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)

Ninety Weeks

Hello Everyone!

The biggest news of this week is that there are transfers! I will be getting a new missionary to train and will be staying in the same area, and Elder Gonzalez will be going to Libertad, where I was at about a year ago. It ought to be a really fun second to last transfer to come, though I don't know yet if my new missionary will be a yankee or a latino. I'll be finding that ought on Tuesday.

Other than that, this week we were all over the place trying to visit people and walking a lot. There was one day that we were going to go out with a member to visit people too and so with that, as well as the hard rain that was happening we had to reorganize our day about 3 times (and then in the end the member was getting sick so they couldn't even go out with us to visit). 

One really cool thing however is that on Sunday, Jonathan Vargas (one of the family of siblings that is all living together) made it to church for the second Sunday in a row. It was really awesome to see him there and see that the ward is really trying to help him too now. We were then able to visit with another member that hasn't been in a while on Sunday afternoon and it was really cool to see her  meet up again with a member that we brought with us that was baptized on the same day as her. It was a pretty cool get together and it was a really awesome experience to seem them meeting each other again as old friends that hadn't had contact in over a year.

Oh, I also got to help someone change a flat tire this week on their car while my companion talked with her about the gospel. It was a pretty cool way to contact someone, but as soon as it was changed and the flat was put in her trunk, she thanked us, got in, and drove off. I got a laught out of it.

Other than that though, there hasn't been a whole lot new for this last week in our area and so I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos: 

2128 - We came across a Google Maps car driving down the street this week. It was pretty awesome.

2130 - A train station in our area (we use lots of trains).

2132 - Train station (again).

2157 - One day when it rained, there was a street that flooded out particularly bad - at least 6 inches deep.

2163 - Some cool graffiti that we found in our area.

2167 - There was one truck that was carrying lots of Coca-Cola bottles that fell through a part of the street in our area. They had to unload it, get it out, then load it back up again.

2168 - Following the sighting of the truck that fell through the street, we saw lots of coca-cola bottles stacked up all over the place (more than what could have come from unloading said truck. It was a weird glitch in the Matrix.

2170 - We got our hands on a ping-pong net and paddles, so we set it up on a table we have that is about 4 feet by 2 feet, a fraction of the size of a real ping-pong table. Nonetheless, we had a really fun time playing at night when we finished our day and before going to bed.

292 - A really polluted river that runs through the limits of our area. We grabbed a picture while we were close.

301 - Someone was bored with just a painted on house number, so they got creative and drew a face in it too. 

Eighty Nine Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a really good week. It was pretty eventful all in all. I was able to do divisions with one of the Zone Leaders in our area on Tuesday, which was a lot of fun since I was able to fully guide the area just by myself for the first time. I was also able to learn a lot from him, which was really awesome.

On Thursday then we had interviews with our mission president and I got the exciting news that I will more than likely be training a new missionary this coming transfer. We are getting a large group of new missionaries coming in, and he said that he would like me to be able to be able to train one of them. It gets me excited because the time that I spent training Elder Dosdall was a lot of fun. It's really cool seeing a new missionary learn and grow, as well as seeing how much excitement and energy they have to work.

Friday then was a very interesting day in and of itself too then. As we were walking down the street we came across a member whose grandfather had recently passed away. I don't know if you all remember when we helped lay a concrete walkway for a family a few weeks ago, but I included a picture of an old man in a wheelchair sitting there by a fire watching (I'll include it again). It was him that passed away. It was super crazy because we had personally seen and spoken with him as little as two weeks ago, but it was a pretty hard hit for the family. We'll be passing by this week though to see how they are doing.

We also had a very interesting contact that same day - when we knocked on a door, there was a little old lady that came out who had a pretty amusing conversation with us:

Lady: "If it's for religion, I'm not interested."

Us: "Are you sure? We're only here to help; not to fight over beliefs or anything."

Lady: "No, my husband passed away 5 months ago. It has been really difficult and my faith has helped me out already." (At this point she started sobbing)

Us: "Ooh, that's really really difficult. Could we at least say a prayer with you so that you can be okay?"

Lady: (Through sobs) "No, my food is getting cold..." (she was eating lunch)

On Sunday night then, we were able to find a family where we taught a mom and her two kids about the Restoration and when we asked them how they felt afterwards, the mom said that she felt so full of good fullings that she felt like she was going to burst/couldn't contain it and the son said that he felt anguished (the word he used) to know more. It was a really cool testiment from them about how they felt. We invited them to be baptized mid-October and they accepted and so we hope to see how that goes.

One more small tidbit from the week then is that Ulises made it to church for the first time on Sunday, arriving for the last 30 minutes. We were super happy to see him there and everyone recieved him great.

