11-9-15 (week 11)

Dear family,

So let’s see Tuesday or maybe it was Monday after I had already sent my long letter and I went to write the mission president he sent a letter saying he changed the schedule for us missionaries. So we wake up 6 30 exercise eat breakfast shower get ready and out of the house proselyting and contacting by 8 or 8 30. Go until 12 30 go back to the house for lunch which is an hour until 1 30 do our studies personal and companionship for an hour each until 3 30 then for the newer missionaries we have to do language study and/or the program Doce Semanas (12 weeks) which is just like training. Leave the house like 4 or 4 30 go back out and contact and teach the night time until 9 when we have to return to the house again to get ready for bed. So that was kinda new but not really because my companion and I had already been doing this schedule we think president changed it because we gave him the idea because we have been doing it this whole time.

And then the other thing is starting in the New Year in January we won’t be able to get meals from families anymore. So without other people providing us with lunch or dinners we are thinking they will have to increase our budget because literally like everyday right now we have lunch with a member or a less active or someone. And if in January we can’t have lunch everyday then they will have to give us more mission money for us to buy supplies and food for us to cook our own lunches everyday.

Which brings us to this morning when our district leader called asking like how much we eat every day how much that cost what kind of things have we been buying for breakfast which just is cereal and milk but he asked prices and quantities and types of food so we are thinking that is what is about. Probably president is getting an idea how much everyone is spending and stuff and then will up our mission fund from getting 1300 pesos every month to like 1700 pesos or something I don’t know what number he will pick.

So anyway now going back in time to Tuesday. It was a normal day contacting in the morning then lunch then we were in the middle of our studies and the zone leaders call and say Elder Frampton needs to buy a bus to get from Pico to Santa Rosa because they have bought me a bus from Santa Rosa to Bahia Blanca already and that second bus leaves at 11 at night. So we call the bus place looking for a bus and they say there is one that leaves at 6 and one at 8. So I decide to take the 8 one because it is only a 2 maybe 2 and a half hour bus ride and if I would take the 6 one I would get there like 2 hours early so I said I will take the 8 one and get to Santa Rosa about 10 or 10 30 and then only have to wait for like half an hour. So my companion takes me in a taxi to the bus station and we get there at like 7 55 and I made it just in time to catch my 8 o clock bus. Then the bus ride was fine but I was a little confused because we made like 5 or 6 stops some that seemed unnecessary because normally that bus ride only has 2 stops (1 in the next town Castex and then the other in a little pueblo) So with like 3 extra stops I got to Santa Rosa at like 11 05 and I was worried I had missed my bus or something I hop off and I see two guys in suits and it’s the missionaries they give me my bus ticket and tell me my bus hasn’t arrived yet so I didn’t miss it or anything like that.

So I wait with them and my bus comes at 11 15 and I get on and they had me write down an address I’m supposed to go to once I get to Bahia Blanca. So I’m riding on the bus and I’m real nervous and scared to fall asleep because someone will steal my bag (I just took my little shoulder bag with some garments my tooth brush and deodorant). So I maneuvered my bag under my arm against the wall kind of half sitting on it so that way someone will have to wake me up if they are trying to get to my bag. And I am able to fall asleep for only like 3 hours. I wake up its like 2 in the morning and I couldn’t fall back asleep so I stayed awake for the last 2 hours.

So we get to Bahia Blanca at 4 in morning and I get off the bus hop in a taxi tell the driver the address and he says he knows right where it is. I talk with him for a little during the drive luckily my Spanish is decent because I have been here for 4 weeks. He drops me off and I realize oh this is the assistants house the same one I stayed at the very first day I was here in Argentina. so I open the gate walk around to the back go into the little house had to be quiet because I know the others are sleeping I go to the bath room brush my teeth come out put on my pajamas and by this it is 4 30 I hop into my bed that they had left prepared for me. I’m laying there pull the blanket on top because it was a little colder there in Bahia Blanca for some reason.

