Missionary Monday Catch Up

Since I decided not to blog, I missed four of Nathan's emails.  This has made people wonder if he was okay.  He is indeed fine.  He's actually better than fine - fantastic is maybe a better word.  This is also a smidge long....four, no five emails will do that.

April 11, 2011:

"TRANSFERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well...... these days are crazy...today all of the sister missionaries are having their transfers so they don´t get left solo somewhere... so they were all here doing what they do... begging for money...... then all of the leaving missionaries came here to leave... From them I have to get a bunch of stuff...give them a bunch of stuff...anyway...just a lot of stuff to do. Then tomorrow will come all of the new missionaries...15 this transfer so this will be crazy, but fun."

"We have seen some great miracles in our area the past couple of weeks. I think I told you about Juan that had stopped drinking and smoking.... ? Well, he is getting baptized tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!! His entire family is so excited. A couple of them just got up yesterday bore their testimony about anything being possible with God and how happy and proud they are of Juan to be changing his life. He hasn't drank once and is so excited to get baptized. Today he told us he was hoping he could do it today because he can't wait.  He is great. We are having it tomorrow so all of the new missionaries can see a baptism their very first day in the country. My companion, Elder Seguel, his birthday is tomorrow and as a gift from Juan will baptize him. It will be really good! I´m excited. Also, this other couple that I told you about, went today and took out a date to get married on the 20th of April and will get baptized the 23rd. Along with another lady that is very excited to get baptized as well.. We have all agreed that Angel y Rocio, the couple, are the best any of us have ever seen on the mission. They can´t wait to go to the temple. And already have a huge testimony of the church. They are so cool! We see it as such a blessing and a miracle that they were able to get the date from the government. Usually it takes a lot longer to wait for the date, and they were lacking a few papers that usually are necessary to get the license to wed, but somehow they still got it! We can´t wait!  The offices are a lot of fun right now, we are all really good friends. There will be a new historian this week, we are excited to have someone new join us!  I know the church is true, and that it is the church of the Savior. I know God is our father and that he lives. I´m so grateful to have a living prophet with constant revelation from heaven. I love you all and hope you guys have a good week! I hope I will survive mine!"

April 18, 2011:

"hello family!!!!!!!!! how are you all doing????  This week was great!!  Well at least transfers are over with!!!   Tuesday was really good. Juan´s baptism was so nice.  All of his family came. And all of the new missionaries were there too! I could just remember feeling what it was like when I went to a baptism my first day feeling like there was no way iIwould ever be able to understand what they were saying! but anyway.. He was really happy and everyday he is improving, looking better and better. His testimony keeps getting stronger and stronger and I love it! He got confirmed yesterday by his nephew so that was really special as well for him. The rest of the week was just more transfer fun and normal stuff."

"This upcoming week could possibly be one of the best/most stressful weeks of my life! Well so Angel and Rocío have their wedding on Wednesday so thats at 11th at the courthouse, then we are having a lunch for them, then at the church in the night we are having a big surprise party for them, then we have family home evenings set up with them and another investigator set up with the mission president and another with the stake president that are going to require some time.  And then on saturday we have their baptism!!!! I swear they are already part of the ward.. it's the best... they are the most excited I have ever seen anyone!! i can´t wait! its gonna be awesome!!!  Driving school is going good.. Today we drove by the coastline of the big river.. There was a giant bridge crossing it and I kept thinking of Forianapolis haha!! shout out! but yeah life's going great here! Our investigators are doing awesome. And the office work is pretty much under control!"

April 26, 2011:

"Sorry I am writing a day late!! There was no time yesterday, and I will have to make it short because I have just about none right now also!!   This week was great! It was really crazy and really busy!! Just about all of our time was taken up by the wedding and the baptism!! On WednesdayRocío and Angel got married!! Thanks to good delegation.. hehe...everything was taken care of. The whole ward really loves them, so everyone was willing to pitch in. The Relief Society set up all of the decorations and everything, and the priesthood set up tables and things, and played DJ... and then we just took care of the baptism, some food and other things. The wedding was at 11 in the morning on Wednesday, and then at 12, we all went to a Lunch at a nice restaurant with them and their family.. I´m sure it was really expensive, but they are all so nice! Then we had to go right home to start getting the party all figured out.. The party was really fun.. There was even a little dance part haha.. President and Sister Villalba danced the Waltz..... hahahah. they were good. Then we had a cake and everything and it was really good!! Then we had the baptism on Saturday.  It went really good. A lot of ward members were there. At the end of the baptism, they both bore their testimonies of the gospel, and about the temple and everything. They are going with the ward in May to do baptisms for the dead. Then they got confirmed on Sunday. I confirmed Rocío and my comp confirmed Angel. Marta, our other lady that is getting baptized on Sunday by Angel came to everything. They are now really good friends too.  I´m trying to think of what else happens, but everything other than that was not as cool or fun.. I´m a little behind on office work, thanks to all of these activities and things, but all is good. haha. Im excited for this next week! We cant wait to find more Angel y Rociós!!!!!!!!!!   Oh yeah... there was a possum sleeping in our garbage can in the apartment... It wanted to kill us I'm pretty sure... hahaha. it acted dead for a minute... but then started hissing and growling... it sounded like that big fat kat!!!  If I think of anything I forgot, I´ll have to put it in next week´s letter.. But I love you! Thanks for the letters! Seeing Angel and Rocío so excited for baptism and the temple, really helped strengthen my testimony of the gospel. That the spirit really can convert someone so quickly and completely change their lives. As they said in their testimonies, 'The gospel has been able to fill a part of the heart completely that was left empty before,' I love you guys!!! Have a good week!!!!!!!!" *That quote there at the end is my favorite by far. Awesome!"