Other than that though not much else new to share for this week and so I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

photos:

2106 - Flares have made it back to Argentina - this is not an isolated case. Sometimes we get to feel like we are in the 70s just for fun.

2107 - A bread store with a genius name. (Pan = bread in spanish). Well played Argentina.

2109 - A GIANT spider we saw in a hole in a wall, capturing an ant in it's web. For size comparison, the little black thing that you see hanging down from the front of it's body is the ant.

2115 - A very complex looking house that we saw. I'm not sure the designer could make up their mind on what they wanted.

2117 - Graffiti of the soccer player that wears the number 10 jersey. (Messi - from Argentina and a super famous soccer player worldwide). (dios = god, so d10s is a play with the lettering. It says: The force of god --- a national and a popular hero).

2118 - In Argentina, every municipality has it's own little logo and slogan. In Hurlingham, it's "Hurlingham is my place".

2119 - Some motivational decorations in the window of an office supply store.

Hno Rosales - The grandpa that passed away. He was a pretty cool person.

Eighty Eight Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This was a pretty interesting week. There were some changes in the mission with the new mission president that were perhaps a little difficult to swallow at first, but we have since been getting used to them and have had a pretty successful week - finding various new people to teach that are really great.

One such person is an 18 year old named Ulysses. He is a really awesome youth that lives in a pretty humble area, but regardless has already finished his secondary education (suprisingly uncommon, but even more so that he is already done at 18 years old - normally people finish at 19 or 20 years old) and is preparing himself for college. He´s super easy-going though and way open to us visiting with him and so we hope to be able to help him keep progressing in this coming weeks. 

On another day then we contacted a house and a 15 year old (more or less) opened the window. We presented the Book of Mormon to him and asked if he had seen it, to which he responded "Yes, I actually have a copy. Dan and Jeremias (two youth from the church) gave me one." It was really cool to just by chance have come across someone with whom the members (especially the youth) had tried sharing the gospel with. He was home by himself though (and busy) so we weren't able to teach him, but we are going to pass by again this week to hopefully find him with his parents.

Two more funny stories from this week:

One takes place in a meeting with all the ward leaders as we are talking about people that we are visiting and teaching. There was one person that we asked them to be able to visit that lives in an area a little more lively than maybe the other neighborhoods in our area. One of the women asked us though "Isn't that area dangerous?" My comp and I both responded in unison without even thinking "Eeehhh...." That got a good laugh out of all of them. Hopefully we'll be able to get them to go with us though at some point during the day (when it really isn't problematic at all). 

The other story has to do with a person named Santiago Maldonado. It is someone that people for various reasons thought that the governement had abducted and nobody had heard from him or even knew what was going on with him, which lead to a few small riots against government buildings and pickets and all that kind of thing (more in capital than where our mission is at). It has been one of the main news topics for the last couple of weeks though. Turns out in the end though, that he had just gone on vacation to Rio and didn't have a phone or any sort of technology with him and so he had just slipped off the grid for about 42 days. It was pretty entertaining to see the anti-climatic resolution of it all though haha.

Other than that though, threre isn't really all that much new for the week. Yesterday we visited Pablo again (the stay at home dad) and this Friday we are going to have lunch with them (supposedly homemade ñoquis - a delicious type of Argentine pasta). Everyone else that we have been teaching has been doing really well too so no need to worry about them either.

I hope that you all have a great week though!

Love, 

Elder McCollum 

Photos:

2081 - So in Argentina there is a cracker branded Don Satur that is about 30% grease, but somehow tasty all the same. The other day while shopping though, I found that they have now started making Yerba too (for making/drinking mate). I really wasn't disappointed. The two of them make a pretty killer combination since the crackers really were kind of meant for eating with Mate.

2088 - Elder Dosdall, the missionary that I trained now made it back to the mission! I didn't even know that he was coming back, but just came across him in a zone conference this week. I was pretty happy to find him. (He had gone home to have a few different ingrown toenail surgeries).

2095 - "How's your week going so far?" Take note of the Mate that ended up on the floor (by accident) and the spinner in hand. (Spinner is a spinny toy that is super popular here and supposedly stress relieving). It was a pretty funny moment.

2099 - Well this week we found a bike that had a built in popcorn machine. It got our minds thinking of what it'd be like to see said bike compete in the Tour de France (or any bike race really). It'd be pretty entertaining to see...

2101 - We found a Yankee mailbox this week. Honestly not something that I expected to find in Argentina. Thus we contacted the house. We'll be going back to teach them later this week (the guy is Argentine though).

2104 - A vehicle that we saw that had an interesting match up of decals. On the back window was Joker (from Batman) and on the side was a catholic Virgin Mary with the name of a church - fountain of blessings. It got a good laugh from us.