Preaching In Patagonia...: AP, Zona Comodoro Norte

(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