Zone conference was good

The Rosario zone at Zone Conference February 8, 2011

At the Mission Conference February 3, 2011

Hey family, how's it going!!! I hope well!!!

This past week has been pretty good. We worked really hard, and once again had the most progromados (people with a baptism date) in the mission. (We had more than double of what the second place had.) That stuff's not really important, but it does show we work hard. We had a good week and invited a lot of people to church, but in the end only 2 showed up, and they weren't even the people we really expected to come! Well, we were happy though, with those two people and maybe they'll continue to progress and get baptized. That just shows that if you work hard, for example to get people to church, the Lord will bless you with people in church, si o si, as they say here. It doesn't mean it'll be the people you most wanted to come, but he will bless you with people in church.

Well, the area's doing pretty good and the zone is doing good. The zone is improving a lot and working a lot more, but we still haven't had a baptism yet this month, which is sad, although this weekend we should have a couple. We've found and are teaching lots of good people, but they just need to come to church! It is just so hard to get people to show up to church, any little reason to stay home for them works, even a cloud in the sky (it might rain.)

We had zone conference on Tuesday, and there were 3 zones there. Our taller (workshop) went really good. Our assigned topic was on how to start teaching, so we had the idea to start our taller really bad (unfocused, shirts untucked, etc.) It was a fun example to start the lesson about teaching with energy, good presentation, etc. so hopefully it helped some people. It was fun to do, and the whole zone conference was good. It's weird to think that some of the things that terrified me at the beginning of my mission are now some of my favorite things to do, for example, challenging someone to baptism, talking in church, giving lessons, doing the workshops, etc.

The Rosario zone is really good, and the city itself is good. I'll give you a quick summary of the city since you are asking. Yes, there are still sanas (sewers along the roads) everywhere in the city!!! And they are all open! There are still dogs every two feet, and about a quarter of the dogs are bald and dying of a disease called sarnia which pretty much comes from drinking sewer water. Rosarinos (people from Rosario) are awesome like all Argentines, and very loving, with of course the occasional exception. Rosario is a VERY DIRTY CITY, like Santa Fe, but I love it anyway. It's a HUGE city, much bigger than Salt Lake, although everything still closes during the siesta. There's lots of villa (slums) but some nice parts as well.

Today Elder Calvert and I went to the casino, and it is extremely nice. The funny thing is, it doesn't even open till 12 o'clock midday, but it is really nice. We plan on going back there to go bowling after doing our emails.

I'm sad to hear about the difficulties with the post office and packages, but I guess we'll see what happens with the little package you sent. I'll let you know when (if) I receive it.

Regarding the friends that are coming here and the package for my birthday, I could also use a new belt, maybe a different kind because that other kind just falls apart sooooo easily. I would also like something very simple, but impossible to get here. One of those 3 ring hole punchers. All the hole punchers here only punch two small close together holes, because here instead of having the three ring binders, they have these really lame 2 ring binder notebooks. So if you could please send me one of those punchers that can punch out all three holes in the paper, it would be appreciated. You'd think you could get something that simple here, but you can't, I've been looking my whole mission. Anyway, apart from that, I don't need anything really, but whatever you send me I will love.

I still haven't been able to try out my new ping pong paddle, but hopefully will soon. As I said, we're going to enjoy some bowling today, so that will be fun. The casino has the only American-style bowling alley in Rosario. All the other bowling alleys are the old school kind where the pins are held up by strings.

I did the baptism interview of a 25-year-old single mom who's getting baptised this Saturday in Saladillo, and when I asked her how she came to know this is the true church, she gave a simple, obvious answer, but one that I really liked, so I'll share. Among many other things she said, she told me, "It just makes sense, the church and its teachings just make sense." It's very true that this church just does make sense, and I've been thinking about it a lot. Taking spiritual revelation away, and taking answers from God to us that this is the true church away...I would still be a solid member of this church, just because this church makes sense, and shouldn't the true church be that way? I guess that's why the church leaders encourage us to study often, because frankly it's generally the people that don't know the scriptures very well that are members of other churches (granted, there are exceptions). And that's also probably why the church leaders allow us to go to the other churches if we really want to, to see just how different an apostate church is from the true church of the Lord. Almost every church leader here of non-LDS churches doesn't allow the people in their congregation to go to other churches to visit without permission, and they never give them permission to go to the "Mormon church." I suppose they're afraid the people will change if they hear the truth? Well, anyway, that's just what I have been thinking so that's why I shared it with you.

Anyway, I love you all and thank you for everything that you do. Thanks for always writing and being there for me.

Love,
Eric
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