Sixty Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a pretty fun week, though nothing too out of the ordinary to tell.

Diego and Esteban are both doing great - they both made it to church again and they both now have baptismal dates set, but they have to get their marriage orders arranged before they can get baptized but here's to hoping that they can get it all done. :) We left Diego to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning two weeks ago as well, and has already made it to 2 Nephi 5 (about 80 pages in), which is awesome. Esteban has also already read all of one of the church's Books about the life of Gordon B. Hinckley, the last prophet before Thomas S. Monson, and both are actually sharing all that they learn and inviting all their family and friends to church as well of their own accord (we hadn't even asked them to do so) because as they both have said, they can see the huge changes that living the gospel has made in their own lives (and their wives has seen it too in them) and they want others to be able to benefit from it too. They're both awesome. :)

Kevin has been doing really good too, though it has been difficult for him to keep up in reading the scriptures, but he did have some questions about Joshua, the prophet from the Old Testament. (There was a HUGE novela about Moses here for the last year, with more than 200 episodes - a new one each night - that everyone loved, and watched all the time regardless of age or religion. It was actually pretty surprising. Well they made it to the end of the life of Moses, and so now it has ended but they are going to keep going with the next prophet, Joshua, which is what peaked Kevin's interest). As we explained who he was to Kevin though, we opened up to Joshua in the Bible and there in the first chapter was just the scripture that Kevin needed to explain to him why it's important to keep reading the scriptures and it was super helpful. Small miracle, but it was cool enough to share.

Other than that though, just little tidbits here and there (with a photo for each one):

1) My comp has in-grown toenails and so he has to soak them in a bucket that has a mixture of water and magnesium sulfate each night to soften the nail, and then shove little bits of cotton under them to lift them up. Well on the 15th, the day before my birthday, he decided to make me orange cupcakes (vanilla cake mix in an orange peel) as a birthday cake, and so I nabbed a picture of him doing so while soaking his feet. Also included is the finished result after baking them the following morning. They were tasty. Bonus photo - just him with his feet in the bucket. His expression about says it all haha.

I caught a gecko while out proselyting. He was a pretty big one and actually didn't even really run when I went to grab him, but I don't think he was too happy with it all the same. He was a cute little guy though, so enjoy a picture.

Also grabbed a picture of the Dad of the Week - one day is was downpouring super hard and I saw a big guy walking down the street getting soaked without an umbrella and then a very big umbrella going down the street right next to him with pretty much just a pair of little legs sticking out beneath it. It must have been twice as big as the little kid holding it.

Also, I made potentially the biggest hamburger I have ever eaten in my life this week, but it was super tasty. The layout was thus (it helps to see the picture too):

Bread Heel

-Mashed potatoes

Bread slice

-Mayo, Hot Sauce, Cheese (a lot), Patty (fried in butter), Fried Onions (fried in the patty butter), Fried Egg (also fried in the patty butter), BBQ sauce

Bread slice

-Mustard, Fried Egg (also fried in the patty butter), Fried Onions (also fried in the patty butter), Patty (fried in butter), Cheese (a lot), Hot Sauce, Ketchup

Bread slice

-Mashed Potatoes

Bread Heel

It was super tasty and most certainly filled me up. Doing the math between the patties, cheese, and eggs, I am pretty sure that it was at least 60 grams of protein. Didn't bother counting up the grams of fat though. Also, I had two glasses of milk to help get it down so that was nice. 

Also, the recent convert of Elder Jacobson and Elder Pinheiro, Yessica went on vacation for a week to Santiago del Estero (where she is from in Argentina) and so she brought back a few small gifts for us Elders, and I ended up with a small little drum. It's super fun. :)

Other than that though, nothing too crazy new. Thank you all for the birthday wishes, and other than the orange cupcakes, I didn't really do anything special. I didn't want to make it a big deal, so I didn't even mention it to any of the members and slipped by under the radar. :)

Hope you all have a good week though and love you all!

