How is Senillosa?

FAMILY!!!!!

 

So ya wanna know about Senillosa huh? Its super small. We are in this SUPER ghetto ciber (internet cafe). The only place to do internet here. The ward here is a disaster like my last ward. WE had a asistance high of 30 yesterday in the sacrament meeting. Thats super dang good here. Their are a butt load of mosquitos here. But its super tranquilo (calm) here.  The people are super nice. Its pretty rockin. The pención (where we live) is super small but it is two floors. my camera died so i cant send pictures right now to show you. we are 30 minutes away from the other elders. So for district meeting, we have to travel 30 minutes. This town is in the middle of NNNOOOOWHERE!!! but its all good. I am replacing Elder Johansen from Heber. He was in my district in the Mtc. My companion is from Buenos Aires, His name is Elder Castes. He has a past of being trucho (bad, disobedient) missionary. so we will see what comes of this.

 

So monday night, we went to the terminal (bus station) to say our goodbyes. Leandro from my ward came to send me off. Then the best thing happened when i saw elder davis (from my group in the mtc). I hugged him for like 5 minutes. I was so happy. Then we left, my comapnion cried. And i talked with elder davis until 3 in the morning on the bus. Then we got to Neuquen on tuesday in the morning, met my district. Elder Draut (from my group in the MTC), Elder Nailer (the trainer of Elder Davis), Elder Frost, Elder Tholke. We went to our pench and went to visit the family next door. Familia LePen. They are super sweet. menos activos (less active) but they love the missionaries. they always have food for us. haha. But we just visited alot of people this week. The members really commented on my speaking abilities. They thought I had more time on the mission. Thats been one of the blessings on the mission, throught alot of fasting and prayers, i can communicate with the people. I am not fluent, or know EVERYTHING but its a blessing to be able to talk like i can. 

 

Their is alot of work to be done here. This ward is a disaster. but i know i have been called by a prophet to help this ward, and i am going to do everything to make that happen. 

 

Bendiciones :)

 

Elder Ross

Buenas Noticias Familia!

BUENAS NOTICIAS!!!!!!

 

I AM GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FFFFFFFFIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! but its a long kinda sad story! but i will start with it all in a minute. but i had no idea that brad is assistent to the president!!!! thats like freakin a studd on the mish. dang son!!!! what a capo! little ol sis is busy as ever as always. haha. MOM DULCE DE LECHE IS SOOOO BOMB ISNT IT????? oh i love that stuff!!!! they have everything dulce de leche here!! even an ice cream flavor. it is super bomb!!!! We have lunch appointments here and they are usually pretty normal (regular) we eat super good here. the food is bomb. its not much like ingreadeant wise but its super good if that makes sense. in easier words......its super easy to make and super good. We go to a place called La Anonima to shop for groceries. Its kinda like a mini wal-mart.....ish. i have never baught from an open market. that would be sweet to do though. the only thing i have eaten that is weird is cat food. they eat it alot here. its not sold as cat food but thats exactly what it is. my companion and an elder ate cow heart when we were on divisions one time so i was kinda close to eating something weird but we happened to be on divisions that day.

 

so this week......well first off i bet you kids want to know where i am going to now that i am going to be transfered????? NEUQUÉN!!!!!!!! To an area called Senillosa (its pronounced sen-ee-sho-sa) its a little desert pueblo. super small area and has been known for alot of trucho (disobedient) missionaries. but i am going to change that. My new companion is from Buenos Aires. Elder Castez? I think thats his name.

 

So now that you know haha. Tuesday was Valentines day......kinda weird cause alot of people asked about girls back at home and what not. I bet you kids would like to know who i told them i was thinking about, wouldnt ya????? all of our plans for that day fell through so at night we did a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with a family from our ward. Then wednesday we sang and had our confernce. I sang bomb. Hmna Peterson (Presidents wife) said i just have so many talents and that i sing so beautiful and that she wants more elders like me in the mission. hahah :) just sayin.... :) but the confernce was super good. Elder Fosters spanish was terrible. but i understood everything he said cause i used to talk like him. hahah. then president told us that Gaiman was going to have full time missionaries this next transfer which means we are leaving gaiman. then we went to Gaiman with Elder Nance. he was from my travel group to argentina from the states. Friday we taught Noelia. she is one lesson away from baptism and is golden. her baptismal date is for the 25 of this month. The week after i leave she is getting baptized.  on saturday we made shirts as a district. then on sunday. my last sunday in both areas. the good byes in Union 2 werent too bad. but the ones in Gaiman were hard. We had some super close families and super close investigators. Noelia and Familia San Pedro, and Familia Lopez were about to cry when we said our good byes. we wer super tight with them. And the son of familia lopez, Rodrigo, gave me one of his jerseys and said "thank you for everything you did for me and my family, I want to see you again, you have to come back to see us." i teared up. it was super hard to say good bye to these families. I love these people. With all of my heart. I AM GOING TO COME BACK TO ARGENTINA AFTER MY MISSION!!!!!!!!! and then today i just packed my bags then we ate a asado (bbq) with a family in the area of the elders of parque. they were super sweet.

 

My experience with the mission is amazing. I love these people!!!!!!! I never knew saying goodbye to a family or families would be so hard. It was like saying goodbye to my family again. These people have treated me with such love that i dont want to leave. I never knew this would happen on my mission. I love this people of Argentina!!!!!!

 

Elder Ross

Monday, Monday

hello my wonderful family!!!!

