August 9th Weekly Letter

Hello Everyone. I have a lot to tell you. I have had quite the week here. It is great to hear from everyone. Your emails and fotos keep me going out here. It reminds me i still have a loving family and that im not forgetton. Thank you for that. I cant wait to see you all. But for now i will keep working and learning and growing :)

I forgot to mention that i got to train the new group of missionaries that came in. We gave some presentations and what not on how the mission works. It was fun. The new group is solid. But we ate lunch with president and it was a great time.

Ok. well this week. ummm. we ahve been working more in the area. We have found a new investigator. She is 23 and has 3 kids but she is super cool. She listens and knows its good but has trouble with her commitments to go to church and read. She is praying which is good. But also we have been to the hospital for my comps leg still. I think we are done going now.....i hope. 

Ok. well lets see. where do i begin this crazy week. monday and tuesday we prepared everything for the consejo de lideres that we have every month for the zone leaders and hermana training leaders. But so we gave a presentation in that meeting about the new re integros form and what not but you wont understand. Then we had lunch with them and thats the picture im in. After the consejo, we went to a late lunch because we forgot we had a lunch that day as we are just starting to eat with members again. but we ate again and i almost puked i was so full but they were mad we were so late at the beginning. By the end of our message we shared they asked us to come saturday today for another lunch. We already had other plans so next week better. By this time after the meeting and lunch, the rest of the leaders of the zones and sister leaders got out of the meeting and all starting booking it to the office i got about 20 calls in 5 minutes. We got back to the office and a tornado had hit with missionaries. Everyone was inside asking me question after questions and it was NUTS. But by the end i helped everyone with what they need and got them out of there. But it was wrecked after they left, the bolsa room.

After that at about 6 pm, we went to pay the sister who made the lucnhes for the meeting. Apparently she came to the office while we were at lunch and got offended and went home crying or balling as they said. So we went to visit her and see what happened. We payed her and turns out she was stressed and that someone told her we had no money so....ya but its ok now. 

After paying the hermana, we waited at the casa grande for the assistants to come back with the truck. We waited about an hour and finally they showed up. At 7 pm we loaded up the rest of the bunk beds from the casa grande because we are getting out of it and moving, and had to take bunk beds to the hermanas pension. So us 4 went and unloaded the beds at the sisters place. It was a little strange seeing an hermanas apartment....and being in there while they weree.....but it was good and we put 3 bunkbeds in the pension. We had to put them through the windows as there was no other way to do it. I will send picturees. Then we went home and that was the day. 

The next morning, Thursday we just started working in the office at 9 like normal when elder furlanich called me. He was out doing tramites at the migrations office with 6 hermanas. He called me and said the banks are all on paro. or on strike kind of. So none are open. He said we had to go right now to picke them up and go to plottier to pay the tramite. Plottier was the only place that you can pay during the paros. SO. we took the corolla and went to migrations and went to plottier. On the way, about 3/4 of the 20 minute drive, we see police in the street and a pile of tires burning and a bunch of crazy people running around......A company in plottier was on strike and they cut the highway off.....So we couldnt enter plottier by car. We drove right up to the line of guys and said hey come on just let us in we just need to pay tramites, and they said VAYAN! So we thought of a plan to get in. I dropped Furlanich and Castillo off to go into plottier walking and they did. They just walñked right past and through the line of crazy guys. i was a little nervous for them.....but hey went in anyways. We then went to wait for them to return. About 5 minutes in, we decided to go find a way in and we did. We found a dirt road that went to the middle of nowhere but eventually we got into plottier. Then we found the 2 elders who paid the tramite and returned on the same dirt road. I will also send pictures of the adventure. 

We get back and i had tons to do in the office. I got to see some of my best friends in the mission. From the MTC, bariloche, etc. They had to wait in the office until 6 pm to go on their bus back to their areas. you can only do tramites here in the capital. But they all helped me do the bolsas and stuff. It was great. After, we went to our pension and visited a few people. Then traveled back to stay at the casa grande. We got some pizza and then played monopoly until 11 30 becasue i had to take the assistants to the bus terminal at midnight to go on exchanges in Zapala. So we did that. Got homwe and went to bed at 1. Then woke up at 5 to take elder rodriguez to the termianl back to his area. Then we got up and made it to the bank at 8 pm. waited in 2 hours of fila, or the line, and the check we prepared was rejected because it was written bad or something....but then we went back to the office, then back to  the bank and payed it. Then we went o pick up some office supplies we desperately needed for president. Then we poicked up our lunch. Then i got back to the office and prepared all the bolsas to be shipped out. We had lunch with president and it was Elder Arnaudins Birthday. He is the old matrimonio missionaries. He and his wife. They are from Buenos aires, But then after lunchi sent the bolsas out and at 3 pm. we had out zone training meeting. It was good. from 3 to 6. Then we rushed after looking for a taxi for an hour to get to a noche de hogar that we had with a family. 

