Birthday, Christmas and a Flash transfer to zone leader

¡Hola Todos!

Feliz Navidad everyone! Hope yall had a good time. Here it was a good time as well. The four missionaries that live in the same apartment all went to a recent converts house to eat asado for dinner Christmas Eve, the famous dish here. And then we had to go back to the apartment as all the partying and fireworks started. But this Christmas my gift came a little late and very unexpected. Im getting flashed out of my area! Fifteen minutes after calling the Fam christmas night, I get a call from my mission President. Elder Trent, how are you? Good President how are you? Very good, how was your christmas, hows the family? all good president all good. Im glad. Well Elder Trent, hate to move you so soon again, but I need you to be a zone leader in Caseros...

So ya after being in my new area with Elder maycock for just 3 weeks, im going to a new area today in the afternoon. Ill be with Elder Vance from Arizona as well. I wasnt expecting it, but Im excited! We´ll see what the new changes bring. But thankfully Elder Maycock and I were able to finish our time together with the baptism of Camila that went all smooth so thats a blessing. 

Well hope you all have a great Christmas vacation and new year!

Elder Trent

birthday pic

We ate that christmas eve, its just a dish for special occasions. at a converts house in the other elders area, she invited us a long time ago so the four of us went.

its asado, with potato salad and salad. also we had pork. here they prepare it all on the grill. its the famous argentine dish.

Hola, so good to see you all too!

I didnt think Id have much to talk about this monday because i just saw you guys, but was I wrong! 15 minutes after I finished skyping you I got a call, guess who..my mission president. A flash, which means I am changing areas in the middle of the transfers. Im going to be a zone leader in Caseros with Elder Vance! huge change but im leaving today at 4pm to go to my new area. (A few elders were going finishing their missions mid transfer so president had to make a few changes, so now Im a zone leader. pretty crazy.

Also my official return date is june 13 by the way.

Im not really that nervous yet, itll probably hit me once I get there, but I was definitely not expecting that. I dont know who Elder Vance is I just know hes from arizone and has like a 2 months left in the mission. the zone is relativly big, its the other zone that has big city in it, more than the area that im in now.

Feliz Navidad!

¡Hola Todos!

Hey everyone! Feliz Navidad! Such a great time a year to be a missionary and share the message of Christ during the time we celebrate his birth. People tend to be a little more sensitive and open to hear about Jesus Christ during this time. Elder Maycock and I will being having a white Christmas with the baptism of Camila the 23 of December! Wahoo! Anyways, this week we all had interviews with our Mission President. He told me he "didnt have any problems with me"... so ya im a happy missionary haha. This week we also found a great investigators called Maria Ester! She is awesome, because she has never been baptized! Which is quite the issue here, the people just dont understand the part about preisthood authority here and the need of the restoration, but with her it was easy. Shes like, ya ive never been baptized, I probably should! haha, shes really great and we hope to see her come to church and progress to be baptized in January to start the new year off right! But thats all the time I have left to write, lost track of time, but hope you all of a very merrrry Christmas!

-- 

Elder Trent

Playing soccer

my new zone, ramos mejia

Aaah 20! Im soo oold, nooo. I was looking in the mirror and I think my hair lines receding. so oold. haha. 

Hope your enjoying the cool christmas weather in st. george, cuz its soo hot and humid here now. But its not as bad as last year, because Im getting used to the humidity sadly. Oh and guess what!? I found out something scary this week! I had interviews with my mission president. and because he is leaving this year as well the transfers are going to be different so instead of me leaving in july, Ill probably come home june 13 a little earlier. so i have even less time than i though in the mission!! ah!

Ya im going to get to it at 8 oclock my time here on sunday night. so you can figure the time it would be there. like 2 or 3 in the afternoon i think.

Sorry to hear about poor Spice! I hoped to see him when I got back:(

¡Hola Todos!

