This last week

This last week was super great! it all started with exchanges. I went to rockport and was with Elder Jardine. We had dinner with a family that likes to cook. He cooked up some massive burgers. I can now say that my eyes are as big as my stomach and it makes me very happy. I can now eat for my companion and i. lots of success in rockport, found 2 new investigators in only 2 hours. it was super rad! the next day we went to go have breakfast with a part member family. as soon as elder jardine and i walked in. Carpe Diem Baby by Metallica was playing through out the house.. i was like ohhh yeah this is gonna be a sick breakfast hahah. and it was. we made so much food. the elders in portland came up and ate with us as well it was super good and awesome. elder anderson and i then went to gregory and did lots of work there and found a few people. we even met a pastor and talked to her for a while. ahah it was very interesting. the next day elder anderson and i followed up with someone that he contacted while i was gone and we now are teaching matthew and jessica, two super rad people that have lots of faith in christ already. Matthew plays minor league for the dodgers and yeah they are just great and super accepting to the gospel. we have been trying to meet with sister Collier ever since ive been here. We've been wanting to meet with them cause brother collier is not a member. well finally this night we knocked on there door and they finally were there for once and let us in. just as i walked into the living room i saw a b.c. rich electric guitar, similar to the one that dimebag darrel playe din pantera.. i look at brother collier and he's wearing a pantera t shirt. in my mind im like siccckkkk this guy is already awesome!! haha so we just started talking to them and i brought up pantera and we seriously talked about rock music and guns for a while haha my comp had no idea what was going on haha it was super rad but awesome!! and then we taught the lesson and left but..it was just awesome that i happened to be a big fan and so we had something to talk about. i feel like most of the people i get a long with more and talk to more are all of the pipe fitters and truckers hahah its awesome. we also went and sang to sister lindeman in the assisted living home. it was super great and she was so happy. on our way out someone flagged us down on the road and they ended up being super less actives that want to go back to church. it was a miracle haha it was awesome. Jane and her two daughters. wow so much to say but no time... okay.. what else.. we had a lot of meetings this weekend. we had a zone meeting and then the adult session to our stake conference. haha I learned about the 11th commandment.. thou shalt not get offended. hahah i burst out laughing but the guy who said it was very serious and it is very true.. i think i talked about it in my last email. we have been meeting with people who stop going to church for being offended.. and really... stop being a baby.. put on your shirt and tie or dress and just go to church.. its crazy.. but yeahhh haha my mission president also spoke at the adult session which was super rad cause he told everyone to put the missionaries to work. and just make us work hard haha i was super glad to hear that. the next day was stake conference and at the end of it this sister.. came up to me with elder stanley and she shook my hand and wouldnt let go.. at first i was like what the heck is happening.. let gooo.. my comp and elder stanley were just sitting there watching... she then looked me in the eye and said.. that she could see something.. again in my mind im like uhhhh okayyyyy... and then she said.. that she has a gift and that she can see struggle.. struggle early in life.. and that i wanted to be like my dad. that i looked up to him.. im like oh yeah, hes super rad and i seriously want to be like him. and then she said that i gave up a lot to make my dad proud and all that i ever want is his approval... after that i was like okayy yeah i gotta gooo youre strange hahah. everyone laughed and then we left... and i told my comp like wow man.. that was spooky hahah he was like oh yeah she does that to a lot of missionaries.. ahhh it was just super weird haha. cant believe this is the last week of the transfer hah wow time flies. the weather here is great and gas is like 1.72 haha super great right?!?!?!? oooh also before the adult session of stake conference some guy told us to go into the gym and finish the food. haha i had just eaten a foot long and im like sure yeah we can put down some more food. so my comp and i go into the gym and and start loading our plates. my comp looks at mine and says.. you know we only have like 10 minutes.. i tell him.. watch me eat this all haha. and so i just start chowing down... ohhhh my was that a bad idea hahha. i wasnt even hungry hahah. we sat down for the conference and i just had to puke... i was like oh mannn it tasted so good but is coming out of my mouth now... i closed my eyes.. leaned backk.......... and just said a prayer.. i could not miss this.. my mission president was speaking and i could just not get sick right now... after that... my stomach didnt hurt at all and i felt better.. i was super grateful so i didnt have to miss anything. or ruin any benches from throwing up. prayers really do things and if you have faith in what you pray for, your prayers can be answered.. i cant really explain it the way i want to but i hope you guys understand hah.
chao.

christmas crazy

pebble beach is my favorite street haha

church is true! 

