Eric with Alen at his baptism
The Mendoza family
Some of the relatives and family members at Alen's baptismHey family, what's up?! Those are some pretty cool pictures you sent me. I'm also sending you some, but not quite so exciting as the adventures you guys are having, but some of the baptism and painting a house. Just kidding, not really a house, just a kid's play house for the school, although to be honest, I've seen lots of much worse and smaller real houses here that people are living in with their big families!
The first thing I want to talk about is the baptism!!!! The baptism of Alen went great. He was excited the whole time and everything went like you always hope. His whole family came, as well as a few distant family members who are not members of the church, so it was good for them to see that. The next day, Alen was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost, completing his baptism and starting his eternal progression. Alen is an awesome kid, and one of the best things about his baptism is that due to his baptism and us passing by their house, the whole family has reactivated, and they've gone to church four times in a row already, and we expect them to continue.
Recently we found another part member inactive family, and we plan on working with them to get their child baptised and the family reactivated. This past Sunday, all of their kids went to church (most are baptised but one or two aren't) and we plan on continuing to help them. We had 7 investigators in church! That's the second most investigators in church out of the whole mission, so of course we got the sobresalientes on that. Also, we got the Standards again! Only four other companionships got them this week. They are pretty hard to get, one of the (many) requirements is you have to have at least 5 investigators in church. The sad thing is that we could have gotten Super Standards, something that is obtained by perhaps only one companionship in the mission during a whole year. We would have gotten them because we had almost every requirement which include a baptism, seven or more investigators in church, etc., but on the last day my comp really wanted to work in the area of our district leader instead of working in our own area to get the Super Standards. (When we work in someone else's area, the dats count for them, not us.) But I guess it turned out to be a good thing after all, because my comp and the district leader did not get along together too well before, and they are getting along great now that we helped him, so it was a good week.
Another good thing is that I got 2 packages from you!!! (We had to go to Rosario to do DNI which is kind of like Visa stuff for people who have been here more than 7 months.) I don't know why I never got the other packages you sent back in May and July, but these two packages (sent a week apart the second half of August) made it here in record time! You probably expected that I'd get them much later, because they had my Christmas presents, the tracting bag I asked for, and lots of candy. I was very excited and still am for the packages, I love them, thank you!!!!! I've been using my new bag which at first I thought might be too big, but I actually really like the size, and love the bag!!!! It's a perfect bag, and of course all the candy is delicious. So thank you so much for the packages and don't worry, I'll wait till Christmas to open the presents! (I hope I can hold out that long!) I also got two letters from the ward, with writings from all the members saying hi and wishing me luck. It was great to be able to read from all the ward members, so please tell the ward members hi and thank you from me.
The weather is changing a lot here still, it's very hot every day now, it feels like summer! The mosquitoes are going crazy and my legs looks pretty nasty right now from all the bites. We have a ton of mosquitoes in the pench. (Like all missionary penches and Argentine homes alike, the houses have MANY openings to the outside, they're not sealed or protected well.) So yeah, it's hard at night sometimes with the mosquitoes, but not too bad because we're so tired we just fall asleep anyway.
Our other investigators are progressing alright, we have tons of people we are trying to get married, although many can't because of their individual problems. But as a whole, everyone is progressing, some just not as fast as I'd like. We're still helping Eduardo stop his smoking. We don't have a program necessarily to help people stop smoking, basically if they really want to they'll be able to. We do lots of things to help them though, like daily visits, gifts, lessons applied to them, and whatever, but ultimately it's up to them. The Word of Wisdom is a huge barricade here. Drugs are crazy here, they run rampant, and just about everybody over the age of 10 has at least tried some type. The worst part is that the law isn't really enforced down here.
I've got to go right now, hopefully I'll be able to finish later because I still have like 10 minutes left, but I have to go. In case I can't get back to finish, just know I love you all and wish the best. Thanks for the constant support and help and love.
