If you don't have the right attitude then the mission won't be fun

Wow, what a great letter, thanks!!
First, about the pictures. I don't know if you have seen the one on the bridge before but that was over a month ago. That tall building is the tallest building in our area and then that metal thing above my left shoulder is the Flor or some pop art and the building with the columns is the law school of Buenos Aires.

Then the other one is yesterday, we had a lesson with Jorge and an awesome member, Hermano Larssen.  He's going to Peru for like a month and so we took a picture to remember him. It's actually really cold right now and the jacket and everything is working out just great. There's so much humidity here that the cold just seeps through all the clothes to the bone so that's why we layer up. :) 

(I don't know why it's inserting a white background???  oh well...)

We are down to the last two weeks of this transfer and then I'll go to somewhere exotic, which I only think in this mission is the south, everywhere else is the boring provincia. haha So everyone's telling me that I'm blessed to start off in downtown and that's a blessing.  And then sorry about forgetting to send you a Happy Anniversary note last week, but yes, I did remember, I even wrote at the top of the page of my planner. :) Tell the stake presidency hi back and that's awesome that there are 51. That's a lot of missionaries. Down here that would be half of the ward. 

So the apartment situation…we still haven't moved out, so it could be this week. They just have to do lots of paper work. So we are still suffering in the tiny apartment and all, but I learned something this last week too, we have to sometimes lie to ourselves that we are having fun and that this is the best thing in the world right now, because if you don't have the right attitude then the mission won't be fun. So I honestly have had to use that principle sometimes. Then the points that you shared dad are so, so true, every single thing that we do before the mission to help us prepare is the best thing we can do, like working, being physically fit, money ready, also having the right sense of responsibility, missions are a responsibility and we have to be able to know how to survive on our own out of the house. Going to school is a good idea because it can prepare you for being away from home and having to budget money and all of the adult stuff. So my advice, do what you feel, like leaving on the mission, if you feel ready and leave asap because there is no better cause!

So some reflections from last week. :)

Monday after all the emailing we went with some other elders to a museum about the holocaust and how Argentina was a place where a lot of the Nazis fled to after the war. I guess the main mastermind behind the extermination camps was in Argentina for 10 years before Germany came and took him back. It was a small museum but fun culturally. Then we went to a museum of guns and other military things. It was really cool!! Just think of any kind of weapon from the past 500 years and it was there. It was a small place but filled to the brim with guns, missiles, cannons and spears, even some Japanese swords. So I took way too many pictures of that haha, oh, and I'll be sending another cd filled with pictures the coming month some time. That night we realized that we had lost the other keys to the church of the elders in Juncal. It's super frustrating, but a lesson that we need to learn. We helped open up the font for a ward baptism and then I don't know what happened, somehow we lost them.

So then because of that we had district meeting an hour and a half away in Villa Urquiza where the sisters are. On the bus ride home I had a missionary experience. This guy about my age asked me if this street of Santa Fe went to the street Callao, I said yes, it did and took the opportunity to ask him what he was doing and where he was from. I struggled to first of all relate it to the gospel and then once I did trying to keep in on the subject, but I just ended up giving him a Restoration pamphlet. Then I burnt my tongue when a member gave us this Bolivian drink called api. It was so hot that it was basically jellish on the top that when I went to take a sip it didn't come out right away so I tipped the cup back more and a lot came out and burnt my tongue, but the drink was good. 

Wednesday we had a vianda from Gladys and so it's literally reaping in the fruits of your labors. haha ;) Then we went to the villa and had a short lesson with this guy named Pedro. It was short because he had to leave so we just basically gave an overview of the Restoration. Then we went to the flia Zuchimmi and we read in 3 Nephi 11 and found out how many times it says baptism. I'll let you all figure that one out.

So fun little thing on Thursday, after weekly planning we did divisions. Me and Elder Stocking (in the same district at the MTC) went to Palermo, so 2 boys as elders walking around the street with limited Spanish capacity, but we made it and had lessons and then we set a date with Eddy for the 26th of May. Yay, finally!! He shared his life story basically and he has had many trials and things go wrong, but it just shows that now his is humble enough to be searching for the truth and the faith to believe. He will be a strong member!!

