Week 34 - Caballitos

This week has been pretty nuts.

We planned on having one baptism for sure. Monday night we had the interview with Arleanys, the Venezuelan girl, and she passed. Then on Tuesday, right before the district meeting, we get a call from Manuel a guy who was gonna get baptized the 2nd of march, and he tells us he wants to get baptized so we scramble and set the interview for Thursday.

At the District Meeting Elder Dominguez made "Arroz Chaufa" [Chinese/Peruvian Fried Rice] and the Hermanas [Sister Missionaries] bought a cake for my late birthday so that was pretty fun.

Thursday, we had the interview with Manuel and he passed so we scheduled to have 2 baptisms Saturday at 7. Anyways, we go to the baptism and it was total chaos. First of all, the person that was going to conduct the meeting didn't show up, so I had to conduct, and then the person who was gonna give one of the talks didn't show up, so I had to give a talk. Then the person that was gonna baptize Arleanys didn't show up so Elder Santos now had to baptize her, luckily he had brought white pants just in case. We didn't fill the font up enough, so there wasn't a ton of water in the font, because there are a bunch of places in the city without water right now and the water pressure was super low.

I conduct the meeting and give the talk, then we go to the baptism of Manuel, and he's kind of a bigger dude right, so it only takes 6 tries to get him under and everyone was like freaking out at me, and right when I opened the door to the font, I cut my finger open and was bleeding a lot. So the last try, Elder Santos gets in the water too and holds his legs down, and we finally do it. Then Elder Santos had to baptize Arleanys, but I realized that I wast sure if he even know the baptismal prayer in Spanish, but luckily he did it really well and it only took one try.

...The funny thing that probably wasn't even my most disorganized baptism, I have had. This morning we went and saw the "Pink House" which is like the White House, and some other cool sight-seeing stuff, then went into the Villa 31 and ate some super-good Peruvian food.  A pretty solid week.

Elder Christensen

Downtown BA, next to the Obelisk, with Elder Santos

Baptism of Manuel and Arleanys

Baptism of Manuel and Arleanys

Downtown BA w/ the Elders from the Apartment

Downtown BA w/ the Elders from the Apartment

Downtown BA with Elder Santos

Week 33 - Caballitos

Hi everyone this week will be short, I'm busy skyping the family! But this week was pretty fun. We have a baptism this week, of a girl named Arleanys, she's Venezuelan and the rest of her family are members there. She is like an old investigator from the sisters and so this week and then the week after that, hopefully, we will have a baptism of this dude Manuel, who is like super-excited to get baptized. As for funny things that happened, we contacted this lady and she started screaming at us saying we were demons, and I was like "tranquila lady" [Calm down lady]. But yeah, the mission is going well, and the time passes very very quickly!

Studying in the apartment in Caballitos

Elder Hales, 6'11", a latin Elder, and Elder Christensen, 6'10"

Elder Hales, 6'11", a latin Elder, and Elder Christensen, 6'10"

Elder Hales, 6'11", a latin Elder, and Elder Christensen, 6'10"

Elder Santos & Christensen and some Argentine pizza

Elder Santos at the church, writing his email home

Studying in the apartment in Caballitos

Week 32 - Caballitos

What's up? This week went by super-fast even though it was an oven outside all week. My companion Elder Santos has been ruining my Spanish with his hybrid Portuguese/Spanish. We taught a lesson to a dude who speaks Portuguese, and I taught the lesson in Spanish and my comp in Portuguese. It's pretty surprising I understand like 80 percent of what my comp says in Portuguese so thats pretty cool. :)

Thursday we had a Zone Conference and the theme was "Urgency", how we basically need to baptize like a 10000 people in the next week, but no really, we just talked about how the two years is a very short time and we need to make the most of it. We had the Zone Conference with two other Zones and I got to see Elder Haycock and the other Elders from Boulogne. Turns out a guy Elder Telis and I contacted 5 months ago got baptized, and I didn't even know, so thats pretty cool. Getting home from Zone Conference was the worst because we had to carry a bunch stuff in a crowded bus, with 95 degree weather wearing suits, but I guess that's the mission. :)

In this ward and neighborhood, there are a ton of Venezuelan immigrants, and they have the coolest accent. Anyway, something funny that happened was that we contacted a 20ish year Venezuelan in the park, and we got to talking and I asked him if he was familiar with the Bible and he tells me "yeah sometimes if I run out of paper (to roll a joint) I will tear out a page of the bible" so I got a good laugh out of that.

We had to let an investigator go on Sunday night becasuse he wasn't progressing, but he loves when we come over, and loves learning about the church, but he just doesn't want to get baptized because  he already got baptized. It kind of crushed him when we said we wouldn't be coming over, but hopefully that will whip him into shape, and he'll get baptized eventually.

...As far as progressing investigators we are kind of starting from scratch this week so that will be fun. I don't why, but we are not finding as many people as normal. Oh well, this week we are gonna find a bunch of people!

Week 31 - Caballitos

This week was pretty good and very long, we have been having some difficulties filling the days with productive activities because we still don't know a bunch of people or the area very well.

A funny thing that happened this week, is that we were teaching a really good lesson to a 30ish guy who let's just say, has a couple screws lose. We were teaching the First Vision and it was really cool, he was understanding, and paying a lot of attention. We described it, and right in the middle of it he says "Wait a second, I have a question", he stares me right in the eyes and I think he's gonna ask a really good, spiritual question, but then he says "You're from the US right, whats your opinion on Bill Clinton?", I just pause for a second and then say "Well I don't know and I don't care"....  ahhhhhh. That was funny. I'll keep you posted on the progress of this guy whose name is Gabriel.

Saturday, the sisters in our the ward had a baptism but the water didn't work, so we got there like 10 minutes early, because the font was barely filled, so we had to haul buckets and buckets of water to the font, but we made it in time because everyone in Argentina shows up 30 minutes late, including the guy who was getting baptized

Sunday was the highlight of the week. We did splits with the members all Sunday afternoon and taught some good lessons and found a couple new people to teach. I went with a 23-year-old who is preparing to go on a mission, after many years of being inactive. He has a really good story of how he came back to the church, along with some other funny stories of bar fights, and stuff like that. Anyway, nothing really exciting this week. We have a Zone conference Thurday so that will be fun

Questions:

• How big is your new area? Like how many miles across and how many miles from top to bottom?

I don't know, probably 25 blocks?

• Do you ride the bus or just walk in your new area?

Walk

• How far from your old area is your new area?

Probably less than 30 minutes in car

• Did you ride a bus from your old area to your new area or do they have a car that they drive missionaries around on transfer day?

The mission hires taxi drivers

• Did you find an apartment? And is it in your area?

No, we are working on that

• Did you find it harder to find people to teach in your area because it is richer?

Yes

• What do you like about your comp?

He's funny, and we have a lot in common i guess

New Mission President, and his wife, who will start in July, 2019

Leopoldo Zuñiga, 44, and Gabriela Zuñiga, five children, La Paz Ward, Córdoba Argentina West Stake: Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission, succeeding President Robert T. Smith and Sister Kristine Smith. Brother Zuñiga is a bishopric counselor and temple ordinance worker, and a former stake presidency counselor, bishop and missionary in the Chile Antofagasta Mission. He was born in Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Julio Alberto Zuñiga and Silvia Esterkin.

Sister Zuñiga is a temple ordinance worker and seminary supervisor, and a former stake Young Women president, ward Primary president, ward Relief Society presidency counselor and seminary teacher. She was born in Laboulaye, Córdoba, Argentina, to Raul Isidro Fantini and Delia Esther Fantini.