Letter dated August 15, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like you guys had a pretty interesting week with Lagoon and all. Sounds like a lot of fun. Glad to hear things are still rolling around back home.

12 year old boy buried on Mike's P-day

This week was pretty busy for us. We had a decent amount of lessons. And found a few new people, but so far not much has come of it.  But we are working hard so its all good.

So lets see, really the week wasn't super exciting.  We talked, finally with a guy named Antonio, he was a reference that we received.  We taught him and he liked it all, really serious about his religion and all. Which is good. But we couldn't get a baptism date for him yet. He likes to study first, cause he is surprisingly smart. Anyway he is really good and fun to teach. So eventually he will probably get baptized.

Next our investigator Cyntia dropped us over the phone, so we are going to pass by her sometime this week.  We taught Flia Macia and took out baptism dates (they are old investigators).  So we hope that one goes somewhere.

Flia Pacheco we almost taught with a member but the member couldn't at the last minute.  And I am worried about them, the Dad, Christian, loves to listen and talk to us, but the wife kinda likes to... so I worry she might drop us ha ha. We will see.

Those are the biggest things that happened to us this week, not a ton. but enough ha ha.

This transfer is half over already.ha ha. Anyway, things are going pretty good, we have a zone conference this week, Wednesday, so that should be pretty cool.

Oh the pictures, we went to the beach today and goofed off with some members (the kid who is buried, hes like 12 years old) and some other random pictures.  Then some pictures of our house, our sink broke.... ha ha.  Anyway our Monday was way fun, the beach was cool we played soccer and soccer tennis and took pictures and such. Pretty sweet p-day.

Anyway thanks for the update on my friends we don't really have much contact so its good to know they are all doing well. Aaron should almost be out in the field.  I did sent him an email a while ago. The language is terrible for a while especially in the field, (1st couple of months are pretty difficult really) but it comes, slowly, the best thing to do is not to worry about it, and study, and work, but don't go crazy over it.

Clifford and Mike

Some pictures of stuff, ha ha, the sweet houses in the forest, you can kinda see the Argentina sweater I bought. And I should be sending some pictures of the dog follower we have, named Clifford. Anyway he is a way cool dog that guards us from the middle of the forest to our area, then goes away.

Oh I don't know if i told you this, but the pictures I sent home make sure you save, so I can delete them. I am sure you do, and they should be on both our emails, but just in case.

Well that's about all I really have for you this week. So enjoy your week.

Love Elder Obray


More pictures of their day at the beach 

Letter Dated August 8, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Thanks for your email. Yea my new companion is an inch or two shorter then me, actually I am the tallest in the house right now. Kinda a surprise ha ha. They don't really do senior companions much anymore, its usually pretty equal, but since I know the area, I am in charge more of what we are doing. But really it doesn't matter to much.

Mike & Elder Stewart

So this week we had divisions, I went with Elder Perez who is our district leader. We worked in my area, and Elder Stewart went to Miramar. Elder Perez is from Mexico, but lived in the states for several years and can speak English pretty well. He is a super good missionary. Anyway, he helped me learn how to plan better and such so I was pretty happy to have that help.  Then we went and worked.

We taught a guy named Leonardo that me and Elder Stewart had found knocking doors and set up a appointment. It went pretty well, he liked the message, and was super duper surprised we were just going to give him a Book of Mormon ha ha. Unfortunately he didn't go to church ;(  Other then that we really just made contacts and had small lessons (or lessons of non-progressing investigators or Menos Activos).

So that was good, and me and Elder Stewart were back together Wednesday night. And  the two Chileans in our house made Completos (a classic Chilean food) hot dogs with guacamole, ketchup, mustard and other stuff...ha ha.

Then me and Elder Stewart found a lady and her two kids a 9 year old girl and a 4 year old with autism, and we taught her and she liked it. She lives a few blocks away from a really good active family, so we got them to look for her Sunday morning, but apparently she was to tired to go to church ;(.

Then our appointments with the family Pacheco fell through.

We did service Saturday in the morning. We finished digging the hole, its a good 18 feet deep probably, ha ha, its huge. And we had a appointment with a lady who invited us to her church...yea.... ha ha. 

Mike's appartment

So none of our investigators went to church, but we will for sure have some the next week.  We did find lots of people and set up a good number of appointments, it looks from what I said our week wasn't super good, but we had some good contacts, so we shall see what will come from it this week.

