Nothing says Argentina better than goats and burning garbage
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas (St)eve pictures
This is the family of Daisy and her 5 daughters before i left
Nothing says Argentina better than goats and burning garbage
Nothing says Argentina better than goats and burning garbage
Sunday, December 23, 2007
December 20, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Sorry I didn't write this Monday but we had our Christmas Activity and we didn't have time to do emails and we only have time to write one email write now. Thank you for the news, it's great to hear from all of you. Oma and Marion, thanks a ton for the package and the Birthday, it really does mean a lot to me and the Christmas decorations are great. I'm not opening the gifts till Christmas so don't worry.
Anyways, the new area is GREAT, it's absolutely nothing like Celina, there are trees. It's like working in Argentina again. This area is where all the professional soccer players live and the actors. There are some incredible houses in this area and everyone has a pool. The area has some poorer parts too but it's an excellent mix and it's much more tranquil which is something that was missed.
My companion Elder Pollock is a stud. We are rocking this area and working harder than ever and seeing the blessings...really. The work is going great. He´s from Heber Utah. We are looking forward to a great transfer. Pictures are coming soon but we don't have time this week.
I wont be writing emails this monday either because of the Christmas call. I will be calling home Christmas day at 4-7 o´clock my time (which would be 12-3 o´clock your time i think, but don't quote me on that)[editor's note: he's 5 hours ahead, so I believe it's 11-2]. There is no pre-call and don't worry about anything but being there, we already bought calling cards. If you were thinking about worrying about me, don't! I'm doing excellent.
My best wishes to Grandma, Grandpa, Leslie, Darryl, Erynn, Oma, Marion, Frank, Marcus, Mom, Dad, Sean, Kelsey, Jenny, Mike, Ian, Jeremy, and everyone else.. Have a great Christmas week!
I love you all and am excited to talk to you. May we all take time to remember our blessings and give thanks to the Lord for the family and love that we have. Merry Christmas!
With Love,
Elder Steven Kelly
Parque Leloir, Castelar
Misión Buenos Aires Oeste
Sorry I didn't write this Monday but we had our Christmas Activity and we didn't have time to do emails and we only have time to write one email write now. Thank you for the news, it's great to hear from all of you. Oma and Marion, thanks a ton for the package and the Birthday, it really does mean a lot to me and the Christmas decorations are great. I'm not opening the gifts till Christmas so don't worry.
Anyways, the new area is GREAT, it's absolutely nothing like Celina, there are trees. It's like working in Argentina again. This area is where all the professional soccer players live and the actors. There are some incredible houses in this area and everyone has a pool. The area has some poorer parts too but it's an excellent mix and it's much more tranquil which is something that was missed.
My companion Elder Pollock is a stud. We are rocking this area and working harder than ever and seeing the blessings...really. The work is going great. He´s from Heber Utah. We are looking forward to a great transfer. Pictures are coming soon but we don't have time this week.
I wont be writing emails this monday either because of the Christmas call. I will be calling home Christmas day at 4-7 o´clock my time (which would be 12-3 o´clock your time i think, but don't quote me on that)[editor's note: he's 5 hours ahead, so I believe it's 11-2]. There is no pre-call and don't worry about anything but being there, we already bought calling cards. If you were thinking about worrying about me, don't! I'm doing excellent.
My best wishes to Grandma, Grandpa, Leslie, Darryl, Erynn, Oma, Marion, Frank, Marcus, Mom, Dad, Sean, Kelsey, Jenny, Mike, Ian, Jeremy, and everyone else.. Have a great Christmas week!
I love you all and am excited to talk to you. May we all take time to remember our blessings and give thanks to the Lord for the family and love that we have. Merry Christmas!
With Love,
Elder Steven Kelly
Parque Leloir, Castelar
Misión Buenos Aires Oeste
Monday, December 10, 2007
December 10, 2007
Hello Everyone,
A week of change. I found out today that I'm leaving Bolivia (Villa Celina) and heading a much richer area called Parque Leloir! They tell me it is quite a high class area.
I will have my sixth comp in 6 transfers. Elder Pollock, I met him today for a minute or two and he seems like a great guy so I am very excited. He is from Utah like the rest of them. He has two transfers in the mission field so I'm Companion mayor which makes me a bit nervous because supposedly I will be the spanish speaker. I know with prayer I'll do just fine so I'm not that nervous. I am quite excited actually.
The Mission had an incredible transfer and we are all working very hard so we are pleased. I'm quite excited for the change but I will definitely miss Villa Celina. There is no other place like it in the mission and I had some incredible moments and learned some very important principles in Celina.
Christmas is approaching or so they tell me. It seems nothing like Christmas to me. The one thing I miss is the singing Christmas carols in harmony. I haven't been able to sing since the MTC, but I'm enjoying the season. I will be celebrating the birthday and Christmas with a new family in a new area, which is pretty exciting. I will never have this opportunity again so I ought to enjoy it!
Well I miss and love you all and hope and pray for the best for you. I will tell you all how the new area is next week. Have an excellent week and i will talk to you soon!
Elder Kelly
A week of change. I found out today that I'm leaving Bolivia (Villa Celina) and heading a much richer area called Parque Leloir! They tell me it is quite a high class area.
I will have my sixth comp in 6 transfers. Elder Pollock, I met him today for a minute or two and he seems like a great guy so I am very excited. He is from Utah like the rest of them. He has two transfers in the mission field so I'm Companion mayor which makes me a bit nervous because supposedly I will be the spanish speaker. I know with prayer I'll do just fine so I'm not that nervous. I am quite excited actually.
The Mission had an incredible transfer and we are all working very hard so we are pleased. I'm quite excited for the change but I will definitely miss Villa Celina. There is no other place like it in the mission and I had some incredible moments and learned some very important principles in Celina.
Christmas is approaching or so they tell me. It seems nothing like Christmas to me. The one thing I miss is the singing Christmas carols in harmony. I haven't been able to sing since the MTC, but I'm enjoying the season. I will be celebrating the birthday and Christmas with a new family in a new area, which is pretty exciting. I will never have this opportunity again so I ought to enjoy it!
Well I miss and love you all and hope and pray for the best for you. I will tell you all how the new area is next week. Have an excellent week and i will talk to you soon!
Elder Kelly
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
December 3, 2007
Hello Family!
Another week has come and gone in Celina, and what a week. It is hot and humid and just fine. They tell me it will get much worse so I'm counting my blessings while I can. Down in Argentina for Christmas they set off fireworks so we shall see how that goes.
Sunday was a great fast and testimony meeting. I get to pick the music and direct it sometimes and we started to sing Christmas songs yesterday. It was excellent.
They opened a new Wal-Mart about three minutes away from the other Wal Mart. I laughed about how WalMart just might be taking over the world. I heard that with all the WalMart workers combined, you would have the third largest standing army in the world. What a thought. Today we went and found Bulls eye steak sauce and MAMBA´S. I was excited and bought three packs of Mambas.
The work is excellent. After working with a young woman named Noemi we had a miracle happen. Her Dad was very anger at her going to church and wouldn't let her go but we had a very spiritual meeting at a member's house with her and we came up with a solution that she should talk to her Father about baptism. Together with much prayer and a fast with the YW´s President and her she said that her Dad gave her permission! We are so excited and will hold the baptism the 16 of December, she's an incredible YW and we are very excited for her.
Well another transfer is coming to an end. This is the last week of the transfer and we have no idea who will leave. There are signs pointing to either way. We won't know till Monday and we will leave on Tuesday morning so I might be writing my next email from somewhere else. Pretty exciting.
Well thanks for all you prayers and letters, I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Elder Kelly
Monday, November 26, 2007
November 26, 2007
Hello!
