Christmas Skype

Dear Family,

To answer your questions, the last time I laughed with my companion was last night and we were joking about Spongebob. Something that makes me laugh in my area is how frustrated my companion gets at the uneven sidewalks. My president is going to give us a new Book of Mormon for New Years that we have to read and mark before April 6th. The people work here all the time. There are really weird hours that people are home, and I do my laundry at least once a week if not more.

Michael saying goodbye

Family and Kendall Skypeing with Michael

Now, thanks for the updates about all of you and for the pictures. I also have pictures to send to you. Also, I had a totally awesome Christmas and I loved being able to talk to you. I told you most of everything in the Skype call so today is just an update of the rest of the week. On Thursday I watched the last 20 min of Frozen (showed up late) and we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. I really loved that movie and I want to watch all of Frozen when I get home. And then nothing really happened until Sunday night when we challenged one of our investigators to get baptized and he accepted. He has been listening to the missionaries for a year and now he has stopped smoking and is planning on moving out so he can be baptized. He is an amazing person and I hope that he gets baptized. Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Michael

Merry Christmas

Dear Family,

This week has been a bit odd for us. We had the opportunity to help our Bishop and one of our investigators build parts of a kitchen. That was a lot of fun, we got to chisel walls, dig pits, and we helped put up drywall. The sad thing is that our investigator is going to Misiones (northern Argentina) for the holidays but he is going to come back for a week or two in January to finish the kitchen and then he´s going home forever. It was good to say goodbye to him though. 

We also helped the bishop from another ward who lives in our area with some service as well. We helped clean out his backyard a lot and we started to help him dig out the foundation of his house because the wood is starting to rot. His house wasn´t built well by the person who owned it first. That was a lot of work and it was a lot of fun. That bishop (his last name is Jerez) Has a lot of family over and on Sunday we got to eat lunch with them which turned out to be a very spiritual experience. His family are all converts to the church and his mom and one of his brothers started telling us their life stories basically. They have had some crazy experiences, when  his mom started investigating the church her oldest son (now the bishop) got Meningitis and they had him in the hospital. She said that the only thing that she could remember about the missionaries was that they could give blessings so they called the Elders and they gave her son a blessing. Her son was basically in a coma before and when the Elders blessed him his eyes started to twitch and she knew that he was going to be okay. Then, about five years ago, she had a grandson that died at 10 that wasn´t baptized because her daughter and her son in law are really against the church. But, she took his name to the temple and did his work and she said that she could feel her grandson there with her and when she told her son in law that she had done the work for his son she said that he could also feel the spirit and that he has started softening his heart to come back to the church. And then they told us that we were exemplary sons of God and that missionaries are valiant because the mission is like going to the frontlines of the war. It was a really cool lunch and the food was delicious which is a plus.

Mission Christmas Card

Comodoro North Zone

The other thing that happened this week is that we have started knocking all of the doors in our area and it has been interesting. We haven´t seen any miracles yet but it has been hard to keep going. The patagonia is a really cold place in terms of people. Nobody trusts anybody and very few people really want to talk about God. So, as we contact we get rejected more often than not and it wears on you. But we keep going because we know why we´re here and what we have that the people need. I have also been talking to my companion a lot about that this week too and one thing that I found in my personal study that helped me a lot. It is in Alma chapter 21 which talks about Aaron and his mission. When he started all he found were people that mocked him for his beliefs and kicked him out of various different cities and he ended up in jail, starved and bound when Ammon came and freed him. But, after he bore with patience his afflictions it says that the Lord started to bless them and they were able to do great things. That is the hope that I have, that I can bear my afflictions and that you can all endure the hard times so that we can get to the part where the Lord blesses us. There is a light at the end of every tunnel you just have to hold on long enough for the light to appear.

Also, I am looking forward to Christmas and I am going to Skype you all on the 25th at about 11 my time. Which should be 7 in the morning for you. Look forward to seeing you all! Love you tons!

