Argentina Week 5

I had another great week this week. It's only been 5 days since my last email, since last week PDay was moved to Wednesday. But still, it's going great. I'm finding that I'm getting better at finding the needs of my investigators which is good.

We got one new investigator this week. Now we have 2 investigators named Vanesa.

We've done lots of contacting this week, and we met someone named Lucrecia and gave her the pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation. When we saw her two days later she said that it was exactly the answers she's been looking for, so hopefully we'll have another new investigator.

On Saturday there was a baptism. An 8 year old boy named Juan, whose dad is inactive, was baptized by my companion. And the other Elders we live with baptized their investigator named Juaquin.

We've been spending lots of time lately contacting and trying to visit potential investigators, but alot of the time they're busy or not home.

Anyways, that's all I have time for today! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Severtson

Argentina Week 4

I had another great week this week. We had zone conference on Wednesday and talked alot about preach my gospel chapter 1, and how to find people to teach. That night we did service for a family cutting their grass.

Thursday not much happened. We were contacting almost all of the day and walking a lot.

Friday was interesting. Friday mornings there are always a lot of people selling stuff in a field close to where we live. We went and I bought a 3.5 kilo (8 pound) bag of cereal for only about 5 dollars, which was a really good deal haha. Later that day I gave my first blessing in Spanish. That night we the water wasn't working, and there were so many bugs in our room, so we had to sleep in the other elders room with them.

Saturday we didn't have working water until the afternoon. We had to use the water at the church to brush our teeth and stuff. Then we had another service project, cutting grass for another member. That night we were contacting again. There was an activity where we played soccer at the church which was fun. Also, some people spray painted bad stuff about mormons on the bus stop right across the street from our pension, which is kinda scary.

Sunday we went to church and got our investigator Lorena to come with us. After church, these people from an Evangelic Church were outside and they invited us to thier church, and we said we would go if they go to ours. Their church was very different. They had loud music, guys playing guitar and drums, and shouting and clapping and things like that. One part, they told everyone to jump if they love Jesus or something like that. It was very uncomfortable but luckily we had an appointment and had to leave early haha. I hope they actually come to our church.

Monday we were contacting almost all day again, because our investigators canceled our appointments with us. We found a few good future investigators.

Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning, and contacting and taught a few investigators. We had dinner with a member late at night, and got lost like 30 minutes because it was foggy and rainy.

The last few days it's been raining alot. The weather went from really hot to cold in like one day, which is weird.

Anyways this week in my study I got to 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon. It's cool to see how the Savior taught the same things he taught in the book of Matthew in the bible. It's cool to think that His teachings are perfect and for everyone in the world. Everyone deserves the opportunity to know of God's plan for us, which is why it is important to share the Gospel with as many people we can. We never know who will accept it in their lives.

I can't wait until General Conference next week!

Argentina week 3

Hola everybody!

This week was another great week! My Spanish is continuing to improve and my teaching too! Heres some info about our investigators:

Vanesa is 45, not married and has 5 kids. We recently started teaching her. She hasn't gone to church yet, she says it's hard because she doesn't have power on the weekends, but she always seems excited for us to teach her more.

Franco is married to a less active woman. We've taught them twice, but I was on exchanges the second time. His wife is remembering the teachings of the gospel and wanting to go back to church it seems.

Rosio is 19 and is living with a 35 year old Pablo, who is less active. They have been being taught for a long time. We need them to get married and then we will be able to baptise them, but they just seem to procrastinate that.

Luis and Lorena are a couple in their 30s. Both investigators, and have a few kids. We also just need them to get married and start going to church.

We have a few other new investigators. Hopefully, they'll continue to progress.

Anyways twice this week I was on exchanges with District and Zone Leaders. It was cool to see the other areas in the zone. The power goes out here about once a week and lasts usually a couple hours. Besides that, this week wasn't too different, alot of teaching less actives and contacting. On Saturday we had an Elder's Quorum party thing, and had Asada, some really good meat here. One day, a drunk guy came up to us asking us a bunch of stuff, and asking us to teach him, but he probably won't remember us. :)

This week in my personal study I was reading in Alma in the Book of Mormon around chapters 35-45. I like when Moroni is preparing the Nephites for war. When they are very out numbered, they still when because they were prepared. It's very similar to having the Gospel in our lives, because we are out numbered, but as long as we have our armor we will survive! I also liked how Moroni said he sent spies on the Lamanites, but didn't think of it as a sin or cheating because it was for their good cause. Haha, the devil may be the cheater in our daily battles, he's always watching us and knows our weaknesses. Anyways, just always be prepared!

Anyways, have a great week everybody!

