Hola!! 

Soo .. I'm in my new area in Santa Rosa.  I am no longer in the providence of Buenos Aires....noo! haha I'm in La Pampa.  So I don't know how big the city is yet, but it looks decently sized, bigger than Harding Green. That's for sure. The weather is definitely warmer haha. I'm not sure if I'll even need a jacket now. Dang it. I hate hot weather. So something about Santa Rosa, usually missionaries get stuck here for a long time. We're talking like 6 months, up to 9. It's pretty common. Nooo....haha. So yeah, this could be my last area. I'm not necessarily excited for that, but we´ll see what happens. 

So I got the news on Saturday that I would be leaving. I wasn't expecting it at all because my old comp Elder Cross had more time than me in Harding Green.  Hmm... But I was and still am super sad that I had to leave.. I didn't want to!   Saturday I started stopping by members houses and telling them bye.   

Saturday was also our baptism!!  It happened for sure and my mission president was there. haha. Bonus points! It was a cool baptism, because the dad (who we baptized 2 months ago) baptized his daughter.  How awesome is that! It was cool to see. We baptizzzzed this transfer!! Yeah! I have a goal of having at least one baptism every transfer. It's still going strong!

My last baptism in Harding Green

 After the baptism, we went down town to buy my bus ticket. Then we went over to our converts we had and I had to break the news to them that I'm leaving.  It was super sad. One of them started crying and said that I couldn't leave. I left one of my missionary name tags with them. Ugh, it sucked leaving them! They are so awesome. 

Sunday, the cool couple that we found didn't go to church. We stopped by, but they were leaving to go somewhere else. Lame.   Sacrament meeting was weird, they asked 3 of our converts to give their testimonies, and then asked me to give mine.  It was so cool seeing these new mormons...haha..giving their testimonies for the very first time! They did a great job! When it was my turn, I shared something on service and then I thanked the branch for everything. I got super attached to them. I ended up getting a little teary..haha. How lame. It was super sad though. Gah!

  I still can't believe I had to leave! Packing wasn't fun at all. I did it in 3 hours though. It seems like you collect more stuff every time you switch areas. The rest of the day was spent saying goodbye to members and to investigators. Our last stop was at the house of our converts (the Aguila and Bermudez family). It had to be short, but it was so hard to do. I'll probably never see these people again.  Eyes were wet leaving that house haha. I didnt want to leave! Harding Green has been my favorite area as of now. I'll miss those dirst roads and wild dogs everywhere. 

Wild dogs are everywhere

dead dog.....sad day. This is pretty common to see. I've been desensitized unfortunately...haha. Sometimes the other dogs eat the dead dogs...yuck.

My bus left at 9.40 at night. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't.. I got to Santa Rosa at 2am. My companion is Elder Huey from Missouri. Another American!! He is also one of the zone leaders here. President is doing something weird and is putting regular missionaries with zone leaders. Hmm.. Our house here is SOOO nice! Its nothing in comparison to Harding Green.   Here we live in a super rich apartment complex. There is an elevator that goes up to our apartment! haha. How crazy! I feel like Im living in a hotel, not in Argentina either haha.

There is a ton of cocoa, yeah. But I'll for sure drink it! haha.  We're only allowed to listen to the Motab...so I'm going craazy. I don't like the Motab at all.  Although it does make me want to go to temple square in Salt Lake. haha.   You guys got a hot tub spa thing! That's super legit! I want to use it! Well I'm out of time family! I love you a lot! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Chau Chau!

Elder Wheelwright

Goodbye .....  Harding Green!

Hola family!
So this week has been REALLLY cold! Like insanely cold. Even with 3 jackets, a sweater, gloves, a hat, and a scarf, I feel like I am going to freeze. Also the nights are pretty cold too. So I have to go turtle status inside my blankets haha. I have to leave when I run out of air though.. There was news of snow in our area! haha oh yeah! But it only rained ice. Or iced ice? Yeah. The mountains nearby us got lots of snow though. A lot of the members took their families up to play in it. The work is kind of slow with all of the cold weather. There is no one outside that you can contact, and when we knock on the doors, they either don't answer or they tell us to go home so that we won't freeze. haha so yeah. We still have some success though!

We have this couple (who aren't married yet) that are super awesome and are probably going to get baptized next transfer! They have the first 2 lessons and we took them on a tour of the church!  Also they came to church and they made some friends and people were explaining everything they didn't understand and it was awesome. Our branch is pretty good about that. Or I guess I should say, some members are really good about doing that.

We are having a baptism this weekend of a 9 year old girl. shes the daughter of the first guy we baptized here in Harding Green. She's finally getting baptized because we scared the parents with transfers. We said, it's not a for sure thing that we will be here for the baptism. (because the parents had plans to do it in August), so if you want us there, you will have it sooner. haha and it totally worked. So the baptism is this weekend! yay! Also these 2 investigators that came to church got invited and they said that they wanted to go! yaya :) Were really excited for them.

