Week 57: Posadas, Argentina

Hellllo! I think I'll end up staying here in the office till about March and then leave my last two transfers to go out into the field, that is what we are hoping, and basically what President told me-but we shall see.    

But yeah, I actually bought clippers to cut hiar, it'll save me money in the long run and its really about the same, there are missionaries that know how to cut hair so it's cool. 

And I did get the email from Josh, well the one from last week. I guess he's in the field now and didn't write a letter this week, but it was pretty funny-his letter from last week. 

It's cool being in a trio, I get along really well with the elder that is training me, Elder Parks, but we almost never work in a trio. We usually do divisiones or one of stays behind in the office to keep taking care of stuff. But no, there's no one that really gets left out in the trio, I had already known both of them before I got here so it's fun. 

But this week was super good, the bishop is really excited to work with us and we baptized the 2 daughters of a less active lady, they are now doing really well and really like church.  We are actually finding really cool people to teach and finding some less actives that actually really want to come back to church. The other day the bishop did divisones with us, I went with Elder Parks and Elder Meniz went with the bishop and he gave us four families to visit in an hour.  So we were like hmm, what can we do in one hour? So we decided to go caroling and all the people we visited loved our singing, haha, which was surprising.  They invited us to lunch and cried a little as well, an older widow lady I think. So that was pretty cool. I think the mission is really fun if you make it fun and if you make it interesting and really make effort to make it a good experience it happens. SO I'm doing well.

Thanks for the letter and have a great weeeek!!!!!!!!! Elder Roberts

Week 56: Posadas, Argentina

Yeah, it's been pretty good this week. There is a lot to do and a lot to learn, but i think I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's just a lot of remembering stuff and counting and making sure that you get all the receipts of all the stuff that the mission does and buys. And it gets complicated with the Pesos and Guarnie and different currencies, but not too bad. 

And Elder Parks who is training me, who I think his uncle might have served with dad in Colombia at the same time, will leave in like two weeks. He's been in the office like 10 months and has some older stuff that he has to do so I can start on a clean sheet and don't end up finding that he lost 100 dollars or has a 100 dollars extra in the bank or something. 

But church was good, there are a lot of members here in Lavalle, and they are pretty excited about missionary work. Being in Posadas helps a lot and i think the wards and branches are finally starting to get things moving. There are 5 baptisms in the ward this week. There are three companionships that are in the same ward here and we are all going to baptize someone, so i think that will be cool. There is a less active lady that is now coming back and really likes church and has two daughters that she really wants to go to church and learn and have values, and they are getting baptized and they really like it.  There are pretty good youth programs here so it makes it easier. The area is really good as well, there are a lot of people and lots to do, lots of members that can be reactived as well, so we shall see what happens. 

The apartment is pretty nice, we live with two other elders, but i think we are moving soon because it's kinda far from the office and its super hot in the summer. We don't really eat with members that much because our area is 15 minutes away and we would have to drive there and back and would lose a lot of time driving. So we usually cook, or we find a pretty cheap restaurant close by during the week.  On the weekends we eat with members. 

But yeah it's been really nice weather this past month, a little rain but it's not too hot yet, but it's getting close-  October and November the heat starts rolling in.  The windows are broken so the air gets out and the mosquitos get in. 

But Pday isn't really too much of a pday, we are usually stuck doing office stuff in the morning and then we eat lunch and watch a church movie or just kinda rest and clean the house. But it's pretty good so far, its kinda tiring, but it's fun. It's nice being around lots of people all the time, it kinda helps you keep the excitement going and not fall into discouragement because there're always other missionaries around you. But thanks for the letter and have a great weeek!!!!!!

Elder Roberts

Week 55: Posadas, Argentina

Hola!!!

