Prego

Hey fam!

So this last week was excellent!!!! It had a really good ending too, so im pretty satisfied with whats going on haha So before i get into details, i had some more requests! haha First off, send me stickers! it doesnt matter what, but send stickers, like a couple sheets or something. sometimes letters are boring to write and its fun to throw that in there. and the kids here absolutely LOVE them. Also, you should go buy some classical music CDs, preferably piano solos and send them to me, along with my One Voice CDs. oh, and go on youtube and search for ThePianoGuys, its John Schmidt and that cello dude playing tons of covers of songs and stuff. You should see if you can get all those songs on CD or like in MP3 format and send them to me as well :) We can listen to that before you ask if its allowed haha And also, if you could send a Gilette fusion razor(if you can find it, the one that vibrates) and some replacement heads. ive got a flippin MAN beard and these wimpy argentines dont grow facial hair, and the biggest razor i can find has 3 blades and sucks. So there are my requests! haha And now on to the good stuff.

So the week started off with a FHE with Juana and her family, it was really good, especially cuz a member from the ward went to their house and did it for them, so we basically just participated, and talked with the new people that Juana invited over. She has all of her friends coming now. Theres Rocio and her 3 daughters Cristina, Abigail, and Alejandra, and then Analia with her two kids Valentina and Roman, and then of course Karina with her 2 sons Ruben and Franco, and her daugher Andrea. Juana is still just goin to town inviting all of her close friends and in every appointment she tells them that they need to read their Book of Mormon, they need to pray, and they need to go to church so that all of them can get baptized like she did. She always goes off about how awesome the church and how good it makes you feel, and then she tells them that even though they dont really understand much right now, they will and this is the right thing for them to do. Flippin AWESOME missionary. All of her friends want to get baptized, except were going to have to work with all of the moms and their "husbands" because none of them are married. But thats alright, we´ve got God on our side :)

During the week though, i was sick a little bit, and on Friday, we didnt go out to work in the morning cuz i couldnt leave the bathroom for more than like 10 minutes. I slept until like 3 o clock that day haha but now im completely healthy and fine, so dont worry! i shouldnt have mentioned it anyways, cuz it only worries you guys.

We were also doing divisions on Friday for baptismal interviews, and this guy came up to us in the street and told us he was a member, but inactive and that he wanted to come back to the church. He had recently moved back here to the Colonia and told us he wanted us to pass by his house because he has three stepkids that arent baptized. Him and his wife are both members, his 3 kids are members, but hers arent. So we went by on Sunday, and we met the whole family. The oldest kid of his wife, Martin, seems the most interested. He was listening to the missionaries a lot in their other town, went to church all the time, and was always super involved with the church activities and stuff like that. So we tried to take out a baptismal date with him for this Saturday, but theres something holding him back, so we have to find out what that is so we can take that doubt away and get him baptized!

And the best part of the whole week!!!! Ruben and his brother Franco both got baptized!!!! It was super sick. We had to do some convincing with their mom Karina, but both of them ended up getting baptized and confirmed and it was a cool experience. After their baptism i was asking their mom how she would like to see her whole family in white, and she said she would love to see it. So then i started talking to her daugher Daiana and told her she had to come to church and whatnot so she could see her brothers get confirmed. Supposedly she hogs the book of mormon in her house and never lets anyone else read it, but she never comes to the lessons we have with her family, cuz of something with her mom. We havent really figured it out yet.But we´re gonna try with her next i think to get baptized and also with her sister Andrea, cuz Andrea has already gone to church a lot, but says she wants to keep going on with the catholic school and do the communion and confirmation......gay. But with time, they too will be wearing white :)

There was another little issue with Juana and Ariel this last week, cuz i guess Ariel stole quite a bit of money from his cousin or aunt, not really sure what relationship it is to him, and Juana flipped out and started drinking again. She was saying her usual stupid stuff about never going to church again and stuff, but we got her calmed down and then the branch president went to her house the next day and gave her and ariel a good talking to and everythings fine :)

I also killed my comp today!!! Elder Lessing officially is going home after serving his full two year mission haha We went around last night saying around to all the members and we left a couple of families crying haha They liked my comp a lot. So much in fact, that they destroyed him with flour, eggs, and water. how nice haha And now because hes gone, i get to fill in his shoes. When we got the transfer news last night, i found out that i am the new district leader, and im also prego right now haha I get to train! Im super pumped for it, but im a little nervous too, cuz thats kind of a lot of responsability put on my shoulders. I personally hope that my kid is a gringo, cuz we´ll be able to relate better and whatnot, but we´ll see what the lord wants!

But yeah, that was about all for my week, im super pumped for this week, and ill tell you how everything goes! Love you all, thanks for writing faithfully every week, and hope to hear from you all next week! Love you!!!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Makin' it Rain

Hey fam!

So this last week was decent, it wasnt like super super amazing, but
it wasnt the worst week ever either. There were some really good
parts of it though :) So first off, i had another question. Is anyone
of you doing family history research? that stuck out a lot to me in
this past week with the things that happened, and i now realize how
important it is to do it, and im super pumped to be able to do it when
i get back. Also, congrats on all your efforts to keep praying as a
family! i know its hard, but its definitely worth it! keep strong, and
youll all be even more blessed!
So this last week wasnt too exciting investigator wise, we have a lot
of potential people that could be baptized, but we´re trying to take
out their last doubts so that they really committ themselves to
baptism. One of them is a kid named Ruben. Ruben is Juana´s friend
Karina´s son, and hes 13. He´s a really cool kid, and he like to come
and accompany us. So we were talking this last week with him and his
mom, and the reason she doesnt want him to get baptized is because hes
kind of crazy in the house and doesnt behave himself. So she wants him
to change that before he can get baptized. But we have some super
good news about him! haha there was a branch baptism on saturday and
we invited all of our investigators and stuff to it. Karina came with
her kid Ruben, Andrea, and Franco. Juana was also there, and she
looked at Franco and was like franco, you gonna get baptized today?
and started laughing, because he´s never even come to a lesson or
anything before. he was kinda like i dunno.....and then i was like
Karina, next week Ruben is getting baptized right? just to see what
she would say. She completely surprised me when she was like Yup,
Ruben is getting baptized, and i want Franco to get baptized as well.
Sweet!!!! So we´re gonna be talking a LOT with them this week so that
they can both get baptized this weekend :) So hopefully we should have
a couple baptisms this week!

Last week, i also went on divisions with the Zone Leaders and it was a
good experience. Theyve got things really well set up there, and it
was good to kind of get away from my town for a while haha I ended up
going with Elder Glock, a kid from california, and it was good. We
ended up talking a lot about what we´ve been studying and it turned
into a ton of deep doctrine. i loved it :) haha i absolutely love
learning from the scriptures now, theres so much to learn.

Apparently while i was gone on divisions, my comp and the other elder
went to juanas house and she had drank a little bit :( but she wasnt
raging drunk like last time, so we´re progressing! i guess nobody had
remembered her birthday or something like that, not even her kids, and
she was feeling bad. but she hasnt drank since then.

But when i got back from divisions, i wasnt feeling too good. we went
and visited a family, and they said everybody there was sick, so i
kind of blame them. but i got back, and that night, thursday, i just
got a huge stomach ache and some ridiculous diarrhea that continued
friday in the morning. i was just wasted, and i ended up sleeping
until like 12 friday morning. but i think im getting better, i just
have a worthless diet that i have to follow.....basically rice,
cheese, crackers, and water until tomorrow or wednesday. so hopefully
ill be perfectly fine by tomorrow :) that was one of the expenses that
i told you about mom.

But this is definitely the best part of the week last week. i dont
know if you guys heard, but after years of renovation, the buenos
aires temple was re-opened last weekend. as part of the celebration,
saturday night was a huge cultular event that got transmitted by
satellite. we could only go if we had investigators with us, so we
figured go big or go home and we took 10 people with us to oran. that
was the majority of our expense, because paying for all of those
people was SUPER expensive. but worth it :) we took juana and 2 of
her kids, and then karina and her family, and Ramons sister Juana who
is not a member. The event was super cool, the 3 apostles who came
down to dedicate the temple were there and they talked a little bit,
and then all the youth from the church in the temple district put on a
huge like dance show, with all of the different cultural dances from
argentina. super cool to watch, and i totally want to buy a gaucho
suit and learn to dance like them.

Then on sunday, we got to go and watch one of the re dedication
sessions of the temple and it was super spiritual. only members could
go to that one, and that was only if they had a current temple
recommend. So we took a bus as a branch and went to Oran again to
watch it. It was really cool, and kind of interesting too. Ive never
seen a temple dedicated before.

We got back from the temple dedication and went to work, and Juana is
still just missioning away! haha she invited more friends over and was
telling them they need to read the book of mormon, go to church, and
get baptized. apparently her other friends that she introduced to us
a while back are pissed because we never visited them(because we dont
know where they live) but apparently they want to get baptized too.
So Ariel or Ramon is going to take us to their house tomorrow, and
hopefully there are some more potential baptisms there! haha

Speaking of baptisms, Marcos was going to get baptized last weekend,
but i guess his mom had told her ex husband that he was going to get
baptized and the ex didnt like that idea very much. We had a lesson
with them Friday night right before Marcos´ mom went to work and when
we went to his house the next day to look for him for his baptism, he
wasnt there. so we ran down to his moms work ready to just rip her a
new one, and turns out marcos´ dad came to town while the mom was at
work and literally kidnapped marcos, without telling his mom or any of
his brothers or sisters where he was taking him. the mom was TICKED.
so hopefully we´ll be able to overcome this barrier too, we´ll see!

but that was about it for last week, hope you enjoy it! haha have a
good week, and hope to hear from you all next week! love you all, and
i appreciate all the support you give me!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Hot & Cold

Hey fam!!!

So this last week was pretty alright, a lot better than the week
before i think.  Kind of a weird ending, but good all in all.  Before
i start, i just wanted to ask some stuff.....are you guys doing family
prayer?! i havent verified on that in a while, and i want to know if
youre doing it.  it should be easier to do now that everyone is in
school i think.  And if paris is home, tell him he´s awesome and i
love him :) try and find out if he really is home!

Anyways, i figured i would start with the kind of negative stuff
first.  Do you remember about Silvia and her family? They were on the
verge of getting baptized and then they just disappeared off the face
of the planet. Well we finally found her a couple weeks ago, and
basically she has decided not to continue because her life got really
hard and she blames the church because of it.  It was really sad our
last lesson with her, and quite frustrating too, because she was just
being retarded and not listening to a word we said.  But hopefully
missionaries can go there in the future and help all of them get
baptized.

Also, there is a huge manifestation going on here.  Every week, we
have to drive to Oran in a taxi for our district meeting, and last
week some protestors had cut the route off, and we had to walk like a
mile and half to get to the other side of the road block and take a
bus from there into town.  But apparently its still going on,and its
been over a week now.  People here are SOOOOO pissed about it,
especially cuz the police dont do anything.....the police have no
right to do anything here.  but when we walked through, it was kind of
sketchy, cuz like you have to walk right through all the protestors
who have like big iron crow bars and stuff like that, and there were
tires burning all overthe highway giving off huge black oily clouds of
smoke.....totally felt like i was in a movie, and it was legit haha
but yeah, theres a little bit ofthe civil unrest thats going on here
:)

now the good stuff.....Jose got baptized last week! it was super
cool,and his mom was super happy, because he was the last of her 8
kids to get baptized.  It was kind of a funny baptism, cuz Jose´s
nephew Jorge had told him when my comp was going to baptize him, that
he was going to hold him under the water for 2 hours....and because
Jose is a little special, he believed it and was freaking out about
hisbaptism.  He just went rigid as a board in the water and wouldnt
let my comp dunk him.  So my comp had to do like a ninja baptismand
just throw him under the water when his whole body went limp....ill
have you guys listen to the recording after the mish, its hilarious
haha but also, Jose´s mom Sara totally brought one of her grandkids to
the baptism, named Julio, and i guess he was going to get baptized
before, but right on the day of his baptism, his dad took him off to
Buenos Aires.  He´s been to church and all that, so we´re gonna teach
him what he doesnt know, and hes getting baptized this week! Super
Cool!!!! haha im way excited for it :)

We also found a guy last week whos way cool.  His name is Oscar
Ramirez, and he was going to get baptized before, but he could never
go to church because of his job.  He absolutely loved everything
though, and listened to the missionaries all the time.  But now hes
changed jobs, and it will still be kind of hard for himto go to
church, buthes excited and wants to get baptized.  And if he gets
baptized, then all of his family will follow with him too, so im super
pumped to work with him.

On saturday night after the baptism, we ended up going to the hospital
because Juana has been there all week with her little baby
girl.....Guadalupe has a cough.  So we went and visited them and it
was good.  She hasnt drank anything! And right before we left, she
asked us to do a prayer and then asked everyone else in the room
ifthey wanted to participate. Aftershe asked she was like, and if ya
dont want to participate, plug your ears! haha so i explainedto
everyone what we do when we pray, like crossingyour arms and closing
your eyes and Juana was like Yeah, close your eyes so they can steal
your kids! I was like Hermana, shut up! haha everyone here thinks that
the mormon missionaries steal children and take them to the united
states, and that we are also organ traffickers.....so i did not need
juana making child stealing jokes to the other people.  it was pretty
funny though haha

But yeah, that was about my week! Im doing great, and hope you guys
are too! Love you all and hope to hear from you next week! Love you!!!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Holy Flip...I'm 20!

Hey fam!

So this last week was pretty good as well, we are still having a lot
of success here in our area, and i love it! We didnt have any baptisms
last week, but we´re hoping for like 5 this week :) Juana and her
whole family are going to get baptized this week! Im so freakin
excited for them.  Juana has quit smoking and drinking and all of them
are ridiculously excited for their baptism on Saturday.  We announced
it yesterday at church and were getting everything ready for them so
it will just be the most awesome experience of their life.

So a little update on Luis, the kid that was going to get baptized.  I
think hes embarassed now because of his mom, cuz he answers our phone
calls, but when we went there the other night, his little sister came
out and told us he wasnt there, then said he was in the bed, and so we
told her to go tell him to come out.  She ran in and told him, and
then came out again and said he wasnt there.....so we´re not sure
exactly what is going on with him.  But the branch president went to
see him yesterday and hopefully that will help.  Ill let you know if
anything changes.

Also that less active family that we found with the kid who was going
to get baptized sucks a lot too.  We couldnt find them almost at all
last week, and then we passed by sunday morning to wake them up for
church and the girl came out.  She told us they were all going to go,
and then nobody showed up......we´re quite frustrated with them.
Hopefully we can get him baptized soon.

But last week on monday was my comps birthday, and we went to the
family home evening with the Urzagaste family.  He just got WRECKED
with flour and eggs, and i thought i would be safe filming everything
with my camera.......wrongly assumed.  I took a couple of eggs and a
ton of flour too......luckily the camera came away mostly unhurt.  But
it still works and takes pictures and videos, so we cant complain :)
we´ve already planned my birthday party for next monday in the
afternoon haha super stoked!

Also, we werent too sure with juana, cuz last week on monday we had a
lesson with her and her family, and her and her mom got in a fight.
they were both screaming at each other, and then juana started a fight
with her neighbor because her neighbor was spreading rumors about her
and stuff.....it was like a 10 minute scream battle.  she came back
bawling and said that life was better drunk because nothing matters to
her when shes drunk and then she said she was just going to kill
everyone, family, neighbors, you name it, and then everything would
end and be easier for her.  but we helped her out, and when we went
back the next day, she told us after we left and we had given her some
advice, she just shut herself in her house, prayed, and then went to
bed and woke up good the next morning.  Super awesome.  Shes so solid.

Juana is also sharing the gospel with other people too, she made her
neighbor and her kids come over and listen to us, and then she went
and woke them all up on sunday in the morning and got to church with
them there before we did haha now in all the lessons she like gives
her testimony and is telling her friend she needs to get baptized.
She also had a problem with saying "oh my god" and stuff like that
before, and then we taught her about the 3rd commandment.  well her
neighbor friend says it a lot too and juana yelled at her the other
day for it and told her to stop disrespecting God. So funny haha every
time she almost says it now she like screams and claps her hand over
her mouth.  her kids help her out with that one too, so its really
cool to see.

also, her little baby daughter guadalupe absolutely loves us now.
every time we leave, she just throws her little head back and almost
throws herself over and just bawls her eyes out.  so we bring her
little chewy candies every time haha also the other night, it was
hilarious cuz we would ask, wheres the boogeyman?! and then she would
point, stare for a while, and then start crying and duck her head into
her moms chest. super funny.

We were also able to find some more families to teach this week, so
that should be good.  they seem like really good people, and hopefully
theyre interested.  the one lady gave us this homemade tortilla thing
that was really good when we left, and supposedly the ones who give
you food on the first visit are the chosen ones haha we´ll see what
happens.

Remember the less active lady Marina that i was telling you about? The
one with the cigarettes? Well its totally been two sundays in a row
now that shes coming to church with her whole family, and this week
she came all dressed up in a skirt and everything! she was lookin HOT!
haha just kidding, lie, dont panic.  i mean that in a spiritual sense
:)

And today, we totally went and played tennis on a clay court in
oran!!! It was way fun.  Apparently my comp met this guy named ricardo
a long time ago, and ricardo was super good friends with the elders
when they were there in oran.  so he gave my comp his number, and told
him we could come play tennis in his private club any time.  so we
called him yesterday, told him we were coming, and we met up today!
the guy is ridiculously good, and just destroyed me, but said that i
play good haha hes way cool though, cuz then he took us to his house
afterwards, introduced us to his mom and little sisters, and we had a
huge family lunch with them.....and theyre not even members!!! but
they are super good people, and it makes me happy to know there are
good people like that outside of the mormon bubble.....so needless to
say, we´re going to be going back there in a couple weeks to play
again and have lunch with his family.  hes gone to the states a ton
too and is familiar with utah.  said hes gonna come visit after i get
home, and we´ll have an argentine food night at the house with
everybody haha so maybe you guys will get to meet him too!!!

But yeah, thats about it! we´re working hard, and hopefully ill be
reporting on five baptisms this next week! love you all, and thanks
for the support!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Brick Oven Pizza

Hey fam!

