AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 15... Happy Birthday Old Man!

What a week! It sounds like you guys had an awesome week, and an awesome Thanksgiving. DAD. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD MAN!!!! Espero que la pase re contra copado, sos la inspiracion de mi vida, y la verdad es que estoy re agradecido de que sos mi viejo! TE AMO! (Espero que te guste la jerga porteña ;) ) 

Alright, this week was busy! After P-Day in Trelew, on Tuesday, we did divisions in Rawson, which turned out well. The elders were improving the area a lot! 

The next day, we took a flight from Trelew to Ushuaia. That night, we did divisions with two elders named Elder Goltz and Elder Whitehead. Elder Goltz and I visited a recent convert family, and used one of the activities from chapter 9 of Predicad Mi Evangelio (Preach My Gospel) to ask for references, and FAH! It worked so well! The family was so happy that the elders wanted to work with them, and they gave us 6 references! It was a great success! 

That night, we ate fried chicken with Elder Popa's favorite family in Ushuaia, Familia Polanco. I was a bit worried though because the hermano is from La Republica Dominicana, and not gonna lie, there were times that I had a hard time understanding his accent. So when I get home, it might take a couple weeks to get used to the boriqua speak... But I'll for sure get accustomed quickly :) 

The next day, we had the training in Ushuaia which came out really well, then we took a combi to Rio Grande. The combi stopped at Panaderia La Union in Tolhuin, and that brought back a ton of good memories! I took a photo, but for some reason, it didn't register in my memory card... I think it's in my camara's internal memory... anyways, IT WAS AWESOME! After stuffing my face full of facturas, we continued on to Rio Grande. 

Zone Training in Rio Grande

On Friday, we had the training in Rio Grande, and it came out just as well as the others, so no complaints there. After the training, the Rio Grande district (3 areas) had dinner with a member named Mario. He's famous in the mission because each cena (dinner) is a challenge. He cooks A TON of food, and makes  A TON of jugo (juice), and the missionaries have to eat and drink everything. If they do it, they win, but if they can't eat and drink everything, Mario wins. Elder Popa said that during his 12 weeks in Rio Grande, he only won 4 times! However, the elders that are currently in the district are animals, and have been undefeated for 2 transfers (they're the most winning-est group of elders in the history of Mario) So after the training, we went to Mario's house, and took a seat at the table of battle. He whipped out the food: Fiambre Aleman (a giant stack of pancakes with ham, tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise in between each pancake) It was soooooo hard to finish, because on top of the Fiambre Aleman, we had to drink 6 LITERS of jugo, and a bucket of fruit salad afterwards. However, after an hour long battle, and one elder puking in the bathroom, WE WON! We continued the streak, even though the elders said that that was the hardest dinner to win yet. I think Mario's determined to win before one of the elders who has never lost goes to another area XD 

Dinner at Mario's

On Saturday, we did another division, and I went with an elder named Elder Clavel. He was great! We talked with literally EVERYONE walking in the street, and it filled me with the pure joy of missionary work. I think I learned as much from the division as he did :) It was awesome! 

On Sunday, we attended the Rio Grande branch, and the best part was that several of the hermanos that I had met in Tolhuin came to church, like Familia Sielas and Hermano Ruiz. They were super pumped to see me, and I was happy to see them :) Now, today, we have a flight to Rio Gallegos at 3pm. Overall, it was a very busy, tiring, but productive and fun week :) 

FAMILY! I love you guys! I'm glad that I'll always have you guys as my family, even if were not together physically. 

MOM! I love you, and I'm so proud of the hard work you're putting in at school. Trust in the Lord for your support, and He will lighten your burdens! 

However, today, the most important is DAD! You really are a great, great man. Heavenly Father blessed me hugely by sending me to a father like you. Although you're not perfect, you're getting there, and the truth is, is that when I meet Heavenly Father, I'll notice that you, my earthly father, had a ton of the qualities that my Father in Heaven has. You're exemplary Dad! I LOVE YOU! 

Love you guys :) -Elder Jimenez

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 14... Zone Conferences

Hola familia :) 

Truth is I remember very little of this week. I've hit a certain point in the mission where everything just kind of blurs together... But I'll do my best to remember!

The first couple days of the week were full of preparations for consejo nada mas, and as y'all can see from the fotos, we made stir fry, which was really, really good! 

