Computer Troubles

Hey guys I had a good week. Me and Elder Mendoza worked and walked a
ton. I've written this message three times now but every time I send
it the computer freaks out so I´m not going to write as much this
time.
I´m really loving the work here. What I've learned this past week is
that the the more you give the more you get. My companion is such a
good example to me. He works so hard to be a good missionary. And I
can tell that he loves this work.
I love you all and miss you.

Tyler

New Companion: Elder Mendoza

So today marks the beginning of a new transfer for me. This morning my trainer Elder Sparks left for another area and I got a new companion named Elder Mendoza. Elder Mendoza is from Peru and for the 4 or so hours that I've been with him he seems pretty cool. Elder Mendoza only speaks Spanish so I´m going to be speaking Spanish 24 hrs a day now. Before with Elder Sparks we were both gringos so we could speak in English with one another when we were by ourselves, but there´s going to be no more of that for me.

 I can already tell that these next weeks are going to be way different than what I have gotten used to. With a new missionary here comes a different working and teaching style that I´m going to be able to learn from.

I've got to say that I am pretty nervous to have to introduce this more experienced missionary to my area. But this is a good opportunity for me because it gives me a chance to really see and evaluate what I've been doing in this area. It feels so weird now that I don´t have my trainer with me. It´s like I´m swimming without those little water wing things for the first time.

This past week we had 150 people in the chapel. That´s a record for our ward. It was pretty great to see all the families there. Some that I had never seen before. I attribute this record wholly to the new temple. Everyone is so excited now that the open house has begun. The special spirit of the temple extends beyond its beautiful walls and it is wonderful. 

An Argentine beso for you all

Here's one of my last photos with Elder Sparks. We are with bishop Cuello, his wife, and one of his daughters. Not all of the people in Argentina are this small! 

Our Zone has a tradition of taking a photo all together on the last week of the transfer. So here we are. Our zone leaders, Elder Reber and Elder Caten, are pretty great. They call every once in awhile to check in on me and their nickname for me is "LulyBear".

The Temple of Cordoba

I didn´t really realize it until this week, but I´m pretty darn lucky. I´m serving in a mission that will soon have the second temple of Argentina. That´s right, only two temples in the whole country, and I´m in the same area as one of them.

This Sunday in church the members of the ward shared their testimonies about the temple. A few of them had the opportunity to take a special tour of the temple before the open house. I was amazed to see how grateful they all were for the blessing of the temple. Now that they have the temple close these members have the opportunity to perform ordinances for themselves and for their deceased family members; ordinances that will make it possible for them to draw closer to their Heavenly Father and live together forever as families. 

This next week we´ll have the opportunity to go to the temple open house with investigators and I have to say that I´m pretty stoked to visit the temple again. 

Ciao hasta luego

Conference was Awesome!

This past weekend I got to experience general conference in a different way than I ever have before. First of all it was all translated into Spanish, but it´s pretty regular for me at this point to hear everything in Spanish. What was even better was that I could see how the talks could help my investigators lives. One thing about Argentina is that not many people get married, they just start families. All of the talks during the Saturday sessions about the family and the importance of marriage really helped me strengthen my testimony of these things and help me teach them more effectively. The way that the general authorities explained gospel topics gave me a good example for how to teach other people. The general authorities really are called of God. I encourage everyone to read and study the words of the conference talks, there is a lot that can be learned. The words of these messengers of God really can bring people closer to Christ if they strive to apply their teachings.

Ciao
Elder Lulich

Adjusting to Argentine Customs

How about I share some interesting things about Argentina with y'all.

One thing that´s different is that everyone says hi with a little kiss on the cheek, the beso Argentino it´s called. Another thing that´s different is that there are bars on all of the windows. Instead of using cars some people here go around with a horse and buggy type of thing. It´s kind of strange. I´ll try to get a picture of it sometime. Also the people here love to talk. I think that´s still the hardest thing for me, chatting with people. It´s like I have to listen so closely to people to understand them that by the time their done talking I then have to figure out what I´m going to say. It´s difficult to have a lively conversation like that. But I know that practice makes perfect, so I´ll just keep on trying to talk to these people no matter how awkward the conversations are. It´s starting to cool off here, I even had to wear a sweater one day.

                           I haven´t gotten a picture of the real thing but, here´s a sign of the horse 'n buggy things. Apparently they're not allowed on the highway.

