Heavenly Father is in control

Eric's companion, Elder Towner

March 2011 Mission Council at the Mission Home.

(I don't think Eric is quite as tall as he appears. I think he and Elder Bryce are standing on a taller piece of furniture.)

Hello!!! Hey family, how is everybody!!! It's great to hear from you again this week and to see that everyone's doing good. We also had an excellent week here. Some inactive people came back to church for the first time, and many of those were Melchizedek priesthood holders. Since I first got here, both our assistance (attendance) and priesthood has increased in the ward, which is always nice to see. Our ward has responded very well to the "15 Family List" which is just a list of 15 inactive or less active families that we try to reactivate. What happens is someone from the ward contacts them and asks if the missionaries can pass by. If the person accepts, we pass by and help them come back to church; or they can reject in which case we don't do anything and then we just add another family's name on the list for us to visit and teach and reactivate. It's a great system because both the ward and the missionaries are involved, and it helps the people feel more loved. It's working pretty good out here, although we were hoping to find more part member families doing this, so we could also get some baptisms, but for right now, just a lot of complete families or individuals coming back to church, which is good too.

Regarding your package, yes, I got it! I was told on Thursday that my package arrived at the mission home, but because of complications we couldn't go until Friday, which actually was a blessing because it turns out the elder who told me it was there was mistaken, and the package actually arrived Friday, just a few minutes before we got there! Funny thing is that both packages got there at the same time!!! So I got the Valentine's package you sent through the mail, and then the package you sent with the Kradolfers (kind friends traveling to Argentina) with the shoes! I already know you will, but please tell them thank you from me.

Thanks a lot for the packages, they're awesome. I'm especially excited for my new shoes, even Sonilda is. (the landlady) I'm excited to start wearing them, and expect them to stay in good condition because my area is paved roads. I learned about something very useful to me recently. You and Dad are going to laugh, because I used to think it was just something for old people, but now realize the importance of. It's called a shoe horn, and it's awesome. Elder Towner introduced me to his shoehorn and I love them now.

So I'm just really happy to have nice new shoes and also to have everything else you sent. Tell Dad I also got his book about missionary tools, which is a pretty basic book that teaches many things you already know, but helps you APPLY them better, which is something I need. I haven't read it all, but like what I have, so tell Dad thanks. Of course I also enjoyed his articles on the second coming, which had many fun facts I never knew. So thanks a lot for everything.

Other than that, life's been pretty normal. Japan's recent tragedy has stirred the hearts of many people, and seems to be a hot topic these days. I recently read in the book of Nephi that the Lord doesn't do anything unless it's for the benefit of mankind, for example earthquakes, floods, etc. It's obvious doctrine to a Latter Day Saint, but often overlooked when things happen. People have such a negative attitude towards disasters and deaths, and often curse God for these things! People often lose their faith when things like this happen, BUT others humble themselves, allowing the missionaries to teach them. Since that incident, we've found the people to be much more receptive, and many are accepting and listening to the gospel because of something that happened so far away. Many people listen now that never would have listened before because now they realize how powerful God is. Well, I can't say how exactly, but yes, even this disaster in Japan was for the overall good of mankind. Of course, try to tell that to some Japanese mom who lost her son, it'll be pretty hard, but just know that everything that happens on this earth was planned long ago by an all-knowing and loving Father. In fact, I would be much more concerned if these things WEREN'T happening. God stated in the Bible that in the last days, these days in which we live, that we would see such storms and disasters, thus his prophecy made about 2000 years ago is proof that the Lord IS IN CONTROL!! If storms and disasters weren't happening right now, then you could be concerned that the Lord really doesn't have control over the earth and that the prophecies made by John were nothing more than a hunch; but these things ARE happening and they're happening just like God said they would, showing He is in control of everything.

Well, that's the basic update, today we ate at Subway and are going bowling now. We're with the elders from Las Heras, and are now heading back to our area to bowl. I appreciate all you do and thank you for everything. Thanks for the packages and for writing!

Love,

Eric

_____________________________________________

Not much time to write this week

Eric with Elder Gonzalez. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago.