Friday, your anniversary, was honestly a long day for me, but I was thinking about you. :) We had a basic lunch of rice and meat, which is different from what we ate mostly this week. We got milenesa and arroz chaufa, pasta. Oh, the food is really good down here. :) Then we finally talked with the kids that we found on the street awhile back. We actually found them in the street again, this time close to us, just by the will of God, and we set up a cita with them. His mom isn't a member and we are going to baptize her, that's the goal at least. ;) So we have passed by twice already and taught the restoration and the plan of salvation. Anyways, then on the subway ride down to the villa again, I had a wonderful opportunity to talk to a crazy guy that somehow knew English. He said that he was from Russia and Scotland and he was basically shouting so the whole train was looking, but just to let you know. Haha

Saturday we walked a ton and the weather was raining and windy, super cold!! We first had a lesson with the mom of Emmanuel and Dinah, the two kids we met that I mentioned in the paragraph above. I'm not sure on the name but I think that it's Emela, the mom, but she loves to talk and has had a rough life. Most Argentines have a rough life. We have no idea how blessed we are to live in America. :) Oh, and that's another thing, if we say Americans down here it applies to them to because they don't consider us Americans but North Americans and people from the United States. So we say yah in the United States, and not in America, we have this and this, we just can't do that because they don't have everything that we have. Anyways, back to the subject, then we took a bus across town and had a really good lunch with the Flia Lopez. It was carrots with this vegetable bread like substance but good and then a really good soup. Then we walked to the villa, it took like an hour, and then we had a lesson with an inactive member that we found that lives in our area. We talked with her and the wife of Pedro. Then the flia Zuchimmi again. It's frustrating because they aren't really reading and they didn't come to church yesterday so we will see. Then we walked back through the mud and walked the hermano that went with us, hmo Lopez, and that took another hour, and then it took us an hour to walk home. We did have the money to go on a bus, but I had left what I had left in the pension, so a lesson.

Then yesterday we got up super early and went to the villa to look for people, Franscisca didn't answer, Zuchimmi didn't want to come and the inactive member didn't want to either so we walked through the mud and the villa for nothing, but I was able to take some pictures, secretly of course, so I'll send them to you soon. Then, we set the date with Emela after church for the 13th. We lost the fecha with Franscisca, but we will try it for the 13th as well. Then we carried a lot of stuff to the pension in Juncal, like cold weather gear and more Book of Mormons, then we got the account set up while having another lesson. Then there is a hobo that lives right next to the pension in Juncal and he is always asking us for money or cigarettes, so we finally said, "Hey, want a pamphlet?" So he took that. :)

And now we are here and I'm excited for you to read all this. :) How are the other missionaries doing from the ward and the friends? I just want to know. Oh, and I haven't received anything for a while because I haven't had the chance to look for it and bring it home, so that's why. :)

I love you all so so much and thanks for your support every week. It keeps me going strong and I can't wait to see your faces again. :)

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

I can hold a conversation with lots of people and basically understand what they are saying

Dang it, the computer doesn't have usb outlets, so another week I'll send more pictures, but just know that I'm doing fine! We had a great week and I'm so excited to share it with you all and get a peek into how my life is down here. :)

First of all, wow what a week for you all. Tanner, sounds like work and school are going good and I'm sorry about the ankle problem that you have. That could affect you in the season to come, protect it because you want to be playing instead of on the bench. Haha Wow, Tanner in a tux, I want to see that picture when it comes through. Also, have fun. Wow, is it almost May? The time has flown! Camryn, yes I'm learning the language and yes I'm trying my hardest to be the best that I can be. Thanks for the thoughtful letter and I love you and keep learning English. You don't have any idea how blessed we are to grow up speaking English. :) Alex, I bet right now I could eat all of that goodness, I miss Chinese food. There aren't that many people that eat it down here and all the restaurants are too expensive. So enjoy while you can for now haha. Also, keep getting better in basketball. Also, remember to always be a helper to mom. I guess that's a note to everyone. :) Then Braden and Jason, where's my answer? ;) haha Mom and Dad, thanks each week for the personal notes and all the details that I love hearing. :) Sounds like the family is holding up and just know that I pray for you all often and I'm glad that everyone is safe. I truly to love each one of you so much!! I miss you all and I hope you enjoy reading this week's letter. Oh, and yes, I got Grandma Pittard's letters and I still haven't received your package, and I probably won't until the next transfer.

