Bye bye San Rafael!!!!!

Hello family!!! Sounds like you guys are doing great! I am doing wayyyy good! :)

Yep you heard right! I am getting transferred this Wednesday!!! whoo! :) I am wayy excited! The new area that I am going to is called..... Chimbas, San Juan! its about a 7 hour bus ride away from here! (San Rafy) So our mission covers 3 Providences (like states) and San Rafael is in Mendoza and now I am going to San Juan! its basically like I was serving in Utah but now I am going to be in Idaho! haha I am way excited and I have heard a ton of good stuff about my comp! his name is Elder Apodaca! He is Tongan! one of our Zone Leaders was telling me all about him last night on the phone and how he loves him so much! haha so I am way excited to be his comp! :)

So yeah I don't really know too much about skyping either know that I am going to a new area... I think you need to give me my skype account information and password because I don't know it! haha if you have to make me a new one that's alright... but maybe just try my old email... I sure hope everything works out with it! :)

Wow you guys are sooo lucky to have Sami and Colten in your ward! haha I love them (and Camry) soo much! haha that's crazy she is going to have another baby soon! you will for sure have to tell her I say hi!!!

That's cool Bryson came home for the weekend! he sent me some good pics this week! I like his hair! and I like how he is wearing all of my clothes in every picture! way cool! hahaha :) but hey I will keep him in my prayers for sure with all those finals!

That's great to hear Hurricane won! I am glad Kamrie is still liking cheer alot too!

I am glad I am not the only one missing Christmas at the cabin this year! haha hopefully by the time I get home the new cabin will be getting close to done so we can have Christmas there! :)

So to answer some of your questions... it definitely doesn't feel like Christmas! haha it is way too hot to be! oh and also Elder Connolly isn't going to BYU til after he finishes his generals in Arizona... but hey, lets just say you should be expecting a little package from Arizona pretty soon... :)

We had a way good week in San Rafy! We contacted a family this week that was a open the mouth from some other missionaries... Well we taught them 3 lessons this past week! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! not one lesson fell through with them! they are super awesome and super animated! I love it! they couldn't make it to church this past week, but that's ok! it will be awesome to see if anything happens with them someday in the future!

Also some other awesome news, you know that family that I told you about that I opened the mouth with in Cerrito a couple weeks ago, yeah well they have a baptismal date for some time in January!! isn't that crazy??? I am wayyy excited for them! :) I hope I get some pictures from the baptism from Elder Holmstead! I will have to ask him.

So yes we have a Christmas party! It is split into 2 Christmas parties (half of the mission at one time and the other half at another time)... my Christmas party was originally supposed to be on the 23rd but now its on the 19th! haha I will take tons of pics at that!

So Elder Connolly leaves the 29th but the last time I see him is this Wednesday! its crazy haha I have been with him for 3 whole transfers! I am way grateful I got to serve with him and learn so much from him! he is an awesome guy!

Well I love you guys sooo much and I am so grateful for such an amazing family!!! Next time I email you I will be in a completely different place! its crazy because the only place I really know is San Rafy! haha but I am way excited to be in Chimbas. :) Elder Cahoon is in San Juan, but in a different Zone... but everyone tells me that I will still see him every P-day at the same cyber! haha I am way excited! I love you guys so much! I hope you all have a great week! :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

PS. we have a filtered water jug thing and water bottles with filters so that's what we drink. Sorry I didn't have time to send pictures this week...I will send a bunch next week:)

PSS. nope still no package! but hey I also signed for a second package this past week! so maybe that is the Christmas package?!? that would be awesome! love you guys! :)

December 8, 2014

Hola mi familia!!! how are you all doing?? I am doing pretty good! it was a little tough of a week this week! I don't know why but we just couldn't get into many houses this week! :( but hey its ok, I am doing really good still :)

Mom go check out lds.org I totally made it on the main page!!! its in an article about D Todd Christofferson coming to Argentina!!! haha its way cool! :) That's cool you guys got to hear from him at the Christmas devotional! they didn't let us go to the Christmas Devotional last night because it was at 9:00! But I hope it was good. :)

I am glad your lesson in relief society went well!! that's great to hear! :) and it sounds like Bryson, Kamrie and Ethan are all doing good! I love and miss them all and I hope I can have an awesome close relationship with them all when I get home!!! :)

Mom I will put some sun block on my nose this week! It has been wayyy hot this past week! and our house is like a little oven I swear! haha it absorbs all the heat!!!