So this last week sounds like it was pretty awesome for you guys, and
im stoked for you! haha Pretty jealous that you got to go to Lake
Powell again, but i sure hope you enjoyed it. As for next year, is it
now a tradition to go there every year with the Bastians and
Andersons?! if so, im super pumped for next year! haha but make sure
we all go AFTER i get home from the mission, so i can get good and
sunburnt too :)

This last week for us was absolutely awesome for us as well, but at
first it looked to me like it was going to suck terribly.  At first,
we went and played volleyball last week right after cyber time, and i
totally was DISCRIMINATED.  I totally got to know a little bit of what
racism is haha They were all making fun of the white kid for sucking
so bad, cuz i was just playing horribly last week, and then no one
wanted to take to me or help me out with my form.  I sat alone on the
sidelines in between games, and even though i spoke to them in perfect
spanish, they all acted like i didnt speak spanish and just completely
ignored me.   Super embarassing kinda....i left feeling pretty down
and just like that was a waste of time.  And then on top of all that,
after our first lesson that night, a flippin dog bit me out of nowhere
in the street and left me bleeding pretty bad without ripping my pants
somehow.....so the rest of the night was spent trying to take out
money for medication and finding the medication in the pharmacy.
Sucked.  And then on Tuesday, we only had one lesson all day long, and
it was just ridiculous.  Every one was fodging us, we had a lot of
appointments, but no one was there, so we were feeling pretty
depressed.

Then tuesday night, the zone leaders called us, and told us they were
going to do divisions with another area, and that the mini
missionaries who were with them were going to come to our area with us
all day long on Wednesday.  Totally saved us.  So we did divisiones
with them all day long, and me and my mini ended up finding a family
thats absolutely awesome.  The moms name is Juana, and shes kind of a
drunk and has been it for a long time, but she wants to change, and
her kids absolutely love the gospel.  We got them to come to 2
activities at the church last week, one for the youth and the other
one a family night, and they just loved it.  The whole family is
reading like crazy, and they want to get baptized.  All the kids came
to church on Sunday, and the mom always prays in her prayers while
were there that we keep coming by to teach them.  So that was a really
cool part of our week.

Also, not really sure why, but friday in the morning one of the zone
leaders and a mini missionary came to our area and worked with us in
divisiones all morning long.  My comp and the zl ended up finding a
less active family that live like right around the corner with a kid
whos not baptized named Marcos.  They were really excited when my comp
passed by and they want to come back to church.  So this week, we are
going to baptize their kid Marcos! Super sweet haha Theyre a pretty
cool family, but they didnt come to church on Sunday.  I think theyre
relatives of the Branch Presidents wife.

We were also talking with Sergio, that golden investigator, and it
turns out that all those problems have supposedly been solved, and
their family is good now! We went there on Saturday in the morning,
and he introduced us to his mom, and we had a lesson with all of them.
Sergio, his mom, and his little sister all accepted a baptismal date.
But they didnt come to church on sunday :( But i have faith, and they
will get baptized! haha

We havent been able to find our one investigator luis for all of last
week, but he came to church on sunday, and skipped work to do it again
:) We ended up having a lesson with him last night, and hes ready to
be baptized this week!!!! He wanted to be baptized with his friend
Sergio, but Sergio still hasnt come to church, and we told him it
would be better if he gets baptized right now so that he can get the
priesthood the week after his baptism and then be able to baptized
Sergio himself! He got super excited and immediately agreed to it.  So
hopefully we have two baptisms this week!

Sunday was one of the best sundays i have had in my whole mission cuz
we had a total of......wait for it......10 investigators show up for
church!!!! We were super excited.  Its been almost a year here in the
colonia that more than 2 have showed up to church, and it was the all
time high for both my comp and me in investigators in church for one
sunday.  So were super excited for everybody who came, and we have a
TON of prospective baptisms.  So ill keep you all updated on
everything!

Also before i go, i dont remember if i told you guys about that one
less active lady Marina that we´ve been talking to.  Well anyways,
shes still super embarassed cuz she smokes a lot, and my comp has
heard of this one trick where you dip the cigarettes in milk and then
let them dry.  Then you have to person smoke them, and apparently the
taste is just horrid.  So we did it and tried it with marina, and she
just about threw up on the second puff.  Me and my comp were laughing
our heads off and she was screaming at us in between retches about how
mean we were and how much she hated us haha SOOOOO funny.

But yeah, thats about it for this week, its been awesome, and
hopefully this week will be the same!!!! We have zone conference
tomorrow, and it should be pretty good.  But thanks for everything you
guys do for me, hope to hear from you soon, and love you all!!!! Put
pictures of the lake up!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

P.S.  We went to a members house today and totally made mud brick oven
pizza......delicious!

Tearin' up the Colonia

Hey fam,

So this last week was way good! I actually like it a lot here in the
Colonia, its super chill and the people are really nice and willing to
listen.  Last week, we actually had a baptism of a less actives
daughter.  it was really cool, especially cuz we had to do it in an
erectable baptismal font made out of pipes and a tarp haha our church
is so ghetto!!!! we´re in an old bread factory, and they built like
little shacks of wood inside for the individual classrooms and such.
i took pictures, but this computer sucks and is old and wont read my
usb thing.  so youre all gonna have to wait! haha But yeah the little
girl that got baptized was named Cristina Soledad Vaca.  Really cool.
And we´re going to baptize the Branch President´s little brother this
week!

Also, i have a new comp here and his name is Elder Lessing.  He´s
originally from Utah, but his dad is military so they are currently
living in Pennsylvania.  Really cool guy, and he actually reminds me a
lot of elder inman, so we get along great.  its just the two of us
that live together in the apartment, and thats super different.  the
apartment is really small too.  But one good thing about it is that it
has air conditioning!!!! We live in a sub tropical zone, so even
though we´re in "winter" its still freakin hot here.  We experienced
that today haha There is actually a sports complex close to where we
live, and its totally free, so me and my comp went and played
basketball this morning.  hes pretty good, so he was teaching me how
to shoot and whatnot.  but we went back in the afternoon and there
were games going on, and just anyone can play, so we joined in and
played for a while! latins suck so bad at basketball, and because they
suck so bad they play super dirty.....on top of that they have a latin
temper, so if you stuff them youre likely to hear a lot of bad words
and maybe a hard shove in the back next time you go up for a lay up.
one older guy like raped me from behind when someone passed me the
ball under the hoop and i was gonna turn around for a bank shot.  he
basically hugged me from behind, and he had a giant wad of nasty
tabacco coke stuff in his mouth and smelled horrible.  but us white
kids dominated all them latins haha i had 7 points!

Also this last week, i finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the
first time, and it was sick!!!! I guess according to that one promise
by a prophet im fluent in spanish now cuz i read the book of mormon
completely? pretty cool huh?

Ummm......what else. i wrote a little paper with all the stuff, but i
forgot it in the pension, so youll probably have a lot more info next
week.  oh yeah, one thing! the people here are super poor, but this is
the first place in my whole mission where i have seen wooden houses!
they are like halfway nice too! haha but there is also the super poor
part of the area too where the houses are a bunch of sticks and
plastic tarps tied together, and its super sad.  even more so because
the streets there just suck, cuz there are just ruts everywhere and
more often than not those ruts are filled with sewage.....nasty.  but
there are a ton of members there, and we found a super good
investigator there last saturday night as well.  His name is Carlos,
and we found him because we needed a guy to come with us to an
appointment because it was a woman and we cant enter with her there
alone.  so we knocked his door, asked if he could come with us, and he
actually did! apparently he liked it cuz he told us to come by the
next day and he introduced us to his wife and family and theyre super
solid.  we taught him saturday night and he came to church the next
day! also said he was going to come back the next week cuz he liked it
so much.

Speaking of church, like 50 people came to church on Sunday, so that
was cool.  Apparently thats a pretty good number.  But there are like
300 somethin members here in la colonia, so that kinda sucks
comparatively.  So we´re going to be working a freaking ton with the
less actives i think.  Also here, we are clear out in the freaking
middle of nowhere and have to travel so much!!!! our district meetings
on tuesdays are like almost an hour away from us and its like 30 pesos
to get out there and 30 to get back.  we spend a freakin ton
travelling, and the guy who reimbolses everything in the office is
super slow at doing them, so my comp and his old comp told me they
went without eating a lot, cuz they spent all their money travelling
and had to wait for the reimbursals to get back.  The reason why it
costs so much is cuz we also have to travel almost every weekend to do
baptismal interviews cuz my comp is district leader, and we baptize a
lot here in the zone......except for our area.  the one last week was
the first one in 3 months. but we´re going to change that!!!!

and mom as for your question if i got to say goodbye to anyone.....the
answer is no haha luckily my convert juan was there at the church with
us and i could hug him and tell him goodbye.  but they called at like
9 o clock sunday night and told us and we actually had to evacuate
perico that night at like 12 because a bunch of pissed off tobacco
farmers were going to cut off all travel routes in and out of perico
the next morning.....talk about sketchy.  that was fun travelling to
the zone leaders house in juuy centro. and it sucks not saying
goodbye!!!! but i left a journal back there for all my converts to
sign and for a few members, so hopefully ill at least have that.

i feel like i had so much more to tell you guys, but i dont
remember.....i think i wrote a lot already though, right? i promise i
wont forget next week, and ill tell you even more! haha but thanks for
writing me every week and all the support, have fun at the 4th of july
without me!!!! dominate some little kids in volleyball at the park for
me! love you all, and hope to hear from you next week!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Transfers

Hey fam,

So this last week was pretty crazy, and it all ended with a huge
surprise.  I got freakin transferred clear out in the boondocks and it
doesnt even exist on google maps!!!! haha its so freaking tiny out
here, and its only me and my comp in the pension.  its called la
colonia santa rosa, and its in northern salta, almost in bolivia.
super cool and out in the middle of nowhere, or otherwise known as
BFE.  also, we are serving in a branch, and the average is like 33
members a week......balls.  This area is going to be a little tough i
think.  But yeah, the zone leaders told me president sent me out here
because this area needs some fixing up like my last area did, and
apparently i did a good enough job on the last one that the president
trusts me.  So that makes me feel super good.  But ive got a lot of
work ahead of me, and no more time in the cyber, so it looks like im
going to have to talk to you all next week! I really appreciated all
the letters from you guys, mom and dad, you both made me freakin cry
and all the bolivians here were looking at me weird haha sounds like
girls camp was a huge success, and im glad everything went well!!!!
youll have to let me know when the video gets put online so i can show
it to everyone and brag about my awesome mom haha but yeah, thanks for
all the support, i love you all, and ill talk to you next week with
some more details about my new area!!!! Wish me luck!!!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