Love,
Eric
The first thing I want to talk about is the baptism!!!! The baptism of Alen went great. He was excited the whole time and everything went like you always hope. His whole family came, as well as a few distant family members who are not members of the church, so it was good for them to see that. The next day, Alen was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost, completing his baptism and starting his eternal progression. Alen is an awesome kid, and one of the best things about his baptism is that due to his baptism and us passing by their house, the whole family has reactivated, and they've gone to church four times in a row already, and we expect them to continue.
Recently we found another part member inactive family, and we plan on working with them to get their child baptised and the family reactivated. This past Sunday, all of their kids went to church (most are baptised but one or two aren't) and we plan on continuing to help them. We had 7 investigators in church! That's the second most investigators in church out of the whole mission, so of course we got the sobresalientes on that. Also, we got the Standards again! Only four other companionships got them this week. They are pretty hard to get, one of the (many) requirements is you have to have at least 5 investigators in church. The sad thing is that we could have gotten Super Standards, something that is obtained by perhaps only one companionship in the mission during a whole year. We would have gotten them because we had almost every requirement which include a baptism, seven or more investigators in church, etc., but on the last day my comp really wanted to work in the area of our district leader instead of working in our own area to get the Super Standards. (When we work in someone else's area, the dats count for them, not us.) But I guess it turned out to be a good thing after all, because my comp and the district leader did not get along together too well before, and they are getting along great now that we helped him, so it was a good week.
Another good thing is that I got 2 packages from you!!! (We had to go to Rosario to do DNI which is kind of like Visa stuff for people who have been here more than 7 months.) I don't know why I never got the other packages you sent back in May and July, but these two packages (sent a week apart the second half of August) made it here in record time! You probably expected that I'd get them much later, because they had my Christmas presents, the tracting bag I asked for, and lots of candy. I was very excited and still am for the packages, I love them, thank you!!!!! I've been using my new bag which at first I thought might be too big, but I actually really like the size, and love the bag!!!! It's a perfect bag, and of course all the candy is delicious. So thank you so much for the packages and don't worry, I'll wait till Christmas to open the presents! (I hope I can hold out that long!) I also got two letters from the ward, with writings from all the members saying hi and wishing me luck. It was great to be able to read from all the ward members, so please tell the ward members hi and thank you from me.
The weather is changing a lot here still, it's very hot every day now, it feels like summer! The mosquitoes are going crazy and my legs looks pretty nasty right now from all the bites. We have a ton of mosquitoes in the pench. (Like all missionary penches and Argentine homes alike, the houses have MANY openings to the outside, they're not sealed or protected well.) So yeah, it's hard at night sometimes with the mosquitoes, but not too bad because we're so tired we just fall asleep anyway.
Our other investigators are progressing alright, we have tons of people we are trying to get married, although many can't because of their individual problems. But as a whole, everyone is progressing, some just not as fast as I'd like. We're still helping Eduardo stop his smoking. We don't have a program necessarily to help people stop smoking, basically if they really want to they'll be able to. We do lots of things to help them though, like daily visits, gifts, lessons applied to them, and whatever, but ultimately it's up to them. The Word of Wisdom is a huge barricade here. Drugs are crazy here, they run rampant, and just about everybody over the age of 10 has at least tried some type. The worst part is that the law isn't really enforced down here.
I've got to go right now, hopefully I'll be able to finish later because I still have like 10 minutes left, but I have to go. In case I can't get back to finish, just know I love you all and wish the best. Thanks for the constant support and help and love.
Love,
Eric
The service project: painting the children's playhouse on the school grounds
Eric shows his artistic side
Cleaning and fixing up the school playground
This picture was taken a few weeks ago, before transfers took place. Eric and Elder Boudreau are with Marcela (in green), her children, and Marta (the grandmother) in their home. Rocio is not in the picture. The ceiling is very interesting; it looks like a thatched roof. 
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