Week 050 - The Best Nativity I've Ever Seen

HEY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

Woah Woah Woah! It’s the holliest and jolliest week, am I right! Just one more week and Santa’s coming to town. Nice. 

We just had a pretty jolly week ourselves. On Thursday we had the Missionary Christmas Conference. So we headed our way over to Santa Fe, with anticipation for festivities! It was a great conference with some fantastic testimony, including a sister missionary who has been out on the mission for quite some time now. And I really appreciated her words. She said if there was anything she was going to testify about, it would be about Christ. And it was really a great testimony of Christ, which made way for the rest of the talks that were given after. I really do believe the words of John, when he said in Revelations that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And I want to make it clear that the most important testimony you can have is of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our mission president gave some great words about work in the mission field, and I am always appreciative of the words he gives because they seem to give answer when I need them. As missionaries we teach the plan of salvation to people, and President Perez challenged if we truly believed in that plan. Because if we believe in His plan, we know that Christ’s atonement is central to the plan, and that Christ came because there was going to be pain and hardship in the world. And so as missionaries if we have hardships, or pain, and if we have a testimony in Christ, then worrying about our pains shouldn’t be a problem, and we then focus on bringing others the remedy of Christ. It was very good. And I got a kick out of it when he said, "So if you’re hurting, should you keep working? Yes. Foot pain? Yes. Arm? Clearly. Back? Obviously. Head? Clearly yes! Of course get some medical attention, then get over it."

Then we listened to some words from the Area Seventy, and he was really focused on being a consecrated missionary. So I thought it was kind of funny when he said, "Your parents should call you Elder, and you should call your parents Hermano ‘something’. I have a daughter and she calls me Papi. She obviously has not figured out missionary work yet."

We ended the conference with a great meal; having an awesome chicken breast and some really weird mint flavored juice. I guess you can quench your thirst while having minty fresh breath. We had a great little gift exchange, where I got a super cool watch; gold with diamonds on the rim byy Michael Kors. And I met up with all the buds from Galvez, and the MTC fellas. So that was neat.

I love these conferences, because it totally becomes segregated with English white kids talking to each other, and the Spanish Latinos. So I thought… hey let’s reunite everyone with a great Spanish song. What’s a Spanish Christmas song I know? Obviously it’s time for some Jose Feliciano. Well… turns out all the white missionaries know "Feliz Navidad" and not a single Latino knows that song. Back to segregation. 

We had another pretty awesome Christmas party with the ward too. And the Hermanas kept bugging us about being in the nativity. So half the actors in the nativity were missionaries because none of the kids wanted to do it. So I got to be the roman soldier. NICE. But this was the best nativity I’ve ever seen. First off, it was in Spanish, but none of it was scripted from the bible, it was all made up dialog. For example, "Hey Mary, we should go find a bed to sleep in. It’s getting cold out. Are you cold?"- Jose, "Yes Jose, I’m very cold" - Mary. The best part is that at the end they wanted us to sing jingle bells. But we only knew how to sing it in English. So after Jesus was born and gifts given, we began to sing, "Dashing through the snow"...."jingle bells jingle bells." It was awesome. Apparently the Spanish version is completely different and talks about Christmas, but no one had any idea. So we just got tons of complements on how beautiful the song was at the end.

We have been showing this Christmas video the church made, with everyone we see in the streets, and everyone is just down to pull out their phones right in the middle of the street and start watching it. It’s super awesome because now people are just psyched for Jesus and get out and serve.

We´ve been teaching this awesome dude Ignacio and his wife. And Ignacio is totally into it all, he came to church, but was crazy nervous. We had got on the ward´s case last week about saying hi to the investigators and when Ignacio came, every person went nuts saying hi to him, it was pretty awesome. We had a really great lesson yesterday with him, where I felt the spirit pretty powerfully, and I hoped he did too because he was really up for the challenge of finding out if this is the true church.

I went to the apartment of the other missionaries and found the ensign with all the conference talks, which I hadn’t seen yet, so I got pretty pumped to read it, and I was reading for like 10 minutes until I realized that it was in English, that’s a plus. Apparently Elder Gardner’s mom sent it to him. So I enjoyed rereading some of the talks. Especially, Elder Ballard’s and Elder Cook´s. Elder Ballard talks about how there is no other path in this life except through Jesus and his church. And if we ever think that we can leave that path we have nowhere else to go.

Jesus is the subject guys, let’s get that through our heads. I love my savior and exemplar and leader. It’s a great time of the year.

I love you guys, and I can’t wait to talk to you on Christmas. Everything should be all good and set up. We are getting some laptops in the church building to use the church Wi-Fi. And we should be getting on about 3-4 o clock your time. 7 o clock my time. I’m making a Skype account right now and you should receive some kind of friend request or something.

Week 049 - We Found The "Apartment Complex"

I’m glad that the world outside of Santa Fe is getting pumped and decorated for Christmas, because Argentina is being very lame right now. But I guess that’s because America is so dang awesome. How Christmas works here apparently is that everyone parties all night Christmas Eve and once the clock strikes twelve, the fireworks go off, ball drops, everyone gets drunk, and sleeps in the next day. Kind of reminds me of something that happens 7 days after. Yeah… New Year’s. But hey guess what, they still do that too. So it’s pretty much celebrating New Year’s twice! Pretty great!

What a great time of the year though. I do not get to wake up to an elf on my shelf, but me and the other Elders talk about the good ole times with the elves that hang on the shelves. So that’s great! Elder Andrew and I have been talking about our favorite Christmas movies and it came to a unanimous 1. Christmas Vacation, 2. Christmas Story, 3. Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. The classic.

I’ve been showing people the church’s new Christmas video. Ever wondered where all the 90’s kids that flunked out of class went? They are down here. One lady is watching this video, and Jesus comes on and she says "Hey I think that’s Jesus."  Wow, thanks captain obvious, "Hey look, that’s San Pablo." Nope, that’s Jesus still. "Oh hey that’s San Juan." Nope, still Jesus. Man people crack me up here. But that’s a great video to share. Most people have the internet on their phones, and you can just watch it with people right on the street or in front of their house, and everyone gets pumped. Mostly because it’s about Jesus.

So we have a ton a people who are following along each day doing the church’s ideas for acts of service. If you haven’t seen already, they church has suggested acts of service for each day of the month of December. Super cool, and they made videos with it; but really they are just 20 sec ads.