Love,

Michael

Christmas Songs

Well, this week is going to be a shorter email. Sorry.

This week the big things that have happened are that we did another service project and got to move a lot of trash and help out na hermano a lot. Then on Sunday we got to sing in a choir of missionaries and show people a lot of songs that we normally sing around Christmas time in English. It was a lot of fun and my comp did amazingly with his solo. He sang and played the guitar. IT was beautiful and we had the Disney princess of the mission sing with him. It was awesome. She has a beautiful voice. And that´s really all that happened. Also, O holy night is a gorgeous song and when we performed it you could really feel the spirit. And transfers came and went with no changes I´m still with my companion for 6 weeks. Love you all tons and I look forward to Skypeing with you on Christmas!

Love,

Michael

Thanksgiving Dinner in Comodoro

Dear Family,

Thanks for the emails and the pictures. You guys look great! I´m always happy to see you all and I am really happy that you get to see Christmas lights. It is a very different feeling here around Christmas. The people don´t get the Christmas spirit the same way we do. Or very few of them do. IT´s really sad.

 

Comodoro Rivadavia District

Thanksgiving Rolls

This week we had the opportunity to eat a mock Thanksgiving, totally delicious. With stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and meat. The meat was the entire leg of the cow. It was awesome! We also did a play and had a story of the first thanksgiving to help the Latino missionaries understand why it is so important to the Gringos. It was a lot of fun. Then we had a zone meeting on Friday which went really well. We talked about our personal testimonies, what to do if you get a dear John, and about offering our "whole soul" to Christ. Read Omni 1:26 it´s a good verse. 

Thanksgiving Stuffing

Thanksgiving Potatoes, Corn, and Garvy

Thanksgiving Meat, Leg of Cow

Then on Saturday we did service for a member family helping them to weed and clean up their yard. It was long hard work but it was a lot of fun. It reminded me a lot of home and I thought, "dad offered to pay me to do this work and now I´m doing it as service!" Weird thought that. And that family also invited us to go over to their house for Christmas. And I think that´s where I´m going to Skype to you guys from, I totally love the Rotondo family. They are seriously amazing. And that´s really all that happened this week. It´s been really chill. My investigators are doing good. One man is stopping smoking and we have other people that are getting testimonies step by step. It´s all going great here. I would love if you all shared things from the scriptures that you learn. I absolutely love the scriptures now. They are amazing. Love you all tons and hope you have a good week!

Love,

Michael

Baptism Interview

Dear Family,

First off, thanks for the emails and updates about how things are going for you all. It sounds like things are going great there at home and that you are all happy. It makes me happy.  Also, I got the package that you sent me for Christmas. I haven´t read all of the letters because I´m saving some for Christmas.  But thanks a ton for all of the things that you sent.

Now, this week has been super crazy and super spiritual. The hermanas in my district had a baptism this week! That was the spiritual part. I got to interview one of the people and that was an experience. Also, my zone leader and I  (we did divisions for the interviews) were treated like general authorities by the members in the rama (branch). It´s about 3 hours away from the city of Comodoro and they almost never see Elders or other members. So for us to be there was a big deal and they thanked us several times for the spirit we brought and for being there. It was cool.

The crazy parts were that on Thursday we went out to Sarmiento (the little city) to do the interviews and the couple didn't think that they were ready and were doubting the baptism. So, we tried to help them as much as we could but they didn't say yes there. So we went home sad and planned to go back the next day, Friday. We go back and the hermanas told us that they had talked to their investigators and they had changed their mind. They had prayed and decided to get baptized. So we did the interviews really quickly right before the baptism and had a very spiritual experience. Then we stayed after to help clean up and to sleep in  the chapel because there were no buses that left after 7, which is when the baptism was. So we stayed up´til midnight draining the font (it was a swimming pool font) and then slept on the floor in the chapel. A fun  experience and totally worth it. That was the highlight of this week and for the moment of the transfer. Hope you all have a great week!

Love you tons,

Michael