Elder Schupple

Elder Schupple

Monday, October 27, 2008

Blisters, New investigators, Soccer game

Well I took pics and I have my camera here but its not working. For some reason it doesn't recognize the USB whatever, so I'll try to work on that for next week. Other than that everything here is pretty good. I got this very large blister on my left foot that was like a waterfall of puss when I poked it, and now its turning purple but no big deal soon it will turn into a callus and I wont have anymore problems. By the end of my mission my feet will just be one very large callus so that'll be nice... I guess. What else... oh mom we got a notice that your package came, so we went down to the offices where we pick up packages and I received a little slip which told me that I gotta go to the post office and get the slip stamped in order to pick it up. My companion says it takes about a month or so for them to find it, so he suggests sending it express mail. He says its way easier and gets here way faster. But i don't really care either way works. In other news we found a couple more investigators this last week, one from a contact which i started :) and another from a member, the one from the member is really good we are going to set a fecha (baptismal date) with her next time we visit her. The other contact guy I'm not really sure about cuz we were on divisions so I was with a member doing other stuff. Uh the language is still hard but I'm understanding more everyday. I need to speak it more I think. Oh we are going to a soccer game this Friday. My one soccer game I get to go to on my mission right off the bat. :) Well I'm sorry this one is short. I wasted a lot of time trying to get pics working so sorry.
Love you all
Elder Schupple

Monday, October 20, 2008

Shoe issues, rough week, primary kids mutiny

Hey I got letters today! I received one snail mail and a bunch of Dear Elder.com pouch letters. Thank you everyone for writing to me. I wished I had time to write personal notes to everyone, but thanks everyone for the letters and emails. Keep it up! I loved the pics of the girls. I wish I could print them off but o well. Uh oh about the shoes ya just another pair of Eccos. I guess they are what my comp has so ya. Do i need to send the old ones back? If it helps we walk a lot. They get wet and muddy and we walk a lot on like glass and sharp rocks. Also its getting very hot and very humid. Hope that helps. Shoot I'm so sorry I forgot my other memory card, the one I have right now doesn't fit in this computer. So ill try to figure something out. Well today was pday and we had a mission soccer tournament, :) My zone won (all because of me :) Ha! not really I'm terrible) but ya I'm extremely sun burnt and now very tired.

Our baptism date was moved back a week, but we ran across this family who is way interested in the gospel. It was crazy cuz it was just a casual contact. We were stood up by an apt we had so we just went next door because the family was sitting out so Elder Tingey starts talking to them for a half hour. We left them with a BOM :) So hopefully that leads to something cuz it was a rough week. We were dropped by a family of four, because they said Sac meeting was too loud and not family oriented enough. Ya it was a big bummer, the dang ward is really loud during sac meeting, nobody sits with their fam and ya they just talk the entire time. So that was a bummer. Then I had my first bible bashing experience which lasted way longer than it should have and ya it led to nothing.

That's way cool you have a Chinese lady living with you. She looks way nice, and to answer your question about the food-- No the food is way sweeter here, everyone is missing teeth. Its kinda gross but o well i guess. Ha! OK so I'm sorry I'm starting to get random but this past Sunday was Mothers day and in sac meeting when the kids where supposed to go up and sing there was like a mutiny! Almost all the kids wouldn't go up so there was like four kids up there singing! And all the moms were in their seats telling their kids to go up there and sing to me. It made me laugh. I think the ipod is in my room in the brown dresser top left shelf. Just an FYI--I still cant speak castllano spanish but I'm starting to understand a little more.... slowly but surely its coming. Well I gotta go.