Well, we started out the week with me playing barber, haha. We went to the house of Jorge and while we were there, he lives all by himself and it's a mess and there's a stench that my companion can't stand, we were asking him when he was going to get a haircut or trim his beard. He said that he didn't know and I offered to trim his beard with some big scissors, haha. So we just trimmed it off. So that was a funny service opportunity.

I've noticed that Tuesdays are always the longest and hardest days for me, it's after p-day and there seems to be nobody that is available to talk to, especially in the morning. Oh, cool note, we ate lunch in the pension and so I watched The Testaments in Spanish and that was cool to basically understand what was going on. haha The language is coming. I can hold a conversation with lots of people and basically understand what they are saying. Let's just say that I have come a long way since when I arrived. We were walking around looking for apartments and we received a call that they had placed an offer on the first apartment that we had found and so the news is that everything has to be settled and we should be moving out this week sometime. I'm going to call and find out when tonight. We need to. It's fun but so distracting with the other elders and we are cramped. But after 1 month of living in the other apartment in Juncal we are ready to move out. Oh, and my stuff in Palermo is all good;, I hid the expensive stuff and took the rest with me so I'm also praying that the Lord will have mercy on me and my stuff. Haha

Well, I finally did something about my toe on Wednesday. We went to the doctor for the South America South Church Office Buildings and met with Dr. Brunt. He numbed up my big toe and took special toe nail cutting scissors and just cut a straight line down the toe nail and took off the ingrown part, then he scraped out the infected goo and wrapped it up. So I have been fine. It's been healing fast and I've been soaking it in hot salty water morning and night, so all good there. I didn't feel a thing and I was glad that I had the church doctor doing it . :) Jeffer fell through on us this last week and we had a brother from the ward with us also so that was a real bummer. He came to church on time but Natalia didn't come, so we went to the elders quorum president to let him know what's up and that we need help. It's not even our job to be doing this, it's the ward's but we just don't want to lose him, he is golden!

Friday we returned to the Villa and were protected and we had success. We found this lady and her mom. Her name is Francisca and we put dates for the 6th of May with both of them. The mom didn't come to church but we went yesterday morning and brought the husband of that one family and Francisca to church, so we still have that one fecha (date) which will be a great thing if we can do that for this transfer because it's hard when you have a really successful transfer and then nothing to work with the next one, so we have faith.

Yesterday was the craziest Sunday of the mission yet. It seemed like we were doing everything and talking with everyone but it all turned out good and I felt the most confident in my communication yet--because I can understand. :) 

This last week, Francisca is a miracle for us and we are uplifted by the faith she has right now. Oh, and we were able to find Daniel once and it turns out that he doesn't live there but works there and so it's tough to find him. 

Thanks for the info on Palermo and I think that I have a little part of that city and also Barrio Norte, so it's true, we are spread out!!

Well, we have to go. Oh, and I think that if we are to skype that we have to do it on Saturday because we have to pay, but if it's just a call we can do it on Sunday, so let me know which one you want and what times would be best. We will try to coordinate it all. I don't know how that's going to go down, so let me know. :) Oh, and we were able to watch the priesthood session of conference in English and only the 4 apostles, so they were all good.

I love you all and thanks for the love and support!!

Love,

Elder Ryan Pittard

He was grateful that God answered his prayer

Wow, my favorite part of the whole week, writing to my loving family! :)

First, to explain my pictures. First, last week we walked across 9 de Julio and so I took a picture of the obolisco and then a couple of weeks ago we almost got stuck in an elevator and so we luckily were able to pry the door open and jump down. haha So, fun experiences in the gran ciudad de Buenos Aires. Pretty ghetto still in some places.

