Ninety Five Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a really busy week with a lot going on, but it has been a really good one. We have been visiting lots of people this week, and have had some really awesome lessons.

On Tuesday we had divisions, and I stayed in Hurlingham with Elder Alexander. On that day, we found an elderly woman named Ramona and her almost as elderly son, Mario. They invited us in to teach them and we did, and they were really attentive and really kind with us. I felt pretty sorry for them though because Ramona had a really bad operation on her foot and cannot walk (nor even stand on her own it seems) and is hard of hearing and doesn't have the best vision, and then her son Mario that lives with her is blind. They have someone that comes and lifts her out of bed into a chair, where she sits the entire day (with Mario sitting in a chair right next to her) just looking at the door, and then at night someone comes and brings them dinner and then lifts her into bed. I was later able to go back with Elder Mooneyham and teach them once again (where they were equally receptive). We hope to be able to go back with members though to be able to get them some more help.

We then also had a zone conference this week, where we had some new announcements that are pretty big (at least for us). 

1) All the meetings we normally have throughout the week will all be consolidated to Monday, which means no P-day monday (though we will still write in the Ciber on Mondays). P-days however will be on Thursdays, but will be an hour shorter. All the same though, it should be awesome because it means that we might actually be able to get out and visit around some stuff in Hurlingham instead of just getting the pench cleaned and doing our shopping. :)

2) We can now contact and speak to new people in vos, the Argentine form of Tu. To explain there is a distinction in spanish between a familiar "you" and a more formal "you" that doesn't exist in English. Vos (tu) is the more familiar form and so normally you don't use it as a missionary (being more respectful). In Argentina however, that distinction doesn't really exist as much anymore and so now our mission president is letting us use the more familiar form. It is different, but quite fun.

On Saturday then, we had a zone-wide activity where we had a set-up in one of the big parks here nearby with different missionaries singing, playing instruments, etc. to draw some attention as we went around talking to the people there in the park. It was really cool, but the funny part is that they had a small choir of missionaries (just us in the zone) sing a few hymns as well. This was anticipated. The needed someone to conduct though, and so somehow (still not sure how) I ended up being the one doing it. This was not anticipated. It was fun though, and we had a great time.

Last big thing of the week though is that we were able to follow up with the Radio station that spoke with us, along with our mission President and we will have one hour to be on the air, 3 times a week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights). That'll be starting on November 15th, but I'll keep you all up to date on that. (It'll be primarily online too though, so I might even be able to give you the site to tune into, though it'll be in spanish :D )

Other than that though, there wasn't too much terribly new for this week. I love you all though and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos:

9089 - Elder Venecia and I ran into each other again (maybe for the last time) in the big zone conference. 

2383 - Elder Mooneyham and I walking alongside the railroad tracks to an appointment one day.

2387 - Elder Alexander and I on divisions, waiting on the train to finish the night.

2398 - The setup we had in the park.

2401 - Me directing the choir...

2402 - The choir!

Ninety Four Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This was a great week! We didn't have too much going on by way of meetings and other things, and so we were able to get a decent amount of time out in our area.

We were able to visit one of our investigators, Natalia, twice after not having had contact with her in about 2 weeks. Both lessons were great, and it was really awesome being able to help her because she was in a pretty emotionally bad state the second time. As a matter of fact, we normally teach her on her front patio (we can't go inside if there isn't another man inside), and this time she didn't even bother bringing a chair out for herself, rather choosing to sit on the floor. So, we too forewent the chairs and were able to set on the floor and visit with her. It was a really cool experience and I feel as though we were able to help her a lot by it.

We also foudn 4 new investigators to teach this week (we have been looking for a long time but haven't been having a ton of success). They are all super great, and we are looking forward to following up with them this week. 

We were also able to go on divisions with the Zone Leaders, and I was able to learn a lot from them. They definetely helped us to give a boost to our area as well and so we are hoping to keep up that pace now these next few weeks.