Thursday was consejo, which was as normal as always. I remember my first consejo, feeling like I didn't know anybody, and being the newbie. Now I'm the second most consejo-ed missionary in the mission! I've gone to like 10! Pretty nuts. It's fun to remember how I felt though, because it always makes me want to include the newbies as much as I can, so that they don't feel bad. 

The night after consejo, we had to stay up until 1:30 in the morning, because there were missionaries that needed to catch a colectivo at that hour. The best part was that after finally dropping them off, Elder Popa was feeling really bad, so, after having given him a Priesthood Blessing, we went to the hospital at 1:30! And believe it or not, the guardia was full! So we were there waiting for another hour and a half. When we finally got home, I managed to get to bed by 3:30 in the morning! It was the "earliest" that I think I've ever gone to bed! The best part is that I had to wake up at 8 to catch a colectivo to Puerto Madryn. I LOVE MY LIFE!

We were headed to Puerto Madryn because, this transfer, President is only going to be doing entrevistas, so he asked us to do a Mission Tour, and give a short conference in every zone. On the way to Madryn, I still had to finish my talk, and the truth is that I didn't want to do anything but sit there and look out the window, cause I was destroyed! However, I then thought about something that I had read in the New Testament last week. I read about how Jesus Christ, after healing the mother in law of Peter, was served by the mother in law, along with his disciples. I imagine that they were resting, eating, and having a good time after a hard day of work, when the Bible says that the common folk came to the house, and brought all of their sick and possessed. I imagined that Jesus Christ was probably tired, and comfortable there in the house, but even in those circumstances, he left the house, and began to heal the sick and afflicted. Jesus showed me that a good Priesthood holder is never off the clock. So I decided to finish my talk, and make a good use of my time. 

In Madryn, we stayed the night with some of the common elders. The next day, Saturday, they had a futbol activity planned. So that morning, we played futbol with investigators and members. It was re copado! My futbol skills, although still very weak, have improved. It would be cool if you guys could figure out if there's a men's soccer league in the valley, because I think it would be really fun to play when I get home! 

That night, we had the conference. My talk came out mas o menos, and I think it wasn't that great because I noticed that I had wrote it thinking that everyone was going to love it, and I didn't even pray before giving it. I had trusted in the arm of the flesh. Luckily, I learned my lesson! }

On Sunday, we assisted in Puerto Madryn. The Elders Quorum President is 20 years old! He had barely come home from his mission, but from  his class, I saw that he was doing a great job. After church, we went to Trelew, and we gave the next conference to the 2 zones. That time, I put my confidence in the Lord, and totally recognized that I couldn't do it well without Him. Under that guide, I made some slight changes to my talk, and it came out great! I think that each time I give it, with the Lords help, it will be better. 

So that was this week! Now I'm in Trelew, and passing a nice PDay :)

FAMILY! I'm happy that Kurt and Jenn are so strong in the gospel. God has given them a heavy cross to bear, but they bear it well. And the best part is that they have the help of He who bore the heaviest cross, Jesus Christ. In this thanksgiving season, I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ. I long to know Him! He is our Perfect Example, our Savior and Redeemer. My goal in life is to know Him, and be like Him. 

Ah! One more thing! Last night we saw the Cara a Cara with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard and it was awesome! The traductors were really bad, but still,it was awesome to see how the apostles interpret the gospel. I saw a more human side of the two of them, laughing, and confessing some of the faults they have. All in all, i loved it. If you guys didn't get the chance to see it, WATCH IT! It was great :)

MOM! I love you! But just get ready because next week, Dads going to trump you for a week, so don't let it break your heart XD I LOVE YOU GUYS! Happy Dia de Accion de Gracias! - Elder Jimenez

Some birthday treats that the Hermanas Capacitadoras made me. CAPAS! 

