The Baptism of Jesus

Well this week was great. And this week that we are in is going to be great. And the next one too... and the next one too.   

On Sunday Jesus Nieva and his daughter Valentina were baptized. It was a super special day. In the sacrament meeting before the baptism took place Valentina and her sister Zaira sang in the primary program. They are special little girls. It was only their third time in the chapel, but they were such good students that they memorized most of the songs for the program, and they weren't afraid at all to stand up in front of the congregation. Then came the moment for Jesus to be baptized. His mother had told us earlier in the week that he was very excited to be baptized and that he couldn't stop talking about it. We were also excited for him. I know that Jesus got baptized for the right reasons and I am excited to see him and Valentina progress now as a new converts.

Christmas with the Mission

The Zone

We didn't really do anything special for thanksgiving here, but on Friday we had a Christmas conference as a mission. Well actually half the mission, all of the zones that are outside of the city of Cordoba got together. It was a lot of fun because I was able to see a a lot of missionaries that I haven´t seen for a while. And just like last year there was a talent show. Plus the missionaries of Cordoba made a Christmas choir just like the Easter choir last year. Elder Fantham, who I was with in Parque Liceo was in the choir. He is super 'talented musically and he had a few solos. It was cool to see him again. And our convert Jesica also came to see the choir so we all were able to catch up. Good times.

The District

A happy reunion with Elder Fantham and our good friend Jesica Borgiattino

I got a gift from Santa!

Visits at the Hospital

Yesterday it rained all day and we went out to visit. It was the first time that I had worked in the rain for quite a while. And it was great to have a little change from the constant Catamarca heat. We have a few really stellar investigators that are progressing super well. One of them, Carlos Palacios, has his baptismal interview this evening so we are pretty antsy to see how it turns out. 

One cool experience of this week was when my companion and I were able to visit a two of our investigators in the hospital. They are from different families, but they both happened to be there for surgery. It was special to be there with them and share a few words of comfort. I think that it brightened their day just a little to see us there and know that they were important to us. And we felt pretty good afterward also. 

It´s like I heard President Eyring say in a Mormon message, "True happiness comes from putting others before ourselves".   

I hope you can all have a great week.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING this Thursday! Say hi to all the family for me:)

Elder Lulich

This just shows how excited we were to see the rain, finally.   

A Painful Reminder to Clean the Freezer

We´re good here I didn´t feel the earthquake at all. I think that the center of the quake was in La Rioja. The province that´s next to us.

Sounds like that was a pretty awesome game to see!(Kylie's state finals soccer game) I´d like to see Kylie play in college some day.

I´m doing well. I´m just suffering from a cut finger. I cut it this morning putting a bottle of water in the freezer. How do you cut your finger putting a bottle of water in the freezer you may ask? Well about two week ago I left a glass bottle of water in the freezer for a little too long apparently forgeting what I had learned in chemistry that water EXPANDS when it freezes. So the next time I opened the freezer it had a shattered glass bottle frozen in place. And I haven´t taken the time to unplug the fridge and let everything melt... So I guess my cut finger is kind of my fault. Someone´s probably reminding me that I need to clean out the freezer. I´ll get to that later...

I love you guys. Have a great week!

Tyler

All on the Same Team

Well one story I have is that this past week I had a terrible stomachache. I had eaten morcilla the night before (blood sausage) and I´m pretty sure that was the cause of my troubles. We took a taxi to our mission leader´s house because we were going to do a visit with him. I lied there in pain for a while and then hobbled to our appointment. We taught the lesson and the lady gave me an herbal tea to make my stomach feel better. After the lesson we took the bus home. It was kind of cool because right when I stepped off the bus I felt better. I was just glad that God gave me the strength to get through that lesson. 

As for the elections the people here are pretty interested also. The other day we were in the supermarket buying something for lunch and out of nowhere a lady came up to me and asked me who I would be voting for. I guess it wasn't that hard to tell that I´m from the united states. I told her that I wouldn't be voting and I didn't really have a preferred candidate. 

Congrats for the win Kylie! Good luck today! (Kylie's soccer team is going into the semifinals)

Well I think that the best thing that happened since the last time I wrote was our zone meeting last week. The different missionaries in the zone weren't getting along very well and there was always an air of contention when we got together. But yesterday in the zone meeting we were really all able to remember that we all have the same purpose as missionaries and that we are are all on the same team. There was a really special moment when we all got together and watched a short video and then all had the chance to share our testimony about the mission and why we are here. It was super special to here the stories of all of the Elders and see that we all are here for a personal reason and that we all have our own circumstances here on the mission. We´re not just a bunch of preaching robots. When everyone was finished there were few dry eyes and I think that we were all much more unified.

As missionaries we are all on the same team. We aren't working for our own benefit but rather to serve others and glorify Christ.

This is a very loving sister that we visit. She has a hard time getting around
so it's difficult for her to get to church. 

Have a fantastic week!

Elder Lulich

Work Work Work!

This first week of the new transfer was pretty intense. My companion and I put our shoulder to the wheel and really worked hard to find new investigators. We talked to about everyone that we could in the street. We were rejected a few times, a few times pretty nicely and a few times not that nicely. But the majority of the people that we talked to were willing to here our message and set up another time to meet with us. Every day we got back to the pension exhausted. It was great. 

What made this last week even more intense was that it was the last week of the month and we wouldn't receive new funds until Monday. As they say necessity is the mother of all invention, so when we ate in our our apartment it was always a mixture of whatever was left in the cupboards. But don´t worry mom we all survived. It definitely taught me the importance of following a budget when it comes to what I eat. Maybe at home I would freak out in this situation (I did get close in a few occasions), but in the mission is the perfect place to experience hard things and learn from them. 

Have a great week everyone. (I won´t say "have an intense week" because I hope you don´t all have to eat what´s leftover in the cupboards).

Elder Lulich

This was right before the wind picked up. We were walking down a street on the edge of town and the wind made the sand in the air almost-lethal.

In the house of a recent convert named Ramon. He is the brother of Dimitrio, who was 

baptized not too long ago.