March 29th 2010 (afternoon)

Hey mom don´t have much time but looks like I´m staying here in Alvear, and I just got called as the new district leader here! I´ll be leading a district of 3 companionships here in the inner alvear area. I´m pretty excited about the new challenge from President and am lookin forward to some more sucess here in Alvear, talk to ya next week! Williams is going to Maipu which is in Mendoza, and my new companion is Elder Leal from Chile! He´s been out about 7 1/2 months. I forgot to take my camera today sorry! Its really really hard to get to stay on long enough to snap pictures but i´ll try this week! Love ya!

March 29th 2010 (morning)

So i´ve been very aborrido this week. Aborrido = Bored. Haha, Williams had to nurse the foot and then tuesday i spiked a big strong fever. I got up to about 103.5 and kinda started getting really out of it, but luckily after 2 days it passed. I figure if there was ever a time to get sick i chose the perfect time. Right when my companion couldn´t do anything anyways! We had to travel to San Rafael 3 times to see dermatologists for Williams´s foot and finally found one that could see us. He told us the diagnosis that the previous Dr. had given us was crap and that the viral infection he had was actually a fungus infection, so we spent another 80$ to get the right medicine. After doing treatments the last 3 days with all of his stuff his foot is finally a foot again and i´d say in 2 days he´ll be good to go. Not the picture perfect way to end our time together but thats ok. The lord definately put this in our respective paths for a reason. I´ve come really close to the lord the last few days. I went out to the patio, laid down a blanket, and kneeled to pray at least 3 times a day to give me the patience and love that I needed to make it through this week. Luckily we did, the zone leaders actually came from San Rafa to give me some help. We worked a full day, and the fresh air couldn´t have been sweeter. We actually witnessed a miracle, a day i´ll never forget for the rest of my life. I´d rather talk to you about it when i get home, i´m holding it really close and special to me. Write down somewhere that I need to tell you the story about Jazmine the 9 year old in Alvear so that I can remember. It really is incredible how we´re given trials or such divine purposes. I´m such a believer that in the end trials=blessings. How can we ever expect to be more like our savior Jesus Christ if we don´t have to go through the trials? We gain experience through trials of faith.
The sickness actually gave me the opportunity to write my talk for sacrament meeting this past week. I can´t explain how much more power I had behind my words after I had actually prepared and then meditated the words i wanted to tell the congregation. Every 4th sunday we have to organize the sacrament meeting and since our ward mission leader was just newly called as the elders quorem president it was all on me. I spoke about the Love of God. I used a lot of scriptures from John, and pased much of my talk off of President Uchtdorf´s address in general conference this past October. I challenge you to read that talk this week, it´s amazing. EVERYTHING you do in this life revolves around love. Pres Uchtdorf said:
´´The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service. Divine love is the motive that transports simple words into sacred scripture. Divine love is the factor that transforms reluctant compliance with God’s commandments into blessed dedication and consecration.
Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple’s path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning, and wonder.
Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.
Love is the way of the disciple.´´
Anyways, Mom i´m so glad you passed your test!!!! ¡¡¡Felicitaciones!!! Thats so exciting, i´m glad they figured out Ky´s problem as well. Is he still walking like a retard?? Hahaha, just kidding i love that fool. But really he does walk like a tard! People are starting to get pumped about the world cup. It´s still far away but the fever is getting started. They don´t really do Easter here yet in all the big grocery stores they sell like chocolate eggs and stuff (but no bunnies). I figure its just like Halloween and Valentines, the stores want it to catch on here but everyone is just like.... ´´whats this crap, just give me my mate, my beef, and my soccer :) ´´ . Sometimes it seems thats all there is to life here for some people. Transfers come out today in the afternoon, i guess we´ll find out what happens! I´m content either way with what happens. If I leave Alvear I´d leave with my head held high. I came in with people telling me Alvear doesn´t baptize (just like my first area), we´ve been able to see 8 people come change their lives and come unto Christ in 3 months. And we have 2 investigators with planned baptismal dates for next month. My goal is never to baptise a lot of people its to always leave an area better than i´ve found it, and i believe leaving now I could feel like I´ve accomplished that. If I have the opportunity to stay, all the better! We have a lot going for us and a lot of investigators that we´ve found the last few weeks! We´re going to go play soccer with the whole zone today, everyone came to the stake priesthood conference last night so all the missionaries from our zone slept in our tiny tiny pench last night (12 in about 250 square ft) we didn´t sleep much to say the least haha. Anyways i´ll try and email when I find out where I´m going but if not I love you all very much, have a great week and stay safe!! Paz y Amor

