I find myself praying more and more for the other areas in the district

Hey there :) how's it going? :)
 

Sorry no pics this week but a lot went down.
 

Wow, yeah, culture shock within a culture, it's different down here and I'm still getting used to it. I had gotten used to the super easy going way of life in Savio and then to be yanked out of there and thrown into the middle of the city with more responsibilities and having to learn everything again, it was an adventure.

So thanks for everything, I just barely got my Christmas card, did you guys make a Christmas card like the one with a picture and everything? I got the tree and the decorations and the stocking with the other little presents. I don't know if I'm missing anything else?... oh well yeah about the call. We just learned today that we can call either on Tuesday or Wednesday, Christmas or the 26th. We don't have any idea what we are going to do. I want to Skype but we need to find a place where we can do it and find all of the equipment.  We are getting together as a mission in San Fernando to have a Christmas devotional, it should be a party. It's weird to think that this will be my second Christmas away from home and this time in another country.

There's just so much to say... First about the area. It's Constitución and that's the name of the ward. We live in the area of San Cristobal, and we work a lot in the area called Barracas. A huge train station is in our area and we have a tiny villa on the bottom of our area. We are covering two areas. They used to have 2 sets of missionaries in this ward and now we are down to one and my companion doesn't know the other area so we are getting to know that area. It's definitely a change for me and I'm slowly getting adjusted to it. The people are different, the members are nice but not the same as in Savio.  You've seen movies of like the Bronx and how ghetto it is, well times that by a Latin American country and the culture and that's my new area. We walk accross or under the tracks alot and we are in small apartments with dirty streets to walk around. The ward is like 90 attending and yes, I bore my testimony yesterday. The bishop is really awesome, he's a super humble guy from Peru and they fed us twice last week and it was really good. We don't have a really active ward mission leader, though he did come to church yesterday which was nice, because he could help us with our baptism. Oh yeah, we had a baptism yesterday. :) He's a brother of a recent convert and we found him this week, he already had attended 2 times and he wanted to be baptized on this Sunday. He asked me to baptize him, :) so that was a sweet experience.

As district leader I don't have any personal time at night, we get done with planning and then I'm calling the other two areas in my district. In San Cristobal it's E Harrison who just barely came up from down south and E Sweeney, the Redshirt BYU baller, he was with us until Wednesday night and we stayed up talking about bball and BYU bball. It was cool to see the insight of the players and to realize that they are just normal students like us as well. Then in Almagro it's two hermanas. They are both great and its funny talking with them every night, they always have some sort of story or funny thing that happened. My district is a beast, this last weekend we had 2 baptisms and 2 confirmations with more possibilities for the next coming weeks. They are working really hard right now and as a mission we need 35 confirmations in the next two weeks to acheive 1500 confirmations for this last year. We have 2 planned from our district so I'll let you know. My zone leaders are awesome as well. They are helping me learn how to become a better district leader.

My first interview (for a baptism) was on Wednesday. They need a manuel for stuff like that, haha more than just Preach My Gospel. I guess you just learn from experience. My first District meeting was good and I planned really well for it and it was like any other district meeting that I've been to for the last year. I find myself praying more and more for the other areas in the district, and it's fun having this responsibility on my shoulders. Now we have to learn and get better. We take the bus alot everyday, we live a long way from our area where we work the most, so we are riding the bus home everynight. My companion is awesome. He served 4 months in LA and came in the same group as E Stewart. He speaks really well and we get along just fine. We are going to work really well this next transfer and have lots of success.

So in la Boca is the biggest LDS church building that I've ever seen. It's three stories, the bottom story is a parking garage and the top floor has the chapel and an indoor bball court, with wood floors and with actual nets, it's great!! So we are going to play today with other elders. The pension is newer, and I'm back in another high riser. I set up the tree and put up the lights, it's fun going to sleep everynight with the lights on. Thanks for the tree, it's beautiful and the ornaments as well.

So thanks for everything that you've done for me, say hi to Gma y Gpa´s and all of the cousins. Well, have a great week and good luck with Bball, keep up the great work!!

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

I was transferred back to the Capital area

Hey there, how's it going?

Well, to explain the pics, first one is with Dan and his family, we ate at their house on Saturday. They became really good friends.

 

 

Then the sad and exciting and nervous and fun part of my letter today, I left Savio, do you want to know where... yup back to capital, but this time to Constitución, the south side of BsAs, the other zone in the down town area.  We took a pic in the remis heading to San Fernando to meet our new companions.

 

But there is other big news...but more on that later haha

Haha it sounds like Christmas is in the air and it's also down here but it's not the same. People put up little decorations but it really doesn't have any meaning for them. Well, anyone that's outside of the church. Its just another holiday that you get presents and drink alot and have lots of parties. I'm not forgetting. :) I love this time of year and I've been listening to the Christmas music and it just brings the spirit into the room.

 

That's awesome about the new mission calls, everyone is going everywhere, it's fun to think that we will all be missionaries really soon, oh and if you see Lindsey, say hi from me. :)

Now for the other news...

 

I was called to be a District Leader. I was called last night from one of the assistants and he told me that I was going to be a DL. But he told me that I should be staying in Savio. So I was lounging around and 10:30pm hits and I'm about to get into bed when the phone rings, it's the ZL´s and they told me that I would be going to Constitución. At first I didn't believe him because they always pull these type of pranks, but they were like, no we are serious. So I had to start packing, I didn't get done until 1:30am, it was a short night. I also told everyone that I was staying and then I had to sheepishly call and be like it was a joke I'm going. haha I'm going to miss Savio. It is such a great ward. I had lots of great times in that ward and I really wanted to stay to have Christmas there, but the Lord has a better plan for me in Constitución. Well, now I'm in my 4th Zone in my 4th area. I'm getting to know a lot of people, it's really awesome. There was the despedida last night, Elder Rickert went home, so everyone from Savio and Lugano came and there were people from Palermo for another elder. So I was talking to people left and right.

We had a good week. It flew by really fast and we ate a lot. We spent time with all of our favorites, we did have two people come to church. The sisters of a recent convert just moved here from Peru and they were new investigators for us. On Thursday there was a huge rain storm and Savio turned into alot of little rivers. Then this morning we got up and took the remis to San Fernando. I  got the 3 packages and a couple of dearelder letters. Thanks for the packages.

 

So now my new companion is Elder Walraven from Texas, he has been on his mission the same amount of time as Elder Stewart, which by the way, we became good friends. :)

 

So now I have the new responsibilities of being a District Leader, we will see how this goes haha. I'm excited and nervous but the Lord will help me. So now I'm excited to get going in a new area and to meet many more great people. Thanks for the letters and notes. I love you all so so much.

Have a great week and take care.

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

...it makes the week's worth of work worth it

Well hey there :)  How's it going?

First to explaining the pics, the first one is of me and Elder Kuettel, he got here in the group with Elder Stewart and is from Orem and went to Timpanogos High, when I told him that I was from Lehi he asked me if I had a cousin in Orem? I was like, um, yeah haha. Yeah he knows Courtney. Small world.  He´s a funny guy and he went on divisions with Maschwitz and so we got to talk more about bball and football. He was at the Timpanogos/Lehi bball games and I guess Courtney always told him about her cousin that plays bball for Lehi.

 

 

The second pic is on the 9th, I was wanting to see the difference in my face and how I've changed in a year haha, I'm growing up... uh oh! haha I have a belly but it's not too bad... and my muscles are bulging. ;) My face is filling out and my hair is shorter. So it´ll be interesting to see myself in a year.

 

Wow! what a fun weekend for all of you! Wow what a cabin and sledding hills! :) I loved seeing all of the pics, haha I loved the photos of the sledding, especially of all of the jumps and faces haha, Dad's ;) and all of the gingerbread houses. Yes, that's something that I would do for my own house, ;) why open the packaging?

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, yeah it doesn't even exist down here, they don't even have turkeys down here...but honestly I didn't even really think about it being Thanksgiving and by the end of the day I had forgotten that it was that day. Well, at least they celebrate Christmas, but it won't be the same. It will be nice though to speak to you all and see you all. :) If me and Elder Stewart stay we are going to skype and find a good comfortable place to do it, like a member's computer, to make sure that we don't have any problems like last time and so that we can talk for a little bit longer.

Um... well, that's exciting that the bball season already is starting this Tuesday and Friday. I'll make sure to be cheering for you all down here, and yes, good luck!! I'm excited for you all and make sure to send me the schedule!! I want to know beforehand who and when you're playing. Thanks for the packages! I love you so much, not for them but for the love that you show to me through them, wow! One month to Christmas! and they haven't started putting up the decorations yet, but I've heard that they do.

