AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 11... Li Yi Yi Yi

(Just a note before he begins... This email covers about 7,000 miles of travel last week!!! It's tiring just reading it!)

I have a feeling that this one's gonna be long. I hope you guys can handle it!

As far as the home-fronts going, I love to see Madi smiling. She's a fighter, eh! I'll keep her in my prayers and fasts! VOS SOS UNA CAPA MADI (Madi, YOU ARE A BOSS!)! 

This week was really, really crazy. On Tuesday, we took a flight to Buenos Aires in order to get down to Ushuaia. However, we didn't leave until 4pm, so we didn't arrive in BA until about 7pm. President arranged for us to stay the night in Buenos Aires, and it was SWEET! The church uses a special company of taxis to get around, so the taxi driver was a member, and he was really cool. Before taking us to the hotel, I asked him to take us to La Bombonera, the stadium of BOCA. It was awesome! 

LA BOMBONERA PAPA! AGUANTE BOCA! 

  
We took some quick pics, then he took us to the hotel, which was literally in the middle of Buenos Aires. We stayed in what would be the Argentine equivalent of Times Square. ¿¡Que loco, no?!  (Crazy, Huh?!)

View from the balcony in the hotel at night! 

The Obelisco is the most famous monument in Buenos Aires.

Pleno centro de Buenos Aires in the morning :)

Inspired by the mail of my best friend Austin Ramsey from last week, I left a pamphlet of the Restoration in the drawer of the hotel, with the New Testament. It felt good to not get lost in all the distractions, and always be trying to share the gospel, even if I'm not technically in my mission. The craziest thing was that, after asking some questions to the taxi driver, I found out that we're the only missionaries that travel through Buenos Aires to get to other parts of our mission. O sea, that out of thousands of missionaries in Argentina, we're the only two that get to travel like we do. It made me feel very grateful! I try not to get too wrapped up in all the travel, but at the same time, I think not thanking the Lord would be inappropriate. So I'll thank Him in word, as well as with my actions! 

Pamphlet of La Restauracion that I left in the hotel 

(foto cred to my best man, Elder Austin Ramsey)

The Zone Conference in Ushuaia went really well, nothing too crazy there. After completing the conference in Ushuaia, we took a direct flight to Trelew. I got to sit by Li Yi Yi Yi (not even kidding! XD) I tried to speak to him in Spanish, and it was obvious that he didn't understand, so I tried English, and found out that he knew how to speak very roughly. Although he didn't speak very well, he was super, duper friendly, and we talked for the whole flight of 2 hours! I found out that he was from China, is married, with a son who's six years old (he showed me fotos on his phone), he likes to play futbol, and loves to watch it (especially Messi). He was in Ushuaia for work (he works for a cellphone company; so typical haha!), and the crazy thing is that he is Buddhist! That's not the craziest thing though, the craziest thing was that when I mentioned Jesucristo to him, HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO HE WAS! It was nuts! I wanted to teach him a bit, but he didn't understand sufficient English to be able to understand the message. I had been drawing on a napkin to help communicate, and had asked him to write his name on it (it's now taped into my journal :D). So I whipped out a Lesson 2 pamphlet, and copied his name (very badly) on the back. Although he can't read Spanish, I thought that he might like to look at the pictures and enter into the website on the back. After giving him the pamphlet, and a very rough, turbulence filled Patagonia landing, we shook hands, and that was it. It was sweet :) 

The next day, we did some divisiones in Puerto Madryn that went well. I like doing divisions with the missionaries, especially when I feel that I've taught them something that actually helps. 

On Sunday, we got to go to the stake conference in Trelew Norte. One of the best quotes that I noted down was "Sometimes, the Lord doesn't extend a calling for what one's done, rather for what one can become". I identified myself a ton! I also met one of Taylor Bingham's mission comps from Viña del Mar, so that was cool. I got to eat dinner that night with Los Rapiman, and it was a good experience. They're a family that little by little, I gained their confidence, and I think I have some friends for life there! 

Yesterday (Monday), we had the Puerto Madryn zone conference, which went very well, and then we high tailed it in a rented car back to Comodoro to give a farewell dinner to Elder Christiansen, one of the Secretaries that went home this morning. We finished at about midnight, and his flight was at 3 in the morning, so we just stayed awake until he left. I didn't get to bed until 3, and had to wake up this morning at 8 to turn in the rental car. I'M SO TIRED! And I'm sad that Elder C is gone. But oh well, that's just how it is. Now, I've got my missionary juices running, and I'm going to do my best to get this mission to our goal of 45 baptisms. With faith in Jesus Christ, all things are possible!

FAMILY! I love you guys :) MOM! I think you're more trunky than I am! XD 

Love you :) - Elder Jimenez 

 Farewell dinner for Elder Christiansen

   

 The dinosaur mas grande del mundo

(The Largest Dinosaur in the World)

that they discovered in Trelew. It's HUGE! 

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 10... Priesthood Power

FAMILY! It was good to hear from you guys! Sounds like everything is going well on the homefront. Down here at the end of the world we're doing pretty good as well! 

This week was very, very busy. Presidente went to Bariloche for a Mission President's Seminar, and we thought that we would take the week to proselyte tranqy. Nope. Wednesday morning, one of the Zone leaders in Trelew called me, and told me that one of his companionships was having problems, and requested that we do divisions with them when we got up there for conference. However, seeing the seriousness of the situation, we decided that it was time for a ROAD TRIP! So we packed up the Ranger, and drove up to Trelew.

Upon arrival, we met with a bishop and talked about the work in his ward. Then, in the last hour of the day, I did a division with Elder Sosa (one of the zone leaders) and we were able to visit a menos activo family. It was really cool because I know the son, and we gave a very powerful lesson, that actually seemed like it helped. Afterwards, I flew by Enzo Rapiman's house to see how he was doing, and to my relief, he stopped dinkin' around and is once again focused on getting out on a mission. CAPO!

On Thursday, we did surprise visits in the morning, then had lunch with Los Millan. They didn't know that we were coming with the LZs (they had asked for 4 seats, but hadn't said for who) and when they saw me through the window, they all started shouting for joy. It made me feel good! :) After lunch, we had a special meeting with the problem companionship that came out really well. Elder Popa and I are getting really used to training together. That night, we stayed with the Lideres de Zona from Trelew Norte. One of 'ems from Bingham. His name is Carson Eckblad, and he's doing a great job in that zone.

The next morning, we did another surprise visit, then afterwards, had another division, this time in Parque, the most dangerous area of the mission! It was tranqy though, and I had a great time. 

Later that night, we took an emergency trip to Rawson, because a missionary needed to go to the hospital. Thanks to the trip, we got behind schedule... President was going to be getting home on Saturday, and we wanted to be in Comodoro, but we still had one last job. We closed one of the areas in Trelew, and our pension coordinator wanted us to grab some stuff from the pension and bring it to Comodoro. So we grabbed the LZs from Norte, they showed us the house, we loaded up the truck, took the LZs home, grabbed some empanadas, and hit the route. We didn't make it out of Trelew until 11. HERMANA SALERNO WOULD HAVE KILLED US! If she knew haha! Bad news was that I had caught some rain during the division, and started deteriorating slowly on the ride home. For only the second time on my mission, I got to see a Patagonia lightning storm, which are super weak, and super rare, but hey, cool. We got home at 1:30am.

Saturday was nuts, I don't even remember what I did, but I only remember that I woke up sick, and got worse during the day. Sunday I was also sick. After church, we figured out transfers (because we're booked for the rest of the transfer), and as we did them, I deteriorated to the point that President started considering leaving me home for the trip to Tierra del Fuego, but I wouldn't have it. I can't stay down on tranqy days, nobody's going to keep me out of the action on the important days. Today (Monday) we had a conference, and tomorrow, we're taking a flight to Buenos Aires. Although I didn't want to believe it, the truth was that if I continued going like I was going, I was not going to be able to fly. I was showing all the symptoms of the flu. However, before going home, I asked for a priesthood blessing. Elder Popa did the anointing, and President Salerno gave the blessing. As they spoke, a strong feeling came to me, reminding me that the effectiveness of the blessing does not rest in the power of the priesthood holders, rather in the faith of the receiver. So, last night, in my prayer, I expressed to Heavenly Father my faith in His son Jesus Christ. I told Him that I had faith to be healed, and also, as was mentioned in General Conference, I had faith to not be healed as well. God answered my prayer! This morning, I woke up strong and ready to get to work! How grateful I am for the Holy Priesthood! It really does exist, and Jesus Christ really does live!

Today, we gave a great conference. In each of the conferences, President has asked me to make videos of the missionaries doing their training. I definitely think that the Lord gave me a talent there, and I'm glad I can use it to encourage the missionaries.

All in all, it was a jam packed week! I hope I didn't overwhelm you guys with all the information. 

FAMILY! I love you guys! You're all very special people for me, and you're all role models of mine, all in different ways :) 

ABUELA! Get well soon! You are in my prayers! 

MOM! I love you! 

LOVE Y'ALL! 

- Elder Jimenez

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 9... GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLL!!!

What's up everybody! Hope you guys had a good week, my week was crazy as ever! Mom, I'm really happy that your observations went well. You are a person with many gifts, and that middle school is lucky to have you! I can't believe that Brock is already home, how crazy is that. I'm sure he grew a ton on his mission. It's funny to see though that with all the changes, he's still good ole Brock :) And man, how awesome is that, that Kurt and Jenn and Madi got to meet Elder Anderson. The Lord really does love our family! 

As far as this end, I was busy this week. Tomi couldn't come to play futbol last Monday, which made me a bit sad, but the story continues! 

On Tuesday, we drove all day until we got to Rio Gallegos. La Seleccion de Argentina had their last match in the World Cup Qualifiers, and it was a very important game. For the first time in a while, Argentina was on the verge of not making it to the Mundial. Their last game was against Ecuador, IN ECUADOR. If they won, they were in, if they lost, they wouldn't make it. With the game being so important for the country, President Salerno gave permission to the missionaries to watch the game. I WAS PUMPED! For those who don't know, the arguably best player in the world, Lionel Messi, is infamous for playing really well in Barcelona, but never making goals here in Argentina. During all of the world cup qualifiers this round, he had only scored 1 goal thus far. So the game started, and BOOM - in the first 20 seconds, Ecuador scores a goal! And the whole mission sighed, and got scared because there were going to be riots in the streets. But wait, Messi gets a clutch, rebound and BOOM! GOL MESSI!!!!!!!!!!! And then BOOM! Another! and to finish it off, in the second time, falling backwards, with his left foot, a beautiful goal to finish em off! 3 - 1 Argentina, with all 3 coming from Messi! I was super pumped, because I'm going to be home to watch the Mundial. AGUANTE ARGENTINA! 

Sorry to everyone who was hoping for some deep spiritual thoughts to start off this email, but for all those who know me, you all know the love I have for watching sports. It's safe to say that it was a great experience for me :) 

On Wednesday, we had the conference in Rio Gallegos. Everything went well, and the zone loved the activity. I didn't have time to make visits this time, because we finished late at night with the interviews, and we left on Thursday morning. It's really awesome to be assistant though, because it allows me to get to know all the missionaries, and give them counsels about how to improve that I think they take a bit better because I'm a fellow missionary, and have been where they are. 

Friday and Saturday were spent running errands for President. 

On Sunday, I had a good experience. Before church, as I read the scriptures, I read a bit about the Brother of Jared. I learned a lesson. The Lord commanded the Brother of Jared to build ships, and showed him how to do it. When the ships neared completion, Jared encountered two problems: 1) How were he and his people going to breath in the ships, and 2) How would they have light? So the Brother of Jared (Moriancumer) asked the Lord. With the first problem, the Lord taught Moriancumer, then gave him the answer. However, with the second problem, the Lord responded:

"What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire. ... Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?"

This time, the Lord did not give the answer to Moriancumer, rather He let him work it out for himself. As the majority of you all know, Moriancumer prepared translucent stones, and asked the Lord to touch them, that they might glow. You all might be thinking "Where is Elder Jimenez going with this?" This is what I learned :) If we want the Lord to help us overcome obstacles in our lives, sometimes, He will guide us and show us the way. However, other times, and in my case I believe it to be the majority of the time, before giving us the help we need, He wants us to prepare ourselves to be ready for the solution, like the Brother of Jared when he approached the Lord with his stones. 

So, on Sunday, after church, I wrote a dedication in a Book of Mormon. Then, Elder Popa and I had a good companion study, and finished it off with some practices. In that moment, we were ready. Sunday evening, we had our only moment in the week that we were able to work in our area. So we started working. We knocked, and knocked. And knocked. For 4 hours, we kept on keepin' on, but it just wouldn't give. Finally, as the day closed, we started heading home. I felt a tiny bit discouraged, because I really didn't want to accept the reality that Assistants just can't baptize, but after doing all the work we could, we once again came up with nothing. I had prayed a lot as well, asking the Lord to guide us, but the agency of the people kept us from having the success we desired. However, as we were walking towards the pension, passing Daiana's house, Tomi, her son who was going to play futbol with us, came walking out. "Hey, are you Tomi?" I said to him. "Yeah" he said. 

Lord 1 - Satan 0. 

I introduced myself and Elder Popa. He seemed like a really nice kid! I then had the impression to give the Book of Mormon that I had dedicated to Tomi. So I wrote his name in it, and gave it to him :) We invited him to play futbol with us the next day, then continued on our way. 

Later that night, Daiana sent us a text thanking us for the book. She said that the dedication was very nice, and that Tomi loved it, and that she was going to bring him the next day. And sure enough, HE CAME! I love how the Lord gave us success after we prepared ourselves for it, just as He did with the Brother of Jared. 

So I'd like to extend an invitation to all of you, to put your trust in the Lord. He really does live! He loves us, and if we trust in Him, and DO OUR PART, He WILL bless us! So prepare yourself, your homes, and your families for the blessings of the Lord, then ask, and wait patiently. I know that as you do so, the Lord will bless you abundantly, in His time and way. 

FAMILY! I love you guys! 

GRANDPA! Happy B Day old man! 

MOM! You're a boss! Keep slayin' it in your job! 

SOFIA AND ABUELA: Prepare to teach me how to do family history and get me going after the mission. WE GOT WORK TO DO FOR OUR FAMILIA BORIQUA! 

I love you guys :) - 
Elder Jimenez 

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 8... Going the Extra Mile

Well, this week went by fast! All the weeks go by fast now, I'm gonna be home in no time (not trunky though) Sounds like you guys had a good week, I'm a bit envious of Sofia's camping trip to Escalante with Nikki and Kevin. I hope you guys keep doing cool stuff like that when I get home! 

This week was full of different activities. The idea for the obstacle course was from Hna Salerno. I think that she's literally the most creative person I've ever met! She asked us to make a video, so in 12 hours I whipped together a 8 minute video that everyone loved! One of the LZ told me that I should be a vlogger after the mission, but I'm not sure if that's up my alley haha! I'm trying to send you guys the video, but the internet in Comodoro is some of the slowest internet in the world, so we'll just have to see if it loads. 

Consejo (Hna and Zone Leader Training) was on Thursday, and it went well. The good news is that it went so well that President decided that hes going to do mas o menos the same thing in the conferences, and that means ROPA DE P DAY! So yeah, I'm going to be wearing a lot of P-Day clothes this transfer :D 

Back Row, 5th from right

One of Alex's previous companions described this Leadership Training as kind of like a Jedi Counsel... sounds like Alex must have been involved in the planning.

Friday night, President sent a text message to the office saying that we could take an extra P-Day on Saturday for all the craziness of Consejo. Later that night, I told Elder Popa "If you're dying for a P-Day, we can take it, but man, I already feel like I took a P-Day on Monday, so if you want, I'm down to work in the area tomorrow" He told me he'd sleep on it. Saturday morning, as I was doing exercises, he said "Jimenazo, let's work today" AWESOME! And it payed off! We taught two lessons, and had a really sweet experience. 

We were contacting, and rounded a corner, and on the other side there were two ladies sitting on the outside window pane. I asked how they were doing, and then noticed that one was crying pretty uncontrollably. The other lady said "It's a bit complicated" We were afraid that the lady that was crying was going to freak out, so we decided to go on our way. We got to the next door, and knocked, and I looked over at the girl. She was curled up, crying her eyes out, and it got to my heart. "We've got to go back," I said to Elder Popa. "Nah man, she's probably crying because the boyfriend broke up with her, and if we talk to her, she'll just get mad" The thought crossed my mind. The girl had a phone in her hand, and it looked like she had received bad news or something, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to contact her. "Nah" I said "We've got to talk to her, I can't see her this way." So we reluctantly walked over, and I said "Hey, I saw you crying form over there, and I could just watch, is there anything we can do for you?" She cried for a while, but when she got a hold of herself, she told us that she has a 10 year old son. The kid has light colored hair, and for that reason, every time he goes outside, the kids from the neighborhood beat him up. He had come home crying, and she was really sad about it. I asked her what his name was and what he likes to do, and she said his name was Tomas and he likes to play futbol. I told her that we play futbol on Monday, and she said that she wants to bring him. She ended up telling us that missionaries had passed by her house before, and that she got along well with them, and that Tomas used to say that he wanted to be a missionary when he grows up. So we decided that we're going to be Tomas's new friends. She calmed down a ton, and as we walked away, we saw that she got up, and went back into her house. Later that night, she sent me a text (I left her my number) and said "Thank you guys so much for stopping today. I'm going to bring Tomas on Monday" We felt so good! It was probably one of the sweetest experiences that I've had in my mission, because many times we see the progress in peoples lives as the time passes, but this time, we got to see how through our actions, we were able to comfort someone, stop the crying, and make the day a lot better. It made me feel like a true representative of Jesus Christ, because I feel like that's what he would have done. Tomas should be coming today, so we'll see how that goes, but overall, I'm excited! 

The pics I sent are from a pueblito called Sarmiento. We're taking the elders out of there, and we had to empty the pension, so we went over there yesterday.

"Danger of Death, Aqueduct Inlet, Bathing Prohibited!"

All in all, it was a very good week! I never have time to do anything, but at least I'm busy :) 

FAMILY: I'm glad that you guys are safe and happy :) 

MOM! Love you! -Elder Jimenez


Only 8 hours later... here's the video --> It is AWESOME! but it's too big to upload here. I'm working on how to share it.

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 7... Answers from General Conference

Alright, I just want everyone to know that I think my dad is a legend! Dad, you really are the biggest role model in my life! Bien ahi con el Bear 100, te dijiste que ibas a terminar, y terminaste! CAPO! (Good job on the Bear 100, I said that you would finish, and you did! BOSS!)

Soooooo, Mom, I'm not sure if you're going to love this email... I could talk about all the things that happened this week, but I think I'll just talk about one, because it's the most important. I was walking to the hotel this week with one of the Secretarios named Elder Christiansen, and he mentioned a topic that peaked my interest. It was a certain thing that missionaries can do, but that had not happened in the mission for years, because there were always difficulties. But all the same, it peaked my interest. 

So, the next day, I found a moment to talk to Presidente. I wanted to know if it was a possibility for me. Inside myself, I was just waiting for him to say "Nope, just like the rest, you can't" But his answer was distincto (different). "Wow, Elder Jimenez" he said "we have a miracle here. If you want to, you can". That wasn't exactly the easy answer. He continued, "I'd love if you did it, but you think about it, and let me know." The honest truth is that I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it. But I decided to carry the question into General Conference. 

As I listened to conference, speaker after speaker talked about service. Hermana Oscarson's talk was especially powerful, when she talked about giving selfless service. Elder Pingree Jr's talk also really got to me. After listening to the conference, and after much prayer, I knew what I had to do. So after the conference, last night, I went to Presidente's house, and we went to his quincho (study). He looked at me, and said "I'd love to have you. What do you think?" It was a big decision, but the Spirit had already told me what I needed to do. "I'm going to extend" I said to him. So that's the news Mom. Don't kill me, it was a hard decision to make, but I feel it's my duty. 

I really want to see you guys, like badly, but you'll all still be there on April 25th, just like you would have been there on the 14th of March. When the mission ends, it's over, so I have to cherish every moment. Ademas, I'm not gonna miss Sofia's graduation or Mother's day. I'll just miss a month and a half of time to make money, which is a small sacrifice, if that, to make. The Lord needs dedicated missionaries, and Presidente also expressed that he wants to have me here. The craziest thing is that he told me that he wants me to finish the mission with him. That means that I'll be assistant until the end, about 9 months, and add on top of that the transfer that I was in the zone as a zone leader. By the end of the mission I will have been in Comodoro Norte for the last 10 of the 25 months of my mission! 

The truth is that just writing this is kind of making me trunky... Presidente told me that I could call home to tell you guys, but I think that I would have been super trunky to hear your voices, so mejor no (so it's better I don't call). It's not that I don't miss you guys, 'cause I really, really do. I miss the mountains of Utah and the Field Crescent ward. But what I'm doing down here is important, and if Jesus Christ can suffer, bleed, and die for me, I can at least go one extra mile for Him. I'll never, ever come close to paying pack the sacrifice that he made for me, but I'll get as close as I can, even if I'll still end endlessly far away. Extending the mission is also going to teach me patience. And it's not even going to be that bad, I already know that I'm gonna miss this place when I go, so I might as well enjoy it while I have it! I hope you guys aren't too crushed... Just know that I'm gonna make it home the same, it'll just be a little bit later. Maybe you guys can learn some patience too :) I think seeing you guys will be all the sweeter as well, so let's buckle down, and do the best we can, on the homefront and out here in the field, to work hard and be as righteous as we can! 

MOM! I love you :) I hope you're not too sad about the extension, va a pasar volando (it's going to fly by)! I'm going to keep you in my prayers. 

KEVIN! Nice work helping my dad, you're a chupamedias, but at least you're good at it XD 

FAMILY! I love you guys! Find someone to serve, and do it! You guys are the best family that a missionary could ask for. 

I LOVE YOU! - Elder Jimenez

So the one benefit of Alex being in the office is that I get to see pictures much more often. The office uploads pictures to the Mission Facebook page pretty frequently. So, here are a few from last week...

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 6... Buenos Aires!!!

Alright family, a tragedy happened this morning. I was peacefully sleeping, when at 6:15am, the secretarios called me and said (in Spanish obviously) "Hey, sorry for waking you up, but none of the remises (taxi services? I'm not getting some of his Argentine slang!) are answering, and we need to get to the terminal at 7am. Could you guys take us?" So now it's 7 in the morning and I'm here in the office with one of the secretarios, Elder Taylor, while the other is with Elder Popa in centro. TRAGEDY! But oh well. (BTW we're still on winter schedule, so we wake up at 7am every day).

Sad to be in the office SO early!!!

  Elder Taylor gave me a mate (bien amargo eh!) 

and then I was happy, then MATE SWAG!

Sounds like you guys are doing good on the homefront! I'm glad that Mom is loving her job, and Sofia got a 29! You've got to come to BYU with me now! 

On this side, it's pretty good as well. I had a fun dream last night where I talked in Spanish with all my high school friends, it was super weird, but oh well haha! 

