Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 16... HAPPY AÑO NUEVO 2017!

HAPPY AÑO NUEVO! 2017 y'all, das wassup (even though I continually write 2016 in everything by accident lol!) Hearing about all you guys makes me happy every week! Kevin's mustache also makes me happy! Great job with the two puzzles, maybe I should not participate next year too ;) 

This week was great! Monday was PDay, so that always rocks. Tuesday, we taught 4 lessons! In our mission, that happens very rarely. We also found a lady that looks like she's going to become a new investigator, so that's a big miracle. The awesome thing is that that very afternoon we had started a fast to find people, and boom, we found someone! 

Here's the crazy part though, Wednesday, WE TAUGHT 4 MORE LESSONS! And not only did we teach 4 more lessons, but we also found ANOTHER lady that looks like she's going to start investigating! When the miracles rain, they pour! 

Thurday was a bit more tranqy, I'm pretty sure that I made Loco Mocos that day. Allen has the pics, they looked soooooo good! It was the first packet of that gravy that I've spent so far. Sooooo worth it! (Loco Mocos are basically a burger with gravy and an egg on top.)

Friday was solid, and on Saturday, we taught two lessons in the morning, which never happens! One of the lessons was with Cristian, whom we had taught earlier in the week as well. He's progressing slowly, but surely. The good news is that he's also changed his mind on baptism, and although he still doesn't want to accept a fecha (baptismal date), he told us that he was thinking about getting baptized, so that's a massive change! 

Saturday night, the Zone Leaders got permission from Pres to watch the movie that we didn't get to watch on Christmas, so we watched Pets. I'm pretty sure it was a Pixar movie... It was pretty good! It was cool because it was the first movie I've even watched and understood in Spanish. The big brown dog had a porteño accent (the accent of someone from Buenos Aires), so that was legit! Saturday night, nobody had invited us to pass New Years with them, so we decided to sleep it. It's the only time in my mission I have ever slept 10.5 hours (because we had permission to sleep until 8:30am. It. Was. GLORIOUS! So yeah Mom, Elder Jimenez wanted to "go night night" before 2017 (Little Alex always begged to go to bed... "I wanna go night night!!!") It just makes me think of Dad saying "But don't you want to be awake for the new millenium?" LOL. 

Yesterday was the perfect ending to a great week. After church, we didn't have any citas (appointments), so we just decided to contact. It was miserable because everyone had just barely woken up (5 in the tarde) and they were all hung over. So we struggled to even find doors that would answer, and we were contacting some apartments, when we knocked a door, and without us saying anything, the lady was like Come on in! So we entered, and met Laura. She's from Formosa, and she has Mormon friends there, so she already knew a little bit about the message. We shared the Restoration with her, and she accepted it so well! The only problem was that, due to a distribution problem that the Church had with Argentina, we still don't have any Libros de Mormon down here. However, she accepted the message so well, and accepted the invitation to read so sincerely, that I left my triple with her. We set another cita for Tuesday morning, so I should be able to get it back before we start full teaching days again, so I'm praying that she's gonna read! It was a cool experience :) (I'm going to be praying for her to keep that appointment too... hopefully he didn't just lose his triple... we won't be able to get another one to him!!! And before this I was just concerned that he wasn't getting any packages with treats - now I'll start praying for the Book of Mormons to arrive!) 

Anyways, we ended up exploding this week on our lessons number, and finding a lot of potential investigators. Fasting works!!! So we're doing real well down here. Allen is struggling as much as a new missionary will, but he's happy, so that's what matters. 

Mom, I did get the ensign with the ornaments. Priceless! Franny's and what I'm assuming to be Ryan's killed me! The latter with trunkiness and the former with laughter! 

Anyways, I hope you guys started an incredible year! I love you all sooooo much and I'm happy to be a part of our family! 

Stay safe, be strong in your testimonies, and GO BYU! I LOVE YOU GUYS! Especially you Mom :) 

- Elder Jimenez

To Jose...
Wow! I absolutely loved your emails! Your bowl experience made me trunky! You must promise me to take e to the BYU bowl game the year I get home. BTW, go Pats sucka haha! 