Well, it sounds like you all had a really fun week. Wow, yeah I haven't been to arches or Moab and it sounds like a ton of fun! When are you going to send pictures? (I'm writing on a keyboard that half the letters are rubbed off haha) All the rocks to climb and I can remember the 10-14 years when climbing things and exploring are so much fun. I'm glad that no one got hurt and that the camera is alright, and you too mom. ;) Wow, and good job Alex for driving so far. My first freeway experience was driving down and back from Zions 4 yrs ago!! Wow, what a time ago. Thanks Rachel and Camryn for the love and yes I'm trying to remember as many Spanish words that I can and I'll definitely tell you when I get back home. :) Well Tanner, I didn't start in the kitchen but I got put there one night and I did a really good job running it and cleaning up and so that got me noticed. I think my favorite would be in the kitchen or running the laser tag, that was easy to learn but I didn't learn till after becoming manager. I became supervisor in May of last year after 2 months and then became manager 3 months later in August. So I hope you work as hard as you can. Braden and Jason, you crazy climbers. I laughed really hard when Mom wrote that when she arrived there were two little boys 200 feet above and I thought, yup that would be them. :) Mom and Dad, I love you very much and I think about you often, the whole family. :) (haha now the keyboard is getting messed up…in order to do a smiley face I press the colon button and then number 5, I don't know, it's just funny how ghetto it is.) I hope everything goes well with the apartments and that work goes well for you all this week.

So some quick things, first I just found out today that Elder Unrau, my ZL, was comps in the office with Elder Johnson. So that was cool. When does Elder Johnson finish, or die, what they say in the mission. How's the sports world doing? NBA, Jimmer, Jazz? You know that Brother Carlson has been sending sports updates and I love receiving those because it's a nice tiny pause from the mission that refreshes me to keep going strong. Oh, I didn't get the package that you said that you sent, and if it is perishable, dang haha I guess I'll get it when I do, but I did receive letters from Grandma W--- and Grandpa H--- this last week. Thanks for all of you that have written. Yes, the storm was really bad and rained a ton, but we weren't in the area that had a tornado go through it. Crazy because I only thought that tornados were an American thing.

Bueno, to start, last Monday we walked down Florida and I bought a River jersey (one of the soccer teams) and an Argentine national team jersey and I got the Argentine one on sale, so a great deal. This last week we had Zone conference. That was good and we had interviews with President. That day started the madness of the whole week. We had Elder Casteneda, a senior missionary that takes care of our housing and stuff like that, came and looked at our apartment in Palermo and it's totally destroyed, the wall is still not fixed and they did something in the bathroom, but there's a lot of gaps of wall missing and they took out our bidei, (bidday) so he told us that we have to find a new one to move into. So for the rest of the week we were apartment shopping and being missionaries. The elders of Juncal also have to move because of other reasons and so we spent time going to different places downtown and asking for available places. We were able to look at 3 and then we took pictures and had to send those in for the assistants and the senior missionary to take a look. So we are still stuck in that process right now. I'll let you know when we will be moving out. So right now, I've been wearing 4 different ties and shirts and have half and half in both pensions. So it's a mess right now and we are surviving. :)

Thursday I had a cool experience. We were walking to the church to do weekly planning and we were stopped by a man that was standing outside a doorway to an apartment building. He stopped us and asked us who we were. We were like we are the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ... We got talking and we gave him a pamphlet about the restoration and then I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormon, and we don't normally just hand them out, but I did and he accepted it. His name is Daniel and we have to pass by again to see how it went. That night we had a tough situation arise, Jeffer and Natalia, the recent convert, we were visiting them and they starting complaining to us that they didn't like the ward and that this ward isn't well organized and all these little things. They were talking really fast and I was able to pick out everything, not perfectly, but the jist of everything. It was hard because he has such a strong testimony and her's is starting to grow again, but they don't feel welcomed into the ward and they are threatening to become inactive. We tried to reason with them but they aren't going to listen to us, we are only the missionaries. So we will have to work with the ward to try and help them, but they didn't go to church, so that was really sad. We will need the help of the ward leaders. It's hard though because besides their responsibilities in the church they have their busy lives outside of it too and so the ward is sometimes a little cold or unfriendly. So it's sad that is happening.

