It has been a whole flippin transfer. I can hardly believe it. Like it´s soooo crazy to think it´s gone by that fast. I´ve been in Argentina two weeks less than I was in the MTC, but it seems likes it´s only been a couple of weeks.
This week was interesting, it was the biggest week for the cosecha, the harvest, so everyone was busy. Everyone. Our investigators, the members, everyone was working. So it wasn´t as successful as we were hoping but it was still good. On Friday and Saturday there was a big festival celebrating the Plum haha. We went on Saturday for like half an hour and just looked around, it was kinda like a way smaller version of the state fair. There were a couple little rides for kids, and a lot of booths where people were selling watches, hats, gancho stuff (that´s like the Argentine Cowboy), soccer jerseys, and just all kinds of stuff. Then they had a live band and chorizo which is like the Argentine version of the hotdog. Anyways, turn out to church the next day was super lousy because everyone was at this festival until like 4 or 5 in the morning. We had a member who was selling clothes there who didn´t come, and all of investigators were there late sooooo in the morning there were 5 people that went in the traffic with us to Oeste. haha. I think the Oeste meeting was small too, they said it´s usually way more full but still, there were more people there then we usually have in Bowen and we had three hours of church which was kinda new for me. It was the first time in three months that I´d been to a regular 3 hour church meeting with families. Anyways, I´ll try to go through our investigators like you asked.
Pedro y Lucas: The hardest thing for them is just finding time to teach them, they go swimming and study a lot and now that school has started I´m sure they´re going to be studying a lot more. Pedro is the one that went to church by himself that one week, and his older brother is named Lucas. They are like 14 and 16 I think. They´re way outgoing and whenever we see them, if they see one of their friends, they don´t hesitate to call them over and have them talk to us. We really need some youth in Bowen (among lots of other things like Priesthood) so it would be way cool to get them but we just gotta find time when we can consistently teach them.
Omar: Omar is the one who was really sad his family left him and had a big smoking problem. He´s been to church twice but couldn´t go this week because he stayed up way late at the festival. The good news is his family and wife came back so he´s a lot happier and is excited that we can teach them now. I think the big thing this week will be talking about smoking, because both him and his wife smoke a lot. He has a lot of desire to change and become a better person though so that´s way good to work with.
Jonathan: This one is kind of a cool story. He´s about 17 and we opened the mouth with him one night like 3 or 4 weeks ago and he was way good. I thought he was just kinda going to blow us off but he ended up stopping and talking to us for like 10 mintues about questions he had about the Book of Mormon and what we believed and stuff like that. We gave him a pamphlet that describes the Restoration and asked him to read about it and then pray. We tried to set up a time when we could stop by and talk to him but he said that his dad wouldn´t like it. He knew a member so we were thinking we could maybe have lessons with the member but never really set up anything solid. Anyways, we were knocking doors on Saturday I think and we got into this one house and started talking to and teaching this guy and then Jonathan walked out! Turns out we had knocked his dad´s house. Well the good news is his dad is actually really nice and didn´t have a probably talking to us. They have doubts about the Book of Mormon and the dad doesn´t really understand the importance of being associated with Christ´s church, he just kept saying that all he needed to do was believe in God and didn´t really understand that if the Book of Mormon is true, it means he needs to be baptized into the church. But it was good that we found out their doubts and can now start teaching to them, that´s what´s so good about asking people to be baptized on the first lesson, even though it sounds kinda crazy, it helps a lot. Jonathan is going to read the Book of Mormon and just put it to the test and pray afterwards, and you can´t go wrong with the Book of Mormon so I´m really excited to see what´s going to happen. He is way solid though.
If I had more time I would go through more but we´ll see what happens after this week and I can give you all more info on all of our investigators. We have so many it´s hard to know who is going to progress and who isn´t.
Last week we realized that we needed to work a lot more with the families in Bowen, in a couple different aspects. There are only two families who both the mom and dad are members, and both of those families have inactive sons, so we don´t really even have a complete family in the branch. Since the missionaries have only been here a year, practically everyone can be considered a new convert, because they haven´t been growing up or living the gospel their whole lives. To help the families out we´re trying to shift some of the teaching responsibilities to the parents, instead of having us doing FHE in the church, we´re going to train all the parents so they can have their own FHE in their own home. We printed off some suggestions that we got from lds.org and then a story about how FHE helped a family and a calender where they could mark if they did FHE on Monday, if they did family scriptures and prayers on the other days of the week, and finally if they went to church on Sunday. We´ll see how it goes, hopefully it´ll start strengthening the families and family relationships though, because they are the most basic structure of the church, and if Bowen is going to survive it´s going to need some strong families. Next, we want to start teaching the three husbands (for lack of a better word because only one is actually married) of the Bolivian sisters who are active. One of them is Angel who got in a pretty bad car accident a while ago and now is looking really open to the missionaries. Another one is Cristian who is actually with one of the daughters of the Bolivian family who really has a desire to change and improve his family. And lastly there is the one husband who is married but is more apathetic to the church. It´s hard because he would be the easiest one to baptize because he´s actually married and the others aren't...and he´s the one who doesn´t seem to have as much of a desire to change or improve his life. Hopefully once the families start doing FHE the husbands will feel more of a desire to join the church, and hopefully the sons who are inactive will start becoming interested as well. It´ll also just help the children who are semi-active but aren´t really strong, because there´s a lot here that are like that too. Anyways, there´s a lot of work to be done haha.
They annouced transfers today and I´m staying with Elder Robinson so I´m pretty excited about that. I just need to work on speaking more spanish with him because I feel like I´m not doing enough in that aspect to improve my language. This week was pretty cool though because there were a couple days where I just stopped worrying so much about whether I said something wrong or not and just tried to talk. I asked a couple different questions to people that I wouldn´t have normally asked and talked to this little kid for a while which was pretty cool. I´m excited to be with Elder Robinson though, he is a really good teacher and we get along well. He´s funny and easy to joke around with so life isn´t boring and we keep things excited. He´s a hard worker and we had pretty good numbers this transfer so hopefully we can keep it up. So far we´ve taught 101 people some principle of the gospel. Kinda cool huh? Oh, also, on the topic of transfers Elder Summers who was in my MTC district is going to be in Oeste next transfer! Haha how crazy is that? It means I´ll see him every P-day when we do stuff with our zone (our zone has 12 Elders, and our District has 6) and then whenever Oeste and Bowen have activities together.
