Felize Ano Nuevo and San Martin

Today is Andrew's extra day in the mission!  Happy Leap Day! 
January's mission letters:

January 3, 2012

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Ok first things first Mom,

It´s 366 days! Leap Year! :D

Ok so New Years was good; if I thought that they shot off a lot of fireworks on Christmas, it wasn´t anything to new years. They just kept on launching those suckers off and they were super loud! Our neighbors were shooting them like right over our apartment. And yeah, everyone went and got drunk too. The main difference is that it seemed like everyone went to bed even later on New Years than Christmas. It was a terrible day to try and do anything since everyone was just asleep, and I feel like they were asleep all day long! Oh well, así es.

I´ve been kind of thinking about why this transfer has been so difficult. We still don´t really have anyone who´s progressing since we haven´t been able to teach any of our new people a second time; everyone´s been busy, or not home or something like that. Or we can´t find the house since we met them somewhere else. We keep on finding really cool people, like Faustina Paiva, who told us the first time she read a Book of Mormon scripture (before we explained what it was, I might add) that it was exactly what she wanted to learn and who cried after giving her first prayer with us, Jorge Rodriguez, who is juntado with an inactive member, who wants to be in the buen camino and is very accepting of everything, and Daniel Granados, a prior investigador who didn´t get baptized, and we can never find them again. All of them are really cool, but it´s hard to progress if you´re never taught! At least with Jorge, when we failed to find his house (trust me, the road and map system here is a little trucho) we went to find a menos activo, who we found. According to Bruno, we were lucky, since recently he had moved back to that area (justo behind his old house of his mom who died) and he´s almost never home. So the Lord helped us find him at home. But still, it´s been a difficult transfer since we haven´t been able to teach anyone a second time. I was talking with my companion, and I realized that maybe the purpose of this transfer is to teach me to be happy even when things look dim and hard, when things aren´t turning out the way I want them to. I have to be happy with what the Lord wants me to do, so I should be happy with that. As long as I´m obedient and I´m trying to do what the Lord wants me to do, I´ll be happy even if our "numbers" are low. I can´t forget that helping the less actives, even though we don´t tally the number of lessons, is helping some of God´s children and that He wants all of them to receive the help that they deserve. My purpose is to strengthen God´s Kingdom wherever I am. Of course I´m supposed to baptize and help those people stay active too, but whatever the Lord wants me to do, I will do it. So I´m learning patience and how to be happy no matter what! We´re supposed to be happy as members of the only true Church of Christ no matter what happens, so that´s what I´m going to do!

Still, yesterday while working we managed to contact this reference that seems really cool. His name is Luis and he´s juntado (maybe casado, pero creo que no) with a less active member and he´s been to Church before and everything. We taught something really short and simple since we didn´t have much time, but he´s accepted a fecha for the 5th of Febrero and he´s already asked the person (his brother-in-law) to baptize him when the time comes. He has a Book of Mormon but he´s never been taught by the missionaries (or at least we think so). He said that he feels good the times that he´s read from it. He seems really cool, though also really shy. But I think he´ll progress well; we just have to teach everything!

And I got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa Hale today! It was really nice to be able to read their message to me and enjoy it! It´s always nice getting mail lol. Which reminds me; next week is transfers! So next Monday will be the last PDay of the transfer, so there´s a possibility that in two weeks I´ll be emailing from somewhere else! But who knows, I could stay here another transfer or two; one of the sisters in my District is training, and with the new program, trainers usually are with their trainee for two transfers; meaning she´ll probably stay one transfer more. Which also means she´ll have been in her first transfer for 8 transfers, aka 1 year! Kind of ridiculous.

Thanks for the fotos and information of the li´l ones! I loved hearing in detail about all those adorable bundles of joy that have been brightening our lives for some time now! And we´re getting another one soon! I love little kids :D Especially my sobrinitos! Because they´re the best ones! Jaja!

