April 25, 2015

Hey Fam Bam! How are you all doing? I hope you are all doing great! That's cool you guys are up north right now! You better be safe driving around in all that rain! I hope everything goes good at Nolan's baptism! I actually just received an invitation from Kenzee to the baptism! Nolan is totally growing up! Holy cow.

And I always keep all the family in my prayers but I will be sure  to keep Grandma in my prayers. I love her so much I hope everything is ok!

That Video of Kamrie was awesome! She is pretty brave! I want to go repelling there sometime! and that is crazy she was in 10 dances for the dance company performance! wow she is a boss.

That is funny that Bryson is a hobo kinda right now. How did Bryson's grades end up? Where is his new apartment at? Is he not rooming with Joe? 

Don't worry mom I wont eat under cooked meat we got a talk to us about making sure we are washing our hands right before we eat, because that is a main way to get e-coli too... don't worry I am being careful!

Everything is going good here! it was a little stressful week, but nothing I couldn't handle! I am officially solo here as Secretary! My new companion is Elder Mortensen and he is from Willard, Ut. (funny it's like my last companions last name) He is a boss and he is teaching me stick shift right now. Stick isn't that bad! I have drove a couple times to the airport this week and once I get on the freeway its just like driving an automatic car!

So May 7th Elder Jorge F. Zeballos is coming to our mission! He spoke at this past General Conference his talk was called "If You Will be Responsible" it's way good. It was the only one that was in Spanish... Well yesterday I was talking with bus companies and with an Hermano that lives in San Juan about renting big buses for this event. It's a lot of pressure sometimes because I have to make sure that everyone in the mission will make it on time and that buses will come to pick them up! I like it though, keeps me on my toes haha. :)

So we have been in taxi´s a lot here in the offices because President's car broke down, so me and Elder Mortensen started playing this game, where every time we are in the taxi, whoever is in shotgun, has to bring up the Gospel within the first 5 minutes of the taxi drive. So we were doing that, and we met this really awesome guy! He was about 25 and had just started a family, he has a son and his name is Joaquin (I remember that because it reminded me of Joaquin Phoenix. haha) But he turned our to be really interested because he said it was tough sometimes trying to balance family/work and religion all together, and that's why he wasn't going to the catholic church.. Well we just talked to him about how the Gospel could balance it all out perfectly. He sounded way interested and gave us his address!

Well I hope you guys have a good safe weekend up north! Tell Nolan that I am proud of him and I wish I could be there and that I loved his little note! haha he is a little genius! I love you guys so much and you are all in my prayers always! :)

Love, 

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

 Just showing off our new Argentina World Cup jerseys!

The good ol' office staff or should I say the good ol' office bowling team.

 Bowling! Me and my new companion Elder Mortensen.

 My turn to snack throughout the day. Its not really even peanut butter its more like cream you would put on a cake that kinda taste like peanuts... but its all we got here! haha

April 18, 2015

Hey Hey! That sure was a fast week! This has definitely been the fastest transfer of my ENTIRE mission!!! haha Wow It has gone by in seconds.

Hey I have not too much time to write so I will try to answer all your questions and stuff but yeah we are just super busy here in the offices because of transfer week starting tomorrow and another Elder is leaving early Monday morning.

Mom I am so happy!!! My International Drivers license came!!! Yep it came on Tuesday this past week and I have been driving just a little this past week! It has been way awesome! Now you don't have to worry about it coming anymore. :)

That's awesome that you are mailing me a birthday package! Thank you so much!!! :) Cant wait!

It sounds like everyone had a great week! It has been pretty busy here all week! We did something called "Super Tramite days" twice this week! I will have to tell you about it next week when I have more time to write! 

So we are expecting to get transfer any minute now so once that happens we will be back to all the busyness around here! It will be exciting and I will let you guys know where Elder Willard is going! :)

Sorry for such a short email! It most likely won't be this short next week!  I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for all you guys do! and hey , no matter how busy I get I am always thinking about you guys too! :) I hope everyone has a good week and is safe!

Love, Elder Lawrence

PS...Elder Willard is going to the Mendoza Zone!!! He is a district leader too! He is a boss! We were all sooo excited for him!!! Love you guys! 

 Cool little part of downtown

 Our church building looks glorious in the mornings!

 My comp looks scared to be driving the car in Mendoza Centro

 We weren't too ready for the photo but this was our last Sunday with Elder Willard!

We made tacos the other day...SOO GOOD!!!

April 11, 2015

Hello Family! How are you all?? :) Wow it has been such a jam packed week here in the offices!!! It is so nice to just sit down and write you guys! almost every day this week we were getting up around 6:00 instead of 6:30 because of all the stuff we had going on!

Well to start off... wasn't Conference the bomb??? I loved it!!! So many great talks! 2 talks that really stuck out to me:

Larry M. Gibson (Priesthood session)- Talked about how we need to lay the foundation for the next generation and to lead our families. He also shared an awesome experience where he walked 50 miles with his sons in 20 hours... and one of his sons said he would never do it again, but then his other son said "I will never do that again... unless my son wants me to." and that just totally made me feel the spirit when he said that and he helped me realize how I need to be such a good example for my children how dad is for me and Bryson and Kamrie and Ethan!

other talk I liked a lot:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (Sunday morning session)- He shared the story of the 2 brothers canyon climbing in Snow Canyon and how the brother wasn't going to be able to make it all the way to the top because of how hard it was, and there was no way back, so he helped his brother to the top, and then he just jumped upwards hoping to grab the top, and his brother was right there to help him up! He compared this experience to The Fall of Adam and Eve. he asked the question "are we all just hanging from a cold canyon?? waiting to fall?" and then he basically shouted "NO!!!" He told of how the fall is part of our happiness! I loved this talk and it sure was a testimony strengthener!

