Jan 30, 2107

Hey, from the words of President Robertson, we no longer live under the law of Moses but the law of Jesus Christ haha.  I don’t know if you guys heard, but they changed the mission schedule and its super different.  We get an extra 2.5 hours for p-day, plus we are given a lot more time in the morning and a nigh to relax.  I’m sure you can check it out on the church website. If you look there are some missions that wake up at 7:30!!!! Crazy stuff. They also changed around some of our key indicators.  It was a pretty sweet broadcast, I’m not sure if you guys are able to watch it but everything Elder Bednar said - he just killed it!  I wrote down like 5 pages of stuff from it.   It was actually really great.

This week again was pretty fast we are finding a lot more people but everything seems to slows down right after new year’s and Christmas; not sure why.  Today we went to a pizza place, which has all you can eat pizza for 85 pesos and its goooooood too.  There’s a record in the mission and our zone leader holds it with 22 pieces of pizza hahah crazy eh.  I had like 7 and felt like dying.   Nothing really new, I mentioned our new district leader Elder Cortez, he’s pretty funny.  I miss Elder Salmon though, I learned a lot of great things from him.  I also forgot to mention that his grandpa is President Salmon from our old stake presidency.  It’s still super-hot here, its 35 degrees all day.....missing the mountains hahaha, but its supposed to rain all this week so can’t wait (not being sarcastic seriously it cools down a bunch) other than that it’s still the best of times in Los Pinos.  We might have a baptism in the later month will see!

Love you - Elder Maller  

Jan 23, 2017

Jan 23, 2017 - Hey, Things are going good in the Los Pinos ward.  The work is going slowish right now.  We got a ton of eternal investigators that we just can’t seem to baptize, so right now we are focusing a lot on finding new people.  We have found some awesome people, so were working with them and we could hopefully have a few baptisms in February; but we’ll see.  I’ve learned a lot about this area and it’s kinda nuts.  There’s a lot of bondistas (people who worship the devil) and bondista temples.  I never knew about that before and the scarey part is when we go contacting, cause it’s hard to tell who they are, but there’s a bunch.  Everybody here either knows one or is related to one hahah, oh well.

The ankle is getting much better, I sent a photo of how its doing.  It’s just pretty bruised and a little bit swollen but not much.  I wish I took a photo of it initially, it was soooo bad but its good now.  Today is the best.  We found a new Wendy’s restaurant in Ramos wooooo hoooo!! It tastes just like home, but the ice-cream is waaayyy better and super cheap.  The weather is awful, it’s just soooo hot.  The other day it was 35 degrees at 9 o’clock at night.  In a week or so were moving apartments to this brand new one that a member just built and it has AC!!!!!  It’s cheap to, it’s like 4000 pesos a month.  This member who built the complex, it cost him about 45,000 dollars to build 3 apartments and 1 penthouse!! Seriously, living here is super cheap I’m kinda starting to think about staying here for school cause that’s also free idk.  Anyways how is home and the ward? It’s hard to believe that they created our ward like almost a year ago.

luv ya’ll - Elder Maller  

Jan 16, 2017

Well this was just the most unlucky week of my life I think hahah.  It all started last Monday when the power went out because of a huge wind storm that hit us and blew over 6 electrical poles like a block away from our pench (apartment). So the power was out for two days and on the second night we got permission to spend the night with the other Elders, unfortunately they got locked out of their pench (apartment) so they had to call the office Elders to get the spare kays and it was just awful we didn’t get to bed till like almost 12.  We still decided that we would go play soccer in the morning, which we did, and as I was walking, and idk how it happened, but I stepped wrong and sprained my ankle really bad, like never this bad before.  I think it was because my calf’s got so tight because we just started running in the morning, which was the first time running since being home and I think I’m actually starting to gain some weight.  Anyways it was soooo bad that my toes got swollen and a couldn’t wiggle them.  In the beginning they even though I would have to go home and that was the worst to hear, I wanted to cry.  So that day was hard, I had nothing else to do so I just prayed all day and most of the next day and now I’m able to walk on it with a air-boot.  I should be able to work a bit tomorrow.  They say that I should be good by end of next week so that has been quite a miracle.  I didn’t think I’d be able to walk on it for a while and I’ll be staying in the mission if all continues to go well.  Oh and they shut off our water that day too, but we got it fixed so everything is mostly back to normal.  In a few weeks were moving penchs (apartments) to a brand new one with AC, soooooooo happy about that.  We also had transfers today and me and Elder Udall are still together, so no changes for us.  All is well, we have a Columbian family that is progressing very well.   There whole family came to church and we did a family home evening with them and another group of members. It’s still stinking hot here and the humidity is wrecking our books, like all our planners are wavy, is pretty funny.   Love y’all cha chooooooow