I mentioned the other week that we have been finding a bunch of young couples who are interested in the church. It awesome, and most of them are part of the same family, because check this. A while back a mom and a dad decided they were going to have a lot of kids, and they should build an entire apartment complex, so they can all live with their grandchildren and stuff. We found that "apartment complex" and everyone there is just awesome. And totally down to receive the gospel. Pretty neat. One of the brothers really wanted us to come see his church and meet his pastor, so we had plans to come with him for like 5 minutes, but we ended up sitting through an entire prayer session in an evangelical church. Pretty neat. I enjoyed it, with people yelling Gloria to Jesus every 10 seconds. Also I left with a greater testimony of the apostasy.

There is a video that one of the missionaries’ girlfriends sent, and it’s a video of a large congregation of a black evangelical church and there is a man on the stand with a microphone yelling, "YOU WANT THE HOLY GHOST.....TAKE IT!" And he throws the Holy Ghost at certain parts of the crowd, knocking people over and going nutz. It’s pretty great. You should look it up.

Lately Elder Andrew and I have been on the topic of our future homes, and it’s been a pretty big dilemma whether or not you have a house with second floor or a basement. It was concluded that the second floor was more important because of the essential need of a zip line that goes from the second floor to the pool. It’s an economically friendly home with only the essential items.

Not a ton happened this week, but I am super pumped for Christmas, and am getting Skype all situated. This time everything should be all in order. By next Monday, I need your Skype username, and the time you guys will be in church. Because I’m thinking that we will Skype in the late afternoon my time, which would be during the afternoon your time.

I’m super pumped. I love you guys. Christmas is great.

Elder Greene

We have been taking runs to the river on Monday mornings. Like 7 kilometers. At least that’s what they tell me.

And we laid down a concrete floor for the Carbones

Week 048 - Lessons With Young Couples That Actually Give A Crap

Whoa. It’s totally Christmas time! Time to bring out the Frank Sinatra! At least we have, my leader de zone came over and he is from Paraguay and he couldn’t get enough of that stuff.

So I’ve heard Katie’s taken over my room now, nice bed huh, it’s the secret that none of you knew about, that I always had the most comfortable bed in the house.

We are going to have the hap hap happiest Christmas - Clark Griswold.

This week was fantastic, packed with tons of new investigators. It was awesome because we’ve been having so many lessons with young couples that actually give a crap. You know! Super awesome young families, who are all interested in the lessons and asks questions, and you can have a great conversation with. So I’ve been really thankful for that, because we’ve been having so many flojo investigators that I feel like I’m just talking to a brick wall. So it’s been a good week.

We had divisions this week with the zone leaders and I might have had the most awkward and funniest time of my mission, during this split with my zone leader. I guess he was on splits with some of the Assistants and with one of their investigators sang a hymn at the end, which is actually normal and really brings in the spirit. But my zone leader was so hyped about it that he no joke wanted to sing with every person we came in contact with. In one afternoon I sang hymns to 14 people. And first off I don’t have a good accent (I pull off a nice American accent cha ching), second this kid is really not known for his singing, and of course he knows that. We sang to my 17 year-old investigator Rodrigo, in front of his house, and Rodrigo was so funny because he just kept looking off into the road to see if anyone was coming.

Fun fact, Argentinians don’t know how to say no. It’s just not in their gene system. So when you ask a guy who is cutting his grass if you can sing him a song, he will always say yes, “but make it quick, my wife could come out of the house any second now". He totally said that. Anyways, it was good ole fun times. Good memories for the books.

So I think I’ve told you a lot of stories about drunk guys in my mission. It’s quite common, on the daily, and they usually come in twos. And I have made the conclusion that there is a fine relationship between two drunk guys in Argentina, and the two Canadian moose in the movie "brother bear". For example, “Hey, hey, how’s it going gringos. Ey you guys headin out to the town...ey, you bout killed that dog there you were walking so fast... ey. Bought myself a brewsky....ey. How bout ya come over here and give me a bible...ey.  Ey go on and get outta here you messenger gringo Yankees..............ey”. It’s practically the same.

I have also concluded my top Argentine excuses for not coming to church: 1. Birthday  2. Yesterday’s birthday  3. Family coming into town......at five. Got to love these kids right.

Have I ever told you guys about Bebe Gonzales? This guys is the champ of the ages. Right. this guy is a member, is practically homeless, loves the missionaries, doesn’t stop talking, and wears the same Canadian tuxedo every day. On the topic of Canadian tuxedo, was there a time when McDonalds workers were all pulling off the jean jacket, jeans hat, and jean look? Because I just went to McDonalds today, totally great, and they all pull it off here, and I can’t tell if it’s a new thing or the Argentines didn’t get the memo about the McCafe look. Who knows, thought I should put that one out there. Anyways Bebe Gonzales rents out a tiny garage to live in, and all it has is a bed. Totally nuts, but he just keeps kicking it and comes to church almost every Sunday. In the past 4 months he has had 8 heart attacks, and about 4 heart attacks ago they said he should be dead. Every time we pass by his place he is either at the hospital or coming back, but he still makes it to church. Dedication right there for all you slackers out there.

Yesterday we had one of the greatest testimony meetings I think I have ever been to. One of the great things about being in a ward out here in Argentina is that almost every person in the ward is a convert to the church, and each have a story. So yesterday Alturo Pui gave his testimony on missionary work because he leaves on a mission in two days. Awesome testimony about how important he thinks it is to answer the call to serve, even though his family is barely getting by. Anyways, after he gave his testimony it kind of sparked every member to bear their testimony and stories of how the missionaries came to their home, and how appreciative they are for the missionaries to give that message. And I really realized the importance of the message we bring to each of these family’s home. And there are so many that don’t accept it, but the ones who do, and act on it, receive the greatest reward, and it’s shown in these families, and it’s shown in their love for the gospel.

I especially appreciated Hermana Lincina’s testimony, because she gave a story that really touched me. About a three weeks ago the mission opened a new area in Entre Rios, and Hermana Lincina has a sister that lives there. The sister and her family a few years ago went to church with Hermana Lincina, and the sister and her family were touched, but they never had a church building closer than 3 hours away from their house, or something like that. And so the mission opened up in that town where the sister lives just a few weeks ago. Anyway, this family didn’t know that the mission opened up in their town, but just a few days ago Hermana Lincina’s sister saw the missionaries in the street and ran to them getting them to stop, falling into tears she asked them to come over to their house to teach them. She told this story and I just thought of the hope the gospel brings to people, and it also strengthened my testimony of what we do as missionaries. It is to gather the faithful and those prepared by the lord.

I so love the work that goes on, I love our heavenly father and the strength he gives in times of difficulty. He always seems to remind me why we are really here. And I’m thankful for that.

It’s such a great time of the year to be here, it should be fantastic summer, at least for me, my golden glow is coming along nicely.

Elder Greene

Week 047 - Is This Normal?

Hey Guys!

