October 19, 2015

Hey Hey cute lil' family!!

I am doing way good! I still can't believe that me and Elder Landt are companions either! haha We are getting along super well!! He is adjusting pretty well to Argentina! I am pretty sure his Spanish is way better than mine was when I got here! Yeah we have 1 hour a day to study the language! But yeah we really are getting along well and he is a stud. I hope I can be the best trainer possible for him.

Sounds like you guys had a legit week! That Bridal Shower looked like it was fun and funny! I like that idea with the video and the gumballs in the mouth thing! That made me laugh way hard. :) I am glad the Bridal Shower was a success. :)

The new cabin looks like its really coming along! It is going to be so awesome to go there after the mission! I imagine its wayyy pretty up there this time of the year! I am way glad you guys drove home safely with all that rain! That sounds way freaky!!!

Sooo we had a pretty crazy situation this past week! haha Well here is the story... So we were contacting a reference we got from our Zone Leaders this past Tuesday and it was in a part of our area that I have never really worked in too much and this area is pretty poor and like none of the dudes in the streets were wearing shirts and they were yelling stuff at us but it was like whatever... Well we keep going deeper into this barrio and we see some packs of dogs here and there just packs of like 3 or 4 dogs... Well we were walking on the side walk and one of these packs of dogs sneeks up behind us and one of the dogs bites Elder Landt on the back of the leg!!!! I didn't see the dogs at all!! I heard my comp kind yell or something and turned around and all these dogs are like barking and getting close to us! So I just keep my ground and I fake to pick up a rock and the dogs stop barking and kinda split up and go away! It was way freaky and we didn't even end up finding our reference we just got out of there. The bite wasn't that bad, we called the nurse because that's what we are supposed to do and she told us that we needed to go to the hospital that night... Well it was already like 9:00pm but we still had to go... So yeah I learned a whole new branch to my spanish language this past week, medical terms haha... words like dog bite, rabies, shot, anti-biotics, and much more. We ended up not getting back to the pench till after 11:00pm. It was a pretty crazy night and I probably wont forget it ever! Everything is all good now! He has all the medicine and the bite doesn't bug him! Its more of just a scratch. :)

Also quick funny little story that happened at the hospital.... So there was this way nice old lady nurse/front desk worker that helped us butt a lot of people in line because she knew we were young and not from here so she was really just helping us all night for the two hours we were there. We were really thankful for her so we got her an alfojore (Argentine candy) and she was just so happy and she isn't a member so she didn't really know that we can't do the little Argentine kissing thing (just where they kiss your face on both sides) So I went for the handshake and she just passed that right up and kissed my face twice, and then she turned to my companion and went to kiss him on the face and he just kinda froze up and like got all red in the face! haha after we left the hospital I just busted up laughing!!! It was way awkward for us all but yeah everyone remembers their first "Argentine besitos" hahahah :)

Well I don't have a ton more time to write! I forgot to tell you last week but my scripture I ponderized this past week was 2nd Nephi 22:2... Look it up its way good. :) I will send a bunch of pictures that will explain my week a little bit more! Mom Happy Argentine Mothers Day!!! It was el día de la mama yesterday! So yeah just wanted to let you know that you are the best Mom in the world. :) I love you tons!

I love all of you tons and hope you have a great week! Thanks for all the great pictures too! Be safe and do work! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

Just some photos with my son. :)

 Dog Bite! 

  I swear I find giant spiders every week in this area! haha I turned over a wood board and this beast crawled out.

 See that giant pile of garbage in the bottom left corner? Imagine that but all over the yard haha! It was fun to do service with them!

This is one of our investigator families! Well the dad is a member but only him, we are teaching the mom (mara) and the daughter (Mailen), the other kids listen but aren't old enough to be baptized. They are way awesome! We did service for them on Thursday and then we brought them brownies yesterday because it was Mara's birthday!

