Monday, December 16, 2013 1:03 PM

Subject: Chillin like a ..... actually it is really hot.

Well I will start off with the funnest parts of the week. A few days ago the water in the shower stopped working so now we are showering out of buckets. It is actually kind of fun and with the weather being so hot we don’t mind the coldness so much. We got the fans and really enjoyed them.... and then the power cut out. We have a new rule to be in the pension before dark because people are starting to rob a lot of business, but we haven’t seen anything to worry us in our area (so don’t have a heart attack mom). We had an awesome asado today with our district and if I do say so my cooking skills are improving. I made the rice, salad and cut up some tomatoes for a side dish. They call me "big mama" in the pension, and I do the majority of the cooking and dish washing and the majority of the nagging... so I guess you could say the title has reason behind it. I sent you a picture of noodles and tuco that I made and was delicious. I love the great opportunity we have to just learn everything on the mission; it is probably the best opportunity to learn ever. Yeah I could imagine that regular life would be boring if you weren’t a member of the church or weren’t on a mission right now. That too bad that Meghan feels the best part of her life is over (Meghan was a friend of Ben's that he knew in high school. Brian saw her the other day.) I really can’t imagine life not on a mission I have thought about how it would be to just go straight to college and that would be so lame and the mission is 100000x better than anything I ever did in high school. It all just seems so far away now. We are working hard. Alejandra’s kids are better but I wouldn’t say she is quite back on track yet. We called her on Sunday and she was sleeping and didn’t come to church. So we have some work there still and maybe a little of bajando la caña to do. Hady kind of disappeared; we will have to track her down again. Malvina is a stud, if there was ever anyone ready to receive the gospel it is her. She has come to church twice and doesn’t show signs of stopping. She understands everything and can explain back to us what she read when we go for the visits. We were going to teach her the law of chastity and word of wisdom but she fell back into depression about her boyfriend that died, so we took some time to talk about the Savior and his atonement and told her to take her problems to the Lord especially in sacrament meeting the next day. Well it seemed like she did because we taught her yesterday and she seemed back to normal and feeling the Spirit and we taught her the lesson. I was nervous because we were going to tell her that she needed to take out her piercings (one in her nose and one in her lip) and I was getting nervous but as I expressed that part with love she just kind of laughed and said she knew she needed to take them out and said she would. So we will see tomorrow when we get to her. I really am loving it down here so much and I am very excited for the next few weeks! I love you all very much and will tell you all to really study your scriptures it is very interesting what you can find when you really try.

Monday, December 9, 2013 11:52 AM

Bueno, esta semana fue excelente y muy dificil pero asi es en la mision. (Well, this week has been excellent and very difficult but such is the mission.) Are you still going to have those missionary mom meetings? Bennet told me he is training now too and is a district leader, talk about responsibility, but I knew that my best friends were studs and still totally are. Blake said he doesn’t have any spanish investigators, I couldn’t imagine that, sometimes I get frustrated with Spanish but I just love it so much and the people that speak it and how the culture is that I couldn’t really imagine it different. I am trying to talk is more spanish with Elder Corry and he is learning really quick. He is a cool elder and it will be cool to hang out with him after because he will be going to UVU as well. Could you get me Shaun’s email, I really want to email that guy. Oh Elder Reynoso went home due to his back and won’t be able to come back out for a year or two. I was sad but he really should have taken care of those problems before, I will still try and keep in contact with him though. The area....... Lanus 1b..... this week was like a rollercoaster. We were teaching Alejandra in the beginning of the week and everything was going well, then de repente (suddenly) her kids got sick and when we went there on Saturday she said that she couldn’t focus with them sick like that so it wouldn’t serve anything to have the lesson and said she wouldn’t be able to come to church either.... the devil is stooping pretty low to try and get her through her little kids, but I guess that isn’t a problem for him. However, we are not going to stop fighting, if she doesn’t get baptized it will not be from lack of effort on our part. We also sacked a fecha (date) with Hady who lives just down the street from Alejandra and she went to the house of the Familia  Casares and was impressed with what she saw of them and want to have that sure knowledge of the life to come, so we taught a little bit about that. She didn’t come to church either but we will she what we can do about that next week. I just want to let you know that the Familia Casares are super capos. Their son died and you could see their testimonies in that moment and because of that example they are now helping several people know the church and their inactive kids are starting to come back. The novia (girlfriend) of the son that died came to church on Sunday and is currently living with them. We taught her on Sunday and put the date for her to get baptized on the 28. Milvana is her name. She seemed really happy when we set the date and I think she really is super prepared. We will buckle down for the hard times that will most definitely come but we know who our master is and that if we stick with him we will not lose. The truth is sometimes it is hard for me because I haven’t had any baptisms still but I know that I just need to keep working baptisms or not. I didn’t come here to get a million baptisms I came here to invite people to come to Christ and as long as I am really trying to do that then things will be okay. We are working hard and we will continue to just work even harder. Elder Goody is really fun to be with and we have already been here for 6 weeks together and Elder Haynie is really awesome and funny too. (Elder Goody and Elder Haynie are the zone leaders that also live with Ben and Elder Corry) Life is pretty good and I just need to remember to enjoy it. We do see miracles every day, and what I think is one of the greatest miracles of all is that someone can really be converted by just doing three simple things. Reading, praying, and going to church. entonces les invito a que lean, oren, y vayan a la iglesia. I love you all very much.