Well, another great week has gone by here in ViLLA Celina! Things are going great.
This last week we had a conference in Gonzalez Catán which is one of the most run down parts of the mission. To get there, we had to take a bus line called the Mercado Central bus for an hour! It was excellent. The bus is the only line that takes bills and since there is a shortage of change down here, it is a great perk. But the price you pay for being able to pay with bills is your safety.
These buses are Hilariously run-down. They pack them so full and they don't even care about how they drive as long as they get there fast, ei they don't stop all the way to let people off or on and they drive off the side of the road to pass traffic. For those of you who have seen The Muppet Movie, its just like the bus that Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem use, but more broken down. It was way exciting!!
Well I'm really enjoying work with my Paraguayan Comp because he speaks to all of the Paraguayans in our area in Guanani! It's a great way to meet people. We did divisions this week and I worked a day with a brand new elder from Chile! Great Elder and it was nice to be able to say, I remember when I had a week in the mission =).
Well the transfers will be ending soon and I will probably be heading back to "real" Argentina. We will see. Anyways, I also wanted to say how great it is to be serving at the same time as Elder Garrett and Wake. How incredibly cool. The Wakes, Kellys and Garretts are three powerhouse families! We´ll only be doing this for two months of our lives so way to go Elders!
Love you all thanks for your emails, and I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Kelly
Well, another great week has gone by here in ViLLA Celina! Things are going great.
This last week we had a conference in Gonzalez Catán which is one of the most run down parts of the mission. To get there, we had to take a bus line called the Mercado Central bus for an hour! It was excellent. The bus is the only line that takes bills and since there is a shortage of change down here, it is a great perk. But the price you pay for being able to pay with bills is your safety.
These buses are Hilariously run-down. They pack them so full and they don't even care about how they drive as long as they get there fast, ei they don't stop all the way to let people off or on and they drive off the side of the road to pass traffic. For those of you who have seen The Muppet Movie, its just like the bus that Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem use, but more broken down. It was way exciting!!
Well I'm really enjoying work with my Paraguayan Comp because he speaks to all of the Paraguayans in our area in Guanani! It's a great way to meet people. We did divisions this week and I worked a day with a brand new elder from Chile! Great Elder and it was nice to be able to say, I remember when I had a week in the mission =).
Well the transfers will be ending soon and I will probably be heading back to "real" Argentina. We will see. Anyways, I also wanted to say how great it is to be serving at the same time as Elder Garrett and Wake. How incredibly cool. The Wakes, Kellys and Garretts are three powerhouse families! We´ll only be doing this for two months of our lives so way to go Elders!
Love you all thanks for your emails, and I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Kelly
Monday, November 19, 2007
November 19, 2007
Hello!
How is everyone! I´ll bet you are all busy just like me! Before I forget, have a Great Thanksgiving, and score some touchdowns for me in the Turkey Bowl!
Well another week has come and gone in crazy Villa Celina! Things are progressing well. We have a lot of non-members in church but it's difficult for them to progress for one reason or another.
The Spanish is improving a lot due to the help of my crazy Paraguayan companion. He is teaching me Guanani (language of Paraguay) but its very different. His English is improving, too. Still searching and teaching. Not too much happened that I can write about, but it was a very successful week!
The Elders from Villa Madero had a Baptism which was a bit interesting... but all was well in the end. Anything exciting happen with any of you? (Ian or Sean) =)
The Villa down here is CRAZY during Sundays. 6 days of straight work and then on Sundays, Everyone is fall over drunk, down to the age if 12. It's very sad sometimes to watch the effect that the alcohol has on the people, especially the families and the poor mothers and children. About three times we saw people that we thought were dead but were just passed out from alcohol. It doesn't help that it's cheaper than water.
We don't really do too much on Sundays. I'm so grateful for the Word of Wisdom or the palabra de sabiduría. The difference between those who are blessed because of their obedience to it and those who don't observe it or know about it is literally Black and white.
WELL, anyways, I'm very happy and things are going very well. I hope all is well for all of you and know that I pray for you all!! Thanks for your support!
Con amor y gratitud,
Elder Kelly
How is everyone! I´ll bet you are all busy just like me! Before I forget, have a Great Thanksgiving, and score some touchdowns for me in the Turkey Bowl!
Well another week has come and gone in crazy Villa Celina! Things are progressing well. We have a lot of non-members in church but it's difficult for them to progress for one reason or another.
The Spanish is improving a lot due to the help of my crazy Paraguayan companion. He is teaching me Guanani (language of Paraguay) but its very different. His English is improving, too. Still searching and teaching. Not too much happened that I can write about, but it was a very successful week!
The Elders from Villa Madero had a Baptism which was a bit interesting... but all was well in the end. Anything exciting happen with any of you? (Ian or Sean) =)
The Villa down here is CRAZY during Sundays. 6 days of straight work and then on Sundays, Everyone is fall over drunk, down to the age if 12. It's very sad sometimes to watch the effect that the alcohol has on the people, especially the families and the poor mothers and children. About three times we saw people that we thought were dead but were just passed out from alcohol. It doesn't help that it's cheaper than water.
We don't really do too much on Sundays. I'm so grateful for the Word of Wisdom or the palabra de sabiduría. The difference between those who are blessed because of their obedience to it and those who don't observe it or know about it is literally Black and white.
WELL, anyways, I'm very happy and things are going very well. I hope all is well for all of you and know that I pray for you all!! Thanks for your support!
Con amor y gratitud,
Elder Kelly
November 12, 2007
Hey Family!
Great to hear from you again, thanks for your letters! I'm not sure if its anyone´s birthday this week but Happy Birthday if so.
This week was hectic. Tuesday, I got a bad migraine and couldn't leave. Wednesday we had to come home early in the night to wait for the missionaries from the far parts of the mission to come to our apartment to stay for the night. The showed up a bit late and there were 8 missionaries in our apartment.
The next morning we all piled into two taxis to leave the mission and head to the mission BAN (buenos aires norte) to a chapel in capital. I got to see all my companions who weren't home already (Foster, Decker, and Bracken). We also got to hear from Elder Uchdorf. It was incredible. The spirit was very strong and we learned many many things. He talked about his experiences in Germany and we learned a lot of things. He knows less Spanish than Mom =).
That was Thursday, then Friday we had our interviews with the President which went very well. Saturday we prepared an activity for the ward, which we had at 7 at night. It went really well! We cooked deserts and I gave them all pop rocks and they went nuts over the pop rocks. Little kids who were always afraid of me followed me around with arms outstretched. I laughed and then tried to scare them to see if they would still come and they did. We also made no bake cookies which were pretty good too.
Sunday we gave talks and talked to A TON of people after church. Then earlier today we opened the cabinet above the stove and there was a birds nest with a warm egg in the stove pipe and I cleaned it out.
Well Elder Gavilan and I are working hard and are getting along famously. We are hoping to have two baptisms planned by the end of this week, I'll keep you all posted,
Love to Grandma and Grandpa, Leslie, Darryl, Erynn, GG, Oma!(thanks for the Newspapers!), Marion and frank(thanks for the pictures I'll be praying for those victims) and anyone else who this letter gets to!! Have a great week! And if this gets to Elder Dance somehow, CONGRATULATIONS ELDER!! way to go!! Talk to you all soon!
Con Amor,
Elder Kelly
Great to hear from you again, thanks for your letters! I'm not sure if its anyone´s birthday this week but Happy Birthday if so.
This week was hectic. Tuesday, I got a bad migraine and couldn't leave. Wednesday we had to come home early in the night to wait for the missionaries from the far parts of the mission to come to our apartment to stay for the night. The showed up a bit late and there were 8 missionaries in our apartment.
