Vallegrande

Vallegrande
Baptism in Vallegrande

Monday, January 27, 2014

Written on the pizza box

haha here is what it says on the pizza box, "I go in..." The Zone Leaders wrote it, just a bit trunkie :D haha

Mom: Are all 6 of you trying to build this new area, then? 

Josh: No they split up the the area of the other elders, but our part had hardly been touched. There are a lot of people. Yeah it´s been pretty great. I still don´t understand a ton though sooo yeah. I don´t know...the spanish is coming pretty slowly for me. It´s been hard.

New Years

This was us at new years. We bought a huge pizza and just ate tons :D Elder West and Elder Ramos live with us in this new house, and the other two, elder Rodriguez and Elder Mataboni are the zone leaders. We all eat lunch together everyday. Oh yeah elder west is also a district leader. haha so two dl´s and the zone leaders all in one ward :D

My first soccer ball

Here is my first soccer ball! I´ve found that I really really love playing soccer. Good thing for south america huh? :D haha I´m definitely not as good as they are, but I can still compete and score goals :)

Elder Corrales is blocked by...a drunk man...

I´m trying to figure out how to send them better. This email is hard to use stuff like this. I think I sent a different one to you. And a couple blanks sorry :D But this week was good. Better. We worked really hard. Had way more lessons this week so thats good. Nothing really new. I was sick yesterday and still feel a bit sick.

Ok I think i have it figured out! lol this picture was hilarious. There was this drunk guy sleeping in front of the atm, and that was the only place we could take out money, so we had to get in. We shook the guy a bit, and tried to wake him up, but that didn´t work out, so I just grabbed his legs and moved his body, but while Elder Corrales was taking out the money the drunk guy moved his body back in front of the door :D hahaha There are so many drunk people here its ridiculous

Picture

It's a snake...no...it's a worm!?




1/20/14

So this week in the mission we had a zone conference with President and Sister Willard. It was super inspiring! I learned so many great things. All the conferences are in Spanish, and this time I was actually able to take spiritual notes and apply the things I heard! So that was really exciting :) Also we have really cool new change in the mission due to my work! I had a question about something one of the manuals said about taking multivitamins everyday for our health because I had been feeling a bit worn out, so I asked Sister Willard about it in our last zone conference. She said she would look into it but asked me to look around for them if I wanted. So i went to a whole bunch of different farmacias and found this one brand that was the best and cheapest, then i tested it and it´s actually made a difference in how I felt. I reported all this to Sister Willard and she was really grateful and suprised! So she took all the info I found to the church and they promised to reimburse our mission to provide all the missionaries with multivitamins from now on! So that was pretty exciting for me :) 

Also though this week we have an investigator with a solid baptismal date! Her name is Maria Mosa. She is an older lady who lives with her daughters and grandkids. We taught her a lesson, and the next day she came to church! She´s been to church the last three weeks every sunday, and this last sunday, I could see a change in her. :) She was happier, had more energy, more talkative. It was so cool to see, and she loves the church. It is so neat to see the change the Gospel can have in the lives of people :)

_

Mom: Oh my goodness!  How exciting! Did she have to walk a long way to get to church? I know you said it was pretty far away. That is so wonderful! And of course, as your mother I am worried that you've had low energy. Do you think you are not getting enough vitamins in your food, then? Have you been sick from the food a lot? Are you getting enough to eat? Are you feeling down because of trials? It is so neat that you've blessed the lives of others by finding a vitamin that works! I am so proud of you. You have always been a strong leader. Exciting that you are understanding the language so well now!!!

Josh: No I´m doing a lot better now since the vitamins :) Walking around in the heat really sucks the energy out of you, but its all good now. I have plenty now. The most important things are exercising in the morning and eating breakfast so I´ve pretty much figured it all out. :) And I eat plenty haha that isn´t a problem :D I still can´t speak it worth a darn though, grammar kicks my butt :(

Mom: Haha!  It'll come. I'm glad you've figured it out. When you were set apart as a missionary president Evans blessed you that you would have good health. I'm proud of you for figuring out what your body needs so that you can do His work.

Josh: He blessed me with that???? Haha no wonder I´m so healthy, i´ve really had like no problems! i´ve just learned how to maximize my energy and focus throughout the day :)

Mom: Neat, huh? Remember to ask for priesthood blessings while you are there. Have you given any blessings out there?

Josh: I haven´t received any, but i gave three in the MTC and one here in the field. I got a christmas card and a picture from cindi! :) Make sure to tell her how much I loved it! :) Tell coltin to email me! :)

Monday, January 6, 2014

Happy new years!!!

Hope you all had a great new years. So Elder Corrales and I both got transferred to a new area :D Thats not super normal but we are in the same zone. We are starting a brand new area. Antofagasta 3. So in our ward there are a total of 6 missionaries! haha and two district leaders and the zone leaders :D We are now in between the 4th and 6th rings, and our area has nothing! No investigators, no members, no nothing. haha so lucky me for getting the experience of opening a new area. There is a lot of mud here. My shoes are just an absolute wreck. Always :D haha and its been raining a ton the last week. One day we were just totally soaked. Soooo wet. At first it wasn´t fun, but it got better. There new ward is really great, really motivated for missionary work! So thats good. And we changed homes, we are living with two of the other elders in our ward, Elder West and Elder Ramos, and Elder West is another district leader. Its been a lot of fun :D
 
So starting a new area is a little rough. We pretty much just have to talk to anyway that comes our way. Also our area is super long, so walking takes forever. From most parts of our area to our house is about a 30 minute walk. To the church also in the other direction. So we just walk and walk and walk :D
 
Sending pictures isn't working today. The internet is really bad.
 
And no the house we have now is really big. Big enough for two more elders, so we all have different rooms. Elder West is from Utah, (they all are :D) and yeah we talk in english sometimes. There are things you just cant say in spanish! :D haha That is good for him. He´ll get a ton better from it. I´m really excited to get my packages!

And yes Elder corrales is still my companion. haha yeah it is pretty great. we actually have a kitchen! :D Allrighty my time is up, so I love you lots! :) have a great week and say hello to everyone for me! :) Time sure is flying. Love you, talk to you next week!