Letter dated August 29, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;


Well sounds like the past week was an interesting one back home, lots of different things happening. I was sorry to hear about Brother Ridleys kid. Thats a terrible thing to have happen. But he is in a better place.

Mike outside his apartment in his cool new jacket

Yea I  bet the area Tyler is in is like Argentina. Maybe poorer. But that's hard to say. But I am glad he is out in the field. Aaron is out in the field about nowish, as well, which is cool. And Coleman the poor kid has FOREVER in the MTC. Miserable. Ugh. Ha ha, I feel bad for him for sure.

Well this week in the field was a pretty tough one.  Well Tuesday we had zone conference, so we just listened and did practices all day. Of course the Conference was awesome. They are always a good boost. So that was way good this week.

Then Wednesday we had like 5 appointments set up and they all fell through, but we somehow managed to have a few lessons, ha ha. We had 1 with Antonio, but it was fast just a scripture and prayer cause he didn't have time. and one with a Menos Activo family, then we found a New investigator named Francisco, who is really good, we got a baptism date and everything. So Wednesday went well.

Clifford, their faith guard dog

Thursday, Elder Silva had a problem with his visa, so he had to go to Bahia Blanca and the assistants to the president were suppose to come pick him up at like 4, and me and Stewart had to be there, cause otherwise Elder Ratamales would be alone. So we waited, and they got him at 6. So we worked in Ratamales area. Which went well, we had a lesson with a progressing investigator. So we didn't really get much done.

Friday, was a fail, we had 4 good citas and they allllll fell. So we were a bit upset, and Leonardo one of our investigators dropped us. So that was just bad day ha ha.

Saturday we had a lesson with Pacheco and Fransisco and they all said they would go to church.

Sunday. Nobody went to church :( so we were a bit sad so we had a bad week, but we are starting a new one that will hopefully go better. Its also the last week of the transfer so we will see what happens with the transfers.

Should be interesting. Mostly cause the President said that the area that me and Elder Stewart are in might close down since there have only been 5 baptisms in it in the entire year that was open. So they might kick us both out, or we might stay one more transfer. We shall see.

Anyway we are just going to keep on working and see what happens, ha ha, should be interesting. Should be fun eh!

Love Elder Obray

Letter dated August 22, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad;

Thanks for the update on everyone. Sounds like you guys had an interesting week with dad breaking his collar bone and everything. Going to be a rough summer for dad without that collar bone...

Mike's Apartment

So this week went alright. We didn't even get to talk to the family Macia, we just couldn't get a hold of them or anything. But there is not much we could do about that.  We haven't been able to talk to Cynthia yet.

Broken sink

Flia Pacheco we are still teaching, but they have only gone to church one time, so they aren't progressing right now. We have a fecha for them for the like 24th of September, I will probably be gone from the area by then.  I have a good chance of leaving the area this transfer, but who knows.

Yea so the pictures I sent are of a bousque about 2 blocks from our house. Our house is 15 blocks inland in the barrio Farro Norte. I don't know the street names around our house to well (since we live in the area of the other two elders) but a big road Mario Bravo is about 5 or 6 blacks from our house. you should be able to see the bousque (forest) then we are just outside.  There aren't too many houses, its more spread.

And yes our sink is now fixed. Joy. ha ha.

Broken sink

This week we worked pretty hard trying to get into houses of people we already have.  We had a good lesson with a member with a investigator named Alberto. He is a really good guy with really good intentions. he is looking for the truth. So I think he will get baptized. But he wont let us set a baptism date yet. He need more time (he doesn't) ha ha.

In the family Pacheco, we really are focusing on the father Christian. because he is really the only one with genuine interest. So we try hard with him.

We found a menos activo this week who is really good. She just refuses to go to church because she feels insulted about some gibberish that happened. Ridiculous really. But she is a super good painter and has a WAY sweet painting of dream she had. Its cool. You will just have to trust me.

Mike's apartment

This week with an investigator named Justo, he really wanted to hear a prayer in English. And well to be honest, I haven't said a prayer in English in 7months, ha ha, it was pretty sad. It was a mixture of Spanish and English, and I had to really think to form the sentences in English, terrible. When I get home, people are just going to have to live with Spanish prayers.

In the last email you asked if I needed anything for the package. Well really I could use socks, ha ha.  But other then that I don't neeeeed anything. But you can send whatever you want ha ha.

Really, we had a decent week. Nobody at church. Well two menos activos came. Which was good. And tomorrow will have zone conference. 

Anyway I don't have much else for you right now. Have a good. week.

Love Elder Obray

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