Elder Andrew

                                    Elder Corry and I chumming it up!

Monday, December 2, 2013 8:02 AM

First with the companion; Elder Reynoso had ernias en su cintura o algo asi (I think Ben is saying hernias in his middle or back; perhaps a herniated disc? or something like that). Something he should have probably taken care of before his mission. We called president because he just didn’t know what to do the pain was so bad. So they took him away from me.... they stripped me of my beloved son. They opened a new area for him and another elder that has a lot of allergies and is sick and they are going to ride bikes to see if that will help. I really felt sad and miss Elder Reynoso we got along amazingly well and bit (knit?) a very strong bond for the short time that we had together. So I wasn’t too happy with that. In his place came Elder Correy. An 18 years old Yankee from Sandy, Utah! He is a newbie as well with only a week and a half in Argentina. He can speak Spanish better than I think I could when I had that time but of course struggles with it. To be honest it is harder to train him, and I really missed Elder Reynoso at first but I am trying to get over that, and I am starting to love just talking in Spanish and would a lot of times just prefer to talk in Spanish, but I need to use English to help him understand. I am starting to do better with that and I hope helping him out. He doesn’t have any health issues as far as I can see. I am really starting to love the Latin people and if the rest of my companions were Latin I would be happy. They also told me that because now I am a senior companion unless I do something bad I will be a senior companion for the rest of my mission. The Lord has just been giving me a lot of responsibility really fast on this mission. The language is coming along well; I can be a trainer in Spanish which is pretty amazing to me how much the Lord has blessed me with that. I obviously still lack a lot, but I gave a 40 or so minute gospel principles class on Sunday and it wasn’t really even a struggle. (It sure went a lot better than the one I gave in Glenview Ward). My mission is changing; it is completely different than it was just a few weeks ago. We are working so hard and I am getting so tired and it is so hot outside but I just am enjoying it more than ever before! We are getting more serious with the work and are seeing results. Alejandra is an investigator that we have had for more than a month, that we would just kind of teach lessons that weren’t super focus and you could tell she wasn’t retaining too much and wasn’t coming to church. So when elder Reynoso got here we gave her a more frank talk and said what she needed to do if she really wanted to be baptized. Then the next lesson we gave her a calendar that I asked Elder Juarez to make for me a long time ago, but Elder Aldana didn’t want to use because he didn’t like the idea. It has a calendar and the baptismal interview questions on it so she can see her fecha (date) that it is real and so we can write our next citas (appointment) with her and the reading she has to do. She asked us (reading some of the questions) who Joseph Smith was, even though we had already taught the first lesson. Afterwards she even told us that that lesson felt different than all the other ones before. We told her we would come back to get her for church so we could make sure that she came. Then when we went to pick her up, she was already ready. We didn’t have to wake her up or anything. She had already showered and everything, as well as the less active member she is living with. She is taking things more seriously and things are starting to change. They all came to church and really liked it, then after we had two baptisms of the other elders, so they got to be there to witness that. She has a date for the 21 to be baptized, and I really think that she is going to make it. I know that we are going to do our part, now it just is up to her. This week one of the sons of the Presidente de quorum (Elders Quorum President) died. He was young like 26 and got in a moto (car) accident and died. It was very unexpected and hard for them. We went during the day to their house and there was a bunch of people crying and we offered the hermana if we could do anything. I almost wanted to break the rules and just give that poor woman a hug, but I didn’t. Familia Casares (familia=family) they are called and they amazed me with their strength. The poor couple is active but none of their kids are and they have told us before how that worries them and now this happened. And then Hermano Casares (hermano=brother) made sure that his elders were still taken care of, that someone was there to teach the lesson and everything. We went to a viewing type thing because the hermano asked us to and we went. It strengthened me to see how strong those two were and that really their testimony of Gods Plan let them be sad but know that this is not the end. I could see their testimonies in the way they acted and held themselves. There were so many members of the ward there to help and comfort them as well. Seeing that family comforted and given brotherly love made me think, “como puede ser que esta iglesia no es verdadera?” (How can this church not be true?). It has to be true with members like that. I didn’t like this ward too much when I got here and I kind of thought they were just lazy people who weren’t really living the gospel. But over time these people are some of the best people I have ever met in my life. I will have the privilege to spend at least 3 more months with them, but when I have to go I know that I am not going to want to leave. The mission is so good, I am feeling the Spirit like I never have before, I am talking with people in the street about our Lord and Savior. Who else gets a blessing as great as that? I love the mission so much and I can’t wait to just keep doing it! The confidence is coming back. I had a lot of self confidence before and then lost a lot of it coming here and not knowing hardly anything or what was going on. Now the confidence is starting to come back and this is turning into what it really should be. The president told me that "you are always someone I can count on" that is a big responsibility to live up to, and I feel that responsibility every day, to train good, to live up to what my beloved family wants me to be and most importantly to be the kind of missionary the Lord want me to be. I love every one of you and wish you the best. Keep up the good work and keep opening your mouth about the gospel. I can’t wait to talk to you all in just a few short weeks!

