May 23, 2011

HI FAMILY

Okay so I see that I am an uncle now!?!?  That is awesome!! It was funny to read all these emails and watch as time passed haha. I am super happy to hear that all went well, that Steph and Justin are fine, that the baby is fine, and that you were there like you wanted to be Mom :) In a little under two years, I will see this little guy! Keep sending pictures!

As for Argentina, things are great. I have some great experiences this week. I did splits with my zone leader Elder Wallace and we taught several amazing lessons to some of their contacts in Mar del Plata, who are now all progressing investigators for the Zone Leaders! And in Balcarce, Elder Blackhorse and I have the baptism of 17 year old Franco, 14 year Leandro, and 10 year old Matias this Saturday!! I am very excited! It is a great feeling to teach them, help them understand, and watch them gain their testimonies. I can see the gospel of Jesus Christ bring their family together, strengthen their relationships with each other, and bring them an understanding and perspective of this life. We have some other investigators named Micaela who randomly stopped us in the street and asked us "for our book" who is now reading and we're probably teaching her lesson 2 tomorrow, Leandro Zapata who we have yet to visit, and Nancy and her daughters Layla and Sandra who are slowly but surely beginning to understand the need for this. As for their desires to change, hopefully as they continue on, they will see that this can better their lives!

The other night, we went by a contact of Elder Blackhorse and his old companion and found a family of 6 and taught them! They have had some contact with the church before but I didn't really understand in which way. But anyway, Argentines LOVE to talk so it's really hard to teach them. And this guy was going on and on and I was getting slightly frustrated because we can't teach when they do all the talking! So I randomly held out a Book of Mormon and said, "Do you have this book?" He said no. So I gave it to him, bore my testimony, and we regained control of the lesson and they are going to read and pray! It was kind of funny and Elder Blackhorse laughed his head off after because he had no idea what I was doing but it worked!

Anyway, I woke up Saturday with a 101 fever and we've not done much since then because I feel like death. We taught one or two lessons and went to church but after a little while, it's all I can take. I'm better today and by tomorrow I should be set to get back to work! I'm here to work! Not to be sick and sleep!

So yeah, I uploaded some pictures but I need to take more! There are none of Balcarce! Next week, I'll have a bunch. Um I spent like 20 minutes reading all those emails about giving birth so I have to go so I'll have time to respond to everyone!

Ciao!

-Elder Ryan Garrison

ps - TOMS shoes are from Argentina. They have had these shoes called abrogatas for YEARS. I bought a pair for 15 pesos (just over 3 dollars) and they are exactly like TOMS! Oh and the TOMS logo is an Argentina flag I think! Anyway, all the missionaries here flipped when I told them how big TOMS are in the states. They thought they were all going to come back with these cool, unique shoes.