On a side note, Bowen has some kind of fruit canning factory or something so there´s a couple neighborhoods we walk through every day that smell like when mom is canning peaches. Haha, it´s kinda weird. Our schedule is never very set because no one else really has a very set schedule. We´ll schedule to come back to a house at another time and 90 percent of the time they won´t be there. Probably because they knew they were going to be gone and didn´t want to listen to us haha. We have a couple investigators that we go by at the same time every day but other than that we just kinda go by investigators whenever we think they might be home. We very rarely go tracking door to door, maybe maybe once a week, if even that. It depends on if we need new investigators or if we don´t have anyone else to teach but usually we stay busy teaching. We have Companionship and Personal study in the morning, and are out the door by 10:30. Then we work until lunch which is at 1. Then we go back to the Pench and have language study until like 4 because during the sista everyone is asleep haha. Then we´re out and working until like 9:30 at night. Right now we´re supposed to be in bed by 11 and up by 7 but it changes in the winter to the usual 10:30 and 6:30. Hopefully that answered most of your questions...I think I covered all of them.
Have a fan-flipin-tastic week.
Love, Elder Lounsbury
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Dog Week
This week was Dog Week, it´s kinda like Shark Week but with dogs and in Argentina. I have two stories but first you need some background information. There are dogs everywhere. I´d say about 90 percent of the population where I´m at right now has at least one dog. There are also random dogs that just kinda roam the street, they just chill downtown, take a nap on the road, sleep by a store, they just kinda do whatever they want. But all of the dogs that I´ve been around are all bark and no bite. I´ve even seen two watch us coming, climb back under or through their fence, and then bark all tough at us, like if the fence wasn´t there they´d have at it. Bunch of wimps. They´re pretty funny.
Now for the stories. We walked kinda out into the campo (the outskirts of town) to try and find some nuevos and we clapped at this one house at the end of the road.We usually clap when there is a closed gate but in this case the gate was open but we clapped anyways because their house was kinda a ways away and I don´t know, it´s kinda like asking permision to keep going. Anyways, we clap and these 4 or 5 giant dogs just come running straight at us like the dogs off of I Am Legend. I about pooped my pants. My life flashed before my eyes. But then it was just kinda anticlamatic and the dogs got a couple feet away, stopped, and kept barking. Haha. The second story is that I saw the biggest dog in the world. Holy Cow. This kid was just walking it on a leash in the street and it looked like a baby pony or something. Like the kid was probably Caleb´s height it and it was up to his elbow. I think he was the dog off of The Sandlot.
Welp, besides that things are going really well. We started teaching a way legit family named Gatica and they´re looking like they´re going to progress really fast. They´ve already been to church and they know a memeber and even though some of the daughters were uptight at first by the end they were like joking with us and it was way cool. They were out of town on Sunday so they couldn´t go to church but they should go next week.
Also, I don´t know if I ever told you about this one lady we´re teaching but if she keeps progressing it would like be the coolest thing ever. Her name is Gladis and we opened the mouth with her one day and she didn´t want anything to do with us, her 18 year old daughter had died a couple months ago and she was just really mad at God. We didn´t give up and had to ask like 4 or 5 times but she finally gave us her address. We taught her a couple times and left one of these little pamphlets we have that explained the Plan of Salvation and when we went back on Saturday she said that her duaghter had read it to her and that she felt ¨tranquilidad¨ or like a calmness I guess. It was cool, afterwords they had some really good questions which means they´re actually thinking about things and that they´re interested so we´re really excited.
We talked to Pedro and Lucas yesterday but they didn´t go to chuch because they were at a birthday party until pretty late. It´s hard to find time to teach them but they would be soooo solid. Whenever we´re with them they just invite their friends over and we talk with all of them too. They would be some really solid youth which is someone Bowen needs.
We´re still teaching Omar and he´s been a lot better. He made a list of all the things he wants to change like to stop smoking and clean up his language and he has a really good desire to change so he´s looking way promising as well. We´re teaching a ton and stay way busy passing by a bunch of different people so life is going pretty dang good.
So a couple more interesting things before I go. At the grocery store when you use a card they ask you if you want to pay in one payment. I think you can split your bill in up to 3 parts but I´m not really sure when they end up taking the others off your card. Also, at the store a USB thing was listed as 2.89 x 17. Haha. So like unless you have a calculator or are really good at math you never really know exactly how much some things cost. Also, no one can really say my name. Usually they can get as fas as ¨Louns¨ but that´s about it. haha. So...thanks Dad.
Welp I hope all of you are doing just splendid. Thanks for the love and support!
Love, Elder Lounsbury
Now for the stories. We walked kinda out into the campo (the outskirts of town) to try and find some nuevos and we clapped at this one house at the end of the road.We usually clap when there is a closed gate but in this case the gate was open but we clapped anyways because their house was kinda a ways away and I don´t know, it´s kinda like asking permision to keep going. Anyways, we clap and these 4 or 5 giant dogs just come running straight at us like the dogs off of I Am Legend. I about pooped my pants. My life flashed before my eyes. But then it was just kinda anticlamatic and the dogs got a couple feet away, stopped, and kept barking. Haha. The second story is that I saw the biggest dog in the world. Holy Cow. This kid was just walking it on a leash in the street and it looked like a baby pony or something. Like the kid was probably Caleb´s height it and it was up to his elbow. I think he was the dog off of The Sandlot.
Welp, besides that things are going really well. We started teaching a way legit family named Gatica and they´re looking like they´re going to progress really fast. They´ve already been to church and they know a memeber and even though some of the daughters were uptight at first by the end they were like joking with us and it was way cool. They were out of town on Sunday so they couldn´t go to church but they should go next week.
Also, I don´t know if I ever told you about this one lady we´re teaching but if she keeps progressing it would like be the coolest thing ever. Her name is Gladis and we opened the mouth with her one day and she didn´t want anything to do with us, her 18 year old daughter had died a couple months ago and she was just really mad at God. We didn´t give up and had to ask like 4 or 5 times but she finally gave us her address. We taught her a couple times and left one of these little pamphlets we have that explained the Plan of Salvation and when we went back on Saturday she said that her duaghter had read it to her and that she felt ¨tranquilidad¨ or like a calmness I guess. It was cool, afterwords they had some really good questions which means they´re actually thinking about things and that they´re interested so we´re really excited.