We went to central today, and I got my mp3 player.  I bought a cheap one that was about 40 American dollars ha ha so like almost 200 pesos, and an Argentina Soccer jacket that's pretty sweet. Oh, ha ha, and we ate at McDonald's. It was Elder Stewart cumpli mes or he just got 8 months so we ate at McDonald's ha ha. So I spent a bit of money today,

Anyway so that's pretty much the week. Other random things that happened, it hailed one day, cause it was way cold for a few days this week, and we have a random dog that follows us on our walk to our area everyday. We named him Clifford. But hes not a big red dog.

So that's pretty much all I got for you today, enjoy your week. Glad things seem to be going well and you all enjoyed girls camp.

Love Elder Obray

Letter dated August 1, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad; 

Well this week went alright. It was fun to have a new companion, the area changes when you get a new companion and makes things a bit more exciting for a little while. And my new companion is a really good kid, we get along just fine, but if you concentrate in working its kinda hard not to get along since you have the same goals. 

Mike & his companion, Elder Stewart

Spanish is coming alongggggg ha ha, well I am clearly better then when I started but far from perfect.  Elder Stewart is for sure better then I am, but he had a native companion and a house full of natives so he has had more practice then me. 

Yea the hole we dug is a well for water, not to drink I don't think....but who knows its Argentina. And the rain storm was crazy. We were soaked. 

So the week was interesting, since I was actually in charge ha ha, which is an interesting learning experience, both me and my comp have always been junior companions, but now we both are equal ha ha. So we are learning it all together. We worked a lot to organize our area book (full of old investigators and stuff) and mark a map. And this week we are planning on doing alot of visiting. We had a meeting on Sunday with the mission president and a 70 (not of the 1st quorum of the 70, one of the area ones or something, but still pretty cool) anyway they talked to the missionaries and the church leaders. And they stressed reactivation a lllllloooottt. Because they want to have a 3rd stake, and they have the numbers, but not the attendance and such. So the members are suppose to befriend the inactive and invite them to listen to the missionaries again. So we could be pretty busy with that. 

Another sunset

Our investigators have some interesting situations. Our main ones Flia Pacheco are a good family and have lots of questions and stuff, and they went to church once when the bus passed by (passes by every other Sunday) and such. Butttttttt they always are asking the church to give them food and stuff. I don't think they actually need it....I think they just want it. They have a decent house and tv (satellite), nice stove, nice fridge... so I don't really know what to do. We are going to bring a good member and teach tithing/self reliance and see how that goes. Anyway we can't pass by them till Thursday night. Then Flia Cuinka who went to church once and like it all, we just can't get a good appointment with them. Then we have some other people but I probably wont mention them until they go to church (cause that means they are actually interested). 

Beautiful sunset

About the music I haven't bought an mp3 yet so no rush ha ha. 

We are doing divisions this week and I am going to be in my area with the district leader. Which should be good, he is going to help me get some stuff down ha ha. Oh yea, and we are looking for a house in our area now ha ha, so we wont have to walk as far to work. Should be good.  

I don't remember if I told you but I saw Elder Flamm from my district in the MTC, he came into Mar Del Plata during transfers and left again. But we talked for a bit which was cool, and now one of the natives Elder Coloco who is in my arrival group is a district leader! He has like 4 and a half months in the mission! The kids a star! Anyway this week should be pretty exciting we have ward conference and we hope to have investigators in church so we are going to work hard for that. That's about all I got, we are going to work hard this next week and have some success. 

Love Elder Obray

Letter Dated July 25, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Thanks for your email. Glad to hear you guys had fun at Bear Lake. I do miss some decent Jet Skiing ha ha ha, but not right now. It poured rain on us today. So I don't like water right now.

Mike & his new companion, Elder Stewart

So I was wondering if you could maybe tell me some sort of common spices I could use to put on some food here. Its all getting kind of bland. I know they have spices, i just don't know who what when where and why they exist ha ha.

Anyway this last week has been very interesting, crazy, and good. First things first. We had our transfers. Elder Sullivan is gone, to the Pampa, or the furthest area from the coast. He had a 10 hour bus ride. Whew.