Then next thing the door swings open the lights turn on and it is the Secretary and the Materiales elders from the office and they say okay elders time to wake up we got to get going now. It was 5 I hadn’t even fall asleep yet I get out of bed put back on my clothes which I had just gotten out of and put on my pajamas. So I put on my suit and we leave. We take a taxi to the migrations office place and they tell us we are here so early because a line will form very quick because everyone always comes here early. So we stand there outside at 5 30 almost 6 in the morning until 8 when the migration office place opened. And by that time we look back and there is a line half way across the street and luckily we were first in line because we have been waiting there since 6. So we go in they have me sign some stuff take my fingerprints and sign something else. Then we leave and take a taxi somewhere else walk inside I give them my passport verify I am who I am why I am here how long I’ll be here for do this stuff called Tramites and DNI a bunch of immigration things. Then by this time it is 12 and they say okay we are done.

Now to McDonalds!! Wahoo go inside it is like this huge 2 story like restaurant the most richy McDonalds I’ve ever seen. Go in look at the prices you got 70 pesos for a kid’s meal that is like 7 dollars for the little kid meal. So anyway I get a Big Mac some fries and a Sprite. It was sooo delicious. Then they take us to the stake center or church building or the mission office its all the same building in Bahia. Sit down on the chairs for a while talk with the guys in the office then the mail elder gives me a package and it was the package from Mom I opened it and ate the chocolate eye balls. Then it was time to hop on a bus to come home. They drive me to the terminal give me a ticket and they tell me Elder Frampton you need to watch and be cautious and get off at Santa Rosa because this bus is going all the way to Jujuy. If you don’t get off in Santa Rosa you will go to Jujuy which I just looked up right now and is 17 hours farther than I’m supposed to go and 1519 km which is 943 miles.

So anyway on the bus got off safely in Santa Rosa looking around for the elders the zone leaders someone. No one is there I walk around looking can’t find anyone so I say maybe I’m just supposed to buy my ticket to Pico and get on the bus. So like 7 minutes later I run into the zone leaders wearing like normal p day clothes and they are like oh elder Frampton we have been looking for you and I told them I got here like 7 minutes ago I’ve been looking for you. They take me to their apartment and I spend the night at the zone leaders get up in the morning and take the 6 o clock bus back to Pico get to Pico and my companion is waiting we take a taxi back to our apartment I change into some work clothes because Thursdays are service days we go over to an old lady’s house and we weed whack and pull weeds.

Then it was a normal day again - went home after service showered had lunch studied and had our appointment that night with that one family. And they hadn’t read or prayed since last week except the father finished 1 Nephi and is starting 2 Nephi. And they were different this time; they weren’t as interested and they just kept saying the phrase like oh we like sharing and talking and beliefs and stuff.

Friday was normal again; no lessons though so we just contacted, lunch, studied, left went to the church for noche hogar and no body showed up absolutely no one. We were the only ones in the church so we took a TV from the media closet and watched Ephraim´s Rescue on it.

Saturday umm I don’t remember I have nothing in my agenda and I don’t remember anything from Saturday so I guess nothing really happened. I think Saturday was just a normal kind of nothing to do day uneventful. Then yesterday we woke up, went to church, came back took a little nap, went over to the branch presidents for lunch and it was good they had a fruit salad I really liked. Then we had dinner at night with the branch mission leader's family.

And first off it is super hot here already like I sleep with short PJs and everyday when proselyting I’m so sweaty. So we are sitting outside talking while the wife is making the dinner and I wasn’t super hot because it as like 7 at night so kind of dark and cool breeze then we move inside for dinner and I start sweating a lot and I’m like really sweaty and they give me some juice to drink and I feel a little cooler then they bring out the main meal hot hot soup.  So I’m sitting here in this already hot house eating hot soup, sweating like so many pounds off I can barely even see because it is running down my face so fast and I wife some sweat off and then more just comes I’m sweating faster than I can wipe it off. And they are like Elder why are you sweating so much?  I just said it is because I am white- I have white skin they laughed and I was like I just want to leave or step outside or something. Finally dinner ended and we left and walked back to our house and I stepped inside our pension and I ripped off my clothes, I was toasting. And they say it only gets hotter here like December and January are terrible and we can’t take our suit coats off or wear short sleeve shirts until President says so and he will make that decision for the whole mission.