 

Rachel I loved your picture of you flying off of the jump and looking like superman! Your are crazy, Camrym, for going off the jump and yes, I did make new friends this week, actually 3. :)

So now about the week of mine... :) oh, and Elder Pinkston from my group, who is standing here right next to me right now, he went to Simi Valley High School, interesting!

The pday last week was different, we went to work after lunch, not playing soccer or other things.

Tuesday was also a first and weird day. I started with the normal studies, I watched The Testaments in Spanish, and we tried to make empanadas in the oven but they didn't turn out. Then I read all of the family history stories that you sent me at the beginning of my mission and that was fun to read them again and learn about my family and the past. I really loved reading all about Grandpa Pittard and the struggles that he went through and then over coming them to be baptized and now be a faithful member in the church. Then me and Elder Stewart played a game of Scrabble, I won 283 to 273 after two hours of playing! Then I got to sewing my gray pants, it had been like 3 weeks since they ripped really bad in the croch area and so I took two hours sewing both sides of the pants and sewing a sock in the part that was rubbing away. Then we got a call at 7:45pm telling us that we could leave and work. Nothing happened all day, there weren't any riots in Savio but I'm sure that there were in Capital. I don't know why they took away from us a pday but we didn't have the chance to play soccer haha, oh the sacrifices that one makes on the mission! ;)

 

Then on Wednesday we found out that President was coming to our district meeting and he taught us for like an hour about receiving the vision of the things on the mission, like how Nefi and Alma and Jose Smith all received the vision after they were reading the words of God and meditating profoundly and then they recieved the revelations and visions. We need to receive this revelation to be able to successfully do this work in the way that he wants it done. It was cool having President there, it was just like 12 missionaries, so it felt really personal. Then later that day we decided to contact a referral that we just recently received from a youth through his facebook. We knocked on the door and a 12 yr old boy leaves, Fedrico, and we talk about the Restoration and leave him the pamphlet and set up another cita for Friday night to talk with him and his family. They are an answer to our prayers, more on them later...

 

Then Thursday we had the weekly planning. That night we had dinner with the flia Sanchez and they made us a delicious soup with chicken, they are Peruvian. We got talking and I found out that Savio was Elder Collie´s last area and that he promised to come and visit them but he hasn't been in contact with them, they were one of his converts. I explained that being a football player especially in the NFL is hard to even think about anything else. But it helped me realize how much an impact we make on these people. The people that we find and help lead them to the gospel, we really are now a part of their family forever. So I really want to make a good effort in at least keeping in contact with the families and people that I want to remember. So that was our Thanksgiving, soup. :)

 

On Friday, we went to Fedrico's house, the family Parats, and we were knocking on the door (clapping our hands) haha and the mom walked up and we started talking to her, she kind of accepted a return appointment for the following day, and so now they were in the hands of God.

 

Saturday, awesome day, we first really committed Hermano Alegre to try and reactivate himself to be able to baptize his son Dan, then we were at the church waiting for the bishop to show up, we were going to talk with him. And the primary was practicing for their program on Sunday. The thing is they don't have a pianist and they had been using a CD, but they are still learning the songs and the director as well. They asked me for help and so I started to try to help them with He Sent His Son, they were singing it way too fast and then I started playing the melody on the piano. I couldn't play the song completely, I haven't practiced in awhile. They wanted me to play for them on Sunday but I couldn't play the song, maybe if they had given me time to practice and work with them. But it was fun helping them out. Then we went all the way out to the family Parats, they live far away, haha, but the whole family of four was there and we were able to teach them all about the Restoration. It's a mom and dad, Melina (15) and Fedrico (12). They are a great family and the mom had lots of questions. The dad was sitting there listening. He's Catholic and she isn't associateed with any religion, she doesn't beleive in a church. So we introduced the BoM to them and challenged them to read and pray. Melina, she had a friend that moved to another ward, the way that we recieved the referral. She had recieved a Book of Mormon from him and had it there and had been reading a little bit and had some questions, but she is really interested. The boy had read a couple of the pages from the pamphlet and understood it. They committed to come to church the next day. We also finally met Eduardo that day in the morning, we got talking to him and put the fecha with him for the 9th. We also put the fecha with Dan. Then that night the elders of the church were playing soccer at the church when we got to the church to put away the bikes for the night and I kicked a couple of balls and on the last kick my breaking shoe, that the bottom was peeling away, caught onto the ball and ripped halfway off, haha. So I'm now wearing the other pair. I'll see if I can get them fixed. I feel like such an old missionary! haha

 

So then Sunday, Dan and his family came to church and Melina and Fedrico came!! Their parents dropped them off, they actually have a car, which is a miracle down here, well not that drastic, but it definitely helps them come to church. The parents didn't want to but the kids stayed and they loved it!!! yeah!! We got them in their classes and the youth just got right along with them and they want to continue learning more and we have a cita with them tonght and we are going to put the fecha! The program went good, let's just say that they all have sweet spirits and one could feel their testimony, they had scriptures shared and little talks given. They also sang, it wasn't the full on Broadway production that mom put on in Lehi, but it was cute seeing all of them up there. It was sad that the chorister didn't really understand the principle of rests and changing the speed, haha. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. Then we had a ward council for like 3 hours, the bishop was making sure that everyone understood their duties as the leaders of their groups. Then we had a good day having 6 lessons with a member. But I'm just happy that we have fechas and people in church, it makes the week's worth of work worth it.

 

So now it's another week and another time to end up another email. It's going to be weird when I don't have to email you to communicate everything but I do know that this is the work of the Lord and that what I'm doing is so important and that I can sacrifice 2 years of my life in helping the Lord. :)

 

Take care and I'll talk to you later. :)

 

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

It was cool seeing the Spirit teach the soul of the person

Hi there :)

haha I miss the computers in Capital where I could send pics every week. Oh well, I'm doing great. :)(Ryan was able to email several pictures today...fun. :)  I've attached them at the end of this post.)
 

Thanks for your letters. I loved reading from them and feeling your spirit!

 

So to start off, thanks girls for your letters, I do love you and that's awesome that you all are going to a mansion ;) for thanksgiving and that you had fun in primary haha. I loved all of the little pics that you sent me. :)

 

Alright, now some news to you. We don't have pday today, because apparently there is going to be major riots in all of the country and especially in Capital so we have to stay inside the apartment all day tomorrow and we can't leave. We found out yesterday at lunch and the members say that it shouldn't be dangerous out here only in the downtown areas. It's a national protest, people are saying that the transportation is going to stop for a day. I honestly don't understand why but oh well, at least they let us write home. :) We have to work today instead of tomorrow and we have just enough time to write to the family and buy food and then it's off to work on a Monday. haha So a little different, but I'll be fine tomorrow and they are doing this for precautionary purposes.

 

 

Good luck in your first bball game Tanner and Alex, send pics and scores. And good luck against LP, you get them once in your gym, prepare yourselves for them. oh and practice harder!! I'm just so excited for you and the success that you'll have if you really try your hardest. I'm going to be your coach from Argentina. ;)  (we are in the gas station writing and there are a lot of 80´s songs playing and Journey just came on, haha mom, Separate Ways) anyways American culture in Argentina. :)

 

That's awesome Dad that you had a great week in China and Korea. I want to ride on a speed train, because the best we got here is the Savio train, aka ``the space train.´´ I've only ridden on it once and it was like a speed train, but just from the 60´s haha. Yeah it's interesting being in another country other than the states. We have been so blessed to have all of the technology and comforts of life and we already live in a technologically advanced country and don't have to worry about driving in the streets. Haha they get crazy outside of the States. (King of Rain -- Sting, I think) I was able to help a couple of people in Palermo that were there for visits in church. So it's fun that the sister missionaries were able to help you out, that's what I would do. :) One day I'll be able to lead you through in Spanish if you ever have to travel to a Spanish speaking place, that's if I can remember. :) Send pics of China and Korea and of the family reunion. :)

 

So about the toes, they're great, the other one is healed and doesn't give me any sort of pain. I'm trying to protect the other toe so that it doesn't do the same. My shoes are on the last leg of their journey, I still have the other pair in great condition, I rarely wear them. I'm going to wear my first pair as long as possible so that I can have some awesome missionary shoes to show everybody. :) This last week we weren't able to ride our bikes alot because my front tire was flat and we didn't have time to take them in to get fixed until Friday, so we did a lot of walking this last week.

 

Me and Elder Stewart get along great and we work well together. He doesn't want to talk like an Argentine, haha. He grew up understanding Spanish, his dad served in Ecuador, the same time as his mom, in the same zone of the same mission, and after the mission they got married. So they speak Spanish often and all of his uncles and aunts and grandparents on his mom's side always speak in Spanish. So he understands almost everything, he is learning how to speak, he just can't understand the Argentine slang and words because they change a lot of things. He doesn't want to change his accent from the normal Spanish to the Argentine Spanish, haha, but that's alright. (King of Pain again :) )

 

So about my week, it was a good week but we struggled finding new investigators. We talked to people but nobody wanted to listen or were drunk when we talked to them. We received a referral from a neighboring area named Eduardo and he had a fecha before, but he didn't come to church and we have only talked with him over the phone but we have a cita with him tonight so we are excited to meet him.