SIDE STORY: the bus system is also on strike here becasue something with the banks....but so everyone was using taxis this is why it was hard to get a taxi. I waved one down in the street and we got in and rushed to our appointment. 

We then arrived wt the family home evening to find 3 new investigators. Only one of them really listened but it turned out great. We shared how we cant follow satan and Jesus at the same time. And how eventually we have to choose. It hit her pretty hard and she is coming to our activity today at 4. Were going to play games and make Tacos. But that was the night. 

Now im here on p day and we actually have no p day probably. I want to get a haircut but we have no way to do it today. Im sorry if some thigns made no sense im taking very fast.

A little of what i have learned this week is that if we want to have success and be happy we have to be willing ot make sacrifices. For every goal there is always a sacrifice. Its a lot easier to do things when we think of our perfect example in Jesus Christ and how he gave the ultimate sacrifice to us so that we can have eternal life. We are always in debt. We need to always repent. And if we can just do our best we should have nothing to worry about.

Love you all i will send pictures now!!! ;o 

Elder Westensee

August 4th Weekly Letter

Hey everyone. Sorry i didnt write on p day. had no time and no place to write. But here i am now. A lot has happened this past week. A LOT. I will try explaining all of it.

On saturday i decided i will look for some new shoes as i have been painfully trying to use up my last pair and i have officially deemed the shoes as dead. 4 holes and ruined shoelaces was enough. Not to mention they didnt have insoles. But anyways i bought a new pair of nice ones i like. Maybe i will send a foto. 

Ok, now with the week

Sunday- We went to church in the morning and then went to a lunch after with 6 elders total. Elder Thurman and Elder Mena left the office and this was like the last day to eat with them and say goodbye. It was a great huge lunch. After, we began walking back to the pension to weekly plan. It was raining gently and cold. We were just walking tranquilo and a brown dog with a limp tail walked towards us very sluggishly. I thought nothing of it and neither did my comp. The dog started growling quietly and went behind my comp slowly as we kept walking. Next thing i knew, the dog had bit my comps leg and i started running a little just cause i was scared as it made me jump and i had adrennaline running. But then we just kept walking and i went back to try to peg the dog with a rock but he ran off. My comp was like oh my gosh! Ouch. I was like yas ya like that sucks. But then hes like.....ummm estoy sangrando afeull che! I was like yeah yeah right just a little spec or cut of blood. He lifts up his pant leg and Oh my sweet betsycakes I have never seen the inside of someones like outside....it was nasty. His pantleg was so bloody. Drenched in blood. We walked to the nearest corner and called the assistants to come get us in the ranger. I called them and they thought iwas joking and so i passedthe phone to my comp and he was so serious and like if you dont get here right now i will kill you type thing. Super funny cause they came in like 10 minutes and still couldnt believe it, then they saw his leg ahhaahhahaha they freaked out. We went to the hospital. Can i just say i am grateful for the healthcare we have. We went in and it was a full room and no one was at the counter.......odd. So we left and went to a private one where we got better service. But we went in and they said we needed 100 pesos to even be looked at. NOBODY HAD MONEY. So the assistants left and took out 100 pesos at an ATM down the road. Finally they got him in and bandaged it up. They couldnt put stictches as it was too open and too much risk for infection. So we have been going twice a day to the hospital to get his cut cleaned and re-bandaged. IT SUCKS because he is lazy as it is. NOW he has a reason to say well, my leg hurts we cant go out and work. So this week i just read a lot of scriptures and started JEsus the Christ again. That book is great by the way. But i feel guilty because I havent visited hardly anyone this week. But its an opporutunity to be patient. I am struggling to be positive cause he can totally walk and work but he just says he cant cause he is lazy :( What can ya do. This week i am having the ZL´s come with me to get some work done and help people!

OK. Wow that was long but thats what happened. I will send some pics this week as well. 

Another thing that happened this week thats crazy but funny.