October 12, 2015

Hi there family. :)

That was a pretty fast week that we just had! I cannot believe that first quarter of school is already almost over! I remember thinking that summer went fast for you guys, but I feel like that went even faster! I am glad you didn't have to yell at the niños too much about their grades! The home is happier when the grades are good. :) haha

So guess what.... you will never believe who my new companion is....  I am training...... ELDER LANDT!!! Yep yep yep, you read it right! I am training Elder Russell Landt who happens to be from Hurricane Utah (He lives up by Karter Beardal and Makaylee Shea). :) I cant believe that one of my companions is literally from the same city that I am from!!! He was visa waiting the past 6 weeks in Ventura, California. He got half of his training there, but I will be with him for the next 2 transfers to do the rest of his training. :) He told me that Ventura was way awesome and they had a car and stuff! I am pretty jealous haha (remember how I wanted to visa wait?) but I think he is going to like it a lot here too. :) He didn't bring any American candy because he didn't have room for it in his bags, but it's ok I will forgive him someday... ;)

I forgot to tell you guys last week, Elder Mortensen is also training this transfer! He is training another one of the visa waiters that went to Lubboc, Texas for 6 weeks and he said he met Jessica Langston there! But also something crazy, He came up to me and he was like "Hey did you play tennis with JD Gates as your partner??" and I told him yeah and stuff. Well come to find out that he is from Cedar City and he totally versed me and JD in tennis! and I totally remember him and who he played with! It was a big coincidence but yeah now we are like best buds. He tells me that he remembers him winning against us, but I don't remember, so I am pretty sure me and JD won.... ;)

I also met a few new Elders that said they read and saw pictures from my blog before the mission so they kinda had an idea of it! That was kinda cool! I wish I got to meet them all better! This new group of missionaries is awesome, everyone was really impressed with them when they went out and talked to people on the streets with them!

Glad to hear everything is a go for the wedding! wow only 41 days! I hope Taylee won't be stressing too much! It's just a wedding haha. :) I better see tons of photos from it! :)

The weather has been pretty weird here! It has been freezing cold here! It has almost rained a couple times but it is overcast all day. When the weather starts to warm up here I think the people will start coming out of their houses and we can start teaching tons of people. :) The weather really does affect the people a lot here!

Well That's about it for this week. I'm pretty sure I am forgetting to tell you guys a ton of stuff... I am really excited to be training Elder Landt, he is a stud. :) We are going to have a lot of fun together and we are going to teach a ton and baptize! Thank you guys for everything you do for me! You are always in my prayers! I hope you have a great week! :) I love you so much!

Love, Elder Lawrence

 Me and Elder Landt right after we found out we were companions! Still can't believe my companion is from Hurricane!

 Some of the newbies with their trainers!

 Awesome awesome awesome blanket that Elder Landt brought from Hurricane. :)

 The old district just right before transfers, I don't know why everyone's hands are on my shoulders.

Some action photos from the week!

Transfers!!!

Hey Hey family shmamily. How are you guys doing?? I am doing great!! I am way excited with our transfers! So you were right mom, Elder Lillie is out of here! He is going to the providence of San Luis! He is pretty excited, His new companion is Elder Ramirez from Buenos Aires, I don't know him to well, but he is probably cool! and for my transfers...... I will be staying here in Benavidez and I will be training!!!!! I am wayyyyy excited to train! I am also just a tid bit nervous but I think I will be fine. :) I know this area pretty good and I have made tons of good relationships here so I am getting excited to train someone that knows nothing about the mission. :) I know that there are 8 new Elders coming from the United states and there are 4 coming from South America! So we will see if I am with a gringo or a latin! I will find out this Thursday when I go to Mendoza for training meetings. :)

Haha yeah you caught me! I pulled some money out too when Elder Lillie did haha. We did get to do a little shopping last P-day! I will get you a really cool souvenir don't you worry. :)

Wow! That's awesome to hear that we won our Homecoming game!! I am glad to hear that Kamrie did way good too! I loved all the videos and photos! Tell Kamrie to put in a good word for me to Hannah Dutton for when I get home. ;) (but seriously hahah) Kamrie also looked amazin for the homecoming dance!! Trevor is a little stud. She is growing up way fast!... Also Ben is back in Hurricane?! That's pretty cool! I hope he is doing good! I am going to do some work with that kid when I get home. Just show him how much God really does love us and bless us.

General Conference was the BEST!!! Man all of the talks were sooo good!!! We are sooooo blessed to have living Prophets and Apostles. We watched Conference in the Stake center in Chimbas. It also was all in English. Man, it was amazing to see the new Apostles sustained and take their seats with the other Apostles, I felt the spirit so strongly and I know that they are called of God. I wish I had my notes with me here but I don't, but I will try to tell you all the ones I remember:

I really liked Elder Uchtdorfs talk Saturday morning session about "Simplify" our callings as members. We dont have to be sooo stressed out over our callings, we just do our part and the lord will help us with the rest.