The next morning we all piled into two taxis to leave the mission and head to the mission BAN (buenos aires norte) to a chapel in capital. I got to see all my companions who weren't home already (Foster, Decker, and Bracken). We also got to hear from Elder Uchdorf. It was incredible. The spirit was very strong and we learned many many things. He talked about his experiences in Germany and we learned a lot of things. He knows less Spanish than Mom =).
That was Thursday, then Friday we had our interviews with the President which went very well. Saturday we prepared an activity for the ward, which we had at 7 at night. It went really well! We cooked deserts and I gave them all pop rocks and they went nuts over the pop rocks. Little kids who were always afraid of me followed me around with arms outstretched. I laughed and then tried to scare them to see if they would still come and they did. We also made no bake cookies which were pretty good too.
Sunday we gave talks and talked to A TON of people after church. Then earlier today we opened the cabinet above the stove and there was a birds nest with a warm egg in the stove pipe and I cleaned it out.
Well Elder Gavilan and I are working hard and are getting along famously. We are hoping to have two baptisms planned by the end of this week, I'll keep you all posted,
Love to Grandma and Grandpa, Leslie, Darryl, Erynn, GG, Oma!(thanks for the Newspapers!), Marion and frank(thanks for the pictures I'll be praying for those victims) and anyone else who this letter gets to!! Have a great week! And if this gets to Elder Dance somehow, CONGRATULATIONS ELDER!! way to go!! Talk to you all soon!
Con Amor,
Elder Kelly
November 5, 2007
Hey Family,
How's it going? Great to hear from you all, Happy Day Jen, and Thanks for the letter Oma! Tell the Murphy family Much thanks for the letter, it was excellent!
Well, things are doing well down in Argentina. Working hard, every day. Elder Gavilan and I are doing very well. He's a great Elder, from Paraguay. He speaks Guanani and Spanish, so he can speak with many over our Paraguyan investigadores in Guanani, and I can sit and listen!
This next week is a hectic one. We get to leave our mission for a morning and go to La Misión Norte (Buenos Aires North MIssion) to see Elder Uchdorf speak to the missionaries of our two missions. I'm very excited! We also have our interviews with the President this week and I'm quite excited for them. The work progressing, and things are going great.
Halloween was great, we had a party with the Tostitos and homemade salsa and the candy you send, but the highlight was the Tims Jalepeño chips. Everybody loved them and ate them in 20 minutes. It was excellent, and the apartment sends their love and thanks. Well I hope everything is well in Seattle, and enjoy the Thanksgiving season!!!
Que tengan una buena semana!! (Have a great week!)
Love,
Elder Kelly
Misión Buenos Aires Oeste
Zona Aldo Bonzi
Area Villa Celina
How's it going? Great to hear from you all, Happy Day Jen, and Thanks for the letter Oma! Tell the Murphy family Much thanks for the letter, it was excellent!
Well, things are doing well down in Argentina. Working hard, every day. Elder Gavilan and I are doing very well. He's a great Elder, from Paraguay. He speaks Guanani and Spanish, so he can speak with many over our Paraguyan investigadores in Guanani, and I can sit and listen!
This next week is a hectic one. We get to leave our mission for a morning and go to La Misión Norte (Buenos Aires North MIssion) to see Elder Uchdorf speak to the missionaries of our two missions. I'm very excited! We also have our interviews with the President this week and I'm quite excited for them. The work progressing, and things are going great.
Halloween was great, we had a party with the Tostitos and homemade salsa and the candy you send, but the highlight was the Tims Jalepeño chips. Everybody loved them and ate them in 20 minutes. It was excellent, and the apartment sends their love and thanks. Well I hope everything is well in Seattle, and enjoy the Thanksgiving season!!!
Que tengan una buena semana!! (Have a great week!)
Love,
Elder Kelly
Misión Buenos Aires Oeste
Zona Aldo Bonzi
Area Villa Celina
October 29, 2007
Family,
Hello! It's great to hear from you all. Happy Birthday Jeremy and Marcus! Congrats Leslie and Darryl on the progress, Erynn looks great!! 5 months old, wow!! I've heard some things about wild fires in California and would really appreciate an update on The Johnsons and Sylvi if anyone could email me a quick message.
Well, things down here are just fine. Yesterday was election day in Argentina. The wife of the current president won. Her name is Christina Kirchner. I'm not sure what that means, hopefully it is good.
The transfer came and went and Elder Zamora is now in some Hotel room in Buenos Aires with his father. It was kind of weird seeing him and his dad see each other. Almost anti-climactic, because his parents had already visited him already once or twice during his mission. He was a great Elder.
So my new companion is named Elder Gavilán and he is from Paraguay. He doesn't speak English so hopefully my Spanish will improve. He has a little over a year in the mission. Right now, I'm in a trio with the Elders from Villa Madero (elders Stoddard and Vernon) and my new companion will come tomorrow. We shall see.
I´ve been giving out Starbursts to kids at church and in the Villa, it's very entertaining and fun, thanks again for the package! We are teaching a couple of great families and one of them has 5 daughters!! Their ages are 9,8,5,3, and 1. I may have already written this but they are a great family, and the Mom will be getting married this December to her "boyfriend" or Marido like they say here of 8 years!! It's excellent to see their progress.
It's Hot and Humid and better than being cold!! Well that's mostly it from Argentina! Have an Excellent Halloween...
Elder Kelly
Hello! It's great to hear from you all. Happy Birthday Jeremy and Marcus! Congrats Leslie and Darryl on the progress, Erynn looks great!! 5 months old, wow!! I've heard some things about wild fires in California and would really appreciate an update on The Johnsons and Sylvi if anyone could email me a quick message.
Well, things down here are just fine. Yesterday was election day in Argentina. The wife of the current president won. Her name is Christina Kirchner. I'm not sure what that means, hopefully it is good.
The transfer came and went and Elder Zamora is now in some Hotel room in Buenos Aires with his father. It was kind of weird seeing him and his dad see each other. Almost anti-climactic, because his parents had already visited him already once or twice during his mission. He was a great Elder.
So my new companion is named Elder Gavilán and he is from Paraguay. He doesn't speak English so hopefully my Spanish will improve. He has a little over a year in the mission. Right now, I'm in a trio with the Elders from Villa Madero (elders Stoddard and Vernon) and my new companion will come tomorrow. We shall see.
I´ve been giving out Starbursts to kids at church and in the Villa, it's very entertaining and fun, thanks again for the package! We are teaching a couple of great families and one of them has 5 daughters!! Their ages are 9,8,5,3, and 1. I may have already written this but they are a great family, and the Mom will be getting married this December to her "boyfriend" or Marido like they say here of 8 years!! It's excellent to see their progress.
It's Hot and Humid and better than being cold!! Well that's mostly it from Argentina! Have an Excellent Halloween...
Elder Kelly
October 22, 2007
Helllo!
How is everyone! I got the package you sent and it was excellent. The best family in the mission. Especially the football! Thanks very much... Elder Stoddard and I threw the football around for an hour during the morning while my Swedish comp and Stoddards comp were eating.
Things down here are great! We are teaching people and doing service. We did service this week for the relief society president's husband. He's not member and he likes to poke fun at the missionaries so we worked VERY hard during the service and did a great job! Hopefully he´ll listen to us before we leave.
I gave some of the starbursts I got to the kids of my favorite family in the ward, and they really liked it. We are teaching a lady who has 5 girls!!!!! Wow, that would be different! Our direct opposite! Their ages are 9,7,5,3,1. An incredible lady, she just needs to get married to her spouse and she'll be baptized.
