Two meetings with the special speaker

Fun with the zone on Pday

Elder Aidukaitis with President and Hermana Villalba

Hey everyone!!

Mom, it sounds like your birthday was a fun experience for everyone!! Happy birthday!

Whew, today I am so tired! I hope I don't fall asleep as I'm typing. I'm very excited to be writing you all, of course, but we just got done playing some intense soccer and "flying." For soccer we played Utah vs. everyone else, which ended up being 4 on 4. Unfortunately, we lost by one, but still had a lot of fun! We also played some dodgeball, mini dodgeball because we had the hermanas playing, but we played it with the kind of flat soccer ball we played soccer with, but it was fun. Then we learned how to "fly", which can't be described well, so just know it's pretty cool. It's basically just a psychological trick that someone taught us that makes you think you're flying.

Yes, I received the Priesthood Line of Authority and love it, thanks, but not the Pruebas book yet.

Well, I guess the coolest thing by far that happened this week was the training meeting on Tuesday with Elder Aidukaitis of the 70 and the Zone Conference with him on Wednesday. Both meetings were awesome and way cool! He's definitely the best public speaker I've heard from personally. The leader meeting was probably the best, because he has this gift to be able to bajar la cana, in English "drop cane" the whole time (or criticise) in a funny way that makes you really want to do better, and doesn't make you feel bad. It was an intense four hours straight of him talking to the district/zone leaders in the mission, dropping cane for 4 hours, but I loved it because we learned a lot!! Throughout the time he would have us stand or sit, if we did something or didn't do something, and if we were lacking he'd come up to the elders who didn't do the certain task good enough, ask them if they needed some sugar or if they wanted it straight and direct, and then dropped cane on them. I'll be honest, I really flew under the radar. In fact, I was just about the only one who didn't get cane dropped, instead I got a personal congratulation due to goal setting, and then the next day at zone conference he personally congratulated me again, but with my hijo that time. I'm not telling that to be prideful, because I'd be lying if I said I was perfect and couldn't use plenty of cane droppings. But I will say that I got VERY LUCKY and I LOVE GETTING LUCKY!!!! P.S. The reason I got congratulated was because I was the only person that made or exceeded the goals I set on the certain day he chose. Anyway, so it was way cool to be able to shake his hand and all that, but really it was just because I got very lucky.

He's a really funny guy, too, but also very serious about his work. He tells us that we should be baptising every week, so I'll really have to pick it up and start baptising weekly!! So that's kind of scary, but we're going to have to start baptising every week, I don't know how, but we'll do it!!!

Anyway, though, he's a really cool guy, he speaks good Spanish, although he said a few things kind of funny because he's from Brazil so speaks Portuguese, but overall speaks really good. He can also speak some English. I'd love to see him go up as an apostle. We didn't get to take our own pictures of our zone with Elder Aidukaitis, because he was doing back to back zone conferences, and he didn't want to take the time to have everyone setting their self-timers on their cameras and stuff, so he wanted only one picture taken, with the mission camera. They were supposed to email it out to all of us, but of course they didn't, so I don't know if we will ever get that picture. While they were taking a different zone's picture, I grabbed that picture I am sending you with my camera, so you can see him in the picture next to President.

So this past leadership meeting wasn't technically training, it was just cane dropping to whip us into shape, and this Wednesday, in two days, we're having the official leadership training with President Villalba. I'm way excited because I love these leadership training things, so I'll surely let you know how it goes.

Well, the work here is going well, also the hijo and the district are doing really good. I'm excited because tomorrow I give a taller (workshop) which I still haven't planned yet, but I will. I love this area, it's sooooo good, and just everything is going good. Our church assistance (attendance) is growing, and we have a few investigators attending. We have the perfect area, we have both extremes, it's rich, but not too rich, and it also has an awesome villa (villa is the ghetto slum area.) Most of the area is super clean, and like half our area is paved, and half is dirt roads. LOTS OF DOGS DOGS DOGS DOGS DOGS! In fact, last week I got nipped by a little one. Dogs are always barking and threatening us, in which case we do the baile (pretend to pick up a rock to throw) or we just let them be because they're just territorial and won't attack, they're just acting like it. But one little dog, just out of nowhere, as I walked by nipped my pants! It was crazy, and now I have a pair of pants with a bite hole in them! Don't worry, he only got the pants and didn't touch the skin or do any damage to me, it was pretty funny though.