Well, my first week in Rafael Castillo 2 came and when so fast! I like this area pretty well. In on the outskirts of the big city, Ramos Mejia, so its mainly poor neighborhoods. We walk everywhere and a lot. So my legs have not liked me this week as I have been on a bike for over 4 months. My companion is Elder Maycock from Gilbert Arizona. Hes a big guy and plays football. He will play college when he gets back. Hes a chill guy and likes to joke a lot and tell stories. Were getting along great so far. The members here are pretty cool and about 50 actives that go to the ward. There was this one member, Blanca Gomez, this sweet old lady doing missionary work, who gave us an awesome reference, and we´re going to teach her, with the member tonight. Thats how it should be, the members find, and the missionaries teach and baptize! 

Right now we have two investigators progressing towards baptism, Camila and Yanela. Camila is 14 and was baptized when she was eight but there is no register of her being baptized at all, so its kind of a fake baptism for us, but hey it counts. The other, Yanela, is 15 and her siblings are members but not her. But now she has great friendship with the young women and will get baptized on the 21st of December! 

But anyways, im excited for this transfer with Elder Maycock as we are both experience missionaries, him having 14 months on his mission and me 16 so we´re going to being seeing great things happening here soon for sure!

-- 

Elder Trent

My companion is the tall one. I live in a pench with four elders the other two are Elder Flores from mexico and has almost the exact same time as me, and the elder that he is training now, Elder Ruiz from Ecuador.

my new pench. its pretty nice. We have a microwave and a blender! ya! also a sealing fan what?!

Whats your new area like?

 its city, but not too city.most of it is just houses really. its probably one of my most dangerous areas, but not really that bad so dont worry. my companion is 6foot 2 and has a full ride to play football at air force academy. so i think ill be fine haha. we get along well, were a lot different, but not to the point where we dont get along. we work well together. its nice because we both have a lot of experience and we know what we need to do.

another transfer

¡Hola Todos!

Its transfer week and im heading out of Mercedes! My new area will be in the city, ya my first time. Its called Rafael Castillo. I was a little dissappointed about the changes at first, but its where the Lord wants me to go and what he wants me to do. My new companion will be Elder Maycock, another American companion. I dont really know him but Ill let you know all the details next week. 

The time I had in Mercedes was great though. I learned and progressed so much. But I only have around seven months left on my mission, so I really want to "Sharpen the Saw" and perfect even better all that I have learned and all my experience over this time on the mission. 

Love you all and I´ll respond with more details next week how everythings going!

--

Elder Trent

nonstop hard work, nonstop success!

¡Hola Todos!

Wow! This week was nonstop hard work, nonstop success! Which usually the two together a missionary doesnt always get to enjoy. But gratefully and miracuously Elder Allen and I were. Well first off all we ended the week with the baptism of Familia Pajon! Celina, Debora and Santiago were all able to get baptized and the service was very spiritual. They all left so content and full of the Spirit. 

This week we also had one for the books with a record high of 50 lessons and 23 new investigators found in one week. And just to give you an idea of how high that is, when Elder Allen and I started together we were averaging 25 lessons a week with 10 new investigators. I know its not about the numbers but we were very grateful and satisfied to see the extra hard work we put in pay off. We are looking forward for the month of December to have a White Christmas, not from snow, but from baptisms! 

Sad news though, this next week will probably be my last here in Mercedes, so next week Ill let you know where Ive been shipped off to.

Oh and I had a funny experience to share or rather a word of advice to give. If your sandals are breaking, wait to put your feet in them again until AFTER the super glue dries...I learned the hard way this morning...haha

Love you all, til next week!

--

Elder Trent

It will be the Christmas month of baptisms!

Elder Allens mom sent him this paper christmas tree haha. It lacks ornaments but were getting there.

it says the tree of life at the bottom in spanish

This was our thanksgiving lunch that I made. I made it all on last pday and then we heated it up on thursday to save time. I made the ranch chicken, jello, coleslaw, potato salad and no bake cookies wahoo. a feeast!

Familia pajons baptism! yes Elder Allen and I found them together.

but anyways its getter hot now, a lot of humidity so im not looking forward to that again but i survived last summer. i rainined pretty hard saturday morning and we thought we might have to cancel the baptism but then it stopped around 4ish. that what usually happens hear though when it rains rains hard for a time and then stops.

at the church selfie

Happy Thanksgiving!