We talked to Pedro and Lucas yesterday but they didn´t go to chuch because they were at a birthday party until pretty late. It´s hard to find time to teach them but they would be soooo solid. Whenever we´re with them they just invite their friends over and we talk with all of them too. They would be some really solid youth which is someone Bowen needs.
We´re still teaching Omar and he´s been a lot better. He made a list of all the things he wants to change like to stop smoking and clean up his language and he has a really good desire to change so he´s looking way promising as well. We´re teaching a ton and stay way busy passing by a bunch of different people so life is going pretty dang good.
So a couple more interesting things before I go. At the grocery store when you use a card they ask you if you want to pay in one payment. I think you can split your bill in up to 3 parts but I´m not really sure when they end up taking the others off your card. Also, at the store a USB thing was listed as 2.89 x 17. Haha. So like unless you have a calculator or are really good at math you never really know exactly how much some things cost. Also, no one can really say my name. Usually they can get as fas as ¨Louns¨ but that´s about it. haha. So...thanks Dad.
Welp I hope all of you are doing just splendid. Thanks for the love and support!
Love, Elder Lounsbury
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Gettin' a tan in February
How is rainy Oregon doing for you all? I hope I don´t make you all too jealous because I´m getting a real nice tan down here. Also, I have a nice collar tan...so half of my neck is white haha. This week was pretty good, it´s insane to think that this week I will celebrate 1 month in Argentina and 3 months on my mission! Time flies.
First off, today was the bomb. We had pancakes at the church this morning as a zone and I had some with Dulce de Leche (that caramel like stuff) which was soooo good in my mouth. Then we played soccer which was fun as always and went shopping to get stuff for lunch. We made some nice juicy good ol´ American burgers with Chedder Cheese, Guacamole, and even a fried egg on it. It was heaven. Also, speaking of food, the Oreos down here are insaneeeeee. At our store in Bowen they don´t even have normal ones, the have duo Oreos with TWO flavors. I know right? One was like banana and dulce de leche which I need to try and I can´t remember what the other one was but i´m pretty sure it was way good too. Also, they have triple chocolate ones with 3 things of cookie and two layers of chocolate frosting. They are to die for. Anwyays, that was probably the best part of my week haha.
This week our Noche de Logar and English classes were way better. Noche de Logar was so funny, we started out doing an exersize where everyone has to stand on a blanket and then you have to flip the blanket over without anyone touching the floor. Except Elder Robinson and I didn´t actually know what the trick is to do it ahaha. So that was funny. Then these two girls had a couple games that we played as well and they were so much fun. The first one was you get a plastic cup and two people race to drink it without using their hands. So if you try to go too fast you end up getting water all down your neck haha. But the next one was even better. It was a race with a cup of water again but this time you had to hold the cup up over your head with your arm straight and try to pour it into your mouth. It´s way to hard to guess where the heck the water is going to go so people were basically just pouring water on themselves trying to aim it in their mouth. I was laughing so hard. Water was spilt and fun was had. We actually had people show up to english class which was good but it was kinda crazy because these one or two kids are really loud. All we did was teach them the alphabet but it was kinda frustrating because it was so hectic and crazy. But hopefully next week will we better.
Also, we got 4 people to church on Sunday!! It was somewhat unexpected but way cool. A memeber brought a friend that we´re going to start teaching this week, and another one is living with a member but needs to get married and quit smoking and drinking before he can be baptized (it´s way hard to get married here by the way, I don´t really know why but it takes up to like a year. And if the people need a divorce it´s even longer so that´s frustrating when you have someone that wants to get baptized. So many people just aren´t married because it´s such a hastle). Anways, the other one was this guy we are teaching who is really sad because his wife and kids left him and the last one is this stud named Pedro who is 13 and came all by himself. We´ve been teaching him and his brother and their both way smart and get everything we teach and even said they felt something when they prayed about Joseph Smith which I think is the first time I´ve had an investigator here follow up on that commitment so was legit. We have a lot of potential again so hopefully we can work with that.
Well family, I´m glad all of you are doing well, thanks again for the emails and love.
Love, Elder Lounsbury
First off, today was the bomb. We had pancakes at the church this morning as a zone and I had some with Dulce de Leche (that caramel like stuff) which was soooo good in my mouth. Then we played soccer which was fun as always and went shopping to get stuff for lunch. We made some nice juicy good ol´ American burgers with Chedder Cheese, Guacamole, and even a fried egg on it. It was heaven. Also, speaking of food, the Oreos down here are insaneeeeee. At our store in Bowen they don´t even have normal ones, the have duo Oreos with TWO flavors. I know right? One was like banana and dulce de leche which I need to try and I can´t remember what the other one was but i´m pretty sure it was way good too. Also, they have triple chocolate ones with 3 things of cookie and two layers of chocolate frosting. They are to die for. Anwyays, that was probably the best part of my week haha.
This week our Noche de Logar and English classes were way better. Noche de Logar was so funny, we started out doing an exersize where everyone has to stand on a blanket and then you have to flip the blanket over without anyone touching the floor. Except Elder Robinson and I didn´t actually know what the trick is to do it ahaha. So that was funny. Then these two girls had a couple games that we played as well and they were so much fun. The first one was you get a plastic cup and two people race to drink it without using their hands. So if you try to go too fast you end up getting water all down your neck haha. But the next one was even better. It was a race with a cup of water again but this time you had to hold the cup up over your head with your arm straight and try to pour it into your mouth. It´s way to hard to guess where the heck the water is going to go so people were basically just pouring water on themselves trying to aim it in their mouth. I was laughing so hard. Water was spilt and fun was had. We actually had people show up to english class which was good but it was kinda crazy because these one or two kids are really loud. All we did was teach them the alphabet but it was kinda frustrating because it was so hectic and crazy. But hopefully next week will we better.
Also, we got 4 people to church on Sunday!! It was somewhat unexpected but way cool. A memeber brought a friend that we´re going to start teaching this week, and another one is living with a member but needs to get married and quit smoking and drinking before he can be baptized (it´s way hard to get married here by the way, I don´t really know why but it takes up to like a year. And if the people need a divorce it´s even longer so that´s frustrating when you have someone that wants to get baptized. So many people just aren´t married because it´s such a hastle). Anways, the other one was this guy we are teaching who is really sad because his wife and kids left him and the last one is this stud named Pedro who is 13 and came all by himself. We´ve been teaching him and his brother and their both way smart and get everything we teach and even said they felt something when they prayed about Joseph Smith which I think is the first time I´ve had an investigator here follow up on that commitment so was legit. We have a lot of potential again so hopefully we can work with that.