Love,

Elder McCollum

p.s. Here is something that I found in my personal studies that I really enjoyed that talks about "True Happiness". It obviously has a religous tone to it, but it is pretty applicable to anyone and seemed pretty impacting to me. I put it here instead of the main body of the email because it's not that important that you read it, but I would reccomend it:

Pleasure Versus Happiness.—“The present is an age of pleasure-seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint. In this day of counterfeits, adulterations, and base imitations, the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsely labeled, Happiness. In this soul-destroying craft he is without a peer; he has had centuries of experience and practice, and by his skill he controls the market. He has learned the tricks of the trade, and knows well how to catch the eye and arouse the desire of his customers. He puts up the stuff in bright-colored packages, tied with tinsel string and tassel; and crowds flock to his bargain counters, hustling and crushing one another in their frenzy to buy.

“Follow one of the purchasers as he goes off gloatingly with his gaudy packet, and watch him as he opens it. What finds he inside the gilded wrapping? He has expected fragrant happiness, but uncovers only an inferior brand of pleasure, the stench of which is nauseating.

“Happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much besides. Happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but gilded brass, which corrodes in the hand, and is soon converted into poisonous verdigris. Happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. Happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart’s blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle, and of but transitory beauty.

“Happiness is true food, wholesome, nutritious and sweet; it builds up the body and generates energy for action, physical, mental and spiritual; pleasure is but a deceiving stimulant which, like spirituous drink, makes one think he is strong when in reality enfeebled; makes him fancy he is well when in fact stricken with deadly malady.

“Happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction.

“True happiness is lived over and over again in memory, always with a renewal of the original good; a moment of unholy pleasure may leave a barbed sting, which, like a thorn in the flesh, is an ever-present source of anguish.

“Happiness is not akin with levity, nor is it one with light-minded mirth. It springs from the deeper fountains of the soul, and is not infrequently accompanied by tears. Have you never been so happy that you have had to weep? I have.”—From an article by the author, Improvement Era, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 172, 173.

Fifty Nine Weeks

Hello Everyone!

So this has been a pretty easy going week. There has been rain, a little more rain, and then maybe just a touch more rain, though I did not soak my shoes this week. There haven't really been any special crazy occurences so mostly just a few short tidbits to share.

First of all, on Tuesday our investigator Diego made us an Asado for lunch which was super super tasty. Argentine asado is basically the same as grilling, just a lot slower and so instead of cooking with coals that just had the fire die down and with smoke, you cook it open air right when the coals (usually from wood instead of charcoal) have actually finished burning all the way through. The result is that you get a lot more of the wood flavor, and a lot less of the smoke flavor, the meat normally stays a lot lot juicier, and it is cooked the same all the way through. I really enjoyed it, but my vegetarian companion was left eating potato salad, cucumbers, and regular lettuce and tomato salad.

As we go teaching people as missionaries, we also have a set of lessons that we are expected to teach so that the people we teach learn some key doctrinal points to get them started. After someone gets baptized, we then go over the lessons again to make sure that they understand, accept them, and can progressing and growing. Well this last week we finally finished reteaching Kevin all the lessons and so now he knows it all. (Well he still has a lot he can learn, but he has learned all he needs to from us at least).

Once again with Diego then, we left him to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning this week instead of assigning him a part to read here or there and in 3 days time he read all the way from 1 Nephi chapter 1 up through 1 Nephi chapter 15. It was awesome when we visited him again and found that out. It is definetely a huge change from when we first found him and started visiting him. It is really awesome to see the growth and change in people here and I am loving it. Diego is also from Uruguay but right on the border with Brasil and so he can speak both Spanish and Portuguese. In response to something that I said though he addressed me (and my companion) as "Meu anjo" which I was able to tell was portuguese and thought I knew what it was, but I asked him just to confirm it and he explained that it was, in fact, portuguese for "My Angel". There are a lot of people that talk about the missionaries that have taught them, visited them, or helped them learn and grow - especially those who start teaching them or are the ones there when the get baptized - as their "Angels" but I had never had someone directly say it to me. I was stunned for a moment but it certainly felt really good, and is definetely not something that I imagine I will forget.

In church then we had Diego and Esteban once again, though their wives still haven't been. We have been teaching another couple though that also needs to get married in order to get baptized, the Familia Ibañez, that have been learning a lot too, but at a slower rate. They haven't made it to church yet but have promised to make it next week and so I am really hopefully that we can get them there too.