6 Weeks to Sexy!

Hey fam,
 
So i still cant believe another week has gone by, i barely even
noticed the last week haha and now ive officially been out in the
field for 10 months! Sweet! Happy fathers day dad, hope it was a good
one! haha And before i start, i just had some questions for you guys.
Are you all studying the scriptures every day? mom and dad, thats
probably more for you, i dont think i ever asked you before if you
did.  Also, what has become of that magical creation i bought called a
morphsuit? just wondering haha Another request for the next
packet.....mac n cheese!!!! i miss that stuff so much! haha and
speaking of packets, i got your last packet with the gravy and it was
awesome! Thanks! We already had a formal sunday dinner with one of the
gravy packets, so it was awesome to have a little taste of home again
haha
 
So now for the week. First of all, last week during district meeting,
we learned how the presidency of the area wants us to work differently
now.  instead of going house by house and teaching one or two people
in each house, they want us to start forming groups that consist of
members, less actives, recent converts, and of course the most
important the investigators.  This way, all the members can get to
know the investigators, and the investigators can form friendships
with the members and it just works better.  I guess 2 elders tried it,
just on a whim, and it took forever to set these groups up, but after
2 transfers of work i think, they got groups up and running and are
just having an incredible amount of success.  One week, they had 7
baptisms, and they have enough lessons, people in church, baptismal
dates, etc for 2 areas.  the numbers and amount of people you teach
just absolutely shoots through the roof.  and within these groups, you
get the members to go look for the investigators sunday morning for
church, and after every lesson, you invite everyone to invite their
own friends and family to come and listen. this way, the group just
keeps growing and growing, and we start baptizing a lot more than we
are now.  so im super pumped to start working like this and form some
groups, even though it might take forever.  ill keep you updated on
the groups.
 
Last week, we went back to that one evangelical guy, and he basically
just ended up pissing us off.  He just already has like a predecision
made up in his head and wasnt interested in the answer god was going
to give him.  He had been reading the book of mormon, and basically
told us it sucked and lacked "exhortation" in his words.  he also told
us that we talk too much about Joseph Smith, and we need to talk about
Jesus more.  So we tried committing him to pray to God again, but its
very doubtful, and i dont think were going back.  He basically just
ends up trying to teach us whenever we go there.
 
We are still teaching Anahi´s mom, and we had an awesome lesson with
her last week.  It was basically a group like we´re supposed to be
working in right now, and we got a little taste of how a group works
and how awesome it is.  Basically, we didnt even have to teach
anything, cuz everyone else who was there did the teaching.  It might
have helped that they were all family, like kids, aunts, cousins, etc,
that are all members or recent converts, but still, by the end every
single one of them was bawling and silvina is going to get baptized on
June 30th!!!! Super sweet :) She also came to church on Sunday, and is
really excited about the gospel.
 
We are still talking with Alejandro, who has all the assistances and
stuff to get baptized, but we´re not really sure whats going to happen
with him now.  It kind of looks like hes lost interest, even though he
came to church on Sunday with his family.  We went there last Tuesday,
we had a set appointment and everything, and when we got there, he was
waiting outside on the sidewalk and told us he didnt have time cuz he
was going to his grandmas house.  We asked if he could wait, and the
bus passed by, and he just hopped on it without a word basically and
just went away.  So we´re going to be passig by this week, and we´ll
see wht happens.
 
We kind of were forced to waste a lot of time last week, because Elder
Cancapa had training all day wednesday, and my comp had to go to salta
to do imigration papers on wednesday night.  So wednesday morning, we
had to walk like half an hour to the highway so Prez could pick him
up, and then we had to walk back there in the afternoon to pick him
up.  Then we also had to go to Jujuy centro that night to drop my comp
off with a whole bunch of other missionaries, and it was just kind of
ridiculous.  Then we had to go back to jujuy on thursday to pick my
comp up, and me and him werent able to do our weekly planning.....so
that was a kind of irritating part of my week. But we pulled through
anyways.
 
On saturday, we also had a big ward activity at the church and it was
the yearly fathers day lunch.  We ate the traditional soup of Jujuy
called Locro, and it was delicious.  Its basically a soup for winter,
weighted with super heavy stuff like beans, meat, and tons of fat, and
its basically made to fatten you up so you can survive the winter haha
ill see if i can learn how to make it so we can have it when i come
home.
 
Also, we went to Kikos house last week, the productor, and it turns
out he got a huge job offer in buenos aires and might be moving there
soon.  he´ll be going there to work for a huge famous news channel,
and i guess thats where a lot of stars from the united states go to
make their music videos cuz its cheaper here in argentina.  so he´ll
be there making music videos for people like ricky martin, enrique
iglesias, and maybe jennifer lopez haha So we´re super pumped for him,
and helped him pray to know if that was the right dcision to make.
before he goes, he wants to help this one website called
playingforchange.com make a video of all the cultural music here in
northern argentina.  he wants us to help him as like his film crew on
a monday if he can get things organized.  he made me write the people
at playingforchange.com a message in english because their whole
website is in english and he wants to get their support.  So we might
get to help him film some stuff one p-day!!!
 
Also the last thing, last monday, i was bored and i wrote myself up a
workout calendar and what im going to do each day for the next 6
weeks.  i actually was able to follow it every day last week, and im
gonna keep it up! I took a picture of myself with my shirt off last
week at the start of it, and we´ll see if this 6 week program bullcrap
is really true haha maybe ill send you the pictures of before and
after!
 
But yeah, thats about it for now, hope everyones alright, and
everythings goin good at home! love you all, and hope to hear from you
next week!!!
 
Con amor,
 
Elder Sirrine
 
 
 

Soiled Soldiers Club

Hey fam,

So its been another week, and time is flying by even faster it seems
like haha last week was good, but had its disappointments as well.
But overall, good :) And happy birthday dad!!!! How óld are you now?
First of all, before i start, i just wanted to ask some questions.
Can you get on facebook for me and find out Whitney Holdings address?
shes a girl i worked with down at college.  also, do we have a few
volumes of the history of the church in the house? and can you look at
how much articles of faith by james e talmage costs? those books are
cited a lot in all the stuff that we talk about, and i would be
interested in reading them when i get back.

This last week was freaking COLD.  It wouldnt be that bad if argentina
knew what a ventilation system for houses was, but that doesnt exist
here, so we have to close ourselves in our bedrooms with crappy little
electric heaters to avoid dying of cold.  And the mornings suck even
worse haha It got so cold some of the nights, that all 4 of us moved
into one room, closed the door, and turned the heater on full blast,
and we managed to keep the room warm haha but it looks as of now that
the cold wave is over and this week is going to be hot again.

I dont think i mentioned this, but our ward here recently started
doing something called Noche de Barrio, or Ward Night.  Its basically
family home evening, but its for the whole ward so that we can get
everyone more united and involved together.  Its also an awesome
activity for our investigators to come to.  Were doing it every
Wednesday night now at 7.

Also, we talked with the evangelical guy again last week, and he has
some doubts.....but they are super stupid doubts. The first one is hy
we use the baptismal prayer that we use.  He thinks we should baptise
just in the name of Jesus Christ, because thats supposedly what it
says in Acts 2:38.  He told us if we went to israel right now and
tried baptizing in the name of the father, son, and the holy ghost we
would get stoned by the people of israel.  but if we went there and
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, they would be completely fine.
Me and my comp almost busted up laughing, because first of all, Jews
dont believe in Jesus, nor do they believe in the doctrine of baptism.
So we would all just gét stoned to death there for tring to baptize.
but his other doubts are why we use wine instead of water in the
sacrament, and he said its not a real church unless we wash each
others feet in church like jesus did with his apostles.  he told us he
wont believe us unless we convince him why we use the baptismal prayer
we do......were gonna tell him to pray about joseph smith, cuz thats
the real issue at hand.  ill tell you how it goes.

We started teaching Silvina, our recent convert anahis mom.  shes the
last member of her family who isnt baptized and shes finally decided
that its time for her to start coming to church and join.  shes super
interested and fulfilling all of her committments, like reading,
praying and whatnot, so i think shes a baptism for sure, here in the
next few weeks.  im really excited to keep teaching her and completing
their family.

We also decided to go back to anabels house last week, cuz we havent
passed by for almost a month.  we actually managed to find her, and i
think we may have got her back. and her daughter ariadna recently
turned 8, so now we can baptize her as well! i really hope that we can
get her to church and to baptism.  were also teaching anabels mom, ana
maria, so ill keep you guys updated on them.

Turns out that Alejandro did not get baptized last weekend.  We had
everything scheduled and ready and then we called him Friday at night
and asked him how he was for the baptism the next day.  He told us
that he had a soccer game and that he wasnt going to be able to get
baptized......we were pissed.  apparently we fodged in something,
because he didnt understand that his baptism was more important than a
freaking soccer game.  and he didnt come to church on sunday either,
so i think were going to wait until next week to baptize him.  Also,
Juana and Fabiana, our potential baptisms for this week, both fodged
us and didnt come to church either.  So i was quite pissed off Sunday
in the morning.

