¿Día de la Madre? (Mother's day)

¡Buen Día!
What up chicos? How is everyone doing eh?
Another good week in Argentina. We had some fun activities go on this week including our trip to Mendoza, exchanges with my district, and argentine mother´s day.

We took another one of those nice, long bus rides all the way to Mendoza. I was able to get through the whole book of Romanos in the Santa Biblia and still have enough time for a little siesta to rest my eyes. I was accompanied by my loyal companion Élder Johnson and a bunch of the newer missionaries on the bus. Élder Johnson and I got to do some proselyting in plain centro Godoy Cruz. A little bit tougher than here in San Juan because the people are all way busy there. We slept over at the big office pench(pension) and I got to go and hang out with the senior missionary couple in our mission, Élder and Sister Ence(they are from some small city up by the bountiful temple), and go buy facturas(yummy, sweet bread things) for all of the others that were doing trámites (paperwork) with us so we didn´t go hungry. It was kinda a long day, but I got through it.

Starting to get accustomed to the district leader stuff. Had a pretty good district meeting on tuesday with getting my Élders all excited to go get work done and be super successful in their missions. I went to Rawson(another area) to do exchanges with Élder García(Uruguay) while Élder Henrie(Delta, UT) went to my area with good ol´ É Johnson to do miracles! And that is just exactly what happened. I swear that every time we do exchanges, we get boosted with extra spirit juice or something that just leads us to amazing people and helps our investigators to progress even more. É García and I visited their top three families. In the first family(La familia Sanchez), the woman can´t get baptized because her boyfriend(for 20+ years, multiple children) doesn´t want to get married yet until he knows he really wants to be with her...ha! She is going to pray to God specifically about if she needs to separate herself from him or if there is a chance of getting married, so she can finally get baptized. In the second family(La familia Guevara), there were some investigators that weren´t really progressing that well or fast, but we found the niece of one of them who was going through a lot of problems. We don´t know exactly what we did or what we taught in that lesson, but she had a change of heart. She wouldn´t even look at us when we first entered the house, but by the end she was participating actively and wanting to go to church and get baptized so that she can leave the live she is living now behind her. I love that part about the mission. Just seeing what the Lord can do in anytime from a few seconds of changing the heart of one of his children. Cool stuff! We see it every day! The third family(La familia Martinez) is the one that they had been working with most. When we got there, the dad was smoking and drinking a ton. We focused on the family and how we could help him with the addiction program that we use as missionaries. We made a calendar and everything so that he could leave these things behind. All the family but him came to church so they should be getting baptized this week! Woo hoo! I thought that maybe you could enjoy just a taste of what we are doing out here. I feel like these families are my investigators also because I am working so much with them. It is cool to see the mission from a different angle now and work with more people.

Our top investigators in Líbano, Omar and Elizabet Rodriguez were not able to come to church because they were too busy with Mother´s Day stuff, but they are progressing a ton. In the last couple visits, we have seen a love for the Gospel of Christ grow within them. Elizabet has read the whole Libro de Mormón in just a week or two, and we caught her while she was in the middle of the guide part at the end(english book of mormon doesn´t have a guide like this one, it is pretty cool). She has a couple small kids so she has been up late some nights, so when she is bored or something in the middle of the night, she reads! We are hoping to help them get baptized after church this week if it is possible.

Yep, it was mother´s day yesterday. I can´t believe that you would all forget about mother´s day like that. ha. Kidding. All of the argentine elders got to call/skype their mothers last night. Sounds like fun. Don´t worry ma, there is only two months till Navidad.

Love you all! I send an abrazo to all those that are willing to receive it!
ABRAZOS,
Elder Dev Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera

Super Hot!! We ate a hamburger there when we went to Mendoza this week

Hermana Camargo, our Argentine mother. We had to make her something...

21/10/2012 Argentine Mother´s Day

Shaving Mordisco and Negra

Hermana Prado always makes us use very professional looking plates when we come over for lunch

Donacion de sangre (Donation of blood)

Hey!
Another good looking week here! We had some cool miracles happen to us(like every week, but maybe I will give an account of one or two of the experiences in the weekly letter), we went and donated blood again, started getting(and putting my district...) to work in my district, and we are preparing many more people for baptism(we just have to work hard so more people can reach that point).

