Letter Dated November 28, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like you all had a good Thanksgiving and such.  Which is good.  I barely remembered it was Thanksgiving, ha ha.  I think I ate some chicken that day.  Close to turkey.  But they really don't have much turkey here.

And it was cool to hear where Hanna and Aaron were going/are.  

I was glad to hear of your participation in black Friday, ha ha. Super fun to not sleep for a day and buy stuff.

And I am glad Emma still remembers who her favorite person is ;)

Anyway,  in Argentina  there was no Thanksgiving (weird that nobody else celebrates our day of thanks huh?) But we did have a good week anyways.

First off this week we did divisions. I stayed in Quequen and Elder Arriaga went to Necochea central (the busy place who knows where) I went with the Leader of District (oh no that was English in Spanish form)  named Elder Palma from Peru (land of rice, I feel blessed to be in a  land of cows with milk and meat for my mission....rice everyday, rice with butter, rice with more rice, rice with  bread.......que rico). Anyway,  so that's what we did Tuesday and Wednesday.

We  got contacted by a drunk guy (not really abnormal for this to happen) and he told us he wanted to change his life. So we noted his address and passed by the next day. Unfortunately he had a friend there who was difficult and didn't believe in much (if you want an example of his doctrine look up Nehor in the book of Mormon, it was the same). So it kinda ruined the lesson... but whatever.  We will see what we can do for him.

Next, I don't remember if i talked about Marialisa last time.  But we taught her again.  And she loves the Book of Mormon.  We talked about baptism, and she said she would like to get baptized because she knows these things are true, BUT she doesn't want to change.  She has 30 years in her church.  Her family keeps asking her if she is going to change.... really she is just scared to change and commit to go to church every Sunday.  So we will see what we can do there.

We taught a guy named Mariano outside his house.  He was receptive.  But we have yet to find him  again.

Oh yea, we  ran into a Testigo ( Jehovah witness) they are difficult, ha ha.  Anyway we were talking to her, when we saw outside her window, 5 cars full of police pull up and probably 30 policemen with shotguns, combat shields, and pistols surround the house next to us.... ha ha.  It was pretty cool.  The poor lady we were talking to was scared to death.  So we waited in the house for an hour or so for thing to cool down outside.  Fortunately nothing terrible happened.  We don't really know what happened.  After an hour we just left.  The cops were still outside the house, well I think at this point some were inside.  But it was kinda exciting to see.

At this point our divisions ended and Elder Arriaga  came back.

The poor kid.  Here's what happened to him.  None of us have a lot of money because we traveled to Tandil and we are waiting to get the money back, and Elder Palma and Elder Parra had 0 pesos left. So we did the exchanges , and in our area we almost always have lunches (they are huge lunches) poor Elder Arriaga had 0 lunches in Necochea.  So food was sparse, he ended up eating something like cornbread.  But not very good..... ha ha. He  wasn't to happy.  We have enough money to live, but usually when we don't have lunches we buy stuff and cook a good lunch ourselves.  But we always use to much money.  So sometimes for the end of transfers, money is a bit scarce (and we just finished another transfer this last week.)  Oh and Elder Arriaga got stung by a bee in the eyelid. Ouch.

The last email the pictures where of a map of Mar Del Plata I bought.  I zoomed in on the areas I served a bit.  Not sure if you guys  can even tell.  And a picture of the futbal I have.  It is not very good, but it serves its purpose.

Sunday was an interesting day.  We went to take a family to church in the morning.  A mom (who is menos activo that we found doing contacts) and her 3 children who haven't been baptized.  So we passed by but they were alllllll sleeepingg... and our calls and loud knocking couldn't quite wake them up from the deep slumber.  So they didn't go to church :(

But really,  it just rained allll day.  We were in the street a lot, and in a few hours we were soaked (it just rains so hard) and of course that is when we got into the house, but we left 1 minute later to change clothes....cause we were a bit to soaked and they lived close to our house. So we changed and went back.  But it was just weird.  I'm not sure why.

So we did have 1 investigator go to church.  She wants to get baptized.  But 1st she has to marry the guy she is living with...She has 50 years, 30 together, you'd think they would just sign the papers right? Nope, ha ha.

Anyway so that's more or less what my week was like.  Nothing happened for transfers for us. I don't know about the other elders.  I figure I'll be here till February. And then I'll have 1 more area.  But who knows.  I'm not in charge here, ha ha.