 

On Wednesday we had a zone conference in Escobar and it was an awesome meeting and I learned a lot. We learned that we are the light of the world and that we are the lighthouses that are leading our brothers and sisters that are in the darkness back to the shore of the restored Gospel. Then we learned a lot about the attribute of Christ of Charity. Then I received some letters and the pedidos, or the stuff that we ask for every transfer. I finally got my Libro de Mormón hard cover and now I'm studying that in depth. I'm now leaving my nice set of scriptures that have a year's worth of markings back home so that they don't get stolen or damaged, which I've been lucky enough that neither of those have happened in this last year or so.

 

So then that night we went to Dan and his family and only Dan and Ayelen was there, his older sister (18) who was baptized two years ago but is now inactive. So applying what I learned in the meeting, I was asking for the charity throughout the lesson and that the Spirit would teach them what we are trying to teach them. Because He is the real teacher and we are just the vessels that carry the word to the souls of the people. We had a really great lesson using the 3 nefi 11: 11,14 where Jesus is like I'm Jesus Christ and I have died for the sins of the world, then He's like come unto Me. We then, using inspired questions, were able to have the spirit teach Ayelen what she should do. We didn't even mention coming to church, but when we asked what the spirit was teaching her, she answered saying that she needed to come to church. It was so cool seeing the spirit teach the soul of the person and telling them the truth that they should do. She didn't come to church because she fell to the temptations of the devil to sleep in, we did our part and now people have their agency, haha oh agency can be so frustrating at times. I can't imagine how our Heavenly Father feels.

 

Friday was Elder Stewart's bday, he turned 20 and we had 4 cakes. I was full by the end of that day. Also we ate some really good Peruvian food, rice, rabbit and a super spicy hot sauce that was tolerable and it was really good. Rabbit tasted like chicken... haha

 

Yesterday it rained and we got soaked, but we are not getting discouraged. What I do to keep myself up is just talking to people, and visiting with people. Sometimes seeing a recent convert family following so strong in the gospel gives me animo to keep going to find the next person and family that can be like them. Then studying every morning gets me pumped to go share what I've learned. Then our Zone conferences get me pumped as well. Yes, it's true, sometimes we do get discouraged but we just need to develop the ability to not allow it to keep us down.

 

Just this morning I was studying in the Bible about the nature of God, part of Lesson 1, and I read in Matthew 6, or the same as 3 nefi 13. And I did read that same scripture and I was thinking about how we shouldn't really worry about tomorrow, as long as we are doing the things that the Lord wants us to do then the Lord will provide. I love the line, consider the lilies. The Father provides for them and He will definitely provide for us. :)

 

So now I'm going to be trying to find stuff to do tomorrow haha, stuck in the house with three other grown males. I want to clean and sew and wash the clothes. So it will be an interesting day, but you guys have fun now. :) Don't forget that someone in the family is down south. :) Being a missionary really is fun. :) The experiences that I have I'll remember for the rest of my life. That's fun to hear about everyone from Lehi that's leaving and serving missions. I wish them the best of luck and that's awesome that more sisters are choosing to serve. I received a letter from Kilee like 4 months ago and she was wanting to serve back then so that's exciting. I'm expecting more to choose to serve, how exciting!!!

 

Well, I love you all so so much. Have a great day!! :)

 

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

with Elder Barragan

 

with Elder Stewart

 

We still have the hope that this is the week that we find new people

Hey there hows it going? :)

Thanks for the pics, those were fun to see. :) I loved seeing them, I'm glad that you have them now. Yeah the big group pic in the church was right before we were going to leave to listen to the three apostles that came. Then the other big group pic is us right after a rehearsal at the stadium, then we ate a bag lunch and waited until the program started. Then the other one of all of the new trainers sitting in the back room waiting to meet our new comps. Then the one of me and E Stewart is right after we met each other and we walked off down a hallway to get to know each other better. Then Hermana Gulbrandsen walked by and took a picture of us on their iPad.

 

About the election I found out the next day, we were at our lunch and the hermano was like "so, Obama won." I was like, no! Oh well all is in God's hands. I liked the Santa Claus comparision, haha. And about the riots, no I haven't heard anything about that. I don't hear much here in Savio about the Capital. But I wouldn't be surprised of it. The govt is corrupt down here, but I think that's the same for all the world. Cristina, the president, from what I hear is a lot alike Obama. Last year she gave all of the elementary school kids mini laptops. They have all of the villas down here and the police force isn't that strong. That's sad about the stuff that the states are voting for.

 

Yay bball again! haha that's awesome that Tanner and Alex both made it!! That's totally awesome! Wow, Tanner, 3 yrs straight on Varsity. And yay for Alex to be playing awesome and receiving the recognition of the other players, tha'ts going to help. I want to hear all about all of the games! I'm down hear to support you and go Lehi!! Oh yah, and don't let the cheerleaders distract you while out on the court. ;)
 

That's awesome that Braden is in two plays at the same time! haha It's going to be fun going to his high school plays, and to go to Jason's swim meets. :)

 

Thanks Rachel and Camryn for everything, I received the package with the ranch and pb and the pics and they were awesome!! :) haha That's so sweet. :) One day we are going to look back and wish to have the younger Rachel and Camryn back. haha

 

Wow, China and Korea, why not Buenos Aires? haha ;)  That's awesome, I hope that you take lots of pics and bring everybody something from China, enjoy the flights and the time in another world!

 

I'm glad that school is going good for everybody especially for Mom. :) Thanks for all that you do Mom. :) Yah this last week I didn't think a lot about you all and I was looking on the MTC entrance pics on Friday and I was remembering all that happened and how crazy it is to already have been a missionary for a year now. It's weird to think back to one year ago.  I have been reading my old journal entries to remember what happened exactly a year ago haha. I can definitely see a difference in myself, in my body and how I look. I was skinny entering into the MTC and now I'm filling in the hollow spots ;) haha, and now I know Spanish a lot better compared to a year ago haha. Everybody at home has changed a ton from a year ago, everyone looks a lot older and mature. Now we are here on the second run around, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, the last time in the mission type of days. Well now I have a year to make the best of it and to continue the work of the Lord.

 

So this last week was about the same as the last week. On Monday I did the tramites in Capital, we got back after 3 hours of traveling and we were able to go out to see Dan and Sasha. Sasha's mom just died of cancer and she was struggling with the reality.

 

Tuesday we had a training meeting for all of the leaders in the mission and trainers were invited. It was a good day of learning about our purpose as missionaries and how to ask better questions to help the investigators to understand the why of the stuff that we leave them to do. Then I got the package and I got to see all of my mission friends, it's weird to think that Elder Secretan will go home in January and Elder Rickert is going home in December. It was fun to see Elder Carlson again, he is now a DL and Elder Solum was there as well. Then we were in a hot crowded bus for an hour and a half going back home to Savio. Traveling out of and to Savio is really hard and there aren't a lot of options to take. So lots of traveling for the first two days.

Wednesday we had the district meeting and then we had a good lesson with Franco, a friend of Karina. She came with us and we got talking to him about the church and the L1 pamphlet and when he saw the pic of Jose Smith and the first vision he asked about our beliefs in the trinity and he agreed in what we think, which is the truth. He was thinking that it was a little strange in the Bible that Jesus prays to himself, it just doesn't work. He didn't come to church but we are working with him. As always it was awesome to bring Karina to the cita. She just has a fire to share the gospel and is the right member for all of our investigators.
 

It was hot all week, hitting in the 90´s a couple of times and super humid. Then on Friday a thunderstorm hit! and it was a freak rain storm. We were looking for the vianda to take it back home and we had just got to the hermana's house and it started pouring hard and it was a fun adventure traveling back through the muddy roads back home haha. We got soaked.
 

Oh, big news for me, haha, on Thursday when we got home we decided to change up the living quarters. We had been sleeping all four of us in the same room and then studying in the same other room, separated by the kitchen in the middle. So we took apart a bunk bed and put a study table and a big shelf in the other room and we separated the living space. Now me and Elder Stewart are in the old study room with a lot of more room for our stuff, it was a good year mark present to change up the living space. So now we are sleeping a lot more comfortably and now that it's hotter at night we aren't sleeping sweaty. Oh and thanks for the BYU shirt! It looks so awesome and I love it. :) That's good that BYU won :) So who might they be playing in the MWC in the Poinsetta Bowl?
 

