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Monday, 22 December 2014

Devon's Christmas present?? Almost having a tornado encounter!! And for Christmas dinner - armadillo???

From December 15th - Hey everyone! I hope that you all had an awesome week and that as Christmas comes closer you are all excited to spend time as a family and feel the Spirit of Christmas! We are preparing for some good Christmas activities here in the Christmas season in Argentina! 

First I will share how our good friend ALEX is doing!! He is going to be baptized this coming Saturday!! And he is sooooooo excited!! He loves talking with us, we visit him everyday. 

This week Elder Escobar and I have been doing a lot of work in another side of the area that we haven't worked much before, but we are finding many good people who could have some potential!! Elder Escobar is a little stubborn at times and is tough to get him going with the new people we have! He likes to argue and impose himself on people at times hahahaha it is a little awkward but hey, we all have our differences :)  - this has been a good challenge for Devon working with him!!

This past week we had some HUGE thunderstorms here in Libertad!! One night we got back to the apartment (running from the storm) JUST before the storm hit with some huge thunder and lightning and heavy heavy rain. It was pretty awesome!!!!!!!!! Maybe Ill be able to see my first tornado here in Argentina ;) 

This week is the transfer week! Tonight I will find out if I am going to stay in Libertad or if I am going to go! I hope I stay! These 6 weeks went by sooooooo fast here in Libertad and I am loving the area! 

How is everyone doing? What are the plans for Christmas??!! Someone shoot a whats good to Santa Claus up in Canada please! I love you all and have a merry Christmas! :) 

The following is from Devon's personal email to me - I was impressed by his comments on his mission experience so far, I asked him what has been his most spiritual experiences or hardest times so far:

Luckily we got going earlier today so I have more time to write!! :) This week has been good, we have seen a lot of changes in the work and this week in particular I have developed a ton!! I love being here, its like steroids for life!!!! And for my testimony! 

The most spiritual experience of my mission is tough, because the whole mission is a spiritual experience. Testifying and increasing my knowledge of doctrine and the blessings is an amazing experience. Also just seeing the change that happens in the lives of some of these people is absolutely incredible. Being on the mission is like being on a higher plane closer to God, and receiving literal revelation every day! The hardest part? There isnt too much that has really weighed down on me, Elder Escobar sometimes just KILLS me but that is to be expected with some companions in the mission. Maybe the hardest part is the fact that it is going by too fast!!! - and it is going fast, already five months!!

From today, December 22 - Hey everyone! BIG NEWS!!!!! 

I've been transferred! And not only transferred, but shipped 9 hours out into the Argentina countryside!! That's right, my new area is called General Villegas, which is the farthest point in the mission from the city of Buenos Aires. We were on the bus trip out here for 9 hours!!! Good thing I like road trips! But I couldn't be happier with this new area, this place is PARADISE I tell ya!! You will never find a more peaceful place, especially compared to my last areas, this place is golden

To introduce me to the area, on our second night, we had to head back to the apartment pretty quick, because a HUGE storm was rolling in. This storm actually put down a tornado!!!!!!!!!! The sirens were going off and everything it was AMAZING!!! Unfortunately I did not actually see the tornado or have physical contact with the tornado but hey, it was a sweet welcome to the town! ;) 

Ill give you guys a quick update about my last area and Alex. Unfortunately, the night before transfers we got a call from the zone leaders, and they told us that both Elder Escobar and I were going to be leaving in the morning. That was a rough night, we were up until 2 packing and cleaning and preparing the apartment and teaching records for the new missionaries, and sadly I was not able to attend the baptism of Alex :( I really hope all went well with him! It was a crazy change! 

Now Ill give you all a quick update about my new companion! Elder Rossi is his name and he is from California but was born in Chile! He is a great Elder and wants to learn how to cook so we have been experimenting on some new foods........ Its all going good! But Elder Rossi technically is President Rossi! Because this area is so small Elder Rossi is actually the branch president here or bishop! (This means Devon and his companion are basically the leaders of the small congregation there - this is common in small areas where the number of members are so few - they need the missionaries to be the church leaders!) We teach all the classes on Sunday, we take care of tithing and we bless the sacrament and everything! We are out here with 2 other Sister missionaries taking care of the ward which is pretty awesome! The first thing the members said to Elder Rossi about me was "your new companion is Clark Kent!" Which I think is false but oh well. 

So everyone, I will be spending Christmas in a small town in the middle of Argentina countryside - eating pig and armadillo and cow and riding bikes through crazy country views. This place is amazing!!! I love you all! And I hope that this week you have an amazing Christmas!