"..had some really good mashed potatoes so I was content.." (must be my bro)

Hey Fam,

It sounds like everyone is doing pretty good. I am glad to hear that. So the pictures attatched. First is a picture of a not sure what he has, but he has quite a few fuzzy channels. He is the brother of one of the members that lives like two houses down from us. But he reminds me of jack. But it is with soccer haha. It is so fun to talk with him.

And the other two are of our chapel. Em asked about what they looked like. I am still working on the houses. But those are some of the chapel for now.

For this week lets see... We got to celebrate a little dinner on thursday night for thanksgiving. But no turkey haha. Turkey is really expensive here, so none of that. But one of the hermanas that is in her thirties I think made some really good mashed potatoes so I was content. Because the chicken that they made was not very good and was still pink inside. So I tried to steer clear because I didn´t really want to be sick for the next few days. The sister missionaries are pretty proud of their cooking skills haha. Let´s just say I am not to impressed. But anyway it was fun to get to celebrate a little with the zone. 

So this week I don´t really have any stories to tell. I mean we always work hard, but nothing out of the ordinary happened this week. This weekend coming we are having a baptism for that lady that I have told you about. She is so excited. And we have just been reviewing everything with her so that she feels good about it all. 

Oh ya about the calling situations I am not sure on all of the details yet, but I will tell you the things that I do know. Unfortunately no they don´t get to skype down here. I was pretty dissappointed when I heard that, oh well. So apparently we set up a time on that day and you guys call me. Transfers are the 21st so we can´t really coordinate that yet. Because depending on when my new comp wants to call and if I am even in this area and all of that. So they are going to tell us all of the information later, but right now that is what I know. That you guys will be calling me.  I am a little dissapointed that we don´t get to skype, but what can you do. I will let you know when I know more about it all. 

So this past week we had two asados. Wow they feed you so much food here. First was the one with the elder´s quorum, because they have one planned for once a month. So that was really good. For that one we went to the church and got to play ping pong for a little bit. It was really fun. I wish I would have had my camera to take some pictures, but I can´t carry it around with me while we are proselyting..I will try to get some next time. 


Then on sunday the ward mission leader and his wife invited us to go with them to one of the recent converts houses to have one. These converts live clear and the crap in the boonies. Like at the edge of what we have been to in our area. We haven´t quite been to the end because it goes forever, but ya. So we got to have one there as well. So I was pretty full for saturday and sunday. All they use to season the meat is salt. And it is just really good. Because they have a fire and get the coals really hot and then put a grate like one you would use camping over the coals and cook the meat. It is nothing special, but it is so good.

It was ward conference on Sunday because they released our bishop because he has been sick for a while and is almost 80 years old, so he can´t really do all of the things asked of him. But the new bishop they called is awesome. He was the first counselor and is a returned missionary, but he is just a really cool guy and I am excited to see what he will do. 

Back to the dude in the picture with me. His name is Carlos. But we all call him Carlitos. He is in his 50´s and he lives with his sister because the parents died and he can´t live on his own. But he is a fan of boca and the rest of the family are river fans. Those are the two big rival teams here. So he gets a lot of crap for that. And he doesn´t come to church because he is always sleeping in. But he is a member and we are trying to get him to want to come. He wouldn´t come this week because he was going to the game in Mendoza, but he said that he would come this week so I hope so. He is just so fun to be around. Because he reminds me of gack. We are talking to him about coming to church and he is listening and then just turns the conversation into how many cups his soccer team has won. So ya we always leave there laughing our heads off. It is so fun. And the sister that owns the house likes us and always invites us over to have food and be with them. So it is really fun.
 
Mom I was wondering if you could check my card, because I don´t know how much I have on there. I pulled out about a hundred pesos from checking which would be about twenty five dollars. So would you check and see if everything is good, and how much I have on there?

It´s not a problem and I don´t need money, just wondering what it all is and if all of the funds are good. So just wondering. 
But I can´t think of anything else to write about. So I hope all is well and that everyone is having some fun. Thank you all for the letters they help so much. Tell my friend lukas and my cousin Sean to write me a freakin letter. Those punks. But ya I am doing good. Every day is a different challenge, but I am just trying to stay positive and have a good attitude about everything. I know I don´t always but that is what I am working on. Because I know it makes everything better.
So I love you all and hope the holiday was good for you guys!

Love,
Elder Wheeler

P.S. I hear the Utes blew it. What is their record? If somebody has time send me a little update. I have heard about all of the games, but I don´t know the record. So if you can that would be cool. 

Matchy Matchy!!

