March 7 2011

It was good to talk to ya the other day. I´m glad President let me! He says hi and hopes your all doing well and said that we´re going to ´party´ when you get here. We have weather stations here on our computers and mine is set to Ogden and Mendoza weather so I always know what the weather is here and at home and there is a heavy snow warning its showing right now at home. I thought ´´ I guess I´ll take the heat´´ haha.

The vendimia celebration was amazing. Such a cool cultural experience. I´ll definately never forget it. The queens all loved us and threw all the fruit to us. They we´re all blowing us kisses and whatnot. We just felt super awkward haha. Especially having the mission president there with us, but I think he was enjoying it more than us. A float of Arabian belly dancers came down the street and we all turned around and acted like there was something in the trees trying to avoid looking. President got a good kick out of it. It definately would have made a good picture. The overall activity was just amazing. The floats were unbelievable, and they all just had boxes and boxes and boxes of fresh fruit they were throwing out. I´d definately come back down to Mendoza someday to see the entire week of activities. It´s supposed to be one of the coolest events in the world. The littler part we got to see was really cool though.
Church was really good yesterday. We are going to have a baptism on the 19th. Should be really neat. The ward members love us and we´ve already made a lot of friends. Today we´re all together as zone leaders for leadership training that takes place tomorrow. We´ve got a really cool training set up. The Mission Mendoza is dedicating all of our baptisms this month to a really special kid named Josh Pack. He is Nick Sorensens best friend, and went to Weber High with him. Just after we graduated Josh suffered a freak accident up at Pine View. Standing waist deep in the water he did a swimmers dive to start swimming and hit his head on the way down on the lake bottom. He shattered two disks in his neck, and bruised his spinal cord and was diagnosed with severe paralysis. He has since been able to gain the strength to move his arms but almost 3 years later has yet to take another step. President has kept in good contact with Josh since hearing his story from Elder Sorensen. And this month we´re dedicating our baptisms to him. My companion Elder Frost put together a video of Josh, and we´re showing it tomorrow then during 10 minutes of the training Josh is going to be live on Skype giving us a talk. It should be amazing.
I hope you have a great week

Zone Leaders giving their love to Josh

A new record: 124 Baptisms for February

Out-Going Assistants and In-Coming Assistants

Elders Hopkin, Sorensen, Frischknecht, President, Elders Leal, Campbell

New Zone Leaders for March- Elders Barra, White, Frost, Williams, Morinico, Hyer, Campbell, Hopkin (returning again as ZL after serving as AP).

Feb 28 2011

This week was another one full of suprises. Transfers were today. We´ve been working long and hard on putting the right missionaries in the right spots with the right companions for the last few weeks and today we announced them to everyone. Little did I know President had a little suprise for me as well.

Like you´ve known for the last 6 weeks i´ve been an assistant, and traveling around the mission working with all the elders and helping out our cause here. It´s been great, I´ve had so many wonderful memories and have seen a lot of miracles. It´s been one of the coolest transfers I´ve ever had. As a mission we tied the record for baptisms in a single month with 123 baptisms! In all reality we shattered the record because the last time we broke the record we had 5 weekends to do it, and this month we had 4. And not only that Febuary and January are normally the worst months for baptisms. The record for Febuary in our mission was 66. (we almost doubled it!)
President gave us a great compliment for the achievement. Pretty cool. Anyways about the suprise, he´s given me and my companion Elder Frost new callings to open a new zone here in the mission. We´ll still be here in the offices with our responsibilities in the mornings but we have a new ward and proselyting area, and we are the new zone leaders of the new zone. It´s going to be quite a responsibility! Being an assistant will be looked back on as a slice of cake compaired to this. But i´m up for it, and I´m glad President has the trust and confidence in me to do it.
Sunday we got to go to our new ward and meet the members. The bishop asked us to speak and we gladly accepted. It was great. I love the new ward, they seem like wonderful people. The chapel is awesome because although church built, it´s a lot smaller than the other chapels in Mendoza and it makes for a really neat invironment. Everyone is close and packed into the sacrament room, instead of seeing a huge oversized chapel with 50 people in it. Sometimes I wonder if the church expected more growth than we´ve seen because of the size of the chapels. I mean HUGE chapels, and most if not all are under an attendance of 120. I suppose they built them for the future as well. But anyways in the little chapel the spirit is just so much stronger than when there is a family on every other pew if you know what I mean.
Friday we started working in the area itself and found some great people. We taught a girl who recently was invited by her friends to a girls camp in Lujan (I think Hna. Lindahl put pictures of that conference on her blog). She since started reading the book of mormon and friday we had an amazing lesson with her. We felt the spirit so so strong, as she told of her feelings she had been experiencing while investigating the church. She told us she wants to get baptized, but is scared because her family will disown her (their stout catholic). We had her read a few pasages from the book of mormon, and told her tonight after she read them to pray with all her heart that her family would understand her, and know what she was doing was right. Sunday at church she came up to us very shyly (shes a very shy girl) and fighting back tears told us thank you and that she had received an answer to her prayers that same night. So cool! I just have been praying so much to be able to get out and have my own area again before I finished the mission and I received it, and I´m not going to take it for granted!
This week is Vendimia week. The festival of the grape harvest. It´s the biggest celebration of the year here. The festivities are supposedly great, we´re hoping to be able to take part in some way or another. Hopefully President will let us go to the parade and get to see it. I´ll probably never get another chance to do it. Actually..... he just walked in the room and said yes we can go! WOO HOO! Haha. I´m not sure what they do but I´ll let you know!