Anyways, didn't know anything about LaVell, or Carrie Fisher, or Rhonda Rousey, so that was all nuts. It's so crazy that Rousey went from total Bad A to a weakling like that. I was pumped to hear that Urban Meyer got humiliated! Take that stupid AP people! New Years sounds like it was awesome! 

Thanks so much for the tips on things I should teach to people! You always say things that help me know what I should teach! I also really liked how you told me a bit about your mission. That helped me. Dad, thanks so much for all you do! I miss yah, I even ate a loco moco this week to honor you staying at the Orleans! 

I LOVE YOU! - Elder Son

Believe it or not... It's almost 10 PM!!!

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 15... Christmas!

Alright, what have we got to say about this week... It went by fast, that's for sure! It was a really tranqy week to be honest. We taught Cristian a couple times, and he's accepting everything that we're teaching, he just doesn't want to accept a fecha, so were trying our best to get in on that. We've been getting a really good relationship with some recent converts named Belen and Luis. Luis has been helping us to teach Cristian a bit. Belen gave us some little Christmas presents which were cool, they were some little golden tie bars. I wore mine on Christmas day :) We had a bit of success finding some new people to teach, but both the people we found fell through on their second citas (appointments), so we're still suffering that curse, but we'll get there eventually. 

There was a branch activity this Friday, which was fun. There was a live pesebre (manger) done by the primary, and I had to be one of the singing angels. I felt like our goodness as missionaries and the lack of ability to say no to members was taken advantage of, but it turned out okay, so it was good. I personally sounded like Michael Buble, but just a little bit better ;) 

On Saturday, it rained a ton. Like a ton. It rained so much that the majority of the roads out here were rivers, and it made it really hard to walk around. It was like each block was an island! It was a fun adventure though! Saturday night, Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) we were supposed to watch a movie as a zone (the one time all year that Pres lets us watch a movie). We were gonna watch PETS, but the ZLs hadn't downloaded it, so they tried for hours to make something work, and couldn't, so we just ended up leaving. That was definitely a disappointment, but whatevs, one more movie to watch when I get back. Later that night, we had a Nochebuena dinner with Los Chodin. They made asado, and the cordero (lamb) was SOOOO good. If the cordero is well grilled, it's definitely the highlight of any asado. Soooooo rico. We read Lucas 2 after dinner, and shared some testimonies, then we had a toast at 12 to celebrate Christmas. That's when the war started. We had to walk home, and I thought I was in Vietnam, there were firecrackers all over, and pieces of cardboard raining down on us the whole time. Legit! 

Christmas was pretty awesome. I wasn't actually trunky at all, so that was great. Church was very short, 1 hour no mas. I got to discursar (speak), which went really well. I talked about member-missionary work, and after the reunion (meeting), all the members were like "wow, we're gonna work harder now!" I made a comment about how it would be better if after I leave, no one ever says my name but the work progresses well instead of having everyone remember me because I wasted all my time drinking mate with members, and after the reunion, Hna Vargas grabbed my arm and told me "hey, don't say that were not gonna remember you! We're never going to forget you!". It made me feel good :) We also defied worldly logic, and actually had an investigator at church on Chistmas, so take that world. 

Talking to my family Sunday night was the greatest thing ever. To see you guys so healthy and happy just made me soooooo happy! Just to hear your voices was incredible. And to have Dad deliver the bowl news with his own voice. WITHOUT PRICE! BYU! BYU! BYU! GO HOOSIERS! These next 4-5 months until Mothers Day are gonna fly by, I'll see you guys soon. All in all, great christmas. 

I'm soooo grateful to be a missionary, and represent my Savior. In a country where Christ is an afterthought during Christmas time, it was refreshing to gather together with the faithful saints of Rio Gallegos and renew our covenants on Christmas, enjoying the greatest gift that was ever given, LA EXPIACION (the ATONEMENT)! 

