The Work is rolling on!

Thats fun that you saw Elder Rice´s mom, and that card board cut out of him is really funny!   Jackies Lake Powell trip looks like it was way fun.... I'm kinda jealous our youth conferences were always kinda... not like that. Then again we didnt really have the resources that they have in Utah. SARAH IS GETTING MARRIED???? Thats great!  Shes def one of my fav cousins.  Shes got a good head on her shoulders, and thats kinda wierd that im gunna be there for it.  I'm so used to missing weddings and babies being born and big events like this.... wierd. As for the talk, just let me know what the bishop wants me to talk about and I'll be happy to give a talk.  Ha at least this time I'll have some time to prepare. I think I get the message your sending about the talk when i come home also...I'll be sure to not just give a "this was my mission" talk. I remember those kind of talks as well, to me as a kid I'm pretty sure I enjoyed those more but I remember Bishop Worthen saying once that when you come home from your mission you should not give a talk like that, it should be a talk that enlightens others and not just a recap of the past 2 years of your life. Ill do the best i can plus add some spiritual experiences from my mission that helped me a lot.

As for this past week, now that the mundial is over, the people are all more friendly and accepting.  We found 7 new investigators this past week so thats good.  We just need to get back up the standard of 12 now. The good part is that the ward members have been helping us a lot going with us to lessons.  They even help with all the games, so with that we have been keeping a steady 10 lessons with members present. So "Go ward members!"  On Tuesday we had district meeting and we decided to go out and look for people to come into the church to tour it and teach them a little. It worked out a lot better than I thought it would.  I went with Elder Keller from the offices and we had a great experience finding four people together. It was a great success and we´ll probably do that again in the future.

Now for some of the bad news.  This past week I got sick.  It started Wednesday and I was in bed dying until friday evening. Then Saturday we had a service project helping a member build his house, and I started sweating really bad even though it was freezing outside (i felt like i was going to pass out). So I took a rest and luckily didnt get sick again. Then Sunday it rained and now the entire zone is sick except for me :) However I did slip and fall a couple times cuz my shoes dont have any traction walking in mud.  So that was unfortunate, but things like that happen in the mission.

The office elders are starting to call me and Elder Stienkuhler [who went out with me from the MTC] these days telling us to cut our hair and start packing and a bunch of stuff.  Its wierd....and kinda like their teasing us cuz it still doesnt feel like we are leaving yet. Im glad I'm ending near Elder Stienkuhler cuz he keeps reminding me to start buying stuff and reminds me of a lot of things.

Youre all in my prayers, i love you all

elder schupple

ps the pics are of of me and my comp, Elder Roy, we're in in this store because we were visiting a member and I remembered you wanted just us 2 so I had the member take the pic.  Also included are some  pics of the filters for the water that we were using.   I changed them after who knows how long...ya. Plus there are some pics of Argentine $
lvlv

New investigators!...and then the World Cup came/ Eating guinee pig

Ashton and the rest of the family are all in my prayers.  Keep the faith strong, its a rough situation but I know she´ll be ok because she's strong.  I cant wait to see her soon.


This week started off really great-- On Monday we were able to take out 3 new baptismal dates, and we found a really great new family. So that was a great start of the week but then the weekend rolled around and everything stopped when it was Argentina's turn to play in the World Cup in South Africa.  Well they played and won 1-0... but that wasnt the end of the people being unreceptive.  They... and when I say "they" I mean investigators AND members wouldnt let us in.  The World Cup started and businesses shut down, and the streets were empty.  It was incredible! I couldnt believe how fast everyone got inside, and from then on we just heard shouts from inside houses and fire works and a whole bunch of stuff.  Then the game ended and the partying started.  It was crazy!  It made the work hard but it could have been worse... apparently the U.S. tied England which was a pretty big deal here cuz everyone says the States are terrible at soccer and England's amazing so that made me feel good about my country.

As for wierd things I ate this week...Well we ate with Elder Velazquez again and he made a special dish for Elder Stienkuhlers B-day. Ya...and guess what we ate....... GUINEE PIG!  I have to send you the pics because they are nuts!  I'll try to find another cyber that will let me send pics later on in the day. I didnt really like it that much the skin was too chewy.

As for the investigators  we found...One man named  Jorge and his wife let us in to teach his kids but Jorge pretty much took over the lesson (this was a contact btw) and taught our lesson!  I was like, "Wow where did you learn all that?"  He said he had listened to the elders a while back and read the Book of Mormonn and thought it was a book of God, so we happily talked more with him and his son Christian 17 and his nephew 24.  It was a great lesson and we are excited to go back.