A storm to remember Feb 23 2011

Elder Campbell and Elder Quebbman who had to save the office from being flooded.

A big hail storm hit Mendoza and of course Elder Campbell had to make the best of it and went outside. Thanks to Sister Lindhal who posted these on her blog.

Feb 21 2011

So I had a fun week. We went and worked with some Elders this weekend in a city that I was working in almost a year ago. It was really cool to see the members and talk about memories and my time I had there. Sunday was the best because we rolled up to church and to my best suprise a young couple that we helped get married and baptised were there. And not only were they there, the guy was now the 1st councilor in the bishopric, and the girl was the first speaker, and the young womans president. Her talk was just amazing. I was just crying throughout the whole thing. I just remember all of the lessons with her and then everything she was saying in her talk we´re things we taught her, and even more. She just had totally been converted and I knew she was developing even more and reading the scriptures and praying and it was just so cool. They are gorgeous people too, both of them. And have the cutest new little baby. She is 20 and he is like 26, just so cool! There is this little girl in Tunuyan (the city we went to this week) and she reminds me so much of Karly. She is just the most darling blonde hair, blue eyed Argentine you´ve ever seen. The family really wants us to go over and eat lunch with them when you come down. They are such sweet people.
 The new mission president got called, it´s going to be an Argentine. He´s actually the brother of the president before President Lindahl. Interesting right? Can you even imagine? He´s an area 70 right now so he´ll bring a lot to the mission. President Lindahl is excited.

Feb 14th 2011

I will definately be your Valentine!! Due to rules I think your the only one that can be my Valentine!!! Haha. Valentines Day here isn´t near as big of a deal as it is at home. I few of the stores promote it and of course the restaurants as well but there is no candy or any of that stuff. Not many talk about it. In direct translation they call it ´Day of the Lovers´ haha.
Thanks so much for getting my transcript sent to Weber. Once they accept me I´ll be able to stop thinking about it for a little bit till March 28th, then I´ll register for those summer classes. I´m thinking of ways I can make that much money in like 4 days to pay for the summer school. 
Kind of bitter sweet to think about Carter and his Bball. I´m just so excited he´s improved and made the team and has even worked hard enough to get good minutes. I´ll work with him once I get home. Kylers region sounds super exciting. All good teams. Good for them, how fun that must be. Really cool they named the new Gym after Russell. He´s a funny dude. Has sure put a lot of years and effort into Ogden High. I always loved joking around with him, he´s a good guy at heart.
I got an email from Andrew Campbell this week which was way cool. Kinda cool to write in Spanish back and forth to each other. I hadn´t even a clue that Danielle was even pregnant let alone ready to have her baby blessed! It put a smile on my face to know that Dad was invited to stand in the circle. What a special moment that had to be for him and Stewart. The gospel truely brings miracles to pass. And when taken to heart can help, repair, and renew any broken hope, relationship, or bond. I love my pops! You´ll have to tell him that for me!
The sports world sure has changed since I left. One thing after another. Sure will be something new for me not seeing Sloan on the bench for the Jazz. He´s been there since before I was born haha. I was even more suprised to see the Phil Johnson retired with him. I totally expected him to take over. Should be interesting to see where the Jazz organization goes from here. Kind of an exciting yet apprehensive time as well. Kind of walking into the unknown without Sloan and Larry H Miller.
We had a fun week this week. We got to get out and work with a lot of missionaries. The group we worked the most with ended up having 3 investigators in church, it was super sweet.  Anyways I´ll be checking every so often to see if your around! Love ya mom!

