So the pics that I'm sending today were both taken this morning. We got a call on Friday from the offices that Elder Rickert was going to go do tramites (Argentine documents) Monday morning, so we got up super early, like 5:45 to be able to be in the plaza de mayo at 7:45 am. So we get there and while my comp is doing that the rest of us go and start taking pictures around the square. The one is in front of the pink house, I think it's kind of the same thing as the White House, but I don't think that their president lives there. Anyways, kinda cool.
Then the biggest surprise is when we went back to the place, I ran into President Carter. haha What a coincidence! haha So I got a picture with him and the family. He was renewing his documents so that he could remain legal. Elder Rickert had been illegal for 5 months. haha So now it's all good, but that was fun to chat with him for a second and he complimented that he can remember Dad and what a great man he was, so just so you know. :) Then we traveled all the way back home, taking the subte in line A and it was so old and the train cars inside looked like an olden time train, haha, rickety, rickety haha but we made it safely.
Wow, what a week, so much happened. So Tuesday, umm we made pizza in the pension for lunch, that was delicious. We have a chino just one block from the house so we were able to buy all of the ingredients, cheap and then make two really delicious pizzas. :) Interesting thought on the chinos that I learned, there were people sent from China to make mini supermarkets, I guess this was a way to get people out of the country, so they are everywhere, all over, hundreds, could be thousands. But just an interesting thought and I'm glad that the US government isn't doing that to us. Then we contacted a ton of people that day! We were just trying to find one referral in the villa and that's super tough because not all of the places are marked and so we have to go villa diving and talking to a lot of people just asking for the directions, like what block is this and do you know where this one house could be? Stuff like that. So there is also the "White Elephant" in our area, in our villa and so we were walking on the back side of it. We still haven't entered but I've been right next to it. I don't know if I told you anything about it, but supposedly it would have been the biggest hospital in all of South America, but they ran out of funds and so they built it while leaving it unfinished, so people started moving in and people live like on the first 4 levels of the building. I don't know if you can look up pictures, but it's like a football or 2 fields long and 20 or 30 or so stories high, so really massive and it's impressive in real life, though it's a little dangerous at times, so for that we stay away from it mostly. We had the fecha with Dario but he really fell on us this last week, the last day that we could find him before last night was Tuesday. We talked about the armor of God and how if we can do those certain things we can protect ourselves especially from the drugs and cigarettes which are holding him back right now. I think he's scared to make this decision in this life and so we are going to drop him and have faith that the Lord is putting new people in our paths.
Wednesday, Rachel's birthday was sunny at first but then just cold the rest of the day. haha I need to tell you that I feel like I'm getting dressed to go play turkey bowl football in the snow while getting dressed for bed. :) haha I have the two blankets from the mission that they gave me and then whatever I can put on. haha Don't worry, I'm fine and I am plenty warm at night, :) it's just the humidity that makes the cold just seep through all of the clothes. :) I've been layering up really good everyday and we are good. :) We finally finished the map on that day, we have a tiny little map that I carry around in my pocket and we had to make a big one for our wall so we had enlarged it and finally finished coloring it in and adding and updating all of the little details. Then Luis was sick that night and we couldn't find Dario, and this lady named Nelly, asked who it was through the door and then didn't open it upon hearing Los Elderes. haha We have some medio medio (so-so) investigators right now and so we are trying to find new ones. :) The members here are super nice and especially the few that are in the villa, they live in the worst of conditions, well that Argentina can provide, and they make the best of it and yet are super super humble. They are always feeding us. I'm super grateful for all of the blessings and love that the missionaries get down here. :) So basically in the villa there are two active families and so we are always using them in the work, the family Ruiz Diaz, all recent converts within the last 6 months, except the dad, we are working on him. :) And then the family Fuentes, recent converts from Paraguay and are all awesome, and the Family Fuentes is from Bolivia and have solid testimonies. The Ruiz Diaz have younger kids, from 23 to 16 and are always giving us referrals, then the F. Fuentes is a little older with kids from 32 to 18 and the mom is a rock solid member. She moved from Bolivia to here in 1995 and she only spoke quechua, which is the native tongue from Bolivia and before she really learned castellano she was converted and her family as well--everyone, except the dad who is living in Bolivia right now. So we are blessed with hot chocolate and bread sometimes and drinks and chorripans, so we have many blessings from the wonderful people from South America. Oh, and they live super close to each other and so they are good friends as well.
