A much better week

So.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMAYA! You're like 21 years old! Don't worry Mom, you didn't have to remind me about that. I've had my calendar in front of my face during my studies for about a month now... So that wasn't to hard to remember. Hope your day is super spiffy. And I hope it's a lot warmer than it is here... I woke up FREEZING this morning. I'm wearing my thermals, gloves, a scarf, and a new jacket I bought recently, if you guys didn't already notice. I forgot to tell you guys I bought that... It was about 600 pesos, or 60 bucks more or less. Anyway... So school's finishing up. Looks like Jayson's breaking the choir streak in the family. And I was under the impression from Jayson last week that he already got his job? But Mom didn't sound to sure... so now I'm confused. Hope Grandpa Sherm gets better soon. They're in my prayers! I did get the picture of the hail too... I thought it was snow. That's weird. Hope you guys are still getting water. 

So... Yeah! It was a much better week this week. It seems our patience has payed off. We were blessed for sure this week. It didn't seem like anything changed really this week, but people were home this week! We didn't do anything too different on our part, we just kind of got lucky. Or blessed, I guess I should say. But we had like 10ish more lessons than we've had than the past weeks, which was awesome. We found a couple news too. But.. yeah! Not a lot of specific news besides that, but I was really grateful for the blessings we received this week. We didn't have to wander around on our bikes looking for doors to knock or search for less-actives within a 2 kilometer radius. It was a nice change. 

We did kind of have a fun experience this week though. So 2 weeks ago we did splits with the zone leaders and while Elder Inca was with the other zone leader they met up with the second counselor in the stake presidency and he invited all of us to his house for Saturday to do some service and to cook some Peruvian food, cause he's got a son in Perú on a mission. So we all went over there on Saturday and ate some arroz chaufa (basically fried rice) with wontons. I guess Peruvians like Chinese food. It was kind of fun. I've got some pics I'll probably be sending. 

And... This letter looks shorter than usual, so I'll share with you guys a little taste of Pocito. In the words of Hermana Harris, in our district, it's basically the Office (that TV show) of Argentina. We've got all kinds of weird members here. For example yesterday, in church. We've got this member named Oscar Arnaez, who's kind of a doctrine fanatic and he can talk about ANYTHING. I think, when he picks something to talk about, tries to see how far away from the subject he can get before bringing it back. So, in his talk on Sunday, about tithing, starts with a scripture. He shares the story of when Jesus calms the tempest and then in the next chapter when he casts out the demons into all those pigs. And then he says: "And what does this have to do with tithing?" I honestly still don't know... I lost my head after that. Well, not really, but I couldn't focus after that. So there's a little taster of Pocito. Hope you laughed a little bit. 

That's about it! Once again, hope Amaya has a super groovy birthday! Have an awesome week!

Elder Bingham

making arroz chaufa and wontons! 

So we found this odd clothing in the zone leader's pension.... No idea how it got there. 

Guess I'm an Hermana now. 

This is what is called the esequia. Basically the canal/gutter/trashcan. Yes, they do transport water in these. You'll find this on every street in Argentina, and in the summer you'll commonly find dogs swimming in these. There's another taster of Argentina. Enjoy.

Temples!

Hey guys! So... Sounds like you guys had some exciting/crazy news at home this week. First of all, Jayson! Thanks for not going blind, that sounds like some crazy stuff. Hope that all gets better soon. Glad to hear that you guys got a little rain. I had heard that Utah's water this year was looking bad, but I didn't know it was that bad. Oh, and Mom: I actually didn't get that photo you said you sent. And that news from Dad about the worldwide leadership meeting seemed pretty interesting. I personally would enjoy that more here sometimes. Some days I feel like we lack that in Pocito, honestly. We'll see what they end up doing here. I kind of like the idea. And I hope Grandma and Grandpa Sherm are doing well. Hopefully he gets better soon... They're in my prayers!