I am in charge of the materials as you may know. I do the orders and wait for them to get here at the office from Buenos Aires. So. Monday, we take a taxi to the office after going to the hospital. We get there at about 8 45. I see outside the office a big truck that delivers the materials. I was so pumped to to see this truck as i knew we needed some materials! Now, this is the monday of transfers so there is about 10 missionaries in the office just hangin out and whatever. As i get out of the taxi i see loads and loads of baxes going in.....all the missionaries are looking at me with scared faces like ¨WHAT DID YOU DO!!!¨ I was like haha whats wrong elder? I go inside and what i saw i will never forget. BOXES UP TO THE CEILING IN THE MATERIALS ROOM COVER ALMOST EVRY INCH OF THE ROOM. we recieved that day 185 boxes of pamphlets, books of mormon and other supplies. I DID NOT order that many things. Bu8t i found the problem. I asked for 750 unidades or UNITS of pamphlets. a unit is a single pamphlet and they come in packages of 25. The lady on the phone put me down fro 750 Packages!!! So thats why we got so many. But I fixed it in about 2 hours with everyones help and now we have enough pamphlets for about 2 years :) This whole time iwas hoping president didnt come around hahahaha he never found out! QUe suerte. But i told him and he thought it was funny. 

Ok. I wish i was able to tell you some great spiritual experiences with investigators but at this moment i have just been having my own in my personal studies. But its alllll gooood.

Alrighty. Thats whats been going on. I am so excited to get back out there in the field today maybe with the zone leaders and teach people. I am very excited for this as I am dying inside just sitting in the pension all day. I have played the guitar a lot but its not fun to play when im not working. I like playing the guitar as a reward like from 9 45 to 10 30 but any other time i dont pick it up. 

I love you all i will send some pics. :) If you have any questions about anything let me know!

Elder Westensee

4th of July Family Letter

Wow. Funny how the 4th of july passed just like every other day.....literally had no idea. So i didnt really miss home too much. I love being cut off from everything i once knew. Its so strange. But so rewarding. And worth it.

I got an email today from my converts in bariloche. They are doing so well!!!! JULIAN and GERMAN are so great. they are going to get the priesthood soon! WOWOWOW. That made my whole mission right there. It was awesome. I love the work we do and to be able to see the miracle and blessings of the gospel. It truly is incredible the miracles i have seen.

This week was just another week really. We slept in the casa grande all week as we had tramites to do and banks to pay and other things. our pension is about 6 miles from the office, where the casa grande is 2 blocks. so we stayed there all week. 

This morning we played soccer in the backyard a little. it was really fun. My comp went to Bahia Blanca this week as well for trmites for spain. ummmm......i dont know what tosay.

Our area.....i havent seen it for a week. we are very busy and havent had to time to check on how it is. But we were able to visit some menos activos. It was great. They had the game on and i saw a commercial for IPOD 5s i think it was? Looked so amazing. so amazing. blew my mind. I forgot about apple. 

But.....in the lesson this guy was just mad. he is the guy with a cathider for 6 months now and cant get surgery because they dont have the equipo....but he prayed with us again and by the end he was smiling and laughing and a lot more happy. Sometimes people feel alone and that god hates them. Its quite the opposite. ANd all they need to do is feel the spirit and remember that god is there and love them very much. Anytime someone goes inactive or is having trouble its because they have forgotten how it feels to feel the spirit. Or they have done something to not be able to feel the spirit. We need to repent every day nad watch ourselves like it says in mosiah so we dont fall. SO heres a question for everyone...how many times a week do you feel the spirit in your life? We have to feed ourselves spiritually as well and read and pray and go to church. Even 10 minutes a day can change everything. JUst remember that! 

Not too much else is going on. Wow. i dont know what to say.....i miss you all and maybe will send pictures sometiem. Chao have a great week! miss you guys.

elder westensee

Family Email- July 28th

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great week! I miss you all. Happy Birthday dad! Sounds like all is well back home. Same old same old. 

I have been pretty busy over here just working hard like normal. Im gettine pretty burned out physically and mentally. Im looking for my second wind. Its a tough assignment i have to be in the office. Its not like a normal missionary. Its interesting as i am on the computer everyday and dont feel too disconnected if that makes sense. I feel OF the world if that makes sense. But its a sacrifice im willing to take. Someone has to do it and i know i will be fine and i dont have to be here the whole mission. I am still learning tons however about the gospel just in a different manner and i have different opporutunities in the office to learn. 

