Hola,
Well, I was typing a really long and great letter and for some reason I guess it hadn't been saving drafts so the internet suddenly shut off and I lost everything. So now I have to go, I can't send pictures, but here's the quick run down. We had a baptism, her name is Marializ. She's the daughter of Gladys and she was really prepared and a miracle for us. We are living in Juncal right now because our place is filled with the smell of gas, so there are 5 living in the place and we should be there for a couple of more days. I'm so frustrated right now, it was a really good letter too and I was almost done! hmm Well, I'm glad that my pictures and little notes arrived alright and I'm sorry for the short letter this week. I'm going to cry, I'm so mad right now!! Oh well, just know that I'm alive and doing well and I'll let you all know if I am staying or going this week because this next week is transfers. I'm excited for General Conference and we are going to the stake center in Belgrano. Have a great week and keep me in your prayers.
Love, Elder Pittard
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
We had a baptism this last week!!
¡Hola!
We had a baptism this last week!! It all worked out and was a relief to get it through!! I had been really nervous because it was 50/50 if he was going to be baptized. First, the district leader made a sacrifice and cancelled an important cita with some investigators and came to the church to do the interview, Jeffer was actually late but that was a good thing in retrospect because some members showed up really late, which is reasonable because it was a Wednesday night. The reason for the weird date is because he and his less active girlfriend got married earlier that day and they were leaving for Brazil the next day and Jeffer wanted to be baptized before they left because his non-member parents, Colombian, would be there for the marriage and the baptism, so he wanted them to be there. So I was able to get wet again and it all worked out. :) So he should be confirmed the next Sunday.
Wow, what a week you all had!! First off, congrats, Braden, on your stellar performances in the play. That sounded awesome and it would've been fun to have been there. Wow, tournament madness, and way to go BYU, even though we lost it's always a good feeling to make some history, haha. I received your package!!! Thanks so much. I'm going to try to savor them for as long as possible. (I sent a bunch of those small Jif To-Go packages of peanut butter) Also received a lot of letters, especially the pictures and the letters from mis amigos! Thanks. The pictures looked really good and especially the eagle project. Wow, from a distance it looks like a professional painted it!! haha Camryn's hair is longer! at least compared to the pictures that I have! Oh, and Tanner looks good in 13, haha, but yah I can't wait to see you in that 13 with double the muscle size!! haha Then congrats on the scouts and congrats on the eagles otra vez. :) Wow, it was fun reading the letters from my friends and it was cool to think of them having their own experiences, like mine, all over the world!! haha Have they had a chance to read any of my letters? Anyways, that would be nice to receive something like that every couple of months to keep up on them.
Wow, so me, hmm well I'm making it. It is still so hot down here and so humid!! I was reading about the cold weather stories and I was thinking wow, I'm down here sweating it out not even sleeping with a cover! It's been nice because there really isn't a bug or mosquito problem down here. Elder Giannini doesn't like sleeping with the fans so we sleep without them. I guess he's just used to not having them. It's just one of those things that you have to get used to when you have a companion from a different background. Haha, but we are good down here.
Monday, was frustrating!! The line was super long to send your package, but was worth it. Then we had to borrow the church plunger to unclog our toilet. That was stinky, and I had to do it because Giannini had no desire to do it. Then we had a run around looking for a place where we could send a fax, to fax the registros of Jorge and Gladys. Oh, and it was pouring rain all day and so we ended up not doing anything special, just making pancakes in the pension and resting. But we found a new investigator named Cristian. He is actually a referral that we received the last transfer but he didn't want anything to do with us, but then he had a stroke and his outlook on life changed and he let us in. Actually we got the call, so he is healing really fast and has a ton of faith! He wants to be better before he goes to church so we have to wait on that.
Tuesday we had district meeting, those are always fun and I enjoy meeting with the other missionaries because it's fun to share experiences with them and be uplifted with the vision. That's what we have been focusing on down here, receiving the vision, both personally and for our areas. The vision to baptize and the vision to find new investigators. So that's what we have been praying for, and it's still coming. But, I am finally understanding more and more Spanish!! I'm getting really good at just understanding it, I'm not fluent but it's way, way better than a week ago. Haha I've been working in the work book that we received in the MTC and that is really helpful. It's just been basically helping me with repetition of grammar principles and other things that I can apply to my everyday language, because right now that's what I lack --is the everyday vocabulary and sayings. haha But it'll come.
