Letter Dated December 31, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well thanks for the email.  Things here are going pretty good.  Nora and Magali got baptized.  I am trying to send you a picture of it.  I hope it uploads, ha ha.  Anyway, that went super well.   I also sent you a picture of the Argentine barbecue.  We ate it for Christmas.  Pretty good.

Oh hey, and Happy New Years! its already 2013.  I can't believe it, ha ha.

Yea, I had an interesting chat with my sisters and their husbands.  Kinda interesting, ha ha.  Logan would always give some advice then say " that's what your dad would say" , so I guess Logan and Dad think alike, ha ha.  I thought it was funny. 

Anyway, Christmas went good here.  It was kinda a dull day.  NOBODY was in the streets, ha ha, til like 7 in the tarde.  Woooooo.  I am guessing new years will be the same.

So we are still working on Ruben, Silvia, and Thomas so that they get baptized soon.  I hope it happens, but we will see.  If not it is alright.  We are also teaching a guy named Rafael that we hope to be able to baptize as well.  So things here are going pretty well.

This week I have my last Zone conference.  That should be pretty fun.

To be honest I'm just not sure if much else happened, ha ha.

But that's alright.  Hey they sent me an email of all my flight times, I am guessing you got that one as well.

We taught a guy this weekend name Enrique.  He is the brother of a recent convert.  He came up from wayyyy down south for Christmas break and everything.  So while he was there we talked to him.  He was really difficult.  Honestly he just didn't listen to what we said.  We were about to quite trying and go find someone who wanted to listen, when we decided to have him give a prayer with us and ask God if he should listen.  Surprisingly he agreed to do it.  When he prayed the Spirit touched him, and he started to cry. Well, he is now very open to listen, ha ha.  It is neat to see how God works.

That's all I got really.

Have a good week and such.  Don't make any brownies without me, ha ha.

Love ya´ll (your in the south now, right?  You have to speak with ya´ll right?)

Elder Obray

Letter Dated December 24, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well, I guess maybe we will talk, ha ha.  I have to call on the 25th, they didn't give us an option this year.  I am planning on calling at like 6 in Argentine time. so I don't really know when that will be where you guys are, ha ha.

Anyway, yea I got the letters now haha. o well.

So the activity went super.  I'll try to send some pictures that I got taken so you can see what happened. In the morning we went and sang some Christmas songs in the big park, and the main shopping center.  That was pretty fun.  Then we went and ate lunch together and talked and such. We had a pretty good little talent show, we did kinda a secret Santa exchange of gifts. That was pretty fun. It was good.  I got to see some of my missionary friends again.  Some of them I might not be able to see again.  That might be a bit sad, ha ha, but o well.

What else happened this week. So Nora and Magaline are going to get baptized this week. We are all pretty excited about that. Should be really good. We have been working along time with them.

Also we think the 12 of January we should have two more Thomas and Silvia. They both agreed to do it that day.

We had an activity in the church this week as well. That was pretty neat. we did a live nativity seen with the primary. we invited allllll the people who lived next to the church. And a few of them came. That was great.  Sparked some interest in some otherwise difficult neighbors, ha ha.

We built a dog cage this week.  Mixed cement by hand.  1st time I've ever done that one, ha ha.  Its not a lot of fun under blistering heat, ha ha.

We are teaching a guy named Rafael who could also get baptized.  He wants to.  I guess we will see what happens.  He is a nice guy, with lots of medical problems.  But he likes to read.  So that's good.

So the whole Mayan calender was a big joke out here in Argentina.  I was hoping that all the people would think it was the end of the world and repent and get baptized, but nobody really paid much attending, ha ha.  O well.  I'm sure someone will come up with something else right?

Anyway, that's about all I got to say today, uh, I have lots of pictures but its taking along time to upload cause all the computer cybers are closed and the church computer is slow as a snail at half pace. Maybe 1/4th pace.  Whew.

So I sent 1 of the choir when we went to the park to sing.

Uh.  Feliz Navidad!  I guess tonight we are eating with a member and tomorrow is a pretty relax day. Should be good.

