It's a blessing being a missionary

Hey there family, hows it going? :) I love you all so so so much!!!!!!

So I was so excited to read your letter today, we are doing it first thing! So thanks for the awesome letters that you always send me, I love the detail that you all go into.

So to explain the pics:

The first pic is of me in front of the congress building of Argentina, it is a huge building with one of the tallest domes that I've seen!! Pretty impressive.

So that was after we emailed you last week, we went walking on an adventure to sightsee. That was the first thing that we saw, it was really hot and sunny and there were lots of people around. It's at the end of huge plazas that go on for a couple of blocks. So we went exploring down the plazas and took lots of pics. It was just me and Elder Johnson and we were having fun. haha.

Then we continued down Av. Rivadavia to the Pink House. In the plaza de Mayo there is a huge Catholic cathedral and we were interested and so we wandered in and we went around taking pics. It was something that I've never seen before, it was also a really weird feeling. Oh well it still is an impressive building, really great and there is lots of space as well. I wonder about its foundation? ;)

 

In the cathedral was the remains of the unknown soldier and of San Martin who liberated Chile, Peru and Argentina, so some old guy basically, but they had uniformed guards guarding it 24/7. We saw a changing of the guards and lets just say that it wasn't as impressive as it is in America at the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We actually ran into two members from the south mission boundry in the church, haha we were both like, what are you doing in here? haha then as we left the building, we made our way accross the street and we ran into people from Utah, I was just waiting for that honestly ;) haha They were from St George and they were going to go on a cruise that would be going around tierra de fuego. Haha they took a pic with us, they asked us the typical questions and then we helped point them in the right direction towards the cemetary that I visited back in March in Juncal.

Then we had our pic taken at the Pink House, that's basically all that it is a pink building, apparently it's from the mix of white and red, mercy and blood, or something like that. Also that the flag colors are just the rising sun between the blue skies and white clouds. Then I had an adrenaline experience. So we went crossing the plaza to the other side and we were going to cross the street to find something to eat. So we came to the street and there were protest boards along the edge of the plaza and it blocked the view and so one had to walk a couple of feet out onto the street to see if there were any cars or motos coming around the bend, because it curved around. So I get a couple of feet going to check, walking up along the edge of the boards and I was going to stick my head out, but I
felt prompted that I shouldn't do that. In that exact moment a motocycle came flying around the edge on the side of the board and I jumped to the far side and he went around me, going to where I would've been if I had stuck out my body to see. haha Looking back it really was a close call, then I quickly walked back down the edge to the plaza on the safety of the grass, the light had just turned green but I wasn't able to see it. Then we crossed the street after we made sure it was red and continued on with the day. I only tell you this because I want to thank you for your prayers for
safety. Haha this country would benefit from using the police to be traffic police, haha it would slow some people down, especially on the motos. I'm also thankful for the Spirit that is always watching over me and protecting me.

So anyways, enough about the pics...

Wow what a crazy week that you all had. Traveling, snow, licences, bball, swimming and dance!! sounds like everyone is having fun.

First of all when i saw that pic of the snow i couldnt comprehend it in my head, it has been that long that I can't imagine it haha. But yeah, I'm glad that everyone is driving safe.

Say hi to Bro Butler at seminary and to coach Barnes, that's totally cool that you and Alex are in the same class in seminary. Say hi to Bro Draeger and give him thanks for the letter that they sent me.

Dad, thanks for the scripture, I like that one, it reminds me of the one in Moroni 7. It's nice having the gospel in my life to help me make the right decisions so that I can have the most happiness in this life. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and his desire and love for me to sacrifice himself for me. Thanks for all of the training that you gave me before the mission on things of the gospel and the church, you definitely fulfilled your job as a father in this life. You have been the best parents that anyone could ever ask for. :)

Yay for the Ravens, that's awesome that Pitta caught a TD pass! It's weird to think that I have now been through my 2nd super bowl, it's just a weird feeling. Also that's awesome for Ansah, I hope that he does well.

Oh another thing, I don't know if you all have heard anything about this, but I have been hearing rumors that they are cutting down three of our transfers, starting with the one that we are currently in, (6 week periods) down to 5 weeks to accomodate for the influx of incoming missionaries. So if that is the case, I would finish Oct 20th and get home the 22nd. That's a weird feeling for me to think that they are taking 3 weeks from my mission, I never imagined anything like that happening. It still hasn't been made official, but that's a strong rumor running around the missionaries. The ones going home this transfer are all planning on the 24th instead of the 3rd. So I'm sure the church will send something out soon or at least the mission. I found out through the ZL´s that the mission is
expecting between 60-90 new missionaries arriving within the next 4 months. Because the next two groups to finish are big groups with lots of leaders as well, so there are a lot changes expected in the coming months. It's fun to think that I was part of the mission when the big announcement came out.

So last week went well. On Wednesday we had a great day. We taught I--, a recent convert, and then we went with her to try and contact some old investigators in the villa and we found two new investigators, M-- and F--. I was able to share a quick message of the Restoration and then we gave her a Book of Mormon. F-- is her ``husband`` and has gone to the church before in Paraguay. They didn't come to church but we are going to keep working with them, we have missed them a couple of times trying to pass by, sometimes the schedule complicates itself.

Thursday night we found out that R--, needs to get the Arg. papers before they can take out a marriage shift. So L's-- baptism will need to be prolonged a little bit, but he will be baptized and will be a great leader in the church. He bore his testimony again in sacrament meeting yesterday and I felt such a great spirit.

Friday, we got the surprise the night before that I would be doing divisions with the ZL´s, so that night I went with Elder Mower, and it's his last transfer so he's a really good missionary. It was fun being with him in the Boca and we found a new investigator and I felt really comfortable teaching her the Restoration, it's funny how lots of practice can help. ;) We set a date with her and she accepted everything.

Saturday, I was able to meet with the guy that makes leather scripture cases for the mission. I just got a case for my spanish triple, I ordered it and picked which pictures I wanted him to burn into it. It will look really cool. He just so happened to be coming to take E Mower's order, so I took advantage of it. I ordered with plently of time, so I'll be able to use it for the rest of my mission. :) That night we were able to teach L-- about the word of wisdom and he accepted everything, he doesn't smoke or drink and he only has to give up coffee and tea and he didn't really drink that before either.

Yesterday was good. I had a headache, I even had liquids in me, but I survived and manned it up for the rest of the afternoon. Though we had only 61 people in church, I know that it's summer but still I want the most amount of people to come every week. Every week it's different in who comes and who doesn't. Only L-- came, everyone else had a complicated schedule, it's the struggle down here because there are a ton of people that work on Sunday or work late Saturday night. The bishop also gave L-- an old triple that he really wanted. He had an interesting question the other day, he had seen
that there was an apparent ufo sighting from the NASA footage. He then asked us the question if we believed in aliens, because he said that he was sure that God had created more people. I felt alright with him sharing the scriptures in Moses and now he wanted to study it all and recieve all of that light and truth that the great and abominable church had taken from him, yeah we read in 1 Nephi 13 and he understood it really well. It's a blessing being the missionaries to teach L--.

But for now he is the only bright bright spot in this area, we are constantly looking for more people. We are having an increased effort to find families that are married and ready to be baptized.

Thanks for all of your prayers and fasts and support as I'm doing this necessary work for the Lord for two years in Argentina.

I hope that you all have a great week and I hope that you don't freeze in all of that snow. :)

I love you all so so much!!!

Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard