May 24, 2010

Oh my gosh.... School is ending already!? Time really has flown, I swear just a month ago I read Mags got asked to Prom. And Yay for her with all the grading problems she has had this year, I can't wait to hear how her next year goes.

A shout for joy for Brother Clark, one of the coolest men I know and even more so, it's way nice to hear about progress in Iraq.

The Asthma problem has lessend a bit (Largely a big thanks to Benadryl, need to give Aunt Terri a big high five for that, it really is a fix-all medicine.)

As for a bit of Cultural news from Argentina, tomorrow is Independence Day for them, and they're celebrating very hard for the fact that it's their Bicenntenial celebration this year. Also... and this is killing me... world cup excitement is building up and up and up, with stores and shops and families all in a buzz about it. It was quite interesting when a family in the branch started asking us who we thought was gonna win, because obivously, they want to hear Argentina, so we said them... and England had a chance. They joked around with us after that and it was pretty funny.

We're also about 3 weeks till winter here so yeah, we're getting pretty cold here and there.

We bundle up pretty good, and our pension is very well insulated so we're good there, but when it comes to washing clothes, it's absolute torture.

Now for the truly important stuff. It was interesting that Aaron gave Seth that advice, cause one thing that I have been starting to work on here is humility. Obedience, as you probably know without a problem, is not hard for me, but then there is humility. In Preach My Gospel, it has an activity where you can rate yourself in several key Christlike attributes and then make a plan to work on ones you need to work on. It was amazing to me that as I began to study this, and started to apply the teachings of the scriptures and of Christ himself to my life, that I have started praying for His aide more often, I've found myself being willing to change things, and lots of other things. I'm grateful for the changing power of His Atonement, cause I know that is what is helping to repent and to change who I am so I can become the missionary that the Lord not only wants, but needs me to be, here in Córdoba.

This week, we also committed Silvio (Patricia´s boyfriend) to baptism. It was a powerful lesson for this one, we watched The Restoration, and after, Silvio poured out his soul to us. They worried about getting married because they haven't seen any progress in their relationship, and don't want to make a mistake with a decision like this. His mother also treats Patricia pretty poorly and he doesn't want to put her in a situation like this. And this, the most important thing of all, he said that he feels like a man whose drowning and is looking for a way to be pulled out. That he's seen us and other missionaries walking around for quite a while, but he felt like now was the time to reach up for help.

We've been waiting for something like this for months now, and we know that it was the Spirit which moved him and Patricia to confess these things to us. They weren't able to go to church this week because they're just so far behind in things because of the accident, which we can really understand, but we are planning on getting them to commit to a date for marriage so that they can have a fixed date for baptism.

Well, those 100 days have passed, and this week I reach the 4 month mark... which if anything this is the scariest thing of all... I'll be home sooner than you know it. In fact, as a sign of the times, Elder Holbrook said to me friday, "Well you have enough time in the mission now, what is the first home cooked meal you want when you get back?" (Word for word there) so yeah... really weird...

Anyways love y'all much

---Ian

Ellie and I were able to catch him while he was still online, so we got to message back and forth. I sent him several pictures of Wilbur, the weather (it actually snowed that day!) and some other pix.