May 2, 2011:

"Hola familia!!! Well we had a good week here!! Marta got baptized yesterday, by Angel, the one who got baptized the week before!! (I hope whenever you read that name you are reading it as on-hell, not Angel......) anyway... it went really good! President told us that he is a qualified candidate for the Melchezidek Priesthood whenever. So we are going to keep preparing him so that he can have a good calling soon!!!! I'm not sure if I have told you guys about the mom and sister of Juan, our other recent convert, but they came to church with us a couple of times, then we found out they lived 2 blocks out of our area and in a different ward, but we passed the reference to the other missionaries there and they have been teaching them. They are set to get baptized in the next couple of weeks, but when they set the date, they told the missionaries that they want to get baptized and go to church in our ward with Juan and the rest of their family, so President is going to talk to the stake president to see what is going to happen. I would love for them to be in our ward, but either way as long as they get baptized, that will be great. The change they have seen in Juan is what truly has helped to convert them.  So president went to Buenos Aires this week. With our area book, and planners................... that was stressful.  For 2 days straight I think we worked on them trying to get them perfect. We would take them to him and he would tell us something else to make better... hahaha but at the end, we ordered some food to celebrate once he flew off with them... never to readjust them again.. hahaha. but the Seventies were pleased and just had some few suggestions... Good to hear about Osama Bin Laden... Everyone here is talking about it...So this Sunday!!!!!!!!! Well it´s mothers day and I am excited for our call!!!  I can´t believe it is already time for another call!! Lets hope those phone cards don´t lie to us again!!! Sounds like the work on the bathroom is coming along great! I want to see some pictures of it!!! I´m sure it looks a lot different!  The weather this week has turned really cold. We´ve been going out with sweaters and scarfs and earmuffs. The only thing I don't like too much is that it is darker earlier and there are a lot of people that will just say through their doors.. "No I don't open my door at this time of night," even though its only 6:30... but I can understand.. seeing where they live and all!! We have been really blessed this last month with these great people to teach and baptize. Our zone baptized the most in the mission and so we won the mission flag for the month! Us in the offices had half of the baptisms of the zone. It truly is the best, and the most fun when you are baptizing! We are working hard to keep the momentum going!!"

May 9, 2011:
"Hello family again!!  Well it was great talking to you all yesterday! Its been weird every time I talk to you guys, because for some reason I think that you are all going to be so different, but you are all the same, which makes me happy!! hahaha. well, I will make this short, since I have already said enough this week.  My companion and I went on a fun drive this week. We went through 3 zones  which are all fairly far apart. We went to a bunch of different apartments and either gave them things or took them from them. It's fun to go around and meet all of the missionaries. We left at about noon and got home at 1 in the morning.. We had to scream hymns at the end with the cold wind in our faces to keep us awake.. haha..  Not much too exciting has been happening around here.. it's getting colder and colder... everyone's out and about sweepin' their leaves off their dirt.  I hope Mother´s day was good. Here in Argentina it is in October so their wasn't any festivities but it was nice to talk to everyone.!! I'm glad to hear that all is going good back at home!  Oh yeah...one day this week, my boss stopped by to train me, and make sure that I was doing everything good.  He´s the accountant for the area of all the missions and came from Buenos Aires. He is really cool. He helped me learn a lot.  He did a mini audit...All the money was there.... My salvation is still intact...The work this week was a little slow thanks to trips and other dumb things that got in the way, but this week we are hoping to be able to get out a lot more!!!!! The office life is going good! I know that Christ lives and is my Savior. I love you guys! Have a good week!"