Other than that though, there is not all that much new, other than a couple of funny quotes from my companion:

1) As an apology, instead of saying "I'm sorry with all my heart", he decided to show a deeper remorse in saying "I apologize with all my internal organs".

2) As it was raining really hard one day there was a strong patter of rain in the storm drain when my comp said "I hear a lot of dogs" as if concerned there were a lot of them off in the distance barking. (He's not a huge fan of all the dogs that there are just roaming the streets here in Argentina). He quickly learned it was the storm drain though and that was the end of that. 

Hope you all have a good week though and love you all!

Love,

Elder McCollum

p.s. Included is a picture of the African (satanic) temple that I mentioned last week.

Fifty Eight Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a pretty fun week. I have some fun random tidbits to share, and then some cool experiences. I will share the tidbits first though:

Last P-day, after leaving the ciber I had the desire to make apple pie (now that we have a little more time on P-days) and so I did. :) It came out super tasty. (I made two, and then shared with some other Elders. They confirmed that it was, in fact, tasty.)

Another fun thing is that we have a residential gecko in our apartment. Last week my companion called me over to point him out on the wall so that I could see him, and he was very tiny. He ran off pretty quick though and I'm not sure where he got off to, but after eating lunch one day in our pench, I looked up and saw him chilling on the ceiling close to our AC. I grabbed a picture to share. He makes me happy.

Walking down the street on Wednesday we passed a house that had a car parked out front playing loud music, with some people sitting out in front of their house drinking mate. (Nothing unusual). I was beyond surprised and super excited though because I recognized the music of the song though I couldn't hear the words. I didn't think it could be, but as we got closer I confirmed that it was the song I thought it was, one that I know very well in English, but had never ever before heard in spanish or imagined that I might hear in spanish, much less in Argentina: They were listening to "Country Roads" by John Denver. For those that don't know, the song sings about West Virginia, a place that I lived for a good chunk of my life and it's pretty much the theme song of the state; you hear it all the time there, but not all that much outside of West Virginia. It put me super content though to hear it.

One of the other interesting things that we saw on Wednesday too though was a satanic temple. It had a giant plaque saying african religion (because it's a nicer way to say it; those religions originated there). It had a giant pyramid though on top of two tall pillars, with two black stone statues in front of them. One had a man with a bow that had a dead wild cat slung across his shoulders (the religion in question is known for a lot of animal sacrifices while playing african drums) , and the other was a man holding a baton with a smaller man pegged to it. It also had a lot of black ceramic tiles around the door depicting a bunch of other crazy things that I didn't take enough time to make out. It was also flying two flags up top. One was the argentine flag, and the other was a deep maroon color that I don't even want to know how it was died. We got away from there pretty quick though, but it defenitely stands as a testament to me that there does exist a god, because there is no way that that satan could exist if there did not also exist a god. On friday then as we were heading back to our apartment at 8:30 at night (in a different area) we heard loud drums as we passed by a certain house on the block we were walking down. My comp looked at me and asked "Is that?..." and I just looked at him and said "Yup" and kept walking. It's kind of weird that it didn't freak me out or the concept isn't abnormal to me anymore like the first time I heard about it when I was new here, but I guess that comes with the time that I have already in Argentina.

Another fun anecdote is that it once again rained a lot on Saturday. We were close to the chapel right as it started to pour (only about 5 minutes away) and so we bee-lined it there but pretty much as soon as we got inside the downpour stopped and went to a light drizzle. My shoes were once again already soaked though, and so that was that haha. My comp that same day though had bought what must be the worlds biggest umbrella. I attached a picture, but he couldn't even open it in the hall of our apartment without it touching both walls. He ought to stay nice and dry from now on...

Cool stories though for the week:

First of all, we had 3 investigators in church on Sunday, which was super awesome. Esteban went for the 4th time (and also already wants to pay tithing despite not even being a member yet), Diego went for the 5th time (and is asking the members too now for help to get his wife to go to church with him so she can see the blessings as well), and then a member brought a friend that is interested in the gospel for the first time, which makes the three that were there. It was super awesome and all the meetings were also super good and so it turned out phenomenal.