Elder Andrew

Monday, November 25, 2013 12:59 PM Subject: The weeks get harder, the work gets better.
Hola mi querido familia!

Me encanta la opertunidad que tengo para escribirles cada lunes.(I love the oportunity I have to write to you each week.) les amo mucho y me fortalecen un monton. (I love you a lot and you strenghthen me.) La verdad es que pense que ya pase por thanksgiving pero alegro para saber que en relalidad todovia tengo tiempo para agradacer como un americano.(In truth I thought that Thanksgiving had passed but I’m glad to know that in reality I still have time to give thanks like an American.) Don’t worry dad I do miss wrestling especially since it doesn’t exist here and whenever I talk about it people don’t understand, but your updates won’t throw me off the work. I know how you feel mom with the not being prepared thing it was like I was taken from the frying pan and thrown into the fire, and I am getting a little burned. Literally with all the sun I am getting a bit more tan. I tell people that vine crudo y ahora me estoy consinando.(I came raw and now I am cooking) Pretty funny right? Well at least I think so. There was a bunch of crazy stuff this Monday so I don’t have as much time as usual and I will make my skpe next time and send you the information. Okay this week. Well Tuesday I gave birth to a wonderful twenty year old tucumano. If you didn’t understand that I got my hijo (son. When training they call the new missionaries their sons and the trainer is the father) on Tuesday and he is from Tucuman, Argentina! I guess I am just destined to have northern companions, and will probably come back speaking more like them than portainos, my companion even told me my accent is more like the people of the north. He is super awesome and already knows a lot of things. We are getting along very well and I am learning more than ever. We have a thing to help trainers called the 12 weeks which is a guide for training with the idea that in 12 weeks the new missionary will be capacitated to train. I am trying to really stick to that and use it well (something I wish my trainer had done, sometimes it is like I am reading something I never heard before). We are working very hard and I am even more tired than ever. We get lost sometimes but i am learning the streets quickly and he has a very good memory and even helps me out sometimes. I can tell that he really has desires to serve his mission and that he is out here for the right reasons. Actually he was supposed to go to Mexico but didn’t get his visa so he is waiting here. I hope I at least get to spend 3 months with him before he leaves. We are doing a lot of work with the members and trying new things. One of the things is teaching the restoration to the members so that we can practice and so that we can help out the members and also hopefully get some references. It is working well and I think I have taught more of the restoration this week than we taught my first three months here. I have to take the lead with everything in Spanish and I am holding out. The Lord really blessed me to learn quick and I still lack a whole whole bunch but I can survive. Elder Reynoso helps me to want to do better, I try to think of the example that I am setting for him and try to remember what it is like. We are having trouble getting investigators to come to church, we didn’t have anyone Sunday and we tried having members pick them up and we offered to bring them but it just didn’t work out. We did a lot considering that we only really had a bit of Tuesday until Sunday to work, and a lot of that was Elder meeting ward leaders and stuff like that. So this week is bound to be even better. My only concern is that his back hurts him a lot and even though he presses on and doesn’t let it stop him I can tell it is affecting him. We are working on a solution, just remember to keep him in your prayers. The Lord is really blessing me I just need to remember to remember him in all things and that really it doesn’t depend on how much time we have in the mission that this work is His and He will find a way to get things done if we will just work his way. The struggle goes on but the fight is worth it. The church evangelistas are lleno de gente (The Evangelist or Pentecostal church is full of people), the ones where they dance, sing, flop on the floor and all that weird stuff, and we are struggling with our church attendance. I guess it is just another testament that the church is true; nothing worthwhile in life is easy. I actually have that talk by Elder Holland. Elder Dodge passed it to my flash drive and I love listening to it de vez en cuando (at times). Stay strong Andrew clan and don’t forget who you are working for.

