Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Welcome to Argentina, Mr. President

Well everyone! Transfers have come around again and I’m staying here in Circunvalacion with Elder Sears for another 6 weeks! We are so excited to be working together another transfer!

Well the big new this week was that Obama came to town (when I say town i mean Buenos Aires) so that’s pretty dope! So hopefully now Argentina and the United States can be best bros! But literally everyone was talking about it and asking us if they could have some of the dollars that he brought us hahaha.

But this last week was pretty interesting! Here in Argentina they don’t have Easter or the Easter bunny... so sad... But they have Semana Santa then Passover on Sunday!  It doesn’t really mean anything... it’s just another reason for people take work off and yell at us for trying to talk with them on a catholic holiday... So that’s pretty dope! But there were no big celebrations or anything too big!  Just a tranquilo week here no mas!

But we did have another BAPTISM! Yup a women and her daughter from Nonqom got baptized this week so that was super fun!  We got to the church and found out there were no lights or water in our church… so Thursday and Friday we had to run around and find out what to do to get ready for Saturday... So we just ended up having it at another church building about 15 minutes away... So the end of the week got to be pretty stressful and we got it all figured out in the end! But it was all pretty crazy!

But all was well!  It did get pretty chilly this past week as well! This past Thursday we went out to this little Indian colony in the morning for once… well the member that usually shows us around was working so we had to go look for people on our own and we got lost...So here we are lost in the Indian colony, it’s raining, I didn’t bring a jacket and it was about 60 degrees out so me and my comp were just trudging along in the mud (without boots either) shivering cold... That was not fun... luckily our investigators had pity and gave us a blanket when we finally found their house an hour later hahaha.

But all is well! I’m having a great time! 6 more weeks here and we are super excited!!

Until next week,
Elder Peters

This past week was a little crazy... yes the 2 baptisms went through and it was lindo.. although our capilla didn’t have water or lights... so we had to see the baptism at another capilla nearby in our zone leader’s area.  So the only people to come were the family of the people getting baptized and the 2nd counselor from the bishopric... so that was cool.  For conference we come here to centro and watch the session all together as a stake... so I won’t be seeing a lot of time to work Saturday or Sunday so it will be a bit crazy.

For Pdays its always the same… we come to centro and get food at this little hole the wall place and its super good!  Then we come to the cyber to write for our 2 hours and then after we go out for ice cream!  So it’s pretty dope and it’s all the guys in the zone together so it’s pretty chill! we don’t do much else… if we see time in the end we go play basketball or something but that usually never happens!

But no the members never feed us here... when you’re in a ward with 2 other companionships of Hermana’s no one cares about the elders

All is well and we are preparing more people for baptism this transfer (oh yeah we had transfers... I stayed with Elder Sears!) But all is well for now! Every day is an adventure!

Glad to see that you guys had so much fun.............
But things continue to go well! I’m having so much fun down here!
Have a good week!

Elder Peters

Sunday, March 27, 2016

It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding... and a baptism as well

Hey all!  So this past week was pretty good!

The week kind of started off slow on but just got crazier and crazier!

Trip out to Nonqoum with Elder Sargent 
(Yes all the girls love Elder Sargento but not me...)
We started off the week waiting on 5 baptisms on Saturday!!  So we spent all week prepping for that!  But to start the story off we start Friday morning with a wedding!  2 of our investigators got married this week before their baptism!  So we spent all morning rushing around in taxis, almost miss the scheduled time at the civil registry… but the happy couple got married!  Then Saturday comes around and 2 of our investigators get sick and weren’t able to come… so we will be waiting on them this next week! But this Saturday we saw 3 people from this little Indian colony get baptized!
The Happy Couple

At the Baptism
In the water

 Luis, Laura, and Barbara are their names and they’re so awesome! they have been my best friends since being here in Formosa! They have the biggest desire to learn about God and read the book of Mormon it’s awesome! Every time we go have lessons we just sit there and they read us all the scriptures they liked from like the 50 pages they had read since our last visit!  They’re so bomb and we just have the best time hanging out with them!  The people out in Nonqoum are just so easy going and it’s so easy to just fall in love with them!  I have literally seen the biggest change ever in these people and they just seem so happy and always upbeat now!

