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.

Week 64 - Pacheco

On Tuesday we had the last district meeting of the transfer, and the 4 missionaries that are finishing their missions gave their testimonies.  It was really nice.  That afternoon I did divisions with Elder Valdivia, the Elder that was in the Salt Lake City West mission before.  So we went to mutual and played volleyball with the young women and met one of the friends that they had brought.

On Wednesday I went with Elder Miranda to his area and we walked the most that I have walked in a long freaking time.

On Thursday, it was a long day.  So we do weekly planning in the morning and then we go to make sure everything is alright with the baptismal font.  So we start cleaning and it is super dirty because the windows were left open so there was a bunch of dirt.  So I end up in the font with water up to my shins cleaning the font.  It was pretty fun actually but it took a long time.

On Friday we had the baptism of Diana and everything was going according to plan.  The baptism was going to start at 8:00 but Diana and her husband ended up coming at 8:50 so we did the baptism super fast.  It was actually very spiritual and a ton of members came to support .  It was awesome.  

Sunday was awesome.  Diana was confirmed and now her husband Erico is a little bit more motivated to keep investigating the church.  On top of that it was the primary program in the ward and the kids were awesome.  Also Diana and Erico have 7 year old twins so they were able to participate.  So that made them and us happy.  It was a very good week.  I got sunburnt because it started to get hot this week and elder Chajchalac keeps calling me a red neck every 5 seconds.  But anyways tonight there are transfers so we will see what happens...

Week 63 - Pacheco

This week went well. On Tuesday we had interviews with President Zuniga.  We are also finally going to have a baptism this week.  On Friday, one of our investigators Diana is gonna get baptized.

She's really awesome and super excited.  She's 27 and lives with her husband and two twin daughters who are seven years old.  We found her because she was an old investigator like two years ago and was just super humble and ready to accept the gospel this time that we came.  It was kind of funny because she lives in the Villa which is like the poorest part.  We had a lesson with her at 8:00 pm on Saturday and the Villas at that time on weekends are usually a little crazy.

So in this Villa there is a huge volleyball court and there was a ton of drunk people playing and then they saw me and went crazy and invited me to play.  So I played for a little bit and it was fun.  But anyways everything is going well.  The members are treating us very well.  They Bishop had us over for lunch on his birthday and we had a ton of food.

Bishop Jaramillos' Birthday Party

Cooking Asado on P-day

Week 62 - Pacheco

This week went well.  On Wednesday we had a zone conference with Elder Villar from the 70 and it was really good.  He talked a lot about his mission and how being obedient helped him.

On Friday we had a leadership meeting also with Elder Villar and it was interesting to see the vision he has for the mission.  In our area we have been seeing a lot of cool things happen.  We started teaching a family of a mom and two daughters that had listened to the missionaries and gone to church about 2 years back.  That was when the mom and dad were together but when we talked to the women, Diana, they were separated for 4 months.

On Sunday morning they show up to church  Diana and her 2 daughters with the husband.  Apparently he had come home on Saturday night and they had reconciled and want to do things right.  Now they want to get baptized so they can get sealed in the temple.

Also on Saturday night it was about 8:15 and our appointment had just canceled on us so we were like, let's go visit this old investigator.  So we went and his name is Juan and he went to church the next day and he wants to get baptized now.  So those were two miracles that happened this week.

Elder Willie and Tanner

Week 61 - Pacheco

This week went well we did divisions twice, and I went to different areas both times. This week we are trying to find a ton of new people, all the people we talk to tell us, "Hey come over whenever you want, its okay" and then we go and we never find them , but anyway we are working hard with the ward members and we did a huge family home evening last night and it went super well.

This week Elder Villar from the Presidency of the Area is coming so we are going to have a Zone Conference with him again.

I got to go with Elder Telis on Friday, my trainer, and that was fun . Anyway, I don't have much to say, same ol, same ol basically. :)

Tanner down by a river in his area

Tanner and Elder Tellis, his trainer

Luisa

"Chiky" cookies, a Costa Rican brand, all the way from Guatemala for Elder Chajchalac

Chiky" cookies, a Costa Rican brand, all the way from Guatemala for Elder Chajchalac

Leadership Conference