Hey! oh man. this week was Crazy. for real. Remember how Elder Aidukitus was coming to drop cain on us for the zone conference that we had last week? Well he came, he saw, and he did indeed drop cain. It was a way good conference though. He is just like Elder Holland in his zeal for the work. He is one of those guys that when he calls on you, you had better have everything in its place, and your planner has to be just chock full of plans and details and you just gotta be all ship-shape because he WILL publicly embarrass you.. So its just better if you have all the fundamental things going right, that way he has to dig a little bit to find the error haha. No but really he is way cool and I had just a way uplifting experience listening to him. I know that he is a 70 for a reason. He is the President or councelor in the Area Presidency of South America South.... Example: One elder didn´t bring his PMG, anything to take notes, or anything like that.. for the next 5 minutes Elder Aidukitus went on about how he must have told the Lord that he didn´t want to recieve any personal revelation that day, and that basically gauranteed him that he wouldn´t haha. Then a couple minutes later, he asked an elder to read something from PMG and he had one of those little PMGs that is the same thing, but just about a 1/4 of the size. Elder Aidukitus stopped him and suggested that he bring a bigger PMG to work in, and send the little tiny one home. Then he said that you probably want personal revelation, but only a tiny bit. Hahaha oh man. But his attitude and the tone of his voice is full of love and you know that he loves you and deeply cares for the work, so when he called all of these people out it was kinda funny, but not really at their expense. Or maybe it was haha, I didn´t get called out. I think its because he made all the newbies stand up at the beginning of the conference and took note of all the Elders he didn´t want to make cry hahaha. Oh but don´t get me wrong, he is an absolute stud and I know he is a servant of God. I partly know that because the Lord definitely helped me out with the gift of Tongues and allowed me to understand perfectly everything he said, and partly because of the powerful testimony he bore at the end.

Anyway, that was great. I got a sweet little package from Sophie with an awesome tie and letters from her brother, and her friends. It was WAY awesome! and the package had a little María on each side and so I got some way funny looks from people on the long trip back from Mendoza to Cordón haha. But the trick worked, and the package hadn´t been opened by Argentine Customs.....

Another little funny note.. Mom, remember how you were peeved that you got a letter from me and it was actually for Cameron Crawford? Well I sent you a letter to that was actually yours haha.... Well on saturday we made divisions and Elder Reininger (my zone leader) had to get his toe operated on and so we had to go to Mendoza (getting there was a whole notha story because the bus terminal there was like on lockdown because of a huge strike... stupid). While I was there, I talked to Elder Packer (Old USAF intel officer who apparently knows Lary Adkinson from Vietnam??? Wierd connection right?) and he gave me a little plastic bag that had a shredded up letter inside of it. The one that was for you haha... oh man. That was rich. It was a great little apology by the USPS and so I think that I am just going to send you the half-letter (as proof that I did write :) and the plastic bag.... I will send a picture next week. I forgot my camera this week....

This week was good because we planned for about 7 hours on thursday, after the conocimiento we recieved from Elder A. It made the rest of the week way better and we ended up having a pretty decent week. Next week for sure we are having at least two baptisms. Which I am excited about.

Well, Love ya! I am fine

and OH i got the batteries finally! they came a long time ago, and have been sitting in the mailroom for about a month! I guess when the package got here, some joker at customs thought it would be more effecient to take off all the labels (like the name of the person the package was addressed to....). But anyway, I have that now. Thanks!

Love ya

Elder Daybell

PS happy halloween. We eat lunch with the district president and he was shocked when elder Fackrell told him that he was a dinosaur one year.... he said ´´but elder, how did you keep all the dogs from biting your tail?´´ hahaha. they have strays EVERYWHERE here. and horses too.... I don´t really know how that works out but whatever. I love Argentina! Viva Cristina!

hEY! I am going to Mendoza this week for zone conference and elder Ah choo kite us is going to be ripping us to shreds i think. That is his reputation around here anyway. I don´t know how to spell his name but he is in the first 70... anyway. I am sending you a letter! and maybe your package will be there... hopefully! anyway, love ya mom!

Hey Family!