Anyway enjoy your week.  Have fun.  I'll prolly write again next week.  Eat a little extra turkey for me. I'll just stay here in Argentina and preach to people.  You guys go ahead and eat turkey.

Love ya,

Elder Obray

Letter Dated November 21, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Mike's tan line

Thanks for the email.  It was kinda interesting to see who noticed it was my birthday on facebook, ha ha.  I'm surprised anyone wrote anything since I'm kinda far away.  Thanks for the pictures as well.  Some pretty sweet lego castle stuff going on eh? Oh and thanks for the music.

Well I was glad to hear things are going well at home, even if its boring.

Mike's tan line

We did have an interesting week.  We had zone conference.  And since our zone is based in a city two and a half hours north of us, Tandil, we went to Tandil Wednesday.  It was kinda cool to see another city.  It looked pretty similar really, except the streets were made of stone, like the streets in old English movies.  That was pretty cool.

Argentine money

The zone conference was good. President always has some interesting words for us, he focused a bit more on the fact that we were going to be in areas for longer times. Since that will be hard for a lot of missionaries, ha ha. I am scared of getting a bad comp now, since we would be together for a good 3 months...ha ha.  I talked to  Elder Vauterlaus during the zone conference.  He was in my district in the MTC.  So it was cool to see him again.  He has only been in two areas.  Bahia Blanca and Tandil and he is on his 3rd companion.

I also discovered that during summer, there are millions of mosquitoes.  Millions.  And I must have sweet blood, cause they bite a lot . I probably have 30 bites right now.... yeaaaa.... anyway so that's fun.

I sent some pictures. I sent some of the tan line I'm getting.  And then some of the money of Argentina. Hope you like it.  I took lots of pictures of things today, so.

Mike's favorite candy Aguilla Classic

This week we did some pretty good work, ha ha.  We found a bunch of new investigators. But they are a bit difficult cause they are attending other churches.  Well 2 couples have this problem. But they said they would read the Book of Mormon and pray.  So we hope they will feel something.

Also, we passed by a member's house Flia Garcia.  And they are a great family.  Super active and super strong members.  The Hermano (brother) Garcia is very outspoken, ha ha.  And one of his neighbors who isn't a member came to there house, ha ha.  And it was funny, cause he just starts preaching away  trying to show her that the Book of Mormon was true and all this.  I think his neighbor was confused. Luckily for us the hermano had to leave for a bit, which gave me and my comp an opportunity to chat. And we set up a cita for the next week.  But it was funny to watch the hermano.  Great guy. 

Oh I cook french toast today. Yum. I finally found powder sugar.  Under the name Asucar Impampable. Whew. So that was great.

Cereal in Argentina

The next pictures are.  My favorite Argentine candy, Aguilla classic.  The cereal of Argentina comes in the super super small bags... kinda annoying really.  The milk comes in plastic sacks really, and in 1liter so its not a ton.  A picture of a key in Argentina.  I think we should use these keys.

Alright I have a few questions:

1. I think Aaron Capner is on his mission, but I don't know where.  You should try to find out.

2. I got a letter the other day that said Hanna Treu was going on a mission, but I don't know where, you should check and see what's going on cause I don't know if its a joke.

Milk in Argentina

These next picture are Nesquick, which is a lifesaver, gotta have some chocolate milk.  This is our big map of our area the dotted line is the line of the bridge and the big street next to our house. I think you can read the note of the map that says kasa. That's our house.  I tried to send a picture of my shoes but it didn't turn out good. I'll get a better one.

Well I can't think of anything else super cool that happened.  We didn't really have any crazy things happen.  Just the normal for me, ha ha.  Anyway, enjoy your week. Enjoy thanksgiving... they don't have turkey...sniffle. I'll have to find something, ha ha.

Love Elder Obray

Map of current area

Mike's lifesaver

Argentina key

Letter Dated November 14, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Thanks for the happy birthdays and the email.  I for sure had a pretty good birthday.  The people were great!

In truth, I don't know what the huge building are... There are 3 church building in Necochea. I know a hospital is close to one.  So that's possible. The other I've never actually seen.  And the other is in central. So lots of big building.....sorry I can't really help.

We don't see to many boats.  Mostly cause we aren't to close to the water usually.  But I have seen a few  big ones.  Just not up close.

