and it went well. Yay! So it turns out that Carlos is the brother of Ricardo. I don´t know if you all remember Ricardo and Marisa. Ancient investigators... Small small world.

Do you remember Hermana Eloisa Panero? The lady who has been going to church for like 7 years, and still hasn´t been able to be baptized because she´s not married? So we went over to her house yesterday to see why she hadn´t gone to church, because she´s always at church, and we talked with her son. Hna. Panero´s husband, had a brain... something... and he´s in the hospital in Roca. I think it´s pretty serious. In a coma I believe. Wow. I hope everything turns out okay.

Nope, no luck finding Fernando and Fernanda. :o( Sad.

We had a sad lesson the other day. We found a less-active member who now goes to another church. It made me very sad as we talked with her. We were also teaching her daughter. It pretty much breaks my heart when people refuse to read the Book of Mormon. They have no idea what they´re rejecting and missing. So sad.

Lets see, what else. Oh, this is exciting. Adriano is a man that lives alone. As you all know we need another lady to go with us to teach him. So we thought of Hna. Ormeño. It´s her family that we found a while back, that we eat with every other Sunday. So we thought it would be good for her, and that we´d ask Hno. Ormeño as well, because I think Adriano needs a man to relate with. So we went and talked to Flia. Ormeño about it, and they said they´d do it! Yay! So I think ít´ll be a good opportunity for them as well, because they´ll be able to share their testimonies. So we´ll pray that it all turns out like we´d like.

So how are all your missionary experiences going? Are you still praying about your lists of people of who you can share the Gospel with? Have you picked someone?

You´re all reading the scriptures every day right? I know that scripture reading is so important. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves you. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He is your personal Savior. Jesus Christ has restored His church through a living prophet. The church is true!

Always remember that I love you!

Love always,
Hermana Jamba Pincock