SO.... What to count you guys this week? (Weird spanish translation to English...) I guess I can start with the temple dedication! That was pretty cool. We were basically in the stake center all day yesterday, for almost all the sessions. During the second one all the Elders were in the Zone Leader's pension eating lunch. But President Uchtdorf came with Elder Christofferson, which was interesting. Elder Christofferson speaks like perfect Spanish, by the way. (Other trivia note... Elder Christofferson served in the Argentina North mission, which includes Córdoba and Mendoza I believe, and Elder Richard G. Scott was one of his mission presidents) President Uchtdorf attempted a few lines in Spanish, which was kind of funny. He actually read Spanish pretty well, but he had a translator for basically all of it. Haha when they were doing that sealing the stone ceremony (don't remember what it's called in English) and he called the kids up the translator made a kind of funny translation. President Uchtdorf was like "Oh! They're taking a short cut." And the translator's like "Oh, they've got a short haircut." That was kind of funny. It was a great opportunity though. It's a real blessing for Argentina to have another temple now. Buenos Aires is a little far for people in my mission.

As far as the rest of the week goes... A little frustrating to be honest. I'm trying not to be frustrated, but we're having a real hard time finding new investigators. This week we spent knocking doors, leaving unprogressing investigators, and exploring Pocito trying to find less-actives we had in our directory, with really unspecific addresses like "On the calle Aberastain, between calle 14 and 15," and the distance between those two streets is like 2 kilometers. I think. And most of the less-actives we "found" we either didn't find because they don't live there or they didn't want anything to do with the church. We're still working on this less-active initiative, but things have honestly been a little slow lately. Prayers would be appreciated, I suppose.

That's about it though! We're already on week 5 of this transfer, which is CRAZY. Time flies. I get the feeling that transfer calls in two weeks are going to be super weird. We'll see what happens. But hope you all have a rain-full happy week!

Elder Bingham

I'm here in Cyber working on FamilySearch stuff and I remembered that my computer didn't want to send pictures very much on Monday so here's some real quick:

this was some of our p-day two weeks ago... We actually had a water balloon fight after which was really funny. 

I'll see if I can send a video too.

So I was really in the mood for Chinese food, and came up with this brilliant idea! 

WONTONS! I miss Chinese food a lot. 

I only recently became aware that you can find Nutella in Argentina! It's a little expensive, 

but I will be going to find some soon. Thank you ZL Elder Cuessy for making me aware of this such great thing. 

this was our p-day this week! Sorry for the bad quality, I'm trying to get a new one from somebody else. But we had a guerra de spuma, or basically a spray foam war. BEST p-day ever. Plus we played signs after with the whole zone basically. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey guys! What's happening? I bet a lot has probably changed since when I talked to you guys less than 24 hours ago. Haha not really... I get the feeling that this letter is going to be a lot shorter than usual. But it was super great talking to you guys, really! It's hard to believe I'm already done with my second skype! It's like I'm halfway through my mission already, but really I'm only a third of the way done. How time flies. 

So... hmm. What to tell you guys? This week was slightly rough, actually. I guess. It was kind of a week full of falling appointments and stuff, which I think I told you guys about. This week and last week were both like that, really. And those days can be really frustrating. I personally enjoy teaching a lot more than I like knocking on doors, which is kind of what you have to do when your appointments fall. Saturday finally ended well though. We did another split with the jóvenes and I went with the older one while Elder Inca went and knocked doors with the other one. We were having a "tormenta blanca" that night, when a ton of missionaries from the zone came and we all went and knocked doors. But we had an appointment to go to, so we split up and I went to the appointment. And it was like our first one this week that didn't fall! And I had to basically teach the whole lesson by myself, because the jóven I was with doesn't talk much, but I was super pumped after because it was an awesome lesson. So I went and knocked doors a ful for like half an hour until the tormenta blanca ended, and that was probably the most I've ever enjoyed knocking doors! So there ya go. 

