March 10th

Dear family,

I love the photos that you all sent me of you guys and your trip in the Cayman Islands! Wow, that water is super, super pretty! Ah, I about died. But, you can´t beat the argentine sun, omnipresent dirt, sharp rocks, numerous dogs, and huge spike plants that I got here. Nope, not even close. Haha, okay maybe it does, but does your sunset look like this?

 

Yeah, they´re great here. And, the dogs, spikes, dirt, sun and rocks you get used to, so it´s pretty good here.

I don´t have lots of time today, but I will share with you one experience this week,

We have an investigator, the same one who we traded pear-work for baptismal service attendance. She came to church again, this week. Our recent convert, Jorgelina, was confirmed by Elder Lopes, my companion, as well.

When we went to Adriana´s house later that day, she told us that while Jorgelina was being confirmed that she felt something ¨Hermosa¨ or Beautiful in her chest! She said she felt like she was the one there, sitting in the chair! She told us that she has been to lots of churches, I mean lots of churches, and that never has she felt, what she feels here. She told us, no promised us, that if she doesn´t get baptized here in 25 de Mayo, that she will when she goes back to Tucuman, where she lives! 

Bottom line: the Lord has a hand in the work here in the Argentina Neuquén Mission.

This last week we, as a mission, had 45 baptisms, which is one away from breaking the record. We´re seeing lots of good things, and we just have to be ready and prepared to recieve what he has in store.

Lots of love,

Elder Bradley Turek

March 4th

Dear Family,

This week Jorgelina Morales, our 70 year-old investigator got baptized!! This was my first where I was taught from start to finish.

Here´s a entry from my journal,

´´Today, was the day that Jorgelina Morales of 69 years of age was baptized and brought under covenant by Sebastian Pardo (member). It took 3 times, but she finally went all the way under the water before her toe came up afterwards...¨Nueva Criatura¨ (New Creature), as she said. She was happy, even if she took in a little water the first time. She is already making friends in the Relief Society and today Hna. DeLaCanal even gave her a book of Gospel pictures and she really likes the pictures-- a whole lot more than us talking. She kind of stops listening and just gets lost in the picture when you show it to her, but they really help her understand, as she can´t read. After the baptism, we had an asado (Argentine barbecue). Adriana, a friend of a member family, and our new investigator came to the Baptismal Service!! She wants to get baptized--no like I¨m serious she wants to get baptized! She basically--kind of unofficially--put her own baptismal date. Anyways, we said that if she--and Clara and Paula (other friends\investigators), who didn´t come--came that we would go harvest pears with them at their work. They got the okay, and Adriana came so we went and picked pears. Never have I seen so many or such ginormous pears. We used collecting bins that you wear on the front, fill from the top  and empty out the bottom into really big crates. They were using 20 foot tripod ladders, but we mostly were on the ground. Luckily, I´m above-average tall here and I was able to reach\jump up and pluck ´em off without problem for the first 9 feet. The pictures we took explain well. While we were going back and forth , up and down, it became more taxing and I remember thinking, ¨I want an education, because this hard.¨ I guess you can work hard and get good grades or work hard, everyday, and pick lots of pears. Let´s just say that when it comes to pear-picking I don´t plan on becoming a professional.´´

Hope you enjoy that and the attached photos.

Love,

Elder Bradley Turek

Feb 24th...Elder Ballard in Latin America

Dear Family,

This week was another in the books, with a few extra surprises. Here´s an entry from my Journal that explains one of such things,

´´Yesterday right after our lesson with Jorgelina we recieved a message from the Zone Leaders telling us that we needed to ´´sí o sí´´ (absolutely, yes or yes) bring a priesthood holder to the meeting. Wiat what meeting? Confused, we called them up and they explained that there would be a trnsmision of Elder Ballard in Cinco Saltos, 2ish hours away by colectivo, that night at 7:30 and that we needed to bring a priesthood holder. This day happened to be one of the only days that we had fixed appointments--two of them--with both of our investigators who needed visiting. I looked at the text and it said ´´IMPORTANT:´´--as I think about it now, that could´ve been referring to the important change that we now need to bring a member, as we had recieved our new phone few days prior and there had to have been other messages we had not recieved'' but at the time we took it and the fact thta an apostle, one of the 12, of the Lord was to speak to us as important that you be there.

So... interpreting this with such importance we made plans; we canceled both of our well-set appointments and ran about preparing things. We needed: a colectivo, there and back, money, about 1000 pesos, and we were both broke as it ws the end of the month and we gave our emergency fund to the sisters the day before so they could go to Neuquén for tramites, a priesthood holder willing and able to leave within 2 hours and possibly stay with over night, and to pick up and eat lunch...´´

That was the situation. So long story, short: we got all of those things, even a member who could go with us, and we went off to Cinco Saltos.

On the way our colectivo broke down 20 minutes outside of Cinco Saltos. I really wanted to get to Cinco Saltos to get to the transmision on time...

Haha, they told me it wouldn´t work, but I thought I´d have faith and try it anyway. If God wanted us to be their in time, surely he could stop somebody to give us a ride.

I tried, and got a few people to stop, but they weren´t going to Cinco Saltos or thought that we needed water. As I thought about it, we look exactly like the colectivo drivers (shirt, tie and all--minus the tag), so that´s probably why they thought we needed water for the colectivo.