Another super cool experience was that Kevin passed the sacrament for the first time this sunday, and it just so happened that he passed it to me and my companion. It was the first time that I was able to take the sacrament from one of my converts, but it was a super awesome experience and something that I am never going to forget. We have also been able to help Nico out a lot recently and he almost went to church this last sunday but I gave him an extra triple that I had (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price all combined in one book) with a personal note for him written inside hoping that it would be the small push he really needed to come back (he has been right there for a few weeks now) and after recieving it he said that sí o sí (yes or yes, an argentine expression) he is going to come this next week. I hope so, as he is really awesome but it is really cool to be able to help people my age too.

After church we then visited Diego and his daughter was also there, as well as a friend of his wife who had a lot of questions about who we were and what we did, as well as certain questions about what happens after this life. We answered them, teaching her a little in the process, and explained the Book of Mormon, leaving her one that she was very excited to read. We are going to talk to Diego again the next time that we visit him to see how she is doing with it so that we can maybe visit and teach her as well. After we finished that though, his wife's friend left (as well as his daughter) but his wife and him stayed and we watched the 20 minute video of the Restoration. We haven't been able to teach his wife all that much but he has been sharing a lot with her. While watching the movie though, she was more intently focused on the TV than a small kid focuses on a computer screen. It was super awesome, and if we are able to get her to go to church as well, it will be a lot easier to help the both of them get married and baptized as well.

Other than that, there isn't all that much new this week, so I hope that all goes well for everyone!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Fifty Seven Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a very interesting (and a very long) week with something crazy or notable happening pretty much every day so I will split up the letter like that.

Monday.

On Monday we went to visit Kevin, who was doing great after having been baptized a little over a week prior (the previous Saturday), going to the temple last Saturday, and hearing an apostle on Sunday. It was a nice surprise then when we showed up and his mom said that he wasn't there; He had gone to EFY for the week, a summer camp that the church puts on for the youth that is supposed to be super fun. That was a nice surprise, and so when we finally  were able to visit him again yesterday (Sunday) he was happy as a clam, minus a sore throat and pretty much having lost his voice haha.

Tuesday.

Tuesday rained. A lot. A whole lot. It was supposed to rain for the afternoon, and so I had gone the whole day carrying my umbrella (my small one broke with the end, and so I had to buy a bigger beefier one the size of a cane so that it would actually last) and my rain coat, but we had gotten up until 7:00 without a single drop of rain. Well at 7:00 we got on a colectivo (public bus) to go to a different part of our area and once we got on, it started to pour buckets. I felt like  a spy that went to a secret phone booth or something to change because we got on, it started to pour and then I pulled my rain coat out of my backpack and put it on, put everything in my pockets in a plastic bag, change my nametag to my jacket and pretty much as soon as I got ready to go out in the rain, we got off, opening up my umbrella as we stepped off. Unfortunately though, it was pretty much all for naught because within 5 minutes we were completely soaked from head to toe and my waterproof shoes were once again filled with water, with the waterproof lining holding it in so even if I was on dry ground, my feet were wet haha. I got a couple pictures and a short video with the phone (sorry for the terrible quality, it's not a smartphone) so I hope you enjoy. I apoligize beforehand though for the annoying singing.

Also on Tuesday after the rain stopped, we heard a firetruck going by and as you remember, here in Argentina Santa drives around on christmas eve on the back of a firetruck. Well there was also a mom and her very young daughter walking by and the little girl stopped, all excited, and said "Mommy, it's Santa Claus!". The mom said, "No I don't think so" as she kept walking and it definetely gave me a good little laugh.

Wednesday.

Wednesday had nothing particularly special.

Thursday.