can you spot the fox? haha super tame and runs around everyone haha

 big breakfast

20/24

wow its weird how fast this month has gone by. this last week was alright, lots of good and some bad. i went to rockport last monday night for exchanges. its about a half hour north of portland. the elders up there live in a trailer.. its pretty ghetto.. like its actually really gross. theres rats and lots of cockroaches.. haha its pretty bad. Rockport is just a giant trailer park hahah like seriously. there are some houses but its mainly just a big trailer fishing town haha it reminded me a lot of scofield lake in utah hahah. i then came back to portland the next day and tonight im going back to rockport for exchanges again but this time with elder Jardine hes super rad and funny. on tuesday we visited Todd with bro.muhammed this super rad convert of only a couple months. He talked the whole time and talk about his conversion. bro.muhammed is the best and always wants to help us. he feels like since the church was absent in his life for so long that there is lots of catching up he wants to do. So he is helping us every chance that he can get. we also visited holly and her son julian. julian is about 13 and is wanting to be rebellious like his older brother. we talked for a while about the importance of coming to church..it was a super good lesson. we visit their family a lot. then on Wednesday we had dinner with sister settle, she is in charge of genealogy and she is super good at it. She fed us so much chili dog it was amazing and i just almost exploded.. we did some genealogy and then went home. my stomach was acting up soo badly.. it was a bad idea to eat two chili dogs and a bowl of chili.. we were back in our apartment.. and my companion wanted me to call Todd and i was like yeahh.. just give me one second.. then idk what happened. i just then broke the biggest wind of my life.. it was terrible.. ive never seen so much anger and disgust in my companions face hahah it was hilarious hahah.. i felt a lot better after.
Thanksgiving day!
we went out and played football as a ward and then we went to the Dements house for a thanksgiving lunch. tried to watch what i ate cause i wanted to eat more later. we were all around the table and this little girl was eating a deviled egg..and then just starts throwing up... oh man.. everyone was done eating when that happened.. and thennnnnn she kept eating the egg..hahah after that i told my comp that we should leave before i lost my appetite hahah. so then we went to the church where a bunch of memebers who werent going to eat with family gathered together to eat lunch as a ward. lots of good pie. then we visited a sister and ate there and then went back to the dements. i dont know how we are still alive but we made it hahah. we had plans to meet with Todd at night.. we went to his apartment.. and he didnt open.. we then called him and nothing.. we were like thats weird. maybe something came up. we then decided to come back the next day and we did and still nothing.. we called him again and nada... that went on for the next couple of days.. and its kinda sucky.. like having someone super good to teach and then they just stop.. its weird but life goes on and my comp is still pretty bummy about it.. its kinda weird to me how butt hurt missionaries get.. like yeah someone just slammed their door in our face or we had a great lesson and for some reason they dont want us to come back.. but man... theres lots of other people we are going to visit and you cant be sad for them!! be excited!! i always am encouraging other people to not get so poopy!! we had some lady yell at us to get our car away from the front of her house haha we werent even going to knock on her door and she got so mad..i could not help but laugh..cause she was just so mad..we are searching hard right now and just trying to find the most that we can. thanks for all of the support. its seriously a battle out here. we are Gods army!

cute wiener dog name precious

christmas on pebble beach drive

someone is hungry.. hahaha

art..

