Week 33 Posadas, Argentina

Our week was pretty good, there're always ups and downs, but its better to focus on the ups. But i really dont know what we are going to do for Easter, i kinda forgot about it until today. and wow thats a lot of people at grandmoms for Easter, haha sounds like fun!

Today, we cleaned a little, went to see if my camera can be fixed and we have to go back another day when the guy is there but they think they can fix it, so ill let you know but i feel like its fine. And then we cut our hair, bought food and just kinda rested for a little bit, it was kind of a chill day which was much needed. and yeah the members are still washing our clothes and i think all of them here have washing machines. im pretty sure. and for our lunches, hmmm we have had some rice and the noodles, some chicken, some more noodles and some soups and hmmm not really sure. pretty much that, but its usually pretty good. We like to cook hotdogs and eggs and put them in little tortillas at night if we have time. But we are teaching a few people.. but one called raquel that is cool, old and fat and cant walk but is really funny and i think shes going to get baptized may 3rd and a few other people, a really intersting guy luiz that is really catholic and smart but we are tryting to get him to read the book of mormon and rosa and paula thats a mom and daughter that are praying and reading and everything right now and are on the edge about it but i think that they are going to progress and maybe get baptized in may. But honestly we kinda have to go look for some new ones this week. and wow that is super crazy that mark johnson uses skype and with his friends on his mission. i dont think the chruch trusts some the missionaries down here with that kind of stuff... when they already do that kind of stuff anyway......... but thats super cool. and thats great that that lady that lives near the church is going to get baptrized, sounds like the hagerstown ward is doing really well!! i bet bishop castle is working hard as mission leader and dad is doing well as bishop, but wow im jealous he gets to go to costa rica, which part? there is an elder here i know that is from costa rica. and ohhh noooo is he really the junior class advisor....thats a  lot of work. Tell him good luck, but im sure he will be fine he always does a good job with the stuff he commits to. 

I think I just need the whiteboard, if you can, a new watch, just a cheap one from walmart like the one i started which, it endured a brutal 9 months haha but it was comfy i liked it. i think it was timex. now i have a new pocket watch. it kinda broke. and the movie 17 miracles if you can find it. i want to watch it. and the other side of heaven. just to be able to watch on pday in the future. But sorry im so expensive... hopefully everyone at home is going well and everyone enjoys easter break!!!! Thanks for everything!!! love you!

Ben

Week 32 Posadas, Argentina

Yeeeeeeep watched all 10 hours of General Conference, I have to admit to falling asleep a little becuase we were in a dark room with air conditioning.... and I think my body was a little exhausted, but good job Nathan for going to the preisthood session!! 

Thats interesting about the two teams in the basketball final. But not very exciting seeing that its kentucky and uconn.. for like the 10th time. But woooo josh is leaving in july!!!! thats when he put his date?? 

Yeah Sister Craven ended up like write next to my area like 15 minutes away, different zone but same city. 

And yeah i think its good to have the people talk about their missions during seminary, it gets the kids excited I think. 

And my companion is from Lima, from what he told me he's from the really dangerous scary part. He has lived on his own since he was 18 and worked and found the church through his girl friend who was less active and then he ended up getting baptized when she reactivated. 

And whattttttt unlce jeff is going to Berlin?!! woahh, does he have to learn German?? or does he already know it? And Uncle David is going to Islamabad whatttttttt thats crazy! And afterwards retiring. Wow haha thats pretty cool but sounds scary. Whats so dangerous about it? do the people like to harass americans there? 

