Week 97: ¡Sopresa!

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey hey! Surprise! Yup! 

I'm back to give a report of my last week in the mission.......

This week has been full full of surprises, the first one is that I'm still writing you from Argentina! They had told us that I wouldn't have time and that we'd go the mission home before we left, but then there was a change of plans, now at 4:30 their going to send a car to pick up me and Elder Flores, the other missionary that lives with us and is going back to Chile, and we're going straight to the airport. Soo!! I've got one last chance to tell you a few of my experiences here in Argentina.

This last week has been full of fun and interesting things. We started off Monday with a grand adventure, we went to a different area to buy a few things to bring home and when we were going back the other elders that live with us called us and they asked if we had touched the water heater.... We told them that we hadn't and we asked them why, and they told us that. SURPRISE! The whole department was flooded with water! When we got back we saw that it was true. The owner sent a guy to fix it and he stopped the water from leaking so much, luckily that morning we had cleaned the pench and there weren't to many things on the floor that could get wet. The repair man told us that the tank had a hole in it somewhere so they were going to have to buy a new replacement. Turns out the last time they sent a guy to fix a small leak in the pipe when he put the replacement shut-off key, he put it as a decoration, because it doesn't to anything, I don't know if that has anything to do with the tank breaking, but as a bonus all this last week we had to bathe with buckets or just with cold water, what a great memory for the last week, am I right? Haha! I loved it!

We worked on Tuesday and Wednesday, we were looking for new investigators and doing some good follow-up with some that we already had. We found 2 new people to help and teach, one is called Santos, he is a very humble man, he has problems with the alcohol and a few other things, but he really has desires to change. the other is Nelson, a great young man, he's 18 years old, we wathched a Mormon message with him, about 3 men that went to Japan to study and the first day's they were there they were invited to a party, turns out in the party that the people wanted to do some drugs and other bad stuff, 2 of the friends decide to leave and 1 stays, at the end the police show up and the one that stayed gets kicked out of the school. Anyways, it was a great lesson, when we watched the video he really liked it, he was surprised to see what a big difference it made in the lives of the 3 young men, that the 2 that left were very successful and the 1 that stayed lost many opportunities. I know that if we are bold enough to say no and to stand to our beliefs we will receive all of the blessings God has for us.

On Thursday and Friday, more excitement! Thursday Elder Flores and I and all of the other missionaries that are going home today and tomorrow we went on a tour of Capital Buenos Aires, we saw tons of stuff, we went to the Obelisk, which is Argentina's Washington's Monument essentially, but it is really cool. We went to a theater, where we got to see an orchestra practicing for an upcoming recital, that was really  awesome, it reminded me of all of the times I went with my family to recitals in BYU and in the conference center, I'm very grateful that my parents brought me to them so that I could learn to appreciate the music and the art. We also saw a giant, and I mean GIANT metal flower, that opens during the day and closes during the night, that was awesome. Then we ate lunch, we got to go to Port Madero, where they recieve all of the stuff that comes in from the ships to Buenos Aires. We went to a cementary where there are a bunch of huge graves and it's where there are many famous people from the history of Argentina are buried. And we went to La Boca, where there is a Soccer stadium for one of the biggest teams in Argentina and where there is a little "feria" or where you can buy stuff in the street. And that was pretty much the day.

On Friday we went to the Temple, wow! It was super great to go there for one last time. You can truly feel a great peace there and I learned so much! Definitely excited to go when I get back! And in the afternoon we ate lunch with President and his wife and we had interviews with Presidente Calquín! He gave me a few councils for my life about work, study, and marriage! Haha! The next mission is to get married! WHOO! And that was our fun trip!