christmas in rockport

elder russell and I. There are jelly fish in the water

Week 3

started the week off with dinner at the Lunas, it was the greatest meal ive had. we also sat near the ocean and watched people kite board as my comp and I wrote letters. we've been trying to meet with this lady name Anita but i swear everytime we make plans to meet...something happens and it drives us crazy!! haha It was about 49 degrees this morning. super cold and very windy.. its a little unreal for south texas but it is what it is. we have been trying to meet up with part member familys or less actives to try and brind everyone back to church and also find new investigators. we've also been trying to meet with a less active part member family.. and as we walked up to the door i told my comp," today shes going to open the door" anddddd she did. we met August for the first time. talked to her for a little bit and found out.... that her husband walked out on her a few days before.. it seriously breaks my heart cause they have a little 2 year old. so we are going to try and visit her more often and try and get her back to church. thats something ive really noticed as the days go on here in Portland, is just how happy and blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives. I've seen too many familys that are just torn apart because they dont have the gospel, family members hating each other and just the family being unhappy with everything... and its hard cause we talk to them and try and help them and tell them there is a way to be truly happy and as a family... but they dont want the gospel..!!!! oooo it grinds my gears.. but we have to be loving with them and in time have faith that they'll understand that they need this and that it will help them. on tuesday it was about 8 at night and we didnt have any appointment or someone to visit and didnt know what to do... and i was like hey lets say a prayer.. so i said a prayer seeking guidance on where to go and i could feel a burning in my chest... so then we pulled forward and my comp was like... woah we are infront of an old investigators house. i was like rad lets go talk to him.. so we get out and just as we get out someone walks out of the house and just walks off... i was like nooooo wayyyy this is it man we have to go talk to him. my comp " the investigator wen to jail so i dont even know if thats him."
i was like sooooo what lets go talk to him we have to!! and my comp said no.... and for the rest of the hour we could not find anything at all.. it made me pretty sad and i seriously couldnt stop thinking about that guy.... the sheep that got away.. we have been trying to go back but no one is ever there. the next day we went to this assisted living center to visit this sister that lives there and we've never met her before... well we went inside and ask where she was. they pointed toward this very very very veryyyyy elderly lading that was sleeping in this chair.. we were kind of hesitant to wake her up.. cause i mean who likes being woken up from a nap. the lady sitting next to her said that she sleeps all the time.. so we woke her up.... and ive never seen such joy and happiness in someones eyes before... she was sooo happy to see us, no one ever visits her and she just almost started crying.. it made me sad but happy.. sad that no one visits her but happy that we could bring happiness to her, from now on i told my comp that once a week we have to visit her and sing her hymns cause thats seriously the best. a few miricales happened this week. we have been trying to visit gilber and stephanie this week and everytime we go there, there is never anyone home. well this one day we went to their house and no on e was there.. but there was this girl from across the street looking at us.. i waved and she started walking over asking us what we were doing. i look at my comp and in my head im like YES!!! her name is myra and we start talking to her about the gospel, she is super curious and has been looking for the true church and im just like no way this is perfect hahah. we walk to the park and keep teaching her there. everything is going good..... then.... one of her friends walks up and sits down, we start to teach both of them... but her friend... is a very.. strong catholic... and just start bashing us with random stuff that didnt even make sense and was really testing our knowledge and faith.. it was a little rocky... i bore my testimony and she just stopped talking.. she just kept laughing and then walked off with myra.. ahhh it was so crazy and a little frustrating... but we are hoping she calls us.. later that night we are walking around our plans kept failing. and while my comp was trying to call someone... i said a prayer.. cause i seriously just wanted to find someone and talk to them... as we start walking down the street. someone starts talking to us about our bikes... but he got weirded out when we asked for referrals hahah. we had a zone meeting on saturday and it was super good.. idk theres so much to say and my fingers hurt too bad.. when i get home in like 2 years ask me about it cause it was good hahahah.
that night we were going to contact some referrals and before we went and knocked on the door, i said a prayer again.. like i just really hoped these people would open their doors. the first door we walked to. they opened their door and it was seriously a miracle that we had just gotten there. they were having a super rough day cause their son was just arrested.. and so we shared some scritpures and everything seemed good but then bam! they didnt want anything else and so we left a card. they also gave us some spanish olives and they were amazing! we then wen to their neighbor and hey instantly let us in. we were just getting to know them, he is an oil rig lawyer, his house was massive but he was super humble and loved the bible. we have them the book of mormon but wanted nothing else. it was super great!! and then last night, people have been telling us about this guy who just moved into these apartments that wants to go to church with a member that lives near by. well his name is tod and we tried to visit him before church but he didnt answer. we then went to church where i gave a talk and cried because it was just so great haha and Tod came to church it was super awesome. last night we were like okay we neeeeeed to visit him. he is interested and we need to visit him. so we go to his apartment and pray outside his door and then we knocked on his door. he let us in and just told us his life story and that he just got out of jail and is really trying to change his life for the better.. right now is just a dark time and he is really trying to change.. he told us that he really didnt want to open the door for us.. but something told him too... like he has never really been into church for like 20 years.. but something has been telling him to listen to us.... my chest was burning so bad.... i talked to him about his challenges hes been having and how ive gone through the same things as well... he almost cried... i could see it in his eyes.. that he could feel the spirit as well... we are going to meet with him again soon. he is super interested and really wants to learn everything.... this week was just been a week of thanks. im just so thankful for everything i have and im seriously wroking hard to bring the same things into the lives of everyone else. the gospel is a wonderful blessing!! enjoy it, love it, learn from it. please dont forget that our heavenly father is there and that he does listen to us..and remember that a prayer can go a long way..just have faith theres so many lost sheep out here in portland..im doing my best to bring them back.

birthday shout out to my papi!! yeah today is his birthday!! I love you big guy!

Loco

another rough week went by.. and its all better now.. idk why i was freaking out the past couple of weeks. I can barely even remember what even happened during the week. haha at coordination we had like a 15 bean soup and it totally wrecked our stomaches but it tasted so good! we also had Gumbo after eating whataburger and i was seriously about to throw up cause i was so stuffed hahha we eat so much with members its amazing!! So we Gilbert and Stephanie got married on saturday!! it was super rad and everything worked out great!! they are so happy and then Bam! they get baptized the next day!! it was so sick and just a great blessing to be there and even baptize my 2nd week being here. that was seriously like the highlight of this whole week and just first transfer so far. we dont have any investigators right now but we are going to meet with Anita and Javon tonight and they are super great people they just need to be taught the lessons, Javon is 15 and is amazing at playing the saxaphone, he is trying out for the state band and he played for us and it was just so beautiful and amazing i couldnt even explain it. they also have weiner dogs so i love going over to their house hahah but its super hard to find a good time for them. ive also tried really hard to love christian music cause thats all missionaires listen to here.. and they hate classical.. it sucks but whatever hahaha. we also got a new referral just barely so thats rad. his name is Ron and we are going to go meet him today. its been pretty chilly the last few days and today is super hot so maybe itll rain tomorrow, I think next week i will have more to say but for right now this is it. sorry..:/ write me letters yo,, missionaries love letters

first week...

