Week 70: Time flies when your gone!

Hey to everyone! sorry that I don't have much time, but I went back to Villegas this week!!! WHOOO!! And I was with Elder Tolentino! MY Trainer! WHOO!! And with Elder Hyde! From Arizona! It was super great! I loved being able to see all of the progress that everyone has made in the ward! Everyone is growing so much!! Here are some quick pics! Love you all! 

-Elder Slack

The taxi man wanted to stop by the temple on our way back from the area yesterday to take a photo with the beautiful sky!

The family who's kids were baptized this week!! WHOO!

At lunch with the Tarcaya family!

Elder Tolentino next to a graffitied wall

Week 69: Bolivia or Villa-Sión

Hey everyone! It's been another great week here in good old Argentina. We've been enjoying some more new experiences this week. It was pretty great! 

I'm here with Elder Cedeño from Panamá, this week we went to the area Villa-Celina! One of the most interesting areas in the mission. Why? You may ask. Well, here in Argentina, there are many people from other countries from around here. From Paraguay, from Chile,from Perú from Bolivia. And well, this week we were in Villa-Celina, which is full of people from Bolivia! It's like it's on little Bolivian/Peruvian community! It's very interesting. So this week we were able to see a little bit of Bolivia here in Argentina. And surprisingly it's very different. I got to try new foods, some of the classic Bolivian foods. I got to see how they build their houses, it's interesting because they build up and up and up. 3 or 4 floors is normal and they keep building more and more! And Like 3 or 4 families all live in the same house. 

So yeah! It was a pretty interesting new experience! I just love getting to know all of the different culture! And I love getting to know the new people! We were working this week with Elder Jones from Pleasant Grove Utah and Elder Hernanadez from Mexico! They are both great missionaries and I liked being able to work with them, they are both really awesome!

On Friday Elder Cedeño got sick so we couldn't work (sad face). But in between his bathroom breaks it was good to be able to talk with him and get to know him a little better! We ended up going to the hospital yesterday morning to be able to see what's up, and in the end they said he had Gastritis, what I had a few months back in Villegas, They said it's probably from eating differently, the new Bolivian food that we tried was pretty heavy and he's not used to eating so much So they said he should eat more lightly for this next week so that he can better and that he should still take it easy.

This week we are going to VILLEGAS!!! WHOO!! My old ward!! With.... ELDER TOLENTINO!!! Whoo! My trainer again!! haha! So it should be pretty fun! Thanks for everything, this week I can't send photos either, but i love you all and you can imagine my face smiling super big and being happy! and in the rain, because it is currently raining outside. Until next week! Chau!!

-Elder Slack

Week 68: The rains came down and the Elders came over

Hey Family and Friends! I hope all is well in the real world, over here in Argentina it's been another great week! 

This week we were in Aldo-Bonzi, with Elder Barrios from Paraguay and Elder Torres(The same Elder Torres from San-Vicente!) From Chile! It was a great week, full of surprises. 

On Wednesday we went to a special meeting with all of the "ETM's". Now instead of just being us 4 "ETM's" working and helping out in the mission, there are now going to be 8! Whoo! I've got a new companion! His name is Elder Cedeño, he's from Panamá, he's super awesome, I've known him since the start of my mission, we were in my first district together and we are going to finish our missions together! It's going to be a blast of a transfer I'm super excited! It was a great time with Elder Escandon, but now we're going to be doing a few things differently. 

Well, before what we were doing we were 2 companionships, one companionship went to an area the first week and found lot's of people, then the next week we went to that area and we did lot's of follow-up on the investigators that they had found, while we were doing that the first companionship was in a new area finding more investigators then the next week we would go and do more follow-up and find more people. Well now what we are going to do. There are 4 companionships and 2 teams. In each team there are 2 companionships. So what happens the first week both companionships will go to 2 different new areas at the same time, and we will both work all week trying to help the investigators that they already have and trying to find lot's more. Then after a week we are going to exchange areas with the other elders and they will go to the area where we were and we will go where they were and we will do lot's of follow-up and we will try and find lot's more people now too. Or something like that! Haha! It's a little confusing, but we're going to have some fun with it!!

