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