Saturday was a great day! We went to our portion of the villa, it's really small but it went great. We were knocking on doors and setting up appointments to come back the next week. Then we came to this one door and found a family of four, unfortunately they aren't married. But we were able to teach them the restoration, outside their house because it was too small for all of us to fit in it. We had come with an hermano from the ward and so I felt protected. The family is called the flia Z--- and they are from Paraguay. They have a small girl 3years old and a small boy 1 and a half years old. They said that they would come to church with us and that we would pass by in the morning. So Sunday we got up on time but had to hurry to be out the door by 7:15am. We got to the villa and had to walk to the very back to get there. I was nervous that they weren't going to go, but when we got there they were ready, the whole family. Then we took 2 buses to get to the church just in time for the 9 am start. We had testimony meeting today because of conference and Easter last week, so it was really good! Well it might just be that I can understand everything now. haha :)

But Saturday night we had nothing to do and we felt impressed to go look for an investigator that lives really far away, like we have to plan to go to this area, that's how far away it is. But we said, why not? So while we were walking to get there, we were stopped by two young people, a boy and a girl, and they asked us the address of the capilla. We give out the address a lot and so it's no big deal. So we continued on and didn't have any success up there. But they actually came to church and the boy bore his testimony and said that he was a recent convert from Peru and that he has been here for 3 months and hadn't been able to find the church and it so happened that while he was going to buy something from the store that he ran across us and he was grateful that God answered his prayer. So I was really touched by the spirit, when I had felt that we had wasted a trip up there but when it actually had a good reason that was cool. :)

We had a rough week with lessons but we have faith that we will find people to baptize and we are going back to the villa next week to continue the work there.

This morning we played soccer again and then Elder Giannini had to buy a new belt and some shoes to play soccer. So we went shopping and then we had some lunch and found a place to write you all. I love you all so much and I want you all to know that I'm having a blast and can't believe that I'm almost done with my first 6 months. This is the work of the Lord and I have a testimony of this great church. The work is hard and I'm walking a ton. I'm going to try and set up an appointment with the doctor to fix my toe, which is only getting bigger, but I'll be fine. :) Can't wait to hear from you next week. :)

All my love,
Elder Ryan Pittard (the Ryan so I don't forget my own first name) ;)

I am starting to feel like a real missionary every day

Hey there family, oh how I love you all so so much!

Wow, a lot happened this last week both in Utah and Buenos Aires. We are working on a lot here and sounds like the family is really busy. :) Thanks for the notes and I always love hearing about what goes on. Thanks for your prayers. I definitely feel them every day and I'm glad that school is going great and that now you have a break to have some fun. :) Keep up the good work, you guys are just awesome…just keep on keepin' on. I'm glad that Easter turned out great and that everything went well in church. Also, how are the other missionaries from the ward doing? All good there?

Well, a little bit about the week, it was good, nothing super special happened but we had a good week. I am starting to be able to understand almost everything and basically everything in
Church. So last Monday we went to a huge outside marketplace and there was a lot of cool looking stuff but nothing that interested me. Then on the way back we saw this huge group of people and saw that there was a riot going on and there was a lady there that said that we
shouldn’t go closer because we looked like Britains. The Argentines and the British had a war over the Faulkland Islands and Britain totally demolished the. I think it was in the 80's. So anyways, Argentina is still bitter about that and so they still try and claim them. So I guess last week was the anniversary and so they were protesting in front of the English embassy, so we didn’t get harmed or see anything crazy but it still was a little bit frightening.

This week we found new investigators to teach, but the problem right now is that we don’t have anyone with a date, so that is what we are working on down here right now. We found two new investigators when we were talking with Juan on the street. I guess he has two friends that live close by and so they were talking with him when we walked up. They had a lot of questions and one of them was super Christian and started mildly Bible bashing us, but the other one seemed a little bit interested. But I was able to really participate and contribute in the discussion this time. So that was a cool feeling. I'm starting to feel more like a real missionary every day. Now that I'm in my 3rd transfer, we don’t have to have an extra hour of study time so we can leave earlier every day, so we are in the street all day and that passes the time faster and the week flew by.