¡Hola Todos!

It was quite the week this week. I learned that the Adversary can really work hard too. .We started out the week, with the end in mind, baptize! We put in our best effort this week finding a ton of new investigators, involving members, and committing a lot of to be baptized. But the more we work the more the Adversary does as well trying to discourage us. We went through broken bikes and walking in our area, to members and investigators bailing on us. But the more things like that happen to me the more it encourages insteads of discourages me now. Something that I am so grateful for recently developing. Despite of it all this Saturday we are anticipating the baptism of Familia Pajon who have progressed nicely these past weeks. For me, seeing Familia Pajon get baptized this Saturday will be the reward. Maybe I was hoping for just a little more success, someone to come to church, or a little more support from the members, but when we make sure to do our part, the Lord blesses us.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

-- 

Elder Trent

Rain, baby tigers and bears!

¡Hola todos!

Its was quite the up and down week. Elder Lundell and I were without our companions for about two and a half days of the week as they had to got to a meeting for new missionaries and do stuff to get be legal in the country. So Elder Lundell and I were working together in both of our areas for a good part of the week, which made things a little more challenging, but when more difficult, more miracles, I like to try and think. We found some cool people together and had some nice experiences. And by the time the Saturday came, Elder Allen and I already united for a few days now, we had a ton of investigators committed coming to church. And then Sunday morning it rains. And when theres rain here, the world stops basically. No one goes anywhere. But we made sure to do our part so we could still have success or be satisfied with our efforts. So we got on our bikes in the rain and headed over to our progressing investigators house, The familia Pajon to see if they would go to church still. They agreed if someone picked them up in a car. So they actually made it! So sometimes one you think there isnt a way, there is a way. 

That same day we had another interesting experience. So theres this old lady that lives alone in the ward thats one of the pioneers here in Mercedes and has been a member since the church started here basically. Buts shes had a lot of hard trials in here life. One being that all her family that are members hate the church and say negative things about it to others. And this past week, she had an accident and broke a bone in her shoulder, hard, and hurt her knee. She went to the hospital but later in the week was sent home and his bed ridden for now. Somebody comes to help her every once and awhile, but is mostly alone, with very few visits. that same week, on sunday, she had planned to have us four missionaries in the ward come for lunch. But because of the accident, we thought that was obviously canceled. So Sunday after church, me and Elder Allen were eating in the apartment what we had for lunch, when we get a call from the Bishop. I answer and the bishops asked me a bit concerned if we had lunch today with the sister, (Sister Simon her name) because she had called the bishop trying to get in touch with us as she didnt have our number to say that she was waiting with the food for lunch! despite that she didnt call and was a lack of communication with us, we still felt so bad. She was frail and injured but still made us lunch! She was pretty sad, said the bishop and he told us to head over there right aways and by that point it was over an hour late. It was really hard for me that day. I hate letting people down even though it wasnt directly our falt. When we saw her in bed all beat up, sad and at one point started crying, telling us of her problems, but at the end she cheered herself up and it was so amazing to see the change in her face. First her talking about all her trials reciently first this then that, she completely changed and got happy because she knew she would get out it and her testimony was strong, trusting in the Lord. We always going to have trials in our life, whether its something like rain on a Sunday morning in Argentina being a missionary, or remaining faithful with hope despite every thing going against you. God will always be by our side.

Love you all!

--

Elder Trent

best part. this wasnt here the first time we went. Baby tiger!

We went to the zoo again because the new elders dragged us along. but it was still good.

its about 1 hr and 15 minutes in bus. so we cant spend a lot of time at the zoo because of the travel time.

I fed a bear, I fed it, some sweet thing they have here called batata. Its kindof liked jello slash jam.

This time, the bears were out and I got to feed it! My bucket list section of feeding wild animals is pretty much complete by now haha.

