Sixty Two Weeks

Hello Everyone!

Not all that much new to tell seeing as the last time that I emailed was on Wednesday, but a little bit about my new area. First of all, our area is huge, but really we work mostly in just one part of it, or better yet in just one block of it all. In Argentina there are things called villas which are normally a little more dangerous neighborhoods where you have a bunch of houses crowded together in a block (or more) with little tiny walkways as almost a maze going through them all, with nobody having a yard. Most of the time the houses are of lower construction quality as well, because people that live there are normally a more humble. Well, we have one of those in our area, but it is only one block in size and it is actually a very easy-going one, without really that much danger. What is really cool as well is that the former Capo (or boss/head) of that villa about 3 years ago was converted and baptized a member, and changed a lot. He goes by the name of Genie. Before he was in some pretty hardcore stuff and if he was angry or upset everybody there went inside and shut their door. He's not like that anymore, but if people get in a fight with his kids still but then find out whose kid it was, they often go to his house to ask him forgiveness in person. Well anyway, he has a lot of family in that villa as well and a lot of them end up being the people that we teach and that progress towards baptism as well, so that is super cool. We have other people in other families that we teach as well but I would say that when we are out working, we probably spend about 90% of our time in the Villa de los Russos (what it is called). 

Speaking of villas though, the other Elders that our in our ward (but that don't work in the offices) have in their area perhaps the most widely known villa in all of the mission, "Fuerte Apache". That villa is much more dangerous and instead of being just one block, it covers the expanse of about 10 blocks by 6 blocks, and actually has military stationed just outside of it to keep it more under control. Also, instead of being just a 1-4 stories high like ours is, many of the buildings get to be sky-scraper hights, and it also has 3 schools and a church inside of it. Well, one day one of the members wanted to give us lunch, but lived right on the outside edge of it and so we got to go there to have lunch. It was like a completely different world, in serious and we only touched the outside edge of it. If we are able to go deeper in one day on divisions or something, it would be a really interesting experience (but before anyone panics, they don't do any harm or anything to missionaries, so there is no need to worry there). 

Other than that, starting to get a little more used to life in the offices. This last week, I made a list of all the phones that we have in the mission and the area that they are assigned to and it turns out that there are exactly 100 of them. All last week I had a fun time trying to get more phone chips in too so that we could have some extra phones in case somebody gets robbed or we need to open a new area or something of the sort and so we will see if they arrive this week. I definitely consider myself fluent in spanish at this point, but it's definitely a fun exercise with my language skills making phone calls and sending emails to take care of phone problems and deal with phone management type stuff all in spanish. Also it's pretty fun being able to spend the entire day basically with 5 other missionaries here in the office. It's pretty hard not to be in good spirits because there's always something to smile at, or something funny/random/unexpected going on.

Also, last week I made a mistake in telling you all about my new companions. Elder Moreno is in fact from Mendoza, Argentina but Elder Ehlert is actually not from the USA. He is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Yeah! How's that for a fun mix-up? I've included a photo of them so you all can see them (with all of us in our big comfy office chairs). Elder Moreno is on the left, Elder Ehlert in the middle, and obviously I'm on the right. 

Other than that, not all that much new to talk about, so hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

p.s. I caught the world's tiniest Gecko inside of our pench. He was super cute. I have also included a couple of pictures of him.

Sixty One Weeks

Hello Everyone!

