Intercambio with Pres. Asay Quilmes 3

So, we had our "intercambio" with President! The guy is amazing! I learned so much just from being around him for 24 hours straight! I wish I could have taken my camera around just to be able to film him in action. He cares so much about every single person. He's so good at showing them that he cares and is able to teach them perfectly according to their needs. The guy cannot be human, I swear! He doesn't need an alarm clock, he just wakes up on his own. That is, if he even sleeps. He really lives by inspiration. I gave him a quiz to see if he could figure out the time without a clock. He thought for a second, and then guessed the "exact" time. He's crazy smart/slash amazingly talented at everything he does. I love the way he taught us to do contacts. That is something that will really help us as we continue to do the Lord's work. We had a really GREAT time! I loved it because he was just like one of our friends, really. Only he had a lot more knowledge than any of us could comprehend. We wouldn't let him go to bed. We just kept asking him more and more questions. In companionship study he told us a little bit about his personal study. He can just interpret and understand the scriptures on such a deep level. It's crazy and well, kind of hard not to be a little "jealous"!

Funny story...I'm retarded! I left my camera in the "cyber" last Monday and realized it about 6 blocks away. I ran back and booked it up the stairs and a kid turned around fast with a scared look on his face. He extended his arm out and handed me my camera but didn't say anything. It was funny! I have good news...we are having a mission soccer tournament week 4 of this transfer. I'm pretty excited about it. So, when am I going to have more neices and nephews? I want to have a bunch when I get back...so, you know the rest...do as Nephi did!


I'm learning to play the piano again (could this be a mission miracle??? I begged him not to quit!) Could you send me some Bastian flash cards? Elder McConkadonk plays well so he's teaching me and says that those flash cards would be killer!

Well, I love you all and I am really looking forward to our week. I'm glad to be staying with Elder McConkie this transfer. We should have at least 3 more baptisms coming up.

You're always in my prayers, and please, never go inactive it's so stupid! Espcially for a stupid reason...well any reason is stupid if ya think about it!

Almuerzo (lunch) with members and Pres. Asay Quilmes 3

Elder McConkie and Rice washing dishes at a member's home!

La familia Chavez Quilmes 3

Elder's Bushman, Mickelson, McConkie, Rice and Pres. Asay Quilmes 3 Intercambio

The past week in review...

This was Tina's baptism! It was awesome! She is so cool and has such a strong testimony. Every time she says she'll do something...she does it! We had a musical number at the baptism and a lot of member support. We asked Hermano Lobianko, a counselor in the bishopric to baptize her. He's a capo! I love the "obispado" here. They actually work and care for the member's. It's awesome to see.

This was our "kilo" challenge. I think I was, believe it or not, the closest person to actually finishing it! I couldn't quite do it, but I was so close!!!!

This is a pic from transfers with Elder Chavez sito and Elder Bravos. Two capos!!!

A picture's worth a thousand words!

These little kids were smothering us because they thought we were "Pro" rich bowlers from the States. They wanted us to give them cars since we were rich Americans! haha!

Here's our Zone with "California Burrito Napkins"...That's right...we ate "California Burrito's" en Capital! It was awesome! We had Remis bring it to us and it was CRAZY GOOD!!!...A Burrito!!!! Hace mucho, demasiado!

Hermano Libianko is a counselor in the bishopric here. This is a pic of Abril, his cute little girl.

Que Te Pasa Che'

This may have been the fastest week in the history of my mission! Yes it was!!! I feel like I was barely in this cyber only a couple of days ago! I feel like I don't have a ton to say which is sad, but I feel like I just barely wrote and after eating 1 1/2 pizza's at 'Pizza Libre', my minds gone whacko! We have had a lot of success with finding people and the members are finally starting to help us. We've gotten quite a few references. We live in the Villa and it's funny, because they all seem to know who we are and what we are doing. The word spreads pretty fast! We still have our baptism coming up with Tina this Saturday. We had another one ready but she said she doesn't want to baptize herself yet. (That's kind of a Spanish comment Gav haha. That's good you're thinking in Spanish though!) We found Tina my first week here so we're excited about her. But she has to not "chew" until Saturday and if she chews even once, we can't baptize her. That would be sad because I'm pretty sure Elder McConkie's out of here come Monday. I can't believe it's already time for transfers again. Hopefully we can still be comps for one more transfer. That would be sweet. We work really well together and enjoy it!

