Hola family!
Sooo...I bet you´re all wondering what happened haha. Well I stayed in Olavarria! I'm going to be here for about 6 or 7 months in total. Dang haha. So the way our transfers work, is we get a call on Saturday around lunchtime and if we´re leaving, we pack up and leave on Sunday. Its a pretty quick turn around. Everything is done on buses here.  So you go to the terminal and then you´re gone.  Elder Henry got transferred to Bahia Blanca, so I´m not with him anymore. It was sad. We had a good long 5 months together. My new companion is Elder Hoth, from Logan Utah. Another American! I was kind of happy about that though to be honest haha. He has 19 months in the mission. He´s pretty cool. He´s like Elder Henry in a lot of ways.
So something weird happened, I went senior companion, but he is also senior companion too. The AP that gave us the transfer news specifically made the point of saying that we are joint Senior comps...hmmm haha wierd. I know titles don't mean anything at all, and it doesn't change anything..but this is the first time I´m not junior comp! haha yessss! I am in charge of the area 100%. I´m kinda scared...as junior comp you just sit back and your companion leads everything basically. Now when the roles have switched, its a total different game. I´m going to be tested like none other. Its going to require a lot more spanish skills too. I relied on E. Henry a lot for that. It´s time to fly and be more independent now. I'm freaking out - haha.
Our area right now is kinda lame. Once we baptized Demetrio, we didn't really have anything else going for us. Investigators aren't really progressing.   I have a couple goals for the area now.   I want to drop all of the so-so people that are just sucking up our time.   We need to focus on the people that matter now!   We are going to be spending a lot of time knocking doors...bleh haha.    I hate tracting.

This past Sunday, there was a broadcast for Argentina only. We got to hear some of the Quorum of the 70 speak and also we got to hear Russell M. Nelson. They all spoke in spanish. It was weird.   I'm used to hearing Nelson speak in English!  Its still hard for me to understand a lot of spanish.   It´s frustrating.   I just think to myself, why am I still not getting this! Its super discouraging.

A rule was changed in the mission this week about emailing. We now get an hour and a half! And we can email basically anyone now, not just family. So you can tell people they can email me now if you want.   (email addresss is now listed on the right column of this blog)

Thanks for all of your support, and the packages too! haha   I'm really excited to get them! It will probably be in about another week. Well I gotta run! I love you guys a ton and I miss you!

Elder Wheelwright

 Saying goodbye to Elder Howard - who is finishing his mission.

 Last night, I had to wake up at 2.00am to help bring my companion to the 

terminal so he could catch his bus.

