Friday was probably the most frustrating day and the hardest day so far

Hola,

Como estan? haha que una semana! arriba y baja pero en el fin, todo bein :)

Well, as you can see from my pictures, I had my first baptism!!!! Wow, what a miracle that was! Pero ahora yo tengo que escribir sobre mi semana y como bautizamos a Jorge.

Well, first to start out, Monday, like I said was hectic and it was an up and down day for me. I was excited that I was getting a new Latin companion but also really nervous because, like I said, I can't really communicate. So after we did the internet we went back and unpacked all of his stuff, and yes, I moved to the bottom bunk. :) He's from Mar de la Plata and he's 24 yrs old, he's been a member for 8 yrs now and has almost been on his mission for a year and a half. He's the last of 4 brothers and the 3rd missionary. So that Monday night we went to a lesson with a less active named Edu. After our lesson with him we went and looked for this man named Jorge. Now Jorge is a man that has been coming to the church for a long time now and he's been there for all of the weeks that I've been here. Before this we had never been able to find him, we knew which building he lived in but it's a building like most in the poorer parts of my area, green area, there is no timbre or anyway of contacting people inside unless you have a key or someone lets you in. We had tried to get in before but no one would let us in or no one even showed up to give us a chance to get in. That's a challenge for this area because no one lives in their own house, we always have to ring the bell or hope that someone walks by and is nice enough to the missionaries to let us in. So anyways we went looking again and we got lucky and someone actually let us in, and someone that knew where Jorge lives. So we went looking for him and he was home. :) Now he's a man that lives by himself and honestly I don't know that much about his history. He, for me, is super hard to even try to understand what he is saying. He talks low and doesn't move his mouth. Now me, being a gringo, I can't understand really well when they slur everything together and don't pronunciate. So I can't really talk with him. So we got talking with him and we challenged him to be baptized for this Sunday, yesterday, and he accepted! We were surprised and excited. This was a miracle that was meant to happen. So that was great. We then talked with Gian, he just barely got married last week, to a less active, but now he doesn't want to be baptized or commit to any of the things that we try to commit him to do. They didn't come to church but we are still going to be going over to visit them.

Tuesday, wow, the pressures of being the one to know the area, and so basically I'm making all of the plans for our weeks. Tuesday we had weekly planning and that was difficult because first we didn't have credit for our cell phone so we had to ask to use the phone in the church, then I had to plan for the week to come and all in Spanish. Oh, and we also had to call and find a lunch for that day because we didn't have one. Then, we had a lesson with Eddy, and he right now is very strong but is being difficult with us. I mean, he comes to church and does all that we ask him to do but he's still not sure if he has the faith or the testimony of the Book of Mormon to be baptized and also he moved back in with his girlfriend, so we can't even set a fecha with him until he decides to get married or to move out. He doesn't want to move out or rush things into marriage, but he's still reading and he paid his tithing the last week. So he might be an internagator (someone that investigates the church for a long time). So we have another lesson with him this next week, so I'll keep you updated.

Wednesday, well this day was an up day for me. :) I saw a huge leap in my communicating abilities and also my understanding abilities. Since I'm the old one in this area I know all the people and basically where they live and their schedules and so Elder Giannini can't really relate with anyone quite yet. So I believe that after 3 and a half months of studying Castellano I was able to communicate. I did the phone calls and set appointments and I did the timbres for everywhere we went. I was basically talking the basics, but the basics are coming faster and faster for me. So I'll consider this day the day that it hit me, Castellano, and it'll only go on up. So we actually went in the villa on Thursday, but we were safely walking the streets of Buenos Aires when the train wreck happened. We had to call and ask for another lunch and we were in the capilla eating our lunch when we got a call from our DL asking us if we are alright. I'm not riding trains down here very much. But yes, that would be scary, and it was pretty big news down here too. So for the rest of that day we taught Frank, a son of Juan, a recent convert, a couple months, I think, and challenged him to at least read. Then we had two straight citas fall through but we got a call and went and gave a blessing to a member in the ward.

