Week 81 (7/18/11) Email to Family

Hey Mom and Dad! And maybe Pete and Sam if they still are alive. Its been a long while...
     This week was pretty crazy. I only worked Monday evening, Tuesday all day, Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day in my area. Wednesday I had some meetings in Adrogué and Friday I did intercambios with Elder Jardine in La Plata to do my first baptismal interview. I still don't feel completely settled into my new place. The American Cup is going on right now and they are playing some of the games here in La Plata. Yesterday after Paraguay beat Brasil, both of their teams drove right by us on the main street in Romero. I'm rooting for Paraguay to win it from here. That's good to hear that Max is doing better. Today is the start of winter break for the school kids here. I finish here when the school year ends. Two weeks of break, then 3rd and 4th quarters. Its going quick! I love you guys!
Love, Matt

Week 80 (7/11/11) Email to family

Hey guys!

     I'm still getting used to my new area. I feel like I know it pretty well but its huge! Its like a hundred blocks long. It reminds me a lot of DuQuoin in some ways. Its like a really long road with neighborhoods scattered along the way. There is a lot of field. Lots of little farmy places and dirt roads. Its really spread out so we have bikes and the bikes are PORQUERÍA! That means they are pieces of crap. My chain falls off like 4,862 times a day and we each got a flat tire and Bushman had to buy a new back tire. The first day was the worst on the bikes because my seat was super low and I felt like I was riding a little kids bike. Its hard riding a bike when your knees don't even get to 90 degrees. I really like it here though. The members are good, but we don't have very many investigators that would be close to baptism. Lots of eternal investigators that need to get married to their partners to get baptized. Legal paperwork is a pain here. It takes a long time. Speaking of which, I had to go to capital today to get some paperwork done and the subway system was so packed. The people were shoulder to shoulder crammed underground and some lady was yelling complaining about the governor. It was pretty awesome... Ask Sam's tennis coach about the eternal-investigators-that-needs-to-get-baptized situation here. I bet we still got a couple of them. Ask him if he remembers María Rosa, the lady with two daughters-one that's in a wheel chair-that lives just a few blocks from the chapel. Or Paola and Victor. Anyway after we got back from capital we ate some pizza and played some risk for a couple turns then took a picture to continue another day. Next P-Day will be better because I will get the whole P-Day. This was the third P-Day in a row that I didn't get the whole 8 hours. I want some pictures of the Subway trip! Who did you guys go with? Less than a year and I will be there!!! I love you guys lots. Thanks for everything.

Love, Matt

Week 78 (6/27/11) Email to Family

Hey everyone!
     Not a whole lot to report from this end. Yesterday one of the soccer bigs, a team called River-it would be like the equivalent of the Lakers in basquet or the Steelers in football-that has more championships than any other here, fell to Belgrano in an historical soccer match leaving River descending to the B league. Every year the best 2 B go up and the worst two A go down and they have a playoff of the next 2 worst in the A league against the next best 2 of the B league and if the B league team wins they switch leagues. River was the 4th worst and Belgrano was the 4th best. I didn't watch the match -obviously- but River lost and their fans went crazy. They destroyed their own stadium breaking all the windows, breaking the banisters and hand rails and using them as weapons they attacked the police, wounding at least 15 with a death somewhere in the mix-I'm not sure from which side. The fans from the other team couldn't leave the stadium and were stuck in their own section waiting for the mess to clear up. It was pretty crazy. We saw part of it on the news last night at somebodies house. You guys should see if you can find any videos of it. 
     Elder Sypherd was going to baptize Tania(11) this week but she got sick so we'll be doing that this Saturday. Tania's older brother got baptized in February and she is more than ready to get baptized. She's really smart, understands everything we teach and loves coming to church. She's just shy so she never wanted to get baptized in the past because she didn't know what to expect.
     This week could be my last here with Elder Sypherd; next week is transfer week. I'd be down for another 6 with Sypherd but I'd like to go to a different area. I'm hoping for an area change. I'm not sure what is going to happen. This is probably the transfer that I am the most unsure about what's going to happen. Usually I have known if I was going to stay or go but I have no idea this time around. Next week you'll know!
     That's good to hear that Max is back at home. I hope you guys are enjoying the summer. Its really cold here. Too cold. I'm more of a summer guy. I won't get summer again until June 21, 2012.:( Almost a whole year! A lady in our ward washed our clothes this week and now all of our clothes smell like fish. I put on my sweatshirt last night and I said to Sypherd that it smelled like fish and he didn't believe me. Then this morning when he got dressed he yelled to me from the other room, my clothes smell like fish! Haha.
     We were hoping to play tennis today, potentially our last together. We were excited to play, but then Sypherd had to go to capital to do some paper work so I just played soccer in Mayol with the other missionaries. There is a court close by our pench and I wanted to take advantage and play some tennis on clay-its pretty cheap at this place too-to see what its like but I think I may have missed my chance.
     Things are going well here. Its hard to believe that I've only got 6 months left. It seems like little yet it seems so far away still. I'm glad to be a missionary serving the Lord, but I will be happy to be with you guys again. I love you guys lots. Thanks for the support.
Love, Matt