I love you guys soooo much! Keep choosing the right, and using your time wisely. 

See y'all on Mothers Day!!! - Elder Jimenez

Christmas Zone Conference/Dinner pics

Picture from the Mission Conference with Elder Teixeira of the Seventy

 

You can also see the Mannequin Challenge and a special edition of the Light the World campaign video on the mission facebook page: Mission Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia Facebook Page

And finally, here's a video of the street on Christmas Eve...

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 14... Moving

Alright, what's up family? I'm using a really crappy keyboard right now, so you'll all have to forgive the typos haha! 

What even happened this week... Alright, I guess we can start with Cristian. Cristian is a new investigator that we started to teach this week. He's got a pretty interesting story. He was a cobrador (like a hitman/tax collector) for the biggest crime lord in Rio Gallegos (who is currently in prison). He's been out of the business since July, and feels pretty bad for what he did, especially because he has some kids and they remind him of some of the stuff he did to other families. So he's got a lot of guilt for that. We taught him several times this week though, and we even fellowshipped him with a member that was also a cobrador a good while ago, but is now a full fledged mormon family man, and I think that really helped. He came to church this week and stayed all 3 hours, so that was great. 

On Wednesday, while contacting, we also found another menos activa that slipped through the cracks through the years. She reminds me of Luisa a lot. She invited us to come over after the holidays, in January, so I'm pretty pumped about that! Maybe we found some more gold there... 

On Thursday, we had a Christmas dinner with President, which was pretty cool. He had a short conference before that really helped me to keep working hard in this area, although it's tough right now. We made a Manequin Challenge video that they uploaded to the mission's facebook page, and yesterday, the Lideres de Zona told us that it already has over 6100 views, so thats pretty sweet. Have you guys seen it? 

Things are going very slowly in the area right now. For example, Jose and Anderson are essentially not investigating anymore, because they're working too much to have time, and it's been really difficult lately to find reliable investigators. But igual, were continuing onward! 

Saturday was the only day of the week that was terrible. We had training activities until lunch, then a lunch out in the middle of nowhere, then we moved. That might be something I forgot to tell y'all. We moved from our pension to a new one. I think the reason that we moved is because one of my zone leaders doesnt like my dueño. He's a member, but he's kind of a problem. He has some serious anger issues (he's a huge prison guard) and he's a bit immature. I think he had taken one of the missionaries before to go do trucho things, so my LZ wanted us out. I wasn't super opposed to it because the pensh was a tiny bit ghetto, but the biggest problem was that we shared a wall with our dueño, so each time there would be screaming fights, we were hearing all of it. So they decided to move us, but the problem was they didn't really inform me on any of the details. This last week and the week before, my dueño had been hounding me about money and a specific fecha to get out, so they could put other people in (even though we payed for all December) and I couldn't help him that much, 'cause I didn't know . So after lunch on Saturday, we had a cita fija, but we had to get out of the pensh, or there were going to be problems with my dueño, so the LZs said they'd take care of it. However, our cita fell, so we went to help. My dueño was outside, so I went to go to say hi to him, 'cause we had still had a nice relationship even though he had been hounding me a lot, and he turned around and told me the ugliest things about me I think I've ever heard. I was shocked! I think he was just mad that we were moving out, and there was some payment that he thought the church wasn't gonna pay him, so he took it all out on me. It got to the point where the LZs told me to leave, because they thought the guy was gonna attack me. I was a bit hurt by his words, but I was able to keep my cool, not say anything, and we just finished up the mudanza and left. Sooooo glad to have that guy out of my life! When we got into the new pensh, it was a disaster with all our stuff, but now that it's all really organized, it's actually a really nice pension, so I'm happy about it. 