Though your thanksgiving looked "spectacular" ( I have an investigator that always says "spectacular"), I had a pretty great Thanksgiving as well, with a lot of gratitude, and good feasting in all. We had the old traditional Argentinean Thanksgiving; we decided to eat by ourselves with just the missionaries, because for reals guys... only Americans can pull off Thanksgiving. So we pulled out some real nice steaks with some, salads, and some potatoes, and bread, creamy corn shin digs, and of course the Pepsi.. It was real nice, and we talked about some real good Thanksgiving stories, and just regular stories, because there are only so many Thanksgiving stories. 

So everyone tells me that our new president is going to put up two walls, one in Mexico that is red, and one in Canada that is blue. My bishop here is pretty sure that it’s true. So I kinda want to get the real news on that. 

I’m starting to see that, according to the Argentinians, it’s ok to burn down whatever you want. For example, we went to do some service for a family in the ward, and what they have us doing (first of all… is totally ridiculous, right), is they wanted us to dig up piles of bricks that had been buried in their back yard, because I guess they once had a brick house back there, and they tore it down and thought it would be easier to bury all the bricks. Now they want it all out. But that’s not important right now. What’s important is while we were digging, the father of the house wanted a huge tree out of his back yard. So we are thinking of ideas of how to get rid of it, and while we are doing that, he has the idea to just burn it down, but he doesn’t just suggest the idea to us. No. He just comes back with a bunch of paper that he lights on fire to then burn down this tree. So now the problem isn’t that you have a tree in your back yard, but that you have a burning tree in your yard. So yeah, while we are digging all of this brick, there’s this forest fire going on behind us. Great.

Life goes on, and I’m on divisions with some other missionaries in Ayacucho, and weird stuff kind of goes on in Ayacucho, and so I’m asking my companion, “Hey is this normal?” And he’s all like, “Yeah, yeah.” Alright, we go to a future investigators house, and we clap our hands to get them to come out of their house. An old women comes out, but she comes out with a torch, right. Completely ignores us, and walks to her neighbors house and attempts to burn her neighbors house down. My companion turns to me and says "Yeah, that’s not normal." So we left. 

Anyways, what an awesome weekend we had here in Recreo. On Saturday, Alejo Nini was able to be baptized. Alejo is the brother of Kevin Nini. These kids are such champs. We had to schedule the baptism during siesta so his mom could see the baptism; so not a lot of people came. But it was a great experience for Alejo. And it was very emotional for Kevin. Kevin was able to share his testimony on baptism, and he gave an awesome testimony of how happy he is that he will be able to go to the celestial kingdom with his brother, and how he is waiting for his mom and his sisters to be baptized as well, so that they can be as happy as he is. These two brothers are some really cool kids. 

We showed the new church Christmas video, and if you guys haven’t seen it, it’s pretty awsome. My companion turns over to me during the video to say, "So I guess there’s a new iPhone then," and then looked at me with a smirk. It was kind of funny that he noticed that in the video. It is really great to be here during the holidays, even though it’s not as well celebrated here. But, we can always make it pretty great! 

I love you guys a ton, and I really do appreciate all your emails, its great!

Elder Greene

Week 046 - Recently I Have Met The Holy Ghost

Hey you kids!

Wowzers. A week with the Hatfields! I’m too jealous right now.

Sadly Argentinians are just not a thankful crowd, I tell people that Thanksgiving is coming up in America and they just reply, "You have a holiday for giving thanks?"  Yes, and you guys have a holiday for your grandchildren. We are planning on celebrating some thanks with a little bit of asado! So it should be a great Thanksgiving as well here in Argentina! 

Recently I have met the Holy Ghost... I was sitting in the bishop’s home, when a white old man came knocking at the door. He came to give a few concerns to the bishop, saying, “Bishop, I’ve come to talk to you about the Holy Ghost." And so the bishop is like, "Alright"... and the man goes off describing the Holy Ghost, giving clear and true doctrine. So the bishops says "alright, true true true.” Then he says "Bishop, everything I have described to you is exactly the person who I am... I AM THE HOLY GHOST!" Just like that. And so the bishop says that the Holy Ghost doesn’t have a body, and this old man did. And the old man really didn’t like what he was hearing and left, and did not come back to church. So we have not seen the Holy Ghost lately. All these old fellas are just going nuts.

I was walking down the street when another dude starts yelling at me across the street, telling us to come over, and we go over (we don’t miss opportunities like these). This guy asks, "You like to dance?" And he was all interested in how we dance. So the conversation goes on, and he explains that he like traditional dancing. He says, "I’m a man that moves with the wind and with nature. I run with the animals. I am sick of all these buildings." I was like what? "Yeah, the world isn’t supposed to build houses higher than two stories. Look at the United States. Look at China. Building towers!" Anyways, he showed me his "traditional dancing" and I was not impressed.

Later … it’s Friday night, and everyone knows the cool cats are out at Friday night. And everyone is hammered. Buenos Aires was playing soccer, and one guy was too pumped for the game. And my companion has a keychain for this team he likes. And this guy wanted this keychain so badly. We continue to have a conversation and my companion ends up giving this guy the keychain. This guy was insanely pumped. He took my companion´s hand with the firmest handshake, and would not let go. Then he took my hand and did the same. Then he put our hands together, into a pile of our hands, and then finally for like 2 minutes, was kissing the pile of hands with the key chain inside. Thanking Jesus and all. This guy was truly thankful in preparation for this upcoming Thanksgiving.

I had to make my way to Santa Fe for one night this week, and usually when you’re staying the night in Santa Fe, you meet a bunch of other Elders who are staying the night. And I see this one Elder sitting alone on the counter, just chillin. His name is Elder Lorash, and Elder Lorash has kind of a reputation in the mission. So I thought… how about I talk to Elder Lorash. I go up, sit on the counter, and say, "How’s it going Elder Lorash?" And it was almost like this kid knew I was coming, because he instantly turns his head over to me and says, "So it’s the first week in my mission, right. I don’t know Spanish or nothing. I could barely buy myself a hamburger. But I persevered, and found myself in a superstore. And I’m confused and I lose my companion, and only 10 seconds later I go around a corner and a man took me by the shoulders and kissed me right on the lips.... I ran for my life. That’s why I always stay with my companion." I had not even met this guy or asked him for his name, but I sure felt like I knew Elder Lorash.

So everyone right now is going nuts over some kind of cup flipping game. And apparently it was on some kind of music video in English. I don’t know if this is the same in America, but everyone is loving this cup flipping game. I heard the song, it’s not that great. But it comes with an ice cup flipping game.