con un amor muy grande
Elder Andrew

Monday, November 18, 2013 12:47 PM

Well it is good to hear that everything is good with the Andrew clan, you guys really are the greatest examples for me. My birthday passed really well and I had fun, some of the members even made me a cake, so that was really nice. I’ll get too the real news right away. Elder Holland came on Saturday with a few other general and area authorities and spoke to the three Buenos Aires missions. It was really amazing. Elder Gonzalez (who spoke in conference not too long ago) and his wife spoke and Elder Suarez and his wife as well. It was cool to listen in Spanish and understand it all, there are things and feeling and expressions that just don’t transfer over. They said many good things and it was pretty impressive and amazing to hear Elder Holland in person talking to a bunch of missionaries! His main focus was having our eyes focused only on the glory of God. I know there is a better way to say that but I can’t think of it in English. He also told us that we can not go inactive and that what we are doing here is very very important. He said the worst thing he has to deal with is missionaries who have lost the light in their eyes. All in all it was very inspiring and very awesome. In this last week I was thinking about the probability of change in this coming transfer and thinking about what I wanted. I thought maybe it was crazy but the Spirit reminded me that often the Lord has many blessings for us, or wants to give us our righteous desires he just waits for us to ask him. So I prayed and the lord answered my prayers in the way that I had asked. Entonces (therefore), Elder Aldana left today and tomorrow I will (have?) me one of the newest missionaries to the Buenos Aires South Mission. That’s right.... tomorrow I will start the training of my hijo. President called me Saturday night and asked if I was dispuesto (willing) to follow the advice of Elder Holland and of course I said yes and afterward he told me that I would be training. I still don’t know if he will be latino or yankee that I will find out tomorrow. For now I am with Elder Davis an elder in my zone who will also be training. It is crazy and after the call I felt dazed and a little bit sick. I guess be careful what you ask for! I am really excited though and I know we are going to see a lot of miracles. I just want to be the trainer that both he and his mom have prayed for. Please say a lot of prayers for us because we will definitely need them, and we will be more lost than argentines without their mate. I am very grateful for this chance to learn and be humbled. If I do get a yankee I feel like I know enough Spanish to survive, but we will see. So this weekend was pretty much just earth changing. Thank you, Mom, for writing to Elder Aldana. He really appreciated it and I could tell it lifted his spirits. Please continue to write him if you can. He may not have been who I thought was the greatest companion and we didn’t get along super well sometimes, but I think as I tried I came to understand him better and I really do love the elder and want the best for him. I will never forget my father (Elder Aldana), who now will be a grandpa. Elder Dodge also left and Elder Hayne came in his place, he is really friendly and nice and I already know he will be an awesome elder to get to know better. I cleaned the pension pretty good today because I want everything to be as perfect as it can for my hijo manana (son tomorrow). Even if I am not ready, the Lord has called me and I will serve. He will know how much I love the Lord as well as how much I love him. I am going to listen to him a lot, because I have come to find out that one of the greatest signs of love is listening, really listening and thinking about what other people say. God only asks that we listen and obey, but if we cant even listen to the people right in front of us how can we listen to the quiet promptings of the spirit? I love you all and hope you have another wonderful week and don’t have too much fun without me!