This first week was really rough, but good. asoooo I hopped on the plane and slept the whole way here. as soon as i got here i could feel the humidity.. it wasnt too bad and it almost felt like Chicago. it was great. I went to the mission presidents house he is from chile, he is very nice. we ate and it was good. i also met the missionaries from the mtc at the airport. so we talked about the mission at the presidents house and it was pretty neat. then we went to the church and checked out our bikes, it was super rad i love my bike, and then we went over some rules and stuff like that. Later we went to the AP's house and found a bed to sleep on. i quickly found a top bunk and threw my heavy bag on top. I jumped up, said a prayer and opened up my journal.. i quickly wrote something and started reading my scriptures and then went to sleep.
the next morning all of the missionaries were talking about the best area in the mission.. not because there is lots of baptisms or you get to speak spanish.. but because it was just a very calm place, almost like bountiful or centerville. they wouldn't stop talking about it...its name is Portland
then we went back to the presidents house for breakfast, it was nice. then we all sat on the couch and were going to be told what area we were going too. everyone was getting named off and then it was my turn, and i guessed it would be the one all of the missionaries were talking about. Portland texas, in an english speaking ward. and i guessed right. I was called to Portland in Corpus Chrisiti
i was like sick rad!! english!! hahahah
then we went to the church where we had transfers.. and where i met my trainer. his name is elder anderson from north ogden utah. hes very quirky but nice and hes been here for about 4 months already so he knows everyone here hahah which is great. we went outside and loaded up the van, yeahh we also drive around in a van. how cool hahah also portland is about 3 hours away from the offices.
so we set out to portland. it was a great car ride full of sleep we finally got to portland and dumped my stuff and went straight to work to meet people. we have a baptism for november 15, of gilbert and stephanie, they are getting married on saturday and with permission from our bishop they are the getting baptized on sunday!! how sick!! hahah they are great people and they have a 2 year old name bradly he is very loud hahah
they are both way into the church, at first gilbert wasnt sure about getting married because his family keeps saying not to.. but when we went to go visit them again.. he was all of a sudden super excited to get married. what a miracle!! we've been visiting everyday and they are just doing great!!
by the way i am not really using my spanish at all when i am talking to people.. no one speaks spanish here.
we have been visiting a recent convert a lot named alfredo, he is 9 with very bad a.d.d. he is hilarious he lives with 3 other boys, julian, jess and issac. issac and jess are twins, and they live with their moms in this small apartment. one day we were visiting and talking to holly, the mother of jess, julian and issac.. she took us outside.. to tell us something about her twins, apparently one night when they had friends over, alfredo saw that one of the friends had a pipe.. by the way these boys are like 16, holly got up and searched the friends back pack and found a few paraphernalia and a bag of drugs... she was very upset and told everyone to leave.. she then took her boys and made them take a drug test.. jess came out clean and said he never did it.. and issac came out dirty..
after she said that... i could see the pain in her eyes..it made me very sad, because i could feel her pain..she started to cry and i really could feel her pain..she reminded me of my own mother.. just trying to do what is right for her sons... it was very sad and hurt a lot..but also made me super grateful to have a mom that i had. a very strong women and just very appreciated she never gave up on me. since then holly has brought her sons to church and we have visited with them more and just helped give them the guidance we can. its crazy to see how this happen. holly is a very strong mom just like mine, and so far things have slowly improving for them. they were going to get evicted for some bogus reason and the day after she paid her tithing, she got a call from the owner of the apartments that she lives in and he said that he is going to move them to a basement apartment and not evict them and actually move the manager that wanted to evict them to a complex in new jersey.. not all blessings and miracles are super huge like this. but this honestly helped me know that our heavenly father is real and he does bless us for doing the things he asked..
i have so much to write about but like no time.. this sucks..
well through out this week i've really been struggling with anxiety and i just feel like i want to explode.. but i love being here..  the president and I talked and he gave me some scriptures to read.. all i ask from you guys is to pray.. there are many miracles that are going on right now and i just need to keep pushing on.. i'm blessing peoples lives.. so its worth it..
we were walking down this street looking for a house and saw a young kid playing football by himself, i ran right over and started throwing the ball and we just started talking. well we kept talking and he says to us, that he's been wanting to get baptized in a church and he knows the bible from front to back.. his name is nathan. he's great, we gave him a book of mormon and are going to visit him soon, last night we wen to go visit holly and no one answered but i saw a man in the courtyard of the apartments sitting alone.. so i told my companion i wanted to talk to him, we walked over and i started talking to him, yeah super rad cause he only speaks spanish. so we started talking to him about the church and asked him if he wanted to get baptized in a month, he said yes!! how rad... so thats whats going on right now...  just taking it a week at a time... have a rad day...

thats all.. you can write me letters to my apartment at
no packages though..