All that anger, i kindly let off in a controlled way during sacrament
meeting, because it just so happened to be missionary sunday, and i
just so happened to go first.  I dont remember if last week i told you
how me and my comp left church just absolutely pissed off because
everyone there is absolutely irreverent and its kind of a madhouse
during sacrament meeting? well anyways, my talk was on reverence haha
and i dropped CANE on that ward.  and they totally listened!
afterwards, everyone was quiet and you could actually feel the spirit
in there.  i basically told them they suck at reverence and made them
feel bad, and then gave them the vision of what church could be if we
were all just a little quieter and tried controlling our kids.  they
were all actually listening attentatively.  afterwards in ward
council, we talked about what we can do to help those families who
have trouble controlling their little kids and whatnot, and we came up
with the idea that the primary is now going to supply coloring sheets
and colored pencils so kids are coloring quietly instead of running
around and playing with little cars or whatever.  i really hope next
week sees improvement.

so i saved the best, least spiritual part for last haha here in
argentina you never know when the food is going to hit you wrong, and
it just does it at unexpected times.  theres also a thing among
missionaries called the soiled soldiers club, and i almost joined it
last wednesday after lunch.  we left the house, and all of a sudden i
just had like the biggest bowel movement and had to go to the bathroom
desperately bad.  it was like a 15 minute walk back to the pension,
and we went as fast as we could.  i was holdin on like crazy, and of
course my comp just thought it was hilarious, and so he was thinking
up every single funny thing he could think of to try and make me laugh
and lose control of my bowels.  he almost succeeded like four times in
making me poop on the way back to the pension.  i wanted to kill him.
but my superior control over my bodily functions ended up winning, and
we made it safely to the pension.  so i still have not joined the
soiled soldiers club :)

But yeah, thats about it for now! thanks for writing me and hope to
hear from you all soon! love ya!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Answer to Prayer

Hey family!

So this last week was pretty good, the weekend kind of sucked though cuz it was like independence day here and absolutely EVERYONE was drunk out of their minds and the streets were kind of sketchy and we didnt end up getting into too many houses on Saturday.  Sunday was also kind of lame too, cuz a lot of our investigators fodged us and we only had 1 person come to church.  So our next baptisms have all kind of fallen for at least this week.  But its all good! We´ll recover and help those people to church this week! oh yeah, and there was this white dude and his kid that came down here and theyre both from Logan utah.  Apparently the dad, Brother Parkinson, served here in Perico 24 years ago, and his son is about to go on the mission in 3 weeks to nicaragua, so hes showing him around and kind of getting him adapted to Spanish.  Turns out brother parkinsons wife is from aurora and he knows exactly where monroe is and stuff, so it was kind of cool talking to him.  Small world huh?

So yeah, last monday, we went to this less active familys house and one of their daughters told us a really cool story about prayer.  She said she was sitting there reading the scriptures one day and just wondering if she did the right thing getting baptized and all that and she decided to ask heavenly father for a sign.  We hadnt been by their house in a long time, and so in her prayer she told God if the church was true, that she wanted us to come to her house a certain day at a certain time.  So that day came, and lo and behold, we showed up on her porch at 8 o clock sharp! It was super cool to hear that, cuz i remember me and my comp talking about whether we should go to their house, or a different house at that time, and we just kinda felt like we should visit them.  So We were able to help answer a girls prayer!

We had interviews with the President the next day and they went really well.  He said that hes really satisfied with the work me and my comp are doing here in Perico and that he trusts me a lot, so that made me feel awesome. I also asked him about the whole coming and looking for me thing, and he said the thing on the website is the church putting something on there so that families dont feel like theyre obligated to come and look for their child at the end of their mission.  They know its a huge expense, and said if you can afford it, youre more than welcome to do it, but its in no way an obligation.  So you guys are free to come and get me if you can make the funds meet! President said that he loves meeting the parents, and that at least one time a transfer kids parents will come to get them.  The only thing he doesnt like is when parents try to come to church on the last sunday of their kids mission to see them in action or whatever, so if you come, just know you cant see me until that monday haha

So after interviews, i got to go and do divisions with my papis current companion in his area, and it was pretty fun.  It was good to take a break from my comp, and i got to go there and help them out with their current work situation.  it sounds like they kept going back to investigators who werent progressing and kind of beating a dead horse with a stick.  so we found some new people while i was there, and hopefully everythings better over there now! haha sounds like my comp worked Elder Mori to death here in our area too, so hopefully he takes back a better work ethic. Also while i was there, i got to help one of their investigators get permission from her mom to get baptized last weekend.  Im getting dang good at fighting with parents haha.

I also got a letter last week from Ashley Smart!!! Long story short, shes had some awesome experiences at Ephraim and has decided to get baptized into the church! Can you please get on Facebook for me and tell her congratulations and that i wrote her a letter and its on its way? She was supposed to get baptized the 19th of may, so tell her congrats for me!!!

Right now, were also teaching a less active ladys kids and theyre awesome.  Their names are Mauricio and Agustin.  They both love church cuz they came yesterday, and want to get baptized, but were gonna have problems with the dad.  We learned yesterday that they told him they want to get baptized, and he got super pissed and left the house.  His main concern is that them going to church every week takes away from his father son time taking them to their weekly soccer matches.  So we´ll see how it goes with him. 

And lastly, we went back to the Choque Family again, the less actives, on Friday, and we watched Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration with them.  We also brought one of our recent converts along, Juan Chavez.  The Spirit was INCREDIBLY strong, and i loved it so much! It made me miss home, cuz as soon as we stepped outside of that house we got hit in the face with the real world, with everyone drinking and partying right outside.  I definitely miss the Utah bubble, and i realized why i always had trouble recognizing the spirit before.  Its because our house really is like a temple and we can always feel the spirit there, and thats why going to the temple wasnt that much different for me.  So that made me a little trunky, but i know i gotta be here to make that sacrifice so other peoples homes can feel like that too! Thanks mom and dad for keeping a home like that where the Spirit really can be there, and its about as close to a temple as you can get without actually going to one. 

But yeah, those were my experiences for the week! I hope to hear from you soon, and love you all! Your in my thoughts and prayers always! Love you!!!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Lesbians!!

Hey family!

 

 

So this last week was dang good!!! We managed to get 31 lessons, 2 baptisms, and 3 confirmations!!! So super good week for us. but ill get into the good stuff later! haha before i start, my comp was looking through my book of friends and kind of creeped on annie knight, and he wants her address. So mom, if you could call clark or becky and ask for her address and get it to me,that would be great! haha Also, i have another thing to ask from you.  In the next packet, can you put some taco seasoning as well? thanks!

 

Alright, so last week Ubi (Carlos) got baptized on Tuesday, because one of his friends he made in the ward was going to leave on the mission on thursday, so he wanted him to baptize him before he left.  So he got baptized and it was really awesome! Ricardo, the guy whos going onhis mission, got his first baptism before he even started! STUD! And then Juan Chavez got baptized on Saturday, and his baptism was just spectacular.  But for both of the baptisms this week, wwe had to go to their houses and fight a little bit with both of the parents to get permission for them to get baptized.  We went to Ubis house and his momjust thought that it was too soonfor him to get baptized, and that he should wait a little bitlonger,because she expectedhim to followthat religion forthe rest ofhis life if he chooses to get baptized.  So he said he was ready,and then we used somemissionary persuasion, or the holy ghost, and wefinally got her permission for him to get baptized. On thursday in the night, we went to juans house, and his mom said she wasnt against him getting baptized, but thought he needed like 6 or 7more months to study to really know if it was true.  So we argued for like an hour, and made juan answer all the stuff that she wanted him to know and wegot himpermission to get baptized next week. so then we went back on friday night and did all of the baptismal questions with juan so that his mom couldsee that he knew everything necessary to get baptized.  the only thing he lacked was tithing and fasts,and so we taught that to him.  After we got done teaching, out of all the things to get nitpicky on, his mom flipped and said that he wasntready to get baptized because he had neverfasted before and needed to do that before he could get baptized. So for a mintue we were thinking all was lost, and then i got a prompting.  So i toldhis mom, how bout if all 3of us (me andmy comp and juan) start fasting right now, and we can end it tomorrow right after his baptism? she sat there for a second......and then was like alright, hes going tofast before his baptism! So we totally got permission, and he got baptizedthe next day after our fast! After his baptism, i was talking to him and asked How do you feel? He just looked at me, speechless for a few seconds, and then with tears in his eyes, he said he just felt really happy.  Awesome baptism!!! His whole family came too, and they all enjoyed it a lot.  Wereteaching his family now too.

 

Not much else happened this week, we did have an awesome steak lunch on sunday with one of our investigators family.  it was super tasty!!! butthe girl, noelia, came to church kind of dressed like a prostituteand i was kind of embarassed to claimher as our investigator.....i think she thinks its like the catholic church and whoever dresses the sluttiest wins! haha looks like weregoing to talk aboutthe law of chastity soon....  oh yeah, and i was gonna tell you momand dad, thanksfornever letting us leave the sacrament hall during sacrament. i never realizedbefore what a distraction it isand how much it takesthe spirit away fromeverything. here, peopleandthere kids are walkingin and out all the time and i just want to strangleeveryone sometimes during church. were gonna talk tothe bishop about having a reverence talk with everyone too i think. This last sunday, we had 3confirmations in church, because franco wasnt able to getconfirmedlast week.  but he got therethis week and is now officially a member!!!

 

The other night, we were walking and a drunk came stumbling down the street and he startedyelling at us.  he was like who are you?! who are you?! are you lesbians?! you guys are lesbians! yeah, LESBIANS!!!!! andthen he startedcalling us not so nice names afterthat that have to do with women as well,and meand my comp were just dying of laughter.....apparently were pretty attractive (or manly) women to people who are drunk.