So we are still working with and helping Pablo and Angelica get baptized. I don’t know if you remember Pablo and Angelica. They’re not the brightest people, but I know my fair share of "What About Bob" and Dr. Leo Marvin knows baby-steps is key. But this is an awesome couple, and they are really trying to understand the gospel, and you can see their understanding change as we teach them more and more. In December they are going to get married, and are planning on being baptized the day after. Really great people.

And Kevin’s brother, Alejo, is a total champ. He is working with Kevin every day to be ready to be baptized, which should happen this Saturday. These two kids are too great. And they have a bunch of cats that live in their room, because the girl cat just had like 7 babies.  But they don’t know who the dad is, because there’s like 3 other dude cats in the house.

But I love you guys and miss you, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, I am super thankful for having a family of champs!

Elder Greene

Week 045 - I May Stumble A Bit. But I Would Not Go Down.

Hey Family!

Hopefully you guys got my letter from last week, I sent it to Claire, and I should have sent notice that it was on her email. Don’t worry about sending your emails late, it just gave me some more reading for this week, and a ton has happened! For example, Katie told me the kids on Halloween didn’t want to take the Cow Tails. What’s wrong with kids today?

Every person in the street lets me know who won the election for President. But all they know is what they hear on the news, and that Donald Trump is a racist, and doesn’t want anyone coming into America. Most people agree with that around here. "Hey, Donald Trump is president. Good for you guys. We need someone like that to get these Brazilians out of here!” So the Argentinians are greatly excited. It’s funny how everyone outside of America knows America’s news, but I don’t recall even knowing Canadian news. Interesante!

Glad you guys could make it to Mexico.

I have been sitting at this computer for 50 min now, and the email has just opened. So I’m too pumped to tell you all about my fantastic week. Patience is key. This week, we were just hitting it off with new investigators and lessons. It was awesome!

I mean, if I got punched by Mike Ditka, I may stumble a bit. But I would not go down.

I started off the week with some divisions, with my main man, Elder Comar. Elder Comar, is a mini missionary from Parana. He’s one of those people from the other side of the river. He’s awesome though, because he got baptized 7 months ago, and has the firmest testimony, and is currently planning to go on a mission. We had a lesson with the brother of Kevin who is currently trying to get baptized, and it’s hilarious when you see these two brothers together in any church activity. Alejo (the brother of Kevin) pulled out his phone during Sunday school, and Kevin totally took it right out of his hands telling him to pay attention. Then Alejo asks to go to the bathroom, and Kevin says no, because they have to hear the whole lesson. The teacher ends up saying yes. So Alejo leaves, and Kevin watched him walk all the way down the hallway to make sure he was going to the bathroom.

Anyway, that’s just a few side stories.

Elder Comar and I are teaching them the plan of salvation, and Alejo doesn’t really understand what happened to Adam and Eve. So Elder Comar says, "Do you remember the Simpsons episode when what’s his face ate the fruit of the tree and they were naked?" Alejo - "Yeah." Elder Comar - "It happened exactly like that." I need to watch more Simpsons, because it seems that people here only understand things when it’s on the Simpsons!

By the way, there is a nice Donald Trump Simpsons special that just passed, and everyone is psyched out of their minds!

Check this… later that day we went to teach the plan of salvation to Isabel, and they live in just this hut with like 4 kids. And Isabel is a very quiet women and doesn’t know how to tell her kids no. Actually no one in Argentina knows how to do that. But we are teaching, and while we are teaching, their 6-year-old decides to start chucking this puppy on the ground. I start looking at Isabel, like… "You should probably shut down your kid." But no, instead the kid threw down the puppy one more time, totally breaking the puppy’s leg. It was horrible. The puppy just starts screaming. And then the 6-year-old joins the party, and then everyone is sad. Isabel looked over, shook her head in disappointment, and then looked back at us. So we just shut down the lesson from there.

But it was all good because the Chavez family made us some hamburgers after. Real nice! But not as nice as the dinner we had the next day, which included corn in every food item. Corn empanadas, corn pizza, and just plain corn. They liked corn a lot I figured.

The other day we had Brother Carbone come with us to a few lessons, and this guy is so funny because he literally talks the whole time. When we are in the car, on the way to the investigator, during the lessons, greeting people,… he is the real missionary. And he always makes sure to asks our investigators for an address of a family who might need missionaries, and also if they need some service! Brother Carbone is a real missionary, and has the best business ever. He said he didn’t really like school so he decided to make really nice brooms. So his family makes handmade brooms and dusters, and then sells them. He calls it an art. For reals, these are some nice brooms.

Oh my gosh… I almost forgot that we also had a record breast feeding fest at the Carbone’s this week. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but… people are pretty open about breast feeding here during lessons and stuff. So it happens at least once a day. But we were at the Carbones to give a little spiritual thought, and there are 4 couples that live in the Carbone home, and 3 have a new baby. And so when each daughter in law showed up with their baby, we knew what was about to go down. But you know, it’s the norm around here. What can you do?

Anyways I love you guys so much! You are too great. And Mom, I hope you make me a nice pair of wool pants by the time I get back!

Elder Greene

Week 044 - You Can Continue What You Were Saying

Sounds like you are too busy, and totally having the best time ever! I am so jealous that you are going to have Thanksgiving in Arizona, probably with all the cousins. Did you know that there is no Thanksgiving here in Argentina? I guess they are not a super thankful people, because it’s really nice for everyone to give thanks one day throughout the year.

I had an awesome week. We had a new missionary join us in Recreo. But he’s actually not a real missionary, just a fake one in disguise. He lives like 30 minutes east. But he is a really cool guy, and cooks really bad. But we will not tell him that because he thinks he’s a champ.

The President of the mission called us and said that he was going to be in Recreo with his wife, and he wanted to have lunch with us. So we had lunch with the President. He is the man, so we found the best restaurant in town, and the only one that is open during siesta, and we had lunch with the Prez. But check this… it was the worst food ever. No one said anything at lunch, but after we all came into agreement that the food was very poor. But it was a great time. And we got to know the President a little bit more. And he is the chilliest guy. Who loves fishing. Like really loves fishing. We had a 30 min conversation about how he fishes, and the types of fish he likes, and how Argentina has the worst fish, and Chile has the best. All that kind of stuff. I asked him if he could act out the way he fishes… and he did. It was a pretty good cast, and I approved.

After lunch he came to our apartment, and he and his wife gave us a fantastic lesson on having faith in Christ. And I really appreciated it, because it helped me to think more about my faith in Christ, and what I am doing to act on it. There are a lot of times when the mission really gets you down. And I realized that the sadness and hardships that we have, were already paid by the blood of Christ. And it’s not really fair of me to really put myself down, because Christ sacrificed himself so we could be happy. So it’s okay to be sad for 5 minutes, but after that, it’s time to move on and be happy. And that’s the importance of having faith in Christ at all times, because I know everything is going to be alright. That’s my little spiritual thought.