Well Elder Zamora is preparing to leave for home. This Thursday are transfer calls. It's pretty much garaunteed that I'm staying in Villa Celina, so it will be exciting to hear who my new Companion will be.
The weather is back to hot and humid so that's good! Well much love from Villa Celina thanks for your prayers.
How is everyone! I got the package you sent and it was excellent. The best family in the mission. Especially the football! Thanks very much... Elder Stoddard and I threw the football around for an hour during the morning while my Swedish comp and Stoddards comp were eating.
Things down here are great! We are teaching people and doing service. We did service this week for the relief society president's husband. He's not member and he likes to poke fun at the missionaries so we worked VERY hard during the service and did a great job! Hopefully he´ll listen to us before we leave.
I gave some of the starbursts I got to the kids of my favorite family in the ward, and they really liked it. We are teaching a lady who has 5 girls!!!!! Wow, that would be different! Our direct opposite! Their ages are 9,7,5,3,1. An incredible lady, she just needs to get married to her spouse and she'll be baptized.
Well Elder Zamora is preparing to leave for home. This Thursday are transfer calls. It's pretty much garaunteed that I'm staying in Villa Celina, so it will be exciting to hear who my new Companion will be.
The weather is back to hot and humid so that's good! Well much love from Villa Celina thanks for your prayers.
October 15, 2007
Hello!
Well, a good week came and went. We had a double baptism with our sister ward Villa Madero. Their names are Manuel and Juan Carlos(from villa celina) It was great! The whole ward was there because it was right after church. Now the whole family are members. It was a really great feeling to see the baptism and we are really excited for this excellent family.
The weather can't make up its mind. It POURED for one week straight and today it's burning hot. The rain is a big problem down here cause none of the roads are paved and the draining system is kind of ridiculous down here. The roads literally become rivers and ponds.
Elder Zamora is preparing to leave, he has 2 weeks left in his mission, I'm proud of him, he's a very good Elder and a good guy. The only Swede I've ever known.
That's about all, I hope to hear from you soon, love you all!
Elder Kelly
Well, a good week came and went. We had a double baptism with our sister ward Villa Madero. Their names are Manuel and Juan Carlos(from villa celina) It was great! The whole ward was there because it was right after church. Now the whole family are members. It was a really great feeling to see the baptism and we are really excited for this excellent family.
The weather can't make up its mind. It POURED for one week straight and today it's burning hot. The rain is a big problem down here cause none of the roads are paved and the draining system is kind of ridiculous down here. The roads literally become rivers and ponds.
Elder Zamora is preparing to leave, he has 2 weeks left in his mission, I'm proud of him, he's a very good Elder and a good guy. The only Swede I've ever known.
That's about all, I hope to hear from you soon, love you all!
Elder Kelly
October 8, 2007
Hello everyone!
How is it going!! Life down here is great! Sun is shining and life is existing!!
Last week was very good! We had interviews with the President of the Mission, I learned many things! And we heard GENERAL CONFERENCE! I was so happy to hear conference in English and to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing! I had no idea that Gladys Knight was LDS, ha pretty cool! Did you know she organized a gospel choir of members in Las Vegas!? Maybe you should join up Dad!
Anyways we have a baptism planned for this Sunday! I'm excited, it will be a great experience for Carlos Noemí and Manuel. What were all of your favorite talks? Definitely Saturday afternoon Elder Holland was incredible!! Laying down the LAW! You need to listen if you didn't, but all the talks were great!
This transfer is over 1/2 over and the work here in Celina is progressing rapidly! We have a ward mission leader and that is excellent! Mi compañero ahorra is muuy trunky. Ha pero todo bien, hes still workin hard. Well much love from Bs. As. Que tengan una buena semana!!! (have a great week!)
Elder Kelly
How is it going!! Life down here is great! Sun is shining and life is existing!!
Last week was very good! We had interviews with the President of the Mission, I learned many things! And we heard GENERAL CONFERENCE! I was so happy to hear conference in English and to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing! I had no idea that Gladys Knight was LDS, ha pretty cool! Did you know she organized a gospel choir of members in Las Vegas!? Maybe you should join up Dad!
Anyways we have a baptism planned for this Sunday! I'm excited, it will be a great experience for Carlos Noemí and Manuel. What were all of your favorite talks? Definitely Saturday afternoon Elder Holland was incredible!! Laying down the LAW! You need to listen if you didn't, but all the talks were great!
This transfer is over 1/2 over and the work here in Celina is progressing rapidly! We have a ward mission leader and that is excellent! Mi compañero ahorra is muuy trunky. Ha pero todo bien, hes still workin hard. Well much love from Bs. As. Que tengan una buena semana!!! (have a great week!)
Elder Kelly
October 1, 2007
Hello everyone,
Happy October first. Things are warming up down here although it is pouring rain and lightning right now.
All is well, we are very busy right now. This October 14th there will be a baptism with three people. We are quite excited though we are still waiting for a Dad to come around. We´ve gotten lots of references, and we're working hard and seeing the blessings.
Elder Zamora is pretty cool, and he's not really trunky so that is very nice. I'm VERY excited for conference because they are going to have a room for the missionaries in English and we get to go to all the sessions! That should be fun.
Other than that, not too much is happening. Just working, funny things happen every day but not too much of it is noteworthy. And, a bird flew in to our apartment while we were gone and went to the bathroom all over the room.
I haven't received the package yet, we get all our mail for the week and district meeting on Tuesday morning, so we´ll see. I ate all the candy from the Dear Elder Package, it was incredible, thanks so much, but I'm saving the root beer for thanksgiving I think. The skittles were probably my favorite, but they went very fast. Well that's about it, have fun and be safe, love you all!
Elder Kelly
September 24, 2007
Hello Everyone!
Hey thanks for your emails! Dad, I got your package thanks a million! Man I never thought I'd miss skittles, root beer, or swedish fish.
Speaking of Sweden, my new Swedish comp is here. He´s pretty cool guy, kind of funny. This is his last transfer so he'll be gone in 5 weeks, and another will come.
Things are actually really going well down here. We are very busy and teaching a ton. We have some very good investigators and are praying for some things to happen with an upset Father so that one of our investigators can be baptized.
Spanish is still coming, my companions parents are Chileno and he spoke Spanish in his house all his life so he speaks perfect. I'm really settling down into a groove so that's nice. Since Elder Bracken has left there is no-one in our ward to play the piano, and thats right, your own little Elder Kelly plucked out the right hand to Lead Kindly Light and We thank thee oh god for a prophet as prelude. Hopefully, with lots of prayers and practice, I'll be able to accompany the ward next week. Last week it was a capella and wasn't the greatest.
Make sure to thank Sister Dance! I'll bet she's going to laugh! Alright I'll talk to you all soon, love you all!
Elder Kelly!
Hey thanks for your emails! Dad, I got your package thanks a million! Man I never thought I'd miss skittles, root beer, or swedish fish.
Speaking of Sweden, my new Swedish comp is here. He´s pretty cool guy, kind of funny. This is his last transfer so he'll be gone in 5 weeks, and another will come.
Things are actually really going well down here. We are very busy and teaching a ton. We have some very good investigators and are praying for some things to happen with an upset Father so that one of our investigators can be baptized.
Spanish is still coming, my companions parents are Chileno and he spoke Spanish in his house all his life so he speaks perfect. I'm really settling down into a groove so that's nice. Since Elder Bracken has left there is no-one in our ward to play the piano, and thats right, your own little Elder Kelly plucked out the right hand to Lead Kindly Light and We thank thee oh god for a prophet as prelude. Hopefully, with lots of prayers and practice, I'll be able to accompany the ward next week. Last week it was a capella and wasn't the greatest.