Cool little story about what we are doing this P-day! So a couple weeks ago I was on intercombios (exchanges) with Elder Holmstead in Cerrito (which is the area we use to cover with our original area too)... Well Elder Holmstead was having me open the mouth and just talking to some random people about the church, well I opened the mouth with this young young family with two little kids and they seemed super interested... Well now they have gone to church once and to another different activity! and they invited the elders of cerrito and us over to there house today for there daughters birthday party! We are going to have an asado and birthday cake! haha I am way excited! how cool would it be if they got baptized someday??? just from me talking to them about the church for the very first time! 

We had a couple investigators go to church this past week! There is this girl, her name is Damares (I don't know how to spell it sorry) but she is an investigator that always goes to church with this awesome family in our ward! she has gone 5 Sundays in a row now, but the only thing is, is she is only 10 years old... so the only way we could baptize her is if we baptized the parents first... which is a little tough with her parents lets just say... but hey maybe someday! :)

Well today is a holiday here so the cyber closes in like 20 minutes and I haven't wrote anyone else back! So I hope you guys know how much I love you and think about you! I hope you guys all have a great week! I will try to send a couple pictures so hopefully they work! love you guys!

Love, Elder Lawrence

Sooo much wine!!!! haha

Just the gang of us Elders out front of the Bianchi winery and vineyard!!!

Los Reyunos was gorgeous!!!!!

 I sent this to all my best buds and said "hope you guys enjoy the view" hahaha 

The whole gang at Los Reyunos!

5 Months already?!?

Hey hey family! how are you guys doing?? I am doing great! It looks like you guys had a great Thanksgiving! I loved all the pictures and seeing the family all together! Thanksgiving is definitely different here haha... just a lot of sitting around and drinking mate... Have I told you about mate yet? haha its the weirdest drink ever and everyone just drinks it all day, every day, hot outside, or cold! I don't even know how to explain it haha just look up mate on google images or something. It use to taste way gross to me, but now its way good haha. :)

Wow I miss going Black Friday shopping! I remember how we would always go see a movie as a family after Thanksgiving! How was Mockingjay?? I have only seen one poster for it! haha so I don't know if its good or anything!

Wow I hope Makaylee and Brooke don't quit cheer! geez that's crazy and Gonnie is crazy! haha I'm glad Kamrie tries to cheer Makaylee up. :)

Well to answer some of your questions... San Rafy is doing good!! Some Hermana's had a baptism this past week! This was the first baptism in San Rafy since before I got here in August! We took a recent convert to the baptism and we also tried to take Natali, but something came up and she couldn't go. :(

Yeah I had a good week this past week! at the end of the week, it feels like it went fast, but during the week, it has been going pretty slow!! haha i think its just going slow because Elder Connolly is going home, so the time seems to be dragging on for him, which is making it drag on for me! haha

We had our missionary activity again last night and it went wayyy good! We had two less active families go and 2 investigators! sometimes I feel like less actives are harder to get to church then investigators sometimes,So its always great to see them come to activities and what not! :)

Mom don't worry about me not getting the Christmas package! haha its totally not a big deal. :) I still haven't got this last package out of holding, but hey when I do, I will just open it like its my Christmas present! haha :) 

I am way excited to skype on Christmas too!!! I have my doubts about staying here as well, I cant see them keeping me and Elder Connolly together for almost 4 whole transfers haha... but hey, we will see what happens!!

So we are going somewhere sweet today for P-day!!! We are going to this place called Los Reyunos! it is sooo pretty rumor has it, you should look up some pics of it or something! yeah, we are also going on a tour of a Bodega! its going to be sweet to tour one of these big wine companies and walk through the vineyards! all the grapes are starting to come to life now! :)

Thank you for sending me a Ranch packet!!! hahaha I am soo stoked for it!!

I feel like there is something I am forgetting to tell you guys! haha if I remember I will just tell you later I guess! 

Well, I'm grateful you keep me in your prayers! I am super happy I haven't got sick or anything yet! That is super sad about that kid in Snow Canyon! :( I will keep him in my prayers for sure!! I am very grateful for my health! You guys are in my prayers always too! I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for everything you guys do for me! :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Elder Lawrence

 Just a throw-back picture... I miss seeing Elder Cahoon in cyber every week!!! We took this pic in the cyber one of his last weeks here!