Well, I've got to get going now. I love you guys, and wish the best. Thanks for all you do!!

Love,
Eric

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Baby blessings

Two missionaries trying to follow the example of Jesus

The kitchen in the Pergamino pench

The clothes in the blue bucket on the floor are going to be hand washed

Hey family! Firstly, congratulations to Maya and Marisa and David for the baby blessing and for making the decision to have it done! I loved seeing the photos and hearing about how everything went. I'm glad the blessing went well, and that all the relatives could get together. I remember reading in the New Testament and in the Book of Mormon, when Christ said "Let the children come unto me" (I forgot exactly how it goes in English) and He blessed the little children with the power of God which he had, being the Son of God. Later, he gave that same power to his apostles, to bless the lives of others. I'm just so happy to hear about the baby blessing, because I know that the same power of God, the Priesthood, which Christ and his apostles had, has been restored on the earth for us today, and that worthy followers of Christ can receive this power to be able to bless the lives of God's children here on earth. This is that same power that's used to move mountains and heal people! I know Maya was blessed with this power of God and this is the absolute best thing that has occurred in her life so far!! I know I wasn't there, but I feel like a part of it!! I often think of all the blessings I've received as a member of the church, and that's why I'm so happy Maya is receiving these blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's really ironic to me is that this Sunday in church here in Argentina, we also had baby blessings! Two babies were blessed. I got to stand in the circle to bless the baby, and I felt the love of our Heavenly Father so strong. That was a special meeting, we had about 80 people there, because lots of family and friends came to see the blessings. Many people came to our church that weren't members that day.

I also had the rare opportunity to be able to conduct that sacrament meeting until the bishop came, which was shortly after the hymns, prayers and announcements, so it was a pretty cool opportunity. Bishop called me right at 9 o'clock in the morning, right when it starts, and told me that both him and his counselor were running late, and that I should start it and conduct it. I was a little nervous, but I was okay once I started. I welcomed everyone, and after the blessings, I asked the mothers of the babies that were blessed to stand up and be recognized, because that's how our ward at home always does it. Both the mothers were crying after the blessing and during the whole testimony meeting, it was a great meeting, it was really cool. So it made me feel like I was a part of Maya's baby blessing a little bit.

Well, regarding me, I'm doing good still. Tomorrow I'm going to Rosario to meet with all the district and zone leaders where we're going to have a special meeting with a Seventy, I think his name is Elder Adukatis. The next day we're also going to have zone conference with him! This week we will also have some special leadership training with President Villalba which I'm really excited for. So for that time while I am gone, my hijo (Elder Larson) will stay with some other elders that aren't going to Rosario, so he'll have his first sleepover.

My hump day was pretty good, we ate lots of empanadas and just hung out! I didn't burn anything though, but it was really fun. (Some missionaries burn a tie or a shirt to celebrate their hump day, or one-year mark, so we had asked Eric if he did.) I received all your letters and THANK YOU!!! They were awesome, I loved them all. Thanks for the tie! Thanks for all the cards, letters, they were great. Thanks also for the dvd's, although I should tell you before you send more....that I already have all the dvd's from the church, because you can get them from the mission. But thanks just the same, I gave them to my hijo who so far had none, so he's grateful too! I really loved getting all the letters and gifts and just hearing from everyone, and seeing all the notes on the tie and in the letters from the whole family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can see from the picture, I bought a really sweet 2 dollar orange watch to go with that orange tie!

Yes, we had the Census here, but it wasn't anything special. You just have to stay in your house that day until they come by and ask you questions and then you can leave. They asked us questions like, "Can you read?" and "Do you have a bed?" etc.

Things are going great here, but the requirements to get the Standards just changed this past week, so now you can't get the Standards unless you have a baptism and a confirmation, along with all the other dats. So that's pretty crazy! But the area's going really good and we're really enjoying it! My hijo's doing good and so is my district.

