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