Jan 9, 2017

Wow, this week just flew by I don’t remember much of last week cause were in the grind.  Transfers are next week so we have been working hard with some of our long-term investigators.  Last week I almost got chewed out by a dog; a big one to.  I was on divisions with Elder Mayorga, he’s a short Mexican, so he walked by the dog and nothing - no response, I walk by the dog and it got crazy, it showed its teeth and just started barking like soooo loud.  I pretty much froze, I didn’t really move until I just started kinda walking away.  Elder Mayorga was like “man you are seriously lucky cause that dog could have like maimed you, like really bad”.  Other than that things are pretty good, I can see the spirit guiding us every day.  Things are coming along with the language, which is getting better every week almost every day.  It’s now about getting faster and speaking more smoothly but I have no problems understanding my companion.  Some people I can understand almost completely.  So right now the focus is about feeling more confident, so if there’s anything you wanna pray for specifically, there you go.  Love you guys, Elder Maller 

Jan 2, 2017

Jan 2, 2017 - Feliz ano Nuevo.  So right after I emailed you guys last week me and elder Udall went to this burger place and got some food, I got a burger and he bought these quesadillas.  We played basketball right after and he almost died; he got soooo sick.  On Tuesday we had divisions with Elder Salmon and Elder Mayorga.  I went with Elder Salmon and we actually had a really good time.  I learned a lot from him, he’s a really good missionary.  It’s hard cause you wanna know Spanish but ultimately you wanna know how to be the most effective and successful missionary.  Some believe it’s just about working hard and some believe it’s all about working smart but Elder Salmon has it figured out, it’s a mix of both and he just really knows what to do and its really because he’s guided by the spirit.  I think it’s not just cause he has experience in the mission (by the way everyone in our district is from the same MTC group, they all have been out for 13 months).  Anyways, we went back and found out that they had to stay in the pench (apartment) the whole day because Elder Udall had bad diarrhea and had to go like every few minutes, which was really disappointing because they had some really important visits to make and now were pretty behind with our investigators because he couldn’t leave the pench (apartment) until SATURDAY – ahhhh, we were both soooo frustrated cause we basically lost a whole week. During those three days I just studied Spanish almost the whole day, luckily I was able to do divisions with Elder Salmon for the last few hours in the day and Elder Mayorga watched over Elder Udall.

New Year’s Eve was pretty nuts.  We switched our studies around that day from the morning to the evening so we had to leave the pench at 9am and get back by 6pm!!! That’s how crazy it can get here like these people here are crazy, like I’m being serious, I didn’t think people could behave this way.  So we basically did our studies and ordered ice cream, which is another sweet thing is you can order just about everything to be delivered to you, and then of course the fireworks which were pretty sweet.  I could literally do a 360 and see fireworks everywhere and it lasted for like almost a half hour.  Anyways it’s great to hear from you guys again and I love seeing all your pictures.  Today I just read who our new mission president is.  It’s President Resek.  He’s a Latin but lives in Utah.  I don’t know that much about him except his son is in this mission and he will be serving under his parents for a transfer, like that would be soooo nuts hahaha, I’m not sure if I would like that hahahaha.  Anyways his name is Enrique Resek and his wife is Sandra Resek.  Apparently there pretty great they should come in around July 1 so it’s pretty exciting but sad too President Robertson is pretty great.

