July 25, 2015

Hey Hey fam!

I am doing good! hah mom you don't need to worry so much! I was just a little under the weather with a cold or something, but yeah its gone, no need to worry!

That's awesome you guys are on your big trip! I am pretty jealous! take a bunch of pics for me! That's crazy you guys are leaving Kamrie with a car! I kinda forget that she is now 16 so she can but still!

It's great to hear you guys went to the temple! I love/miss that place! man I cant wait till they make a temple here in Mendoza, I will definitely come back for it. Your story you told me about what happened at the temple just made me laugh wayyy hard! haha like I laughed out loud! haha

Sounds like you had a busy week! I imagine everyone sure is grateful for all that you do in Relief Society! :)

Where is Austin Nielson going again? Kamrie sure will be lonely all week! I like never hear from her haha.

I totally forgot to tell you! I did get the "hump" day card! It was sometime last week but yeah I got the $20! whoo whoo! thanks so much. :) Hey also if you are with Grandma tell her thanks so much for her card too! I loved them both!!!! 

The investigators are doing good! The new investigator didn't go to church this past week :( me and my comp passed by the family of Ariel and talked to them a good little amount and they said they would go to church tomorrow! Also something funny happened, we were out doing some tramites and we were walking down the street and I hear "eyy eyy!" and Ariel is running over to us!  So we had a good conversation with him! I hope he is going to go to church tomorrow!

So I got a call just like an hour ago from the Secretary person in our ward and he asked me and Elder Mortensen to give a talk tomorrow. I have to talk about D&C 4 and Mortensen has to talk about Charity. So let me know if you have an extra talk in Spanish haha ;)

Well everyone is about to go play some golf! I am not sure if I am going to go, its kinda pricey and I have already gone and Elder Mortensen isn't feeling too good.

But hey! I love you guys soooo much! Don't worry about me, I am doing great. :) I am just getting a little excited to leave the offices! Have a great week in Idaho with all the family! be safe!!! I love you guys soooo much!!!!

Love, Elder Lawrence

 We happened to drive by these way cool gates that I remembered seeing pictures of on google before the mission, so I forced Elder Mortensen to stop the car so we could take some pictures.:)

 So funny story, our Pencionista is deep cleaning his room way hard core (as you can see in the pictures)... well as he was cleaning, he found a package that had fallen behind a shelf, and it happened to be for my companion!!! haha It got here last November!!!

July 18, 2015

Hey Hey family! what an intense week! I have tons to tell you guys!

You all sound like you are doing great so that makes me happy. :)

Elder Benedict is great! we get along way good and he is picking everything up sooo fast! Way faster than I did I think! His trainer was an old Secretary and I think he might have taught him a thing or two already. :) Elder Benedict used to be in theater and stuff like that so I told him I love Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera and so we talk about those a bunch and sing the songs a bunch haha! Elder Benedict is a stressed out he told me but I promised him it's just transfer week. We counted how many phone calls we got on Tuesday alone and it was over 50! He answered most of them ;) And Elder Mortensen's new companion is way sick! His name is Elder Bingham! He is mega funny and he follows the rule of being Financiero (must have glasses...haha) and he is from Salem, Ut. (where Elder Christensen from my group is from)

Mom..... that was literally THE BEST PACKAGE OF HISTORY!!! haha I am serious! Thank you soooooo MUCH! I loved it sooo much. I love that calendar that you sent 3 times to Argentina! It finally made it! and all of those ties are sooo awesome! Me and Elder Mortensen wore our matching ties on transfer day! Everyone kept complimenting us in the terminal! We felt awesome, plus that tie is way awesome how it's half paisley and half not! haha so sick! and those socks are so rad! The grey and light blue/green ones are sooo awesome. I am wearing some of those socks right now as we speak haha. Also everyone is in love with the eagle shirt and the "Right, just choose it" shirt is way sick! Where did you get it? Thanks sooo much again for the package. I don't think anyone on earth has ever got a better one haha :)

It was also soo cool to meet Elder Trelease's family! he was so nervous to see them! haha I was too, I don't even know why but I was shaking! I loved being there to pick them up from the airport. They were so nice, and the dad gave me a hug from you haha :) So yeah thanks for the hug! I sent one back! They are a great family.

