I have very little time this week, so let me first answer the question, how is the language coming after 6 months. The language is good I guess but I still can't understand a lot but it's bearable. I wish I had a companion that was more helpful with learning the language, but instead he just gets frustrated and nothing more. It's not for lack of effort either. I study everyday como un hour often more because my companion is always sleeping. I hurt for these problems too. This week I was really trying to be positive and happy but it was just a mask and it kind of caught up with me on Friday morning because we left at like 10:15 and came back at 11:40. I was so down! Iniquity weighs on the soul, let me tell you, even worse because I want to do better. We are supposed to be out at 9:30 and return at 12:30, so yeah that's my life. And even worse, we're having a decent amount of success. It's killing me. I'm not wiping my garments clean of their blood para nada (Jacob 1:19, I think)! Such is life. I believe I got a confirmation from the Lord I'm doing alright given the situation.
Well we had a robbery this week, but I'll share the details next week as I just don't have time. However the thing is, I'm incredibly calm and was during the assault tambien. So I view that as I'm doing all I can and the Lord is pleased with that because I was totally fine, very calm considering what happened which is a miracle but we're alright but it's still going to be a long transfer, but such is life, I'm developing a lot of patience.
Elder Sands
Monday, September 21, 2009
This week was really up and down. Down in the fact that my comp doesn’t really want to work and now I’m with him for 6 more weeks. It looks like the Lord really wants me to learn a lot from this missionary.
The up was that we have seen a lot of miracles this week. First, the son of one of the members from his marriage before he joined the church is fantastic, knows a ton, and has an amazing testimony. He was going to get baptized earlier but his mom at the last second wouldn’t give permission. Now however, she’s alright with it, so we’re teaching him. Also the sister of this same member is investigating and has been for a while and she was really down when she found out something about her husband. She was a wreck. We challenged her to read from the LDM or BOM (LDM is the Spanish abbreviation) she said she tried but couldn’t concentrate on what she was reading. We challenged her to open to a random place and read one verse and so we did it there with her and she opened to a verse that was talking about the BOM saying read these words or something like that. After she did it alone that night she opened to Alma 5:62 (I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.) If that isn’t a miracle I don’t know what is.
So yeah the good and the bad of the week thank you for everything!
Love...Elder Sands
The up was that we have seen a lot of miracles this week. First, the son of one of the members from his marriage before he joined the church is fantastic, knows a ton, and has an amazing testimony. He was going to get baptized earlier but his mom at the last second wouldn’t give permission. Now however, she’s alright with it, so we’re teaching him. Also the sister of this same member is investigating and has been for a while and she was really down when she found out something about her husband. She was a wreck. We challenged her to read from the LDM or BOM (LDM is the Spanish abbreviation) she said she tried but couldn’t concentrate on what she was reading. We challenged her to open to a random place and read one verse and so we did it there with her and she opened to a verse that was talking about the BOM saying read these words or something like that. After she did it alone that night she opened to Alma 5:62 (I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.) If that isn’t a miracle I don’t know what is.
So yeah the good and the bad of the week thank you for everything!
Love...Elder Sands
Monday, September 14, 2009
This transfer has been a long one. I don’t know if I’m leaving or if my comp is going to leave or if we’re both going to stay. I just don’t know but Bolivar has been great.
The thing I’ve probably learned the most of this transfer is that obedience is really a simple thing. Many missionaries say, “It’s such a little thing, it won’t hurt”. That’s the thing; every time we’re not obedient we are hurting ourselves. It works in the other way to, “it’s such a little thing to be obedient and I’ll receive blessings for doing it.”
My mission in reality is really coming out of its dark ages and a lot of missionaries are lazy when it comes to being obedient and to working. They receive baptisms and they think hay I’m having success so I must be doing it right. They don’t want to be better and they don’t want to improve, they’re content with average.
I received a letter from another missionary in the states a couple of weeks ago. In the letter there are some things that were said that are really impressed me. “I want to be a progressing missionary; I don’t want to be dropped. It’s amazing the experience we have on our missions, how much we grow and realize things about ourselves and others. Self-mastery and sacrifice are so important. I choose to follow Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I am giving my all to this work.” I love that and I am also choosing to follow our savior and although my companion and others aren’t trying to progress, I’m trying to do my best to give my all to the Lord. He will always repay us with more than we will ever know or be able to give Him in this life. I’m seeing that every day. Obedience, exact obedience, is my goal as it should be for all of us. The Lord will bless us as we follow his will.
Thanks everyone for everything and have a great week.
Elder Sands
The thing I’ve probably learned the most of this transfer is that obedience is really a simple thing. Many missionaries say, “It’s such a little thing, it won’t hurt”. That’s the thing; every time we’re not obedient we are hurting ourselves. It works in the other way to, “it’s such a little thing to be obedient and I’ll receive blessings for doing it.”
My mission in reality is really coming out of its dark ages and a lot of missionaries are lazy when it comes to being obedient and to working. They receive baptisms and they think hay I’m having success so I must be doing it right. They don’t want to be better and they don’t want to improve, they’re content with average.
I received a letter from another missionary in the states a couple of weeks ago. In the letter there are some things that were said that are really impressed me. “I want to be a progressing missionary; I don’t want to be dropped. It’s amazing the experience we have on our missions, how much we grow and realize things about ourselves and others. Self-mastery and sacrifice are so important. I choose to follow Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I am giving my all to this work.” I love that and I am also choosing to follow our savior and although my companion and others aren’t trying to progress, I’m trying to do my best to give my all to the Lord. He will always repay us with more than we will ever know or be able to give Him in this life. I’m seeing that every day. Obedience, exact obedience, is my goal as it should be for all of us. The Lord will bless us as we follow his will.
Thanks everyone for everything and have a great week.
Elder Sands
Monday, September 7, 2009
Well this week was hard, but I thought of an analogy I really like. I was a swimmer as you all know and the hardest part for me was always starting, because the water is always cold. It's this way because at a certain temperature it is perfect for swimming laps, But when you're not swimming and just sitting around it's too cold. It's kind of like that in the mission. The only way you're going to be happy, content or warm is if you are swimming or as in the mission, working. The manager or Christ has prepared the water for the work or for swimming. We just have to take a deep breath and dive in.
I would always swim the butterfly first (it's the stroke that takes the most energy and the hardest) to warm up and I would swim like mad the first few laps to warm up to get used to the water then after I would worry a lot more about technique because I was more comfortable. Work especially in the mission is like that, we dive in trust in the Lord that the pool is the perfect temperature for the work. At first it will be a shock and difficult but as we work we'll get used to it, we'll be warm and comfortable.
I could say more about this analogy but I don't have any more time today.
Thanks again for all of your love and support, thanks so much!
Elder Sands
I would always swim the butterfly first (it's the stroke that takes the most energy and the hardest) to warm up and I would swim like mad the first few laps to warm up to get used to the water then after I would worry a lot more about technique because I was more comfortable. Work especially in the mission is like that, we dive in trust in the Lord that the pool is the perfect temperature for the work. At first it will be a shock and difficult but as we work we'll get used to it, we'll be warm and comfortable.
I could say more about this analogy but I don't have any more time today.
Thanks again for all of your love and support, thanks so much!
Elder Sands
Monday, August 31, 2009
Not a whole ton is happened this week but the members here are really amazing. They do so much and help us so much. The Lord wants me to learn a lot more patience and humility right now with my new companion.
I'm trying to read when I'm on the bus going from Bolivar to Olivarría and back and I'm reading in the fast way without really, really studying but just reading and pondering.
Today I was in the Doctrine and Covenants section 18 and in verse 38 it says, "...and by their desires and their works you shall know them." This week in priesthood we have a returned missionary from Mendosa and he was an assistant and he was talking about obedience and when I was reading today I came across this scripture and it really hit me especially. In my first transfer out here I knew I had good desires, but some of my actions weren't reflecting some of those desires and so I have learned a lot since then and I still have an eternity to learn, but we always have to check to see if our desires are aligned with God's desires and also if our works and actions are aligned with our desires.
Sorry this is so short but I am trying to fix my camera so hopefully the pictures will start coming again.
Thank you all for you love and support. Have a great week.
Elder Sands
I'm trying to read when I'm on the bus going from Bolivar to Olivarría and back and I'm reading in the fast way without really, really studying but just reading and pondering.