This past week was great. Flew by. My new comp is a little bit of a challenge but not too bad. He is just a little pesado and unhappy all the time. I feel like he is just here for his girlfriend as he has no desire to go out and work like i do. Its really tough for me. I need to be patient with him. He is also struggling with the schedule. He is trying to lose weight as he has gained a ton and is almost unable to ride bike and stuff. But he has already lost 8 lbs with me so im pretty stoked about that. hopefully we can keep it up. But he eats a ton of crap and a lot of it. If you put a plate of brownies around him he will scarf down the whole thing. Its not funny because he really has a problem. He tries hiding it and acting like he didnt eat any. But i am trying to help him and keep him exercising. So thats what im working with these days. But he is a great guy overall. No problems other than he is a little lazy. 

Well. last saturday we went to subway for lunch on p day in the middle of downtown neuquen. They have TV´s there so we saw the Argentina game finish where they beat Iran 1-0 with a late Messi goal. It was intense cause everyone in subway was going nuts. But after we went out into the streets and it was scary. We started walking through a park where nobody was and watched the chaos as cars zooming all over the place yelling out the windows. I have never seen anything like it. Everyone honking and going nuts! I will never forget that moment.

We then went to get out of the chaos and got ice cream. IN the Gridos, thats what the ice cream shop is called here like a baskin robbins. But some guy asked me tons of questions about our religion and stuff. He was a preacher. He talked about how all we need to be saved is love god. We talked for a good 30 minutes. He started bashing Joseph smith and stuff. About every 10 seconds he would stop and say Amen? like a preacher does. Eventually I stopped saying amen. Because at first he was like ¨god loves us¨ Amen? I was like ....uhhh yes. amen. After about 10 amens, he started preaching false doctrine. He looked at me and i just stared at him when he told me AMEN? I just stared into his eyes. He said AMEN? again. He looks at his friend and started laughing and says again and looks at me ¨can i get an amen?¨ I said no, i am sorry but i dont agree with what your saying. then i shared my testimony and we kindly left the store after giving him a book of mormon and inviting him to read. I wasnt rude. I wast disrespectful. But im not going to tell him i agree, when i simply dont agree. 

I am very grateful for the experiences i have everyday. Small things like this are more of the experience I am getting these days. I love it so much. But these expereinces help me grow personally. 

Lets see.....This week was normal a lot of office work. We have a few baptisms coming up. One today at 6 pm. Leandro. He is so great. he has a strong testimony. He plays guitar and just is a capo....and Octavio will be baptized in Julio. But thats about it for our area. We are having good success. Im very excited for our area.

I wish i could tell you tons of stories from this week but i am out of time. ok one more real quick.

So as of late i have been driving a lot. To banks, and to migrations for tramite work and other things. taking people to the terminal, etc. But we have a toyota corrolla and a ford ranger 2013. Its so sick. The ranger is a manual so you know i love driving it! Its turbo as well ;))))))) anyways. I have been driving a lot and its going well. Its sketchy as crud, has there is no stop signs and people are nuts. Also, no lines on the road. But heres the funny story. Were in the garage and the truck is parked behing the corolla. And its parked about an inch away from the corolla. Very close. I got in and started the ranger. I let off the clutch....and BANG! It jumps right into the back of the corrola. I thought the car was in neutral but it was in 1st!!!!!! oh my crap. We banged into the car and then i put it in reverse and backed out about 3 feet. My heart sank and i felt like crud. At first i wanted to get out and run away haha. But then i was like....lets...say a prayer...haha. So we did. My comp kindly offered it. Then he says amen and we both just book it out of that car to look at the damage....Turns out there is a tiny scratch no mas. SOOOO lucky. I thought we went deep into the trunk with how hard we hit it. So lucky. And i was thinking..its the other elders fault for parking too close...but then i realized. if anything that helped me do less damage. I would have picked up more momentum if it wasnt so close! So wow. Scared me pretty good but everything is ok and i can still drive! But that was funny cause i had to show president and the other old elder what happened. They werent mad. They kinda laughed....so ya. That was funny.

That was my week! Things are good. Im skinny still. Love you all.

Elder westensee

Weekly Email. July 21st.