Wednesday we went to the wedding for Natiala and Jeffer. It was a small, simple ceremony with a couple friends and family. The building was a government building and super old, but it was fun to see them happy and especially since we were going to baptize him!! haha Then we had spaghetti and then went to the Flia Vallejos. We are currently working on the less active daughter and son-in-law. Then we went to the church and met up with Elders Rose and Stocking. We had the font filled and everything ready and no one was there. Oh, they were nice enough to bring my stuff, the package and mail, oh and tell Brother Carlson thanks for the notes and news. haha I really needed that. Then the peanut butter was an awesome surprise and two are already gone. haha Then they all showed up, he passed the interview and we had the baptism. So all the stress for the happiness of a baptism--so worth it! But now we are in a funk without any dates right now, we have a couple that are progressing but are still waiting on some other things to work out. Oh, and a shout out to my buds where ever they are, "keep up the good work and I'll catch up with you later, sorry I can't stay and chat but I have to go baptize!" :)
Thursday was a normal day, weekly planning, so boring, but really necessary. haha Then we had lessons with Jorge and Gladys, so it was a good day. I made pancakes with peanut butter and Dulce de Leche, super good!!
We had a baptism this last week!! It all worked out and was a relief to get it through!! I had been really nervous because it was 50/50 if he was going to be baptized. First, the district leader made a sacrifice and cancelled an important cita with some investigators and came to the church to do the interview, Jeffer was actually late but that was a good thing in retrospect because some members showed up really late, which is reasonable because it was a Wednesday night. The reason for the weird date is because he and his less active girlfriend got married earlier that day and they were leaving for Brazil the next day and Jeffer wanted to be baptized before they left because his non-member parents, Colombian, would be there for the marriage and the baptism, so he wanted them to be there. So I was able to get wet again and it all worked out. :) So he should be confirmed the next Sunday.
Wow, what a week you all had!! First off, congrats, Braden, on your stellar performances in the play. That sounded awesome and it would've been fun to have been there. Wow, tournament madness, and way to go BYU, even though we lost it's always a good feeling to make some history, haha. I received your package!!! Thanks so much. I'm going to try to savor them for as long as possible. (I sent a bunch of those small Jif To-Go packages of peanut butter) Also received a lot of letters, especially the pictures and the letters from mis amigos! Thanks. The pictures looked really good and especially the eagle project. Wow, from a distance it looks like a professional painted it!! haha Camryn's hair is longer! at least compared to the pictures that I have! Oh, and Tanner looks good in 13, haha, but yah I can't wait to see you in that 13 with double the muscle size!! haha Then congrats on the scouts and congrats on the eagles otra vez. :) Wow, it was fun reading the letters from my friends and it was cool to think of them having their own experiences, like mine, all over the world!! haha Have they had a chance to read any of my letters? Anyways, that would be nice to receive something like that every couple of months to keep up on them.
Wow, so me, hmm well I'm making it. It is still so hot down here and so humid!! I was reading about the cold weather stories and I was thinking wow, I'm down here sweating it out not even sleeping with a cover! It's been nice because there really isn't a bug or mosquito problem down here. Elder Giannini doesn't like sleeping with the fans so we sleep without them. I guess he's just used to not having them. It's just one of those things that you have to get used to when you have a companion from a different background. Haha, but we are good down here.
Monday, was frustrating!! The line was super long to send your package, but was worth it. Then we had to borrow the church plunger to unclog our toilet. That was stinky, and I had to do it because Giannini had no desire to do it. Then we had a run around looking for a place where we could send a fax, to fax the registros of Jorge and Gladys. Oh, and it was pouring rain all day and so we ended up not doing anything special, just making pancakes in the pension and resting. But we found a new investigator named Cristian. He is actually a referral that we received the last transfer but he didn't want anything to do with us, but then he had a stroke and his outlook on life changed and he let us in. Actually we got the call, so he is healing really fast and has a ton of faith! He wants to be better before he goes to church so we have to wait on that.
Tuesday we had district meeting, those are always fun and I enjoy meeting with the other missionaries because it's fun to share experiences with them and be uplifted with the vision. That's what we have been focusing on down here, receiving the vision, both personally and for our areas. The vision to baptize and the vision to find new investigators. So that's what we have been praying for, and it's still coming. But, I am finally understanding more and more Spanish!! I'm getting really good at just understanding it, I'm not fluent but it's way, way better than a week ago. Haha I've been working in the work book that we received in the MTC and that is really helpful. It's just been basically helping me with repetition of grammar principles and other things that I can apply to my everyday language, because right now that's what I lack --is the everyday vocabulary and sayings. haha But it'll come.
