Phone Call from Elder Deniston

Merry Christmas!! It was amazing to hear your voice yesterday to to see the Kids faces light up when they were talking to you. We all miss you, but are so extremely proud of you that it makes the time seem to fly by. Though I don't recall much of what you said, I do know this, the Spirit within you was strong, that I could hear loud and clear. We love you, Elder Deniston!

December 24, 2012

Familia!

Glad you guys looked up Oberà, I am going to try to get some photos set out when I finish writing this email so you guys can see the area a little bit more! Overall I am really content with area and with the elders I am with, so all is good here.

Tell Devin and Nathan thanks for the money they deposited over! I am really grateful for it because the end of the months are always extremely tight and this will help out a lot. Tell them thanks! Also, I didn´t receive the package this week! So I will probably have to wait until our zone meeting or when our zone leaders come to Oberà for a district meeting, and I am not sure when that will be. No worries though, it will show soon enough! Excited to receive it.

Glad everyone is together for La Navidad! I am sure that will be a good time! Send a photo of the tree and the house and what not, I want to see. Bueno, about the call! I am going to call at 6:00 P.M. OUR TIME HERE IN ARGENTINA. I am not sure exactly what the difference in time so I am not sure what time it will be back home, but I am sure you guys can figure that out. I have to call at that time so prepare to receive the call.

Glad to hear that everyone is doing good and enjoying the holidays together! Also cool about McKenzie, let me know where she gets called too!

Alright I will tell you a little about me week now because some cool stuff happened!

First Last Thursday we had a Zone Conference in Apóstoles in with Elder Di Giovanni and his wife. It was really good. We received a small gift for Christmas from them and from President and Sister Haymen as well. Elder Di Giovanni spoke about the real meaning of Christmas and they shared stories about some experience they had during the Holidays when Elder Di Giovanni was serving in Perú as mission president. Overall it was really good. He also called us elders in Oberà to talk with him privately to tell us that the branch here in Oberà in about to become a ward! Which is really good news. He said we only need a few more active and worthy priesthood holders and they will have enough priesthood to be ward. So that is exciting! He gave a specific task to visit the memberson the ward list that are in-active and to reactive the priesthood holders that they have, so we are working on that now.

Friday they had the ward Christmas party! Which also was really good. It was a really big turn out. The leaders here sang Christmas hymns, the primary did a performance of the Christmas story, the youth also sang hymns, and we performed a skit! Which the branch loved. Elder Rusque dressed up as Santa Clause, Elder Bowhill as an elf, and Elder Kemsley and I knocked their door and taught them about Jesus Christ. But the catch was that Santa didn´t want to learn about Jesus because he thought the Jesus was stealing his day of the year. So we had to teach them the real meaning of Christmas and at the end of the skit Santa Clause understand the real meaning of Christmas and Jesus Christ and accepted a baptism date haha. It was pretty good! Afterwards they had pizza and cake and just hung out for awhile. It was a really good Christmas program.

Some interesting things happened this week! The other day we left to work and were walking in central and passed La Iglesia San Antonio (Catholic Church here in Oberà) and a lady was pushing a nun in a wheel chair. They wanted to cross the street but when they left the side walk the lady somehow lost control of the wheel chair and the nun fell in street! It was kind of scary because she was on one of the main roads and she was probably a good 70 years old and couldn´t get up. It was alright though because we rushed over to help her up. We got her back in her chair and she was fine! But yeah, something interesting that I thought I would share.

Our investigators are doing well! We have some investigators that should be baptized before the end of the transfer! So that is always good news. The investigators the Hermana´s left us had a lot challenges and things keeping them from progressing so Elder Bowhill and I have been working with a few different people that are now progressing well. We have some baptismal dates set for the next couple weeks so we are going to see if all goes well with them. I will keep you guys updated! We fasted as a district this last weekend and I am sure that that will help out a lot.

For Christmas we are going to have dinner with a couple different families! Here in Argentina Christmas Eve is the night that everyone celebrates and Christmas day is just a day to relax and hang out. So tonight everyone is going to celebrate with Asado´s and fireworks! The celebrate Christmas the way we celebrate the 4th of July haha. We have dinner tonight with the family Lescano and tomorrow a lunch with La Famalia Rosa. So we are in good hands and will be having a good Christmas as well.

Alright, well I am going to wrap this up and try to send some photos over! Love you all and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I will talk to you all tomorrow! 6:00 P.M. my time! Be ready! Disfrutan La Navidad con la familia y vamos a hablar mañana! Feliz Navidad! :)

Elder Deniston.

December 17, 2012

Family!

 

Greetings from Oberà, Misiones! 

 

A lot of stuff to tell you guys about. New area, new companion, new everything! I am going to start with Oberà. 

