May 10, 2010

Well yes we did just talk (And I wasn't the last to finish yesterday.. E' Holbrook went for about 2 hours!!! His family is going to be coming to Argentina the last week of his mission so they were making sure everything was ready.) But aside from that here is the address for his family.

I wasn't worried about being homesick of anything, really, you all hear from me every week and I wanted to hear the lives of those who I don't get to hear from very often.

  

Anyways, it's another pictures day, and one of them will make you very, very jealous.

Here are some delicious empanadas, for these types, we get our a bottle of lemon juice, and pour it in the tops.

This is our radiator (That scary thing that makes weird sounds that's attatched to the wall) It is gas powered, like our stove, so we do have to use matches or a "lighter," which makes a small electric sparks, to start them.

This is our washing machine. However... it is broken. So we have to wash our clothes by hand. There is also no such thing as a dryer here, so everything is hung to dry, which become a little annoying when garments are needed.

This is our (Mine and Elder Holbrook´s) room. It is pretty nice, but we are still lacking light so we use the window for light, which by the way, the window is kinda inside the house, I'll get another picture of this in a short while. (Sorry, it's a bit outta focus)

 

and finally

 

In Argentina, there is a company here called Grido, it is an Ice Cream place, and as you can read on the picture. Yes, we can call and get it Delivered!!! By far, one of the coolest things here, and the Ice Cream is really pretty good. That, and we can get it by the quarter, half, or whole Kilo, so ya, if there's any reason you to come to Argentina, Mom, it's this. Grido also happens to have a store about every 3 blocks here. It's awesome.

 

Anyways, there is the Report of the week, I hope you can enjoy it.

¡Nos Vemos!

-Ian

May 3, 2010

Congrats to Mags, I hope she gets to continue on doing this, because it's looking like she really has a future in this.

Alrighty... Mother's day. What I'll be doing is calling you at 4-6 PM MY TIME from the church building in Alta Gracia (El Crucero) and I'll call your cell phone, so just be looking. I don't know what the number for the church is though, so... yay? (Of course)

And for the stories of the week:

This week, I came down with a sinus infection (Boo!!!) so I wasn't able to do a whole lot, I worked Monday and Tuesday, and only for a short bit with both, but not Wednesday because my face was in so much pain and I had so little energy that I couldn't do anything.

But on a brighter note, Patricia and her... kinda husband Silvio attended church this week and that was cause for much rejoicing for us. They didn't bring their kids this time, so we're gonna work with them this week to do so. Patricia loved it again and Silvio said he did as well. They also both said that they did feel really good (Super YAY!) so we know the Spirit is working with them right now.

Also for my scripture study "aha!" moment for the week, I am now in Exodus, and it is quite awesome to have actually read the story of Moses. Won't lie, I had moments of "The Ten Commandments" popping into my head, and more frequently, the songs of "The Prince of Egypt" constantly going in out. But the coolest thing of all was reading how Jethro helped Moses to organize the tribes of Israel, especially in the "judging" processes. It was nice to notice how they formed exactly what we have today. Good men judge small groups of their tribe, and if its a big thing, it goes up the chain till it reached Moses. I love that the church really has never changed, even in the Book of Mormon, a huge part of it all is the judges. Anyways, AHA!

I really don't have much to talk about this week, because I'll be calling you, and I can't wait to do so... even though it's only been a month since I last did so. But it will be great to here from Dad this time and from the rest of the motly crew.

¡Nos Vemos!
--QK Ian

Follow up message: Scratch that. I'll be calling the home phone.

April 26, 2010

Haha, it is nice to know that Kim and now the entire family has faith in me ;)

 

This week... won't lie, probably the hardest yet. My odd foot problems have come back and are as tenacious as me, refusing to heal or leave. I also was struck down with a cold, and very few new 'gators'. We weren't able to find Patricia this week, she was super busy so we worked on just finding people. In fact I made 18 contacts/invitations in one day.

 

I would LOVE to have your letters in the journal, as well as the pictures, that's one thing that I think will help make the memory of it all.