On Sunday, I felt really good. One of the things my dueño told me was that I'm an embarrasment and that's why nobody likes me in Rio Gallegos. Although I knew that it wasn't true, and he was just saying whatever thing to rage on me, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad. It's sad, but obedient missionaries, usually because they're obedient and try not to spend too much time in members houses, are not always the most loved. So even though I knew it wasn't true, I coudn't help but believe it a little. But then, on Sunday, in a million little ways, I felt the love of the members and investigators. It was crazy how many people wanted to talk with us, and offer us lunches. It was cool to realize that the members are actually noting the change in the missionary work, and now responding better to us. I was happy to feel loved, not gonna lie haha! I just decided that I need to forgive my dueño, even though he probably still hates me (still don't know why) because the guy must have not had a great childhood to have developed into the person he is, and I really can't judge him. So we'll just let that water go under the bridge. 

Later Sunday night, we went to sing carols with the members. We were with my Lider Misional in the most ghetto car I've ever seen in my life, so that was funny :) 

Allen is doing okay... He gets pretty frustrated with Spanish and he was pretty rocked by Saturday, but I'm trying to help him the best I can, and always get along, so that's happy. It's stressing, but a little stress is okay sometimes. So that's how things are going on my end. 

I'm way excited to talk to you guys on Christmas. I believe that I'm going to be getting on at either 7 or 8, so be watching at 3 or 4pm. 

Once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Sorry that we didn't film a video singing a christmas song for you, but just imagine a big hug coming through this email 🤗 I LOVE YOU! 

I was getting really worried about Grandpa and Abuela and Jordan, but I look back on it, and it really is a miracle that they're all safe, and I feel like God sent Officer Scott to help Abuela just as a tender mercy for her. So cool! 

Also so trunky about Rogue One, you guys are killing me! 

Anyways, be good this week, and I'll see yall on Christmas! 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!! Feliz Navidad - Elder Jimenez

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 13... I'm a DAD!!!

Hey y'all! 

We actually reached Monday... It feels like I haven't emailed in years jaja! Anyways, this week was definitely eventful. Me and Cole finished our short companionship (tear) with SUSHI! There's this sushi place in my area that I'd never tried, so we went there and ate sushi. And it was good. And that's it jaja!

We sent Cole off to Calafate at around 7pm on Monday, then I stayed the night with Elder Ward. I had a little crisis in the morning, because the zone leaders told me that I was leaving at 8 at night on Tuesday, then they called me in the morning and told me that my colectivo was in the terminal and was about to leave. Fastest packing I've ever done!!! I made it though, so we're good. 

Comodoro was eventful. We ended up getting up there Tuesday night. I had some letters from Abuela, as well as the envelopes you sent me Mom, and my packages are in Comodoro, but the hermano in charge of American packages doesn't know how to get them out of aduanas (customs), because he's new, so no Americans are getting packages, and they're probs getting sent back. Tear, but it's not the end of the world! 

Anyways, I met the nuevitos (new missionaries) in the morning on Wednesday at breakfast. Fun fact, the mission closed down their big pensh in Comodoro, so now the visitors stay in a hotel by the coast, so that's sick (when Alex arrived in the mission he stayed in the "big pensh" with the AP's. That was the one with the sketchy 3 level bunkbeds!). 

Anyways, I met the new guys in the breakfast area, Elder Taylor from Texas and Elder Allen from Draper. GRINGOS EVERYWHERE. Me and Elder Taylor instantly hit it off, and we were joking quick, Elder Allen was a bit quiet. After breakfast, we proselyted for bit. I went with Taylor, he's a capo for sure. After that, we had lunch, some capacitaciones (training), then more proselyting. By chance, I got to go with Elder Taylor again, and we got into a house and taught his first lesson of the mish. It was sick!!! 

The classic training pics. I'm a father!

The next day - Thursday, we found out comps. ELDER ALLEN! Elder Taylor even told me as he was leaving for his colectivo "Dude, Araujos my dad, but you're at least like my stepdad or something!" 