The mountains looked sweet because they were covered with clouds!!! ...... Just kidding its just clouds, but I thought it looked sweet. :)

Happy Thanksgiving! We were super poor on Thanksgiving Day because it was the last week of the month, so we made some "arroz chaufa" instead! Its peruvian food! One of Elder Connolly's old companions taught him, and then he taught me! Sooo good!

November 24, 2014

Hey Hey Familia! como andan! Things were great this week! Man I swear the harder I work, the faster the week goes! and this week was wayyy fast! haha I love being in San Rafael! the weather has been super nice this week! super hot sometimes but we got some good storms! oh and I'm glad the computer is fixed now! haha :)

So I talked to my companion and yeah we do skype on Christmas!!! whoo! :) I cant wait to skype! Also something good, remember when I told you about my ward mission leader? how he speaks English, yeah well he does a lot of translating for people over skype that are in the states, and he has a really really nice computer and camera and good wifi for his work, So we want to skype at his house on Christmas day! We will see though if I get transferred though, Transfers are on the 16th of December and Elder Connolly leaves the 29th, because he is going home early for school, but we will see what happens!

No I haven't got the package yet... the holding is in Mendoza Centro so I will probably get the package next Zone Meeting... which is the first week in December! Oh! another thing I was thinking about, So you know how you put the airhead candies in the letters, I love it sooo much!!! haha and everyone is jealous... But I have a request for in your next letter... So there is no such thing as ranch here... NO WHERE!!! haha They only put olive oil on salads... well do you think you could put one of those ranch packets in a letter?? haha I am craving ranch! maybe one of the fiesta ranches too! haha I would love that!!! :) but I really do love the airheads they are appreciated. :)

That's good to hear about Darian!! I hope she is doing good! and I miss dinner at Grandma and Grandpas! Does Grady still have the awesome beard??

That's too bad about Hurricane losing at state! :( Man I wish Ammon would've just stayed and played for Hurricane! We would've been soo good!! Yeah we will have to see how basketball season goes!!

Man I cant believe its already Thanksgiving! They have Thanksgiving here they just don't celebrate it, they just close all the shops for the day (like every weird holiday here) yeah here its called "el dia de la acción de gracias" There is also no such thing as turkey here haha... we are going to try and buy a whole chick and make it look like a Thanksgiving turkey. :) Don't worry I will send some pics!

We did something fun this morning, we woke up early (like 6:00) so we could go on a jog! it was so nice outside! we jogged past two huge Bodegas! (its like a huge vineyard and winery) it reminded me of how cold it was whenever we would walk past the church farm by our house! haha except these were grapevines and not peach trees. :)

So this week we worked a ton with less active members!!! We have a huge list and we have been visiting them all! We had a pretty cool experience with a less active lady (its a sad story though, be ready), So 14 years ago this old lady was really really active and loved the church and her family was active too... well her Grand-daughter got very sick and was in the hospital, So she called her bishop and asked him if he could or someone else could go to the hospital and give her grand daughter a blessing... well the bishop said something about how she wasn't in his ward or something so he couldn't go give the baby a blessing... and the next day the baby died. :( and she was sooo sad and so mad at the bishop, that she hasn't gone back to church in 14 years... Well we gave her a blessing of comfort and taught her about the Atonement and she felt the spirit, she said she will start reading in the Book of Mormon again, but she doesn't want to go to church yet. I feel so sad for her, so I hope we can help her become active again and just have her know that families are forever!!!

Well I hope you guys know that I love you sooo much and that I KNOW that families are forever, because of the Atonement! we can barley start to comprehend all the the Atonement has done for us, but I am just sooo grateful for it in my life. :) its great hearing from all of you! (Kam's finally wrote me haha that lil punk) your guys emails are definitely my favorite ones every week. It's great to hear you all doing so good. :) I love you all soo much!

Love, Elder Lawrence

 You are looking at the worlds best district!! (plus our zone leaders haha) 

November 17, 2014

Hey hey!! how are you all doing?? That is no fun about the computer being broken! :( haha but that is soooo crazy that Hurricane is going to state!!!! Josh Parker is a total boss!!! Hurricane is quite the place :) haha 

I am doing great! We sure did work our butt off this week!! haha We set all of our goals super high and it shows! it was a great week. :) We have 4 new investigators!

wow that's crazy that it is sadies!! haha I was just barley going to sadies!! wow thank you for reminding me of how I got asked to sadies this last year.... haha just kidding!! that was quite the experience.... haha!

