Life is great!!

Hello from Rodeo del Medio!
     First of all Mom, the reason I got all seven letters at the same time is because they all get sent to the mission office, then we have to wait until we see somebody from the offices of somebody in the zone or district has the chance to go to the offices!! And packages are just unpredictable, maybe they are coming or maybe the people in Buenos Aires opened and took my stuff who knows haha! But this week we had intravistas (interviews) with Presidente Avila, which was awesome. He seriuosly such a great guy. And this interview was so much better than my last one because he doesnt know english, but I was able to actually understand him and talk to him this time, it was great!! But I recieved some mail this time too! I got my birthday package from you Mom!! Thank you so much for the shirt and ties Mom, and family! They were great! Then Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rowe, thank you sooo much for the package. One thing Argentina lacks here is candy. They dont really have any. But real american candy was so great! And Lisa and Rowe, you must have had some revelation or something, because that stick of deoderant came at the perfect time haha! I had just finished off my last one that morning and I was dreading having to buy more here since it is pretty expensive. Then mom, I recieved some wonderful letters from the Houstons and the Kimbers. Could you tell them thank you so much, and that I am putting a letter in the mail for them very soon! And man, I am so excited, another little niece or nephew on the way!! So excited. But will it be 3 new nephews or 2 nephews with a little niece to come home to. Man, this is all just so exciting. But Amy, I am so sorry about your Grandma. I hope it all works out for you and for her. But just remember, the Lord has control over it and he knows what is best for all of us! But know that I am praying for you!

      So this week was pretty good. Oh Dad, so after the treck about a year ago, I promised myself I would never eat corn meal mush again. And guess what I had at one of our member lunches, a huge bowl of corn meal mush. And im talking like 3 pounds of this stuff!! They put a little drop of this chili stuff on top which was supposed to help I guess, but yea, it didnt. But some how I was able to finish it haha!

     So exciting news form here, we had 2 new investigators attend church with us yesterday! It was so awesome! The ward was so... ah dang what is the word haha, oh welcoming haha sorry! But they felt so loved and were even participating in the lessons and answering questions! It was way cool. And the Familia Vasquez came, and one other!! So we had 7 investigators at church! It is so cool how it is making the ward excited too. They see us having some success so they are like wow, its acually possible. I think we will help them now! So slowly the work is growing here in Rodeo del Medio. We found an awesome new this week as well named Natalia. We were contacting a less active on the ward list, but we knocked on the wrong house on accident, and found Natalia haha. She just let us right in and we taught her the Restoration. She is really interested, so we are returning this week to teach her about the wonderful Plan of Salvation! But the Lords helps us out so much and guides us to people who need the gospel and are prepared. Even by something as simple as having you not realize that you are knocking on a different house, and that you are actually in a whole different neighborhood haha! But it is amazing to see these daily miracle stake place!

     Sounds like home is nice and busy as usual! Dad, are you improving with your Mr. Mom skills? The kids are nice and busy with sports. And man, the high school has turf? I basically played in dirt there!! Mom, how is seminary treating you? Sounds extremely tough, time consuming, but very rewarding. Well, have an amazing and thank you so much for all you do! I love you all!

Elder Derek Wengert-W9

     

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Time to harvest!

lw

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Do not pass!

Another week in Argentina!!

 Hello everybody!!

     Thank you for all of the letters Mom and family. I got like 7 from you this week from the offices. They were from like 2 months ago, but thants alright. I still loved reading them! And yea!! 2 more nephews on the way, so exciting!! Do you have any names picked out or anything? Mother dear- Happy Birthday!! Sounds like you got treated nice for it, except for Dad thinking you were 52 and not 51 haha. But its ok Dad, we all mess up at times haha. Sounds like seminary is going good for you Mom. Do you happen to have Jordan or Janae in your class? And who are the other teachers? And sounds like your schedule is kind of turning Dad into Mr. Mom haha! That is crazy how many missionaries there is from the stake. And Tabitha is putting her papers in too! That is so awesome! Keep me updated as calls start to come in please!

     So for your question Dad. Spanish is coming along pretty well. Im able to carry a conversation on alright. There are the times for sure where I have no idea what they are talking about, so I have to just kind of play it off and hope they dont ask me a question about it haha. But Im not thinking or dreaming in it yet! Maybe someday!

    Mother, everyone on there missions had there time of thanking you for certain things, and here goes mine as well haha. Thank you for all of those years of piano lessons. I know I was a paine, but it was all worth it. I play every sunday and the ward loves it. For many of the childeren, it has been there first time hearing somebody actually play the piano. And this past week and started teaching piano lessons to a few members of the ward. The meet me at the church each miercoles and we have a quick 30 min lesson! So all of that yelling and making me practice is even benifiting people 6000 miles away. Thank you again!!