Well this last week was really great! On Saturday we were walking around looking for some new people to teach and we couldn't find anyone that was ready to be taught in the same moment. We were looking and looking, well after a little bit the clouds started rolling in and in a little more it was about to start pouring. We headed over to the only appointment we had of the whole day, and luckily they were there waiting for us. We went inside and just as we start teaching fwoosh, it starts pooouring a ton of rain. haha! We looked outside and we realize that we would have gotten drenched, but luckily the Lord protected us and we could be teaching in just the right moment! haha!

The best investigator of the week was Martin (Marteen) and Lucas,  Martin we taught, he's getting out of drugs and is trying to stop his addiction to tobacco and alcohol. It was fun teaching him all week and we were able to see his progress, he's a little bit funny. Martin is the dad and Lucas is his son, but they both act like they are 10 years old! (Lucas actually is 10, but Martin is 30) They came to church on Sunday and it was so hilarious to see them acting like little kids in the sacrament meeting. Lucas, the son, would make a "silly face" by sticking his tongue out or something like that, and then the dad, Martin, would tell him to "Stop" while at the same time he would bust out laughing! Haha! What a fun week!

Love you all! We are no longer in the offices because there are now 8 ETM's, so we moved out to Monte Grande! So It's a little harder to work things here in the internet Café type thing. I can't send photos this week, but I hope I'll be able to next week! Until we see again!!

Chau!!

Week 67: It's a dog eat my back end world.

Hey everyone! Another week has already gone by, how fast the time is truly flying. It's been a pretty crazy week filled with new adventures and new and interesting experiences and I'm bringing it to you now straight from Argentina! WHOO!!

This week we were in Banfield 1B with Elder Colmán from Paraguay and Elder Hebdum from Washington. It was a really great learning experience with both of them I liked being there with them. 

Well to start off the interesting and new experiences I had the great opportunity to be able to bathe all week with a bucket! WHOO! In the pench the water pump to move the water to the water tank broke, so we were without water all week, we could only take water out of a spigot in front of the pench. And the stove didn't' work either so we would heat up the water in the microwave and then we we would "Bathe" ourselves by throwing the water on ourselves. I actually kind of liked it though! But I think I prefer running water.

To continue, on Tuesday we were heading out of the door from the lunch appointment that we had, it was super great the sister was really awesome, and I go to walk out the front gate and I hear Rrrrrr and I feel a jolt! "OUCH" i said, and then I realized that the sister's dog had bit me! Yup, it bit me in the butt. Haha! It didn't hurt that much, but we got back to the pench and looked at it, it was really super small, but it bled just a little bit. So we had to call the presidents wife and she said I had to go to the hospital just because you never know, so we went the next day. No shots, luckily, but I'm on some antibiotics! YAY!! :P

On Friday, in the morning I got sick, I had a low fever and a headache all day, so we went to lunch, but other than that we didn't go anywhere all day.

And those were a few of the fun experiences we had. One of my favorite moments of the week, on Thursday whilst working with Elder Colmán we were going some places and contacting a ton of people and we started talking to this man who was fixing his fence. It was like a miracle, he just started telling us all of the problems that he has had over the last year, he's been having lots of family problems and some health problems and now he's living all alone because his wife left him. And Elder Colmán and I we were able to testify to him about how much Jesus Christ was going to help him in his life, it was so incredible, all share our testimonies I could feel the spirit so strongly, it was incredible, I could feel so strongly that the spirit was testifying of our words. It was great, but then it made me so sad, this great man who needs so much of the help of Christ and he said that he didn't know what to do and that for right now he didn't want our help. It made me so sad to see that someone who's life can change and fix all of there problems decide not to get the help of God. We left him with the invitation to pray and we left.

That's about all from this week! I'm loving it here still, We've got some changes with the schedule now that the apostles just announced in the world broadcast, so next week our president is going to announce what the changes will be for our mission specifically! Love you all! Until next week!

-Elder Slack

(Captions added by Mama Slack)

Elder Branco and Elder Slack. Notice that they each have 2 name tags on, one on their suit coats and the other on their white shirts- they are always wearing/bearing the name of Christ.

Elder Stockton Slack at a dinner appointment. I am so grateful for the love and kindness the people of Argentina give to my son and the other missionaries he serves with. Thank you for feeding and caring for him while he serves his mission!

Elder Stockton Slack proudly wearing an Argentina baseball hat. I love his smile!