Sunday we had two surprises come to church, Maira, a daughter of Beatriz and a friend of Anchi. Then we had ward council. I love this ward, the members are awesome and the missionaries have the support of the ward and the recent converts are really strong and want to help in the work. So we struggled finding new investigators again and all of the investigators that we have didn't come to church. The flia Alegre didn't come, we had daily contact with them and everything but still fell through. So we still have the hope that this is the week that we find new people.
 

I love you all so much and thanks for all of your support and I hope that you all have a great week in Lehi. :)
 

umm.... that's it :) until next week!

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

Last week we had a miracle happen

Hi there :)

How's it going?

It's amazing how that week flew! and a lot happened inbetween last week and right now :) I'm now sitting in a ciber right off 9 de Julio right next to the big obilisco thingy. Today we had to come to downtown to do a backround check, in preparation to start the process of renewing our visa to Argentina. We had to be at the offices at 8:00 so we got up at 5:30 am to get there on time. We took an hour and a half bus ride from Savio to San Fernando and I missed the stop by like 10 blocks but we still had time. There we met with lots of elders of my group, and then we took the train all the way down to Retiro and then the Subté to the oblisco. There we had to fill out some paper work and then they digitally scanned our finger prints and then that was it we were done. So we just went to Burger King, something that's not in Savio, and then we are doing email right now. I miss these really nice cibers. haha

So that's wonderful to hear from you all! I'm glad that Halloween went well and that everyone came up with great costumes. I liked Alex´s and also Tanner's creativity. That looked like a fun party that you all had, how many girlfriends do you have Tanner? ;) And ouch, I'm sorry Alex, that would really hurt. I think that you'll do great in tryouts, just have fun and play your hardest. and that goes for you too Tanner, just relax and have fun playing but play hard, always play hard, that's how you're going to be able to start. You both can do it, just be a good team player and make plays on defense, because on offense anybody can pass the ball or score a lay up but on defense if you can shut down your player, cause some turnovers and play smart, then that's what coach will recognize. I'm not worried for either of you.

So you all want to hear about my new comp?

So on Tuesday we get to the mission house and then we had to wait in the back room, waiting to walk out singing Called to Serve in Spanish and getting to know our new comps. So I led the group out singing and it was a big group, 19, and so there was a lot of people in the house.

 But my new comp is Elder Stewart and he is from Kansas City, KS he has 6 months already in the mission and he served in Denver, Colorado for 4 and a half months. He loves basketball and is the oldest in his family. He´s awesome, all that he faults is getting used to Argentina and the culture and the church down here. The work and the experience as a missionary are way different than in the states. He's quiet around people he doesn't know but once you get to know him he opens up. His mom is from Ecuador but he is white, he is 6´3" and around my weight. So we then took a remis back home and went out to work Tuesday afternoon.

This last week we had a miracle happen, Wednesday night we were walking to our last cita of the night and we were walking down a street that I don't normally take to get to this house but I felt like we should. We were walking and talking and a lady pushing a stroller with a cigarette in her hand starts walking behind us and asks us really quietly, what do you believe in? I started explaing to her, while walking, that we believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. We got talking about her life and it was a sad story, I felt really bad for her. She's addicted to smoking and drinking and so is her husband and he doesn't help her in being a mom, they aren't married but her parents don't want her separating from the guy. She has had suicidal thoughts and she told me that she wants the happiness that we have, in the way that we carry ourselves. We left her some pamphlets and the direction to the church. She said that she would come but we weren't able to find her again. We tried going past her house a couple of times but I have faith that we will find her again some day. Then this last week we also got to know some more friends of Karina Cubilla, she has shared the gospel with all of her friends and she only has a year in this gospel. She is an awesome missionary and she's 17 yrs old and wants to serve a mission. She helps us a lot in the work and I wish that every youth was like her. haha Elder Rickert, my comp from Lugano, baptized her when he was in Savio. Rickert is going home this transfer in December.

We had success this week in helping the flia Alegre come to church for the first time in a long, long time. Their son, Dan, just barely turned 9 and his family is inactive, and we are trying to help the father reactivate so that he can baptize his own son, they are progressing wonderfully. :)  The mosquitos are so horrible down here!!! Sorry, I just have a million bites on me. I put on the Off spray and they still somehow get underneath all of my clothes. haha  I'll survive. That's cool that Ryan Bell and Brad got their calls. The Cordoba mission is northwest of our mission and it is lots of country, super hot but I have known alot of Argentines that have served there and they loved it. Too bad that he couldn't have come here with me in the city.

So last week I got your letter with all of the scripture references, I really liked that, also the letters from my friends, they sound like they are doing great!

Well I do hit a year this Friday. It has been a quick but long year, but a good year and it's weird to be hitting this stage in the mission, where I can look back a year. I'm so old now. haha

On Saturday I cut the weeds in the front part of the Cubilla's house for service and I got a blister on my finger from the machette. haha Oh well, it was loving service. Oh and Monday night there was a thunder storm and we got wet. haha I was in Matheu and my bike was a little girl's bike. haha

So this week we are focusing on finding more new investigators that are willing to come to church and to make that sacrifice, so we will see with that.

Good luck with the tryouts and the week of work, and yes I will be praying on Tuesday for the election. It's making news down here, so I'm sure that I'll find out, but keep me updated!

I love you all so so much. This is the true church and this is the Lord's work!!

Con todo mi amor (ryan pittard accent ;) )

Elder Ryan Pittard

We had another baptism!

How's it going!?

We had heard over a month ago of a family that had come to church with people that could be baptized. We went with some of the youth to look for their house the next week, but we couldn't find it. We kind of "gave up" on it because we had lots of other work to do. We received the right address and that same week, two weeks ago the friday right before conference, we found their house and talked with the mom. She had been baptized in Escobar, a town close by, a long time ago and had fallen away and gotten married and had 6 kids. They recently moved into the ward and went to church once, I didn't see them I only had heard that they had shown up. So we invited them to come to conference and then we would be passing by on Tuesday of this last week. Well, we get done Sunday night with Alexis' baptism and we are thinking, well, we don't have any dates right now so let's try with these kids. So we went by to see them on Tuesday and talked with Uriel and his mom, Isabel, the member, and we got talking with him and he was a super smart kid, 11 yrs old, and we taught him the first lesson and then he accepted the fecha for Sunday, we were super excited and then the next day we had a lesson with all of the kids and Dafne, 15yrs old, was there and she also accepted for Sunday. So now we were going crazy! So we had daily contact with them and they learned so so fast, they soaked up everything and they passed their interviews and we had a smooth baptism yesterday. I baptized Dafne and Elder Barragan baptized Uriel. Their grandma came in over night somehow from Uruguay and is an awesome member and is staying for the week to help them get confirmed next weekend.

So sounds like you all had a great week!!

Haha I loved the picture of all those cookies, which reminds me that I have been making lots of cake mix cookies down here and they are starting to become famous, well at least in the Escobar zone.

Anyways, definitely pray about it Tanner, earn as much as you can right now!! that goes for all of you siblings of mine. (like the spanish placement of words in english form? ;) ) ¡Ahorren su plata! ¡ya! but let me know asap what you plan on doing. Wow, thats interesting of all the YW that are choosing to leave for their mission right away, that's awesome though and they all will be great missionaries.

Well, now for my little bit from my week.

Haha, Monday, did a door contact and I asked this older man how he was doing and he told me "muy mal" and then shut the door, it wasn't a slam but still, haha, oh well they come in all shapes and sizes.
On Tuesday we tried contacting a referral that we had and this guy's sister walks out and starts asking us all of these questions, looking back, some of them were really weird. I think that she was kind of off at that moment, her name was Melina and we got talking about the Restoration and then we invited her to be baptized and she said yes, but we weren't able to find her the rest of the week. Oh well, we still put a fecha!

On Wednesday, we were waiting for Uriel and Dafne to get to the church to teach them a lesson, they had to walk and they live quite a ways away, so while we were waiting for them we were with some of the youth and so one of them made a tennis ball out of plastic bags and then set up chairs in the cultural center like a net, and we played tennis with our hands for like 15 minutes. haha Then we taught Dafne and she was super accepting of everything.

Thursday, Elder Solum finally received his huge bday pack, a huge box. Thanks for sending padded envelopes, they are much cheaper and faster. :) But he received ranch powder and so we made ranch dressing and that's something that they dont have down here, and I had forgotten that I had loved it so much. :)  So if you're ever wondering about what to send next, you can send lots of ranch powder packets. haha We had an interesting conversation with a man named Javier, super believing evangelical and wanted a Book of Mormon, so we discussed it but it didn't do that much. I just think that he wanted a book, because I saw a JW bible there as well, but we still had a good discussion about the church and what we do.

Friday, I went on divisions with Elder Solum in Maschwitz and that was fun to work outside my own area for a day. We did lots of street contacts and found a new family that they could teach. The other elders had 5 lessons with members in one day while we were gone, ¡qué capos!