Elder Lundell and I

ya its a nice pench, because it was for sister missionaries ;p

This week my companion and the other elders companion from our district had a meeting with President with all the new missionares and then the next day they had to do get their DNI visa thing in Buenos Aires, so they were gone from Tuesday afternoon until thursday night. So Elder Lundell and I stayed together and had to work in both of our areas at the same time which was difficult but we did pretty well.

This is their pench that I stayed at, remember how they used to stay with us and then moved to the sisters pench? thats what these pictures are.

Tyler is a proud Papa

¡Hola Todos!

This week was good! The Familia Pajon is still progressing well towards their baptism at the end of November. Elder Allen and I are working as hard as ever! This week we had special zone conferences with President that really put things into motion. The area Seventy challenged us as a mission to have every companionship baptize in November and EVERY WEEK in December! So we got our work cut out for us, but we can do it! So thats why we had the trainings this week. We talked a lot about making the best use of our time always and they also introduced this new years Christmas campaign called Illuminate the World. So the whole mission is getting going and excited to step it up for the month of December. The mission goal of baptisms for November is 94 and for December its 376! So now we have a December calendar that they gave us to plan what we are going to do every day to Illuminate The World! Elder Allen and I are in the mode to find, find, and find some more. Its been quite the exhausting first week but worth it. 

At the trainings I was also able to see my first son that I trained, Elder Lopez, on the mission after nine months! It sounds kinda dumb but it was great seeing him after so long and to see his progress over all his mission. Hes pretty much a baptizing machine! So grown up! He also told me of the success of some of our investigators that we found together and how they got baptized finally! We had found them together and taught them a few times, but it didnt look like they would progress quickly. He then told me how they got baptized after he lefted! So sometimes even if I dont feel like Im having success, I may be just "planting seeds" for them. So it was a gratifying experience to hear of one of them that sprouted.

Love you all!

These are my two sons on the mission! Elder Lopez and Elder Allen. It was the first time i saw Elder Lopez since I was with him. But he got transfered to my zone this transfer so I got to see him. So grown up! haha.

Miracle week!

¡Hola Todos!

Great week! This week was the first of the new transfer and a great one. Our mission president has set a new standard so we can higher our expecations and have a new vision. And its all about baptize, baptize, baptize! So we started out the week by somehow almost dobbling our total lessons in the week, baptism commitments, and investigators in church. It really was quite the miracle week! This last sunday came three siblings to church, the Familia Pajon, and another named Luis. Luis is a good story. We were looking through our plans one night at about 7:30 not sure what to do, but I had put the familia cuello who were future investigators in our plans and so we decided to go there. Before saying three words, the mom, who answered the door asked if we wanted to come in! Then the parents gathered everyone around and told them that they needed to listen to the word of God. There was about 6 of them. But the one who really got interested was Luis who is 20 years old. The next time we past by and only Luis was interested enough to sit down and continue listening. But he had already read the part we left them in the Book of Mormon and prayed, which almost never happens after only the first visit. He said he also recieved and answer! So he was definitely prepared to hear the Gospel. It took him a few weeks, but he also made it to church this last Sunday and loved it! He would get baptized soon if he could but is living with his family and his girlfriend too, so well see how we can help him with that. But super awesome guy. But I just want you to all know that Faith in Jesus Christ is really powerful and having hope and motivation no matter what challenges we go through, is the key to passing through life happy, Just remember God loves us, SO he gave us the Gospel.

Love you all!

oh and happy Halloween!

-- 

Elder Trent

¡Hola Todos!