Make sure to thank Sister Dance! I'll bet she's going to laugh! Alright I'll talk to you all soon, love you all!
Elder Kelly!
September 17, 2007
Hey!
My computer shut down 2 times and erased everything I wrote. Readers Digest version....
Way to go Quince! I'll write you next week! Transfers came, Breackens gone, Zamora is coming, he's from Sweden and will finish his mission this transfer with me. Means I'll have 5 transfers and 5 companions.
Rain cold Mud, Much love, work is progressing. Talk to you next week and I'll send some pics.
Love you all!!
Elder Kelly
____________________________________________________________________
My computer shut down 2 times and erased everything I wrote. Readers Digest version....
Way to go Quince! I'll write you next week! Transfers came, Breackens gone, Zamora is coming, he's from Sweden and will finish his mission this transfer with me. Means I'll have 5 transfers and 5 companions.
Rain cold Mud, Much love, work is progressing. Talk to you next week and I'll send some pics.
Love you all!!
Elder Kelly
____________________________________________________________________
Hey Mom!
Thanks for your email. Love you tons and I'm glad you are having fun. Things are progressing down here in Villa Celina. It is crazy down here, real 3rd world. We´re are working on getting people to church. The members down here are very nice, and the work is coming around well. Ill be here for at least 3 more months. Thanks for your letters and support. I'm 6 months old now in the mission. Crazy!
Any ways, Tell Dad to keep it real and win some fantasy games for the Clams, I'm pulling for him this year! (actually I want Jerm to win but Dad can take second). Much Love!
Elder Kelly
September 10, 2007--6 months out!!
Hey All!
What a crazy week! The humidity is insane! It was 86% and I felt like I was walking through a steam room yesterday. Two weeks ago it was freezing cold and I couldn't get warm and it changed last week! Technically it's still winter until Sept 21 which makes me nervous for the summer. But hey, we´re working igual.
Things are well. Elder Bracken is way cool but we´re thinkin he leaves this week (transfers are this week). I think I'm going to stay here in Celina. Much love to Elder Wake and future Elder Garrett way excited for both of you! Elder Garrett, enjoy the MTC! Learn what you can from your teachers. I'd practice teachings the lessons 1,2,3 to the mirror or somebody. Elder Wake, keep on trucking broseph see you in one and a half.
We have two investigators who are very promising although the stories are a bit complicated. Nobody down here is legally married and the family problems are very common and big down here. There is a large connection. I now understand why its a commandment to be legally married. I hadn't had an Asado until yesterday and we had two!! in one day! I was about to BURST with food consumption... So much meat... I had dreams of meat and woke up with meat taste in my mouth. A bit too much for me but they both were very good.
There was a huge turtle at dinner, too. They are going to name it Elder Kelly. I told everyone you can know how old a turtle is by counting the number of hexagons they have on their shell, haha they all believed me. Then I told them I lied. It was funny.
I turn 6 months old this week, when is Erynn's birthday again? Love to everyone! Thanks for your emails! Be smart, remember the Lord!
Elder Kelly
Next email will have pictures i think.
What a crazy week! The humidity is insane! It was 86% and I felt like I was walking through a steam room yesterday. Two weeks ago it was freezing cold and I couldn't get warm and it changed last week! Technically it's still winter until Sept 21 which makes me nervous for the summer. But hey, we´re working igual.
Things are well. Elder Bracken is way cool but we´re thinkin he leaves this week (transfers are this week). I think I'm going to stay here in Celina. Much love to Elder Wake and future Elder Garrett way excited for both of you! Elder Garrett, enjoy the MTC! Learn what you can from your teachers. I'd practice teachings the lessons 1,2,3 to the mirror or somebody. Elder Wake, keep on trucking broseph see you in one and a half.
We have two investigators who are very promising although the stories are a bit complicated. Nobody down here is legally married and the family problems are very common and big down here. There is a large connection. I now understand why its a commandment to be legally married. I hadn't had an Asado until yesterday and we had two!! in one day! I was about to BURST with food consumption... So much meat... I had dreams of meat and woke up with meat taste in my mouth. A bit too much for me but they both were very good.
There was a huge turtle at dinner, too. They are going to name it Elder Kelly. I told everyone you can know how old a turtle is by counting the number of hexagons they have on their shell, haha they all believed me. Then I told them I lied. It was funny.
I turn 6 months old this week, when is Erynn's birthday again? Love to everyone! Thanks for your emails! Be smart, remember the Lord!
Elder Kelly
Next email will have pictures i think.
August 20, 2007
Well,
My family is in the Carribean and Mike and Jen just got back from Hawaii, but Buenos Aires is the place to be! Things down here are still cold and it's tough on the economy down here in Little Bolivia but hopefully it will start getting warmer soon. I have not been warm in three months except for one day but its all right!!
It poured rain last night so we started singing Eve 6, smashmouth, goo goo dolls and other mid-90´s rock legends but don't tell on me... My comp and I get along exceptionally well... he doesn't bug me and I don't bug him, and that is really quite excellent. We have two other elders in our apartment and they are very cool as well.
We have 17 new investigators this week, 27 in the last two and 2 are progressing =), but we found an inactive sister from Bolivia who wants to come back to church and her daughter wants to be baptised, they are awesome and she wants to get baptised in september, so we´re praying. My teaching and Spanish are improving drastically!
I hope the family got back alright and that everything is going well with Erynn, send my love... Thanks for our letters and updates, love you all....
Elder Kelly!
August 13, 2007
Hey All!!
First things first address for packages...
Elder Steven James Kelly
C.C. N` 92
1702 Ciudadela
Bs. As. Argentina
And seriously send it with crosses or pictures or stickers of religious parafonelia because everyone down here is getting stuff stolen from their packages.
Anyways... thanks for your letters (oma I'm talking to you ;)) Things down here are great!! It really is like living in Bolivia down here. There were some awesome Bolivian parties yeasterday as they were celebrating a virgin but I don't know which one. It was very cool! The Bolivians are such great people. So short too.
The work is doing very well!! We taught 20 lessons this week and had a good number of investigators in church!! We are finding inactive famillies and they are finding us too!! I feel like we are just being put in peoples paths!! At least four times this week people have come up to us and said they have been looking for the missionaries forever!! We have some very good progressing investigators so I'm very excited.
Stories... We asked some Bolivian ladies at a market if the peppers we were buying were hot and they said more or less so we cut them up and put them in our pasta. As we were simmering the peppers me and my comp starting coughing and our tounges were hurting and we were like... what is happening? Then we actually tasted the pepper. Ya.. more or less didn't really give the pepper justice... It felt more like a flame that somehow escaped the fires of hell and entered into that pepper. No more trusting Bolivians for spice ranges.
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting in spanish.. it went well I hope. And we found some kids skating and I asked if I could try.. I did a couple of kick flips and they flipped out and asked if I was related to Tony Hawk... now they wait every night a 8:30 for us so I can teach them how to do it.. Their names are Santiago and santiago... maybe we´ll be able to meet and teach the parents but if not... at least I get to skate a little bit!! I'll send pictures or video of it soon. Love you all thanks for your prayers... More to come soon stay safe!
Elder Kelly
ps my comp plays water polo for Utah State... I thought that was cool .
August 6, 2007
Hey Everyone,
Well first week in Villa Celina is over... and wow... A whole different ball game! The problem before was we couldn’t ever get anyone to teach, and here the situation is it's tough to get people to progress and to find people after you teach them.
My companion is excellent, and he’s really helping me with my Spanish. He and teach tech 50 50 and its really helping my Spanish. I’ve taught more lessons this single week than the entire last transfer. We're 50 50 on contacts too. It's excellent. The apartment is very cool and I like the other 2 elders who are there with us.