Yo fam,

What is going on in the snow? If it makes you feel any better it is like ninety degrees outside right now. So this week has flown by just like all of the other ones. How is everybody? I hope all is well, and it looks like the pups are doing what they always do, sleep! Man I wish I could have some of that right now. I never feel like I have enough sleep. 

Matchy Matchy

An explanation of the pictures. I gave my ring to that hermana that is so awesome. I think I said that last week, but ya she bought me a jersey. And then since she was buying me one she bought Elder .. one as well. Because she didn't want him to feel bad. But ya I love it. It is an original is what they call it. It is like the jazz jerseys that they sew the stuff on. Ya the most expensive ones. I felt so bad when she bought it. I mean I just wanted her to have the ctr ring, I didn't need anything in return. I hope she didn't feel obligated to get them, but ya it is very cool. Every time I try to wear it someone else wants to be matchy matchy, so I put something else on. I am not really in to the matchy matchy haha. But anyway it is getting better. I just don't let the little crap bug me. I just act like everything is fine and it usually ends up that it is. It can only get better if I try to make it better. I have figured out that everyone else always looks out for number 1. But I just try to always help when I can, and not let the little things get in the way. So, this week has been a lot better in that case. 

So the story of the lady we found last sunday. Ya she is already ready to be baptized. She still is very excited to get baptized and it is just so fun to go and teach her. Because she always has an open mind, and actually listens to what we say. Every time we go she makes us drink like six cups of juice and plates of cookies haha. I am not complaining it is nice to have a snack. She says that we are already like her grandkids. And we are always welcome in their house whenever we want. So it is so good to be able to see the lord's hand in all of this work. But the member that lives with her has three little girls. Two year old twins and a seven year old. Wow is that house hectic when we go. Those twins are tornadoes and rip up everything and jump on the table, I am sure you can imagine. But they like us too. They call us the manos. Because they can't say hermanos yet, so they just call us manos. And the difference between the word hermano and mano is brother and hands. So they call us the hands hahaha. It is so fun and always brightens up the day when we go to visit them. 


We also have another guy that is preparing to be baptized on that day. And he has come to church with us for the past three weeks. I mean we have had to wake him up one of the times, but ya he loves it. He was almost baptized at this time last year but smoked the day of his baptism so couldn't be. And now we are working with him and he seems to have the desire and loves church and everything. But ya back to last sunday when we had to wake him up and walk him to church. He lives in part of a house. All of the exterior walls are standing, but only one of the rooms still has a roof. And the bathroom has a couple of walls but is not enclosed. Needless to say he doesn't have a whole lot of money. But he recycles stuff in the other part of the house or yard, or i don't know what to call it. So there are just big piles of bottles or plastic and all that jazz. But we went and had to wake him up. The interesting thing about knocking on someones door in Argentina is usually you aren't knocking...you clap your hands. Ya it was weird to me at first as well. But that wasn't working to well. Because he was sleeping, and couldn't here anything. So we knocked on the outside of the part of the house that still has the roof. Because that is where the door used to be and is still there, but is just not used. And he came out and didn't really look like he was going to want to go. But let us come in and we talked him in to getting ready. He got all ready and then was going to sit down and have some matte. But we were like uh it is already after eight and stake conference started at eight. So he went without his matte or morning cigaratte. And we walked the twenty minutes to the stake center in the pooring rain. But ya he loved it and still wants to be baptized from what he is telling us. 

But other than that not too many stories to tell. We had an asado with some of the other elders in the zone at there house, and it was very very good. That is where the picture with Elder Obaldia was taken. 

I have my first Argentina jersey as you can see and it is so freakin cool. Ya all of the native elders throw in freak with their spanish hahaha. But ya I am doing great and hope that everyone at home is as well. Mom how was the doctor? Do you know anything different? Matt-er I hope you have a good birthday, Man! So it is a little early but here is your Happy Birthday from me. Also Happy thanksgiving to you all. I love all of the pics of the pups in the emails, and I would love to see pics of you guys as well. Thanks for all of the support and prayers, let me know if there is anything you want from me. Em I am working on getting pics of the houses and the area. I will try to do that for next week. Anyway Have a good holiday week ereybody. Happy turkey day. Eat some for me, because I won't be able to.

Love,
Elder Wheeler

What some people call a storm.

Hey Fam,

So how is everybody? The weeks always seem to fly, but it also seems to be getting harder and harder as time goes on. I don´t know what it is with this kid, because I really haven´t had a hard time getting along with many people in my life. I am guessing it is just one of those things that I need to figure out. But I have the other elders that live with us that are really good friends and so it gets better when they are there. We just don´t have anything in common and I still don´t understand what he is trying to do..because he never tells me, so I just go with it. Eh,it can only get better from here I am thinking. 

