Hello again!
Happy 25 de Mayo! It’s one of the four big patriotic holidays today, the day of the Revolution. We were very lucky to have stumbled across an open cyber today, everything’s closed. Happy Memorial Day for you guys.
Mom, I just think that you should know that after your tech class, you’re not really going to know how to use a computer/the internet better. You’ll just be able to write web pages and code some sort of programmystuffs. I wish you luck. If you think he might be able to help you, Paul is kinda familiar with HTML.
So, we met the standard placed by Elder Oaks of talking with 140 people this week (10 a day each one). We’ve already seen some of the blessings. We’ve gotten into a few houses and they have listened to us. Woohoo! Sadly, nobody came to Church. But we have potential investigators now.
The primary is kinda big for Argentina. I don’t really know how big it is, though. The youth program, however, is just what I’m used to: a bunch of Young Men and no Young Women.
As for my last baptism, he and his mother have not come to Church the last two weeks. She’s really interested in the Temple, more curiosity than anything, so we’ve been trying to use that to lure her to Church. It’s not really working, though. We may have to threaten to not help her sand her walls.
All in all, I’m doing alright. I hope you’re all doing well.
Love,
Will
May 25, 2009
May 18, 2009
Malts!
Hellos again.
So, it was Zone Conference this week. That was good. Kinda sad because the only letter I got was one that I had tried to send that came back. :S Oh well.
So, Elder Gardner and I have started playing a game while talking with the people. We give each other words that we have to use while talking to someone. It’s really pretty fun. It makes you think of things quickly. And it’s pretty fun.
That’s great to hear about Michael [Dougherty]. I’ll absolutely send my condolences if you get me the contact info.
So, I bought new shoes today. This time they should last longer. They are a highly recommended brand: Oxigeno. I’ve met another elder with this kind of shoe and he said they held up well.
So, they’re building offices at Ground Zero, then? I wasn’t ever sure what they were going to do. It’s kinda interesting to know.
Sorry this is really short, but I can’t really think of anything else to say. I’m doing well, staying happy. I’ve found an ice cream place that does shakes and if you choose the right flavor, it turns into a malt! They have one flavor with malted milk balls. I didn’t get it, I’ll have to.
Love,
Will
So, it was Zone Conference this week. That was good. Kinda sad because the only letter I got was one that I had tried to send that came back. :S Oh well.
So, Elder Gardner and I have started playing a game while talking with the people. We give each other words that we have to use while talking to someone. It’s really pretty fun. It makes you think of things quickly. And it’s pretty fun.
That’s great to hear about Michael [Dougherty]. I’ll absolutely send my condolences if you get me the contact info.
So, I bought new shoes today. This time they should last longer. They are a highly recommended brand: Oxigeno. I’ve met another elder with this kind of shoe and he said they held up well.
So, they’re building offices at Ground Zero, then? I wasn’t ever sure what they were going to do. It’s kinda interesting to know.
Sorry this is really short, but I can’t really think of anything else to say. I’m doing well, staying happy. I’ve found an ice cream place that does shakes and if you choose the right flavor, it turns into a malt! They have one flavor with malted milk balls. I didn’t get it, I’ll have to.
Love,
Will
May 11, 2009
Baptism!
Hello again!
Happy Mother’s Day! Again.
The sun rose well on our baptism day. (Picture included) It all went pretty well. We baptized Lucas (10 years old) and his family all came. It seemed kinda like a Catholic baptism in that his sister was taking pictures of the whole ordinance. Nobody noticed that the camera was out before we began. But he got baptized. I confirmed him yesterday. I really don’t like doing confirmations. I shouldn’t be the one doing them. The missionaries shouldn’t really be the ones baptizing either. We should be the witnesses. It should be sort of a formal hand-over of the investigator from the missionaries to the members. But this ward is way too missionary-dependant anyway. All I can do is sigh and do what I can to get them more independent.
Other than that there’s not really any news. The hermana in whose house we live told us to read a book and gave us a copy to borrow. The book was “The Diary of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain. It was very entertaining. Adam thinks that Cain is a fish, then a kangaroo, then a bear. I read it is Spanish, so I don’t think I fully appreciate the book, but I think that Mom would really enjoy it. If you haven’t read it.