 

And lastly, we got a call lastnight from our zoneleaders congratulating us on our fine work.  apparently my comp and i havethe highest, most consistent numbers in the entire zone,and wehave to do divisions with another companionship to help them with their work tomorrow and wednesday.  the funny thing is that the companionship is my papi (trainer) and his current companion! haha so my comp is going to be doing divisions with my first comp elder mori, and ill be going to elder moris area to help them boost up their work a little bit.  oh,and we haveinterviews with the president tomorrow! so im pretty excited haha

 

But yeah, thats about it! thanks for writing to me every week,andlove you all! hope to hear from you next week!!!!

 

Con amor,

 

Elder Sirrine

Happy Mother's Day

Hey fam,
 
So it was bomb being able to talk to you guys yesterday, and i didnt
forget to tell you i love you this time! haha im not a horrible
worthless son! You guys are awesome and i really do miss you! But i
know im supposed to be here doin what im doin and we´ll just have to
wait for another year and 3 months to be able to talk good :) crazy
ive been out that long huh?
 
So this last week was awesome, we actually started seeing fruits of
our hard work!!! But im gonna start from the first so we can save the
best part for last :)  So i think i said this last night, but the
gypsies have all loaded up and gone.....at least in that one house.
When we were in the feria this morning there was one gypsy lady
prowling around and asked if we would like to try our hand at luck, or
buy some incense from her.....we basically ran away.  So did everyone
else around us haha
 
Also, we had zone conference on tuesday! it was super awesome, and i
left feeling excited and ready to work.  We did some really cool live
exercises where the president sent out 2 companionships to find people
off the street to come in and sit in front of 25 ish missionaries so
that companionship could introduce the book of mormon to them and
committ them to reading it and having the missionaries pass by their
house later.  it was a really cool exercise, especially cuz the prez
used it afterwards to show us really how easy it is to find new people
to teach if we really put our minds to it.  both companionships found
people in under 20 minutes, right during the lunch hour, which is one
of the hardest hours of the day, and they had to come in front of a
ton of missionaries, which is terrifying.  so we can find these people
to teach! haha
 
The next day, we went to one of our investigators house and the
daughter asked us if it was really a sin to drink coffee.  So we ended
up teaching the word of wisdom and it was probably the best lesson
ever.  Im almost positive the daughter set us up, because she doesnt
do any of the five things: drugs, coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco,
but her dad does all of them except for drugs.  So we dropped cane on
him....lightly though, and right when we were about to end the lesson,
his wife came in, heard what we were teaching, and joined right in and
just chewed him out for like a half an hour about how disgusting his
habits were, and how he should listen to us, and how she cant even
kiss him anymore because its like kissing a horse.  i was trying
REALLY hard not to laugh haha so well see how hes doing later :)
 
We keep going to Alexs house to teach juan and ubi, and when we went
there the other night, alex and his brother hector played the guitar
again together and this time were singing wicked harmony! i think
theyre getting along a lot better, and it just makes me happy to see
how the gospel helps people, even in little stuff like that
 
While we were visiting less actives last week, we found the dad of a
family thats not baptized.  His wife, whos a member, recently got sick
and is interned in the hospital.  I guess that was the thing he needed
to make him decide he needs the gospel.  Hes already gone to church
twice before, and we just have to teach him what he lacks! he accepted
his baptismal date, and wants to get baptized! His name is René
Choque, so ill keep you updated on him too :)
 
And now the best for last! On Saturady, we had 2 baptisms! Franco
Salazar, and Anahi Gerez.  Apparently theyve tried to baptize Anahi
like twice before, but both times she got terrified of the water and
latched onto the metal bar leading into the font and wouldnt let go.
this time the bishop wouldnt let her out until she got baptized....he
was standing there and basically yelling at her to get into the water
haha And franco! Hes 16 and is the boyfriend of Anahi´s sister.  On
Sunday, only Anahi got confirmed though, cuz i guess in the morning
francos dad hit his mom and the police were at his house and all this
stuff and he got to church super late cuz of all these problems.  The
bishop wouldnt let him get confirmed because he got there after the
sacrament and after all the ward business.....the Zone leaders dropped
cane on me and my comp cuz we didnt make the bishop confirm him
because he was already there.....but oh well, he´ll get confirmed this
sunday and everything will be fine!
 
But yeah, thats about it for this week! Thanks for writing, and again
it was great to talk to you all last night! Love you all!!! Hope to
hear from you next week :)
 
Con amor,
 
Elder Sirrine

Rollin' in the Deep

Dear Family,

So first of all, i was thinking about trying to save some face and say that the reason we basically gave up our money and stuff to the gypsy last week was because we were trying to be meek and try not to cause contention, but i decided to own up to the fact that were pretty much idiots with no common sense haha but i still claim im less of an idiot than my comp cuz i only gave up 15 pesos.....so you guys can take it or leave it :)

So everything went well this last week, we actually had another encounter with the gypsy lady as we were leaving a members house and i found out her name is Marisol.  I kind of want a picture with her, but i dont trust her gypsy magical ways.  So youre gonna have to settle with her name i guess.  But im pretty sure the gypsies arent dangerous here, theyre all pretty chill.....they just prey on retarded gringos and yankees like us.

Also....i got both of your packets last week!!! Greatest things ever! Tell susan thanks and theres a letter coming her way (in spanish) and that i love the flip flops and hat.  The squirt guns were probably the best thing ever to send, weve already had one major battle with them.  The gringos won, and i think all of us fell victim to our slippery tile floor covered in water at least one time.  I was the first to find out how unmerciful the floor was when i went running down the hall in my newly received brasilian flip flops and i encountered a nice little puddle on the floor.  Lets just say i did a mean flying two-footed kick into our bottom cupboard.  Dont tell president! haha but no one got hurt and it was a very welcome break from the norm.

This last week, we went to Alex´s house again to teach our recent convert Carlos.  When we got there, they had invited one of their friends, juan, there to listen to the missionary lessons and it was literally the best lesson/testifying moment of the Spirit i have had in my entire mission.  We taught him the restoration and gave him a book of mormon and at the end of the lesson, we invited him to kneel down and ask God if what we taught was true.  He agreed and started praying.  he asked to know if it was true and there was silence for like 30 seconds....he finally said in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I looked up and there were tears streaming down his face and he had a huge smile on.  I asked him how he felt and he said different than he ever had before and that he didnt have words to explain it.  Needless to say, hes getting baptized the 19th of May :D

We went to Alex´s house the next night to teach Juan and when we got there, Alex and Carlos had the entire 2nd lesson prepared.  So we had them teach it, and i just thought it was cool to see how much they loved their friend and how much they wanted to help him know what they know by teaching him.  Alex´s brother hector came in and we talked with him too and the lesson ended up being a giant counseling session for alex and hector cuz i guess they hate each other.  So we talked for a while and got them to say they were going to try to talk to each other and when we went back a few days later they were playing the guitar together and singing! super sweet!!!! 

Alex and Carlos also invited another one of their friends to come to the English class that we had on Saturday night.  His name is Ui (Carlos) and i think he liked us and is interested in the gospel as well, because he ended up coming to Stake conference with us the next day.  Speaking of english class, i had to teach it solo cuz my comp went on divisions with the other elder and my new comp was latino and doesnt know english. but it was actually super fun teaching and i like it a lot! it would be fun to come back and just teach english here or in a different country i think.

Also, this last week we had an appointment with a members friend who went to general conference with her.  His name is Franco, and apparently hes already been to church a lot, but the elders have never talked to him.  Hes super awesome and is really interested in the church.  He already has a baptism date for next week the 12th, and i think we´ll be able to get him there to baptism! Im really excited for him.

Like i said earlier, we had stake conference and us as a ward had to take a bus again to go to Jujuy, but this time to a different building where they decided to transmit the conference by satellite.  it was really good, except for the satellite connection got lost twice.  it cut off right in the end of the last speakers talk, and came back on in time to see  the AMEN of the last prayer.  kinda funny.

Also, an update on Melani.  Turns out our president told us that tecnically she can get baptized and then do the confirmation after in the catholic church, but if she does that she´ll offend God.  But if she does the confirmation first and then baptism she wont offend him because shes not making the choice to do the confirmation herself, its her mom.  So we told her and shes made the decision to wait until after the confirmation.....which is in like 3 years.  So i told her i expect a photo of her baptism and that she has to keep coming to church haha

But yeah, were doing way good down here, we should start to have some baptisms rolling in here pretty quick, and ill be sure to keep you all updated! love you all and hope to hear from you next week!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Robbed by a gypsy ladies love......

To preface this week's letter, let me start off by sharing the text that I got early on Monday morning from Taylor:

"Mom and Neccia...whoever gets this text first.  My companion and I were robbed by gypsies this week and my comp needs money.  Can you please put some into my account."

 

Needless to say, we worried all day wondering what had happened and if it was really real.  The following explains how brilliant Taylor and his companion are!!  Still little boys!!

 

 

 

 

Hey family!

 

So this last week was good, and i gained one of the greatest mission stories ever as you all know! haha But ill go into that later.  This last week was good, except for the weekend :( Turns out that melanis mom wont give her permission to get baptized until after she completes the catholic confirmation, and that wont be for like 3 years.  I guess when her older brother alez got baptized, he had already done all that, so that was why his mom was cool with him getting baptized.  We just learned last night that her mom said she can get baptized now if she still does the Confirmation in the Catholic church later, but we dont know if thats possible, so well see what happens.