Thursday, the start of the different week. :) We had a zone conference in Parque Chacabuco and so there was like 40-50 elders and sisters there and we learned a lot from President. I'm learning more and more from every meeting that President is an intense guy, he's loving the mission and because he is so intense we are baptizing a lot in this mission. He was a lawyer before, so you can imagine that he gets pretty fired up sometimes, but he's a great teacher and really understands the missionary work. He's heading into his last year on the mission so the mission is in full swing. :) Afterwards, while we were cleaning up, Elder Kelly, from Cottonwood, UT, one of President's assistants, came up to us and told us that he would be spending the next day and a half with us, haha Wow, what a fun experience. We were able to receive counsel in all aspects of the mission and enjoy the presence from another awesome elder. I guess he will be Elder Johnson's roommate at BYU this upcoming year, so it's cool to know people in the mission. Sounds like there will be a despida (I'm guessing this means a devotional) this transfer so hopefully I can finally see Elder Johnson and say hi. :) So as soon as we got home we got to work and we had success. We were able to talk with Dario's older brother and his older sister, then we met with Luis and he basically told us that right now he doesn't feel like he will be baptized so we are going to drop him, which is sad because he was progressing but then just leveled off and now we have to keep searching. :) Then we were able to go on splits, I went with Elder Kelly and Elder Rickert went with Dani Ruiz Diaz, who is 19 and filling in his papers for his mission. So we were able to teach Julio and then give blessings of health to his two kids and his wife Brenda. Then we were able to get a mattress from Liniers just in time for the night and Elder Kelly got bundled up in all of his clothes that he had and was able to borrow my extra towel for a blanket and sheet for a cover. We don't have any other blankets in the pension because it's brand new. It's alright, he finishes this transfer so he was fine. haha
Friday, so we made pizzas again. haha We did a lot of walking that day, everyone was falling through on us and we met lots of new people. Then the cool part of the day, Elder Kelly really wanted to go to a lesson with Elder Rickert to see how he teaches by himself and so I was given the wonderful opportunity to teach on my own another investigator that we had. :) Senior Comp stuff now, haha, wow that's getting close. So I went with Julio to the Flia Lazarte with Daniela who is an old investigator and has been struggling getting to church for a long time. Oh and I wasn't planning on doing this until right before, so while we were walking over there I was frantically thinking what are we going to teach? haha I still didn't have a clue when we got in there but I was able to figure out something immediately when she told me that she hasn't been reading, so I was able to go to the scriptures and we talked about the importance of reading. Julio is a stud and is really being blessed from the gospel. He passed the sacrament two weeks ago and then he gave the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. A quick note about this ward, I feel like we are back in Utah but with a Latin-Argentine twist and feel haha. There are lots of kids and they sometimes get really crazy during the sacrament meeting and it just goes to show that kids are crazy where ever in the world. The only thing is that the church, especially the sacrament hall after the meetings is dirty and trashed up, so that's the Latin-Argentine twist to it, but the members are awesome and they are made up of mainly converts and new members so the church is growing and one day will be like it is in Utah haha. So I did good in the lesson and my Spanish passed the test and then we were able to take a remis or a taxi like car to get home on time. Elder Kelly had to leave and so we took a quick pic and so you'll see that one day. haha Oh, and you should be receiving your dvd this week, :) hopefully. :) There are some surprises and a gift for mom, :) Happy Mother's Day and birthday... a month late. haha :)
I hit the 7 month mark on Saturday so that was a fast month. I can remember sitting there in Palermo thinking wow, 6 months, and now I'm already at 7! So that morning we helped Hermano Cuentas, a member that also lives in the villa. We did some service for him. We were helping him build a 4th story on top of his house in the villa, so we were working with iron and making frames for columns that he would later pour cement down to help form the columns for the house. I had never done anything like that in construction, so now I know. :) The big news from that night was that we had a wonderful spiritual lesson with Liduvina, an investigator that we have had for a long time. Her doubt is that she's not ready for baptism knowledge-wise and we have always been telling her that she knows enough. So we decided to do the interview questions without telling her to see where she stands. She passed with flying colors and then we told her, and she was like, wow, I guess I don't have to know everything, and we committed her to be baptized next Sunday the 17th!! Yay, that was exciting, We just have to teach her the laws and she should be good with that, so that will be our work for this week to come. :) And that night we had some tacos with the ward mission leader and there was some green peppers there and I was feeling brave and so I put 4 little slices on the taco and started eating it! It was so so hot and I started crying, haha Everyone started to laugh at me and then they started crying because they started to eat it too and it was so hot. haha Funny experience.
Sunday, I realized that these mornings are long and usually disappointing for missionaries, we have to get used to people telling us no when we are there to take them to church, I've heard so many lies, but it's alright because I was there, but the only problem was that Liduvina didn't come, urgh. We called and she told us she was coming and then we couldn't find her later in the afternoon, but we still have faith that she'll be baptized this next Sunday. Oh, I had some good cake yesterday for a birthday party in the villa, oh, and lunch was really good, a BBQ. :) We were finally able to find Dario but he's still not showing any progress. So that was the week and then getting up early and having a fun little time in downtown Buenos Aires again, but I'm glad to be in Lugano and I'm having fun here. It could be that I stay here a while and be made a senior companion here or even scarier, train here. The mission is a blast and I'm learning a ton!!
I love you all so so much and thanks for your prayers and support. Have a great week and go Lehi!!! haha Have fun and be safe. I can't wait to read the weekly report next Monday. :)
With all the love of my heart, :)
Elder Ryan Pittard
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