Week Nineteen

Great to hear that everything is going well. And don't worry about the package. It's no big deal. Maybe it will come this month. And that picture you saw was probably on my facebook. It is of Me, Mariano, and Mike. We were drinking Guarina. It's cool to hear that Tyler got her permit and Cole finished his eagle project.

I actually lost all of my photos the last P-Day. I did something wrong and accidentally deleted them all. But Marquins (a member who lives close) was able to save them somehow using a program on his computer. So I sent the photos over email. But it's all good now.

Also, I totally lied when I said that I was feeling better last P-Day while emailing. I returned home and puked again two times later that night. But I was fine the next day. I don't know why but it just kind of happened.

We had Zone Conference this week which was good. President kind of burned all the missionaries a little but it was good. It was needed, our mission needs to get better right now.

Everything is going well with my new companion. He doesn't speak English really. No one I live with "speaks English." Elder Chave and Elder Oliveira are trying to learn English right now and I am helping them. Sometimes we read the Book of Mormon in English together to help them with pronunciation. I don't really like practicing English with them to be honest. I've completely switched to Portuguese except for writing. One investigator actually told me I speak better Portuguese than my companion. I talk more like a Nordestino than he does. Mosambique speaks Portuguese of Portugal. His accent is different and sometimes he uses words that people here don't use.

We are working hard but it's a little difficult right now. We have potential baptisms here close with dates but we have to wait and see what will happen. It's really frustrating when we do all that we can during the week and only 2 investigators are at church on Sunday. I'll be honest and say that I was in a pretty poor mood last Sunday, but this week is a new week.

One of our investigators, Josefa, It's her birthday today.  We are going to have a small family home evening/surprise birthday party for her today with her family (all members except Josefa). That should be fun.

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving!

Love,
Elder Batten

Week Eighteen

Hey! This week went well. First week with my new companion Elder Chave. He's from Mosambique. But this week went well. We found some new investigators and are working hard. Kind of tough right now but it will get better. We're getting some more references right now which is helping.

I feel like I've got a good grip on the language now. I have trouble with obscure words and talking on the cellphone. Sometimes I can't make out what people are saying. But I'm speaking pretty well.

I'm kind of bummed about the package getting lost in the mail, but oh well. Maybe I will receive it at Zone Conference, which I am really excited for. But don't worry about it. Also I'm having trouble getting the pictures sent, so you are going to have to be patient. Sorry about that.

This day started off kind of rough. I was having a lot of stomach pain last night and I threw up this  morning. But I'm feeling better now.

The work is good. I'm feeling the blessings of the mission immensely.

Love,
Elder Batten

Week Seventeen - 2 Baptisms!

We just finished the end of this transfer yesterday Also I made 4 months. Time is flying by. Elder Mariano will be transferred to Arapiraca tomorrow and I'm going to receive a new companion. So that's going to be interesting. I don't know my new companion, but he is from Africa. Probably Mosambique or Cape Verde. But I don't know, I've never met him. And he's pretty new in the mission. He only has one more transfer than me.

Saturday was awesome. Janiel got married which was great. After the wedding, Janiel, and Andre were baptized. We had asked Andre on Tuesday night if he wanted to be baptized Saturday and he accepted. He was already pretty well prepared but we went there every day to prepare him. So we had 2 baptisms. I baptized Andre and Mariano baptized Janiel. It was pretty awesome. Afterwards we had a party to celebrate the wedding and also the baptisms which was awesome. We had cake and soda. So that was probably the best day of my mission until now.

But it's really starting to warm up here. We had some really hot days this week. But I'm getting used to it.

Have a good week.
Elder Batten

Week Sixteen - Halloween

Hey, another good week again. P Day is today because yesterday was a holiday. Everything was closed so President Gomes switched P Day for today.

Halloween was this week. No one here celebrates Halloween, but I carved a pumpkin and gave it to one of our investigators. She liked it a lot. A lot of people who passed by her house were looking at it. So that was pretty cool.

We had splits and zone meeting this week. Both went well. Zone meeting was a little intense because President Gomez was there and he burned our zone a little bit. But he did that for the entire mission this past week. The numbers of the mission are low. Our zone had bad numbers in everything except baptisms which I thought was strange. Our zone had more that 15 this month. But it was good. It helped me realize that I can be doing a lot more. We should be making a lot more contacts than we are doing right now.

Janiel is going to be married and baptized this Saturday. He bore his testimony during church this past Sunday. It was awesome. Saturday is gonna be sick. We may be having 2 baptisms. Andre has been going to church for more than a month already but he lives in a different area. He is planning on getting married here to a member and moving here within the ward. And he wants to be baptized here. So we started teaching him and we marked his baptism for this Saturday. He's already been doing a lot of studying in the Book of Moron and he had shown a desire to be baptized a couple of times. So we will probably have 2 baptisms this Saturday. It's gonna be great.

This is the last week of the transferencia. So I'll finish my training this Sunday. My companion may be transferred because this is his 4th  here in Bariloche. I could be transferred as well. You never know. But I'm doing really well. I'm happy here. The language is improving more everyday.

Love and miss you all,
Luke