Just Keep Moving Forward

Hola Loved ones,

Not gonna sugar coat it but this week was hard, and frustrating. The highlight of the week was we had a baptism, Flor Mancilla! She is 9 and the service was so powerful. There is so much love for her in the family and in the ward. I had the opportunity to confirm her member of the Church. It was my first time doing that. It was a very powerful experience.

My companion and I have been sick this week, Elder Barboza had to go to the hospital to get checked out. He has Laryngitis right now. I have problems with my throat right now also. Its hard to work when you feel terrible. But thats the life of a missionary, you work all the time regardless.

Our other investigators, have all seemed to hit a huge wall. And we are having a hard time finding new people to teach. The people in Salta are not as open as they were in Tucuman. Its frustrating but we wont give up and we will keep moving forward.

I feel like we didnt do our best this week to be honest and we can do a lot better. I feel a lot better now then I did previous and I am ready to bring it and give it all.

This email is kind of short sorry, not a lot happened this week outside of the baptism.

Love you guys.

This computer wont let me upload photos right now. Until next week.!

Elder Batman

¿USTED ES PARAGUAYO?

HOLA FAMILIA, AMIGOS, AND CHANGOS

I LOVE IT HERE IN MITRE. The Barrio here is so organized and willing to help in the missionary work. They are very kind, and theres like 150 people attending. Its so much differnent than the little Rama in Monteros.Change is good.  It is beautiful here. Its very mountainous. We are like in a small valley surrounded by big hills. It is not humid here. Its really like if you mixed Utah and Portland Together. Its been raining a lot, Ive been just been using my boots here. The dirt roads are trashed, so I think Ill just wear my dress shoes for Sundays. . The members are very great They are very willing to come out and work with us and meet us at appointments. It really makes a huge difference when a member is a part of lessons. We only had one lesson this week where a member WASNT there.

Elder Barboza is a great guy, I am learning a lot from him. Hes helping so much with my Spanish, and he really has a great love for the people. I will learn how to love the people a lot more here with him.

We have a baptism this next week. Flor Mencilla. She is 9 years old and is so willing to follow Christ. She is awesome, and remembers the lessons, and reads her scriptures. Shes a capa. (stud but feminine)

People think my espanol is pretty good here. People either think I am from The US or Paraguay, because of hair, complexion, and my size and height, and my lack of a gringo accent. Thats good I guess. PARAGUAYO.

I love it here, and theres a lot of work to be done here. I am ready, and willing to work.

FOTOS 

Elder Barboza

A little bit of the Elders from La Zona de Salta

The Plaques (THE SIGN WAS A GIFT FROM A MEMBER)

The Club Atletico San Martin Jersey from Leonel

Elder Barboza

Elder Mejia

The  Familia Sanchez de Salta 

LOVE YOU ALL CIAO

Elder Batman

HASTA LUEGO TUCUMÁN. HOLA SALTA!

 HOLA,

I have been transferred! I am now in Mitre 1, which is in Salta Capital. It is about 5 hours away from Monteros. I am now about 20 minutes away from the Mission Office. This area has about 150 people attending in the Barrio. I am no longer part of a Rama. We have an actual chapel, with a font! This area has a lot of investigators and the members are very willing to work. We should have members with us a lot. The reason it is called Mitre 1 is because there is another compañerismo en our barrio also. Our District Leader lives with us in our pension. He is going to train, he will have his hijo this Wednesday. They are in Mitre 2. I think it will be fun living with another compañerismo.

I have a new compañero. Elder José Barboza. He has 3 transfers left in the mission. He is from Lima, Peru. He will help me so much with my Spanish. He is a stud, and I will learn a lot from him. He is organized and has a good attitude. I am excited to work in Salta. I am really going to miss Monteros. It was weird. I had this weird feeling all week that I was going to leave. Which is very uncommon. Usually you stay one or more transfers more after training. Elder Cloud is now District Leader in Monteros. 

I am really going to miss Familia Sanchez, and the Familia de Jose. Eva accepted to be baptized this week. She will be baptized on Dec 8 which is the Day of The Virgin Mary. She is leaving her Catholic roots behind on a symbolic day. Shes theatrical, I am sad I will miss her baptism but I am excited that she will be baptized. Leonel has been a really good friend to me and I will really miss messing with him. I hope he serves a mission. He would be great. I really hope José continues to progress in the Gospel, and become a priesthood holder. I will miss the opportunity to see him recieve the Priesthood in December, but oh well. I know he is in good hands.

I am going to miss Elder Cloud. We had our ups and downs but I really learned a lot from him and we taught well together. He has taught me a lot about the work of a missionary and helped my spanish to be up to par. I know he will amount to great things.

