Saludos otra vez

This week was super great!!! We had a baptism! We baptised our friend Eduardo. The way we actually found Eduardo was pretty cool. Elder Willard (my last companion) and I had been walking down the street and saying hi to people like always when we waved hi to this old man on a bike. This old man ended up stopping and talking to us and gave us his directions. Well we passed by and started to teach the family. We never were able to teach the old man but we ended up teaching Eduardo. He is super cool. It was super fun to teach him as well. He would read everything we would give him. He read and re read and studied the pamphlets we gave him. He is super smart and just wants to be good. Eduardo is pretty cool.

We also got to empty the fount and fill it up again for the baptism but this time we broke four buckets. It was super annoying. But we did it in like 8 hours. It was great. We also had divisions this week. It´s always fun being able to look at Asuncion, paraguay. 

We had something pretty sad this week happen to us. We had been walking down the street and found this little ball. So we would kick it back and forth between the two of us while walking in the streets. This was a great contacting tool because everyone wanted to come talk to the two gringos passing the small ball in the street. Well my companion and I were getting pretty good with it and we had been talking to a lot of people because of it. Well this little boy and little girl, probably 3 and 4 years old came up to us to give us a high five. So we gave boy a high five and the little girl sees our ball and picks it up and says "hey look a little ball!" then runs off with our ball..... It was pretty sad because we lost our ball that we had found. But now a little girl has our ball. hahahah It actually wasn´t sad just really funny. This little girl just comes and steals our ball and runs away. But its all right.

Anyway this week was great. My cooking skills are really heating up (metaphorically and literally... like I might have burnt some food.) haha but I´m doing well. Have a great week.

Elder Hoopes  

Saludos de Argentina

This week was great like always. The two biggest highlights of this week were the two service projects we did. The first was very exhausting. We moved like dirt, concrete and bricks in the heat of the day. It was very hard. But the other thing we did that was super fun was to clean out the bautismal font. We got to empty it by hand and fill it up again. It was so much fun. The baptism was one of the people from the set of hermanas in the area. This Saturday we are planning to clean and fill up the font again. This time with one of our investigators. We are really excited if all goes well. We are super excited. His name is Eduardo. He is 19 and super cool. He reads everything we give him and he has been coming to church and all the activities. So we are super excited for him. 

We have another family that we have been teaching and there names are Javier and Gabi. Javier loves American music. He really likes Eninem. The other day He wrote his testimony in the back of the Libro de Mormon. He is super cool. He loves the scripture guide in the back of the book and he just wants to be the best father.

The week has been pretty good. The weather has been great. It hasn´t been as hot as the last few weeks and its been quite tolerable. My companion and I have been cooking alot and have been getting a lot better. haha. Its awesome!!!!! I love it here. Time is flying and I just really am doing good. 

Hope you all are happy. The decision to be happy is always ours. It doesn´t matter what the circumstances are, circumstances merely dictate our actions and responses, but not our attitudes. so choose to be happy. This is my nice little pick-me-up thought of the week. haha

Sincerely 

Elder Hoopes

Gridos!!!

One of the highlights of the week was the chance we almost had to hear a world wide training seminar from the apostles if we hadn´t lost power. We heard the first speaker and the last speaker. It was still super good. It was a fun expirence. And then my companion and I went two for two by spilling juice again; second week in a row, at the same members house. It was very embarrassing having it happen a second time. Luckily she is very nice and let us help clean it up.

Well there is this place called Grido Heladeria. Its an ice cream parlor. So we usually buy ice cream because it is super cheap and really nice place. Well, my companion wanted to buy a flavor called "Blanco Alfajor." So he asked the worker and said, "Blanco Alfajor" He said it without any problem or error in pronounciation. He was really really clear to understanjd as well.  Well the worker asked again. He said literally the same thing, " Blanco Alfajor" She still didn´t understand. So the worker then asked me what he wanted. So I responded "Blanco Alfajor," literally the same exact way he said it. But then she is like, "OOOOOHHHH that makes more sense." Well standing next to my companion was this woman. She was just looking at him while he was ordering. She then says to him, "Your spanish is really bad" BUT IN ENGLISH!!!! It was so funny!!!! This little lady was bashing on his spanish in english it was pretty funny. haha. So we haven´t bought ice cream from Gridos this week. haha It was so funny.