We did the interviews on Saturday morning, and while he was doing them, I got to play a little bit of ping pong with the youth haha, almost won three times. haha It's been 11 months, I'm going to be a little rusty. So we met up with Alexis at the church and taught him and then we found out that his dad, an atheist, the ones that dont believe in anything, ateo. So his dad was going to take him fishing on Sunday morning. That's never good to have to wait to confirm somebody and we had big pressure from the leaders to confirm the fastest possible. Because they technically aren't members and they don't have the Holy Ghost, so it's not complete until after the confirmation. So we went imediately to their house and tried to convince the dad, in a friendly way, to postpone his trip for at least a couple of hours, but he wouldn't budge, and trying to explain to him the importance of receiving the Holy Ghost wouldn't even work because it was his attitude that God, if there was a God, could wait a week. So Alexis wasn't confirmed yesterday but we will get him confirmed this Sunday.

So then yesterday, the baptism, went really smoothly and we are going to have a good week.
I love you all so so much!!!

Elder Ryan Pittard

Oh and Go Cougs!!

We had another miracle this last week

Hola, como estan?

Well, as for now, I'm not going to be able to send pics, it's a pity because you'll need to see the 3 baptismal pictures that I was going to send. Haha, yup we had another miracle this last week, we were able to baptize Beatriz' 10 yr old son, Alexis. He attended the last week and didn't have a fecha when we started the week. So we passed by on Monday night to talk with his mom and he wanted to listen with us. So we start teaching his mom the lessons of retention and then we found out that he really liked the church the day before but when we invited him to be baptized for this next weekend, he said no and he didn't want to until he learned more. That's the most common answer, haha, even in 10 yr olds! So then we went back the next night and tried again after teaching the restoration. He still said no, so we were praying really hard that night and going into the next day's lesson on Wednesday. We started teaching about the plan of salvation and then we ended up focusing on him, he had been reading and praying and wanting to learn more, so then when we invited him again, he said no again, but then Elder Barragan received revelation to have him say a prayer on our knees to ask God right then and there to see if the Book of Mormon was true, the church was true and if he should be baptized. So we all knelt down and he offered the prayer and it was a simple prayer and then he asked if he should be baptized on the 7th and then afterwords we waited to let the Spirit testify to him and then we asked him how he felt. He said that he felt good and then we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes! haha Wow, what a great feeling that rushed over us. We continued to have daily contact with him and then Sunday, after the conference, we baptized him along with another girl from a branch in our district of missionaries in the stake center. It went really good and I had the wonderful chance to baptize him. It's always a great feeling to baptize somebody that you have taught and prayed for and then to perform that saving ordinance for him is an overwhelming experience!

 

So we had a great week :)

 

But a little on the North Pittard Branch (you guys up north) haha Wow, what a great week and weekend that you all had. :) I loved reading about all the great experiences that you all had with general conference. :) Wow, that was a great conference and it passed by the fastest that one has ever passed by. (Yes, I agree with you mom.) We had just barely arrived at the stake center, after searching for people and then taking a crowded bus over, and then buying stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. And so I sat down in the English room with 7 other elders, a class room with the TV connected up, and Pres Monson had just started to speak. I was able to hear of the two new temples and him explaining what had happened in the temple news the last 6 months. Then when he announced the news, I could totally see it coming too, we were all like, no way! this is big! I could definitely feel the spirit strongly testifying to me personally that this was commanded of God and that Pres Monson really was a prophet of God. I immediately thought of Tanner as well and I totally reccommend him for the mission. haha That's an awesome attitude Tanner, Heavenly Father will bless you for that desire and will help to prepare you. Suggestions, spend as much time with the family as possible, reading the scriptures everyday, saying your morning and nightly prayers and studying all of the sections of PMG. This will set the foundation that you need to be a successful missionary. Everything else will just have to be learned in the field. I didn't think of us not seeing each other for like 4 yrs but if it's the Lord's will then it'll be alright. Your mission will be an awesome experience where you will grow and succeed. One thing, let the Lord change you, honestly I'm still working on that, if you have a determnination to be exactly obiedient and to do whatsoever the Lord, through His leaders that He has called, counsels you and do, do it because of your love of the Savior. Yes, I went through the 12 week program and now we are going through it again as I am training.

 

Cool thing, Elder Holland, gave that exact same talk a couple years ago in the MTC. I saw a DVD of it out here in the field. I was actually able to watch the press conference, haha we were in the middle of the World Report and then it just stopped, we were like ohhhh! haha but then we were just as interested in the press conf. There was lots of construction in the MTC when I was there and there were elders in my Zone that were part of one of the many 6 week MTC groups, I just never put it all together but I'm all for it. I'm super excited for the new rush in of elders and sisters, there definitely is alot of work to be done. I think that there were be a huge influx of new elders and sisters by the next year and we might get up to 70,000 missionaries, that would be crazy. My zone leader right now, Elder Jaime, is 19, he entered when he was 18 and has about a year and a half in the mission and is a stud. He's from Mexico.

 

That's exciting about hearing about all of the mission calls, so Brandon is the next to leave, say hi to him if you see him again, wow and that's exciting for all of the other people in the ward, are there any YW wanting to leave right away? So when would Tanner turn his papers in? Could he possibly be leaving as soon as June or July? Wow, that's crazy! and yes I thought that was funny how Utah sports was brought into the discussion, but yes that will be interesting.
 

Well what else... oh yeah haha I totally laughed when Jason broke his pen so he couldn't take notes haha that's a memory, but it was super cute to see his curosity in everything. I can still remember when we bought him a computer cord for his birthday a long time ago. It's weird to me that he's already 12 and receiving the priesthood!! Way to go Jason!! I still picture him as that little Jason and now he's not. :)

 

Oh and my birthday, yah it was different, but I still felt loved and thanks so so much for the presents and cards and the cake was delicious. Yes, I made it and we put dulce de leche on top of it with bananas and strawberries. Haha I was able to cook in my new cooking protection gear ;) personalized (we sent him a missionary apron) haha Thanks Rachel and Camryn for the notes and that was a fun idea and a fun activity to paint it all out, I took a pic of everything. Also a big thanks again to the McOmbers for their love and the BYU shirt is totally awesome, along with the nutella!! Thanks for the cards, haha I loved the 10 new reasons to not come to church, those are definitely new. haha ;) Then I had a cake with the flia cubilla, they are an amazing family, all recent converts and so what did we do? I served them. I was able to cut their front yard weeds with a machette, haha don't worry, I was careful, but that's how they do it down here. Then they made me a sign and a peach cake that was really good. Then Jorgelina probably gave me the biggest present, I don't think she knew before hand, we showed up for the cita and Elder Barragan, like a good companion, told everyone that it was my bdirthay, and then she went into the back room and came out with a wrapped gift. I wasn't expecting anything. She gave me a ceramic round thing that has Argentina in the middle with the provinces eched in then with all of the provinces' banners circling the outside. It is a super Argentina tourist thing, it's totally awesome! Then she made a cake in the hour that we were there and it was a really good choco cake. Then the other elders of Maschwitz bought me an ice cream cake that we all shared gratefully. :) Wow, what a crazy day and thanks for the love. :)

 

So a little bit more about the week...

 

Tuesday, it was raining and cold and wet and muddy haha :)

 

Wednesday we had a zone meeting with lots of practices. (teaching lessons)

 

Thursday was my birthday... like you all know ;) oh and thanks for the new white shirts and I love the ties!! haha I'm going to keep one of the white shirts clean and white for baptisms. ;)  Elder Solum made me and everyone else an omlet. :) Oh, and en route to a cita, my chain broke, so we had to get a new one. I didn't have enough money but he let us come back and pay him the next day. You know it's a small town when they let you do that. So I had in total 4 cakes that day, pretty good. :)

 

Friday, weird and cool to think that I'm now 20, made empanadas at a member's home with some youth. The youth in Savio are the best, the whole ward is just the best. They truly understand how to friendship new members and to do the missionary work. It's the best ward that I have been in so far in the mission.

 

Saturday, general conference, Alexis was able to come to the first session Saturday morning, so we ate sandwiches in between and then I went on divisions with the Escobar elders. Escobar is the stake center area, and we went looking for somebody to come to the next session, no one. I really loved Pres Uchtdorf's conference talk, and yes, the big news was the minimun age change.

 

Sunday, general conference again, this time we went with a less active family that has a nine year old that can be baptized. They went for the first time in years. Then we finally were able to watch the world report and then we watched about that one family in Illinois get to together through Family History work and then go through the temple to be sealed, then watching the sweet beginnings thing was so sweet and I loved the story, and I could relate with what that lady was doing for those people. Those children of God that need our love and support, especially down here, the poverty is really bad in some parts and we are helping bring the love of God to them. Then we had the baptism afterwards and then all the Mormons from Savio took the bus home together. It was fun to see how much more happier we were than everybody else. The gospel is real and I'm so blessed to be a part of it in this hectic world and have the truth and the hope and faith of a better world.

