Week 68 - Retiro

This week was very good!  We got all the details wrapped up and on Saturday of next week we are going to have the baptism of Ruth the Peruvian lady we are teaching.  We also are teaching another girl who is 20 years old who is gonna get baptized the 16th of November.

On Wednesday I went with Elder Salas to his area to do some baptismal interviews.  We did divisions with the Assistants on Friday and I went with Elder Smith, my friend from the MTC.  We got to drive around in the car all day which felt really weird.  On Sunday we had a lot of people in church and Ruth was going to have her baptismal interview in the 2nd hour with President Palmieri (a member of the mission presidency) and I was crapping my pants because she didn't arrive at 9:30.  So I was super nervous all during the sacrament because I didn't want President Palmieri to get mad at us.  Then finally I jumped out of my seat when Ruth showed up at 9:50.  It was awesome.

This weekend there were the Presidential elections in Argentina and everybody went crazy so we had quite a lot of interactions with drunk people.  They always come and talk to me and ignore Elder Rodriguez because I'm so tall and white.  One guy came up to me asking for a picture then like 7 other drunk guys all came in for the picture and it was super funny.  But anyways it was a very busy exciting week.

Week 67 - Retiro

We did divisions all this week and found a bunch of good people.  We started teaching a family from Haiti the other day and they are really nice and everything.  It's a little difficult given that they don't speak much Spanish and we don't speak French but we are working on that.  We went to a less active and found his niece who turned out to be really interested.  Her name is Abigail and she actually came to church.  One of the things I like about the Villa and Buenos Aires in general is that it is really diverse.  This week I counted and we talked with people from 14 different countries.  It was pretty crazy.  One thing that is kind of making it hard for us is that the Villa is that it is about a 20 minute bus ride to the chapel so it's kind of hard to get people to go to church.  We are teaching a Peruvian girl named Ruth who is on track to get baptized the 2nd of November but she's having some setbacks.  Anyways this week went well.  Nothing to complain about, just super busy which is a good thing.

He sent in the chat the countries of the people that he had talked to:
Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, USA, Nigeria, Senegal, and China.

Week 66 - Retiro

This week we did divisions with Retiro 2 which is the other elders in the branch and I went with Elder Higueras this huge Bolivian guy.  It was an interesting day because one dude pulled out a gun and was showing us it in the middle of the street like it was nothing.  On Thursday we went and had a zone conference in the mission offices.  Sunday was good.  I introduced myself in sacrament meeting after only like four people asked to take photos with me.  We are going to have a baptism in two weeks of a Peruvian lady.  Yesterday she got up out of nowhere to give her testimony and I was really scared that she was gonna do something crazy, but it was actually good.  She talked about how nice the church was and everything.  On Saturday we had lunch (I think that is what it says, can't read his handwriting) and there was this less active guy that was a self-proclaimed rapper so I tried to rap battle him.

Week 65 - Retiro

This week was pretty crazy.  We had transfers on Tuesday morning and I got transferred to the Retiro branch in the Congresso Stake.  I am with Elder Rodriguez from Salta, Argentina.  Our area is the Villa 31 which is basically the biggest Villa in Buenos Aires.  The branch from what I have seen is very good.  In the Villa it's a whole different world.  There are people from everywhere in the world and it's always crowded with a ton of people.  We are teaching a couple of people who are going to get baptized soon we hope.

On Thursday and Friday we had a leadership meeting in the mission home and then on Saturday and Sunday it was General Conference so we didn't have that much time to work in our area.  We live in the middle of one of the most transited areas of Buenos Aires which is a huge change from my last area.  Elder Rodriguez is a covert and the only member from his family and we get along well.  It was a really good week and I feel like there is always something interesting that happens in the Villa.  Oh yeah, I forgot to say that we are allowed to drink matte now and all the Argentines and Uruguayans went crazy, but I tried matte and it sucks.

[Family Note: Here is some more info that I got from Tanner from talking to him]

Like he said, his companion is a convert and the only member in his family.  He joined the church when he was 13 and went for a few years.  Then he went inactive for a while, but started coming back shortly before coming on his mission. He has 6 brothers and sisters.

If you couldn't tell Villa is a nice word for slum.  His area is the biggest slum in Argentina.  Google Villa 31 and check out the crazy pictures.  He says he doesn't live in the Villa.  He said his branch has about 130 people that come regularly, but that they are all very new converts and there is no leadership.  His building is shared by 2 other wards and he says that the wards are smaller than the branch (like 60 and 70 members who attend), but they are much more established.  I put a couple of photos in from google images.  The freeway runs right over the top of the Villa.  It is also right next to the nicest neighborhood in BA.