Elder Gonzalez
1404 Moor Avenue apt 708
Portland TX, 78374

we can see the ocean from our place how rad!!

mami... check out my slacks i brought.. hahhaha my companero and i

aventura

this last week was greeaaattt. we played some soccer. sang hymns to everyone we taught... for some reason since ive been out here i have grown to really enjoy singing hahah weird. everytime we sing to investigadores we can always feel the spirit so strongly its great. every week i learn something new. this last week i learned someting very strange but new to me. as elder buccholz and i were riding bikes down a street trying to figure out which houses to go to we passed by a house that was completely black. i was like thats a strange house we should try talking to the people in it. thats when my comp pulled me to the side and said it would be better if we did not. i was like thats strange. come on man lets just try and then elder buccholz told me that the house being colored black was a symbol i was like really of what. he said the people inside are Sana Muerte..... i had no idea what that meant. he then told me that they worship the grim reaper and dark things like that... i thought that was pretty sketch.. and we went on our way. there are a lot of weird dark religions like that here. the thing is to keep working hard and to have faith that everything will be alright cause it will. later on this week i decided it would be a great idea to eat cereal while i do my personal study in the morning. one thing to always remember.. never trust milk that comes in a bag. after i ate the cereal i got this crazy bad stomach ache and it felt like someone was poking my stomache with knifes. i was like ahh itll pass soon. let me just pop some tums and ill be good to go. yeeahhh no. it went on allll day and intot he next i thought i was going to die haha. but i survived hahah. on friday we had a zone conference which was wayyy fun. we watched meet the mormons and ate awesome pizza and empanadas. the best ever. my companion and i have started to find and eat from different panaderias and alfajores are my weakness... ive eaten 2 almost everyday they are soo good. today we found a new investigator when we were in this wine shop buying equipos de mate. we talked to the owner of the shop for a long time and we are going to meet with him and his family in a couple weeks. que chevere. apparently bachata is barely hitting argentina so everywhere we go all i hear is bachata. its amazing. hahah i hope everyone is doing well.

brick oven farm we found

cool cat that was watching us as we knocked on doors.

my favorite pizza everrrrr. jamon con huevos.

p day breakfast of champions

almafuerte is this really popular argentine band. people write their name everywhere here in chacabuco. same with a lot of american bands like slipknot and nirvan haha kinda cool

Lets rock n roll and save some souls

woww this week was a little crazy. i went to a city called Chivilcoy and switched companions for a day. when i was there i realized how important missionary work is. there are a lot of religions here and many people try to bring us down or make fun of us just cause we are wearing white shirts. near the end of my visit there we decided to go visit this investigator that works at a brick oven. soo we started our long trek through campo and hit this dirt road. we were riding our bikes forrrrreverrrr. ahh it sucked and it was sooooo hot. i felt like we were never going to get there... well we ended up not finding the brick oven that he worked at so we turned around. my legs killed and i just wanted to go back to the apartment.. we then had an impression to visit this inactive member that no one has seen in forever cause he is never home. and for once he was home. we were able to talk to him and invite him to church. its up to us to not give up or get discouraged and to keep working hard. everday before we leave my companion and i always say. Lets rock n roll and save some souls. its our go to phrase whenever things are kind of sucky. we just have to keep working hard. this whole week its been soooo hot. and humid and we almost die everyday. but we keep on working hard and Endure To The End. on saturday we had this great idea to buy some chorizo and cook it up for lunch. well while we were eating it with mashed potatoes.. we came to find out that it wasnt fat we were tasting but it was raw meat.. we didnt cook it all the wayy.. it was pretty gross.. and after that we felt sick hahah i still laugh about it haha. but we went out and kept working hard and because of our hard work we were able to find new people to teach haha. we were able to fix our fan we had. the blade broke off of it along time ago so we melted the blade back on. well the fine works.. but it makes a really really loud noise and we can barely talk around it or the alarm clock.. welll in the last night maybe like 1 or 2 am i woke up and there was this loud horrible noise it sounded like something was going to explode.. i get up turn on the light and the fan is coming apart and moving across the room. probably one of the most sketch things that has happend so far.. i hurried and turned off the fan.. soo now we are back sleeping in the heat.. sorry if this email is all scattered its hard to remember everything that has happened in the week. i know a lot of cool things have happened. but they all come to my head randomly haha. thats all for now i love you gusy. keep working hard with whatever youre working with.

 -campo 

- greyhounds of a member there are so many here to be chased by one of these dogs on a bike is the scariest thing ever.. 

