Glad to hear you are all doing so well! All of your emails got me really laughing today. Dad disagrees that summer makes up for winter, sams 8 ball cant do his math problems, and you are all getting ready to go on an adventure to commemorate the weekend that you would have left.....but you arent (: Why exactly did you all decide to stay?? Im excited for you to all finish the winter up there and continue on with the adventure.....but is there a specific reason as to why you decided to stay? Tell Candace and Dustan congratulations for me, and to Grandma I love you too. I need to write her....I will try and do that soon. Thanks for sending that stuff mom, I am excited. I didnt get my Christmas package, but maybe next month! The beginning of February we have another meeting so we will see. From the last meeting we just had I got several dearelders from mom and grandma (I get them about a month after you write them....so in January I got December and in February I will get January) a couple of random things from the Loertscher family, and a handwritten letter from Dad. Its all like gold!
This week it has still been cooler, with breezes and rain storms, mud, and lots of blessings. Yesterday at church it was like Christmas. There is this young mom named Laura, who was baptized about 5 years ago....she served as primary president and was a great member for the branch, but then had a disagreement with one of the other members.....got offended, and hadnt been to church in 3 years. She is a nanny for a different member named Deborah (this town is real small)...and she has been helpful in inviting her and asking her every so often about the church and so on....but Laura just sincerely has never been interested. We have been passing by ever since I have been here, and in the beginning she wasnt reading the book of mormon, wasnt praying, obviously wasnt going to church, and really didnt have a desire to change. I have been here for almost 3 months......and since then she started to read the book of mormon, is praying, and a couple of weeks ago told us that she felt like it was time to come back. And yesterday.......SHE CAME! She paid for the colectivo ride, brought her two kids, and stayed for all 3 hours. Miracle. A lot of the members thought she was a new investigator because she hadnt been in so long, but when they learned she was a member...they gave her a big hug and now know who she is and can look out for her. Getting them to the chapel for that first time in who knows how long is a huge hurdle, but if they can do it...the members here are really great at looking out for them.
But the miracles dont stop there. We also have this cute grandma in our branch who is super active, but her husband has a job on sundays and has become less active. And her daughter and grandkids are all less active. One of her grandsons, Luis, lives with them because of some familial problem he had with his parents...and to be honest he is kind of a punk kid. He is 18 years old, with a good conscious to know what is right, but just in a mix with a bad bunch of friends. He never comes to church on Sunday....because he is out late Saturday and cant get up the next morning. Well ever since we met him and learned all of this, we said "what the heck......this kid can come to church." So we made a plan. On saturday night instead of going out with his friends....he has to stay home. And not only stay home, but expect us to stop by and share a message to keep him accountable to us and to the Lord....to make sure he didnt go anywhere. We started this 2 weeks ago....we go over, he is still home, we share the message, he promsies to come to church, and then after we leave he apparently went out to go with friends and subsequently didnt come to church. So we started the cycle again. We stopped by once earlier in the week, and told him that we were stopping by at 9:00 Saturday, the last stop of the night to get him ready to come to church, we stopped by, shared a message, he promises to come.....and at 9:00am he wasnt there. His grandma showed up wihtout him, saying she tried to wake him up but he wouldnt budge...but that she left 3 pesos for the colectivo ride in case he woke up in time to come to part of church. We called him in between meetings, and no answer. We get to the last 15 minutes of church and the last speaker gets up to give a talk in sacrament meeting....and, who walks in with crazy hair but white shirt and tie? Luis. It was excellent, adn the only talk he heard was awesome, just what that kid needed. It isnt easy to be a youth here. The young men and young womens programs arent very strong, and there are only a few that are even active....but they are capable. Its taking a lot of work to get these people up and running on their own feet....but the fruits of the labor are worth it. Even if they are only in the chapel for 15 minutes. Its worth it and we can try to do better next week and get to church for a little longer.
I love being a missionary....it is so cool to be a part of peoples personal conversion and journey back to Christ. And it is incredibly fun. I love doing this.
Yesterday a member fed us "Carpincho" (sp?) which I have no idea what its called in english or what it looks like alive, but apparently is like a giant hamster dog type thing. You should look it up. It was a reddish meat that smelled kind of like fish but tasted a lot like chicken...it wasnt the best thing I have ever eaten, but it also wasnt the worst. I think it helps that I dont know what this animal is like in real life.
I feel like I havent been writing very much about the culture or my surroundings, but I will try to write more about that next week. Know that moms breasfeed in broad daylight. People ask us all the time what language we speak in teh States pecause they get confused by the fact that we are Yankees speaking spanish....they sometimes think the U.S language is Spanish. And McDonalds is super expensive here and legitimately considered fine cuisine. If you go there people will ask you if its your anniversary or birthday or something. Nevertheless....missionaries still go there because in dollar amounts its still really cheap and its one of the the only thing from the U.S. here in Argentina.
Anyway....I love you all lots. Keep me updated on everything!I love you more than all of the people who ask us if we live in the chapel like the catholic nuns who live in their cathedrals!
Hernama Withers
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