The kid doesn't speak a lick of Spanish. But he is really obedient, has good faith, and is trying, so that's all I can ask for. To give you guys an idea of the kind of guy he is, just think of a short, even skinnier Tyler Lamoreax. Their personalities are way similar! The only thing out of him that I can see as something that I don't like is when he pulled the giant, red, UofU blanket out of his bag... NOOOOO! It's like the spirit leaves the pensh... He's dope though, so were having a good time :) 

CUPCAKES FROM AMERICA

HOLY CRAP BEST DAY OF MY LIFE 

CHURCH IS TRUE 

#ILUMINA EL MUNDO 

#VAN NOY IS A PATRIOT 

#THIS WAS MY CELEBRATION WITHOUT ACTUALLY KNOWING THAT HE WAS PART OF THE TEAM WOOOOOO!!!

Not gonna lie, it's really stressful to have so many responsibilities. I'm comp mayor (senior), training, with a district to take care of. And the district has hermanas. GEEZ. I take it as it comes though, and just try to stay positive and on top of things. The other new hermana is from Paraguay.

Jose and Anderson both came to church, but left after the first hour because they were running on 4 hours of sleep. I was pumped that they even came. Anderson's wife didn't have ganas though, so we'll have to keep chippin' away at her, and hope and pray for a better situation next week. 

Everything else is pretty normal. I feel like I'm growing and learning out here, very slowly, but getting there. At this point in my mission, I'm being taught less by the mission, and now I need to really start searching to learn if I want to keep growing. So that's fun :) 

Overall, I'm doing good. I'm freakin' pumped about how dope my family is. You guys seriously inspire me, you're doing so many good things, and making so many good choices, and sometimes it just make me think about what family reunions in the celestial kingdom are gonna be like ;) I LOVE YOU GUYS! LOVE YOU MOM! Enjoy your week ;) AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY MOM!!!!!! You made me the way I am, I owe so much to you! You're an incredible woman, and deserve all the blessings that are going to come to you in the next year of your life! 

I LOVE YOU (again) ;) 
- Elder MAMAS BOY

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 12... Wait for it...

Wow! So much to say this week! I'm going to start by responding to some of your questions: There was no surprise visit, personally I think they just told us that to get us to clean the pensiones, I also did not receive any packages. When Elder Cole came to Rio, they sent a mini misionero from my rama (branch) to Calafate (Cole's area), so that's how that worked out and they didn't have to close an area for the two weeks. The rest of your questions will probs be answered later. 

As for what's going on back home... Good for Nick (he got engaged last weekend), I'M FREAKIN' PUMPED FOR YOU AND SOFIA!!!!, and the burritos sound really good right now (we helped make 900 burritos on Saturday for the SLC homeless), so ya'll should send me some jaja! 

And now to all the crazy things that happened this week >:) So, P-Day after the ciber was sick because we balled for DAYS! Cole was his high school's point guard, so he beat me, but I actually gave him a run for his money, which was surprising!!! 

This week we ate fried chicken twice, which was legendary, and we also made a ton of tuna sandwiches. My new love for tuna sandwich is a further realization of my nightmare that I'm slowly becoming Dad... HELP ME, I CAN'T STOP!!! 

FRIED CHICKEN!!!

By the way, just in case ya'll didn't notice, I cumplired (completed) 8 months this week, so that was a logro grande (an accomplishment). Big news to come, but ya'll will have to wait just a little bit longer... 

As far as the visit of the Seventy on Miercoles (Wednesday), he bajared caña (scolded us - literal translation=beat with a cane) so that was fun. The really sick part though was that I had had a throat cold for days before, and I had been praying a ton that I would heal quickly, so that I wouldn't totally suck in the choir that we were doing for Elder Teixera. So the day arrived, and I still felt sick. So I was feeling a bit bad about that, and then, when we go to sing, in the five minutes that it took to sing each song, even though my throat still hurt a bit, the music came out sounding good! The rusty pipes worked! It was an awesome miracle for me :) It was also pretty cool to see some old friends from Rio Grande like Elder MacDonald, as well as ELDER CLARK (<- capo) who came from Caleta to play piano for us. 

So now I have 3 great stories to warm you all up for the big news. 