Hey everyone! It's great to be able to write again! It sounds like everyone's doing good, although it's too bad David's blackberry got stolen when he was in California.

Well, we had a good week here. The zone also had an awesome week, one of the best, we're expecting lots of success this transfer. We're teaching some pretty cool people right now and they are doing good. We've also reactivated several people and they all came to church Sunday, so that was good, especially because two of them are Melchizedek priesthood holders. We were also able to reactivate the sister of Celeste, so she has someone to go to church with and Celeste wants to be baptised and stay active, and they've been doing really well attending. The ward is doing really good.

Carlos didn't go to church this Sunday because of a medical incident, which he told us about on Saturday, so we're bummed about that. He claims that he is not living with someone (who he is not married to), but we now have a question about that and need to verify that. He definitely wants to be baptised and loves going to church, we just need to make sure he's living all the commandments. Other than that, we have just lots of good people and some not so good that we're teaching and hope to be able to help. (When Eric refers to the "not so good people", he means people who are not quite as receptive to the message of the gospel that they are sharing.) Overall things are going really good.

We had the leader training Tuesday, so we gave our discourse on how to invite people to church. It was good and simple, it was pretty fun.

Also, after reading your email, I called the offices but they said my package has not arrived yet, so hopefully it will soon.

We've been enjoying the area and the work here, and the members are really supportive. They're always really happy when we reactivate people, even more than when we baptise, so they should love us right now.

I really enjoyed and am still enjoying all the stuff (letters, etc.) I got from last week, and have already finished the book Dad sent on how to be a bold missionary. I really enjoyed it and took out a lot of stuff I'm applying to the work.

I wish I had more time to write, but I need to end now. I love you all very much and thank you for all you do. Thanks for always writing and keeping me in your prayers.

Love you,
Eric
___________________________________________

Finding new investigators

Hey family! Hello from the Delights!!! Hope everyone is doing good! I'm doing great out here.

Elder Towner and I are enjoying the area and the work here, and I'm quite happy to be able to stay one more transfer with Sonilda. (The landlady who cooks and cleans for them.)

This past Friday was mission council, and we enjoyed the LAST EVER mission council in the mission home, so it was pretty special. Mission council was pretty fun, although I expected it to be a little different than last time, but it was the exact same. Well, it was good though. We presented our vision of the zone, listened to talks from President and the assistants, and enjoyed seeing our old friends and hanging out. Then we played the Mission Cup (soccer) and I don't even remember who won, but it wasn't us. It was still fun playing soccer together with the other ZLs. After the soccer tournament, we do all the pedidos (stuff people asked for) and get all the mail, my favorite part.

First thing I'd like to do is thank everyone for writing me and sending me things. I finally received the book from Dad on "Becoming a Bold Missionary", the second time I believe he's had to send it because the last one I'm guessing got "lost" in the mail. And I'm excited to hear the talk on the cd that he put inside. I also got some dear elder letters from Aunt Lisa, Nana and Papa, and you, which were really nice, I love reading all the letters. I got the Valentine's Day card with the picture, and I got a letter from both Marisa and David which was also very cool. Then I spent almost 300 pesos getting pedidos for people in our zone, and probably won't ever get paid back all the way, but hey, that's just how it is sometimes.

So it was a pretty good week. The whole week went good, even though we really only had one day to work. Elder Calvert's hijo had a problem (Elder Calvert, Eric's previous companion, is a trainer this transfer, and his new greenie missed a flight connection on the way to Argentina.) So Calvert came back with us and worked with Towner and I for a day. We, of course, were in the terminal all day helping people get their buses and whatnot, and making calls to coordinate travels so nobody travels alone. After that, the 3 of us enjoyed doing all the ZL dats stuff until lunch Thursday, and then Elder Calvert met up with Elder Carillo, who also is a trainer this transfer, and those two went up to the mission home to get their kids.