Week 77 (6/20/11) Email to Family

Hey everyone!
     Not a whole lot to report here. A slow week work wise but it flew by. Less than 6 to go! Today we played padel with Gabriel. Probably the last time I'll play with him unless you guys come get me. Yesterday Gabriel completed one year of membership in the church. He's a champ. Still going strong. Padel was fun. I'd like it if you guys came to pick me up. It would be cool to show you guys around and you guys could see what this place is really like-see what I've been living for the last couple years. I want you all to come but it might not be possible I understand. I wasn't sure for awhile but that's the decision I have made. Now its up to you guys to decide if you want to come. If not I'll just see you guys at the new St. George airport. Whatever you guys decide is okay with me. I hope Max is okay. It's weird seeing the name Max. A common name here is Maxi. How is Indy handling it? *Ouch I just looked up tickets to come to Buenos Aires and they're super expensive...* I would love for you guys to come here but I will respect whatever you guys decide. Its a pretty unique opportunity though. Prices will also depend on whether the week early rumor is true or not. Maybe not I dunno. I love you guys lots and I liked the pics. See you in 6!
love, Matt

Week 76 (6/13/11) Email to Family

Hey guys!

     I hope your visit is going well. I wish I could come spend a day with you guys in Illinois. 6 more months. There is a rumor that they may send us home a week early to avoid the Christmas travellers so maybe you could say less than 6 months to go. Start of the 4th quarter. So Elder Spencer is my district leader right now-Elder Spencer is who I was with between Elders Gonzales and Bryce in El Jagüel. That was a fun transfer. Anyway so we did an intercambio this week, I went to his area for a day. It was really good. It was also good for Elder Sypherd to run the show in La Florida. He is really quiet so it was good for him to stretch himself. Some crazy stuff happened in our area this week. There were three different cases of motorcycle theft all three ending in death by a gunshot to the head. They think its the same guys each time but they can't catch them. Elder Sypherd and I decided we'd better leave our motorcycles in the garage this week. I'm not worried about anything happening to us, we've just got our feet to get us around and God is watching over us. It really is a blessing to know why we're here on earth and to know that God has a plan for us. To know that this life isn't all there is. Though it is important that we live according to the will of God and are prepared spiritually because we never know how much long we have in this life. Yesterday was a special Stake Conference broadcast to all of Argentina. Two of the apostles spoke - Neil Andersen and Boyd Packer. Rosemary Wixom and Claudio Zivic spoke as well. I loved Zivic's talk. He talked about being prepared-either for the second coming of the Christ or for when our life here on earth ends. He commented about how in the Book of Mormon in the corner of the pages it says what year it was-how many years were left til Jesus would come. 50 years, 30 years, 10, 5, 1. The people then didn't know how many years away they were. But they needed to be ready. He compared that to now. What year are we in now in regards to the second coming of our Redeemer? 50 years? 10 years? 5? 1? Are we ready? Or how far away are we til the end of our earthly existence? 50? 10? 1? 1 month? 1 week? 1 day? Are we ready spiritually? It was really interesting and made me think. I love reading the Book of Mormon. It really testifies of Jesus Christ and helps us to prepare for his return. It is an important book and I know it's true.

     Anyway that's all the time I have for this week. I love you guys lots and I hope your time together has been good. I miss you and love you all and look forward to seeing you all again! Say hello to Rebekah, Grant, Will, and Mark for me!

Love, Matt

Week 74 (5/30/11) Email to Family

Hey Mom!

I'm glad you guys had a good time at Disneyland. That's exciting that Sam has Trek this week. I hope he has a great time. I loved the Trek. Good times. I don't have a lot of time because I spent a lot of time sending Pete a long email.:) He finally emailed me haha. About the birthday package. If you send candy. I just want fastbreaks and hot tomales.:) The hot tomales lasted forever last time you sent them. Oh and of course the vacuum sealed goodies if you can still do that.:) Thanks Mom! I love you.:)

Love, Matt

Week 73 (5/23/11) Email to Family

Hey!

Transfers are in! Elder Sypherd and I will be working for at least 6 more weeks together here in La Florida. I'm glad that we're staying together. Elder Sypherd is a good guy. This week I saw a lot of progress with him. He talked quite a bit more in the lessons. He's really quiet around people and it has been hard to involve him in the lessons. We have an investigator right now named Guido. He came to church yesterday. He's a cool guy. He has long hair and a scraggly beard. He's 24 years old and he's a really good guitarista. We're going over to his house today to play cards with him for P-Day. Should be fun.

I can't believe school gets out this week. Another school year gone. It's cold here! Less than a year and I'll be Subway-ing it up! I miss nature. Doing stuff outside. There is NO natural beauty where I'm at here. Just nasty zanjas (ditches) filled with ghetto juice. Mmmm! I hope summer goes well for you guys. It'll only last for 2 transfers. That's not very long. I hope you have fun at Disneyland or Salt Lake wherever it is that you'll be this week. I love you guys lots!

Love, Matt