Wednesday we went to the wedding for Natiala and Jeffer. It was a small, simple ceremony with a couple friends and family. The building was a government building and super old, but it was fun to see them happy and especially since we were going to baptize him!! haha Then we had spaghetti and then went to the Flia Vallejos. We are currently working on the less active daughter and son-in-law. Then we went to the church and met up with Elders Rose and Stocking. We had the font filled and everything ready and no one was there. Oh, they were nice enough to bring my stuff, the package and mail, oh and tell Brother Carlson thanks for the notes and news. haha I really needed that. Then the peanut butter was an awesome surprise and two are already gone. haha Then they all showed up, he passed the interview and we had the baptism. So all the stress for the happiness of a baptism--so worth it! But now we are in a funk without any dates right now, we have a couple that are progressing but are still waiting on some other things to work out. Oh, and a shout out to my buds where ever they are, "keep up the good work and I'll catch up with you later, sorry I can't stay and chat but I have to go baptize!" :)
Thursday was a normal day, weekly planning, so boring, but really necessary. haha Then we had lessons with Jorge and Gladys, so it was a good day. I made pancakes with peanut butter and Dulce de Leche, super good!!
Friday, different day because we went to Medico. Elder Giannini has a problem and is getting it fixed right now, so we made the super long trip, like last week, and then came all the way back. But I was able to meet Teresa Arcos, she was a teacher at the MTC when I was there, didn't know her then, but now it's fun talking to her, in English, haha. Her mom is a person that we are working with right now, but it was fun to talk about the MTC and reminisce, haha. I actually miss some parts of the MTC, it was long and sometimes boring, but we always had a huge, good meal and lots of time to have fun with our new friends, but then again what would I give up to be out here right now!! I love the freedom and the baptisms, that is what makes this work so worthwhile, just seeing the changes in people and the happiness that it brings. You can especially see it in Gladys' eyes, she's so much more happier.
St Patty's Day, oh wait, nobody down here knows that, haha. Anyways, this morning I had fun teaching Elder Giannini the English alphabet. I had asked in the past, but now he wants to learn, so we will see. Then we had lunch, an actual lunch with a family, the Flia Pucheta. They are a young, fun couple and have a great spirit for missionary work. We had chicken milenesa and rice with hard-boiled eggs mixed in, it was really good!!! Then we had a guy wave us down in the street and ask us about dispensations, haha, so we tried to describe it better than the last missionaries, but we have a cita with him tonight. His name is Juan. Then we were walking down the street and a minister from a Baptist church, down here from Wyoming, yah a little far out of place, anyways, he started Bible bashing us in the street, haha, in the broken Spanish that I would be speaking. But we got the opportunity to share our testimony of Jesus and the Book of Mormon. It wasn't anything special but it was just something that I didn't think would happen down here, some American crossing the street, saying hey, you Mormons, wait up! The Book of Mormon is false, the Bible says this, and so on. I just thought that I would share that with you all. :) Oh, it is hot in here, I'm sweating writing your letter! haha
Sunday was long. We didn't get much sleep because there were people partying all around us until 4:30am -- all the neighbors just having their weekend fun. It's sad because every Sunday morning, walking to church, is just dead silent because everyone is sleeping, in their beds or the street, and then there are always the drunk ones walking the streets or riding in taxis. It's just super sad because of all the sin that goes on here. It's a pretty city but is dirty and sinful. But we are set apart from it and church was great. The total official attendance was 116. We learned about the teachings of José Smith in priesthood and then in principles of the gospel class we learned more about the life of Jesu cristo. Then they had talks about seminary, it started today, haha, so just a normal day of church. Then we had a 2 hour ward council meeting, haha. Our Bishop likes to talk, but is a good man. Then we taught Jorge in a park about the priesthood and ended up walking around for an hour for the rest of the day because of a cita falling through and then getting stood up by people at their timbres haha. Remember, there is no door to door contacting down here.
So overall, a great week with a baptism. To answer some questions, I actually haven't been working out as much but I've lost weight and I'm down to 84 kgs, the walking is the exercise, haha, and the sweating. umm hmm... Some observations, the culture down here is super different, I'm getting used to it every day and hopefully I'll get the language down too. But I just want to bear my testimonio to you all. Yo sé que ésta iglesia, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días es la Iglesia verdadera. Yo sé que uds. están teniendo un tiempo dirvertido y todos están aumentando su fe. Te amamos mucho y oro para uds diariamente. Uds. están en mi mente espero mucho pero, sé que ésta obra es muy importante y tengo que estar acá para bautizar y confirmar a todas de las personas que no tienen el Evangelio en sus vidas. Yo sé que Jesús vive y les ama mucho, ore a Él y les guiará.