Oh man! this week was crazy. lots of stuff happened. I guess there was a volcano in Chile that eruptió? I don´t know. A lot of people said that. and so the sky was way dark this whole week. but it was still hot. Weird huh? It also gave me like the worst allergies you can have. I just had a sinus headache for like 4 days straight. But it passed now. It was kinda cool because it made some killer sunsets. Also, it made it so it was not so sunny, so at least we weren´t getting burnt. It was kinda a tender mercy. i hope it didn´t cause too much damage in Chile though. I never thought I would be afflicted by a volcano in any other way but like... being burnt or melted by lava... I never thought that it would give me a sinus headache... hmm....

Anyway.... We made popsicles last night out of tang and they were a huge success. I sat on a real-life couch (first time since home!) twice in one day here when I went on divisions with one of the Zone leaders. The first time was at a member´s house, and the second time was when we went to a beliche (which is a super dirty night club) during the siesta and taught the family that lives there and owns the beliche the first lesson. They had carpet too. It was way awesome. I felt the spirit strongly and I know that Carolina felt the spirit. She came to church last week I guess and she is just a capa. I hope everything goes well with her and for the ZLs.

Um... the picture of the meat is one of my personal faves. The left is mondongo, cow stomach. Way nasty. the stuff on the left is cow heart. which isn´t unusual i guess, but i figured that they were next to each other and so it warranted a good picture.

How is everything back home? I had a decent week. We had two baptisms that were for sure going to happen. Jorge and Angel were just way stoked to get baptized. But they both fell through. but i´m not really worried about it because there was some stuff that happened that they didn´t have any control over and so next week for sure.

I don´t remember if I said anything about Paola and Miguel and Milenia? They are a way sweet family that we found a couple weeks ago and are just so prepared to accept the true gospel. I guess Paola had a brush with cancer and just knew that she is here for something more and survived and I think that she is coming to find that she will find greater fulfillment by making covenenats to the Lord in this Church. Keep your fingers crossed for them though because Satan is fighting way hard to not give them this opportunity.

We are getting to the end of this transfer and Elder Fackrell is counting on leaving and I think he is pretty excited. Just gotta endure to the end though right? :)

I had a pretty cool experience in church the other day. I play the pìano (kind of) and during the post-lude, Hermana Soto came up and talked to me for a second. Her family is part of a district-wide reactivation plan and so we visit them every week. Its really her husband who we are focusing on because everyone else is active and really fulfilling thier callings. But we went last wednesday and Hermano Soto wasn´t even there ever though we scheduled and verified and everything (maybe next week we will have to go as a surprise haha). Anyway, President Quiroga and I went alone and Elder Fackrell and our Branch Mission Leader went to go visit some other friends. So there we are and we are talking and its about 9 and we gotta go, so I finish up the lesson and I leave a reading assignment for the family to read Alma 7. That morning Elder Fackrell and I decided on leaving Alma 40, which I don´t know... doesn´t really apply to them right now? It is about life after death and is a good supplement to the plan of Salvation.... but on the way to the lesson, about 5 minutes out, I decided for whatever reason, no, we should leave Alma 7. Anyways, after church yesterday, she comes up to me and tells me how for only the second time since she was baptized has she felt the spirit so strongly. She said that as her family listened to her read, tears streamed down her face as she felt the testifying power of the Holy Spirit. She asked me how we decided what to assign people to read and I just told her we try to follow the guidance of the Spirit. I know that that is true. The Spirit is a guide, our Liahona. And those that have it can always live with its guidance, and can feel over and over again His witness of all things that are true.

It was really great to hear that she had a spiritually uplifting experience with her family, especially her husband.

Anyway, I love yall and I hope you all have a good week. Takereasy.

Elder Daybell

hey momma!

Sunday was mothers day here and it was weird. I got you a little dorky book mark that said something like..... this certifies that you are the best mom in the world. and I was going to give it to you! but as we walked back home on saturday night, we passed this little old lady who lives next to us and i just felt way prompted to give it to her. So i stopped, and i was like, hey senora, i can tell that you are a great mother because of how i see your grandkids treat you. we just wanted to give you a little gift because its mothers day and we appreciate you being a good mother, especially because ours are far away. She is a super catholic, but she was just way happy. She was like, oh bless you chicos! So i thought that might warm you up too.

Love ya mom

Hey family!

This week was way good. We just had a lot of really great miracles. I dont have a ton of time to say much, but i do love you guys, and i am good. its way hot here now. Summer has started. the kids are finishing up the year and starting to hog the nieghborhoods again haha. But we are going to have 2 baptisms this week end. I promise to write more and give kind of a two week report next time okay! No se porque Dios me bendició mucho. Les amo mucho.