 - totally rad car i found lol hahah said drifting on it. thought i would take a pic for my amigos haha 

- esta photo es para mi tia y tio. theres a street named saavedra. que chevere

Chacabuco

I'm finally here in Chacabuco Argentina. its a very beautiful place. when i was in the mtc i said that i hope to go to the country side in argentina and just ride a bike everywhere. well thats exactly what i got. haha its wayy rad. lots of great people here. there is really poor and also very rich people here. they are all nice though. the coolest thing though to me is that their rock n roll is like stuck in the 80s. its tooooooooo sick. hahaha my comp is elder buccholz from seattle. good guy. hes been here for 14 months. hes a great trainer and this is only his 2nd month being in this area so we are both kinda new in this area. the branch is very small of just about 40 people. sacrament attendance is very low. depending if it is raining or not. for some reason people just dont come to church if its raining. haha everybody here thinks im joking whenever i tell them im from the united states as well whenever i tell them my last name. hahah its kinda funny and a few times people think im from here in argentina. theres a lot of great stories i have to tell but i dont have very much time. one thing i can say is the Siesta is taken very seriously in chacabuco. from 12pm to 5pm the whole town is very quiet it and its because they are all napping. it kinda sucks cause then some grocery stores arent open but we always find one that is. last night we had dinner at an investigators house. we had milanesa. it was amazinggggggggggg. the investigators name is Fatima. shes very nice and loves to bake. so we are always eating cake. ive been chased by many dogs while i ride my back.. and its not just any stray dogs.. its like german shepard or greyhound stray dogs. its really sketchy but my things are slowly getting bigger and bigger from all this bike riding so i can speed past all of the dogs. also here in Chacabuco there is this thing called Chacastunt..... which is basiclly people doing wheelies on their motorcycles across intersections. huge huge groups of kids will do this all night long. its kinda cool to watch but kind of annoying haha. one night elder buccholz and i were sitting in bed talking and all of sudden we see a cock roach on the wall. we jumped up and went to hit it and then it fell off of the wall and we couldnt find it.... sooo we just decided to go to sleep hahah. lots of bugs here. this email is probably very scattered but i hope you guys all understand me. thanks for the support. it means a lot. chao chao. hopefully i can write more next time.

the first picture is of the temple in buenos aires. Chacabuco is about 3hours from the city. 

 the second is a picture of the backyard at the house in chacabuco.

riding bikes to an investigators house 

abandoned building

A Strange Day

another fun fun week here at the MTC. its the last one.
Last saturday our investigator Oscar agreed to be baptized... ahhh it was soo cool and the best feeling ever when he said yes. after that lesson elder keith and I were talking about Oscar and its so rad to see how much he's changed since the first time we taught him. at first he was only doing it for his wife but now he is doing it for him. On tuesday M. Russell Ballard came and spoke at our devotional. how lucky are we so cool! to be honest this past week has been a big blur. All of these goodbye stuff because my district is leaving on monday. we got new missionaries in our zone on wednesday i've only seen them a few times but they are all good people and very nice. Thursday we had an in field orientation. probably the most boring that had to live through but I learned a few things and it should really help me out in the field. I went to the temple this morning that was great as well. Our final temple session as a zone. no tears were shed but im sure they will when we sing Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos. Everytime a district is leaving they have to sing a musical number and we chose as a district to sing that one.
this MTC experience has been a great one and filled with lots of blessings. This past Tuesday, M. Russell Ballard came to speak to us for the Devotional and it was amazing! We have had two apostles come and speak to us on three different occasions! Not to mention the numerous Seventies that came to speak to us, and that one guy who lost American Idol...what's his name?....David Archuletta or something? Yeah, we've been pretty lucky! Now all that there is left to do is pack my bags and get ready for my long flight on monday. When i get to Argentina on tuesday its going to be a strange day but also a fun one. I'm sure going to miss my companero Elder Keith and all of our random moments when we break out into song.and all of the bomb lessons we had together. He leaves at 3:30am on monday.. hahah lucky him.
I hope everyone has been doing well and loving life and all the great things god has given us:)
p.s. no pictures this week sorry...