You asked so I'll explain a little bit about what it means to be a district leader. I call the companionships in my district every night to make sure they're safe, and to see if they need help or anything. Every Tuesday I teach a lesson to my district for one hour, teaching how to do a certain theme. Last week was how to teach the restoration, and the week previously was how to set goals. P.S. Thanks Dad, I used one of your articles about how to plan and set goals effectively to help teach that class. I really enjoy being district leader, I think it's fun. Also, I will do the baptism interviews for the people in my district.

Everyone keeps asking me about my ears. They are alright, but they still clog sometimes, I guess I'll just have to accept it. Maybe I'll try using that spray some more, but it just seemed like it didn't do anything when I was using it, but I could have been more faithful. I'll try using it some more, Mom.

Well, it's been a really good week, we've had a lot of fun and are helping a lot of people. I love the work, and miss you all. I love hearing from you weekly, and I especially loved hearing about the baby blessing. Thanks for all your support and all that you guys do for me!

Love,
Eric

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40 New Investigators!

Because Eric wasn't able to send any pictures this week, I found these views of Pergamino online so that we can see the area he is serving in now.

Aerial view of Pergamino, which is a small
agricultural city

Downtown street scene

Looking out over the city

Arroyo de Pergamino. This stream cuts right through the middle of the city.

An interesting old church not far from Eric's pench, although this is not the LDS church

Hey family, what's up!!! Hey, I hope everybody's doing great!! Those are some really good shots you got of Maya, and the camel just made me laugh. Unfortunately, this computer isn't working good so I can't send photos of the pench, but for sure I will next week.

Anyway, we're doing great here in Ameghino. (Ameghino is the area in Pergamino that Eric is assigned to work in.) This week we found 40 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!!!! Which is like a record, so they did a special highlight type thing about us in the mission newsletter. Some of the investigators we found are really cool people with real potential. We also have plans on finding lots more people. We got 67 contacts this week! We have been working really hard.

The district is doing really good too! Their dats (statistics or numbers) were much better this week, and they're starting to get really animated. I was wondering if Dad could send me some articles on how to keep a positive attitude always. One of my hermanas, the Hermana Rocinos, was really depressed in her area and everything at first. I told her to use a watch and do a 7 minute prayer each night, giving thanks, nothing more nothing less, and that I would do the same at night. She actually did it, and my district has done all the things I've told them to do! I love having hermanas in my district, they listen!!! Anyway, so she is doing way better now, but I would still like to have some articles or something like that if Dad has anything like that, to help my district more.

Wow, today was fun. We got together with the whole zone in our church and played volleyball, although then one of the players on my team accidentally hit one of the hermanas in the face with the ball, and then they left. She was okay, though. After that all the elders kept playing but we played a lot more intense, it was fun. After that we came back to the pench and we watched the "Mountain of the Lord" (a movie about the building of the Salt Lake Temple) on my DVD player (a portable unit with a 7 inch screen) with the zone leaders, and then came here to the ciber. It was a fun day.

I was wondering if you have seen like a "dispensations of time line" type of thing. Just like a time line with all the prophets and things on it and stuff. Just something I could maybe use in teaching. I don't even know it if exists, just an idea I had. Anyway, my kid's doing great, he is already able to do a little bit of talking in lessons. He still surprises me how well he understands and speaks for his time in the mission, although sometimes he messes up and we laugh about it afterwards.

Anyway, I love you all very much, and thank you for all that you do!!! All is good here. Thanks for all the help and everything!!!

Love,
Eric

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Saturday was the best day ever!

Eric with the new missionary he is training (Elder Larson) and President and Sister Villalba

Eric and Elder Larson on the grounds of the mission home

Three generations of missionaries living under the same roof. Trainee Elder Larson, Trainer Eric, and the elder who trained Eric, Elder Peterson. (Or as they refer to it in mission slang: son, dad and grandpa!)

The four missionaries sharing the pench in Pergamino: Elder Larson, Elder Rallison, Elder Peterson and Elder Hanson

This picture was taken on Eric's last day in Rincon. I think the man in the picture is Julio, who got baptised the day after Eric left for his new area.

Hey family, what's up!!!! I hope everybody's doing great!! Ha ha, those are funny pictures of Maya, she is really cute.