This week at church we had 40 people come!!!! It was awesome! And 10 of the 40 people weren´t members. It was awesome. It was great being able to lead the meeting and seeing all the people. It was great.

Anyway, I´m doing good and just enjoying the mission.

Master Jedi 

Elder Hoopes

Another week in Argentina

Well this week was super interesting. We finally finished working with our dueno (landlord) to repair all the things in our pension (apartment) and we finished finalizing our contract for the pension as well. It wasn't hard but it just took a lot of time. This week we also found a bunch of baby parakeets and took pictures with them. That was really fun. 

Our work this week was good too. During a lesson this week my companion was sitting in a type of Argentine strung rocking chair. Well it was already a little broken and when he leaned a  little,  gravity won and he fell! It was hilarious. He also spilled a pitcher of soda during a lunch as well. He is a super fun and kinda goofy. But me and him get along really well. It is just really fun. 

I love working here.  I'm working really hard. We have some great people right now who we are visiting with. One of them is named Natalia. Her husband is in the gendarmería (border police). He works 6 months in Buenos Aires and is off 6 months.  Well he finally returned to Buenos Aires this week and it was really sad. But we are super excited for her because she is super nice and wants to learn. 

Argentina is super crazy, fun, and just a great experience. I love it here.

Elder Hoopes

Translados!!!!!!!!

The power has been out a lot and we haven't been able to write the last few days, so yeah. But it's all good. I ended up staying in Clorinda for this transfer. I've been in Clorinda for almost three months and will stay for another month and a half. My companion is from Arizona and he is super fun. He is a super cowboy, and a great guy. In terms of this last week, it has been pretty fun. Elder Willard had a birthday so we got cakes from several people and ordered several pizzas and had a fun little party. It's still heating up and the humidity is still super strong.

The work here has been going really well. We have a lot of people that like to listen to us. We are working a lot with this lady named Natalia who is a seamstress.And its a good thing we found her because this last week a hermana in the rama washed our clothes and 3 pairs of my pants were with these clothes. Sadly, they shrunk really badly and I had to remove the hems of the pants to even get close to making them look normal. But its all good because she is helping us, she assisted (that means attended) church last week and she is planning on getting baptized. SO it is really nice that she can help me. She is super cool. We are really excited for her.

Other than that goofy story and her service for me, I don't really know what else to share. I just really like it here. I love everyday. We have ups and downs and all sorts of adventures. Literally, I'm having so much fun. I love my mission.

Elder Hoopes

This is Elder Isaacson my new companion. He's from St Johns, Arizona

The Middle Year

I have officially entered the year in which I will neither come nor go in the mission. It is super exciting. NEW YEARS was like WWIII with all the fireworks, but other than that, everything else was kinda anti-climatic. I was doing my tramites (legal paperwork, visa related), which is essentially a form of legalization for me in which I had to do in another province. SO literally I have not done anything this week. I was traveling, and traveling and then had new years. Its been really sad because I like to work and we did nothing. 

BUT in terms of the work we have been doing, We have a family that is progressing a lot. They wanted to get married and be baptized. My companion and I have got all the paper work, but at the last minute, they couldn't get to church and so now we have to put a hold on everything. But they are super super cool.

Aside from that. We have transfers next week so we will see how that goes and I´m super excited to see what happens. I love you all.

Love Elder Hoopes

SO this week was pretty crazy. To begin with, it has been raining a ton. The whole area flooded. We were working in knee deep water for two days. And then on top of that, the power in the neighborhood went out for two days as well. It was an adventure. The people said a tornado passed over during one of the nights as well, but to be honest these people aren't trained meteorologists so I don´t know if we can trust their judgment on the validity of a tornado. 

Other than just the craziness of the weather, everything else has been generally okay. I forgot to mention I´m a counselor in the branch again so that's something real fun I get to do. I loved the package I received this week. The Christmas tree is spectactular. I love it so much. No one does Christmas here. It´s pretty sad. But I loved getting the package.

This week in general been pretty normal. Nothing too crazy. But I love it here. It's  very hard, but very fun. 

Merry Christmas

Elder Hoopes