These last few days I could say goodbye to many of the members and investigators and converts. It's hard leaving a ward where I've been so much time, but at the same time, I don't feel like it's really happening. To tell the truth I'm super nervous to get back home, I don't know what it'll feel like to see my family again, I don't know what it'll be like to do the things I did before. My life has changed, I have changed. I now understand the importance and need I have of the Saviour in my life. Over these past few day's many people have asked me, what has been the biggest change that I've seen in me during these past 2 years? Well, many things have changed, but what I see will most affect my life, is that now I follow my desires, I follow what I want, I do what I want, I know what I want. Before I think I was still dependant of my parents my friends and the opinions of other people, but now that doesn't affect me so much, now I know that the 2 most important opinions are that of my Father in Heaven and my own. Frecuently I ask myself, What do I want to do? Who do I want to be? and Where do I want to end up? and then I ask myself: What does my Father in Heaven want me to do? Who does He want me to be? Where does He want me to go? And I pray to know and feel what will be the right choice. I love you all! I'll be seeing many of you this coming week I hope! I'll see my family tomorrow morning! AHHH!!! I can hardly believe that it's so close!! I love you all and I hope that you have enjoyed reading these letters during the last 2 years. If you want to hear more, I'll be giving my homecoming talk this next Sunday in my home ward. I love you all! I have loved representing my Saviour during these last 2 years, and I will keep representing him in and throughout my life. Until the next time we meet!

-Elder Slack

Week 84: Down´s and Up's!

Hey everyone!

Great week I'm feeling a lot better now, we were able to work really well all  week so that was super awesome.

It was a harder week at first, we were working and working, but for some reason we couldn't find any investigators. We went several days without finding anyone new to teach and it began to really wear on me. By Friday I was feeling a little down. But! We had weekly planning and me and my companion talked a little bit about the week and a few things we needed to change to be able to find new investigators! With our new `plan in mind we went to work. Still things went just alright, Friday and  Saturday we hadn't found anyone yet either. I was feeling quite sad, and even I ventured to think that I have been working all this time and that no one loves me here.. How satan makes us think right? But, with a little help from God, that thought went flying out of my head! On Saturday night we had an appointment with one of our investigators with who we have been working for several weeks now. Their names are Samantha and Andres, (a couple) And the sister of Samantha Alina. We had one of the best  lessons that we have  had yet with them, and to top it all off, at the end of the lesson they gave to us these super cool hats that Andres brought from Peru when he went on vacations! I went out of  their house feeling so loved and so happy! As well, to end the week with an even bigger smile, on Sunday we had Stake Conference  and our Mission Presidnt was there! After the conference President Calquín and his wife came up and they were just so glad  to see me! President gave me a big hug and his wife was so glad to shake my hand and see that I had recovered well. I realize now that there are so many people here who love me and want me to be happy! 

I'm very happy!

Love you all!!

-Elder Slack

PS. My comp  made cheesecake, a member works printing shirts, and the cool peru hat.

Week 81: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.

Hellllloooooo my friends and family!

It's been another great week here in Villa-Celina! I'm here with my new companion now! Elder Garcia! From Paraguay! WHOO!! He's super awesome and I am learning a lot with him! 

It's been a great week overall, we've been doing lot's of follow-up this week with the investigators and the people that we are teaching, it seems like the time just flies flies FLIES by! I can't even believe that I'm sitting here writing you again! I've only got a few minutes left but I wanted to share a few things Iearned this week with you guys!

So! On Friday we had our Leadership counsel with all of the leaders in the mission, it was super awesome to be able to see a few old friends and to hear the counsels of our mission presidente. There have been a few things going on here in the mission and a few missionaries have sadly been sent home, and President Calquin and his wife expressed their love for us and their biggest desires that we can be obedient to the commandments and the rules of the mission. One of the things that I liked most, they mentioned that we have achieved a new high of baptisms in the mission, and they said that it doesn't matter how many of us are working they said that 1 pure person could achieve the same, this is God's work, not ours, our efforts are very small and they should be put in being obedient.

My new companion is really funny, he reminds me of my old hair cutter, he is very direct with the people, and it's hilarious and it works! He is teaching me a new way to teach repentance to the people, sometimes the people aren't sure to do when he is direct with them and they just laugh as he tells them they need to stop smoking or drinking or whatever it is! REPENT o ye sinners!

