Week 58

Elder Black called home for Christmas and didn't write this week.  He is doing well and it was the best Christmas present ever to talk to him.

Week 57

This week went super fast. I don´t know how but the weeks keep passing faster and faster. This week I had splits with our Zone leader Elder Erickson form California. I got to go to Concepcion which is a city about an hour north of where I am at. It was super fun. We had some service in the morning and we spent it taking apart wood pallets for a recent convert so he could make furniture out of it. The next morning we cooked breakfast for our companions when they got back and we had scrambled eggs with salami made from llamas. It was super good. I thought it was going to be a bit weird but it tasted just like salami. We managed to get some new chairs for our house because I managed to break one of the ones we already had. It was breaking before I got there and then one day I sat down and it just gave out and through me to the floor. This week was also super hot. I think my other area was hotter than this one but here I just sweat so much from the humidity. We had a super long bike ride the other day. It really was only about 30 minutes but the bikes are super bad so it seemed way longer but the sweat was literally pouring off of me when I got there. I love and miss you all lots. I hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Love Elder Black​​​​​​​​

 

 

Week 56

Como estan todos? This week was great we had a baptism this week and that went well. It was not too hot this week and it was raining off and on through the week. I did see some pretty cool lightning though it was a bunch of clouds rolling in and the lightning just lighting up the clouds every 10 seconds. I felt like I was in a movie when the storm comes rolling in. My bike has manage to break itself a bunch this week. I think I am going to have to get it fixed again today. My companion is super awesome I am his second companion so he is still pretty new. We didn't do much today for P-day but we hung out with the other missionaries and cooked hamburgers but with lots of sweet mesquite barbecue seasoning that was brought from the USA. Love and miss you all lots.

Elder Black

 

p.s. We are trying to get together a Christmas dinner in our district so if you all could send me recipes that would be great. Some that traditional and some that could be super easy.  A little of everything but I am also looking for a few specific things....pumpkin pie from real pumpkin, honey smoked ham, cinnamon rolls, y eggnog.... thanks everyone. The faster you can send them the better because I think I will have to go on a treasure hunt to find the ingredients graciassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

 

 

Week 55

Wow what a week this has been! I am now a couple hundred miles away from where I was before but everything has been great. I will try to remember everything that happened. I left at 2 on Monday and didn't get to Tucuman until 930 but then I had to take another bus to my area and that was about another 2 hours. So I didn't get to my area until almost 12. I got a new companion named Elder Cañas. I will send a picture if I can. He is from El Salvador and is super awesome. I am still district leader here and I have Elder Carter in my District. He is from the Dalles. It has been super crazy here. I am once again in a biking area but I manged to break one of my cranks on the very first day. We went and got that fixed and then the pedal wouldn't stay tight in the new cranks. Lets just say my companion pulled me around a lot this week. My area is much bigger than my last one and there are a lot of people that are rich here. This week there was a bunch of rain which was a nice change from the heat but the streets were super flooded. We ended up just riding our bikes and getting super wet. There were a couple parts where we went into a puddle and when I was pedaling my foot went into the water.
Love and miss you all lots.

Elder Black

Week 54

Sorry this is going to be a bit quick but I am getting transferred and in about 3 hours. I am going to be going to Tucuman, Alberdi. It is about 7 hours away in bus so I don´t have much time to write.
Love and miss you all lots.

Elder Black

Week 53

Wow how the time passes I just finished one year in the mission so I haven't seen most of you for over one year now. This week was super hot and I had splits with the zone leaders and the is a bunch of walking to get to there area and it was super hot. Also to celebrate a year in the mission I burnt a shirt but the whole day I just had a this line for a Bon Jovi song stuck in my head......I'm half way there....livin on a prayer....I thought it fit well with mission life. This week since I am 1st councilor to the branch president I had to direct the sacrament meeting because president did come to church. It made me smile because it will probably be the first and last time that I ever do it. Then I also had to give a talk and teach the young men. Well other than that I don't remember what happened this week besides the heat Love and miss you lots.

