Merlo- Week #46

Mother's Day and.... the Call !


Well, hello hello Well, after that wonderful 14 minutes of talking to my family on Mother’s Day, I have to say that buying phone cards and calling collect might be the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced. It is alright though, we have everything figured out and will be calling again to have a real conversation soon. Today if possible. There are a few details I want to cover on the scripture covers but we can talk about that on the phone. So, glad to hear everyone’s Mother’s Day went well. This week I got letters from Grandma Sherry (boss letter) also I think she is confused and thinks I am the assistant to the president, which is false ahah, Todd (also boss), and Kittye Bowen (triple boss because I haven’t heard from BYU people in a while), also the Melin family sent me a SWEET letter, complete with decorations and Kung Fu Panda stickers...which I thoroughly enjoyed. No packages this week, but I’m sure they are on the way. There is no guac here dad, only churri.

So I am still enjoying reading about Brett and Kyle’s experiences, mainly because they sound like they actually have cool nice scenery to complement their work...whether it be Spanish castles and cobblestone streets, or Philippine waterfalls and strange bearded sages with alligators...I just have my area, in the slums of Buenos Aires, where I walk the streets all day hoping not to get robbed or have rocks thrown at my head (I have learned that the Spirit can actually prompt me to dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge (the five D’s of Dodgeball)) also, that I pretty much lived the Samuel the Lamanite story this week, and it was probably the coolest thing ever...small, and large, rocks showering down around us, and us walking out without a scratch.

Well, we are still working away with Elder Latorre here in Merlo. We have a sweet family we are teaching right now. A single mom with 7 kids...yeah...big time. We have baptism dates with four of them, because two are too young, and the oldest two don’t listen to us, but they will come around, so Silvia and her three children Milagros (miracles), Ruben, and Cristian are all excited for their baptism, and we will be doing everything we can to help them meet that goal they have set. It is interesting how your mentality changes in the mission field. I entered wanting to baptize because I knew it was necessary, but now I get a lot more enjoyment helping in the actual process of conversion, helping them prepare for baptism. We have a program in the mission to help our dates make it to the water, and it is 1.Daily contact with the church, us, members, or somebody to keep them focused on their goal. 2. Teach in the houses of the members 3.Talk about the date every visit, and how what we are teaching them is preparing them for their baptism...and since we have been doing that in the mission, baptisms have skyrocketed. Passing everyday, not to try and shove more doctrine down their throat, but to just talk and see if they need help with everything, really puts them at ease and they feel more comfort from the church.

Also, just to let you know, the more I think about it, I realize that maybe the technical malfunctions calling was really a blessing, because we didn’t spend the time we thought we would in the Bishop’s Office, and when we left, we got to work and barely met our weekly goals that we set, which we wouldn’t have been able to do if we were talking. Also, our leaders are giving us the whole 50 minutes to talk again, so we should be good to go. Also, Mom, I like that green tie just so you know, it was a gift from Elder Steele, I thought it was sophisticated lookin...but now I am just embarrassed and never going to wear it again, good job. Nah, just kidding, I will still wear it. Well, until next week for some, and tonight for my mommy. Hope everything is going well.

Love, Sean


(on Mother's Day Sean called us on a calling card that was supposed to last for 30 minutes and it only lasted for 7 minutes. He had two cards so he used the second one and it only lasted 7 minutes also, so we had a total of 14 minutes on the phone with him and the line went dead... so we are happy he gets to call us tonight because we felt a little frustrated on Sunday).