I also liked the talk that was 2nd after that one. He talked about how we need to center our lives on Christ and the Gospel, just like the clay on the wheel. It made so much sense to me and I felt the spirit so strongly in his talk.

I LOVED the talk from Elder Holland about Moms. All of us Elders in the gringo room were about to cry no joke haha. So Mom, thank you sooooo much for everything. For always being there for me. Always supporting me. I owe it all to you and Dad. I love you guys. :)

I also really enjoyed the talk yesterday about "ponderizing" 1 scripture a week. I am going to try to do it! 1 scripture a week for 10 years. I want you guys to try it too! Maybe just stick a different scripture on the fridge every week and then just read it whenever you get something out of it! I guarantee we will see a difference in our lives and it will be a difference for the better. :)

Well there were a lot more I liked but I don't want to bore you guys too much. ;) I hope you guys have another great week! I am pretty excited for this week and to find out who my hijo (son) will be! I am way glad to hear that you guys are reading lots and praying as a family! You guys are awesome. I love you guys tons. :)

Love, Elder Lawrence, your Hijo. :)

 You cant tell but we took like a couple hours cleaning this room! It was pretty messy and wayyy dusty. Me and Elder Lillie were dying of sneezing.

 Haircuts!

  Bye Elder Cofer! He ended his mission in my old area of Albardon! Way awesome guy.

 Giant spider I found in the street. It gives me nightmares man. haha

Quite the difference! haha my shirts get that dirty just after a few days

15 Months!!!!

Hey Hey family :)

Things are going great here! Glad you guys got the stuff worked out so my companion got some money from his parents! He still has 6 months left in his mission but hasn't really had the chance to buy things in his mission. We really do get along well! He has had some tough companions that is true!

Sounds like you guys had a pretty chill week! Tell Kamrie I said good luck at Homecoming! Glad to hear that Hurricane beat Pineview last week!

I am doing good! We are still keeping pretty busy! It was pretty lame though, because we invited tons and tons of people to church because it was my companions last Sunday and we were both also giving talks, but like no one showed up!!! Not even like the members that usually come... but yeah everything went good with our talks! I talked for 10 minutes about the power of personal and family prayer. I think it went pretty well! I hope at least!  It wasn't too hard to write because I have my preach my gospel and Liahona's and what not. :) My companion talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. His went way good. :)

There is not too much new news here either! My companion and I did divisions this past week with our ward mission leader and with this kid in our ward that is 16 years old named Marcos. I went with Marcos and we had some way cool experiences! We were walking to the set lesson we had planned for that night, but this guy stopped us in the street and told us about how his family used to have the missionaries coming all the time to their house a few years ago and everyone in his family was really happy, but now a few years later, he can tell that everyone isn't as happy as they use to be and his wife is thinking about leaving them. He told me he wants to listen now and with his whole family so that they will be happier and his wife won't leave! I told him that for sure we will pass by and share the gospel with them once again! We plan on going by their house tonight or tomorrow!

Also while I was with Marcos we had a way solid lesson with this couple names Nestor and Mara, and it went way good! Mara isn't a member and Nestor is really less active, but she really wants to go to church but her husband is way lazy and is looking for work. She even prays and everything. We shared a scripture about how we are free to choose eternal life, but we are also free to choose death and unhappiness. She really liked it and she cried a little with an experience Marcos shared about how he used to be inactive. Well I invited her and her husband just to come to Sacrament at 11:30 and she was like ok ok ok I will be there! and Marcos was like ok I will see you there!.... Well yeah she didn't show up... Either did Marcos! haha it was way weird and lame.... but whatever, I am still going to try and work a ton with them!!!

Well fam, everything is going great here. :) This next Sunday we get our transfer calls! We will see what will happen! Also this weekend is General Conference! I am way excited for that! I know it's going to be so good. :) You guys better watch all of them. haha jk just if you want too. :) But I will watch them all. :) Have a great week! I love you guys sooooooo much! You guys are the best! Keep being great examples. Pray as a family every night! Be safe! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

  Me and my comp got our shoes shinned last P-day! The guy was actually way nice and he told us he has shinned like millions of missionaries shoes haha!

 San Juan Centro Plaza

 Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone!

 Benavidez has a pretty cool view for sunsets wherever you are. There is just tons of fields.