We had a special Easter program with the whole mission where we all met in the chapel in San Fernando and listened to Hermana and President Gulbrandsen. I sure felt the spirit there as we talked about the strong and loving sacrifice that Jesus made for us. A cool experience that we had with Jorge…he has a doubt with actually paying his tithing. But we came with a member that has a super strong testimony of the blessings of tithing and he helped resolve his doubt, so he committed to pay! I was also able to use my talent of piano playing when I saw that Gladys and
Marializ have a tiny electric piano and they have a hymn book from her son and so I was able to play one of their favorite hymns, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Oh, and we also went to the South American South Church office building that’s in our zone to see the doctor. Turns out that he didn’t speak any Spanish and so I had to try and do a basic translation for the communication between Elder Giannini and the doctor, so that was a cool experience. I also got a chance to speak with some Elders that had just finished their missions and they were waiting to head out.

We are still living in Juncal, and we are surviving. haha I got my hair cut by the new elder that came into Juncal. His name is Elder Middaugh and he's from Layton UT. He did a good job and it was free this time. Haha Also, I was so hungry this last week one day that we didn’t have lunch from a member, and I was able to eat two full- sized pizzas. haha Just so you know ;) I haven’t
weighed myself in a while but I have lost weight and muscle, haha it just happens. Oh, and one of the nights we walked home in the rain again, it was really cold, and Juncal forgot somehow to pay the gas bill for this last bill period and so we have been taking cold showers since Thursday. Then this morning we played soccer again.

Well, I just want to bear my testimony right now and let you all know that this is the work of the Lord and this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I love you all and have a great week. Thanks for all that have sent me a letter and thanks for reading this, I love you all. :)

Elder Ryan Pittard

I have seen His love work through me as I have born testimony

Oh I love you all so so much!!!

How's it going? You surviving up there in the great states? Wow, so much has happened and I'm going to make sure that this gets to you all. :)

First of all, the pictures, yay they worked this week! There's one of all of us in the pension, Elders Stocking, Yo, Giannini, Peacock, and Rose. Haha we had fun together. :)

Then the picture of the baptism, I'll explain it later.

First of all, what an amazing conference. I'm going to tell you all about it. It was held in the stake center in Belgrano and so we took the subway to get there, like a 10 minute ride, so a not that far. We watched all the sessions in English in the institute building that's right next to the stake center. There were all the American missionaries and some other passer bys and others that I guess were trying to enhance their English or to experience it how it really is. I'm so glad that it was in English because I saw how it's done down here. It's the exact translation with the translators speaking right over the voice of the person so all you can hear is the Spanish. I think that they translate or read it in the conference center. The music was in English and they might have Spanish subtitles. It was live, the way that they did it was through the internet. We were all stationed up in the institute and connected a projector to a laptop and had it live in English. And so yes, priesthood was at 9:00 pm, and so we didn't get to watch it and we will probably just have to read it when it comes out in the Liahona, but I'm sure that it was really good. Yes, we had investigators come. We helped look for them before the sessions started and then Elder Giannini sat with them in the Spanish section. We bought pizza, the $2 kind ($8 pesos) haha for Saturday's lunch and then we picked up our lunch and had rice with potatoes and really good meat for the Sunday lunch and we just ate in the institute building. I got the chance to watch the special feature on the King James Bible and so that was interesting. But yes, all the talks were wonderful and I took the best notes that I have ever taken! It was so fun and it was such a spiritual high! The music was amazing, especially the Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Sunday morning right after President Monson. My favorite talk right now was President Ucthdorf´s, the 2 word sermon, haha, "stop it." I felt that it applied to me and that I need to humble myself even more, especially that I'm on a mission and yes, every time they mentioned missionary work I thought about you thinking about me. haha

Alright to try and answer all of your questions. haha Thanks for the letter also :)