Well family, I´m glad all of you are doing well, thanks again for the emails and love.
Love, Elder Lounsbury
Monday, February 7, 2011
I flippin love this place
Like seriously, this place has so much character. I think I want to
live here for two years..oh yeah, I am! This week was pretty good, we
found a ton of people and our numbers were way high but after 3 solid
commitments from investigadors, none of them came to church. So that´s
basically all we´re going to work on this week. It´s hard because in
Bowen the people are almost too nice, they´ll let you in and listen to
you but sometimes just because they don´t want to say no. Or like on
the streets they´ll act interested and then just lie about their
address. But when we do open the mouths in bigger cities a lot of
people will just ignore you or say they´re not interested. For some
reason getting shot down in Spanish doesn´t bother me very much haha.
To answer your question I haven´t gone to the big branch yet, I think
we´re going to go next week, but I do think they have ¨normal¨
services with 3 hours and different classes etc. The water where I am
right now is okay to drink, it tastes a little weird but so does Utah
water haha. Tang is huge down here, I´ve started putting like just
half a packet in an old soda bottle to take away the taste, it kinda
ends up being like propel haha. Lunches with memebers are the same
every week. So like every Tuesday we´ll have it with one family and
every Wednesday we´ll have it with a different one etc. I just have
cereal in the morning and some kind of crackers or bread with jam for
dinner. We don´t really have a big dinner at all like in the states.
A couple way cool things happened this week. I had my first banana
split ever. It was so good. Like so good, we might go to the same
place today. But really, words can not even describe how beautiful it
tasted in my mouth. Also, there was one lunch appointment where I
understood like most of what was going on. It was a cool contrast
because it was the same family that I had my first lunch with in
Argentina 3 weeks ago so it was cool to be able to gauge the
difference. Being able to understand what´s going on helps me be
myself because for the past couple weeks I´ve just been really quiet
because I won´t know exactly what´s going on haha.
We started a Noche de Logar and English classes this week. Noche de
Logar is Family night but for the ward, so it´s kind of like mutual. Our
first attempt was soooo hectic. Like holy cow. Haha it reminded me of
home or some kind of family reunion because there were a ton of loud
kids. It was probably more hectic because I had no idea what they were
saying haha. Anyways, hopefully that will be better in the future but
we´re trying to think of ways to get the ward together and create
opportunities where investigators can make friends with the members.
English class was a fail because this furnititure store opened up
across the street and was like thowing a party for their opening haha.
It was strange. I swear like half the town was there. They had this
band play and were giving away matresses and tvs and stuff so I think
everyone who was going to go forgot and watched the party haha. Oh
well.
ALSO, holy cow, this country is so cool. in 2010 they made 5 special
pesos to celebrate their 200th year anniversary and the pesos just
have like engravings of famous places in the country. Anyways, one of
them has A WALRUS on it, not even joking. It is the coolest coin I
have ever seen in my life, I got one this morning and it made my life
complete. I´m not really sure what place it´s depicting haha but I´m
guessing it´s somewhere way south where they have penguins and
walruses apparently.
Welp family, thanks again for the love and support
Love, Elder Lounsbury
P.S. Happy belated birthdays to Dad and Isaac!!
P.S.S. If you have any really good FHE ideas send them to me and we
can try doing it with the ward. K I think that´s all, PEACE
found a ton of people and our numbers were way high but after 3 solid
commitments from investigadors, none of them came to church. So that´s
basically all we´re going to work on this week. It´s hard because in
Bowen the people are almost too nice, they´ll let you in and listen to
you but sometimes just because they don´t want to say no. Or like on
the streets they´ll act interested and then just lie about their
address. But when we do open the mouths in bigger cities a lot of
people will just ignore you or say they´re not interested. For some
reason getting shot down in Spanish doesn´t bother me very much haha.
To answer your question I haven´t gone to the big branch yet, I think
we´re going to go next week, but I do think they have ¨normal¨
services with 3 hours and different classes etc. The water where I am
right now is okay to drink, it tastes a little weird but so does Utah
water haha. Tang is huge down here, I´ve started putting like just
half a packet in an old soda bottle to take away the taste, it kinda
ends up being like propel haha. Lunches with memebers are the same
every week. So like every Tuesday we´ll have it with one family and
every Wednesday we´ll have it with a different one etc. I just have
cereal in the morning and some kind of crackers or bread with jam for
dinner. We don´t really have a big dinner at all like in the states.
A couple way cool things happened this week. I had my first banana
split ever. It was so good. Like so good, we might go to the same
place today. But really, words can not even describe how beautiful it
tasted in my mouth. Also, there was one lunch appointment where I
understood like most of what was going on. It was a cool contrast
because it was the same family that I had my first lunch with in
Argentina 3 weeks ago so it was cool to be able to gauge the
difference. Being able to understand what´s going on helps me be
myself because for the past couple weeks I´ve just been really quiet
because I won´t know exactly what´s going on haha.
We started a Noche de Logar and English classes this week. Noche de
Logar is Family night but for the ward, so it´s kind of like mutual. Our
first attempt was soooo hectic. Like holy cow. Haha it reminded me of
home or some kind of family reunion because there were a ton of loud
kids. It was probably more hectic because I had no idea what they were
saying haha. Anyways, hopefully that will be better in the future but
we´re trying to think of ways to get the ward together and create
opportunities where investigators can make friends with the members.
English class was a fail because this furnititure store opened up
across the street and was like thowing a party for their opening haha.
It was strange. I swear like half the town was there. They had this
band play and were giving away matresses and tvs and stuff so I think
everyone who was going to go forgot and watched the party haha. Oh
well.
ALSO, holy cow, this country is so cool. in 2010 they made 5 special
pesos to celebrate their 200th year anniversary and the pesos just
have like engravings of famous places in the country. Anyways, one of
them has A WALRUS on it, not even joking. It is the coolest coin I
have ever seen in my life, I got one this morning and it made my life
complete. I´m not really sure what place it´s depicting haha but I´m
guessing it´s somewhere way south where they have penguins and
walruses apparently.