Love you all lots

Elder Schupple

Monday, October 13, 2008

1st Baptismal date, BBQs, Movie stars, Fights in the streets

So this past week has been kinda hard but still way fun. Its a whole new world down here but I love it. Its way cool. Right now I'm loving Bolivians more than the Argentines cuz we are in a Bolivian area... so ya its fun. The language is way hard but I'm starting to understand a little more :) Ok first things first: Mom- one pair of shoes have cracked and give me crazy blisters under my toes so I've stopped wearing those. I went to the other ones, the ones I usually wear to church. They aren't very comfortable and rub against both of my big toes so they are a little.... reddish but so far they don't hurt so esta bien. Also just a small thing that doesn't really matter but the cd player doesnt really work. I dont know what its deal is. I turn it on and all that stuff but it doesn't wanna play any of the cds. Hmm what else....I don't know what to say cuz the only ones who wrote me this week were Jackie and Kara. Uh concerning pics, I have to download them onto a cd and send them soon. Sorry I'm not more on top of things but I just haven't had time to think about it.
Well this week was very exciting. I have my first fecha (baptismal date ) :) so I am way excited for that. Elder Tingey really wants to baptize so hes a great driving force always saying "dale dale" or come on! come on! We walk a lot. Its good stuff.... kinda. We also took away liquor and cigarettes from a member having a hard time with the word of wisdom, so that was fun. We had 2 asados (BBQs) this week, they were both amazing. One of them was cuz we did some service for this recent convert named David. We helped clean his yard. I ripped down a bunch of stickery ivy things from his wall, so now I have hives and a bunch of scratches. Its very itchy but it was fun... so good stuff :) Then we ran into 2 new investigators as we were walking down the street to our other investigators house. A couple of older couples stopped us and just started rambling on about how we looked like movie stars and how we looked so great. Ha! It was very funny. Then there was another time when we were in this ville (ghetto) looking for an inactive family but couldn't find them so we stopped and asked directions. As we were doing that we saw a fight. It was interesting. We didn't get to see much cuz it moved into a yard with a big wall but we heard lots of glass breaking and yelling. The lady we were talking to just shrugged and said "Those dang drug addicts are gunna kill each other now." Ha... OK then! We got a return appointment with her so we have to go back. I'm kinda scared but also excited :) Good stuff. Well I don't know what else to say so i guess I'll talk to ya in a week.

Love Elder Schupple

P.S. By the way, sending pics thru these emails works... so send some! :) I wanna see everyone. I cant remember if I told you last week but everyone here loves pics. Every time I'm over they always say tiene photos? ha si aqua :) I love it! Its so much fun.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

1st letter from Argentina, Elder Tingey

Hola family and friends!
OK I'm having a really hard time typing on this computer because theres a whole bunch of Spanish buttons that are not normal! Anyway yes Elder Tingey says the general authority is his dad. Hes from Idaho.... Ya enough said.....:) No he's cool except he is kind of mean sometimes. We were at the train station Friday and this little boy comes up and asks him something and he just shakes head and tells him to go away. So I asked him what he wanted and the poor kid was hungry, he just wanted a bite of his sandwich. Ya I felt way bad. I wanted to go find the kid and give him my sandwich but he was long gone. Anyway other than that hes a good elder. Well I'll just start from the beginning: I got to the country after the longest plane ride ever!!! I was sitting between Elder Jones and Elder Stienkuler, so ya i was way squished and got like an hour of sleep so that was nice. Anyway we got our bags and stuff and met Pres Asay. I met the zone and stuff and met my comp Elder Tingey. So long story short we took a long train ride to the apartment. O crap! I just restarted Elder Tingeys computer and erased his long letter to his family oops! O well! Anyway so we drop off my bags and go start teaching. We walk a lot. I have my first crack in the bottom of my shoes.
Now to answer your questions-- the answer is no i can not understand castillano. Our investigators just laugh at me when i start talking or when they ask if i understand what the are saying. So ya its kinda frustrating but that's OK I'm used to being frustrated by now. My area is called Quilmes 2. Its definitely third world. I cant believe the people live in these houses. Its crazy! But that's OK because most people are nice, or at least i think they are nice, I cant really understand them. Our living conditions are pretty good. We have one of the nicer apartments cuz we live with the zone leaders. We are supposed to have a water filter but we don't so I've been drinking regular old Argentina water so I'm prob gunna get sick soon. jk :) The food is interesting. My comp said i ate an interesting part of a cow the other day... it made me cringe. But whatever. Other than that everything is pretty good except they don't have any chips. All their snacks are cookies and all their meals are either empanadas, beef, or potatoes. But its been good. I've enjoyed it. All our investigators are from members. Clapping does not work so well but Ive done it just cuz Elder Tingey said I needed to. Im sorry i dont have my camera so I cant upload pics. But that's OK because I haven't taken many. Our area isn't the safest. Elder Tingey was robbed at gunpoint so i dont take my camera out very often but ill try to work something out. I'll probably just end up sending a cd home or something cuz we don't have enough time to upload them, it just takes to long. So ya. Ok so other news... people kiss a lot here, Ive been kissed 3 times just on the cheek luckily but ya I'm not very good at dodging them. They get ya when you turn around so ya. Oh also this country is crazy! There is a very big morality problem here. Elder Tingey had an investigator family who had a 12 year old daughter who was pregnant. Ya apparently that's pretty common here. We were doing a service project at an elementary school and there was a poster saying "kids if you're gunna have sex, use a condom...." Elementary SCHOOL!!! O my gosh i could not believe that. So ya that's the latest for now. Sorry its not more. We don't have much time, but i love you all!
Elder Schupple

Friday, October 3, 2008

Letter & pic from Elder Schupple's Mission President


Thanks for sending us such a well prepared missionary. Here he is on his arrival [in Argentina] with his great trainer. We know that he will be great!
love
the Asays


(From left to right: Elder Tingey (Elder Schupple's new companion and trainer), Elder Schupple, President and Sister Asay