Thursday, our first District meeting…it changed a ton from the last transfer. Us and Juncal stayed and then we added two companionships of sisters and that's it for now. Then we went into the Villa, and got a little lost trying to find the member's house of the other ward of Juncal, but after making a phone call in a small alleyway, we were finally able to find her and then we went to a house where she knew somebody, turns out that they weren't there but we were then able to walk down the street and basically do some street contacting and set up some appointments, because everyone in the Villa is in need of this message of hope and happiness. Turns out later that night when we told Juncal where we were at that we weren't even close to our area in the Villa. Oh, and we only have two members of the same house that live on the outskirts of the Villa in our area but none that live in it. I guess that no missionaries have been in our Villa area before, before 2009. I think that there were sisters in Palermo. So we will see what we'll do to enter into our part. Then later that day we found Jorge again! He doesn't have a phone or a way to get into his house unless you're let in or he lets you in. So we set up an appointment for Saturday, but we planned on going by everyday anyways.

Friday was probably the most frustrating day and the hardest day so far. Since I'm the one that has to do all of the planning and decide where we are going, the pressure is on me to get the lessons and find the people; that's a lot of pressure for someone that struggles to speak and doesn't have the mission routine down to the point. So we had lunch with a member and then we taught his cook; she's heard us before but doesn't want anything to do with us, but is still nice enough to let us challenge her to read. Then we had every appointment fall through, either the hermano that was going with us to a hermanas house couldn't because of a change in work schedule or the investigators called 20 minutes before and said that another day would be better. So after 2:30 we didn't sit down again and so it was frustrating also because I don't know the people of the area really well and so it seemed like we were going in circles and couldn't find anyone to teach. So my feet were hurting, my whole body to be exact. I couldn't think of anyone to go to and so it was hard too because I couldn't consult with an English speaking companion. Oh, and Elder Giannini doesn't really want to learn English. So moving on.

Saturday, we went and talked with this recent convert named Pablo. He speaks a little English and so I was able to understand him a tiny bit, so I asked him why he hadn't been coming to church for the last 8 months. We visited him last transfer and got the same answer--he doesn't want to and the only reason that he got baptized was to receive the holy spirit so that he could be saved. So after that I felt really bad just because I felt that I had just wasted time talking with him and then we went and picked up lunch and went back to the pension, (apartment). At this point I started having thoughts of what am I doing here, this is hard, I can't even speak the language and I have a native speaking companion depending on me to go and do the work. So let's just say I hit my low point. I'm not proud of the bad attitude that I had but I prayed to Heavenly Father for help and guidance. I still felt a little bit lonely but after the prayer I felt better. But still we didn't have a set cita until much later that day. So we did the same thing for a couple of hours of just walking in circles searching for antiguos and only finding a couple, but we got one lesson this upcoming week from it though, so hopefully that works out. Then we met with Jorge and helped him remember (he's also 60+ years old and has a bad memory), so we went through the baptismal questions and went through each of them. I was nervous that he wouldn't remember something for his actual interview. Then we were able to find a hermano to go with us to visit Gladys and we taught her and her daughter Maraliz and set their fechas (dates) for the 10th of March. So it was a better day in the end and right now I'm fine, I just can't wait till I'm accustomed to the mission and the Castellano.

Sunday…Well yesterday was also up and down. Haha We went searching for Jorge early in the morning, 45 minutes before the meetings were to start. We didn't find him at his house but when we got back to the church he was already there and so that was a relief that he remembered to come. Then after the meetings were all done, we had his interview with Elder Rose, our DL who is also of Juncal with Elder Stocking, and yes we see them every Sunday, and normally after church we talk with the members and set citas with them and pass around the lunch calendar. So after a lengthy interview, haha, he passed and the baptism was in full swing. We both got dressed. Throughout the day we had thrown together a baptismal service with speakers and everything. Then we started, and as we were walking toward the font, I realized that through our rush we had forgotten to explain how the baptism was actually going to happen. So I tried to explain it to him in broken Spanish real quickly, that he would have to go under the water. Then when we got in the water, I said the prayer and started to lower him down in the water and he freaked out so he didn't go all the way under. Then we did it a second time, after we had explained he could plug his nose, haha. So it all worked out in the end and I had my first baptism. He was excited and was the most animated that I'd ever seen him, so that was awesome to see that.