There were lots of changes for me this transfer. I am training! And I was also made District Leader! And I have been assigned to the zone Pergamino, in the area called Ameghino. It's in the small city of Pergamino, and it is the only zone in our mission in Buenos Aires province. I am SUPER EXCITED to be in my area, although the previous missionaries here had no success at all. So the entire zone has been whitewashed, and we are going to change all that! And that's not all! I'm in a four man pench with my dad! (Elder Peterson) So basically we have son, dad (me) and grandpa in the same pench! I don't know if that has ever happened before in a mission, and it has to be pretty rare because there are 200 missionaries in our mission! And then of course, we have the outsider, Elder Rallison, but he's a cool guy and fun to have in the pench, but he's just not family, ha ha. So I'm sending you a three generation picture. Also one of all four of us in the pench.

First I want to tell you about leaving Rincon. I left Friday, and Saturday we had two more baptisms! I was so happy, but it was hard not to be there for the baptisms. Elder Romero (Eric's previous comp) stayed in Rincon, and he is training this transfer too, so he and his new hijo (son) from Colombia did the baptisms. I was so happy to hear that they got baptised, and then that they were confirmed Sunday, woohoo! I am going to miss those people so much. We have several more baptisms in Rincon that should be taking place next week, but in our mission you can't go back for the baptisms, no matter what. But I am still super happy that all of these people are starting on the path to their eternal progression!

It's hard to believe how connected this whole transfer is. My hijo (son) is from ................................. (drum roll here) ............................... Dallas Texas!!! (Jared's mission!) So now Elder Romero and I are both training, my hijo is from the mission of my best friend, and I'm in the same pench with my dad.

On Friday, I went along with the other trainers to the mission home and President Villalba talked with us for a while. He told me that my hijo speaks very well, and wow that's true! For just arriving here, he speaks awesome. Naturally he doesn't understand everything, nor can he say everything like a seasoned missionary, but he speaks and understands a lot better than most missionaries coming from the MTC. He's way cool and loves to work. He is a stud, and I think he's training me more than anything, ha ha. Encima, (on top of everything else) we have a really fun pench, and often have brother battle type stuff, so he's born in a good home. He loves the people already, but is a little nervous like all nuevos. (newbies) Our first day we did lots of contacts. We found 6 new investigators in a couple of hours which is great success!!! Near the end of the day I asked my comp if he wanted to try a contact (I had been doing them all). He said he was scared but he'd try. So he got WAY FOCUSED on one door to prepare himself to speak, and he knocked the door. Well, the person slid open the window to the right (where he wasn't expecting) and so he got nervous and just said "hola" (hello) and stared at her and smiled, like a deer in the headlights for a good ten seconds or more! So finally I had to jump in, ha ha, it was so funny, and a lot more funny stuff like that happened but I don't have time to tell you.

As far as the area goes, I LOVE IT!!!!!!! I am the District Leader over me and my companion and four hermanas (sister missionaries) which I love already. A lot of people don't like being leader over the hermanas because they think they are needy, but I like it and they're way cool. (A note to Eric's sisters: it seems that you have trained him well!) Elder Peterson and Rallison are the zone leaders.

The new pench is awesome (zone leader penches are always just a little better than the rest) because we have the best shower in the mission, with the exception of the mission home!!! It has good pressure and lots of hot water!!!!! Also, for the first time in my mission, I have running water in the whole pench!!!!!!!!!!

When we arrived in our new area Friday night, our area had zero programados, zero investigators, zero contacts, and not a single thing. There has not been a baptism in this entire zone for several transfers!!!! The previous missionaries had gotten discouraged and gave up and had no success. The last investigator they had was written in the area book, and it was from 3 months ago, and he fell. So it's basically like we're opening up a new area, but that's okay.

At first the members weren't too excited to see us, but the first day when we got here I started calling the bishop, mission leader and everyone to let them know that we are here to work. I think they started to get excited because they see us willing to do whatever it takes! I have already found us someone to wash our clothes, but so far I have not found us very many lunches yet, just twice a week so far, but I will keep working on it because it really helps us work better. We have a small ward, only 20 people, but we have plans to increase this A LOT.

I GOT YOUR PACKAGE THAT YOU SENT WITH THE KRADOLFERS! (They are a wonderful couple who were traveling to Argentina and took a package for Eric in their suitcase and then dropped it off at the mission home.) When I went to the mission home to get my son, I was able to get my package, and I love it! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I love the socks, and thanks everyone for the DVD player! I love all the stuff you sent me in that package, thanks so much! So now I have everything I need, and a DVD player to use to help teach the families that couldn't watch our church dvd's any other way! So I'm way excited, and it's so great to have socks to walk in and acne meds too. I love all the letters and things like that!!!

