I’m Gonna Have a Nephew-Woooo! (Tucuman) Week 48

Hola Familia y Amigos!

1st of all I would like to say congrats to my sister Brittany and her husband Nick for finding out that their baby will be a boy! wooooooo (ps. I called it)

I’m doing well, thanks for asking haha!

Announcements:

1. Elder Carrasco is now half way done with his training! 1 transfer down, 1 to go!

2. This Wednesday marks 11 months in the mission! The time is flying by so fast! 1 year ago I was just sitting on my couch at home, extremely nervous but also very anxious to go and serve. Now that I’m here and I have experienced what I’ve experienced, those days and that “me” seem so far away now.

3. I love empanadas. No tengo mucho tiempo para aprender cómo hacerlas pero voy a dedicar un tiempito y cuando vuelva les haré empanadas riquísimas 🙂 (rough translation:  I don’t have a lot of time to learn how to make them, but I will spend some time learning so I can make them when I come home)

4. Lara and Aylen got baptized!!!

So, this was a good week! We spent a good chunk of it preparing Lara and Aylen for their baptisms. We went on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to get them all ready. We would have gone everyday but the Familia Juarez are studs and they helped a TON with a stake dance that our ward’s youth organized to raise money to go to the temple in July. The familia Juarez makes food for a living and their pizza is TO DIE FOR and so they made a bunch of pizzas with the youth to sell at the dance on Wednesday and then they went to the dance Friday night! (Such studs, they are more active in church activities than a lot of members haha) We had their interview on Thursday and they both did it in like 5 minutes cause they were so ready. They got baptized and confirmed and they felt awesome!! A great weekend!

We keep going and we keep trying. I love this work and all of you!

Livin’ the Dream,

Elder Brundage

ps. Today was transfers and Elder Carrasco and I are still together

pps. Jealous of my fam for going on vacation to Socal

ppps. I miss mexican food lol

Last District Meeting before transfers

Right after the baptismal interviews of Lara and Aylen (with Elder Iongi and Elder Lewis)

The Familia Juarez

The Familia Juarez

Lara and Aylen Juarez

#DistritoLosFacheros Week 47 (Tucuman)

Hola Familia y amigos!

It was a good week! Very normal haha! The same people keep progressing and the rest show a ton of potential the whole week and then sleep in on Sunday haha! Its cool, we’re gonna find some super studmuffins here real soon.

The good news is that the Familia Juarez came to church and so 2 of their daughters (Lara and Ailen) will be baptized this Saturday! I love seeing their progress. They now have a ton of member friends, they are actively participating in ward activities and the church services. They are inviting their friends and neighbors to our lessons in their house. They read a ton of the Book of Mormon! The mom, Cristina, is in Alma 50. The dad, Gustavo is in Mosiah 10 and the kids are just a little bit behind them! It’s so sweet. They’re the best haha!

I don’t know what to write… The time is passing by extremely fast! I’ve been with Elder Carrasco for about a month now and we end the first half of his training next Sunday! It’s nuts. He’s doing good.

Today we went really close to my first area to play soccer with our zone and the other zone. We had an asado and our district showed off our district jerseys #DistritoLosFacheros (a fachero is like one of those cool guys that everyone sees and they just have to say “wow, that’s one good looking guy” Examples of facheros: Ryan Gosling, Cristiano Ronaldo etc.)

So yeah…. I love you guys! I’m happy!

Livin’ the Dream,

Elder Brundage

#DistritoLosFacheros

They nicknamed me Big Dipsy (not sure why)

First time in a while that anyone has done that to me hahaah (Elder Vonasek)

The Best Gift I Could Get You Brookie-Week 46 (Tucuman)

Hola familia and amigos!! So today is the b-day of my sister Brooke! The best gift I have for you is the news of…… 3 BAPTISMS AND 3 CONFIRMATIONS!

This week was kind of a rollercoaster ride but the good news is that the kids of the Familia Molina were baptized!

We spent all week preparing them and it was stressful becuase we were in their house everyday, teaching a bunch of principles, just hoping that they were retaining all of it. But they’re studs and they totally did retain all of it and were super prepared for the baptismal interview! They passed and were baptized and confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! This week was such a blur haha!

Some people reading this might feel a little weird and think that we as missionaries are so excited about a baptism for the numbers, or the glory, or the success but it’s not that selfish of a thing. Baptism is soo soo important.

Baptism is a covenant (or promise) that we make with God. We are saying when we are baptized that we are willing and ready to follow Him and serve Him for the rest of our lives. And as a blessing for making that promise, all of our past sins, mistakes, and guilt that comes with those things are washed away and we are forgiven of everything. The relief and joy that one feels when they are baptized is very real.