And last of all, this week has been a little bit of a battle with the health, I've learned a lot about my health as a missionary, I imagine myself now like a health ninja, I want so badly to have good health to be able to work and help the people here that whenever there is any little problem I start searching for everything and anything that can help me to defend my health! It's like.... I cough... BAM! Medicine!... Runny nose.... whiiiishing! eat fruit! I'm tired............. More exercises!! haha! Or something like that...

Anyways! We're great here! I am sooooooo happy! Love you all!! Until next week!

-Elder Slack

Elder Slack and Elder Garcia

Elder Slack and Elder Garcia- eating good food!

 Juan! our investigator who will be baptized on Saturday!

Week 65: I need thee every hourly bathroom breaks

Well well well! What a week it has been! I love you all! I hope you all had a great week, and if you don't it's your own dang fault!

This week was a different kind of week. We went to the area of Longchamps, that was in my last zone before getting this assignment. It was fun actually. We were with Elder Tobler from Las Vegas Nevada and Elder Cornejo from Chile and for part of the week Elder Méndez from Argentina! They are really great Elders. 

Elder Tobler was my first district leader, so it was great to work with him! He's really funny, he's going to be finishing his mission in 3 weeks he was pretty excited for that, as you can imagine, he had a whole list of the different foods that he wants to eat when he gets back he read it to me and it made me just a little trunky, it made me think about all of the foods that I miss. But it's all good!

Elder Cornejo is from Santiago Chile, he knew Elder Reyes before the mission, one of the Elders I was with in Ciudad Evita a few weeks ago. He's pretty new in the mission, he's only got 3 months here he just finished his training, but he's really excited and he's really smart. He loves working and serving the people. He's ¿24? years old. He was studying astronomy before the mission, specifically about black holes and stuff like that, so that's pretty cool!

Elder Mendez, he´s from Argentina Buenos Aires North, he was just waiting for his Visa to get here so he could go serve the rest of his mission in Mexico. He's pretty funny, really Argentine that's for sure. But just this week on Friday he went and hopped on the plane to go to the Mexico Puebla North mission! So he was super excited for that. It was fun to be in a trio for a few days this week.

Elder Escandon is still my companion. (Just in case you guys forgot) WHOO ARIZONA!!

Well, this week has been pretty interesting, we had a few new challenges that we had to overpass (if that's a word). We ordered some pizza from this kind of iffy place on Tuesday night, so we all had some diarrhea for a few days! Whoo! That was pretty bad. Elder Tobler got the sickest of all of us, he was throwing up and everything, so he had to stay home on Wednesday and Thursday. My tummy problems started on Thursday pretty bad in the morning, so I didn't go out to work on Thursday. I woke up with needing to go to the bathroom and a low grade fever. After resting it up all day with Elder Tobler we were back in the game on Friday. Our stomachs were still kind of iffy on Friday and Saturday, but we went, as some would put it, accident free! Now my stomach has been back to normal almost all day today, I decided it would be better if I eat more fruits and vegetables than pizza to prevent any kind of future problems. But all in all it was a good learning experience and I hope that we'll be ready to go to work this week on full blast!

Tomorrow we are going to have our interviews with Presidente Calquín! Pretty excited! I hope it goes well!

One of the highlights of the week was being able to teach the Sanchez Family, they're a super great family, we taught them the law of chastity and we talked about the importance of being married. They were all agreed and said that it was really great! One of the couples said that they want to get married! So that was pretty awesome! 

Anyway's that's all for now! I love you all and I hope that you guys are all great! Have much love to you all!

-Elder Slack

Week 64: The way God sees things

Hey hey! It's been another great week here. We're back here again, we've just gotten back from another successful week in another great area! I'm super exhausted right now, but it just feels soooooo good to be able to sit here and write to all of you in the air conditioning of the mission offices after being in the heat and humidity all week, haha! But I just loved the whole week!

This week we were with Elder Stapely, from California, and with..... Elder Torricella!!! If You remember who he is! I was companions with Elder Torricella back in Villegas for 2 weeks in a trio, so it was super cool to be able to be back with him again and get to know him even better and do some good work. We were in the area of El Jaguel (Pronounced: El Ha Well). Yes it is called The Jaguel. It was a good week, I learned a lot this week, it was really fun to be with both Elder Stapely and Elder Torricella they are both really great missionaries and they are both determined to serve the Lord!