In Caseros everyone was well off and Argentine and Italian. Here, everyone lives in much more humble conditions and are either Bolivian(50%) Paraguayan(20%) Peruvian(10%) or Argentine(20%). It's a smaller area but very difficult to find addresses because there is no organization or street names, just dirt paths.
It was VERY cold this last week and rainy and muddy! The problem is the humidity, the cold just goes right on through. I don’t use my big coat here but hopefully we´ll pull out of the cold pretty quick.
The ward is MUCH smaller and much less experienced too. Something very cool though is that people here are much more personable and will talk to you and my companion is very good with that too, it's helping me.
We always joke around with the little kids in the Villa (pronounced vee-sha... neighborhood of huts and such without paved streets) and teach them English words like "hello" and "pound it". I’m going to teach them "whattup thug" this week.
Well things are VERY different and it was a wakeup call this week but wow, what a blessing to be serving here. I know I’m going to love this area. I love actually teaching people and using my Spanish. Oh and the Bolivians are excellent people! So humble! Don’t worry about me, all is well here and I’m well taken care of... the area is seriously just fine. But yes so I'll keep you all updated and I thank you very much for your prayers and love. Love you All
Elder Kelly
July 30, 2007
Wow Everyone!
So this was definitely a crazy week. Everything was on track till Monday. The Brother who was going to be baptized on Saturday was not able to this week but is still working hard to get there. My companion and I were sitting in our apartment planning for Friday and I got a call from the AP´s telling me that I'm out of Caseros one week before the end of the transfer! I asked if I did something wrong and they said no and said that Caseros is finally having success which it had not had for years and thanked Elder Foster and Me for our work!
But now I'm sitting in a Internet shop in a brand new area with a brand new companion. Apparently something happened somewhere in the mission and there was a "flash" where missionaries are transfered around before the end of the transfer, and I was switched around. Very unexpected for me but hey, thats how it goes!
Last Sunday we had 3 investigators at sacrament meeting which had not happened for a Long time all three are incredible! (Domenico (66) Ana Read (30) and Emma Torino (70)) All three are building testimonies and are great people and then just like that I'm out! Well seeds were definitely planted in Caseros so that's good, too bad I wasn't able to see Domenico´s baptism but we shared a tear or two before I left and I wrote in his Book of Mormon a bit. Incredible man he is.
Anyways so I just arrived in my new area today called Villa Celina in the Aldo Bonzi Stake. My area borders the BA North and BA South misions, and from what I've been told it's the exact opposite of Caseros. Caseros is the richest area in the mission and Villa Celina is one of the poorest. Villa celina is a Little Bolivia (everyone is Bolivian) and was closed earlier this year and then re-opened for safety reasons.. I'm stoked!!
My new Companion se llama Elder Bracken from guess where..... Utah-SLC. He's a pretty cool kid and I'm excited to get to work! 3 companions in 3 transfers. We live in a four man apartment the tenth floor next to a huge freeway. I'll send you pictures as soon as I get my other memory card back. Do you have my package address Dad?!
Well I'll keep you updated... Love you all, and don't forget to read the scrips while you're having all that fun...
Elder Kelly
July 23, 2007
Family,
Hey all! Another week. Pretty good one, found 3 new people to teach and we´re hoping they´ll let us teach them more! Work is still tough but coming along.
Interesting stories... We ate cow tongue(mondongo) Saturday for lunch from a Peruvian family... Very chewy and not too tasty but not that bad.
The next day the Senior Missionaries invited us to lunch. Wow. TACOS!! So nice... their apartment is soo nice as well.. it is in a 15 story apartment building on the 13 floor with an incredible view. It was great fun speaking in English and understanding everything. The Spanish is improving rapidly--I can understand the idea of everything that is being said and I'm learning to speak better.
The busses down here have body kits on them.. it's pretty funny. On the way to the internet shop today we saw a guy in a suit and a bible talking to a lady. She came towards us and told us that the guy tried to rob her! I was soo frustrated that this guy is acting like a missionary trying to rob people! That makes it so hard for us to talk to people. So we followed him but he saw us following him and got onto a bus. Quite frustrating but there really isn't anything to do.
Activity in our ward is on the rise, the Lord is blessing us. We had a new investigator in church on Sunday and she is awesome! I'll keep you updated!
Thanks for the love and prayers. Stay safe and feel free to write me and email through Mom or Mike!
Love,
Elder Kelly
July 16, 2007
Hey!
Wow, the work progresses! I've been working very hard this week on talking with people and I've noticed my Spanish is improving greatly! I'm way excited about that.
This week we start up English classes! Hopefully we will get a good turn out! We are working much more with the members too. The temple was incredible. It is SUCH a blessing to be able to go there on the mission and it makes me think of how much I took it for granted before the mission. My suggestion to those who can.... GO! It's like a spiritual RedBull and I know everyone can use a burst of spiritual energy, but anyways. I think that was my last "first" so I'm officially into the mission. Very exciting.
Domenico is still set to be baptized on the 28th and I'm very excited for him. He is soo excellent and very studious. My new comp and I get along great and our apartment is the cleanest in the mission. Grandma would be proud. The food is very good still.
Well I love you tons but as always I'm out of time! Thanks so much for your prayers... I'm praying for you!! Be safe and don't make dumb decisions...
With love,
Elder Kelly
July 9, 2007
Hola a todo!
Crazy week. Lots of working! Wednesday was very good, we planned our first baptism for July 28th with Domenico! He is 66 and is married to a recently re-activated wife who is very cool and cooks very well! He has come a long way and its been incredible to see the change in his face over the last two months.
That same day we were walking and a woman ran up to us and was like, Elders!! come over for lunch right now! Turns out the family (from peru) has been living in our area for 1 year and have never had their records transfered from their old ward. So we got them to go church that Sunday and they are completely excited about it and are being reactivated!! The Mother told us Sunday night that she NEVER goes out shopping at that hour or to that same place where we just happened to be doing contacts!! SUCH a great family and they completely revitalized the
ward (which only has 3 YW and 6 YM as it is) They have 3 kids age 10, 12, and 16. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
We taught two new investigators; who are very humble and exceptional people. One of them teaches English to young children. This Sunday we were late to going to pick up a family for
church and were at the bus stop so we started to pray for the bus to come and as soon as we stopped praying the bus turned the corner! Then the bus broke down and we started to sing hymns while we waited for the bus to start working again and then another bus of the same number turned the corner and we got onto it and made it 3 minutes late to the house.
That same night we were 4 contacts shy of the 140 a week contact goal and our last four contacts were all excellent people and we set one appointment with a very accepting person for this week. YES!
I will keep you all posted as the work progressing thanks for your prayers and love. OH ps,
its snowing today, well kind of. It's like Seattle snow but still pretty cool- we played basketball in it and it reminded me of driveway ball! AND my first temple trip is Wednesday! I'm quite excited!! It will be in Spanish! Very cool!
Love you all!
Elder Kelly
Crazy week. Lots of working! Wednesday was very good, we planned our first baptism for July 28th with Domenico! He is 66 and is married to a recently re-activated wife who is very cool and cooks very well! He has come a long way and its been incredible to see the change in his face over the last two months.
That same day we were walking and a woman ran up to us and was like, Elders!! come over for lunch right now! Turns out the family (from peru) has been living in our area for 1 year and have never had their records transfered from their old ward. So we got them to go church that Sunday and they are completely excited about it and are being reactivated!! The Mother told us Sunday night that she NEVER goes out shopping at that hour or to that same place where we just happened to be doing contacts!! SUCH a great family and they completely revitalized the
ward (which only has 3 YW and 6 YM as it is) They have 3 kids age 10, 12, and 16. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
We taught two new investigators; who are very humble and exceptional people. One of them teaches English to young children. This Sunday we were late to going to pick up a family for
church and were at the bus stop so we started to pray for the bus to come and as soon as we stopped praying the bus turned the corner! Then the bus broke down and we started to sing hymns while we waited for the bus to start working again and then another bus of the same number turned the corner and we got onto it and made it 3 minutes late to the house.