My companion tried fixing it... ;)

But after all, they sent a another big bus for us all to get on, and we went on our way, 45 minutes later.

We arrived at the city and found our way to the stake building. We were late for the transmision, and missed lots of it, but for what we saw it was really good.

Elder Ballard and Pres. Rasband were in the transmision and they were talking to all of the missionaries in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. It was really good.

He spoke about how we need to use our Technology to reach the less actives who we are missing. We have a miracle, smart phones, at our fingertips (you guys, and other missionaries, and the general authorities do--I don´t). God has given them to us.

A really good part was when we talked about talking to a bunch of less active men from a stake in Mount Timpanogos, and he told them that he passed by 2 cemetaries as he arrived, one on the left and the right, and he said that ´´each one of you, one day is going to be planted in one of those cemetaries, and when you are, you will have the surprise of your life!´´ He shook ´em spiritually, and as the spirit directed, told them that they need to get things in order or else. He said that afterword, those tattoed, extreme-hairstyled men came up to him in tears and said ´´Help me.´´ 

It was good.

Well that´s all for now, I´ve gotta go, but thanks so much for your prayers and emails.

Love,

Elder Bradley Turek

Feb 10th

Hello family!
Some questions answered:
So I take it you are back in 25 de Mayo?
Yes, I´m back in 25 de Mayo, and I will be here for another 6 weeks as we recieved transfers the other day. It was a little difficult to recieve them because... I lost our phone in a bus...more about that later.

In your last e-mail you talked about doing things in the office.  How far is 25 de Mayo from the mission office?
25 de Mayo is about 3 hours from the Mission Office in Neuquén. We travel in big double decker buses. It´s like airplane travel, but slower.
What are the best of worst things about the area you are in?
One of the best things that I can think of that all of the roads are asphalt, and the city is pretty nice in general. They must have hired a good engineer because all of the things they are building are modernly built and pleasing to the eye, unlike the majority of other things that are made of just bricks and concrete.
What is challenging and how do the people compare to Plottier?
It´s challenging, but not impossible, to deal with a Brazilian companion who sometimes has pride issues. It´s challenging when I plan to get better and want to do it, but then when the time comes, my flesh is stronger than my spirit. The people are about the same. I´ve met a few more people from mendoza here and they speak without the Argentine  ¨Sh-¨sound in their Y´s and LL´s  In Argentina ¨Yo me llamo¨ =¨Show may shawmow¨ which is very normal for me now. and the rest of spanish speakers say it ¨Yo may yaumo¨. So sometimes I don´t know what they´re saying; not that hard to understand, but an interesting difference nonetheless.
Do Argentinian people celebrate Valentine's day? 
Yes, I just learned right now. It´s called Día de San Valentin. Who knew? Not me.

Things were difficult this week because I wasn´t in 25 de Mayo for 3 days this week between going to Chile and going to Zone conferences. Jorgelina, a nice old lady of 70 years, our investigator, who calls us her ¨Hermanitos¨, and who can´t read and so therefore really enjoys pictures of book of mormon stories and temples, still has her Baptismal Date, but she didn´t come to church because we couldn´t coordinate her a ride.
I lost our dang phone in a collectivo and so we haven´t been able to call anyone this week. We tried calling it a ton or calling the company, but to no avail. I said a few prayers that we could find it. Even if it´s broken, and looks like it´s pregnant because of the bulge that we call it´s keyboard, it has all of our numbers in it of all of our investigators and members and everything.

So I prayed. And we went a few days without a phone, but yesterday, the Sisters gave us some good news! That someone found it and called them, but that that someone is in Buenos Aires, which is like way, way outside of our mission and really far away. SO, prayer: answered, but we won´t get it for like a month, but prayer: answered.

Another cool thing I like here is the wall art they have. Yes, there is a ton of graffti, but there´s also a good amount of cool things too. Specifically, this group called ¨Acción Poetica¨. Here´s one of their´s attached. It says ¨The nicest things in life aren´t things.´

It´s good to hear that for the most part you all are doing well.

Well, that´s all for now.

Until next week,

Feb 3rd

Dear Family,

It's very good to hear about the things at home! Thanks for your emails, I really do appreciate them.

I didn't even realize that the SuperBowl came and went, so I guess that tells you how much I care or am cognicent about American football at the moment. Although the SuperBowl came and went silently, I never stop hearing about the Soccer World Cup, here. Everybody talks about it; I'm not so enthusiastic.

Special news this week: I went to Chile yesterday.

Me and bunch of other Elders and Sisters had to go to Chile to renew our Tourist Visas. It was quite the adventure, and a lot of driving. I came from 25 de Mayo in the North, 3 hours to Neuquen. 12:00am our bus left for Bariloche (Argentine Park City, no kidding), where we arrived around 6:30am, rented cars, did some paperwork, waited a lot, and then drove all the way to the border of Chile, did some paperwork, waited in some lines, saw some absolutely awesome forest/jungle from within the car, and then repeated coming back. About 36 hours of traveling, and waiting, but I got some really good pictures, and I can now say that I have been in Chile. 

Got back to Neuquen at 5:30 this morning. I've been working in the office helping around with things all day and my Collectivo (Bus) leaves at 5:00pm back to 25 de Mayo. Speak of the devil, I've got to go.

Thanks for all of the love and prayers. Trust in the Lord.

Elder Bradley Turek