Loving my mission

Picture from the park in Esperanza that Eric visited last week

This statue in the park is called "Club del Encuentro de Abuelos" which means Grandparents Club meeting. The man is holding a cup of mate, although it looks as though the straw has mostly broken off.

Another view of the park in Esperanza

A huge spider, "at least 6 inches across." It looks like it is probably at the top of a doorway. Thanks to Elder Eldred's family for sharing this photo.

Hey family, how's it going?!?!

Well, as usual, it's only been a week but a lot has happened. Firstly and the best part, is that we will have a baptism this Saturday! His name is Diego and he's a stud. He's in his early 20's and is a taxi driver. When we first met and talked to him, he loved the spirit he felt with us. He's a great guy and has now been to church 3 times in a row already. He has kids with his wife Maria, who is a member, but was inactive but is now going back to church. They're not married, but now have a marriage date for sometime in August!!! In case you're wondering, they are currently living in separate homes for the last little while until they can get married, so that Diego can get baptized. It's not a problem for them, they are getting along great and looking forward to Diego's baptism, and then their marriage. They're very faithful people, especially because they've experienced a lot.

At the beginning of the transfer, when we first met Diego, he was investigating lots of churches and had many doubts about each one. We answered all of his doubts perfectly and he understood what the church of Christ should be like, and he'd be really interested in the church until Pastor Bob from another church would roll around and tell him something else. I asked him how he felt in the other churches, to which he responded, "I didn't feel anything, except in yours, that's why I stopped going to the other churches." So we then answered any and all of his questions so that he understands the gospel perfectly in his head, and more important, we helped him recognize the spirit he feels when he reads the Book of Mormon and goes to church, and he understands what the spirit means.

For the past couple of weeks, he's told us he knows this church is true, and so Sunday night we programmed him to be baptized this Saturday. Here is how it happened: we had our appointment with him set for this coming Thursday, because while in church, he had told us that it was the only day possible, which would mean he couldn't be baptised this Saturday, but the next one (because we still need to teach Lesson 3 and 4.) Then after church, when we were in our pench, I felt the Spirit strongly letting me know that Diego was ready and he couldn't wait one more week for salvation, so I called him Sunday after church and said "Look, I know you just told me the only day you have time this week is Thursday, but we need to teach you now." He said okay, so we went to his wife's sister's house (Diego was there) taught him lesson 2, and then programmed him to be baptized this Saturday. I love the answer he gave me when I asked him to follow the example of Christ and be baptized. He responded, "Yeah, of course, and I was just about to ask you if I could be baptized this Saturday." I can honestly say that in all my mission, I've never had a baptism candidate so strong. He reads a chapter in the Book of Mormon every morning and every evening always, and then he does his prayers, and goes to church even if it rains, and goes to EVERY ACTIVITY THAT WE'VE HAD. He's a sweet guy and is going to be a great member. Anyway, so that's Diego, I'll probably tell you more about him next week after the baptism.

Aside from Diego, the work is advancing very well!!! It appears like we'll only have one baptism this transfer, but I wouldn't feel bad if I had zero baptisms. This transfer we've reactivated and kept active more families than I can count on my fingers and toes. (To reactivate someone means to find a member of the church who has stopped attending church for a period of time, and then help them go back to attending faithfully.) One lady we helped to reactivate told us we saved her life and her family. Every time we pass by her she gives us a box of alfajores (cookies) or facturas (donuts), and tells us thanks, so that's a plus, too! (She owns a kiosco.) She asked the branch president for a calling (volunteer job) so she can remain focused and involved in the church. Aside from that, we've helped many people out and the church is growing good here.

We had our interviews with President Villalba a few days ago (so now my next one won't be for another 3 months!) and it went good. Also, whenever we have zone meetings with the President, we also get one other thing....PACKAGES!!! Yes!!!! So I got my packages. I was so excited!!! I got two sweet packages, including the package from you guys with the candy, Called to Serve CD and World Cup Soccer game kit!!! I love it!!! Thanks Mom and Dad, Marisa and Holly and Scott and David! It was a great package and we enjoyed the candy very much and have been listening to the cd. I also got the package with the book from Dad, the Leadership Advice by Coach Wooden, which teaches people how to be successful in activities, sports, leadership, etc. (It helped me win the church ping pong tournament, I'll get to that later.) I've already read a lot of it and love it. I also got dearelders from Mom and Aunt Stacey, so thank you both for writing me! I loved all the letters and packages I got and am using them still, they're so great! I've already been applying some of the things learned from Dad's books, and of course both my comp and I have enjoyed all the candy!!

Well, the work's going good here, and I love our church here, especially the branch. I'm glad you asked me if I have given any talks in this area yet, because just yesterday, I gave a talk! I know you're probably surprised, well so was I when the branch president asked me 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started, if I would give a 15 minute talk!!!! I don't know why it's always me, I'm still junior comp, but I'm okay with with it!! Regardless, the president always asks me to do the fill in stuff, like improvise lessons in Sunday School, or preside in meetings, etc. Missionaries are just the ultimate backup, fill in, and do whatever, when someone fails, but it's great. Well, despite the lack of prep time, I gave a good talk. I received spiritual help and it went great. I decided to talk about the Holy Ghost, because just last transfer I had given a talk about that, so I gave my talk in a similar fashion. It was very easy, although I had been nervous when the president first asked me. I've been focusing on calling people to repentance a little bit more, so at the end of my talk, I read one of my new personal favorite scriptures 1 John 1:7-9, which says "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I like that because we all make mistakes and need to repent daily. So it all went well, although hopefully the next time one of us needs to give a last-minute talk he'll ask my comp to do it, although knowing my luck it'll just be me again. Equally (actually), I was very happy to give the talk, because after the first minute or so, the spirit calmed me down, and helped me, so much so, that I was happy to be up there and ended up actually talking for 20 minutes. Anyway, I am thinking that I should probably go to church with an emergency talk prepared always for when I get called on randomly.