So that was my week. Hope you guys aren't indexing too hard until your eyes and hands fall off.

Thanks! Hope you have a good Thanksgiving because I don’t know when it is I think like not this Thursday but in 3 more Thursdays. Eat some turkey and enjoy it! 

Love,

Elder Frampton

11-2-15 (week 10)

Hello!!

This week will probably be very short because it was kind of uneventful.

Tuesday we had 4 lessons and then they all fell through getting canceled except for one of them was just rescheduled until Thursday  Literally nothing else really happened on Tuesday.

So then they carried over to Wednesday and we had nothing planned for Wednesday because we were just waiting around for Thursday to finally come. So we had zero lessons on Wednesday and we did nothing and nobody was around or outside or anything so contacting didn’t work at all. Everyone was just taking siestas all day or something.

Then Thursday came eventually and we went to lunch at a less actives family’s house. 

So then later that day we had our appointment with the lesson that got rescheduled from Tuesday. And we show up and this family has already read the Book of Mormon up to like chapter 16 of First Nefi and was super interested in the church and they have been studying lots of churches and searching around for truth and the church they haven’t looked at yet and know the least about is our church. They are like golden investigator family. So we show up and we teach the Restoration and I did a majority of the talking and I taught the parts about the Great Apostasy and the First Vision and the Book of Mormon and my companion filled in the little holes and filled in whenever I stopped talking it was like the first real lesson I got to teach like whole by myself and my companion just chirped in whenever. They are such a good family of investigators and they said they will continue to pray and read and they had questions at the end of the lesson and asked Elders would you guys know what is our purpose here and where do we go after we die. And we were like wow ironic you would ask that those are actually the concepts from next lesson the Plan of Salvation so we will answer all of that next time when can we come back and they said an appointment for this Thursday would be fine. So seems like we will be teaching them every Thursday.

Then Friday we didn’t really do anything it was a normal day contacting and had like one lesson nothing real special a normal day and we had Noche Hogar that night and no one showed up except for the mission leader and his kids. So we just ate cookies and played Hangman in Spanish. 

So then this weekend was stake conference and it just so happened that because President Cifuentes had to speak at conference he decided he would do interviews with missionaries after conference. So because of that we were allowed on Saturday to go get haircuts and we went and sat in line for haircuts for like an hour and a half to almost two hours just waiting. finally like 2 hours later it was our turns for haircuts and we each took like 15 or 20 minute haircuts for only 30 pesos too which is about 3 US dollars so very cheap but very nice and high quality and good haircuts. But it was funny to sit in the haircut parlor waiting room for like 2 hours all just for a 15 minute haircut.

Then we went to the church because they were broadcasting the conference to the branch because the stake conference and stake center is in Santa Rosa. However nobody here knows anything about computers or broadcasting stuff and they were unable to set it up for us to watch in the branch so they just told us go home we can’t seem to get it to work. It didn’t really matter because only like 10 people showed up to watch it anyway so we were like uh where is the rest of the branch? So we were unable to watch conference on Saturday.

Then Sunday we woke up early went to the bus station and took a bus about 2 hours to Santa Rosa got there took a cab or taxi to the stake center watched the conference live and the stake took up like all the time and President and his wife were last to speak in the program and in the program they spelled their names wrong too Mission President Cienfuegos. Hahaha President Cifuentes and all the missionaries there got a crack and a laugh from that. We had the two pairs of missionaries from Santa Rosa there two pairs of Hermanas, us from the branch in Pico the other guys from the ward in Pico and the missionaries from Castex there. So the stake used up all the time that they left President and his wife with like 5 minutes for both of them so they just went up and bore their testimonies and that was it; they didn’t even get to talk just enough time to bear their testimony.

Then afterwards we all had interviews and President gave us a pep talk and told us advice and stuff

first be disciplined

second I don’t remember what that was and

third be your own agent so be self managing you don’t need the mission handbook or someone else a district or zone leader or president to tell you stuff just manage yourselves.

And then a thing from D&C how there is a law in heaven that each blessing is predicated on. So if you are having diarrhea then you broke the rule of the word of wisdom

if you can’t sleep at night then you broke the rule of sleeping in more in the morning or you aren’t working that hard to make yourself tired and exhausted that day to fall asleep.