This week was super crazy! As always, it's all a bit of a blur, but I'll try to put it together. Tuesday, we flew to Buenos Aires. President didn't want to leave the airport, so we just stayed in the airport, making calls, until the flight to Ushuaia. On the flight to Buenos Aires, I'm pretty sure I was next to Elder Popa (I literally can't remember XD) What I do remember though is that I sat next to a girl named Romina on the way to Ushuaia. She was really nice, from Salta, and was going to visit her brother. She was the typical Argentine, not interested in the gospel, but I still found a ton of chances to slip things about the gospel into the conversation. We ended up talking our way through the whole 3 hour flight! It was cool :) 

When we got to Ushuaia, we ate dinner with some members that Elder Popa knows (to celebrate his birthday, which was the 17th) The dad was from the Dominican Republic, so I enjoyed the Caribbean accent. We ate fried chicken. It was awesome! We stayed the night with the Lideres de Zona, and on Wednesday, we spent 3/4 of the day doing interviews, then the other 1/4 working on the traslados (transfers). We worked on traslados (transfers) in the hotel of President. It's called Arakur, and it was the most cheto (expensive) hotel that I have seen in my entire life! He gets a huge deal there because he's a frequent guest, and they consider him to be an important contact. Look up fotos! 

President Salerno's Arakur Hotel in Ushuaia

On Thursday, we drove to Rio Grande. I wanted to stop in Tolhuin, but President just kind of kept driving, so I decided to see it next time. It was cool to see it though. Good memories :) In the tarde (afternoon), we did the interviews for their zone. It was fun to see some of my old buddies, like Elder Bodily Castañeda and Elder Tavares (who we just put as an LZ with just 6 months, the youngest in mission history. VIVA BRASIL!) 

On Friday, we flew back to Buenos Aires, accompanied by Elder Campopiano, who's finishing his mission tomorrow. I sat next to Rodrigo from Buenos Aires, and had a very deep conversation about the gospel with him. The questions that the guy was asking were awesome! We talked about everything from Setentas (Seventies) to Eternal Marriage! It was fun, and I invited to watch general conference. 

In Buenos Aires, we had a 6 hour layover, and you better believe that we hit the town! We took a taxi to a shopping center where we ate MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best part is that when I ordered the McFlurrys, I found out that the girl working there was a menos activo, so I also invited her to watch General Conference :) After eating, we walked to a botanical garden and w'ere blown away by how green it was. I had seriously forgotten what plants looked like and I didn't even notice XD It was really pretty! Don't get mad, but I might not have taken many fotos... like any... But maybe I did. I currently don't have my camera, because I was tragically torn away from my home this morning, but I'll check later today. Overall, the trip to Buenos Aires was fun though! The flight back to Comodoro was tranqy, I sat next to 2 guys that didn't want anything, so that was fun. 

On Saturday, I passed through one of the craziest days of my entire mission. In the afternoon, we did some service for the city by cleaning up a part of the beach. While we we're cleaning, 2 ladies passed by, and offered to help (good citizens do exist in Argentina! BIEN ALLI!) They were really nice, and we invited them to come to the baptism that was going to happen after the service project. It was hilarious because Elder Richards was cleaning with me, and by chance he ended up picking up like 5 diapers! Every time he grabbed one and noticed what it was, he dry heaved, and I cried laughing! 

After the service project, we assisted the double baptism of Damian, an investigator of the elders that live with us, and Astor, Daniel's son, (yes, THAT Daniel). It was a really nice bautismo, the elder that baptized Astor did a great job ;) 1 Wohtasik down, 3 to go. 