Members have been treating us really good, too. We eat with them almost every day, usually pasta and chicken now that it's cold. The weather has really turned bitter cold here now. When it rains, everyone runs back and stays in their homes, not going to church or anywhere else. They just stay in their homes and make torta frita. (I looked it up online, and it is some sort of a fried biscuit.) This last Sunday it rained, (hence why the majority of people, including the sacrament meeting speakers, didn't show up.) It actually didn't even rain, it just looked like it was going to, which to Argentines qualifies as a downpour. It's a little frustrating at times, we'll ask investigators something like, "Will you go to church tomorrow", and they'll respond, "LOOK, the clouds look a little dark, so I'm going to sleep in!" Yes, it's Argentina, but I still love the people even though they all think they will melt or die if they are out in the rain. And despite the rain, Diego still went to church!!!

As an attempt to get more investigators to church, there is ping pong daily from 6 to 9 at night. My comp and I rarely go, in fact we've only gone twice and for about an hour each time, but the last time we went was Friday, after our English class. This time it was a big ping pong tournament and I won it, using some of Coach Wooden's advice and pure skill, ha ha, and also a 50 peso paddle from Walmart!!!! It was really close and intense, I don't know how I won, but just got lucky I guess.

No, I haven't seen cockroaches in this pench, but we have something much worse. We have spiders the size of plates! Really, they are the size of animals. The last spider I found in the pench, I was scared to even smack it with my shoe because the spider was so big, that I didn't think the shoe could kill it!!! Well, the shoe didn't, and the spider took off and went under the fridge!!! So it's still in our pench..................Anyway, great pench still although not a fan of the huge spiders, but they keep to themselves mostly.

The golf tournament Dad mentioned sounded really fun, I wish I could've gone, but will be there to play in a couple of years! Hope Holly and Scott enjoy the beach, and that everyone will enjoy doing whatever they are doing!

I love you all very much, and appreciate all you do for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm loving my mission and trying to do the best I can here, and with the Lord's help I've been able to help a few people!!! Loving the zone, pench, everything that's going down here, and of course, you guys!!

Love,
Eric
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The work goes on

Eric with his zone, enjoying P-day at the zone activity in a park (Parque de la Agricultura) in Esperanza, which is a small city about 40 minutes north of Santa Fe.

Hey family, what's up!!!

I'm in Esperanza right now, because for P-day today we had an awesome zone activity here. This morning we left first thing and came to Esperanza, where we played soccer as a zone and had an asado. It was soooo much fun, haven't had that much fun in a while, because everyone in my zone is the best. I've been really blessed because I have always been in great zones with great people. By the way, my team won when we played soccer.

Esperanza is a really nice city with a very beautiful park. Parks here are better than in the States! I forgot the name of the park back home, the one that has the paddle boats and mini amusement center (he's talking about Liberty Park), but this park here is kind of like that, as you'll see from the photos. I took a bunch of photos of the park, but I'll send you the one with the zone first. The photos are taking forever to upload so I probably won't be able to send very many, but eventually you'll see them, it's a great park.

Zone conferences have been changed now to every 3 months, which means that I'll get packages and mail every 3 months now. I think it is a church-wide change, and not just for my mission. But it'll be okay because sometimes the zone leaders have to pass by the mission home for whatever reason, and while there, they get our stuff. For example, today we received letters!!! I got tons of great letters, including Dad's book that he sent me about 400 tips for missionaries, and I got two dearelders from Mom and another letter from Dad with an article. I was way excited because I didn't know anyone had passed by the mission home and that we'd get mail today!!

A lot is happening here in Argentina, I think something special is going down here because we have lots of Seventy's coming, as well as members of the Twelve. (Church leaders) I think Argentina is about to fulfill its prophecy of the dedicatory prayer when Argentina was set apart for missionary work, of becoming one of the strongest countries in the gospel, like a strong tree. First you have to prune the branches, which is what's going to happen here, I think. Either way I'll keep working hard and doing my best to help it out.

It really is pretty here in Esperanza, probably because they have lots of money so it's clean, unlike Santa Fe. Santa Fe, specifically my area, is one of the dirtiest places in all of Argentina. The whole city looks like a garbage dump. Every field is full of garbage, every street is full of garbage, etc. It's very dirty, but I love my area just the same.

We have a nice lady who washes our clothes, and we convinced her to go to the States, which she is now going to do, and is getting her visa. Apparently she has a boyfriend there in San Diego, so now she's going to go there and have a better life. She has a washing machine, which is somewhat rare here, so the clothes are always nice and clean (mind you, it's an Argentine washing machine, which basically means a bucket with a spinning arm, but it still does a decent job.)