Welp family, thanks again for the love and support
Love, Elder Lounsbury
P.S. Happy belated birthdays to Dad and Isaac!!
P.S.S. If you have any really good FHE ideas send them to me and we
can try doing it with the ward. K I think that´s all, PEACE
Monday, January 31, 2011
A week already!
updates, as always I love them.
Okay, so I gotta answer some of your questions before I forget. For
laundry we just take it to a member´s house who has a washer and then
I think they just hang them out to dry. The only down side is
sometimes they take a while...like I still don´t have my clothes from
last week back so I´ve been wearing the same white shirt all
week. It´s so gross haha. Next time I´ll split it up and give her like
half. What else.. Yeah we don´t ride any bikes here, but everyone else
does. Almost everyone just rides their bike to town and a majority of
people have motorcycles and then a couple have cars. Usually if
you want to travel to another town you take take a bus. That´s what we
do on P-day or for Zone Conference.
Speaking of Zone Conference, we had one on Friday and it was the bomb.
We kinda had to wake up really early to get there but it was worth it.
They had all the missionaries who hadn´t been to a zone conference
before get up and introduce themselves and then Sister Lindahl gave a
super awesome talk about not looking back. She started it out with
that New Year´s Mormon Message I told you guys about a while ago and
then shared some cool scriptures and stories. Then we broke off and
the Assistants taught us a lesson about how to help reactivate
inactive members and finally President gave this awesome lesson about
being in ¨holes¨ and how even though they´re incredibly hard they
shape us the most and if we work hard we can see miracles. Both
President and Sister Lindahl are cool.
This week I also had my first baptism! Her name is Agraciela and she´s
8 haha. Her sisters have been baptized but her parents haven´t. It was
a small service with not a lot of people which was good for me because
I had to give a talk. My pronounciation is very gringo but I wrote it
out to make sure I got all of my conjugations right. One guy
complemented me and when I asked him if he could understand he said
yes so I guess that´s good haha.
Also....on Sunday I had cow intestine and heart!!! haha. I was so
excited, Elder Robinson hadn´t ever had it before and he only has like
4 more months and I get it in my second week. The intestine was super
rubbery. Like you couldn´t really even chew it like you would normal
food, you just kinda had to swallow rather large chunks. Plus it
hardly had any flavor at all. I wasn´t a huge fan but it wasn´t bad.
The heart was actually kinda good, the inside was way better than the
outside though. We also had lamb which was superrrrr good. Anyways,
that´s one adventure for this week.
On Thursday we went on Divisions so the District leader could come
down and interview Agraciela for her baptism, so I went to Oeste and
worked with the District Leader´s companion. We finished our open the
mouths (we have to talk to 10 people on the street every day) and were
going to do a FHE with a family but forgot the keys to the pension
with the District leader so we couldn´t get any of the stuff that we
needed. We saw a member, recent convert, and his friend on the street
and they invited us to play soccer, and it was incredible. First of
all, I didn´t have anything but shorts to spend the night so I looked
like biggest goof ever. We had to run like a mile to the chancha
(court) we were going to play in and I was flippin running in my dress
shoes and socks, my orange shorts, and a green tight underarmor shirt
I borrowed from a member. hahah. The court was legit, it was basically
all dirt in the middle and a bit of grass on the outsides. The whole
thing was surrounded by a fence and then on top of the fence was a net
probably like 20 feet high. So I started playing as it was getting
dark, in my dress shoes and socks, and completely clashing outfit of
green and orange against these young teenage boys. I´m just going to
brag for a little bit and say that I started out the game by
nutmegging this guy, and passing the ball for an assist. After that
they killed us haha. It starting raining like sooooo hard and there
was thunder and lightning and I was in the middle of nowhere Argentina
playing soccer in the mud. I felt so legit.
Also, this week at lunch I heard the Phineas and Ferb theme song come
on and I about flipped out. Sure enough they have Phineas and Ferb
here...so weird. It shattered my entire universe. It was an episode I
haven´t seen before either which is hard to belive haha. Another funny
story is that this week we opened the mouth with this guy who was
wearing like these boxer shorts and had white socks with green
elephants on them. I think madeline would be incredible jealous. He
also said I had weird eyes haha.
One last thing, the stars out here are super crazy. They are so
flippin bright because we´re just surrounded by farm land. Also,
everything is backwards, like if you look at the stars at night with a
mirror that´s how I see them. Not really, but I bet some of you might
have believed that. haha. We can see O´ryans belt super good, and I
can´t see the North Star. Crazy right?
Well, hopefully I covered all of your questions, sorry if I left stuff
out. I love you all and hope you are all doing spendidly!
Love, Elder Lounsbury
Monday, January 24, 2011
This country is real!!!
Holy cow, so much to say, I don´t even know where to start. First of
all, this keyboard is a little different and kind of throwing me off
but that´s off subject. To make this a little more interesting I´m
going to start off with some True or False questions and you can see
how much you get right. The winner gets a pat on the back or
something.
1. I saw Messi in Buenos Aires on my first day here.
2. I am the first missionary in my area.
3. I live in the chapel.
4. My companion only speaks Spanish.
5. I shower out of a bucket.
6. I´ve heard both Shakira, Fergie and Lady Gaga here.
7. I´ve got bitten by a dog already.
8. I make up 1/4 of the Priesthood holders in my branch.
9. I already have a baptism.
10. I have seen clips of the shows Zac and Cody and the Goofy Movie.
Alright, I think that´s all for now. I´ll answer the questions
throughout the email and then all again at the end.
Okay, well I guess I´ll just start from the beggining. Flying over
Argentina was wayyyyy too legit to quit. Right as we hit the border
the sun began to come up to the right of us and to the left of us
there was a thunder storm. It was soooo legit. You could see these
giants plumes of clouds just light up, it was insane. It was love at
first sight. haha. Trying to get through customs and find our luggage
was a little confusing. It was kinda sketchy because the only
instructions we had were to find some random guy named Albierto that
was supposed to pick us up and give him a white envelope. haha. Weird
right? But we eventually made it through everything. They took us from
the international airport to another airport in Buenos Aires for
flights within Argentina. We didn´t get to Mendoza until like 7 or 8
because our first flight was delayed--it was this tiny airport with
only one luggage belt thing. Anyways, we met president and his wife
and assistants there and they took us to the mission home. We had some
dinner and talked for a bit and then slept in Mendoza in this pench
(apartment) with some other Elders.