Hope everything is going well up there. So this week has been pretty exciting, it's a lot of fun being in the office. It was kind of different though because there were transfers and new people coming in and we had to help with all of that so it ran smoothly, but it's cool to be able to help all the missioanries with their temporal stuff. It's kind of a stressful job because it's all the money and there is a whole lot of it, and you have to keep track of allll of it with receits and money and there's alotttt to remember. But its pretty cool, it's like the mission behind the scenes and I get to see how everything happens, work with the other office elders and the assistants and president a lot. So I'm enjoying it so far, I think next week will be a little more chill with transfers done and I'll be starting to learn more of my responsibilties. But I'm in a trio right now, with Elder Parks who is from California, and Elder Meniz from Peru. The other office elders are for Chile, Peru, and Colombia. But it's a lot of fun, we all get along really well, I knew most of them before I came here. 

This morning I learned how to drive stick shift, so now I can go out and drive the truck around and do errands and stuff and pay bills, haha but it's pretty cool to be able to drive again. 

But sounds like everyone is doing well up there and school is going well. And that's awesome that Josh is at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) right now.   

And the ward here in Posadas is really nice, I haven't met too many of them yet, but it sounds like a really nice ward, and the area is really great as well.  There are some cool people that the other elders before had been teaching that I am now teaching. Basically we are in the office every day till 4:30 and then we leave to go work in the field.  If we still have some urgent things to do we go back at 8:00 and finish things up. I think it will be nice to not be a zone leader, eight months of it was really tiring, so it's nice to have a change I think. So I'll have to tell you more about my job later when I actually know what I'm doing, haha.  But thanks for the email, I'll be writing Thursdays, well most Thursdays I think from now on. But have a great week!!!

Week 54: Eldorado, Argentina

Hey mom, I'm now an office elder, secretary of finances. I'll write you Thursday or Friday cause that's when our preparation day is, and this week is kinda crazy cause I gotta learn all my responsibilities and there are transfers and I have to help all the new people get in. But thanks!!!!! I'll write Friday!!!

Love, Ben 

Week 53: Eldorado, Argentina

But yeah, the Mormon world is super small. There's a sister in this mission that knew Josh and Hannah (Ben's cousins) when they lived in Dubai.  

A lot of people here are pretty ignorant when it comes to religion, basically they just beleive that the Mormons are like a weird church and that we get paid by the goverment and the church to come here and baptize people. But they don't really know very much, 

The time just goes by way too fast. It's crazy that it's already September.   

And my shoes are fine for now, I think I'll be good for like at least 6 more months. And then I'll see if i just buy a pair here. 

But but yeah, I think I already reached my package limit, you really don't have to send me packages mom, I'm really fine, but thanks!!

But wow, that's great that Helen is getting married (Ben's cousin), and in the DC temple, thats cool! You'll have to send me some pics, and you'll have to send me some pics of what's going on at home as well! 

But yeah, my companion and I get along really well and we are doing really well, we have a lot of peple that are progressing, it just rained super hard Sunday morning and like there were 85 people in church 2 weeks ago and yesterday there were like 6 when we got there and 2 of our investigators. We had a super good lesson with Zulma and I think she is going to get baptized here soon, I'm not sure but she's finally kinda pulling towards us and realizing what the best decision is.  And we have a few other people that are doing really well, had some good experiences, finding a few nice people, exploring some new areas, and actually getting a few references from the members, which is super nice, so this week shall be a good week. 

We had a leader conference today in Posadas which was really good, talked about building the church and making sure the new converts progress. I've found from lots of experiences here that is super easy to fall away from the gospel if you are not careful. It's just weird here it happens so frequentely that its kinda scary and sometimes you just don't know what to do to help the people. But there is only so much you can do and then its kinda of their part as well.  I think the people that you hang around are definitely the biggest influence and make the biggest difference.