Taken from Pres. Lindhals blog: More help out on the streets. Elder Campbell and Elder Leal will become traveling assistants, with their junior companions. They will help us in the training of zones with the new 8 focuses of the church.

Febuary 7 2011

Nothing too new here. The work is going good, we had a crazy week after one of our senor couples had to suddenly up and leave. Left us all here in the office a little shocked and shorthanded. They brought in a few more Elders to take the secretary position and finance manager positions. So we´re living with a few more now in our house. Our house is pretty cool, it´s three floors and super old but it´s comfortable for being here in Argentina. The top floor is just one big room full of bunk beds and then a deck. It´s basically only used when the departing missionaries come in and when the newbies arrive. Speaking of Newby, he gets home in about a month! I guess Keeley and Steve are going to Hungary to pick him up as well. Crazy how we´re all getting old in the mission now. I´ve had a big desire to be able to leave the office and be a normal missionary again but I´m not sure it´s going to happen. I´m kinda sad about it to be honest, but I understand that the Lord must need me here helping President before he gets ready to go. I´ve told him I´d like to leave for my last 9 weeks but from what he´s told me and the way he talks I think that it´s probably not going to happen. But thats ok, I´m learning a lot doing what I´m doing and I´m enjoying it when I can get out with the missionaries and work with them. Thats when I find my greatest joy.


Pretty sad to hear people still making anti Mormon comments to Dad. Makes me want to cry to be honest. It´s just Satan trying to throw Dad off thats all. I was always good at having ´selective hearing´, and sometimes in situations like that you have to have it. No one can shake my faith, anyone can say anything about polygamy and it doesn´t mean anything to me because I know that the church is true. I know that Joseph Smith said what he said he saw. I know the Book of Mormon is proof of that. I don´t know that from what anyone else has told me, I know because I wanted to know. I prayed, I studied, and I felt an answer. And I continue to get answers and reassurances of those answers every time I read the Book of Mormon. I´ll tell anyone that at any time. It´s just sad that people have such little faith that they settle with the idea that we turn into to dirt and thats that. How sad... How hopeless is that? Bye mom, bye dad, bye wife and kids..... fun 20 years we shared there, now I´ll never see ya again, Chau.... That idea is crazier than a boy seeing God and his Son to me. Anyways, tomorrow we have a leadership council, and then we´re hoping to get out and work this week a lot with a few struggling zones. Should be fun. Love ya!

Elder Hoglund's  going home dinner that Elder Campbell got to enjoy!

January 31, 2011

This week was way busy! A lot of fun but a lot of things going on. We had Zone Conferences all this week. They all went really good. Monday and Tuesday conferences we were at, and did our training and all went well. Tuesday night President gave me a call and told me that one of our very best missionaries that was in a city 5 hours away had gotten very very sick. He´d been at a public Argentine hospital in the little town that he was in. The health care was a nightmare. He had a fever of over 103 and he was in a room that the air conditioner has broke in. That day the temperature was over 105 degrees. He literally was just dieing in there. He couldn´t hold down anything, especially the water there in that particular city because it´s so contaminated. (That area is famous for not being able to see the bottom of the baptismal font in the chapel because the water is so filthy). All missionaries have special filters from the church in their apartments but obviously in an emergency room in the hospital there are no filters from the church. They had him on an IV which was the only thing keeping him hydrated enough to live. Long story short, we took the mission vehicle and drove 4 and a half hours to pick him up, and bring him into Mendoza where he could get medical care. We were in the care 9 hours straight! And I was the only legal one to drive. Imagine St. George and back. Stopping once for gas. And it was very very hurried. We got him to a good hospital here in Mendoza and he is doing great now. He´s actually going to get released and be able to work tomorrow. He´s trying to make every minute last because he´s only got three weeks left! The 4th conference we got the short end of the stick and had to make sure the office was running as the other assistants and the Lindahls took a trip to San Rafael (in all reality I didn´t want to get back in the car haha) for the final conference. Friday and Saturday we took off about 30 minutes outside of Mendoza to a little town to help out a companionship that wasn´t getting along very well. We went and really had a miracle day. We found 8 people who accepted baptismal dates! Amazing lessons! The most valuable time of the whole day was just getting out and getting to talk to the Elder I was working with. Get to know him and help him out. They are great now, and really excited to work together these next 5 weeks. Love Ya!!

