Dear President Saunders,
I am pleased to inform you that Elder David William Coats has served faithfully in the Buenos Aires South Mission and will complete an honorable mission on 04 Jul 2011.
Elder Coats has been a great missionary in Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission. Probably more importantly he has been and is a very good person. He has always been focused on the reason he was called to be a full time missionary. He has worked hard every day to invite people to come unto Christ. In many respects Elder Coats is everything you would want a great missionary to be. He has served faithfully as a Trainer and District Leader. Thank you for your efforts in preparing young men and women such as Elder Coats to be successful missioanries. We know that he will continue to progress in his life as he applies the gospel principles he has taught to others. Sister Stapley and I love Elder Coats very much. We hope that you will provide him with continued opportunities for growth in the future. May the Lord continue to bless you.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Stapley
Mission President
Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Message From Mission Home
Dear Coats Family,
I am writing this as a backup in case your son didn't contact you last night. His flight from Buenos Aires to Miami was cancelled last night and he was well taken care of by LAN airlines along with the other 5 missionaries he is traveling with. He left on a 6:00 a.m. flight this morning to Miami from Buenos Aires. If you have not heard from him please wait until you do before going to the airport. I have no other flight information. I am sure he will call once he lands in the United States.
Hermana Jones
I am writing this as a backup in case your son didn't contact you last night. His flight from Buenos Aires to Miami was cancelled last night and he was well taken care of by LAN airlines along with the other 5 missionaries he is traveling with. He left on a 6:00 a.m. flight this morning to Miami from Buenos Aires. If you have not heard from him please wait until you do before going to the airport. I have no other flight information. I am sure he will call once he lands in the United States.
Hermana Jones
Monday, June 20, 2011
June 20, 2011
Hello family;
Still sounds like everything is super busy up in the land of Utah. That´s awesome that Tyler´s homecoming went well. (David's friend and roommate, Tyler Tinkham just returned from the Honduras mission.) It´s crazy that we´re about to become old. It´s getting old to hear 20 times a day that I´m getting old in the mission, and that I´m already dead. But I´m not dead. I´ve got two more weeks, and we´ve got some awesomeness left to complete. But it´s amazing to see how fast the time goes by.
This week was quite a long rough week, but with one super ray of sunshine. We haven´t been able to find any of our investigators or any new families. But we did have an awesome experience with Rocío, the girl from institute that we found last week. We went over with a member named Daniel, that is her friend from institute, and we had left 2 Nefi 31 for her to read. We asked her how her reading went and she really felt good and prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon is true and felt that she had received an answer. Then we asked her what she had understood in the chapter about baptism, and that chapter had really touched her and she had actually already decided and had talked to her mom that she wants to be baptized! We took out a baptismal date with Rocío for the 2nd of July, which is awefully soon, especially considering that she works Sunday morning. But the rest of the lesson we talked about the Sabbath Day and how we can keep it holy, and she felt that she needs to start looking to change her work. But she committed to talk to her boss and ask him if she could come in an hour late so she could come to Sacrament Meeting and she did it, and was able to come to church this week! It´s still difficult because she wasn´t able to stay for the classes and really get to know the members, but we pray that she can receive the answers to her prayers and be able to keep the Sabbath Day holy and attend church and make it to baptism the 2nd of July! Time is really an issue now, and we need to help her that she can really experience conversion before this important time in her life. We were thinking about a later date, but my companion just went for it and took out the date as soon as possible. The spirit was there, so we will do everything we can do to help her make it to her baptismal goal.
This next week the missionaries that are going home are going on a tour on Saturday of the capital of Buenos Aires, so I don´t think I will have P-day Monday to write home, or time on Saturday. But Rocío´s baptism has to be the same time, so I might have normal P-day and write home Monday. A baptism the last Saturday in the mission definitely beats a tour of capital in my books, but it would be cool to see Buenos Aires and some of the tourist sites. It´s a huge city. So this could be the last time I write yáll from Argentina, but it´s looking like the baptism will be the same time, so I´ll probably write again, but don´t be scared or worried if I don´t.
Love you guys, and we´ll be seeing yáll soon if you don´t hear from me next week.
Love, David
Still sounds like everything is super busy up in the land of Utah. That´s awesome that Tyler´s homecoming went well. (David's friend and roommate, Tyler Tinkham just returned from the Honduras mission.) It´s crazy that we´re about to become old. It´s getting old to hear 20 times a day that I´m getting old in the mission, and that I´m already dead. But I´m not dead. I´ve got two more weeks, and we´ve got some awesomeness left to complete. But it´s amazing to see how fast the time goes by.
