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!)