November 15, 2010-Grateful

heyyy everyone!
hey so i didnt even remember that michael howells had gotten home already! wow it feels like just a couple days ago when he left. thats so awesome! be sure to tell him that i say hi and to tell him congrats for me.

well its been another good week for elder gutierrez and i here in el triangulo. i think that i told you all that we were hoping to take out more baptismal dates with people this week, but unfortunately we havent been able to do it. i am really excited though cause there have been alot of really good things that are happening...as you know, milagros and agustina are going to get baptized on the 27th still. we had stake conference here on sunday, and we were able to take mary and agustina there. milagros couldnt go cause she woke up and was feeling kinda sick. but shes all good now. mary and agustina really the conference and all of them are really excited for the 27th...rossana is still getting ready for her baptism on the 27th also. we´ve been working really hard with her cause she has smoking problems and also drinks. the drinking isnt really a problem for her, but shes been smoking since she was like 15. so this week when we went to her house, we brought her a big back of mints and hot candys so that whenever she gets the urge to smoke, she can just suck on a mint hahaha. hopefully that it works. she seemed to like the idea haha...we´ve also got the baptism of hugo for the 4th. he wasnt able to make it to the conference on sunday, but really really wants to get baptized. like as soon as possible, so he keeps telling us that ¨si-o-si¨ hes going to church the next to weeks so that he can get baptized hahah. its pretty crazy cause when we first found hugo, i felt like something wasnt right. like he was just so excited to get baptized and asking us when he could be baptized and all this stuff. like i was way excited too, but i just felt like something was weird. but now that we´ve talked to him more, it just looks like hes one of those really prepared guys that you find every once in a while.
Ok so ive got another crazy story for all of you. so the other day, we were walking in the morning and just kinda trying to find people that we could teach. i saw a guy outside of his house and decided that we should talk to him. so when we first started talked, he seemed like he was gonna try and bible bash with us. but we just kinda bore our testimonies, instead of bashing back at him, and he completely changed his attitude. he let us in and started talking to us. but here´s the crazy part, when we asked if we could start with a prayer, he stands up and takes out a revolver and a huge hunting knife. the first thing i thought was, ¨crap, i was hoping to live a little longer than that.¨ hahah but he just took them out and set them on the table. then he asks us, ¨do you know why i have these on me?¨ and i was like, ¨hopefully they arent to kill us...¨ hahah but he told us that he always carries them on him and that he was a marine before he retired. hes just super super protective and wants to protect himself from all the people ¨outside of his house.¨ im just really happy that we got along with him well while we were talking to him outside of his house. but hes turned out to be a really awesome guy...just a little intimidating with the gun and knife haha. but its cool cause the first time we talked to him, he told us that there were 3 churches or doctrines that he thought could be the true ones of Jesus Christ, one being ours. the second time we came by, he told us that hes started to believe that ours is the true church. so yeah, i thought that you guys might get a kick out of that little story. you just never know whats gonna happen here in el triangulo.
mom, as far as thanksgiving goes, lets just say that most people dont even know what you do for thanksgiving so im not expecting any kinds of plans for that day. argentines seriously have a holiday like everyday for whatever reason, but they dont celebrate thanksgiving. kind crazy huh. oh and to answer your question on whether you or dad look any different, ive gotta say no. i guess that means you dont look any older, so ill bet youre both happy to hear that ...dad, bummer that the lakers had to lose on moms big day, but from what people have been telling me, its sounds like we´re still dominating. be sure to keep me posted on those guys. sean and emily, how are you guys doin now that the snow is about to start falling. wow that sounds so crazy cause here its starting to get alot hotter. but im actually super excited for the heat. i guess im just more of a sun guy. paige, so whats new of there at home? are you doing anything besides dating and stuff like that hahah just kidding. bridg, i saw the picture that mom sent with you just in the backround. what are you doing? youre making such a dorky face hahah. its pretty funny though.
well i think that thats about it for this week. other than those things that i told you, its been pretty normal. elder gutierrez and i are hoping to have a better week this week and just keep getting these investigators ready for their baptisms. id really appreciate all of your prayers for them...i love you all. i hope you have an awesome week. oh and before i forget, it sounds like we´re gonna change our pday next week to wednesday again. so plan on me writing wednesday instead of monday. until then...
con cariño,
elder ryan hall