Thursday my world in the mission got turned upside down. There was a worldwide missionary training that had some pretty big changes. So for the last who knows how long Missionaries have had to follow a very specific morning schedule, getting up at 6:30 and going out to work at 10:30 (12:00 if you are training) and then coming back at 9:00, planning the next day that night, and then going to bed at 10:30. Well, now we still have to get up at 6 :30, but we have more time to get ready in the morning, we now plan for the morning, and then we can be out to work at 10:00. There is one more hour of studies besides (2 hours if you are training) but you can put them wherever you want during the day to accomodate it as you need. You are also back in the pench at 9:00 but you now don't have to plan at night so you can be to bed earlier if you want to get more sleep or you have a little bit of extra time to write in your journal, etc. P-day also changed from the previous schedule (10:30am-6:00pm) to starting now at 8:00am, so we now have 2.5 hours more to do everything that we need and relax a bit, which doesn't actually normally happen on P-day, and so that is nice. Another big change too then is that before we had to report how many lessons we taught, how many referrals we recieved from people, etc. but now we only report new people we find to teach, how many people we bring to church, how many people were baptized, and how many people have a baptismal date programmed. It might seem like a small change, but it means a lot less number counting and allows us to be focused on what can really help us help others instead of just teaching someone that might not actually even be listening to us and then counting it as a lesson.

Friday.

Friday we visited our investigator Esteban and he is doing great. He said that whenver he is feeling down he grabs the Book of Mormon and opens it up and it almost always has exactly what he needed in that moment. He also told us that last fast sunday he fasted so that his wife would also listen to us because he has been able to see huge differences in his life already by reading the scriptures and praying every day, and that she later in the week told him that she would listen to us too once her sister was no longer visiting them and so we are pretty excited for that. 

Saturday.

Saturday we visited our investigator Diego and he is also doing great. Diego ahs been sharing bit by bit with his wife as we go teaching him as well and though his wife doesn't often listen to us, she is starting to warm up to us a lot and says hi to us as we go in and since Diego is hard of vision, she has actually been handwriting in larger print the 2-3 verse assignments that we leave Diego to read from the Book of Mormon so that he can read them easier, but it means that she too then is also reading. Diego said that she asks him questions from time to time to and so we are hoping to be able to teach her too. Diego professes seeing big changes in his life too since he has started going to church and now wants to share it with everyone haha (which is awesome) but I really haven't had such great investigators now in a little while and it is awesome.

Sunday.

Sunday wasn't anything too crazy. Diego and Esteban both went to church, which was great, and in the afternoon we were able to visit Kevin and his older brother Nico. The two are doing great and I have grown to really care for them both. We are trying a lot now to help Nico get back into the swing of things going to church again too and he's right there and so I am hoping for a little push that might be able to help him out, because I really do want the best for him and Kevin both.

Other than that though, not all that much else new and I feel like I have rambled enough, so I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Fifty Six Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been yet another interesting week in the mission haha.

So in our ward there are 4 missionaries, Elder Dosdall and I in our area, and Elder Pinheiro and Elder Jacobson in the other area. Well, Elder Jacobson somehow got Pneumonia in the middle of summer, and so he was pretty bad off with a super high fever and pretty serious sickness and so on Wednesday they took him to our Mission President's house where he could be better looked after for the first little bit of the sickness, which tends to be the worst and so Elder Pinheiro stayed with us in a trio until today when we picked Elder Jacobson up and brought him back to his area where he can continue recovering in the apartment there. And so, once again we had some fun adventures together in Trio.

Being in trio, we had to work in both areas and so one of the people that we visited was a recent convert of the other Elders named Yesica (pronounced almost like Jessica in English because the Argentine Y is pronounced "sh"). She is super awesome though and on Sunday we had dinner with her too, which was super tasty.

On our side, one of the most fun lessons that we had was with Kevin; Kevin is doing great. We are going over the same lessons that we had to teach him before baptism and he remembers everything and then some. As we teach, he goes sharing stuff that he learned from poking about in the scriptures too, when at the beginning one of our biggest challenges was being able to read with him. For one of the lessons then we were able to make popcorn and watch a movie about the Restoration, which was a super fun time. On Saturday too then, exactly one week after his baptism he was able to enter the temple and do baptisms for the dead, which was super awesome. (Baptisms for the dead being going to the temple and performing the ordinance of baptism in favor of those that have already died without the opportunity to be baptized or who were baptized by someone who didn't really have priesthood authority to baptize, thus making that baptism invalid).