Well, that’s it. See ya!
Will
Happy Mother’s Day! Again.
The sun rose well on our baptism day. (Picture included) It all went pretty well. We baptized Lucas (10 years old) and his family all came. It seemed kinda like a Catholic baptism in that his sister was taking pictures of the whole ordinance. Nobody noticed that the camera was out before we began. But he got baptized. I confirmed him yesterday. I really don’t like doing confirmations. I shouldn’t be the one doing them. The missionaries shouldn’t really be the ones baptizing either. We should be the witnesses. It should be sort of a formal hand-over of the investigator from the missionaries to the members. But this ward is way too missionary-dependant anyway. All I can do is sigh and do what I can to get them more independent.
Other than that there’s not really any news. The hermana in whose house we live told us to read a book and gave us a copy to borrow. The book was “The Diary of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain. It was very entertaining. Adam thinks that Cain is a fish, then a kangaroo, then a bear. I read it is Spanish, so I don’t think I fully appreciate the book, but I think that Mom would really enjoy it. If you haven’t read it.
Well, that’s it. See ya!
Will
May 8, 2009
It's May!
Hey!
Well, first things first, Mother’s Day call. I think it would be easier/better if you called me. I do not have a member’s phone available this time. I recommend finding a decent international phone card. It shouldn’t be too hard. Just go to Giant or something. Now, because you’ll be calling a cell phone it’s kinda weird. Well, if you knew the number it would be weird. So, to save on confusion I’ll just give you the number that you’ll need to call.
Well, there it is.
And, because you liked the pictures so much, I’ll send some more. I think I’ll just send one this time, though. I tried getting pictures of the mountains, including Aconcagua, but they didn’t turn out too well because it was a hazy day. But I got some really nice sunsets where you can see the mountains. Sort of. I’ll send one of those. Also, a picture of an abandoned bodega that we found the other day that for some reason had cow heads on it. Hmmm…
So, we have a baptism on Saturday!!! WOOOOO!!!!!!! It’s Lucas. He is a ten-year-old boy and very excited to be baptized.
I have made an interesting observation. The farther you go from the mountains, the bigger they look. I think that’s kinda weird. I don’t understand it. We were as close to the mountains as our boundaries permit, and they looked kinda small. Then we were much farther away, and they looked huge. It confuses me.
Transfers have come and gone. Both Elder Gardner and I stayed. This is good. We get along well and have a great time. And we spent all of the last transfer just trying to find and meet pretty much everyone on the ward list. Now we can start finding investigators.
I’m way excited for the new Bible in Spanish. I don’t know if I’ve told you about it yet or not. It comes out in September. It has JSTs and the Bible Dictionary. It’ll be great.
Well, that’s about it.
Love,
Will
Well, first things first, Mother’s Day call. I think it would be easier/better if you called me. I do not have a member’s phone available this time. I recommend finding a decent international phone card. It shouldn’t be too hard. Just go to Giant or something. Now, because you’ll be calling a cell phone it’s kinda weird. Well, if you knew the number it would be weird. So, to save on confusion I’ll just give you the number that you’ll need to call.
Well, there it is.
And, because you liked the pictures so much, I’ll send some more. I think I’ll just send one this time, though. I tried getting pictures of the mountains, including Aconcagua, but they didn’t turn out too well because it was a hazy day. But I got some really nice sunsets where you can see the mountains. Sort of. I’ll send one of those. Also, a picture of an abandoned bodega that we found the other day that for some reason had cow heads on it. Hmmm…
So, we have a baptism on Saturday!!! WOOOOO!!!!!!! It’s Lucas. He is a ten-year-old boy and very excited to be baptized.
I have made an interesting observation. The farther you go from the mountains, the bigger they look. I think that’s kinda weird. I don’t understand it. We were as close to the mountains as our boundaries permit, and they looked kinda small. Then we were much farther away, and they looked huge. It confuses me.
Transfers have come and gone. Both Elder Gardner and I stayed. This is good. We get along well and have a great time. And we spent all of the last transfer just trying to find and meet pretty much everyone on the ward list. Now we can start finding investigators.
I’m way excited for the new Bible in Spanish. I don’t know if I’ve told you about it yet or not. It comes out in September. It has JSTs and the Bible Dictionary. It’ll be great.