Today I was in the Doctrine and Covenants section 18 and in verse 38 it says, "...and by their desires and their works you shall know them." This week in priesthood we have a returned missionary from Mendosa and he was an assistant and he was talking about obedience and when I was reading today I came across this scripture and it really hit me especially. In my first transfer out here I knew I had good desires, but some of my actions weren't reflecting some of those desires and so I have learned a lot since then and I still have an eternity to learn, but we always have to check to see if our desires are aligned with God's desires and also if our works and actions are aligned with our desires.
Sorry this is so short but I am trying to fix my camera so hopefully the pictures will start coming again.
Thank you all for you love and support. Have a great week.
Elder Sands
Monday, August 24, 2009
I don't have much time today and sorry, I don't have any pictures. I've been having a lot of problems with my camera.
I would have thought that being out here would have been really weird just the fact that I'm not home and everything. The reason being on a mission isn't as weird as I thought it would be is something my Dad said from time to time and I've really tried to do out here. "Little by little everything is simple." As we do that, everything really is simpler. It still may not be easy, but it is always manageable for example, in 1 Corinthians, all of those temptations when viewed in bulk would seem impossible but when you take each little one individually, it is relatively easy. In 1 Nephi 3:7, the same thing and there is the classic one in Alma 37:6. It is by small and simple means always the great stuff happens. Start with the small and when you look back you'll find out you've done a lot.
Thanks for everything
Elder Sands
I would have thought that being out here would have been really weird just the fact that I'm not home and everything. The reason being on a mission isn't as weird as I thought it would be is something my Dad said from time to time and I've really tried to do out here. "Little by little everything is simple." As we do that, everything really is simpler. It still may not be easy, but it is always manageable for example, in 1 Corinthians, all of those temptations when viewed in bulk would seem impossible but when you take each little one individually, it is relatively easy. In 1 Nephi 3:7, the same thing and there is the classic one in Alma 37:6. It is by small and simple means always the great stuff happens. Start with the small and when you look back you'll find out you've done a lot.
Thanks for everything
Elder Sands
Monday, August 17, 2009
Happy San Martin Day! San Martin is the Gorge Washington of Argentina, Chile and maybe also Uruguay. Every major division street in Argentina is named after him or at least all of the cities I've been in.
There might not be any pictures for awhile as my camera card broke and I need to get a new one.
My sister asked for a funny story so I remembered this one I was really embarrassed about. There is this one time where my first companion was buying a pasta frola or kind of the closest thing they have to a pie down here. As he was buying it, I found out he was paying for it all with change, which of course is really rude! So I offer to pay with bills. Now keep in mind that this is my second week mas or menos. So I do that and after wards I ask my companion why he was trying to pay her in change! He answers that practically everyone down here wants more change and all of that so I felt really embarrassed! So that's a funny story.
My new area is really big, well not really, but when compared with Rauch, its huge, maybe about 4-5 times the size. There is about the same amount of members so there is a lot of work to do. The missionaries before us didn't do much so the members have a lot for us to do which is fantastic. When we arrived the apartment was terrible so we went and cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned a little bit more. It was really bad. We also spent a lot of time trying to look for some maps of the area too. We have three; one from the church they made, one from the local government but really old, and one that we just found and all together they have it all, but separately they don't have very much so it is really difficult to find some stuff.
There are a lot of changes happening in the mission and I'm really excited about it. This mission is kind of coming out of its dark ages you might say and now it's really going through some dramatic improvements. My district leader is 18. Apparently if you go to a church school you have the option of going on your mission early so he already has 9 months and he is still 18. I wish I could have left earlier but none the less I'm excited to be out here!
I know this is the true church. I know Christ lives and he loves us. Have a great week!
Elder Sands
There might not be any pictures for awhile as my camera card broke and I need to get a new one.
My sister asked for a funny story so I remembered this one I was really embarrassed about. There is this one time where my first companion was buying a pasta frola or kind of the closest thing they have to a pie down here. As he was buying it, I found out he was paying for it all with change, which of course is really rude! So I offer to pay with bills. Now keep in mind that this is my second week mas or menos. So I do that and after wards I ask my companion why he was trying to pay her in change! He answers that practically everyone down here wants more change and all of that so I felt really embarrassed! So that's a funny story.
My new area is really big, well not really, but when compared with Rauch, its huge, maybe about 4-5 times the size. There is about the same amount of members so there is a lot of work to do. The missionaries before us didn't do much so the members have a lot for us to do which is fantastic. When we arrived the apartment was terrible so we went and cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned a little bit more. It was really bad. We also spent a lot of time trying to look for some maps of the area too. We have three; one from the church they made, one from the local government but really old, and one that we just found and all together they have it all, but separately they don't have very much so it is really difficult to find some stuff.
There are a lot of changes happening in the mission and I'm really excited about it. This mission is kind of coming out of its dark ages you might say and now it's really going through some dramatic improvements. My district leader is 18. Apparently if you go to a church school you have the option of going on your mission early so he already has 9 months and he is still 18. I wish I could have left earlier but none the less I'm excited to be out here!
I know this is the true church. I know Christ lives and he loves us. Have a great week!
Elder Sands
Monday, August 10, 2009
Hola from Olavarría! I got transfered to San Carlos de Bolivar or just Bolivar for short. It's about two hours from Olivarria which is the center of the zone. Which is another small zone too. Both Tandil and Olivarria have 10 missionaries each.
This week was interesting. We decided that we weren't going to fall into the end of the transfer slump like almost all of the rest of the mission does so we set a really high goal and we were able to teach more lessons than any other week we've had this transfer. It just goes to show you when you set your goals high, you can do a lot more. Don't ever limit yourself by goals that are lower than your potential. How do we find out our potential, well set goals until you can't reach them then we leave it there and work until we can reach it, then continue the cycle.
I'm really going to miss Elder Kenney and even though he is getting a bit trunky (thoughts back home) we worked and worked and worked. Rauch is probably going to have five or more baptisms this first half of the next transfer.
I have a story about a real missionaries dream. We were agrigating which is just teaching the first lesson more or less and we weren't going to make our goal by the end of the week and this was Friday. We also had tons of return lessons Saturday so we decided to do 6 agrigations so we could reach our goal and we didn't have any more books of Mormon either. So we started working on the goal and got 5 and then transfer calls came and I find out that I have to pack. We were talking about that 5 agrigations is good and is probably more than anyone in the mission right now because apparently no one works the day of transfer calls, but we decided to agrigate one more to reach the goal. We finally find this one lady that listens and it is Elder Kenney's turn to start the teaching and he actually accidently trips her daughter as she is trying to get out the door and he was tripping over his words a lot too. About halfway through the lesson the radio comes on and Elder Kenney says (I still don't know why) that's kind of sounds like the voice of God. I'm thinking what are you thinking! Then he goes on and says no not really and trying to recover. Well the lesson goes on and I finished by giving her a Book of Mormon and we walk away laughing thinking that Elder Kenney was a little off his rocker and all of that. Well she wanted us to pass by the next day so we do and the first thing she says is I read the lectura (assignment if you will) you gave me and I also read a lot of the Book of Alma (I love the book of Alma!) We're thinking, wow, this is too good to be true. So then the both of us were thinking that maybe we ran into a less-active member, so we ask if she has been baptized and she says no. So we had huge smiles on our faces for the rest of the lesson. It was amazing! So now however I won't really be able to teach her being in Bolivar but it was an amazing experience and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. Her story is even more incredible, but I don't have any more time.
Thank you for all of your prayers, I know that they are helping! This is the true and living church of God. I know that, and I'm so blessed to have that knowledge and this opportunity!
Chou
Elder Sands
This week was interesting. We decided that we weren't going to fall into the end of the transfer slump like almost all of the rest of the mission does so we set a really high goal and we were able to teach more lessons than any other week we've had this transfer. It just goes to show you when you set your goals high, you can do a lot more. Don't ever limit yourself by goals that are lower than your potential. How do we find out our potential, well set goals until you can't reach them then we leave it there and work until we can reach it, then continue the cycle.
I'm really going to miss Elder Kenney and even though he is getting a bit trunky (thoughts back home) we worked and worked and worked. Rauch is probably going to have five or more baptisms this first half of the next transfer.