 

I have a testimony that I do love God and I'm out here in the middle of nowhere Argentina to serve Him and His lost children here in Savio. It really saddens me when they choose not to accept and to remain in sin. Oh well, it's totally worth it with the baptism and seeing the happiness that it brings to their lives.

 

Thanks for the love and support. Keep up the great work and I love you all so so much!!! :)

 

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

 

ps - oh and tell Great Gma Wayment thanks for the note and the picture, you're looking great and I love you!

 

pps - Thanks Gma and Gpa Hilbig for the birthday email

 

ppps - GO BYU!!!! ;)

We moved a house for service!

Well, how's it going? :) Sorry but you'll have to wait another week for the two baptism pics, the usb won't recognize the cord, dangit, oh well, I still love you. ;) Oh, and a big happy birthday to Jason, the big number 12!!

Yup, we were able to baptize Beatriz on Saturday. Wow, she is honestly a miracle!! with such great faith and desire to choose the right and follow Jesus Christ. We met her on Sept 16th, she came to the Sunday meeting and we set up a cita with her for the 19th. We talked with her and put the fecha for the 29th, she was a little hesitant at first but then in our 2nd meeting, Satureday the 22nd, she was all ready for it, she was loving reading the Book of Mormon and she just felt the spirit so strongly. So we had a cita set for Tuesday and we were going to slowy and easily teach her the rest of the commandments. But we were doing a service project that took a lot longer than we thought it would and so we had to set the cita for Wednesday after interviews, but that went longer then we thought that it would again, so we had to postpone the cita to Thursday night. She would have to be interviewed on Friday, so we had to dump teach everything to her on Thursday night. So we get to the cita with the Flia Cubilla, we brought Beatriz and Yamila (her niece, member, brought her to church the first time) and we start going through the laws of God, we get to the word of wisdom, she had a problem with smoking, oh no, what were we going to do. We got talking about it and wow, what a miracle she is. When she first came to the church just over a week and a half ago, she was smoking and wanting to quit, but when she came to the church she felt bad for smoking for some reason and wanted to quit even more. So she started smoking less and less and she had smoked 3 cigarettes that Thursday, the day of the Word of Wisdom lesson, but she promised us on the spot that she would never smoke again, and so I felt good enough to continue with the lesson and then we did the practice interview and she passed. So then we were needing a miracle from God to help Beatriz, a life long smoker, quit in one night. So we were praying really hard and then we got to the interview with Elder Solum and she had completely stopped!! It was a miracle!! She had overcome the temptations and we were so proud of her.

So Saturday, the day of the baptism. So we get the pila filling up and everything is going good. She shows up and the people start showing up, everyone except the bishopric rep. haha just like Gastons baptism. Hermano Huerta was 40 min late, we took the pics and we were waiting. But then he finally showed up and the room was full of people and then came the time to perform the baptism, an hermano of the ward did the baptism, our ward mission leader, and he was in the water and me and Elder Barragan were the witnesses. Then it happened, she froze at the top of the stairs, turns out that she was really scared of water, that's a first, but with her faith that she has she slowly made it down the stairs until she was in the water. The hermano said the prayer and she was baptized! haha The Lord really helped us out on this one, only the restored gospel will lead people to change their lives in a day and overcome their fear of water for a minute to receive all of the blessings that the gospel brings for us!! Then she was confirmed yesterday and within two weeks was a member of the church. We received permission to baptize her with 2 attendances (to sacrament mtg) because of General Conference next week. Oh, and para que sepan, Judith was also confirmed, so this was a pretty awesome week, with a baptism and two confirmations.

So I received two smaller packages with the big manilla bag that hermano Bartholomew delivered. Thank you thank you thank you so so so much for all of you that sent something. I also received the package from the McOmbers! Thanks for the snacks and pics, haha honestly I love any type of snack, thanks aunt Kim. Send my love to the cousins and good luck with school and BYU for Courtney, how exciting! I haven't opened the packages that say to wait for 10/4 but thanks mom for the new inserts and the flip flops those are awesome!! :) also the vitamins and the cake mix and candles, we are going to make cake for weekly planning this Thursday. :) haha I also received the letters and the letter from the Biggs, thanks, there still is one waiting in the offices so Elder Solum went to do visa paperwork today so hopefully he can pick it up on the way back.

I'm super excited for General Conference this next weekend, it just seems like the April one just got done, but yeah it will be transmitted to the stake center in Escobar and we will go to watch it there. We won't be able to watch the priesthood session because it starts at 9pm here and we don't have permission to stay out late, oh well, in a month I'll have the dvd to watch from the priesthood session.

It's crazy that I'm going to be 20 yrs old this Thursday!! I can't believe that 20 years is now passing and that I'm not a young man anymore, haha I can remember my 10th bday party, first our flag football game with my friends, then the party with cake outside on the patio and then Gen. Conf. and I made the wooden block statue, haha and now I'm going to be planning for the week to come and talking to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ on my 20th birthday, but I'll still have cake. :)

That's an awesome story about Brandon and him sharing the gospel and he will be a great missionary. That's awesome that he's going to Bolivia, that will be an awesome mission. I love hearing from the friends and how they are doing, it's awesome that we are all over the world, some of us speaking spanish and other crazy languages haha. What are Tanner's plans?  Shouldn't the BYU entrance papers get started soon?

Anyways, to talk a little about my week, first of all it was a crazy week,

Tuesday, we moved a house for service :) haha Yes, I'm not lying. It was a small two room house made out of wood and we had to move it 4 meters and it took a long time. It was for an awesome family, the Llactahuamans, from Peru. First we helped take out the remaining things from their house and then we all took a corner and the middle, it was a ingenious way to do it with what little resources that we had. There were 3 beams through the middle of the house that we were able to lift up and so we started lifting it up onto two logs and then we put it on 2x4´s and then on top of that little pegs that would work like wheels and then we had the slow process of pushing it and trying to make sure that it didn't fall off of the track, it was a slow process, but finally as the sun was going down we finally moved it to the concrete that had been prepared as the new foundation. They had a foundation of wood and when it rained it would flood the house, so now they aren't going to have that problem. Then they fed us lunch in appreciation, it was all four of us helping.

Then Wednesday, we traveled to San Fernando for the interviews and it was another great interview. We talked about the success that we have been having in Savio and what we were doing to acheive all of that. Then we talked about how gma and gpa Hilbig were mission pres in Knoxville and how Elder Hilbig is in the 70 right now, he remembers that name from somewhere. Then we talked about how Elder Barragan is doing and how I could help his language even more. It's already really good and he has the confidence, he'll have it in no time. Then a crazy experience on the bus ride home, so we finally found a bus that would take us back to Savio, and it was already an hour and a half trip, so we get to Maschwitz right next to Savio and there was a huge traffic jam and so our driver decides to take a back road to try and go around the traffic. Then we got to a part of the road where there was only a small bridge wide enough for cars, so the bus started trying to turn around by backing up and turning around, of course it was really black outside, night time, and so we get half way turned around and there is this post that is blocking us from completely turning around. So he tries going back even a little more and then the back window smashed, we had hit a tree branch and here they don't have safety glass, luckily I was sitting in the front of the bus. I don't think anyone was injured, the funny thing was that we just kept going like nothing happened. haha We made it home safe. I don't think they have a drivers ed class here. haha

Saturday night after the baptism, the youth performed the dances that they had performed at the temple celebration and they did it for a FHE event at the church, so that was fun to watch after the baptism. The baptism gave me a headache, haha all of the stress and the greasy lunch that some members gave us, it was really good and a kinda like milenesa but a batter was used instead of bread crumbs, and then deep fried. It was good, but I didn't feel good that night haha, but luckily I was able to sleep it off. Then yesterday was a busy day and we had lots of work and now the challenge of finding the next baptism. We have some younger kids that could be, so we will see. :)

Well, I love you all so so much!! Thanks for all that you do! Have a great week and I'll be thinking about you. :) Oh and ask Brother  Bartholomew how it went in BsAs, and a special thanks for the service to bring the package. :)

I love you mom and dad, enjoy General Conference!! :)

Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard

A great week! and a baptism!

Well hows it going? :)

There's no usb connection, so sorry, no pics this week, but we had a baptism!! Super crazy experience.