This week was quite a long rough week, but with one super ray of sunshine. We haven´t been able to find any of our investigators or any new families. But we did have an awesome experience with Rocío, the girl from institute that we found last week. We went over with a member named Daniel, that is her friend from institute, and we had left 2 Nefi 31 for her to read. We asked her how her reading went and she really felt good and prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon is true and felt that she had received an answer. Then we asked her what she had understood in the chapter about baptism, and that chapter had really touched her and she had actually already decided and had talked to her mom that she wants to be baptized! We took out a baptismal date with Rocío for the 2nd of July, which is awefully soon, especially considering that she works Sunday morning. But the rest of the lesson we talked about the Sabbath Day and how we can keep it holy, and she felt that she needs to start looking to change her work. But she committed to talk to her boss and ask him if she could come in an hour late so she could come to Sacrament Meeting and she did it, and was able to come to church this week! It´s still difficult because she wasn´t able to stay for the classes and really get to know the members, but we pray that she can receive the answers to her prayers and be able to keep the Sabbath Day holy and attend church and make it to baptism the 2nd of July! Time is really an issue now, and we need to help her that she can really experience conversion before this important time in her life. We were thinking about a later date, but my companion just went for it and took out the date as soon as possible. The spirit was there, so we will do everything we can do to help her make it to her baptismal goal.
This next week the missionaries that are going home are going on a tour on Saturday of the capital of Buenos Aires, so I don´t think I will have P-day Monday to write home, or time on Saturday. But Rocío´s baptism has to be the same time, so I might have normal P-day and write home Monday. A baptism the last Saturday in the mission definitely beats a tour of capital in my books, but it would be cool to see Buenos Aires and some of the tourist sites. It´s a huge city. So this could be the last time I write yáll from Argentina, but it´s looking like the baptism will be the same time, so I´ll probably write again, but don´t be scared or worried if I don´t.
Love you guys, and we´ll be seeing yáll soon if you don´t hear from me next week.
Love, David
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 13, 2011
Hola familia,
Sounds like everyone had a good week. Sounds like a long week of volleyball, but sounds like it was fun. That´s crazy that none of the snow in the mountains is melted still. Here, there have been lots of problems from a volcano that erupted in Chile, with the ash causing some cloud effect thing, so the Buenos Aires Airport has been closed for like a week, but it´s still getting a little colder every day, entering into winter.
This week we have still not had success in finding Zony, or appears that she could be avoiding us. We couldn´t teach María Luz either, because every appointment we had, Marta ended cancelling it for some reason or other, so it was a little bit of a frustrating week. But we were able to find a lot more new people than we have lately so that was really good. We found a college student named Rocío, that has been attending institute activities for almost 2 years, but he only received a couple of lessons from missionaries about 2 years a go. We went with another institute student from our ward, and it was really good. She feels that this is the true church, but a big problem is that she works Sunday mornings. So we hope that somehow that problem can be resolved, but we had a really good lesson. All the institute students in our ward already know her, so she´s already got friends and support in the church. We also set up an appointment this week to find her parents and her brothers, so that should be really good.
Sunday we had a special Stake Conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake for all of Argentina. Elder Zivic (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) directed and spoke. Elder Anderson of the 12 apostes spoke, and also Elder Packer and Hermana Wixon (who both had translators.) It was a really good conference, and they all spoke of their experiences that they had had in Argentina. Elder Packer said that this was his 13th time in Argentina, although he wasn´t actually here. Elder Anderson spoke about the duty that all young men have to serve missions, and the responsibities of parents and bishops to invite and push the young men to prepare and to serve honorable missions.
Time´s going by quite fast now, but I know this is the time that the Lord has given me to work in this great work, and I hope to find all those that have been prepared to be found and continue til the very end.
I´ll talk to you again family,
Love, David
Sounds like everyone had a good week. Sounds like a long week of volleyball, but sounds like it was fun. That´s crazy that none of the snow in the mountains is melted still. Here, there have been lots of problems from a volcano that erupted in Chile, with the ash causing some cloud effect thing, so the Buenos Aires Airport has been closed for like a week, but it´s still getting a little colder every day, entering into winter.
This week we have still not had success in finding Zony, or appears that she could be avoiding us. We couldn´t teach María Luz either, because every appointment we had, Marta ended cancelling it for some reason or other, so it was a little bit of a frustrating week. But we were able to find a lot more new people than we have lately so that was really good. We found a college student named Rocío, that has been attending institute activities for almost 2 years, but he only received a couple of lessons from missionaries about 2 years a go. We went with another institute student from our ward, and it was really good. She feels that this is the true church, but a big problem is that she works Sunday mornings. So we hope that somehow that problem can be resolved, but we had a really good lesson. All the institute students in our ward already know her, so she´s already got friends and support in the church. We also set up an appointment this week to find her parents and her brothers, so that should be really good.