This last week we had intercombios with the Elders in Wilde. I went over to their area with Elder Porcal from Uruguay. He's a capo! Their Villas is like a big 'ole never ending maze with high skinny hallways. It's sweet. We are working with an awesome recent convert family who is loving the Church and quiting smoking. It's really been fun helping them. They have a son who's 20 named Luis. He wants to go on a mission. He's really cool. He's been doing visits with us but gets so nervous. It's funny he gets nervous because he's freaken' ripped! I can't imagine why he'd be nervous! He's such a capo though. So humble! He's got to finish high school before he can serve a mission so he will have to wait a couple years I guess. I miss Solano sometimes but what can you do! We have only been able to do a couple of divisions. In Solano we were doing them almost every day. Mom...get on Hermano Gatica for not doing divisions with us! He's a punk! I can't believe you talk to him on FaceBook haha...that's so funny! He's awesome. We invited him to go bowling with us today but he has to go visit some less actives with the bishopric. We have an awesome bishopric! They're all capos. It's so nice to have a sweet Obispado (bishopric) The bishop served in Cordoba as well. So, things are going well here. We are working hard and safely. I love the work and the people! We have our "intercombio" with Pres. Asay this week. That's going to be amazing! I can't wait for him to (bajar la cana) "drop the cane" on me and make me better at everything and reactivating our less actives and helping us get 10 more "fechas" (baptismal dates) and find us more people to teach! (Sounds like you have a few requests for your Pres. Gav)... Here's some old pics that I never sent of our last zone "floggerin" it up in the lenses. And...about packages...could you whip me up a little recipe book, real quick, like for Tacos, German Pancakes, whatever I can cook members/slash/investigators/slash/myself! That would be awesome!

I live another week to tell you about the life of mission work in Argentina!

Herdnan Cabrera y su esposa y bajo Hermano Gatica. Missionary friends of Cameron's while serving missions in Mendoza, Argentina!

Yesterday was Easter and Fast Sunday for us and it was a good day in Church. The ward is great! The Obispado (bishopric) is awesome. I'm still warming up to a lot of the other members. I still miss Solano but it's pretty awesome to have Hermano Gatica here because he served with Cam in Mendoza. But he's a punk! He won't go on divisions with us! He's funny! We ate at the house of Cam's son (Cameron's greenie that he trained) which makes him my "nephew", Herdnan Cabrera. They had their baby yesterday on Easter. Victoria se llama. We ate Chudipan and boy we ate a lot. I'm not sure what's exactly in that stuff but the people here love it. And...surprisingly, I don't think it's too bad. Herdnan made me video him so I could send a clip to Cam. He loves Cam. We saw a bunch of pictures from their mish of them. It's crazy to see Cam in the time where I'm at now. I never knew Cam was such a "capo" (stud) in the mission. Oh, and he still has the tie that mom bought you with the mission name that you gave to him. He was also wearing the shorts that Elder Prince gave him. Haha...it was great! They're awesome people. His wife served a mission in Chili.

So, this week Satan won. The day before our baptism the girl we were going to baptize ran away from home from her sister and her mom. We can't find her. She is supposedly with her mom's brother who is a terrrible person. I guess he lives like 5 mins. from where we live here in Centro. So, the day of her baptism we told her mom that we'd go help look for her. We took a "collective" (bus) from her house to the station in Quilmes and as we were sittinig there waiting for the "colectivo" I've never had a stronger feeling than I had then saying, "DON'T GO"! I told that to Elder "Conk" in English and he said, "I feel the same way"!. As the mom was getting on the bus, we had to tell her that we couldn't go with her. We didn't know, "why", but we just couldn't! It was crazy. I can't really describe it but when we called her later that night, it turns out that it was a GOOD thing that we didn't go. A REALLY GOOD thing! I'm just going to say "that"! (Looks like I have something to ask about on my Mother's Day call :) It was a good experience to have. Especially to know that if we LISTEN, the spirit really will tell us where TO go, and where NOT to go...and what TO do, and what NOT to do. Sometimes it's just hard to hear it!