So Something crazy did happen this transfer... So we just sent of all the old missionaries out and now we are just waiting for the new ones to come in at 4:30pm... and they never show up!!! Everyone gets off their planes, but not them! So we wait and wait and wait and then President tells me I have to start calling my people in Buenos Aires, so I call and call and call and I talk to one of my people who was there in the airport in Buenos Aires and he said he watched them get on the plane..... so I am sooo confused.  Well we keep waiting forever and then I get a phone call from someone in Buenos Aires telling me they will arrive at 7:20pm. So we waited some more and then they finally arrived! What happened was that all of the Gringos got on the plane but they wouldn't let the Brazilian kids on so the gringos got off and waited with them... pretty crazy! haha :)

That makes me so sad to hear about Olivia and The Buetler family :( I am going to pray a ton for them. Man life is so fragile. I know they will all see their loved ones again.

So quick little story (sorry way long email) but a week or so ago we walked out of Vea (its like lins but without anything good haha) and we held the door open for this man right behind us and he thanked us well we started talking a bunch and he told us we could stop by sometime... well Elder Mortensen and Elder Bingham taught him a lesson last night, and they set a date for a baptism for the15th of August! So that is way cool! He lives in our area too so we will all take turns teaching him. I hope everything goes good!

Well fam bam, I love you guys soooo much!!! You guys are the best family ever. I pray that Mom and Dad and E-dog drive safely to Island Park Idaho and back! it sounds like you guys are going to have a bunch of fun!!! I hope you tons of pictures. :) Have a great week! Thanks again for the package! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

 So grateful for this family! It was so awesome to meet them. :) I hope I can pay them back some how some day. 

 Just got spoiled with all this good stuff!!! 

And the shirts live on! haha :)

New Comp!!!!!

Hey Hey family!!! Sorry I didn't write earlier!! We had a jammed pack day!! We played lots of soccer and did an asado! :)

Well sad news, as of Monday I won't be comps with Elder Mortensen anymore! haha but I have good news, I know who my new comp and the new Secretary is! His name is Elder Benedict. He is from Layton, Utah. He was trained by an old Secretary named Elder Evans, he is like my great grand-pa in my Secretary family... I am way excited though! I have heard tons of good about him! Secretary-ness runs in him already haha! I haven't told him yet but tonight I will!

This week was pretty chill! We had a lesson with Ariel last night! it was pretty good! We almost set a fecha! I will still be in Godoy Cruz Centro so I will be able to work with him more this transfer.

This email is going to be really short which I am sorry about.  But hey, I loved all the photos from Park City! Mom and Dad, you guys look great! I like Bryson's shirt about choosing the right! Oh yeah I also get to meet Elder Trelease's family tomorrow! I am way excited to meet them! I will for sure take a picture with them! :)

Well family, it has been THE BEST being Secretary. I have loved every second of it. I don't think I will ever be as stressed as I was being it, but I wouldn't give that time away for the world. Two quotes I really liked and thought of a bunch as my time being Secretary are "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right" and the other is "The only way out is through". The next time I write, my signature will no longer say, Elder Lawrence, Secretary, mission Argentina Mendoza, because we will make it say my comps name on Monday because he will be officially the new Secretary!  But hey, I can always be your guys lil' Secretary haha! I Love you guys! I hope you have a great week! Thank you for the love and support siempre!!! :) 

Love, 

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

PS... I forgot to tell you about Meet the Mormon´s! We all loved it!!!! it was sooooo good! It is way sad with the missionary mom! haha we were all about to cry just watching it. We are going to watch it again sometime I think, but this time in English! I love you so much! :)

1 YEAR!!!!

Hey Hey family!! 
How are you all doing??? That's way sick that it was Bryson's birthday last week!! He is a beast! He is like way old now, Grandpa Bryson. Sounds like you guys had a bunch of fun!! Oh I also saw that Bryson got a new fishing pole.... I am way jealous!!!! haha I want to get a new one when I get home. :) Me and my friends on the mission always email about how we are going to do a big fishing trip once we are home. :)

Tell Bryson I want to see some pics from Lake Powell! Remember when we all went while he was on his mission? It's just kinda like pay back ;)

That's awesome that you got to meet Elder Trelease's parents! I cant wait to meet them soon! They seem way nice!

