Monday, February 18, 2013

Pueblo Diamonte (new area)



Good morning family and friends!

I am now in San Raphael on the whole other side of the mission. I was all the way as north as it gets in San Juan a week ago and now I am in southern Mendoza. It is a bit chilly down here. I have woken up a few mornings almost frozen so I think I will be having to pull out the comforter again. The apartment isn`t too bad. The area is really, really small. My comp is really cool. We have a better exercise program. The ward is pretty good. We get lunches every day from the members. The bishop is young(recently turned 30) like in all my areas. I don`t think I have had a bishop over 35 years old. The zone of San Raphael is full of latinos so that is going to be a bit harder. Sometimes(not all the time) latinos seem to want to be a bit more disobedient than the rest. Ha. San Raphael is one of the lowest zones right now seeing that they didn`t baptize even one last month...It seems like Presidente Àvila trusts E` Barton and I enough to try and raise it up. I hope that we can do it.

Yeah, so I had to do lots of farewells to all the dear people in Rivadavia the first few days of the week. I spent a lot of time with the Kim family as they were making us lots of food. Ha ha. I am sure that Rivadavia was and will be the best ward that I have passed by in the mission. It may have been the youth or just the awesome success that we saw with our ward mission leaders there that made it the best ward. I had to leave super early Wednesday morning(6:00) to go to the terminal(after a long night of packing) to take the micro to San Raphael. Hermano Kim took us to the terminal so we didn`t have to take a taxi. The rest of the fam followed us to the terminal to say the last good-byes. They are the best. One of the few times I have shed a tear or two in the mission was giving Sebastiàn a last hug. I just saw the strong future missonary in him. He will touch the hearts of many people. So will Yini(21) and Kevin(12) who also have plans to serve full-time missions in the future.

We had to pass by the Mendoza terminal to get to San Raphael. While I was there I was able to see tons of other missionaries real quick that I have not seen in a long time. Our bus left real quick so we weren`t able to snap any quick pics. E` Barton and I just traveled together because he was already in my same zone. He is a really cool kid. He is from Colorado. His family has been moving around a lot because his dad is a medic in the military or something like that. His parents are now living in Germany. E` Barton only has two transfers(3 months left) so he will most likely be ending the mission here in Pueblo Diamonte(our area). I have never had to be with someone when they are ending the mission, so this will be an interesting event. The normal missionary gets so homesick at the end that they just don`t work as much. Don`t worry, I will be working my butt off till the end!

Our area is super small! We are washing the area because the two elders who were both here before both had to leave. Normally an area is washed when elders don`t behave well or the area just needs a complete change, but this time one elder ended his mission and the other elder got made asistant to president. They left us with a few investigators so I think this will be one of the better washes that I have had in the mission(this is my third time). We are kind of on the edge of centro so it is more of a suburban area. Blocks and blocks of houses...and I am sure that every one of them has been knocked by anterior elders. Finding should be the fun part here. Ha ha. Well, at least I will be able to start wearing my sweaters again!

¡HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPI! I hope that you are able to enjoy this day and rest from your labors to hear the birthday song many many times! Que lo cumpla feliz, que lo cumpla feliz, que lo cumpla feliz papi...que lo cumpla feliz!

Your welcome. That is cool that you are making a book for me. Make room or something for all of these extra pictures that I am going to bring home because I have not sent here. There are many. I am glad that Cade is out there now. I bet he is just enjoying the MTC. Well, he is either hating it or loving it(most missionaries are not lukewarm). Ha. But it is for the best and he will get more prepared to teach in the field. If it were me, I would probably send him a package filled with...a teriyaki burger from Carls Jr. and a raspberry chicken salad from Costa Vida...but, these are just my deep desires right now. I`m sure he would be happy with some krispy kreme doughnuts or fake moustaches, or both. That is awesome that we just have more people with their calls in the ward. It seems like their is news every week about someone with their call from the ward. Awesome! Looks like the leaders, the parents, and the bishop are all doing their job well with the youth.

Saturday night at like 11:30, our bishop called us and asked us to prepare talks for sacrament meeting. We gave awesome talks and I am sure that they will be published in next months Liahona so look our for our names. Ha ha. My talk is called ¿Sus Hijos Saben? and my comps talk is called ¿Quiere llegar sòlo? We made them ponder and evaluate a bit. My talk basically just focused on having the Gospel and the name of Jesus Christ more present in the home related with sharing the gospel. In the Book of Mormon challenge, we just barely passed up 3 Nephi. This time I read it I payed more attention to the blessing that it was to have the Savior in the presence of the Nephites. I shared some of those favorite scriptures from 3 Nephi in the talk. Read chapters 11 through 27 and just let the spirit testify to you the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Good stuff!

Well, we are just going to keep on working hard here. Hopefully get some excitement in this zone and baptize something here even if it be the nearest dog or something. I love you all and pray for you daily.

Un abracito,
Elder Dev Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera
Farewell to the Kims
Elder Barton. Huge fan of Alabama Crimson Tide.