Kamrie has a boyfriend?¿? what the... that is weird haha. His name is Jonas? whats his last name? would I approve of him? haha that's so weird Kamrie has a boyfriend. I guess that is just life in the fast lane!! haha :)

Well to answer some of your questions... Everything is going good with me and Elder Connolly! haha We definitely don't get along 24/7 but everything is good at the end of the day! He is pretty excited to be going home! He isn't trunky though. 

No Natali didn't go to church this past week... Marcus mom is sick in the hospital and she was spending the day with her yesterday in the hospital... but hey hopefully she goes this next week! We had 1 other investigator go this past week! so that's always good. :)

That's crazy its already almost Thanksgiving! Some of the missionaries here were talking about us all getting together and doing a Thanksgiving dinner! that would be way cool! :)

Yes I am writing in my journal!! haha definitely not every night but at least once or twice a week! 

Something else good happened this week! So one of my best friends in the mission, his name is Elder Olsen, asked me if I wanted to room with him up in Provo when we get home! He did a semester of college before the mission at BYU and he says he knows like the best places to live in Provo haha! He is going to BYU after too, but yeah I told him I for sure want to room with him after words! He is a stud! I know its early to talk about that, but yeah just thought I would let you know. :)

Well everything is good here! not too much new! man I definitely know my area now, I have all the street names memorized! haha that's what I get for walking up and down the same streets all day every day!

I love you guys soo much and I am so grateful for such an awesome family! You guys should try to read the Book of Mormon all the way through as a family! I try to read 5 chapters a day (in Spanish and English) and I love it! well, Thanks for all you guys do for me! "CTR all day erry day" -Bryson Lawrence 

Love, Elder Lawrence

Oh P.S! Some Hermanas that are in our district were in Mendoza Centro this past week, and they said that there is a package for me in holding right now! The Zone leaders are going to give me a paper to sign today so they can get it out of holding... but yeah its in Mendoza!!! I cant wait to get it! :)

Love you guys so much! :)

 Our scarfs finally got put to use!  Our fridge broke a couple weeks ago and we had to deep clean the inside of it because it was way gross. Yeah it smelt bad so we had to wear our scarfs as filters! haha :)

 Check out the hotel we stayed in when D. Todd Christofferson came to Mendoza!! 

 The sunsets are always the best after it rains here!! 

 Hey quick question... where is Fadwa from? Is she from Colombia? Because this past P-day we had some Colombian food! It's called Arepas Colombianas! No joke it was like the best food I have ever had! Also Elder Connolly had a comp. from Colombia so he wanted to get a picture with the workers that were all from Colombia! 

 We got to see some classical Argentine dancing this past P-day at this little fair thing! It was so awesome! I filmed some of it so I guess you can see that in 2 years haha. :)

November 10, 2014

Hola! How are you all doing?? Sounds like you guys are doing good, so that's good!! I am doing wayyyyyyyyy good! definitely one of the best weeks in the mission!!! I got to shake Elder D. Todd Christofferson's hand!!! and he said my name!!! haha it was soo awesome and what he talked about was wayy good!!! He talked about when he served his mission here in Argentina! back when it was just called The Argentina North mission! haha he talked about how bad his spanish was when he first got here!! haha he was way funny! But he also talked about how we all need to just be instruments in the Lords hands! He also talked a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon! It was soo good and I really don't think I have ever felt the spirit sooo strong! it was amazing!!

So the Zone leaders just handed out some mail and I totally just got 3 letters from you guys!! wow you guys sure spoil me! I haven't opened them yet but thanks for all the letters! I love them so much!!! :)

Our investigators are doing sooooo good! We had 3 attend church this past week! Natali has gone to church twice, so if she goes this next week, she can be baptized!!! Also we have this family of investigators that want to be baptized now, but the parents aren't married, so we cant put a date until they are married, but how cool would it be to baptize a family?!? 

I can't believe Hurricane beat Juan Diego!!! that is way cool! I love Josh Parker!!! Remember when I use to play tennis with him?? that kid is way funny.

That's good that Bryson and Kamrie and E dog are all doing good too! I miss all them! 

To answer some of your questions... I am doing great! :) and Elder Cahoon emailed me this morning!!! He said its just way hot and people live in like mud houses! haha I hope he is doing good though! I just emailed him back!! 