The day before we met with the President, we were wearing these Halloween ties, because it was Halloween, obviously. And it was really funny, because people know about Halloween because they have seen the movies, but they don’t really celebrate. So people get a kick out of two Americans with their Halloween ties. And we got a lot of contacts doing that. For example, we were walking down the street when we hear this guy at a mechanic shop screaming, "Hey. Hey Hey! Que combat ey!" (Hey, what a tie!) And he makes us come over, and he checks it out, and shows it to all of his mechanic friends, and we end up getting 5 different addresses and numbers from random dudes we just met.

We visited one of them. Although it’s hard to find them, because they are always working in the shop. The one we visited was not home, but his father was. And his father´s name is Cantero. And so we teach Cantero and his wife about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we make it all the way until the Book of Mormon. So we have just taught them about Joseph Smith, when he stops me and tells us a story about how he was having a bunch of stomach and heart problems, and he went to the doctor, and the doctor gave him some pills to take. He started taking the pills, and he had to go to the bathroom really bad. So much that he couldn’t even make it to the bathroom. So what happened was… he didn’t end up pooping his pants, but it was just a ton of blood all over his pants. So he stopped taking the crazy pills, and he felt all better. And he knows that god stopped him from bleeding so much. And he goes on this rant for like 20 minutes, and then he says "Okay, you can continue what you were saying." So that is Cantero for ya. And he is one of our newest investigators.

So check this… you know how the ward went to the temple recently. We learned that Olga, one of the newest members, made it to the temple as well. But when she showed up with her recommend, they couldn’t let her in, because “she didn’t have the priesthood.” Temple workers hadn’t seen her yet, because I guess bishop was helping scan all the recommends. So everyone was confused out of their minds. But it was all good, because they made a few calls, and something weird happened in the system. 

On Saturday, Horacio was able to be baptized, it was super awesome and he was super happy, especially because his family all came to the baptism, and it was their first time in the chapel. It was super great, and Hermano Lincina, a member who we were visiting with Horacio, baptized him. And it was a super cool experience for all of the Lencina family. The Lencina family are totally cool, and like the most active family in the ward. They have 2 returned missionaries in the family, and one other that is on a mission right now. 

We had a super success on Saturday night too. We had another activity. A night of empanadas, with some capture the flag. It seems like the only way to get members and investigators to activities, is through the food. So it was a great activity, with a ton of investigators, and we got the members to bring like over 300 empanadas! Super great! Recreo is great!

I am in Esparanza right now because we are about to play some sand volleyball with the district. So I’ll send you guys some pics next week!

I love you and miss you! And have an awesome week!

Week 043 - A Will And Strength For The Service Of God

Hey Fam!

Happy Halloween! Wow. So many good times in the Greene Family! You guys are awesome! I brag about you guys all the time here as well.

Well, it’s been a great week in Recreo. We added a new member to the team, Elder Gardner. So we are now a white, Yankee trio! Elder Gardner actually came with us from the MTC as well, so it was no big news to me answering, “Who is Elder Gardner?” So you could say the Gangs all here.

It was an awesome week that started with a little pizza party with Olga. She’s a recent convert and she made us pizza. She actually got to go to the temple this week. In fact, the whole dang crew of Recreo went in a huge double decker bus. After shmoozin the missionaries of so much cash for churros, everyone was able to go, and they all shared their testimonies this last Sunday. It was super awesome.

Especially this kid Kevin who got baptized a couple months ago. Actually this kid is too awesome, right... he is 15 years old, and he gets baptized, and he lives like 50 min walking to the church, and he comes to church every Sunday on his own, 15 minutes before anything starts, and he will show up to any activity, because he wants to get out of the house so badly. He’s really bugged by his stepdad, so he’ll always be asking, “what’s happening this week?” If it’s games, service, church, or even indexing, he’s there. Or to come to lessons with us, he is so there. But anyways, he went to the temple and gives the sickest testimony ever about how he didn’t really have a ton of interest to go to the temple, but when he did, it was one of the greatest experiences of his life, and he doesn’t want to come to church just to get away from his stepdad, but because he wants to. It was a cool sacrament meeting.

The day before, we had to go to Santa Fe, for a missionary youth activity, where we were partnered up with a mini missionary for a couple hours contacting and such. I got put with this kid Kevin. A different Kevin. Because for some reason, Kevin was like the number 1 name of the year 2000. Anyways, they decide to send us out during siesta, and there’s a reason you don’t contact during siesta, because you become the most hated person in all of Argentina. I think Kevin was pretty freaked out by the whole experience, by the huge number of doors slammed in our face, by angry old men! It was awesome!

And then they had a fireside afterwards, and the stake president, who is such a capo by the way, gave a talk about how missionary work is such a miracle, and the sacrifices that are made, and how we are called, and we should answer that call and not leave it hanging. But not with an attitude lacking faith, but with a will and strength for the service of god. Pretty neat, right? I got some good alone time with ye ole President Perez, and finally got to ask if we can start listening to Enya. He agreed. So we are all in the clear to listen to Enya, VAMOS.

We found the dankest churro pan place this week. For those that are not ahead of the game, churri pan is like a way good brat sandwich with chimi churri. And man these guys go hard on the churri pan. And it’s like a buck a sandwich. They just got a new Amador so I guess business is doing well.

Last night we had an awesome experience. We had no plans, because literally there was no one letting us in, and we figured we would go to a family who has been inactive for a while, and have not let anything/anyone that dealt with the church get in contact with them. So we went over and the dad instantly invited us in, and this is the first time I had met this family, and they said they were about to have a family home evening, and that we should join them. So we did. And we gave a message about doing the little things, like reading the scriptures and praying, and they said they had forgotten these things, and they had lost the spirit in their lives. He recognized that he had once had the spirit, and it was lost from their lives, and they had the desire to get it back. And so they invited us back. They are really cool, and have two little girls that love my little pony and those chick Legos that are like pink and white and stuff. It kind of reminded me of Claire. But yeah, it was great.

I love you guys and hope you have the greatest of Halloweens! I sure will!

Elder Greene

El Pibe de Texas

Week 042 - Look, It’s A Chinito Negrito

Hi Guys! 

I’m loving it. That is a car. Too fresh! I’m sure it will be a car full of a lifetime of good memories! 

And man Katie did you show them what’s up at homecoming! Katie you were looking pretty fresh and I bet your running man was pretty fresh as well … all night. That’s the only way to kill the dance floor. 