And no i haven't gotten to use the object lesson, i can buy cups here but i've been so caught up in things that i haven't really had the chance to think.  And yeah i still get to study spanish almost everyday, we started the winter schedule again where we study in the morning till 10:30 eat lunch at 12:00 and then work till 9:00, so its a little more intense especially walking in the sun right after getting fed a lot of heavy food, but more motivation to talk to more people and sit down in their house so we can rest a little haha. And yesss the accents are pretty funny, the Colombians never lose their accent, there's is a Colombian hermana that told me Cali is a tough mission, the one dad served, I don't know if he thinks the same.  And the Peruvians speak pretty normally, pretty well, Argentinians from Buenos Aires have accents that are reallllly different, or from the southern part. Their y´s are sh´s and their double ll´s are sh´s. But yeah its funny to hear how they all talk differently. But thanks for everything!!!!! I think the only thing I want for my birthday is a small whiteboard, if you can find one with some dry erase markers and also if you can find of copy of the movie 17 milagros. I don't think I need too much, don't spend a lot of money on me. You can save it for college books or a food plan at BYU. Or a chiptole fund for when i come back. But we had a little activity in the chapel with the other missionaries in the zone and it made us get here a little late so i didn't have too much time to write. But thanks for everyone!! Tell everyone i love them as well. I also heard lots of love and service and courage and gratitude in conference, it was pretty good. But thankssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love, ben

Week 31: Posadas, Argentina

My new companion is pretty cool, Elder Arenas from Peru and he has a year and 5 as a member and 5 months in the mission. And he is super humble. I think he was pretty poor before, he lived by himself and worked in a shoe factory. And yeah we are finding some people to teach its just kinda like the people here don't like commitments.... which is probably why 90 percent of them aren't married. But we commited 20 people to be baptized and only 1 came to church..... it rained so im glad we had at least one. We had a meeting with president Lapierre today and it was pretty sweet, he is a super smart guy. And I learn alot from him. 

Tell liam to stop procrastinating and that it will serve him well. And woooahh thats sweet dad gets to go to costa rica. for free!! haha thats awesome. Nice little vacation. 

And yeah i got the envelope with the shoe inserts and the candy!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!! and i actually got the little box as well!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!! its still pretty warm but I'm sure I'll be able to start using the Under Armor pretty soon. Thanks!! And woahhhh Liam is almost as tall as dad??? thats crazzy. I'm sure he's still super frail and has noooooooo muscles hahahahahaa just kidding, but thanks for everything!!!  

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love and miss everyone!!!!!

ben

Week 30: Posadas, Argentina

Haha! Argentina has climates that are realllly different. There's a place called Formosa that's like 115 degrees in the summer and then in Tierra del Fuego in the south it's like always snowing!. But this week did cool down a lot. I was using a sweater yesterday because it got pretty chilly. It's because it rained Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday a little bit Thursday. So the weather really cooled down but I think it's heating up again and  my companion and I got sick (haha) from the weather change but we are almost better now. 

I'm sad I'm missing March Madness but it's all good. How's Jabaari Parker doing?  And that's good Nathan's soccer team is doing well, but not so great that there are kids vandalizing the church.... haha. The church here is pretty locked up with a huge gate around the whole thing, but all the houses are like that, huge gates around the house with big metal locks because it gets pretty dangerous I think, and the church is a pretty nice church compared to everything else.

I've learned to always have a talk prepared for sacrament meeting in Paraguay when I spoke for 20 minutes on the spot which was interesting but I now know that it is important.. But our investigator is doing well; I'm thinking he's going to make it. He just has a lot of problems with his work always calling him in and stuff. And the ward is doing well, they cook pretty well and wash our clothes but not too many references haha. at lunch we say...... hmmmm wow I heard there was someone that lived around here that was really cool that went to church and almost got baptized or that is really cool and is looking for a church (not knowing that there is someone like that..) and they are usually like.. hmmm oooooohhhh yeah there's that one guy over there, oh there is that one lady down the street haha its pretty funnny when we ask them if they know anyone we can teach and they say no but when we do the other thing they are like ohhh yeaaaaaaaa.

But yeah we received the transfers this morning, Elder Ake is going to Encarnacion to whitewash as a zone leader which is like impossible haha; he and his companion are going to be new to the area; I think in the states they call it shotgunning, but should be fun for him.  I met my new companion before, Elder Arenas from Peru who has about 6 months in the mission so we are both super new but should be fun. I think he's a convert of about a year and a half as well so it will be a interesting experience but should be fun. But thanks for everything!!! I want to go look and buy a little whiteboard and start drawing stuff during lessons for the people because the people here really like nice visuals.