Elder Daybell

okay. man we had a cool week. we worked way hard and it was just a good week. Well... we went to an inactive member´s house this week as part of a big reactivation effort by our district and it was way frustrating because we got there five minutes late... he lives about 35 minutes away.... but anyways we got there, and he was like, ´´well, too bad, you were late and i have to go.´´ so we didn´t teach him or really get anything done. big waste of time. One of his qualities.. or characteristics that I love though, is that his laugh sounds exactly like Betty from Kung Pao. and he laughs a lot haha. So rich. Anyway we got back to the chappel and had our planning meeting with President Quiroga (mom, you were right all these years... I should have learned how to play the piano better. But I bought the simplified hymns from the mission office and so from now on we will have music to go to our hymns on sunday!) and right in the middle we heard a knock on the door and so we looked at each other and then I went to answer it. It was this guy with just the saddest story that I´ve ever heard... He had 0 money and he just came from a very dark place. He just wanted to know where he could get work. So Pres. Quiroga talked to him (because he is kinda one of the big cheeses at one of the vineyards here) and we gave him some apples that a member gave us. I gave him 10 pesos which is about 2.50 USD, but it has like the same purchasing power as like 10USD. And we invited him to church and didn´t really think anything of it. Well this sunday, we got to church and there he is! What the HECK right!?!?! I just really didn´t expect him to be here. But here he was! Anyway, we got through testimony meeting (about 10 people shared testimonies including missionaries, and two visiting people) and instead of having sunday school, we taught Angel the first lesson. He loved it! I loved it! it was awesome. He has a date to get baptized and I think everything will go really well because he didn´t come to church hungover and saturday night is really when people just get smashed here. He is way sincere and super excited to read the Boof of Mormon. Just a way good surprise miracle. Those are always really appreciated. Especially when your best investigators stop progressing. We have two of those now. They just need to accept a date to be baptized. Karina, we are just waiting on her mom to talk to her and give permission. Jorge, we have no idea what to do. We decided to fast with him this last sunday and it was... good. I think. He didn´t come to church so... We dont really know what the outcome of that was. But its alright because the Lord is involved with this work. He is aware of the needs of His brothers and sisters here in Cordón del Plata and I am really honored to be here representing Him. oh man. Well I love you guys and I miss you a ton. In a good, supportive and positive way though so no worries haha.

I had mondongo. I don´t remember if i said anything about that or not. but its gross. Its cow stomach. it tastes kinda like a really chewy cheese, that just kinda tears apart after enough chewing. I had to just cut it small and swallow it whole. too much man. too much. Then the next day i had liver milanesas. Which just means its prepared like a country fried... liver. It was pretty gross too. But that was three weeks ago maybe? I don´t remember. its all kinda melting together now haha.

Umm... oh, something exciting. We live in a pretty big pensión, but now the water heater doesn´t work and so we just boil the water to shower with and use the good old bucket. I am NOT COMPLAINING for the record, I actually love it. But one day it was way cold and so we took the little electrical heater and put it on the toilet facing us in the shower so it wouldn´t be so cold, and it was awesome. So I took it with me to go change and when i plugged it in the other room, it started on fire. I just looked at it hahaha. way funny morning.

Well i also found out my pants are totally washable even though they all say dry clean only haha. Good day for real. The familia Diaz is way awesome and we eat there on sundays for lunch. They are raising rabbits right now, but they haven´t... reproduced yet. But Hermana Diaz says that when they do, we are totally having rabbit for lunch. I am excited because thats something new :)

Oh, also another little tender mercy. This last thursday, we had to go to mendoza for a trainers and trainees training meeting with President Avila (stud). It was AWESOME to see my MTC buddies. Elder Ashby and Foster and I are probs gonna be like BFFLs. And Elder Riding who was kind of a stocky kid in the MTC, is like a stick now. I wonder what his secret is eh??? But for real it was way nice to see my buddies. I think my spanish has had a lot more opportunity to grow than them though. Only because I really only talk to Bolivians all day and they talk really fast. They sound like the little kids who talk with the microphones in there mouth... Do you know what i mean? i don´t remember the english word for what i´m trying to say. But anyway it was way easy to understand all the mendocinos and Presidente Avila for once. Peruvians are by far the easiest people to talk to because they talk really slow and annunciate (---THAT WAS THE WORD I WAS THINKING OF BEFORE!!!) everything. I have seen a lot of blessings with my language. Fasting and sincere prayer is a blessing for us.