This week ended another transfer but Elder Allen and I will be staying together so i´ll be able to finish out his training. So on tuesday, we had a training meeting and our interviews with President. Those are always great to help bring back the fire and go out working even harder. Then on Friday we went to General Rodriguez, the area of the zone leaders, to do divisions with them so we lost two days in our area this week, but we were able to take advantage of the other days and have some good success. We are teaching a family the Zunino´s who are progressing well now. Last week, we talked with the oldest daughters and taught them outside their house. Their dad had reciently been put in jail and they dont know why or what happened. So they wanted to listen to us and see if we could help them. We said we could help spiritually so we taught them and it went pretty well. By our next visit, they had all read and prayed, and also talked to their mom about us and she wanted to listen as well. We could really tell that they were very sincere and in want of help even though they didnt have much of a religious background and dont understand much about God. The second lesson went well, we decided to review lesson 1 with them since the mom hadnt heard it. We invited everyone to be baptized and come to church as well. This sunday the mom and the oldest daugther, who`s 19, came to church! They may have not understood a lot but are starting to feel the difference in their lives, because they just want peace and comfort. Sadly, they had to go after the first two hours so they weren´t able to stay for sacrament meeting.(the schedule is switched here) but they are progressing well now. 

Even though the progress and success here in our area right now is a little slow, Im grateful for experience like with the Zunino family that gives us a boost of hope! I have learned that you always, especially in the mission, have to recognize the good, and that gives us hope. (Ether 12:4)

Other than that this week, was just the same old, same old! But Im doing great and love you all!

-- 

Elder Trent

15 months!!!

¡Hola Todos!

Another week come and gone. Hope everyones enjoying their fall weather! This week for me was pretty satisfying, we´re pretty happy about it. After weeks of no shows, late sleepers, giving excuses, lies, rainy sunday mornings, and laziness we finally had 2 investigators in church! Wahoo! An investigator named Marcos that weve been teaching for a few weeks came to church and also brought a friend! Marcos is a pretty devoted Cristian guy, active in his church, but he wanted to come to see what our church was like. So he did, and also brought a friend that goes to his church as well. They thought it was good, a lot different and calmer than they that, since their used to singing crazily and shouting Haleluja, Amen, and also speaking in tongues. But hopefully they were able to feel the Spirit and recognize they attended the true church! Right now he is reading in the Book of Mormon, so who knows maybe he´ll have a change of heart! 

We also had quite the scary experience this week! So my companion on Tuesday was complaining to me how he got bit by a mosquito on his and it itched really bad. I told him just try not to itch it and it would go away faster. Then it just started to get worse and started to swell and hurt. So we went back to the pench. The next day it was about the same, really swollen and hurting bad. But he wanted to go out still so we did. Then that night it got really bad so we had to call Presidents Wife to see what was up. She said it probably wasnt that bad and that it would go away in a few days, but then Elder Allen said he couldnt move his ankle or toes, so she was like, oh ya thats bad. She said shed call us right back. Then she called back and said we had to go straight to the hospital and that we might had to spend the night there for observation. Usually she wouldnt trust the hospitals here but it was an emergency and already night time. So we got our stuff and took a taxi there! Turns out it wasnt really that bad and he just had an alergic reaction from some sort of bug bite. He just got a shot and some pills and then we were able to return back to the apartment by midnight about. Fun night though haha. The next day we were pretty tired but were able to have one of our best days of the week, so all is well!

Til next week!

Elder Trent

Yeah! I finally learned to make empanadas on the mission!

We have family home evening with the bishops family every monday night. The sister missionaries were in charge with the activity....