Then conducted interviews and mine was perfectly fine it was short because I’m new and he just gave me advice and ask if I had any questions and then it was over. Then he told me he had my maleta or my suitcase he had gotten from the assistants so now I have my little suitcase that was the carry on.

Then I got my suitcase, we hopped in a taxi and headed to the bus station. We were running a little late too because it was 3:50 and the bus leaves at 4. And Elder Searcy was like we need to take out money out of the ATM so we can buy our tickets to get to Pico but luckily something had happened that morning that I felt inspired to take an extra 100 pesos just in case so we could get back and not get stuck in Santa Rosa. So I told him no let’s not go to the ATM but let’s go to buy our tickets and I pull out my 100 pesos and it was exactly enough to get us both back to Pico. And we bought the tickets at 3:58. I felt  good because if I didn’t have that 100 we would have had to stop at the ATM and would have been late and missed our bus probably. But I paid and got us our tickets back to Pico and we get on the bus and we have seats 37 and 38 and there is a girl in my seat and her bag a huge black purse was in the other seat so Elder Searcy was just like telling me sit in a different seat so I sat in another seat.

Elder Searcy sat with the missionaries from Castex because the bus goes from Santa Rosa to Castex to Pico. So the other missionaries were on the bus too because the bus made stops in Castex on the way to Pico. So he sat with them and I sat by myself in a seat close by. Then Elder Searcy and the other missionaries are talking and just chatting and stuff and the girl that was sitting in our seat turns to them and says oh you missionaries speak English? And we were like yes and then she was I speak English too. So then she asked to hear about us why were we missionaries why were in Argentina and about the church and the Gospel and I talked to her in English and taught the Restoration and gave her my Book of Mormon. And she seemed interested in the Gospel it was just so nice to talk to someone in English and she seemed like a potential investigator. So who would have thought I would get a chance to share in the gospel in English in Argentina. There are people here who actually speak English, who would have known. Because the last time we ran into something like this was when we were contacting one day and there was a house that had a sign offering English lessons so I said lets knock on this house but no one answered so I never got to talk with the people that lived there. But it seems like my job so far has been to share the gospel and teach all the people we run into that speak English. So that was Sunday and now we are just emailing and doing laundry on Monday. Hope everyone back home is having fun traveling, interpreting, getting married, and going to the movies and whatever else stuff you guys do. Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone 

Love,

Elder Frampton

10-26-15 (week 9)

10-26-15 (week 9)

Dear Family,

Not a whole lot happened this week so this will probably be shorter than in the past. But I have a few stories. So after I emailed last week on Monday we got back to the apartment and it started pouring luckily we were inside so we just stayed inside and didn’t get wet at all.

Tuesday was pretty normal we had lunch and studied and stuff. Then the afternoon we wanted to go visit an investigator we hadn’t talked to in a few days he wasn’t answering his phone and the last time we visited him was like Saturday so being Tuesday it had been 3 days. So we walk up the  street and we see he is outside and he has his friends over because they all have motorcycles so we are like oh perfect they are all just talking outside so we know he is home and he has his buddies over they can hear the lesson too. We can just have one big lesson. However as we get closer and we are within talking distance we are like hey what’s up. We decided to have a change of lessons and teach word of wisdom that day instead. I don’t know how much he retained of the lesson because of the fact he was high.

Then Wednesday we had lunch with an older couple and it was good some sort of casserole kinda thing meat and cheese like everything else here found a wish bone in it. Then at night we had a planning meeting at the church to talk about missionary stuff. But the only guy that showed up was like the 2nd counselor and us the missionaries. We knew the mission leader wasn’t going to be there because he had something come up.