I hope you all have an awesome year! It´ll be my only "complete" year in the mission, which is weird. It honestly doesn´t feel like a new year; maybe it´s because I´ve almost been in a perpetual summer since I entered the MTC. I had a few weeks of winter that didn´t really feel like it; only in the morning did I really feel cold. It´s been hot, but not blazing here. It hasn´t rained since Christmas so it hasn´t really been muggy much. I hear the only place hotter in the mission than Chaco is Formosa, so those days where it is blazing here, I´m really glad I´m not there! A funny thing about this "complete" year is that, as mentioned above, it´s a Leap Year! So I get an extra day in the mission! Yay!

:D

¡Os quiero!

Élder Andrew McClellan

P.S. Hey Mom! Don´t forget to check my email and Facebook periodically for anything important that I might want to know for when I get back! Or anything interesting that´s happening right now that I might want to know! ¡Muchísimas gracias!

January 9, 2012

¡Hola Familia!

So yeah, Wednesday is transfers. We´re going to see what goes on with all that! I think that I could take another transfer here, but I think a new area would be nice. It would be kinda sad to leave, but I kind of want to get to know another place, and another provence too. I think Misiones would be cool, but honestly I´ll be happy wherever I am, so why does it matter?

This week was a good one. I feel like we had a lot of success and that things are going well here. We´re getting started to be more consistent with our meetings with the members, and we even spent most of Friday with members! The sad thing was that almost every person that we had a set appointment with fell through...still, we did work with the members, and that´s what counts! We have a new guy named Luis whose juntado with a menos activa. So they need to get married, but I almost expect that of every couple we find. He´s cool, has been to Church, likes the Church, feels good when he reads the Book of Mormon and everything. He just needs to understand the Gospel since he doesn´t really understand a whole lot in that regard. Things are looking up as far as the whole getting married goes, and we´re working through the other obstacles. We also have another person who seems promising; her name is Verónica and she´s similar in a way. She understands more about the Gospel, but not a lot. So we have to explain things simply too. Still, she´s very accepting of what we tell her and she even asked us to verify the baptismal date! She still hasn´t come to Church, but she´s been before. It looks like Elder Mantilla taught her awhile back, but stopped going by because he could never find her home. She´s moving soon, but still in our area. Another family that we´re teaching is the Familia Bast (it’s a German name). They´re pretty cool and really nice, but a little hard to find a time when they aren´t busy! Daniel is a ref for the Argentine Fútbol Associacion and also fixes computers; his wife Verónica stays at home. She was probably the most excited person I´ve seen when we first gave them a Book of Mormon! She´s very accepting and very kind, even asking us already about how we´re doing and if we got to make our call on Christmas! Daniel seems a little doubtful, but then again, everything we´ve told him is very new. I have high hopes for this family!

Other than that, things are chill. Burning hot still and hasn´t rained at all since Christmas. That little fan is kinda nice, but it´s not the sturdiest lol. I dropped it once, and ever since it´s been shuddering a little. Plus, one of the blades is cracked so I´m not sure how long it´s going to last. But I´ll see it out to the end of its life lol. It was a fun, novel little gift :D Thank you Mom! And the peanuts are long gone! It didn´t help that I didn´t hide them during divisiones, so about a third of it was eaten by the other Elder :P I guess I did say he could eat some, but I didn´t think he´d eat so many lol. I´m almost done with the first jar of peanutbutter already. So odds are I´ll run out long before I see a Walmart! There´s only two in the entire mission. I haven´t tried to do anything with the SD card yet. I´m not really sure if there´s anything anyone can do about it anyways. If all else fails, Ryan can email me the files and the guy at the computer place can put them on it for me.

Speaking of which, I´m looking forward to seeing pics of the new little guy when he comes! It´ll be really fast, probably even faster for me than for you all! The weeks just kinda disappear down here. Also, congrats to Nanny for making the top Choir! Not that it´s a surprise seeing as the fact that all those choir teachers at BYU loved her lol. And good luck Mom with your new calling! Have fun trying to reign in all those little kids! Should be fun lol.

It´s weird to think that 25% of my mission is gone. I´m 25% "dead" as we missionaries say. Still, I don´t think I´ll really realize how fast time is flying until I get to a new area. Everyone says it picks up speed once you´ve left your first area and gone somewhere else. Plus, no one I know really well has left yet except my trainer, and since I "killed" him, it honestly doesn´t feel that weird. Time is so weird. I look at it from the perspective of transfers, and it seems like I have a ton of time still in the mission; then I look at it from the perspective of months and I´ve hit 6 of 24 already. So, so weird it is. It makes you think of what you wanted to be at six months when I was starting and where I actually am as a missionary. More and more I´m realizing how short the mission is...but that´s ok, since I don´t have to think about that! 18 months is plenty, so I think I´ll go back to blissfully ignoring the passage of time until it hits me like a ton of bricks that it´s over. It´ll be better that way.