Well this has been an interesting week for certain, and perhaps the most busy thus far for me in the mission. (Including from when I wrote last Monday until Today, Wednesday, which I know is more than a week.) One thing that I had not mentioned in my last email is that on this Monday/Tuesday we were to have transfers (with us finding out Monday morning and packing, and Tuesday actually doing the change), and honestly I was expecting to go to a different area (potentially in a flash or another change before Monday because I have rarely had a normal change from one area to another). Well what happened was not expected haha. I was waiting for a random call to say that I was going to get flashed through the weekend, but it never came and so on Monday morning we were cleaning our apartment before going to the ciber-cafe to check on the computer to see what transfers were to be when our mission president called to tell me that he hoped I could be packed and in the mission offices that very afternoon because I was going to be one of the Elders that works in the offices of the mission! (I included a picture of my reaction just after the call haha. So thus it was; I had from 9:00-12:00 to pack my bags and then was in the offices by 1:30. Normally what happens is that an Elder is in the offices for a few transfers, and then about a week before the end of a transfer, the mission president lets him know that he is going to be replaced, and then a replacement comes in to learn everything over a few days to a week, and then replaces him. Well I was called in the day before the Elder I was to replace was leaving so I had one day to learn everything that I need to do, and then the following day I had to help out with transfers (coordinating, sending out, and setting up for about 120ish missionaries to come to the chapel that the offices are in, get their new companions, and then head out again) and now today is my first day doing everything (and I am able to email you all too because Monday and Tuesday were huge national holidays too and most people weren't actually able to email their families on Monday). 

Anyways, life in the offices is thus: There is a financial secretary (in charge of all the finances for the mission), a pensionero (in charge of all the apartments and housing for the mission, a materials secretary (in charge of distributing materials to all of the mission to help with going out to teach, etc.), a tramites and references secretary (in charge of paperwork/visas, etc.), and a technology secretary (which is me :D ).  I am in charge of the paperwork that gets sent in when someone is baptized so they can be registered a baptized member of the church, all the cell phones that every companionship in the mission has (about 100 of them), making new maps for all the areas when they ask for them, and various miscellaneous other things. For example, the computer I was given to work on (which just so happens to be the central computer that has all the storage and printers connected to it, that has to be turned on and working for all the others to use those things) did not have internet access and had various other random things going on and so I got to enjoy a 2 hour long tech support call getting it all fixed. While waiting for things to load or whatnot though, I got to just make conversation with the tech support guy on the line and it turns out that he had served a mission here in Argentina as well more than 30 years ago and just so happened to pass through one of the same stakes that I was in, which is pretty cool. 

For us though office hours are from 10:30-5:00 Tuesday through Friday, but the rest of the time we go out and do normal missionary work all the same which is still nice (provided that there isn't some kind of special event going on or something that we need to help set up and take care of). I've included a picture of my work space though so enjoy. :) This next week should be a fun time as I get everything down though and learn the ropes, and I'm definitely smiling a lot more than in my initial reaction. It's actually pretty fun because you get to know the entire mission really well, both the Elders and the areas, so it should be a lot of fun. :) My new companions by the way though are Elder Ehlert (from the USA, tramites secretary) and Elder Moreno (from Mendoza, Argentina, pensionero). They are a lot of fun, and I'll get you a picture next week, but yup I'm in a trio again. :)

In other news, now that I have ranted on about that quite a bit, Elder Dosdall finished his training! I have also included a picture of his reaction just after finishing the last video that we had to watch. I also got a much more entertaining video reaction, but it might be a bit too big to upload. I will have to see if I can bring the size down a little bit to send it next week if possible. 

As far as Diego and Esteban though, they are doing great still and I will at least be in the same stake, if not in the same ward, and so if there are big stake conferences or activities I should be able to see them from time to time, as well as Kevin, which should be really cool. I was pretty sad to leave Kevin behind, but he is doing great and so I am pretty confident that everything ought to turn out just fine for him.

I am sure I am forgetting a lot of things, but I'll try and include what I forgot next week because I don't have all that much time left with which to write. Love you all though and hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder McCollum

p.s. I included a 4th photo - in my new apartment we sleep with the window in the Bedroom wide open (because it is very hot still) but that means that I wake up each morning looking at the sunrise in a view just like the picture I sent, but with more pretty colors because I obviously got the picture a few minutes after waking up haha. It's pretty awesome though and I love it. 

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