Sunday we had a special Stake Conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake for all of Argentina. Elder Zivic (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) directed and spoke. Elder Anderson of the 12 apostes spoke, and also Elder Packer and Hermana Wixon (who both had translators.) It was a really good conference, and they all spoke of their experiences that they had had in Argentina. Elder Packer said that this was his 13th time in Argentina, although he wasn´t actually here. Elder Anderson spoke about the duty that all young men have to serve missions, and the responsibities of parents and bishops to invite and push the young men to prepare and to serve honorable missions.
Time´s going by quite fast now, but I know this is the time that the Lord has given me to work in this great work, and I hope to find all those that have been prepared to be found and continue til the very end.
I´ll talk to you again family,
Love, David
Monday, June 6, 2011
June 6, 2011
Hola family,
The last week of school is always a good week. It sounds like everyone's staying pretty busy though. It sounds like it's getting warm up there, and it's definitely getting colder here. Hopefully everything's keeps going well with work and volleyball camp and everything.
This week not everything has gone like we've wanted, but it was a pretty good week. We haven't been able to find Zony or her family, and her father in law passed away yesterday, so it'll be hard to find her the next couple of days. We had some really good lessons with Maria Luz, and Marta, but we weren't able to find her mom. Marta is going to talk to her today, and we're going to try to have a lesson with them on Tuesday.
Saturday we had special ward council. We had ward council with an Area Seventy, Elder Avila, and the Stake President. The ward was a lot more willing to offer their help for the investigators and in-active members in their presence, so that was really good. It was actually a really spiritual meeting. Elder Avila was awesome, and as a council we were able to decide on some very good solutions for problems with inactive members and some investigators.
We are still in the search for a family to teach, and to find the people here in our area that have really been prepared to receive His gospel. We have some good opportunities from contacts we did last week, and I know that if we really do all of our part that we are going to find those that are waiting, that are being prepared to receive the Gospel.
I still haven't got travel plans or anything, but that'll be a long flight going to Miami then to Dallas then to Salt Lake. (We received David's travel plans. He will leave Argentina July 4 at 10:30 pm. Arrive in Miami at 7:00 am on July 5. Then Dallas at 11:20 am, and finally will arrive in Salt Lake City at 4:40 pm.) The time keeps going by too fast, but I know in this last month there are people that I need to find here in the Plata, and I've got to put everything out there to find them.
Well I love you family, and I hope y'all have a good week this week, and we'll talk to you next week.
Love, David.
The last week of school is always a good week. It sounds like everyone's staying pretty busy though. It sounds like it's getting warm up there, and it's definitely getting colder here. Hopefully everything's keeps going well with work and volleyball camp and everything.
This week not everything has gone like we've wanted, but it was a pretty good week. We haven't been able to find Zony or her family, and her father in law passed away yesterday, so it'll be hard to find her the next couple of days. We had some really good lessons with Maria Luz, and Marta, but we weren't able to find her mom. Marta is going to talk to her today, and we're going to try to have a lesson with them on Tuesday.
Saturday we had special ward council. We had ward council with an Area Seventy, Elder Avila, and the Stake President. The ward was a lot more willing to offer their help for the investigators and in-active members in their presence, so that was really good. It was actually a really spiritual meeting. Elder Avila was awesome, and as a council we were able to decide on some very good solutions for problems with inactive members and some investigators.
We are still in the search for a family to teach, and to find the people here in our area that have really been prepared to receive His gospel. We have some good opportunities from contacts we did last week, and I know that if we really do all of our part that we are going to find those that are waiting, that are being prepared to receive the Gospel.
I still haven't got travel plans or anything, but that'll be a long flight going to Miami then to Dallas then to Salt Lake. (We received David's travel plans. He will leave Argentina July 4 at 10:30 pm. Arrive in Miami at 7:00 am on July 5. Then Dallas at 11:20 am, and finally will arrive in Salt Lake City at 4:40 pm.) The time keeps going by too fast, but I know in this last month there are people that I need to find here in the Plata, and I've got to put everything out there to find them.
Well I love you family, and I hope y'all have a good week this week, and we'll talk to you next week.
Love, David.