I have a story about a real missionaries dream. We were agrigating which is just teaching the first lesson more or less and we weren't going to make our goal by the end of the week and this was Friday. We also had tons of return lessons Saturday so we decided to do 6 agrigations so we could reach our goal and we didn't have any more books of Mormon either. So we started working on the goal and got 5 and then transfer calls came and I find out that I have to pack. We were talking about that 5 agrigations is good and is probably more than anyone in the mission right now because apparently no one works the day of transfer calls, but we decided to agrigate one more to reach the goal. We finally find this one lady that listens and it is Elder Kenney's turn to start the teaching and he actually accidently trips her daughter as she is trying to get out the door and he was tripping over his words a lot too. About halfway through the lesson the radio comes on and Elder Kenney says (I still don't know why) that's kind of sounds like the voice of God. I'm thinking what are you thinking! Then he goes on and says no not really and trying to recover. Well the lesson goes on and I finished by giving her a Book of Mormon and we walk away laughing thinking that Elder Kenney was a little off his rocker and all of that. Well she wanted us to pass by the next day so we do and the first thing she says is I read the lectura (assignment if you will) you gave me and I also read a lot of the Book of Alma (I love the book of Alma!) We're thinking, wow, this is too good to be true. So then the both of us were thinking that maybe we ran into a less-active member, so we ask if she has been baptized and she says no. So we had huge smiles on our faces for the rest of the lesson. It was amazing! So now however I won't really be able to teach her being in Bolivar but it was an amazing experience and I'm glad I got to be a part of it. Her story is even more incredible, but I don't have any more time.
Thank you for all of your prayers, I know that they are helping! This is the true and living church of God. I know that, and I'm so blessed to have that knowledge and this opportunity!
Chou
Elder Sands
Monday, August 3, 2009
3 NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
I'm sorry as this will be a bit short but I don't have much time today. But I have an experience that is kind of funny. Elder Kenney and I are walking back to the appointment so we could go to Tandil to have interviews with the new president of the mission and as we were going we were talking about cualqier cosa (or just whatever) and all of the sudden we find ourselves in front of a door. So we knock it and while we're waiting for a response, I all of the sudden realized it wasn't me that led us up the stairs so I asked Elder Kenney if it was him that turned. He said no and I know I didn't, so as we're waiting we are saying that if someone answers, the Lord most definitely wants' us to find whoever it is that answers because we didn't go up to that door, we were guided there. Sure enough, a woman answers (looking very groggy I might add) and really great visit follows. What a wonderful spiritual experience!
The Lord guides this work. I know I've said that before, but it is so true and I find out just how much everyday I'm out here serving.
We also had this one investigator in church this week and it was fast and testimony meeting so as each member gets up there they all are talking almost directly to him about how their first time in church was hard and they had a lot of questions and all of this stuff about their first experiences with the church. Each one of them spoke of how the gospel has blessed their lives. It was amazing as a missionary. I was so grateful for such a great branch. The investigator and his girlfriend (who is less active) said after when I asked them how it was, that it was incredible!
I know this church is true, thank you all again for you love and support.
Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
I'm sorry as this will be a bit short but I don't have much time today. But I have an experience that is kind of funny. Elder Kenney and I are walking back to the appointment so we could go to Tandil to have interviews with the new president of the mission and as we were going we were talking about cualqier cosa (or just whatever) and all of the sudden we find ourselves in front of a door. So we knock it and while we're waiting for a response, I all of the sudden realized it wasn't me that led us up the stairs so I asked Elder Kenney if it was him that turned. He said no and I know I didn't, so as we're waiting we are saying that if someone answers, the Lord most definitely wants' us to find whoever it is that answers because we didn't go up to that door, we were guided there. Sure enough, a woman answers (looking very groggy I might add) and really great visit follows. What a wonderful spiritual experience!
The Lord guides this work. I know I've said that before, but it is so true and I find out just how much everyday I'm out here serving.
We also had this one investigator in church this week and it was fast and testimony meeting so as each member gets up there they all are talking almost directly to him about how their first time in church was hard and they had a lot of questions and all of this stuff about their first experiences with the church. Each one of them spoke of how the gospel has blessed their lives. It was amazing as a missionary. I was so grateful for such a great branch. The investigator and his girlfriend (who is less active) said after when I asked them how it was, that it was incredible!
I know this church is true, thank you all again for you love and support.
Elder Sands
Monday, July 27, 2009
I think it is just awesome that the ward is getting a second set of elders because they are doing so much teaching, way to go Beacon Hill ward. All we do down here is spend our time finding people and in fact there was actually a talk in conference about how many missionaries spend much of their time finding people rather than teaching them. It's interesting how your perspective changes when you're a missionary. I wish I had shared more.
The language is going good for being out a little over 4 months and although I can understand quite a bit and can talk alright it's a bit of a pain sometimes because I can't understand much of anything they say when they aren't talking about gospel stuff.
Sorry, but no pictures this week as this computer totally locks me out and won't read the card so hopefully next week.
What a week! We found so many good people or golden investigators but none of them were able to come to church because of prior commitments but they are so great! There is this one older couple in particular. We were crossing through an area that we hadn't been in for a while and I remembered that we had agrigated this one lady (an aggrigation is where we teach a compact lesson one and commit them to something and almost always Elder Kenney and I give them a Book of Mormon and get them to read and pray about it). She didn't seem very promising and she didn't seem that interested but she said that she would read it and pray about it. In fact if I remember correctly the only reason I remembered her was because she was the first lady where I did most of the aggrigation. So we stoped by and her husband answers and said to his wife, more or less, the two boys that walk around all day talking about religion are here, and as he is letting us in we hear in the background the wife or the one we aggrigated say (loudly might I add) "Mormones." So we talked to them both and they are as golden as you can get! The lady reads the Book of Mormon every night and the husband described it as she reads it whenever she can. He is almost blind but is getting new glasses soon so he will be able to read it and is really excited to. Also it turns out that he visits a former Branch President in the area every so often because he now lives alone. Incredibly, they would have liked to go to church, but couldn't because they had a prior commitment (we talked to them Saturday night) but they said they can't wait to go to church. As we taught them they were soaking it all up! It was an amazing lesson!
We had a lot of other good people this week that we talked to but none of them were able to make it to church which was the first time we've been able to go to church in a month because of the pig flu or wait it's the swine flu isn't it? I can't remember they call it "la gripe por cina" or "gripe-A." Now that we have church though we can really start getting people to progress. It's really hard to get someone to want to be baptized when they've never been to church.
Well I know this work is guided by the Lord, now more than ever, because of the narrow ways in which we ran into all of these people this week. Now we just have to see them through the next few steps!
Thanks for you love and support!
Elder Sands
The language is going good for being out a little over 4 months and although I can understand quite a bit and can talk alright it's a bit of a pain sometimes because I can't understand much of anything they say when they aren't talking about gospel stuff.
Sorry, but no pictures this week as this computer totally locks me out and won't read the card so hopefully next week.
What a week! We found so many good people or golden investigators but none of them were able to come to church because of prior commitments but they are so great! There is this one older couple in particular. We were crossing through an area that we hadn't been in for a while and I remembered that we had agrigated this one lady (an aggrigation is where we teach a compact lesson one and commit them to something and almost always Elder Kenney and I give them a Book of Mormon and get them to read and pray about it). She didn't seem very promising and she didn't seem that interested but she said that she would read it and pray about it. In fact if I remember correctly the only reason I remembered her was because she was the first lady where I did most of the aggrigation. So we stoped by and her husband answers and said to his wife, more or less, the two boys that walk around all day talking about religion are here, and as he is letting us in we hear in the background the wife or the one we aggrigated say (loudly might I add) "Mormones." So we talked to them both and they are as golden as you can get! The lady reads the Book of Mormon every night and the husband described it as she reads it whenever she can. He is almost blind but is getting new glasses soon so he will be able to read it and is really excited to. Also it turns out that he visits a former Branch President in the area every so often because he now lives alone. Incredibly, they would have liked to go to church, but couldn't because they had a prior commitment (we talked to them Saturday night) but they said they can't wait to go to church. As we taught them they were soaking it all up! It was an amazing lesson!
