Teaching the Local Youth Soccer Players

This info was sent to me (Dad) by Morfar and I sent it on the Elder Sirrine:

Dear Elder Sirrine

Just a little south of the "end of the world"

WASHINGTON (AP) — Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for "soul-crushing" cold.

Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.

A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.

The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.

Ice scientist Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said the new record is "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota."

It would be fun to be down there now at the peak of summer. But maybe not so fun in mid-winter. These temperatures are at the south pole so it's a little toastier in Ushuaia.

Elder Sirrine's Zone: Trelew North

Love always Dad

Dear Mom,

I think I might bring them something. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope you guys all have a wonderful Christmas. Christmas here is not the same as in Utah. I´m starting to get used to it though. I miss Christmas though, I miss it a ton. Love you guys tons and know that I miss you and you are all in my prayers. Love you guys tons!

Love, Michael

On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 1:41 PM, <sirlinda@comcast.net> wrote:

Hello Michael,

It is so good to hear that you have a great family to spend Christmas with. That is definitively an answer to prayer. You should bring something to them as a family - like a box of chocolate or something the whole family would like. Your companion will probably help with a good suggestion. Love you lots and we look forward to hear more updates next week.

 

Lots of love from Mom

  

Two Zone conference with Elder Zeballos and President Rogers

 Dear Dad,

Thanks for sending me that. it´s a cool update. My updates from the week are rather short. We have spent a lot of time playing soccer and talking to a group of about 20 teenage kids that play on the field behind the chapel. I think that some of them can play better than some professionals. These kids are amazing! And they have been teaching me to the point that I am able to play near their level. It´s pretty awesome. The only problem is that injuries will happen. i jumped up for a header, which scored a goal for my team, and landed bad. I hit my knees on the concrete so hard that I still have bruises a week later. But we got the point which is good. My companion and I are now really good friends with those kids and they´re starting to listen to us as we teach a little bit about the gospel. They all are Evangelists and so they have some crazy odd beliefs and odd beliefs about Mormons too. It´s a lot of fun to talk to them. On Thursday we said goodbye to Enrique as he went off to Tucuman to visit his family for the holidays. He´s going to come back in about February which means that I´ll probably still be here but my companion won´t. This transfer ends on the 12th of January. 

The other things that happened this week were that we found out that one of our investigators is a smoker. Neither my companion nor I knew about it before. It was funny because we walked up right as she was about to light her cigarette and she quickly tried to hide it. She´s also traveling until January so we won´t be able to teach her for a while. Seems like everybody is traveling right now. There were only 28 people in church on Sunday counting my companion and I. Our numbers have dropped a lot. We were talking to one of the sisters yesterday and she said that she felt sorry for me starting my mission in an area with people that are so cold and closed off. But, as far as I feel I´m doing alright. I figure that if I keep working and trying the Lord will bless my efforts. We only receive blessings after the trial of our faith, Right? So, I´m going to keep working, studying and praying and the Lord will come through when the time is right. I´ve still got faith and hope.

Another interesting thing that I´ve done this week was to teach the Christmas story to someone that didn´t know it before. I didn´t realize how much I miss the Christmas spirit that there is in Utah. It´s really weird how the people celebrate Christmas here. They party all night and have fireworks. I think it´ll be interesting to see the Fireworks and I look forward to having an Asado that day. Asado is like barbeque, lots of really good meat and food. It should be awesome.

One question for you dad, we have an investigator that is living with a sister and they aren´t married. He is trying to get divorced with his wife but she lives in Tucuman and the woman that he´s living with is now two months pregnant with his baby. What should I do to help them? We talked to our ward mission leader about it, he knows a ton about the gospel, and he said that they need to split up or neither of them will be able to progress in the gospel. It seems harsh to do that to them and I think that they´re doing alright now. I just don´t really know what I should do. What do you think?

Love,

Michael