Email Letter - 30 July 2008

Family,

So I didn’t get transferred. Our new president wants everyone to stay in their areas for a lot longer than Pres Shakespear did. It’s a little weird that I´m going to be in my first area for at least 6 months but it’s possible that it will be even more than that. I had almost packed all of my things and spent the last two days saying goodbye to the members. Ha-ha. Oh well I guess we’ll just have to do it again in a month and a half.

I’m going to be staying with Elder Adams as well. We heard that there were only 30 changes were made out of the usual 100. It´s sure a lot different and it didn’t take President Castillo a long time to change things and I’m sure that there is more to come.

So last weekend we had a huge 3 day rock concert in our area and there were so many weird people from all over Argentina walking around drunk and just messed up. It was so funny but just so sad at the same time. We handed out a few pamphlets on the word of wisdom and I hope that they read them and change their lives. There were so many signs saying that it was the biggest party of the year. Our house is more than a mile away from where it was but it kept me up all night one night because it was so loud. Some of the members said that it was pretty good though. I think that the biggest issue that our little town had was trying to find places for the people to sleep. It was a good opportunity to try to get some references for some other elders in other missions in Argentina but we couldn’t even do that because everyone we found didn’t want to listen.

There really hasn’t been anything big that has happened in the last week other than we had a lot of going away lunches and parties for me that were all in vain. Ha-ha. It was really funny to be honest. I’m sorry that this is so short and so boring but I want you all to know how much I love you. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 23 July 2008

Family,

I Finished 6 months today!! It’s crazy how fast time is going for me and I wonder if it’s the same for all of you. Sometimes it seems to go by kinda slow but then I sit there at think about things are it has gone so fast. Tonight I will be burning a tie...of course not one of my own because you all know how I cherish those but my comp is giving me one of his to burn. What a nice guy and guess what! He didn’t have any accidents this week. Woo hoo!

It’s fun to get all of the updates on everything that is going on with all of you every week and I feel like I’m missing so much. I however don’t like to hear about how bad my poor little puppy boomer is doing. I hope everything works out with him and that he’s just fine.

So next week are transfers and although with President Shakespear it would be for sure that I’m moving we´re not so sure how the new president operates so we´ll see. It’s nice that everyone thinks I’m leaving and I’m milking it for all its worth because it’s getting us lunches everyday and I love it. It’s saving me money and its good food.

All and all things have been going well and we are still trying to find people to teach. We have been doing a lot of contacting without a lot of success but we will continue to do so and I’m sure that we´ll find someone that is ready to listen. We have been having some good success with our inactive members and we will continue to work with them as well. It is really hard to look at all the youth that go to seminary but don’t have the desire to go to church for one reason or another. There is one boy in particular that doesn’t understand why God lets bad things happen to people if he knows everything. They are just so thick headed and it’s really quite sad that they don’t even want to listen to an explanation. They just lack the faith that they need to be strong members. I guess that it’s just a little bit harder when you don’t live in Utah being surrounded by good influences. But just like with all the rest I have faith that they will figure it out in time and do what’s right.

I have been studying the talks from general conference and there is a part of President Uchtdorf´s talk from the priesthood session that hit me and that I love. He said...¨remember, the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of the gospel truth.¨ how cool is that. I love you all and pray for you as well. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 16 July 2008

Hey Family,

So to start of this week’s e-mail I’m going to tell you all a little story...We were on our way to Saenz Pena this morning in a remis (a remis is just a taxi basically) anyway we were on our way here and all the sudden my comp rolled down his window and I smelled something foul so I asked him, Did you pass gas? And he said yeah so I just shrugged it off but a few minutes went by and I asked him if he could roll up the window because there was a girl in the car that was cold and he said ¨dude I just crapped my pants¨ I just kinda looked at him in shock for a second and said that we only had about 20 more minutes to go until we were there so if he could hold the rest it would be good. About 3 minutes later he rolled down his window all the way and said that it was too late and that he had let it all go. How sad for him but how funny for me and the other missionaries.

When we got out of the car and walked into the pension (house) of the other elders he went straight to the bathroom and was in there for about an hour and a half just cleaning everything up. Needless to say it smelled so bad. All and all it was sad for him but oh so funny for me. Something I’ll never forget.

Other than that event this week has just been so slow. We can’t seem to find people to teach and it’s just depressing. I feel like I could be doing so much better here but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. We have transfers in two weeks and I think that it’s my turn to go. We obviously don’t know until the night before but I have been in this area for a long time and it’s really time for me to leave.

