Hey family!!! (Sorry, if there´s a word you don't understand, the missing letter is an f because I have to slam the key down to make it work.)
So it has been a good week, lots of divisions with other elders, but lots of miracles as well! Even though I HATE being away from my own bed and pench, we got a lot of good work done! I got to know la Favorita as well as the Cementista/Bolougne Sur Mer branches (the Favorita I went with Elder Degracia, and to the others I was with Elder Wahl, he has the same time as Elder Thurgood and those Elders, and Elder Egbert from my group was with Elder Connolly and got to meet some of our investigators.)
You asked some questions--as for downloading those songs, I did download them but then the DVD player can't read the file so I can't listen to them anyway. But one of the other elders has the CD, so it's alright!
So yesterday and Saturday it was really cold! It was even raining, and I heard from Elder Southwick that it actually rained in Albardon! It's a miracle! Haha but despite of the cold, M_____ (our investigator here) and her daughter both came to church!!!! We were so happy!!!!! So M_____ should be getting baptized this weekend, but she might wait until next weekend to do it together with her daughter! But they both loved it! And I figured if they got there on a day when everyone else, members or no, took the weather as an excuse, they must be pretty serious. On top of that, we all fasted or her, and she fasted until 9 o clock Saturday since she has to take medication! But it was all just a very firm confirmation that she really does want all of this in her life. So, this week we will be talking to them again and we´re going to plan out how they want the baptism to be! We both think, Elder Connolly and I, that it would be awesome to have them do it together. But we will see!
We invited R_____ to come, the one who wants to get baptized in December, but he had prior commitments I guess, and next week he´s going to Chile to vote and to see his mom, but then he should be coming after that! So he didn't come. Neither did the friend of the ward mission leader, and neither did the new American girl we met last Friday! We blame all those on the rain, since people just aren't used to it here. It was really, really cold.
So on Friday we were going to have a recorrido with another invesitgator, who told us an hour late that she was just finishing work and would be on her way in 10 minutes, and then another hour later we call and her phone is off :/ So we decided to go and talk to people on the street, and this girl H_____ walked by and we started talking in Spanish, and then we asked if she spoke English, and so we talked in English, and we invited her to do a recorrido. She couldn't right then, but she asked us what time the meetings were, because she´s going to be here for a month and wanted to attend a church, and she walks by the chapel every day! We were so excited for her to come, but oh well! We didn't get an address or a number either, I think we were blown away to see an iphone down here. But after she told us she would come, Santiago, President's son (who was there for Mutual), came up and started asking us about her, asked if she was going to do a recorrido, if she seemed interested. And we told him that she was coming to church, and he got SUPER excited, like he had just seen missionary work happen in front of his eyes for the first time. It made us feel pretty awesome. :) And he remembered her name and everything, and all Sunday was waiting for her to show up just like us, and after church he was disappointed as well. It was like having a third companion!
That's awesome that Ellie is going to Alabama!! I do remember her, she´ll be an awesome missionary. And it's just awesome how many missionaries our stake has!
I can't believe your trip has already arrived... you told me about it just a couple months ago it seems! Well I hope you enjoy that. That sounds way crazy fun!! I wish I could go.
Wow, Kate is like the favorite cousin right now, eh? That's way cool, maybe that will teach a little calmness to the crazy cousins haha :) I´m super glad to hear that they love it though! She will be a good mom someday, I agree.
As for the other English speakers, one doesn't live in our area, and we found where the first one lives, and we gave them our number, but we´re going to pass by today to see if we can get a better appointment.
So last week was stake conference, and they released our ward mission leader, so now we do not have one! Which doesn't improve things much. His goal for baptisms was 1 a year for every member of the ward. That's ideally what it should be, but we still have a lot of things to do before we make it to that! But he is now in the High Council, so that's why they released him.