It's a lot of fun training a nuevo, but pretty intense, because I realize that whatever I do with him now is what he'll do for the rest of his mission, and will influence what kind of missionary he turns out to be. It's quite a responsibility to be a trainer, and not everyone gets the opportunity. It's hard to start him out in a new area like ours that has absolutely nothing going, but we were able to find a great part member family and they came to church this Sunday, so we had one investigator in church, which is good for one day of work! I think she wants to be baptised, but the problem is that she has to get married with her husband, and they have problems. Were going to work with them and continue finding tons of people! I am planning to fill the chapel (it's a huge chapel with capacity for about 100) by the end of this transfer, ha ha! I'm loving it here. Saturday, our first day working here, and knowing that my two investigators in Rincon were being baptised, was the best day ever!!!!!!!!

Well, I better finish, just want to tell you all how much I love you and thank you for all you do!!!

Love you all!!!!!!!!
Eric

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Three baptisms

The baptism of Elias. Elias is in white, standing closest to Eric.

This picture was taken at Elias' baptism, but shows both of the boys Eric baptised (one on Saturday and the other on Tuesday.) Elias is in blue and Laoreano is in red.

Stella's baptism

Stella with her family at her baptism

Elder Romero and Eric at the baptism of Laoreano

At Laoreano's baptism

This is one of the boys from a family they reactivated in Yapeyu. They happened to meet again by chance at the church building on the day of Elias' baptism.

Hey family, how's it going!!! I'm writing you late because yesterday I had no time to write! I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing good. Yesterday was a great day, but it was very full.

Well, this past week was awesome. We got the Standards again, which is always good, and we had 3 baptisms!!! Saturday we had the baptism of Elias! He's an awesome kid and is 9 years old. Then Tuesday, yesterday, we had two baptisms, Laoreano, who is 8 years old, and Stella, who is 27. I baptised the two young'uns and my comp baptised Stella. It was such a good baptism. I have lots of photos to send you from them, so I can't send them all today, but I will send a few from each baptism, as many as I can in the time I have today.

I'll tell you a little bit about each. Elias Ortega, who recently turned 9, is one of a bunch of kids in his family. He is somewhere in the middle, and has two younger sisters who are not old enough to be baptised yet. He also has 3 or 4 older brothers, and they're all baptised. The whole family are members, but they just aren't active. We are working on reactivating them, and the whole family came to church on Sunday, to see the confirmation of their son. We'll keep working with the family!

Now I'll tell you about Stella. Stella was an absolute gift we received, because we didn't even have to work super hard to find her or anything. She called us one day and said she wanted to be baptised. Naturally we were quite shocked, but she explained how she had talked with the missionaries about 6 months ago, and wanted to be baptised then but couldn't because she was living with her boyfriend. She then explained how she had separated from him and wants to change her life, be baptised, etc. So we passed by her house and found that she really is a woman that wants to change her life!!!!!!!!!!!! And also that she already knows a lot that we would be teaching her!!!!!!!! We also found that she smokes about 20 cigarettes a day!!!! So basically our job with Stella was to keep helping and teaching her, but most of all help her to quit smoking. She went from 20 cigarettes a day, gradually to NONE! The really cool thing is that all her friends smoke and are always offering her cigarettes, and making fun of her for converting to being a Mormon, and she doesn't mind a bit because she is so happy to be a member. Well, she gave up smoking and did everything she needed to, so we baptised her Tuesday, in one of the most spiritual baptisms I've had. In the service, Jorge Franco, who is the cop in the picture and her brother-in-law I think, gave his testimony and a talk, and Stella cried and cried. It was such a cool baptism. It was really cool helping her and everything, although it wasn't easy. But what I've learned is that if a person really wants to stop smoking, they'll do it. For Stella, we did a lot of things to help her, like we always had to call her, and she'd tell us how hard it was, etc. but she did it, and she's happy now she gave it up!!! Anyway, so she's a great lady.

