Email Letter - 24 September 2008

Hey Family,

So this week has gone by so fast. We have been really busy doing lots of crazy stuff to get ready for meetings and conferences and lots of other things. On Monday we had zone conference which was...well a lot different to say the least and not a lot of people liked it. I mean it was good in a lot of ways but at the same time it was horrible because we didn’t eat and we didn’t have all of the zones we usually do so we didn’t get to see everyone. It was good because it moved to a smaller room in the church and we all got to participate a lot more with all the things he was teaching us. It’s just a change that we will all have to get used to.

Then yesterday my comp and I did divisions with the zone leaders. It was a lot of fun to work with an elder that was just excited to work. And when I told him that it was my ¨cumplames¨ which means that I just finished another month in the mission! I’m now 1/3 done with it all and it’s going by fast. It was just a fun day full of stories and hard work out in the heat.

We have started having some success this last week with getting into people’s houses and I’m enjoying the work. I hope that it continues. I’m getting excited for general conference and we are having a district priesthood meeting this Sunday with one of the counselors of the mission to talk about mission plans in branches and wards to help make the work progress. I hope that it all goes well and helps the members work a little bit harder to help us out.

Oh cool story...last night I was in Saenz Pena with Elder Hemmert one of my zone leaders and he woke up to a noise in the middle of the night and saw a man standing outside the window!! Uh scary! He decided not to wake me up but he sat there for a minute wonder whether or not he should go try to catch the guy. After a few minutes he decided that he didn’t want to risk it. So when we woke up in the morning he told me all about it and the power was off. We went outside and wires had been cut and they had stolen the motor for the water. So we are without water to shower and without electricity. It was kinda weird and a little scary but it’s all good. They should get it fixed and be alright. I’m just glad it’s not my area!

I’m gonna run for this week but I love you guys! Take care.

Tay

TK & President Del Castillo

At Zone Conference with the new President.

Email Letter - 17 September 2008

Hey Fam,

So things have been going really well down here and a lot has happened in the last week. The first thing is that I have started running in the mornings! It makes me feel good and I have talked Elder Adams into running with me and not just watching. I’ve realized that I need to get into shape now and not decide to when I get home.

I got a blender last week and we have enjoyed making shakes and there is an elder in our zone that worked at jamba juice and taught me how to make strawberries wild which is just amazing. It’s a wonderful thing to have and probably one of the best buys I’ve ever made in the mission. We have been eating with our dueno a lot. I’ve talked about him before, his name is Lucho and he’s just funny. All we have is asado which is just argentine bbq. We just eat steak and it’s great. He always tells us that there is nothing better in life than steak and coke. He`s on a quest to eat asado everyday for a week. His wife always gives a crap because she says that we eat so much asado that we won’t be able to walk anymore. That’s why I have stated to run. We haven’t eaten it with him every day but two of them we have and it’s been great. He wants me to send his love to you

Now that I have gotten all of that out of the way I’ll tell you how things with the work are going. We started contacting in a new area again that’s close to the church and we are finding lots of good people that seem like they are willing and ready to listen. We are going to work with them and keep trying to find more new people that we can teach and bless. I feel like we are getting close to the people that we need to find and I will keep praying that we do so that they can be as blessed as we are in our lives. I love this gospel and I know that it can bring many great blessings into peoples’ lives as well. I have felt so many blessings in my life because of this church and that’s why I’m here, to help others to feel the same.

I am very excited to keep working in this area. The other day we were walking to the church after making a few contacts because we had our weekly meeting with the branch president to talk about things that we can do to make things progress and one of the little kids from and old investigator family chased us down. When I realized that he was running after us we stopped and started to talk to him. I looked down at him and he said ¨my mom lost her Book of Mormon and she wants a new one so that she can keep reading¨ you don’t know how happy I was to hear that! I opened my bag and gave him one to give to her. We dropped this family about 3 months ago and it was sad for me because they are awesome. It’s the Benitez family, I don’t know if you remember them but they are so awesome and I was sad to leave them but she started working two other jobs so that she could take care of her six kids so we didn’t have time to teach her. They have been to church and activities and I know with just a little help that they’ll be ready to be baptized. He asked us when we could go by the house to teach them again and he told me that his mom stopped working one of the jobs and she’s home at night every night. We went by and set up an appointment. I’m so happy and I can’t even explain it. I hope that I can tell you soon that they are getting baptized.