Elder Campbell

March 22, 2010

Heyyyyy momma and family! So we´ve had a pretty crappy week. Elder Williams got a blister in between his toes that ended up getting infected horribly. We had to take an hour and half bus to get to a good emergency room because his whole foot swelled up and got discolored. We got some antibiotics and got it drained, but we´ve been out of action for half a week, and now for sure another 7 days at least that he can´t walk at all. So no work, but most crappy is that we just have to sit in the pench.... it was cool at home to be sick cause you had the couch, tv, xbox, computer, food from a caring mother. But here..... we just sit. We have like 100 book of mormons and then nothing else. 12 hours a day, its just awful, a prison basically. We´ll make it through though, i feel bad for him. You´d never think that you´d run out of things to think about in 12 hours but you do. Transfers are next week and one of us are going to leave for sure so we´ll see how that goes. We had a little inactive family that we´ve reactivated and we´re supposed to baptise the little 10 year old girl this week but we´ll have to see if its still possible! I´m so pumped for Saul! He´s such a great kid, i told Katie about a year and a half ago that he´d be baptised some day. Even ask her, i really did. I saw the potential in him. I´d love his email address to send him a little note. What a neat experience for Saul to have the support of his friends like that. Reminds me a lot of those Tobares kids we just baptised, the parents didn´t come either. I´ve been thinking about Grandma McGarry lately. I got a prompting that she wasn´t doing so well about 2 weeks ago, and was going to ask you in my email last week about her. I feel so bad, i believe her time is short. I hope as well as everyone that she can see Jim, and Kaye soon. I believe she will, I think she´s being prepared to go through the veil. Sometimes we don´t understand why some people have to go through the debilitation before they pass, but there are a lot of reasons why. Something we could talk about when i get home i don´t have enough time to really explain how i feel about it. I´m trying to keep my head up, these last few days have been rough mentally just sitting inside a prison cell! But we´re all given situations to grow and appreciate the things we really have. I love you all so much, my camera is really sketchy. It works but takes a little nudging and luck to stay on long enough to get a picture off. I haven't taken many pictures lately once i do i´ll send them off! Have a great week, i´m thinking a praying for you daily. Tell Carter to keep kickin A on the soccer field. Tell Ky to stay patient, his opportunity will come. Paz y Amor de tu querido Elder. Quidate mucho.

March 15, 2010

First note of day........... the freaking camera works! I cant even believe it its seriously a miracle! I left it in the bag of rice for 4 days and pulled it out. The first try there was no luck but i tried turning it on the second time and boom it was working! So crazy, its got a little jittery but all in all its working, i just have to reset the clock every time i turn it on. Unreal its working, i definately dont think it would have been if I had not been out here on a mission! We had a successful week here in Alvear II. We had two investigators come to church, which is always so good after a long week working hard. I got to go on a division to San Rafael with the zone leaders and work with them for a day, its always nice to get out with other people and see how they do things different than you might. Every missionary has his own little techniques in the streets so i like divisions. We usually just go for a day and night (24 hours) then switch back. Its so weird how the seasons are different here. Its starting to get darker quicker, and the mornings are getting cold! Days are still hot for our likings but definately a lot cooler. Im developing such a love for the people here. Its funny how you can gain love for a people who most of the time tell you your a joke, or reject you. But i call it the puppy syndrome. You can usually kick a dog around but its just about all the time very loyal to its owner. I remember you saying once mom that at a dog training session with birk they told you that a dogs purpose is to do whats pleasing to its master. I feel like that with these people. Obviously they arent our master, but i just care so much for their well being. I want them to be happier than they are! Every day we just have to go out with that attitude of love. Its exactly what our savior did, he ended up being killed by his own people, but could he have had any more love for them?? A lot of people would get really bitter and speak bad things but to me i just love them. I just want them to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So many people are lost! Were trying to corral them to the happiness thats waiting for them. Thats great that president called you!!! I didnt tell him to, i just talked to him about things at home and he just looked up at me and said he was going to call you and that was it. I feel like your conversation went good though. He always knows what to say, he's been blessed by the Prophet himself to carry out his duties here. He sure takes care of us. Makes all 200 of us feel equal in his eyes. We went and played soccer today for the first time in ages! Its hard to get together and play here in Alvear because there are so few of us out here. In Mendoza it was so different. Im so jealous of Jose´s dad getting to go to the cup! Its on the list of things i want to do before i die. I want a US jersey!!! So bad! They´ve had to come out with them by now no???? Anyways thought id let you know that mothers day is only like 2 months away, we get to talk on the phone again! Woo Hoo. I cant get to caught up on that its still quite a bit away. Naynay is in the MTC, i hope he is doing good. Im sure he´ll love the cafeteria, its so bomb. Still havent heard from Scott. STILL. Freggin bum :) jk, anyways i love you all very much. Ive gotta go, stay safe.Talk to you next week!