Laoreano is the first member of his family to be baptised. His parents are new to the church, and we're now going to baptise the whole family soon! We were inspired to knock their house, and they accepted us happily. So Laoreano was baptised first, because he took some of the lessons with his friend Elias. Both of those boys were certainly fun to teach, it was always a party. But they both love the gospel and they love coming to church. So now we need to teach the rest of the family a few more lessons and they need to attend church some more, and they are planning to be baptised!!!

We had Super Saturday in our church this past Saturday, and the whole stake came to Rincon!!! So, if you're wondering who the kid in the non-baptism picture is, he is one of the kids of a member family that we reactivated in Yapeyu! (Eric's previous area.) He's an awesome kid too, and as you can see he is active still, although he said his mom is falling a bit. Anyway, I'd love to tell you more about Super Saturday and all the people from my last area that I saw, but I have no time.

So as you can imagine, yesterday was hectic. In the morning my comp and I went to the church in Santa Fe, the stake center, for the zone Pday activity. We got there at 9 but nobody else in the zone showed up till 11! To pass the time we played ping pong. We didn't have the paddles or a net, but we improvised. So we ended up playing ping pong with erasers as paddles, it works pretty good actually. It was fun, and after that we watched a dvd called "Journey of Faith" that talks about the Book of Mormon, and then the whole zone finally arrived and they put on a movie, and brought all the equipment to play ping pong, foosball, soccer, everything, but we had to leave!!! It was hard because everyone just got there, but we had to leave to go back so we could fill up the baptismal font. Then after that we had the two baptisms, and after the baptisms we played soccer with Elias, Laoreano and all their brothers and friends. After that we talked to Rocio who desperately wants to be baptised, but can't due to her mother's decision. (?)

I was able to go to Rosario to do my paper work a few days ago, it was fun to go to Rosario. What I was doing was applying to get the new Argentine identification card thing. We went in a group of about 8, and we had to wait in lines forever to do it, and it took a lot of time, but was necessary due to new regulations in Argentina. After we passed by the only Burger King in our mission.

Unfortunately I have still never gotten those 3 packages, but thanks for sending them. In the next package, please send lots of socks. I'm down to 3 pairs. All are destroyed or lost. I think the lady that washes my socks is throwing them away because they have such huge holes in them, which is bad, but better than no socks!!!! So now all I have are the three pairs with huge holes, I know you tried to send me socks and they never arrived, but hopefully we'll have better luck with the next batch, so please send TONS of socks!!! (Socks are on their way to Eric, and he should be receiving them soon! I wish I could tell him to just go out and buy a few pairs until the package arrives, but he won't be able to read anything I write to him until his next Pday. And missionaries never shop or do personal errands unless it is on their Pday.)

Anyway, the new elders that were supposed to be arriving in our mission all got delayed, so transfers got put off until Friday, and we still haven't been told what transfers are. So no one will find out until Thursday (or at least us common folk won't know until Thursday) although we have connections so maybe we'll be able to find out earlier, but as of now, we know nothing!! Will try to let you know where I'll be when I find out!

Well, anyway, I have to go, just know I love you all and am grateful for all you do!!! Thanks for your support and I will write soon!!!

Love,
Eric

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We were blessed like crazy this week!

Santa Fe zone on P-Day, October 11, 2010. It looks like Eric set the self-timer on his camera and made it into the picture just in time.

The sign on the outside of the church building. You can see the fence in the reflection.

Elder Romero during a break in the soccer game


The soccer field at the church. Looking through the fence, it seems that many people keep horses in their backyards. (Click on the picture to see it larger.)

Hey family, what's up! I am doing great here! I just had a stupor of thought as I sat here trying to figure out how I could say everything in English, but all of the sudden now I've got it! It took a few minutes, ha ha!

After I first read your letter and saw the pictures, we had to leave for a little bit. While we were out, I got an alfajor just like the one you are holding in the pics! Yes, that is a terrabusi alfajor and seeing it made me hungry! So I just ate one like the one that you guys bought at that store.