So now I am with Elder Stewart from around San Diego California. I sent 6005 and 6004 they are photos of us from Monday the day he got there in our house. He has 1 transfer more then me so he really isn't to much older. He has better Spanish then me, but neither one of us are great by any means, so this should be a pretty interesting transfer. But I am excited, cause I know I will learn a ton. And we are working in the same area. And I don't feel sick anymore.

Beach of Chapadmalal

This last week, lets see... We ate pretty good, since Elder Sullivan and Elder Parra from our ward left. So Elder Silva has a new companion from Chile, but I don't remember his name, its not a super common one ha ha.

This weekend was pretty crazy, Sunday morning we got up at 6 am cause we had to meet the collective that was going through our area to pick up everyone for church. It was pretty crazy, but the Family Pacheco came and Bonnie who is friends with Pacheco and the daughter of  another investigator named Norma (who loves the church but cant go to church because she works Sundays.) anyway that was really awesome. I was pretty excited. Me and Elder Stewart are for sure going to baptize this transfer.

I also sent picture of the Sweet sunset we saw. Honestly there are sweet ones like 2 times a week but we usually don't have our cameras. Then some of the beach of Chapadmalal. Then a picture of my district and the Zone Leaders from before the transfers.

Then a sweet picture of me in a huge hole we dug for a service project for a member. Me and Elder Sullivan dug all morning (we didn't dig the whole whole, only a few feet of it, but still, too us forever).

Then a picture of me in the bosque (forest) way sweet forest and the sign, oddly, says Mangore, ew. Anyway.

Forest that Mike walks through to get to his area

Sunday, is when Elder Sullivan left, and he left early, so I spent the rest of the day with the Zone Leaders. And that's crazy during transfers. We were at the terminal from like 6pm to 12am, then I went back home with Elder Silva and Elder Araya. Then today (Monday) at 8 we picked up my comp and Elder Araya's comp in the terminal, and we had to leave our house at 6:45, so we got up at 6:15. (So the past few days I didn't get any sleep...yawn.)

The hole that Mike and Elder Sullivan help dig

Then at 11 we went and got Elder Silvas new comp. So the weekend has been crazy.  But fun, ha ha. Then when we got Elder Silvas's comp they took a taxi home, and we couldn't all fit the luggage so me and Elder Stewart took a collective (or bus),  but we found out that there were 3 buses that used the 511 number, we took the wrong one which took us probably 20 blocks from house instead of like 10. Which was fine, except we got off, and it started to pour rain. Like drops the size of a nickle. The roads were flooded ha ha. (Oh my comp took a picture of us in the flooded roads walking home ha ha, I'm uploading it now) ha ha, yea we got SOAKED, I'm not dry yet. and its been hours.

So that's pretty much the excitement for the week.  I don't have much else if you have questions about my new comp or anything just ask.

Enjoy your week, Happy Birthday last Monday Dad!

Love Elder Obray

Mike's walk home in the rain

Mike zone and district before transfers

Letter Dated July 18, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Thanks for the Email. And the music.  Good to hear everyone in the family is doing good and that my friends are all continuing with the mission. I must say I was super surprised that you would go to Bear Lake without me ha ha. Enjoy.

Sunset

So this is the last week of the transfer, and my companion Elder Sullivan has a really good chance of getting transferred. By that I mean like 99% chance. So when I write again next time I will probably have a new companion.

I am still a bit sick (well really I pretty much got better, and then got sick again ), its not bad just a cold but it has lasted longer then normal. Probably cause I don't really get much extra rest ha ha.

This week we did divisions with the Elders in Miramar, I was in my area with Elder Araya from Chile. He is a really good kid, probably one of the better teachers I have been with so far.

Sunset

For me and Elder Sullivan this wasn't the best week, Family Pacheco was out of town most of the week so we only got to teach them once and they couldn't go to church Sunday.  Family Cuinka we only got to talk to once the entire week and family Barrionuevo we taught once, and then stopped by and talked to them for a few minutes another day. We did find one new investigator named Carlos though. He smokes and drinks (like everyone else here) but he was pretty receptive,  He didn't go to church, we will probably find out Tuesday.

This week my Mission President is coming to Mar Del Plata to do interviews, which should be cool.  There is a RM here in our Ward who just got home from serving in Provo Ut. ha ha. The same city as where my companion is from, He served Spanish speaking, but of course he did a decent amount in English as well. He can speak English pretty well. He told us he is studying super hard right now, and saving his money so he can go to byu.