Pictures March 9th

So i just wanted to address something.... All of these pictures were taken before my camera mysteriously went missing. We were sure some homeless person came and stole it. We searched and searched the entire zone for almost an hour. Till i saw something shining in the river shoreside about a foot deep... Yeah my camera must have fallen out of my pocket as we were walking along the banks :( It´s in the pench sitting in a bag of rice, so all I can do is hope. Totally ruined my whole day! I can´t believe that would happen. Anyways i´ll keep you posted on it. Here´s some of the last photos taken today.


Snug as a bug in a rug! We went and got chairs from the chapel and put them in the van so we had seats haha. Kinda ghetto haha


We ate a big ole´ Asado at riverside today. It was beautiful!


We´re tryin to climb up!


Pretty big right??


Me n Williams in front of the big dam


Just eatin some Argentine cactus :) I saw on Bear Grills on ´Man vs Wild´ eating it before the mission! So we therefore decided we needed to haha. It´s actually good to eat if your out dieing in the desert, so.... we tried it. It´s actually not very good...

March 8, 2010

Hey momma, sorry i haven´t written all day long we had zone conference today and i forgot to let you know. The conference was great today, i needed so badly some spiritual upliftment and a day to rest our weary weary legs. Pres Lindahl and Hna Lindahl gave great speeches, and we had some very uplifing capacitaciones. (i don´t know the english word for that you´ll have to look it up) We´ve been focusing here in the mission on the ressurrection of christ for the last transfer. We all studied up for 6 weeks on it so that this conference we could have a forum on it. It has opened my eyes to a new understanding of the ressurected Lord. The things we´re going to be able to do when we are ressurected. Also about the Lords 40 days on the earth after his death. His teaching, his characteristics. I feel like I have a new insight on this life after these last 6 weeks. And today was just amazing. I love conferences just for this reason. We always have a testimony meeting to close, and to sit through one of those meetings hearing missionarys, the true disciples of Christ in our days, bear testimony one after another. Hearing about miracle after miracle, its just something i´ll never forget. The Spirit has never been so present to me. Anyways, we have a fun activity tomorrow planned with the zone. We´re paying a guy with a huge van to take us up to a hidden lake in San Rafael and we´re going to cook an Argentine Asado and enjoy a day outdoors. Should be fun. Elder Williams and I are still together for this transfer but I´m pretty sure this will be our last few weeks together. It´s week 4 right now, and we go till 6 so a few more weeks then we have transfers. It´ll be interesting to see which one of us go! We´ve got a few investigators we´re working with. One who is a members husband who is working on quitting smoking then we can complete their family. A few others as well and we´re going out everyday looking for God´s children who are waiting. I´ve been mixing it up a bit in the streets lately with talking to people and it´s been really effective. I usually just come up and ask them something really random, sometimes even if they have ever heard of Nephi, or ask them if they think i´m a spy (a lot of people really think we´re american spies, looking for water resources hahaha), just off the walls sometimes to get someone to smile or laugh, or get a bit confused. Then by then i´ve got their attention and they can´t just run away from us. Funny sometimes the weird things we have to come up with to get people to take the second to feel the spirit. I´m happy, I´m excited for what the future brings for me in the next little bit. Conferences always get us so much more excited to go out and work, thats why i love them. I hope everything is good at home. I sure miss you all very very much, i think and pray for you nightly. I´m so jealous our chapel is all done! Is it legal to send me some pictures?! Sounds like that first sacrament meeting was really neat. Anyways we´re just working away here, trying to get better every day nothing more! Tell mason congrats on his call! Love!

