Letter Dated June 25, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Sounds like a pretty interesting little week.  All the moving and stuff sounds pretty exciting, ha ha. 

So to keep warm we have whats called a Calafactor.  It's a small natural gas heater.  It keeps the house at a warmer temperature then outside.  We also have some small electric heaters so insides not to bad.  Oh and my sleeping bag is  great for the cold.  So Elder Pino has to keep working on his visa. Argentina is causing problems.  At this point NO missionaries from the states can get in or renew there visas.  I'm not really sure why.  But we heard there was political tension.  That and we can't get any books and such from the states anymore :(.

About BYU-I, I'll have to see what the new president thinks.  If I came home two weeks early I would get home probably on the 5th and go pretty much straight to school.  I guess we will see.  I'm not sure if its worth it to start school two weeks late.... sounds like a lot of work, ha ha.  I'm sure I could do it but I would be super busy for the 1st two weeks at school, ha ha. 

Sounds like you had fun with Abby this week with her evil eye, ha ha.  I thought that was funny.

So this week was pretty interesting.

Monday, we had 2 family nights.  Which also means we ate 2 dinners.  I was stuffed.  In fact just thinking about it makes me feel full.  But they went well.  One was really just a invitation to teach a lesson to a already active family, the other was all active but the dad, so we had to focus on him a bit and what he needs to hear.  But he didn't go to church on Sunday, well see what happens later.

Tuesday, Elder Pino had to go back to Bahia at 3 in the morning.  So we were working as a 3 some all day.  We also found some lost boxes of Book of Mormons the office had been trying to send us.  We now have like 150 Book of Mormons in our house.  We met a cool catholic guy as well.  He was nice, and actually had listen to the missionaries before, He has read the Book of Mormon and believes it is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  But, now here is the but, he believes the church is a political unit and not from God, and that anyone could be called of God, and do great things like Joseph.  So it is a bit complicated, but he is really nice and open to at least listen.

Wednesday, Elder Caceres was sick,  We still visited a bit.  We talked to Fernando and did a small family night with a less active family (that was a difficult lesson, the kids are wild).  Other then that Elder Caceres couldn't really walk much, he had body pain, just lots of places hurt.

Thursday, Elder Caceres was still a bit sick.  This time he had stomach ache, he felt like he was going to throw up, so we stayed home, until 7.  At 7 I went with Elder Pino to do a interview for a baptism they had.  A girl named Valentina got baptized Saturday.  I interviewed her, went well, she knew pretty much everything. So it was easy.

Friday. Elder Caceres felt better so we worked.  We didn't have much visible success.

Saturday We had a few lessons, we talked a bit with Oscar (we talked earlier in the week as well, I don't think I mentioned those ones) he is doing good.  Just trying to stop smoking, tonight we have a chat with him as well, we are going to try and baptism him this week.  Valentina was baptized as well. It went pretty well.  Oh and we got transfers, ha ha, Elder Caceres is going to Miramar, which is close to Mar Del Plata, and Elder Oldham is coming.

Sunday, Elder Caceres said his goodbyes to everyone.  My new companion came in, we were told he was coming in Monday at 9 in the morning, but no, it was Sunday night at 9, so he was waiting in the terminal for a hour before we found out, ha ha, poor kid.

He is from Rexburg, Idaho just right there close.  He has 14 months in the mission.  Pretty good kid and he is from Idaho, even better.  Oh and the Jehovah Witnesses knocked our door.  I answered it, and the quickly identified me as a Mormon and left, ha ha. They NEVER knock our door, so that was fun.

So roughly that's what happened this week.  Things were pretty crazy.  The new mission president gets here the 2 of July just right up there.

I sent a pic of me and my new companion, and us when we went to a park.

Anyway we will just keep on working like we do.  Have a good little week.  I'll talk to you soon.

love

Elder Obray

Oh hey, I keep forgetting to ask.  Where in Tennessee are you moving, or what city at least.

Letter Dated June 18, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!  I hope it was good, ha ha. I forgot it was Fathers Day until Sunday, cause it was Fathers Day here as well.  Sounds like you guys ate pretty good.  We got lucky here on Fathers Day.  We were actually able to get into a few houses, ha ha. I'll be honest, we didn't expect to get any lessons on Fathers Day. It's a pretty decent sized holiday here.

Sounds like you guys had a pretty good little week.  Packing and Packing.  Good stuff.  I guess that is a good thing about the mission is, uh, well I only have 2 suitcases of things to pack. Not to much, ha ha.