Other than that though, there isn't a whole lot super new. This next week is going to be full of meetings every single day, so we'll see how much time we get in our area to do things. I hope we can manage our time well enough to be able to work a lot too still, but we'll have to see how it all goes.

I hope you all have a great week though and love you all!

Love,

Elder McCollum

photos:

2347 - Sun setting over a cool large house next to the train station

2372 - An argentina public bus ride at night

Ninety Three Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This week we honestly didn't teach a whole lot of people, but there was a lot of interesting things going on. First of all, we had interviews with the mission president on Thursday, and so while we were waiting I got to run across a couple of other missionaries that I had made good friends with in the past but that I hadn't seen in a long time, which was really cool. Also while we were waiting though, there were some of the missionaries that had just made it to Argentina not that long ago that were talking about stuff going on in the USA or on the world stage that made me realize I now know more about Argentine politics than those of my own country haha. I got a laugh out of that one.

On Friday then we had divisions, and my companion got to go and work in my old area (Loma Hermosa) and got to teach Esteban while over there. He too affirms that Esteban is awesome. In our area though, I was with Elder Wasson (from Hawaii). While we were walking down the street however, we saw someone with a bunch of newspaper clippings and random things pasted on plywood outside of his house, among them a photo of Joseph Smith. We decided to contact it and the dude turned out to be a totally conspiracy theorist, drawing super tiny connections with everything that really had no basis in anything. He claimed that it was research in Jewish Vampiric history (no clue what that means...), and that it had to do with the government wanting to force everyone to work. It was interesting meeting him, however we were on our way after not too long.

On Saturday then we were approached by someone from a fairly new radio station that we walk by frequently that asked us if we would like to have a one hour spot on his station to have some kind of religious program. I was super excited because I have always wanted to try and get something put on the radio as a means of finding new people to teach my entire mission, but never got the opportunity to do so. I will be in touch (hopefully) with the public affairs representative for the church though to see if we can't do something. If we were able to, it would be awesome and he said that we could have up to 3 one-hour spots per week. More on that in the future. :)

Lastly, yesterday (Sunday) was mother's day in Argentina, so we got to speak with our parents. It was kind of an unexpected surprise, but it was a really fun experience and I got to enjoy calling home. After the call, we were visiting with the member whose home we were in and it somehow came out that he had an old typewriter. He got it out to show off some and when I showed interest in it (it was really cool), he lent it to us to take back to our apartment and use and so now I have a really cool way to write in my journal. It's pretty neat.

Other than that though, there is not a whole lot new with me and so I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

catholic chapel

elder venecia

divisions

jose smith and the conspiracy theorist

typewriter

radio dude

mutual

2300 - A cool catholic chapel in our area

2309 - Elder Venecia, a friend from when I was in the offices that I came across during interviews.

2314 - Conspiracy therist clippings

2315 - Picture of Joseph Smith among the clippings

2318 - Elder Wasson (from Hawaii) during divisions

2330 - The typewriter case

2332 - The typewriter! (A Remington 20)

Ninety Two Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a really good week!

First of all, on Wednesday my companion had to go do his documentation paperwork in the capital, and so during the morning I got to go with another missionary that is training to Atalaya - my second area that I haven't been back to since June of last year. It was a really cool experience because I got to some converts that I have there who got married and baptized 2 weeks after I left (that was a sad time to go...) but that I haven't seen since. It was Aliana Suarez and two of her daughters (her husband was working so he wasn't there), but it was really really cool. We also got to visit a member family that we had made really good friends with but that I also hadn't seen or heard from since.

That afternoon too then we were able to teach a new investigator named Antonela that is super awesome. She was a referral from a member and he and his wife were both there for the first lesson. It went really well because they were able to testify to her too and be the ones that were able to extend all the invitations.

On Friday then I got a nice 1st degree burn from having some boiling water fall on my arm. Here they like to drink mate, which requires having a thermos (normally insulated with double layered glass with a plastic outer shell) full of hot water to pour in the drinking recipient. Well, I was visiting a member and one such thermos started to fall and I reached out to catch it, but had it break in my hand, which blew all the broken glass and hot water out onto my arm. Luckily I didn't get any cuts, but it means that I get to put on burn cream and gauze every morning and night and walk around with a cool sleeve during the day that I made out of a blue sock by cutting the toe off haha. (It really is okay, just a little inflamed the skin so no need for anyone to worry).