Spanish is coming good.  I almost never speak English. Since my comp doesn't speak English.  My vocab lacks a bit.  But when we teach a lesson.  Facil.  I usually don't have any problems. Sometimes I lack a good description word, but I can work around that a bit. I would say I am doing alright I can understand most the things.  And talk pretty well.  I still have a pretty good Yankee accent, ha ha.  It's hard to lose that part.

So this week, really went alright. Not great.  Not terrible.  We had 55 people in church.  But no investigators.  Part of that was cause it was the primary program.  Which was great.  And of course we participated since the primary and the missionaries are pretty much equals right?  Ha ha, no, but it was fun.  The program went well.  The kids loved it.

Alan, the kid we baptized here, his mom had a baby Wednesday.  So we passed by and talked to them his name is Tiago. like Diego with a t.  And he likes to cry, ha ha. So that was pretty cool.

Oh yea I had an eye infection.  Nothing bad.  I can't remember what it was called.  But I got some medicine (which to be honest I don't trust, but that's just cause I have a hard time trusting anything in Argentina unless a church member says its good ha ha.  But it seems to be working.  It's just some eye drops.  I thought it was just allergies, but apparently a lot of people here have this infection, they say it's because of the ash.  Which is the blame for everything here, ha ha, its kinds funny.  Cause you can't see it very often.  But its there.  And sometimes in the morning there's a tiny bit on the ground. But it doesn't stay for long.

So we found two new investigators.  They stopped us in the street.  So we didn't find them the two new investigators found us. They were driving and apparently having an argument of some sort and pulled over (Still arguing) and said hey you two, you guys teach about God right. Yes.  Good come stop by our house sometimes.

So we got the address and passed by a few times, but they were never home.  Then por fin. Mericoloes we found them in there house.  We shared the first lesson and took out baptismal fechas with them, and we have the follow up cita today.  So we are going to see what happened to them.

We visited a Menos activo, Marta Cuello, Who lives some 35 blocks from the church (which is far) and she doesn't have much money and has like 7 kids. But she started to come back to church. So we are pretty stoked about that.

Juan, a kid in the branch that's preparing to leave for his mission, leaves with us every Wednesday right.  Well this last Wednesday he was acting weird. So oddly my companion had to go to the bathroom in the church.  Where we sat down and talked a bit. And found out he was just worried about his dad, since his dad stopped going to church a while back.  So we told him we would pass by his dad later that week.  When we passed by we talked to him, and he is really smart. He knows just as much as I do about the church. Since I am oh so smart , ha ha no chiste (joke).  Anyway we are now a bit worried ourselves since he wants to get revenge on a guy who fired him from his work.... And well try as we might we couldn't find anyway to help him think about what he wants to do.  He is a but stubborn and wont even say a pray or read (which he used to love to do)... so we were a bit lost.

And for my birthday.  Well 1st we had the primary presentation. Then we had an surprise lunch.  We went to visit a menos activo after church and he was cooking an asado (an Argentina barbecue but it has like....hmmm steak and sausages and lots of stuff.  Really good.  So we ended up eating with him. Then that night. The president de Rama, President  Llanos, invited us to eat at his house. So we went. and his sons Diego and Pablo were there.  It was a huge party.  With another asado with french fries. Way Good. So we at least ate good, ha ha. Then Diego and his wife Ana gave me a gift. A very good gift for summer they said. They gave me some deodorant, ha ha.  Which was great.  Ana and Diego both served mission in pretty hot places, so they know, that after an hour in the sun, you gotta go home and take another shower, ha ha.  Anyway so that was pretty good.

And we got new, news from the President.  Apparently they had a meeting with, some high ranking church officials like Elder Christofferson and such.  And they said that missionaries need to stay in areas longer.  So now.  Instead of being in an area for 4 months as a normal. its going to be 6 to 9 months.  So 4 to 6 translados in every area! THAT'S a TON of time. Seeing as for me 1 transfer in Monolito, 2 in Mar del, 3 in Punta Magotes, and I have 2 in QueQuen so far. So now I am almost assured 1 or 2 more transfers in QueQuen.  Whew.  It's interesting.

Anyway that's pretty much all the news I got.  I think I wrote a lot today.  So enjoy, ha ha. I didn't take any pictures today so. Sorry, ha ha. We will go exploring in the next lunes.