St Patty's Day, oh wait, nobody down here knows that, haha. Anyways, this morning I had fun teaching Elder Giannini the English alphabet. I had asked in the past, but now he wants to learn, so we will see. Then we had lunch, an actual lunch with a family, the Flia Pucheta. They are a young, fun couple and have a great spirit for missionary work. We had chicken milenesa and rice with hard-boiled eggs mixed in, it was really good!!! Then we had a guy wave us down in the street and ask us about dispensations, haha, so we tried to describe it better than the last missionaries, but we have a cita with him tonight. His name is Juan. Then we were walking down the street and a minister from a Baptist church, down here from Wyoming, yah a little far out of place, anyways, he started Bible bashing us in the street, haha, in the broken Spanish that I would be speaking. But we got the opportunity to share our testimony of Jesus and the Book of Mormon. It wasn't anything special but it was just something that I didn't think would happen down here, some American crossing the street, saying hey, you Mormons, wait up! The Book of Mormon is false, the Bible says this, and so on. I just thought that I would share that with you all. :) Oh, it is hot in here, I'm sweating writing your letter! haha
Sunday was long. We didn't get much sleep because there were people partying all around us until 4:30am -- all the neighbors just having their weekend fun. It's sad because every Sunday morning, walking to church, is just dead silent because everyone is sleeping, in their beds or the street, and then there are always the drunk ones walking the streets or riding in taxis. It's just super sad because of all the sin that goes on here. It's a pretty city but is dirty and sinful. But we are set apart from it and church was great. The total official attendance was 116. We learned about the teachings of José Smith in priesthood and then in principles of the gospel class we learned more about the life of Jesu cristo. Then they had talks about seminary, it started today, haha, so just a normal day of church. Then we had a 2 hour ward council meeting, haha. Our Bishop likes to talk, but is a good man. Then we taught Jorge in a park about the priesthood and ended up walking around for an hour for the rest of the day because of a cita falling through and then getting stood up by people at their timbres haha. Remember, there is no door to door contacting down here.
So overall, a great week with a baptism. To answer some questions, I actually haven't been working out as much but I've lost weight and I'm down to 84 kgs, the walking is the exercise, haha, and the sweating. umm hmm... Some observations, the culture down here is super different, I'm getting used to it every day and hopefully I'll get the language down too. But I just want to bear my testimonio to you all. Yo sé que ésta iglesia, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Últimos Días es la Iglesia verdadera. Yo sé que uds. están teniendo un tiempo dirvertido y todos están aumentando su fe. Te amamos mucho y oro para uds diariamente. Uds. están en mi mente espero mucho pero, sé que ésta obra es muy importante y tengo que estar acá para bautizar y confirmar a todas de las personas que no tienen el Evangelio en sus vidas. Yo sé que Jesús vive y les ama mucho, ore a Él y les guiará.
Oh, and good luck with everything this week and I can't wait to hear from you all again!! And I hope that you receive the DVD and stuff, it should be there Wednesday or Thursday. :) I love you!!!
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
I'm guessing this is zone conference during the first 6 weeks,
when his companion was Elder Secretan
Monday, March 12, 2012
Hola buen dia :) todo bien acá, soló hemos sido trabajando y sí tuvimos nuestro bautismo!! :)
Hey there, all good here, we´ve only been working and yes we had a baptism :) Her name is Gladys and I was able to baptize her, since I was one of the missionaries that found her and was there for the whole process. She was so ready, all we had to do was teach her and help her get to church. Then yesterday she was confirmed along with Jorge. So it was a great week and we taught a lot of lessons. Right now we are planning on having the baptism of Jeffer this Wednesday, but he still needs the interview and we need to see if they have been living right before we can baptize him.
Well, the Spanish is definitely coming along and I'm making strides every day. Some days are better than others, other days I feel like I can't understand anything at all, and then some days I feel like I can't say what I want to. So it is just the long process that eventually will all be alright. Communication is better with me and my companion, we are working and teaching well together and all good there. Food wise, no I actually haven't eaten anything that I wouldn't recommend to you. The food is really good here, like we heard, and I have no complaints, though I still need to eat today. Haha My favorite place right now is my bed haha -- it's the little rest that we get during the day and week. That's great that this last week went really well. Sounds like life is busy and that everybody is doing well. Dad, I'm glad that work is going good and sometimes I wish that you had served Spanish speaking, haha ,so that I could practice sending you notes in Spanish and así, but I'm grateful for your love and support.