So, we were pretty down without the baptism but the Lord blessed us and we were able to get 2 more baptism "fechas" from two other people the next morning. It was Awesome! Tina who is one of the two, has been so prepared. It's crazy to see. She basically taught us the lessons. She even talked about perservering. She's done like a "180" turn around and she will be totally ready for baptism April 25th. We have a "cita" (appointment) with her and with like 5 other people that we always walk by that lives right by her house. So hopefully we should be finding a lot this week. Tina has been to church twice now and loves it!

You said you wanted to know about my comp. He is from Bountiful. He IS related to that famous "Bruce R. McConkie" guy. He's the brother of his grandpa. He's awesome...we're friends, not companions. The work goes better this way. I love it right now. Hopefully we can stay together for another transfer but I bet he leaves. That's awesome about President Franco being made a "70". He was a "capo"!! and yes...I saw that Angel Cabrera won the Master's on a newpaper as we walked into the cyber. I can't believe he won! That's crazy!

Servicio???

Service at Hermana Salcedas House. Looks a little like Gavin's service at the Rice house! Lot's of fun and a "little" work! Top it off with a great Barbeque at Herdnan Cabrera's. He was Cameron's "greenie" or "newborn" as they like to say, when Cameron served in Mendoza.

Welcome to the "VIRTUE" Deli...

The YW'S theme has an added value this year that I feel is truly inspired by the YW General Board. The value is "Virtue". The color is "Gold"! This is so fitting in the world in which we live today. To quote our YW camp theme for this year..."All that glitter's isn't Gold"! Virtue is "priceless". In order to introduce this addition to the theme, we put on a "Virtue Deli" for New Beginnings! I am blessed to be able to work with such amazing Women...Young and "Not so young" but ALWAYS...young at heart!

A Little Lovin' from Oklahoma!

Thanks for the memories Troy!

The "REAL" Deal...Gavin's birthday present from Home Sweet Home!

Woooow...how good was General Conference!

After every talk, I said to myself..."that one was the best one yet", but they just kept getting better and better. I loved them all. I got to go to the Saturday Session as well as Sunday because we took an inactive families investigator. She's ready for baptism Friday. It's going to be Sweeeet! I loved the talks on Sunday. Saturday's were good too but it wasn't as powerful with a translator doing the talking. It was funny because as he was translating the prayers, he kept messing up so he would just end up saying his own prayers instead. It was so good though. I'm pretty sure conference has always been like this. I've just never really paid too much attention I guess. There was so much talk about Temple work and families. I loved that because that's where true happiness is and it comes through and only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's so simple and yet so perfect. I love it! I loved Elder Holland's talk on Christ's atonement. I read that chapter in Matthew 26 I think. It was amazing. I love the New Testament. My favorite time of the day could be between 8:00-9:00 am when I have my personal studies. There was a lot of talk about fear and faith. I love what Pres. Hinckley said that you can't have fear and faith at the same time. I'll be carrying that with me throughout my mission here. I really wish I could meet those guys (the Apostles). I told my comp that there's no way anyone could watch conference and not know that this Church is true! Those guys really are the closest people to God and really do know exactly what we need. Their words are scripture and I love it! I'll be looking forward to October.

We got a chance to go to the Temple as a mission last week. It's pretty neat to see this Temple here. It's all in Castellano and tiny, but so awesome. I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to though because I had a migraine. I've been struggling with those headaches. I don't know what it is with Argentina, but I think I'm allergic to it! I'll just be a sick one for 2 years but it'll be worth it. So, I've been thinking of what I want to do when I get back. I would love to work for the Church somehow. I don't know what I'd do. I know I wouldn't be able to have a mullet but I think I could still pull off a 'stache! I saw a few sportin' a 'stache in the Tabernacle choir :).