 You can just go ahead and call me Chef Lawrence for now on. This families house is the closest thing to the United States I have ever seen.

This photo isn't the best, but did you guys see the red moon last night? It was pretty legit.

Earthquake!

Hey there good lookin fam :)

How are you guys doing?? I am doing really good! I will answer your questions and what not but first.... That was a HUGE earthquake!!!! Hahaha I have never felt anything like that in my life!!!! We were at an investigators house sitting down and reading some scriptures and out of no where the whole house and everything was just shaking, It felt like I was on a small boat in really wavy water. I remember telling you about that one time I was in Albardon and me and Elder Perez felt one... but this one was nothing like that... This one lasted for a solid 2 minutes of pure rocking and shaking. And after like 10 seconds of shaking our investigator said "It should stop now" but it never stopped. He told us to stand up and go out front with him and it was pretty hard just to walk out front and we get out front of his house and it was like pretty chaotic in the street, I could here police sirens and cars honking and people yelling and then our investigator yelled to us to stay out side and he took off running to find his kids. It was pretty crazy too because no ones cell phones were working and we were trying to call our district leader but it wasn't working. We went back to our house and just everyone was outside of there houses looking for their kids and what not and then we went and talked to the lady who owns our house and lives right in front of us and she was crying because she couldn't get a hold of her mom.... I wasn't too scared it just felt like I had been on a cruise for like a week and then I was on flat ground... But yeah everyone was telling us it was around a 8.0 in Chile but we felt a 7.3 or something like that here! Pretty crazy stuff. :)

Ok enough about the Earthquake haha :) I am glad you guys got to go to the temple before it shuts down for a month! I really cant wait to go to the temple with you guys after the mission!! It will basically be like me going for the first time again because it will be 2 years since I last went! :)

Glad to hear everything is going good with work and that E and Kam are keeping the grades up! So is E-dog planning on playing Baseball or Tennis or both or what?? haha Tell him I loved both, but tennis was a lot more tranquilo because I had a job and everything.

I really liked what you shared from what Bro. Broadbent said about Feasting upon the Word! That's way true. We just have to find the same desire.

Everything is going great in our area! We are seeing a lot of success! We have started teaching the familia Villegas cousins pretty seriously, they have been going to an evangelist church but they aren't that serious about it and we have only passed by a couple times but they always seem happy to see us. They have a son named Luis who is about our age and he seems to be taking the lessons the most serious, he is praying and everything on his own! Its great to have progressing investigators! :)

Wow that's crazy that the Toone´s are already home! 18 months really did go fast. It's so crazy to me that BreAnn and Nadia will be getting home pretty soon too! The Hermana´s that started the mission with me have less than 3 months left in their missions... I will have to send something home with Hermana Keil for you guys! :)

Well I hope you guys know that everything is going great for me here and everything is going great with my companion too. I hope you guys are doing good and will have a good week! I am learning tons and growing tons too. Tons spiritually, and no joke I got growing pains the other day so maybe I am going physically too (I hope) haha! :) I love you guys soooo much! I will talk to you soon!! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

PS.... Hmmm that's a good question about the package, we recently received an email from the new office crew and they were telling us that it would be easier now to send packages, but here is what you would have to do. instead of sending it to Casillo de Correo 631 you need to send it directly to the missions offices. The address is: Cabildo Abierto 161, Godoy Cruz, Mendoza, Argentina 5501. (I am glad I was in the offices because I have all that stuff just memorized now haha) So yeah if you are thinking about sending a Christmas package just send it directly to the offices! :)

 Best district meetings ever because afterwards we play ping-pong

 Cool rock I found in our apartment with the name of our area on it.

 Just in the rich part of our area I found this awesome street.

 Represent!

 Just me practicing like Rocky would on the punching bag that is randomly in front of our house!

September 14, 2015

Sup family. :)

How are you all doing?? Sounds like you guys are doing great, so that makes me happy! Everything is going good here as well! Man this week was jammed full of meetings and reunions and all that good stuff, but I will get to that later. :)

That's sweet you guys took a little trip up north, sounds like tons of fun!

Wow that's a pretty freaky story about Lucy leaving all by herself! Glad that someone was nice and picked her up and kept her safe til they found her parents!

It's also great to hear that Grandma and Grandpa Lawrence are doing better!