How Soon Is Now

a lot of cool stuff happened this week. Monday District A left in the morning to Argentina. So on sunday night we had a little devotional as a zone and said our goodbyes and everyone bore their testimonies and just remembered fun times we had here at the mtc. We all became such good friends it was hard to see them leave. I mean we've only known each other for 4 weeks but it felt like we had been friends for years. Elder Keith and I had a great lesson with Jorge. One of our hardest investigators. The lesson went really well and he is starting to really understand the gospel. It was actually way cool because the lesson we had with him the time before he told us to leave in the middle of our lesson because he just wasnt getting it. Our other investigator Oscar finally got sundays off so he can attend church with his family. that was really cool. Just to see that he is willing to change something in his life. Tuesday The devotional we had on Tuesday was the last one for the MTC presidency cause they are being released. my companion Elder Keith was asked to give the opening prayer. It didn't seem too bad. we would just sit up on the stand with whoever was going to speak that night. Well when we were doing service in the kitchen in the morning one of the MTC workers came up to us and said that he just found out that there is an apostle and a few from the seventy here. At first we were thinking why would they be here but then it clicked......... The devotional tonight. My companion got pretty nervous. Russell M Nelson was coming to speak and there would be 8 from the quorum of the seventy. When we got to the devotional we found out we weren't going to be sitting on the stage but we would be right next to it. My companion was soooooo nervous. Praying in front of 2100 missionaries and a General Authority. How Exciting!! It was probably the coolest thing ever. Russell M Nelson spoke at the Christmas devotional but it was still cool to hear him talk again. Wednesday My zone got to host for the new missionaries. It was pretty exciting to see all of their nervous faces.. haha I only helped one missionary. Elder Fisher from California going to Berlin Germany. He's the first one in his family going on a mission and he played the saxophone for 5 years. pretty rad guy. After that my companion and i took hot chocolate to all of the mtc workers outside. later the new president for the Columbia MTC came and spoke to us in my class as a district. it was pretty neat. Thursday For some reason my FBI background for my visa isnt going through fast enough. well not just mine but the people going to argentina. so i got to leave MTC campus and go to the BYU police station. a little adventure. hopefully it goes through quick because i am leaving in 10 days. which reminds me. If you are going to be sending anything to me through the mail. Wednesday is the last day you can send me anything or else i wont be getting it for a long time. Later that day Elder Keith and I had our final lesson with Jorge. It was one of the best lessons we have ever had. We are supposed to try and keep the lesson around 40 minutes but this one was 80 minutes. That was the first time in a lesson i felt the spirit so strong. He told us that he saw a big change in us from the first time that we taught him. We could also see the change in him. It was a great experience and im sure i'll have it a lot more when i get to argentina. Things keep getting better and better as time goes on. I'm excited to go out to Argentina. It's crazy to see how fast time has flown by since I got here. I hope things are going great with all of you!

 - Elder Keith and I with Jorge

- Sunday temple walk. Last picture with the Elders of District A.

- I was sitting eating dinner when I saw a familiar face. I jumped up and have never been so happy to see someone from my home ward. Eli Phillips. I've known him since i moved to the briarwood ward. we got to catch up for a bit. He left to Arkansas on Tuesday.

-Elder Keith is pretty funny if any of you guys have seen the move Mystery Men. Elder Keith can talk just like the Spleen. It makes me cry every time he does. He was talking just like him i took this picture.

I Woke Up Like This

this week was a little hectic....
monday Elder Keith and I had 3 investigators to visit. the last one we visited was reallllly hard and it didnt go so well. we were a little bummed because when we visited Jorge last time everything went well and then this one was just horrible. we didnt understand why.. soo took a little more time to plan our next lesson with him. We taught him again yesterday and everything went great ahhh it was such a great feeling to see everything turn around and see the change in his heart as we finished up our lesson with him yesterday. Our spanish was amazing as well. So this week my companion and I learned a lot about showing our love to the investigators because that is something very important. Our lessons have been getting better and better the more we practice. its kinda cool to see how much better we have gotten at teaching and speaking spanish since the first day that we were here.
One of the districts in my zone leave to Argentina next week... sad to see them go but we are getting another district the same week. My district is Hosting for when the new missionaries come in next week. we are all excited. This week my companion and I have come to realize we have the same mind. I was laying in bed one night and was softly singing 867-5309 (Jenny) by Johnny Tutone .. something like that..
and all of a sudden I hear Elder Sandall and Elder Keith start singing along.. we all started laughing. Both of them said at that same moment they were thinking of the same song for some reason. it was funny and later on this week.. for some reason this song by Hanson was stuck in my head.. in class Elder Keith and I just started singing Hanson.. haha it was soo funny. he was thinking of the same song as well. Our teacher Hermano Martinez didnt think it was funny... hahah we still laughed.. its kinda weird how randomly my companeros and i just randomly break out into song haha with a few simple words we will be off... I was sitting in bed and Elder Anderson and Sandall were talking about something and all I said was "Tell Me Why" and then we all just broke out singing I want it that way by Back Street Boys at the same time hahah.. ahhh its sooo weird butttt soooo funny hahaha... I get along great with my companero and the Elders in my room... haha sometimes not as much with Elder Anderson.. he's what we call.. a "Sweet Spirit". for a few nights this week he kept getting mad because he wasnt able to get to sleep cause we are talking at night.. soo Elder Keith and I went and bought him some ear plugs, Elder Sandall (his companion) was in on it too. we all thought itd be a funny little joke but come bed time... he did not think it was that funny.. I have a problem with laughing during serious situations haha.. everything is good now and he doesnt get mad anymore haha. hes a good guy.
This week marks my half way mark here at the MTC.. its a little weird that i will be leaving so soon but its also wayy exciting..A lot of the missionaries here cant wait to be out where they were called too... theres a little joke that goes around here and is suggested not to be said to the new missionaries.. it goes like.. What is the difference between the MTC and prison??
in prison you get visitors..