Love and miss everyone!! Have a good week!!!!!

Elder Ben Roberts

Week 29: Posadas

The stake conference we had this past weekend was kinda of focused on hastening the work, President La Pierre and his wife spoke and it was pretty good. We also had a S eventy come to our mission to talk with us and that was also super cool. I learned a lot, its pretty crazy how much they know and how much spiritual capacity they have. But that is awesome Fransisco is leaving for a mission, and that there are some other people in the stake going.  I think by the end of the month the Posadas Stake will have had like 25 baptisms this year so far, maybe more, im not really sure because there are more than one zone here, but our zone has baptized i think 14 since january first. But its a lot less than they expect.. so i think we have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of member support in the food and washing clothes and helping the recent converts get invovled in the ward but not so much finding people to become recent converts..... but its all good hopefully it will improve, and hopefully we will hear even more about hastening the work in general conference haha.  And yeah we have explored every part of our area, obviously not talked to everyone by a longshot but we do see a lot of the people that we taught in the past.  And the work here is going pretty well, there are transfers next week and im prettty sure my companion is going to leave.  But we get along really well. We are teaching a couple of cool people, one that might make it and get baptized in between sessions of general conference which would be really cool, but we shall see. Thanks for the update and hopefully everything is well back home!!!!! love and miss everyone,

ben

Ben was happy to see the air conditioner.

Some of the ward members, and some missionaries.

Missionaries in and around Posadas.

Four missionaries and four new young men that received the priesthood at Stake Conference.  (and the Stake President?)

A member of the Quorum of the 70.

Hopefully he is sharing these tacos.

Now that is a dirt road!

Week 28: Posadas, Argentina

Hi.

Hmmm that's interesting about the elders not being able to find too many people. We are kinda having that problem because our area is super small, and I'm already getting tired of it and passing by the same houses that I've already contacted or seeing people in the street that know me by name haha because we have taught them before.  Presidente LaPierre went to a confernce with Elder Ballard and came back and told us we should be talking to 10 people every missionary, so 20 every companionship every day outside of actually contacting houses and our set appointments. So in the street, on the bus, in stores and stuff like that. And it's kinda working we are getting some people to teach and getting references from other areas. And when we contact a lot and get references from other areas the other missionaries start to trust us more and they start contacting more as well because they are seeing that we are having success so that's cool. 

One elder in my district got a envolope, like a flat rate envelope from the post office that was like 25 bucks and it was kinda relatively big. But thanks!!!!! I'm not sure if I can keep receiving boxes because I think they are expensive to take out. I haven't heard anything but I'm not sure if will be able to keep receiving them. But thanks for everything!!!!!! Are the kids getting excited for summer?? How is dad doing the bishop calling??  Do you have any vaction plans for summer?? 

thanks for everything!!!!!!

Love, Ben 

Week 27: Posadas, Argentina

Hola, Everyone!


And the week was pretty good, we had a baptism and it was pretty nice, our person that was going to preside and the person that was going to give a talk cancelled like 10 minutes before but that's Argentina for ya. But it went pretty well.  The girl,Graciela, was pretty happy. 
And more snow?? woooo that should be fun. But it actually hasn't rained all that much, it's been pretty surprising. Like it rained a lot at night while we have been sleeping and during church, during meetings. But it's been nice.
Hey i actually got the package from Grandam  the office elder had to go home because he got sick and a new one came in and didn't really know what to do so I had to wait a little while. But tell grandmom thank you very much and I enjoyed the chocolate and the music is really really good. I really liked the cds she sent. 
And our invesitgators.... haha not so great, they all bascially just fell away cause they weren't doing anything. We have one girl that is a partial member family but the mom is the only one that isn't a member and she doesn't want to give us permission to baptize her daughter.... but the daughter wants to get baptized... but I'll just say that we will be doing a lot of contacting this week haha. But it's fine; itshould be fun to go look for new people. Our area isn't very big but there are some places we haven't explored too well yet.  
But thanks for everything!!!! love and miss you!! bye!!