This place is really, really nice. La gente aquí tiene la plata! (The people here have money!)    and I am probably in one of the most green areas in the world. The providence of Misiones is known for how green it is, its really cool. It`s like they rolled into a jungle and built a city. Walking down central here is like walking down downtown San Diego or Salt Lake, but Argentine style. I am going to send a few photos I took but feel free to look up Oberà on google to get a feel of how it is. 

Our apartment is also nice! It`s actually a small house and is literally right in front of the chapel. It has hot water, air conditioning, everything! So that is definitely a blessing after not having those things for half a year in Ituzaingò. I will send some photos of it also. 

 

The only down part of Oberà is the entire city is on hills! and they are huge! You walk up a hill that’s almost the size of Tuscany hill, its flat for probably 70 yards or so, and then you walk down another hill the same size! It definitely isn`t a good time. Also our area is huge! It literally takes all day to walk from one end of our mission limits to the other. I was told that we have either the largest or second largest area in the entire mission. Either way, it is gigantic! 

 

New companion! Elder Bowhill from Uruguay! He is legit and we get along well, so that is always a good thing. He has been studying English on the mission and doesn`t speak to bad for being Latino. I am going to help him out with English and of coarse he is going to help me out with Spanish. So far I like being with a Latino companion and hope to have more Latinos then gringos in the future, but we will see what happens! Elder Bowhill has almost a year in the mission and he played on a professional fútbol team in Uruguay before he left. So that’s something cool about him. He is good at soccer ha-ha. 

 

Also, we live with two other elders! Elder Rusque from Chile and Elder McKenley from Texas. I think its pretty cool living with two other elders, so far I have enjoyed it! I get along well with Elder Rusque really well and Elder McKensley is a cool missionary. We all get along really well. 

 

The church here is strong! It’s really nice to actually be in a functioning ward. We had really strong members in Ituzaingò but the branch there was lacking good leadership and members who fulfilled their callings. Presidente Pawluk, the president of the branch here is really good and the majority of the callings are filled with returned missionaries and strong members. It really makes a big difference in the ward and makes the missionary work a lot easier and better. So that also is a blessing!

 

Over all, Oberà is a really cool place and I hope to be here for at least a few transfers! So we will see what happens. Right now we are working with some investigators that the sister missionaries had before us, because Elder Bowhill and I both arrived at the same time and took over the sister missionaries area, and we have some investigators progressing well. I will let you know what happens with them later. But their is a lot of potential for success here, so Elder Bowhill and I are going to work hard and get some baptisms! 

It’s crazy that Christmas is right around the corner! I am excited to talk with all of guys and am glad everyone will be at the house together. I will let you guys know next week in my email what time I am going to call, so  you guys can be ready for the call. Will be a good time!

Alright, well I am going to wrap this one up! Love you all and hope everyone has a great week! The computer I am at right now won’t let me send photos because it’s not reading my camera, so they will have to wait until next week! Sorry! I have a lot though so expect a lot the following week. Hear from you guys later. 

 

Elder Deniston. :)

December 10, 2012

Famalia,

A lot of stuff happened this week! First, Elder Di Giovanni called a conference on Wednesday with our part of the mission so we had to travel to Posades for that. It was a really good conference. Elder Di Giovanni is from Buenos Aires and basically just wanted to get to know us and explain everything that is happening with the mission and with Pres. Haymen and Hermana Haymen. As of this moment, President Haymen will not be being released as President. Elder Di Giovanni has not been set apart as the president but will be in charge for this period of time until President Haymen returns. Thats pretty much the news! It was a really spiritual conference and I think he will do a good job running the mission! He was a mission president before so we are in good hands.

Other big news is the baptisms! We spent all week preparing for Naomi Galarza´s and Maria Ojeda´s baptism and they went well! A lot of the members came out and the baptismal service was a good one, so we are content about that! Naomi and Maria are both really happy about everything and are glad to have joined the church! So all is well there! It was kind of funny because Saturday was Dia de la Virgin, so why all of the Catholics with celebrating the Virgin Mary we were having baptisms!

This week is transfers and I am almost 100% positive that I am leaving ha-ha. I will let you guys know what happens next week! But there is a good chance I could be writing you guys from a different part of Argentina next week. I am kind of excited to see what happens. I will make sure to update you guys! If I do get transferred this means I will be spending my first day in my new area with my new companion on my birthday ha-ha. All of the missionaries say the birthday on the mission is just another day of work ha-ha, so I don’t expect there will too much celebrating. But that’s the mission!  I am excited to receive those packages also! Looking forward to whatever you guys sent!

Glad to hear everything is good up North with the family! I am excited to receive some Christmas photos from everyone in the next few weeks! To answer the question about Christmas, they do put up Christmas lights and have Christmas trees here. They also love Santa Clause ha-ha. A lot of the markets and houses have a Santa Clause that is sweating and drinking a cold Coke ha-ha.