We elders in the pench get along just fine, I just have to fight for the phone every night. Since it was the phone for the area of the other elders, one of them gets too playful and won't let me use it, even though in zone meeting they straight out said that the district leader has priority due to all the calls and verifying we have to do! So yeah, that's about the only problem though.
Last pday turned out really good! We did everything we planned. I have a bunch of awesome pictures.... but I guess I have a virus on my card and the pictures are there, the space is occupied, but the computer can't open the files.... :( so I hope I don't lose those pictures. I´m going to take it to a photo shop because a guy told me that they can recuperate things like that. So we´ll do that later today. It turned out way good though! The hermanas enjoyed it all as well. Hermana Norr, the new hermana that is in Uspallata (in the mountains) is from Washington, the same stake as Kelly´s roommate Kelsey! So that was way weird, and then she said that before coming she had hung out with Kelsey a few times, so she might know who Kelly is, but it all depends on the timing... that would be super weird/crazy. I guess I should ask Kelly if she ever met her!
But anyway, the hermanas in Uspallata have two baptisms, one this weekend and the next as well!!! We´re super excited or them! And we´re still trying to figure out if I´m supposed to do the interview. We both hope I do (Elder Connolly and me, of course) because we both want to go to Uspallata and take pictures, and be in the actual mountains! Not many elders get to go up there, what luck no? We also heard from a member that some movie was filmed over there in Uspallata, called "years in Tibut" or something like that. They think that Brad Pitt was in it. But yeah, I'll have to look up that movie in about a year!....haha.
I am not getting mail that much more frequently, but I'm going to the offices today to get a baptismal tunic for the hermanas in Uspallata, so I'll get more mail!
Well I'm not sure what else to mention, it was a good week and this week will be just as good, if not better! Today Elder Connolly and I just want to rest, we are both exhausted. I don't have time to do anything at night since I fight for the phone until 10 o clock, and then between then and 10:30 I´m making all the calls, but oh well. That's just part of the calling! And I'll do my best to fulfill it.
Oh one more thing, I heard from Elder Southwick today. Basically, story made short, Albardon is doing SOOOO well!!! They have a baptism this Saturday, and then the other 4 people in that kid's family will follow in the future (it's the kid we did a recorrido with the last Monday I was there!!!) And then three other people I taught have baptismal dates too, and one of them has quit smoking and drinking, and I'm pretty sure if he´s getting baptized he´s going to have to get married. So that is sooooo cool!!! And one of the Sundays in the past month they had 96 people there! So many people! Unfortunately the next Sunday there were only 24 (no idea what happened there....) but oh well, I was just super content to know that things were going so well there. It basically took a huge weight off my chest that I´ve had these past weeks. And Enzo, the kid being baptized this Saturday, of course asked Elder Southwick to baptize him! So that's really good news too!
Now I just have to hear from Elder Fullmer somehow. I´m with his MTC district leader right now, and they got along really well, so that should be fun on Christmas, if we are all together!
So yeah, that was our week, and all the news I can think of. Mom, just let me know about the shoes, next week I guess! I love you all, and hope that this week is as good for you as it will be for us! I´ll have pictures of a baptism hopeully this weekend, and if not, the next for sure! This work is so amazing. I´m so happy, and I'm even happier seeing other people drop off weights from their mind and heart and become happier too! There is literally nothing better I could think of doing. Elder Connolly and I both were talking to each other yesterday, and it was crazy that we had the exact same thought: that the mission is just the best possible thing any young man could do, because it changes us, opens our eyes, makes us see differently, gives us a new sense of identity, and shows us what real happiness is. It's pretty awesome, how similar Elder Connolly and I think. We have good unity in the companionship, that's for sure! But seriously, I wish everyone could or would experience a mission. I´m slowly getting closer and closer to understanding more of why they call it the Best Two Years. They really are, I just feel so different, without weights that I had before. There´s nothing better! Trust me.
Elder Tyson Gibbons
¡¡¡Viva Argentina!!! :)
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