We had a lot of other good people this week that we talked to but none of them were able to make it to church which was the first time we've been able to go to church in a month because of the pig flu or wait it's the swine flu isn't it? I can't remember they call it "la gripe por cina" or "gripe-A." Now that we have church though we can really start getting people to progress. It's really hard to get someone to want to be baptized when they've never been to church.
Well I know this work is guided by the Lord, now more than ever, because of the narrow ways in which we ran into all of these people this week. Now we just have to see them through the next few steps!
Thanks for you love and support!
Elder Sands
Monday, July 20, 2009
7 NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Feliz dia del amigo (happy day of the friend)! This week was well a little hectic. We were helping the Hermanas (sisters) in our district on Tuesday and found some great people here in Tandil (I'm in Tandil for p-days). After that we went back to Rauch of course and well worked not a whole lot more.
The pig flu has ground everything almost to a hault but it is finally starting to subside from what I've heard; everywhere but Tandil. As of Thursday there were 170 deaths from the flu in the province of Buenos Aires and 70 of them were in Tandil and Tandil isn't that big, especially compared with the rest of the province. So once again no more church.
So one thing from Argentina is alfajors (pronounced alfahores) they are these little cookie type things with chocolate dipped and two or three of the little cookie type sandwich structure with stuff like "dulse de leche" or something else in between. They are really common I'm sending a couple of pictures of my favorite (as of now I haven't tried very many). They're amazing I don't know why they aren't in the states.
Sorry about the lack of pictures but I'm still trying to get rid of pictures from off my camera that were from the MTC but I think now I'm starting to get to those from Argentina. I'll get to those from Rauch eventually, but Rauch it's very, well empty. There is a lot of campo (fields) in the area so we do a ton of walking as we don't get any bikes and it is that way in the whole mission.
So the weather this week has been fairly rainy and windy which is never a fun combination.
Anyway I'm running out of time thanks so much for everything!
Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Feliz dia del amigo (happy day of the friend)! This week was well a little hectic. We were helping the Hermanas (sisters) in our district on Tuesday and found some great people here in Tandil (I'm in Tandil for p-days). After that we went back to Rauch of course and well worked not a whole lot more.
The pig flu has ground everything almost to a hault but it is finally starting to subside from what I've heard; everywhere but Tandil. As of Thursday there were 170 deaths from the flu in the province of Buenos Aires and 70 of them were in Tandil and Tandil isn't that big, especially compared with the rest of the province. So once again no more church.
So one thing from Argentina is alfajors (pronounced alfahores) they are these little cookie type things with chocolate dipped and two or three of the little cookie type sandwich structure with stuff like "dulse de leche" or something else in between. They are really common I'm sending a couple of pictures of my favorite (as of now I haven't tried very many). They're amazing I don't know why they aren't in the states.
Sorry about the lack of pictures but I'm still trying to get rid of pictures from off my camera that were from the MTC but I think now I'm starting to get to those from Argentina. I'll get to those from Rauch eventually, but Rauch it's very, well empty. There is a lot of campo (fields) in the area so we do a ton of walking as we don't get any bikes and it is that way in the whole mission.
So the weather this week has been fairly rainy and windy which is never a fun combination.
Anyway I'm running out of time thanks so much for everything!
Elder Sands
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sorry guys, I forgot my camera in Rauch, so no new pictures this time around.
Acea, it's good that camp went so well. I'm glad to hear that you achieved a lot and had a great time.
This week had to be the biggest up and down, it was kind of crazy. We found a lot of really good people and we lined up a lot for yesterday. There still isn't church because of the flu and it has shut down a lot of stuff down here. We have to instead have lessons with members with all of our investigators. So we go to our first one and no one answers even though the key was in (the locks are really different down here) so there was definitely someone there. After that we went to a couple of members homes to give the sacrament. We then went back and after a long time someone finally answers and he said that his mom wasn't there and he was sleeping. You can tell that this isn't too important to them or they would put more effort into it. We also went by another investigator and same thing, wasn't there. Also we had a lesson with our fetcha (date for baptism) but she said that she doesn't want to get baptized right now and that she'll start taking the lessons again in a few months. It was a huge let down.
However now we are going to focus on a couple of other people we found. They look very promising. One of them doesn't exactly live near us but for some reason I kept on remembering her so we passed by many times and every time she wasn't home. We finally caught her Saturday and it was amazing. We only had an agrigate with her (which is a short, on the door step, first lesson) and she had read and prayed and knew it was true. It threw us off because they never do that the first time, so we challenged her to be baptized and she said that she'll pray about it (which is what we asked her to do) and then we had an amazing second lesson. We meet with her again on Wednesday.
We also have a lot of others with whom we actually have citas (an appointment). We have really good numbers. It is amazing what a difference a hard working companion makes. We get along really well too. Also I think I mentioned this, but he cooks, so now I'm learning recipes and such. So now we actually have some food not just bread.
I don't know if you have received any pictures of Rauch, but it would be the fields with the fences and horses and cows. Not much else. It's really small and we do a ton of walking. One other interesting thing about Argentina, there are dogs everywhere, and lots of them! Sometimes they'll follow us around which is kind of fun. These dogs are a lot more tranquilo (calm) down here. Also if any of them ever barks a lot all we have to do is pretend to pick up a rock and they book it in the other direction. They really don't like to mess with people. Also there are like packs of strays that run around the streets. Apparently there aren't many in Rauch, it is very clean from what I've heard.
Anyway I'm out of time thanks for the support!
Elder Sands
Acea, it's good that camp went so well. I'm glad to hear that you achieved a lot and had a great time.
This week had to be the biggest up and down, it was kind of crazy. We found a lot of really good people and we lined up a lot for yesterday. There still isn't church because of the flu and it has shut down a lot of stuff down here. We have to instead have lessons with members with all of our investigators. So we go to our first one and no one answers even though the key was in (the locks are really different down here) so there was definitely someone there. After that we went to a couple of members homes to give the sacrament. We then went back and after a long time someone finally answers and he said that his mom wasn't there and he was sleeping. You can tell that this isn't too important to them or they would put more effort into it. We also went by another investigator and same thing, wasn't there. Also we had a lesson with our fetcha (date for baptism) but she said that she doesn't want to get baptized right now and that she'll start taking the lessons again in a few months. It was a huge let down.
However now we are going to focus on a couple of other people we found. They look very promising. One of them doesn't exactly live near us but for some reason I kept on remembering her so we passed by many times and every time she wasn't home. We finally caught her Saturday and it was amazing. We only had an agrigate with her (which is a short, on the door step, first lesson) and she had read and prayed and knew it was true. It threw us off because they never do that the first time, so we challenged her to be baptized and she said that she'll pray about it (which is what we asked her to do) and then we had an amazing second lesson. We meet with her again on Wednesday.
We also have a lot of others with whom we actually have citas (an appointment). We have really good numbers. It is amazing what a difference a hard working companion makes. We get along really well too. Also I think I mentioned this, but he cooks, so now I'm learning recipes and such. So now we actually have some food not just bread.
I don't know if you have received any pictures of Rauch, but it would be the fields with the fences and horses and cows. Not much else. It's really small and we do a ton of walking. One other interesting thing about Argentina, there are dogs everywhere, and lots of them! Sometimes they'll follow us around which is kind of fun. These dogs are a lot more tranquilo (calm) down here. Also if any of them ever barks a lot all we have to do is pretend to pick up a rock and they book it in the other direction. They really don't like to mess with people. Also there are like packs of strays that run around the streets. Apparently there aren't many in Rauch, it is very clean from what I've heard.
Anyway I'm out of time thanks for the support!
Elder Sands
Monday, July 6, 2009
7 NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Wow Timo and Mica, enserio or rather seriously hahaha, that is so great that they are learning about the gospel. That's really awesome so how are the pools? I realized that when the 4th came around that I usually am at the pool for that day.
It's crazy to think about it, especially because it's cold! Well not really cold, but chilly. Anyways, I need to buy a few things as the missionary mall coat, well it's not very, well useful. So I'm going to get something a tad more useful.
Way to go Acea and Sebring on the grades! That's awesome!