After that, we worked pretty normal, and then Saturday in the afternoon until nighttime, we did divisions with the assistants which was awesome. I went with Elder Avalo, who's Argentine and is a really good guy, a good spiritual guy. He's a great guy because he doesn't act like a superstar assistant, he's just a humble simple guy who can really follow the spirit. I did almost all the talking even when we worked!! But he really is great at inviting the spirit and helping the people. We had an awesome evening and we ran around the whole time trying to pass by everybody, and we found over 13 new investigators. Elder Towner who was working with Elder Hardy, also found tons of new people, so we were waiting on probably about 30 new investigators to go to church, and about ten of those people had SPECIFIC PLANS to come to church with members, where the members were going to pass by the new investigator's house and walk with them to church. So we figured we'd have a ton of investigators in church this week! Well, Sunday came and we only had one of our investigators in church. But the Lord blessed us for our efforts, and we actually got 7 investigators in church, although 6 of them we'd never met before. They were new people that came to see the baby blessing of their friends, and we talked with them, and gave them a tour, and of course they loved it and we're now teaching them. So it was pretty cool.

Regarding the one investigator who came, he is a guy named Carlos. He wants to be baptised on the 19th and he's very excited for that. He's awesome because he's a very old guy, and knows the Bible perfectly and what's more important, he understands it. We believe he's a third Nephite, because somehow he knows everything about our doctrine even though he's never gone to church or talked to missionaries before. Well, a third Nephite doesn't need baptism, but maybe he's just testing us, so I'll do everything I can to pass the test, plus it's fun to teach him. Every time we teach him, he just teaches us and quotes scriptures the whole time, so we just let him teach himself, leading him in the general direction. I think the best part was when he came to church. He came with a member who uses a cane to walk about .0001 miles an hour. They both walked past the gate (all Argentina churches have gates) and Carlos immediately started raising his hands and like worshipping the church and doing a quiet prayer while waving his arms as if to worship the building. He continued doing this, walking at the speed of his handicapped friend, and praying until they finally got inside about 5 minutes later. It was pretty funny. Then after a great Sacrament meeting, he blessed us both by touching our hearts (he often does that) and then went up to our bishop and started blessing him. It was pretty funny because the bishop wasn't expecting it.

I better go now, so a quick recap to answer your questions. The zone is doing good, with a bunch of potential baptisms for the 19th. I didn't get your package yet, but I think people are still receiving packages, even if they're not prepaid. And regarding drinking the tap water, well, that's all we have here, we drink it daily. In the pench that's our only water supply, and we definitely can't afford to buy bottled water, so I don't know how to avoid tap water and I don't know if that's what was making me sick. I'd like to avoid tap water, it's just not possible. Also, in this ciber, I can't upload photos, so I'll send some next time. Today we went bowling. We played bad and unknowingly got charged about 100 pesos instead of 50 because it's a holiday, and places always charge more on holidays.

I love you all very much! Thanks so much for your support, letters and everything. I love you all and wish the best!!!!

Love,
Eric
____________________________________________

Staying in Las Delicias

Elder Calvert and Eric enjoying Burger King on their Pday

A treat at the end of a long week of hard work

The Burger King in Rosario, favorite destination of all American missionaries

A meal prepared by Sonilda the landlady

With Elder Buhl

Elder Henriksen and Eric on Pday

With Elder Vera

Hey family, what's up!!! I read the letter and it seems like everyone is exceptional!! I'm glad David and Steve are starting their new jobs. I'm doing pretty good out here, loving the area, and enjoying writing.

Well, firstly I will announce transfers! I'm going to stay as zone leader in Las Delicias. Elder Calvert is going to leave! So my new comp will be... Elder Towner!!! Yes, the Elder Towner from my MTC district. It seems I am bound to be with the two who left our MTC district early on, which is kind of funny because there are 200 missionaries here in our mission. (Both Elders Calvert and Towner spoke Spanish at a more advanced level than the rest of the MTC group, so they had been moved to a more language-advanced district.) So Elder Towner and I will be working in Las Delicias. No doubt he's excited to come to the best pench in the mission. The zone didn't have as many changes as there usually are in zones, which is too bad because I would have liked to have seen more changes, we have many elders who have been in the same area and with the same comp for several transfers and are kind of tired of it, but I'm sure it's all for the best.