Timing the Scripture Chase!

Scripture Chase competition

Travel Assistants Training at Zone Conferences

January 24, 2011

So today is day one of 4 zone conferences that we´ve got going on this week. Three of the 12 zones came to the stake center today. Zone conferences are filled with videos, trainings, talks, musical numbers, etc. It´s really a time to see the missionaries and give them the new instruction on what we´re trying to achieve in the mission, and the things that President Lindahl is trying to accomplish. It´s always a time for the missionaries to reflect, relax, feel the spirit, and be instructed. I´ve always loved zone conferences!


This conference has been quite a bit different now that the other assistants and I are giving the instruction, and planning the whole conference. Staying on time, following the spirit, keeping everyone excited, getting through to em, make sure the catering gets there on time, etc. Such an experience! So much work goes into these things. We´re planning, praying on our knees alot, doing all the necessaries to make sure what we´re teaching and instructing is the Lords will. And most of all that the missionaries can recieve it and go out and just tear it up. Today was a great success, tomorrow will be even better with the little adjustments we´re making.

The first week of traveling assistant work was really fun, super exciting. We worked with a few Elders where everyone says it´s close to impossible to find new investigators. Or to reach our goal of 10 new investigators a week. We decided it´d be a great place to put into practice our plan to work more effectively with members to get references to new investigators. We made the ambitious goal to double the goal in the supposedly hardest area for news. Welll........... with those two elders on our divisions we found 22 new investigators and 6 have baptismal dates. (We were only able to work 2 days with them). Smashed the goal! Then celebrated with a little ice cream after, it was really great. I think the Elders out there are super excited for this next trasfer, full of energy out there now! I loved every bit of it, I love being able to make goals and work my butt off to get em, to just get that feeling of euphoria afterwards knowing that you put in 100% and made the goal. My football past has humbled me so much. To have worked so hard to just loose, loose, and loose. Now I am seeing the fruits of labor in something that I have 100 percent control over, and it´s fantastic.

Had a cool experience out in that little town of Palmira this week as well. We went over to a very active members house who is getting ready to send two of her 4 boys out on missions this year. We shared a message with her, and decided to a little activity we´re teaching missionaries to do where we make a list of 25 peoples names that she knew that weren´t members. After we get their names we pray together on our knees about who is ready to recieve us in their house right now. We did it and asked her to put dots on the list of the people she felt would recieve us that day. She put three on there, and we then set out to find them. The references she gave us didn´t really pan out how we had hoped but as were walking out she told us that she had talked to a lady that lived around the corner that she talked to about the gospel before. She didn´t know her name but said she was receptive. So we went by. We knocked on the door and a lady peeked out and told us to wait a few minutes, and that she wanted to attend us. She came back and let us in. We got to know Viviana a little bit. I could tell immediately that she was passing through a rough time right now. Although she lived in a nice house I could sense that in the way she spoke things weren´t exactly as nice as her house looked. The Elder I was working with asked her a really inspired question and all the sudden she opened up and started telling us how she felt so alone, how she felt deserted in her life. She showed us her brand new cell phone and said ´´It´s beautiful to have a phone like this, but it´s not so beautiful when it never rings.´´ As we dug a bit deeper, i asked her why she let us in that day. She put her head down and paused for a second, then looked at me and said ´´Elder I´m a member of the church, and I know you were sent here today to bring me back.´´

She had been inactive for the last 8 years. All of her depression, and problems began as she left the church for a boyfriend in whom she moved in with. The saddest story of her life that had fallen apart, and all of her trials. But we lifted her up, and she went to church yesterday for the first time in 8 years. Accompanied by her neighbor member that wouldn´t have ever known she was a member. It´s a simple example but its in times like those when you remember that you´re truely a disciple of Jesus Christ, called to bring back his lost sheep It was a great week!

