The news from way down south!

September 7, 2009

 

Hey fam.

It's been a good week, although I didn't really notice till we did numbers last night. We taught 19 other lessons and 8 with a member. We put 2 more fechas, and got 8 into church. I think that's one of my all-time highs. It was a GREAT week, but it felt like a bit of a drag at times. Still adjusting to the new life, the new trials, and the new challenges. It's been a big struggle these past few days—I've been so good this transfer being patient and all, but these past 3 days I wore thin. I think at some point you have to draw a line between being patient in the adjustment time and being hard to avoid having bad habits. This is a tough tough experience for me, but I am grateful that I have trials. Sometimes I wish I didn't, but if I never had anything wrong, I'd never learn anything. This one is just a long termed trial...

We had a fun day Tuesday. We did divisions with the elders in Roca and it was REALLY good. Turns out me and this elder, Elder Skousen, are almost identical. Both played soccer, both like Guster and a couple other groups, both have the same sense of humor and attitude towards missionary work, and the same birthday (I'm a year older). It was a great great day. But more than anything, it gave me a little breath of fresh air and really really helped me get back on my game. We have 2 fechas for the 19th with Christian and Alex Etchegoray. Christian is really excited, Alex is so so but both have come to church the past 3 or 4 weeks, so we'll see what we can do there. I think they both can get baptized. They are good friends with Gonzalo now, so I'm trying to plant the idea of Gonzalo baptizing Alex (Christian said Elder Henrie is going to baptize him so he feels better and smiles). But we are excited about them.

This past week, our district had an average of 154 contacts. I have been preaching this for a while and finally as a district we got it. I am excited to see what happens as a result of doing this. In my personal experience, I teach a ton more and have a ton more fechas than people who don't do their 154, so I'm excited to see what good things happen in the district this week.

We put a fecha with Marcos, the guy we found in an incredible way, this week. He was excited. He's just like Elder Henrie—it cracks me up. But he keeps saying he wants to integrate himself into the church. We told him how to do it! He already has all these sketches on his computer of the church because he worked on a project in the church and has all the architectural blueprints. It was kinda cool.

I enjoyed Sunday. I think I have the ´my boys part Allen´ now. We had 11 youth there—8 of which I've had a direct part in reactivating or bringing. It was fun seeing them be friends and giving each other support in the way Bryan, Ivan and Matias did back in Trelew. These ones are a bit older, but they are a good group of guys. We're trying to get them as solid as they can because this ward just does not do a good job in retention and taking care of them as they should. I talked to our ward mission leader and ward leader a little strongly to get them on the ball protecting these converts. It just breaks my heart thinking that they could stop going. Last year, this ward baptized 24. of them, one family of 5 is active and one other person. I just can't stand the thought of any of my converts falling into that number of inactives, so I am working my tail off making sure that these people get callings and stick in the church.

I'm glad you're talking to a Carlos. He's a great guy. I also laugh every time I read his emails because he often ends his thoughts or comments with Amen. It cracks me up. He's a great guy.

Way to go BYU! That's really exciting! Keep me posted!

We walked a ton this week. I am so exhausted. But I decided this week that I was going to pop up out of bed and exercise si o si every day. And I started doing it. It was kinda cool what happened—I had more energy, not less! And it made me feel like I was being a better missionary. I realized I got a little lazy, and I made some really specific goals to get myself back on the ball. It's really helped. It got real cold again, and me and my comp were pretty sick Thursday-Friday-Saturday, but now we are doing better. We're going to go play some soccer down in Roca.

Thanks for everything family. We're crossing the line of scrimmage, not three legged racing yet.

TAYLOR
     L
    A
            JENSEN