This change with my companion went by super fast, it's pretty crazy. It goes by fast I think when you have a  good companion. But some of the pictures I sent are from a really nice hotel we stayed in. I'm not sure why we got to stay in a hotel cause we usually sleep like 10 to a room on the floor when we come for the leader conferences but this time it was suppppper nice, took the best shower of my life and enjoyed walking barefoot on carpet for like the first time in 14 months, haha but it went really well.  I'm still in Posadas cause I'm doing some paperwork here and then in the evening we are back on the grind.  But thanks for everything mom, have a great week and tell everyone I said helllo.!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 52: Eldorado, Argentina

I think it's pretty good to take notes in Sacrament meeting. I gave a talk yesterday and taught Sunday School for the young men and women. I talked about procrastination and using our time wisely. I shared an example of making brownies, which is pretty easy and cheap but not healthy, making tacos which is a little harder and more expensive but maybe a little more healthy, and then scalloped potatoes which is longer and more expensive but the best.... haha and that we have to make decisions on how to use our time, good better and best. And there's always a good option, better option and best option. I think Elder Oaks gave a talk about it a while ago that was pretty good. But I tried to make it interesting because the talks here usually aren't the most exciting talks to listen to, and I think there were only like two people sleeping during mine so hopefully it wasn't too bad hahaha.

But it sounds like the US is in the news a lot. There are people that tell us that there are like big wars and stuff we are involved in. I'm sure they kind exaggerate, but there must be some things going on. Some guy told us the other day that we need to go preach to Obama because he is the one that needs to change. 

But we are doing pretty well. We have some people that are progressing and some people that we need to kind of let go for now. But Zulma is doing... pretty good I guess. I think she's scared to make a decision. But the zone is doing really well. July was a rougher month and we are trying to recover because it rained for like 3 weeks straight but now everyone in the zone is finding a few people to teach and baptizing a little bit so that's good. But yeah, everything is fine, nothing too exciting happening but I'll be sure to keep you updated. How is school going for everyone?? How's work for you and dad? How is the ward doing? How is the retention of all the converts that were baptized these past few months?  Thanks for the letter and have a great week!!!!!!!!  Happy Birthday Dad.

My shoes only made it a year.

Love, Ben 

Week 51: Eldorado, Argentina

This week was pretty nice, the weather was super nice and we have some people to teach.  It was tough though because a lot of the people that were supposed to come to church didn't come, for dumb reasons, but they are really good people and have lots of potential to progress.  It was pretty good though.  

We went and made lunch with a family we are teaching, we didn't take the camera unfortunately, but they have a tinyyyy little house with a little metal stove that you heat with wood and we cooked something called reviro which is bascially flour water and salt, but its actually pretty good, I'm not sure why. And right after lunch we got a call saying that there was a baptism in the other branch in Eldorado and if we had anyone that wanted to go we could take them. So we ran to Zulma's house and invited her and went with her and she really liked it, said it was powerful..... but she still hasn't made the decision to join the church..... but progressing. Its cool though that seeing things like that and feeling the spirit really makes people want to change, which is why the Gospel is a "learn and go do" kind of thing and not just "a learn." It was good to have a positive result after making lots of efforts. 

But that's really crazy that school is already starting up there and everything is going back to the routine. Sounds like ward conference went well and that seminary is going to be good this year. Are you teaching seminary??? I'm teaching the Sunday School youth class and trying to get them to get more involved in family history work.... but it's really different here, the culture.  The youth have a really tough time coming to church and focusing and paying attention. It's good that they come, but sometimes its tough to grab their attention. 

But yeah, I think doing hard things really help kids get ready for the future.  It is good for them to get out and do hard stuff. I watched the documentary about Gordon B. Hinkley today and it was really good, I liked it a lot.    

And dad's question, has missionary work changed me... hahaha yeah a ton. Actually just today, there was a district Preisthood acitivity between 6 different branches at our building here and we went and played ping pong and chatted and ate lunch and stuff for preparation day.  And at the end they asked us on the stop to tell the people there about missionary work and the blessings we receive from going on the mission and the blessings our families receive as well. I had my companion play a song on the piano with one hand and then he played it again with two hands and I said that the difference between the two songs is like my life, I learned a lot of things about life and did a lot of stufff before the mission, but I feel like compared to what I know now and my perspective  and the person I have become has opened up a few new doors and now I feel like life is a little more complete and I feel like I'm living life with two hands. If that makes sense.. but I think I explained it better this morning, haha. 

But thanks for the update and for writing me, hope everything is going well!!! Have a great weeek!!!!!!