Then for the rest of the day we confirmed with Jeffer for the 14th of March and then we luckily found a hermano to go with us to Gladys' and we confirmed with her for the 10th of March, then we also put the 10th of March with Marializ. So we are doing work down here, and the work goes on. :)

We have stake conference next week and also our Zone conference this Friday, so I'm going to make it and don't worry about me, I still have 20 months to figure everything out. haha

I'm thankful for the updates and I'm excited for what everyone is doing, wow everyone is doing a lot and looks like everyone is growing up just fine as well. Sorry about Lehi basketball Tanner, but that'll give you motivation for next year, that's cute what Camryn's been saying haha, oh and I can't wait for the package, oh also I'll been making a DVD this month to send to you. Come on BYU you can do it!

Well I can only tell you how much I love you all and I hope that you enjoyed the letter, I love telling you details about everything so that you can kind of get a feel for what it's like to live in Argentina haha. Love You and can't wait to write you all next week!! I´ll keep on praying for you if you keep on praying for me, deal? haha alright gotta go, oh and I´m sure that the language will come more and more every day, so thanks for the prayers once again. Oh and we don't have a bug problem in our pension which I´m grateful for haha, well, I can't think of anything else to say so until later ciao!

Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard

Well, let's just say that I'm in the same place :-)

Hola!

Well, here's what happened. Elder Secretan was moved to a place called Parque Patricios and I'm staying and my new comp is Elder Giannini (Gee awn nee nee) He's from Mar de la Plata, Argentina which is just south of Buenos Aires. So we found out last night around 10:30 and so we started the long process of packing for Elder Secretan. We were up past 1 AM packing and cleaning, he had received a lot of stuff and for the last transfer had been messier than usual. So there was a lot of stuff, luckily this morning before we had to order a remis, or a long distance taxi, I got to take an hour nap to catch up. Then we traveled out to the mission office and dropped off his stuff, picked up some letters and got a new remis with my new companion and headed home. He only speaks Spanish and so right now I'm struggling to communicate everything, but from what I have learned I can basically communicate with him, so this will be fun and a little bit of a challenge. But I'm doing great and now I'm adjusting to the new life. Once I get adjusted to that I'll be in full swing and hopefully be able to understand everything that's being said to me.

Anyways, to answer your questions, no I haven't played for church or anything like that, but I've had a time or two to sit down for 5 minutes and play some hymns. (on the piano) Yes, we have very hot water and we need to be careful with that haha, and we buy food every Monday from a "Chino" or a Chinese-run supermarket. Actually they are really small and actually last week, they didn't have electricity so we went around the store with flashlights. haha That was fun. But we have one right around the corner so it works for us. Um, I'm finding that I'm not having to cook that much and we are having big lunches with members for the most part. So maybe in the future but for now I'm really good.

Bueno, this last week was really good and we got a lot accomplished. We didn't have a baptism but we did reschedule with Gladys for the 3rd of March and we are looking to set dates with the rest of her family this next week. Then also we have this investigator that needed to get married to his less active girl friend, and so they are getting married on the 14th of March and then right after that is his baptism. His name is Jeffer. We also have this guy from Holland whose name is Eddy, he just barely got back from traveling out there and has been coming to church for a long time. He's also needing to get married or move out with his girlfriend, but he could be another baptism this next transfer. Then on Wednesday we did something different, we went to the Villa, and we were looking for the help of the Elders in the ward there to be able to talk with some people in our part of the Villa. It's a sad place and one that can turn dangerous with the wrong circumstances but it's golden for baptisms especially for an area as ours which has a lot of hard-hearted Argentines. All the immigrants that live in the Villa are already living in humble circumstances and so they are better prepared. So we went in with basically nothing on us and with prayers in our hearts. The whole time I felt good though. I invite you to look up pictures of Villas and see how basically they were thrown together and random buildings were built up on each other. They only have dirt roads, and as missionaries we are just supposed to walk straight and with a purpose and not keep in eye contact for too long, at least that's what they told me before, but I just felt calm and so I actually enjoyed the walk through. We were trying to get some members from the Juncal Ward that live there to go with us to our part but they said that our area was too dangerous, but then someone else said that it would be fine to go in, but we will see what we will do. We are planning on going in on Wednesday and so it'll be fun. I'm just glad that I'm not in there every day and because actually as we were walking through we saw these two guys get robbed and with the gang of another three guys running off, so that was a first and even though there are police patrolling through they honestly can't do anything. So that was definitely an eye opener but that's just the worst of the worst and right now I'm in the best of the best living conditions. :) So again, don't worry about me. :)