This week was insane! The pig flu is well it's really causing problems. But also, this week was really, really exciting because my companion is fantastic! We worked really hard and we almost had the same numbers as the Hermanas (Sisters) in our zone and they lead the mission almost every week in certain things so we are really excited for this transfer. Well other then the pig flu stuff which I'll talk about, we just worked like crazy! We don't have a really big area but we found lots of people to teach. We tried to get a picture in front of the municipalidad (kind of like city hall) for the fourth because they put up the date in these big letter things and such, but they didn't do it for the fourth and we can't really figure out why. That was interesting.
Elder Kenny can cook too, it is awesome! So whenever we don't have food with members we actually have real food. I'm learning a lot from him in that respect too.
So now to the crazy stuff. We didn't have church! Yeah Argentina is well going crazy over the pig flu and there are actually a few cases in Rauch, I've heard. So that kind of made the work difficult because we have to get people to church. So without church that is difficult. They're also going to try to close all of the supermarkets this week for 3-7 days. It's really got a lot of people freaked out. So this has got to be one of the most interesting things to happen.
The hospital here in Rauch is like full, and they won't let anyone in at all unless they're already sick. So we are buying more food for the week and well working more or less without a goal. It is really frustrating. Also all of this week we're stuck in Tandil because we have a zone conference and we're supposed to do divisions every week now so we don't get to go to Rauch until Friday. Well maybe later too. I'm not too excited about this.
One thing I learned however is that when you have someone who has the same goals as you do and you have the Lord on your side, amazing things can happen. We have just been walking down a street and just randomly walk down the wrong street (we do that a lot) and so we decided to knock a door and every time they let us in! You can tell that the work is led by the lord. This is his work and I love it!
Thank you for all of your letters speaking of which I don't think they have pioneer treks down here but I really enjoyed reading about yours and it reminded me of when I went and I loved it.
Chau
Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Wow Timo and Mica, enserio or rather seriously hahaha, that is so great that they are learning about the gospel. That's really awesome so how are the pools? I realized that when the 4th came around that I usually am at the pool for that day.
It's crazy to think about it, especially because it's cold! Well not really cold, but chilly. Anyways, I need to buy a few things as the missionary mall coat, well it's not very, well useful. So I'm going to get something a tad more useful.
Way to go Acea and Sebring on the grades! That's awesome!
This week was insane! The pig flu is well it's really causing problems. But also, this week was really, really exciting because my companion is fantastic! We worked really hard and we almost had the same numbers as the Hermanas (Sisters) in our zone and they lead the mission almost every week in certain things so we are really excited for this transfer. Well other then the pig flu stuff which I'll talk about, we just worked like crazy! We don't have a really big area but we found lots of people to teach. We tried to get a picture in front of the municipalidad (kind of like city hall) for the fourth because they put up the date in these big letter things and such, but they didn't do it for the fourth and we can't really figure out why. That was interesting.
Elder Kenny can cook too, it is awesome! So whenever we don't have food with members we actually have real food. I'm learning a lot from him in that respect too.
So now to the crazy stuff. We didn't have church! Yeah Argentina is well going crazy over the pig flu and there are actually a few cases in Rauch, I've heard. So that kind of made the work difficult because we have to get people to church. So without church that is difficult. They're also going to try to close all of the supermarkets this week for 3-7 days. It's really got a lot of people freaked out. So this has got to be one of the most interesting things to happen.
The hospital here in Rauch is like full, and they won't let anyone in at all unless they're already sick. So we are buying more food for the week and well working more or less without a goal. It is really frustrating. Also all of this week we're stuck in Tandil because we have a zone conference and we're supposed to do divisions every week now so we don't get to go to Rauch until Friday. Well maybe later too. I'm not too excited about this.
One thing I learned however is that when you have someone who has the same goals as you do and you have the Lord on your side, amazing things can happen. We have just been walking down a street and just randomly walk down the wrong street (we do that a lot) and so we decided to knock a door and every time they let us in! You can tell that the work is led by the lord. This is his work and I love it!
Thank you for all of your letters speaking of which I don't think they have pioneer treks down here but I really enjoyed reading about yours and it reminded me of when I went and I loved it.
Chau
Elder Sands
Monday, June 29, 2009
2 NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED TODAY.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Dad, Happy Fathers Day, Happy Birthday and Happy 4th of July!
The trek sounded like it was a ton of fun and that was similar with me I had a blast!
Can you send Jeff a happy birthday it was June 6th but as soon as I got here I forgot.
How were Sebring’s and Acea’s grades?
This week was well, slow, as my companion didn't really want to work. We however got transfer calls and had transfers so I’m staying in Rauch and Elder Kenny is now my new companion. He is from Ogden and he dies (is going home) in two transfers. I'm really excited for this transfer. Rauch is starting to shape up in terms of stuff happening in the work and now that I have a companion that really wants to work. We are going to, well WORK! Also he cooks and a lot and really good which I’m excited for because everything is a little different down here so I don't know how to make anything. The first transfer, I had a lot of bread and dulce de leche. So I’m really looking forward to learning how to cook all of this argie food.
I have pictures of Rauch so all of you can see. However the computer here is well not very accessible and I can't find out which ones are which so I’ll get them to you as soon as I can.
I do have a story for all of you. When we were in Mar del Plata there are these little cement sidewalks if you will that go out into the water so we wanted to get a picture with the water splashing behind us. So we go out do that and then this way big wave comes as we finished and soaked us to say the least. It was really funny. We also have pictures of it. I’m in the back because Elder Peterson and Hermana (sister) Fierro saw it first and more or less pushed me out of the way so yeah it was interesting to say the least. That picture however is amazing.
As for the work, Rauch is really starting to pick up. We have this fantastic kid in the Rama (branch). His name is Augustine. He is really strong in the church but he can't get baptized because of his mom. So I finally convinced my companion to go there and talk to her. And she isn't really opposed to it, now that we told her what baptism is about and such. She also wants to learn more. Also we have a small family of three that know it´s true but for a while didn't think baptism was for them. But now they all want to get baptized. They're going to be doing that soon, so I'm really excited. It is amazing to see the Lord work on these people and in their lives. They have so much more peace and joy in their lives and they don't yet have a fraction of the blessings the gospel brings.
Thank you again for your love and support and if you want to write me you can use DEARELDER.COM. It actually only takes about 15 days to get here.
Love you all!
Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Dad, Happy Fathers Day, Happy Birthday and Happy 4th of July!
The trek sounded like it was a ton of fun and that was similar with me I had a blast!
Can you send Jeff a happy birthday it was June 6th but as soon as I got here I forgot.
How were Sebring’s and Acea’s grades?
This week was well, slow, as my companion didn't really want to work. We however got transfer calls and had transfers so I’m staying in Rauch and Elder Kenny is now my new companion. He is from Ogden and he dies (is going home) in two transfers. I'm really excited for this transfer. Rauch is starting to shape up in terms of stuff happening in the work and now that I have a companion that really wants to work. We are going to, well WORK! Also he cooks and a lot and really good which I’m excited for because everything is a little different down here so I don't know how to make anything. The first transfer, I had a lot of bread and dulce de leche. So I’m really looking forward to learning how to cook all of this argie food.
I have pictures of Rauch so all of you can see. However the computer here is well not very accessible and I can't find out which ones are which so I’ll get them to you as soon as I can.
I do have a story for all of you. When we were in Mar del Plata there are these little cement sidewalks if you will that go out into the water so we wanted to get a picture with the water splashing behind us. So we go out do that and then this way big wave comes as we finished and soaked us to say the least. It was really funny. We also have pictures of it. I’m in the back because Elder Peterson and Hermana (sister) Fierro saw it first and more or less pushed me out of the way so yeah it was interesting to say the least. That picture however is amazing.
As for the work, Rauch is really starting to pick up. We have this fantastic kid in the Rama (branch). His name is Augustine. He is really strong in the church but he can't get baptized because of his mom. So I finally convinced my companion to go there and talk to her. And she isn't really opposed to it, now that we told her what baptism is about and such. She also wants to learn more. Also we have a small family of three that know it´s true but for a while didn't think baptism was for them. But now they all want to get baptized. They're going to be doing that soon, so I'm really excited. It is amazing to see the Lord work on these people and in their lives. They have so much more peace and joy in their lives and they don't yet have a fraction of the blessings the gospel brings.