It was a way good week here in Argentina. :) First off, I got my first package!!!! haha sooo awesome! Everyone is wayyyy jealous!!! I am sooo happy about it too! :) It had Gel and Jerky and Sunflower seeds and....... MEET THE MORMONS!!!!!! Everyone was soooo happy when they saw that!!! We are all way excited to watch it!!! We are going to watch it tonight! :) Thank you sooooooo much for the package. :) But I am serious, after I get this one from the Trelease's, don't send any more! It was way hard to get it out of holding even though I was there to get it. So yeah don't worry about it, but thank you so so so MUCH!!! :)

Well, Happy 4th of July!!!! Today we have a pretty fun day planned!!! A lot of eating and playing soccer!:) Tonight Argentina plays Chile in this giant tournament in Chile and it is like a big deal here! Everyone is kinda freaking out because they want Argentina to win way bad. All missionaries have to be in by 4:30pm today because its not going to be to safe in the streets (lots of drinking and stuff will be happen if we win or lose) haha so yeah we are going to watch Meet the Mormons and 4:30 today.

It's kinda weird having over a year in the mission, like I just have to do everything once more... it kinda scares me cause there is sooo much I still need/want to do!!! I know that this next year will be MY year. Don't have to worry about learning a language, I am just going to work my butt off!!!! The Offices have made me hungry for more missionary work!!! haha but for serious. :)

Well get ready for a bunch of pictures!!! I hope you like them. :) I want to end with sharing a testimony that I have gained over the past year. I have such a strong testimony that God loves us and knows us personally. I don't just say that, I have felt his love and his help in my mission. I know that God has soooo much in store for them that love him. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.  He saw God and Jesus Christ. No doubt about it.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God... I know that families are forever, how could they not be??  Life would be the worst if I didn't know if I could be with you guys forever or not. But I do know that we will all be together forever and our life long friends will be right there with us. :) and most surely, I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for everything fam, and the support, prayers, letters, (package;), over this past year. You guys made this last year so nice for me! and I know this next year will be even better! :) I hope you guys have a good/safe time at Park City! I only have to miss all holidays one more time ;) haha I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH! 

Love, 

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

About to burn our shirts on our year mark! Can't believe how fast that year went!

  

 Let the shirt burning begin!!!

  Don't worry, we were not the first missionaries to toast the roof and ground! haha we could tell tons of missionaries in the past did the same thing as us in the same place. :)

 Best fam eva!!!! :)

 I was reading through my Patriarchal Blessing just the other day and it said "You were blessed to have the great privilege of coming here to the United States to live..." and I don't think I realized how true that was until I left it. We really do live in the most amazing country. Don't ever forget that!

June 27, 2015

Hey Hey! How are you all doing?? I had a really good week this week! I am way excited for Kody being back in the field! I am also getting excited to be back in the field;) I get my hijo in 2 weeks! I wonder who its going to be?!?

Sounds like you guys had a pretty chill week! Things were pretty chill here too! But its probably just calm right before the storm (Transfer week!) haha but its alright. :) 

Kamrie sounds pretty busy for it being summer time!  Just know that if Kamrie wakes up at 12:00 pm that I have already been up for 5 and 1/2 hours more than she has! haha

I saw that picture you sent of the Lester boys... they look soooo old now!!! I swear they weren't old looking a year ago!! Andrew Lester probably has a year and a half in his mission right now! That's way sick!!

That's awesome you guys are going to Park City next week! Will this be your Park City trip or will there be another? Tell her to take it easy with Kole!  Haha he is totally preparing for a mission.  You know me, I didn't want distractions.