We were able to give a blessing this week to a little girl member that was from a different area but had come to the children's hospital which is in Palermo, so I was able to say the first part with Elder Secretan's help and then participate in the rest. Mom, I remember you telling me that you didn't like government run health places, well I would much rather go to one in the states then here. haha It's just the different culture down here, which I will come to love. Then on Saturday I went and did the same thing as two weeks ago where I went and talked to people on the streets and tried to bring them into the church for a presentation. I was actually able to give my little spiel. haha Now I didn't understand everything of what they said back to me but I was able to at least say something. Even though I didn't find anyone this time I realized that my Spanish is a lot better than when I did it two weeks ago. Then yesterday, church was great and we had 9 investigators come to church, which surprised even us. It was raining hard but still lots of people came. Yes, it's been raining but we haven't lost power since last week. Then yesterday we were able to go to the farewells of 6 missionaries at the mission offices in San Fernando. So that was fun to see that and hear their testimonies. But a fun experience for me happened on the way back. So after I was carrying on a small conversation with a member on the train back to the Station Retiro. On the subte (subway) back home we ran into these girls from Australia and England. What was crazy about that was that 3 hours earlier we had sat next to them on the way to the train station. So we decided to talk to them further. It was my first opportunity to just start talking to some random people about the church because it was all in English. They were just asking questions about missionary work and so they didn't have any interest and since they were just traveling through on vacation they wouldn't be able to read our pamphlets in Spanish, but still it was fun for me to do a street contact for the first real time.

Then we had the events last night and that brings us to now. So now I ask you all to continue to pray for me to be able to continue the work here in Palermo and even carry on little conversations. I'm going to learn rapidly and I'm excited to write you next week. Oh, and thanks to everyone that sent me a letter. Sorry, it costs 9 pesos to send a little letter from here and we only have Zone conferences once every transfer, so it's hard to write back, but thanks to everyone for everything.

Anyways, I love you all and thanks for all of your support. Way to go Tanner on the license and bball. Way to go Alex on driving and playing the piano, Braden for playing good bball and then those that got superiors at the recital. Way to go Dad with the job and I hope that all goes well with that. Also, good job Mom for everything and for keeping me updated. It's amazing how fast the week has gone by and this next one will as well. ¡Entonces otra vez les amo mucho, y les espero tener una buena semaña!

Con todo de mi corazon,
Elder Ryan Pittard

I forgot my cable to connect the camera to the computer but I'm taking lots of pics and will send some next week, sorry. :) Love you!!

I started speaking and words just came to my mind

Hey there!!
Wow, the week just seemed to fly by and that's a great thing because there's lots of work to be done. Well, to start, I'll explain the pictures… first of all I'm drinking a lot of Tang from the powder pouches that we buy every week, the water here is alright but to have the different flavors of Tang is really nice.

And then, we have earlier today, we are walking to go play soccer with our DL Elder Cabrera from Mendoza and his comp Elder Charlesworth.

Alright, wow, what a crazy week for you all haha. First of all thanks for all of the wonderful letters that you write me each week. I love hearing from everyone and what's going on in their life :) So great jobTanner, I'm assuming that you passed the driving test and now have your license, that's a great feeling. haha I'm glad that you finally went and got that. Tambien good job at bball, sounds like you guys arehaving fun and winning too. Best of luck against LP this week, just don't be afraid of their gym, haha just focus on playing and the rest will come. That's awesome to hear about Zach and he'll have fun in Germany. Good job Alex in bball tambien and way to be driving too. I remember that I wanted to drive everywhere, and I was so excited when I got the opportunity to drive down to St George with the family.Drive as much as you can so when the test comes around you'll dominate. I remember last year when I hosted the new 10th graders at the assembly that was fun and I got to make a movie and stuff like that. Braden, I'm proud of you for doing well in bball. But you've got to make the FT's haha. ;) Well anyways I'm glad that you're having fun, because honestly those Jr high and high school years you just need to have fun and don't let anything worry you. Looking back, some things that seemed such a huge deal, didn't even matter at all. Oh, and I'm also officially apologizing to Mom and Dad for never listening to you guys in some things. Everyone, listen to them and you won't go wrong; they know what's up. :)