 

I received two letters this week!!!! I was ecstatic when I got them and read about all the experiences. In one of your letters you did ask if would send written letters with more details... but in all honesty, these emails would be the exact same as my letters.

 

But this week=PICTURES!!!!!! And I will add descriptions for each one.

 

That is Florencia, my first baptism. Absolutely golden (Even asking one time if it was a bad thing to pray all the time)

That's me and E' Winger at the MTC

That's the 1A District.

Those are my teachers, Sis. Smith (Served in Paraguay) and Bro Anderson (Dominican Republic)

From left to right: Elder Trigo(From Buenos Aires,) Elder Holbrook, and Elder Fontes (From close to the areas in which Dad served)

This is a sign in a place we visited call Villa Gral. Belgrano. It's a GERMAN town in Argentina, and there's a beer mug that I'll probably end up getting for Ben which he will love.

Well... Looks like someone is taller than Mags... scary, how's Maggie handling that?

 

I hope all is going well... I do miss being able to walk bare-foot in a house and a shower.

The food is getting better each day, we actually had a feast with a family, and it was asado, in which we had some terrific meats... it's something that I hope I learn to make to bring to the Viking Feast!!!! (SKOL!!)

 

I also this week learned something while reading the Old Testament (I started this last week or so). The importance of examples has always been a big part of my life. One story in the Old Testament really proves the importance of examples. Jacob, having heard his brother Esau was coming back, looking for him, started to run away, knowing that if they met, Esau would probably kill him. Esau caught up with him and they both halted. They then embraced. Both brothers had forgiven the other. It is quite a small moment, but there was someone watching it. After having been thown in a pit and sold into Egypt, then meeting those who did it to him a second time, being in a similar position and power as his father, forgave his brothers. For years, I wondered how was it possible that after all they had done to him, how could Joseph forgive his brothers that easily? It makes sense now, and now that I've seen the influence of all my friends and leaders in my life, remebering their examples, their quotes... all that they did, I know that it is the exact same as this.

 

Just a small testimony, but it's why the Church wants the best of missionaries, to set that example of Christ in the lives of ALL people.

 

Well, there ya go, hope all goes well!

NOTE:

I sent him pictures from Jessica's baby shower. Both girls were holding babies and Maggie is leaning against a wall, which makes it look like she is shorter than Ellie. (Truth be told, they are quite close in height.)

April 19, 2010

Wow... this has been quite an epic week and congrats as well!!!

Well, the main focus of my letter this week is Patricia fortunately. First and foremost... she has committed to Baptism!!! Patricia is a women that we've been working with for quite a bit. She lives in pretty humble circumstances, in a Barrio (which is also the same word for ward here) named San Juan in which most of this area is pretty small and humble circumstances, but there are still those that take pride in their circumstance.

Any-who, this last tuesday we planned to commit her that day but it wouldn't be an easy day. Most of the day was dark and cold, cloudy, and not very welcoming... like most of the people that day. But we stayed positive because we knew what may take place near the end of the day. When it was time to go to Patricia's, we picked up a member in the area who we asked to help us with this lesson, in which the member would give her conversion and baptism story. This worked well and we continued on by teaching Lesson 3, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ," which is just a really expounded version of AoF 4. We taught her and she took it all well. When the time came to extend the commitment, we did so (obviously.) She gave a small chuckle then said yes. When we extended the commitment, when she accepted it, and a short bit after, the sun broke through the clouds and brought a bit of light and warmth to this day. I know it really doesn't mean much, but it, in a way, testified to me she was honest in her acceptance.

This week we also taught her the 10 Commandments and Sabbath Day. One of the ways that they get money is that they (her family) make a certain bread here and then on either saturday or sunday, would go sit on the side of the highway and try to sell it. On sunday, we waited for her cause she had committed to come to church. When she didn't show up, we called her and didn't get an answer, so we went to look for some other 'gators' to bring to church. On our way back, after not finding anyone, we received a call from her in which Patricia said that wouldn't be able to come, but had decided, with her family, that they would stop doing this so the she AND her family could come to church.

