Week 56: The Office

Elder Slack, the Lord has called you to serve as a part of the new ETM Team........ What?? 

Well, another week has come and gone folks, here I am yet again with another surprise for you all!! This week we had TRANSFERS! We were pretty sure that Elder González would be going to another area or something like that, but it looks like the Lord has other and better plans in mind for us!

The Assistants called us the other day and they told us that Elder González is going to be staying in Alejandro-Korn, and I would be a part of something new here in the mission, it's called the ETM-Team. Which stands for Expertos en el Trabajo Misional Team, (which means in English, Experts in Missionary Work)! "Wow!" I thought... "What's that mean?" Haha! Well, they told us that what used to be the "asistente viajeros" (traveling assistants) in the mission are now going to be a group of 4 missionaries that would travel week to week in different areas, the first week 2 missionaries would go to an area and find a ton of people to teach, they will go and find the people the Lord has prepared. Then the second week the other two missionaries are going to go in, teach, prepare and BAPTIZE everyone that is possible! So... I'm going to be a part of that team. I'll be in the second group. So that means that every week I'm going to go to a different area and help out the missionaries so that they baptize as many people as possible! To tell you the truth, I was not expecting anything like this this last week, I was waiting around expecting that I would be staying in Alejandro-Korn until Christmas and everything, but it seems like the Lord has other plans for me! I'm a little nervous for all that we are going to be doing. My companion will be Elder Lima, I shared a pension with him back when I was in Villegas. We are going to go the area and we will do splits with the elders there all week, every day we'll changes companions. We're super excited, I know that Presidente Calquín is trusting in me a lot with this assignment. Now I'm just going to go and give it all I've got! Oh, and Elder Miller, from Brighton High School is part of the team too, but he's part of the first group, but we'll be working together still!

Well, that wasn't the only big excitement of this week, It's been a crazy last week in Alejandro-Korn, we've been planning and preparing all week the Kermese, which is like a carnival type thing. It went SUPER great!! We put soooooooo much time into planning and preparing all of the games and activities, but at the end of everything, it turned out amazing!! About 60 people came, the cultural hall was stuffed!!! I was on the basketball stand the whole time, so I had to pass the ball to the people, mark there ticket and cheer them on as they took there 3 shots! 

This week we passed by Olindo, who was going to be baptized, he's 81 years old and is really awesome, but the woman that is the owner of the house where he lives thinks that we are wizards or something like that. So he said that he can't have anything more to do with the church, that he wants to go, but he doesn't have anywhere else to live. So that was really really sad. 

Anyways, I'll attach a few photos of the families from Alejandro-Korn and the 1 photo I have of the activity of one of the members playing my basketball game!! I love you all! I hope you have a great week! This week I'm going to be in an area that's called Burzaco, with Elder Tolentino! My trainer!! Love you guys!! Chau!

-Elder Slack

Week 52:

Hello World!!

Hey! It's Elder Slack once again, here to tell you what's going on in the Argentina world!! I hope you are all ready because this week has been super duper full of everything you can think of!!

First things first, we started Monday off with some good old bike problems, my companion paid for a few repairs and when I showed the bike man my bike for normal maintenance and he told me that it's better to throw my bike in the trash and buy a new one than to repair the things that are out of line. Whoo! Haha! So we talked to the pensioneros real quick and they said that they'd hook me up with a new bike some time soon, don't know when, but sometime!

And well, the rest of the week was pretty much normal running around, teaching repentance to the people of Alejandro-Korn, changing lives, seeing angels, you know, all that good stuff. I'll tell you real quick about the people that we taught this week.

Luciano, the child who's family is less active, he's super awesome, we keep teaching him and we are working with him so he can be baptized, but his family just doesn't come to the church, so we'll be seeing where that goes.  

Olindo, is the brother of one of the recent converts, super prepared and wants to be baptized, but..... He disappeared off the face of the earth this week! NO!! Ahh! We're not quite sure what happened, but we're hoping that his family can find him in his house this week, we're not sure if he got sick or something like that, but he just didn't show up at his family's house, where he normally goes 4 or 5 times a week. Weird right?

And Silvia and Brian! We had 2 lessons with them this week, both of them at the end of the day, they are super awesome, Brian is the son of Silvia, he is 15 years old, and just needs some friends, which he can surely find the the Church! And Silvia is just looking for some peace and happiness in her family, which also she can find in the Gospel! Whoo! We're hoping they can be baptized during November if they keep progressing.

Sharon, the all star child, she is 11, she's going to be baptized with her brothers the 26th of November with her brother and sister that are going to turn 8, She's praying really really well and they are reading the book of mormon for kids!

Matias and Camila, they are going to get married in January! It's a little ways away, but we're hoping that Camila can feel comfortable and ready to be baptized before then. Matias was less active, Camila is his future wife. They're awesome!! This week I ate the Kidney of a Cow for the first time with them! It wasn't that bad actually!

And well we're working with a few more people too. The biggest miracle of the week, Silvia is her name, why a miracle?? Well She's married!! Whoo!! The majority of the people who live here aren't married,if you didn't know, they are just boyfriend girlfriend and then decide to live together. But she is married whoo!! She was a referral from a member here, the member introduced her to us and we were able to teach her Saturday and we invited to her come to church the next day and she came!!! The member passed by her house in the morning and they came walking together!! Whoo!! It was awesome, she really liked the church and we're hoping to teach her husband and the rest of her family this week too! 

And well then, that's a lot about the investigators, but I guess I am here for them. Not much else happened this week. Oh yeah, on Thursday in a family home evening of the ward someone to remain unnamed who may or may not be one of the other missionaries in the ward here, "accidentally" knocked my camera on the floor and now it doesn't really work... sad face. But that's alright, I'll look around to see if I can find a used camera or a missionary that wants to give me theirs. I've got some other pictures from the rest of the week before that though. It's been a great week! Elder González and I, we're getting ourselves all ready for another great transfer here in the zone, super stoked, it's going to be great. Elder Cordeiro my old companion, and Elder Hall my companion from the MTC are both District Leaders here in the zone! Whoo! Anyways, until next week I hope I can write you guys! Much love, Chau!!

-Elder Slack

P.S. Some photos from the ward activity of halloween (my companion as "santa" and I as I don't know) And some other photos from the week.