Anyways, I love yall. Stay sweet.

Elder Daybell

Hey Family! This week was pretty good. We talked to a lot of new people this week because we pretty much baptized our teaching pool, or they will be this weekend. I think that is a trap that Missionaries fall into- being content with the sheep they have. I don´t want to ever let that happen again, and now that I know Spanish well enough, I can do my part in finding and teaching. Man wasn't conference awesome! I loved President Uchtdorf´s talk about the welfare plan. I really loved how he said that God´s way is not sitting on the side of the river and waiting for all the water to pass before you cross, but to roll up your sleeves and get to work and build a bridge. I loved that. I felt like there was a pretty strong theme of Missionary work. I feel like something huge is about to happen, or that the missionaries aren't working hard enough haha... But Elder Holland really did singe my eyebrows at priesthood haha. I am glad that he gave that talk. I feel strongly that missionary work is the best, most important work that any young man my age can do, and it is imperative that once you decide to play for the Lord, you don´t dribble out of bounds like Elder Holland says. However because we have a loving Heavenly Father, we have the Atonement at our disposal made possible by Jehovah. Another thing I really liked about Conference was Elder Scott´s talk about the scriptures. My companion told me not to read the Old Testament because ¨it´s pretty much useless in the mission field´´ and I decided that... while I disagreed with Him, I wouldn´t read it (but just in his presence). And when Elder Scott said that he loves how it plainly and simply teaches gospel truths, I just smiled at him haha. I firmly believe that as the Iron rod is a singular rod, that leads to the ´´greatest of all the gifts of God´´, one cannot just toss out the Old Testament or the PGP, or any other of the standard works, without missing a piece somewhere along the line. Does that make sense? While I do not understand the significance of some parts of the Scriptures like Isaiah, or Leviticus, or the Song of Solomon it doesn´t mean that they don´t have something to contribute to our time here our probation. Jesus himself quoted from Isaiah and by way of exhortation, commanded that we become familiar with his writings. All I am saying is that we must continue to do the good works like reading and praying daily, in order to increase the size of our anchors as is written in Ether. Something else I loved was President Eyring´s talk in priesthood about preparation. The Lord uses small and simple means to bring to pass His magnificent work of eternal nature, and so must we use the simple means to help build up the kingdom of Zion. I will be eternally thankful I think for all my callings that I had here on earth because each calling is significant and is a channel by which the Lord prepares us to take upon ourselves more responsibility. I just really loved conference. There were things said that were just for me and I know that the Brother (Waddell or Richardson?) who said that his mission was ´´was the best two years FOR my life´´ was really spot on and something that I needed to hear. Anyway, Conference is definitely a powerful experience. God is the same today, as he was yesterday and will be forever. So since he loved His children before to call prophets, why not now? It makes sense to me. I do know that prophets are on the earth again, and that it is by the Spirit of Revelation that they know, and deliver unto us the will of God. These talks have been what God has been thinking about us since April (and obviously since the beginning because we hear the same message every 6 months of read, pray, and go to church).

Anyway I loved conference, and I didn´t even get to understand both morning sessions. The translators talk WAY fast so... I didn´t get much. But I did get the part about the new temples and that was SUPER exciting. I remember driving to see Tron Legacy with Elder Abutaa on the night of Dec. 17th and wondering why traffic was so bad. Then we drove by the Tabernacle and saw the billowing smoke and we both felt bad about it. I along with the audience at the Conference center let out an audible ´´ooohhh!´´ when President Monson announced that haha. oh man thats SICK.

Okay well I don´t really have a lot more to say. I decided to eat only fruits and vegetables everyday to balance the 3500 calorie meal I have for lunches everyday and that has helped a ton haha.

It starts with the fundamentals.

I love you all and I am good.

Oh its nice to get up in the mornin, when the sun is shining overhead,

oh its nice to get up in the mornin, but its better to lay in bed. Haha. I thought about Grandpa Dick a lot because the fields are starting to get worked on more and I always see these old dudes on tractors. smells like the garden here.

Elder Daybell