Ummm... so I received the package!! yay! It was awesome! Thanks for everything! There was a large amount of hot cocoa inside though haha. Oh well, its cold outside. The ipod inside of the rice a roni was pretty genius. Good job family. I couldn't find the cable for the longest time. I thought you guys forgot to send it. We made some of the Asian stuff. It was really amazing. This week we had a family home evening with a family and we made pancakes and had maple syrup. They didn't really like the syrup though, they said it tasted like coffee?? I don't know where that even came from haha. Their lame taste buds can't even handle the awesome flavor of maple.

So there is going to be no youth left in the ward when I get back haha. Everyone is leaving on missions! Yeah, I probably know more than all of you about Langley haha. We write each other every week. He's doing really well. He might possibly have to move to Thailand haha.

So yeah transfers are coming up super soon. Actually this Monday we have transfers. So its way possible that I leave Harding Green..hmm. I'm sure I'll stay one more transfer, but who knows. This Saturday we will know whats happening! Well that is all I have time for! I love you guys! Sounds like everything is going great! Hopefully you are feeling better mom! Chua!!

The pic is of us making a fire with tires with out converts. They are awesome. I have an addiction of burning tires now. I know its bad for the environment, so I need to stop. But its just soooo hard haha!  Chau!

Elder Wheelwright

Our Asian dinner

Hola! 

Yeah when he (Mission President) said that (only 9 months left) it kind of freaked me out too, but oh well. I´ll just keep on chuggin haha. Yeah, so no package yet. I'm sure I'll get it tomorrow when we go to the office. After all, its the only time that we get mail. Once a week.   Nope, we wont be getting cut again. It was up to the mission president as to when to make the adjustment. Ours just decided to get it our of the way. You guys got someone to church?? that's so awesome! You don't even know how great that is for us missionaries. Good job! Now learn spanish and tell all of our members how you did it. haha it honestly sounds too good to be true! But who is Lonnie? Is he the guy from Guam? 

The mission office is in renton? Thats wierd. We are the Bahia Blanca mission and our office is in Bahia Blanca. haha. hmm. That doesn't make sense to me. 

There were more fires in Colorado? dang. I swear its always on fire! I hope everyone is okay. No one has said anything to me yet.

Oh, I thought Nathan already had his license...oops haha. Keep working on it! Yeah he would be way expensive on the insurance. He can take the bus! Its not that bad. We have to do it all the time here. So I found the guy that does the leather scripture cases and I gave him all the stuff to start to go to work. Hopefully I don't get transferred before that are done! The guy showed me some examples and it was awesome, it looks exactly like the picture, but in leather. I'm excited haha.

So this week we found some pretty cool people with some potential. One was this couple that are married. The husband is 22 and the wife is 42 haha. uhhh yeah. Weird. They accepted to read the Book of Mormon pretty fast. Apparently the mom of the wife was a member before she died. Well I guess she would still be a member then haha. On the second visit we asked her to be baptized and she said that she was already a member and that she was baptized a long time ago as a child..crap. haha. I feel like this happens all the time here. There are so many in-actives that its not even funny. Every door you knock, you have to brace yourself that the person could already be a member, just inactive. Its the worst. Why don't they just tell you up front?? haha.

So were back on the church computer! Which means pictures!! haha Enjoy. We found an aeronaval museum...cool. haha.

I don't know what else to write, this week was kind of boring. It rained a lot which means everyone was inside sleeping. Hmm...yeah. Dang. I love the rain, but it makes working super hard. Well I love all of you guys! Thanks for everything!!

Elder Wheelwright

We found an aeronaval museum...cool

Fire in the house - Yeah, we like to burn things...nothing new, no? haha

Yeah, I have herbalife. Its pretty tasty and expensive.

dogs inside the house that we found on the street

Well....... Black face = exchanges and we painted our face with a burnt cork.  We just did it because we were bored..nothing else haha

Hola Family!
So recently its been way cold with a lot of rain. Its not that fun haha. I think I'm okay without thermals. I only have to survive a couple more months. Also the sleeping bag...hmm. It would be nice, but its not necessary at all. I found one at Walmart, but it was 700 pesos...no thanks. It was just a Coleman brand too. Super not worth it. I'm better off using blankets haha.
No sign of my package yet. I'm still crossing my fingers every time we go to the office on Tuesday haha.   E.Cross got one this week. It was full of all things American. haha oh yeah! Luckily, as a companion of the box receiver, you get to reap the benefits!
Yeah, so the dog bite wasn't that bad. I still have a scab from it. Yuck.  Recently I feel like my wounds and cuts haven't been healing as fast. Its actually super slow.
Happy 4th of July! We didn't do anything here. No fireworks or barbeques. It was just a regular day here. Independence day here in Argentina was on July 9th. But it rained all day, so everyone just stayed inside.
 It sounds like you guys are doing lots of stuff as a family! That's awesome!