Laynie is getting so cute and Troy is getting so huge and funny. I wish now more than ever that I could play with them. It's weird how much they mean to me. For one, I hardly know them, and two, they're not mine but they're just part of the fam and I just want to play with them. I love messin' with the kids here. They're super cute.
Are there missionaries in our ward because you should feed them and tell them to work hard. You need to find people for them to teach. The members got the "cane" dropped on them this conference. I loved it! We will have to get that talk printed off and hand it out to everyone here in our ward. Do something! Come to Church! Fulfill your calling! The church is so true! It's sad when you're surrounded by so many people that just don't know...good opportunities to teach but the majority won't listen. Pero, por eso, estamcos aca'. (This is the reason we as missionaries are here.) I love Castellano. My understanding has improved a ton. There's still a ton I don't know, but I can usually understand something, so I can generally figure out what they're talking about. I'm starting to feel comfortable with the language. I like it a lot.

Well, I love you all and would love to be able to say that to more members in my family so have more kids so I can be the favorite uncle of more sobrinos (nieces and nephews). I love you and am proud to be a part of our family. We are so blessed! Count your many blessings and I'll count mine!

P.S.S. I met Cameron's "greenie" that he trained in Mendoza. Herdnan Cabrero (I think). He's a capo (stud). He said that he and Cam were really good friends and he had lot's of pics of him. I bet Cam was such a good missionary. I never realized how cool it was that he was assistant to the Pres. It's such a small world. We are going to try and get permission to go eat at the Cabrero's this Saturday. We have to get permission because it's outside our area.

Rice/McConkie...a great companionship...

Elder McConkadonk McConkie...my comp...he is so cool! He's such a capo (stud). We frequently have belt fights and work really hard. I love it! He's really obedient and we get along really well. He also plays the piano really well which is pretty rad. We have a really good companionship. We've got 3 baptismal dates but one might fall through because we have to give the "get married or move out" lesson to a really nice lady. On my personal level, I've been studying the New Testament. I'll be reading that this quarter of my mission and studying it. It's awesome. I really love it, especially the Joseph Smith translation. So, in Sept. the Church is coming out with our version of the Bible in Castellano. I can't wait. That will be the coolest thing ever...except I'll have to remark my scriptures. Ok, so I have a question...if you focus on the questions that Jesus asks in the New Testament you can find out some pretty sweet stuff. Read Luke 10:24-26 and tell me your thoughts because I think it's an awesome message of The Plan of Salvation and the Kingdom of Glory and how to obtain it. I can't tell you how many times I've had my own little spiritual experiences of how true this church really is. I hope I will remember these days days my whole life! I think it will be hard to forget them. I love the work, I love helping people. I'm so glad I'm here right now. I can't tell you how true everything in this church is. It's just so perfect. Well, next time I write I'll be 20. That's weird, I don't even feel 19!

Feliz Cumple Elder Rice!

I love surprises and jerseys! I probably have the coolest jersey in all of Argentina. 1. because it's not fake and 2. because it's a REAL Salt Lake. Our mission leader from my last area had a banner put up above our pench for my birthday. It's super funny. It says Feliz Cumple Chiquitin Gavin Rice. He called everyone Chiquitin so we always made fun of him. Thanks Fam for all of the birthday notes slash, 2 amazing packages!!! We've almost already eaten everything you sent. It's doing wonders for my social life.

Happy Birthday Gavy!

Gavy we hope you have a very happy birthday! We love you and miss you and are very proud of you! Keep working hard! Thanks for being such a great example! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Gav!!!

Hey Gav. Happy birthday. We hope you are enjoying the dirty dogs down there. Keep on working hard. Thanks for the jersey. Laynie loves it. Love ya. Cam, Homi, and Laynie

Thanks Gav!

Happy Birthday Gavin! Troy looks cute in his little jersey! Thanks for thinking of him!!!
Love you!!

April 5, 2009 Feliz Cumpleanos!

Man, where did the time go? We're missing you today on your 20th birthday but we are so happy that you are where you are, that you are happy where you are, and that you are loving and serving the great people of Argentina there, where you are! Always be found doing good, working hard and teaching the Gospel anywhere you are! We carry you everywhere we are, in our hearts, thoughts and prayers! Que El Senor te bendigas siempre!

Love you Gav,
Happy Birthday!