Bueno, this last week was a good one, planning is difficult and especially when everything falls through and even your back up plans fall through, but we still had lots of lessons and a baptism, so as long as you're baptizing, all is well. :) Monday, well after emailing you all, we were planning on taking pictures but the weather took a turn for the worse and it down poured and rained for the rest of the day, so I just made pancakes and read from las enseñazas del profetas, haha . It's fun to read in Spanish right now. I can't understand every little thing like I can in English, but I can usually pick out the definition by the surrounding words, this will also help build my vocab. :) So in fin, I ended up singing I'm tracting in the rain to say the least. Tuesday, we had a good day, we are helping Jorge now with teaching him all of the lessons otra vez, he's progressing really well and now he can remember the 4 steps to prayer all by himself, which is a big improvement. Then we continued teaching Gladys and her daughter Marializ. Then we celebrated the birthday of Pati, who is less active, but we are always there to support her. It was nice, they shared cake and we shared the message haha temporal treats for espiritual power haha, but we had to run home and we barely made it on time. :) Wednesday, haha, that day was an example of a mix up in communication. We had been invited to teach this person at this mini "FHE" at this sister's house. So we prepared to teach L1 about the restoration. So the lesson went great and we watched the movie and everything and we got to the part about challenging them to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. Then right after that we moved on in to challenge them to baptism. When we asked her she said that she'd already been baptized, but that's a common response, so we were thinking it was for another church... haha… it turns out she was a less active, and so let's just say that it was good practice, but we still had to run a long distance to get home on time, but all is well.
Thursday, well we had a different day, Elder Giannini had to go to the doctors for a problem, antes mision, that he has. So we had to, right after weekly planning, take the train to San Fernando. So our day was smoked because it's 2 hours there and then another 2 hours back with an hour time in between, but it gave me a chance to write letters to all of you which I sent with a DVD of pictures today, so be looking for that. Friday, We had divisions today, so Elder Rose of SLC came, he's the DL, and Elder Giannini went to Juncal. We had a great day for lessons and that night we had the interview for Gladys. She passed and while she was being interviewed, I was able to talk with the husband of Marializ and I challenged him to read, ponder and pray. I didn't go for the fecha because they have to get married first, but that was a good first experience that I had. Saturday, was a day of frustration but a good ending. We ended up having to wait for a long time for Elder Giannini and Elder Stocking to meet with us and do the exchanges back, so we were late for lunch, oh and we also ran out of credit so we couldn't call to explain. Then we had to go and fill up the font. Then we went walking to give a message from the bishopric to a recent convert because he doesn't have a phone. When we came back, after 45 minutes, the font was only 3 inches filled! It should have been half full, and so we had to start filling it in with buckets and we found a hose outside so we used that to fill up the font in time, so the water was a little cold. But it was all in vain because Gladys arrived 30 minutes late anyways, but all was well and we had the baptism. So happy. :)
Hey there, all good here, we´ve only been working and yes we had a baptism :) Her name is Gladys and I was able to baptize her, since I was one of the missionaries that found her and was there for the whole process. She was so ready, all we had to do was teach her and help her get to church. Then yesterday she was confirmed along with Jorge. So it was a great week and we taught a lot of lessons. Right now we are planning on having the baptism of Jeffer this Wednesday, but he still needs the interview and we need to see if they have been living right before we can baptize him.
Well, the Spanish is definitely coming along and I'm making strides every day. Some days are better than others, other days I feel like I can't understand anything at all, and then some days I feel like I can't say what I want to. So it is just the long process that eventually will all be alright. Communication is better with me and my companion, we are working and teaching well together and all good there. Food wise, no I actually haven't eaten anything that I wouldn't recommend to you. The food is really good here, like we heard, and I have no complaints, though I still need to eat today. Haha My favorite place right now is my bed haha -- it's the little rest that we get during the day and week. That's great that this last week went really well. Sounds like life is busy and that everybody is doing well. Dad, I'm glad that work is going good and sometimes I wish that you had served Spanish speaking, haha ,so that I could practice sending you notes in Spanish and así, but I'm grateful for your love and support.
Bueno, this last week was a good one, planning is difficult and especially when everything falls through and even your back up plans fall through, but we still had lots of lessons and a baptism, so as long as you're baptizing, all is well. :) Monday, well after emailing you all, we were planning on taking pictures but the weather took a turn for the worse and it down poured and rained for the rest of the day, so I just made pancakes and read from las enseñazas del profetas, haha . It's fun to read in Spanish right now. I can't understand every little thing like I can in English, but I can usually pick out the definition by the surrounding words, this will also help build my vocab. :) So in fin, I ended up singing I'm tracting in the rain to say the least. Tuesday, we had a good day, we are helping Jorge now with teaching him all of the lessons otra vez, he's progressing really well and now he can remember the 4 steps to prayer all by himself, which is a big improvement. Then we continued teaching Gladys and her daughter Marializ. Then we celebrated the birthday of Pati, who is less active, but we are always there to support her. It was nice, they shared cake and we shared the message haha temporal treats for espiritual power haha, but we had to run home and we barely made it on time. :) Wednesday, haha, that day was an example of a mix up in communication. We had been invited to teach this person at this mini "FHE" at this sister's house. So we prepared to teach L1 about the restoration. So the lesson went great and we watched the movie and everything and we got to the part about challenging them to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. Then right after that we moved on in to challenge them to baptism. When we asked her she said that she'd already been baptized, but that's a common response, so we were thinking it was for another church... haha… it turns out she was a less active, and so let's just say that it was good practice, but we still had to run a long distance to get home on time, but all is well.