Well, that’s about it.
Love,
Will
April 27, 2009
Ghosts in the apartment!
Hellos agains!
Well, this week was pretty normal, nothing too out of the ordinary. We lost an investigator to work. That was sad. But my companion bought me a delicious ice cream birthday cake. There is a picture. Yes, the flame on that candle is very tiny, but it was a very drippy candle, and I didn’t want the hot wax melting through the cake.
I’ve also sent a few other pictures. One is a sunrise from a few days ago. The other is what we have dubbed the “Haunted Mansion Picture.” So, we get kinda bored during the siesta. We have started entertaining ourselves by taking pictures with the manual setting on my camera. The result: ghosts. We want to take a picture of us street contacting a ghost and title it “Redeeming the Dead.”
Um… Sorry I’m not so chatty today. There really isn’t that much to say. The work continues. We have a baptismal date for the 9th of March. I hope it sticks this time.
Well, that’s about it. I hope you enjoy the pics.
Love,
Will
Well, this week was pretty normal, nothing too out of the ordinary. We lost an investigator to work. That was sad. But my companion bought me a delicious ice cream birthday cake. There is a picture. Yes, the flame on that candle is very tiny, but it was a very drippy candle, and I didn’t want the hot wax melting through the cake.
I’ve also sent a few other pictures. One is a sunrise from a few days ago. The other is what we have dubbed the “Haunted Mansion Picture.” So, we get kinda bored during the siesta. We have started entertaining ourselves by taking pictures with the manual setting on my camera. The result: ghosts. We want to take a picture of us street contacting a ghost and title it “Redeeming the Dead.”
Um… Sorry I’m not so chatty today. There really isn’t that much to say. The work continues. We have a baptismal date for the 9th of March. I hope it sticks this time.
Well, that’s about it. I hope you enjoy the pics.
Love,
Will
April 20, 2009
“Maipú is better than yours”
Hello again!
Yes, I did buy a new camera. It is a Samsung S860, I think . Something like that. 8.1 GB. I have started carrying the little camera with me because it is discreet and I won’t care too much if someone robs it. The new one is more bulky and harder to hide. So, forgive the lovely sunset, it would’ve been better with the other camera. You can just make it small, it looks okay small. I took another of the sun setting behind Aconcagua, but it turned out worse.
Well, the other pictures are 1) me standing under the street signs of where San Luis crosses San Juan, because I’ve been to both of those provinces; and 2) La Taberna de Moe. Yup, the Argentines like The Simpsons so much that I have found Moe’s Tavern here in San Martín.
We are teaching a guy here named Manuel. He’s old and can’t read. So, I’m downloading the Book of Mormon on MP3 for him right now. This computer’s really slow at doing it, though. At first he was skeptical as to whether he would like the Church. He kept saying that he didn’t like it when the Pastor touched people and they fell down. The woman he lives with kept saying that this Church isn’t like that, but he always answered with “We’ll see on Sunday.” We talked with him yesterday and he told us that he’d “maybe like to do that thing, you know, with the water where they baptize.” This is good for us because it means that he wants to be baptized. Huzzah!
Oh, we’re making shirts for the Zone (the Maipú Zone) that say “Maipú is better than yours”. If anyone wants this unique souvenir from Argentina, let me know and I’ll get you one.
Well, that’s about all I’ve got for this week. Thanks for all your birthday wishes.
Love,
Will
Yes, I did buy a new camera. It is a Samsung S860, I think . Something like that. 8.1 GB. I have started carrying the little camera with me because it is discreet and I won’t care too much if someone robs it. The new one is more bulky and harder to hide. So, forgive the lovely sunset, it would’ve been better with the other camera. You can just make it small, it looks okay small. I took another of the sun setting behind Aconcagua, but it turned out worse.
Well, the other pictures are 1) me standing under the street signs of where San Luis crosses San Juan, because I’ve been to both of those provinces; and 2) La Taberna de Moe. Yup, the Argentines like The Simpsons so much that I have found Moe’s Tavern here in San Martín.
