Headlines of the Week

GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN MOSCOW AND AT BYU/ IN UTAH! I DON´T WRITE MUCH BUT I THINK OF YOU OFTEN AND HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL! THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN ME LATELY!

Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your emails! Three letters from Mom, two from Grandma, and the package arrived last week. I opened the package last night and laughed a lot over the "specially packaged" pantyhose. Thanks for the laugh and for the energy bars and pens and sticky notes! I really like the stationary too.

This has been a very full week. Here are the headlines:

Gastón Sires to be baptized 9-25! One week without smoking!

The miracle of the week is that Gastón didn´t smoke even once! On Monday his exgirlfriend sent him lots of nasty text messages and he was really upset, but despite that trial he didn´t give in to smoking! He stayed strong the whole week, even when it was hard. So he´s on track to get baptized this Sunday. Gastón is so wonderful and is developing so much faith. I´m so blessed to be able to teach him!

Pamela prayed and feels more sure about her baptism, although her parents´ permission continues to be a challenge that gives her occasional doubts. Her mom says yes, but her dad says no. But on Wednesday we are going to talk more with her mom, who promised to talk to Pamela´s dad. We are praying every day that Pamela will be able to get permission and feel sure about getting baptized.

Olga is struggling with fear and faith. On Tuesday when we arrived she said she wanted to wait to be baptized until her vacation in JANUARY in order to have time for one week of spiritual purification in preparation for baptism--- completely unnecessary for someone as practically sinless as Olga. But we helped her resolve her doubts and she said she would get baptized the next Saturday- 9-24. But then on Saturday she was worried again because she thinks the cold water will make her sick--I had to pray for patience. If she makes excuses it is because she is understandably nervous about making such a big change in her life. But we talked to her (I explained the water is warm, not cold) and she felt the Spirit and was more sure about baptism this weekend. She agreed to have her baptismal interview on Tuesday, which will hopefully help her feel more ready. I love her so much and I know she needs to get baptized.

One year anniversary of Hna Clark´s arrival in Argentina-- most of the public is still unaware.

Not much more to say about that. I´m trying not to count down the months, just focus on loving the people and working as hard as I can.

Psychological wounds from Elder Aidukaitis´ guilt inducing mission tour this September have dropped 25% since his last visit in June 2010.

On the one year anniversary of my arrival in Argentina, Elder Aidukaitis (from Brazil, part of the area presidency) came to speak to the mission. He told us: "I am very happy with your work. But I am not satisfied." He has really high expectations for us and wrote down all our statistics on a white board to show us how almost none of us are meeting the goals we set because we don´t know how to plan--- MAJOR GUILT TRIP!!! (apparently when he came last year he was even tougher and made the elders cry) He taught us that during weekly planning we should plan every hour of every day of the week-- yikes! I used to just plan lessons for my investigators. I tried to think positively about it though-- if he has high expectations it is because he sees a lot of potential in us.

On Sunday we tried to plan the way Elder Aidukaitis taught us. I had a lot of doubts about it being a good way to plan, but I made an effort to have faith and be obedient and we tried it. It was hard, and we only planned all the hours until Wednesday, but I felt good about it. I think the advantage of planning that way is that during nightly planning we can plan more specifically for the lessons we need to teach to our investigators. And when we set appointments in the street, we already know exactly where we´re going to be during the week, so it´s more efficient. I´m going to keep trying this way of planning until I master it.

For the second week in a row we contacted 150 people. It didn´t really help us find new investigators, but that probably means I need to look for other methods of finding too or change how I contact people. So far the blessing for contacting is more confidence and more of the Spirit, which is pretty great. I´m sure more blessings will come as I strive to be consistent and diligent with contacting.
This week I just want to help Gastón, Pamela and Olga get baptized on Sunday, but I know we need to find new investigators ASAP or we won´t have anyone left for next month, so I´m going to do my best to find new people too. I think we can work with Gastón´s family and invite them to the baptism.

Sister missionary bitten by dog!

Yup. I finally got bit. On Friday we found a potential new investigator named Efraín and as we were leaving after setting a return appointment, I heard a loud growl and felt a sharp pain in my calf. A black and white blur streaked back behind Efraín´s house. I was kind of freaked out, but after examining the bite we concluded it wasn´t very serious. Efraín very nicely brought me soap and water to wash the bite, and assured us that the dog (belonged to his neighbor) had all it´s vaccines. Then we went to go teach Pamela and even though I said I was fine, she insisted on cleaning the bite with iodine and bandaging it. After we taught her I go to show off my wound to Gastón and his recent convert brother, Seba, which was kind of fun. Anyway, I´m recovering just fine and the only time I foam at the mouth is when I brush my teeth, so I guess I don´t have rabies. We went back to our appointment with Efraín and he wasn´t home, though we managed to teach his neighbor, Fortunata. I saw the dog again-- black with white chest and feet. It seems to recognize me and growled at me from behind the fence---aaaagh! I don´t know why it chose to bite ME of all people. I keep thinking of poor Hermana Abbot, who is mission legend for having been bit 7 times during her mission! I hope that this was a one time thing for me. Fun times in the mission.

Well, I´m super out of time. Got to go! I love you and I miss you. I hope you and the family have a great week! I´m praying for you.
Love,
Ellis