Yea I feel a bit bad for Aaron. I don't know much about his mission or Chile in general.  Besides they have like twice as many members as Argentina.  We have like 350,000 they como 800,000.  But I'm sure in a lot of ways the people are similar.  Which means difficult and very closed minded.  Especially the older people.  The young couples or the teenagers are more open, but they usually just want to know what it's like in the states or for my comp Mexico, and hear a little English. They usually don't have interest, ha ha. The best days are the days when you knock doors all day and don't get into a single house or anything.  I'm sure that's happened to him a few times by now.  And it's always a bit depressing.  But that's when you sit down, drink some chocolate milk, eat an Alfajore, and crack some jokes, ha ha. Then go on.

Anyway I'm doing good.  Just working.  Don't need to worry bout me, ha ha.  Enjoy your week. Hey, you should send me some pictures of some legos things I've built, my comp doesn't believe that I build things with legos.  He thinks there for little kids and I know there for fully grown children, like me, ha ha. That would be great.

Disfruta su semana.

Love Elder Obray

Letter Dated November 7, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Thanks for the Email.

Mike's church building in QueQuen

Yea, Argentina doesn't do daylight savings. So that's not much of a problem here, ha ha.

This week was pretty interesting. It was warm most the week, which was nice since I suffered 2 winters in  row, ha ha.

We started doing a new thing, well its not really new, but I hadn't done it before, ha ha. So new for me. We set up a cita with a member, go to their house, share a quick lesson, then do a reference activity. It works pretty well, we had some decent success from it.

Friday we had a mission activity that we planned, it was a pizza party. Went super well. We had more menos activo and investigators then members. We even had a few people we didn't know go. So we are pretty excited about that.

The best thing about it is the members loved seeing all the people, and some of them were asking us when the next one was going to be. We hope to find lots more investigators through these activities.

In church yesterday we didn't have any investigators, but 13 menos activos went so we did have some success. We had 42 people in church which was a surprise! That's a good number for our little branch.

I don't know if you remember Marcelo y Cecilia, but he finally came back from work in Tandil, so we had a small lesson with them that went well.

We visited Beatrice and Angel Sunday night, unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to talk. But Beatrice who now has a whole year in the church has been talking to him a lot more then is usual. Sunday during fast and testimony she got up and bore her testimony and said that her desire is to see her husband and kids sealed.  And she is doing lots to see that happen.  Angel was a lot more thoughtful.  But he still hasn't quite made the decision. But when he does he will be a really good member. He did say that he will go to church. So we thinks that he is starting to change little by little.

I sent some picture of the church.  I don't think I sent pictures of the churches in Argentina before. This is before the district conference so its super clean and nice. But really in comparison to our church back home its pretty small, ha ha.

 

You can see pretty much the whole church from the inside you have the church part. Then the foyer which separates the church from the long hallway. Then the hallway with the classes.

Thursday it rained really hard. It was terrible, we were in a lesson when it started.  And we left while it was pouring. We ran home (it was at night) but it didn't help. We were SOAKED. Fun stuff.

Well I was a bit sad that Braeden and Brandon haven't gone out yet.  And that Tyler had to go home for a bit, but its good Tyler wants to go back out. That would be really hard, a lot that go home don't come back. But as long as he goes back out its all good. David Titus the kid from my high school that is suppose to be in my mission had to go home for surgery. And I have no idea if he has come back yet. I hope so. It would be cool to see someone from home, ha ha.

I have been using my glasses this week. There is a lot of ash, and allergies in the air, and honestly I can't even use the contact at all without my eyes bothering me a ton.

Well thanks for sending the birthday money I'll try to find some socks here. Hopefully they have something, ha ha. I'll look next Monday probably. More then that I don't really need anything. Well eventually I'll have to do something about the shoes. My shoes are slowly starting to die. Almost 10 months of strait walking isn't super good on shoes. I don't know what will be better to do. Send you the picture of my shoes and send me the replacements or buy some. My companion already destroyed his shoes and he only has a few  months, the problem is, there are no nice walking shoes in Argentina....

anyway.  


Thanks for the thoughts and scriptures Dad, I wrote them down, and will study them probably tomorrow for my study time.

Enjoy your week. Tell Emma I say hey. Ok? ha ha. You can tell Abby to, but she doesn't have any idea who I am.

Love ya

Elder Obray