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 13... Rada Tilly

Alright, I'm going to write this email first today, because last week, I waited to write to Mom, and Dad freaked out!!! XD 

However, before I get to the rest of the email, I wanted to send a message to the Boston Knights. I don't have your guys's email, so my mom will just have to make sure that ya'll read this. I've had you in my prayers. Truth is, I don't understand how you're feeling, cause I've never been there, but Jesus Christ has. You guys already know, but just to stress it, He lives, and because He lives, death loses its sting. That doesn't mean that it's going to be easy to accept; I'm sure that this last week was horrible. However, death loses its lasting sting, because although the Adversary wants us to think that we're never going to see those people again, thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ, death and the Adversary have been defeated. He already won. The Lord even revealed to Joseph Smith, who I'm sure understood VERY well what you guys are going through, having lost 7 of his 11 children, a truth that may bring a sliver of comfort in this time of trial. It's found in the Priesthood manual "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" Chapter 14, section 2. The whole chapter is great, but that second section applies specially to you guys. Frederick is far from gone, in fact you all can be comforted, knowing that he already attained the Celestial Kingdom. Your job now, Jenn and Kurt, is to keep living your lives with the faith that you already live, and I know that you'll be seeing Frederick in, what to us may seem a lifetime, but to God is an open and close of the eyes.

It's hard to write a good email when the people you love are passing it so bad, but I think the best thing in times of trial is to be positive. If someone's sad, and you get depressed, that's just gonna make them more sad, so we're gonna write a positive email! This week passed by fast! Tuesday was my birthday, thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes! The funny thing was that I had went to bed at 12:30 the night before, and had to wake up at 6 on my birthday, so I was pretty tired during the day! (Alex's mission is on a different schedule where they are supposed to be in by 10, to bed by 11, and up at 7. So, he was out late, and then had to get up extra early on is birthday.)

It was still great though! We celebrated by going to Rada Tilly (a city about 30 minutes south of Comodoro Rivadavia). Here's a picture overlooking the bay at Rada Tilly.

Elder Popa took me to this Chinese restaurant that he had been telling me about. When we got there, the place wasn't open, but we rang the doorbell, and after about a minute or so, a little old Chinese lady opened the door and invited us in. The place was tiny, and it looked like it had been closed for years, but CHINESE FOOD! Looking around, I saw that boxes in which she had received her ingredients, and they were all imported from Taiwan, so I was pumped. 

We ordered pretty much everything on the menu, and as you guys will see in the foto, it was DELISH! The best part though was that the lady was SO NICE! She gave us a huge deal without even asking, and when she brought out the food, she had doubled one of the dishes we asked for, just to be nice :) She spoke really broken Spanish, but she talked to us the entire time! And the craziest thing was that she believed in Jesus Christ! She even showed us her bible in Chinese, which was really cool. We're probably headed back there today for round 2, and we printed out 10 pages of the Book of Mormon in Chinese to bring to her, so we'll see how that goes! From what I've seen in this last month, meeting the man in the plane and now this lady from Rada Tilly, the Chinese are a very friendly people :)

Birthday Dinner at Rada Tilly

On Wednesday, the newbies got here, and we spent Wednesday, Thursday, and the majority of Friday with them, teaching them and taking them to the places they needed to go. It was as fun as always, and as you guys probably saw on Facebook, we got a hold of the phone of President and took some great fotos in la casa de la mission XD

I spent the rest of the week doing odd jobs and divisions. The best division that I got to do was with Elder Allen in Ciudadela. He has developed into a great, great missionary, and I'm super proud of my trainee! I see a future leader in him.

Yesterday, we planned out the calendar for the rest of the transfer (until Dec 19th), and WHOA. It's gonna be nuts. President wanted us to do conferences on our own this round, so Elder Popa and I are going to be traveling for 2 straight weeks, then we're going to travel with President, la Hermana, and Elder Mark A. Bragg of the Seventy for a week (he's in the S America South Area Presidency), and then we're going to continue traveling with President and the Hermana for another week to finish off the transfer. IT'S GOING TO KILL US, BUT IT'S GOING TO FLY!

My reading of the Bible is going well, but Dad... I think I'm going to take your advice. I loved Genesis, but Exodus is getting really, really boring, and I think I'm going to read some special selections from the Old Testament (Job, Isaiah, etc.). I'm sorry, but the truth is is that I'm not an architect or an internal designer, so I don't think it helps me to know the exact specifications of the Tabernacle of Israel for 20 chapters XD After the Old Testament, I'm going to read the whole New Testament :) I've already felt a huge boost to my testimony of the Book of Mormon though. It's soooooo much clearer than the Bible, and makes it so much easier to believe in the Bible, because it clarifies a lot of key doctrines. I KNOW THE BOOK OF MORMON IS THE TRUTH!

Family! I love you guys, and am pumped to talk to you all at Christmas! 