This week here it hasn't been as cold.  Whew.  Really I don't think it gets super cold here, but it is really humid. So it is cold.

That's cool you could download the video of our snowman and such, I didn't know you could.

Well I should be home for the next baby in the family, in Febuary.  It's going to be born on Valentines day.  Just you wait and see, ha ha (its a boy, and they will name it Mike)(of course)ha ha.  Im just waiting to hear from Izzy now.

So well, this week. Lets see, we didn't have anything happen when we started the week.  Honestly we didn't have much success, we barely got into a house on Monday and Tuesday.

Tuesday, we traveled to Nechochea for a Zone Conference. The last zone conference for me with President Detlefsen.  But anyway Tuesday night we traveled.  The conference was on Wednesday.  We had to sleep on a verrry hard floor. It would be like sleeping on the kitchen floor. Pretty uncomfortable if you ask me, ha ha.

Wednesday, we had the zone conference.  It was really good, and we had interviews.  Apparently I passed the inverviews cause I'm writing this email, ha ha.  Anyway he spoke lots about obendience to all the rules. The small ones as well as the ones that sometimes don't seem so important,  This would include staying with your companion.  We do pretty good at that one fortunately.  My companion isn't trying to escape me yet, ha ha. There was a few really cool things he taught and showed us.  One was, we reviewed the tabernacle that Moses had and the symbolism. That was good.  Lots of cool doctrine.  As well Enos 1:1 when he talks about how he learned from his father the language and about God. Then he was grateful for it.  President expounded that for us a lot.  Talked about recognizing the promtings of the spirit.  He said something interesting about if it brings hope it is from God, if not, well its not from God. Then about, uh, excitement, or I guess how you can be excited about the work.  Cause what happens is we are excited one day cause we found a new investigator and everything, and then the next day it's gone.  Sometimes it is difficult to stay excited everyday.  He talked to us about that, really he said it is a difficult thing and we have to learn through lots of experiences how we can find joy in difficult situations and in doing things that maybe aren't a lot of fun.  That night we rode back to Tres Arroyos with the A.P. in the mission van, cause Elder Pino had to go to Bahia for his visa.  He is apparently here illegally,  ha ha. He goes back again tonight at 4 in the morning.  Yeaaaa.... haha

Thursday, we worked as a 3 some, I don't really like it, it's kinda awkward,  ha ha, but we got used to it a bit.

Friday, we found 1 newbie, Maria, whose husband got baptized years ago, then died.  But he was inactive cause he got mad at the United States cause we apparently supported England in small war for the Malvina Islands. Kinda sad, but she was really nice. Then that night we had a ward activity. They cooked some super good chicken.  Lots of people went.  We met a new investigator named Oscar.  He has gone to the church before, but stopped because of work.  We fixed a cita to talk to him on Saturday in the branch presidents house (they are relatives).

Saturday we had a good cita with Oscar, took out a baptismal date and everything and he promised to go to church!  Yea! 

Sunday, we had 4 investigators go to church.  Aylen, she is 9 and goes to church with her grandma.  Her parents are diffictult and as of right now haven't given permision for her to get baptized....  :( but we are working on that.  Karen, shes 15 and her dad is a menos activo and is living with her mom (aka not married) otherwise the mom would be baptized. The mom is also pregnant with twins and its a complicated pregnancy so she doesn't have much desire to get married right now cause she can't walk much and these sort of things.  Anyway, so Karen is really good. Her parents want to wait a while for her to get baptized.  For whatever reason.  Honestly we just haven't had a lesson with them in 2 weeks.  It is difficult to get them in there house, ha ha.  Oscar. we really have high hopes of a baptism here. Thomas. he is 8, he came as a surprise with the family of the branch president. He is a good kid and loves to go to church.  Apparetnly when he went to church he, uh, ha ha, fell in love with a 11 year old girl in the primary.  I thought that was pretty funny when Ii heard it.  Anyway we are trying to get in and talk with his parents. He had a lot of good things to say about the church, ha ha, that was good.

Yea so, we had a good Fathers Day, we had some lesson.  One with Oscar, One with a guy we found Jose,  He lives alone (probably why we got in, kinda a sad holiday for him).  One with a less active family who recently lost there dad.  Then with another less active family who were nice enough to let us in.