 

oh just another week in paradise!!!!! down in the hot and dry patagonian desert! whoooo rah!!!! sounds like the family is doing just great. as always! so big news!!!!!!...................I AM GOING TO SING A MUSICAL NUMBER  WEDNESDAY FOR ELDER ARNOLD FROM THE AREA PRESIDENCY!!!! the zone leaders called me last night to tell me that me and my companion and a sister missionarie from puerto madryn have been chosen to sing a musical number for Elder Arnold on wednesday when he comes to have a meeting with the missionaries. My companion is going to sing bass, i am going to sing tenor (yeah baby) and the hermana is going to sing soprano. also i sang yesterday in gaiman for a special musical number. where can i turn for peace. no big deal haha. also all the people that see my picture of mom, they think she is an actress. so i usually say "yeah she is" and they usually believe me. haha.

 

so this week. we did alot of service. ALOT. we helped the mom of a member. her name is Isidora. She is in a wheelchair and we are trying to go about sharing the gospel in this sense of service. then we found a new investigator, Luis. We are helping him re lanscape his back yard. we put a baptismal date with the wife of a member. Amalía. And taught the girlfriend of a member in gaiman. i cnat remember her name. but now we have 8 people with a baptismal date. Noelia, mellany (the daughter of noelia) and isidora came to church on sunday and they all felt the spirit super strong so we are super excited to meet with them again. the lord has realy blessed us in the work. Blessed us with so many future opportunites to share the gospel with many people. the work has really grown once i found and understood my job as a missionary. These people are amazing.

 

This whole week I have been thinking alot about my testimony and how i know these things are true. We were watching Special Witnesses of Christ yesterday with a family that is inactive. And it just sealed my testimony that Christ, as in olden times, called 12 men to be his apostles today. The 12 apostles. And a prophet that leads and guides his church today. And that they have that same priesthood that the original 12 apolstles had throught Peter, james, and John who gave that priesthood to Joseph smith. Everything makes sense. I understood everything before my mission but now it is clearer than ever. THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH. THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH. I have no doubts whatsoever. Love ya family!!!!! keep it real!

 

Elder Ross

Some REAL pictures

 making papas fritas (french fries)

 me in my suit.

 

lookin fly!

just a nice picture for the kids. haha :)

me doing a contact at the feria

 yeah baby

us at the feria handing out folletos and stuff

 my companion and i at the beach in puerto madryn

 me shooting the big guns

 yeah i still have the dunk talent

 the swiss and argentine flags

 me and the navy ship in argentina

 a little bit of some arrow heads for the boys at the pawn shop

me and an octipus

me and the........PENGUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howdy!

Family family family!!!!!!!

So we are in this super ghetto ciber (internet cafe) cause the other elders wanted to go here. But we did go to puerto madryn today and it was AWESOME!!!! it took me back home in a memory sense. it was like calfornia, the beach and the ocean. oh it was beautiful!!!! we met a guy that was sailing in his boat. he is from alaska. just sailing away down here in south america. haha. crazy dude. we talked with his wife and she is a quaker. that weird religion. but it was soooo much fun. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Tell nathan that right now on the radio is playing "buisness of missurie" fom paramore!!!! (sorry, sidenote) but it was so sweet. i will send pics.

But this week was amazing. we met this family of gold!!!!!! Ana, Carlos, Valentino. A mom and her two sons. They have had a rough life but they are amazing. She said our message looks too good to be true. so we put a baptismal date with them!!!! now we are just waiting to meet with them again. their son was crying during the prayer that he offered. it was so sweet. then we met some more people in gaiman. We are in gaiman three times a week now. we almost had a miracle on wednesday. we met a lady that knew the church is true but my companion was talking a little too much and the opportunity to put a baptismal date slipped and we couldnt do it. kinda sad. but we are going to try again. then we met Ester. she is the maid/grandaughter of the mom of a lady in our ward. (yeah lets see if you can figure that one out) haha. but we taught her the plan of salvation. cause her brother passed away a while back. it was a good lesson. on friday we did a fast, cause I wanted to seal my testimony with a miracle. but nothing happend on friday. on saturday. we met with the brother of the bishop and taught him lesson 1 and gave him a book of mormon to read. it was a really good lesson. then we went to the feria (fair?) and had a table and folletos (pamphelts) to give to people. it was sick!!!! i had like 160 contacts that day. then on sunday we did divisions. my companion went to gaiman and i did divisons with a member who is waiting to receive his mission call. I whooped his trash in walking. he was sleeping in some visits with members. we was sooooo tired. hahaha. just physically beat. but to sum up my week. I recieved my answer for my mirace that I wanted. so let me tell you the story.

we had a sweet experience this week, with an investigator named Noelia. We met her through a reference of a member to her daughter Melany. We went and taught lesson one she accepted the invitation to read the folleto and to pray. when we went the next time she said she didnt read. so we taught lesson 2 and put a baptismal date with her. on sunday we did divisions and my companion was in gaiman. earlier in the week on friday we did a fast that we could witness a miracle. But a real miracle, something that i would never forget on my mission. because i had never seen anything big as a miracle on my mission. We didnt see a miracle on friday. but when my comapnion went to gaiman on sunday, noelia told him the following: I was watching tv and i started to cry, why was my life the way it was. so i went and prayed and asked god to please put someone in my life that could change my life. Right after my prayer is when my daughter (melany) came to tell me that the missionaries were at aunt fransiscas house to talk to me"

 she recieved an answer to her prayers. this is the first miracle that happened on my mission. My testimony is sealed. their is nothing that can happen that will change this testimony. What happened, happened. It was a miracle.

 Elder Ross