We are teaching a guy here named Manuel. He’s old and can’t read. So, I’m downloading the Book of Mormon on MP3 for him right now. This computer’s really slow at doing it, though. At first he was skeptical as to whether he would like the Church. He kept saying that he didn’t like it when the Pastor touched people and they fell down. The woman he lives with kept saying that this Church isn’t like that, but he always answered with “We’ll see on Sunday.” We talked with him yesterday and he told us that he’d “maybe like to do that thing, you know, with the water where they baptize.” This is good for us because it means that he wants to be baptized. Huzzah!
Oh, we’re making shirts for the Zone (the Maipú Zone) that say “Maipú is better than yours”. If anyone wants this unique souvenir from Argentina, let me know and I’ll get you one.
Well, that’s about all I’ve got for this week. Thanks for all your birthday wishes.
Love,
Will
April 13, 2009
¡Felices Pascuas!
¡Felices Pascuas!
Don’t really know why it’s plural, but it is. It’s kind of really annoying that they use the same word for Easter and Passover. It makes things kinda complicated when I try to explain things. I have to say “la Pascua de los Judíos.” Good Friday was a really big deal here, but after that nothing. Nobody seemed to care about Resurrection Sunday. Sad. Also sad was that we didn’t even sing any of the two Easter hymns in Spanish. Easter was barely even mentioned by anyone in the testimony meeting. It’s weird to me, though that they can go without even thinking of Easter, but on Good Friday they will still not eat meat. We found one member who still believes in the Virgin. We were talking about the crucifixion and resurrection with her and she started talking about how Mary just cleaned up the blood behind Christ and it was hard, but she let him suffer so that mankind could be saved. Sometimes I would like to know how some of these traditional beliefs came about.
Hope everyone had a happy Easter.
In our daily ritual of doing Abrir La Boca (Open the Mouth) I asked people what they thought the importance of la Pascua was. One woman said “Well, it’s a party. A Jesus Party. Right?” Another man said “It’s a tradition that isn’t based in anything real.” And a third hit the mark closest with “It’s when we remember the suffering and crucifixion of Christ ... and the resurrection.” It was interesting to see people's answers.
Speaking of a Jesus Party, Elder Gardner showed me a pamphlet that a friend of his serving in NYC sent him. It talked about a great party in Heaven that Jesus was hosting. And you’re invited! Woo hoo! There wasn’t a church or anything attached, you just had to say a little prayer that was inside and you accepted the invitation. But there was a website on the back. I believe it was www.thefamily.org/family. Maybe I’ll go check it out when I get back.
Other than that, nothing new. I think I’ll probably get a new camera in the coming weeks.
Till next week.
Will
Don’t really know why it’s plural, but it is. It’s kind of really annoying that they use the same word for Easter and Passover. It makes things kinda complicated when I try to explain things. I have to say “la Pascua de los Judíos.” Good Friday was a really big deal here, but after that nothing. Nobody seemed to care about Resurrection Sunday. Sad. Also sad was that we didn’t even sing any of the two Easter hymns in Spanish. Easter was barely even mentioned by anyone in the testimony meeting. It’s weird to me, though that they can go without even thinking of Easter, but on Good Friday they will still not eat meat. We found one member who still believes in the Virgin. We were talking about the crucifixion and resurrection with her and she started talking about how Mary just cleaned up the blood behind Christ and it was hard, but she let him suffer so that mankind could be saved. Sometimes I would like to know how some of these traditional beliefs came about.
Hope everyone had a happy Easter.
In our daily ritual of doing Abrir La Boca (Open the Mouth) I asked people what they thought the importance of la Pascua was. One woman said “Well, it’s a party. A Jesus Party. Right?” Another man said “It’s a tradition that isn’t based in anything real.” And a third hit the mark closest with “It’s when we remember the suffering and crucifixion of Christ ... and the resurrection.” It was interesting to see people's answers.
Speaking of a Jesus Party, Elder Gardner showed me a pamphlet that a friend of his serving in NYC sent him. It talked about a great party in Heaven that Jesus was hosting. And you’re invited! Woo hoo! There wasn’t a church or anything attached, you just had to say a little prayer that was inside and you accepted the invitation. But there was a website on the back. I believe it was www.thefamily.org/family. Maybe I’ll go check it out when I get back.
Other than that, nothing new. I think I’ll probably get a new camera in the coming weeks.
Till next week.
Will
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