Astor asked me to baptize him :)

After that, we had some last minute changes to make in the traslados (transfers), but we couldn't set them in stone because President was in Buenos Aires, and his nieto (grandson), Noah, had come to visit him, so there was a 0% chance to get in a good phone call. Then, President was on his flight, so we couldn't call. At 9:15 when he was supposed to arrive, we had all 18 lideres de zona (Zone Leaders) waiting in ciberes (internet cafes) and freaking out, and the plane was ATRASADO! (DELAYED!) I was sweating bullets, Elder Popa had a "que se manejen los lideres de zona!" actitud  ("let the zone leaders wait" attitude), and when President finally got in at 9:45pm, he didn't want to know anything. When we finally started talking about the last changes in the car, he couldn't come to a solid feeling, so we ended up dropping off Hermana Salerno in casa (at home) (because even though we were in a time emergency, she was not going to be stressed for even 1 more minute!) and then we booked it to the office. When President got there, the oficinistas (office elders) had the transfer board waiting, and President took a seat at the computer. That was when the magic started, We ended up making a lot more changes than we had thought we would make, but the ideas just started coming. The best part was right at the finish, President in 10 seconds had direct revelation, made like 5 clutch changes, and we finally had it! He took a good look at it, then got up form the chair, and said "Don't call me until at least 10 tomorrow. I slammed into the chair, worked out any other technical errors that remained, and then went into commander mode. We ended up having to do announce the traslados (transfers) by phone from the office, because it was already 10:15 when we finally finished, so I dished out a couple zones to each oficinista (office elder), and we got to calling. It was fun to get to announce the changes even though I'm not an LZ so I wasn't too mad, just super stressed. It was fun though, especially because we changed over half the mission, so there was a lot to announce. We ended up getting to bed at 12:15am, which was crazy, but I was just happy to have finished all the craziness. 

Sunday was tranqy, and this morning was this morning. So yeah, fun week :) I know that the Lord rewards the righteous, even in the smallest of ways. I think the best part of the week, among all the craziness, was a spirit filled inventario entre compañeros (companionship inventory) that I had with Elder Popa yesterday. It was unplanned, and ended up happening right after we decided to be diligent, and get out and work a bit in the field when they cut the power yesterday. It built my testimony that the Lord really is watching, and He's waiting eagerly to bless us as we exercise our agency for good. 

FAMILY! I'm so grateful to have been born a Jimenez! We might be normal folk, but I feel like I was born through a royal lineage :) You guys, Sofia and Nikki and Kevin included, are all role models for me. KEEP AT IT! 

MOM AND DAD! Thanks for being two model parents. I see so many people here in Argentina that choose to live in dishonorable ways, so I feel very blessed to have two smart, righteous parents. I can definitely relate to Nefi 1:1 :)

I LOVE YOU GUYS! Have a good one :) 
- Elder Jimenez

And to Jose...
Hey Dad :) 
It was a pretty boring week in sports then? Who did the Pats lose to? You didn't tell me anything about Puerto Rico, but I heard that it got a direct from one of the hurricanes (Maria?) so that was sad... 

Thanks for the advice on the work side. After a full transfer (6 weeks), I feel like I'm getting a feeling of how things are going to be. You know that I love to be working in my area, but this mission is huge, and although I want to, it's going to be very hard to find time. 

On top of that, President puts more importance into making a lot of calls than going out in divisions, so it's going to be interesting. But I'm going to try and get out a bit in weeks 2 and 3 of the transfer. But, it's like you said, I've been called to a different calling for now, so I'll magnify it. 

I'm also really happy because I think with her ACT score she'll si o si (certainly) be able to get into BYU :D I really want to go to freshman year with her... 

Aaaaaaaaanyways, times flying on my end. I miss you guys too, but the end of the tunnel is already in sight, so I'm going to cherish the time I have. 

Elder Popa told me this morning "Anoche, cuando estabamos hablando, y usted estaba hablandome, hubo un momento cuando usted dijo algo, e hizo un gesto, y vi a su padre en vez de usted. Ahi pense, ahhhh, realmente es el hijo de su padre...´" ("Last night when we were talking, and you were talking to me, there was a moment when you said something, and made a gesture, and I saw your dad instead of you. Then, I thought, ahhhh, he really is his father's son...") It made me feel really good, because he saw you in me, and that's what I'm trying to become in my life. 

I LOVE YOU! - Elder Jimenez