Oh hey one other thing, there is a family that is not active cause the dad races pigeons....  I had never heard of that before, and I didn't actualybelieve it till I saw his 600 pigeons he has.  Ridiculous isn't it?  I found that slightly humerous. 

Anyway that is a bit about what happened this week.  We did lots of contacting and talking and such like always as well.  But I usually don't mention that cause well its not to exciting.

Tonight we have a cita with a new investigator and 2 family nights to do.  Whew.  Thats a lot but it should be fun.

I hope everything continues to go good at home. 

You should tell me when BYU-I starts next January.

Trying to think if there was anything else....hmmm. oh yea, we just found out the other day that a 70 is coming to our mission sometime.  I think in August, but we really don't know when yet.  But I'm pretty excited. It's great to listen to them.

Anyhow, have a good week. Choose the right.  Eat some Cinnamon Life for me, I was kinda sad that that cereal doesn't exist here.  It's really good.  I usually eat a cerial called Copitas. They are like small bowls of chocolate. They are alright, but cereal here is expensive its like 7 pesos for a small bag, ha ha.  But hey sometimes you gotta eat some cereal in the morning.

So I'm going to work and teach some gospel to some people. I'll send you an email next week.and some pictures, I couldn't send any today.

Love,
Elder Obray,

Some people called me Elder Okay, who knows why, it just started in this area.  They can't read my plaque  or something, ha ha.

Letter Dated June 11, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like some interesting little things are going on.  All those Garage sales makes me nervous.  I'm not going to recognize anything when I get home huh?  Ha ha.

We pretty much had a pretty crazy little week.  It wasn't a great week, but interesting.  It was freezing cold all week for one thing, ha ha.

Alright, well I'll start with Monday.   We did a Family Night with the Branch President and his family. We did a list of people they know and had them pray and see who could be interested in the church. We took out like 20 references and so we are trying to get the family to invite these people to a church activity or something.  It's a lot more likely they will go to church and such if a member invites them then if a missionary knocks their door.

Tuesday, well, we had a funeral to go to.  A member of the branch died and we were to carry the casket.  So we went to the graveyard.  The graveyard was pretty sweet.  A bunch of small houses and such.  Crazy.  I don't have any pictures cause...well I didn't think it was appropriate for me to bring my camera to this, ha ha.  But anyway, we helped out there.  Then later that day we passed by Javier and taught his sister Maria.  Found out Javier couldn't read, ha ha.... Then that night we had Ward Council that went well.

Wednesday was a crazy day.  We were doing our personal study at 8, when it started to snow!  All the pictures I'm sending are from the snow.  It snowed probably 2 or three inches.  It was crazy.  Since it doesn't snow here.  So we went to the park to celebrate the snow.  And we made a snowman in central park, which actually turned out to be a really good thing.  We ended up talking to lots of people.  Since they all wanted to take pictures with our snowman, ha ha.  So that was pretty cool we were on the news as well, I think you can see it if you want at www.celtatv.com.ar.  You will probably have to search a bit cause well its been a few days.  Some members told us it was there.  They interviewed us, not sure if that's there.  That's was pretty crazy.  After that we went and worked in the snow.  It was pretty cold and wet.  We talked to a few people, but we honestly didn't have much success getting in houses that day.

Thursday,  we planned a lot, and we visited Fernando. He said he would go to church and well I'll tell you now he didn't, so we will probably drop him for a while. 

Friday, I was super sick, I threw up like 10 times.  I think I ate something bad...  So we didn't leave the house till 5 cause we had a cita, we also talked to the missionary couple for a while.  They are helping us get the ward lists in order here.  They are great.  Oh hey, I feel much better now, ha ha, just so you know.  It was just a one day thing.

Saturday, we found a newbie, Nilda, she is really nice, but doesn't want to go to church.  That was kinda frustrating.  Then we talked to Javier and Maria again to invite them to church.  We also talked to a older guy who can't really walk.  He was really nice, but he as well didn't want to go to church. We visited flia Pareda a menos activo and also Flia Garcia, and set a cita to do a family night with them. 

Sunday, we had 2 go to church.  Lorena and her daughter Karen went.  They are investigators.  Really there whole family went.  They have another daughter Gisel who is baptized and the dad is as well (dad is menos activo) but they all went.  It was a surprise to see the dad.  He even came in a white shirt and tie!  I really hope they keep coming.  After church we found a less active family FLia Montenegro.  Whew.  They have like 8 kids..... it was really hard to do anything cause the kids are CRAZY.  They have more energy then I could imagineeeeee... whew.   Ha ha.