So first of all, how's it going with everything? Thanks for the wonderful notes and I loved all of the personal notes from everybody!! haha I also loved the pics and I'm glad that my pictures got there and that you loved the little things that I decided to send. :) I loved hearing from you all and feeling your love. :)

 

Haha, that sounded like the dumbest BYU game ever! Sorry for the strong language, but they have to kick the field goal!! ...with the defence doing that well!!! Oh well, it's past but I hope that they can turn it around or we are going to have another 2003. That's too bad that Riley is injured and playing, I say let Taysom Hill get some reps early on in the game and see how he does. Anyways, enough about that.

 

Tanner, looks like you had fun on your date, oh and you look great in pink. ;) Thanks Camryn for you letter, :) your english is getting really good, especially your writing! haha That's awesome Jason that you're doing good in swimming, keep it up. And Braden, I hope that your bum stops hurting. haha Thanks Rachel for your love, and thanks for making me trunky Alex ;) haha, but school sounds like it's all good! I'm glad that everyone was able to be at the temple dedication and that you were able to use the handkerchief, haha and that's only in Utah County...the white handkerchiefs in Walmart haha, such a different world!

 

Oh wow! that's awesome on hearing of all the missionary calls! Keep updating me!

 

Thanks Mom for the dream experience, that's awesome to hear and I'm glad that I'm still picturable. ;) I can't even count the number of times that I have had dreams with my family in it, it's now less and less with the mission life taking over.

 

Well, now for the weekly report, number 40 something, wow that's alot!!

 

So last Monday was super chill, we were able to play soccer. :)

 

On Tuesday we had weekly planning. It was super windy that day and we had to bike for 10 minutes down a highway to get to lunch and then it started raining, pouring, haha, so we were riding our bikes everywhere in the rain and the mud. There's so much mud out here in Savio!! haha but we had a good day. We taught this one lady named Andrea and she was super excited to talk to us. She had been talking to a member friend and then we passed by and gave her a Proclamation on the Family and a L1 pamphlet, she had read both of them and was wanting to know more. We had a great lesson one about the restoration and then we put a fecha with her for the 7th. She didn't come to church, but it was super fun to find someone like that, so willing to listen and to know if its true.

 

Wednesday, I led a super awesome lesson with this investigator, a Catholic lady and a referral from another ward. She was like, yeah elders have passed before but they only talked about how I was wrong and that they were right (I sure hope that it really wasn't like that) but we started talking about her family and we figured out that her dad had died a couple years ago. She really misses him and then I was prompted to ask her, so do you know where he is right now? She said no. Well I have a scripture just perfect for that question, Alma 40:11-12. She then knew where he was and that he was happy, but then I explained that he was receiving the restored gospel over there and that God, Jesus and her dad want her to join this church. The spirit was super strong and it was a great lesson and she was left thinking. We left her with some reading and a return appointment. I don't see a future with her, Lucila, but we can try still. Then we talked with this lady named Beatriz, she is an awesome lady, also ready to receive the gospel and be baptized. We talked with her about the restoration and she accepted it all and we put the fecha for this Saturday!! Her husband doesn't know though and that could be a problem, but we are praying that he will let her be baptized. She's super nervous about that, and the husband of a married couple should know about these types of things. Oh, and we taught Judith in the complete dark, all of the power was out in her block, more like several blocks. We could see the stars, lots of different formations.

 

Thursday was a full day, just the normal missionary work, going there and here and back. haha

 

Jorgelina was doing really great throughout the week and was confirmed yesterday. She is making friends with members and the members are doing really great in inviting her to places. That just makes me happy that our convert is being accepted and helped in the conversion process.

 

Judith passed her interview and we were super excited for her, this was Saturday. Beatriz had an awesome lesson and is doing well for her fecha.

 

Sunday, I'll try to sum it all up in one word, crazy. So we pass by her house at 8:30am and she's sick in bed, but she still wanted to be baptized that day, so she started getting ready. We had to be at the church, because supposedly I was supposed to give a talk, turns out that no, I didn't have to, but by 9:30am she still hadn't shown up, so we get up and we take the bikes and go looking for her, she's still slowy getting around but by 10am we are out the door walking to church. We had to call President and get permission and he gave it to us--she only had had 2 attendences and she needs 3, but then Elder Barragan baptized her and it all left good. :) That was the quick explanation without tons of tiny details, but it sufficeth me to say that she was baptized. So we had a great week and we ended up with 23 lessons with a member, a Savio record, according to Elder Solum.

 

Then today we made tacos for lunch, super good!! Thanks again for your love and support!! I love you all so, so much and I will send you pictures next week. :) Now I want to go play some soccer. :) Have a great week and go Cougs!!! still invested!

 

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

Yay for missionary work and miracles!!
 

Well the first pic is when we ate at the flia Acuña´s house, he's a returned missionary and is a stud of an elders quorum president. They are a nice young family and we had fun at their house. That was like 3 weeks ago.

 

 

The story of Jorgelinas baptism is so awesome, I wish I had all the time in the world to tell you all about it. Let's just say that on Thursday night we didn't think that she was getting baptized. But on Friday morning, Elder Rose, yes the same Elder Rose from Juncal, a friend, the new ZL, called us and asked us what we are going to do with Jorgelina. We had no idea, so he invited us to pray about it and find out what God wanted. Honestly, in the stress of the week and the comotion of trying to talk to her and have her baptized on the fecha for the 16th, I totally hadn't prayed about it and asked God, duh!!! So we did and received a distinct impression to call her right then and there. It was 10:30 in the morning, and with her working all night and sleeping all day I was like, really? but I didn't doubt for long and I decided to call her. The night before, I was able to talk with her right before she entered into work. She was saying that she still has all of these doubts and then I promised her that she just has to believe, I told her that she was stopping herself from recognizing the answer. So we call her and she answers! haha I was super surprised at that, then I told her that we were thinking about her and praying about her and figured that we needed to call her. She then said, well I hope that you don't get mad, but last night I realized that I do want to be baptized! I was shocked and so happy at the same time, we shouted and were celebrating. She then told us that last night after we were done talking she was really thinking about it and needed some council. She decided to call her mom and talk to her. Her mom is Catholic-Catholic, not going to change, and after a while her mom straight up asked her, do you even really want to be baptized? Then it hit Jorgelina like a rock, she just said yes, yes I do, and realized that was her answer. So we set it all up, so excited!! She passed the interview with flying colors and then she asked that I baptize her. Wow! It was fun getting wet again and it was an awesome baptism! Then she went with us to the despedida and loved it, oh and Elder Giannini finished and is going home, he is the first companion that I've had that has finished and is going home, makes me feel old. haha So that was an awesome experience and definitely helped my faith and testimony in prayer and faith.
 

 

 So your week sounded nice, kinda boring, kinda normal, really sad, I was almost crying... oh well I was disappointed to hear that they lost. Oh well, enough about that, haha, thanks for the update. So wow lots of other info, fun to see the pics of the temple dedication. Then wow everyone is leaving and going all over the world! Exciting for everyone and say hi to them, I can't wait to read my friends' letters from you, that's always a blast! Haha congrats to Lehi!! That's exciting that they have a winning record for the first time in I don't know how long. Then I'm sure that Tanner had a blast, send a dance pic if you can. :) Tanner sure looks great in a pink tie haha. Congrats on getting out the product, I'm sure that was a lot of hard work with more and more work coming along, keep it up, and I'm sure that you're doing great at school Mom. :) I love you. :) Haha, yeah for scoring a goal Braden!! and Alex as well :) I hope that everyone is doing well in school. :) That's fun to have a regional conference like that and that's a lot of Mormons!! haha
 

Another miracle... Judith, the mom of Brigit, a recent convert (Brigit) has been investigating for a while and she was thinking about the invitation to be baptized while she was on a colectivo (bus) and she said a prayer and asked if she should be baptized for the 23rd and she said that she received a cold, yet warm, feeling at the same time and took that for her answer and she is stoked for her baptism this weekend. She's been robbed twice since that date, super sad, but she still is keeping the faith and now we have someone to work with this week. :) We also gave her a blessing of health and she said afterwords that she could feel something just pulsing through her and it was the Holy Ghost :)
 

So I'm doing good now and I'm looking forward to my bday on the 4th, like 2 weeks, haha and then the one year mark will hit next transfer, so that is super crazy how it's flying fast. I hope that all of my friends are doing great and are enjoying their missions like I am. :)
 

I know that this is the true Church and that baptism really is the door to eternal life. Last night I was talking to Jorgelina, she really has changed from since we first met her and she definitely told us when we invited her to be baptized, no, I'm catholic and I'm only wanting to know more, to the smile and joy that she has right now with her testimony in Jose Smith. :) The mission is just awesome. :) Thanks for the support and the gifts and mail and love and everything else in between. :)
 

I love you all with all of my heart! :)
 

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

We just had the most awesomist weekend ever in Argentina!!!

Wow, hey there family that is mine :)

How's it going? Having fun up in Utah haha because we just had the most awesomist weekend ever in Argentina!!! Let's start with the pics.

