Ant Invasion

Hey, this is one of the pictures from our ant invasion! They are EVERYWHERE. We have had special people come to spray gases and kill them all. We had to clean forever, and finally they are gone. Well, at least we think so.

We have had another good and crazy week here in Fisherton, Rosario, Argentina. I´ve decided to share a bullet-list, just because I have tons of small facts to share. I hope you enjoy it and get a small glimpse into our life here as missionaries. :)

-Elder Hull and I put together a church activity this past week. About 12 investigators came, we watched a church movie, and everyone ate tacos afterwards. Great day :). Our Ward Mission Leader came and helped us out with everything. His name is Yamil (Sh--ahh--mill), and he is pretty legit. We have a meeting weekly with him. About 20 years old, he is strongly considering a mission and plans to send his papers off soon.

-Yes, I cooked the tacos. I don´t know that much about cooking and don´t really want to become a chef or anything. However, many members have taught me how to cook a lot of the Argentine food here. I hope you´re hungry when I come home! haha. Elder Camacho and I have made tacos together over 15 times since our arrival last March.

-The new librarian came to the offices. Elder Camacho, one of my good friends in the mission, has trained him for the last week or so. Due to the complicated job and all of the contracts for apartments, Elder Camacho will have to train the new librarian for about another three to four weeks. Elder Paez (Pah--ice) will serve for the next five to seven months here in the mission home. Wahoo!

-Remember, the librarian manages more than 100 apartments and all of the supply flow throughout the mission, including everything from the standard copies of scriptures to new member pacakges. Yep, he is usually pretty busy, you know, just like me :).

-I will probably leave after this transfer, which ends in four weeks. I have been here since the beginning of March. Pretty crazy stuff! I really have enjoyed working here, so no complaints. Plus we have a really great ward in this area.

-The Buenos Aires temple was rededicated this past week. On Sunday, we were able to watch the broadcast as our worship service. Elder Christofferson speaks perfect Spanish. This was super cool!!! President Eyring and Elder Ballard also attended the service. President Giuliani sat in the same room as President Eyring and the other general authorities! We saw him on camera two times :)

-On Saturday night, Elder Hull and I gathered together some less active members together, and we all headed down to the stake center. They had a cultural celebration for the new temple. Some general authorities spoke, and then some special Argentine rituals and dances were performed. One word can describe the performance: incredible.

-We have people from all over the world here in the offices right now.
Elder Jones --> Texas
Elder Hull --> Utah
Elder Fernandez --> Chile
Elder Camacho --> Mexico
Elder Bruin --> Utah
Elder Hepworth --> Wyoming
Elder Paez --> Buenos Aires
So yeah, we have a bit of everything! Sometimes the cultures clash, which can be pretty funny sometimes!

-I´ve practiced my soccer skills lately. I might record a video just for fun!

-A missionary recently returned home (in Argentina) from him mission in Chile. He has been here in his home for two weeks now. He kissed his girlfriend on the lips in front of us and said, "You will be rewarded with something beautiful after the mission." It was really funny. His girlfriend didn´t expect it, either.

-We celebrated a birthday with some members this past week. They made a large amount of food and the most delicious cake ever, which was covered in special chocolate icing. Plus, it felt as if we were all one big family, which felt really nice for me. I miss you guys. I miss my FHE group from the Y too.

-One of our contacts this past week surprised us. Her name is Ana, and she lived in England a couple years ago, where she learned English perfectly. So as you can imagine, we had a nice flow of accents in that house. She spoke English with a British accent, whereas we spoke Spanish with an American accent! Also, her parents don´t know English, which complicated things a bit. We ended up speaking both languages the majority of the time.

-There is a mosquito plague in Rosario right now. The pest control has sprayed various types of gas and chemicals, but we get eaten alive everytime we go outside.

-On average, Elder Hull and I walk around seven miles a day. My feet get pretty sore sometimes, and we always express our gratitude when we enter into a house of a kind family.

-Right now, we have quite a large group of people listening to us, but many of them have extremely hard and hectic lives. Little by little, we help them learn and study the basic principles of the church. On Sundays, we usually have at least one person come to learn a bit more of our beliefs.
Elder Artunduaga, the missionary from Colombia who lived with me for more than six months of my mission, has now been home for two full weeks. He sent an email, and we all saw a few pictures of him. Wow, crazy!

-I finally sent a bunch of letters off in the mail. Hopefully they will arrive in a week or so!
We plan to play tennis today on the clay court close to the mission home. If everything goes as planned, we should have a blast! Nobody plays as well as Elder Benson, but I will still enjoy it :)

I really appreciate all of the moral support and helpful words from everyone. You are all in my prayers, as well, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Jones