That's pretty much our week.  Today we went to a little park.  I took a few pictures you'll get eventually.

Kinda a rough week for us in lessons, we really didn't find many newbies.  But that happens sometimes. 

So this week on Wednesday we have interviews with the mission president and maybe a small conference.  That should be great.

That's kinda weird that Mike Riggs is getting married

http://www.celtatv.com.ar/

nota.php?id=1979 Elder Pino gave me the link to the video of us being interviewed by the guy. Kinda interesting.

Anyway that's about it.  We are just preaching a bit in the cold, ha ha.  

From the pictures you'll see our snowmen when he is finished and when he was melted.  We went back to the park a few hours later during lunch.  He was almost gone.

Have a good week this week.  Keeping doing what is right.  Have fun.  And I'll talk to you next week.

Con amor

Elder Obray

 

Mike's TV interview.

Letter Dated June 4, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like you guys had a fun week selling lots of things. Sounds like you actually are planning on moving, ha ha.  Well should be fun.

Yea the talk was on the atonement.  Really good.  They don't have us study them anymore, obviously we can, but not during personal studies, just during the extra time we have, like lunch break, morning, or night.  I have a bunch from Bruce R. McConkie as well.  Good stuff. 

Oh and I'm jealous of the warm weather.  We had terrible weather this week. Cold, windy, rainy. :(.  But hey, more then that we actually had a pretty decent little week.

On Monday, well really Tuesday at 3:00 in the morning I took a bus to Bahia, we had a leadership meeting.  It was pretty good.  We were there alll day Tuesday, and I got back at 11:30 Tuesday night. The president talked and taught about rules and doctrine and such.  The assistants taught about verification and goals.  Then president talked more.  It was pretty neat.  All the Elders from my group were there.  Elder Flamm and Elder Vaterlaus got transferred to new areas to be District leaders as well.  So it was pretty neat to see them, I'm going to send you a photo in the next email of all the leaders.

Wednesday, we talked to a guy, Carlos, he was a bit drunk, so we didn't talk long.  A little later we met a menos activo named Gustavo, he got baptized at age 15 and has forgotten ton, ha ha.  But he has some good memories of the church.  He was thinking about coming back.  So we hope to get somewhere with him.

Thursday we visited Aldo, who was doing good, but can't go to church this week cause of his daughters birthday party Sunday.  We also had our English class.

Friday, Elder Caceres had a pretty bad pain in the skin above his teeth so he took drugs and stayed in the house with Elder Morel, I went with Elder Pino to my area to work.  We visited Katy and took out a baptismal day for the 23rd of June.  She should get baptized.  She is really great.  Then we found some newbies, 2 really, we talked to them and took out baptismal fechas.  Then at 7 that night I got back with ELder Caceres and we went to a noche de hogar for our rama.  It went well.  We had like 6 investigators and a bunch of Menos activo.  They might have gone for the food ;), ha ha, but at least they went.  Really the activity was great.  We gave a spiritual thought and a small video, then ate. 

Saturday, Elder Caceres went to the doctor for his tooth, we go back tomorrow,  All they did was give him some serious pain killer, ha ha.  We did some service lifting heavy boards.  My hands hurt after.  It was cold and windy and rainy today.  And we found 2 newbies.  Eva, an older lady who was nice and let us in since it was cold out. And Nestor who is an old investigator. Good guy.

Sunday, we had 3 investigators go to church, Lorena, Aylen, and Katy.  It was freeeeeezing again with rain all day.  It's not so bad without the rain. but whew, when it rains it gets cold.  Anyway. 

That's more or less what happened during the week, I didn't give you many details, but sometimes I'm lazy.  Or something.  Really I just can't think of much else to say.  Uh.  Coso.  So really we did have a pretty decent week.  Every week we do a little bit better. So that's a good thing.

Hope you guys have a good week this week.  I can't believe it's June already.  Time goes by pretty quick I've noticed. 

Our poor mission president is almost done, I think he is getting a bit emotional, ha ha.  I feel bad for him.  Oh, and I got a letter from Mykal Thompson.  He is doing great.  I was surprised to hear from him, ha ha.  Down in sunny Floria, ha ha. But sounds like it is a good place for him.

And you now have the leadership picture.

Well that's all for this week.

Love ya´ll 

Elder Obray