Yes, there are plenty of dogs here in Santa Fe and everywhere, every part of Argentina has an abundance of dogs. There are dogs on the roofs, yes, people put their dogs up there, but it doesn't stop there. We see dogs EVERYWHERE!!!! On roofs, on top of cars, in cars, in the sewers and fields, even in the middle of streets laying down. This causes many accidents, and I've even witnessed a car accident here due to dogs laying down in the middle of a busy road. The dogs are everywhere you can imagine. I always hope the dogs fall off the roofs when they bark at us, ha ha, but so far no luck, though my comp saw a dog fall from a roof once. There are also lots of dead dogs. I probably see a dead dog laying somewhere every day, often decapitated, half eaten or rotten. Also sometimes cats, though not so much. The dogs here are not like dogs in the States. Lots of them are weird and diseased and mutated and sick, but there are some nice dogs here, too.

The culture is the same in pretty much all of Argentina, which means you clap at the houses. If the house has a gate you stand outside and clap, pretty standard stuff. It's pretty funny because sometimes next door neighbors will come out of their houses, thinking we were clapping for them. Ha ha, I'm certainly going to miss clapping when I'm in the States again. There's a lot I'll miss, but there's a lot more I miss about the States still.

Yes, everyone kisses on the cheek and all, but the members here are pretty good, they know all about the missionaries and the rules, so they never try and kiss us on the cheek, and sometimes you get the occasional member who talks to you in usted form because everyone knows we use that. Others try and fail, doing a mixture of vos and usted, which is pretty funny because they like to make fun of us for not being able to speak and they can't! But the majority just don't try. Outside of the church (I think he means the mission) NOBODY speaks in usted!!! I really like vos form because it's not a "formal" way to speak. Vos symbolizes trust and friendship, as well as respect, so their usted is almost like a cold way to speak. In fact, the only things that speak in usted here are the missionaries and the stop signs that say "PARE." I really wish we could speak in vos because it's so much different from tu form, but that's okay I guess, for now I'll just talk in vos to the kids (we have to for them, they're confused if we speak to them in usted.)

Yes, the language is coming along good. You asked me if I've dreamed in Spanish, and you know what, I wish I knew!! I haven't dreamed for months!!! Or at least I can't ever remember them, ha ha.

That's exciting about Spain winning the World Cup, I'm sad that Argentina lost, but really excited that Spain won instead. Most Argentines are as well, many of them being from or having heritage in Spain. It was actually a good contacting day, because everyone was happy about Spain. I was hoping for Argentina, Brasil or Spain to win, in that order. I didn't really care about the US winning, since nobody there really cares. It was a shame that Argentina lost to their bane, Germany, again, which is really annoying because now instead of everyone asking us if we're from the States, they ask us if we're from Germany, and they usually aren't too happy when they ask. So basically, both before the World Cup and after, us white people are always just the most discriminated against, ha ha. It's funny because now when we tell them we're from the States, they're a little happier about it because at least we're not from Germany, so I guess that's one good thing about it! I certainly would feel bad for any German missionary working in Argentina right now. No, we didn't get to watch the Spain game, but we heard all about it.

I have to go right now, but I will finish this email when I get back to Yapeyu in like an hour.

(Second email of the day.)

Okay, so now I'm in the ciber (cybercafe) again, in my own area now, and we have a really nice ciber, I'm impressed.

I'm going to have to find a way to put my pictures on a cd or something, because I have so many of the park and the pench. I prioritize so you get all the pics with people, but I like the area pics too, so I'll try and figure out a way to get those to you. I'm trying to upload more pics here, but it's really not working, so maybe that one picture is all you'll be able to get today, sorry.

As far as my area, it's going good, and we are working hard every day. We have lots of good investigators and people we are working with, although the majority of them just have to get married or attend church enough times, but yeah. When I got here we started doing English classes, somehow my comp had never heard of that idea before...?!?! (It's a pretty common thing missionaries do here.) Anyway, last week, on the day of English class, we went to the church and got ready, and ended up with 11 people who came, mostly kids. We put in a gospel message at the end. Well, that is hopefully going to get some new investigators who want to hear more. Everyone knows that the best way to enter a house in Argentina is using the kids and snakes, ha ha. (Snakes? We have no idea if that is a typo or a joke...if anyone knows, don't be shy, let me know what he means. Maybe he just meant to write "snacks"?) For example, last week we taught a kid in the street, and then the next day when we went to his house, his parents saw that their kid was friends with us, so they decided to listen, too. That's a whole other story for another day, though, because I'm almost out of time.

I loved the photos you sent me, and yes, we have many alfajores like that. We have pretty much every type you can imagine. Both the kind at the panaderia and the kind in the wrappers are all good. I'm glad you got to try that kind, hopefully you'll be able to try the empanadas the next time because they are popular around here too!!! And if they have milanesas, try them!! They're not super special, but they're good, and pretty much everyone has them daily, along with pasta.

I love you all very much and hope for your well being always. It was great seeing you all happy all together in the pictures. My prayers are with all of you, especially Aunt Lisa and Uncle Roland in this hard time.

My love to all,
Eric

Although Eric was unable to send us any pictures of the park, I was able to download these pictures of it online. It really does look like a fun place to go for a few hours of recreation after a long week of hard work!

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A week of miracles

Eric with Elder Rojas

The pench Eric is living in while in the city of Santa Fe

The five elders Eric shares the pench with, from left to right: Elders Rojas, Welker, Renlund, Astudillo and Herold (who appears to be cleaning the grill.)

The asado. These five pictures were taken on the day of the Argentina-Germany match, when the missionaries had to stay in their apartments the whole day for safety reasons.

The giant garage that they play soccer in

Hey family!!!

Hey everyone, what's up?! Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July and the outings! From the pictures it looks like it was a fun holiday.