Thursday, well we had a different day, Elder Giannini had to go to the doctors for a problem, antes mision, that he has. So we had to, right after weekly planning, take the train to San Fernando. So our day was smoked because it's 2 hours there and then another 2 hours back with an hour time in between, but it gave me a chance to write letters to all of you which I sent with a DVD of pictures today, so be looking for that. Friday, We had divisions today, so Elder Rose of SLC came, he's the DL, and Elder Giannini went to Juncal. We had a great day for lessons and that night we had the interview for Gladys. She passed and while she was being interviewed, I was able to talk with the husband of Marializ and I challenged him to read, ponder and pray. I didn't go for the fecha because they have to get married first, but that was a good first experience that I had. Saturday, was a day of frustration but a good ending. We ended up having to wait for a long time for Elder Giannini and Elder Stocking to meet with us and do the exchanges back, so we were late for lunch, oh and we also ran out of credit so we couldn't call to explain. Then we had to go and fill up the font. Then we went walking to give a message from the bishopric to a recent convert because he doesn't have a phone. When we came back, after 45 minutes, the font was only 3 inches filled! It should have been half full, and so we had to start filling it in with buckets and we found a hose outside so we used that to fill up the font in time, so the water was a little cold. But it was all in vain because Gladys arrived 30 minutes late anyways, but all was well and we had the baptism. So happy. :)
Sunday, we had a good day, just the testimony meeting so I was fasting also. Then afterwards we had lunch forever away ,and I had never been there before, but luckily I found it and all was well. haha But then they weren't ready for lunch so we got to help prepare it, and it was really good. The best friend of the hermana that was serving told me that his trainer was Brandon Ogletree, so that was cool to hear. Then we had members not show up and leave early, we didn't have credit so that made it hard, but then we had to go searching to find the bishop to sign the registry for Jorge and Gladys but he wasn't at home, so we ended up going to one of the counselors and all was well.
Well, I have to go, pdays are way too busy sometimes ,haha, but I hope that you all have a great week and I love you all so so much!!! Oh, and go BYU, and any other sports news. haha
Ciao!
Monday, March 5, 2012
I'm loving this opportunity to learn how to rely on the Lord
Well hola! :)
How's everybody doing? All is well down here and I'm surviving the heat and humidity and the work goes on. :) Well, first of all, I want to thank everyone that sent me letters and know that I love receiving letters, especially from the ones that I love the most. To tell you the truth I'm adjusting, like you were talking about Mom, this is totally different from life before and even the MTC. After two months of the MTC I knew what I was doing and got used to it. Now, after 2 months in the mission, I'm going to need another 2 months to feel comfortable. Even though I only have 8 weeks on the mission in Argentina, I'm already basically the companero mayor in this area, at least for now. Because I know the area, I'm setting the plans and I'm paying the bills. Today I set up a time where we could go and pay our rent for our apartment. Elder Giannini, is really great and I'm definitely learning a lot from him, he just doesn't know the area and is depending on me to be the leader here. I really don't want to be, haha, but I'm sucking it up and relying on my leaders for guidance. I'm making mistakes, both in speaking and in what I'm supposed to be doing, nothing wrong or disobedient, it's just I'm inexperienced. So I'm being thrown on the fire, or as President Gulbrandsen says, I'm a seed being thrown down underground to suffer for a time before I sprout forth and become a mighty tree. I have been with the other seeds my friends and family, I left my home, the fruit that I grew up with, and now I'm being planted to grow. So I have faith that the Lord knows what he's doing and I know that he's preparing me for leadership positions later on in life. Alright, my monologue is done haha, but overall I'm having a blast and I'm loving this opportunity to learn castellano and learn how to rely on the Lord.