Then Thursday we had 2 appointments with 2 old ladies that morning that we had scheduled the day before. We get to the first ladies house and she doesn’t answer the door and then we see her walking towards us coming back from the grocery store with bags in her hands. And she is like oh no today I am having friends over for a party. We just left and was thinking why would she have a party and then agree to meet with us at this time. Whatever. Onward to the second old ladies house. She opens the door and we sit down say a prayer start getting talking we gave her a Bible because she said she didn’t have one. Then someone knocks at the door and it is her daughter. She wasn’t interrupting anything she stayed out of the way of the lesson and kinda just stayed in the kitchen. So we get talking and this old lady is all confused and like I thought you guys were the missionaries from the church I already go to and points at a picture of Pope on the wall. You missionaries are similar to the Catholic Church though right you have like same stuff. And the daughter just like turns around and tells her No Mom those are the Mormons mom! And then it just went downhill from there. The daughter didn’t seem to like us one bit. So I don’t think we are ever going back there again to visit that old lady.

Then at night we had dinner with mission leader of the branch and his wife made pizza. But pizzas here are like circular bread with sauce on it and ham and whatever you want. So it looked like a pizza but didn’t taste like a pizza. There was one that we ate that had egg on it like the egg white and the yolk were like the toppings of the pizza. Haha it was surprisingly good though. I can imagine ordering. One small pizza with uh ham cheese sausage on it and um another one with pepperoni and egg whites and yolk, please.

Then Friday was pretty normal we had an appointment with another old lady we met she had been to Los Angeles. So we meet with her and she actually is really receptive of the gospel and likes it and we taught the restoration and she liked it. And she is really nice and set up an appointment for us to come back again. So it seems promising.

Then that night one family showed up for the family night or noche hogar at the church and it was the mission leader’s family. So we played soccer. His son who is like 8 or 9 and me versus my companion the daughter who is 7 and the mission leader Hermano Perez.

Then Saturday we visited an old man who is less active because he is so old he is 88 I think. And went to visit an investigator family but only the father was home so we took advantage of that even though the rest of his family wasn’t there we taught the father alone about the priesthood. Then lunch we ate at a members and that is when I had the sweet meat empanadas and the salty empanadas. Then we went home and made brownies. Then we stole their son who is 14 and he spent the rest of the afternoon and night with us as we went and visited 5 families but only one or 1 of them was actually home. It was a family of recent converts and they also had a boy who is the same age about 14 and those are like the only 2 young men Aaronic priesthood in the whole branch. We talked with them and they have another son who is 5 or 6 and we were in the middle of the lesson and he was goofing around and knocked my glass of juice off the table and it shattered and it scared me a little. Then after that we went back to the apartment and made ham and cheese empanadas.

Then Sunday we woke up and went to church and that was normal except for there was a few people in the branch that asked me to teach them English and I didn’t know if they were joking around with me or if they actually wanted to learn English. I had to pass the sacrament because neither of those two boys showed up to church so we had Melchizedeck priesthood doing everything blessing, passing all. I had to count how many people were in church and there were 30 people. Then we got home from church and the zone leaders called and then the district leaders called and told us we didn’t have to work or proselyte or anything just to stay in our apartment for the rest of the day. It was voting day so everyone was going to the polls and people weren’t home and stuff got hectic and intense if a candidate lost or something. So we had a free day and the day to ourselves. After being in the apartment for like 8 hours we got really bored so we started to bake lemon bread and cookies and all kinds of stuff. Then as it got closer to night and it was time for bed we think we heard like gun shots in the street and screaming and we were just thinking whoever everyone wanted for governor and for who they voted for probably didn’t win and now people are rampaging and shooting guns. Haha.

Then today just woke up showered ate breakfast came here to email and stuff and I don’t know what we are going to do the rest of the day. So we will see what today brings. And the rest of the week.

Also I almost forgot we found out 2 things this week. First some of the members told us yeah a huge hurricane hit Mexico and a part of Texas and it was like the worst hurricane ever to have in Mexico. And then second it was super cold all this week I don’t know the temperature but it was cold every day and it would rain and drizzle a little every day just a little so I had to use my umbrella but my suit never got wet or anything but I got to use my umbrella twice this week and then everyday it was super cold. My companion got out his gloves and wore them I had to wear my jacket some days. All the people at church yesterday was like it is supposed to be spring, almost summer, soon and they said it seemed like winter. They told us this month the month of October this broke the record for the coldest October they have ever had in history. By October it is supposed to be hot and nice and this was the coldest October they ever had here. So that is all for this time. We will see what this week brings.

Love,

Elder Frampton