We too had a little celebration at our pench for the 4th of July. Saturday we had to stay in the pench all day. The mission rule was that Saturday, (the day of the Argentina vs. Germany World Cup game) we all had to stay in our penches, and if Argentina wins, we can leave the pench at 3 o'clock. And if they lose, we can't leave the pench the whole day, for safety. The Argentines could mistake some missionaries for Germans. So as you know, Argentina lost, so we all stayed in the pench the whole day. But it was cool because we had the whole day Saturday to celebrate our 4th of July! Lots of elders from our zone hurried through the streets to our pench, and even a few that were not in our zone, and we all hung out in our pench all day because it is a huge and very nice pench! We played soccer in the garage thing and we cooked up a good asado on our huge grill. It was a pretty good day. Also, we had some cool music (Elder Welker has some really nice speakers) and yes, we had fireworks. After Argentina lost, all the Argentines were upset and so there weren't any cool celebrations or explosions (except the fireworks of anger) but yeah, it wasn't too bad. My comp decided to take advantage of (living in) Argentina, and bought a lot of fireworks, including about 10 sticks of dynamite (yes, you can actually buy dynamite here) and many other illegal looking fireworks. The dynamite we got was actual dynamite, although it was smaller (about a fourth the size of a full stick of dynamite, or in other words, four sticks of our Argentine dynamite equals one stick of real dynamite.) We also got lots of other fireworks that aren't dangerous, just fun, which we've used as pranks in the pench. Lots of pranks in this pench, ha ha, it's lots of fun. But anyway, safe pranks, so don't worry.

This past week has been a good week for the work!! I don't know what happened this week, but after having gone my whole mission so far without needing to give a single priesthood blessing, I suddenly needed to give THREE BLESSINGS IN THREE DAYS! So a blessing a day! It was very crazy!!! Luckily I had studied all about blessings because Dad said you give them all the time on your mission. I was starting to think he was crazy, since I have gone all this time without even doing it once, until all of the sudden I needed to do three!!! Luckily I was prepared and they went pretty good, actually. Although they're somewhat hard because you have to talk in Tu form, which as a missionary, we never do!! We speak in Usted form all the time to all the people, it's what we're used to. We talk in Vos form once in a while to Latin missionaries and friends and some kids, and we never speak in Tu except in blessings and prayers. Just the same, the blessings actually went pretty good, and I really felt the spirit so strong, especially in one of the blessings, and I was given the words that I needed to say. As missionaries, we always try to live by the spirit, but it was also a matter of getting past the fear and just having the faith to be able to listen to the spirit, which can be hard, but it all went well and was very rewarding.

One of the blessings we gave was to this old lady we found doing contacts. She's basically a hermit, because she has one leg and is embarrassed to go outside in her wheel chair because people sometimes say things. She was embarrassed and didn't want to let us in, but her daughters that were there made us come in and talk to her, because they said that she needs a friend. Well, she asked for a blessing, and I gave her one, and I felt prompted to talk about Christ's life, how he was despised, mocked, and rejected because he was different, how he suffered for all our pains and afflictions, and many other things that I felt directed to say. The spirit was so strong. After the blessing, her appearance really changed (or her attitude) and she committed to going to church and she even threw open the door and hung out outside a little bit despite her fear. So many miracles like that are happening every day now!

Here's another miracle: today we went to Walmart, and while we were there, I was over by a big crate of alfajores (a cookie-like treat), selecting way too many alfajores for my own good, when some guy came up to me and started talking to me like we were best friends. We joked around a bit, and he was laughing and friendly with us. Then he started to get serious talking to us, telling us about his dad who had been dying a long time ago. He said Mormon missionaries came and knocked on his door, and he didn't want to let them come in, but then he did decide to let them come in because he wanted them to give a prayer on behalf of his dying dad. So the missionaries went in his house, and gave his dad a priesthood blessing. About 5 minutes after the missionaries left his house, the dad recovered completely, even though doctors had said it wouldn't be possible, and his dad is still living today! He said that those missionaries saved his dad's life, as well as his own, and he has never forgotten them but didn't know how to find them. Then he started crying and gave us a big hug, and demanded that we pass by his house. (He's a Baptist.) Well, just like all of the most awesome people that I find, he isn't in my area, so it's up to some other missionaries now, who had better teach him and get him baptized!!! I got his phone number and address and all that, so the other missionaries should make contact soon. But yeah, it's all good stuff anyway.

Today's been pretty fun, we started out by going to the Walmart, which is pretty much like Walmart in the States, it's really nice. I took a suit in to be dry-cleaned, for the first time since I've been in Argentina. After that we went to a mall, that was just like an AMERICAN MALL! It was really nice, although fairly small. They also have the only American candy shop in Argentina (well, that I've been able to find, anyway) and so I got some Skittles, Starburst, etc. We had fun there and found some cool stuff, and Elder Welker and his comp bought some stuff.

I'm out of time already, so I'll try and answer some questions real quick before I have to get off. Firstly, our weather has BEEN AWESOME!!! It's been like 70 degrees the whole week, great for working, outside patio asado-ing and everything!!! It has gone back to being like summer or early fall.

We have both dirt and real roads, so it's still hard to keep shoes clean because of all the dirt. We also have many old-school horse carriage trailer things. These horse trailers are basically a trailer or just a flat piece of wood on wheels, pulled by a horse, so the people stand on this while the horse pulls them to where they need to go. Believe it or not, there's lots of these things even in the heart of the city where millions of cars are wildly swerving around them.