Love you guys - Elder Maller

Dec 19 - 2016

Wow this week went by quick!  I had my first zone meeting on Tuesday and I actually understood it pretty well (it’s all in Spanish).  This week we taught about 20 lessons, which is less than normal cause we’ve been busy with meetings and interviews.  I see so many crazy things happen in a day like I’m pretty much used to it now cause it’s hard to remember some of them.  Out here I wish I had like a GoPro camera and could just stream everything to you guys.  Saturday was my first baptism and Elder Udall let me baptize her.  Her name is Zoe Veronica Prieto and she’s 10 years old and really smart.  It was hard for me for some reason to memorize the baptismal ordinance in Spanish and it actually worried me a lot for some reason, but I said everything fine but apparently I forgot to close my eyes, but whatever.  Her mom gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost.  I couldn’t understand a lot of it cause she was crying a lot.  The thing about argentines is it’s not hard to understand them cause they speak fast, but because they slur their words soooooo bad.  It’s like the equivalent of the famer guy who shoots the cow in front of the bus in Napoleon Dynamite, seriously like exactly the same.  Thankfully not everyone is like this, it’s mostly with the older people. 

Yesterday it rained hard but nothing too bad.  Lots of people came to church for some reason.  We got a baptism this Saturday for Guillermo and he is a beast (spiritually).  He’s in a wheel chair and he’s really old so I don’t really know how were gonna baptize him but Elder Udall has got it covered.  I feel really bad for him, I feel like I’m not doing much to help him sometimes but he doesn’t really need it to be honest.  He’s a great missionary, me and him click really well and he says that he’s really impressed with how much Spanish I know for the first two weeks in the field.  Also, bore my testimony in sacrament and that went better than I expected, actually I think it went well, cracked a few jokes that gets them every time.  They laugh about everything here it’s pretty funny.  hope all is well with you guys, love you   

Dec 12, 2016

Dec 12, 2016 - Hey, it’s good to hear everyone is doing great glad to hear about school and other activities, I’ve been praying specifically for you guys every night.  So we left the MTC Tuesday at about 12noon. The mission president was running a bit late, but we meet met up with President Robertson and took photos at the temple; he should have emailed you guys.  The first day in the field was sweet.  My companion is Elder Udall from Gilbert AZ and he is sooooo awesome, love him already especially cause he can speak English and he’s a good man too.  He helps me out a lot and were having a ton of fun together.  My zone is the Ramos Mejia zone and our ward is the Los Pinos ward which means the pines and its funny cause there is like only one wimpy pine tree here.  My first visit was with hermana Corza and she is what we call and investegador enterno. She’s been visiting with the missionaries for ten years!!  Crazy enough I started telling her about where I’m from and she said Elder Kwazney was teaching her aswell! crazy crazy.  Anyways she is progressing and were going to try to set a date for baptism; maybe in January, soooo awesome.  This area is pretty sweet were able to keep buys the whole day with visits and such.  We got a baptismal date for this Saturday and Elder Udall said I could do the baptizing yeeeeeeee.  We also got a date for Gueillermo for Christmas Eve.  He’s also been investigating the church for a year.  The annoying thing here is a lot of people want to get baptized but everyone either smokes drinks or is living together and isn’t married and I literally mean everyone.  I can’t wait until I find someone who is actually ready to be baptized.

Sunday was cool, it was the primary presentation and the kids here are way cuter, I don’t know why they just are.  We have a lot of great members and the bishop is a nice guy, he is pretty young and has a lot of energy for missionary work.  They didn’t get me to bear my testimony but yet, but I think they will get me to do it next week.  We had a lunch appointment and I had to eat a whole blood sausage, so nasty ugh but everything else was great.  We don’t have dinner appointments here, only lunch appointments.  There lunches are soooo huge and it’s sooooo hot at that time.  I actually understand why siesta is a thing, but the people are soooo lazy it makes me mad.  I love you guys and I love the mission I’m doing great, I miss you guys but not that much ha ha ha.   This church is so true. 

Love Elder Maller