I can already tell this is going to just be a good transfer from the first week. We worked hard(or hardly worked, one of the two) to find miracles and have success in these coming weeks. We got Elizabet Rodriguez(wife of Omar Rodriguez, other golden investigator) to church yesterday. We will have to see if that goes anywhere. They both have baptismal dates for the 27th of this month. We went and ate breakfast with them yesterday morning to make sure that they would come to church like they had committed. Omar, sadly had to stay home because he had to wait for his sister or something. ¡Que lástima! Other awesome old and new investigators that we have are Cristián Sorias, Santiago Sosa, and Juliana Acosta. We are also trying to work more with complete families(isn´t the church all about families?) so we are trying to include everyone in the teaching as much as possible.

One miracle that happened to us started with an "open the mouth" in the street with this old guy(Julio Carrizo) sitting on the side of the road. He had the strong stench of wine(thank goodness I was never a heavy wine drinker), but he was still in tact for the most part. He was a good guy and told us to go visit his family that kicked him out because of his drinking. So went to go contact the referral but they weren't home, but as we were walking away this woman came up to us and asked us if we could come and do a prayer or something to help out her old mother(easily in her 80´s) because she is in deep depression because her husband passed away recently. So we went and gave her a blessing and directed everything towards teaching about the plan of salvation to all who were present there. It was a spirit-filled, emotional visit for them and I think they are going to let us back in to continue with more teaching. They just work a lot(biggest impediment in the progress of an investigator of the church), so we hope we can get in again soon. We went back to the house of Julio´s family and taught them also. They are really good. These people have also given us some really good referrals of families that have had someone pass away that all live on the same street. The street "Recabarren" is gonna be a good working street for us in the future. Hopefully we find éxito(success) there.

Yeah, we ended up donating blood again. On Tuesday, I was on exchanges with É Tinoco(Zone Leader) in my area visiting Elizabet Rodriguez. She told us that she is looking for blood donors because her sister-in-law needs a transfusion stat. We told her that we could do it and see if we could get more people involved also to obtain even more help. So that night, working with the Zone Leaders and the stake pres., we were able to organize a quick blood drive for the next morning with all the missionaries(except for élder Johnson because he just donated blood for one of our other members a couple weeks ago. ha ha). Even a few other members from the stake came. We were able to acquire 14 donations(pints I believe) of blood for Elizabet´s cuñada(sister-in-law). She was pretty content after hearing about how much we got done for her. It was a really cool experience to see a service project like that carry itself through.

Being a district leader is a little bit different than earlier, but it is pretty fun. I didn't know I had to direct district meeting on Tuesday already so I just made up something on the spot and did something real fast. Verifying every night takes up a lot more time which means less time for other stuff...oh well. At least I am learning a lot right+Freak, my keyboard is messed up so I don't know how to do question marks anymore. I just know that we are going to have tons of success in the district this transfer!

I'm glad that the family back home is doing well! Thanks for the conference talk! I am going to print off a couple of my favorites so I can read and study them as well as listen to them. That is awesome that Payton got baptized. Baptisms are definitely one of my favorite events to attend for sure! It sounds like Cade is just about ready to put on one of those black plaques and get out in the field right now. The sooner he gets out, the sooner I can see him when he gets back to talk about how awesome he is. Lexi already looks like a registered nurse. Wearing those scrubs, I would probably trust her taking my blood or takin out stitches or something. How come dad didn't ever dress up like Santa when I was asking girls to dances+ Thats one pretty cool dad!

Well, till next week. Keep on praying for all those missionaries in the Lords vineyard!
Un Abrazo,
Elder Dev Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera

Sweet reunions with...E. Hudgens,

and E. Wixom,

and E. Toledo,

and E. Daybell!!

Isreal Street

Service project...

giving blood for Elizabet's family

break time

baptism of Nicolas Vega

and his family who came to support him

bus ride to Mendoza with E.Schirner for meetings

saying my good-byes to E. Galati  :-(

more good-byes... :-(

!Me Quedo! (I remain)

Hello there!