Today was a good day. We started out joining the zone where we played some really good and intense 3 on 3 soccer. The teams were me, my comp and a Chilean elder, against Banks, Demke and a new elder from Peru. Anyway, it was a good intense game, mostly because I was playing with and against very good people! In the end, we won, probably because we had 2 Latins on our team. Anyway, after that we were supposed to have pancakes and watch a movie. After waiting around a while, we got two tiny pancakes each and we never did get to watch a movie. So I was a little bummed out because I was looking forward to watching a movie with the zone, but at least we had played some good soccer. So we were starving so we went to McDonalds, and then we came to a very far away ciber, because today is a holiday, so everything is closed and it was hard to find a ciber open! Today is Dia de la Raza, or Race Day, so maybe us Americans will get some respect today!!! (Race Day is the Argentine celebration of Columbus Day, which honors all the different races that help to make their culture unique.) So anyway, it was a good day!

After this letter, we have to go to Walmart where I'll take and print out pictures which I will have to use to apply to stay here in Argentina, it's like renewing a visa or something. This Wednesday I'm going to the mission home with Elder Troncoso, a Chileano, and from there we'll travel to do some paper work. I'm excited to go to Rosario, and there's a Burger King there, so I'll be able to eat good. The bad thing is that I have to leave for Rosario at about 3 in the morning!! But it's okay, I'm excited to go just the same!

This week was awesome work-wise. We had the blessing of having 8 investigators in the church (the most in the whole mission!) I hope that doesn't come across as prideful, but believe me, it wasn't us, we were just blessed like crazy! Two of them were the friends of Elias, the kid that is going to be baptized this Saturday!! We should have a couple of baptisms this Saturday, Rocio, Elias, and possibly Eduardo or Stella. Oh, and we got the Standards again! So yeah, it was a good week, I really like Rincon!!!

Next week is transfers already! So that means Tuesday is when you'll get an email from me. We had interviews a few days ago in the stake center, and IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! The first and best part was that I got to see Diego, my convert from my old area, in the church building!!! He was attending a seminary class!!! Yay, still active and assisting (attending) a seminary class in a building that isn't even his own!! He told me how happy he is and how much better his life is now!! Even if he hadn't said that, I can testify of it just by his appearance. He really is a perfect example of how the Lord can change the life of anyone, and make them happy! He was way happy to see me, and after that, I had my interview with President, who was equally happy!!! President asked me if I wanted to train, but I don't think I'm going to train for a bit, I think he was just asking it to see how I responded. At least that's what he told me. Anyway, it truly was a joy to see Diego there in the church, and to speak with the mission president.

Regarding email, we are allowed to receive and read emails from other elders, but I can't actually email back. So send Jared both my email address as well as the mission home address. Also, please send me his address. I'll have to snail mail him, at least that's what I think, I'll double check to see if could email him, but I don't think so.

Anyway, all is good here, I've got to head out now because we've still got to hit up Walmart and do those official photos, and I've got to buy some doughnuts so I can feel American. I love you all and thank you for all you do!!! I will talk to you next week,

Love,
Eric

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Loved General Conference

A few months ago, I had asked Eric to take a picture of one of his pairs of shoes, so I could see how they were holding up. This picture shows his shoes after about 6 months in Argentina. With most of the roads being dirt, sand or mud, this is probably typical of how his shoes always look.

This is a new, identical pair of shoes that are currently on their way to Eric. By the time he receives them, he will probably need them.

Hey family, how's it going!!!! Happy birthday, Dad! I hope everyone is doing good!!! Aca andamos (one of the most common phrases here.) Things are going really good here!! We managed to get the Standards this week, which was amazing because all our five investigators that came had to spend a lot of money, travel for 30 minutes in the bus, and walk 30 more minutes to get to church this week, and yet they came to church!!!! We were definitely blessed, because most of the time it seems people struggle to walk a block to get to church!

Today was a good day, too. We found out that interviews are going to be in all of the missionaries' penches this month! So we cleaned our pench really good this morning, including one room which is basically a big dump. (Believe it or not, many penches have this.) Whenever we have stuff we don't quite know what to do with, we just open the door and randomly throw whatever it is in the room and close the door before the dusty air escapes. We've done it since I've been here, and so have missionaries for the past however many years. So you can imagine the amount of stuff in there! It's been like that in a lot of the penches I've lived in so far. We worked hard all morning and cleaned the room and the pench is pretty good now, although we need to cut the grass! Cutting down the grass here is something different. The most common way is with a machete, or sometimes a weedwhacker. I've only seen about two machines for cutting grass here the whole time, and believe me, they are not really lawnmowers, they are sort of weedwhackers on wheels. So mostly everybody just uses machetes to cut the grass, they just hack away all day and night cutting the grass. I really want to take a photo because it's really funny to see entire families with their kids and all, outside all hacking away at the earth with their machetes. It's usually an all day (and sometimes several day) activity to cut it, too!