One of my favorite parts of the week, we went to the TEMPLE!!! WHOOOO!!! It was super great! I've been just a little bit stressed out with a few things lately and I didn't really realize it and it was just great to go to the house of the Lord, I was able to feel a whole lot better, a lot more peace and stress free. I got a few answers to some of the questions and thoughts I've been having lately and it just helped a ton being able to go there now that I've grown so much here in the mission. And it's always great to remember how blessed I truly am and how my our Father in Heaven truly loves us! It was such a beautiful day! We went there with all of the Zone Leaders and all of the Sister training leaders and the assistants and Presidente Calquín and his Wife. It was so awesome. We are so blessed to have a temple inside the limits of our mission. It's been about 6 months since we went the last time, this was the first time that we were able to go with our new mission president, it was super awesome, I loved it so much! And then afterwards we had a Leadership Counsel in one of the buildings next to the MTC here. President talked about how we as leaders really need to focus on serving the other people. He talked about how the best leaders are those that follow. If we can learn to follow the Lord's commandments, follow the plan that the Lord reveals to President then everything will work out alright! I just love our mission president so much, he is such a great man and he is always so excited and ready to help us out and he's not afraid to make changes! 

One of my favorite parts of this week. In the leadership counsel, the assistants talked about the importance of training the future leaders here in the mission. So I was able to put that into practice a little this past week. On Saturday I was talking a little bit with Elder Torricella while we were proselyting and we were able to talk a little bit about being a district leader. Things that I regret not doing as a district leader, things that we have seen that others have done really well as a district leader and I talked with him more specifically about the importance of following what Presidente tells us to do. It was pretty great, I too was able to learn a lot while we talked about things that we can do to help and serve the other missionaries. 

One of the things that I've really realized over the time here on the mission is the importance of applying what our leaders tell us to do. Last year the apostles did a world wide conference about Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts. At first I didn't even understand what that meant, after watching the whole conference I was a little bit confused still and I didn't change very much in the way that I was helping and serving the people. Then Presidente Calquín got here and he started saying the same thing. We need to teach repentance and baptize converts, and you know what, I still didn't get it. I heard it time and time again, but nothing seemed to really make the click, until just about 2 months ago I came here with my new assignment to be an ETM, and things just started clicking. I talked with the other missionaries, and they helped me to understand it a little bit better. I taught a lesson with my companion and it worked amazingly. And just now within these last 2 months I am starting to realize how important it is that the people repent and are baptized. I am realizing how much it talks about repentance and baptism in the Book of Mormon and in the other Scriptures. I realize that this whole time they have been telling me what to do, and I either didn't understand or just didn't want to make the change. But now as I begin to understand I start changing, as I've put into practice what they've been telling us to do the whole time, Presidente, the apostles, everyone! I've seen so many blessings. Anyways, so that's what I want to invite you to do. I'm going to attach the link to the talk from The president of the church, those of you who haven't read it lately, I invite you to read it and put into practice the principles that it teaches. And then let me know how it goes for you! I love you all! I LOVE serving the Lord and serving the people here in Argentina and being able to serve these incredible missionaries. I am so blessed! Love you all! Until next week!! Chau!

-Elder Slack

Principles and Promises

The Perfect Path to Happiness

Week 59: Working in San-V

Heyllo to everyone! It's been another incredible week here in Argentina! I'm here to write you all again to let you know all the good stuff that's been going on here in the ARGENTINA!!

It's been a week of ups and downs here, the things have been going great! This week we've been in San-Vicente, which is part of my last Zone. We were with Elder Bautista y Elder Torres! It was a pretty awesome week. 

We did a service project on one of the days, we helped out one of the investigators, her fence was broken so we went on over with a shovel a pick and a drill and after working all morning we were able to fix things up! 