Well, I don´t know if I will ever be able to complete this email fully because there are so many things that I need to tell you all. Crazy week! Consisting of the Leadership Meeting in Mendoza on Wednesday morning(had to wake up at 4:00 to catch the bus), the following day was part II of the training meeting(Mendoza), baptism of Nicolás Vega, the sessions of General Conference (including the amazing news of how young men can get out at age 18), transfers, becoming a district leader, and saying goodbye to Élder Galati.

I don´t even know where to start. Well we found out transfers this morning! The Lord is going to bless me with another transfer here in San Juan. I´m staying! It is going to be really cool finishing off some of these baptisms that we have started here. We are working with some really good families. Élder Johnson has ended his training so we will now be able to go out and work in the mornings! Should be a whole new experience and we will get a lot more done.

Along with staying, Presidente is moving me up to District Leader so I will have a little more responsability as we go about this transfer. I´m going to have have latings and half gringos in my district also. Let´s hope they are all ready to work and be successful as a big team. It will be me, Élder Johnson, É López, É Rojas, É Garcia, and Élder Henry(gringo).

We also got the opportunity to go and send off É Galati yesterday at the Terminal. Oh boy was that an emotional roller coaster ride into my future. Leaving the mission is not going to be an easy feat. It makes me want to work even harder so I don´t have any regrets whatsoever by the time it touches me to leave the mish.

I feel like we just had one of the busiest week this past one! We didn´t have time to do anything because we were either running from place to place or sitting in a meeting. I´m not going to lie though, I always enjoy listening to Presidente Ávila speak to us because he never bores me and I always take pages of notes because he is one of the most inspired men I have met. I left Wednesday morning(4:00 bright and early to get to Mendoza on time) with É Shirner and É Alberro and a couple other elders from the other zone in San Juan(Chimbas). All of the leaders(District and Zone) were there in Mendoza so I got to see all of my old comps but É Wahl(É Squires, É Hudgens, É Wixom, and É Toledo). It was way cool catching up with everyone and taking sweet pics. Also learned many key things in the meeting. Slept over at the offices and waited for my comp(É Johnson) to make it to Mendoza with É Marsh(from Riverton) so we could make it to another day of training meetings. It was all good stuff!

Returning home Thursday night from Mendoza we had to bust our butts getting ready for the baptism because there were still things to prepare. We invited everything we could and made sure every little thing was prepared. The service on Friday turned out really well. They had a lot of family show up and the service was very spiritual, until the end when I sang a solo while directing the music to "Families Can Be Together Forever"! Can you believe that no one including the Bishop and Mission Leader and my comp would sing more than the voice of a little mouse? Incredible! We are going to follow through with the confirmation the next week due to the Conference this weekend.

Other prospects for the near future to enter into those waters of baptism are Omar(33) and his wife Elizabet(23) Rodriguez(both awesome!), Juliana Acosta(9), and a couple other good lookins attached to less active families and recent converts that we are workin with.

I swear that they do this on purpose! The prophet makes it so that each General Conference every 6 months just gets better and better! My favorite sessions were Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning. Top three talks(most inspiring or most useful to me) would have to be... Russel M. Nelson(ASK THE MISSIONARIES!!!!!), President Monson on Sunday Morning(received lots of grade A revelation for questions that I had), and Elder Holland(just because I wasn´t able to even take any notes on his talk because my eyes were glued to the screen, AMAZING TALK!). Actually, I loved all of the talks, but I just wanted to point a few out. I took lots of notes as usual because General Conference is one of the best times to receive revelation. If you didn´t go into Conference with any questions that you have about life or anything, write down and study your questions by using the conference talks! Some of the repeated frases or topics from this conferecence were "conversion/mighty change of heart", "Atonement", and "Built upon the Rock". There were more though. If things are being repeated a lot by general authorities, you know that if you work on those things, you will find much happiness in the future. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect, just like Him.