Nos vemos manana? (Its, uh, see you tomorrow) (I had to think there). Maybe, ha ha.  If not next week well just have to email.

Love ya

Elder Obray

Letter Dated December 17, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Hey, I Hope you had a good week.  I didn't get a email.  But I figure everything is alright.

Anyway, so this week was a pretty interesting little week.  The pictures I sent will help explain.

First, I was with Elder Perkins, then Tuesday night we got a phone call that told us we were going to be in a trio and train a new Elder.  So that was a surprise.  We were both going to train one person.  Okay, ha ha.  So we worked as a trio till Saturday.  Then Saturday night they called us again and told us Elder Perkins was leaving to another area and was going to train another Elder.  So now I am with Elder Gonzalez, training him.  He is from Ecuador.  A really good missionary.

I hope that makes sense.

So some good news.  Nora is going to get baptized the 29th.  We are almost sure.  She wants to, she went to church Sunday with her sister who will probably get baptized the same day.  We are pretty excited.  The mom is a bit more difficult.  She doesn't want to get baptized twice, ha ha.  We will see what we can do.

We found a girl named Solanj.  She listened to missionaries before, but then she moved and lost contact.  Now we found her doing door contacts.  She is really good.  Even better.  A little bit before we passed by, a member had passed by and talked to her about the church.  Perfect,  ha ha.  She was pretty excited.  We were too.

This week we also taught Delcia and her daughter and granddaughter.  They said they were going to go to church, but they never actually got there.  We were a bit sad.

Good news.  Thomas and Ruben went to church again.  We are planning on baptizing Thomas but we aren't sure when yet.  But its going to happen.

We were out working this week.  And we were doing a few street contacts.  When Elder Perkins talked to an older guy in front of his house, he gave him a pass along card, then he saw the wife inside and asked if he could go give one to her, he said yes, so we entered the house and started to talk.  Kinda a fun way to get into a house I thought.

Tomorrow we have our Christmas activity, should be fun.  I'll let you know how it goes.

What else happened this week.

Uh.  We found 16 new investigators.  That was fun.

Uh,  I talked to one of the sister missionaries who is in Castex.  Sounds like everyone is doing pretty good over there.  I was happy to hear that Gabi and Natalia and Melani are still active.  But sad cause Antonia still doesn't have permission to go to church.  But I guess they are getting closer to her getting permission.  The sister missionaries can pass by her house now.  So that was some good news.

Well I am tired.  And we got lots of work to do.

Anyway, I hope you have a good week.  And things go well.

I haven't heard when we can call home yet, but I'll let you know.  Don't worry.

Love ya,

Elder Obray

Letter Dated December 10, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well we had a pretty interesting little week.  Hope your ready for it.  Ha ha, well maybe not that interesting.  But a little yea.

The pictures I sent, are 1 is my district of 8 sister missionaries. 

First things first this week, we had transfers.  Elder Fernandez left for Mar Del Plata, he is going to Villa Belgrano, probably the most dangerous area in the mission.  Whew. But still not that dangerous. They just rob the missionaries in the street if they have watches or anything of value.

Also my district got changed up pretty good.  Seven of the sisters missionaries left and two elders came into the district and 1 sister missionary.  So what I am trying to say is that they closed two areas. 

One of the wards is obvious why. The hermanas apparently got a threat from a crazy guy. So President took them out and put in Elders, ha ha.  And the others they took out. 

So now in my district we have me and my new companion Elder Perkins from Colorado.  Elder Watson and Elder Maldarejo, Hermana Pomora and Hermana Linco.  So its a bit smaller.  Which will be nice ha ha.

That's the big news.  I guess I wont have to deal with any more transfers, this is my last one :(

So one of our investigators had a baby this week.  Danelia had a baby.  That was good for the family.

A nineteen year old named Christian, who is Evangelical, read a bit of the Book of Mormon and told us he felt the spirit and knows its true.  Now the problem is, he doesn't want to change churches, ha ha.

Delicia, told us she is going to get married.  She just has to wait for some papers.  But it could still be a little while.