Well, after cleaning the pench, we went to the closest place we could get to America, or in other words, Walmart. I took my suits in to be drycleaned because now because of the warmer weather, I am no longer going to use them till next winter or zone conferences and stuff. We then played some awesome soccer with the zone, just like last week, and dominated everyone. I think we won 20 times in a row, ha ha! There are 3 teams, and the team that loses leaves and the other team rotates in. We NEVER LEFT, cause we never lost. I can't really take credit for our amazing success though, but I will anyway because the person making all the goals was my companion! He plays really good!! Anyway, after that we hit up McDonald's with the zone leaders, which was fun too, because we have really good zone leaders. Then we came here to use the internet.

I apologize today because I don't have the right camera card with the pictures, so I can't send any pics, but next week for sure I'll send some. Please tell Nana and Papa thank you, I got their letter and they told me all about the happenings in Lopez, it was a great letter!

Well, this past week was good, I absolutely loved General Conference, the part I heard at least. We watched the Saturday morning session with a member while eating lunch, it was really cool and I loved it. (We watched via the internet.) The afternoon session we weren't able to see, so I was sad. Also, we missed the priesthood session which really made me sad. I heard it was awesome. (Mom's note: If I remember correctly, the missionaries in Eric's mission are only permitted to watch the Saturday and Priesthood sessions if they have an investigator with them; if not, they go out to work as usual.) For Sunday, we were able to go to the stake center itself and watch the conference!!! Ha ha, Mom and Dad, the funny thing is that as you were watching it in Spanish for me, I watched it all in English! That's really funny that we watched it in opposite languages, what a switch! So thanks for trying, even though it turned out opposite, hopefully you understood some of it. I loved all the talks (except maybe the one about the stuff in the tree from the guy with the strong accent, maybe I would have understood it better in Spanish.) I loved all the talks and learned a lot from them. We, all the American elders, watched the conference in English in a classroom, and it was awesome!! It was awesome to be able to peacefully watch the conference on a TV with a group of about 8 guys, with big desks and room to spread out and take notes. In addition, we had tons of food and snacks to eat the whole time. I loved it and wanted more conference! My comp, of course, watched it in Spanish in the chapel with the members and investigators, so we split up (divisions) for a bit. It was a really good conference, I loved all the talks, and I hope you guys enjoyed it too.

You asked what I needed, and I don't need too much, but this is what I do need....SOCKS!!!! It seems every time the lady washes my clothes, a pair of socks is missing. Socks are something that I never have enough of, so please send lots of socks! In addition, the few pairs of socks I have left, have holes already, so please send lots of socks, I can never have too many socks.

One other thing that would be really nice is to have a watch (cheap) that could clip onto my bag. It doesn't have to look good or anything. Also, I am almost out of acne medicine.

Our investigators are progressing, hopefully we'll get a baptism or two before the end of the transfer. The people of Rincon are doing good also. To answer your questions, lots of times they just eat with a spoon instead of a fork, which is frustrating at times with pasta and noodles! Also sometimes you'll see an Argentine who tries to keep to the Italian ways and uses the fork and spoon together. But they use knives and forks, too.

I also wanted to ask if you could send more photos, the printed out type. Any photos will do, I'd especially like photos of my baptism (I think you have some) or any photos with church stuff in it, to be able to show investigators. Also, just whatever other fun or exciting or boring photos that you have, I'd like those too!

My comp and I get along great, he's an awesome guy, and I love having an Argentine comp. My Spanish is doing good, and he teaches me some culture stuff sometimes, and some soccer stuff. He's a great guy and lots of fun.

Well, to close I'd just like to say I love you all very much, and appreciate all you do. Thanks for the support, prayers, letters, and everything else you do for me, have done, and will do. Thanks for all the help, I love you all and will write again next week!!!

Love,
Eric

Since Eric did not send any pictures this week, I went online and found these scenic shots of Rincon.

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