Also baptism is a prerequisite to live with God, Jesus Christ, and our families forever! So, I’m super happy that they were baptized. Why? Because they had desires to do it, they set a goal and prepared themselves to reach it. They made changes in their lives and became a little different. As they made those changes they were able to feel the joy and peace that came into their lives. They did it and now they are on their way to salvation and eternal happiness.

That’s what baptism means and it makes me so happy! I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ is our savior!

Livin’ the Dream,

Elder Brundage

The Familia Juarez

 

The Familia Molina

Elder Brundage and Veronica Molina

Elder Brundage and Elder Carrasco with Veronica, Brenda and Jesus Molina

Week 45 (Tucuman)

Hola Familia y amigos!

Well it was sure fun to skype with my fam yesterday! The time in those calls always flies by haha!

Anyway, it was a good week! Elder Carrasco and I are doing well together! The thing about having a gringo and a latino together is that the cultures don’t mix very much. So one of us will try to tell a joke or a funny story (my only way to bond) and the other one just doesn’t really get it. Not like the language but in the way it hits the person (I don’t get why they think that their jokes are funny and Elder Carrasco only laughs at like half of my jokes). So it’s hard to be like best buds but we’re doing good haha! We bond over food basically. We make a lot of homemade french fries at night….

So here’s the thing, la familia Molina and la familia Juarez are still good! They all went to church again yesterday and they are all working towards their baptism. There isn’t really too much news on that front. Besides the fact that the wedding of la Familia Juarez is going to be in June not May. Sooooo I’ll explain a little about the culture here.

2 topics: Tucumán and the church here in Argentina

Tucumán: So what you need to know is that all the other provinces in Argentina hate Tucumán or the people from here. Its kind of like Texas, nobody likes Texas except for the people that live there lol! They speak really weird and with a ton of slang that they made up (they call it Tucumano basico). It’s honestly just dangerous everywhere you go. It’s known for the fact that people get robbed here aaaaallll the time. Like there isn’t a person 14 years or older that hasn’t been robbed at least once by two changos on a motorcycle haha! (Don’t worry mom, God protects me (not a joke))

There’s about the same number or more of motorcycles on the street that there are of cars. So there’s a lot of motorcycle accidents. The people here are waaay whiter here than in other parts. They are darker than I am but you get the point. A lot of the girls and their moms dye their hair blonde too.

The people here are reaaally sociable and the are seeeerrrrious talkers. Sometimes we lose control of a lesson and they start talking about whatever. We could literally be in their houses hours talking if we weren’t on a tight schedule.

The church: My ward is called Villa Urquiza and we have about 5 active members and about 600 inactive members. The highest attendance I’ve seen here is 80 and the lowest 25 because it rained one morning. (if it rains here the people use it as an excuse to do nothing.)

Everybody here stinks at singing and I’m basically the only person in this ward that knows all the melodies (and can actually hit the notes haha) so the hymns here are just ok haha! But everyone here is great friends and really close so it’s like a family and really fun!

Honestly, I don’t even remember what the church is like in the states now. I don’t really remember what’s “normal”. So if you ask me a question I’ll do my best to answer it!

Love you all!

Livin’ the Dream,

Elder Brundage

Mother’s Day Skype

Mother’s Day Skype!

Homemade French Fries!

Week 44 (Tucuman)

Hola Familia y amigos!

This week was good but a little challenging in some ways. We only found 1 new investigator the whole week and we’re (I’m) definitely feeling the pressure from the leaders. We worked our butts off to find some but that’s just what happens sometimes.

The Familia Juarez came to church again and they are still on track to get baptized on the 21st! We’re still working on all the legal stuff for their wedding but we’ll get it done soon and they are definitely going to get baptized! So awesome!!

The Familia Molina is still going through some SERIOUS, and heavy problems but they are still progressing and seeing the blessings in their lives through this gospel. We finally got to talk to the Dad (Oscar) and he accepted to be baptized! We didn’t put a date yet because they aren’t married and the parents can’t go to church right now for some VERY valid reasons. Can’t go into details but yeah. All the kids were able to come to church too and they have a baptismal date for the 14th!

The only thing that I ask of all of you is that you pray for the Familia Molina. They need all the strength that they can get right now. Honestly I couldn’t go through close to half of what the Mom (Susana) is going through right now. She has so much faith and so much hope. I know God loves her because he sent us to her right in the middle of the worst time in her life and now she has something to hold on to. I feel very inadequate to play the role that I am right now. They depend so much on the Lord and I am truly humbled to be able to help them in their conversion process.

Love you all!

Livin’ the Dream,

Elder Brundage

Eating with the Craven Family