Right now, there is a South American soccer cup going on that's pretty big, so sometimes during the day nobody cares about us poor missionaries ha ha ha. They just gotta watch that soccer ha ha.

Sunset

Some good news for us, is the Ward has a bus that will pass by our area and pick up members and investigators now. Since our ward covers a huge area we kind of need it. Apparently, they used to have one like a year ago, but it got to expensive. But some ward members pitched in to get it going again.

Well that's really all I have to say, have a good week. Sorry I don't have any pictures ha ha, but I didn't take any this week. This week I should have some good ones since Elder Sullivan is leaving.

Love Elder Obray

Letter Dated July 11, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Julieta & Deltina

Glad to hear everything in your part of the world is still going good. I got some pretty good pictures, I'm not sure how well you will be able to see the things I will describe about them without zooming in.

Julieta & Deltina

Pictures 5930 through 5932 are pictures of little girls from the family Pacheco In the activity we had Saturday (which was a huge success and I will describe it more later). The family is one of our 3 main investigators. The mom is in picture 5928. Mom is called Luciana, the older girl is Julieta 7, and the little one is Delfina 5. The dad and older son didn't go for some reason or other. Anyway they are awesome.

Julieta & Deltian

Picture 5925 is one of the ward activity. Lots of people there for a ward of like 90 active members ha ha. Pablo, a guy in the tan sweater in about the center is our new mission leader, he is a stallion. He went on his mission like 10 years ago, he is 31 and just barely got a girlfriend ha ha. Reminds me a bit of Nate  ha ha.

Picture 5926 is a picture of the Panisas. A bunch of little kids two of which are baptized. they go to church rarely but usually go to the activities ha ha. Way funny kids though, you can see Elder Sullivan with them and 5927 is the same really.

Picture 5925 - Ward Party

Picture 5928 is our investigator Luciana and her two little girls, and some ward members, the ward members here are awesome when new investigators come. Especially if they are a family, so they felt super welcome and loved it.

Picture 5929, a bunch of ward members, in the verrry back, you can see a girl with a shirt with lots of colors, well her and her sister are sitting next to each other, and there parents across the table, they are the Family Cuinka, who are also our investigators. We have been working with them for over a month and this is the first time they went to the church, and we have only been able to teach them the first lesson ha ha. Way good family though.

Picture 5926 - Elder Sullivan with kids

anyway so that's all the pictures I will send. The transfer ends really soon and Elder Sullivan will most likely leave, so I should get some more/better pictures for you then of the people.

So this week went really well for us. The start not so much, but the end was good. I was pretty sick Monday through Saturday, but we still went out and worked. Really though, we didn't get as many good lessons and we would have liked. But somehow (had honestly nothing to do with us ha ha) the Family Cuinka came to the activity Saturday.

We had some interesting things happen, we walked to our area, Wednesday I think, and we happen to run into the Wife, Carma and the youngest daughter Celia, actually we didn't see them, they came and talked to us out of nowhere ha ha. And that was really the first time we and been able to talk to them in a good week or two. We had all but given up hope on them, and they only seemed remotely interesting when we invited them to the activity.

Picture 5927 - Elder Sullivan with kids

But next thing you know the whole family showed up. The two girls made fiends with the young women almost instantly, in fact, when me and Elder Sullivan got to the activity all the girls were over talking in a corner like girls tend to do . But we were pretty stoked, and the members treated them super well. And we got the 1st counselor of the bishopric, who had talked with Jorge (the dad) a lot to invite them to church Sunday. It went super well, the family loved it.

Picture 5928 - Luciana and her two girls

The family Pacheco, we called a Ramiz (cheap taxi) for them to get there, since they don't have a car, and they are pretty poor. and the mom and little girls came, we had already taught the family with a member, and the member invited Luciana (the mom) to sit with her and all her friends so that was good. Of course the two little girls were bored, which is why I have picture of them, cause they came and sat next to me cause apparently I am more entertaining ha ha ha, imagine that. ha ha and they all liked the activity, you should have seen the two little girls faces when they had to leave the church  so very sad ha ha.

The activity was cool, we ate a food called Lucro which is good I guess ha ha. Its a soup stuff. But its got Churisso which is a really good sausage in it. Anyway they played all these games (which was for all ages except really young) and everybody participated a bit. The people here are a lot louder then they are in the states ha ha ha ha.