Elder Black

 

 

Week 52

This was a super crazy week. We did have enough time to work but we had a super great conference in Salta. The weather took a turn for the colder this week and we had some rain and it didn't really get hot until about yesterday. Today we played soccer in Oran with our zone leaders and a couple of other missionaries. We had a huge conference this week with the entire mission this is super special because we need permission from an area 70 to get the entire mission together. Elder Christenson came and gave a super great talk about the spirit and how we can feel it for different reasons. I actually saw Elder Carter for the first time. He is someone I know from the Dalles. Since there was this huge conference every member had me taking letters to all of the missionaries that had been there and I was Mailman Black for a day and never want to go back. The very next day after getting back from the conference we had our interviews with president and then one of the assistants to the president came to help us out in our area. I went to Colonia Saturday to help them with their baptism. And in the end their investigator got super sick and couldn't be baptized. The sisters were pretty bummed out so we went and bought some ice cream so they could feel better. Love and miss you all lots.
Elder Black

Week 51

Happy Halloween. This week was pretty great. I was tired a lot more than usual but that is alright. To celebrate Halloween we ate some candy corn that I had kept hidden for a year in our district meeting. It wasn't even weird tasting it was just fine. We also did some service that led to us moving dirt for an hour and a half in our white shirts and ties. It was actually pretty fun and luckily the sun was going down so it wasn't so hot. It also rained a couple days this week which was a nice change from the heat. I also have splits this week I got to go to Embarcation a little town about 30 minutes from here to be with Elder Morales in his area. That was a lot of fun. This week as well the 2 big soccer team from Argentina, Boca and River,  played and during that time no one lets us in. But luckily my team won, Boca, so I can wear my jersey without any shame. Sunday we had three youth that wanted to come on visits with us and I thought they were going to be a bit out of control but they ended up being alright. We also passed by a motorcycle accident that was pretty bad. Luckily they had almost everything cleaned up but there was quite a bit of blood on the pavement. Today we played some soccer with a few of the youth and the elders de Embarcation which was super fun and then I got a hair cut because Elder Christeson of the 70 is coming for a conference this week. Love and miss you all lots
Elder Black

Week 50

How is going with everyone? I am still dying from the heat here. I am sure it has started to cool off a bit at home. This week went super fast I can't believe it. In one year exactly I will be getting on a plane to head home. I haven't quite been out on my mission for a year yet but I will be coming home for about 3 weeks early because of the way the weeks work out and because I had 6 weeks in the MTC the 2 years doesn't divide equal for 6 weeks periods so 1 year left. It has gone so fast and I feel like I was just leaving home a few weeks ago. This week was pretty normal. For our P-day today we got all our district together and had an asado. This week we had our zone conference and it was with another zone. I got to see my first companion from Pichanal and he is finishing his mission this next month. He lost a lot of weight now that he left Pichanal. It was weird being the one who knew almost everyone in the conference. I think I was actually in the older half of the people there which is CRAZY I still feel like I have been here for like 3 months. Nothing much else happened that was interesting but love and miss you all lots.

Elder Black

Week 49

This week has been a bit stressful but everything went well. The weather got super weird. One day it was about 110 to 113 and then the next day it got super windy and rained in the night. The rain was nice because we actually had a cool day this week. The other day I went out on our balcony and there was a bird stuck in a pot of water we had out there. I emptied out the water and then left for a bit and he was gone but I got a couple of good pictures. This Thursday for our activity we played a version of LDS jeopardy and that was actually pretty fun because we were all learning things that we didn't know. We also had service this week helping someone cut the weeds in their lawn. It turned out that their weeds were super short and that I don't even think they needed to be cut, but we did it anyway in the blazing hot sun. My arms have actually gotten super tan these last couple of weeks and it has surprised me a bit. Love and miss everyone lots.

Elder Black

 

My companion and I

The bird I helped

One of the last Reese's that I had it was almost a year old

A kitten I was playing with

My coin collection that I now have coins from 6 different countries

 

Week 48

Como estan todos? This week was super crazy with transfers and a lot of stuff that happened but in the end I am still in the lovely town of Pichanal. I am now the District leader here, That means that I am responsible for 6 other missionaries instead of just my self, and I got a new companion Elder Herrera. If you see some pictures and he looks familiar it is because he was one of the missionaries living with me in my old area but we were never companions. This week was astounding. My Zone leader just got called to be a asistente, and we finally had our intraviastas with our mission president. This week we also helped a couple get married and it was amazing how everything just ended up working out. The very next day we had her baptism and that was amazing. Oh also happy mothers day to all the mothers out here because this Sunday was mothers day here in Argentina. This P-day my companion wasn't leaving until later in the day so we went and visited a river with some members and crossed a train track bridge and just relaxed. 

Love and miss you all lots

Elder Black