Week #32 ~Everyone Loves Argentines!

Hello family! How are you! 

I am doing great with my amazing new companion!  

Here is my week in review...

Monday 

Monday was a fun first p-day with Elder Benitez he is super cool and I am learning so much from being with him! On Monday we passed by some less active members to see what we could do to help and we passed by 4 houses and talked with them for a bit and it was super great! It’s amazing how different the people act when they are talking to us when I have an Argentine comp! They are like a whole different person! Crazy! 

Tuesday

We had a lunch with a family and it was good.   The son of the family is trying to loose weight to go on a mission and our lunch was a huge plate of just vegetables hahah it was good but kind of lacked something crucial like anything but vegetables hah.  Then after that we passes by members and investigators to get aquatinted with the new elder and to see how they were all doing a very busy evening.

Wednesday

Today we had service and we cut the grass for a new family that just moved in.   It was fun we at some chicken and eggs thing and it was good then we watched like 4 mormon messages it was super fun! Then we went out and visited some investigators in the night. We taught a menso activo family that son wasn’t baptized and he was soo excited to talk to us.   He ran down the street and gave us a hug even before we got to his house! haha Now thats the kind of love elders need when we teach your family a lesson! 

Thursday

This was a good day we had a reunion of the zone in the morning then we did division with the zone leaders and it was really fun.   I was with a zone leader of Argentina and he was super funny and crazy. We had a lot of fun talking and contacting in my area!  Then after that we had a ward counsel, it was fast and furious.  It started at 9 and so we started, we shared and then ran home to get home by 9:30 curfew. 

Friday

We just had meeting with investigators all day Friday because we were getting ready to leave for Bahia Blanca that night or really the next day early in the morning. We had a new investigator that said she wanted to be baptized! wowowow

Then we woke up at 1 am and got in a van to Bahia Blanca we got there an hour early sat on the curb in front of the chapel because the assistants to the president would not answer their phones.  Finally they came we sat and waited for the meeting to start at noon.  It was so hard to stay awake but luckily I didn’t have to much of a problem because we had a talk given by Elder Stevenson and it was amazing! I learned so much and took soo many notes. It was super amazing getting to hear from him! After that we all got pushed in to vans given a 7 up and shipped home then we all fell asleep when we finally got home!

Sunday

Was good, we had a great talks about tithing and one of our less active families.  They have not gotten baptized, basically because of questions about tithing.   So I think it was a miracle and a blessing that Sunday talks were all about tithing.   They decided to come when all the talks were about the importance of tithing, imagine that! So amazing I know it helped! Then after that we went to visit the members that weren’t able to make it out and to see how we could help. It was an amazing week!

Love to all,
Elder Vance

My new Companion Elder Benitez

My ride home from zone conference with Elder Stevenson

Week #31 ~My new Argentine Companion!

Hola Familia! como estan? 

This week we finally had transfers!!! Now I have a new companion Elder Benitez! He is super cool and I am so glad to have him as a comp! It’s a blessing I think to finally have an Argentine and that he is super cool and normal! 

Monday

This was my last day with Elder Severtson and so we had a lot of fun.  In the morning, because it was p-day and we visited every family and investigator that he wanted to pass by.  We walk so, so much in this day! I was dying! We walked literally to ever corner and back again to find them when they were home! I think we walked over 18 miles.  It was super fun to see so many people in one day.   Then we went home and I helped him pack his bags and then we went to bed because his bus left at 3am in the morning, then we grabbed his stuff and trekked to the terminal! Then I went to the others elders house to live with them until my comp came! 

Tuesday

I was in a tri or really a quad because another elders came and one left the same time my comp did so we were kind of like a herd of elders.   We went on contact and visits because we didn’t know they area, then we split and went and contacted and visited members in their ward. After that we came home and had some other elders that were passing through come to their house.  We made food and hung out with them, then they left for there bus and we went to bed.  We had to leave for the terminal at 3 am again to go get my new companion. While we were there I got a call saying that his bus was delayed 30 min.  So we can hung out for 30 more min that turned into about an hour and a half.  When he got there, we grabbed his bags and hustle went home.  We wanted to try and see if we could salvage any of the night remaining. The saddest part was while we were walking home the sun started to rise! It was just super depressing to know that we would have to start working in a few hours! haha 

Wednesday

The first day with my new comp! He is from resistencia chaco and thats in northern Argentina ! He speaks no English… I know my mom was going to ask me so I just put that in. He is super cool. He plays rugby and was a chief before the mission! Wooooooooooooo!  We went out to get him familiar with my area and to show him where the church is, the river and all the cool stuff here.  We also went to visit and to meet some members! It was super great! It is amazing how much people change when you have an Argentine with you! We probably  had the same amount of success as two or three days normally! Crazy!