The next day we met our trainers, went street contacting, had lunch
and then I had to take another 5 or 6 hour bus ride down to this tiny
town called Bowen. I have no idea if you can find that on a map
anywhere but that´s where I am. I live in the church which is really a
building that looks like a storage place from the outside. There´s a
decent amount of room when you walk in which is where we have church,
a tiny ¨kitchen¨ that is about 4 feet by 3 feet and then a tiny
bathroom all in the corner. The bathroom is about 5 feet by 5 feet and
has the toliet, sink, and ¨shower¨ without anything seperating them.
Technically I could take care of business on the can, wash my hair,
and shave at the same time. I have yet to try that though. Speaking of
showers, I shower out of a bucket. I guess it´s a little more than a
bucket...but not really. It´s attached to the wall and you fill it up
with water and then plug in this cord which heats up the water. When
it´s done you unplug everything and turn this tiny knob at the top
which opens up a stream. You basically have to shower in parts. Turn
the knob, wet yourself down, turn it off, soap up, turn it on, rinse
etc etc. Every once in a while you have to take this squeegy and
squeegy the water into the drain so it doesn´t run out under the door
and into the kitchen. So legit. We sleep upstairs where we have a
closet for our clothes, some shelves for our food and a fridge.
Okay, the ward. Well really it´s a branch. Actually it´s not even
that, it´s a branch of a branch. The real branch is in another town
but since most people just walk everywhere and only a few people have
cars they hold meetings for the people in our small town in our
building. Once or twice every month they drive a van down from where
the main branch is and pick everyone up. But on all the other sundays
it´s just us. The most people ever to have come is 25. We´re going to
try to break that record but the time transfers are over. On Sunday we
had 20. Missionaries have only been in our town for a year so it´s not
quite established yet. At all really. Most of the members are 3
Bolivan sisters and their families. For church we have sacrament (one
person passes) and then the main branch sends someone down to give a
lesson and then church is over. No talks, no classes, just one hour of
the sacrament and a lesson. It was crazy. The guy who blesses has been
a member for a while (and by a while I mean almost a year) and the guy
who passed the sacrament was just baptized a while ago. Other than
that Me and Elder Robinson are the only other Priesthood holders--and
the only Melcesidek holders.
Elder Robinson is way cool. As you can probably tell from his name, he
doesn´t only speak Spanish. He´s from Texas and we get along pretty
well. He only has like 4 more months so he´s almost out of here. He
says he can put in a good word and get me with an all Spanish speaker
next transfer. He says I´m ready but I definitely don´t feel like it.
The language is hard, I´m getting better though. I can generally tell
what people are speaking about but sometimes I´m completely lost and
usually I don´t know the details. It´s hard because I want to have
relationships with the members but I don´t know what´s being said and
I´m shy to start with so it´s hard. It´s annoying becuase like little
3 year olds will be trying to talk to you and they know way more than
me haha. But it´s coming...
The culture here is pretty different. The members are really nice and
so far the food has been good. A lot of meat and potatoes, but not
much flavoring. They drink a ton of soda (Coca-Cola, Sprite and that
Orange kind are the main ones) and I think I´m going to be addicted
when I leave. The watermelon here is amazing. They eat so much food
though. Like it´s ridiculous, I have no idea how the people aren´t
like so fat. It´s hard to eat as much as they do, especially when I
don´t want to offend the members. They just keep filling up your plate
of like 3 giant servings of whatever. It´s even harder because usually
I´m so thirsty so I drink a lot of soda and end up just being more
full. Like so big, I wish I could describe it better, but it´s like
Thanksgiving every lunch. Oh, yeah, we only eat lunch with members.
Part of the reason they eat so much is because they hardly have
anything for breakfast, they eat a ton for lunch, and then hardly
anything at dinner. The ice cream here is pretty good. It´s not a ton
different than the states but it´s a little lighter and they sell it
with like multiple flavors in the box.
What else. They live in pretty small houses and like the really really
well of people have sofas and couches and stuff. Everything is made
out of concrete. I think less than 10 roads in our city are paved and
the rest is just dirt. A truck comes around every day or so and sprays
water on them to keep the dust down. I´ve only seen air conditioning
in a house like once or twice--most people just have fans. The weather
here is kind of like an Oregon summer. It´s not like dying hot but I
think the last two days were 96 and 98 so it was pretty hot when
you´re walking around in slacks and a button up shirt. During siesta
most of the town sleeps. A couple people will be out and about doing
whatever but mostly everyone´s eating and sleeping. That´s when we
have lunch with the members and then go back to our pench and study.
The people like american music and shows, I´ve seen parts of Zac and
Cody and the Goofy Movie in members´ houses during lunch and at least
one family we met with was obsessed with Hannah Montana. I´ve also
heard Lady Gaga, Fergie, Shakira, and Train. The Black Eyed Peas are
playing right now in this internet cafe too....
I don´t know what else to say really, mail takes like two weeks to get
here but I only get it about once every six weeks because that´s when
the zone leaders travel to the mission home and get it. Sooo yeah...
Also, I´ve been told twice now that I look like Riley from National
Treasure. I think it´s the glasses because I´ve never been told that
before the MTC and now. What do you think? I don´t have time to send
pictures now (so sorry) but I´ll try to do it some other time. I think
the computers here should work so that´s good news.
Oh, real quick, soccer today was so legit. The church has this court
ouside and we played with the members of our zone and one guy they
invited off the street. He was pretty good but I stole the ball from
him a couple times and felt pretty legit. In the second game I had a
hat trick so that was way fun. I can´t way to do it somemore. There
are make shift soccer fields everywhere, but I hardly ever see people
playing on them. Probably because it´s so hot, but I´m hoping to get
some pictures and send them to you. It´s hard because we´re only
supposed to have our cameras with us on P-day but i´ll try to get some
and let you all see how Argentina looks like.
Well, I love you all, thanks for the the support and love, I think
about you every day and have your picture on the fridge. Stay sweet.
Love, Elder Lounsbury
1. False, I wish though.
2. False, almost though--missionaries have only been here for a year.
3. True. Except it´s not a real chapel, it´s just a random building.
We sleep upstairs
4. False. He´s from Texas.
5. True. Well, technically it´s more than just a bucket but still.
6. True. I´ve heard ¨Hey Soul Sister¨ by Train as well.
7. False, but super close, I had to block it with the bottom of my
foot. There´s dogs everywhere.