This week we were super close to helping someone be baptized, at the end of the week we decided that it would be better to give him a little bit more time to prepare a little better. But he did stop smoking, he stopped drinking, he stopped doing drugs all this week and was super excited to be baptized on Sunday! But that's alright he's still excited to be baptized another day. 

I can't really remember anything super exciting that happened this week, we just went and we worked super hard all week long, so that was great. I'll put a few photos so that you guys can see a little bit what we've been doing! 

Yesterday we had a little "meeting" with Presidente Calquín! It was fun, we talked with him and he talked about what we is hoping from us and that we need to keep working and that we need to try different things, we need to make changes, big and small, we need to do everything we can to change the culture of the mission so that we all have a need to baptize and help the people.

I hope everything is going well with all of you guys! I'm loving and learning from everything! Until next week! This week we are going to be in Laferrere 1A with Elders Hunt and Alvarez! It's going to be great! I love you all!!

Elder Slack

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 44: Say it like it is!

Hello world!! I'm here again! Elder Slack!!! It's been another week already and now is the time to write all of you!!

This week has flown by, it's been jam packed, as ever week is, but I've just got a few things to tell you to sum it all up for you guys!

First things first! This week we had the cumpleaño of Hermana Cortez! (that's birthday for those who don't speak Castellano) WHOO!! Hermana Cortez is a sister here in our ward, she is super amazing, she washes our clothes and always helps us if we need help with anything, and she is super excited all the time and is helping and motivating the ward to keep growing here! And she is super funny and has tons of great stories! But... Anyways, that was this last Tuesday! So, what did we do?? Well we cooked her up a peach cobbler! I don't really know how turned out, we prepared it Monday, and then just cooked it Tuesday but we didn't really finish cooking it before we could bring it over. But we did it! And now all this week the Hermana Cortez has been eating it. But that was super fun, and then that night we went on over to her house really quick to have a little birthday celebration!! Whoo! I'll put a few photos.

All this week, just so you are all informed, it was a ton of Rain rain rain, and then lots of mud, and then more rain, then sun for one day, then rain again and again, then more mud! So, it was................... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOO!! Haha! It was a pretty great experience! To get to our area, we had to cross from where we live, through a little forest type thing, and right in the middle, when it rains, it makes a mini river. Haha! So we got a little wet this week, but it was awesome!!

And, what I think the highlight of the week was, INTERVIEWS! This week we had interviews with Presidente Calquín! He is so amazing! He taught everyone of us essentially the same thing, it was really different than how Presidente Thurgood did the interviews, but I loved it all the same! He taught us how to open our mouths, how to contact people effectively. Essentially what he taught us is that we need to be Simple and Direct in the things that we say. We are searching for the prepared people, not anyone that wants to hear a quick bible story and that's all, no! We are looking for the people that God has prepared to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!! And, after the interviews, that's what we have done! When we talk with someone, we tell them how it is! We are representatives of Jesus Christ! And God and Jesus Christ sent us here to talk with you right now! To share with you the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to tell you that there are tons of blessings that God has prepared for you, just waiting for you to grab them! And I know that if you follow the teachings of Jesus Christ that you are going to be Happy! Your life will be filled with Joy, you will know and have a sense of security that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. Can we pass by your house tomorrow at 4? We say something like that (but in Castellano, obviously) And if the person is prepared by God, they'll say SÍ! All we have to do is remind them of the things and the plan that they already accepted in the premortal life.

Anyways, yesterday talking to people directly, we were able to find 5 new investigators, so I think it's working! Anyways, that's about it for this week, I'll put a few quick photos below, I hope you guys liked my video last week! I love you all!! I hope you know that!! And I hope you can all be as happy someday as I am right now!!!

-Elder Slack

We've got here, all of our shoes and boots trying to dry so that we can use them the next day, after we got drenched walking through the little river! 

And we bought lots of bananas!

And all the mud

And Elder Marty cleaning off his shoes in the sink!

Elder Phillips, Elder Villegas (yes, like that name of our ward and area), Elder Slack (that's me), and Elder Marty

Week 40: A smile can change the world!!

HELLOOOOO!!!! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOO USA USA USA!!! Hahaha!