First one: DIA DE SERVICIO (day of service)! Prepare to pee your pants. So Thursday was El Dia de Servicio Mundial (the Worldwide Day of Service), and we had been going around, animaring (pumping up) members to go out and do service, and we were walking, when this little dog came running by, being chased by this little old guy. The old dude stopped to rest, and I was like "Is that your dog?" and he was like "Yeah", so then Elder Cole and I just looked at each other, and I was like "We'll get that for you" Yes for service! So the dog crossed the street, and started sniffing some weeds. So I start approaching it from the back, and Elder Cole came in from the side to corner it. I got close, and it started to trot towards Elder Cole, so he tried to grab it, and it ran past him, into the street, and it got PLASTERED by a taxi!!!! It broke the bumper, then got dragged at least 3 meters under the car and spit out the other end! Here's the crazy thing though, the dog got up and kept running!!!! I'm pretty sure that sick old man had injected that dog with ecstasy or something, cause it was nuts!!!! I looked over at Elder Cole, and he looked like he was about to cry, and I just started laughing like crazy!!! The only time you ever see anything like that is on freakin' Cartoon Network man, it was soooooo funny!!!! So that's the first story. 

Second: FAMILIA BAIER! A couple nights ago, we went over to the Baier's house to teach one of the charlas de retencion (new member discussions), and we passed the night with them. It was soooo sick. They had empanadas, and they had some of their nonmember sobrinas (nieces) there, so we got to teach them as well. I essentially love that family almost as much as my own, they're incredible! 

Alright, now to the third, LOS COLUMBIANOS! So yesterday, we were contacting, when Jose called us to cancel the cita (appointment) we had in an hour because he said Anderson was too tired. So I was feeling bad about that, and we started to walk to another investigator, when Anderson passed by in his car, and called us over. He was like "I just went to the Anonima (Argentine grocery chain), and now I'm not tired, so y'all need to come over" DOPE. So we went, woke Jose up, and had a de diez leccion (great lesson). The best part was when Anderson's pareja (wife) came. I had been using little papers earlier to explain the Apostasy, and then I used them to illustrate a situation to Anderson to help him understand why he needs to have a good testimony. So I was like, this is our church with a little piece of paper, and then there was another piece of paper which represented his wife's church. So I said, what happens if your wife comes, with her pastor, to try to convince you to stop going to our church? Right before he answered, his pareja came in to ask him a question. So he gets up, and says "Veni aca, y escucha la palabra de Dios. Esta aca, es mi iglesia, la iglesia verdadera, y la otra, es su iglesia, la iglesia de las MENTIRAS! Escucha ahora, y deja los chicos para convencerte venir a nuestra iglesia" :D ("Come here, and listen to the Word of God. This here is my church, the true church, and the other is your church, the church of LIES! Now, listen and let the missionaries convince you to come to our church!") I was DYING laughing!!! She let us teach her lesson one, which was essentially like teaching with members, because Jose and Anderson were totally testifying to her, and she agreed to come to church with us this next Sunday. CHURCH IS TRUE Y'ALL! 

Alright, now for the news that you've all been waiting for... I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!!! Friday night, we were listening to traslados in the celular (transfers on the cell phone), and the first thing we hear is that Elder Cole is going back to Calafate. So we were pretty much crushed, when then we heard Elder Morales say "and now for the biggest news of the night. Elder Jose Alexander Jimenez, usted ha sido llamado para servir en el area de.... CENTRO A. Todavia lol (Elder Jose Alexander Jimenez, you have been called to serve in the area of Centro A, still... lol). Y su nuevo compañero va a ser... SU HIJO PORQUE USTED ENTRENARA! (And your new companion is going to be... YOUR SON BECAUSE YOU ARE TRAINING!)" Holy. Nuts. I'm legit in a mission right now where nobody trains until the year, so just imagine how slapped in the face I felt when he told me that I was going to train! Now I have a mix of emotions. Mostly scared and excited. So by next week, we'll know who my comp is. I've heard that all the missionaries coming in are latinos, so he's probably not gringo! I'm going up to Comodoro tomorrow night to pick up my hijito (it's an 11 hour bus ride to Comodoro)! SO NUTS!!! 