Monday, May 30, 2011
May 30, 2011
Hola familia,
That´s awesome that all the family got to get together this weekend. Sounds like a lot of fun. That´s crazy that Utah got so much water this year. It´ll be interesting to see the difference at Lake Powell. Hopefully the migraines start going away for everybody, and everyone can feel good.
Wednesday, the 25th of May here, was a holiday of when Argentina first met together as a government,or something. We had a ward activity and our investigator, Zony, is in charge of a group of tradicional dancers, and she brought them and they did a performance for the ward. It was really good. Today we have an appointment to start teaching Zony´s daughters with her, and then Wednesday we have an appointment to find her husband. So we have lots of chances to find new people from the activity. We were able to talk to the other nine dancers too, so it was a good opportunity to expose people to the church and to the ward.
María Luz is still progressing well, and she came to church this Sunday, and to the activity Wednesday. But, her mom doesn´t believe that she´s ready to make a commitment as big as baptism, so we´re going to have to move her date back. We haven´t been able to find the mom the last couple of weeks, but we´ve been able to teach María Luz with Marta. It seems like the mom is starting to avoid us a little, so hopefully we can find her again this week.
We´ve still been struggling to find new families to teach, but I know that if we really do all that we can do in inviting the people to come unto Christ, that God will lead us to those that really are prepared to receive his gospel. We have some good chances today and this week with Zony and her family, so we pray to be able to teach with the spirit that we will be able to help them progress towards baptism.
Well, I hope everything goes well for everybody this week and we´ll be communicating next week.
Love, David
That´s awesome that all the family got to get together this weekend. Sounds like a lot of fun. That´s crazy that Utah got so much water this year. It´ll be interesting to see the difference at Lake Powell. Hopefully the migraines start going away for everybody, and everyone can feel good.
Wednesday, the 25th of May here, was a holiday of when Argentina first met together as a government,or something. We had a ward activity and our investigator, Zony, is in charge of a group of tradicional dancers, and she brought them and they did a performance for the ward. It was really good. Today we have an appointment to start teaching Zony´s daughters with her, and then Wednesday we have an appointment to find her husband. So we have lots of chances to find new people from the activity. We were able to talk to the other nine dancers too, so it was a good opportunity to expose people to the church and to the ward.
María Luz is still progressing well, and she came to church this Sunday, and to the activity Wednesday. But, her mom doesn´t believe that she´s ready to make a commitment as big as baptism, so we´re going to have to move her date back. We haven´t been able to find the mom the last couple of weeks, but we´ve been able to teach María Luz with Marta. It seems like the mom is starting to avoid us a little, so hopefully we can find her again this week.
We´ve still been struggling to find new families to teach, but I know that if we really do all that we can do in inviting the people to come unto Christ, that God will lead us to those that really are prepared to receive his gospel. We have some good chances today and this week with Zony and her family, so we pray to be able to teach with the spirit that we will be able to help them progress towards baptism.
Well, I hope everything goes well for everybody this week and we´ll be communicating next week.
Love, David
Monday, May 23, 2011
May 23, 2011
Hola familia,
Sounds like everyone had a good week. Hopefully everyone stops getting sick all the time, and that the visit down to Holden goes well. I miss Holden and the farm, it´s been a long time.
Me and Elder Jardine are staying together here in the Plata. We had a pretty good week. When I went to the meetings Thursday and Friday, I went with another district leader, and Elder Jardine stayed in our area with a member, and they had some really good lessons. They were able to take out baptismal dates with the aunt and uncle of Keiko and Salma, so that was really good. From Tuesday to Saturday I wasn´t in my area a whole lot. I went and did interchanges in another area in my district, and we were able to help one of their investigators get over her doubts and we committed her to baptism for the 4th of June. It was a really good intercambio, I think we both learned a lot.
Monday we were finally able to find Maria Luz in the house of Marta, and she had already read a couple of chapters from the Book of Mormon, and had prayed and asked to know that it is true. We had a really good lesson with her and Marta and were able to commit her to baptism on the 4th of June and she´s really excited. On Sunday, Marta was sick, and ended up not waking up to go to church, but Maria Luz came alone with another member that lives close to her. She saw that they were leaving, and ran out and asked them if she could go with them, so she made it to church, even without her aunt! María Luz is progressing a lot so we´re really excited, and we hope that Guillermo and Blanca, the aunt and uncle of Keiko can really progress also.