It was pretty nice this past week! I can tell its getting way hot though... but its all good I like the heat. :) 

The meeting with D. Todd was great! Yes I felt like I understood everything he said! His spanish is way good! I feel like I had a break through with my spanish this past week! I understand everything so much better and I feel like my sentences are really flowing!!! haha :)

The other great thing about the meeting was I got to see all my old missionary friends and meet a bunch of new ones! I finally talked to Elder Stevens from Hurricane! He is doing way good! and there was a couple other missionaries I met that I am friends with now. :) also we took a picture with D. Todd Christofferson and our entire mission! you will have to look for that picture on the mission blog or something...

Well everything is great here! We are going to go play rugby again today! also we are going to get super panchos today! they are just like hot dogs in the states haha. :) but a weird thing they do here is the put these dried french fries on the hot dogs always here... I will try to snag you a picture of that! haha :)

Last P-day Hermana Tiarado (from Peru) made us ceviche! it is this weird Peruvien fish meal that is super spicy! haha it was soo good!! I wish there was more spicey food here!!! but its all good. :)

Well I love you guys sooo much and I am so grateful for the best family ever! tell Kam-Ham (Kamrie) to email me sometime! haha I want to talk to her! does she have a boyfriend?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿? Well I love you guys keep up the good work in Hurricane. :)

Love, Elder Lawrence

November 3, 2014...Four months in the mission and transfers!!!

Mom!!! I had a crazy good week! Holy cow I love it here! So are you ready for the big news about transfers???......... I am staying in San Rafael and I am killing Elder Connolly!!! haha (that is just missionary talk meaning that I take him to the end of his mission) Yep I will be Elder Connolly's last companion before he goes home!!! I am excited to be staying here because we are so so so close to 2 baptisms!!! I will keep you updated with all that for sure. :)

Wow today is Dads birthday!!! that's awesome he is finally 32 years old!! I love dad soo much and I am so grateful for his awesome example of serving a mission!! I cant imagine how tough it would be in Ireland with the cold and rain always! It rained so much here this past week! I legit thought it was going to snow this past week!! haha definitely the coldest summer I have been in!! the weather changes so fast here!!! But yes I hope dad knows I love him so much and wish him a happy birthday! :)

Halloween is definitely different here in Argentina! haha We had a member come with us Halloween night to the Cemetery, and he didn't even know it was Halloween! haha there was no Halloween colors or anything either, just from me and my companion, I wore a purple tie with black pants, and he wore an orange tie with black pants! haha but yeah we bought some treats and had a way good Halloween!! :)

That's awesome that Hurricane beat Park City! but that is sad about everyone breaking their bones! haha I hope we can still win without them! and I hope they get better soon!

So to answer some of your questions... I am doing way good! I feel super healthy!!! I love the 1 a day pills... I feel like those keep me healthy for sure. Also I gained another kilo!!! haha we weighed ourselves this morning! so heck yeah I am gaining weight! :) I hope Bryson starts feeling better!

I am so excited for Elder D. Todd Christofferson this week!!! I have never meet someone from the 12 apostles! So this will be such an amazing experience!

Well the rain definitely did keep our investigators from coming to church... haha it even kept some members from coming. But yeah  just pray for good weather on Sundays!

Well Elder Cahoon is pretty nervous, because he is getting transferred to a tough area... it's in San Juan which is the very top of the Mendoza mission... it is like 100 degrees there right now! but yeah Jared is an awesome missionary and I know he will do great wherever he goes. :)

Well everything is great here! I am way excited to be staying here! San Rafy is all I know! haha but yeah I love bringing new people to the church and strengthening members testimonies everyday!!! I literally love missionary work! That's awesome you guys went to the temple the other day! I wish there was a temple here so bad! I hope that you guys still have a goal to go every week! The temple is the most amazing place in the world!

Well I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for you all! It looks like you guys had a great Halloween! :) I hope you know that I am always safe and take care of myself! you worry too much. :) thanks for all that you guys do for me! and Dad Happy Birthday!!!! :) Love you all!

Love, Elder Lawrence

 Just taking Elder Connolly to the end of his mission! haha 

 I fixed our fan!!! haha I am basically just a handyman for everything in our pench!

 Just some cool graffiti we found! Oh also, 2 new elders are coming into our new area this transfer! So yep we are back to just one area!! They are washing the area, and someone is training there!

¡Happy Halloween! Just me and a member at the cemetery! His name is Gillermo (he is 21 I think), he just received the priesthood a couple weeks ago! Such an awesome guy!