That same night we were 4 contacts shy of the 140 a week contact goal and our last four contacts were all excellent people and we set one appointment with a very accepting person for this week. YES!
I will keep you all posted as the work progressing thanks for your prayers and love. OH ps,
its snowing today, well kind of. It's like Seattle snow but still pretty cool- we played basketball in it and it reminded me of driveway ball! AND my first temple trip is Wednesday! I'm quite excited!! It will be in Spanish! Very cool!
Love you all!
Elder Kelly
July 2, 2007
Hey everyone!
Oh wow what a week! I received a new companion and he is great! He is a very hard worker and has been in the field for 8 months. We are both working together on improving our Spanish and he has a very positive attitude which is helping me grow alot. He´s also helping me to be more bold and better at talking with people! Elder Foster is his name and he turns 20 today!
We had a great contact this week with a lady who had been investigating in Salta(city much mo re to the North) and then moved down here. She's is very nice and we´re teaching her now. I'm very excited to see her progress and we are also going to have an Asado (barbeque) with her and a family from the ward!
It's great to work with the members, I'm really starting to love them and my city(caseros) more and more. It's very cool to listen to the stories of all the members(5 mission pres. 2 temple pres. 2 stake pres. ect..) because they were all the first members in Argentina and have stories about David O Mckay and Thomas S Monson. One of the stories was from an Hermano Salvioli
who was baptized in the Rio De La PLata, he said it was because he had so many sins that they needed alot of water. He's a pretty fun guy =)
Elder Foster and I are going to help get the work going with the members much more this
week. The language is coming better ad better. I can't notice too much but the members are saying I can understand much better than I could! I count that as a blessing from the Lord.... Pretty exciting.
Oh if you send any packages be sure to put religious stickers or something like that on the box
so it doesn't get torn open.
Oh ya really funny story this week. Elder Foster was contacting a man (parking director) in a very busy plaza and bus stop who was standing facing a car. Elder Foster went to shake his hand and say hola and the guy was startled and turned around. I looked down and the guy was.... filling up a bottle with... a yellow liquid and had not quite finished when he turned around and shoke Elder Fosters hand. I almost broke out laughing but Elder Foster had no idea what the guy was doing and just kept on talking to him. Right after the contact I told Elder Foster what was soo funny and he told me oh I was wondering why his hand was wet. Hmmm that
may have been a little gross but... its life down here in Argentina!!!
Thanks for your prayers and your love. .. Till next week!
Love,
Elder Kelly
Oh wow what a week! I received a new companion and he is great! He is a very hard worker and has been in the field for 8 months. We are both working together on improving our Spanish and he has a very positive attitude which is helping me grow alot. He´s also helping me to be more bold and better at talking with people! Elder Foster is his name and he turns 20 today!
We had a great contact this week with a lady who had been investigating in Salta(city much mo re to the North) and then moved down here. She's is very nice and we´re teaching her now. I'm very excited to see her progress and we are also going to have an Asado (barbeque) with her and a family from the ward!
It's great to work with the members, I'm really starting to love them and my city(caseros) more and more. It's very cool to listen to the stories of all the members(5 mission pres. 2 temple pres. 2 stake pres. ect..) because they were all the first members in Argentina and have stories about David O Mckay and Thomas S Monson. One of the stories was from an Hermano Salvioli
who was baptized in the Rio De La PLata, he said it was because he had so many sins that they needed alot of water. He's a pretty fun guy =)
Elder Foster and I are going to help get the work going with the members much more this
week. The language is coming better ad better. I can't notice too much but the members are saying I can understand much better than I could! I count that as a blessing from the Lord.... Pretty exciting.
Oh if you send any packages be sure to put religious stickers or something like that on the box
so it doesn't get torn open.
Oh ya really funny story this week. Elder Foster was contacting a man (parking director) in a very busy plaza and bus stop who was standing facing a car. Elder Foster went to shake his hand and say hola and the guy was startled and turned around. I looked down and the guy was.... filling up a bottle with... a yellow liquid and had not quite finished when he turned around and shoke Elder Fosters hand. I almost broke out laughing but Elder Foster had no idea what the guy was doing and just kept on talking to him. Right after the contact I told Elder Foster what was soo funny and he told me oh I was wondering why his hand was wet. Hmmm that
may have been a little gross but... its life down here in Argentina!!!
Thanks for your prayers and your love. .. Till next week!
Love,
Elder Kelly
June 25, 2007
Hey Family!!
Transfer one has come and gone.. Wow, that was crazy!! Still working and learning but things are coming along quite quickly!
I get a new companion tomorrow Elder Foster and hes been in the field for under a year, we are
gonna rock! I think we are going to start offering English classes and get the ward more involved in the work because contacting has yeilded no fruits as of yet. Maybe he has a good style of contacting but man, by the time I say hola somo s misioneros the person has already shut the door or walked away! Ah well, Love em none the less!!
We gave a few blessings this week to some older ladies in our ward who are not very well. I'm so grateful for the priesthood power of the lord, what a blessing of comfort it can be. I hope
everyone has gotten my letters, I believe this is my 5th.
We have two or three investigators and I feel that they are progressing spiritually, hopefully we can help them to make commitments with the Lord. There is a Way cool couple down here who are a bit older than Mike and Jen where the husband is member and the wife is not and wants us to start teaching so lets hope for the best!
We had a meeting with Elder Mickelson of the Seventy this week!! Still trying to find people to teach. The members are way nice and I'm starting to be able to understand them.
Apparently there is a US vs Argentina soccer game this week.. go usa! I hope nobody in this Cyber cafe can see that. Thanks for all your prayers!! Thanks for the Erynn updates I'm
sorry I cant write back to everyone but I only have an hour. I love you all
tons thanks!
Elder Kelly
Transfer one has come and gone.. Wow, that was crazy!! Still working and learning but things are coming along quite quickly!
I get a new companion tomorrow Elder Foster and hes been in the field for under a year, we are
gonna rock! I think we are going to start offering English classes and get the ward more involved in the work because contacting has yeilded no fruits as of yet. Maybe he has a good style of contacting but man, by the time I say hola somo s misioneros the person has already shut the door or walked away! Ah well, Love em none the less!!
We gave a few blessings this week to some older ladies in our ward who are not very well. I'm so grateful for the priesthood power of the lord, what a blessing of comfort it can be. I hope
everyone has gotten my letters, I believe this is my 5th.
We have two or three investigators and I feel that they are progressing spiritually, hopefully we can help them to make commitments with the Lord. There is a Way cool couple down here who are a bit older than Mike and Jen where the husband is member and the wife is not and wants us to start teaching so lets hope for the best!
We had a meeting with Elder Mickelson of the Seventy this week!! Still trying to find people to teach. The members are way nice and I'm starting to be able to understand them.
Apparently there is a US vs Argentina soccer game this week.. go usa! I hope nobody in this Cyber cafe can see that. Thanks for all your prayers!! Thanks for the Erynn updates I'm
sorry I cant write back to everyone but I only have an hour. I love you all
tons thanks!
Elder Kelly
June 18, 2007
Hey All!!
Thanks for all your emails. I'm soo happy Erynn is doing well!! I'm still praying and can't wait to meet her in a couple years! Thanks for the updates Dad and Mom!