Okay, to answer the last questions I've been asked. We eat with members all the time, American comps are easier to get along with than Latins, my comp and I get along really good, and we only receive mail at zone conferences, which are now once a month.

I love you all very much!!!
Eric

P.S. What day is the baby due?

This bridge is called "El Viejo Puente Colgante" and it spans the Rio Coronda, along which Santa Fe is located. It looks as if Eric took this picture while riding on a bus.

There are many beautiful Catholic cathedrals in Argentina. Judging by the date the picture was taken, I am fairly certain that Eric took this picture while in Santa Fe, although I have not yet been able to find out the name of this cathedral.

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Santa Fe is awesome!

Eric with his new companion, Elder Herold

Eric with Elder Renlund. Eric is wearing a hat in Argentina's colors to show support for Argentina as they play in the World Cup. Elder Renlund has the hood of his sweatshirt up for warmth, because there is no heat in the apartments.

Hey family, what's up!!!!

Firstly, I'm in the city Santa Fe now and it's awesome. I really miss Casilda, it was such a great place with great people, but I love my new area too. I mean really, I've been so lucky with areas. I absolutely love this area. The only thing it's missing is a great relationship with all the members and the investigators, but that just takes time.

In my area we have a Walmart!! It's not actually in my area, but it's close, and we're going there to buy our groceries today. After buying warm milk from small kioscos my whole mission so far, I'm very excited to be able to go to Walmart and get some real stuff. Also, we have a McDonald's!!! So needless to say, this area is very awesome.

Our pench is the coolest thing ever. It's kind of like a 6-man pench, and is BY FAR the coolest pench I've ever had. It was originally an 8-man pench, for 4 upstairs and 4 on the main floor, but now it's a 6-man. My comp and I live in the downstairs, but we have lots of space because we are the only two! Then upstairs there are the other two companionships. In addition to that awesomeness, we have a HUGE GARAGE in the back, in which we (the 6 of us) play soccer for our short exercise period every morning, and we sometimes play a little in the evening, too. It's very big and is awesome to be able to have that in our pench! We also have a HUGE GRILL to cook asados someday. I'll send you some pics of it next week. Our pench is like a mini Fort Knox. We've got a massive gate surrounding it and massive bars on every door, window, crack, or whatever! I guess that's because this pench has been broken into 4 times since the missionaries have been using it, and because we live in one of the most dangerous areas of the mission. We also work in one of the most dangerous villas, or ghetto slums, in the mission. The particular area our pench is in is a little better area than the area my comp and I work in, but don't worry, we'll be fine. So far all the other areas I have served in were safer areas, but I still really like this area.

It also helps that I'm with a cool group of elders. Arriving here was like having a reunion....one of the elders that lives upstairs is....Elder Welker!!! From La Paz!! So we're excited to be together again. His companion, believe it or not, is Elder Renlund! Elder Renlund and I went to school together, and he was in my American Problems class!! I remember him because in that class, he represented Russia, and he gave my country financial aid, ha ha. In addition to that, of the other two elders who live upstairs, the zone leaders, one of them is the Elder Rojas from my zone in Venado Tuerto! (Not the Elder Rojas that was my comp in Feliciano.) And then Barbara Hansen is in my zone again, and then my district leader turns out to be from Riverton! (Riverton is a town about 20 minutes away from where we live.)

We have a really nice church here. My comp and I work TWO areas!! Which is pretty intense. So every Sunday, we have to go on divisions and we both attend a different church session. We work in Yapeyu and San Agustin. The one is a ward and has about 35 people that attend, and the other is a branch and has about 75 people attending! I think it would be good to combine the two, but of course that is not my decision to make. They are both really cool congregations, and due to the many members, we have lunch almost EVERY DAY! That really helps us out so much!!! So I'll be eating good here, between all the great members and the McDonalds, don't worry about that!!!

This area was crazy when Argentina played Mexico in the World Cup on Sunday. We were at a member's house and were just finishing lunch when the match came on, so we got to watch it this time. It was very intense throughout!! Let's just say that after Argentina scored their first goal, it sounded like Argentina was being bombed. There were loud explosions and bright flashes and all kinds of crazy things. People shot off guns, and they did the cannons, and fireworks, and everything, not to mention all of the screaming! After the second and third goals, it was more like Argentina was being nuked or something, but just to witness all the craziness was a lot of fun! After Argentina won the game, the explosions and craziness continued, and everyone was out driving in their cars, honking their horns and celebrating, with every car filled with people hanging out the windows and even some people balanced precariously on top, and everyone waving the Argentina flag everywhere you looked, and everyone wearing crazy hats and blue and white. So it was all very fun, but it can be dangerous too, because almost all of the people end up getting very drunk as part of their celebrating, so we have to be careful. I'm excited to see the next match against Germany.

I guess I'll try and explain about the English classes. I thought I had explained it before, but I guess not, so I apologize. Ever since my first area, except in Feliciano, we've taught classes of English, they are simple classes and a lot of fun. In Venado Tuerto, we always only had one guy show up, so we just talked to him and taught him whatever he wanted to know how to say. In Casilda, I still had small groups, sometimes only two or three people. It's not anything fancy, you just teach the people whatever you think would be good, so you could just talk with them, teach them some phrases, teach them how to introduce themselves and get to know someone, or teach them the steps to pray, or how to bear their testimony, etc. It's pretty fun for everyone. We're starting up an English class here now too, because Elder Herold wasn't doing one before, so hopefully we can have some good success from that, because it can be a good way to find some new investigators. I assume that with all the members and other people here, we'll actually have a big turnout and I might actually have to come up with a more official lesson plan!