January 17th 2011

I´ve definately had my fair share of ups and downs lately! Last Tuesday President brought me into my office, and suprised me by telling me he was going to bring in a new Pensionista, and that he needed me back in the field as a Zone Leader again for my last few transfers. I was really suprised because he had told me that he wasn´t making any changes to the offices till he found out if the new mission president was american or latino. And I had assumed that once I left here I´d go to an area as a senor companion or maybe a trainer at the most. But in all reality I was pretty excited to have another chance to lead a zone again. As well sad to be leaving the area here in Godoy Cruz Centro a little down because we hadn´t been able to do missionary work for the past two weeks. I always have a goal to make an area better than the way I find it.


Anyways that whole plan came to a crushing end the next day, Wednesday, when he called me back into his office and told me he had prayed and spoken to his wife and that they didn´t feel like at this time they could afford to loose me here in the office, and that he was going to keep me here till the end of my mission. He knew I´d rather be out working but told me that I was too valuable to him here. I left a little defeated to be honest. Like, I was still really calm and ok with his decision, knowing that he receives all of the revelation. And really flattered that I´m that valuable to him, yet a little sad that I wouldn´t be leaving to go work full time again.

Just that day we went back up to Aconcagua again. This time a very different reason. (The senor couple working in the office had a son just released early from his mission in Tiajuana Mexico. He wasn´t supposed to finish till they got home so the church sent him down here. Anyways President asked me to take their family up there to enjoy the day together.) I can honestly say that the Lord sent me to that mountain again for a purpose. As soon as we pulled up I just got a really strong sensation that I needed to find a high place alone, so that I could pray. I have been reading a lot lately about the correlation of praying and the mountains. Kind of a weird subject but being here in the Andes and after our first trip to Aconcagua President spoke a little about the scriptures mentioning powerful prayers and visions on the mountains.

So I kinda went a few yards a head of the Nope family with my companion Elder Frost and told him I was going to find a quiet spot, to keep me in his sight. I sat there silently with that cold, incredibly strong wind blowing up there and did something I have never done before. I prayed out loud. The wind was strong enough so no one could hear me. I prayed for a good while just talking with the Lord. I came off that mountain closer to God. A really neat experience for me. I felt a complete submission to the will of God. Since, I´ve become so much more relaxed with everything and whats going on just knowing that if I be the man God has made me to be, and follow the commandments, he´ll bless me and give me peace. Even if the man he has made me to be is a little sarcastically humored, and goofy. I just humbled myself honestly, and I quit thinking about leaving the office and wanting things I don´t have. I feel like the moment I did it, he was ready to bless me and he did!

I guess you got my email to your cell phone but President called me back into his office for the third time this week haha. And told me that he is calling me to be his new Traveling Assistant. For the next 6 weeks at least I´ll be here in the offices Monday-Wednesday till mid day doing things with the housing, the afternoons and night times traveling around the Mendoza area and working with struggling companionships, and helping them in their areas, teaching them how to succeed and be better missionaries. Thursday-Sunday we´ll be traveling to other cities doing the same things full time. I´m honestly honored and humbled. I´ve made it a goal my whole mission to be Presidents assistant and I´d be lying if I told you I´m not excited. Now starts the work. It´s going to be such an adventure, I´m looking forward to it so much. I feel like being the Traveler will really be great for me, it´s doing exactly what I feel like I´m good at. Going and helping people to feel my passion and love for life. Helping them to have fun and how to be successful. It´s going to be fun! A lot of pressure, but a lot of fun. I don´t think I´ve ever seen President so riled up since he left for his heart problem. He was so jacked when he told us! He´s never done this before ever, calling people formerly office staff to be his assistants. So I´m pretty pumped for the next little chapter in my mission!