I hope that everything continues to go well for everyone! It´s nice to know what´s going on in your lives and all. Keep up the good work!

¡Os quiero!

Élder Andrew McClellan

January 16, 2012

¡Hola familia!

So yeah, I´m officially in my second area! San Martín! It´s a little pueblito about 2 hours from Resistencia and near Formosa. The funny thing is, I´m still in the same stake! Except I´m in the Resistencia Sur Zone, so it´s a little odd. I think they wanted to avoid overloading the Resistencia Zone since it has the office already. Plus, San Martín used to be in the Resi Sur Stake anyways. It´s a nice little place, but I still don´t really have any orientation. In Barranqueras it was kind of easy to know which direction was "up" because the city was kind of long in the North direction. Here it´s just a big square, like it usually is in Chaco; Barranqueras was just a side of the square of Resi en realidad. So I would be pretty darn lost without my compañero! He´s Élder Navarrate from Chile. He lives about 2 hours from Concepción, and that´s his home mission, so Dad should tell me his areas he had there! And it looks like I might be "killing" another Elder! Like Elder Mantilla, he only has two transfers left, so unless I get transfered after one being here, or they decide to have him spend his last transfer in a new area, I´ll be "killing" him. So odds are I´ll be here for three transfers too.

Here we´re a consilor in the Branch Presidency, and I think we´re officially the secretary too (at least unofficially we are). It´s interesting though; we have a chapel that´s as big as the average stake center here but we have less than 30 people in Church! Apparently in the past there was a district conference or something and there wasn´t enough room, so the President said that they were going to make it "a little bigger." Yeah, uh huh, sure. The thing is huge, by Argentine standards! It actually has a legit chapel with benches and the stand, enough rooms for the clases and everything. By US standards, it´s probably slightly smaller than normal, since it doesn´t have all the overflows we have, just one, and less classrooms since there aren´t enough youth to actually meet as separate quorums and groups. Still, it´s a very nice capilla. It´s just a little funny to me, since Barranqueras has a regular attendance of like 80 to 100, sometimes a good 120, and the chapel doesn´t have benches or a full-size stand, and the only reason we have enough rooms for all the classes is that they almost always combine the High Priests with the Elders. It´s just one of those things lol.

Still, we´ve got good members here in San Martín. There´re few (well, the actives at least, there´s as many members on the list here as in Barranqueras) in number, but the Church has only been in Argentina for about 80-90 years, and here probably significantly less. There´s a lot of work to be done here! It´s a decent sized pueblito, and I´m going to be walking even more here since there aren´t any colectivos ni remises.

And yes we do have people to teach! The coolest one that I know as of now is Nilia. We found her on Thursday (2nd day here). She´s an inactive Catholic, but she has a lot of interest in what we have to say! We taught her again Saturday and she committed to come to Church with her daughter and read the Book of Mormon. Then she comes EARLY on Sunday, stays the whole three hours (which is way good, since Sacrament Meeting is last), tells us that she liked it, has already read the chapter we left, and has questions. Aka, exactly the kind of person we want! We even forgot to get her number to call her before and she´s too far away to go get ourselves. So she came all by herself! So cool! So yeah, I´m kind of excited about her. We have some other investigadores too, but I still don´t know them very well. So I´m sure next week I´ll be able to give you some more information about the people here.

Samuel sure sounds like a funny little child! Blowing raspberries while eating! I´m sure Nanny and Ben have fun with that little guy! Anita also appears to be continuing to be a little cutie; I guess that shouldn´t be a surprise since she won a baby contest with her personality! I´m glad all the little ones are growing well and being funny. And I´m so ´cited for the newbie! ¡Enviame fotos cuando venga!

Well, that´s all for now. I´m super glad that todo está bien and that you´re all enjoying yourselves!

¡Os quiero!