Love you all so much and i will send pics today...I have a bunch.

lvlv

elder schupple

Busy and productive week

O goodness mom don't scare me like that with that scary story!
[Yesterday after the family finished going to Independence Grove for a picnic and biking, Dan, Nat, Brad and mom rode back to Nat's house on bikes and saw a big commotion of paramedics and police at the entrance of Natalie's sub-division. The timing was close to the time the 4 cars being driven back by the rest of the family should have arrived at Natalie's house...(Dad drove the Toyota, Brit drove Mom's car, Aaron drove their van and Jackie drove Nat's van) Well the ones riding their bikes home were concerned especially when they turned within the sights of the wreck to see Aaron walking around the area. YIKES! Evidently all 4 of them were immediately behind the guy that got hit and witnessed him turn his full sized van right in front of an oncoming corvette which caused both his full sized van and the vett to plow into a mini van who was waiting to turn out of the subdivision. It was quite messy...but thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Jackie was pretty shaken up to see it all happen in front of her and to know how close they all were to it possibly being any of them. We are deeply grateful that the family was safe.]
My heart started beating hard and ya I'm sure you were all protected cuz of all the prayers we do as a family and my prayers for yawl. I'm very glad everyone is safe and its still weird for me hearing Jackie driving alone. Well this past week was cool and was a productive week. We set up 2 more baptism dates, and yes mom thanks to all these baptisms our focus now is finding more people. But we still have plenty to do. I think they need to split our area in half because its so big and we have so much to do. Right now we are working with this guy named Raul. He is very interested but is waiting for is answer to the church and the book of Mormon. He also wants his family to listen to the lessions but they don't have very much interest right now. But little by little they will, its way awesome. Also we have this investigator, Rosa who we kinda lost touch with cuz she started working a lot. Luckily this past week we found her again and we are working with her smoking problem but mostly forgiving her son. We are trying to help her mend some wounds in this family because apparently a while back her son kept asking for money and when she didn't have enough for herself, she finally said, "no you have to raise and provide for your family by yourself cuz I don't have any more." Well he got mad and hit her and its been bitter feelings ever since. So shes been waiting for him to come to her and ask for forgiveness but then i shared a scripture in the doctrine and covenants with her and she was just kinda taken away. She started saying how she didn't do anything. It was a very cool lecion, so we set another baptism date for her cuz she wants to wait until she and her son are better to get baptized. So we set a date when she was going to call him and tell him she forgives him. Until then shes going to pray for strength to do it. So we are all praying for her because I can imagine this is going to be a very hard thing for her to do.
Well hope everyone is doing well at home. Party hardy for Nat's b-day! Next year I'll be there!
Love you lots
Elder Schupple

Sweet villa ready for the gospel

This week was a great week, we found this new villa that was right in the middle of our area but we had never even heard of it cuz its not on our map or anything. We were walking one day trying to find the house of an inactive member but just couldn't find it and we just happened to walk into this villa. Its one of the sweetest looking villas I have ever seen. I'll have to go take a pic with a disposable camera because its seriously pretty sweet looking. Anyway while we were in this villa we happened to find a bunch of people that wanted to listen to what our church has to offer. Along with that we found the inactive family, and ya its crazy because they haven't been to church in 20 years so now there are kids and new spouses that have no idea what we teach. So I am way excited for this upcoming week. In not so good news we are having some hard times with some of our other investigators. They just wont progress, so ya we are trying to figure out how we can teach differently or something that will help them progress. Anyway hope everything is going well over there. Happy bday dad and kayla! te amo!
love you all
elder schupple
ps yes i got the package today and no I cant re size my pants but I have smaller ones because 2 elders just left and gave me their newer ones so esta bien!
thanks! te amo todo chao

Breastfeeding investigators, Christmas 2008

(From December 29, 2008 email)
OK so hows everyone doing at home? It was so great to hear from you on Christmas. We pretty much just spent the entire day in the chapel doing phone calls and studying and ya not a whole lot. On new years we get to go out a little but have to be back way early. We will just be studying and reading the book of Mormon cuz we are reading it in one transfer as a mission. Its way hard and it takes up like all of my study time. This week we were expecting a bunch of investigators at church but only 3 came and it was way awkward for me because these three women all breastfeed wherever they want (along with every other Argentine) but like during the lesson or when we shake their hands to leave its just awkward. But other than that they are all doing way good. On Christmas it was way weird cuz there was fireworks and drinking and it was so hot and with just a bunch of fireworks it did not seem like Christmas at all so that was kind of a bummer. But o well it was still cool. And OK the Spanish is hard but the way y'all are writing me, you're making it sound like i don't speak any Spanish. Shoot! I think I'm doing just fine. I can pretty much understand everything and I just need to practice my conjugations. Other than that just about everything is good down here the area is really starting to pick up. Ya its good stuff and I'm enjoying it. Well I gotta go. Hope y'all have a good New Years.
Love you all
Elder Schupple

P.S. ahhh i cant get the pictures to work im so frustrated dang it i really wanted to see these, i was looking forward to it all last week so thats kinda frustrating. if you could try to send them again diferently that would be very nice... hmm maybe your waiting for this email so if you can do it in the next 10 or 15 mins id be so greatful