First, the situation with the apartment, it's well... still not fixed and probably not for another week, or at least that's what they told us this morning. There's not a smell of gas anymore but the place is a little messy and so we have to live in Juncal for one more week, or I don't know right now. Oh and our water line broke or something so they have to do some major work to get it all fixed, but right now we are safe and the work goes on. Yes, travelling everyday does take a little longer because we do have to walk 6 or 7 more blocks past our area every night. The first couple of nights we didn't have keys to their apartment so we had to wait for them, but now we have keys and can function a little bit better. Yes, I slept on the ground. We were with a ZL two Thursdays ago and so we walked in the door and it was filled with the smell of gas and so we called President and he said to go and sleep somewhere else for the night, so since Juncal was the closest we went there. So that was an adventure because there were already 3 elders there, and we brought another 3, so there was 6 elders in the apartment for one night and that was crowded, but we had fun. So all I had to sleep with was my blanket, pillow and sheet and so I didn't sleep well, only like 3 hours at the most. And the other thing is that their apartment has cockroaches and so there was always the thought of that. Then the next day we found out that it wasn't going to be done in a week so we had to stay in Juncal for a week, so we worked with the office and they got us a mini moving truck and so we packed away a suitcase of stuff for a week and both of our mattresses and food to survive for a week. So that's what we did. It has been fine and we have been working out of there. So just the missionary life. haha

So I guess I'll tell you about the transfers. Elder Rose, the trainer of Elder Stocking and Elder Peacock (he arrived late because of visa troubles) left to go south to Rio Gallegos to be a ZL down there and so he found out last night and got all packed and they came and picked him up at 3 AM this morning. So exciting for him. Now Elder Stocking is going to stay because Elder Peacock left also. So for me, I'm staying with Elder Giannini for at least one more transfer in Palermo. So sorry Alex, no mountains for now. haha The next change will be right after Mother's Day. Wow, amazing how the time flies! Last transfer we had 115 total lessons with 4 baptisms and confirmations, so a pretty good 6 weeks. And no, I haven't been in the villa since I last told you, and me and my companion are getting along fine. (haha I'm writing in a Word doc which is in Spanish and so basically all of my words are underlined in red haha) Anyways, I'm getting along fine with Elder Giannini and we are going to be better this transfer. I'm really learning the language really fast and now I can have a basic conversation with almost anybody. My understanding is a lot better and I can basically understand what's being said. I've been working with this Spanish mini textbook every morning, working on my grammar, and just all around Spanish language study.

Alright, now about the questions from last week…no, I never print off the letters, but they are all saved in the email site. It would cost a lot to print them off every week so I just read them once and treasure every second. Yes, I changed the picture size from the 16:9 to a 4:3 so I'm glad that worked. Yes,the toe situation, it was painful. I still have pain when I press it down a certain way, but yes, I kind of knew what to do. I released the puss and cut out the nail as best as I could and yes, I put the cream on it. So it doesn't pain me anymore and I'm walking just fine. Yes,I did the carving. I added it to the array of drawings and carvings that are found on our desk. Mine is actually the most religious haha, just mostly saying baptize bro and a storm trooper helmet and a batman symbol. Haha It's just been here forever and hundreds of missionaries have used it. The shoes are mine and that was just after walking through the villa. But I shined them up real nice and the city streets don't make them that messy. The only thing that I have to worry about in this city is the dog poop that's everywhere on the sidewalks and in the streets. Let's just say it's a different culture down here. The haircut was 40 pesos, which is a lot, but it was sorely needed and was the lowest price that we found; the city is expensive. The pink stuff was a sort of dessert from powder that you can make by adding milk. My cooking time was limited this last week but Elder Stocking made some things like, deep fried treats that are really good. The cookie pieces were a sad attempt at a new cereal for me. I broke some cookie pieces and added milk and ate it like cereal but they got soggy super fast and it was nasty, but I was trying none the less. haha Oh, and the sweat shop is where the Vallejos family live and work. They make stuff for companies around here and they live 3 stories below so they don't get out much. That's the family that I took the picture with. Marta, the oldest, is the grandma and they are all from Bolivia. Mario and Pati are less actives and have two kids named Harold and Valentina. Martas is the other daughter. The one that I took the other picture with is named Maria. Then they have a good family friend named Edgar, he's the skinnier guy in the picture. So they are always really nice to us. Then the last Sunday of last transfer, back in February was the farewell of the elders going home and we got to go and watch. It was in the stake center in San Fernando so the members can come and say goodbye and the missionaries also. So that's what it was.