Wow, can you believe the cool announcements by President Monson?? Young men can now get out on missions at age 18 and young women at age 19(Lexi, Brooke, and Mallory? Ha. Study your Patriarchal Blessings and pray to ask Heavenly Father if you need to go. He answers prayers). Crazy! That changes missionary work a ton in the world. It is exactly what we need right now in the church. More missonaries! It is very evident even in my mission with about 25 missionaries leaving this transfer and only like 4 coming in. It is essential right now to enlarge the amount of missionaries in the world. I hope that all the young men that are still thinking about it, can realize that their time is running out. 18 years old is not that much. Listen to the conference talks and follow their counsel so that you will be ready and prepared to enter into the Lord´s service when he calls you. "If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work."

1 Now behold, a amarvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the aservice of God, see that yebserve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand cblameless before God at the last day.
3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are acalled to the work;
4 For behold the afield is white already to bharvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in cstorethat he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;
5 And afaith, bhope, ccharity and dlove, with an eeye single to thefglory of God, gqualify him for the work.
6 Remember faith, avirtue, knowledge, btemperance, cpatience,dbrotherly ekindness, fgodliness, charity, ghumility, hdiligence.
7 aAsk, and ye shall receive; bknock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.

Don´t just memorize this inspired scripture about missonary work before leaving on your mission or doing any type of missionary service, but apply it to your life. Understand what it means to serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, as well as apply the ten attributes included in verse 6.

I love missionary work. I love being a missionary, I love bearing my testimony every day. I love living a purer life. I love blessing the lives of others through proclaiming the truth. I love feeling the healing power of the Atonement. I love my Savior. Nothin better than serving the Lord.

Thanks for supporting a needy missionary with your prayers. Love you all!
Un abrazo grande,
Élder Deven Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera!

 saying our goodbyes :-(

Otro día en paraíso (Another day in paradise)

Hello!
Good afternoon from the blessed land of Argentina! Elder Larisch here to give the weekly update.

The weather in San Juan today is about 24 degrees Celsius and a bit too windy for my liking. Especially because I left the pench without a sweater today. What a poor decision. Well, ya learn from your mistakes. Am I right?

Reporting in week 24/9/2012 to 30/9/2012... We had a pretty good week this go-around. Many happy moments accompanied with blood, sweat, and tears, and blisters. We had various service projects this week(that is where a few of the blisters come from. I have found out that I have baby hands). Such a good feeling doing service(physical labor for needy). Even though we are not raising our numbers for the week in lessons taught or new investigators, we are able to bless the lives of others and even help strengthen their faith through our example and hard work.

We have been working a lot with Agustina, Joel, and their fam to get more people baptized. We are working with one of their referrals to a family of 10. Wow, that would be SICK if we could start working with these to families together! Let´s hope for the best because they are all over the age of 8... We are preparing the baptism for Nicolás Vega this weekend, from a recently activated less active family. It should be an awesome service this Friday. I don´t know when we are going to do the confirmation because of General Conference, but it will most likely be this week. Omar(another investigator) wasn´t able to come to church and has been working a lot lately (vending vegetables in a cart all day), so let´s hope that he can find time to meet with us and get baptized the following week. He is super awesome, and his wife even started opening up to us a lot also. That is a very brief investigator update. You´re welcome.

Well we only have one more week in this transfer. Next week you will be getting news on if I stay or if I go(now) to another place. I´m pretty sure that I will be stayin here with Elder Johnson for another transfer even though we won´t be in training anymore. He is putting on his big boy pants, and you know what that means, we won´t have to stay inside the pench until 12:00 every day doing the 12-week study program. Don´t get me wrong though, the program is a miracle and has given us lot´s of success, but I like workin in the morning. Élder Galati is going home this next week(our District Leader and other Elder in our ward), so that will also be a big change of environment. No matter what, after this transfer, a lot of stuff is going to change.

Well, I don´t know who is stoked for General Conference as much as I am. We just bought our conference ties(and a missing belt and a few pairs of socks to replace the holy ones that I have) so I would say that we are pretty ready. Take out your ballpoint pens and journals for taking notes because we are going to receive the word of God(Amos 3:7...if you will). I don´t want to jynx anything, but I am just writing this so if it really happens, I can look back at this in a few years and say that I predicted it but yeah...Mendoza temple...