I have a very cool story that happened to us yesterday though. First of all maybe you can see from the last two pics that I am soaking wet. Ya it poured saturday night and all of sunday. And we were just soaked when we got back, because saturday night we had to walk back from the stake center and it is about a half hour walk give or take a little. And when we left there was not a cloud in the sky so I didn´t have a jacket or anything with me. So ya all of our stuff was soaked. And those pictures are of right when we got back. The other is a party thing that we had a member´s house in our ward that invited all of the other missionaries over for lunch on one of our pdays. They are an awesome family. But ya I figured I would just give you a little snipet of what is going on with those.  

Anyway back to the story. So after the siesta we didn´t want to have to go really far away in our area because it was pouring rain. So we planned to visit stuff close to the apartment, so we could be back in time. Or in case it got really bad. Ya I don´t think other people understand the meaning of storm. The missionaries or the people in general.  It was a little windy and just a lot of rain. I was thinking that they would die if they had to live through one of our snow drift storms.. haha but anyway the roads were lakes and we had to try and figure out how to cross them without getting too wet or having cars fly by and drench us. I used my jackets and my top was perfectly dry. My pants and shoes however were soaked but hey that´s life.  We weren´t having any luck and there was a member that had referred us to a lady that we thought we should go visit, but do to the storm didn´t know if we should because it is on one of the opposite edges of our area. Because we didn´t have any luck elsewhere we both felt that we should go and see her.


So, we started to make the long and dreary walk haha. It was a little more than twenty minutes. I am telling you time because I have no idea how to gauge distance here and we walk pretty fast so if that can help you with distance I don´t know. Anyway we were a block or more away from the lady´s house and she was about to walk in to her yard and spotted us she knew it was the missionaries because no one else was out, and I mean no one! She decided to wait for us at the gate and asked where we were headed when we said to your house she just got so excited.  Her friend that lives with her really wanted to hear more about the church. So we went in and her friend was so happy. She is an older lady and very nice... she just loves the church already. We started talking and she basically asked when can I get baptized before we had taught anything. 


We set a date with her to be baptized and she said if you help me I would love to. Yeah, we were feeling pretty blessed at this point. Well I can´t speak for him, but I was thanking heavenly father the whole time we were in that lesson because everything we said she just loved. And she loves to read and so we gave her the book of mormon. She was just so happy and prayed in the first lesson which doesn´t usually happen. We just answered all of her questions and she was so happy to hear all of it.


When I didn´t think it could get any better the member had another friend there that was smoking and was telling us that she was a sinner but joking. She was a very nice lady and was in the other room for the lesson, but before she left she came out and had some questions for us. Apparently she investigated and was taught by the missionaries about two years ago she is also one of the people we have tried to contact before but couldn´t ever find.  We figured out who she was when she told us where she lived. When we said her name and asked if that was her she just started crying. And was just so amazed that the other missionaries had written her name down and that we had found it and tried to find her.


So we taught her a brief little lesson and she asked if we would say a pray with her. So I got to say it. And I don´t know if anyone else has had an experience like this before, but it was a prayer that I was not saying. I was just saying the things that the spirit put into my head. None of it was me and I just felt so strong. It was so cool. Because you always know that the spirit is there, but it was just one of those times that it was so strong. It was just cool. And apart from quitting smoking she has already been taught and wants to be baptized as well. So yeah..we had two very good investigators given to us from heavenly father and in all reality if we wouldn´t have followed that prompting to walk in the rain all the way out there we wouldn´t have found the lady we have been looking for. It was just a really cool night and an awesome experience to see that the Lord´s hand is always in this work. Learned that if you try to do what you think, you aren´t going to get anything done. 


That is my spiritual story for the week. The other days haven´t been too exciting, but that´s okay because that hour that we spent at that house made it all worth it. On saturday we walked over an hour to a part of our area that we don´t get to go to too much and none of the appointments we had set were there. So we had had some dissappointments and it was just good to be reminded of what can happen when you let the Lord help you with the work. 

New rule; now we can´t wear rings or pins or anything like that. Because the silver just attracts the robbers and it isn´t safe. So I had to stop wearing my ctr ring. The lady that washes our clothes every week has been asking how to get a ctr since I got here. Because she has been a member for thirty plus years and has only had the brass ones that turn your finger green. I was already planning on giving it to her because I knew she wanted it but didn´t know when I was going to. But now that we can´t use them any longer, It just worked out. 