It truly is amazing how much the Lord and the Spirit can work with some one and change what used to be normal for someone. This week we plan to work with her more to prepare her for baptism along with her family.

In a short miraculous story about how the Lord has helped me on my mission so far. I know that one thing that we were all worried about was my desire to play video games... alot, as well as fears of "withdrawls" from not playing them. Fortunately, I've not had any withdrawls yet, because I have been so involved with the work here, so invovled with my studies, so not invovled with my wants and desires. I see this as a my miracle of the mission so far, and know it is a good thing that this is happening. Don't get me wrong now, I'm sure I still have a love for games, but it has not hindered me here at all, especially since I was excited a few days ago to start the old testament. I feel that this has been a blessing and will always look back on it this way.

So now that I have been here 3 weeks, there's another interesting story of things that has happened. Earlier last week, we had power cut off to our pension.... so we had to do quite a few things in the dark. This was caused by first-off, we hadn't paid rent yet, and that the entire city had lost power. Now just acouple of days back it happened again. It's back, but we're trying to figure out why it happened this time.

Anywho, Gnocchi is here but is spelt a little differently ñoquis. It's just as good here and we had it twice this last week.

Well that's really all. How's Lil' Red doing? How's the end of Ellie's last year in elementary school shaping up? Any more mischevious things that Grif has done?

And about music, it's totally fine if you can't get it up here, but it would be awesome to still have something. But don't stress.

¡Nos vemos y buenas suerte! (See ya and good luck!)
---QK E' Asplund

April 12, 2010

I did have it in my carry-on.... the thing was that I had to put my carry-on on as regular luggage so yeah... well... if you can just find a ipod shuffle that will work. Also... odd as it sounds, the Sons of Provo soundtrack is allowed.... weird right?

 

So to answer the freaky question I've two experiences one back at the home and one while tracting. The home one is sad and silly, but we had a moth in the room so I was trying to remove/kill it. It started flying near our lightbulb, and I don´t really know what happened exactly, but i went to kill it with my eagles shirt (Mcnabb is gone!) and after that... there wasn't a lightbulb, a moth, and a lot of ashes... and a black spot on the cieling... which we believe to be the moth. The Freaky tracting story was only that two drunk men came and talked to us and they had a lot of cats.... that´s it really.

 

Well Florencia was married, baptized, and confirmed this weekend and it all worked perfectly so yeah. We did get an 'gator' (investigator) to come to church this week and see the confirmation, so we have a new progressing investigator named Patricia.

 

The greatest thing I learned so far was from our zone conference this weekend. E' Holbrook told me to come in with a question, so I did. Over the last few weeks I've felt like I haven´t been praying as hard or effectively as I should be. At the zone conference, Pres. Olsen felt inspired to talk about prayer and said in his lesson that we should pray at least a few times a week to our Father out loud because prayer is a two-way conversation. I know that was the answer that I needed and have started to do that now.

 

Yes... showers are how Dad described them... one room... tile... and uncontrolable water temperature.

 

Some more info about the mish. Here... we don't knock on a door very often. We stand outside the gates of the houses, becaue over 80% of the houses have lock and key, tall, gates, and clap. It's kinda cool actually, especially when they are obviously outside and they hide, good times.

 

I have found my favorite munchie food here, outside of all the other fantastic stuff here like ñoquis, empanadas, steak, and lots of bread and pasta. It´s a bakery item called a Criollos (Cree-o-shóws.) They're small, square, little biscuits that are like pilsburry grands biscuits in the fact that you can peel them apart.

 

Another thing is that dogs are EVERYWHERE, they are like birds and seagulls in utah, they just roam the streets. All of them are not neutered as well... so we've seen some pretty crazy things.

 

Anything about Dad´s mission and also if it´s possible, there's a member here who's way interested in Lacrosse and people want more pics of the family. If you just send them as attatchements, I can pull them off and put them on my camera.