We had our interviews with Presidente Ávila this week. I still can´t believe that our president is human. He goes so long without eating and sleeping that I know that he is the Lord´s servant and he is receiving an outpouring of the spirit to help all of the little missionaries that he has under his wings here in this mission. I love the interviews because they are an awesome time to ask questions(because this man knows all). Good times.

Dang, I am just going to have a lot to tell you next week I just don´t know how I am going to do it. We have a few trips to Mendoza(for the renewing of my Visa or something and for training pt. 2 from Presidente), we have a baptism, we have general conference, and we have new transfers.

Spiritual Thought:
http://www.lds.org/church/events/members-and-friends-of-the-church-invited-to-participate-in-october-2012-general-conference?lang=eng
More of a "Watch this video!" type of spiritual thought to realize what is going to go down this weekend in Salt Lake and feel the spirit of General Conference. FYI, I understood the one from Mexico and Brazil(thanks to Gma and Gpa Fletcher).

"The heavens are indeed open, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, the Church is founded upon the rock of revelation."

-Our beloved living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson

That is all for this week. Thanks for all the support/prayers. Till next week.
Un abrazo,
Elder Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera

El Sábado de pantalones blancos (white pants Saturday)

Yellow!

White Pants Saturday is a new holiday that we are trying to start up here. I don´t know what the president is going to say about that one, but hopefully we can keep it up.

There is one big highlight for the week...We had a baptism! Yeah, É Johnson got his first water experience and got to perform the ordinance. Agustina and Joel Rodriguez, two kids from a family that is recently getting activated. They are a super cool family. The service was way good, even that we had multiple investigators show up and they had all of their friends and family come. It was a super spiritual experience because they had been passing by many hard times and challenges with the wife´s dad passing away last week and all of the complications with Agustina´s cancer. The dad bore a very strong testimony and brought the spirit in there a ton. I was even able to make some baptismal gifts out of the package that Omi and Opi sent me. The other elders were able to help us out to make sure everything else went well with the service.

We are hoping to be working with the Rodriguez family a lot in these next few weeks so that we can start baptizing their neighbors and friends that came to the baptism. We are also working very closely with another Rodriguez family(no relation), Omar and Elizabet, in the which Omar should be getting baptized this next week before conference and Elizabet the next week. Same thing with Nicolás Vega, the next week he will enter into those waters to make covenants with his Heavenly Father.

I was able to receive a few more letters and a package this week. The package was from Ben, Tara, and the rest of the fam. Thanks for all of the sweet ties and letters! The blue tie is now my official baptismal service tie. Look for it in the ´white pants saturday´ pics in the future!

Well, don´t have way too much time this go-around to write a lot. Élder Johnson and I are working miracles and doin work everywhere we go. We are just praying to see more success as we are working with these people.

Spiritual Thought: I just wanna share a little portion of a talk that I gave yesterday in sacrament. They gave me the topic of ´La Obra del Señor(The Work of the Lord)´. In my reading in the Bible, in the Gospel of John, I was reading across some really cool chapters(I would highly suggest reading John if you never have, the writing is different when it is someone that followed Jesus around basically everywhere and had one of the best relationships with Him), 6 and 7, where it talks about Christ being the bread of life. So I thought, and I pondered a bit about what the work of the Lord really is. Isn´t it what Moses 1:39 says about the bringing to pass of immortality and eternal life and all that? Yes, that is exactly what His work is. The way the Lord gets that work done is through Jesus Christ(bread of life). Take a look at John 6. Are we "evermore" wanting Him to give us of the bread?:

27 aLabour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the bSon of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father csealed.

33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the abread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall neverbthirst.

Un Abrazo,
Elder Dev Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera

 Agustina and Joel Rodriguez

 All the people who came out to support these great kiddos

 E. Johnson getting ready for his first baptism

 What do you think...Do I need new shoes?

 and a new belt??

 my new best friend...

 Good ole mac and cheese and hot dogs

WOW!!