This week when my companion taught Salma and Keiko, they still weren´t progressing a whole lot. They didn´t come to church on Sunday, but when we got to their house on Sunday night we had a run in with the stubborn Catholic grandmother. She was upset because her granddaughters are doing a mockery to God because they are already baptized in the Catholic church, and she said that Fiorrella, the mom, was forcing them to be baptized in our church. We had a good talk with her and she calmed down, and listened a little, but not a whole lot. We had Hrmno. Chalupa with us. He helped quite a bit also, but in the end Keiko said that she doesn´t want to listen anymore, and she sided with her grandmother. She said that she was just listening because her mother didn´t give her a choice, but it felt like the grandmother really had confused them quite a bit. We listened and bore testimony with patience, and hopefully in the near future they can really show self initiative to know for themselves if these things are true, but the Grandma´s influence is not helping at all. So we lost some definite momentum with Keko and Salma, but we found Guillermo and Blanca, and my companion said that they were really excited and are already reading and praying and have lots of desires to change and prepare for baptism.
It´s often very hard when the things go down like they went down with Keiko and Salma, but I know that maybe it´s still not their time, and that there´s others to find. The area is still growing little by little, but we really need to find complete families to teach and to accept the gospel in their lives. This ward has almost no families, with 2 parents and kids that are members and attend church. So we´ll be praying and searching this week, and we hope to have a couple more miracles in La Plata, but I know we have already seen many.
Well I hope everything goes well this week, and we´ll communicate next week.
Love, David
Sounds like everyone had a good week. Hopefully everyone stops getting sick all the time, and that the visit down to Holden goes well. I miss Holden and the farm, it´s been a long time.
Me and Elder Jardine are staying together here in the Plata. We had a pretty good week. When I went to the meetings Thursday and Friday, I went with another district leader, and Elder Jardine stayed in our area with a member, and they had some really good lessons. They were able to take out baptismal dates with the aunt and uncle of Keiko and Salma, so that was really good. From Tuesday to Saturday I wasn´t in my area a whole lot. I went and did interchanges in another area in my district, and we were able to help one of their investigators get over her doubts and we committed her to baptism for the 4th of June. It was a really good intercambio, I think we both learned a lot.
Monday we were finally able to find Maria Luz in the house of Marta, and she had already read a couple of chapters from the Book of Mormon, and had prayed and asked to know that it is true. We had a really good lesson with her and Marta and were able to commit her to baptism on the 4th of June and she´s really excited. On Sunday, Marta was sick, and ended up not waking up to go to church, but Maria Luz came alone with another member that lives close to her. She saw that they were leaving, and ran out and asked them if she could go with them, so she made it to church, even without her aunt! María Luz is progressing a lot so we´re really excited, and we hope that Guillermo and Blanca, the aunt and uncle of Keiko can really progress also.
This week when my companion taught Salma and Keiko, they still weren´t progressing a whole lot. They didn´t come to church on Sunday, but when we got to their house on Sunday night we had a run in with the stubborn Catholic grandmother. She was upset because her granddaughters are doing a mockery to God because they are already baptized in the Catholic church, and she said that Fiorrella, the mom, was forcing them to be baptized in our church. We had a good talk with her and she calmed down, and listened a little, but not a whole lot. We had Hrmno. Chalupa with us. He helped quite a bit also, but in the end Keiko said that she doesn´t want to listen anymore, and she sided with her grandmother. She said that she was just listening because her mother didn´t give her a choice, but it felt like the grandmother really had confused them quite a bit. We listened and bore testimony with patience, and hopefully in the near future they can really show self initiative to know for themselves if these things are true, but the Grandma´s influence is not helping at all. So we lost some definite momentum with Keko and Salma, but we found Guillermo and Blanca, and my companion said that they were really excited and are already reading and praying and have lots of desires to change and prepare for baptism.
It´s often very hard when the things go down like they went down with Keiko and Salma, but I know that maybe it´s still not their time, and that there´s others to find. The area is still growing little by little, but we really need to find complete families to teach and to accept the gospel in their lives. This ward has almost no families, with 2 parents and kids that are members and attend church. So we´ll be praying and searching this week, and we hope to have a couple more miracles in La Plata, but I know we have already seen many.
Well I hope everything goes well this week, and we´ll communicate next week.
Love, David
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 16, 2011
Hola family,
Sorry everyone had to be sick this week. Sounds like summer´s taking a little longer to arrive up there this year. The weather here is a little brisk, but it´s been quite nice this week. In a couple of weeks it´ll probably be pretty cold, but I´ll be leaving when it´s the dead of winter here, so that´ll be good; skip winter.
We had a pretty good week this week. Still struggling to teach lots of lessons, but we found a few really good investigators. Keiko and Salma are still progressing well, but Keiko couldn´t come to church Sunday because her mom had to work, and she had to stay and watch the little kids. There always has to be someone in the house (they live in a pretty rough area, and don´t really have anything to keep their things secure). The Primary president, Hrmna- Chalupa (there are many people in this ward with awesome names such as Chalupa), went and brought Salma on her bike, so that was really good.