Elder Campbell

Pictures......March 1st

Faustino's baptism.
Elder Williams, Wildo, Faustino, Me

Tiny quail eggs that are sooo good.

The wall by the bodega

Outside the bodega

Bodega

March 1, 2010

So yes it was quite a weekend here in the shaky south. We woke up again at about 5 30 the other night from another after shock. It wasn´t near what the first one was but enough to shake us pretty good. The first one about shook us out of bed. We ran out the pench as quickly as possible trying to throw on clothes. The buildings here are not very stable to say the least, that includes the apartments so we got out asap. We stood outside as we still shook around, i just felt very dizzy and helpless. Quite a terrible feeling, you just have nothing you can do that power is so much more than we are. I felt like throwing up! It seemed like it was at least 4-5 minutes but apparently it was only 1. I suppose time goes slower when the whole earth is shaking haha. I feel for those families in Chile, and am praying for them. I´m so grateful all of my buddies that are serving on the other side of the mountains are all ok. Especially those that lived close to the epicenter. We´re 4-5 hours away and it was scary enough.
Saturday was actually really good despite being up all night from the earthquake. Faustino was baptised at about 8 o clock here in Alvear. It was a very spiritual service. Really neat for me to see a guy that's been working so hard on his smoking problem to get baptised. And now has fully made his way to becoming a member of Gods church. His best friend is a returned missionary and he baptised him. Really neat moment after he came out of the water to see them have a very strong embrace. Gets me all teary eyed typing about it. Fautino is going to move into Wildo´s house (Wildo is the returned missionary), and he´s going to be able to have that support to help him stay off of the cigarettes. Totally sweet guy. Now thinking about it he´s been investigating for the same amount of time i´ve been here in Alvear. Really about 2 weeks more. Pretty sweet. Anyways i´ve sent some pictures of the old winery we went and explored as we were knocking doors way out in the country. It was way too cool not to go take a few pictures in. Especially since we´ll probably never get back out there (it was about 2 hours to walk to the neighborhood it´s in). Apparently the bodega has been shut down for more than 80 years. There is definitely no roof, but there are still the giant vats where all the wine was stored. Just hundreds and hundreds of gallons i´m guessing these things could hold. Kinda had a creepy feel to it, we saw a few old mattresses and things in the bottom of the vats, and i´m thinking there are a few homeless living in them. Also i´m sending a picture of some cool lil eggs they sell here. They´re Quil eggs we finally found out today. their super cheap and really tasty. We like em, but they are teeenie tiney! Anyways, i love ya all very very much. We´ve baptised all of our investigators..... so we´ll be dedicating a lot of time over the next two weeks trying to find hungry souls! We are working with 2 others who could possibly progress to baptism. Really only one being knows if they will or not and thats the big man upstairs. So we´ll leave it up to him, keep teaching the best we can, and keep inviting every person we see to come closer to Christ. I´m in 2nd Nephi 5 right now in the book of mormon. I´ve started to read in Spanish and i feel like i´m getting so much more out of it. It´s such a beautiful language, and the words just come to life to me. I absolutely love being able to read in spanish, it´s like reading it all for the first time, and really just exciting to me that i understand every word. Maybe it just means so much because i´ve been working so hard to understand it. Something along those lines :) Bummer about kyky, tell him to kick some in soccer, i love spring time at home. it´s finally cooling down here a bit, anything less than the relentless heat we had a few weeks ago. Love ya!!