 

Other than that, the week was way good! We found some way awesome people and one family that is amazing! They are the Padilla family. The first time, we knocked their door and the dad let us in and we just taught him.  We invited him to invite his family to the next lesson and he totally did! His wife and 2 daughters actually participated and his son was there, but ran off somewhere.  His daughter in an inactive evangelical, but still has the mentality of an active one, cuz we had to defend a lot of our doctrine against her and answer a lot of her questions.  it was pretty fun.  So yeah, the dad loves us, and if we can get him to get baptized, the rest of the family will follow suit!

 

The other guy we found last week, his name is Kiko! Hes kind of a recluse, but he wasnt that way before.  He has his own producing/editing company and apparently he does/has done some pretty big stuff down here in argentina! hes way cool and we had a good lesson with him.  When we explained about the book of mormon, he said that he had always wondered what had happened with the people from america and why jesus was only in jerusalem and what not.  So that was a way cool spiritual moment, and hes super interested in the Book of Mormon now.  Also, he had found this one video thats a documentary of this guy going around the world asking everyone what they think god is.  in spanish its called what is god, but english its oh my god.  he burned us a copy of it and we got permission from the mission president to watch it during the next few days if we have time.  im pretty curious as to what the people are going to say.

 

That was really all of the spiritual stuff, so nows here for the not so spiritual.  First, on thursday we went to go buy some ground meat for lunch and my comp bought vegetables while i was buying the meat.  Apparently, i didnt know how to buy or ask for the meat in the right way, cuz youre supposed to ask how much it is a kilo, then watch them weigh it carefully to make sure they dont screw you, cuz they like doing that to americans a lot cuz they think we have lots of money and theyre very dishonest. So yeah, i didnt know any of that, and the guy ended up giving me about 3 pesos worth of meat and made me pay 10.  My comp was TORQUED.  so yeah, watch your meats in south america.

 

And now the most anticipated part of all, the infamous robbing by gypsies!!!!  So my comp and i were walking along and this gypsy woman sitting in front of her house waved us over.  So we went over with the intentions of teaching the gospel.  When we get there, she starts going off about how handsome we are and how she was going to read our palms for free cuz we were so handsome.   So she makes us sit down and starts going off about our hands and then asks us if we want luck in work or in love.  My comp says work, i say love to be different.  So then she was like to my comp take out your money that you have right now and well bless it so that you will receive like a billion times more! so he takes out a 50 cuz that was the smallest he had at the time.  she puts it in the middle where our hands our and then asks if he has more money on him and if he does he needs to put it in there too so it can be blessed.  She makes him take out his wallet and she find the 100 in there and puts it in with the rest.  she told me to take out my money too so it could be blessed.  i luckily only had 15 pesos.  so i put it there, she crumples it all together, and then she tells her son to get a glass of water.  She takes the money and then her son dumps all this water all over it! i dont know if she like swiped the 100 out of there first or no, but she totally destroyed all the money and said that even though that hurt, he would gain much much much more in the future. So then with the crumpled mass of shredded bills in her hands, she tells me to take off the ring so we can bless it for love.  So taking it off, i put it in the money and then she has us blow on it and what not so its blessed and ill have lots of luck in love.  Then she says for the blessing to be complete, the ring has to stay with her, and i would have the love i wanted and my comp would have the work and the money.  So i left it there so i could say i got robbed by gypsies and we went on our way! haha my comp was pretty pissed after that cuz that 150 pesos was what was left of his monthly asignation.  I literally laughed my head off for 20 minutes because we got screwed by this gypsy lady, and then realized that i would probly have to pay for my comps food for the rest of the month.  so yeah, there you go! haha we got robbed by gypsies!

 

But thats about it for the week! lov you all and hope to hear from you next week! STAY AWAY FROM GYPSIES!!!!

 

Con amor,

 

Elder Sirrine

Another Good Week!!

Hey family,

 

So im just here to report in again i guess! haha This last week went by ridiculously fast, and it ended up being a pretty good week for us.  First off, ill just let you know that i wont be uploading pictures today cuz this computer is gay and doesnt seem to recognize my flash drive thingy. So until next week and then youll all get to know carlos! haha

 

First off, we did our first divisions of the transfer this week! It was a pretty good change.  An elder named Elder Sherwood came here to my area and i ended up being senior comp for 2 days haha Hes from missouri and hes way cool.  We had some interesting conversations, and we had both read a lot of the same books and stuff like that, so that was the majority of our conversation for those 2 days.  While he was here, we went to Anabel´s house and she fodged us.  So there was this group of kids outside her house and they all wanted us to play soccer with them in the street.  So we stopped and played for a few minutes and this one little kid just like drilled it at me.  He kicked super hard, and i just kind of flung my foot out to get in the way of it and i kind of ended up kicking it over into Anabel´s back yard! haha she wasnt home and her backyard is completely fenced in and the kids got SOOOOO pissed at me haha we were just like, Whoops! Sorry kids, we got another appointment and we really cant stay any longer and we left them without their ball haha But they got it back the next day so its all good :)

 

Also, Carlos got baptized on Saturday! Apparently hes a super stud because the Elder that interviewed him got done in like 7 minutes and said it was the shortest baptismal interview he´d ever had.  Go Carlos!!!! He ended up getting baptized at like noon, because the youth of the ward were going to EFY in Jujuy Capital, and him and Alex ended up going with them.  It was cool, because Alex, his best friend, got to baptize him.  And this week Alex´s little siter Melani is getting baptized by him too!

 

On Saturday night, we had told everyone in the neighborhoods and stuff like that that we were going to start teaching an English class. So we went there at 8 that night with a lesson all prepared and everything and freaking no one showed up! So were gonna announce it better this week and make some people come with us to learn english haha Me and my comp ended up making a zombie emergency plan, in case there is ever a zombie apocalypse and they attack our pension......our pension is now completely impenetrable and we will win the zombie holocaust when it happens.

 

Random note, i learned an awesome song on the guitar in Spanish! Its called Te Vi Venir by Sin Bandera if you wanna hit up youtube and check it out.  I will totally sing it to you all when i get home haha

 

So yeah, that was about it for this week, it was pretty dang good all in all! I do feel a little bad though, because yesterday i felt like we werent working like we should have been and we wasted a lot of time.....i dont like feeling like that, so it will be the first and last time that it happens.  So were gonna be working even harder this week to make up for our slacking last week! I will update you all on Melani´s baptism next week and hopefully ill have some photos! So i hope to hear from you all soon (Cough....Tanner.) and i love you all!!!!

 

Con Amor,

 

Elder Sirrine

Drunks in Church!!

Hey family!

So this last week has been just an awesome week for us! haha i love it
here in Perico! Its actually pretty fun putting back together a
destroyed area because now i get all the awesome opportunities that
those trucho missionaries missed out on before! Weve been working hard
and had a lot of success. Just to give you an idea, the first week i
got here, we had 15 lessons the entire week.....sucky number.  But
this last week, we had 30! Completely doubled it! and weve found some
awesome new investigators too, 3 of which are definitely going to get
baptized.

So talking of those 3 investigators, lets talk about the first one!
His name is Carlos and he is best friends with a member here in the
ward named Alex.  Hes super interested and such a stud.  Every lesson
we have with him he has just like a ton of super deep questions and
just wants to know everything! He is also getting baptized this week!
Hes been to church a lot already and wants to get baptized, so hes
completely in the clear.  Im super pumped for his baptism this weekend
:)

Secondly, Melanie! She is Alex´s little sister! Shes 12 years old and
loves the church.  She used to go a lot, and im not really sure why
she quit going....but shes listening to us now and is going to get
baptized next week!

And lastly,  Anabel!  Shes a single mom with a 7 year old daughter
named Ariadna.  I guess shes talked with the missionaries before, but
they stopped passing by and they lost contact.  But shes really
interested and has accepted her baptismal date for the 28th of April!
but i dont know if we´ll be able to baptize her then, cuz she didnt
come to church yesterday :( but we kind of knew she wouldnt come
because she told us before that she had prior committments being
Easter all.  But she absolutely loves us! The second appointment we
had with her she had bought pizza and a 2 liter of coke for us and
then gave us a giant jar of planters peanut butter that her friend
from the united states sent her.  I guess she didnt like it, but me
and my comp have already like completely destroyed it haha She also
told me that i look almost exactly like her brother that died when he
was 25 years old, so that might be why she likes us so much.

But yeah, things with my comp are going super good, its definitely
different having a gringo comp.  We know a lot of the same stuff and
have fun all day. But hes still kind of depressed and ive been trying
to help him out a lot with that.  He still feels really downtrodden
and just kinda takes whatever abuse comes at him.  So im trying to
give him the most lovin that i can (in a completely appropriate
non-gay way) and things will get better, especially once we start
baptizing every week!

And now, my crazy story for the week! So we went and looked for this
kid yesterday who recently got baptized and we were going to walk with
him to church.  When we got to his house, one of his loser friends was
out there smoking and drinking cheap boxed wine.  So we woke this kid
Gaston up, and then he came to church with his, and his loser friend
Joel ended up coming too.  So we come to find out after church, that
Gaston and Joel had gone into the bathroom during church and were
totally smoking marijuana in there! The bishops wife smelled it when
she walked past and kicked them out of the bathroom, and i guess the
Joel kid, because he was kind of drunk during class, just got pissed
and kicked this other kid super hard for no reason! So needless to
say, we will not be bringing any more drunk people to church, and less
Gaston or any of his friends.

