Monday, September 28, 2009

A very long week

Well,
This week was a really long week. It feels like it has been an eternity since the last time I was sitting in here emailing you all. Where to begin on talking about my week... I don´t really know....
P-day last week we just ended by playing soccer and going back to the apartment to relax for a little bit. It was really fun, football with a bunch of elders is fun, and can get really competitive at times. That sums up last Monday pretty well. The night wasn't really all that effective.
Tuesday, such a wonderful day. We went out, and got lots of work done, visited with some members and also some of our investigators so that Elder Rohde could say good bye. It was just a pretty normal day of missionary work. That night, we got the table that has all of the transfers for the mission on it. But, that is a topic for in just a little bit, when I start talking about Wednesday. Tuesday was when I started to get a bit more homesick, knowing that by the end of the week Elder Rohde would be home, and with his family and such. But I made it alright. 
Wednesday, perhaps the longest day of my mission to date, including that first night in the MTC. It was just hard going around our area while Elder Rohde said goodbye to everyone. And yeah, we had a lunch appointment with a family, that tasted really good the first time... Little did I know what it had in store for me a little bit later. But yeah, we spent a little bit of time in an internet cafe on Wednesday so that Elder Rohde could write up his Despedida - his good bye paper to the mission. It was interesting. I just sat around and read some articles on LDS.org. After, we went out and got to work. We contacted and knocked doors up until the bitter end. We also had to say goodbye to Elder Bohne.(another elder in his apartment) He got transferred to Merecedes, Corrientes, also known as the middle of nowhere. I wish him luck the last three months of his mission. Our final appointment of the night was with Carlos' family so that Elder Rohde could say goodbye... it was then I started feeling really bad. We got back to the aparment and I commenced throwing up.
To get this out of the way now, I threw up like all night and well into early Thursday morning. I´m perfectly fine now, just some bad food I´m guessing. But yeah, I had to go to the Terminal to pick up my new companion sick, and all sorts of fun stuff. Then later at 2 in the morning, Elder Rohde, left on a bus for Resistencia, and ultimately his house. It wasn´t too hard to say goodbye, but yeah, hard nonetheless.
Now I´m sure you are all wondering about my new companion. His name is Elder Osorio, and he is from Santiago, Chile. He studied English earlier in life a little bit, so he knows enough of the words that gringos screw up alot to help me get through most things. He´s a pretty nice guy, and has been on the mission for eighteen months. Side note, but the way things are looking I´m going to be here until just before Christmas, and then off to my second area of the mission, wherever that may be... But anyway, he´s cool. Oh and yeah, he is district leader. Next week I´ll tell you alot more about him because I will know alot more about him. After-all he has only been here a couple of days.
The other interesting thing about this transfer is that I am in an apartment with two Chileans, a Peruvian, and... one white guy - me. It´s definitely been interesting, and I have picked up alot of the language really fast. Though, I´ve gotta say, I miss English, and am going to take advantage of speaking as much of it as I can to the other missionaries today. Sad, but also true. The last few days have just been adjusting to the changes and other such things, and other wise just normal missionary work.
Oh, on Saturday we did have a baptism. I baptized Carmen, though in my first try I mispronounced her middle name... so I had to do it again. I was a bit embarrased by that, but hey, nothing I can do about it. Spanish names.... Saturday was also the Worldwide service day for the church - supposedly. We cleaned up a local public school... rundown is all I can say about it. We also had to empty the font by hand and clean it by hand before the baptism because the pump doesn´t work. That was an experience to remember.
Question answer time;
Yes, we still have a baptism scheduled for the tenth, and also one this Saturday between conference sessions. Which leads to another one, we get to watch every session of conference - live! So just think, we will all be watching conference at the same time.
Preparation day today is soccer again. And next week or the week after we are probably going to the Jesuit ruins, so that will be cool. We shall see.
The record cleaning will start this week probably. Depends on how the week goes. We actually have a pretty busy week planned... so, we shall see.
We also got our Spanish Bible. It´s really cool, well worth the money.
The branch is going well. This Sunday's attendance was way down, but that´s because it was raining - sadly that´s to be expected. Our investigators are all still coming along. Same ones as last week basically. If I´m not keeping them straight as I email.. let me know. Oh, and the evangelicals are still progressing, still with baptismal dates. :)
I love and miss you all. Don´t worry too much about me, and thank you so much for all of your support.
Elder Matthew,

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Baptism

Baptism

Baptism with the new members

Baptism with the new members

baptism

baptism

scorpion in baptismal font

scorpion in baptismal font

Sister that was baptized and her family that they are now teaching

Sister that was baptized and her family that they are now teaching

Matthew and President del Castillo

Matthew and President del Castillo

Polly want a cracker?

Polly want a cracker?

Cooking Christmas dinner

Cooking Christmas dinner

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner

Baptism

Baptism

Dinner is served

Dinner is served
Armadillo

Monkey see monkey do

Monkey see monkey do
Matthew enjoying P-day

Matthew climbing out of his apartment.

Matthew climbing out of his apartment.

On the radio

On the radio

Lasagna...

Lasagna...

New Area

New Area

Baptism

Baptism

Matthew's district

Matthew's district

Matthew and his "newbie" Elder Coombs

Matthew and his "newbie" Elder Coombs

Luis's Baptism

Luis's Baptism

The Well

The Well

Laundry Facilities

Laundry Facilities

The "shower"

The "shower"

Arturo's Baptism

Arturo's Baptism

Door with amazing "safety" bars

Door with amazing "safety" bars

Elder Dumenes, President del Castillo and Matthew

Elder Dumenes, President del Castillo and Matthew

Playing soccer in the mud

Playing soccer in the mud

Tarantula found on the wall in Matthew's apartment

Tarantula found on the wall in Matthew's apartment

Branch activty

Branch activty

Matthew and Teresa

Matthew and Teresa

Baptism

Baptism

Garupà

Garupà

Matt's house in Goya

Matt's house in Goya

Matthew and companion in Goya

Matthew and companion in Goya

Sunset in Goya

Sunset in Goya

Matthew by river at Bella Vista

Matthew by river at Bella Vista

Baptism

Baptism

Matthew and his fries

Matthew and his fries

Bella Vista

Bella Vista

Hamburger??

Hamburger??

Cathedral in Goya

Cathedral in Goya

The outside of the chapel

The outside of the chapel

The chapel

The chapel

Matthew tracting

Matthew tracting

The baptismal font

The baptismal font

Teresa's baptism

Teresa's baptism

Carmen's baptism

Carmen's baptism

Cleaning the font

Cleaning the font
doesn't he look happy :)

Carlos' baptism

Carlos' baptism

Matt's first baptism

Matt's first baptism

Arrival at the MTC

Arrival at the MTC
Here I go... ¡Adìos!

Buenos Aires Temple

Buenos Aires Temple

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