Yes, I received Cameron's letter a while ago, and am going to send him one soon too. I actually just finished writing him a letter but still need to send it.

I think we have a lady that does our laundry, so that would be so cool not to have to hand wash, so I'll let you know once we take care of that later today, because I am not sure how it works here yet.

Our shower is the best I've had. In fact, it RIVALS A SHOWER IN THE STATES! We don't have a hot water heater for the pench, but what we have is a mini hot water heater thing on the shower. There's a little box on the shower head and somehow it instantly heats all the water that passes through it to whatever temperature you want. The second you turn on the shower you have hot water, and you can have that hot water as long as you want. In addition to that, it has lots of pressure, it's AWESOME!!!!!

I still miss my beloved Casilda, but I do love the new area here. I expect to come to love the members and people here, and hope to find lots of good new investigators to teach.

I am glad to hear that the baby shower went good, and loved getting and seeing all those pictures.

Well, I better get going, just know that I love you all and that I'm having lots of fun and am busy doing the best I can to serve Heavenly Father and teach by the spirit and bring the gospel to his children.

I love you all very much,
Eric

Eric captioned this picture as "One more view of my beloved Casilda."

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So hard to say good-bye

Eric with his district while in Casilda. The caption he wrote for this picture is, "I am going to miss my district so much!"

The two Lopez sisters who remind Eric of his own sisters. Daniela (the Marisa sister) is on the left, and Karla (the Holly sister) is on the right. This was taken in the church building. (The third sister that he talks about in the letter is married and in Utah.)

Another view from the balcony of the pench. You can see a white sign advertising a Kiosco, as well as a sign across the street advertising eggs 3,75$ pesos per dozen.

Since Eric mentioned that they pass by the candy shop (kiosco) every day, this might be the owner of the kiosco whose white sign you saw in the previous picture.

Hey family, what's up!!!! Happy Late Father's Day!!! It sounds like you all had a great time on Father's Day celebrating together, and Mom, it sounds like you had a fun time at Girls Camp. I spent Father's Day working and some of the time with our favorite members here, the familia Lopez. They're like my family here in Argentina because they're so nice and loving, I feel like I'm with you all when I'm with them sometimes.

Anyway, I'm sure you all want to hear about transfers so I'll let you know what's up. For transfers, I'm going to leave Casilda. My comp is going to stay. I'm going to an area called Yapeyu/Recreo Sur in the zone Rafaela. My comp's name is Elder Herold, the same comp that Elder Eldred had in the MTC! From what I hear, he's an awesome guy, and it should be another great transfer! Our pench is on the street Malvinas, which should be interesting seeing as how we're "Ingleses" and all. (I think he is referring to the Argentines' grudge towards English-speaking people after the Falkland Islands/Malvinas war.) Just about our whole district is being transferred, and even the zone leaders are transferred.

Anyway, so yes, I'm going to leave. I think this is going to be BY FAR the hardest area for me to leave. I LOVE THE MEMBERS HERE and they love me. I love the area, the people in my zone, my comp, my district, members, my position as secretary, everything about Casilda I LOVE. I felt like I was going to die when I found out that I am going to leave, and then my comp felt like he was going to die when he found out he had to stay! (He has been here two transfers already and was hoping to leave Casilda.) So neither of us are really big fans of transfers but I'm going to look forward to the new area and companion also!

I really am going to miss Casilda, all the 6 street intersections (instead of 4 way intersections, here in Casilda there are 5, 6 and 7 way intersections, very confusing.) Also, another thing I'm going to miss is this awesome guy, who is the owner of the candy shop that we went by every day. I took a picture with him, he's an awesome guy and we're good friends with him. I'm including this photo of him in the email. I am also going to miss the class of English that I teach here in Casilda. Well, so yes, I'm very sad to leave, and I even cried a little yesterday, and today in the evening we're going to pass by our "family" members to say good-bye, which will be hard too. Elder Reyes will have to survive another transfer here, he is so lucky and he doesn't even think so.

Speaking of surviving, my comp almost died a few days ago. It was at the busy rotunda that we have here in Casilda. The way was clear so he decided to cross. I've been trying to follow the slightest promptings I have without hesitation or thinking about it (in other words, following the spirit as much as possible) so when I had the slightest prompting not to cross the street with my comp, I held back. Well, what happened next, was a car came flying around the corner very fast and came about a foot away from slamming into my comp. The car screeched to a halt, and stopped surprisingly fast, luckily for my companion who just stood there in the line of fire without moving. Anyway, just an interesting story.

Also, Mom, I know how much you love talking to people, such as other missionary moms, so I sent your phone number and name to Jessica, the sister of Daniela and Karla. Daniela is the former missionary that lives here with her parents and sister Karla, and their other sister is Jessica who had served her mission in the Salt Lake Temple. After her mission she decided to stay in Utah (who wouldn't??) and so she still lives in Salt Lake. Anyway, so she's going to try to call you just to talk, so you have the opportunity to talk to a bilingual Argentine!!! By the way, that family is the members that are like "family" to us. I call the girls my Argentine sisters, because they're two sisters (Karla and Daniela) and they act a lot like Marisa and Holly, surprisingly. So hopefully you can make time in your busy schedule to have communication with Jessica.