One of the coolest things this week though was that there was a Special Stake Conference called where one of the 12 apostles came to visit and speak with us. (In the church there is a Prophet and a Quorum of 12 Apostles, just as in Christ's day and it is not very common that you get the opportunity to hear one of them in person). It was a really cool experience though because Gary E. Stevenson (the apostle that visited us) gave a really awesome talk about some of the most basic gospel principles, such as that God is our heavenly father and that we are all sons and daughters of him, and as such we really need to help one another, both inside and outside of the church. What was even more cool though is that Kevin and his mom were able to make it there to hear him in person, as well as two other investigators that we are teaching. At the end then, we were all able to pass by and shake his hand and so it was a nice cherry to top it all off. 

Other fun tidbits:

Here in Argentina you can buy 3 kilos of oranges (6.6lbs) for 20 pesos ($1.25 USD) and so last Monday me and my companion bought 3 kilos each and made our own orange juice. It took about an hour to squeeze them all and made only about 1.5 liters but it was super tasty and I might do it again. We also then put vanilla cake batter in the orange shells and cooked them in the oven like cupcakes and some super tasty orange cakes were the result. I definetely enjoyed them. :)

I now have a membership card (free) to Dia, one of the most common supermarkets here in Argentina and so now I get discounts on a lot more stuff. I got a picture of it with my Vea card (another less common supermarket). Now I am really only missing Carrefour, but I'm not sure if they have a card...

I hope you all have a good week though and love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder McCollum

Fifty Five Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a very awesome week! (There was a baptism involved) :)

So first of all we had divisions on Tuesday and so I got to go work in Villa Tesei for the day. It was a cool experience but something that was really cool is that I got to say hi to a member that I knew from a previous area. Durning the time that I was in Libertad there was a member named Hernan that would go out and teach with us from time to time, but he got married and moved to Villa Tesei with his new wife and I hadn't really seen him since. Doing divisions in Villa Tesei though, I was able to see him again though, so that was pretty cool.

Another super fun thing that we did this week though was a Family Home Evening with Kevin, his mom, and one of his older brothers, Nico. We made tacos and tortillas (they don't have tacos in Argentina, it's a mexican thing) but I made a couple of salsas to bring along too. We had a good time cooking and everything came out super tasty, and it was a really fun way to spend the evening. I included some pictures of it, including me in an apron cutting up a potato (so my comp could have some vegetarian tacos).

Other than that though, there has been a lot of rain this week. It rained a whole lot on Friday, to the point where I couldn't even really see in the rain, and my companion and I got soaked. I had on a raincoat and my shoes were supposedly waterproof, but somehow I got wet somewhat even through the raincoat and my pants and socks got so soaked that it dripped down into my shoes, leaving water inside of them that couldn't get out because they were waterproof and left me walking in waterlogged shoes for the rest of the afternoon. What made it hysterical though is that while visiting someone I stretched my legs out (thus tipping my shoes back) and some water poured out on their floor (luckily it was concrete though - carpet does not really exist here). My shoes took some time to dry though the rest of my clothes dried quick and so meanwhile I wore my other pair. Yesterday though it was raining fairly hard again and so my other pair of shoes got wet too, though not as bad. Luckily though, the first pair were by then dry so I am now wearing them again haha.

Another fun photo then is what happened when my comp forgot that he had put a couple of Soy Hot Dogs in the oven for lunch and then we went out to work, coming back at night to a funny smell. Lesson learned - don't forget your Soy Hot Dogs in the oven for 6 hours - they come out Black and Hollow...

And now for the coolest part of the week - KEVIN GOT BAPTIZED!!! :D

It was a super awesome experience. We had to be in the church for the entire afternoon to fill up the font, as the service was at 7pm but when he showed up, he showed up in a vest and suit jacket, with dress shoes and his mom showed up in a nice dress (he has only made it to church thus far in a nice button up shirt and jeans). There was a good turnout of other people to though to be there and support him, which was awesome. He asked me to be the one to baptize him, and so we changed, got a few more photos and went to the service. He was super nervous, but his baptism went really well and he has really learned and grown a lot. I have seen a good amount of change in him, but not just him but rather his whole family. They as a whole are doing a whole lot better than when we had just first started visiting them and it really testifies to me of the truthfulness of what we do. I know that this is the path to be able to have lasting happiness, and to be able to get on just fine, no matter what life throws at you. I know that by following the things that we teach that you can grow closer together as a family and that you can really find a purpose in everything that you do. I have seen it time and time again since being here in Argentina, but it was awesome to be able to have such a blatant reminder with the baptism of Kevin, and I just wanted you all to know that.