And Jason, I'm sorry but I wasn't able to figure out the problem, I tried quickly copying it into microsoft excel but there was an error and I didn't really understand what the error message said either haha,So I would appreciate it if you would just send me the answer haha. Say hi to Rachel and Camryn for me and I imagine that they are both growing really fast. That's great Mom about the teaching and don't worry, we are both working towards being comfortable speaking in our environments. Haha I'm getting better and better at both understanding and then answering back, but that is only for a few things and I still have to listen so so hard just to get a little clue. Reading the scriptures though is really good and also writing. So I know the Lord will help me :) Also, about the shower curtain, it's totally fine and we are doing just alright. haha Yeah, we have a drain that's right underneath the sink so water can get everywhere just fine. Wow, and Jordan coming back already!! haha One of my ZL's is going home this next week also, so you can bet that he's really excited. That's also awesome that Dad is getting the offers. I hope everything goes well with all of that and you'll have to tell me more later. :)

Bueno. Good week and now we are starting the last week of my first transfer, pretty exciting. I'm thinking more and more that Elder Secretan is moving on and I'm staying just because he's been here forso long. So we find out on Sunday night, so I'll let you know :) So last Monday, after I emailed, we went and picked up lunch from a member, but she lives so far away that we just take the subté to herhouse, but we got down there and the train didn't come and we waited like 30 minutes, but we finally ended up having to go and walk to it anyways. Oh, and it was also really hot and humid, but then we were able to go to the church and eat lunch with Juncal, then the rest of the district showed up and we played soccer, a little bball and then a couple games of Uno. Then we went and paid rent for our pension and then had a quick lesson with Alex, who is a recent convert. Tuesday we had District meeting at our church and then we went to Juncal and helped paint an apartment building and helping out the elders there with a service project. I also remember that it was in the 40's (degrees celsius) and probably in the 80's or 90's with humidity. We were both just sweating through our shirts haha. It was like walking through a lake and we were almost as wet as when we walked home in the rain. haha Then we met with our bishopric and discussed the missionary efforts in the ward. I also met our bishop officially for the first time; he had been on vacation for the last month. Remember it's summer down here haha. He seems like a really solid guy and member.

Wednesday, we just had lessons with a recent convert, Juan, and the 555 family, Vallejos. Then we also taught Alex another lesson. Everyone down here, especially in the city, just works and works all the time, and not just the members, so it's sometimes really difficult to find members to come with us. First of all, sometimes we need the hombre (man) to come in with us and second of all, lessons with members are super stressed down here also. So that sometimes puts stress on us because we are sometimes just walking around trying to find a member to go with us. So we had some citas fall through with Gladys and Leandra.

Thursday we had weekly planning and that took forever, but it's super important to have some sort of an idea of where we are going to go and do for almost every hour of everyday. Then we had to walk for our vianda for like 30 minutes and then they weren't there quite yet and so we waited another 20 minutes. Then we had to go to the church to eat because we needed to warm up the empanadas that we had received. Oh, funny thing, our bishop had received a letter from the FLDS church, so we decided to open it and read it. It was just some junk, in English too, about a revelation that their president had received and now they were proclaiming it to the world. So after that we burned it in the oven haha. Then we got a surprise phone call saying that we were doing last minute divisions, so Elder Charlesworth came and we went and had a couple of lessons, then he spent the night. Then the next day we had already scheduled divisions with the ZL's and so I went with Elder Clarke and he's the one leaving next Tuesday. So he was really funny and we got along really well. So that was fun getting some experience from him.

