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