Ok, more questions and comments from this last email… Congrats Tanner on Mr. Hustle. haha Keep up the good work. And let's see, for prom you should do something that's not too crazy but not too dull and simple. Well, I guess simple is easy and always works. So maybe try something simple, I don't know, it's your adventure to figure out on your own. I asked with flowers both times, but do what you want. :) That's exciting for Dusty!! Wow, thanks for telling me because that's awesome, and Spanish speaking too! Yay, another friend on a mission. haha Oh, out of the two teachers I would pick Ha. I heard she was a good teacher. Then I would say chemistry, only because that’s what I took my sophomore year.

Alright, about my week… last p-day we went to the huge statue that's in the middle of two really big streets and took pictures. So Tuesday the coldness hit!! Well, for them down here, it was like 65 degrees or something like that, and it was funny to see everyone walking around with their big huge winter coats and all bundled up to take on the cold wind. haha But down here that's a cold temperature, for them, but it didn't affect me, though that night I wore a sweater just to make it more comfortable. :)

So we are teaching this man from Holland, the American-looking man, his name is Eddy K. super long and Holland-ish name haha. He has been investigating the church since the last general conference in October. He has to take care of some problems from the past, but if all goes well, he should be baptized the end of May, which is really big news. It's so fun to see the change the gospel brings to peoples' lives. Eddy, who is basically a member,because he watched all the sessions of conference and went on his own to the Priesthood session. Then with Marializ, yes the baptism for her happened in 3 days. We were sitting there in weekly planning and we were like, why can't we baptize her? She's not married and isn't living with him right now, so we got the ok from the ZL's and we made arrangements for her interview that night. Then we made all the arrangements for the baptism and baptized her Saturday night the 24th. It was really special because she was really prepared and is eating up everything about the gospel, just like her mom. They have the spirit with them and they are always so happy around us. The man that baptized her helped teach with us a lot and it was his first time to baptize someone, so that was special and he was really excited to do it. :)

So now that we've baptized all of our fechas we are working really hard to get some more. We have some possibilities, but none that are right around the corner, well at least not yet, but we have faith that the field is white already to harvest. We are working with this 17 year old young man named Brian. He's a previous investigator that we found in the book that has been listening to us again. Then Juan, we haven't had another cita with him, we had the one with him and he's really confused about religion right now. He has read more than 15 different forms of the Bible and so now we have to see whether he read any from the Book of Mormon. Then after that there really isn't that much right now, so we are going to go off of the counsel of our president that the converts are the way to find new investigators. So we are going to focus on that this week. Jorge is really excited to share and learn more. We actually had Marializ's husband, Victor, come to the Sunday morning session, he came for the weekend. Then we have to work with Jeffer also.

So Friday night I bought ice cream for the first time down here to end the month and the transfer, and it's good I guess, haha, I miss the American made stuff but that will have to wait. haha Then I also decided that my team for soccer down here is River Plate, sounds just like it's written, which is funny. haha The only reason I chose that team is because of the initials RP. :)

So I now want to bear my testimony that I know that this church is true! That we indeed have a living prophet and his apostles that are on the Earth today. You can just see it in their eyes when they are testifying of Jesus and his saving power. This last conference increased my testimony a full ("a fool" --which means a lot haha) of my belief in God and Jesus Christ and His love that He has for me and all of His children on the Earth and especially in Buenos Aires. I have seen His love shown through me as I have born testimony and have brought people to baptism. I am really grateful for this opportunity to serve and I can't believe that I have already been on my mission for 5 months, and almost a fourth of the way done, already!

I love each one of you and feel your prayers and support. Thanks to other family and friends that think of me a lot. I will try and write some letters when I have the time, but just know that I miss all of you and I'm thinking of you always. Have a great week and I can't wait to read next week's letter. I love each and every one of you so much and you are all growing up so fast. I can't wait to receive the package, and I hope that I can get it soon because it might sit for a while haha, but thanks again. I can't wait to get more pictures and letters as always. The work goes on, I'm part of that stone cut out of a mountain, we are all a part of it. Share it whenever you get the chance, there are people everywhere that are prepared to receive you, like it says in Alma 24:13, the hearts of men are being prepared to receive the Word of God.

Hasta la semana que viene, (until next week)
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard

Oh and happy Easter too, Christ lives!!

That darn internet!

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

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!!

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.

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

I'm guessing this is zone conference during the first 6 weeks,

when his companion was Elder Secretan