And yesterday was great too. Not only because of skype, but going to Caucete (my first area) to do it. And afterwards I went and visited a few members and they were all like "Elder Bingham! ¿Qué está haciendo aquí?" And then I was actually able to TALK to them AND understand them and they were all super suprised that I actually could talk. It made me really greatful for the help that the Lord has given me with my Spanish. And plus I was just really greatful to see all of them. Probably going to send a thank you note to President today for giving us permission to go. 

So... That letter was longer than I thought. But that's about it really! It was great talking to you guys, once again. But I'll write you all again next week!

Elder Bingham

Not much this week... Cause I sent a million on Friday.

Hope you guys like the suit pic better this time. Personally I would have rather had my hands in my pockets... Cause I had no idea what to do with my freaking hands. Haha.

about to take jump in the lake... Or baptize ourselves... Or something like that. Haha.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas?!

Hey guys! A kind of cold week here, surprisingly. Actually it hasn't ever been super hot here since I've returned to San Juan, but this week was super cold. Seriously. So I kind of feel like Christmas should be just around the corner... But hey we've got Mother's day this Sunday instead! So it's basically the same! So... apparently not much going on this week? Not a lot happened here either. I really want to go see the Payson temple now, thanks to your comments, but I do get to see the Córdoba temple dedication in 2 weeks. So really I guess you could say our weeks were more or less the same. More or less. You guys probably weren't knocking on doors all week. Haha. 

So... yeah. Not too much going on here in Pocito right now. We had a little bit of a complicated week as far as finding people to teach goes. This week Argentina had their Labor day basically or "El Día del Trabajador," and so that day it was really hard to find anyone because they were all out partying. I think the missionary handbook lied when it said that holidays and Sundays are really great days for proselyting... I've never had much success on either. This Sunday there was a soccer game between River and Boca, and so that day we didn't have a lot of success either. I'm sad to say that Boca won, 2-0. Haha. And I actually saw the last little bit of the game because we finally got into someone's house to teach them at like 8:00 that night and the game was ending. And Boca scored both of those goals in the last 3 minutes. Haha. I don't really know why I'm giving you guys an Argentine sports update, but there ya go. 

We did have one cool experience this week though. So I think I already told you guys about our capilla abierta that we were planning to do this Saturday. So this week we spent a lot of time knocking doors and inviting people, and on Saturday we finally had it. We got a lot of members to show up, and we had fun drinking Mate cocido and eating what I guess would be a scone, but I don't remember the Argentine name for it. And... Not a single investigator came. Sounds kind of depressing, but afterwards we kind of had a mini testimony meeting and we all kind of came to an agreement that the Lord had a different purpose for us that night. And I completely agree. Even though no investigators showed up, us and a good majority of the branch got together and bonded as a branch, all of us with the purpose of doing missionary work. And I think the next time we do a capilla abierta the Lord will bless us with success in the investigator part. It kind of made me think of when Nephi had to go get the plates, or the Zion's camp story when Joseph Smith and the other men went to go fight for the Saints of Missouri, but ended up not fighting at all. The Lord will do his work in his own time, we just have to be willing to do his will. I guess. 

So... Skype. I still have no idea where we're doing that. There's not really any options as far as members go in Pocito. We might do it in the church, or I might try to get permission to go to Caucete again with Elder Inca since I know some members there. That'd be cool. But I think me and Elder Inca are planning on going to a Cyber on Friday to get that worked out, so I should know by then. I'll let you guys know. 

Well, I don't really know what else to say, since I'm going to see you guys on Sunday! So I'll talk to you guys then! 

Elder Bingham

So I forgot to send pics on Monday again... so here ya go!

Asado! With the whole zone! This was like 2 p-days ago, but I was really happy because 

it had been like at least 12 weeks since my last asado.

Well, you guys asked for it. Here's my cardboard cut-out photo you guys wanted for the wedding. 

Hope the tie works. 

more dam pics. 

We took a dam trip this p-day. Haha. So I took a dam selfie! It was kind of fun teaching Elder Inca dam jokes. 

Not sure if the dam is actually in this pic... 

 Yep... Just take the dam pics! Haha.