Here's a little more about my ward. It's a little different than any ward in Utah; there are a good mix of long time members and recent converts. The really big difference is that there is a cultural divide. It's sad, but Argentines don't socialize well with let's say people of Peru or Bolivia, so that's the only thing down here is that there are cliques. They are still nice to everyone, especialmente haha I wrote that without thinking… anyways, the members are nice and will talk with anyone but they usually don't "hang out" after church. Fellowshipping is getting there. Some people are really nice and fellowship no problem, others, especially the porteños, people of this area of Buenos Aires, aren't as easily as friendly. But we are still one church and the Lord loves us no matter what race or origin we are. There is a lack of strong, active priesthood holders in our ward, lots more women and hardly any youth, but then again this ward is made up of downtown people and so usually they don't have children or they've all moved out. This also makes it really difficult to find a member to go with us because they are always working down here. The culture is like this, work to earn money, work more because I want more money or work more because I need more money to survive. There's not really a middle class down here, especially where I'm at. We have lots of families, and lots of single women, with a couple single men. Honestly, I haven't gotten the chance to know the bishop really well and have only met with him once outside of church. He's a traveler and so I don't know what he does, but he seems really good. Mom, yes, I listen to my music, and actually my companion only has English speaking music--that's basically all of the music that they have down here, either on the radio or church music, ands it's all the EFY stuff too.
Bueno, a quick run through of the week that was...
Monday, I had just enough money to make it to the beginning of the month, the reason was that my companion didn't have any money when he got here so I had to pay for both of us for a week and a half, no sé why he didn't have any, but we made it. So then I learned how to make pancakes and so I have been cooking a lot of pancakes this last week. I've then been putting on jam and dulce de leche and so I'm learning how to cook some stuff.
Tuesday, we did missionary work haha, nothing special, though we had a chance to go to a members house on the 30th floor of this really tall building, and we were able to see the sunset, and so it was really pretty.
Wednesday, leap day haha, crazy to think that the last one I was in 9th grade, anyways we had lots of walking just to pick up lunch, like 20 blocks. That's all for that day, we also did lots of missionary stuff.
Thursday, we got a call Wednesday night that we had to be at the mission offices by 7:45am to do paper work for visas and stuff, so we got up at 5 and got all ready. We arrived at the subte station on time only to find out that it was closed for the day, random. Later on I learned that it was because of a riot or strike or something like that. So we had to ask around for a collectivo to take us to the train station. We found the right one, but I didn't know the right stop and it was dark, anyways we passed our stop by 20 blocks or so, so we got off and took another collectivo to the right stop for the station that we needed. Then we took the 45 minute trip up to San Fernando. Then all the newbies did some paperwork in preparation for receiving our DNI, or Argentine papers. Then we took a mini bus to 9 de Julio to finish the paperwork for DNI. We took the huge 15 lane road right next to the oblisk, so we were right there. Lots of people, but we were having fun.
Friday, we had Zone conference. Yes, President Gulbrandsen came and it was only a couple of subte stations down the line. We talked about how we need to work harder and how the field is already to harvest, not tomorrow or the next week, but right now, so we have to take every opportunity to find new people. It took 6 hrs to complete but we had our own pizza for lunch, the 8 peso kind, so really cheap haha, but still really good.
Saturday, was a good day. We did a ton of walking. We went searching for an antiguo investigator and we ended up walking basically from one side of our map to the other. It wasn't supposed to end up like that but we did it anyways.
Sunday, Stake conference, wow lots of people, but still it just felt just as crowded like our meetings in Lehi every week. We had 6 investigators come and there were really good talks given. Then we had a great day of teaching and we are going to have a baptism this next Saturday, the 10th, for Gladys.
Today, I got a haircut and now we are going to take pictures. Sorry it wouldn't let me upload pictures today so I'll send you some next week and then a dvd soon.
I love you and know that I'm doing great and that the Lord will work through me to bring people to his truth. First I have to learn the language, but I'm making huge improvements everyday and sooner or later, I'll have it down. Thanks for the prayers and I pray for you every day too. :)
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
How's everybody doing? All is well down here and I'm surviving the heat and humidity and the work goes on. :) Well, first of all, I want to thank everyone that sent me letters and know that I love receiving letters, especially from the ones that I love the most. To tell you the truth I'm adjusting, like you were talking about Mom, this is totally different from life before and even the MTC. After two months of the MTC I knew what I was doing and got used to it. Now, after 2 months in the mission, I'm going to need another 2 months to feel comfortable. Even though I only have 8 weeks on the mission in Argentina, I'm already basically the companero mayor in this area, at least for now. Because I know the area, I'm setting the plans and I'm paying the bills. Today I set up a time where we could go and pay our rent for our apartment. Elder Giannini, is really great and I'm definitely learning a lot from him, he just doesn't know the area and is depending on me to be the leader here. I really don't want to be, haha, but I'm sucking it up and relying on my leaders for guidance. I'm making mistakes, both in speaking and in what I'm supposed to be doing, nothing wrong or disobedient, it's just I'm inexperienced. So I'm being thrown on the fire, or as President Gulbrandsen says, I'm a seed being thrown down underground to suffer for a time before I sprout forth and become a mighty tree. I have been with the other seeds my friends and family, I left my home, the fruit that I grew up with, and now I'm being planted to grow. So I have faith that the Lord knows what he's doing and I know that he's preparing me for leadership positions later on in life. Alright, my monologue is done haha, but overall I'm having a blast and I'm loving this opportunity to learn castellano and learn how to rely on the Lord.
