July 18, 2011

Another super good week with Elder Vergara! We had to do a lot of traveling around this week because Elder Vergara is a District Leader so we did not spend as much time as I would have liked on the work. But traveling is still fun and an adventure. This week we spent a lot of time on trains. Trains in Argentina are like nothing you would ever believe. I have never been more crowded in by people in my life. When the train is at its most crowded, your arms are stuck at your sides, all you can see is black hair, and all you can smell is BO. Its kind of like a mosh pit. The other day on the two hour train to the center of Buenos Aires, this probably 300lb. Bolivian woman pretty much sat on my lap for a solid two hours. I know I am supposed to have charity for all men, but I wanted to kill her nearer to the end of the train ride. I could not feel my legs.

This week Elder Vergara and I were given permission and money from the mission to buy bikes. We only received about 50 bucks each for the bikes so we bought these two bikes that remind me of the 50s bikes that the kids rode at the beginning of the movie Jumanji. They are probably like the bikes that Dad rode when he was on his mission. But they are sweet and have only broken twice this week. I am just happy that we do not have to run to appointments anymore.

We also found out this week that the rent on our apartment went up again, and the mission office told us that we have to find another cheaper apartment and leave ours by the end of the month. So for the next few weeks we will be searching feverishly to find a new apartment with rent that is less than 200 dollars a month. If cant find a place, the mission office told us that there is space underneath a bridge near to where we live.

The work is changing a lot with the arrival of Elder Vergara. We are concentrating a lot more of our efforts on including the members in the work because the members really are the key to our success. It seems to be working because we have a whole lot of baptisms coming up at the end of this month. When the members help, we do a lot more of teaching than we do looking for people to teach. It is like there are 70 Elders in City Bell in stead of just us two. Lots of special things are happening. Yesterday at church this girl came up to us and said, "Hi! I came to church when I was a little girl with my grandma and I looked up the church on the Internet. I really like it here, is there something I can do to become a member or something?" We had to hold back our giggles because we were so surprised. She is getting baptized at the end of this month along with a few more of our investigators.