Well this last Sunday, we here in Casilda had a special visitor. President Villalba came to our church and attended all the meetings with us!!! It was so awesome, I wish he'd come to my church every week, but of course he can't. It was a lot of fun to have him here, and of course, I love being able to talk with him.

By the way, have you heard how Jared is doing in the MTC? Let me know.

Elder Reyes and I have been able to keep up with the World Cup. We're not allowed to watch the soccer games, but we can't help but see some of it because the World Cup is on in every single home or anyplace you go here. Honestly, I can't think of a Latin that hasn't been watching every one of the World Cup games! Anyway, I'm glad Argentina's doing good....unlike Spain!! I saw part of the Spain match where they lost, I was going to take a picture of me crying in my Spain jersey to send to Dad, but didn't have time. Just wanted to let Dad know how "his" country is doing, ha ha. Argentina plays today against Grecia (Greece), so we'll see how that goes.

As far as working goes, President Villalba tells us to work without change, even during the World Cup games unless it is Argentina who is playing, but of course that is hard to do. Still, one must love it here because the people are all so animated (enthusiastic) and they love to cheer and celebrate. Whenever Argentina even gets close to scoring, everyone is screaming, so you can imagine what it's like when they do score. Casilda is pretty small, so there's not tons of celebrating in the street, but the people are all still happy. The area I'm going to is a big city, and quite dangerous from what I hear. But maybe there will be more action in the streets with celebrating the World Cup there.

You asked about my clothes, and they're all holding up pretty good. One of my shoes (the type with gel pad) is falling apart in the heel, but apart from the heel it's doing okay.

No, I don't eat that cereal for breakfast anymore. I don't eat anything for breakfast, mostly we just eat lunch, which is either noodles or we order something. Ordering here is very common.

I'm very sorry to hear about Uncle Roland and his cancer. My prayers of comfort are with him and Aunt Lisa in this very difficult time. I hope they can have some happy moments in the time there is. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Roland, stay strong and remember that our Heavenly Father loves you both very much.

Well, I better go, just want to say I love you all so much, and am very grateful and happy for all you've done and still do for me. Good luck with the baby shower!!! I hope it goes well and is lots of fun.

Love,
Eric

Eric captioned this picture as "The Chile flag, from when we saw some of the Chile match of the World Cup." I'm guessing that this Chile flag belongs to his Chilean companion, Elder Reyes.

The branch in Casilda, set up for church

The winter gear that Eric purchased in Argentina


View of cows grazing in the field across from the pench

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Preach the gospel to every creature

Eric with his newest investigator

Mark 16:15 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature

Members of the church in the Casilda branch

Hey family, how's it going!!

Firstly I want to wish a Happy Birthday to Grandma!!!!! I loved the pics of her birthday with the birthday candles in the cut pineapples and everything, it looked like a lot of fun. So Grandma, I'm glad you had a great birthday celebration and the family could all be there!!

Also, Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad, glad to hear that you had fun for that, too! It seems like a lot happened for you all this past week!

I will pray especially for Uncle Roland this week as he has his surgery, and I hope it all goes well.

Things have been a little hectic around here, too. We had our zone conference, which by the way, we now have every month, and it was really good. I had a great interview with President Villalba. I love talking with him, he's a spiritual giant, and really wants to help all the missionaries. I know he receives revelation for the mission because I've felt it.

Well, I thought that was the last I'd see of Pres. Villalba for another month or so, but then he decided to come up to Casilda to interview our branch president and a few other people. President Villalba asked us to be present, and during that, he asked us to give him Lesson Two!!! So I had to teach President Villalba Lesson Two, I was terrified, but it went alright. Also, President Villalba is going to come to attend our branch this Sunday!!! I'm very excited that he is coming, it should be nice.

He's a funny guy and is always trying to speak English (like my comp.) Whenever he says something really important that he really wants to be sure that you know, he says it in broken English, but it's still pretty good. It's funny because in all his talks, he'll be speaking to us and then stop and look at all the new missionaries and repeat it in English. I remember the days when I needed that translation, ha ha. I don't need it now, although he still translates to me occasionally! He's a great guy and does a lot for the mission.

Right now I'm attaching some fotos with our newest investigator, my good old buddy, Ronald McDonald. We took these fotos this past week at the McDonalds in Rosario. The pictures are of me trying to preach the word to every creature, ha ha. Well, funny story. While Elder Reyes was taking the pictures of me, the security guard (yes, even the McDonald's has a security guard, welcome to Argentina) was watching and thought it was really funny! He liked it so much that he came up and talked to us. Well, we became friends and we had a good chat with him, and afterwards we committed him to go to church, which he said he will. It's in the area of Rosario, so I won't be able to continue keeping up with him, but it was just a funny experience, and evidence that one of the keys to the work is to have fun and become friends with the people and talk to everyone.

I'm also sending a pic of the pench and also one looking from the balcony, and some members of an awesome family in our branch. I'm sad that not all the family is present in the picture, but I'll try and get a pic with the whole family later. Also, in the picture, the girl second from the right, Daniela, is a return missionary! She served in Chile. She's really fun and nice and likes to help us work, AND her sister lives in Salt Lake City!!! Her sister, Jessica Walker, served her mission in the Salt Lake Temple and decided to stay in Utah afterwards. She's now married and whatnot. Daniela plans to move to Utah, too, which would be awesome. So that's just another of those small world stories.