This past Saturday, we did exchanges with the APs. I'm not really sure why.   It´s not really a normal thing. Hmm...we still haven't figured out why. They told us that we've been being used as an example in a lot of things. Last transfer we had a lot of success. Presidente Parreño used us as the example in his leadership meeting and also we were used by the Bahia Blanca stake.   Pretty crazy stuff!

We had interviews this week and Presidente told me that I only have 9 months left. What the crap haha. It freaked me out! Time flies really fast. It just made me want to work even harder. Not trunky, fyi haha. Don't think I'm that missionary. My comp has 4 months left, and hes losing it a little bit haha.

So I'm super sorry about the no pictures. I have been taking them, but the internet in the church has been down, so we've been having to use a sketchy ciber. I'm afraid I'll get viruses on my flash drive or SD card. So until I can get back to a safe computer, there aren't any pics. Sorrrry!
How has Nathan been with driving? Does he ever go off and drive by himself?
Oh, so you're getting this email late because the ciber was closed on Monday and Tuesday, and we have no other access to computers. So we get the short end of this stick here in Harding Green. LAME!

Were preparing 2 people for baptism this weekend or the next. So I'm pretty stoked for that. One is a 12 year old kid of this lady we are trying to get married. We are hoping he can set the path or standard for her. The other baptism is a daughter of a recent convert. We finally got them to commit to get them baptized. FINALLY! So things are happening here for sure. I just wish it was a little bit better haha. Well I love you guys so much! Have an awesome weeek!!

Elder Wheelwright


small excerpt from email Elder Wheelwright sent to his dad:

 "The thing about missionary work is that you could be on top of the world one week, and the next you are failing intensely. Its hard to have constant results because people have their agency. Make sure you guys are helping out the missionaries there. Its lame when the members don't really do anything."

Hola --

Hola familia!
 
This week was pretty great. We had a lot of lessons with people and
with our current investigators. The work is a little slow right now
in Harding Green. People are just not listening to us! I hear its
worse now because of the winter. Everyone is inside and doesn't want to
come out. We are focusing a lot on finding people now. I was hoping
that the members would just be super pumped up about the conference
that we just had, but nothing has really changed..lame. Not even one
reference. Come on guys! I feel like that's where we need to focus on
right now. I liked what Elder Holland said about missionaries shouldn't
be knocking doors because its a waste of time. And that members should
fill up our agendas! haha if only...
 
We have investigators with wierd situations right now. They are kind
of stuck. One is a couple that has been living together for 10 years
and they aren't married. The husband doesn't really have any interest in
what we teach (although he did tell us that he felt the spirit and
that he knows our church is true), and the wife doesn't really love the
husband and doesn't want to get married..hmmm. She REALLY wants to get
baptized though and she has all the lessons and has been to church
like 7 times. On Monday we got them to agree to go reserve a wedding
day with the government (they do it weird here in Argentina). But the
next morning they fought and "postponed" going to reserve their spot.
Grrrr... 

One other guy has received an answer about the Book of Mormon, several 

times I think. One was at the FHE we did at the 
mission presidents house. He said he felt like something was going to
explode out of his chest as we watched the testaments and as we heard
the testimonies of people at the FHE. Hmm.. He has friends and family
in his other church and he goes there twice a week. He loves reading
the Book of Mormon, but he can't give up the other church..
 
We've been trying to visit the girl on the bus, but she is never home! 

I really want to check in with her and her experiences with the Book of 

Mormon, if she actually read it or not.

Camp Helaman eh? Sounds fun! I remember that I didn't want to go at all
haha. And I never ended up going because I got a job. yay! 

Yeah, Langley left for Cambodia today. He has a crazy flight. SLC to LAX to
Hong Kong to Cambodia. 3 Days of traveling! ALSO he said that he was
chosen to be a model of missionaries with ipads and iphones in the
MTC. They took pics of him and he will now be in the next manual of
either PMG or an MTC training manual. Super crazy! He's Mormon famous
now! haha.   So first day of the Federal Way mission huh?  That is sooo
coool! How many missionaries are there? Also where is the mission
office at? Austin got home? thats cool!    Everyone is coming home that I
know. Logan just got home too! I was a late bloomer thats why haha.
Where is Tyson going to again? California? That's what I remember,
maybe I'm way off haha. 
 
So I got in an intense battle this week with a dog. It was nuts. It
ended up biting me. My first dog bite..grrr. We were knocking this
door, or should I say clapping..and this huge dog came out of no
where. It was jumping and barking at us. I picked up a rock to try to
scare it, but then it just got even more mad. It dove at my shins and
bit me, ouch! Freaking dumb dog. I was super mad, so I took this big
rock in my hand and threw it as hard as I could at this dog. I totally
hit it broadside and it ran of whining. Haha, I win! It was super
intense and I barely survived. Good thing I'm awesome, no?
 

Well I gotta go! I forgot my flash drive at home, so no pictures this 

week! Sorry! I love you guys!!
 
Elder Wheelwright