One thing I really enjoy about the mission is that we get to study the scriptures for at least an hour every day. I love reading the scriptures now, but more than that I love studying them. The other day I was in my personal study, and I think that I was looking up cross-references for a scripture and Elder Sparks whispered to me, "Why are you breathing so hard?" I didn't realize it but I had started breathing as if I was exercising. Really I think I was just excited about what I was studying. I guess I´m just a nerd like that; once someone starts talking about the scriptures my heart starts racing. Ha ha. But in reality there is a power to reading the words of the prophets. It´s different than the excitement you get from watching an action movie. The power that comes from reading the scriptures and learning of eternal truths is a power that can actually help you change for the better. I know it because I try my best to live according to what I learn from the scriptures and I can see the difference. Wherever you are, I hope that everyone is safe and sound.

Elder Lulich    

For Zachary

Here´s a picture of our zone enjoying some tacos one p-day just before starting exchanges. And FYI tacos are not a normal Argentine food. I miss Mexican food so much! But Argentine food is pretty awesome too. There is nothing like the asados here.

A Typical Day

My typical day here is: at 6:30 I get up, pray, try to muster up the willpower to do some exercises, eat breakfast and shower, pray, personal study, pray, sing a hymn, pray, companionship study, and pray. As you can see I´ve had a lot of practice saying prayers in Spanish, I think that I´m pretty good at it now. We always eat lunch in the houses of the members. Lunch is always the biggest meal. (I have had dulce de leche. It´s like a caramel spread that people put on bread and things around here. It´s true what we read before the mission that there is french bread at every meal). It´s nice to be with the members, because there´s less stress and when we share a scripture with them it´s like practice for lessons with investigators. Here in Santa Isabel we work with less-active members as well as non members. 

This past week we spent a whole day in exchanges. I stayed in my area, so I was the missionary in charge for the day. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from the other missionary. The missionary I was with really liked to contact with the Book of Mormon. He told me that the Book of Mormon is the best missionary, and I saw the truth of this in the success we had while contacting.  

 Service really does help you get to know and love other people better.  Another thing I learned this week (although it's pretty obvious) is that, although I'm a missionary now, that doesn't mean I can´t also be myself. Lately I've been pretty bothered by the other missionaries in my district. It just seemed like every little thing they did bugged me. I never got mad at them, but I was just not having much fun either. Towards the end of this week I've let myself relax a little bit more and let my weird side out too.
I can´t send pictures this week. I don´t know if I've said this before, but sometime´s we write from public computer´s called "cybers" and the one I´m at today doesn't have a USB port that works. So next week... 

Starting to teach Rocio

Nice and Comfy

We got our power back on Wednesday. Apparently, the breaker got flipped! Ha ha. None of us knew where the breaker box was, so we didn't know that could happen. But on Wednesday we found it! We still paid the bills though. This is a picture of us sleeping on the roof.

Elder Sparks and I in front of the almost finished Cordoba temple.

Also on Wednesday I got to go to the new missionary welcome at the mission home. When I got to the mission home for the first time it was just me and my companion from the MTC so we didn´t get the special treatment that most of the new missionaries get. But this Wednesday the group after us arrived, so I went with my companion and had lunch at the mission home. It was cool to see the new missionaries. I knew exactly how they felt. When they walked into the mission home it felt so good, I wasn't the new guy anymore!

The work is hard. I still have a fear of contacting and my companion doesn´t really like doing it either so it's hard to learn. But I guess I've just got to jump in. Recently we've been teaching the girlfriend of a less active member. She wants to get baptized and he wants to come back to church. They have been reading the Book of Mormon together and they have a testimony that it's true. I´m sure that she will get baptized, but I don´t know when. She knows that baptism is a big commitment and wants to make sure that she is completely ready. That another thing that I´ll have to learn how to do, how to encourage people just enough without being too pressuring.

The other day I was watching a video of The District as part of my new missionary training and I heard something that I really liked. The missionary speaking said something along the lines of, "we have been given a part of the lord's vineyard and it's our job to care for it". I liked that because it gave me a new perspective on my area. I have the right and the responsibility to serve all the people in my area. So when I leave the pension everyday, every person I see is someone that the Lord has put in my trust.

The door handle broke in Elders quorum Sunday and we spent 20 minutes trying to get out.