Elder Andrew

Monday, November 11, 2013 12:32 PM
Okay dad as a suggestion read the section in chapter six of preach my gospel on humility, humility is part of pretty much every attribute, the fountain some would say. Also there is a little section on gratitude as well. Make sure to spend at least five minutes giving thanks for your wonderful 19 year old son and how awesome he is haha just kidding. Mom from your journal experiences it sounds like you had a lot of the problems that I am dealing with, although fortunately no parasites as of yet. (I make sure I boil my water before I drink it) Elder Dodge told me that thanksgiving here is hard because it is not recognized as a holiday at all, but I’ll try to be grateful igual (as well). The struggle continues but it has been looking up lately. Thank you for your prayers I definitely felt them and the language seemed to come in a big jump this week, the Lord really does bless me each and every day and in every moment. The only thing that He wants is to bless us and He does whenever He can. I am learning a lot of things about life and about the church. I really understand why a mission is a priesthood duty to serve a mission, I am learning what it really means to be a member of the church and be a priesthood holder. I am learning to go shopping for myself, to better manage money, I do my dishes every night and am learning to keep a schedule. The scriptures and the gospel are really coming to life. It is such a blessing to be a missionary, and to live in this day and age. Go to the restaurant and have great time! I want everyone to be happy on my birthday! For that I’m going to buy some pizzas and we are going to have a little party in the pension tonight! Nothing too big but a little party. Today I got to go to capital. What a present right? It was to do some visa stuff but it was really cool. I’ll have to send you some pictures next week because I didn’t bring my converter. With our investigator Alejandra who really seems ready and seems to be progressing well we are having trouble getting her to come to church. We are finding new people and the work is going forward. Sometimes my days are hard and my patience is really tried, REALLY. But it always helps to keep a prayer in my heart. About the middle of the week I was just really frustrated and didn’t really feel like putting up with it all. I realized I hadn’t read my patriarchal blessing in a while so I turned to that and read, that mixed with some very earnest prayers helped me to overcome those feelings though. Sometimes the mission is pretty bipolar on a day to day basis. Oh I am now legal because of what we did today! This week we did some service putting a floor in a house. It was fun to mix the cement with chunks of brick and sand and water. It was hard but a lot of fun and I really enjoy doing service. We might go back and help some more with other parts of the house, people just build their own houses here, so maybe you could just remodel the house yourself dad, all you need is bricks and cement! Oh you guys need to figure out the things for Skype such as the account you will use or however that works, because believe it or not (I can’t believe it) in about 5 weeks I will be calling home. So just a little heads up. I did find some mac and cheese in the cotto and let out a pretty big yell when I found it. It was different but still tasted pretty good, and made me pretty happy last Monday night. I hope that dad gets a calling soon and that he is a ward missionary! Now that we have sisters mom and Carolyn can go with them! Oh and mom and dad when a matrimonio (married couple) goes with the missionaries that is like gold. Keep up the good work, but if you do go with the missionaries don’t try to control the lesson. That can be very hard and annoying for the missionaries and they won’t be wanting to invite you to come out with them again. Todos ustedes son capos y les amo tanto! Be diligent chicos and do much good por su propio voluntad (by your own will). I love you all very much and you help me to keep going. The transfers are coming and I feel like one of us is going to leave. You will know next Monday!
Love,