I am doing really good! I can't believe I will be hitting a year this next week... I can't believe how different I am and everything is in just a year! I know its for the better. I am happier than I have ever been! I am growing more than I ever will! I cant wait for what this next year has in store for me. :)

Its getting wayyyyy cold here!!! We played soccer this morning and we all had jackets on! I sleep in my sleeping bag every night. its way nice. we also have way nice heaters in our pench which is always a plus. :) I also broke out those nice thermal garments haha :)

Ariel is doing good! He came to church again with 3 of his children! I freaking love all of them. They are in a really tough situation financially which is splitting the family into basically two families. The wife kicked Ariel out last Saturday, but he still came to church with us. I pray for them like they are my family, because I know in the long run they really our. We all our brothers and sisters.

We almost had a mission activity in our church last night! Ariel and his kids were going to come and everything, But then we found out that Argentina was going to be playing against Colombia in the Courter finals of this tournament called Copa America. It's huge here and everyone watches it, so we had to cancel the activity til this following week! I hope it will go well! :)

Well I made those peanut butter bars again haha! They were a big hit and it was Hermana Warners birthday so I made them! We also all pitched in a little money and bought her a way sweet Argentina Jersey!!

I was looking around or Lds.org the other day and I read something I really liked, it helped answer a question:

"The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that we must ask for in order to obtain."

God knows us and loves us enough to know our "wants" from our "needs". and I know that God is always going to bless us, all we have to do is ask! The power of prayer is amazing!

Well thank you sooo much for all that you do for me! I think of you guys always and you are all always in my prayers! Thank you for the pictures and the letters. :) they are my favorite! I hope you guys have a great week! be safe and do work. :)

Love,

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

 Shopping with the pencionistas!

 I walk by this house every once and a while in my area...I should probably stop walking by it haha!

Maybe I should stop wearing these socks, and yes I am wearing the thermal garments haha! If you could possibly fit another pair or two of cool socks in the package, it would be much appreciated! :)

June 20, 2015

Hey Hey!
What a crazy week! I heard that news from Elder Trelease's Dad! I am soooo excited that you guys can send me a package through them! That is sooooo nice of them!!! hmmm things I want in it.... well I am really getting sick of all of my ties hahaha seriously though, they are all getting pretty dingy (I have only been wearing them for a year straight) so if I could just get a bunch of new ties that would be way cool! Like 10 ties no joke, you could send some of my old ones too if they are nice! (like the two I got from Makaylee from prom and stuff) I like ties that aren't really fat (skinny ties are cool) and I really want a grey tie or two because I don't have one! (also Elder Mortensen just told me he would like a tie as well ;) It would be awesome to also get some taco sauce packets! Just so we can make tacos here in the offices! Definitely some candies! I am not really sure what kind. Just some American candy haha. :) maybe 1 or 2 nice pairs of socks from like pack sun with cool designs in them. I feel like there is something I am forgetting that I will want! I will let you know if I think of something.:)

Sounds like everyone is doing pretty good! Can't believe Kamrie is driving now! Tell her she can't steal the truck, because that is mine when I get home haha! Hope she liked my little gift. :) tell her to stop growing up so fast!

I'm glad to hear that you got to go to the temple twice this past week! So awesome that you have a temple so close! makes me way jealous. I cant wait till we can go to the temple all together after the mission!

I am doing way good! This week was a little long! I did tramites basically every day! When I do tramites we have to wake up early and get to this one building around 7:00. My comp is a saint and always comes with me, he deserves a new tie probably... ;)

Happy Fathers day to Dad!!! Thanks for always being the best Dad possible for me and being such a great example a serving somewhere where it probably wasn't that easy to serve! :) you better do something awesome with him! like go to Oscars! Zach emailed me this past week and he said he is still working there! 

Well amazing news... Ariel and 3 of his children assisted church this past week!!! It was sooo awesome! we went and picked them up that morning and took them! plus it was a perfect week for them to go. It was fast Sunday because we had Stake Conference the week before, so tons of people was bearing some way strong testimonies! Literally one of the best weeks they could of possibly gone! We are going to pass by tonight and invite them to go to church again tomorrow! plus church is only 1 hour tomorrow because there are elections for the new President here! asi que mas vale! 