Anyways, this suuuper huge email is finally done, 

FAM. I love yall. KEEP GOING WITH THEM GOALS, and pray for Nikki! MOM, I LOVE YOU! 

- Elder Now Even More Like Dad Cause I Have A Son!

Elder Alegre, the other missionary that Elder Wilhelm trained

(my brother, I only have 2, so it was sick to meet him)

I asked about the Hermanas... Hermana Rodriguez is going to Caleta (tear) and Hna. Gervasoni is training with me. We're gonna be running a jardin infantil (nursery school) in my district lol! And yes, I'm still DL as well.

My first district (as DL)

Left to right is Elder Cole, me, Hna Rodriguez, y Hna Gervasoni

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 11... Best Week of the Mish!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! 

Alright, now that the most important business has been taken care of, let's get down to the nitty gritty ;) This week was fire. Cole es un genio, estoy en el reino celestial :D (Cole is a genius, and I am in the Celestial Kingdom!) Alright, that's a bit exaggerated, the mish is still hard, but this week felt sooo good. 

Some of the highlights: BAUTISMO! (BAPTISM!!!) Early in the week, we were with Los Baier, getting ready for Eduardito's baptism, and Luisa was like "Quiero que se bauticen juntos." (I want the two of you to get baptized together.) So I gave Joaquin the look, and he already knew. We wrapped that cast (he broke his arm about a month ago), and had a beautiful baptism. Went off without a hitch! It was awesome. 

 Alex, Eduardo, Eduardito, Joaquin (with the cast),

Luisa, Malena, Elder Cole

This week with Elder Cole was legit 'cause he never complains and actually tries to be obedient. We definitely saw the blessings for it too. We went from 14-15 lessons and 1 nuevo per week to 4 nuevos and 21 lessons this week, so we blew it up. Melisa didn't go anywhere, but Jose, el Columbiano, is still getting there. The road will be long, but seeds right? The nuevos (new investigators) we found all are mas o menos (more or less), so well see how that goes, I'm praying that they go well. 

We found a selfie stick in the Pensh!

There's a Seventy coming to Rio Gallegos on Wednesday, and he's going to do surprise visits to pensiones, so we deep cleaned today, and Sofia, I'll just tell you... you can never complain about cleaning a bathroom ever again in your life, cause I deep cleaned a missionary bathroom. In Argentina. So just count your blessings lol! 

So yeah, this week rocked, Dad is old, and BYU is actually gonna win the bowl with Tanner at the helm, so I'm happy. 

FAMILY! I love you guys! I love hearing about all the successes that you guys are having! Pray for Nikki, MOM I love you!! Tell Abuela that I love her and miss her company each Sunday!!!! 

VAMOS PATS. - Elder Jimenez/Belichick <- had to make Dad mad at least once for his birthday XD

PS: On Sunday we taught a lesson in church about the Christmas Campaign... "ILUMINA EL MUNDO (#LIGHTtheWORLD)", the presentation didn't work, so we had to improvise, but salio de diez (it turned out great), and DO IT!!! Here's the link for 25 Days of doing Good: 25 Ways Over 25 Days

Or a printable pdf: 25 Ways Over 25 Days PDF

And to Jose...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Mom told me you wouldn't be expecting this, so surprise ;) The Argentines are celebrating your birthday, but no matter what day the actual historical event lands on, they always celebrate on Monday to work less lol! 

WOW! The sports section of this email had me LIT! When I read "Say hello to the Tanner era" a silent tear of joy left my weary eyes!! Elder Cole's from the Bay Area, so he's always like Woo Raiders, but then I whisper 49ers in his ear, his favorite team, and he cringes lol! 

As far as Thanksgiving, we didn't do anything, but I didn't feel trunky at all. There's kind of no point in celebrating it here... Christmas has been being celebrated since the start of November, but it's pretty lame here. There's not even fireworks is what I've heard... good ole Patagonia! 