 

First pic, so we just barely fixed the new bikes that we received and so we used them for the first time on Thursday. So we took a pic just before we left to go out, too bad it was a rainy muddy day but still fun to zoom around Savio. Funny story, so we had to order the helmets from the bike store and when we got them, we hadn't picked them, so we had no choice in what we got. Turns out that we get them and the plastic covering was an American design. It was bright blue with stars, stripes, American flags haha, we were like, oh no, targets!!! haha So we promptly took off the plastic covering when we got home and the gray foam is what we have right now. :) 

 

 

I don't know if the guy was trying to be funny or sarcastic but there really isn't a thing called customer service down here. haha Oh, and don't even expect exact change haha, if it's within 20-25 cents then it doesn't matter haha. So we were all serious and ready to go and baptize and confirm. They are actually nice bikes in the standards of missionary Argentine bikes. They don't look girly and all the brakes work and they go fast! We call them the storm trooper bikes because they just look like so soldiery like made for real men missionaries. :)

 

Then the next pic is from the spot where I was sitting for the cultural celebration! I´ll have to tell you all about that because it was super fun and the missionaries did get to participate.

 

 

So it all started last Monday. We found out the schedule for the Friday where we were going to hear from Pres Eyring, Elder Ballard and Elder Christofferson.

 

First I'll tell you about the normal week, before the awesomeness!

 

Monday... normal, super stressed about the cyber stuff, that's why we are in Escobar, about a 15 min bus ride from Savio and a better email place. haha

 

Tuesday, Elder Lemo from Tucuman, Argentina came on divisiones with Elder Solum and they bought something special from an ice cream place in Maschwitz. It was called the crocatino (crunchy) and it was basically a meat loaf (shaped like) of ice cream and dulce de leche. After planning we played scrabble (castellengles) a mix between the languages and ate all of the ice cream, it was as big as my hand!

 

Wednesday, we were at this one house and Brigit (recent convert) her mom was over and she had actually gone to church by her own will the last Sunday so we talked with her about the 5 steps to following Jesus Christ and she was scared to accept a fecha but we put a slight fecha for the 23rd. Oh, and Daniel for now has fallen off of the fecha map, his parents are stunting it right now, it's alright, we have other people to work with.

 

Thursday, we had another lesson with Jorgelina, Hmo Cubilla (Rickert's convert) came with us and shared an awesome testimony about his conversion to the Church. Jorgelina still has a lot of doubts and so I bore a strong testimony about Joseph Smith and left her something to read and pray about. Slow progression but I think she will get there one day, we just met with her last night and she didn't read or pray. She went again to the internet to look for answers, I was so frustrated, (I've told her a thousand times how she's going to find and recognize her answer) anyways, she read some stuff about Joseph Smith and it wasn't on the Church's website, something about polygamy (people don't normally have that doubt down here, they just don't know) so again we went over what she has to do to know and to feel that this is the true church. We have another cita with her this Thursday and we are going to have daily contact with her to kind of push her to read and pray so that she can be baptized this Sunday. So we will see :)

 

So now the fun part. So we get up on normal time on Friday, we get all ready, haircuts, shoes shined, nice shirts and ties and then we take the Savio train to the Retiro line. It was an hour train ride that left at 10:13 am it was basically a rocky ride inbetween the middle of nowhere Argentina, then we went down to San Isidro and we ate lunch there. Then we got to the church in San Fernando and I got the birthday letter and the letters from Grandma Pittard and Brother Carlson, thanks!!! Then we had a quick devotional with President and hermana Gulbrandsen. Then the whole mission, including the south elders that flew up for the weekend, all got onto assigned buses and then we headed off for an hour ride to the west mission. All of the Buenos Aires missions and the MTC would be there for the charla with President Eyring and the others. We got there like 2 hrs early and sat down in our assigned seats. I was in the back and could barely see, but oh well. We studied the scriptures and then they all walked in. It was super awesome, we were in a really big stake center somewhere in the west mission and all of the missionaries fit in it, like 600 or something. I was noticing about the rowdiness of the other missions. We had been instructed from our president to be super reverent to receive the spirit, the other missions weren't like that and I'm grateful for the mission that I am in and the president. This is definitely the mission for me, there are a lot of stud elders and to be a leader is a challenge and a privilege. So Elder Christofferson started off the meeting speaking perfect spanish, it was really weird hearing him in another language, but still really awesome. He gave a powerful talk (because he gave it in spanish) about the work that we are doing here and the importance of baptism. Then Elder Ballard, with his translator, spoke about how his great grandpa dedicated South America in Buenos Aires on Christmas 1925 and prophecied that the Church would bloom into a big oak tree of strength and firmness. Then Pres Eyring spoke with his translator and he's such a sweet man, sometimes he couldn't contain it in and would talk right on through the translator. The translators are really good and can think on the spot of what to say and changing it to Spanish. Then they walked right on out, so I didn't get to get close to them this weekend. Then we got home just in time to go to bed. Pres Eyring never stops smiling.

 

Saturday, even better, so we left on the bus from Savio at 9:30 am and it took us an hour to get to the edge of Capital, then we decided to go exploring a little bit, we had time. So we stopped in Plaza Italia, in my old area and took pics, ate at Burger King, a first for the other elders that have only known the campo. Then we walked down the huge street Sarimiento and took a pic next to the huge statue of the libertador on that huge 12 lane street that I always crossed. Then we took a walk through Palermo, seeing the sights and sounds of Capital. Then we went on the subte to Retiro, the huge train station and met all of the missionaries there. We had about an hour to chat and talk with old friends. I saw everybody, all the old companions and friends from earlier. I learned that Palermo is baptizing a lot from the villa that me and Elder Gianinni opened up, yay. Then we went to the Stadium of Independiente which is in Avelleneda, just south of Capital. We got there at 3:00 pm and went through a practice. Then we did another practice and then we received a sack lunch and we got to sit in the stands for about 2 hours, again just hanging with the mission friends. It started with the apostles coming out on a golf cart. They shared something really short, all wearing their ponchos that they received and bore testimonies. Then they got off and the event started. It was really awesome, lots of youth were involved. They had dances from every part of Argentina and the one I liked the most was a cowboy dance, it was like tapdancing cowboys, haha, but in really cool costumes. Then after all of that, they parted down the middle and the missionaries all came marching onto the field singing Llamados a Servir. haha Fun to go on the field and feel important haha. Then we were done and didn't get onto the buses until like 9:30 pm. We then took the bus all the way back, I fell asleep on the bus and it was like a 1 and a half ride. We then got home around 11:30 pm but we had an awesome day and I was able to see a lot of people from Palermo and Lugano. Oh, and a senior couple from our mission that work in the offices, the Lowrys, said that they met the Zoelbes that are working in the area officies of the church and that the hermana served under Grandpa and Grandma Hilbig in Knoxville. So that was cool, sorry about the spelling, idk..

 

Sunday...we went to the 12noon session in Escobar, yeah they had it in 3 sessions as well. It was really cool. They had a bunch of other speakers from around the area. It was funny seeing Elder Ballard sitting there with his headphones for the translation haha. They they all shared some thoughts and it was super powerful. Then we did the dedication, Elder Christofferson read it in Spanish from what President Eyring had written, thought that was interesting. Then afterwards we ate some really delicious Peruvian food, love that type of food. Then we got some interesting news last night. I got a call at like 10:30 pm where I was told that my new companion was Elder Barragan, someone that has recently gotten here and that Elder Brown is going south. They are taking advantage of having all of the elders up here, so they are doing the transfers a week early. Elder Brown will be leaving later today, crazy changes. I had a lot of fun with Elder Brown this last transfer and he will be a great missionary in the future!! Elder Barragan recently got here and was staying with the zone leaders and now Elder Rose will be the new zone leader with Elder Jaime, and so technically I'm training, or finishing up the training of Elder Barragan. I've met him before and he seems really chill. He's from Arizona.

 

So that was my week :) awesome, and I'm sure that there will be an official video made by the Church about the weekend here in Buenos Aires.

 

To answer the question about the clothing, it's all holding up, just the normal mission wear and tear. If you want, a new shirt or tie are always welcomed. haha

 

Oh, and about the pics. Thanks. You all look great, and Tanner, your calves are huge, you better look to be dunking in a game this year haha, and not just in the teacher-student game. :) I'm glad that BYU won and I was super surprised that USU beat Utah. I'm excited for the game all the way down here, but don't worry, it won't effect my work. ;)

 

Have fun this next week and just know that I love you all so so much!!!

 

Enjoy the pics and I'll be sending a dvd with 541 pics and with some other temple souveniours to keep for me. :) I should send it this week, and just so you know, the mail prices to send stuff to America is ridiculously high right now, but because I love receiving mail and because I love you all so so much I'll sacrifice. :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Ryan Pittard