We also have an investigator named Sony that´s from Peru. She hasn´t wanted to commit to baptism because she was baptized into the Catholic church as a baby, and she can´t break a family tradition. But it´s been hard to find her. She´s never there when we pass by her house. But she came to church 4 weeks in a row. Usually the hardest part for investigators is to come to church, but she keeps coming. We hope to be able to teach her today and take out a baptismal date with her. She´s really awesome, just hard to find and talks very much.
This week on Thursday and Friday, I have leadership training up at the mission offices, so we´ll have a lot less time to really work in the area. So we´ll have to do everything with the time we have. This week we´ll find out about transfers, so we´ll see if I´ll have a new area or a new companion my last month and a half. Well, I love you my little family, and I´ll communicate myself with you next week.
Love, David
Sorry everyone had to be sick this week. Sounds like summer´s taking a little longer to arrive up there this year. The weather here is a little brisk, but it´s been quite nice this week. In a couple of weeks it´ll probably be pretty cold, but I´ll be leaving when it´s the dead of winter here, so that´ll be good; skip winter.
We had a pretty good week this week. Still struggling to teach lots of lessons, but we found a few really good investigators. Keiko and Salma are still progressing well, but Keiko couldn´t come to church Sunday because her mom had to work, and she had to stay and watch the little kids. There always has to be someone in the house (they live in a pretty rough area, and don´t really have anything to keep their things secure). The Primary president, Hrmna- Chalupa (there are many people in this ward with awesome names such as Chalupa), went and brought Salma on her bike, so that was really good.
We also have an investigator named Sony that´s from Peru. She hasn´t wanted to commit to baptism because she was baptized into the Catholic church as a baby, and she can´t break a family tradition. But it´s been hard to find her. She´s never there when we pass by her house. But she came to church 4 weeks in a row. Usually the hardest part for investigators is to come to church, but she keeps coming. We hope to be able to teach her today and take out a baptismal date with her. She´s really awesome, just hard to find and talks very much.
This week on Thursday and Friday, I have leadership training up at the mission offices, so we´ll have a lot less time to really work in the area. So we´ll have to do everything with the time we have. This week we´ll find out about transfers, so we´ll see if I´ll have a new area or a new companion my last month and a half. Well, I love you my little family, and I´ll communicate myself with you next week.
Love, David
Monday, May 9, 2011
May 9, 2011
Hola familia,
It was good to talk to all you guys yesterday. Hopefully everyone feels better this week and that all goes well with school and basketball and work.
Yesterday church went really well because Fiorella and her two kids Keiko and Santiago were able to come. We had to get up early and walk for almost an hour to get to their house, but it was worth it. They had a really good experience in church. We hope that they´ll be able to make it this week too, and make it a good habit. Yesterday was the first time in 12 years that Fiorella went to church. She only attended for about a month after her baptism, so there is a lot of things that she doesn´t understand very well, but we´re re-learning with her and her daughters. Today we have a family home evening with them, so that should be really good.
Time is going by quite fast now. Every day I hear from people how little time I have left. But it´s just more of an incentive to make every minute count. We´re still struggling to find a lot of new families to teach, but we´re really focusing on a couple of families, with all hope that they can come to Christ and progress towards baptism. Every time we go to Marta´s house, she´s sharing with another friend or another relative. This week we found her son´s girlfriend, named Gabriela, and she was really awesome. She lives in another area, but we were able to send the reference to other missionaries. So Marta´s still progressing a lot, and this month she´s going to teach a sewing class for Relief Society too, so she´s pretty excited.
Well, it was awesome to hear from you guys yesterday. Love you guys.
Love, David
It was good to talk to all you guys yesterday. Hopefully everyone feels better this week and that all goes well with school and basketball and work.
Yesterday church went really well because Fiorella and her two kids Keiko and Santiago were able to come. We had to get up early and walk for almost an hour to get to their house, but it was worth it. They had a really good experience in church. We hope that they´ll be able to make it this week too, and make it a good habit. Yesterday was the first time in 12 years that Fiorella went to church. She only attended for about a month after her baptism, so there is a lot of things that she doesn´t understand very well, but we´re re-learning with her and her daughters. Today we have a family home evening with them, so that should be really good.