Thursday

We went to see more of our area and to meet more people and investigators. We had a lot of fun because now I can talk 100 percent in Spanish all day and it’s so amazing! I didn’t realize how much I love talking in Spanish until I had no other option! He wans to learn english, so we are giving each other language lessons in the house and on the streets! It’s been super helpful and I have already learned so much just talking to an Argentine all day! What a blessing it is to have a companion like him! I think it was due to my patience with the others.

Friday

This day we decided to pass by references and less actives all day and we visited a lot of them! We had some great lessons with them and its insane how much people open up to you when you have an Argentine companion.   It’s incredible… people tell me, “aww its about time we have one of our own here to talk to.”  Crazy things! We had some great lessons and a lot of people we were able to visit! 

Saturday

In the morning we passed by a member whom just recently got back from his mission and he and I planed a prank on my new comp.   We planned to have him pretend to be an investigator. It was awesome I told him one of our ancient investigators called and asked if we could come by to answer some questions. So we went to his house and I told him he was a Jehovah's witness.  When we went there he had a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was fully marked and had notes and all the pamphlets cross referenced and all these very deep doctrine questions. He explained the whole plan of salvation in to very deep details and asked all these super crazy questions.  My comp was trying so hard to answer them all.  It was so funny, the whole time I was trying not to die from laughing! Later that night, my comp was confused and kept asking why we had not tried to get him baptized.  He is Golden, he kept telling me… I finally told him we were playing a joke on him, he laughed so hard and was relieved a good guy like that was already a member to the church.  Then in the night we passed by the homes of the bishopric to meet them and get new family assigned to visit and it was super fun!

Sunday 

It was a great Sunday and every person came up to me and asked to pass by their house that day.  It was insane we have never had so many people talk to us at church or want us to pass by.   It’s really an eye opener and we have such a busy week planed for next week and I am so excited to continue working!  And so excited to see the how things are different with an Argentine by my side…

Love you all,

Elder Vance

Week #30 ~Same Area-New Companion

Hola familia! Come esta?

This week was pretty fun and long!! haha but some fun things happen and some more fun things yet to happen in the coming week!

Monday

Was a great and fun day.  We got to spend it with the elders of an area that shares our bordered, we do a lot of things with them.  So we went out and got a pizza  to share.  Then we had a fun family home evening with a recent convert and we watched Meet The Mormons and it was super fun.  The mother and rest of the family aren’t Mormons and so they really enjoyed it.   We had a great time talking about all the people and how they all have different lives but all share such a strong similarity. How they all are striving to live righteously. It was a great meeting and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Tuesday 

We had a zone meeting, like we do every Tuesday and it was really fun.  It was the last one before a transfer so we had pictures and we had a fun meeting.   We were trained on how to contact in a more efficient manor and it was great information, I really loved it! Then we had splits with the elders De Bolivar and we had a fun time contacting and getting to know the other elders!

Wednesday

We had some great meetings this day with some new investigators and some old ones.  We taught the lessons on the commandments and how important it is to live them! Every time I teach theses lessons I realize how much my testimony grows and how important it is to live the commandments every day.  It is so amazing to be out here in the field serving!

Thursday 

We had a very calm day, we contacted in the morning and then we ate with a family for lunch.  We went to pass by the contacts we made earlier but not a lot of them were home.  Then none of the ones that were home wanted to listen to us! But… it’s ok!

Friday 

We had a great lesson in the morning with one of our progressing investigators.   Then we ate with a Mexican family and we had tacos, it was so fun! They are so crazy this family and they have a juice they make that is spicy and it was terrible.   They all loved it! Then at night we had a ward meeting and it was nice to discuss our investigators with the ward leaders.  Hopefully we can work together to help all our investigators find there way.

Saturday 

We had a good day, we visited some members and ate hamburgers with a young newly wed family in our ward and it was super fun! Then we had a lesson with a new family and it was ok they asked a lot of questions but they weren’t really questions about what we were teaching at all. So I am not so sure that was a good sign but they listened.

Sunday

We had a great Sunday like normal.  We had a farewell in our ward a guy leaving to serve his mission in Brazil.  He gave a 45 second talk then his parents talked for the rest of sacrament, I am not sure why I wasn’t given the option to have this for my farewell?  Then after words we ate with a family and then we walked home and got ready to leave when we got transfer calls.  I get to stay in my same area but with a new companion from Bueno Aires and I am super excited for that! 

I will fill you in on all the new companion information next week.

-Love Elder Vance

Last pictures with my companion.

A rodeo we passed by & the cool Gouchos or Argentine cowboy!

Meat we wanted to eat, but could not! Yum it smelled so good!

Week #29 ~Riding in a truck…

Hola Familia! 

This week was kind of a shorter week.  This because we had p-day on Tuesday last week so we could have interviews with president.  On p-day we had a lot of fun! We played a lot of games with water balloons.  We played lots of crazy relay games in the field behind the stake center as a district.  We played all of district p-day and it was a blast! Then after that the elders De Bolivar came for a sleep over because there bus didn’t leave until 6 in the morning, so we got to hang out with them after words

so that was really a fun day. 