Hola family!
I literally don't have a ton of time to write, we had to take this huge mission survey thing which pretty much ate all of the time up! LAME! But yeah, we totally had a baptism on Saturday!! Demetrio Alvarez (age 85) was baptized!! He´s so awesome haha. He was born in 1928! DANG! His baptismal interview took forever since he's blind and deaf haha. He has this hearing aid thing, but we weren't sure if it worked. We checked it out after he got confirmed on Sunday and it turns out that there are no batteries inside of it! Fail on us. haha. So were going to the store to find watch batteries later tonight. He´s really cool though. He rides his bike about a mile and a half every Sunday at 9.30 in the morning to come to church. This is AMAZING, especially if you know Argentines. For his baptism, we showed REALLY loud movies instead of having talks. It worked out pretty good. Afterwards he told us that he is starting a new life and that the people of our branch are like his huge new family now. Super amazing. We received him as a referral in the beginning from this guy that wanted nothing to do with us. And now look where he´s at! He was that old guy that couldn't hear anything, and now he´s someone that I love and will have a spot in my heart forever. Being a missionary is amazing! I love it so much!!
So recently its been really cold. Like I´ve been freezing at night! My hands go numb when we walk to church or when we work at night. What a change in the weather. I used to complain and complain for days about how hot and sweaty I get haha.
So with Hanna´s family this week. We watched the testaments movie...in spanish obviously haha. And i´ll say it now, its not the same! The voice of Corrihor isn't the same at all! It´s super disappointing! But at the end when Christ comes to the America´s, Hanna started crying. It was awesome! Afterwards we started talking about the movie and about when Christ came and she started crying again! And then she talked about when Christ is going to come again. This is all coming out of the mouth of a 9 year old! I still can't believe some of the things she says. We had a really spiritual lesson afterwards with them. The dad would be baptized instantly if he could get work off. he´s always reading church material in his spare time.  Currently he's studying the teachings of Lorenzo Snow. And he read the section about becoming like Gods eventually. At first he told us that he had a problem with it, and then he kept reading and it all made sense. And now he´s good. I'm pretty much not afraid of throwing any doctrine at him now haha. He can totally take it. I want to give him Jesus the Christ or The Apostasy so that he can learn more awesome things on those important topics. Before we left the appointment, Hanna asked us that next time we come if we could talk about Obedience, because her parents aren't keeping all the commandments. hahaha oh snap! She totally called her parents out haha. They have to be so proud of their daughter. I know its early, but in 10 years, I want her to serve a mission. She would be so awesome!
All of our other investigators right now are just in limbo right now. we really need to find some solid people ASAP. We have some potential, but its not all that great.
That´s cool that Tyson is going to Japan! Felicitaciones Cuz! haha. Someone tell him that for me. Por Favor!
Dad rockin' out that Dodge Charger? haha nice! Sounds super fancy if it doesn't use keys. What technology! That doesn't even exist down here at all. Were lucky to see a car with electric locks..
So transfers are coming up this upcoming Monday. I'm kinda nervous about who my next companion could be. He might not be American! haha. NOOO ENGLISH I LOVE YOU! 'Im pretty sure I'm going to be staying in the same area for about another transfer. Nothing is guaranteed, but according to patterns, I'll be staying.
There are 2 Elders going home in out district this week. One of them lives in our house and he lives in Utah. I´m so done with living with people that are going home haha. It´s literally impossible to stay focused and to not get trunky in the process. It hits me for like a few days, but I'm quick to get over it. yay! Thank goodness haha. Well I gotta run family! I love you guys!! Have an awesome weeeek!

Elder Wheelwright

Elder H. and our new member

Elder H. and I

Our new member and his bike

                          He looks like an angry guy, but he just doesn't smile in pictures haha.
                                        He's actually really funny and always smiles a ton!

Love you guys!

CHOU!

Hola familia!
So this week was pretty great.   One of our best weeks of this super transfer.   We found a lot of new investigators! And a couple families too! One of the families we found (the Luna Family), is this part member family that we received as a reference from Hanna, our recent convert. There are 2 daughters in this family that were baptized about 4 years ago. They are super inactive now! One of them has a baby (and shes 14 or 15 - by the way, having a kid at this age is pretty common, sad stuff). The mom of the family almost got baptized with them, but she was afraid of going under the water, thats all. So if we can get her over that, I think it will be pretty easy to get them committed to baptism. She also has 2 kids that are above the age of 8 too, so yep!
Yesterday while tracting in the middle of nowhere, we found this super humble family. They are 6 in total and live in this tiny tiny concrete house. The dad recently lost his job and they only have bread and mate to eat/drink. I feel really bad for them, they are in a tight spot. They were pretty open to what we had to say and accepted the challenge to read the BOM and everything. While walking away from that lesson, I was pretty humbled. I see all the things that I have, and then I look at them. Gahh spoiled...! haha. But really though, it was a good experience.
We are preparing a baptism this Saturday!!! YEAHHHH!!! BAPTISM!! Its an 86 year old man named Demetrio. He is practically deaf and cant really see worth anything. So for our lessons, we have to write it all down in big front. Its been a fun time teaching him. He´s a super funny guy too haha. He lives alone with 18 chickens. He tells us every time we go over there that he hates his chickens haha and that he´s tired of eating them. hahaha. It´s probably not as funny if you don't know him or the way he talks, but still. He has been to church 4 times already. He told us that he´s going to buy a brand new car so he can show up to his baptism in style. I doubt its going to happen. haha. But yeah, im super excited for it!
This week a bird pooped on E. Henry´s head. It was the funniest thing ever. We were waiting at a door of a less active member, and the bird just pooped on him. I didn't really want to tell him what happened, but I had to. He was really mad at that bird! When we got inside the members house, he went to the bathroom to wash his hair.
This past Tuesday I had exchanges with my district leader, Elder Galan.  He´s from Nicarauga and is about to go home in 2 weeks. TRUNKY!   Anyways, that was kinda hard speaking spanish all day. It was a lot easier this time though than the first time on exchanges with a latino.
Hmm... thats too bad that dad got in a car accident. What the crap. We have to J walk everywhere here...haha. Crosswalks don't exist.  It happened in the white car though? So 'Im pretty much never going to see my car again in working form, huh? haha crap.  Did Nathan ever get his license? Hopefully dad heals/recovers quickly! It´s no fun being in pain.
Hmmm....mission call guesses... For Terry´s son, Sao Paulo, Brazil Mission.    For Bennny Blackner, the Manchester Area New York Mission. BAM. Let´s hopè the streak continues!     Also Daylight savings time doesn't exist in Argentina.   I was told that its only a thing in the USA?   I'm not sure if thats right. But oh well. We have another Elder going home in 2 weeks in our house. Elder Howard from some town in Utah. The air is going to be getting trunky again. It´s hard being around people ¨dying¨. But what can you do? Well I think I covered the majority of this week. I'm sure I forgot some key things like always...ooops.
I love all of you guys! Have an awesome weeek!!