You guys and your American music … I’ve slowly developed to like Spanish music, I hear it too much. There’s very few moments on my mission where I’m not listening to Latino music. For reals, people here keep these huge sound systems in their house, and at every block someone is blasting something. It’s pretty sweet. Parties every day. What more can you ask for. But it’s annoying sometime when you’re teaching lessons (because we usually teach lessons outside). 

It has been a great week here. The sun is coming out, and so is the HEAT! It’s pretty good though. I’ll have the dankest farmers tan by next winter! I’ve needed some of that vitamin D. 

Check this, I’ve been learning some serious brick work lately. Lalo has been needing some help on his house, so we’ve been helping him out. So if you didn’t know, pretty much every house here is made of brick and cement. No one is too worried about a natural disaster coming. But yeah, we went to work, and slabbed down like a hundred bricks on his new asador and his roof. This is how they get the bricks on the roof - you get someone on the roof and you chuck three bricks up at a time. So hopefully the person up top can catch bricks. It’s awesome. 

After we worked. Lalo made us some fish pizza. I’ve never heard of this before, but its grilled fish, and then you put some dang good pizza sauce and cheese on top. You should try it sometime. FISH PIZZA IS LIFE. 

We were also able to eat with family Chavez again. We are working with them on having a family home evening. So this week we should have a good one with family Chavez, and the husband should prepare something nice, and with dinner. Their kid Joaquin is so funny - he was at the super market and he saw a little black Asian, and he was going nutz about the "Chinito Negrito" all day. "Mama, look, it’s a Chinito Negrito!" He was so pumped. 

We’ve been traveling a lot, because there are supposed to be two other Elders in Recreo but they had to leave for an emergency. So we’ve been taking the bus almost every day to get to the other side of Recreo and visit the investigators of the other missionaries. Including the Gonzalez family kids; we are just teaching the kids of this family because the parents don’t really care about anything. But there are like 7 kids and they are all totally nutz. They love going to church and to all the activities, but man, to have a lesson with them is totally nutz. Especially with the youngest girl; she’ll just randomly show up and scream in my face during a lesson. But not only the lessons with her family; we were a couple houses down in another lesson with Horacio, when randomly the same girl shows up, stands in front of us, and just yells nonsense and leaves. It happens. 

But Horacio is just the nicest guy, and loves showing us his flowers all the time.

We brought this guy Manuel to church. He’s actually a less active guy that we just found knocking doors. We’ve only talked to him, and taught him, and while in class he shares with us, “I should probably bring my 13 kids to church as well, they are all baptized too." Good idea Manuel. 13 kids! They don’t own a car, but they own a horse carriage. So maybe they will show up in a horse carriage next Sunday with 15 people! 

Horse carriages are so common in Santa Fe, that in the actually city there are horse carriage traffic signs. I love it. 

We had to make a trip to Santa Fe today, and we thought, "Hey, why not stop at the old McDonald’s?" So we went and each got a Big Mac Grande. It gave us a bit of home for p-day. So that was fun and awesome. 

People lately have been asking me what kind of food Americans eat, and I realize there is not a lot of specialty food that America has, because it’s just food from other countries. The only thing I can think of is barbeque. So you have to let me know if there is anything else. But we made some barbeque chicken empanadas the other day with a family and they said it was some of the best empanadas they have ever had. So I guess America does it well with the barbeque. 

I love you guys. It was another great week on the mission! It really is super great. I miss you guys. Have another great week, and thumbs up Dad (the big kahuna) for just doing great at ExxonMobil. People ask me what my dad does for work and I tell them the truth. My day sells the best oil around!

P.S.  In the future, if you guys are ever sending packages to me - we are not allowed to receive packages, and the church will not take them. But cards are totally cool.

Elder Greene!

Week 041 - A Fantastic Foursome Of Investigators

Coolest chaps around - how are you guys? 

What a trip Katie had. One on one time with grandma and grandpa Greene, thats pretty neat! 

And I’m sorry that the search for a car is not going at its best, but mom, you can’t just ditch out on the search when dad gets fired up on all the car salesmen. You guys want to know how people sell cars here? They just put a water bottle on top of the car. It’s a sign that they are selling the car. My comp taught me that, and I thought it was a lie, until I past an actual car dealership and there were water bottles on top of all the cars that were being sold. And when I was walking with Hermano Pujol, when we saw a car with the bottle, he said “Oh... they are selling their car.” Awesome. 

It's been a fantastic week in Recreo. The weather is getting hot, but not too hot. But that just means everyone gets out their mate and chills all day in front of their house with huge stereo systems. 

So I’ve noticed my diet has increased from good to spectacular, which includes empanadas, french fries, hamburgers, pizza, and fried breaded chicken (milanesas). Fried foods are usually the meal with the missionaries, especially milanesas! 

On Saturday we put on an activity with the ward, and it was awesome. Apparently it was the best turnout this ward has ever had. It was pizza night with a little bit of volleyball and pingpong. So we were down to play some good volleyball, but we ended up having no time, because we spent the whole time making pizzas. About 60 people showed up, and 20 of them were investigators of the church. Awesome! We planned it so the members would each bring a pizza, including us. We brought stuff to make pizza, and in the end, one other person brought pizza. So, within like 2 hours, me and Elder Andrew, with the help of another member, made 20 pizzas. It was awesome!  Everyone had some good times, and at the end we brought out the pizzas. We had an activity planned for after pizza, but more came then we thought would come, so we decided to do something where I was blindfolded and  everyone had placed a bunch of chairs and tables in a path from one door to the other, and Elder Andrew was guiding me with his voice while everyone else was yelling and telling me different direction. It was a blast for the ward, and we were able to share a good message, and our testimony on the guidance of the spirit. 

I was asked to give a talk the next day, and I told a story about an old lady. But instead of saying señorita or señora, which would of been the right word to say “old lady”, i was saying vieja, which is kind of like saying "oldy". So everyone got a kick out of that, and it got brought up to me after at least 20 times by different people. 

So when people ask me where I’m from, I usually say that I’m from Texas. But I think the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie has shown up recently on tv, because everyone that I tell I’m from Texas say, "Like the Texas chainsaw massacre." I think the movie says that it is based off a true story, so everyone here thinks its real. Now when people tell you, "Remember the Alamo!” You say, no, "Remember the Texas chainsaw massacre!” 

I’ve eaten so many churros this week, because the ward is trying to go to the temple, and every family is raising money for the trip. But everyone has the same stinkin idea to sell churros, and the first people they go to are the missionaries. So we’ve been helping out and buying churros, about 50 in fact. 

This week was a fantastic foursome of investigators. 