So I'm very excited for another transfer in the Delights, and excited to be with Towner. I'm definitely going to miss Calvert, we had a very fun transfer, but I'm excited for this also. Also, my hijo's coming in to my zone and district! (Elder Larson) So I'm pretty excited to have him in my zone!!

The new district leaders in our zone are Elder Chapman, which makes me happy because we're good friends, and then the same Elder Osorio, and then another elder that might be a little more challenging, but we'll make it good.

Elder Towner and I are going to the Mission Home on Friday to present our vision of the zone, so I'll be able to check for packages and I'll let you know if I got that package and other stuff. Other than that, the zone's doing good and our area's doing good. I expect more success this transfer and I'm expecting baptisms in our area!!!

Tomorrow I'll be in the terminal all day long, until everyone passes through, so I'm looking forward to that!! It's not bad, though, it's fun to see everyone that passes. (Zone leaders help make sure all the missionaries catch their correct buses with all of their luggage.)

Sonilda's knee has gotten better (Sonilda is their landlady) which is very good for us, because it means she's in a better mood. She's had plenty of blowups but overall is a good person, VERY CRAZY but a good person. She still yells at everyone, but I've gotten used to hearing yelling all through our comp study. Sometimes I ask myself if she's yelling at us, herself, or another person.

I liked what you said about the smile and enthusiasm. I've seen that people really listen so much better when you share your message with enthusiasm, but sometimes I forget. That story reminded me so I have put the goal of being more enthusiastic in teaching.

Well, I better get off now. I want you all to know that I love you and appreciate all you do for me!!! If you ever need anything from me, just ask!! Admittedly there's not much I can do, but I'll do what I can!!

Love,
Eric
___________________________________________

A day working with President Villalba

The casino where they went bowling last week on Pday

Eric is happy with the way the game turned out

Elder Calvert is not so happy with the game

Hello family, how are you all! I'm glad to hear everyone is doing good and enjoying their extra day off work! (President's Day.) I'm glad, Mom and Dad, that you travel all the time now since there's no more kids in the house!! Sounds like you are really enjoying your new life.

Happy Birthday to Scott and David! Mom told me you are going to celebrate your birthdays together next week, so hope everyone has a fun time together.

This past week for us was pretty good. We did divisions (24 hours) twice this week, which are always fun. I did divisions with Elder Osorio, and then Elder Durrans. The zone is working hard and we're starting to see some baptisms in the zone now.

Today for Pday we went to Centro looking for a soccer jersey, but couldn't find anything really good. Then we played Monopoly with the elders of Parque Independencia and Urquiza, which was fun. We played a good game, and Elder Osorio ended up winning. We're in Centro right now and just ate at Subway, which was pretty good. After this we're going bowling again but with Elders Gabriella and Buhl. I'll take some more pictures of the fun this week. It's been a good day, and when we are done bowling we will all go back to work.

Wow, this is the fastest ciber I've been in my whole mission, and it makes sending pictures super fast so I am sending you more!

Anyway, before I forget, I've thought of some more things I'd like for my birthday (or even better to send with your friend personally) that I would really like and would be really useful. The first thing is 2 books, one that I think I've mentioned before, called Day of Defense. I've heard just a little about it but it seems really interesting to me. (It's a book about missionaries answering questions.) The other book I'd like (if it even exists) is a small, light Doctrine and Covenants with Pearl of Great Price book in Spanish. Of course I have my triple, but I don't really have enough space in my bags to carry around a huge triple. (Well, I probably do, but don't want all the weight.) Plus it's a book that I can't give out, so I just end up never carrying around a triple, I just carry around a Book of Mormon. So it would be nice to have a D&C that I could carry around and use when needed, or even hand out along with a Book of Mormon if needed. I'm not sure if you can buy those separate in Spanish, but it would be nice if it does exist.