So this week started with us having Zone Conference on Tuesday combined with the San Juan Zone. It was way good and fun to see President and the Assistants and stuff. President jokingly asked me if I would be riding back with him to Mendoza to get back to the offices but then he was like "oh wait that's right, you have already escaped from the offices" haha he is awesome. :)

Well right after Zone Conference my comp traveled to San Luis to do super tramites there! Well while he was there I was able to go be comps with Elder Moody up in my old area of Albardon!!! It was soooo awesome to see some of my old investigators and everyone remembered me so I was way happy about that! I had this idea for a family night and I tried it out with this family up there that was one of my favorite families back in the day. It was about "Faith without works is dead" and so what I did was I bought a cake and we put the cake really close to us but I put all the forks and plates across the road from where the cake was. Well I asked them all who wanted cake first, and one of the little girls raised her hand and I said "ok give me your hands." and everyone just laughed and laughed because she got way messy with cake in her hands. and I asked "who's next?" and everyone was too scared to go haha, so I explained to them that they know where the plates and the forks are, they just have to go get them. and I explained that is how our faith is. Everyone can say they have faith and blah blah blah, but some people don't realize that faith is ACTION. We can show our faith by going to church or reading your scriptures. Just like the plates and forks, these things wont just be handed to you. The cake is your faith and you have to support it and act on it!  Everyone really enjoyed the family night and so did I, It was really great to see them again. :)

So I was in Albardon from Tuesday til Friday. Friday we were able to visit some investigators and they all thought we ditched them forever!  We had to explain everything that happened and then they forgave us haha:). Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference so we were able to see President and Hermana Goates again those days! Stake Conference was way good and the congratulated us and the family on the baptism this past weekend. Everyone has welcomed in the family Villega greatly so I am really happy with the members here and their support!

Alright well I best be heading. I think we finally found a good cyber so I will able to send pictures good and everything. Man, I am super blessed with an awesome family! I love you guys so much and I am always happy to hear you are all doing good! I hope you guys have a great week! I am learning tons and progressing tons as well. :) stay sweet.

Love, Elder Lawrence

 One of the best days of my mission. :)

I just realized that I never sent a photo home of me and my companion at the beginning of the transfer...so here is a photo of me and Elder Lillie! also this is in front of our pench. We live behind a house and the people in front of us own a punching bag and it's good luck to punch it once every time we leave the pench haha!

Not too much else too say about these photos...just a bunch of gringo missionaries. :)

September 7, 2015

Hey family!
How's everything going?? It sounds like everything is going good! Yeah this week went way fast! It's was a great week of work here!

Sorry I am not going to have time to write a lot today! My SD card for my camera totally has a virus and I have been trying to fix it for like 45 minutes now, that's what I get once I have to go back to San Juan cybers! haha

Sounds like everyone is doing good there! It's good to hear you had a cool experience at the temple! and glad that Hurricane beat Moapa (that is Elder Willard's school I think haha) and wow that is totally the second Peach Days that I have missed! I liked all the videos and photos you sent! They always make me laugh. :)

Yes we were able to baptize the Familia Villega this past Saturday! It was sooooo amazing! It was the first time (other than when I was baptized) that I was able to go into the waters of baptism and help someone that way! I know I wasn't there to teach them all the lessons, but I did help a little and I feel like they are all family to me! Probably one of my favorite family's here in Argentina. :) I have never seen anyone so ready for the gospel.

Everything is going great with me and Elder Lillie! We have been working way hard/good together! I am getting use to walking again! It's just like before haha.:) I honestly have been really blessed with awesome companions, everyone always tells me that. Elder Lillie is also way good at cooking, so we made tacos one day last week and we also made artichokes! I was so excited to eat them! haha it has been like 2 years since I had had an artichoke! It definitely wasn't like how they are in the states, but it wasn't bad! :)

Sorry this email is really lame and short. I really am doing good though! I feel like Benavidez might someday be my favorite area. :) I am frustrated with my SD card... I think I might have to buy a new one... my comp is sending me the photos right now of our baptism so I will forward them your way! :)

I Love you guys tons! Have another great week! Grandma Ligtermoet and Grandpa Lawrence are still in my prayers! and so are you all as always! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

 Elder Ford!

 This was the last time I went to the airport as Secretary before it's actually when I am going home!

  This is with our investigator Ariel... I hope he continues to go to church and change his life!

This was also probably the last time I will ever see Elder Sandquist before he goes home in a transfer! But it's all good because I am going to see him up at UVU. :)