So when we had lunch with them (the husband that is a nonmember that we have been working with). It was an Asado. Which is a bbq, but sooooo goooood. haha. I hope you can guess who I am copying there. Anyway I figured I would just give it to her for everything she does. But no she loved it of course, and as soon as I gave it to her she asked me what my shirt size was.. I guess she was already plotting to give me something for it. I didn´t want anything in return for it. I just wanted to give it to her for everything she does for us. So I haven´t gotten it yet but sometime soon I will be getting an argentina jersey is what she says. I hope she forgets and doesn´t do it. But I don´t think she will. 

Anyway it is just so cool to see how selfless all of the members here are. They give us lunch everyday. I know they have other things that they could be spending that money on that they need more, but they feel privileged to give us lunch. I wish everyone were like that. We wouldn´t have any problems if everyone could just look out for others.  It is just so humbiling to see how much everyone does for the missionaries even thought they don´t have much to give. Of course I am very grateful but I just feel like they do too much. I know they will be blessed and I pray everyday that they are. It is just very good to see how the gospel changes people´s lives and how much they do for us. 

But time is running out...
I hope all is well and that everyone has a great week. Pray that I can have patience with this kid please. Because that is what I am trying to do. 

I love you all.
Love,
Elder Wheeler

Missing the snow!

Hey Everybody,

How is everything in the snow? I would be very happy for snow right now. It was 95 or higher yesterday and humid. Bleh. That is the worst for walking around all day. So ya that was fun, but ya know that's life for now. It is only going to get hotter. How were the trick or treaters? Did you get a lot of them. Was it snowing for halloween? Is it snowing a lot? When you send a package will you send pics of the snow. Like in kamastoo or something. Because I am not really going to have it for a while from what I hear. So I want some pics of it if you can. Also on the spices mom, I really don't know, anything that we normally use. 

So it was great to hear from you all. It sounds like you are all doing great. Oh mom I thought of something you could do so that I could write to parker. I don't really know if there is a rule for me because no one has said anything, so I just write to family and steve haha. But if he emailed them, they could forward to my email and I could do the same to you guys for him. Just if he has the rule of not being able to send to others. I don't know if you already had that idea but that would be fastest. 

So Utah has won two in a row now???? Ya buddy! I missed being able to watch it a ton in the mtc just because I was so close to it all. But now all I hear about is boca and river. Which are the two big soccer teams in Argentina. So when either are playing, we don't see anybody in the street and no one answers the door. So if the games are playing we don't get to teach anybody. So from the sounds of dads letter about the other elders in south america, I think it is about the same. When the big teams play you don't get to talk to anybody. But it is good. I am having fun. 

So it was fast sunday here as well, and I know I never got up and bore my testimony there, so I figured what better way to practice my spanish than share my testimony haha. Ya I think they understood me but I was terrified. My bud that I baptized was sitting next to me and said that if I went he would go, so I got up and did it, and then he did not haha. Because it was near the end and then after the next ones the bishop didn't give anytime, he was at the pulpet at closing time. But ya it was good, because I need all of the practice I can get.

We had a family home eveining with one of the members and they all said that I was progressing, since the first week. So that is good, I haven't gotten worse haha. But in all reality I am understanding almost all of what people say. I can follow the whole conversation until they ask me a question and then I get scared and can't understand them. But when there is no pressure I understand the majority of things. I mean obviously I don't understand all of it, because there are so many different ways that people say things. But it is coming slowly but surely. So ya I am feeling ok with my progress. Because I have only been here a month. 

I about killed pheasant face this week. ok not really but I was mad. Because we were sitting there in our planning session and I was just agreeing with what he was saying. And he said I feel like I am the only one giving input and your just sitting here. And I said yep that is exactly what is happening. Because I have been here a month and I don't know what is going on apparently. Because everytime I do suggest something you just change it to what you want anyway. So there is really no point for me to say anything. Ya it was really hard to just forget about it so that we could have the spirit and work. Because when your trainer expects you to do something that he hasn't shown you how to do...it doesn't really make sense to me. So I had to have a lot of patience that day. haha I have to have a lot of patience everyday. Now it's better, because I just don't worry about it. Just forget and move on. It is hard to do, but it has to be done if we want to have success. It is like hiring someone and telling them to go out and work before training them, and then getting mad because they don't know what they are doing. Ya it makes sense if you don't think about it. 

So that was my story for the week. But hey I only have one more transfer with him, so I just need to make the best of it and maybe patience is what I need to learn, so pray that I can have the patience to work with this doodle brain.
Anyway all in all I am only getting a stronger testimony of all of this and having a good time for the most part. So thanks for all of the letters and I hope all is well. Talk to ya next week.

Love,
Elder Wheeler