Nora couldn't go to church this week, she was sick (she is the 7th day Adventist)

We found a new investigator named Mari.  She had talked to the missionaries before and told us she felt like she had received a sign from God and might just need to get baptized, ha ha.  Very good.  (I would explain more, but I'm not sure how she connected what happened to sign from God, it would take forever to try and explain it, so ill just leave it there).

Silvia told us she was going to get baptized.  Maybe in January.

So for Christmas, what we have planned the 24th is we are going to have dinner with some members.  The 25th  we have yet to plan.  As a mission. we are going to celebrate the 18th, they haven't given us much in details.  But we are going to sing some Christmas songs in a hospital and in a huge park.  More then that I don't know.  I guess might know more in the future.  I'm a bit jealous that the missionaries in Tennessee got to listen to an Apostle, ha ha.  But that's how it is.

About calling home, I am planning on using skype. but I don't know if it will be 24 or 25, they haven't told us much about what we can do yet.  I'm sure at one point I'll let you know, ha ha.

Anyway that's about all I got.  I guess I'll email again next week.

Love ya

Elder Obray

Oh yea, Elder Perkins was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  Then lived in Knoxville for a few years, but they moved when he was 4.  So that is it.  :)

  

Letter Dated December 3, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Thanks for the email.  Sounds like things are just moving along back there in the States.

This week we had a bit more success.  We had Nora, the 7th day Adventists at church.  Which actually surprised me.  She wanted to go.  Good.  She enjoyed it.  She went with her sister, Magaline who has down syndrome.  Went well.  The members received them well.

We worked really hard trying to get Delicia to go to church.  We had a good lesson with a member at the church with her.  But she still didn't make it on Sunday.  Her marriage situation is like this. She lived with (not married) to Daniel when she was younger, then they fought an she moved out and lived with anther guy, this time she married him. Then he died, and she went back to Daniel.  But they are kinda more like a couple that fighs.  So they sleep in different beds. They don't have very strong desire to get married.  Maybe just a little desire.  So that's where we are at.

Thomas and Silva, well we are struggling to find them home... we will see this week.

This week we met a crazy Muslim guy.  The first time I've ever met one who was willing to talk.  So I learned a little about what they think.  That was interesting.  He used his hands a lot to express himself, it was pretty fun to talk to him.  Honestly he doesn't really want anything.  But it was a interesting experience.

We did a service project this week for an older couple.  They had us move wood that had been sitting outside for millions of years.  You don't want to know how many or how big the spiders were that we found cleaning that place out.  I worked a bit slower then usual.  There were a few as big as my fist.  I didn't like that too much.  I didn't get bit...whew.

We had two baptisms in the district this week.  So I went and gave a few interviews.

One of them had to talk to the Mission President, the other was a pretty easy interview. Both got baptized in the end so it went pretty good.

We found a good number of new investigators this week.

Christian, he is 19, pretty shy kid, he goes to an Evangelical church.  We talked several times, he is interested, but he is loyal to his church.  But we will see what we can do.

We found about 10 atheists. They are a bit difficult to teach sometimes, ha ha.  I feel bad for missionaries in 10 years more, I think you'll see lots more atheists.  I hope you see just a bunch of Mormons but who knows.

We have transfers this week.  I assume that I will be staying here. vElder Fernandez could leave he already has 6 months here.  So we will see.

Oh I one of the members here served in Salta,  I already asked him questions.  Its super hot up there.  But they baptized a ton.  His mission averaged 3 times what Bahia Blanca gets.  But that's good.  Lots of Lamanites up north, ha ha.  Should be good for Holly.

Well about the shirts, if jenny and Izzy wants shirts I can get them shirts,  I wasn't planning on buying them jerseys.  I thought I would buy them something more girlie, ha ha.  And of course for you and uh Nate's wife....Isabel? Right?  If she reads this don't get mad at me, remember forgiveness.  I was going to get Emma and Abby something.  But I have no idea, an Argentine barbie...?  No something cooler.  Anyway I'll worry about that like the 13 of January.

Anyway, uh, I can't think of much else to say.  Have a good week.  Enjoy it and such.

All in all we had a decent week.

Love ya

Elder Obray