Well things here in Caseros are alright. We had divisiones or splits again this week. I was with Elder Yañez who doesn't speak any English.. It was really fun! We did 61 contacts and 3 house blessings! It was very cool, we are now teaching one of them hopefully he will let us back in the next time we come back!! We gave a blessing to the Mother of a recent convert and the spirit was very strong. We are going to start teaching her again this week.
Last week lots of growing and learning occurred so that was very good. Learning to lean on the Lord and focus my mind a bit more. Testimony is always growing ! Nothing huge occurred this week. We helped a family move and they are going to hold a big barbecue or asado for us this week. that shoud be great.
Still getting accustomed to life here but its coming quick, first transfer is over after this week. It went pretty quickly. Pray for the language and for the people here if you feel like praying, that's about it from Caseros, I should be here for three more months but we´ll see. Oh ya tomorrow we hear from a 70, Elder Mickelson, should be cool!
Love you all tons,
Elder Kelly
Thanks for all your emails. I'm soo happy Erynn is doing well!! I'm still praying and can't wait to meet her in a couple years! Thanks for the updates Dad and Mom!
Well things here in Caseros are alright. We had divisiones or splits again this week. I was with Elder Yañez who doesn't speak any English.. It was really fun! We did 61 contacts and 3 house blessings! It was very cool, we are now teaching one of them hopefully he will let us back in the next time we come back!! We gave a blessing to the Mother of a recent convert and the spirit was very strong. We are going to start teaching her again this week.
Last week lots of growing and learning occurred so that was very good. Learning to lean on the Lord and focus my mind a bit more. Testimony is always growing ! Nothing huge occurred this week. We helped a family move and they are going to hold a big barbecue or asado for us this week. that shoud be great.
Still getting accustomed to life here but its coming quick, first transfer is over after this week. It went pretty quickly. Pray for the language and for the people here if you feel like praying, that's about it from Caseros, I should be here for three more months but we´ll see. Oh ya tomorrow we hear from a 70, Elder Mickelson, should be cool!
Love you all tons,
Elder Kelly
June 4, 2007
Hey family!!!
Wow, things are nuts here...Couple of housekeeping things again. I ordered a
George Forman Grill before I left (long story). If it has come, go ahead and
throw it in storage, if you are using it, that's fine, just keep it safe. Also,
have I recieved any bills? If I have, could you pay them and keep a list so I
can pay you back when I return, I don't want my credit going down....
Any ways still becoming accustomed to Argentine life. The power goes out weekly. I am
VERY tall, I've seen like 4 people taller than I. I have a final count of the
members in our ward.... 3 past mission presidents, 1 patriarch, 1 temple sealer,
1 current 70, 1 past 70, and a 1st counselor in a mission presidency!!! But
thats not the most humbling,... Last week I gave up on trying to listen to talks
during sacrament, instead I spend my sacrament meetings trying to decipher what
a nearby two year old is saying as he trips over his feet and falls on his
face... its kind of a humbling experience. Ah well Ii'll get it.
They have pizza here and they put all sorts of stuff on it. Egg, tomato, crispy bread strips.
Kind of interesting. I found my favorite candy, I'll send some back in 6 months.
Anyways, onto the good stuff, The work is comin along, Pretty tough but it's
coming. We´re still helping a brother quit smoking and its been 8 or more days!
We´re teaching his brother and his Mom will start taking the lessons soon. They
are awesome!! We are still teaching that part member family and they are awesome
too-- we did a FHE with them last week and this week we are going to talk to him
about baptism. We have two other families but they are very hard to keep
appointments with. Talking with alot of less-actives too.
I love the members alot and hopefully we´ll find some more people to teach... Well I love you
all thanks for your letters! I'll talk to you soon!
Love, Elder Kelly
Wow, things are nuts here...Couple of housekeeping things again. I ordered a
George Forman Grill before I left (long story). If it has come, go ahead and
throw it in storage, if you are using it, that's fine, just keep it safe. Also,
have I recieved any bills? If I have, could you pay them and keep a list so I
can pay you back when I return, I don't want my credit going down....
Any ways still becoming accustomed to Argentine life. The power goes out weekly. I am
VERY tall, I've seen like 4 people taller than I. I have a final count of the
members in our ward.... 3 past mission presidents, 1 patriarch, 1 temple sealer,
1 current 70, 1 past 70, and a 1st counselor in a mission presidency!!! But
thats not the most humbling,... Last week I gave up on trying to listen to talks
during sacrament, instead I spend my sacrament meetings trying to decipher what
a nearby two year old is saying as he trips over his feet and falls on his
face... its kind of a humbling experience. Ah well Ii'll get it.
They have pizza here and they put all sorts of stuff on it. Egg, tomato, crispy bread strips.
Kind of interesting. I found my favorite candy, I'll send some back in 6 months.
Anyways, onto the good stuff, The work is comin along, Pretty tough but it's
coming. We´re still helping a brother quit smoking and its been 8 or more days!
We´re teaching his brother and his Mom will start taking the lessons soon. They
are awesome!! We are still teaching that part member family and they are awesome
too-- we did a FHE with them last week and this week we are going to talk to him
about baptism. We have two other families but they are very hard to keep
appointments with. Talking with alot of less-actives too.
I love the members alot and hopefully we´ll find some more people to teach... Well I love you
all thanks for your letters! I'll talk to you soon!
Love, Elder Kelly
May 21, 2007
Family!!
Hey! How's it going!? So I survived my first week in Argentina! Its soo crazy out here... Michael would die seeing some of the buildings down here. The plane ride was good, it didn't even seem that long!
The first day was crazy and it has only gotten crazier... My companion-trainer is pretty cool, Elder Rutter. He is on his last transfer.. He's nice. He's a singer too which is cool.
The work is great! We taught a brand new investigator lesson one this week and we got one lined up for today! Really cool families. There are wild parakeets in the trees and lots of street dogs and garbage. The ward is way cool! There is a former member of the 70 and a former mission president in my ward. The families are all very nice.
My area (Caseros) is very large and is one of the richest in my mission. Lots and lots of walking. The food is pretty good. Lots of meat as i was expecting. Everything shuts down between 1 pm and 4 pm for siesta. Its very weird but cool. Lunch is the big meal and there really isn't even a dinner. I'll send some pics as soon as I get my other card back. My mission president is very nice and his wife is too. It'll take some adjusting but I'm getting used to it. The language is tough but it´ll come i know the Lord will help me.
I'm pretty low on time so I gotta jet but the church is true. I love you all soo much!
Love,
Elder Kelly
Hey! How's it going!? So I survived my first week in Argentina! Its soo crazy out here... Michael would die seeing some of the buildings down here. The plane ride was good, it didn't even seem that long!
The first day was crazy and it has only gotten crazier... My companion-trainer is pretty cool, Elder Rutter. He is on his last transfer.. He's nice. He's a singer too which is cool.
The work is great! We taught a brand new investigator lesson one this week and we got one lined up for today! Really cool families. There are wild parakeets in the trees and lots of street dogs and garbage. The ward is way cool! There is a former member of the 70 and a former mission president in my ward. The families are all very nice.
My area (Caseros) is very large and is one of the richest in my mission. Lots and lots of walking. The food is pretty good. Lots of meat as i was expecting. Everything shuts down between 1 pm and 4 pm for siesta. Its very weird but cool. Lunch is the big meal and there really isn't even a dinner. I'll send some pics as soon as I get my other card back. My mission president is very nice and his wife is too. It'll take some adjusting but I'm getting used to it. The language is tough but it´ll come i know the Lord will help me.
I'm pretty low on time so I gotta jet but the church is true. I love you all soo much!
Love,
Elder Kelly
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