15 Questions....

Thanks to a friend of mine, we got the idea to ask Deven some questions.  So here are a few of his answers that he had time for this week:

1. I miss a lot of food. I really could use some Panda right now though. I was cravin Costa Vida the other day though.

2. The traditional argentine asado includes every part of the cow. Some of the main delicasies are mondongo(stomach), chinchulín(intestines), lengua(tongue), cerebro(brain), corazón(heart), and many more. I, personally, am pleased by each of these plates, if and only if they are cooked well. I have had good and bad experiences with some of them. Ha ha. We usually eat pretty well though. When we do have lunch with members, they tend to spoil us with really good food.

3. Laundry depends on the area. Here in San Juan we live with a member that lets us use here washer in the morning if we do it before 9:00. Godoy Cruz was a bit different. We had to go to a Lavandería(Laundromat, I think they are called there) every Pday, and very seldom would a member wash clothes for us. In Maipú, we always left our clothes in the church and a member would do it for us every week.

4. My favorite food(s) in Argentina would be Pastel de Papa, Milanesas (Hipolitanas), and of course...ASADO(with some chorizo also thrown in there)!

5. Yeah, I don´t know. It is kinda hard to notice if my dreams are in spanish. I have tried to remember but I never can. I am usually always thinking in Spanish now so it complicates English a bit sometimes. If you need someone to speak Spanglish to you, I would be the one.

6. Yes Mallory, we walk everywhere. My shoes are falling apart, my calves are getting huge, and my comp complains all the time because he is getting blisters. Ha ha. I haven´t had too many feet problems though, only some athlete´s foot when it is hot. We take colectivos(buses) to get to some places in our areas sometimes and to get to other areas for other reasons, but mainly, we walk...and walk...and walk...aaaand waaaaaaalk.(Pioneer childrens song I believe).

7. My favorite thing to do on P-day. Hmm, I like to do a lot of things. I like it when we are able to get out and go somewhere cool(bodegas, places in the mountains, etc.) or just go play sports(fútbol, frisbee, basketball, etc.) The more boring ones we just play cards or write letters.

Time out. I´ll finish next week... Love ya

8. I have only been in primary a few times. I wish I could go every Sunday though becuase they always get candies and sing songs and stuff while we are reading the whole time.

9. Well, there aren´t too many argentine sports. The most popular ones are fútbol(main), womens field hockey, basketball, and padle. They have a little bit of some other sports but not much. I don´t know which is my favorite. It would probably be padle, but I still haven´t been able to play it yet...

10. I cut my own hair usually. This time it looks especially good. A lot of Elders buy or bring their own machines and I just borrow. I have gotten pretty good at it. I don´t know, I think Kim will have a little competition when I get home because the machine is so easy. Ha.

11. Yes, we are allowed to drink soda and caffeine. The only stuff they have here are mainly Coke, Sprite, and Orange Fanta. I try not to drink a lot of it, because it makes me cry(very carbonated) and it is not healthy. Everyone either drinks soda here or the little Tang juice packets.

12. Yes, I have bought a few ties. I think how much I spend money here just depends on the people I am around. Elder Daybell from my last area had a lot of collections and was always buyin stuff so it made me also want to buy. I have probably bought like 6 ties here. My collection of ties has really grown a lot though!

13. The cool Jersey that I am wearing in my pics is of River Platte. I am pretty sure I have already told you about the two main soccer teams from Buenos Aires. River and Boca. You have to choose one(it wasn´t too hard for me because I come from Riverton...). I bought that jersey for 40 pesos in a persa(flea market type thing).

14. It depends who I am with. I am usually very willing to speak spanish all the time. We usually set goals of how much we talk to each other(if we both speak english) so that we can get better at the language. We are supposed to use the language as much as possible.

15. Hmm, this is a pretty broad question that is going to bring up a long list. Some other stuff I miss from home include: Maggie, fam, mexican food, naps, Dr. Pepper, real mayonaise, long walks on the beach, carpet, full pantry, houses made of wood, public cleanliness, traffic laws, Kim´s haircuts, etc. But that doesn´t mean that I don´t like it here. I love it here, I was just answering the question.