Sorry this letter is a little shorter we don't have too much time. Ask me those same questions next week and I will answer them! Sorry I will send a bunch of picture though. I love you guys sooooo much. Thanks for the support and prayers. I hope you guys have a great week as always! I love you!

Love,

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

PS... I really do love Swedish fish, you cant find anything like them here. Also, you cant find anything sour here and I love sour things!

 All the adventures from today!

 Its all fun and games til my comp rips his pants while we play a quick game of soccer.

 This crazy dog that always barks so loud at us 

 And a night selfie right after that haha.

 We all wore red for this last Zone Conference. We were looking good. :) I had to borrow a tie from Elder Mortensen because I didn't have one that was all red.

 I made those Reese's peanut butter bars! They were a big hit in the offices for sure. I also took them to this meeting we had with our bishop.

Officially on the downward slope!

Hey Hey!! Yep you read it right! A year from tomorrow I will be getting on a plane to return home!! How crazy is that?? and the following day I will be getting off the plane and giving you all tons of hugs!!! That will be an awesome day for sure. :) 

Yeah, I am going to burn a shirt on July 2 haha. :) there will be 3 of us burning our shirts on the same day in the offices: Me, Elder Mortensen and Elder Solomon! 

Megan and Boston are perfect for each other!  They both have that blonde hair and they are both way tall!

Glad you got a lot done this past week! It's crazy Kamrie is growing up way too fast and I thought her and Jonas broke up forever ago? Kole Richins is a boss and that's way cool he is going to Minnesota for his mission! Tell Kam to stay away from boys.

That's pretty good that the Krushurz took 2nd in Kanab!  I'm glad you guys didn't get a ticket driving home! That would have not been fun. Want to know some Argentine driving rules? Here they are:

1. You have to have your lights on whenever you are driving, day or night, if you don't you will get a ticket.

2. You cant turn right when the light is red, and you can turn left almost never. yeah I don't get why not either.

3. All street lights are on timers for about 30 seconds each.

4. Almost every street is one-way! 

5. You can park anywhere you want, serious even in the street, just if you put your hazards on.

Ok that last ones not a rule, but everyone does that! it always freaks me out! haha

I am doing really good now! It was a pretty intense week again! We did a lot of tramites which was fun because I love meeting the new missionaries! They always have so many questions, its funny.

I had a kinda frustrating experience this past week doing tramites... so one of the places we go to you have to have to pre-buy some papers that say you will be going on a certain day at a certain time... Well something came up and we weren't able to do the Warners tramites on the same day we bought the ticket for, so we went and tried to go the following day, and the lady just exploded on me! She was like "you cant just come here the day after your turno expecting to be able to do your tramites?!?" and in this place it is basically just us and the workers and she is like "If you go to a dentist with a turno that has already past is he going to let you have your dentistry work done???" and I was like "well yeah if they have the time like you guys obviously do" and she didn't like that too much haha, but yeah the Warners felt bad that she yelled at me so they took me to Burger King afterwards in Mendoza Centro and it was wayyy good!!! It's been forever since I have had that stuff! It was worth getting yelled at. ;)

We had our interviews this past week with President! It went very well! Its funny because I already see him a bunch, so the interview is more just like we are having a conversation, its just all very natural. :) 

Psh,  don't feel nervous about me driving. :) my driving skills are off the chain. I am worried about you guys too! Just always be safe with all your stuff. :) Tell Ethan to be safe canoeing! 

Well I am super grateful for everything you guys do for me. I don't know what I would do without you! You guys are my motivation. :) I love you all soooo much! Just 1 year to go from here! so crazy!  Ok Chau love you. :)

Love, 

Elder Lawrence

Secretario

Misión Argentina Mendoza

Kody (soon to be Elder Wilson:) sent me a letter with some awesome pictures of some classic old memories!