The following day Kevin was confirmed a member of the church (once again is his suit and tie) and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost. The family was doing great when we visited them later that afternoon but Kevin said he didn't want us to go (get transferred to a different area) and so I was a little scared of that with transfers happening today. Luckily though I will be staying in this area for at least one transfer more with Elder Dosdall (so we were informed today) and so I am looking forward to another awesome six weeks ahead of me.

Love you all though and hope that everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos:

-Divisions

-Tacos with Kevin, his mom, and Nico

-Kevin, his mom, my comp and I dressed up for the baptismal service

-Just before the baptism

-Turnout at the baptismal service

-My companion's burnt soy hot dogs

Fifty Four Weeks

Hello Everyone!

I realized last week that in almost every email I say "It has been a really interesting week" so I am determined not to say it this week haha. I don't know why I do it, maybe I just don't know how to open a letter haha but I have enjoyed this last week.

First of all we can talk about a few people that we have been visiting I suppose. First of all we have Kevin, who is doing great. Talking with him and preparing him for his baptismal interview he said that he had prayed about whether or not the Book of Mormon was true and recieved his response that it was. He keeps up with all the commitments that we leave him and has a lot of friends in church already, and him and his mom came to church on Sunday without us even having to go to their house to head there together. This week we hope to have a family home evening with them to make Tacos and watch a church film and so we are super excited for that. (Side note is that Tacos don't exist here and tortillas don't really exist either, they're from Mexico and so they are just as excited to eat Tacos as we are).

This week we also got to know the Hermana Castillo, a member that is a little old and frail now and so it makes it hard to be able to go to church. She has a heart of gold though and so though we weren't able to because of the rain this last Sunday, we hope to be able to get her to the church (about 10-12 blocks away) in her wheelchair, and she is excited for the idea as well. 

On Thursday then we had to go to the mission offices so that my companion could get his DNI (Argentine identification) and so as he went to Capital federal to do all his tramites (paperwork) they sent me on divisions for a few hours with the Elders of San Justo, an area close by and right next to my second area. It was a lot of fun to be able to do that too, and my companion certainly enjoyed running about in Capital.

On Friday then, we had normal divisions with our district leader and my companion stayed in our area to guide it by himself for the first time, though it was very easy going because our district leader had to do two baptismal interviews (one for Kevin and one for Yesica, someone the other Elders in our ward were teaching that got baptised and confirmed this last weekend, and so is now a member). Both interviews passed, and so Kevin is going to have his baptism this coming up weekend and we are very excited for him. It will also be my companion's first baptism and so he is even more excited for that as well. I worked for the day too then in Hurlingham with Elder Hammond, our district leader's companion. It was a super cool day for us too because everything seemed to line up perfect and we were able to teach pretty much one lesson after another, finishing the day with 9 lessons. I had never before taught that many in one day in the mission up until now, but it was a super cool experience and I got to visit with a lot of really cool people.

Sunday then would be the last day of the week and that went really well too. In church we had two investigators show up (Kevin and Esteban) which was super awesome, as well as a few less active members that we like to visit from time to time. Afterwards too then we had lunch with Kevin and his mom and then went out to visit some families with the Hermano Le Pera, and that was a lot of fun. As we were visiting one family though we were sitting outside and a kid came up to us saying that he got baptized a good while ago but that he had stopped going and had fallen on some really hard times (losing parents and falling into addictions as well) and asked us to visit him some time. We went to where he said his house was afterwards but he wasn't there and so at the end of the day I looked it up in the ward directory and it checks out that he is in fact a member. Member or not I would have helped him, but it was kind of tough to see such a young person (20 years I think, or younger) that had fallen so hard. We are going to see if we can get in contact with him this week though and try and help him out so I'll try and give any updates on that later.

Sorry that this week I don't have any photos, but I hope all of you have a good week and want you to know that I really care for you all. 

Love,

Elder McCollum