Another week bites the dust!

Hola familia!!!

This week was great!! I have some good updates for the week! But I will start with your questions!

Mom: I will buy shoes if I have the chance, if not, its all good. welcome to the mission :) and we have transfers coming up and I think i have a good chance of getting moved. After 3 transfers in 1 area it is almost likely. But Elder Clavero could get transferred too so we´ll see.

Dad: The humidity is..... different. Its not that cold so I don't notice it a ton. I think I will notice more in the summer. And yes we have been working with the members a lot and its great, they help a lot! 

So the highlight of this week is we found a family from the Dominican Republic and we taught them twice and one of them named Carlos came to church on Sunday! They are super fun and they seem to be interested so lets hope that continues! they have the cutest little daughter, We have a lot of fun with them and I LOVE their accent in Spanish! I have pics with them!

John the Columbian also came to church again this week! He is awesome, and he is showing a ton of interest in the church. After church he told us that he was planning on quitting smoking. We didn't even know he smoked and we didn't even teach the word of wisdom lesson yet, but he is just constantly progressing and he likes the Book of Mormon too!

Mom, in the package you send, will you send a bunch of pictures? just of everything, I love having a bunch!

So this week we had Interviews with the President. It was great to talk with him and he seemed to be happy with almost everything I am doing. Another great thing was I was able to do 99% of it in Spanish. I only said 2 words in English so that was really good. My Spanish has been improving a lot. He mostly just asked about the area, my comp, and how I'm liking the mission. Then after we went and got Pizza with a bunch of the other missionaries it was pretty fun!

We have been spending a lot of time lately with the Bustos Family! They are super great and they have not been members for too long, but they are all starting to get involved in the missionary work and one daughter invited her friend to church this week as well!

So we had really weird weather this week! It started out really cold and super windy! then to top it off, the outlet where we plug in our heater during studies broke so we ended up doing our studies downstairs with the stove on full blast trying to stay warm. You just do what ya gotta do! we are gonna buy a new outlet.

The Abonizio family has been going all out helping us with the missionary work lately. They have given us 2 very good refs and I think one of them will end up progressing pretty quickly. It is amazing how much better, faster, and easier the work is when the member help us find people to teach, they have been a real blessing to us as well as many other families in the ward.

It is amazing how much happiness comes from having investigators in church! yesterday was so great and it was started because of that! Missionary work is true happiness! 

Last night we did a fireside with the ward and we gave a 40 minute lesson which went really well. Our ward and stake are starting to show a lot of interest in jump starting the missionary work and to start helping all of the missionaries a lot! Afterwards I got a few comments on my Spanish wish was really cool. They were telling me that its impressive that I can speak pretty well because usually when  missionary starts in this area they leave before they speak very well. I really love this area!

This week was great and I think we are on track to have another great week! Its so great to start seeing our hard work pay off. Sometimes we just gotta get through the trials and hard times then we really start seeing success and joy! I love the mission and it really is going super fast! Thanks for all that you guys do for me, I am really blessed to have you all!! I love you all, remember this week that Heavenly Father is listening and wants to hear and answer prayers!

♥Elder Sisk

Hola Familia!

Hola Familia!

This week went really well. We have been teaching a little more which is just way better than contacting!

We found a guy this week named John. He is from Columbia and is a total stud!! The problem is he is living with his girlfriend and I don't know if they have plans to get married. But he went to church and loved it so I have a lot of really high hopes for him!! I love his accent too!

We are now in a new district. They reopened an area in our zone and they changed the districts to make them more even. Now we don't have to travel to go to district meeting on Tuesdays which is perfect!

One of the missionaries in the new area is from Peru and was actually in the same district as Mckay in the MTC there! I am going to send him a pic.

we went running a couple mornings this week!!! That was great I love getting as much exercise as I can but it is really hard to be motivated when its really cold in the mornings.

I have been eating tomatoes a lot more now and I am to the point that I don't even notice them anymore haha crazy huh??