Elder Campbell

News the day of the Earthquake!! Feb 27th

The mission office asked us to get on and notify you all that we´re ok because the phone circits are off the wire in Mendoza. We´re totally fine. We felt the quake at about 3:30 this morning and rushed out of the pench in our garments. It was strong, around 5.0. It scared the crap out of me i thought it was never going to end. But we´re all safe. Everyone in Alvear is ok I think, only a few houses caved in and there we´re no casualties as far as we know. I´m just praying for Chase Halverson, he´s serving in Conception right now. An 8.8 hit.(stronger than the earthquake in Haiti that killed 220,000).
Aftershocks are still happening so we´ll be careful. Wouldn´t that be cool if we had an aftershock during our baptism in 5 hours?? Haha, not really! Kinda nervy. We´re definately seeing some prophecies being fulfilled eh? I´d say times getting shorter and shorter.Give me an update for Monday when i get on. See ya.

Feb 22, 2010

Soooooo the big deal about MATE. Everyone from the states asks us about this. So Mate is pronunciated mahh-tay, it´s an all herbal tea that people drink down here. It´s cultural, and when i think Argentine i think Mate. Its just the way of life down here. Very unlike the states you can´t buy a small mate or go to a mate shop and buy a cup of mate. They all make it in the home. You can go to any little kiosko (little corner stores) or the grocery stores and buy your preferred mate (theres seriously like over 50 different brands, apparently with a distinct taste). Every family has their mate cup, just one per family. It´s wood, with decorations and stuff, sometimes with the family name engraved outside or their favorite fútbol club. Then it has a special filter straw thingy, that is metal. First you put the mate in the cup with a little water and mash it around then put more in with sugar, then fill it to the brim with scorching hot water, and sip out of your little metal straw. The cups are like 4 ounces or so so you drink till the water is out then hand it to the next person. they´ll put al lil more mate in and a little more sugar according to your taste then they drink. And they just pass it around. They all drink mate in the mornings usually for breakfast, then during the siesta, and sometimes late at night after work. But it´s usually always shared with family or friends while talking about life. (the terrible youth now days, the socialist government that apparently does nothing for them (but give them free everything), fútbol, or what ever else they talk about but usually those three subjects.) As missionaries we are not allowed to drink Mate. No one tells us why but i think for a variety of reasons. 1. Every house you step in they usually offer you mate as like a respect thing. If we could we´d be drinking mate all daylong. 2. Some brands are jack full of caffeine, all have it but i don´t think more than a coke or something like that. It makes it hard sometimes that we can´t as well because people get offended here if you don´t take something offered, i usually use my salesman skills and tell them it´s too hot for mate and that i´d take a water (not sure what i´m going to say once it cools down haha. People don´t have to give up mate to get baptised, and members have never been counciled from the church not to drink it. I´ve heard they´re not supposed to in the church but whenever there are activities they´re always drinking it so who knows. To me i just think it´s a deal where no one would get baptised if we tried to tell them they couldnt drink mate. It´s a cultural thing, traditional thing as well and for that reason i don´t think it´ll ever be outlawed. Admit tingly I did try it one time at Carmen´s house in Godoy Cruz the day after her baptism because Chesley told her he´d drink mate the day she got baptised. It´s not very good, just tastes like bitter grass. I don´t get it, haha. Anyways we had a crazy week, as transfer week always is. We´re staying here in Alvear together! But Williams had to get some paperwork done in the capitol so we had to take 5 hour bus ride to Mendoza to do it. We slept in my old pench in Trapiche and got to go visit Carmen and my other converts there, which was really fun. Good to see Gutierrez again as well. Anyways 3 of the Tobares boys passed the sacrament this week, it was so sweet. So spiritual, i just sat there teared up watching them in their white shirts and ties we bought for them, passing the sacrament. The fruits of missionary labor are like no other. This Saturday we are so excited for another one of our investigators, Fautino 25 from Paraguay to be baptised. He´s just a sweet sweet A dude who has been quitting his smoking habit to get baptised. He´s been investigating since my 1st week here in Alvear, and has had 2 baptismal dates fall because of the stupid cigarettes, but he hasn´t smoke in 2 weeks and I just feel like he´s really ready this time. He says he´s done waiting for his salvation, and done with cigarettes for the rest of his life. He´s going to be a great member of the church. We found Fautino clappin´ (not knocking, we don´t knock here we clap :) ) doors. He has had a few issues with certain things in the church but he took our challenge to pray about it and he´s gained a testimony. We´re real excited for him. Alvear has taken off here lately. We´ve baptised more as a district than any other zone i think in the last month. I credit all the success to our obedience, and unity. We wake up on time, we get home on time, and we do what we´re asked to. The blessings have been coming and we´re going to enjoy them until the trials come. It´s just really amazing to me how real this work is. To see the amount of people we have in such a short time as 4 Elders here in Alvear has been great. To think that these people have made the choice to change their lives, and to follow Christ in the last 2 months here is great. I hope all is well at home, my scripture for you to read this week is DyC 104:79 and 82. I like it a lot. We´ll talk to you next week, love you all very very much!!!