Thank you again for your love and support and if you want to write me you can use DEARELDER.COM. It actually only takes about 15 days to get here.
Love you all!
Elder Sands
Monday, June 22, 2009
Today we’re at an internet place that doesn’t like my camera too much, so no pictures this week, lo siento!
The question was asked about food I normally eat here. Apparently in this area I’m in right now there isn’t as much meat as there usually is, so I have a ton of noodles in a spaghetti type sauce and always with bread. They love their bread, that’s for sure. I once had this stuff that had the consistency of applesauce and looked like it too, but tasted like, well I don’t really know, but it had nothing to do with apples. It was kind of like grits, but I enjoyed it. Also they love to boil vegetables. They are really good and really filling.
They always have soda and I mean always. They don’t drink anything but soda and mate. Mate is this drink that is hot and they put this ground down plant and sugar in this cup with a straw type thing. I can’t remember what it’s called right now but it filters the pant so it is just the water, but they drink it all of the time. They drink it in the morning, for lunch, for dinner and in between for when people are over and even when they aren’t. If there was anything that is or could be identified with Argentinians, it would be mate.
There is this other sweet stuff too that is called dulse de leche or directly translated sweet of milk or sweet milk. It is amazing! It is on anything and everything bad for you hahaha. Sometimes I’ll take some crackers and put some dulse de leche on it. It is kind of like caramel but thinner and tastes way better (I am a bit biased in that I don’t like caramel very much). Well that just about covers the food question.
I was also asked about the laundry. I was told before I went out that I might need to do my laundry in a bucket. Well, happily it is very convenient here. We just show up, give it to them, and someone who does it for a living will do it all really nice, I might add, and really inexpensively. Just 20 pesos (a little over $5) for two weeks of laundry.
I heard that the youth worked hard selling asparagus this weekend to raise funds for their summer activities. I’m glad it was successful and especially for the learning the principles of hard work and gratitude. There’s nothing like hard work to make you appreciate more what you have. Here in Argentina, some missionaries will get to serve in an area called Mar Del early in their mission and they will get tons of baptisms. Then after that, they begin to think that they don’t have to work too hard in the Lord’s other vineyards. But you always need to work hard.
I really feel for Shane not being able to go on the trek. I believe of all the stake youth activities I participated in, that it was probably my favorite. I made me again appreciate so many things.
Not too much else is going on right now. My companion didn’t really want to work this week. So whenever I actually got him out of the house he just would go to member’s homes and talk for a long time. So I get a lot of study time because of him and I’ve been reading Jesus the Christ which is the most amazing book. I love hearing about the Savior especially in that detail because now as I read the New Testament, it makes so much more sense! My testimony has been strengthened because of that book!
My dad shared an experience he recently had that again demonstrated the power that the Spirit can have. I also would say that the spirit is incredible, no doubt. Whenever I have the spirit, I can speak Spanish good enough to get my ideas across, which is nice. I just need to work on getting it strong enough to do that all of the time.
Love You All!
Elder Sands
The question was asked about food I normally eat here. Apparently in this area I’m in right now there isn’t as much meat as there usually is, so I have a ton of noodles in a spaghetti type sauce and always with bread. They love their bread, that’s for sure. I once had this stuff that had the consistency of applesauce and looked like it too, but tasted like, well I don’t really know, but it had nothing to do with apples. It was kind of like grits, but I enjoyed it. Also they love to boil vegetables. They are really good and really filling.
They always have soda and I mean always. They don’t drink anything but soda and mate. Mate is this drink that is hot and they put this ground down plant and sugar in this cup with a straw type thing. I can’t remember what it’s called right now but it filters the pant so it is just the water, but they drink it all of the time. They drink it in the morning, for lunch, for dinner and in between for when people are over and even when they aren’t. If there was anything that is or could be identified with Argentinians, it would be mate.
There is this other sweet stuff too that is called dulse de leche or directly translated sweet of milk or sweet milk. It is amazing! It is on anything and everything bad for you hahaha. Sometimes I’ll take some crackers and put some dulse de leche on it. It is kind of like caramel but thinner and tastes way better (I am a bit biased in that I don’t like caramel very much). Well that just about covers the food question.
I was also asked about the laundry. I was told before I went out that I might need to do my laundry in a bucket. Well, happily it is very convenient here. We just show up, give it to them, and someone who does it for a living will do it all really nice, I might add, and really inexpensively. Just 20 pesos (a little over $5) for two weeks of laundry.
I heard that the youth worked hard selling asparagus this weekend to raise funds for their summer activities. I’m glad it was successful and especially for the learning the principles of hard work and gratitude. There’s nothing like hard work to make you appreciate more what you have. Here in Argentina, some missionaries will get to serve in an area called Mar Del early in their mission and they will get tons of baptisms. Then after that, they begin to think that they don’t have to work too hard in the Lord’s other vineyards. But you always need to work hard.
I really feel for Shane not being able to go on the trek. I believe of all the stake youth activities I participated in, that it was probably my favorite. I made me again appreciate so many things.
Not too much else is going on right now. My companion didn’t really want to work this week. So whenever I actually got him out of the house he just would go to member’s homes and talk for a long time. So I get a lot of study time because of him and I’ve been reading Jesus the Christ which is the most amazing book. I love hearing about the Savior especially in that detail because now as I read the New Testament, it makes so much more sense! My testimony has been strengthened because of that book!
My dad shared an experience he recently had that again demonstrated the power that the Spirit can have. I also would say that the spirit is incredible, no doubt. Whenever I have the spirit, I can speak Spanish good enough to get my ideas across, which is nice. I just need to work on getting it strong enough to do that all of the time.
Love You All!
Elder Sands
Monday, June 15, 2009
NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED TODAY.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Acea that is hilarious and I can see Mr. Moore play a practical joke like the one he did to Justin hahaha I got a kick out of that. A funny thing just happened. One of the elders in my zone just walked over and said what is that word? I know it, but I don’t know what it means. (He’s been out here a long time) and the word was Acea. So I started talking about this word that I was making up on the spot so that was funny hahaha. I eventually told him it was my brother’s name. Thanks for the story I got a kick out of that.
Now to answer some of your questions. I haven’t had and reactions to the food or water. Those way too expensive gloves I brought; they work, but they don’t help as much as I would like as my hands are always cold but it’s not too bad. My feet are fine as long as I’m walking and stuff but man I love the thermals. I found a thermal top in the apartment that was from the last missionary here and he hadn’t used it once, so yeah, I love thermals!
As for the rock I previously sent a picture of, there are actually two really cool rocks. The one that I sent to you is the other cool one in Tandil. We went to the Piedra Movediza rock today and I included a picture of it. It is actually fake. The real one fell in 1912, but two years ago they put up a plastic fake one that is the same. The first one is a lot bigger but it isn’t really about ready to fall off but it is too on a cliff.
Another question I’ve been asked is do we observe siesta and the answer is a resounding yes. So I don’t really know why, probably because during the summer in the northern parts of Argentina it gets really hot, so they all go indoors for the hot part of the day. Here even though I see no practical reason for it, but they do it to. It starts anywhere from 11:00 am and usually ends at around 4:00 pm. It is frustrating, especially right now as it is the warmest part of the day. But the people here come home, eat, and then sleep. So our daily schedule is as follows; we have less study time in the morning, and we get out of the apartment at around 9:30 am. We work until 12:30 pm, if I can convince my companion to work that long, which doesn’t always work too well. We then have lunch with the members, which in Rauch, we get every day except for Sundays. We then go back to the apartment and I study Spanish and my companion sleeps. In the bigger cities of Bahia Blanca and Mar del, and in two other areas, we can work during siesta doing street contacts, but during that time, if you knock on peoples doors they don’t like you very much, that’s for sure.
I heard from Sister Jones (thanks for the letters by the way) that it is really nice up there. Here, it is early winter and I can’t believe school is already out down here. They started about the time I went into the MTC which was in March. Also our “stufe”, I think that is how it is spelled, but it is kind of like a really small furnace is broken so our apartment is really cold all of the time.
My first week, my bed broke when I was rolling over and the side beam just spilt almost all of the way down. So I’m sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Ah the life of a missionary. I love it though and the people here are so nice! They’re just amazing. I want to help as many of them as I can.