This week I felt like my Spanish has gotten a ton better. I had a few times where it just felt like I was talking not like it was hard or different to be talking in Spanish. Yeah i am still a long way off of being pro or anything but it is coming a long really well!!
 

I'm sorry that I don't have much this week to say. It was a good week, but we didn't have any huge things happen! I will do better this week of writing down more things to tell you guys. But I am doing well, healthy, and loving it! Time is seriously flying and I love being a missionary!! :)

I love you all, have another great week, and don't forget to search for the little blessings each day!

♥Elder Sisk

Can you believe it will be 6 months tomorrow?!?

Hola Familia!!

First can I just say how fast time is on the mission?? I can not believe that it is 25% over! I feel like I am just getting started and have so much more work to do! But its because I do! hah

It was a good week! We are still running a little low on investigators but we are working our butts off to find more! That is our number one priority right now! Alright, on to my random list of things that happened this week!

I sent my ipod up to welsh in the mission offices and he put on a bunch of new music for me! It was rough not having my ipod for like 2 weeks but worth it to have new music that they have on their computer!

I did get the package and I don't think it was opened! I loved it! Everything was perfect, except mom you mentioned the Ensign in your letter but it was not in the package? maybe you forgot, no big deal! But the package was great!! I also found out that DearElder is really slow. I don't know if it is only this mission or what but I have not gotten them yet, and Clavero told me that DearElder is always slow.

We found an old investigator this week named Romina. We have a lot of hope for her and her family! I don't know if they are totally prepared but they are at least listening so that is a start right? We have been working really hard to find an entire family that we can teach because our ward has a lot of potential to retain a family because the members here are very strong!

We had zone meeting this week (pics coming) it was really fun, but right after I had my first solid Argentina rain storm! after not very long some of the streets were flooded. After that it was suuuuuper humid for a few days! It annoying to walk around when the ground is always wet, and your pants and shoes get dirty hah (also a pic coming). Updates from zone meeting are, 1. The number of contacts that we are asked to do is now lower. was 140 now its 80. They want us working with the members more and spending less time contacting in the streets. 2. We are no longer allowed to perform the baptism or confirmation of people. It all needs to be done by a member. I really like this rule, because I helps us to invite more members to visits and stuff so they have friends.

Funny contacting story of this week. We rang the doorbell and when the lady came to the door she yelled ¨what do you want???¨and slammed (really slammed) the door before we could even say a word. We both died laughing. 

Random thought I had : are grandma and grandpa gonna move before I get home from my mission? and Amy and John too?

We met a crazy lady this week!! She was all over the place and we saw this little house behind her house and we asked her who lives there and she told us that that is ¨where we keep the smokes, drugs, and narcotics¨..... wow haha we were shocked and never going back! 

There is a guy named PF who was baptized last year. He was the first lesson I taught in Argentina. He has been progressing a lot and is on track to receive the priesthood soon! :)

Yesterday, we had lunch with the Abonizio family. It was so great! We talked with them this week about helping us with the missionary work and they stepped up to the plate! They invited a couple to have lunch with us and everything! We are going to meet with them next Sunday at their house again!

I have done really well and making my contacts last! I am at 6 months and I just started my 3rd pair today. The ones I have should easily last!!

I got the Ruckus Newsletter this week! I loved it! I love seeing how they are all doing!

Pamela gave a talk yesterday in church and it was like perfect!!! You would have thought that she is a member of years and years. Just looks like a total natural! Then today she and Carla hung out with us in downtown and stuff!!

So yesterday right next to our house, they had and Anime convention... holy nerd central!! And to top it off, they had music blasting and it was practically shaking our house! You can imagine studies were slightly hard to get done! haha

Mom, SanFran sounds super fun!! I am jealous! Dad and Coley, I am glad that you guys had some fun while mom ditched you guys! ;) 

That is it for this week!! I love you all and don't blink or I will be home! Time is flying and I hope it is flying for you all as well!! Love you guys and have another good week!! :)

♥Elder Sisk

Zone Meeting

Dirty Pants from all the rain

New way to tie a tie

Alex always loved Subway!