Also, I've had a few comps who received taco seasoning from home, and root beer extract, and I'd like those if possible, because there's nothing like that here. The last thing I was thinking of is my game called Risk, which I have at home in my closet. Lots of missionaries play Teg here, which is the Argentine version of Risk, and it's pretty fun. So it would be great if you could send it to me. Anway, so those are just some things that would be nice, but whatever you give me I will love. Really, I don't need much.

Everything is going good here in Las Delicias, except for our landlady who's going through a crisis caused by her bad knee. She's having knee trouble now which makes her very emotional and depressed because she doesn't like pain and she's having trouble walking.

I'll tell you a little more about the area since you asked. Our area is perfect, we have the casino (which is only like a year old and is like something you would find in the States because it was made to be a world class international thing), McDonald's, good people, humble people, average people. We're got everything, and yet we're not too big of an area to cover, either, it's the perfect size, not too small, not too big. We have some villa (slums), and we have many villa pasillos!! We're teaching a few people inside of pasillo, which is like a passageway, a narrow passage filled with chappa (the scrap metal villa homes) and drugs. Every time we walk through there, we see someone buying drugs, or someone waiting to buy drugs, someone selling drugs, someone taking drugs, usually a fight of people or dogs, and much more. There's frequent murders there, and I don't know if the cops have given up or what, but the cops never respond to the murders there anymore. The last murder was a double murder a few days ago, and the cops never even came to investigate. Either way, all the bad stuff happens when we're in our pench so we're pretty safe. (I think he means because they have to be back in their apartment no later than 9:30 at night, and the worst stuff must happen late at night.)

Rosario's a good city and we enjoy helping the people in our area. We had a good week, and we got some help from President Villalba! Thursday morning was planning session, and while Elder Calvert and I were planning, someone rings our doorbell, and it was President Villalba! He came to plan with us and go out to work! (That's why zone conferences got changed to less often, so that the President has more time to go out and work with missionaries.) It was really good to plan with him, and then to drive around in his car to our appointments!!!! He enjoyed our crazy landlady yelling at him, saying, "Vos, Villalba, dame mas misioneros arriba!" (Give me more missionaries!)

Unfortunately I'm sick again. I still feel like I've never gotten over the sickness I picked up in the MTC that got worse when I got here to Argentina. It seems I get better for a little while, but the sickness always comes back on me, and each time it slightly changes my balance. I know if I was back home in the States that I'd get fixed up in no time. (Eric has sent us a few pictures where we can tell he is pretty sick, although I have not posted those. I am worrying enough for all of us.)

Elder Calvert and I are doing pretty good, it's a good companionship, and we're working well together. We've found lots of good people, but for some reason we're struggling getting people to attend church! Either way, we'll just keep working through it and see what happens. I am loving the work here. And I love hearing that you guys are doing good, too! Next week is transfers so Pday is Tuesday. I love you all and thank you for everything you do!

Love,
Eric

Eric talks about having all types of housing in the area he is serving in. This picture was taken several weeks ago while he was at the Monument to the Flag.

It looks like Eric may have taken this picture of Rosario out of a bus window

This is either the villa or the villa pasillos

_______________________________________________

Zone conference was good

The Rosario zone at Zone Conference February 8, 2011

At the Mission Conference February 3, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Eric
_________________________________________

Everything is going good in "the Delights"

The church building in the Las Delicias area in Rosario

The ping pong paddle that Eric bought at Libertad store

Eric took this picture of The Monument to the Flag (Monumento a la Bandera) a few weeks ago when he visited it on his Pday

Another shot taken at the Monument to the Flag. The monument honors the man, General Belgrano, who designed the Argentina flag in 1812. The flags at the monument show it as it was first designed. The yellow sun in the middle of the flag was added in 1818. The monument is situated along the Parana River.

Hey family, how is everyone? I'm doing great here and loving my mission! Everything is going good here in the Delights. (Las Delicias means the Delights.)

Well, firstly, you can stop worrying Mom, because I'm feeling better now. Although I think I unfortunately may have gotten a few members sick.