Well we also had interviews with the mission president this week and it is his last and my first so that was interesting, and he also speaks about as much English as I do Spanish, so it was very short hahaha. We also had a district conference for the district down here and it was a broadcast to all of Argentina and it was needless to say all in Spanish, but there was one talk in particular that was really interesting to me. It was Russell T. Osguthorpe the new president of the general Sunday. He talked about how when he was younger he had to go too all of his meetings really early. Get ready to laugh, a half an hour, sound familiar, hahaha. (For those not familiar with the Sands family, a half an hour early is almost late) So he was talking about my family in away too. He talked about how there would be no one there and so they would fix hymn books and set up chairs and such wow! But I’m really thankful for those opportunities to sit and listen to the spirit. I love having the spirit guide my life as a missionary, it is amazing.
We’ll do stuff that doesn’t sometimes make any sense or we’ll get lost and our town is really small and we’ll run across someone that will need our help, so yeah it’s amazing! I know this church is true. I’ve seen too much, I’ve felt the spirit too much, to deny it! Thank you all for you love and support!
Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Acea that is hilarious and I can see Mr. Moore play a practical joke like the one he did to Justin hahaha I got a kick out of that. A funny thing just happened. One of the elders in my zone just walked over and said what is that word? I know it, but I don’t know what it means. (He’s been out here a long time) and the word was Acea. So I started talking about this word that I was making up on the spot so that was funny hahaha. I eventually told him it was my brother’s name. Thanks for the story I got a kick out of that.
Now to answer some of your questions. I haven’t had and reactions to the food or water. Those way too expensive gloves I brought; they work, but they don’t help as much as I would like as my hands are always cold but it’s not too bad. My feet are fine as long as I’m walking and stuff but man I love the thermals. I found a thermal top in the apartment that was from the last missionary here and he hadn’t used it once, so yeah, I love thermals!
As for the rock I previously sent a picture of, there are actually two really cool rocks. The one that I sent to you is the other cool one in Tandil. We went to the Piedra Movediza rock today and I included a picture of it. It is actually fake. The real one fell in 1912, but two years ago they put up a plastic fake one that is the same. The first one is a lot bigger but it isn’t really about ready to fall off but it is too on a cliff.
Another question I’ve been asked is do we observe siesta and the answer is a resounding yes. So I don’t really know why, probably because during the summer in the northern parts of Argentina it gets really hot, so they all go indoors for the hot part of the day. Here even though I see no practical reason for it, but they do it to. It starts anywhere from 11:00 am and usually ends at around 4:00 pm. It is frustrating, especially right now as it is the warmest part of the day. But the people here come home, eat, and then sleep. So our daily schedule is as follows; we have less study time in the morning, and we get out of the apartment at around 9:30 am. We work until 12:30 pm, if I can convince my companion to work that long, which doesn’t always work too well. We then have lunch with the members, which in Rauch, we get every day except for Sundays. We then go back to the apartment and I study Spanish and my companion sleeps. In the bigger cities of Bahia Blanca and Mar del, and in two other areas, we can work during siesta doing street contacts, but during that time, if you knock on peoples doors they don’t like you very much, that’s for sure.
I heard from Sister Jones (thanks for the letters by the way) that it is really nice up there. Here, it is early winter and I can’t believe school is already out down here. They started about the time I went into the MTC which was in March. Also our “stufe”, I think that is how it is spelled, but it is kind of like a really small furnace is broken so our apartment is really cold all of the time.
My first week, my bed broke when I was rolling over and the side beam just spilt almost all of the way down. So I’m sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Ah the life of a missionary. I love it though and the people here are so nice! They’re just amazing. I want to help as many of them as I can.
Well we also had interviews with the mission president this week and it is his last and my first so that was interesting, and he also speaks about as much English as I do Spanish, so it was very short hahaha. We also had a district conference for the district down here and it was a broadcast to all of Argentina and it was needless to say all in Spanish, but there was one talk in particular that was really interesting to me. It was Russell T. Osguthorpe the new president of the general Sunday. He talked about how when he was younger he had to go too all of his meetings really early. Get ready to laugh, a half an hour, sound familiar, hahaha. (For those not familiar with the Sands family, a half an hour early is almost late) So he was talking about my family in away too. He talked about how there would be no one there and so they would fix hymn books and set up chairs and such wow! But I’m really thankful for those opportunities to sit and listen to the spirit. I love having the spirit guide my life as a missionary, it is amazing.
We’ll do stuff that doesn’t sometimes make any sense or we’ll get lost and our town is really small and we’ll run across someone that will need our help, so yeah it’s amazing! I know this church is true. I’ve seen too much, I’ve felt the spirit too much, to deny it! Thank you all for you love and support!
Elder Sands
Monday, June 8, 2009
SOME NEW PICTURES HAVE BEEN POSTED TODAY. MORE SHOULD BE COMING, HOPEFULLY NEXT WEEK AS WE FIGURE A WAY FOR ELDER SANDS TO DUMP ALL THE PICTURES FROM HIS CAMERA.
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Well the file transfer method I was going use to send all my pictures didn’t work so here are a few pictures in the mean time of me in Tandil as I don’t have any of Rauch yet, plus a few other pictures.
That’s great of the seniors graduating from seminary and especially Sister Ax doing it with 100% attendance and congrats to you too Bro on getting another 100% year but especially the memorizing of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Knowing the scriptures now will help you later.
I’m still trying to deal with my companion. Even though it is tough to be with him, I’m being a good example whenever I can and trying to give him hints to be obedient whenever possible.
Today I went to the second biggest statue of Christ in the world, so I sent one of the pictures of that. It's really big!
This week went well, but yesterday was kind of a letdown. We had a whole bunch of people that were supposed to be going to church but didn't because of excuses. It´s really kind of sad. They know that these things are true, they've have had the witness from the Holy Ghost, but still they don't want to change their lives. They're afraid of the change even though they know that their lives will be better. We also have another boy of about 14 that comes every week and does everything, but can't get baptized because his mother won't let him. The only reason she won't let him is because his grandmother won't let his mom let him because she is catholic. A lot of people down here say “soy catolica” (I am Catholic) but they never have done anything with church except being baptized as an infant. Due to this blind commitment to something they don't really believe in, they are just depriving themselves of the blessing of the knowledge that God is the their father and that he loves them each individually.
I know that God loves me and all of us. And because of that love he sent his son Jesus Christ and he has the church and everything that comes with it to help us in our lives here on earth.
Love Elder Sands
CLICK ON THE MISSION PICTURES TO THE RIGHT TO SEE THE ALBUM.
Well the file transfer method I was going use to send all my pictures didn’t work so here are a few pictures in the mean time of me in Tandil as I don’t have any of Rauch yet, plus a few other pictures.
That’s great of the seniors graduating from seminary and especially Sister Ax doing it with 100% attendance and congrats to you too Bro on getting another 100% year but especially the memorizing of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Knowing the scriptures now will help you later.
I’m still trying to deal with my companion. Even though it is tough to be with him, I’m being a good example whenever I can and trying to give him hints to be obedient whenever possible.
Today I went to the second biggest statue of Christ in the world, so I sent one of the pictures of that. It's really big!
This week went well, but yesterday was kind of a letdown. We had a whole bunch of people that were supposed to be going to church but didn't because of excuses. It´s really kind of sad. They know that these things are true, they've have had the witness from the Holy Ghost, but still they don't want to change their lives. They're afraid of the change even though they know that their lives will be better. We also have another boy of about 14 that comes every week and does everything, but can't get baptized because his mother won't let him. The only reason she won't let him is because his grandmother won't let his mom let him because she is catholic. A lot of people down here say “soy catolica” (I am Catholic) but they never have done anything with church except being baptized as an infant. Due to this blind commitment to something they don't really believe in, they are just depriving themselves of the blessing of the knowledge that God is the their father and that he loves them each individually.
I know that God loves me and all of us. And because of that love he sent his son Jesus Christ and he has the church and everything that comes with it to help us in our lives here on earth.