Well that’s pretty much it for this week! I will keep you guys updated with what happens with transfers. Love you all and will write more next week. :)

Elder Deniston.

December 10, 2012 - Pictures

December 3, 2102

Familyyyy,

 

Nice to hear from you guys. Important news first!

 

We just received a letter from President Haymen saying that they are currently in Arizona where Hermana Haymen can have better recovery. As a result a Seventy, Nicolas Di Giovanni, and his wife are currently here directing everything in the mission. President Haymen informed us that he has not been released as President so we are not sure exactly what is going to happen in the future. They could return, but as this point, personally, I don’t think it is going to happen. I am not sure if he has updated his blog or if there is another place where you guys can get information. But all we know right now that as of today Presidente Di Giovanni is running the mission.

 

Other news, we have more baptisms this week! One of the members here, Alberto Ojeda, just got married a few months ago and we have been teaching his wife and she is ready for her baptism. Also, we found another investigator 3 weeks ago named Naomi. She also will be baptized this week. It was pretty cool. She didn´t have any obstacles or anything keeping her from being baptized. We found her, taught her everything, she received an answer to the gospel through prayer, she started coming to church, made friends and just progressed perfectly. She was prepared to receive the gospel and had the desire to join the church. A golden investigator. So the branch here is excited about that!

Those are the two bigs things going on right now! I kind of wish we had a little bit more information about President Haymen and what is going to happen, but right now were just kind of waiting to hear if he is going to be released or not. So I will keep you guys updated.

 

Other than that things are normal. Still working hard and dying in the heat here ha-ha. It is literally impressive how hot and humid it is here. To be honest, it’s kind of difficult to get into the Christmas Spirit because it’s so different from the December´s I know back home. But things are good and we are still working hard.

 

I am getting kind of anxious about what is going to happen next week with transfers ha-ha. We have this week and then the following week we have transfers on Wednesday and I want to know what is going to happen! I want to say that I have a good feeling that I am leaving Ituzaingó, but that’s what I said for the last transfer, and the transfer before that, so we will just have to wait and see!

Sounds good about the packages! I am excited to get them. Thank you!

 

Oh mom, to answer your question from last week. They do have Ciesta here. The entire town is dead from about 2-5. Everyone just passes out after lunch, it even worse during verano because it’s hot and nobody wants to anything but sleep inside with the AC blasting. I thought I told you guys that earlier, but I can’t remember. It sucks for missionary work; we usually don’t have too much success during Ciesta. But what can you do? That’s the culture here.

 

Alright, have to wrap this one up now! I don’t have time to send photos off today but I will try to next week! Love you all and will write more next week.

 

Elder Deniston.

November 26, 2012

Family,

 

Crazy to hear about the heat at home! The heat has just been increasing and increasing here also, but I guess that’s what to expect when you live in this kind of climate. It’s literally a rain forest here. I have gotten used to working in the heat and humidity though, so now it’s just a normal thing.

Glad to hear Thanksgiving was a good time! Elder Child and I celebrated by talking about all of the wonderful food we would be eating if we were home ha-ha. Holidays definitely are not as fun on the mission! But no worries, that’s just the way things are on the mission ha-ha. 

 

Sounds good about the package! I don’t know if you guys know but I am able to receive 4 large boxes while I am here. So basically 1 every 6 months. This doesn’t include large envelopes. So if you guys want to you can use the large plastic envelopes to send whatever you want. Just thought I would let you guys know.

 

Things are good here in Ituzaingò! The branch has basically adopted me as a member since I have been here for so long ha-ha. The city is starting to get busier. Slowly more and more tourists and vacationers have started to role in as it has gotten hotter. It’s really a pretty cool town that has a lot of stuff going on. It has a relaxed California vibe to me, so I am glad that it has been my first area. If I come back to visit at all after the mission I will definitely make sure to stop by here.

 

Elder Child and I are good! Still just working like crazy. We won an award this last week in zone meetings for the lessons in one week! So we are staying busy ha-ha. I don’t have too much big news about our investigators, but I will make sure to update you guys when I do. As of right now everyone is just slowly progressing, so we are hoping to have some more baptisms before the end of the transfer. I will let keep you guys updated!

 

Right now we are actually on divisions! Elder Child is in Posades with our district leader Elder Ruiz and Elder Rogers is with me here in Ituzaingò for a couple days. Elder Rogers is from California and was up at BYU-I the same time I was, so we get along really well. He knows some of the same people I know and has visited a lot of the places I have visited in California and Utah and Idaho and what not. So yeah, we get along well!

 

I know I promised pictures last week but once again the Cyber where we can send photos is closed! So they are going to have to wait another week. Sorry.

 

Well, we are running short on email time so I am going to wrap this up. Let me know how things are going up North! Love you all and will write more next week. :)

¡Êxito!

 

Elder Deniston.