Pictures Feb 16 2010

Me and Sebastian 14

Hna White is going home! So that means the actual ´Hna White´is dead, and her real name is back. So this is us killing Hna White.

Feb 16 2010 pictures

We had a terrible hail storm, golf ball size and ruined our vine.... so sad. Tons of peoples crops were all lost :(

Me and Ivan 15

Me and Fernando! 10

The Tobares boys all in white!

Argentine Asado that we cooked up today. (we´ve gotten good at doing this now, we cook it with real coals from the fire, its so good!)

Feb 16, 2010

So i´m hating on Argentine computers that hate american technology and won´t upload my freakin pictures! Still trying to get some out! And i´m definately wanting you to see the pictures of our awesome baptism we had saturday :):):) All 5 of the Tobares boys got baptised Saturday morning. Benjamin, Ivan, Sebastian, Bryan, and Fernando! I can´t even tell you how much these boys mean to me. They´ve become my little brothers, i love them so much and am so proud of them for making the decision to be baptised. They were all so excited, and all went great. Elder Williams even got to step into the water and baptise Bryan! So it was just a great day all around. We spoiled them a bit and bought some cookies and 5 2ltr bottles of soda and ate afterwards with some members. Such a good day! We´ve got 3 people we´re still teaching right now, but believe are at least a few weeks out for baptism. We have a 25 year old paraguyan who was supposed to be baptised this upcoming saturday but we´re thinking about waiting for one of his member buddies who is out of town so he can baptise him. We shall see. All and all i´m just loving Alvear. I find out tonight if i´m staying or going, i really hope we get to stay because we have a lot going for us. The only downside is that peach season is over :( bummer. But thats alright. We almost died Friday because we had a terrible hail storm that threw down some golf ball size hail for about 15 minutes. We were outside and ran into a house to take cover. 3 people died in the last hail storm because of getting hit by the hail it´s super dangerous. Luckily the sister missionaries called us and told us the storm was coming and to get under a roof. They call it the ´piedra´ here. Which means rocks. Theres a lot of devestated farmers here because the hail destroys the crop. A lot of people out of a lot of money, it´s way sad. We´ll try to get out to them and give them the good news. I sent a pic of our personal little grape vine. You remember the old photos, just totally lush and green and you can see what the storm does to it. So sad. Anyways our week couldn´t have been better with that really big baptism. The thing is that i don´t like to think of it as 5 baptisms. As a number, because really it is 5 more saved souls, 5 more people who will be blessed for the rest of their lives if they can stay close to the gospel. Williams and I were talking about coming back to Alvear some day 20 years down the road and seeing Benjamin, or Fernando sitting on the stand as a bishop or stake president. It´s enough to get me teared up. I just love those little punks! Haha. Williams is from Sandy, i remember you asking me that. He went to Alta and is an only child. His dad flies a charter jet and Williams has pics with like Karl Malone, Steve Young, John Dailey, guys like that. its pretty sweet haha. lucky kid. Anyways I hope all is going good at home, i´m praying everyday for each one of you. Remember what your purpose is in life. It´s not to work or to get to here or to there. it´s to get back to our heavenly father someday and just live as happy as we can here. It´s only through the gospel that we can achieve true happiness, I´m so glad we have the knowledge we have. I´m so glad to be out here sharing it with people. This is the hardest thing i´ve ever done in my life and it keeps getting harder, more demanding, yet with each step.. more rewarding. Keep pressing forward with faith. Let your actions speak louder than your words. I love ya! Got my package and loved it, thankyou more than a million bigilion times! Gotsta go!

Elder Campbell