Elder Wheelwright.

Fotos: The picture of all the missionaries is my current zone of Olavarría. The pizza picture is what I had for lunch today from this restaurant. It had glazed pineapple, ham, and cherry's. It was pretty delicious. If you guys have any questions, shoot me an email! Chou Chou!

Hola Family!
Okay I´ll guess I´ll dive right into this. So last Sunday we had our investigator José at church for the first time, he came in a suit and everything. We promised him the week before that heavenly father would help him out with his house situation and his jobless situation. Well that totally happened! First blessing seen from him going to church. While walking home from church, he saw his daughter from another marriage that he hasn't seen in like 4 years. Super legit and he was really happy for that. The next day, he got a call for a job offer!!
It was so awesome and such a miracle. It showed me 2 things. As missionaries and representatives of the lord and heavenly father, we have the ability to promise specific blessings and they will be backed up 100% by Heavenly Father. The second thing it shows me is that literally there are blessings waiting for you. God just wants you to follow the commandments and do what he requires first. It was a real testimony boooooster for me to see this. We found out later though that now José´s new work impedes him from being able to come to church on Sunday... It starts at 7am and ends at like 5pm. Our church starts at 9.30 hours. So yeah, now he cant come anymore. He´s so excited about this job that he´s not really willing to do anything to make it so he can go to church. It makes me think of the story of the 10 lepers, where only one comes back to thank Jesus. Unfortunately our investigator isn't one of the ones that came back. When we´re blessed from God, we need to continue in his ways, not turn the other way and not keep the commandments again. Perhaps we´ll share this story with him. We need to tell him whats up in the nicest way possible. Unfortunately, its probably going to be awkward any way we go about it haha.
 One of our most solid people were dropped this week. We had an intense lesson with them and asked a ton of questions and we found out that she doesn't want to join any church ever. She just wants to learn about all the churches in the world just to know about them. She has agnostic points of view, so she isn't even sure that she belives in God. Its a really sad situation. She had 2 church attendences and most of the lessons done already. Ugh. You can't give someone an interest in something, they have to have it for themselves.
With the family of Hannah, the recent convert, they are setting a marriage date this week and also the mom is changing her job. She doesn't know if she has it for sure, but she seems pretty confident! Transfers are on March 24th of this month! I could stay or I could go. I kind of want to leave Olavarria, but I'm not sure. There is potential here, but there will always be. I think I need a shakeup of an area haha. One of us or both of us could leave. One for sure.
My clothes are pretty much hanging in there minus my pants haha. But i´m making it work! I am using tape haha. One of these days when I have free time, I'm going to see if I cant learn how to sew by myself haha. But yeah, you don't need to send me anything. I'm pretty much gooood!
Well the missionary work is going good I guess. This week we´ve seen some hard trials with the people we´re working with, but we will continue! Well I love all of you guys! Sorry if I didn't answer any questions! We´re just so rushed on these dumb computers haha. Chou!

Elder Wheelwright