So yeah... ended the week with a wedding and 3 baptisms... just another week in the field.  We will see how things go with our other 2 investigators this week! We also did some divisions this past week and so I worked out in a different part of Formosa capital with Elder Pace and that guy is dope!  It was super fun!  Then Elder Sargent and I another day did some work out in Nonqoum together, so it was just a fun exciting week!

Hope all is well back home! Have a great week!!
Elder Peter Pan


Hey all...
It’s nice to see that you guys have so much fun without me... its fine...  But all is well!  We had 3 baptisms this past week!!! and we have 2 more coming this next week! We would have 5 but one girl and her daughter are like "were too sick to come...." so we will just try again next week!

But this past week was kind of crazy and we didn’t get much time to work.  We spent most of the time preparing for the baptisms which took a lot more work than expected... 
One of the guys we got baptized was actually a member, but we don’t have any records of him ever getting baptized... so about a week ago the Elder in the office was like alright baptize him and so we start making plans.  Well then on Thursday he calls and he’s like "just kidding! you need to look for evidence of him being a member!  So we spent the next 2 days either looking for a document, photo, or witness of the baptism... but all proof we had had either died or washed away in a flood... so we were on the phone with President 1 hour before the baptism and he finally gave us permission! So I got to baptism him and know its official! (at least we are praying on...)

But that was also the husband of the couple we got married!  So we went to the civil registry with them and watched them get married too so that was pretty dope!

But not a lot else happened.... We did do divisions so I worked another area for the day with one of the Zone leaders!  So that was pretty cool!  But not much else!  I’ll write more in the other email probably!


Monday, March 14, 2016

HAVOT-LTA'AREQ

Hey all!

So this week was pretty good! We basically spent all week prepping for this awesome next week we are going to have! We are going to see a wedding of one of our investigators and 4 baptisms!!!!

So this past week we basically just prepped stuff for the wedding… we went to centro Formosa capital to help them get all their paper work and stuff done and put a date for this next Friday! So we have this to look forward too! Then the very next day were all getting a little wet and splashing around in the water for a bit because we are going to be baptizing 4 of our investigators!  So that’s super awesome! So we have a pretty big week ahead of us!

But this past week was pretty bomb too... We basically spent every day in Centro or in Nonqoum just having the time of our lives! I’m also learning a big of toba as well! (hence the title of this email) This past week also It would go from dumping rain to sunny skies back and forth like none other so Elder Sears got sick... so on Friday we spent all day in the pension and I walked around for things to do while he slept and tripped off some weird medicine we bought from a super sketchy pharmacy... so that was my day... I read all of Genesis and slept a bit as well... I cleaned then just did a bunch of random stuff throughout the day... it was pretty really actually super boring not going to lie.... But I don’t plan on getting sick anytime soon so hopefully I won’t be locked in the pension anymore then I need to be!
HAPPY 6 MONTHS TO ME.  Tradition: burn a tie.

But all continues to go well! We are just killin’ the game out here! Hope all is well for you guys back at home! Keep me updated on life!

GO DUCKS
Elder Peters
                                                                                 





sup fam!

So this past week was pretty good!  We didn’t get a lot of work done... we had to go to centro a lot to help one of our investigator’s get married to her less active boyfriend… then Elder Sears got a really bad cold so Friday we didn’t leave the pension at all... But we still had 6 people come to church! So this next week we are going to see a wedding and 4 baptisms!! All from people out in this little colony! They’re all so excited! But for now that’s all that’s really going down in our lives... it was a little colder this week so that’s good! and bad... because our pension doesn’t have a water heater so when it gets super cold at night the water in our water tank on the roof gets really cold... so we always play rock paper scissors to see who will get to shower first hahaha.