The World Cup here is going good. It is definitely crazy here, though. The day that Argentina played, we left our pench to walk like 10 minutes to a member's house. During that short time I saw a car accident, about 10 feet from me. It wasn't bad, and of course they just drove off after looking at the damage, but it was still intense. People were running around like crazy so they could be in their homes in time for the Argentina vs. Nigeria match, so that was fun.

Things are getting so much more fun, especially now that I can understand a lot more. I'm getting comfortable to the point that I can make jokes and everything pretty easily in Spanish, which is pretty cool. One of the pictures I'm sending you is a picture someone painted on the side of a building about Casilda. It says "La Cuidad que queres" which is the vos form. The vos form is spoken only here in Argentina, and if you ask any Argentine, Castellano is a completely different language than Spanish, but of course they're mostly the same.

Well, today we don't have much planned, we're not going to travel to Rosario because we don't have much money (it's very expensive to travel) so we're just going to hang out here. I'm going to take the church money over to deposit, which like you asked me, can be deposited here in Casilda.

I could really use that tracting bag that we had seen in Missionary Mall before my mission. We are not allowed use backpacks here, only side bags, and the one I bought here is already falling apart! I had bought it in Feliciano, but unfortunately it was not good quality, and not made for the constant use of missionary life. So if you could send it to me, it would really help me a lot, so thank you!

During my mission, I have been blessed with the opportunity to be able to share the gospel with many families. Many people are concerned and believe that this life is the end, and I promise and testify that it is not. I know that we will all live again after this life as families. This is the great plan that we're all part of. I know that we all knew this plan before this life and accepted it. We knew one day we'd all be reunited again, and this is because of the love of our Heavenly Father. I know that He loves us all, and will comfort us in our trials when we pray to him. I know these things are true because they've been revealed to us by God through the prophets. Life is still hard, were it not we wouldn't learn the many things we've learned during our short lives, but we need not worry about what happens after this life. The plan is made and the course is set, we'll all live after this life and God loves us all. I know these things of a certainty, and I also know that all of us, being sons and daughters of God, have the equal opportunity to learn these things for ourselves, and to feel the love of our Heavenly Father through prayer.

I love you all very much, and pray for you always. Good luck to my buddy Jared who enters the MTC this Wednesday. I know he'll do great, he is going to love the MTC!!! It's such a fun and spiritual place.

I look forward to hearing from you all next week!!!

Love,
Eric

This is the picture where the Vos form of Castellano is written on the side of the building

I'm not sure what we are supposed to be looking at in this picture....but maybe this car is looking pretty good to Eric after all the walking the missionaries do!

The pench is on the top floor

Looking from the balcony of the pench

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All is well

The largest LDS church in South America, in Rosario, Argentina

Eric with another elder, perhaps doing divisions or splits

Hello family!!!

Just got through reading your email and seeing the pictures, it looks like you've been having fun!!! The motorcycle trip and the hike look like a blast!! I'm glad to see that. I too am sending some pics, though not that exciting, ha ha. I especially like the pictures of the snake Dad caught. The only area I've seen snakes so far was in Feliciano, and it was only twice.

Right now I'm writing before we leave for Rosario to play futbol (soccer) and eat at the buffet again!! The whole zone will be there, which will be fun, and then tomorrow we have zone conference. I don't think I mentioned it, but last P-day we played soccer at the biggest LDS church in South America! I took a picture, but it's hard to tell the size. The road in front of it is all cobblestone!! It's very nice and reminded me of Spain, except that it's a VERY WIDE ROAD! So I'll send the photo so you can see it.

You asked me about the family that Elder Petersen and I found while doing divisions together. Yes, we just knocked on the door, and the lady answered, and when I told her our names and that we were missionaries, she just said "Pasen" (enter) and let us come right on in, it was cool! She was just one of those awesome contacts, and we gave the first lesson to the family right then. The spirit was very strong, and we committed them to be baptized right then! It was like a miracle because she was MARRIED, because there are so many people here who would like to be baptized but can't because they aren't married. But that family is not in my area, it is Elder Petersen's area, and he says they are all doing good and getting ready for baptism!

Everything is going good in Casilda, our branch here has around 20 members who generally attend, so we're all very close and good friends, which makes it very easy for me to give talks and announcements weekly. Being secretary is a fun job, too, I really enjoy it, although I have to be very careful with what I do. For example, right now I'm walking around with a thousand pesos from tithing and fast offerings that I need to go deposit, and the Church card, so it's a little scary because I'd hate to lose it. I'm not worried, though, Casilda is a very peaceful area, there's hardly any crime, and it's a very safe area.

A funny thing about Argentines is that they think it's very dangerous. Every time we ask for directions at night, they'll tell us how to get to the house we're looking for, but then they tell us not to go there or we might die! Well, there are plenty of dangerous Argentine areas, for example Rosario, but Casilda is not one of them. The people here are really good though, and great to work with.

Yes, we had the 200 year Argentina celebration, although here in Casilda it wasn't too big a deal. They had a parade and that was about it.

It rains a lot here in Argentina, and very strong. The weather's changing still and some days are pleasant and others very cold. Everyone is gearing up for the World Cup. I hear that every house we pass by will have a soccer game on the TV. We can't watch the games, but we'll know what is going on.

Yes, we have many strange bugs here. Yesterday we saw a spider almost as big as my hand, literally. It was like an animal!

I'm doing great here, but now I have to leave already. I love you all very much and love all you do for me!!!!! I'm glad to see you're having fun and enjoying the great weather!!!

Love you all!!!
Eric

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