Élder Andrew McClellan

January 23, 2012

¡Hola Familia!

Bueno, so to clear some stuff up: I am in the Resi South Zone but the unit is in the Resi Stake. Don´t ask me why, as I don´t know lol. Needless to say, my zone is differente, but my Stake President is the same. It´s a little weird.

And something interesting about my companion is that he is indeed from Chillan! So even though he wouldn´t know Dad, it´s possible that Dad knew his family! So yeah, random cool fact of the day.

As far as this week went, it was a good one, though with enough frustrating things. For example, we couldn´t find Nidia at home (or awake; and I should mention that I wrote Nilia the last time since I didn´t understand clearly su nombre lol). Still, we have a baptism online for the 28th. Her name´s Brisa and she´s the younger sister of a convert of one year and an older sister of a convert of a few months. It´s kind of nice, since she already knows everything; we just have to review a little bit and let her teach the lesson! We´ve also been teaching Alondra, a niece of a sister in the ward who´s been living with her aunt and coming to Church for a few weeks. At first, she was hard to teach because she didn´t want to respond to any questions or really do anything; we thought that she just was listening for her aunt´s sake, but we found out from someone that we introduced to her that she doesn´t trust men. But after that conversasion that she had without us there with this particular member, she opened up considerably, though she does have a little trouble wanting to say the prayer at the end (not that that´s unusual) and doesn´t have a lot of patience for reading. She´s going to be baptized the 4th, though that might change since we´re not sure when all of the youth are going to get back from their "EFY" trip (I don´t feel like explaining why it´s different than those in the States; it sufficeth me to say that they´re going to Paraguay and it´s not in a University). Another group of people that we started teaching this last week is a family that moved in about a month ago to San Martín. They have some difficulties understanding sometimes, since they´ve never really gone to Church, but they´re interested! We´re going to have to take it slow with them; it seems like when we taught them that maybe we taught a little too much. They didn´t come to Church Sunday, but they told us it was because they didn´t have shoes for their sons. We told them when we talked about Church the first time to come dressed in such a way that they feel comfortable, and it seems like they wanted to come a little more nicely dressed than what they had been able to bring along with them when they moved. They´re very humble, and I think they´re going to be the first complete family that I´ve baptized in my mission!

Asides from all that, I very much appreciated the fotos! I have so many adorable little sobrinitos! We have a nice "little" family and it makes me happy to see you all! And it seems a little odd still that Rondy´s so close! Hope it goes well!

And I´ll keep Caitlin in my prayers; I know that she´ll be ok as long as we have faith!

¡Os quiero!

Élder Andrew McClellan

January 30, 2012

¡Hola Familia!

Ok this week it´s going to be short, since I was trying to attach some photos but this computer has a old browser so I couldn´t attach and write at the same time (not sure why, but it´s pretty annoying) and so
I just had to cancel it so I had any time to write at all!

So congrats a Ryan and Rondy!!! He´s a cute little guy, and personally I think he looks more like Rondy; then again, all that can change very very quickly with little guys like him! He´ll be all nice and big when
I see him, so it´s up to Ryan and Rondy to teach him who I am!

The most important thing we did this week was baptize! Brisa Ponce de León was baptized on Saturday! I had the privilege of baptizing her, since she told us that she didn´t want to choose (I think she didn´t
want to offend or something like that) and my comp said that I was going to do it! She has a strong testimony of the Church and knows a lot, so that is really cool!

As far as speaking English, forget about it! My comp knows almost no English; so I get to try and teach him during language study! It´ll be fun trying to do that and everything!

As far as the work is going, we have enough investigadores that we tend to stick to teaching them. Alondra is going to be baptized the 11th! She knows the Church is true, we just have to teach her a little
slowly since she has a hard time paying attention sometimes (for being sleepy and only 13th :P ) We have some other pretty cool investigadores too, but they haven´t accepted fechas when we tried to
place them; we´re not sure why but we´re going to have to improve our invetación it looks like.

Well I have to go, sorry that it´s so short, but the computer was really being a pain in the neck...you´d think that I´d be able to attach and write at the same time, but apparently it doesn´t work so well when the browser is way older than the site!

¡Os quiero!

Élder Andrew McClellan