Saturday, spiritual moment of the week haha. So we were teaching this hermana whose husband and two daughters are both members. She knows that it's true but for some reason doesn't want to act on it. We spent over two hours discussing it with her, because they had us over for lunch. So I didn't say too much, but I wanted to say a lot but I don't really know how, but I was asked to give the closing prayer. When I closed my eyes to say it, my head started spinning and it felt like I was in this really big space, but I started speaking and words just came to my mind and I was just saying those. I was really talking slowly, at least to me, and I said that she would want to be baptized and I asked that Dios (God) would help her out with that. Then afterwards, nothing happened, but it was a surreal experience. Afterwards I was talking with Elder Secretan, which by the way we are like bros now haha, and he said that I had spoken my best castellano (they don't say Spanish as their language down here because they are really prideful of their castellano), anyways that I had spoken the best since I had gotten there, especially in a prayer. So I was like, wow!! That had to have been the spirit. Then last night we finally were able to meet with Gladys and she still wants to wait. But we did secure a baptism for next transfer, his name is Jeffer and he's getting married to his wife on the 14th of March, and then right afterwards getting baptized. I'll tell you more later.

But then we got home and found out that only our building had lost all power so we had to walk up the stairs to our room on the 4th floor and this is after running home for 10 or so blocks so we were tired haha. So our power has been so-so for the last day and so hopefully that gets working better soon. Well, I hope that you have a great week and I love you all very much!!! The Church is true and I know that Jesus lives and loves each one of us!!

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

Oh, another thing…The Vietnamese lady, her name is Vu, and we actually figured out that she lives in the area right next to us in Villa Crespo, but she's doing great and has had some lessons. Alright, talk to you all next Monday :)

Oh, and we had 21 lessons taught last week, so about normal haha Oh, and keep the updates about Jimmer coming :) Thanks. Saludos

A good week, but a rough one

Hey there Familia!!

Haha sorry to scare you, but I'm actually really good right now :) We just had a rough day yesterday with our investigators. Like I said last week that we set 3 fechas (dates) and so we were all excited. But as the week went along we had charlas (less formal kind of an appointment) that's what they call them down here. Anyways we had a couple of charlas fall through with Gladys and Leandra, it's hard because we need a male member to go with us to every lesson and their schedule is difficult for us to schedule with all of them there. For example, we had just called Gladys the night before and she said thatwe could come over. We went and picked up our member and then went to her house and rang the timbre (Since most of our members live in high rise apartment buildings, every building has a board with lots of buttons and you press the button that corresponds with the room or apartment that they are in.) When you press the button, there is this phone in all the kitchens (probably so if they are cooking) that rings and they pick it up and talk with whoever is on the street through a walkie-talkie that's in the board of all of the timbres (teem bray) And the only way for people to get into buildings is to have a key orhave someone come down and unlock the door for you and let you in. So we called up once and no answer so we wait a min and do it again. Leandra's son Fecundo (no sé) answered and said that neither of them were there. So that was frustrating first of all because we had confirmed over the phone only the night before.

The culture is definitely different down here and people sometimes don't respect the time of others, cause this happens a lot to us. So we were able to meet with her last night. She had come to church with us, which was a good sign that she still wants to come for herself. Then she got up in testimony meeting and just talked about how the Book of Mormon changed her son's life and how she was grateful for that. So that was an awesome experience having an investigator get up on her own free will. I was sitting next to her and when she a asked me if she could get up I was like, yes, please. ;) haha Then we met with her last night and gave her the first lesson, or about the restoration and the need for thischurch in these last days. She said that she wanted to get baptized and that she has been reading a little from the Book of Mormon. But she wants to wait to be baptized with her husband, who still hasn't been to church or had a lesson. He doesn't get home from work until late after 9 or 9:30 every day. So it was 9:15 already and we needed to be home at 9:30 so we couldn't stay and help persuade her that she doesn't need to wait and that this is just a doubt that Satan has put into her mind. It's a noble reason but none the less it's from Satan. I just want to say that Satan is everywhere and he is always throwing little things our way and trying as hard as he can to stop the work. I know that the work won't stop but we just have to work through those challenges. So since Leandra didn't come yesterday to church and since Gladys wants to wait, we just lost two of the 3 fechas for this transfer, so I guess that it's not too big of a catastrophe as I'm making it out to be, but Elder Secretan was pretty disappointed cause he's thinking that since he's already been here for 4 transfers that he's probably leaving after the 19th. And then Gian and Briggit didn't come again to church today and when we swung by later yesterday they weren't there. So anyways, just the challenges of the mission.