8. True. Crazy right?
9. False, but we have one for next week.
10. True. They also like Hannah Montana haha
all, this keyboard is a little different and kind of throwing me off
but that´s off subject. To make this a little more interesting I´m
going to start off with some True or False questions and you can see
how much you get right. The winner gets a pat on the back or
something.
1. I saw Messi in Buenos Aires on my first day here.
2. I am the first missionary in my area.
3. I live in the chapel.
4. My companion only speaks Spanish.
5. I shower out of a bucket.
6. I´ve heard both Shakira, Fergie and Lady Gaga here.
7. I´ve got bitten by a dog already.
8. I make up 1/4 of the Priesthood holders in my branch.
9. I already have a baptism.
10. I have seen clips of the shows Zac and Cody and the Goofy Movie.
Alright, I think that´s all for now. I´ll answer the questions
throughout the email and then all again at the end.
Okay, well I guess I´ll just start from the beggining. Flying over
Argentina was wayyyyy too legit to quit. Right as we hit the border
the sun began to come up to the right of us and to the left of us
there was a thunder storm. It was soooo legit. You could see these
giants plumes of clouds just light up, it was insane. It was love at
first sight. haha. Trying to get through customs and find our luggage
was a little confusing. It was kinda sketchy because the only
instructions we had were to find some random guy named Albierto that
was supposed to pick us up and give him a white envelope. haha. Weird
right? But we eventually made it through everything. They took us from
the international airport to another airport in Buenos Aires for
flights within Argentina. We didn´t get to Mendoza until like 7 or 8
because our first flight was delayed--it was this tiny airport with
only one luggage belt thing. Anyways, we met president and his wife
and assistants there and they took us to the mission home. We had some
dinner and talked for a bit and then slept in Mendoza in this pench
(apartment) with some other Elders.
The next day we met our trainers, went street contacting, had lunch
and then I had to take another 5 or 6 hour bus ride down to this tiny
town called Bowen. I have no idea if you can find that on a map
anywhere but that´s where I am. I live in the church which is really a
building that looks like a storage place from the outside. There´s a
decent amount of room when you walk in which is where we have church,
a tiny ¨kitchen¨ that is about 4 feet by 3 feet and then a tiny
bathroom all in the corner. The bathroom is about 5 feet by 5 feet and
has the toliet, sink, and ¨shower¨ without anything seperating them.
Technically I could take care of business on the can, wash my hair,
and shave at the same time. I have yet to try that though. Speaking of
showers, I shower out of a bucket. I guess it´s a little more than a
bucket...but not really. It´s attached to the wall and you fill it up
with water and then plug in this cord which heats up the water. When
it´s done you unplug everything and turn this tiny knob at the top
which opens up a stream. You basically have to shower in parts. Turn
the knob, wet yourself down, turn it off, soap up, turn it on, rinse
etc etc. Every once in a while you have to take this squeegy and
squeegy the water into the drain so it doesn´t run out under the door
and into the kitchen. So legit. We sleep upstairs where we have a
closet for our clothes, some shelves for our food and a fridge.
Okay, the ward. Well really it´s a branch. Actually it´s not even
that, it´s a branch of a branch. The real branch is in another town
but since most people just walk everywhere and only a few people have
cars they hold meetings for the people in our small town in our
building. Once or twice every month they drive a van down from where
the main branch is and pick everyone up. But on all the other sundays
it´s just us. The most people ever to have come is 25. We´re going to
try to break that record but the time transfers are over. On Sunday we
had 20. Missionaries have only been in our town for a year so it´s not
quite established yet. At all really. Most of the members are 3
Bolivan sisters and their families. For church we have sacrament (one
person passes) and then the main branch sends someone down to give a
lesson and then church is over. No talks, no classes, just one hour of
the sacrament and a lesson. It was crazy. The guy who blesses has been
a member for a while (and by a while I mean almost a year) and the guy
who passed the sacrament was just baptized a while ago. Other than
that Me and Elder Robinson are the only other Priesthood holders--and
the only Melcesidek holders.
Elder Robinson is way cool. As you can probably tell from his name, he
doesn´t only speak Spanish. He´s from Texas and we get along pretty
well. He only has like 4 more months so he´s almost out of here. He
says he can put in a good word and get me with an all Spanish speaker
next transfer. He says I´m ready but I definitely don´t feel like it.
The language is hard, I´m getting better though. I can generally tell
what people are speaking about but sometimes I´m completely lost and
usually I don´t know the details. It´s hard because I want to have
relationships with the members but I don´t know what´s being said and
I´m shy to start with so it´s hard. It´s annoying becuase like little
3 year olds will be trying to talk to you and they know way more than
me haha. But it´s coming...
The culture here is pretty different. The members are really nice and
so far the food has been good. A lot of meat and potatoes, but not
much flavoring. They drink a ton of soda (Coca-Cola, Sprite and that
Orange kind are the main ones) and I think I´m going to be addicted
when I leave. The watermelon here is amazing. They eat so much food
though. Like it´s ridiculous, I have no idea how the people aren´t
like so fat. It´s hard to eat as much as they do, especially when I
don´t want to offend the members. They just keep filling up your plate
of like 3 giant servings of whatever. It´s even harder because usually
I´m so thirsty so I drink a lot of soda and end up just being more
full. Like so big, I wish I could describe it better, but it´s like
Thanksgiving every lunch. Oh, yeah, we only eat lunch with members.
Part of the reason they eat so much is because they hardly have
anything for breakfast, they eat a ton for lunch, and then hardly
anything at dinner. The ice cream here is pretty good. It´s not a ton
different than the states but it´s a little lighter and they sell it
with like multiple flavors in the box.
What else. They live in pretty small houses and like the really really
well of people have sofas and couches and stuff. Everything is made
out of concrete. I think less than 10 roads in our city are paved and
the rest is just dirt. A truck comes around every day or so and sprays
water on them to keep the dust down. I´ve only seen air conditioning
in a house like once or twice--most people just have fans. The weather
here is kind of like an Oregon summer. It´s not like dying hot but I
think the last two days were 96 and 98 so it was pretty hot when
you´re walking around in slacks and a button up shirt. During siesta
most of the town sleeps. A couple people will be out and about doing
whatever but mostly everyone´s eating and sleeping. That´s when we
have lunch with the members and then go back to our pench and study.