Hola everyone. sounds like life just keeps rolling along. its good to hear from everyone and that things are good. im not going to lie some days i get very trunky! or I miss home. But its not a sad trunky. Its just like oh man that sounds so good right now type thing. Like lifting weights and hangin out in the movie room. Hangin out at BYU with tyler, going up to the hot springs (im referencing the one time i went with tyler at night and doug and james), just stuff like that. Golfing, skiing, food, cars, THE WORLD. But then i remember, oh wait...i dont have to worry about anything like that.... its nice sometimes. But then again i miss it. 

This week was a good week. We had transfers. Elder Real is now in the pension. He is from Spain, Barcelona. As my companion of course. He is really funny. He talks like a barcalonean..i think thats how you say it. But he knows english really well. He says some really funny stuff and the fact he has a lisp makes it even funnier. I think im going to start a quote book. Like for example he says in a wispering voice (i have a 1000 farts) or ¨"I need help i will pay you 1000 dollars to help me"

He is really funny. But anyways its hard at the same time cause our schedule is very riggurous and he has trouble physically. He is a little overweight. So when we get back to the pension at about 6 at night he is too tired to go work. It kills me i cant just go out and work i dont feel good when we dont work so its a challenge for me. But igual we get to work a little so its ok. I have just been staying positive and happy and making lots of jokes. I hope i can keep it going cause everything is better with jokes. 

but.....im just sitting here eating some facturas. in the office. its pretty tranky around here.

i will tell you a little about the week. 

we looked for a pension a few nights because the big house the mission has is getting too expensive so we are looking for 4 new pensions. Our pension is demasiado far away so we are lloking for a new one as well. No luck. the economy here is trash. The dollar now is 12 pesos. climbed 4 pesos. its nuts. We got to work a little in the area but nothing too spectacular. we have 4 citas en la noche so we should be able to get some work done tonight. Im excited. we have a member who is coming as normal as well. we dont do much work anymore just us 2, always there is a member. But Octavio and Luis are doing ok. well see if they arrive to their fechas. Octavio i berleive will be baptized maybe not now with us but someday. im hoping he decides to change sooner. he is a smoker. but still he loves the churchand comes with us to church. 

But thats about everything......i will answer some of the questions now from mom.

In the office.....its not a matter of how many weeks i have left...its a matter of months. and as of right now im looking at 4.5 months more. i hope 3 months maximo but i dont know...

On P day we clean in the morning and study. Then ride bikes to the office which is to the pioint where i am now. We email and clean the office a little. Then we do compras or groceries and then....take a nap in the big house down the road or play cards or chess......then we go back at about 6 and start working in the area. Today we are planning on going to subway for lunch. But today i had to be here at 9 like normal cause yesterday was fairiado or holiday...so we have to work today with the business that ships out materials for us. So im just waiting for them to come right now. Argentina plays at 1 o clock today in the world cup its crazy outside. lots of hustle and bustle. There is a huge screen in the middle of the street right outside the pension so maybe well go catch a little of the game haha! just kidding its dangerous for gringos to be outside people are crazY! but thats a normal p day just looking for somehting to do mainly...

As far as friends go, yes i making a lot of friends and will definatley look up a lot after the mission. Theres some awesome sisters as well. But like elder hill, nobmann, quinonez, bennette, thurman, slavens, etc. theres a ton of friends that i would like to find after the mission. I think i want to room with elder hill if i decide to go to BYU. BYU idaho frineds i have a whole new slate. Elder langford, ogden, and a lot of sisters. Im so torn on where to go to school it sucks. But yes i am getting to know a ton of people and will look them up after for sure.

Apartment is tiney but ok. Yes warm enough. Its just a little smal and far away....we have to carry the bikes up a narrow staircase every morning and night when we use bikes. then we put them in the tiny kitchen hardly enough room to walk around. 

Snow here in neuquen is rare. But in my last area which i dearly miss they are getting dumped on....its a sore subject cause bariloche was the best area i have had and did great things there and now im sitting in an office allday...the weatehr is warmer here. But bariloche is world renown for chocolates and ski resort catedral. Its a great area! 

Thats about it. ... I feel like im running out of things to say. Although i am not working tons like before in an area, i still am learning a lot about myself as a person and what i want to become or be. I am learning a lot about the scriptures as well and how to be a better missionary.

I have been especially reading in alma. i have learned that we are nothing and that we are just the instruments. With this knowledge we just have to prepare ourselves to allow the spirit to work through us. Also we need to have the faith that the spirit will guide us. Faith and fear cannot co exist. 

Well have a great week yall. hasta la proxima semana!

elder westensee

p.s. i like questions! and fotos