Letter Dated July 9, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like you guys are already in Tennessee, ha ha.  Sounds pretty exciting.  I hope the traveling goes well.  Should be fun to hear from you guys from Tennessee.  I Guess I can tell people I'm from Tennessee now?  Since I wont go home to Idaho anymore, ha ha.

We haven't met the new mission President yet.  But we have Zone conference on Friday.  So we will meet him here in a little bit.  So that should be pretty exciting.

The pictures you sent from Sam were pretty nifty, ha ha.

And no pictures this week, honestly your lucky you got an email.  Today, 9th of July is Independence Day, allllllllllllll the cybers were closed but one, whew, and well I can't send pictures here.

So lets see, I'll be honest, we had kinda a rough week this week.  I don't have a lot of time, so I'm going to write really quickly and tell you the big things that happened.  We spent all our time looking for a cyber, ha ha.

So, Oscar has a small problem.  You ll have to forgive me for the lack of ability to explain the situation, I'll give you the information, you can put it together.  Oscar got baptized.  Hurray!  But he lives on his own small territory (lot).  Also his sister lives there, but in a different house.  His sister was sssssuuuuuupppppperrr angry that he got baptized in our church, and destroyed Oscars house.... So Oscar is homeless (he is living with the branch president) fortunately the territory is his, so with the law he is going to get it back.  Unfortunately the sister is pretty crazy and she is threatening everyone pretty good.  So it's kinda interesting.  I hope we don't run into her, whew.  Anyway kind of a sad little problem.

Then we really focused on getter Fernando to go to church.  But he didn't go... sniffle.  So we gotta try again.  He is just super shy and scared of large groups of people.  So we are going to come up with a plan to get him to go.

We found some new investigators, Guillermo and Jose.  They are kinda interesting.  They are like 25 year old brothers.  They are shy, don't speak much, at first I didn't think they were all there.  But they understood what we were saying and such.  So we started to teach them, they didn't make it to church either.

The other news is pretty decent.  Flia Montenegro.  They are a interesting family.  My 3rd week here we passed by them and the 3 youngest boys ages 6, 9, 11, started to go to church, walking 15 blocks every morning.  Really good kids.  But absolutely crazy and difficult to handle.  But anyway, we did a small family night with them.  They really enjoyed it, we played a scripture golf game, to help them read the scriptures.  Well we didn't think it was very effective, but, the mom told us last night (she doesn't go to church) that  they were studying and reading the scriptures we used in the game, so I was happy about that, but even better, the mom said she was going to start going to church!  Yea!  That was good news. 

So yea more or less that's what happened this week.  My companion got pretty sick on Friday.  But he is better now.  Lots of sickness lately.

Anyway, we are trying to get someone to get baptized. I want to baptize every month for the next 6 months. So we are working hard to get that. I know its possible, just difficult.

You have to tell me what the church is like in Tennessee, if your in a ward or branch.  If they have missionaries assigned to you ward.  I'm pretty curious.   You guys are going to find a house there or something right?  Cause at one point or another I have to tell the secretary that you moved and give him the new direction and phone number and alllll that really fun but not so fun stuff.

Just so you know, things are going great here.  Just enjoying the work out here.

Have a good week.  Hope the move goes smoothly.  Sounds like a long drive.

Love ya,

Elder Obray

Letter Dated July 2, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad;

Well sounds like the move is actually going to happen.  Sounds pretty exciting. 

Yea, I've heard from some members that there is some pretty good tension between the states and Argentina right now.  Lame.  As long as they don't kick me out.

Our new mission president should be here right now.  I haven't talked to him or heard anything from him.  But I guess he is here.  And our old one is home in Cordoba.  So we will see what changes happen.  They now give us more money each month.  Which is great cause the inflation is pretty bad. When I got to the mission, you could buy an alfajor for 2 pesos, now its 4.50.  Ugh.

So I guess I'll talk to the new president about school at in a little while.  See what he thinks.  I just can't come home and sit around.  That would be terrible.

We actually had a great little week this week.  We really just settled down and got to work.  Trying to get some stuff done.

So Monday, we had a lesson with Oscar, and we changed his baptismal date to this Saturday.  He said yes and agreed to stop smoking now so he would be able to get baptized.  So we were pretty stoked.

Tuesday, we gave a Book of Mormon to a lady named Grasiela, and fixed a cita to pass by Friday.   I'll just tell you now, that when we talked Friday, she had read a decent amount and really likes it and believes its true. BUUUUttt (always a but, eh) she also doesn't really want to change religions :( .  So we are going to keep teaching her until she can't deny its true and gets baptized.  Good plan. huh.

Wednesday, we found a family, flia Blanco, they listened really well and the dad said that they were all going to get baptized.  Sounds great! Ha ha, well we fixed a cita to pass by on Thursday, and they weren't home, then Friday we talked to the wife for a minute, but we haven't yet been able to have contact with them.  But we will keep trying.  We also stopped by the church to check the baptismal font, only to find it full of water.....gross water.  And it wouldn't drain, so we had to call someone from Bahia Blanca to come fix it.  We also had a meeting with Elder Fee the senior couple missionaries. Which went well, we talked about trying to locate all the members on the list and such.

Thursday, Ummm we worked.  I don't no what else to say, ha ha.

Friday, the zone leaders came and gave Oscar his baptismal interview!  That went pretty well.  He passed, ha ha.

Saturday, well it was a pretty crazy day.  We invited people all morning.  Then in the afternoon we checked the baptismal font, only to find they left 2 inches of water.... whew, and it wouldn't drain anymore, so we had to take alll the dirty water out by hand, clean the font and fill it up.  Whew.  It was some pretty good work, ha ha.  Hey, but at 6:00 we baptized Oscar, so that was great. :).   We are pretty happy about that.  We actually had a baptism this week.

Sunday, we had the confirmation of Oscar which went well.  He was doing really well.

Well that is more or less what happened this week, cut short, ha ha.  We taught Oscar everyday with the flia Gomez.  So that was good.  I'll get the pictures of the baptism next time, we are in a Cyber without USB ports sooooo its kinda hard to send it.

We have some pretty good stuff actually going on in the branch which I probably haven't mentioned but we got some good investigators coming in, through a few members that are helping us out a lot.  So next week I'll try and write you some details about some other people.

I guess this will be your last week in Idaho Falls, hope you enjoy it. That's a pretty good little town.

Alright well I am sorry I don't have much to say this week, my mind seems a bit blank.  Actually, I just have lots of things going on, so I'm kinda distracted.  We got to much to do in the next little bit.  My companion and Elder Pino go to Bahia Blanca tomorrow for visa problems.  We have some problems with our house light bill, cause its 400 pesos for 1 month, which is a lot.   Since we aren't ever home, ha ha.  That and we got lots of lessons to prepare in the next couple of days.  But busy days are good days.

So I hope you enjoy packing and such.  Have a good week.  Choose the right.

Love,

ELder Obray

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.