Eric with Elder Page and President and Hermana Villalba
The trainers (kneeling) with the new elders standing behind themHey family!! It's great to write again. I'm glad to hear that although Grandma still has some way to go, that both she and Grandpa are doing much better.
Elder Page and I are doing great out here, too! I'll tell you a little about the area. Our area is called Ramallo, and it's in the zone San Nicolas. It's not as far away as I heard it was, because in a car, it is really only about 20 minutes away from the little city San Nicolas. Although in a bus, it takes over an hour, because it kind of does a zig zag pattern, and of course buses are our only transportation besides walking.
Our area consists of two parts: Ramallo Pueblo and Ramallo Villa. We live in Ramallo Villa. To get to Ramallo Pueblo, we take another bus which takes about 30 minutes to get there. Ramallo Pueblo is a very beautiful area and it's also very peaceful and a safe area. They say it's touristy because it's so pretty, but we haven't seen much of that. It's fairly small, but big enough not to make me go crazy. (In small areas, missionaries have to keep tracting the same streets and houses over and over again.) We have a good neighborhood and it's overall just a good place. We've got some pretty rich homes, it seems this area has more middle class and upper class than the average.
The branch here is pretty good. From what the members say, we have an average assistance (attendance) of about 30, although this last week we had 38 although like 8 were from the stake because it was ward conference. So it's small but powerful!
I'll tell you about the pench. When we got here, we walked into what looked like a pench that had several bombs go off inside, and then was just abandoned for over 100 years. Yes, it was the dirtiest pench I've ever seen in my whole life! Smelly and with cobwebs everywhere and just dirty and stuff all over. We already cleaned the pench pretty good and plan on cleaning it more today. Anyway, you'd think if the pench was so dirty, that it was maybe because the previous missionaries were working so hard. But no, this was a dying area, with ZERO investigators! The last senior comp here was on his last transfers before going home and I guess just got trunky and stopped working. The area book was also the worst I've ever seen, no map, no entries, etc.
Elder Page and I are doing great out here, too! I'll tell you a little about the area. Our area is called Ramallo, and it's in the zone San Nicolas. It's not as far away as I heard it was, because in a car, it is really only about 20 minutes away from the little city San Nicolas. Although in a bus, it takes over an hour, because it kind of does a zig zag pattern, and of course buses are our only transportation besides walking.
Our area consists of two parts: Ramallo Pueblo and Ramallo Villa. We live in Ramallo Villa. To get to Ramallo Pueblo, we take another bus which takes about 30 minutes to get there. Ramallo Pueblo is a very beautiful area and it's also very peaceful and a safe area. They say it's touristy because it's so pretty, but we haven't seen much of that. It's fairly small, but big enough not to make me go crazy. (In small areas, missionaries have to keep tracting the same streets and houses over and over again.) We have a good neighborhood and it's overall just a good place. We've got some pretty rich homes, it seems this area has more middle class and upper class than the average.
The branch here is pretty good. From what the members say, we have an average assistance (attendance) of about 30, although this last week we had 38 although like 8 were from the stake because it was ward conference. So it's small but powerful!
I'll tell you about the pench. When we got here, we walked into what looked like a pench that had several bombs go off inside, and then was just abandoned for over 100 years. Yes, it was the dirtiest pench I've ever seen in my whole life! Smelly and with cobwebs everywhere and just dirty and stuff all over. We already cleaned the pench pretty good and plan on cleaning it more today. Anyway, you'd think if the pench was so dirty, that it was maybe because the previous missionaries were working so hard. But no, this was a dying area, with ZERO investigators! The last senior comp here was on his last transfers before going home and I guess just got trunky and stopped working. The area book was also the worst I've ever seen, no map, no entries, etc.
So we decided to just hit it hard, going out and talking with everyone with NO GUIDE WHATSOEVER. Well, it worked out good because it seems all the members at some point or other saw us in the street and it got them excited, because they thought this area was going to be closed. (If an area does not have much progress, the mission president will close that area and no longer assign missionaries there.) So they were happy to see elders here, out and working. We've had members pass by our pench nightly giving us cakes and stuff, which shows the members here are super good and strong, and want to help. One member brought her brother who had never been to our church before, and I think he liked it. So the branch is doing really good, and we're excited to be working here! We have also had lunches (provided by members) almost EVERY DAY! So that's cool!!
Elder Page is great and loves working and learning. He's a great guy, and did rodeo back home, roping. He reminds me of myself when I started, struggling with the language, the change of life in a strange country, etc. but he's adapting great.
Tomorrow I have to go to another one of those all day capacitaciones (leadership training meetings) but I just learned about it today (with NO HEADS UP) from an email the mission sent me, and we already had some things planned with some investigators. To make the problem worse, we don't have a working phone so I don't know how we'll be able to tell them, and we don't know their phone numbers yet. We didn't get their numbers because we don't have a phone. (The phone stays with the area, and the previous missionaries probably lost or broke the phone.) But it really is a good area, and we'll have lots of success here.
I am sending you pictures of me picking up my hijo at the mission home. It was pretty much the same as last time, the same basic procedure. By the way, tell Aunt Lisa thanks, because I got to pick up my mail then and so I got her card. It was a really nice card, so please let her know I got it.
We met a really great guy who is here visiting his friend for a while, and he is interested in the church and says he wants to attend and be baptised. (His friend is a member.) He actually lives in Rosario, so he will probably have to finish his lessons and get baptised in Rosario.
Well, I better get off now, but I love you all very much!
Love,
Eric
Eric with Elder Page, ready to go to their new area and get to work______________________________________________
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