Funny Interesting Things

Elder Cloud were on a bus and a whole team of a 16 to 18 year old Womens Soccer Team came on the bus. I have never really been sexually harrassed before in my life, but man in Argentina its an every other day occurance. On the bus they kept yelling stuff at us cat calling us or so to speak. Telling us to stay on the bus. And two smacked my butt......... Dude, they are ruthless here. WE WERE IN REALITY IN THE SNAKE PIT.

I have decided I am going to buy one jersey from every area in my mission. I bought a Club Atletico San Martin Jersey. I had Leonel get it for me and to my suprise he got my last name put on it and my number in football (1). 

I have definitely gained weight here, for some reason in the beginning I was losing weight like crazy and then I have gained it back. I have lost a lot of muscle and gained fat. I havent had a healthy meal in like 4 months. Everything is either greasy, fried, oily, or sugary. I am being more careful about what I eat when I have the choice to pick what I want to eat. But with lunches its rough.

When you have gained weight, THEY WILL TELL YOU. (Elder Batman, usted es a poco mas gordito) YA FUE!

Miss you all, Love you guys! You guys are in my thoughts and Prayers.

CIAO

Elder Batman

 

WASSUP BOODEE

​​​​HOLA FAMILIA, AMIGOS, Y CHANGOS.

This week had a lot of work, and we're chugging along. We are teaching a lot with members and there testimonies and willingness to work has helped out a lot. Right now, we've kind of hit a wall with finding new investigators. Any of them we've found are either not progressing or are never around. We're gonna try some different things and see how it goes this week. VAMOS

The Mom of José has a lot of interest in the Gospel. She said seeing her son being baptized was one of the greatest feeling shes ever had. She was curious how I felt when I baptized her son. I told her that it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my life. She said that she has seen the change in her son and that he has been such a blessing in the home. She wants José to be a missionary some day and bring the blessings to other people. She likes to read the Book of Mormon. She is just so busy and hard to find. She is the sister of our other investigator Hector. The two families are close. One problem we have though is that Josés Mom, Feliza. and Rosa are SCARED OF GOING UNDERWATER. That is one road block ahead of us right now with progressing towards the goal of baptism.....

On Saturday, we forgot that it was fast Sunday the next day. So we didnt start our fast until 10 o clock in the night Saturday. Normally we start at like 4 on Saturdays so we can eat Dinner on Sunday. Yesterday was the real struggle. We had investigators and members offering us food and juice and water, and we had to decline because of our fast. Fasting when it is that hot and humid out was so hard, but the purpose of my fast helped me to endure. BUT MAN I WAS THIRSTY. My testimony of fasting has grown tremendously in the mission, and I have seen the blessings that have came from it in abundance.

During testimony meeting yesterday, José bore this testimony. And that was one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. For an 11 year old boy, he is incredible. His testimony of how the Gospel has changed his life and his testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ was a feeling so powerful. His testimony really motivated a lot of the member of our little branch. They were all so moved by it. I am so proud of him and his progress. He will be a missionary some day.

This weeks been hard. I really believe The Lord is testing me, he wants me to work harder. I believe that he really helped us with our baptisms earlier. But now I believe he wants us to work much much more for it. We are making the changes necessary to find success here. I will keep working. I love this work but it is so hard sometimes. I wish having the ability to do what I want to. But Its okay. I chose this and I love it and my testimony of my savior grows more and more each day with the work. I am seeing miracles big and small every day. My testimony of prayer has grown tremendously and the importance of searching the scriptures. We really need all the help we can In these last days.

Funny Things

I am becoming a Tucumáno with my Spanish, I am developing there kind of way of speaking spanish without even realizing it. It just kind of comes. Tucumános are very slang heavy in their Spanish, I dont say thaty because as missionaries we have to speak proper and formally, but I defintely got the Tucumáno accent down. An example of what a Tucumáno says (I DO NOT TALK LIKE THIS)

Normal Ha Visto (Have you seen) Tucumáno Habeatoh....It took me so long to understand them, I finally can.

Our Elders Quorum President, Patricio, is learning to become an English professor. But hes going to a school that learns England English. Its really funny to hear him talk and the words he says. Hes got a long way to go, we are helping him out. But picture a Latino trying to speak in a British accent, its hilarious.

Dani, one of our members, says a lot of English slang to me that he sees on the Internet. Since he has a Latino Accent and pronounces it as such its funny to hear. He says Whats up buddy to me but its like WASSUP BOODEE. I am teaching him the ways, but its really funny.

I really got to work on not being so sarcastic, oh well, VAMOS

Todo bien acá, Les Quiero. Nos Vemos.

Elder Batman

Fotos

Elder Clouds drawing for my Missionary Autograph Book.

BAUTISMO DE JOSE