But glad all is going well... kind of... back home!  Yeah who knew that a hot dog store wouldn’t be open for that long in the commons... But it sounds like everyone is just chugging along back home... barely... but hope all continues to go well!

BUT GO DUCKS


Monday, March 7, 2016

You Saw?

Hola, everyone!

This week was pretty low key again… we spent all night Monday and all day Tuesday moving into our new pensions and helping another companionship move out of theirs. So the week started off kind of slow with lots of frustration trying to connect water filters and looking for gas canisters and killing lizards that run around the pensions! I would much rather have the lizards than the cockroaches like in our last pension though!

But not much else happened, we just spent most of the days in the calle just like every other week! We did have 6 people we were teaching come to church so that was exciting! We had a close call in church when a guy comes up to our investigators and just asks "so what’s stopping you guys from being baptized?" luckily they all said "nothing really... we want to baptized! We’re just kind of waiting for the date the Elders gave us" so yeah... we will be seeing a lot of water in our future! The people that we are teaching are so awesome!

But for now we don’t have any really dope stories or anything... It was a pretty tanquilo week... We just continue to hit the ground running every morning now that we live in our area instead of having to take a 30-minute bus ride every morning! We spend a lot of time now in this colony (Nonquem) and I’m actually learning a little bit of toba (the native language of this colony) as well! It’s been so dope working out there! When we get off the bus we are hit with a wave of little kids running up to us wanting to talk with the 2 gringos and everyone is so inviting and friendly! Going out to Nonquem are literally my favorite days of the week!

But not much else! Things are just going smooth! Hope you all have a good week!
Love


Elder Peter Parker (The Argentines love that one ;-) )

After our zone meeting. The 6 gringo Elders with a bunch of Native speaker Hermanas (minus the Gringa in the middle... she’s just from Utah...))

What we couldn’t tell was a bullet hole or a bunch of kids throwing rocks at the church.... Argentina man...


Hooollllaaaa

Luckily for us it’s still pushing around 100 everyday! here in Formosa it apparently doesn’t cool down too much in the winter! We get back to our pension and set the AC to 76 degrees and it’s too cold for us...

Yeah it gets pretty muddy! I have only seen rain twice since being here and luckily it wasn’t too bad! especially since my boots are still in Resi in the office waiting for the next people from our zone to go down and be willing to take them back up here to Formosa (not a lot of people go to Resi so when they do go they have a lot of stuff waiting for them to take with them back up here... so it’s kind of a priority list type deal and apparently my boots are at the bottom...)

But yeah I was broke but I never dipped into personal money! yes they have ATMS that access my money that have really high withdrawl fees... so I try to stay away from the market because there is so much stuff I want to buy! Like today I bought a River Jersey for like 10 US dollars’ worth of Pesos!

Yeah so Elder Sears is the M1 and District leader and I’m still M2 for now! He actually has more time in the mission because he served a few transfers in the Orem mission so he’s got a lot more experience under his belt then I do!  I’m still just the newbie in the mission.... But I will be passing the 6-month mark here this Wednesday!

So in terms of what happened this week we didn’t get a lot done... we had to move pensions all last Monday night all through until Tuesday night... Then we had a zone meeting Thursday so we were just running around all this week! But we got some work done and had 6 investigators in church this week! which is my new record! we might see some baps this next weekend but we aren’t sure yet. (Zone meeting was basically like "president wants baptisms... so if your investigator has the desire but hasn’t gone to church for the needed time, call him and he will give permission since these people need their salvation" so we will be calling him this week about 3 of our investigator’s that are just playing the waiting game until they can be baptized and all.

But all continues to be well!  Things are just going super well out here! I haven’t died even though our pension doesn’t have a water filter!  We just boil like 5 gallons at night then drink it all the next day so hey I guess it’s working!

But hope you all have good week! Keep doing work! and its nice to see you guys go out and do nice things as soon as I leave, like go to Arizona!

With love
Elder Peters