Anyways didn´t even know you had headed out to St. George! Kinda cool that Ky and Carter stayed home to go to baptisms for the dead. I´m sure there were other reasons haha but that still cool if they really went. I can´t believe Ogden is doing so well in basketball! Good for Ky. I was so excited to hear about the buzzer beater, i wish i could get the clip and see it! I had chills reading the little article on him. So fun to see them having all that success I´m sure. Looks like they have a real good shot of going deep into the playoffs. I hope they slaughter Skyview and that traitor punk coach of theirs. Still bitter about him cutting me haha.
Love ya, Have a great Week
Elder Campbell

Jan 10 2011

Hey there. Had a pretty good week. Things are going good, it was nice to get all the trips finished and the detectors put in. We´ve had an Elder here in the office who is going home that we have been with during the week. Anyways its been ok because me and my companion elder frost know the lord needs us here right now helping him out. Anyways thats been the most part of our week. That sounds like Kyler had a way exciting week with their win again Mt Crest. Good for them. I`m so glad their playing well and that he´s getting to play. I kinda missed out on my senor year. We´re really working on improving living standards here in the mission. President really wants things to be nice for the next mission president that comes in. So I´m doing a lot of work sending repair guys out, assessing apartments, buying supplies, and all of that. I´m praying that next week things can get a little more normal and we can get out and do more missionary work. I´ve been thinking about you coming down and I don´t think you should come without dad. I don´t know if I´d feel right without you both here. So we´ll have to see if it can be done. I need you to start looking into it though because the secretary is getting ready to buy my groups flights, and they need to know what day I`ll be leaving. You´ll have to try and book the same flight and everything so tell me what its looking like. If your really coming I`d say no more than 3 days here in Mendoza. Then we could go to Bahia Blanca for Mike, and then Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls or something like that. Anyways let me know. My head is peeling because of how bad I got sunburned up at Aconcagua. Sun burns harder at 12000 feet! Love you so much I hope your week goes great!

Jan. 3rd 2011

Helllllo from the highest point in the americas!
Today President suprised me and invited me to go on a trip with the current zone leaders and asistants to celebrate the 1000 baptism goal we made as a mission in 2010. It was such a great day for me I can´t even explain. First off on the way to our destination I got to put in the last CO2 detector, in the final pench I had left to do. We´ve visited and made safe all 64 penches in the mission. It´s definately been one of the biggest accomplishments I´ve been able to get done. Sooo much traveling and so much time spent but the gift to get to go on this trip was the perfect celebration. President rented out two buses, and had me drive the mission car with over 50 missionaries to..... Mt. Aconcagua! It couldn´t have been a better day, there wasn´t a cloud in the sky, and it was absolutely breath taking. 22,841 ft it stands. Think of Mt. Ogden...... it´s like 9500 feet. We went up as a mission and I got to spend some precious time with President Lindahl in the ride up and down. He´s one of the most amazing people I´ve ever met. He´s had such an influence in my life, it´s indescribable. Anyways, I´ll include some pictures. New Years was really fun, we had some other Elders over to eat another Argentine Asado with us and then we played some board games till the midnight madness of fireworks, which we watched from the top floor of our apartment. It unfortunately rained a ton all night long but that somehow didn´t stop them from doing their fire works. (they had to have been lighting them off from their porches!) Anyways, this week was really eventful and good for me. Sunday I got to go with President Lindahl and visit a few little branches out in the country. He´s doing a lot of evaluating of the smaller branches before he leaves to check all the options of being able to help the church better grow here. Having a lot to do with putting some branches together and forming wards and things like that. I think I´ve been handy knowing where everything is in the entire mission having traveled it all the last few months putting in the detectors. I cherish every moment I can with him! Anyways, sounds like it´s a good thing that I missed this sports season, things don´t sound like their going super well haha. I´m way happy to hear about Chase Reynolds, he´s a great kid. Chloe is great for waiting for him, they totally need to get married. We hung out a bit before he left, I´m sure you remember. Keep pressing on and doing the things that are really important. Don´t over work yourself, remember to enjoy everything your doing. Take it all in, we´re supposed to enjoy this life. President said something I have been thinking about alot the last few days. He said, ´´Ya know Elder Campbell, I´m friends with all the big fortune 500 company CEO´s, and ya know what?! They´re all under 10 handicaps on the golf course. That means they know how to balance life, they make time for their passions and hobbies as they do for work, it´s your key to success. 1. Set goals 2. Make em 3. Celebrate. And you´ll live happy.´´ Not many mission presidents think the way he does i assume, but I love him. Anyways I hope your week is great! Love ya
 

The reward trip for the zone leaders for achieving the goal of 1,039 for the 2010 year!