Anyway, the baptism didn't go through, which was sad, but we're still working hard and helping people progress here!!! The zone is doing much better. We decided to work on our weak spot, so we did an "afternoon of miracles" in one of the areas. (That is when everyone in the zone--about ten companionships--work in one area for the afternoon.) Elder Calvert and I did divisions with some other elders, and found many new families, and even gave them all a baptism date, so hopefully there will be some good results! It is exciting to help the people in the zone realize that no matter what area they are serving in, that EVERY AREA has people prepared to hear the gospel, and every area has people that will listen to you!! So, after all that, the dats for that area went through the roof! The whole zone in general is doing good. We've been improving all along, and I expect it to continue to improve.

Rosario is a very open area. I think Elder Calvert and I sometimes get more new investigators than we do contacts (or call back appointments), because the people here just can't say no when we smile and ask them if we can teach them. The only problem with that is because the people are so open, it's harder for them to keep commitments.

Yes, the mission conference was very good. I was still pretty sick then, so it wasn't as fun as it could have been, but I could still enjoy it. Basically we had a workshop by the assistants, and so we learned some good things, and then each companionship goes up and on the screen it shows their average dats personally for the month, and the average dats of the zone for the month, and the baptisms. After talking about the dats, each companionship explains their zone vision. It all went pretty good. At the end of it, all the zone leaders get to play THE CUP!! The cup is soccer at the mission home, which was pretty fun and pretty intense. I tried to play a little bit, although we lost. It was pretty fun, though, and I look forward to it next time when I'll really be able to play.

After that we had to organize the caja chica (petty cash) and get it refilled with money, and get all the letters and supplies that the people in the zone had ordered. It was all pretty fun, although on the way back is when Elder Calvert lost our cell phone.

Tomorrow we have zone conference, and we have to give a one hour long workshop. But we were just told about it today! So we haven't prepared anything yet, but we already have an awesome idea in mind, so we'll work it out. The reason we weren't told beforehand is because of our lost cell phone. So we went a few days without real communication. For a couple of days we tried to use our landlady's phone, which was not fun, because while she is an awesome person, she really is sort of crazy, so it didn't work out too well. So today we went out to the mission home and got a brand new phone. And it's a different model! We're the only missionaries that have this model of phone which is completely different from the others. So that's kind of cool.

Speaking of the mission home, the rules on packages are the following: 1. You can send letters like you've been doing. 2. Packages, however, now need to be "certified" meaning that EVERYTHING is paid for in advance by the shipper, so that the mission home pays nothing. (They used to pay to get the packages, and then we would pay them back.) How to ship certified, I don't know, but I'm sure you could explain that to the people at the post office and they'd know what to do. Also now is a great time to send me packages because we're having to go to the mission home all the time, so I can always check when I'm there for packages. I could really use that new pair of shoes you mentioned. (Note: I went to the post office and there is no "Certified" shipping to Argentina from the US. It might exist from other countries, but there is nothing like that from our country. Eric's South American mission president is probably unaware of that.)

We are still getting dinners regularly, and lunches often. The days that we don't have lunches scheduled, we just put our dinner in the fridge and save it for lunch the next day, so we always have something to eat! Sonilda (landlady) makes all kinds of stuff. She makes noodles, meats, soups, just everything, and I like the food usually. We never have breakfast, I always have the idea of buying fruits so I can eat fruit in the morning, but we never get around to buying fruit.

It's very rainy today, and we weren't able to do much. We were hoping to go bowling, but we didn't feel like walking so far in such a downpour, and it's impossible to get a taxi when it's raining, because everyone's already trying to get one.

Well, I was excited to hear that Holly and Scott had a fun vacation in the Bahamas, and that they're still alive after swimming with the sharks. I've always wanted to go there!! And I'm glad to hear that you had a fun trip too, and I'm glad to hear all the other daily things!

I love you all, and thank you, everyone, for all that you do,
Love,
Eric

A few months ago, Eric sent us this picture of the soles on his second pair of worn-out shoes. Because of the changes in mailing packages, we have not yet sent him the new pair.

The soles of a new, identical pair of shoes that will be sent to Eric very soon

_______________________________________________