All of Saturday morning then we got to help our ward mission leader with service. He bought a new house (that had been practically abandoned) and so we got to help him clean out his entire patio. It was a lot of fun because it involved moving all kinds of heavy stuff out, cutting down trees and branches with a hatchet and then shoving around a little Fiat 600 to get it ready to be hauled out of there. 

Elder Mooneyham has been doing great too then; he has a spiritual power that I don't even think that he is aware of. The other day we visited a less active member that is really great but has only been to church a handful of times since he was 16 and went inactive (he is now in his mid 20s). In just talking, it came out that Elder Mooneyham was a convert of just over a year and that his parents weren't really supportive of him in the church. I didn't realize it in the moment, but it really touched him (the less active). We were then sitting in sacrament meeting in church on Sunday, and out of nowhere that less active walked in and sat down (in jeans and a t-shirt). I was stunned because it was someone who has had almost constant contact with missionaries even while he has been less active, but he said afterward that what really touched him was Elder Mooneyham's testimony. He also said that he was so choked up with emotion being back in the chapel that he could barely even speak (and it showed), and was already talking about when his 2 year old daughter serves a mission too, etc. It was a super awesome experience, and though I'm not sure Elder Mooneyham grasped the depth of it, he really can make a big impact in people's lives.

Other than that though, I don't think that there is all that much new to share for this week, so I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos:

2227 - Aliana, Violeta, and Stephy Suarez and I

2237 - Toad was trying to copy a contacting card from easter last year...

2238 - Bandaged up arm (During the day I put a sleeve over it too)

2242 - The burn - fun!

2245 - A toad rescued during service

2252 - Me inside of one of my favorite Argentine cars (Fiat 600)

2256 - They see me rolling...

2259 - The patio that we cleaned up. It's actually cleaner than it looks, we just shoved the car around to get it out some and it is taking up most of the space that we had just cleaned...

1010361 - Elder Mooneyham and I with Elder Mooneyham's MTC teacher, who just so happens to live in our area! (We had lunch with their family following the service).

Ninety One Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a pretty fun week, having recieved a new missionary to train once again. My new companion's name is Elder Mooneyham and he is awesome - he is the only member in his entire family and was baptized on July 9 of last year (2016), thus he has only been a member for a little over a year. He is 19 and is from Gilbert, AZ but did a year of college in California while he was preparing to go on the mission. He is super excited to work hard though and so we ought to have a great time together.

There hasn't really been a lot going on this last week as far as the work is concerned that is super noteworthy of sharing; we are in the stage of finding lots of new people to teach and so until we do there is lots of walking involved and lots of talking to whoever it is that we can. There was one lady however that visited with missionaries before (a couple years ago though) that a member came in contact with again recently, where she went remembering how much she enjoyed visiting with missionaries to him. He suggested that we pass by and so we did and she was beyond happy to see us. We didn't have time to teach her then, but we are going to be passing by on Wednesday so that should be awesome.

Besides that, General Conference this week was really awesome; there were a lot of really on point talks and I was able to learn a lot from the things shared.

Other than that though, there isn't a whole lot new to share for this week, so I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos:

2178 - Elder Mooneyham and I

2179 - Elder Mooneyham drinking Mate during studies

2181 - No way José trucking. I got a laugh from it

2185 - We saw some people practicing polo while out prosyleting

2188 - Some really cool graffiti at the city cultural center in Caseros (seen getting off train).

2196 - Some golf ball sized hail (no exaggeration here) that woke us up at 3:30am, along with a huge rainstorm and winds that followed.

2212 - The following rainstorm flooded out our street to the point it was going over the edge of the curb.

2215 - Waiting on the train to go back to our area after the end of General Conference (we had to watch it in Caseros)