Here's a little more about my ward. It's a little different than any ward in Utah; there are a good mix of long time members and recent converts. The really big difference is that there is a cultural divide. It's sad, but Argentines don't socialize well with let's say people of Peru or Bolivia, so that's the only thing down here is that there are cliques. They are still nice to everyone, especialmente haha I wrote that without thinking… anyways, the members are nice and will talk with anyone but they usually don't "hang out" after church. Fellowshipping is getting there. Some people are really nice and fellowship no problem, others, especially the porteños, people of this area of Buenos Aires, aren't as easily as friendly. But we are still one church and the Lord loves us no matter what race or origin we are. There is a lack of strong, active priesthood holders in our ward, lots more women and hardly any youth, but then again this ward is made up of downtown people and so usually they don't have children or they've all moved out. This also makes it really difficult to find a member to go with us because they are always working down here. The culture is like this, work to earn money, work more because I want more money or work more because I need more money to survive. There's not really a middle class down here, especially where I'm at. We have lots of families, and lots of single women, with a couple single men. Honestly, I haven't gotten the chance to know the bishop really well and have only met with him once outside of church. He's a traveler and so I don't know what he does, but he seems really good. Mom, yes, I listen to my music, and actually my companion only has English speaking music--that's basically all of the music that they have down here, either on the radio or church music, ands it's all the EFY stuff too.
Bueno, a quick run through of the week that was...
Monday, I had just enough money to make it to the beginning of the month, the reason was that my companion didn't have any money when he got here so I had to pay for both of us for a week and a half, no sé why he didn't have any, but we made it. So then I learned how to make pancakes and so I have been cooking a lot of pancakes this last week. I've then been putting on jam and dulce de leche and so I'm learning how to cook some stuff.
Tuesday, we did missionary work haha, nothing special, though we had a chance to go to a members house on the 30th floor of this really tall building, and we were able to see the sunset, and so it was really pretty.
Wednesday, leap day haha, crazy to think that the last one I was in 9th grade, anyways we had lots of walking just to pick up lunch, like 20 blocks. That's all for that day, we also did lots of missionary stuff.
Thursday, we got a call Wednesday night that we had to be at the mission offices by 7:45am to do paper work for visas and stuff, so we got up at 5 and got all ready. We arrived at the subte station on time only to find out that it was closed for the day, random. Later on I learned that it was because of a riot or strike or something like that. So we had to ask around for a collectivo to take us to the train station. We found the right one, but I didn't know the right stop and it was dark, anyways we passed our stop by 20 blocks or so, so we got off and took another collectivo to the right stop for the station that we needed. Then we took the 45 minute trip up to San Fernando. Then all the newbies did some paperwork in preparation for receiving our DNI, or Argentine papers. Then we took a mini bus to 9 de Julio to finish the paperwork for DNI. We took the huge 15 lane road right next to the oblisk, so we were right there. Lots of people, but we were having fun.
Friday, we had Zone conference. Yes, President Gulbrandsen came and it was only a couple of subte stations down the line. We talked about how we need to work harder and how the field is already to harvest, not tomorrow or the next week, but right now, so we have to take every opportunity to find new people. It took 6 hrs to complete but we had our own pizza for lunch, the 8 peso kind, so really cheap haha, but still really good.
Saturday, was a good day. We did a ton of walking. We went searching for an antiguo investigator and we ended up walking basically from one side of our map to the other. It wasn't supposed to end up like that but we did it anyways.
Sunday, Stake conference, wow lots of people, but still it just felt just as crowded like our meetings in Lehi every week. We had 6 investigators come and there were really good talks given. Then we had a great day of teaching and we are going to have a baptism this next Saturday, the 10th, for Gladys.
Today, I got a haircut and now we are going to take pictures. Sorry it wouldn't let me upload pictures today so I'll send you some next week and then a dvd soon.
I love you and know that I'm doing great and that the Lord will work through me to bring people to his truth. First I have to learn the language, but I'm making huge improvements everyday and sooner or later, I'll have it down. Thanks for the prayers and I pray for you every day too. :)
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)