Happy fourth of July to everyone from down here in Argentina! I got here to the computer and realized that I forgot to wear my red white and blue, how patriotic, no?

But anyways, I hope all of you guys have enjoyed this week as much as I have, this has been one of the fastest, most and least productive weeks of my mission, but at the end of it all it has been amazing! 

First things first to start off the week we had to move Elder torricella over to our pension this week, if you don't remember he is the Elder who is in our trio for the rest of this transfer. So we headed over to his pension for a little bit to grab some clothes and stuff for him for 2 weeks and a mattress, luckily the pensioneros (the elders in charge of the pensions) were able to help us move everything from one pench to the other. 

And now that we are in a trio we've had the excitement of trying to manage 2 areas at once, which has been quite the hassle. Elder Torricella and his companion couldn't do a whole lot of work in their area because they spent a ton of time in the hospital, so we had to fix a bunch of things that they had left undone and start it going again, but now, this week should be a little bit more tranquilo or smooth going.

As well, Wednesday, we had to waste a few hours running around in different parts of the mission trying to get the flu shot, that they told us we had to get, but at the end of it all we went from our side of the mission to the other, (our mission is actually pretty small) and we found out we can't get the flu shot without a medical prescription. So, we'll see what we can do about that now. But all in all it was an adventure! We ran into a group of other Elders trying to get the shot as well in the Hospital where we all found out we can't get it there, so that was interesting!

As well, one of the Elders in my pension this week had his mission birthday! Elder Phillips from Brigham City, Utah, so we had a mini celebration and we ate Ice cream! That was pretty fun!

And! One of the two highlights of the week! We got to meet our new presidente!! Presidente Calquín! He's from Chile and WOW! I am super super excited to be able to work with him here and to be under his direction and spiritual guide! He is such a loving and kind man and full of energy!! He told us a few stories about his mission and how him and his wife met and it was amazing!! And his wife is Chilena as well, and she was super funny and it is so awesome to have them as our leaders! We all left the meeting there with him smiling and laughing he is so great!! Now we'll have to see how everything goes, I'm hoping that he and his wife can adapt to the mission really well. 

This week I got to do another Baptismal interview, it was with an older woman! She's had a hard life and has a few problems with her memory and everything, but! after a year and a half of teaching her she was all ready to be baptized!! She was baptized this last Saturday! Which as well was an interesting experience, she has a few health problems so they were pretty worried about how she would react to being baptized, so they had the Hermano from the ward to baptize her and then Me and Elder Torricella to assist inside of the font. At the end, it all went so smoothly! It was great!!

And! My favorite part of the week now. Yesterday!! Sunday! Church day! We were working all week with our investigators so that they could come to the church, we go, we're waiting for them in the bus stop and! NOOOO!! They couldn't come because of the rain and mud, but that's not all! What do we do! We rapidly dash to the church where we solicit the help of our Bishop with his car and ZOOM! We go right over to their house where we picked them up! Juana and Gustavo and their little boy Mariano! They all came to church yesterday and they were sooooo well received! The friendshipping was amazing by the ward! They gave them a welcome shout out in sacrament meeting and then afterwards all of the members came up to introduce themselves and to say hi! It was amazing! And at the end of the Gospel principles class, when Gustavo went to say the prayer he said "Thank you so much, Father, that I could come to church today, I am so happy to be here and I want to come here every week." WOOOOOO!!!! It was amazing! And then, to top it all off, later in the day, we went on splits with our ward mission leader and we taught this part member family and the non member dad accepted a baptismal date and everything!! Wow! It was just a great day!

And now I'm here! It has been quite the week! I've been soooo happy this week, I hope all of you guys are happy where you are! Something that our mission president said was (translating): "All you need to do is smile and open your mouth!" And it's so true! I hope you can all take a moment this week to smile! And right now! Smile!! Even if you don't want to do it!

That's all for this week! I've only got a few pictures! I love you all! 

-Elder Slack!

P.S. transfers next week! We'll see what happens!

(Stockton/Elder Slack did not include any captions for his pictures...so the only person I know for sure is Elder Slack.)