This Sunday I am giving a talk about missionary work and I’m excited about it this time because I can speak better and almost get what I want to say out in a way that everyone can understand. I’m going to be using quotes from preach my gospel and tell the members that they really need to step it up and help us out.

We just helped our branch president come up with a branch mission plan that is going to do wonders I think and really help to stress the importance of sharing the gospel with your friends and others that you meet so that they can have the same joy as we have in our lives. I hope that my talk will help them to progress and understand that it’s important for them to get the blessing of being a missionary in their homes as well. It’s an exciting work and I’m happy to be here doing it. That’s all I have for this week but as always I want you all to know how much I love you. Take care.

Tay

Email Letter - 10 July 2008

Hey Fam,

So last week on Thursday we met an ex-elder that is here visiting from the states with his girlfriend. They were so nice and it was fun to visit with them so much. The girlfriend didn’t know any Spanish so the elder was translating everything for her all the time. She was happy that she could speak some English to us while they were in villa Angela. They were so nice and they both bore their testimonies in church on Sunday, she started to cry. Ha-ha. On Monday we had a family home evening with them and with the branch president’s family and it was really fun and really spiritual. Whenever elder Harris would talk (that is the ex-elders name) I would translate for her so that she knew what was going on. It was fun and surprising that I was able to do it.

Also last Saturday I bought some hair clippers and buzzed my head down to 3/8in. which just looks so good. I actually like it...sometimes. On Sunday I joined the choir in our branch as well, they heard me sing one time and so on Sunday they cornered me and told me that I had to sing in the choir. Ha-ha. I don’t mind but I don’t feel like I can sing all that well, I guess they think otherwise. They sad thing is that I don’t think that I’ll be in this area next transfer so they won’t have me singing with them for much longer.

Yesterday was Independence Day here in Argie land and it was just a lot different than it is in the states. When you’re in the states you see flags and red, white, and blue everywhere but here you see a flag every few stores and they don’t seem to have a ton of pride. Other than that it was pretty much the same minus the parade.

We are in Saenz Pena and we went to one branch and had a bbq which was so good! We just ate chicken and rice but it was good. Then after that we went all the way to the other side of town and played soccer with another branch for like 6 hours. I’m not a big soccer guy but it was a lot of fun. It got pretty heated when it was members vs. elders and they beat us pretty bad but I’m surprised that there wasn’t more blood than there was. People were pushing and throwing elbows and just beating each other up. We had the strength but they had the skills. It was a lot of fun and no hard feelings between anyone...I don’t think.

It was a long day and I’m really tired and sun burned pretty bad but it was just a lot of fun. We aren’t having a lot of success in our area but I’m still trying to keep my comp going and we are working hard. That’s all for this week but I love you guys so much and as always I think about you often. Take care.

Tay

ps. here is a pic of me playing paddleball with my new haircut.

Email Letter - 02 July 2008

Hey family,

So things are going well and we found a new family the other day that we started teaching! I’m so excited because it has been a long time since we have found a good family. We just taught them about the restoration of course because that’s the start of it all. It was sad to see that my comp still can’t really teach all that well and I basically have to translate for him. It’s a tough situation to be in but I’m working on it as best as I can. I do all that I can to keep him animated as much as I can but he’s hard to keep up and smiling. I don’t really get why he’s so down all the time. I really feel like he doesn’t have the spirit with him because of all the worldly things on his mind all the time but I’m trying to work on that as well.

Today we met our new mission President, President Del Castillo and he is just so nice and so excited to be here. It was a really fast interview and I didn’t really get to talk to him all that much but he is just so busy right now seeing as how he’s only been here for 2 days and he’s trying to meet all of his missionaries so he doesn’t have a ton of time.

It’s hard to be gone at this time of year because it’s when we do the most family stuff I and really feel like I didn’t take enough advantage of that as I should have when I was there so it makes it that much harder. I really am so happy here though and as much as I want to be home this is such a great work and such a great thing to be doing...changing people’s lives.

So it’s really good to hear that everyone is so busy and that everyone is doing so well. I can’t tell you how happy I am that Jord is going back to school and its crazy how huge all of the boys are getting. I starting to put on some pounds but I’m trying to keep it to a low number. We eat a lot of pasta and don’t have a ton of time to exercise which is not a good combo. I have been told that the average missionary here looses about 15-30 pounds every summer which should help me out some. It’s just because we sweat so much that it just falls of like nothing. It’s not really the way I’d like to lose it but I guess it works. I just hate the heat and so it will suck.

Anyway I feel like I’m just rambling on with this one so I’ll just take off. I love you all so much. Take care and know that I think about you often. Tell the rest of the family hi for me at the reunion. Love you guys.

Tay