ahh they are so dramatic haha its not even that bad here. all the food you can eat i mean come on.. its awesome..haha i mean yeahh you can gain a little weight here but soo what..if you love to eat food. then eat food. dont let carbs hold you back from enjoying a great awesome meal.

something funny happened this week also. so an Elder in my Zone called Elder Vorwaller is this short little guy. well in our rooms we have bunk beds and on the top bunks there are guard rails to prevent missionaries from falling off. well Elder Vorwaller crawled under the guard rail head first and went underneath the top bunk without touching the bottom bunk. I thought it was pretty cool so one night in our room. I wanted to try it cause i bet i could do it. I may be bigger than him but i could do it. well i started to crawl under the guard rail and was half way under the top bunk and was about to let go of the rail when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and i ended up on the floor on my back with the guard rail in hand.... I managed to rip off the guard rail... it was probably the funniest thing to happen so far in our room.. it hurt soo bad but it was soo funny.. everyone was laughing ahh it was great until the next day when i tried to do sit ups hahahah. ahhh just thinking about it makes me laugh hahah. Missions can be very spiritual and uplifting and also a little adventurous.A lot of the teachers here keep reminding us that we are to not be robotic missionaries.. and to have a little fun. relax. laugh a little. thats what i say to all the robotic missionaries i encounter. dont forget to be happyyyyyyyyy!!!!

the first picture goes out to all my amigos back at home. I love you guys.

 "I woke up like this"

 the second picture was a little funny to come across in class. we were talking about the plan of salvation and open up the pamphlet and all of a sudden... im like.. guys.. guysss.... thats my cousin, his wife and his son.. they didnt believe me and i was like no im not kidding thats my cousin Marco. hahah it was funny..funny. hope everyone is doing well!!

P-Day basketball in the room with the elders next door. 

My district. (District C)

Lets Change Lives Today.

Awesome awesome awesome awesome.

I love you guys.

God loves you guys.

Lets change lives today :D

not a lot of crazy things happened this week... my comp and I had 3 investigators in one day.. thats kind of a lot for newbies like us. we were also able to teach the WHOLE restoration in 25 mintues and the investigator understood everything. it was soo awesome and we even got him to pray at the end. at first he said no. but i was like "do you pray with your wife" he said yes. and then i was like sooooooo could you give the closing prayer.. he then said yes ahh it was soo rad. and he did good. its crazy to see how people have change the more and more we teach them. its soo sick!

 it was pretty rad and we taught very well and all in spanish. we are going to do this week long english fast. soo we are only going to be talking in spanish for a week straight. i think it should be good. everyone in my district has pretty good spanish. we are going to start it tonight. it hit about 6 degrees here one afternoon.. its been soo cold here and our rooms are wayyy cold. its nice. we didnt get to go to the temple today cause its still closed. so my compañeros and i just hungout in our room and wrote letters all day and took a very long nap. probably the best nap of my life so far.

earlier this week. on monday Elder Sandall sprained his ankle playing volleyball. it was pretty gross and swollen.. and it still is but its slowly getting better. i'll include a picture hahah.

this tuesday we had a music devotional. we were sitting in the gym singing songs before the devotional started... and then someone walked onto the stage.. david archuleta....

the crowd went crazyyyyyyyyyyyy. the sisters were just screaming and yelling.. It was like girls at an Nsync concert hahahaha. it was crazy. he sang the whole hour and then he wanted the whole crowd to sing the last verse of one song with him and i swear everyone thought they were like on american idol or something haha everyone was just singing their hearts out and it was kinda funny but pretty cool hahah. that was probably the most exciting thing that happened this week hahah.

other than that not much happened this week. The Russia and Ukraine missionaries leave on monday. they were the rooms next to mine. ohhhhhh also we met with a member of the church Hermano Rascon and taught him a lesson about how prayer and the gospel blesses families. after our lesson we went off about his family and where they came from... well comes to find out.. one of his great uncles fought with Pancho Villa and his Great Grandmother has an autographed picture with Pancho. haha keep in mind the member that we taught is about 70ish years old. haha i thought it was kinda cool. cause when Pancho was fighting and all a bunch of mexicans ran over the border and settled in El paso. thats where Hermano Rascon was from. weird fact of that day hahah he was a good guy and enjoyed our lesson. i'll be sending pictures in a little while. hope everyone is doing great and bundling up this cold January

a picture of my zone. they are all way rad.

a picture of my comp and Hermana Martinez. The funniest sister in our zone hahah she always makes us laugh. shes from Texas.

Elder Sandall's nasty foot haha

Christmas day

temple walk