Picture 5929 - Cuinka Family in the very back

Anyway so Sunday came and the family Pacheco never answered there door (found out later the mom was sick) and we had called Cuinkas and were waiting hoping they would come. And they did. Which was awesome. And the members just absorbed them so they just disappeared until the Gospel Principles class where new members and investigators go. And we had a way good lesson (one of the best I've seen) about baptism and Jorge Cuinka even made a sweet comment. Anyway they all loved the church. And we have high hopes for them right now. We will see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Oh and one of the Families, Beloki, invited the family Cuinka over for a Noche de Hogar (family night) Friday night and of course we are going to be there to teach lesson two ha ha. But we are pretty excited for this next week or so.

Anyway this is a long letter and I typed really fast.  I hope you can understand all of it. If you have question be sure to ask.

And just so you know, as much as I would like nate to get married, he can wait till I get home. I reallly do like wedding food. Just saying  ha ha.

Have a good week.

Love Elder Obray.

Letter Dated July 4, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Elder Parra

Thanks for the music you sent, I am probably going to have to find a cheap mp3 player to play them on, or I'll get a CD player radio and burn them on Cd's, I haven't decided, really just depends on the mp3 price. And restrictions, just don't send me anything that's not good music. The manual tells us to listen to music that will help us to focus on the gospel, so classic music is good, any church music with good lyrics, no love songs(cause we shouldn't spend our time thinking about girls) hopefully that helps.

Mike with his new teeth

So exciting story, my comp threw up in our lesson after P-day last Monday ha ha, he was apparently a bit sick, but its alright, we were doing a family night at a members house so it wasn't so bad, he was just a little bit embarrassed. We are going over there again tonight for a retry ha ha.

Story 2, we buy our groceries for the weeks on Monday, and we knew it was fast Sunday  this Sunday so we bought food and everything. Well, it turns out that Saturday the other two elders' (Parra and Silvas) lunch fell through so they came back to the house and ate, but they ate my spaghetti sauce, so on fast Sunday I was planning on eating spaghetti, but I didn't have any sauce; ( ha ha so I ate oatmeal instead. Mmmmmmmm good, ha ha ha. I was slightly frustrated, but its alright.

Elder Sullivan with his big bowl of oatmeal

In those images, Elder Sullivan ate a huge bowl of oatmeal, you can see the bowl almost full.  We found some candy teetch that are gross looking that you can attach to your teach for a few minutes and we took some pictures, the native is Elder Silva, I don't remember what I told you about him, but just for your information, he is 26 years old! whew.

I think those gold pictures you talked about are Elder Brown ha ha, but I don't have those pictures with me today so I can't check....I think though the map is the 2nd area and all the pictures after 5853.

Elder Sullivan

So lets see, this week we had two lessons with the Family Rodriguez, who is Norma's friend. The lessons went pretty well I would say, and we brought an awesome member to the second one. Unfortunately they couldn't go to church Sunday because the mom was really sick.  The family is really good though. We just have to hope they do their part.

Elder Sullivan

We taught another family, Juan & Alejandra Barrionuevo, they are cool and like the church, but don't go because they don't really have a good way to get there. We are working out a way for them to get to church, but its a struggle to find a person with a car that's not full already. We taught them the Word of Wisdom this week, Juan seemed alright with it, said it wasn't a big deal to give up those things, Alejandra though really likes her coffee.  Other then that, this week we struggled, we taught a few random people, but not much that's really promising.  One of the hardest things here is that the people are VERY set in their religious ways and don't want to change the church they go to, or their idea about marriage. those are super common, a lot of people here are anti marriage which is terrible.

It was pretty cold here this last week, lots of rain and wind, it actually snowed in our area for a few minutes which was a shock, it doesn't do that very often here ha ha.

Elder Sullivan

So that's the life of the mission right now. We will see what happens this next weeks. Oh and Happy 4th of July. I didn't get to see any fireworks :( ha ha o well.

Oh and you should tell me when everyone Birthdays are, I can't remember. I think mines in November, Nate's is in February, millions of them in July, and Jenny in August.

Sounds like you guys all had a good week, keep staying busy and enjoying the large variety of food that the U.S.A has to offer, I say that cause I had a terrible craving for Panda Express this week, but there isn't anything even CLOSE to it here, ha ha.

Love Elder Obray.