Especially Kevin. He is an 11 year old that wants to be baptized, and is going to be baptized this Saturday. His mom has a girlfriend, so we are giving some good talks. But they are awesome because kevin´s mom is leaning towards ending the relationship, with the understanding of the plan of salvation, and the importance of Jesus Christ in her life, and her family's. 

Another good man, Horacio, who has been working with the missionaries for quite some time, would like to be baptized as well. At first he didn’t want to, because his family was not going to join as well. But we shared the importance of the role the father has in the family, and he liked that, and wants to be that role model. He’s got quite the garden, and he loves showing us all his flowers. He especially likes the Bonsai! He’s great. 

There is also a family that would like to be baptized. The parents are great and share cousins of a family of members. But they are not the brightest. They are a bit difficult to teach because of it. But they are really trying to learn. We spent 3 separate hours on the restoration. But we think that when they start to read on their own from the Book of Mormon, they will start to grasp a greater knowledge of the gospel, and the wisdom of the church. I saw that as a definite effect in the life of Donato Rodriguez. 

We were invited to the house of the Carbones for a family home evening. This is their first ever family home evening, and just about a month ago, the mom, dad, and son and daughter-in-law were reactivated into the church. And the father is working on his other sons and daughter-in-law. They all live in Carbone cit (a house with 4 other married couples), but brother Carbone has been trying for weeks to have this activity with his family all together, and he was able to do it on Thursday. We all sat down at the table, sang a hymn, said a prayer, and brother Carbone shared a great message of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. He had prepared it all week, and at times it got a little loud with the kids, but when he shared his story and testimony that he had received through prayer and scripture reading, there was a great power in the room that no one could deny. It was really great, and I was happy to be there, because it reminded me of the FHEs our family would have, and the heart felt testimony Dad would give to us in these meetings as a family. So it was a good time and most of the family went to church that next Sunday. 

We recently moved apartments (like today) because originally the Hermanas received a really nice new apartment. But apparently it’s a little dangerous in that location of the neighborhood. So they had us move into it. But it turns out there is only one neighbor, and he´s gay, so yeah, we´ll watch out. 

I love you guys, miss you, and I’m glad that all is good in Houston Texas. 

It was Mother’s Day in Argentina yesterday. So happy Mothers Day Mom. Apparently Animal Day is coming up too, and we´ll have to prepare for that!

Elder Greene

Week 040 - We Are Putting The Puzzle Back Together

Hey Capos!

How goes it! Man you guys are awesome! Super spiritualized with fasting and temple work, I’m super glad to hear that Marlowe and the rest of the family are doing alright! And that you guys are doing great!

Recreo is the bees of knees. I almost forgot what normal was while I was in Galvez, for reals. I love Galvez but there are so many weird people there, and in Recreo I’ve met a ton of super cool families.

I met Olga and her family. Her daughter was visiting from Rosario and we were able to teach them about faith. Olga was recently baptized and she was very excited when we came over. Now when her daughter is in Rosario she can have the confidence to talk to the missionaries there.

Later I met the family Brito (burrito) and we were able to talk to them about the plan of salvation, especially after this last conference. And the father expressed some super cool feeling about the fact that this is the only church with all of this plan, and is the only path where he can have the most happiness with all of his family forever. That seems like what really is god’s plan for him and his family. 

Later we met Monica and her super funny kids that are totally down to do our laundry. So my clothes finally got a full wash in a washing machine! This family is totally sassy but they were recently converted and have plans for going to the temple and we were able to show them the Mormon message on temples. If you haven’t seen this video, it is super cool and called “Temples Are A Beacon," and President Monson talks about how there is no sacrifice too big to receive the blessings of the temple.

We have a family of investigators, mostly the son Kevin is interested in the church, and he has come a few times. But we’ve been teaching them all. The other son has a huge drug problem, and he is totally fried, and not there, and can’t sit still or anything. So we gave him a blessing, later we came back and taught the plan of salvation, and they knew this plan was true, because since that blessing, her son has not taken any kind of drug since. And for the first time in a long time, he has been able to sit down and have a conversation with his mom. That was a huge testimony builder on this family, of the reality of priesthood power.

Check it… we have been getting lunches and dinners all over the place. And they are way good. The family Villagrez invited us over for lunch, and this family is nutz at lunch time. Once 12PM hits, everyone gets back from work, and everyone is about 20 years old or more with wives and babies, and they eat lunch together every day. So we show up at this house for lunch and we are waiting to eat with the parents, when… boom! This huge crowd of Villagrez comes in just going nutz with the Millanessas! It’s totally fun, because one is a cop, another is an artist. One loves twilight, another loves making fun of everyone, and they are totally cool.

Also the family Chavez feeds us too, they are not members, but they kind of feel like they are, except for the fact they are not baptized and never come to church. But they make good food. They made us some kind of crepe enchilada. It was crepes filed with spinach, covered in some kind of chicken sauce. They are super cool with a bunch of younger kids that love scary movies, especially Chucky. They think Chucky is a great movie. Especially Joaquin. He´s like 6 years old. Elder Andrew tried bringing up Lord of the Rings and they made fun of him hard core. Saying, “What, do you like Harry Potter too?" Then we just had a long conversation on the crazy fanatics of Lord of the Rings and such.

I had some really legit asado the other day. Our lunch fell through on Friday so we just put out a mass group text to the ward saying whoever can answer first can eat asado with the missionaries, we´ll bring the meat and they’ll cook it. That gets the old Argentinian guys every time! So we ate with Lalo. He’s a champ and kills it with the asado. And he made us some salad and bread also. It was so much meat though, because we showed up and he was like "no way that’s not enough!" And he went and bought another kilo and a half more of meat. Son we had already bought a kilo. It was good times with Lalo.

Church was awesome because there were like 89 people there. Apparently there is only like 50 most Sundays, but a huge combination of menos activos and investigators showed up. So church was pretty cool. It’s totally a legit chapel. And it was a great testimony meeting, and I really appreciated Lalo´s testimony when he said that this could only be the church of Jesus Christ because it is the only church that can clean us from sin, because it is the lord’s church. It reminded me of that talk that Elder Ballard gave at conference that I really like, where he explains, "Where will you go?" If you leave the church of Jesus Christ. It’s only through the Church of Jesus Christ that you can completely be healed of all pains and receive all the blessings he´s laid before us. It’s true though, where would you go if you left the Church of Jesus Christ?

After church the bishop invited us over for lunch with all of his family and extended family. It was a crazy lunch also because at the end of every lunch they have mandarins. And apparently it’s a thing for the family members to save up their mandarin peels, then randomly at the table the bishop will start throwing mandarin peels, and it turns into a giant mandarin peel fight. I had no idea and I totally had a disadvantage. Elder Andrew says they do it every time they have lunch with them. It’s just a thing they do.