-Elder Severtson

Argentina Week 3 - Answers to Dad's Questions plus Videos

This week was good. Nothing too exciting happened. I went on companionship excahanges twice, once with district leaders and once with zone leaders. Most people feed us the same foods. I've had pizza so many times, and empanadas, arroz con queso (cheese rice), and some chicken stuff. We don't have anyone too close too baptism. We spend a lot of time with less actives, because there's tons of them. Our investigators are going good though, the hardest thing here is getting them to get married. They are scared that if they get married, they'll end up getting divorced.

Spanish is going good. I notice some progression, but others say they notice a lot. I guess it's getting easier to understand the people. Yeah, I feel I'm learning way faster than in the MTC, because everyone doesn't speak like an american. By the way, the call us Yankees here, kinda like how mexicans call the americans gringos, except they pronounce it like 'shawnkee' or close to that. Most days I still speak some English. Elder Torres sometimes asks questions in English so he can practice.

We haven't had too much meat here surprisingly. Saturday we had Asada which is like the equivalent of barbecue here, it was good. It was for an Elders Quorum meeting or something.

The ward here is good. I play piano for priesthood. They have electronic pianos/organs so they have an actual organist for sacrament meeting. Yeah, there are a few strong members, and tons of less actives. My area is a poorer area. Mostly dirt roads and stuff. It's not the city or anything like that. It's about as poor as they get here. I usually feel safe. I don't really feel like I'm in a bad area. We only carry around like 10 pesos which is like a dollar though. The mission office has my passport and stuff, and I just keep the credit card in my room. I have'nt used my credit card yet. By the way, is there a 4 digit pin that I should know for it? In case I need to get personal money to buy something? We were going to in the first week, but it asked for a pin that I didn't know.

Yeah, what you said about the rooms is about the same for me. There's always tons of mosquitoes and stuff, but it's getting better.

Yup, I updated my camera, but the things still won't let me log in. Just always says incorrect password or something. I still take pictures at high quality though. I have two videos today. One inside our room, and the other on top of our building. It's cool, there's stairs to go up there.

I think next PDay is moved to next wednesday because of a holiday. So I'll email you then...

-Elder Severtson

Argentina Week 2

This week was great! I'm learning lots of spanish and stuff about the gospel. I don't have a lot of time to write, so I'll tell you about yesterday:

Yesterday was Fast Sunday. I was asked to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting and that went well. We had empanadas for lunch at a members house and visited less actives during the day.

The roads have sewer water in the sides, and at 8 PM I accidentally stepped in one and got my foot all wet. We went on our way back to our room to clean up. On the way back we saw the other Elders we live with, they told us someone left a dead dog in a bag in front of the church. We all had to go clean it up, and it was disgusting. We went inside the church to get bags, and found someone had let a dog in there and it pooped in some of the rooms. We had to clean all that up too. It was a crazy day.

Anyways, I don't have much more time to write, but I know that this church is true. There is so much power that comes from reading, praying, and going to church. Everything is great when your giving all you have to the Lord. Even when there are challenges, never doubt your beliefs. Always remember the Lord suffered way greater challenges than we ever will.

I'm sorry I don't have enough time to write more about our investigators we have! Hopefully next week I can!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Severtson

Argentina Week 1

Hey Everyone!

So, on Tuesday, I arrived here in Argentina after a long flight!

We landed here around noon, met the mission presidency, and started driving (we drove by the buenos aires temple, which was awesome)

First we went to the mission president's house and had pizza (which is quite different from American pizza, it has tomato slices on top) and empanadas. Then we talked about training and stuff for a couple hours. My mission president is really cool and nice. His name is President Thurgood and he is from Utah.

After a few hours all the trainers came, and we were told who our companions were. Mine is Elder Torres. He is really cool and he is from Chile. He doesn't know a lot of English but we get along well. I've attached a picture of him. This is his last transfer here. Then we left to go to our area. It's called El Parque B. It took forever to get there because one of the trains we had to take was shut down. The transportation is really weird, everyone just crams onto the trains and stuff. We had to take 3 different buses. One of them, a guy (I think he was drunk) was laying on my luggage. Also the buses are very dirty.

We got to our room at like 10 PM here. It was very hot and hard to sleep the first night, and there are tons of mosquitos.

Wednesday, we took the bus into town so I could withdraw money. Then, we ate at an old couple's house and had some type of spaghetti stuff, which was good. We gave a blessing to someone, and went to the mutual they had that night.

Thursday we did some tracting and stuff.

I don't have much more time to write this, so I'll hurry...

Friday morning, we had a trainers and new missionary meeting which was cool.

We spent a lot of time tracting and talking to people the last few days.

Saturday night and Sunday morning we had stake conference... I could hardly understand anything, besides our mission president and his wife. Americans are way easier to understand speaking spanish than everyone else...

My Spanish is improving a lot though, but I feel like I can say a lot more than I can understand at the moment.

Anyways, everything is going great! I like it here, even though it's hot and there's lots of mosquitos. Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Severtson