Wednesday

We had divisions with the elders De Urqusa because both of our companions had to have a training in our chapel.  So I worked in the area of the other elders and then an elder that works in the office called me and asked where I was because he wanted me to go with him and inspect the houses of the missionaries in our city.   So he came and picked us up in his truck and we drove around all the city to different houses and inspected them all, it was super fun! Bonus getting to ride in a vehicle is always a blast!  You have no idea how blessed you are to have a cars to get you around.  Be thankful!

Thursday

We had divisions for another day because my comp and the zone leader need to go to Bolivar for an interviews so we had divisions again.  So I trekked over to the other elders area and we worked all day it was really fun.  They didn’t have anything planned so we contacted all day and in the night as well and then we went to the terminal in La Madrugada to pick them up to go home and bed.  

Friday

The elders got a call to go to Bahia Blanca and they just needed my comp and the zone leader so we had divisions again! 3 days back to back"! Crazy …but we had a lot of fun and we went contacting all day again, so I don’t really have much to say on these days.  Our comps came home really early in the morning around 3 am, we walked to the bus station again then we walked home and went to bed.   

Saturday

We were finally back with our normal companionship and we were working in the streets.  I know oh too well and we went contacting and tried to pass by the appointments we made earlier in the week and we had a few great lessons.  We also go to eat with a member and it was super fun! Nice to have something besides eggs and rice!

Sunday

We had fast and testimony meeting and it was such a treat.   So many kids bore there testimonies and it was incredible.   I loved every minute of it! Then we taught a class and then we taught priesthood.  We taught about the  first vision so they asked us to share a 10 min testimony about what it meant to use.  Then we came home and we saved up and both bought cereal to have a special Sunday dinner! It was so yummy.  

Be grateful and have a fun week.

Love Elder Vance

Week #28 ~Teaching, Walking & Sweating!

Hello Family, 

Happy New Year!!! I had a full week of teaching, walking and sweating!!  Hope you enjoy my week in review…

Monday 

We had a fun day of visiting members of our ward.  We trying to visit a whole bunch of families and share a really fast 10 to 15 min short lesson, so we would be able to visit a bunch in one day.  It was good, we got to more then we normally do but not as many as we hoped for… but thats ok!

Tuesday

We had the elders De bolivar with us and we had a zone meeting.  It was really fun, we practiced door approaches and how to bring the spirit in to our conversations in the door way of an investigator. It was real good practice. Then we had a meal with a family in our ward thats had a son that is our age preparing to go on a mission. It’s super fun to hang out with him because he is so much like us!  Then we did divisions and went contacting until it was time to go home. 

Wednesday

We had to go in to town (Bahia Blanca) in the morning to pay our bills and it is always fun to go to the city! To see all the different things! After that we decided to contact some of the big buildings and in the park since we were there. It was hard because no body wanted to listen and it was discouraging.  So we decided to just contact all the way to our next appointment in the next city and so we did! Then at night we had a ward meeting and we got to talk to everybody about our progress and our progressing investigators!

Thursday

We had a few citas and we got two more baptismal dates! I think we can get one baptized the other one has been in prison for quite some time and I don’t think we will get him cleared but we shall find out this week! Thursday was by far the hottest day I have seen so far in the 100’s! We were melting… while we were walking we were hoping to have the people watering there plants to spray us with there hoses so we can stay cool! Sadly nobody did. 

Friday

We contacted all morning and during studies the sisters called us and asked if we could come to their area and give a blessing. So we did but they didn’t tell us that it was on the farthest corner of their area, about 1 1/12 hour each way walk. We had to go through the others elders area to get to theirs! So it was quite the trek to give this blessing but it was good then we came back to our area and it was time to go home for the night. 

Saturday

New Years Eve…We had a family home evening with one of the new converts and it was super fun! We were not able to be out of the house any later then normal so we left and were home by 9 but …we bought brownies and strawberry juice which is a real treat. So we stayed up and watch the fire works for new year! It was super great! Except fireworks are illegal here, so every firework explosion we saw immediately had the police lights start to head in that direction and it was kind of like a big game of Pac man from our vantage point ! Haha it was super fun!

Sunday

We had a great Sunday some of our menos activos that we visited came and we had some great talks I really enjoyed it.   Then we had a familt bring us dinner.  It was a whole chicken that they had just killed in there backyard!  Hahah it tasted great meat ahhh meat! Then we went to visit some families that weren't able to make it out to church and it was nice to bring the spirit into their homes and share love and  a message.  

Monday 

We spent all of Monday at the stake center in a conference where the Mission President came and interviewed everybody.   It was nice, we all played games and took pictures while we waiting because it took forever! I have zero idea why it took so long my interview was over in about 4 min but others took 45 min each! Then after we had a lesson from him then we went home.  Long day but fun to see other elders and hang out with them.  

I hope you have high goals for 2017 and that we all grow in the gospel, that is where it really counts!  

Love you all,  

 Elder Vance