The bishop is hilarious. He knows a little English, and you know that the missionaries taught him, because he says some things he probably shouldn’t say. But he loves it.

So far Recreo is awesome, it’s another campo town, and campo towns are awesome because you still get those crazy people and good times.

I love you guys. The work is too awesome. We are putting the puzzle back together. It’s fantastic!

Elder Greene

Week 039 - They Fired Me And Sent Me To Recreo

Hey you kids!

Wow, that’s a fantastic trip with the Bronco! It has already lasted a lot longer with you so far than with me. I don’t remember taking any kind of part out of the car.  All the parts, including suspension springs, were left in the Bronco. Those crazy car shop fellas are always taking our stuff. But great road trip. Sorry you had to do it alone. And I’m also loving the big truck hat in the bronco pic. Vamos!

You can tell Christian Linford, I wish I was there to see the great jump. That kid is too cool.

Check this! I’m totally not in Galves. They fired me, and sent me to Recreo, another farmer town. President said, “Dog, you’re going to love this place, because it’s just like Galvez, but with a ward." Yesss! It was sad to say goodbyes to the old Galvezese! And I received little notice. We were told Friday afternoon, and we had to leave that night for Santa Fe, to watch general conference the next day. So I was not able to find Donato. But I did leave him note. I was able to say goodbye to Mirta, Ebelia, Hermano Pujol, Dario, and Brian the mechanic, The "MI CASA" Lady, she owns the hamburger pizza restaurant called "Mi Casa". I’ll have to take you there sometime.

But now I’m in Recreo. And there is a ward here, with like 50 members… Awesome! My companion is Elder Andrew. He’s from Tustin California. Such a capo! And so far it’s been great. We showed up last night with three hours left in the day, and we had two lesson, without any planning, and one was with a member. Awesome.

And apparently we get fed every day. Whattttt! And the feasting has already started. We went to the parents of the stake president’s home. They feed the missionaries every Tuesday, and they don’t even eat with us. They just make a ton of food for us and eat in the other room. I think they have the missionaries over so much and they know the missionaries just run out of talking about a lo of things. So anyway, Recreo is awesome.

The place we are staying is like a house, with a garage, but we don’t have a car, so it’s just a giant shoe room. Cool.

Man, wasn’t conference awesome. I totally agree mom. And I really appreciated Elder Nelson's talk, as well as the others. There was a great theme in the plan of salvation, as well as getting your testimony of Jesus in check, and looking beyond the mark. The testimony of Jesus is essential for exaltation, and that testimony needs to be on point. We can find that testimony through our testimony of the Book of Mormon, which is the truest of all books, and a testament of Jesus Christ in itself. I did really appreciate the talks given, and I am excited to look back upon them later, once I can. But man how great the knowledge is that we have of the plan of salvation. There’s a lot of joy in that, and a lot of joy when we share it. Because that’s big news that a lot of people don’t know about. And once they know it, it totally changes their perspective on everything.

Man things are good right now. For you guys it’s cooling down, but here it’s heating up. It’s already started, but it’s all good. I’m in a new cyber right now and they have Phil Collins playing, so we’ll see, it should be a good week.

One lame thing about Recreo is that there is no Pablo, and now who’s going to go around asking me for change or see if he can get some gum (smokes).

I love you guys, for reals. No jokes around here. And I’m glad Katie is still killing the cello! It was a great weekend in the Church of Jesus Christ!

Elder Greene

Also Dario and Family Romero are doing awesome and are on their war to being baptized! We’ll here more on that in the future! You guys are great!

In front of the Galvez chapel

Donato's garden (we found it!!)

Mi Casa

Familia Pujol

Hermano Pujol (aka future missionary) Elder Robles…Capo

Train tracks

Shoe room

 

Week 038 - My House Is Blessed, Therefore Everything In It Is blessed!

What is up family!

That looked like a serious exciting week for the Greene Fam! I love the pictures you guys sent, especially Mom´s sassy poses.

The Elders next to me are surprised that they are making another Transformers movie. But check it, they are going to keep making them if everyone is going to keep seeing them. Elder Hill believes we should go on strike and take a stance. A little fight to the man!

I love that story grandpa told, of his return after his mission, really neat. England is really neat. They lost America, but they still have Malvinas. That’s what the Falkland Islands are called here, Argentina still thinks they own them. No joke that comes up in almost all of our lessons. "You guys from England?"- “Nope. America” - “Same thing. You guys are always trying to take Malvinas from us!" – “I’m sorry.”

We were talking to this man yesterday that knew history on all the presidents of the United States. I was very impressed. His name is Herwin Guadagnoli, and he was getting into a fight with his wife, on whether or not the United States has the death penalty. It was a great moment to be Texan and say, "Yes we do. And guns.” They are a great family and we were able to teach the restoration of the gospel with them, but they really like to focus on "oh yeah, we believe that too.” Well let me get to the best part about Joseph Smith, before you cut me off to say the same thing! They are awesome.

We were contacting houses... the usual. Then we found Johnny; and Johnny is wack. Somehow we got into a three hour lesson. We were just talking to him and he would ask, "You got to stay over for dinner"- "You got to stay for ice cream"- "You got to wait for my kids to come home"- So yeah, we were there for a long time. But this guy is telling us stories with his wife, of when he worked for this special type of police force and had to cut off some guy’s fingers. That doesn’t sound like the police to me, but whatever. I asked, “Should we bless the food.” He laughed and said, “My house is blessed, therefore everything in it is blessed!” That makes sense to me.

So I realized something the other day, I haven’t seen the Witch Lady in two weeks, which is kind of weird, because she is usually around doing witch stuff. Then I realized two weeks ago was when she yelled at us saying, “With my powers, I’m going to take out mackery" (the president).” So I guess that is her mission, and we should see some more of that on the news soon.

This week we were able to see the Romeros again, and they are too cool. They are the type of people who when the Lord asks, they will do it. We are laying down the commandments of the Lord, and they agree in seconds. Why? Because it’s the way of the Lord.

Today we had special P-day. I guess that’s a thing, and it’s my first one. I guess we never go to them because Galvez is so far away from our district. So we got to go today, because we have a zone conference tomorrow.

Anyway… I have to make this email quick because we have a short supply of computers and the cybers are closed today. But it was a fantastic week, and I love you guys, and I’m about send some sweet pictures, because I realized you don’t really know a lot of the faces of people who I talk to.

Elder Greene

With Donato

Ebelia keeps making us fix stuff, and this time she said, "here fix my TV wires" ... easy.

Mirta and Nelda (left)

Electra