A Little Spanish

The baptism of Gema Lopez!

Dear Family,

Thank you all so much for your letters, love, pictures, prayers, and support!!! We had another baptism!!! Gema Lopez was baptized by her father, Cristian who was baptized just last week! It was a wonderful baptismal service with the whole Lopez family there excited for the newest member of the church of Jesus Christ. We’ve been passing by their house all week helping them prepare for the baptism and everything. Cristian Lopez practiced a lot in order to be able to do the ordinance. Now the Lopez family is complete and they just need to wait a year so that they can go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. It’s such a beautiful thing.

Marianela is preparing for her baptism on November 7th. This week we had the Sister Missionaries pass by to meet her and they all said she’s really ready for her baptism. She’s been studying and even takes notes on the pamphlets we give her which is really incredible. She wants to be a Sister Missionary some day so it was really good to have her meet real Sister Missionaries. The whole family (minus one son) came to church this Sunday and they loved it. They came to all of the classes and were able to meet the families in our ward. It’s actually a pretty big ward here so they were able to meet a good number of people. I also still have a pretty big surprise but I’ll just let ya’ll wonder about that one for a little while. Don’t let me forget though. I’ll drop some hints every once in a while.

We’ve been doing well here in Rivadavia. It’s funny to think that over there it’s almost Halloween but here I think Wal-Mart is the only one who’s celebrating. When we went there to send a fax I saw the Halloween section which was pretty small actually. Most people here think it’s the devil’s birthday or something but at the same time they don’t protest Halloween. They just don’t really care.

Today to celebrate P-day we went to the big park in downtown San Juan Capital to play capture the flag. In the end the sprinklers came on but we still played for a little while afterwards. A few people were playing for the first time but I think they enjoyed themselves. Afterwards we were trying to decide where we should eat lunch. Some wanted pizza, others empanadas, and another ice cream. In the end we found a street corner that had a rotisserie with empanadas right next to a pizza parlor right next to Grido Ice Cream. It was a sign. In the end we just all ended up getting empanadas. We were off by one dozen on the order so we had way too many empanadas to eat. I still have a bag of over a dozen sitting right next to the computer so I think we already have dinner all set.

Ok, Q and A time!

Lisa:

“What is up with these teams??” [referring to BYU's loss to TCU and the Angels' loss to the Yankees]

Nothing good apparently is up with them.

Mom:

“You will be home by that time, so we will all go and you can see Elder Barrow in person. Won't that be fun?” [Elder Barrow is a missionary Lawrence knew in the MTC who has served in my parents' ward]

That would be really fun. It’ll be weird seeing him still as a missionary and me not a missionary anymore.

Abuela: “Hola Lawrence como estas?”

¡Muy, muy bien! Ok, I’ll include my letter to Abuela here:

¿Cómo anda Abuela? He pensado mucho en usted estos últimos días. Espero que esta carta le encuentre bien. Estoy en Rivadavia, San Juan con Elder Ríos de Jujuy. Éste es uno de los mejores barrios donde he servido porque los líderes trabajan mucho. El Hermano Quiroga siempre nos llama para ver si estamos bien y para hablar de nuestros investigadores. Cuando hay una familia cerca de un investigador siempre nos ayuda para que el miembro pueda ir a la visita junto con nosotros. El acento acá es muy diferente también porque la ‘rr’ es como la ‘sh’ en inglés. Le quiero mucho y que tenga una semana buenísima.

(Lisa's rough translation: "How are you, Abuela? I have been thinking about you a lot recently. I hope that this letter finds you well. I am in Rivadavia, San Juan with Elder Ríos from Jujuy. This is one of the best areas I have served in because the leaders work hard. Brother Quiroga always calls to see if we are doing well and to speak with our new investigators. When there is a family close to an investigator, they always help us by sending a member to go with us to discussions. The accent here is very different as well because the 'rr' is like the 'sh' is English. I love you very much and have a wonderful week.)

I love you all so much and I can’t wait to hear from you next week! Bye!!!

Love,
Elder Williams