Tracting is getting better, it looks like I'm losing a little bit of weight and it's not as tiring anymore. E' Holbrook and I are getting along just fine (We both freaked out when we saw the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie poster,) which I do hope that someone sees, buys... something like that. Well, my hour is about up so I will talk with y'all later, I haven't received any letters of any sort yet, but things can happen.

 

If you do end up being able to send a Shuffle, or any mp3 or music player, write on the package "Missionary Supplies" they reminded us of that today.

 

¡Cíao! -QK E' Ian

April 5, 2010

Yeah!!! Go Eagles!!! I knew that they would want to do that, as would the entire Philly community. Well as for me, I cannot believe where I am still. I'm in a city south of Córdoba called Alta Gracia, and serve specifically in the are El Crucero. The members are nice, and have provided some great food. One of them was especially interested that I played Lacrosse and looked it up. He came over during conference and was totally excited by it all. Anywho, in spiritual matters, we have a wedding and baptism this week for a woman named Florencia. She is being married to a member named Hector this week on the 9th, and she will be baptized the 10th. My new companion is Elder Holbrook from Lehi. We also room with two native-ish elders. One is named Elder Trigo, the other Elder Fontes. Elder Fontes is from Uruguay and wants to know where Dad served specifically and when.

 

I got to meet some of the other Elders in our zone (Córdoba South) and they actually had me sing a bit of a song for them while my comp played his guitar... they enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

So yeah I got to view the last 3 sessions of conference in English cause the first two we didn´t have anyone to set-up the english transmission. And we did get to go past curfew and also sleep in a little (so we could have the full 8 hours that we need) I loved it all, especially Pres Uchtdorf´s in priesthood session about Patience.

 

Another thing, one of my bags was stolen from...the one that had the Ipod, plus the cord with it. Nothing else was stolen. I was wondering though if I could have another sent to me with similar songs, now that I know what I can and can´t listen to. I can listen to Motab, and church stuff, but I can listen to others like all A capella (Vocal Point, Moosebutter) and instrumental, Disney, soundtrack (Lord of the Rings, Star wars, my PLAY cd) and anything that is good (Like "my hero" by paramore) if you can send me one yay, if not it´s all good...with the power cord of course. If you do send it, make sure to put a list of the contents on it.

 

The Rest of our district did arrive this wed. but none are in my current district or zone. I learned a bit about the weather here, there´s two seasons, the rainy, and the dry. I got here as the rainy was ending, but it still started pouring on Friday. OH and a funny thing, our plug converter didn´t even need the other extension part, it works just fine by itself.

Well, just keep me updated on everything, the salvage of Lil´ Red as well.

 

Thanks Mom!

Notes:

• Donovan McNabb, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, was traded to their rival, the Redskins. 
• As for the music, I am not sending him an iPod shuffle with Paramore on it!
• Lil' Red is the kids' car (pretty much Ian's since no one else drives) and it was involved in an accident.

March 22, 2010

Well here's the updates for this week:

The 24\7 spanish didn't go so well... the first day yeah, but that was about it. we're all still working hard at it, so we aren't giving up yet.

We got our flight plans and we do leave on march 29th, we leave slc to atl at 1215 and arrive at 535, and then we leave at 8 from atl to go to buenos aires airport (yay) so either in the morning or at around 3 here the family will be receiving one call, if you could get christ there to that would rock.

Hosting wasn't too bad, but there were so few missionaries coming in that i didn't get to help. And finally elder quentin l. cook was our devotional speaker this week, it was so awesome. i have the notes and i'll be sending them to you in mail. and speaking of mail, i don't need stamps at the moment, but i will be needing more.

thanks. ¡Adiós y me da suerte! ¡Les quiero mucho! QK Ian

Note:

He sent this as I was online writing mine. In fact, it came through and I was able to type quickly to him that we had something going through the mail for him. He responded within seconds with another email, and I responded back a quick "love you!" It was a great few minutes.