Downtown on Pday

Another week in Argentina :)

Hola familia!!

Wow what a week! It was really tough but I think this was our week to start turning things around and we are going to start finding more success and having more people to teach! I´ll start with your questions:

Mom:

*How often do you have Zone Conference?  Do you also have District Meetings?  How often does all of that happen

-Zone conference is every other transfer. Yes district meeting once a week. and zone meeting once a month. Zone conference is with the pres and stuff. zone meeting is just the missionaries.

*Have you had much interaction with President Guiliani? 

 Not a ton, but a little bit. They are great! I really like them a lot and they are super nice!

*Have you heard anything about your package?  I sent it on June 20^th, so I’m hoping you will get it soon.

 Yes Welsh called me last week and told me that the package came!! Super fast again, really lucky, I think I will get it tomorrow at zone meeting.

*Have you gotten any of your friends letters that I sent on Dear Elder?  I’ll send another batch tonight.

 Not yet, hopefully tomorrow as well! :)

*On transfer day (the Monday) what do you have to do?  Do you meet together to find out about transfers or what?

The last 2 have been mission cleaning days. but usually it is just a normal day of work. depends on what they tell us. Then Tuesday is p day and Wednesday is when everyone travels to their new areas.

Dad:

What is are a couple “normal” meals? 

Meat, Pasta, rice, a lot of bread, soup, chicken, potatoes.

What’s a normal p day like? 

Depends on what we plan with the other missionaries. usually playing sports maybe going downtown to hang out and getting lunch. always different which is good!

How often do you see other missionary’s in your district?

Depends on who, Our district is very spread out. The hermanas in our district are 1 hour by bus. but we live really close to 2 elders in our zone but not our district. they have been showering at our place everyday because they don't have hot water.

So last Pday we had an asado at the church with the other missionaries and this guy named Ariel from the other ward. It was really cool to talk with him. He is 35 and speaks 5 languages. 

I recently realized how important timing is in the eyes of God. I realized that if I hadn't left in January or gotten sent to NC I would not know Pamela right now or any of the others that I know. Its so amazing, to know how much the little things matter to Heavenly Father.

So, smoking is a real problem here, let me tell you. I think i will come back not knowing the difference between regular smoking and marijuana because they are both very common. but oh well, we are helping them get over that one convert at a time right?? :)

The members here are so great! For example, on Thursday we had 2 meals! We had dinner with the Gimenez Family and yes it is true the Carla decided to serve a mission!!!! She called me last night to tell me it is official! I am so excited for her!! 

So, Happy 4th of July! It was slightly more boring here than it was there I am sure.... hahah but its all good! 

This week we went digging deep in the old files to find old investigators that we could visit to teach. It was hopefully successful, I will keep you updated on any that turn out well! we have like 30 names to visit.

I am so glad you got the picture and message from Walter, I was sitting there with him, but he didn't want me to translate he wanted to send it in Spanish haha they are such a great family! I love going to their house! 

So priesthood here is so much louder than at home! At home no one talks, here the problem is we only get like 10 minutes for a lesson because any topic brings up a million comments! Pick your poison right? Hah

So I learned how to play the card game hearts and we have played a few times. We play on pday or on Sunday nights when we have to call the leaders and give them our numbers for the week! (random)

Mom way to go dominating the golf this week! I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous that I was not there. I miss golf a lot!! but soon enough right?? :) and of course you can play golf in a boot! I don't know about walking around SanFran... but keep me updated on your foot?

That I all I have for this week! I love you guys and hope you have another great week! Until next time :)

♥Elder Sisk

Asado at the church - BBQ

Lots of meat!

Alex's mission planner - he's still a fan :)

Dinner with Gimenez Family

With the Gimenez Family