Elder Andrew

Monday, November 4, 2013 8:21 AM
The truth is that the argentine way to do Halloween is to not do it. I saw some stores that looked like they were selling costumes and some people had a Halloween episode of the Simpsons playing when we came in to their house but that was about it. The pictures I sent should be of an awesome asado that we had in the pensión last Monday, we bought and prepared and cooked, and then feast como reyes! (like kings) It was a nice break. Then some special Halloween pictures just for my beloved family!

Oh small story we now have the permission to use the secretaria para hacer ciber en p day so we are in the church doing it right now, but we made a copy of the key so each companionship could have one but ours didn’t work! And there are only two computers so the other elders are going to come later. Long story short there is a small window above the secretaria.... and nothing can stop determined elders from reaching their goal! haha the crazy things we do, I sometimes think that the craziest members of the church are the missionaries. Dad, it sounds like you were a missionary! Are you guys doing anything to try and brush up on your Spanish? The castillano is really hard for me sometimes. On Friday I had to present the information for our companionship for ward counsel because we had to do an intercambio (splits or exchanges), I just got a little discouraged. I completely forgot that yesterday was Fast Sunday and remembered after I had made and eaten my morning oatmeal, so I am fasting today, and one of the things I am fasting for is the gift of tongues through my efforts to learn. Also how did you work on your accents because that is also something I really want to do?

Thank you for the pictures! I was remembering last Halloween when we were all sharks, what fun it is to be part of the Andrew family. Daniel is quite the kid, que pícaro que es. Sounds like typical him. I don’t feel sick, just a bit hungry. Oh Mom, for your boy scouts, I recently bought a compass "brújula" to help me navigate better, I guess the things I learned weren’t actually pointless! And they don’t have scouts here, I think it might be starting in South America but I haven’t heard anything of it here. Oh there is a new rule that we can drink mate cosido en la pension ahora. It tastes like yard work but,for some reason, when you drink it you just want to keep drinking it, kind of weird.

Early in the week Elder Aldana and I kind of got into an argument; it was like the tensions just boiled over a bit. So we sat down and talked and argued a bit and sort of resolved a few things and then had to go to a cita. The next day I knew we had to talk about it some more, so I tried to come in with a humble attitude and I didn’t want to fight or argue and I prayed real hard before that to be able to do that and told him that how I was being wasn’t right and that I wanted to change and repent and help him out how I could. We talked some more and helped to resolve tension. It was so important to come into it with an attitude of humility and of change and to show that I really do care about Elder Aldana and I want what is best for him. And there are definitely still times that we aren’t the best of friends or we bug each other, but we know we can work on it. He wasn’t the kind of trainer I expected or maybe even wanted but I’m pretty sure that he is the trainer I needed. My training will finish in 2 weeks and i will be a "normal" missionary. It is so important to seek to resolve problems that you have with people. I don’t remember where I read it either scriptures or pmg that the easy way is to get mad and hold something against some one. And Elder Dodge told me that it is like a math problem, if there is an error early on in the problem no matter how many times you try to solve it you can’t until you go back and resolve that error. A lot of times it is embarrassing and takes a lot of courage to do, but it is what the Lord wants. I know that this kind of skill is very very important especially inside a family and especially inside a matrimonio.

Oh about the weather, it is still weird some days it’s hot and then other days it rains, and then other days it is cold. Argentina just hasn’t made up its mind to be miserably hot yet, but I’m sure it will come soon enough.

Elder aldana almost never gets correspondence from his family so I was wondering if you could get together with Levi or just yourselves and send him some emails. I think it would really brighten his day. Thank you for all that you do for me beloved family.

Elder Andrew