Everything was really good this week! Oh! something else crazy happened.,, Elder Trelease is getting special transferred out of the offices 2 weeks early!!! yep I have his tickets all bought and he leave for San Juan TONIGHT!!! I am way sad I am like such good friends with him!! :( I will send you a picture of the tie he gave me! it is way nice. Also something cool, his parents are coming to pick him up, so I will be the one to go to the airport and find his parents and get them to the mission offices and make sure everything goes smoothly for them! I can't wait!

Oh speaking of driving, my International Drivers Licence still hasn't come... I imagine it will come this week but if it doesn't I will email you Saturday and you might have to send one again... because I HAVE to be driving soon, once Elder Willard is gone I will be the one who needs to drive for sure.. I have been learning stick a little bit already! just in parking lots and stuff like that... haha its pretty legit. :)

To answer some of your questions... Transfers are on the 22nd of this month! and yes Elder Mortenson will be my companion! I am excited because we are from the same group and he is a total boss! We actually, as of tonight, are companions! We will be in a tri-companionship till the end of this transfer!

Also I totally love the Yo-Yo that Elder Trelease's mother sent! It is the best stress reliever! haha I have gotten pretty good at it too. :)

That's awesome that Zach stopped by our house! That makes me way happy! we email every once and a while and he is doing really good!

It looked like you guys had a way fun Easter Week! We ended up not having time to decorate Easter eggs, but hey maybe next Easter!:) I hope you guys remembered the true reason why we celebrate Easter! Everything that we have or will ever have is because of what happened on that Easter Sunday over 2000 years ago!

I love you guys so much and I hope you know how happy I am here in the offices and how much I am growing here and learning and just everything! Its great hearing from you guys too I always look forward to your emails and pictures! :) Have a great week and pray always!

Love, 

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

 The General Conference Crew!

 Just our best buds from our group! 

 Just sitting here trying to guess where Elder Willard is going! Where do you think?? All the zone names are up top.

 Chau chau Elder Trelease! Oh also the tie I am wearing is the one he gave me! I gave him the gold and light blue skinny tie I had.

The whole office crew right before we said chau to Elder Trelease!

9 Months!!!!

Hey Hey Family! How are you all doing?? I am doing really good! Happy Easter Weekend and General Conference Weekend!!! I can't believe this is my second General Conference in the mission! The time is for sure flying! I feel like I just told you I had 8 months and now I already have 9!!!

Yes we will get to watch General Conference! and I think we are going to watch it in the church that is right next to our mission offices. We will watch the priesthood session at 1:00 today so just in a couple hours! We kinda don't get P-day today because of General Conference, we are just going to write our families and then watch Conference!

Wow it does sound like you guys were busy this week! Sounds just like a normal week for me to be busy haha. Ethan could of gone and visited my companions family when he was playing baseball in Mesquite this weekend!;) They are like a 15 minute drive from there! He is actually from Moapa Valley, not Vegas.

Haha that is crazy that Sera is totally engaged! I feel like my grade is way too young for all that but whatever!

The package will probably cost around 10 dollars to get out of shipping... it's just all that money adds up when every missionary is trying to get packages, so that's why we have to pay for it ourselves now.

So for my spiritual thing I wanted to tell you guys about...

So just the other day I was studying my Patriarchal blessing because it had been a while since I had read it, and as I was going through it something from it stuck out A LOT to me! it says "You will be blessed with callings throughout your life. You will have callings in the mission field which will help you help other missionaries progress"... and I had never really thought about it, but that is exactly what I am doing... all day my main job is to help other missionaries progress! If it's by making them become legal citizens here in Argentina or if its just making sure they have a plane in here or out of here! Even when I am putting missionaries onto planes after they have served here for two years, I am helping them progress to the next point of their life!!!  Also this past week we had interviews with President Goates because that is what we do every 3 months, and I shared that with him, and we had a way spiritual talk about it and the power of revelation! I felt the spirit way strong that day! So amazing!!! 

To answer your questions... Yes I feel like I am catching onto everything here in the offices! No I am not to nervous to be alone doing tramites (transfers)... I should be fine. :)

We do have a solid investigator! He has attended church a lot but his thing is that he is not divorced but he has a girlfriend but they don't live together.  There is a lot to it and it is way confusing and he doesn't understand why he cant be baptized but yeah one day he will understand.

Well... I hope you guys enjoy your Conference Weekend and have a good Easter!!! Remember the true reason we have Easter! Pray for the spirit so that you can hear what you need to hear this Conference! I know the spirit will let you hear what you need to hear!!! I love you guys sooooo much! have a great week! Be safe always! :)

Love,

Elder Lawrence
Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

 Fun fact about Argentina: All milk is in bags! And how you keep it from spilling is cutting a bottle in half and putting it in that.

 Me and Elder Trelease wearing our jerseys and taking a picture in our broken mirror.

 We call this the Harry Potter closet... because it is soo tiny! haha you can go to the bathroom and shower and shave all at the same time!

They have quite the collection of cereal in the office pench! It has another layer behind all of it that you can't see! Its about 6 months of cereal for 8 Elders! haha