Elder Chef Trent: Argentine Cook 

Napolean Milanesas: Cheese, tomato sauce, ham, and tomato on top

Movie with a smoothie in Mercedes

> ¡Hola Todos!
>
> Everythings all good down here in Mercedes. Elder Allen and I are doing great together. Elder Allen is progressing well and always happy and pumped to work. Im sure his SEVENTY TWO emails he gets about every week sure motivates him haha. So also, news came out that missionaries can use sunglasses in some missions for the summer and we can in this mission. So if you see or see pictures of two guys dressed in shirt, tie and sunglasses, it STILL REALLY isnt the CIA. Just two missionaries preaching the Gospel in the hot heat of summer.
> Anyways, the work here continues slowly but surely. We had a pretty solid week this week, finding a lot of new investigators and getting a good amount of lessons in. We´re just trying to help all of our investigators progress as all missionaries work for. I really enjoy our area, we´re contacting a lot and getting good results. Most of our new investigators are just people from other churches or that just believe in God that are just willing to listen to us about a message of Jesus Christ. So usually those types we havent seen much progress But thats how we can find the prepared people or help them get prepared at least. People here like to talk about God a lot and about all their problems as well. We can sometimes just say hi to people and we´ll be there talking to them for like 20 minutes about their whole life story with all their problems. Sometimes its kind of interesting or funny other times a little boring haha. Just this week, we contacted a lady, Ana Maria, that said we could share a message with her and for the first 15 minutes she talked about 20 different subjects before we could say our names haha. She ended getting confused how she finished her spill by talking how she really needed to take her dog to the vet. But at the end, she said she wanted to go to church so that was good. I´ve been really noticing lately though, that my desires are increasing every day to share this Gospel with everyone! Everyone needs the restored Gospel in their lives! I know this Gospel is true and I love it with all my heart. I really am spreading joy to the world and its amazing to think what a blessing and opportunity it is to do it.
> Oh to end of the week, we have started something fun here with the four elders that are in our apartment. Movie with a smoothie! Ya! Last night we watched The Legacy and had a strawberry and banana smoothie. Good times.
>
> Love you all, til next week!
>
> --
> Elder Trent

¡Hola Todos!

What a spiritual filled weekend we were able to have thanks to conference! Its really something else listening to conference on the mission for me! I hope you all were able to enjoy it as well! So this week Elder Allen and I were able to continue strong in our faith and determination. As the week went on we had a little hiccup with some health problems, both me and my companion. But other than that we had a good successful week! Remember Alicia that we found last week? We were able to go back to her and have another spiritual lesson. We taught the Restoration and invited her to be baptized. While she didnt specifically say yes, she was very interested in knowing more about the church and wanted to visit before making a decision. Unfortanetely, she wasn´t able to make it to conference, but we have really high hopes for her! I´ll keep updating you on her progress. Other than that, this week was a little uneventful, but still good! Til next week!

-- 

Elder Trent

District Meeting

Some of the members in the ward that went to the chapel to watch conference.

9 investigators, building a house and strawberry shortcake! What?!

¡Hola todos!

Hows everyone doing? I couldnt be better here! This week was a good one! Elder Allen is doing awesome here in his training. He really radiates a lot of contagious excitement for the work which makes my time with him pretty enjoyable. I dont know how he does it, but he is already a great missionary, just lacks the Spanish right now which will come. This week we had a big focus on finding new investigators. With our combined determination, efforts, and faith we were able to find 9 new investigators by the end of the week! And a few of them that really have good potencial. It just shows how important diligence and faith is on the mission. And with it, the Lord blesses us! This past week we found a single women who lives only with her five year old daugther that has hearing problems. We found her only because we decide to knock on her door to ask if she knew one of her neighbors we were looking for. So like we normaly do, after asking we began to contact her. She says she would love to listen but in that moment had to go, but told us to pass by the next day. So, the next day we were able to go by and teach her. During the whole thing she showed so much interest and was very sincere. She expressed how in that moment she was going through a lot of hard times with her daughter and other family issues and when we passed by the day before it was a big sign of hope and a light to her. A similar experience happened the next day right before our lunch appointment. It was about 20 minutes before we had to be there so like good little missionaries would do, we took advantage of the time and starting contacting by our lunch appointment. the first door we knocked on, let us in! Her name is Alicia Galvan and since we didnt have much time we started sharing with her about the BOM. We were sharing about how it would bless her life and then she all of the sudden burst into tears and explained all the problems she was going through and how her husband had passed away about a year ago and how she had to raise her 8 kids alone. We were able to help her feel peace and the Spirit and she was very grateful for our visit. The Lord puts prepared people in our path!

So this week went well and we were able to finish it off on Saturday helping build a house a little which was cool! Anyways love you all and have a great week!

-- 

Elder Trent

mission bucket list number 9, Help build a house. Check

We helped an inactive member build his house by making the cement floor. it was fun and then we ended it by eating pizza with his family. and then a surprising treat, strawberry short cake! what? i didnt even know it existed here. it was soo good.