Time is going by quite fast now. Every day I hear from people how little time I have left. But it´s just more of an incentive to make every minute count. We´re still struggling to find a lot of new families to teach, but we´re really focusing on a couple of families, with all hope that they can come to Christ and progress towards baptism. Every time we go to Marta´s house, she´s sharing with another friend or another relative. This week we found her son´s girlfriend, named Gabriela, and she was really awesome. She lives in another area, but we were able to send the reference to other missionaries. So Marta´s still progressing a lot, and this month she´s going to teach a sewing class for Relief Society too, so she´s pretty excited.
Well, it was awesome to hear from you guys yesterday. Love you guys.
Love, David
Monday, May 2, 2011
May 2, 2011
Hola familia,
Sounds like everything´s still going well in the land of Utah. That´s awesome about Mikayl'as game winning drive; sounds like Danny Ainge´s game winning drive against Notre Dame in the sweet sixteen; dribble right through the whole defense. Sounds like your ball control must be getting pretty solid. That´s awesome. You already have a big advantage to get on the high school team next year.
That´s crazy about Osama Bin Laden. After 10 years, the search has ended. Hopefully it ends problems and doesn´t create new ones. That´s crazy about Dallin´s mission call too. That´s cool he´ll go to the same country as Tyler. (David's good friend Tyler Tinkham will be returning from Honduras in June and his brother will leave for Honduras in August.) On Mother's Day, I think we´ll probably try to call like between 3:30 and 5ish here (should be 12:30 to 2 your time, but the time difference changes with daylight savings time, so you´ll probably have to look the time up on the internet to make sure.) Mother´s Day came up super fast. And it´s Christi´s birthday Wednesday, too.
We had a good week this week. We were able to find a lot more new people to teach than we had been doing in the past weeks, and were able to take out baptismal dates with Keiko and Salma for the 28th of May. Salma is eleven and she has been in the hospital almost all of the last week, but she got released yesterday. She´s super skinny like Mom and was having lots of health problems, and now they´ve diagnosed her with Celiac disease. So I was able to tell them a little more about it and what you always eat. She´s not very excited, but I´ve actually seen a gluten-free store in our area. I´ll have to pass by and see if there´s any Argentine good gluten-free stuff to bring back (don´t know if the English worked out on that one). Keiko has lots of doubts about baptism, but she has the goal of the 28th, and we hope that through keeping the commitments, praying, reading, and coming to church that she can really receive an answer, and that Salma can also feel the truth and make it to the baptismal goal they have.
Marta´s still going strong. We taught another one of her friends this week in Marta´s house, but she didn´t want to listen a whole lot. She tried to flee when we started with a prayer, but Marta was able to keep her there, and we had a pretty good listen. She says she wants to listen, but she´s never going to change. But if she really reads and prays to know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that she really will feel the need to change and have the courage to do it. We weren´t able to teach Noemi and her family this week, but we talked with the daughter María Luz once at the gate, and she´s been reading every day in the Book of Mormon, and is really excited. But every time we stop by, her Mom has been in the doctor´s, or just not home, so we haven´t been able to teach her at all. But we pray that this week we´ll have more opportunities, because she really wants to participate in church, and she loves the Book of Mormon (She is the daughter that is 11 years old.)
Well, I love you guys and I'll talk to you this Sunday...
Love, David
Sounds like everything´s still going well in the land of Utah. That´s awesome about Mikayl'as game winning drive; sounds like Danny Ainge´s game winning drive against Notre Dame in the sweet sixteen; dribble right through the whole defense. Sounds like your ball control must be getting pretty solid. That´s awesome. You already have a big advantage to get on the high school team next year.
That´s crazy about Osama Bin Laden. After 10 years, the search has ended. Hopefully it ends problems and doesn´t create new ones. That´s crazy about Dallin´s mission call too. That´s cool he´ll go to the same country as Tyler. (David's good friend Tyler Tinkham will be returning from Honduras in June and his brother will leave for Honduras in August.) On Mother's Day, I think we´ll probably try to call like between 3:30 and 5ish here (should be 12:30 to 2 your time, but the time difference changes with daylight savings time, so you´ll probably have to look the time up on the internet to make sure.) Mother´s Day came up super fast. And it´s Christi´s birthday Wednesday, too.
We had a good week this week. We were able to find a lot more new people to teach than we had been doing in the past weeks, and were able to take out baptismal dates with Keiko and Salma for the 28th of May. Salma is eleven and she has been in the hospital almost all of the last week, but she got released yesterday. She´s super skinny like Mom and was having lots of health problems, and now they´ve diagnosed her with Celiac disease. So I was able to tell them a little more about it and what you always eat. She´s not very excited, but I´ve actually seen a gluten-free store in our area. I´ll have to pass by and see if there´s any Argentine good gluten-free stuff to bring back (don´t know if the English worked out on that one). Keiko has lots of doubts about baptism, but she has the goal of the 28th, and we hope that through keeping the commitments, praying, reading, and coming to church that she can really receive an answer, and that Salma can also feel the truth and make it to the baptismal goal they have.
