Settling In to Ushuaia

Dear Loved Ones

Looking to the Beagle Channel

First of all we did not get to watch the finals. =( Because it was a Sunday and the missionaries needed to keep the day holy. But I did get updates from the members that live in front of my pension. Apparently it went into overtime and Germany barely won with a miracle goal. I think that this is the best Argentina has played yet or the worst for Germany because Germany totally destroyed in the other games and against Brasil they won 7-1 which is unheard of in a world cup. So, props to Argentina. Also, I absolutely still love my area, I am in Monte Olivia and all of the branches have two or three companionships and some are going to get more next transfer. My area is green, that is the biggest thing. It is green, there are trees, mountains and it is BEAUTIFUL. No other city that I have been to has been like this. I am in love with Ushuaia.

Welcome to Ushuaia

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Also, about my companion. He is from Mendoza, he has a problem speaking in that he can´t pronounce his r´s and a lot of what he says comes out slightly garbled, also he has a totally screwed up family and mental history so.... I´m just trying to be a positive influence for him and trying to gain his trust. He really is a good guy and he has a good heart he just has trouble opening up to people and he´s pretty asocial. But, president told me a bit about how I can better help him and that I can call president if things get really bad. So, we´re going to see how it goes. The best thing so far is that we are living in a pension with two other elders so we have a lot of fun all the time. It´s spectacular. We party it up when we can and are totally obedient when we should be. I am loving the experience so far.

About Sunday, no I didn´t have any investigators because my area is "new" in that my comp didn´t know which part was ours and which wasn´t until recently so we have nothing to work with yet. We´re totally going to find and work for a miracle though. I know it´s going to happen. I don´t play the piano here because one of the youth plays. Also, my language skills are amazing. The majority of the people that meet me for the first time are surprised when I say that I´m from the states because I talk basically like a latino now. My comps all tell me that my accent is more latino than gringo so I´m pretty happy and I don´t miss like anything now. The only things that I have to learn are the slang and I will be golden.

Now, this week the coolest updates were that we found an investigator that said he was wanting to get closer to God right when we knocked on his door. I got to give him a book of Mormon and we taught him a good deal about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. It was totally awesome to get to know him. Even if he did end up insulting my comp by calling him a "closed person". My comp will be fine though, he just needs a lift. So, we´ll see how that goes down for us. And we had a conference with president yesterday, he talked to us a lot about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching and to use it in contacts. We also talked about if we were sacrificing our all for the gospel. Why do we obey? Is it because we want to? Or because we have to? And president ended by telling everyone that if they don´t want to change and if they don´t respect him the door home is always open and they can make that choice whenever they want. Nobody is forced to be on the mission. It was an awesome conference and I really did love it. I hope you all have a great week and that you enjoy the pictures.

Love you all tons!

Michael