Love ya, chau

Esta semana fue "Joya" (This week was 'Jewel')

Hey!
Good day from Argentina! It´s gettin pretty hot here pretty fast... Too bad that sweater didn´t get to me a bit earlier from the package. Ha. Nothin but short sleeves till a long time.

Important notice: Last week I wasn´t able to open up and read all of the stuff in my package because we had to hurry and do some things. With that, I forgot to thank Grandma and Grandpa very much for the 20 mangos(bucks). I have been reading the "O Livro de Mórmon" actually quite a bit when I have found some bits of time at night or when my comp is in the bathroom. With my knowledge of Spanish along with the first chapters of the Book of Mormon, I am able to understand Portuguese really well. Reading and speaking are two totally different things. I am already in 1 Nefi 9!

Ëlder Johnson and I are movin along pretty well. We have a pretty good week. Our main success was doing PEPO(an abbreviation for something we are trying out in the mission). It is kinda cool how the missionary work just advances a ton and takes on new techniques to see the great success that this true gospel needs.

This week, we were planning to have a ton at church, but as it has happened before, we divide all of the people we well committed to church by four and that is about what we get. We ended up getting Nicolás to church again(along with his whole super inactive family, which was awesome!) so he can prepare to get baptized one of these next weeks. We also got one of our other investitgators to come to just Sacrament meeting(showed up thankfully at the last second), Omar, except the whole time he was just scared out of his mind. He is a little of a shy guy, so I don´t know exactly how he took all of the members coming up and giving him hugs and greeting him. We will have to see tomorrow when we pass by again to see what his feelings were about church. He has been preparing to get baptized one of these next weeks. Agostina and Joel, who are supposed to get baptized this Saturday were not able to come to church because their grandpa passed away on Saturday, so they were at the cemetery all day. I don´t know if that will postpone the baptism a little bit or not. I guess we will find out during the week.

We have another new investigator that a member brought to the chapel on thursday who is really cool. Her name is Laura, she vistied with the Elders back in April and almost got baptized, but they were passing by too often by her house so she had to tell them to stop coming. She was going through a really hard time the other day(something to do with her ex-husband and the kids and all that crazy stuff that hopefully I will never have to put up with) and here member friend just happened to call her and ask her if she was alright as if she knew that something was wrong. Isn´t it cool how the spirit works? So she agreed to come and visit with us on Thursday. It was just one of those super spiritual visits that I will probably never forget. My comp and I kept thinking of the exact same scriptures to share with her, she received a baptism date, and I gave her a blessing of comfort and counsel.

Yeah, everything is going more or less pretty smooth here. It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well back at home. Luberta going to Homecoming...WOOHOOO. Just remember, no kissing until you are 16! oh...(Dad will probably be watching at the doorstep). That is awesome how dad is just winning first place and nothing else ever. Can´t wait to see all of the gold/blue medals/ribbons that he has stashed up. Congrats! Now it´s time to put the big boy pants on and move up to the experts and show them how it is done! Uh! Good luck in your last race for this season pops.

Spiritual Thought: It is called a "thought" because I give you something small and you have to do the thinking and pondering if you want to get anything out of it.

This week we had some really cool plan of salvation lessons. One of my favorite questions to ask members when they accompany us in the teaching of investigators is "How does your knowlege of the Plan of Salvation affect the choices you make?" It is an amazing process of how your mind and whole perspective on life change as you understand the mysteries of God. He gives us so many of His mysteries right in front of us. How amazing is it to know the answers to these three big questions "Where do we come from? Why are we here on earth? Where do we go after we die?." These mysteries of God are easily found in the scriptures that God has, out of His love, given to us so that we may treasure more the Gospel of Jesus Christ and use our agency better so that we may return to Him again. What would be your answer to that first question? I, myself, am "eternally" grateful for this knowledge and it sure gives me the motivation I need to follow my Savior and be in the right path. Other people NEED this information. Share the Gospel with EVERYONE and bear your testimony on how this knowlege affects your life so greatly.

One bundle of argentine love from your favorite Élder...in Argentina
Un abracito,
Élder Dev Larisch
La iglesia es Verdadera