Cole is a genio. He makes the mission way easier for me, so I begged Pres for another transfer in Rio Gallegos. We'll see what the Lord wants :) 

Anyway, I miss you guys, but I'm loving the mish right now, so not demasiado (I'm not missing you too much) :) District leader is just kind of a chore, plus I've got the hermanas, and I always think to myself "I shouldn't be dealing with these problems until I've got a hot wife!!!" Thank goodness I don't have Hermana Jimenez from Iquitos, Peru in my district though, or I might die... LOL love you Nikki! 

LOVE YOU DAD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! - Not trunky Son :)

Rio Gallegos Centro, Zona Rio Gallegos - Week 10... Two weeks to fill the tank!

Here it be. The biggie. This is gonna blow your minds, crazy, stressful week, but I'm alive, so let's get into it. 

Monday was nuts, because there wasn't money, so I had to blow some home cash, which was sad, but ya fue. The day ended pretty great because we got to give a blessing of salud (health) to a family of recent converts that haven't been coming. They came to church yesterday, so it looks like the blessing must have worked. 

Tuesday was pretty tranqy. We found a new investigator named Melisa in the morning, which never happens here. She accepted a fecha bautismal which was really, really great, so we were excited! Me and Aguilar actually worked pretty well, all the way up until the end of the day, when it kind of died off for him, but at least he worked for half a day, it's better than nothing. 

Wednesday was when things got really crazy. We had a choir practice in the morning, then a vianda (meal) with the hermanas (sister missionaries) after that. We decided to eat the vianda juntos in the capilla (meal together in the church), so we went to the house, picked it up, and we were walking to the capilla, when Aguilar gets a call from president. President told him to pack his bags because he was going to be on a colectivo to Comodoro that night. So we didn't do anything the rest of that day, because he was packing, then we sent him off, and I had to stay with some of the other elders. I called president that night to talk to him, and try to help Aguilar out. President told me that Aguilar would not be returning to Gallegos, and that I would be receiving a new comp. 

I spent 3 days with the Elders from Gaucho, Gonzalez and Ross, and it was actually really good for me. They are both pretty obedient, and I was just tagging along, so I didn't have too much responsibility. 

Yesterday (Sunday) my new comp arrived. His name is Elder Cole, from San Jose, California, and he has 5 months in the mish. HE'S A BOSS!!! 

Yesterday, and today during the studies, he just followed my example, and it was great!! Last night, for example, we arrived at the pension at 8:53. With all my other comps, I wouldn't have said anything, cause they just would have thrown themselves on the bed, and done nothing, but I decided to try out my new comp. So I told him "Hey man, let's go do some contacts en la calle (on our street) until 9:00 to be obedient." AND WE DID IT! As we were walking back, he told me "I wanted to tell you that we should just stay in the pensh, but I knew deep down that this is what we should have done." A COMP WITH A MORAL COMPASS!!!! Due to the fact that we don't have Thanksgiving down here, IT WAS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! By the way, totally forgot about Thanksgiving lol! 

Eduardo received the priesthood this week, and Eduardito's baptism is going to be on Saturday!!! I'm so happy for those guys :D

Anyways, I'm super pumped, because although I'm only gonna have Elder Cole as my comp for 2 weeks, they're gonna be 2 weeks of butt-kicking glory. I know that the Lord has more trials and tests in store for me in the future, but it's almost like he decided to give me a two week break to fill the tank, so that I can get back up to speed, and start enjoying the mish again. So right now, I'm very happy. Our pool of investigators is progressing slowly, and I think these next two weeks are gonna get em popping. So let's see how it goes!!! 

FAMILY! Thank you so much for your support. I really do love you guys, and think about y'all all the time. MOM. You're my number 1!!!! 

LOVE YOU! - Elder Jimenez

Some dope kids we met in the street that all wanted to talk about Trump. 
I also tried to send the video of me opening my birthday gift, but it wouldn't load, so this is all for today :)