Killed a dog, hot & cold, good investigators

Hey I'm way sorry I'm early today. We have appointments later today so ya that's why I'm writing now. Well it was a pretty exciting week. To start it off I was bit by a dog. We were just walking down the street and these dogs are barking at us like they always do. We usually don't pay any attention to them, but all of a sudden I feel my heel get bit so i like jump and the dog backs off so I bend down and pick up a rock and freaking throw it as hard as I can at this dog. Well I hit it in the head and killed it...... not what I wanted to do. Now when I go to pick up rocks Elder Backman tells me not to throw them cuz of all the people that are watching. We have to be very careful with what we do when people are watching....well make that all the time but especially when people are watching. So ya i drop the rock and we keep walking.
We are teaching this guy who doesn't have legs. He lost them in a kitchen fire. Hes way sincere about everything and just grateful for everything he has. I don't know how he does it but hes really great. Well on Thursday it was 104 degrees with 56 percent humidity. That was a very hot day, we both were sweating so much, it was supposed to be 113 degrees the next day but luckily it rained so it didn't get that hot. Ha well it started raining Friday and hasn't stopped since and now its way cold. Ha theres no getting in between here.... its either way hot or way cold and rainy. In other news there a lot of freaking Jehovah witnesses down here. They got a crazy system. You cant be a member of their church until you do a year of studying and go out like every other day and do some tracting. So every day we pass the testigos. On Wed there was a whole freaking bunch out. So we were going to this appointment and there they were clapping our appointment's house, [in Argentina you clap instead of knock] There were a ton on this street and we were completely surrounded. But no worries they clapped the house and the investigator said no to them and let us in :) It was a good feeling knowing we have the truth and they are just wasting their time.... that sounds really mean. Ok i have a question, how much is an English quad? a kid down here wants one and asked me to ask you how much they were. So if you could find out for me that would be great. For thanksgiving we appreciated the heat, and ordered empanadas. It was great. then my comp mentioned pie and I've had a huge craving for pumpkin pie since then. That's pretty much what happened this week.
Love you all
elder schupple
PS mom thanks for the packages again don't worry about sending any more i have more than enough :)

Being grateful and Eating intestines

Ahhh I'm sorry this is going to be a shorter letter and ya I'm trying to send pics thru this but it looks like it only allows one at a time so ill send a couple and i sent one to Brit so ask her for that one. These pics are of this place we ate at today, it was the nicest and most expensive place I've eaten at so far and ya the food was really good except that i had cow intestines. It was terrible it took like ten mins to chew and had creamy stuff inside i thought i was going to throw up so that was a bummer.

But now i can say I've eaten cow intestines. I had the opportunity to have blood sausage too but decided against it cuz I was still a little woozy from eating the cow intestines. The other pics are of this kid who thinks hes a dinosaur and goes "rrror" all day so I started doing it back so now he loves me and out of the blue he just says why are you doing this too? I was like uh because I'm a dinosaur. I guess he liked that answer cuz after that he just got way intense and kept doing his thing. The last ones are of this inactive family's crazy lizard. Hope you get them all. Ya I got your packages. They were a little rat eaten but hey no big deal. I got them on Friday and they are both almost gone. Ha the other elders in my apartment went crazy when they saw it and I've given a lot of it away. Ha the war heads are fun to give to the kids here. Their faces are great. I have one left and want to get one of them on camera. In other news the investigators have been coming along wonderfully. We decided to move Maria and her son Alan baptisms back until their husband/dad comes back after Christmas. So we are gonna try to baptize him right after them. Estella was pushed back cuz she has work everyday so its hard to teach her but they come to church so todo bien and we have another family that we found that we are going to be taking out fechas (baptism commitments) with this next week so :) Ya everything is going great here.

Holy freak Brad! When I heard that hes actually pursuing I almost fell out of my chair and wow! Ha congrats I guess. Suerte good luck.

I've learned a lot from my new comp, like how I'm in one of the richest areas there is here. He was telling me about his last area, where the members and people had houses made from pieces of wood and garbage bags. Th other elders I came out with from the MTC say they have cockroaches in their pinches (apartments). So I am way grateful for my blessings. And good news your prayers have helped so much. The hemorrhoids are gone! So thanks everyone so much. Love,

Elder Schupple

Both of us Sick, States-side family investigator

Wow sounds like a lot is happening at home, and don't worry about sending the packages express. I really don't care. Good news about my feet :) The blisters have all callused over and I am walking just fine now :) Some not so good news-- this past week has been kinda rough because both elder Tingey and I are kinda sick. So that's made things a little difficult. However we push on regardless. We found a new investigator the other day who has family in the states-- one who lives in Florida who is a member :) and one who lives in Utah who is not. Well we taught her the first lesson and it was amazing. I have a good feeling about her and Elder Tingey thinks shes gonna get baptized.
As for Christmas, I am not really sure what I want or need. Everything is good so far. Kids here love American candy so maybe some candy or something. Other than that I really don't think I need anything. Thanks tho. Oh I have a question, theres been a lot of talk lately about another great depression. Whats going on with that? Elder Tingey says if that happens hes just gonna move back down here. Life is pretty chill down here. People get money from the government once a week and just chill and drink mate. Some people work but a lot of people are pretty chill. Well I gotta go.
love you all
Elder Schupple

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