    So we had a much better week this week! Yesterday the family of Said came to church, and even with the olderst daughter Lizbet. The loved it. Then after church the mother Hermana Vasquez came up to Elder Fox and I and asked us if she could pay her tithing! We about fell over onto the ground, because we havent even taught her about tithing yet. We found out the Said had taught not just the main lessons like the plan and the restoration with his family, but many of the commandments haha! It was so touching, because they dont have all that much money. The whole family works as harvesters on a potatoe farm. They all are so ready for baptism, we just need permission from the Dad. But he is moving back home with the family from Bolivia on August 20th. So we will talk to him then! A family who is truly prepared by the Lord!

     So last night we attended an Evangelic church with one of our investigators becasue she said she will come to our church next week if we come with her. So we show up and at first they were not happy to see us. But they warmed up to us and really welcomed us in. Then church started and it was way fun. Everybody is sing their praises to God, claping their hands, and really getting into it. And im not going to lie, the music was pretty catchy. It was kind of wierd how the pastrue would yell out ´´¿Quien vive?´´ and everybody else yells ¡Cristo! But then after an hour of singing and chanting it really got wierd. People would come up to the woman pasture and ither people up front, and they start trying to perform miracles. Anything from a headache to cancer. One old man was being healed to walk again. After everybody is yelling and stuff for him and the man is yelling our ¡Yo creo! or I believe, he gets up and couldnt walk. The pasture is just like you dont have enough faith. Then one happens where Im not sure what was wrong. She was twitching and flailing around. Maybe she was possesed. Im not sure. But everybody is screaming and yelling at her, holding there hands out towards her. I have never been so scared. Literally, I was just like I need to get out of here! But I just felt terrible for these people. They all of great people and have great faith. They just are a little confused and are using that faith in the wrong way. They would make great members. We talked to many of the members after, so hopefully it will help us get through a few doors! So interesting experience, hopefully it pays off haha!

     Sounds like everything is good at home! Thank you for everything. For your love and support. I look forward to hearing from next week. I love you all!

Elder Wengert-W9

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My Grandpa, Papi, and I!

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Elder Fox and I!

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Letter to home!!!

Hello from Argentina!!!

    Kind of a crazy week here in Rodeo del Medio! Got my new companion Elder Fox, from Washington! Everybody thought Elder Johnson and I were crazy because we both are pretty tall. But Elder Fox is even taller haha. But he is way awesome, and we just been having a blast since he got here! Sounds like the week for all of you was great! Crazy like usual, but great! That is crazy that school already starting up! Mom was your first day of seminary today, or does that not start up until next week? Nae Nae, you had your first day of high school today!!! How was it for you? When do hihg school sports start up? Jordan is doing volleyball, and Naes is doing swimming right? and Tan Man! You are wearing glasses, yea!! You are probably rockin them and getting all the girls at school because you are not only wearing your new glasses, but you are the big bad 6th grader. Oh yea!! But i need to get a picture of you Tanno in them ok! Dad, dont worry about the cold here.It is already starting to warm up here! So by the time the stuffa gets here we wont even need it anymore!!

     Well this week I probably had the most awkward lunch appoitment so far. We showed up to the house right as the husband was pulling up from work. And as he pulled in he ran over their dog and killed it. So the whole time his wife is crying and they are fighting about whose fault it was haha. Elder Fox and I kind of just sat their trying to think of what we could do to help haha! But yea, a little interesting!              
      So Elder Fox and I got really close to attending an Evangelic church yesterday! We had an investigator tell us that she would attend our church, but only if we went to her church with her! But of course she didnt show up. So we wanted to show her that us missionaries keep our promises. So we went to her house 15 minutes before her church started and she is like um yea I couldnt go to your church today, and now I cant go to mine either haha. Wow!! That is one problem about here in Argentina. Argentines arent the best at keeping their promises, but thats ok! We still love um haha!

       Well we didnt have a real chance to sit down and teach Laura. But we were able to stop by and invite her to church. Unfortunately she couldnt make it, but she was so excited to see us and invited us in for a few minutes. So she is still excited about learning and she still looks promising. Yesterdays church was a little frustrating though. We had 7 investigators commited to coming to church, and not one of them came for a grand total of 0!! The first time on the mission that has happened to me. But thats alright. That just means a little more work this week!

    Saturday we went and worked the afternoon in Colonial Bombalm, the area next to us and did a white wash (the district went out along with priesthood of the ward and visited people to invite them to the rededication of their chapel there). But Elder Fox and I visited a guy named Trevor. A less active from the states. He works for the CIA and lives here in Argentina. He even served his mission here in Mendoza. But it was so wierd to teach him in english haha. But we got him and his family to committ to coming to the rededication. So hopefully it all works out with him. But also I talked to one of the ward members there who just got home from his mission 3 weeks ago named Nahuel Ovilpatay. But I told him I was from Arizona and he was like, yea I served with an Elder from Tucson. So I asked what the name was and he was like, Elder Parker haha! Yea, he served with Nick Parker in Chile. So of course he wanted a picture to put on facebook and show Nick haha! It is such a small world. So crazy!!

     Well everybody, thank you so much for everything! Im loving life, and I couldnt be happier. I love you all!!

Elder Wengert-W9

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