So more about the last week. On Tuesday we had district meeting and the Elders from Juncal (Rose and Stocking) brought donuts for the whole district, they don't have donuts down here except in one small shop in Juncal. Then on Wednesday, we had weekly planning which took a long time because we have a lot to plan for. Then we had lunch and weekly correlation at Hermano Hanke's house (where we talk aboutinvestigators and recent converts and 555's with the ward mission leader.) (555 is where the high priests, elders quorum, and the relief society each pray over 5 families that are struggling and or are part member) We then go to the 555 families and teach them and strengthen them and get referrals from them. Then actually on Thurs, not Wed like I said last week, we had Capitación de Líderes and so we went on the train again and made the trip again to San Fernando, and I just learned out that we have it again. Elder Secretan says that we usually dont have it this much. So it's cool because the ZL's from the southconnect in through Skype and I think that Elder Johnson is a ZL in the south, so they are still connected but though through Skype. We were there from 9:30 until 4:30 and we talked a lot about how we can use the Book of Mormon introduction to help people commit to read it, we then did practices and stuff like that, they fed us 3 empanadas and a banana and a alfajor (alpha-whore). It's a chocolate cookie with Dulce de Leche (like Nutella) covered in Chocolate or Vanilla sauce. It's really good and is a treat down here. Oh and I eat a lot of empanadas and I really love them and I'm glad that you were able to have some.

Oh yeah I received your letter and Grandpa's letter. So to answer your question, I got it on the 2nd but it probably arrived here at the beginning of the week. So it looks like 2 weeks is a safe bet and I'm learning more and more that as long as you don't send money or something really expensive that it will get to me haha. Oh and a Christmas wish is peanut butter. It's hard to find here and really expensive haha. --just planning ahead ;)

Then on Friday was an experience…we had a vianda with one of the richer members and they live in this really high rise apartment building. And it's down the street from our church so we decided to meet up with Juncal, who share the same building as us, and have a combined lunch. So we got some sort of spaghetti and they brought and cooked churripan which is some sort of sausage and we don’t know what's in it to be exact, haha and so we cooked them in the oven there at the church. So if you were ever thinking about doing another Argentine dinner night, I wouldn't recommend churripan haha, or maybe you should just cook it all the way through. I don't know, but I didn't like it and didn't have the best feeling in my stomach afterwards. But again don't worry about me, I'm learning everyday and thanks for the triple probiotic multi-vitamins. I've been taking those everyday and I haven't been sick yet and my body is holding up just fine.

Then Saturday we had another different experience. There was a "open house" set up at the church in Villa Crespo and so we were asked to help out with that. So our job that day was to go street contacting just right next to the church and try and get people to go through this really nice set up about Jesus and it would only take 20 min. The people here are really different than any other place in South America. Sometimes they joke that Capital Federal is the European Mission out of all of the South American Missions haha. There are a ton of people here that are always on the move and never have time for us to talk with them. Especially where we were at this chapel in Villa Crespo, it was right next to lots of busy stores and we had a lot of opportunities to talk with people but we were turned down so many times, people made up excuses and didn't even want to shake our hand or acknowledge us. So then after 3 and a half hours we were almost done but we found a Vietnamese lady that is here for an internship. She was just walking all by herself and we invited her in and she accepted, maybe just to be nice, I don't know, but we were just happy. She then really loved our message about families and she said she missed hers (I miss mine too ;)) and she then accepted to read from the Book of Mormon. Oh, and she spoke better English then Spanish. Then we had to take a taxi home and we hadn't brought enough money but the taxi driver (a gift from God) said that we only had to pay what we had and so we were able to make it home on time. Then last night we had to run five or six blocks to make it in by 9:30. It was funny seeing two white guys in white shirts and ties running down the busy streets of Buenos Aires. So all in all I have grown closer to my Savior this week and I'm down to 100 pages in Jesus the Christ; I've been reading every morning. So just know that this week will be better and that I love you all so dearly. Everything will be fine and just keep on doing what you're doing. And don't worry about me, I've got the Lord as my guide :)

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

Oh and the pictures are when it rained Wednesday and Thursday nights and we had to walk in the rain,

and then this is the place where we do our emails--there are hundreds of them everywhere here.

So love you again!!!