At first I was mad that I was staying here and then this happened. I know now that I’m supposed to be here and I’m happy. I gotta run for this week but I love you guys. Take care and tell titan hi for me. Love you!!

Tay

Email Letter - 10 September 2008

Hey Fam,

So this last week was pretty fun. On Sunday we decided to take a trip out to Saenz Pena for the baptism of a guy that I know really well. It’s actually a pretty cool story. This guy’s family was baptized in January but he had a phobia about leaving his house and so he couldn’t go to church and couldn’t be baptized with his family. He has been in his house for two years and finally overcame it and started going to church and they baptized him on Sunday. He was so happy and we were all happy for him.

That night we went to a party with some members of a different branch and so there were six elders at this house with a bunch of members, we started to get bored so we livened it up a bit. We were trying to think of what we could do for a cool video and not tell the members what we were doing so we came up with someone was going to get slapped in the face. My comp volunteered and I volunteered to slap him. So one of the elders started filming and he went around the whole room asking people’s names and stuff then he went through all of the elders and ended with me and my comp. my comp turned his face and I gave him a good slap in the face. Oh my gosh we were all laughing so hard we were crying. The members were at first shocked at what had just happened that they didn’t started laughing until like 5 seconds passed. It was great. We didn’t tell the members that it was planned so they think that I was just mad at my comp or something. We are so funny I know.

After that we went outside and you guys don’t know this but there are always horses just wandering in the streets so my comp decided to mount one and we got some good video of that. It was a fun night.

We have been trying to come up with things to do when we get bored and we are all in the same area and last week we made a video called ¨the black ninja¨ I can’t really explain it but I’ll be sending it home pretty soon.

As you know we had transfers today and by now I’m sure you have guessed that I didn’t move once again. That means that I will be in my first area for at least 7 ½ months which is 1/3 of my mission in the field. I am kinda burned out in this area but I will just have to suck it up for another month and a half and keep working. It will be okay I think.

I’m excited to contact that area that I had mentioned about a week or two ago and I know that we will finally have a baptism this transfer. I am staying here with Elder Adams again so no new comp either. It will be a good transfer I think. I just have to look at it as a good thing that I’m staying here and that the lord has a purpose for me here. I love you guys. Take care.

Tay

GO14

Hot, Sweaty, Having fun? - It's hard to tell from this pic TK sent his little sister, but I'm guessing he's having a good time.

A fun item of note - the ball is imprinted with GO14, and TK's number is all sports he played was 14. How fun is that?

Email Letter - 3 September 2008

Family,

So not much has really happened this past week. We were out contacting a reference and it was in an area that I’ve never been and I was looking around and there were just tons of young families outside or out walking in the street and it was crazy. I looked at my comp and said we are coming back here to contact. He agreed with me because I’m the one that’s really in charge and we will be heading back there tomorrow I hope. I’m excited about that but I’m worried that we will find some awesome families and then I will get transferred next week. It will still be way awesome but and the same time I would love to work with them when we find them.

So I just kind of mentioned that we have transfers next week and I’m excited but a little nervous. I feel like it’s my time to move but at the same time I thought that last time and I stayed so we will see. It would be nice to move so that I can get to know other parts of Argentina and other members and missionaries as well. It is a different experience when you have no idea whether or not you will stay or go.

So this Friday my comp and I are in charge of doing the Fe En Dios...faith in god for the primary. I came up with this cool idea to buy preach my gospels for all of the little kids 8-12 years old and we are going to teach them how to use them and teach them how to talk to friends at school about the gospel. It’s a lot different when you don’t have a ward or stake to buy them for everyone and you have to do it but it makes you feel better I think. I’m so excited to teach them and show them how to use what I think of as more scriptures. It really is an amazing book that I know will bless them and their families. I also came up with this cool idea to put a picture of my comp and I inside of the cover with our testimonies about how the book has blessed our lives. It’s such an awesome thing. I hope that it goes well and that they understand everything that we are teaching them.

Just a quick update on that family that we found a few weeks back. They mom has been working more than she and we had thought so we haven’t had many opportunities to teach them. We call and go by to check up on the girls and make sure that they are reading and praying and I still have faith that they will get baptized even if I’m not the one to do it.

That’s pretty much all for this week. Know that I think about you often and that I love you all. Thanks for the support. Take care.

Tay

When Winter turns to Spring

You jones for a motorcycle ride and wish with all your heart that the President allowed this form of transportation.