SOFIA: Byu! Byu! Byu! M

OM: Without fail, you'll always have your special place in my emails. LOVE YOU! 

The Boston Knights: My prayers are going out to you guys. You will not be forgotten! 

LOVE YOU ALL! - Elder Jimenez

Jose Luis, a friend from Gallegos that passed through Comodoro on the way to his mission in Salta!

Gangsta face in the H1 (la vaca!)

AP, Zona Comodoro Norte - Week 12... ASADO!

Hey everybody! Thanks for all the birthday wishes :) I'm really glad to hear about all the good things that are happening in the family. It helps me to be tranquilo down here at the bottom of the world.

This last week was definitely interesting! On Wednesday, we went with President to Caleta Olivia for a special asado. The zone had achieved an outstanding number of baptisms in the past month, so we threw a special asado for them. It was great! We ate lots of meat, and played lots of futbol. Later that day, President returned to Comodoro, but we went to Pico Truncado to do divisions.

On Thursday, I woke up in the morning, and felt really bad. I went to the bathroom, and while I was seated on the throne, I started to tremble, sweat, and felt like I was going to pass out. So, after surviving that, I went stumbled back to bed, and waited for it to pass. But it didn't pass. Then, I had another grand opportunity to see the power of the priesthood. Just as I had 2 weeks ago, I asked for a blessing of health. After giving me the blessing, I prayed to Heavenly Father, and told Him that I had the faith to be healed, but also to continue sick. In less than 10 minutes, the nausea passed! It was a great sign to strengthen my faith.

I did continue sick though, and had to pass the day inside. I felt so bad in fact, that for the first time IN MY LIFE, I went to the doctor's office. After waiting an hour and a half in the ward, I was attended, and the doctor advised me that I had food poisoning. GREAT. That asado wasn't as rico as before... She gave me a prescription, and offered me a shot. Like a MAN, I accepted. So they took me to another room, whipped out a huge needle, and stuck it in me. Right in the butt (I thought Sofia would like that XD). After the shot, the nurse hurried out of the room, leaving me alone (thank you Argentina). All the blood went to my head, and I almost passed out, but after one of the most sincere prayers of my mission, I was able to stay standing.

The Lord did bless me though, because after sticking to the diet, and taking all the meds, the next day I was already feeling a solid 75%, and got out to work. The best part was that my companion in the division was Elder Tiffany, a friend of mine from the MTC :) After some great divisions, Saturday morning, we made it back to Comodoro in time for the traslados. Although we had to hustle, everything came out well.

On Sunday, we had lunch with some members named Familia Maimot. After eating the main dish, the hermana pulled a cake out of the fridge. She had remembered my birthday! So they sang to me, and we ate cake. I was very grateful :)

The highlight of the week though was definitely my reading of the Bible. I've read the Book of Mormon 4 times, and still I haven't received a sufficient confirmation of my testimony of the book, and it frustrates me. However, if one looks closely, in Moroni's Promise (Moroni 10:3-5) in verse 3, it talks about how one needs to meditate in how merciful the Lord has been with the sons of men from the days of Adam up until today. In Ether 1, Moroni comments that the story of the creation and Adam and Eve is not in the Book of Mormon "because it's among the Jews". So, if one has read the Book of Mormon, and still hasn't received their answer, then they should read the Bible, and compare it with the Book of Mormon, to be able to see how merciful the Lord really is. So that's what I'm doing! I have a goal to read the whole Bible before finishing the mission, and I already finished Genesis! I loved the story of José (tocayo mio eh!), and I can feel my testimony of the Book of Mormon growing as I see how it's similar, but clearer than the Bible, and how they talk of the same message. I know that Jesus Christ really does love us, and He has been working for mankind from the beginning to today. He loves us, and through him, like the Patriarchs of old, we can be "reunited with our people" in eternal families after this life.

FAMILY: I love you guys! I'm so glad that we're going to be able to be together forever, especially because you guys are esteemed company, and good company. Los Jimenez son los capos papá! 

SOFIA: Bien ahi con el Sterling Scholar, eh! 

MOM: Dad told me that you're doing really well at school. CAPA! Love you :) 

LOVE YOU GUYS! Nos vemos en 6 ;) - Elder Jimenez


Here are a bunch of pictures from the old missionaries leaving and the new ones arriving in November.