Congratulations Mission Mendoza.

                                     

 Excerpt Taken from Sis. Lindhals blog....thought Carson would like to have record of this when we make it into a book....

"The Inca Bridge is the only land bridge that existed for the Incas the cross the river to go down into Uspallata. The history books say that that is as far as they are recorded going down the canyon. The bridge is the strip of land above the heads of the Elders. The colorful rocks is the result of minerals due to underwater streams that continue to flow out of the rocks and cascade down in to the river below. The windows and bars you see in the background is the remains of a Hotel that use to be cut deep in to the rock, with natural water springs in the rooms. The hotel has been closed for many years."

                                       

Barlow, Carson & Miller

Aconcagua is the tallest peak in the Western Hemisphere and is 22,841 feet high.  

 

 ?, Frischknecht, Campbell

(top left) Elders Fielding, Sandford, Barrus, Campbell, Davis, Hopkin, Robinson, Lucas, Frischknecht, Davis, Eliason (bottom) Elders Harvey, Sorensen. Miller, Galati, Bigelow, Barlow, Fowler, Brown, Redd, Beck

 Elder Beck, Campbell

 Smith, Campbell, Sorenson

 

I received a text message from Elder Campbell saying that he was giving permission to text me and tell me to look at Pres Lindhals blog. Here is the excerpt I have taken from Sister Lindhals wonderful blog about Carson:

Congratulations Elder Campbell. Elder Campbell our valuable office Elder who joined the group to go up the mountain because our farthest apartment in Uspallata is on the way. He installed the very last of 64 carbon monoxide detectors on the wall of every apartment "pension" in the mission. He did it in 3 weeks. He traveled around 1500 miles to accomplish the feat. And yes, he did this and also met all his missionary goals. Hurray for valiant missionaries.

Dec. 27 2010

That was way nice of Liz to do that for me tell her thank you so much! I`ll send her a letter, thanks for the address. You`ll have to tell me when your package gets there that I sent you a while back. It`s not much but what I could afford with our budget. The Skype call was awesome. Totally weird not going to lie but really neat. I´m so greatful that President let us do that. He´s such a cool guy, so good to us. It was way nice of everyone to come over and say hi to me on the camera. That meant a lot! I had no idea Mike told you anything about coming down. We started talking about it in Spanish and I thought he was doing that so that no body knew what we were talking about haha. Anyways, I think it would be great. I would love for you to be able to come down and meet Carmen and all of the great people I´ve met here. Definately wouldn´t want any more than 10 days and really we´d only need 2 or 3 in Mendoza. There isn´t tooo much to do ya know. Tour around, see an amazing winery, and Aconcagua. Going over to Mikes area would be really cool. It is like on the other end of the country but a day in bus would get us there. My only request would be that we go see Iguazu Falls. It´s one of the 7 wonders of the world. And actually during the winter here is the supposedly best time to go see it. Other times of the year it averages 110-120 degrees up there. The only worry Mike was talking about was the weather being a little cold, seeing as how it will be winter when I finish. We definately wouldn´t see the beautiful green Argentina, but that doesn´t mean it wouldn´t be cool. I honestly think if I was to come home and then come back down later it´d never happen. With school and work I just can´t see it happening any time soon. So i´d definately say that we do it while I´m here. Not to mention we´d save my whole trip back down which is no cheap thing. Flights will be expensive but other things such as travel down here and food is relatively cheap if we don´t be super ritzy. It´s 4 pesos to every dollar. Be a lot cheaper than Europe that is for sure. Anyways, the only thing about all of this is that we kinda need to decide soon because in about two weeks the mission sends me a paper so that they can start working on my flight and departure from the mission. One of the questions on that form is if my parents will be coming here to pick me up. Anyways, talk amoungst yourselves and let me know. I´d say it´d probably not be the smartest idea to do this without dad. Even more than that is that I´d really want him to come with you. Pray for it and it will work out. Anyways I love you, thanks for being so amazing and supportive of me. Talk to ya next week. Sorry for this being so late, we had some things come up today! Chau
Carson