Love Elder Sands
Monday, June 1, 2009
A lot has happened! We're working with one lady in Rauch right now and I think she'll get baptized before the end of this transfer. She is great and loves to hear the gospel. She actually was not progressing. Before my companion and his previous companion had been teaching her for about a month and she wouldn't read. So we were going to go back one last time and that was it no more after. So this is more or less the story she told. She was running out of money because she had lost her job and one day she just couldn't sleep. So she says ok I'll read. She reads from 3 - 5 in the morning, she gets a job and things start to work out for her which is fantastic. She now is progressing. She came to church and is doing great, although she didn't come this week because she was sick. We went over there and she was really sick!
The weather down here is not too bad. It dropped down really suddenly which is annoying but it's not bad at all. My hands are always cold but that's about it.
Today for p-day we went to this giant rock that is balanced on the edge of a cliff. It was pretty cool and I got pictures which I'll send next week. I forgot my cord.
We had divisions this week which was amazing. The missionaries I went with were really hard working. They don't use any excuses. Let me tell you about an experience. We were lost for a minute and so we decided to knock on a door because the elder I was with said that he does that whenever he needs to find someone. So the first door we knock on (or I should say clap, yeah we clap here) a lady comes out and she gets really excited. She lets us in and says that she is a less active and that has been praying for someone to find here because she has wanted to come back to church. Also that evening I was with another elder from Arizona but we were not terribly successful, but we worked really hard.
So now I'm trying to get my trainer to do the same, he's a bit lazy when it comes to rules and working. Anyways I'm fine and working.
Thank you for your love and support!
Love Elder Sands
The weather down here is not too bad. It dropped down really suddenly which is annoying but it's not bad at all. My hands are always cold but that's about it.
Today for p-day we went to this giant rock that is balanced on the edge of a cliff. It was pretty cool and I got pictures which I'll send next week. I forgot my cord.
We had divisions this week which was amazing. The missionaries I went with were really hard working. They don't use any excuses. Let me tell you about an experience. We were lost for a minute and so we decided to knock on a door because the elder I was with said that he does that whenever he needs to find someone. So the first door we knock on (or I should say clap, yeah we clap here) a lady comes out and she gets really excited. She lets us in and says that she is a less active and that has been praying for someone to find here because she has wanted to come back to church. Also that evening I was with another elder from Arizona but we were not terribly successful, but we worked really hard.
So now I'm trying to get my trainer to do the same, he's a bit lazy when it comes to rules and working. Anyways I'm fine and working.
Thank you for your love and support!
Love Elder Sands
Monday, May 25, 2009
I'm alive, yes hard to believe I know.
So, what happened since I left the MTC? Well the flight took forever and I didn't get much sleep, but I was able to give out a Book of Mormon and a pass along card. I went with my district and some others going to the mission south of us and some going to Buenos Aires. Once we got there the international airport wasn't that impressive at all.
After arriving we went to the Buenos Aires temple. Some people from the church were there to pick us up and then we went to the temple. After the temple we went to the hostel, it's called, and ate the food there that was a lot like spaghetti.
After that we were going to go get pictures but weren't able to because the people that were to pick us up came like an hour and a half early. O well. We then went to the other airport that is for domestic flights only which was actually a lot more impressive. We then flew to Bahía. It was really dark at this time so it was cool to see Buenos Aires at night from the sky. My pictures didn't turn out though. After arriving in Bahía we met our mission president and ya know, he doesn't speak any English. That was interesting.
The next day we went to the office and filled out a ton of paperwork and such and then went to the stake center there. I got assigned to my new companion, Elder Rios. He is from Rosario which is in Argentina, but he speaks really good English. I'm in a little area called Rauch which is really small. The branch has about 40 members and the building is tiny!
So as for castellano (that is what they call their language down here because it's a little different from Spanish) it isn't going great right now. I can't understand anyone. I can't really speak it any better either. But as I understand more, it will become easier to learn Spanish.
Today is the 25th of May which is their 4th of July. We went to a branch activity for the branches here in Tandil (we have to come into Tandil for P-day because there is nothing in Rauch). They made this soup that is kind of good but looks terrible. They throw just about whatever in it. The food in Rauch, because it is a "field community", doesn't consist of a ton of beef like most everywhere else.
This companion thing is kind of getting ridiculous. My companion; he's interesting; he works hard but has had some issues with a lot of rules so I'm really trying to work with that strength that he has. He was literally watching the movie Twilight my first day. So the next day I had our companionship study on obedience and such and he's doing better.
We're in an interesting position in Rauch. Every door has been knocked on in the past month or so and now we don't really have anywhere left but we were able to get 4 investigators to church, which is great. We also got two baptismal dates as well. So we're working on referrals only now.
It doesn't look like you're going to get pictures today as I can't figure the camera and computer out. The computer popped up for a second but now it isn't there and I can't fix it because it is all in Spanish, and this keyboard is terrible!
Letters take 3 weeks to get here through dearelder.com, but send them anyway!
Thank you for your prayers
Elder Sands
So, what happened since I left the MTC? Well the flight took forever and I didn't get much sleep, but I was able to give out a Book of Mormon and a pass along card. I went with my district and some others going to the mission south of us and some going to Buenos Aires. Once we got there the international airport wasn't that impressive at all.
After arriving we went to the Buenos Aires temple. Some people from the church were there to pick us up and then we went to the temple. After the temple we went to the hostel, it's called, and ate the food there that was a lot like spaghetti.
After that we were going to go get pictures but weren't able to because the people that were to pick us up came like an hour and a half early. O well. We then went to the other airport that is for domestic flights only which was actually a lot more impressive. We then flew to Bahía. It was really dark at this time so it was cool to see Buenos Aires at night from the sky. My pictures didn't turn out though. After arriving in Bahía we met our mission president and ya know, he doesn't speak any English. That was interesting.
The next day we went to the office and filled out a ton of paperwork and such and then went to the stake center there. I got assigned to my new companion, Elder Rios. He is from Rosario which is in Argentina, but he speaks really good English. I'm in a little area called Rauch which is really small. The branch has about 40 members and the building is tiny!
So as for castellano (that is what they call their language down here because it's a little different from Spanish) it isn't going great right now. I can't understand anyone. I can't really speak it any better either. But as I understand more, it will become easier to learn Spanish.
Today is the 25th of May which is their 4th of July. We went to a branch activity for the branches here in Tandil (we have to come into Tandil for P-day because there is nothing in Rauch). They made this soup that is kind of good but looks terrible. They throw just about whatever in it. The food in Rauch, because it is a "field community", doesn't consist of a ton of beef like most everywhere else.
This companion thing is kind of getting ridiculous. My companion; he's interesting; he works hard but has had some issues with a lot of rules so I'm really trying to work with that strength that he has. He was literally watching the movie Twilight my first day. So the next day I had our companionship study on obedience and such and he's doing better.
We're in an interesting position in Rauch. Every door has been knocked on in the past month or so and now we don't really have anywhere left but we were able to get 4 investigators to church, which is great. We also got two baptismal dates as well. So we're working on referrals only now.
It doesn't look like you're going to get pictures today as I can't figure the camera and computer out. The computer popped up for a second but now it isn't there and I can't fix it because it is all in Spanish, and this keyboard is terrible!
Letters take 3 weeks to get here through dearelder.com, but send them anyway!
Thank you for your prayers
Elder Sands
Monday, May 18, 2009
Our family had the choice opportunity to talk to Elder Sands from the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport while he was waiting to fly the final leg on his way to Argentina.
Elder Sands and nine other missionaries from the Provo MTC will arrive in Buenos Aires at about 7:50 AM Tuesday, go to the Buenos Aires MTC and probably have an opportunity to attend the temple there. They will then be picked up to ride about another 450 miles to finally arrive in Bahia Blanca.
This belated Mother's Day call revealed what Elder Sands has so quickly become; polite, articulate, humble, obedient, and spiritual. He is ready to serve!
His letters and pictures from Argentina should start being received next week. We will post them as they become available.
The Sands Family
Elder Sands and nine other missionaries from the Provo MTC will arrive in Buenos Aires at about 7:50 AM Tuesday, go to the Buenos Aires MTC and probably have an opportunity to attend the temple there. They will then be picked up to ride about another 450 miles to finally arrive in Bahia Blanca.
This belated Mother's Day call revealed what Elder Sands has so quickly become; polite, articulate, humble, obedient, and spiritual. He is ready to serve!
His letters and pictures from Argentina should start being received next week. We will post them as they become available.
The Sands Family
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