The people like american music and shows, I´ve seen parts of Zac and
Cody and the Goofy Movie in members´ houses during lunch and at least
one family we met with was obsessed with Hannah Montana. I´ve also
heard Lady Gaga, Fergie, Shakira, and Train. The Black Eyed Peas are
playing right now in this internet cafe too....
I don´t know what else to say really, mail takes like two weeks to get
here but I only get it about once every six weeks because that´s when
the zone leaders travel to the mission home and get it. Sooo yeah...
Also, I´ve been told twice now that I look like Riley from National
Treasure. I think it´s the glasses because I´ve never been told that
before the MTC and now. What do you think? I don´t have time to send
pictures now (so sorry) but I´ll try to do it some other time. I think
the computers here should work so that´s good news.
Oh, real quick, soccer today was so legit. The church has this court
ouside and we played with the members of our zone and one guy they
invited off the street. He was pretty good but I stole the ball from
him a couple times and felt pretty legit. In the second game I had a
hat trick so that was way fun. I can´t way to do it somemore. There
are make shift soccer fields everywhere, but I hardly ever see people
playing on them. Probably because it´s so hot, but I´m hoping to get
some pictures and send them to you. It´s hard because we´re only
supposed to have our cameras with us on P-day but i´ll try to get some
and let you all see how Argentina looks like.
Well, I love you all, thanks for the the support and love, I think
about you every day and have your picture on the fridge. Stay sweet.
Love, Elder Lounsbury
1. False, I wish though.
2. False, almost though--missionaries have only been here for a year.
3. True. Except it´s not a real chapel, it´s just a random building.
We sleep upstairs
4. False. He´s from Texas.
5. True. Well, technically it´s more than just a bucket but still.
6. True. I´ve heard ¨Hey Soul Sister¨ by Train as well.
7. False, but super close, I had to block it with the bottom of my
foot. There´s dogs everywhere.
8. True. Crazy right?
9. False, but we have one for next week.
10. True. They also like Hannah Montana haha
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oh, hey there
So not a whole lot happened this week...and by not a whole lot I mean EVERYTHING happened this week. Holy Moldy Peaches and Cream. First and foremost, we got our TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!! Yahoo!! Here's what's going down: I gotta be to the travel office by 8:00 am here at the MTC. They'll give me ticket and ship me off on a shuttle to the airport. I'm in a group with 5 other people going to Mendoza (including Elder Sargent and Elder Summers). We fly on Delta Air Lines flight 1912 at 11:00 am to Atlanta GA. I should arrive around 4:35. Then I have at least 3 hours to call y'all, so that should be deliciously delightful. I don't have a calling card so if you wanna try to send one here the last time we get mail is Saturday morning, if not I'm sure I can find somewhere to buy one, either here at the bookstore (I have no idea if they have them or not) or somewhere in the airport. Then I leave from Atlanta on Delta Air Lines flight 101 at 7:50 pm to Buenos Aires....ARGENTINA!!! ....and I'll get in around 7:50 am. Yeah, that's right, 12 straight hours on an airplane... and 24 straight hours of traveling at least (we'll only in Buenos Aires, which is kind of on the other side of the country from Mendoza). It's cool though because the others who are going to Rosario will be on that same flight to Argentina, even though they're on a later flight the Atlanta. Sooooo I'm not really sure what happens after that, we dont' have any more flight plans so either they're going to give us some in Buenos Aires or we'll be driving for a longgggg time. I'm stoked out of my mind.
What else happened this week... OH! I sortof kindof barely dreamed in Spanish!! and by that I mean I said one phrase, "Puedo ayudar usted tranducir?" Which means, "Can I help you translate?" Like I could help anyone translate who wasn't speaking in basic spanish about gospel principles haha. I don't really know what I was thinking but I was stoked that I at least said one phrase in Spanish. I want most of a dream to be in Spanish soooo bad. Speaking of Spanish, it's coming along well. I can understand practically everything in Preach My Gospel, and am getting better at understanding the Scriptures too. I have to look up more words when I read the scriptures and it took a while to get used to the different conjugations (the scriptures use vosotros which is kind of like the old english "ye" but we never go over it because you never use it in regular conversation) but I'm getting better and better. I want to be able to start doing my Personal Study in spanish scriptures and be able to get as much out of it as I do in English. I also want to be able to understand a talk in Spanish by the time I leave. I'm getting better and better at it, but right now I can somewhat pick out the main topics and a couple full sentences here and there. They use such a larger vocabularly than what we've been studying which makes it hard. I think I'll start reading a talk first and look up words I don't know and then try to listen to it and see if I can understand most of it then.
Another awesome thing this week was the Devotional last night by Elder Holland. It was off the hook blow your brain out good. For some reason Tuesdays days are never that great, they're not horrible but for some reason that's like the time of the week for me to get a little discouraged, haha I don't know, it's really strange--but in a way I love it because without fail the Tuesday Devotionals and our District Review (it's just a meeting where we all go around and say what we learned or what we took from the talk) always bring the Spirit like a boss. All Elder Holland had to do was walk in the room and my feelings changed, which I don't think I can say has ever happened before. It was pretty decent. He starting talking about how Preach My Gospel came about and how its whole focus is to convert the missionaries and then they can figure out how to teach people. I sometimes wonder why God gives goofy, immature, awkward 19 year old guys who really have no idea what they're doing, the responsibility of carrying out his greatest and most important work. But he talked about the importance to change and become what the Savior wants us to become. He talked about Peter, and told the story of when Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Jesus more than his nets, or more than his past life and wordly things. He talked about how Peter had denied Christ three times and then didn't know what to do and went back fishing--how he didn't really get it--but how when he said that he would leave behind the things of the world and do what his Savior wanted, at that moment he changed into the incredible Apostle that he was. I thought that was such an interesting story to tell. I've thought a lot about change and what it takes to truly change and I think the major thing is our desires and having our desires swallowed up in the will of the Father. Anyways, it was a really powerful talk. Sorry about that mushy missionary stuff, I'll try to keep it to a minimum next time haha.
Well I love you all, sorry I didn't more about what all is going on at home but it sounds like you are all doing fantastic so keep up the updates!! I cannot wait to talk to you all in a couple of days.
Much Love, Elder Lounsbury
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