Celeste & Mario are getting baptized!

Dear Family,
I had another excellent week in my new home, Las Heras. I love it here. Here are the most important/interesting news/happenings of the week.

* ¡CELESTE Y MARIO VAN A BAUTIZARSE! Hermana Lewis called and told me on Thursday. They are getting married on February 18th and getting baptized on the 19th. Belén and Jasmín are going to get baptized with them too. I was so happy when I found out that I started to cry. I´ve already asked permission from President Benton and he says I can go to the baptism! Despite all the challenges, my miracle family is going to make it.
* The members here in Las Heras are great. They are pretty willing to accompany us on visits (though sometimes they, through no fault of their own, are busy) and they take good care of us. For example, on Tuesday it was SO HOT. My face was dripping before we even left the apartment. We happened not to have lunch with members that day, so we ate a lunch we packed as we walked--in the sun. By about 3:00, Hna. Duarte and I were "plantitas secas" as Hna. Duarte says(little dry plants, though in my case "little sweaty plant" might have been more appropriate). All the kioscos were closed for the siesta and we had no water. Hna. Duarte confessed later that she was starting to see stars. So we called darling Maxi and Paula Miguez and begged for mercy. Sure enough they invited us in to their air conditioned house and gave us several glasses of water and koolaid AND icecream while entertaining us with funny stories about their family. They were amazing! AND on Saturday afternoon (also a hot day, but not as bad as Tuesday), Hermano Juan (forgot his last name) rode past us on his bicycle and said hi. Three minutes later he appeared again carrying two icy cold bottles of jugo (i.e. koolaid) and gave them to us. Bless his heart!
* On Thursday we had zone conference, which was really great. I learned again the importance of relating stuff that´s important to the investigator to the gospel to help them be interested and feel like you are interested in them. I plan to apply that when I do street contacts and during lessons. After zone conference we got the mail-- I had a letter from Mom (thank you!), two letters from Grandma Campbell (tell her I miss her!), and a PACKAGE from Grandpa and Grandma Clark and Rachel (it was great! It made me very happy! I loved the lotion and the Clif bars!). I feel so blessed that I get so much mail from family and friends. Speaking of which, I just remembered that there is a wonderful elder from my old district in Luján who has never once gotten a letter during his mission. His family doesn´t hardly email him either. His name is Elder Alvial and he is from Chile. So if you ever don´t have anything planned for family home evening, maybe you could write him a quick note in Spanish and send it. I bet it would make his day to get a letter.
* Investigators: Ludmila and Aldana cut pictures from church pamphlets to make us cards that said "I love you" on the front and on the inside said things like "I want to be baptized" (with a picture of Jesus being baptized) and "I will always pray" (next to the picture of a girl praying) and "I will follow Jesus" (next to a picture of Christ). It was precious and heartbreaking. They are so prepared, but we still haven´t been able to meet their mother because she works or hangs out with friends all the time and is never home. We´ve left notes and even left the baptismal form for her to sign, but for now L&A say that she doesn´t want them to get baptized. Aaargh! However, we have been finding some great new investigators. There is a whole extended family (a father and his two sons and their wives) that we are teaching who are really great. They aren´t really convinced yet (Martín, for instance, doesn´t believe in God yet but says he wants to come to church to find out for himself if God exists), but they are curious, ask lots of questions, and listen well. Hopefully they will come to church next week. One of my favorite new investigators is MaríaLuz (I changed her name). She just turned 16 and whenever we come to visit she smiles and her eyes sort of glow-- she´s really happy to see us. But she breaks my heart because she´s currently living with her boyfriend, who does drugs, AND she already has a 11ish month old baby girl and she is 3 months pregnant with another child. In Argentina this is sadly not as shocking as it would be in the states. I really hope the gospel can help her. And then there is Milagros, an 11 year old girl who watches her two younger siblings all day while her mom works in an icecream shop trying to support the family. Her dad doesn´t live with them--he abused their mother and maybe the kids too-- all I know is that Milagros and her little siblings are afraid of him. There isn´t much we can do because Milagros´ mother doesn´t usually come home till after our curfew so we can´t teach her or even go in to the house (really more of a hole in the wall) but yesterday we stood in the doorway and taught Milagros how to pray. It breaks my heart that that was all I had to offer Milagros, but at the same time I know that prayer is one of the most powerful tools I could give her to improve her situation. We´ll keep stopping by.

Well, I´m way out of time, but I love you all and miss you a lot. I hope that you are happy and healthy both physically and spiritually. I think of you all the time and pray for you a lot. I´m so lucky to have such an amazing family.
Love,
Ellis