So yeah, thats been my week! We´re doing good here, and mom im still
alive! you can sleep in peace! haha Love you all and hope to hear from
you next week!

Con Amor,

Elder Sirrine

La area esta hecho percha....

Dear Family,

So this last week has been pretty crazy as ive been here in perico trying to get settled in a little bit. First off, sorry im so late again, we had to go and do freaking real transfers today and we were in the terminal in another city all freaking morning until like 4 o clock....so im kind of upset. And also these computers suck horribly so thats why i only uploaded like 4 photos.

So yes, a little bit more about the area. Perico is super chill and a lot less dangerous than Tucuman, so you wont be getting any more scary stories like before haha I like it a lot here! Its a lot more cultural too, cuz its not just city. There are BILLIONS of Bolivians here and im pretty sure jujuy is basically another part of Bolivia. But its way cool cuz the people are way simple and humble and even poorer than the people in Tucuman. But theyre not as stupid as the people of Tucuman, so ive actually had like some civilized conversations haha Ill explain why tucuman people are kind of retarded when i get back from the mish, no time to put it all here. I will send some sexy pictures in my bolivian jacket that i have now next week. Oh, and its also a lot colder here too, i was dying like the first 3 days cuz i went from 95 degree weather to like 55. And yes, like you guys asked its a ton of tobacco fields. Everyone either works there or in the open flea markets they have here. And they dont really smoke that much, but everyone chews tobacco leaves in their mouths so thats just as bad.

The area here is a lot tougher here than it was in tucuman. Im not saying its a bad area, its the opposite actually, but it just sucks because there were a lot of crappy missionaries here before who did a lot of not missionary stuff, so the ward like doesnt trust us at all. So thats gonna be the first challenge is getting the ward to trust us. After that, the missionary who was here with my comp before was named Elder Silva and he was a freaking HORRIBLE missionary. Lets just say he abused every missionary in the pension mentally, verbally, and even physically. I think half the reason i got transferred here is because Elder Silva punched my comp in the stomach and then my comp ended up kicking him across the room and things almost got out of hand. So yeah, we are basically starting from ground zero here because a lot of times that elder silva kid just didnt want to work and refused to get out of the pension. But were gonna get this area better soon! If you have any suggestions about how we can gain the trust of the members, let me know :)

Speaking of my comp, his name is Elder Tietjen and hes pretty cool. Yes he is from the states, New Mexico specifically. He has like 18 months on the mission and we get along really well. He doesnt have too much self confidence right now cuz his last comp just absolutely ripped him down and basically told him he sucked at everything every day. But we talk a lot and can actually relate cuz we think the same! haha

The pension here is also freaking legit. My last pension in tucuman was absolutely worthless! It was infested with cockroaches and will probably be fumigated soon. This pension is giant, clean, has 2 floors, we have no neighbors underneath us, and the best of all! wait for it......my room has CARPET!!!! its like the crappy cheap stuff, but i was excited beyond belief when i saw it. But vacuums dont really exist here, so its kinda hard to keep clean. Ill send you pictures next week of the pension hopefully.

Elder Reece, my old comp in the MTC got transferred today and he went off to Salta, but it was good to live with him for a week and talk about the good old times (i sound so old). His comp Elder Cancapa is going to the offices tomorrow because he is going to train a kid! Were hoping its a gringo, because if it is, were gonna mess with him a little bit. My spanish is good enough now that i can pretend like im from some Latin country, and were going to do that. Were going to tell him that my comp only has 7 months and i have 18 and then my comp is gonna talk crap on me in english to the gringo and ill pretend like i dont understand a word....its gonna be fun :)

And last but not least......Conference! Super cool experience. It was kind of weird because here in Argentina you have to go to the Stake center to watch it. Well there is only 1 stake center in the entire province of jujuy and we ended up piling 14 wards into this small stake center on sunday to watch the 2 last sessions. It was kinda cool how everyone came together and like had their lunches prepared for in between the sessions to eat because they couldnt go back to their house because theyre too far away. We had to get on 2 buses with our entire ward and drive 30 minutes to Jujuy capital and watch it there. A ward bus! haha And then all of us English speaking elders got jammed into 1 tiny room to watch it together there, cuz its so much better in the original language of English. I also loved the speech by Elder Uchtdorf about the Stop it, way good talk. I also saw one of my friends who is a girl named Sarah Hermansen sing in the MTC choir! I was pretty stoked about that too haha

But anyways, were just working away here in little ole Perico, and hopefully ill have some better news to report next week. Love you all and talk to you next week! Love you!!!!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Sorry I'm Late

Hey family!!!

So this letter is going to be dang short cuz life has been crazy and stuff has happened early that wasnt supposed to happen until next week! To start off......i finally got transferred! I am now in Perico, Jujuy and am comps with Elder Tietjen. Hes a gringo and he seems pretty dang alright. Also, the area where we are is a lot smaller and less busy than downtown tucuman and i think im gonna like this area a lot. And one of the coolest things is i live with my comp from the MTC! My third comp that is, Elder Reece, not Elder Flores. So weve been reminiscing and all that good stuff about our times in the MTC haha So yeah, i had to take a giant bus from tucuman to jujuy this morning and it was like a 5 hour bus ride. And now im here!

Also, we had a baptism last week, Silvina Juarez! Its kinda funny cuz her little brother Jorge was my first baptism in Tucuman and she was my last. A good way to end off i think. The baptism went really well and i think im gonna have to load the photos next week because we dont have a lot of time. Its almost time to go out and work and get to know the people here in the area!

Before i go, ill explain why i got transferred early. So there are lots of new missionaries who are coming to the mission, but they all had to wait for their visas, and theyre all coming in sporadically now. So we got a call yesterday afternoon saying that my old comp is going to train one of the new missionaries and he went off to salta this morning to pick him up. So then i got transferred a week early here to Jujuy!

I feel really bad that i cant really respond back more than this, but i promise i will write more next week! Im super excited to be here in this new area and i cant wait to tell you how it goes here next week! So love you all and talk to ya in a week!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine

Rollin' with the Cumbia

Hey family,

Another week, and were still here having success and working hard :) Today has been the first P-day in a long time that weve actually done something other than sit in the apartment and clean and write letters. We got like 10 or 12 missionaries and some of the guys from our ward together and we all went and played soccer this morning, and it was way fun. I still suck horribly, but it was way fun to play and actually do an activity on a P-day for once haha

So the best news first......we had a baptism on saturday!!!! It was way good. We had a bunch of members come and even an investigator made it there. The ward members were really good to welcome the lady into the ward that got baptized and they talked a lot with our investigator too, so it was awesome. There just happened to be a massive stake relief society activity going on in the church and all the different wards were doing like dances and foods and culture presentations of all the countries in south america. We stayed for a minute to see a dance and make sure that our recent convert and the investigator were in good hands and we got out of there. But i did feel kind of bad during the actual baptism, because the lady Rosa Lopez, is like absolutely terrified of water and has never actually submerged herself completely in water. She ended up having to get baptized like 5 times because she kept freaking out and sticking a part of her body out of the water. But luckily neither me nor my comp were in the water with her, cuz her son has the priesthood, so he had to deal with the awkwardness of the whole thing haha But all in all it was a way good baptism. Rosa was so excited afterward that she kissed both me and my comp on the cheek and there was nothing we could do about it. But shes like 60 years old and not in love with me, so i didnt really care haha

 

We went to a less active members house on friday to do service, because were teaching the mom their and she bought stuff to paint her house like a year ago and still hadnt painted it. So we got there at like 9:30 in the morning and her daughter gave us all the stuff and then had to go to a meeting at the school with her daughter. She left us alone in the house and right before she left she pulled out a giant speaker with a memory card in it and just started blasting cumbia music. So me and my comp were rollin with the cumbia all morning long just painting the house. I kind of felt like a thug cuz the music we were listening to is what all the thieves and like street thugs listen to when theyre partying and getting drunk.....the whole time i felt like i was missing a beer or something and the image would have been just perfect haha But we got her house all painted and she came home just in time to cook us an awesome lunch. So it was a dang good day. And now i know a lot more cumbia songs from argentina too!

During this last week we also started to teach Suzanas oldest son David. Thats a miracle by itself because he told us he was gonna burn her house down when we tried to take the virgin statue out of suzanas house. But we talked with him and found out that the reason that he wants to talk to us is because his life is kind of a wreck and all this bad stuff has happened lately because he does a LOT of cocaine. So we talked with him about prayer and the Book of Mormon, and we got him some goals set to get him off of cocaine. Suzanas other daughter Silvia got to come home from the hospital for the weekend because it was her birthday and she got interned again this morning. So far all of her studies have come out good, and theyre just waiting on the one for toxiplasmosis. They might have to operate on her. So were not exactly sure when shes going to get baptized, but she´ll get there soon! We´re praying a lot for her so she can leave this whole sucky situation behind.

 Oh and your packages got here too, and weve already destroyed the candy haha And i opened peggys fudge there at the church and believe it or not it was still good.....just a lot of oil had come out of the fudge and was all over the container and inside of the box. She individually wrapped every piece and i think thats what saved it. We ate all of it, and so far no one has died so i think were alright haha The sending date on her package was the 19th of January and we ate it the 14 of March....kinda sketchy. But it tasted dang good! So tell peggy extra thanks!

But yeah, i think thats about all for this week! Were going to have another baptism this week, and it will probly be my last here in Tucuman, because we wont baptize conference weekend, because we dont want our investigators to wait a week before theyre confirmed. So ill let you know how our next baptism goes next week! Thanks for writing and i love you all!

Con amor,

Elder Sirrine