Marta´s still going strong. We taught another one of her friends this week in Marta´s house, but she didn´t want to listen a whole lot. She tried to flee when we started with a prayer, but Marta was able to keep her there, and we had a pretty good listen. She says she wants to listen, but she´s never going to change. But if she really reads and prays to know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that she really will feel the need to change and have the courage to do it. We weren´t able to teach Noemi and her family this week, but we talked with the daughter María Luz once at the gate, and she´s been reading every day in the Book of Mormon, and is really excited. But every time we stop by, her Mom has been in the doctor´s, or just not home, so we haven´t been able to teach her at all. But we pray that this week we´ll have more opportunities, because she really wants to participate in church, and she loves the Book of Mormon (She is the daughter that is 11 years old.)
Well, I love you guys and I'll talk to you this Sunday...
Love, David
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011
Hello familia,
Sounds like a fun weekend. All the kids look a lot different. Kendrick and Jensen are both completey different already. Kendrick looks alot like Brennan, at least in those pictures. It sounds like school ended well for Christi. That´s awesome that I got a scholarship, but it´s too bad I didn´t keep my full tuition scholarship. I probably lost it for the A- in Calculus in the spring; bummer. But half will still be a good help.
This week was a lot of walking and a lot of doing contacts and looking for new people to teach. But on Saturday we were able to start teaching Marta´s sister, Noemi, and her daughter María Luz, and her boyfriend Raul. They were one of the families that came to Marta´s baptism last week, and we went and taught them with Hno. Chalupa and it went really well. María Luz is eleven and she loved the baptism, and had actually borrowed Marta´s Book of Mormon and had already read quite a few chapters. Noemi has thyroid cancer, but she smokes like more than 2 packs a day, so that couldn´t be helping a ton. With all of the problems she´s been through she´s had lots of doubts if God really exists, but she felt good in the baptism, and is willing to read and pray to know for herself. We still weren´t able to sit down and teach with Marta´s son Maxi, but he´s really promising too. He just works from 7 in the morning until 7, that´s the main problem, but hopefully we can him home one night this week.
Marta´s doing really well this week. She was confirmed yesterday, and she gets along really well with all the members, and she´s already invited her sister and her family over to her house to have a family home evening. She's had lots of excitement to invite her friends and family to the church, so hopefully we can use all of that energy to find new people to teach, and also to help stay active and in the path. I know that God really does prepare the way for his children to receive the restored gospel, and to receive the corresponding blessings in their lives.
Well I´ll talk to yáll next week. I love you all.
Love, David
Sounds like a fun weekend. All the kids look a lot different. Kendrick and Jensen are both completey different already. Kendrick looks alot like Brennan, at least in those pictures. It sounds like school ended well for Christi. That´s awesome that I got a scholarship, but it´s too bad I didn´t keep my full tuition scholarship. I probably lost it for the A- in Calculus in the spring; bummer. But half will still be a good help.
This week was a lot of walking and a lot of doing contacts and looking for new people to teach. But on Saturday we were able to start teaching Marta´s sister, Noemi, and her daughter María Luz, and her boyfriend Raul. They were one of the families that came to Marta´s baptism last week, and we went and taught them with Hno. Chalupa and it went really well. María Luz is eleven and she loved the baptism, and had actually borrowed Marta´s Book of Mormon and had already read quite a few chapters. Noemi has thyroid cancer, but she smokes like more than 2 packs a day, so that couldn´t be helping a ton. With all of the problems she´s been through she´s had lots of doubts if God really exists, but she felt good in the baptism, and is willing to read and pray to know for herself. We still weren´t able to sit down and teach with Marta´s son Maxi, but he´s really promising too. He just works from 7 in the morning until 7, that´s the main problem, but hopefully we can him home one night this week.
Marta´s doing really well this week. She was confirmed yesterday, and she gets along really well with all the members, and she´s already invited her sister and her family over to her house to have a family home evening. She's had lots of excitement to invite her friends and family to the church, so hopefully we can use all of that energy to find new people to teach, and also to help stay active and in the path. I know that God really does prepare the way for his children to receive the restored gospel, and to receive the corresponding blessings in their lives.
Well I´ll talk to yáll next week. I love you all.
Love, David
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