From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: Hooray, Temple!
Date: 2 March 2004 1:14:34 PM EST

ĮHola!

Guess what? I got to go to the temple today. It's been a while, but I feel lucky, for Elder Adcox (who was in Villarrica with me) it was his first time since he left the MTC, in December of 2002. It was really cool with everything in Spanish. It was kind of weird because they used "vosotros" (which is used in the scriptures and some parts of Spain for "you guys") all the time instead of "ustedes" (which is what the rest of the spanish-speaking world uses for "you guys"), but that probably doesn't mean too much to anyone if they don't speak Spanish. Oh well. It was really good to be able to go again. Also, Presidente Gavarret said that since we had that special conference with Elder Clayton (which I am going to tell you about en seguida, uh, coming up) and went to the temple, we're not going to have Zone Conference next Monday, nor any other day this change. Oh well. But yeah, today is our P-Day instead of yesterday, so that we could go to the temple. But yeah, about last week...

On Monday night, we went and taught a new member charla with Claudelino, and then had to go to Thompson to talk with their branch president, who was thinking about renting a bus to go to the thing for New Members with Elder Clayton (which I haven't told you about yet either). He was pretty sure he could do it, but not positive, and said to talk to him on Tuesday. After we were done with that, we went and had a Family Home Evening with the Duartes (the YM and RS presidents) and a couple of the young men who were over at their house. That was pretty cool.

On Tuesday, we had our meetings in „emby like normal. Then Elder Edwards and I stayed in Ytororo and studied while Elders Urling and Yrigoitia went to Thompson to talk to the branch president. He did get the bus, so then we had to tell everyone that we were taking that they had to be at a church at a certain time unless they wanted to go by themselves. So that was a fun, fast-walking afternoon, and we ended it by coming home and getting ready, and then going and waiting at the church for the bus. Everyone made it except one person, so that was good. I'm pretty sure I explained it last week, but if I didn't, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, the area authority for Paraguay, Uruguay, y  Argentina came and wanted to talk to all of the new members of 2003-2004. Before it started, I was talking, and I saw one of my friends (he lived in the apartment next door) from BYU who is in the North Mission. That was pretty cool. Anyway, the conference was really good. It was in the capilla Moroni, next door to the temple. Both mission presidents and their wives and the temple president and his wife bore their testimonies, and then Sister and Elder Clayton talked. It was really good. All of the Elders had to stand up the whole time on the sides and in the back because there were so many people, but it was alright. After it was over, we came home and took people home and then came home and went to bed to be ready to get up bright and early the next morning.

At 4:50, in fact. We got up and dressed and went to capilla Moroni again for a conference with Elder Clayton and us (Elder Urling and I) (and all the other missionaries in Zones 1-3), which we had to be there for at 7:00. So he talked to us again, as did his wife, and Pte. y Hna. Gavarret. It was a really good conference, and before it started, we all got to meet Elder Clayton and his wife, like at a wedding reception. So that was a good morning. After that, we came home and ate and studied, and then went to do a follow-up visit on a guy we taught a 1» charla to last week. But he was busy and hadn't read yet, so we said we'd come by later. After that, we went and took our clothes out to the laundry lady, and we went and talked to some members. After that, we were supposed to have a charla at the capilla, but the people never showed up. Actually, I think they did, but they were way late, and we went to a baptism in Ypanˇ. It was a pretty good one. After it was over, we took home the people we had taken to the baptism.

On Thursday, we got a call from the Zone Leaders that we had to go to Thompson to tell Elder Yrigoitia that he had to call Presidente. So we had to go do that. I'm not sure what was wrong with their phone. Anyway, afterwards, we came home and went and talked to Florent’n, and then went and got fallar-ed, and then went to Valdelice's for lunch. It was pretty good. In the afternoon, we had to go to Thompson again to do a baptismal interview. Then Elder Edwards came back with me and we taught a new member charla to Claudelino. Then we went to the Duarte's for a little bit, then went and talked to Adela. She said her aunt had been telling her things about the church, but she already pretty much knew they weren't true, so we just talked to her for a little bit and she was fine by the end of the charla. After that, we went and set up a cita on the way home. And Elders Urling and Yrigoitia came back and then the Thompsoners went home.

On Friday, we did divisiones again, but this time just with the Elders Fernandez and Black. I went with E. Black to their side. We got fallar-ed a couple times and then visited an inactive lady that recently moved back here. Then we had a lunch cita with some members, so we went to that and then came home. In the afternoon, we were back to normal. We went to Eugenia's and talked with Josˇ and set up a charla with him. Then we went and taught a charla 1 to a lady and her son that stopped us on the street the other night and asked us when we could come over. That's always nice. And it was a really good charla too. After that, we went and talked to some members, one of which has a daughter that's not a member but wants to hear the charlas. We finished the day just talking with members.

On Saturday, we had charla with Adela, but she had gone somewhere, so we went and visited some inactives, then went and taught a charla 1 to Paola, the daughter of the member that we talked to yesterday. It went really well. After that, we stopped by Eugenia's house to invite Josˇ to come with us to Thompson for a baptism, and they gave us some lunch. That was unexpected, but nice of them. In the afternoon, we went to the church and cleaned it. Then we went and talked to some investigators and got some people to go with us to Thompson for the baptism. We were meeting Josˇ and his siblings at the church, but we got there later than we wanted to and then had to wait 20 minutes for the right bus, and there ended up being other members that were at the church and wanted to go with us too. So we all went and made it just in time. The Gavarrets were there, which was a surprise. It was a good baptism. After it was over, we took everyone home. That was fun.

On Sunday we had 91 people in church. That's the highest we've had since I've been here. The meetings were all normal. After church, Claudelino and Lu’z Fretes got the Aaronic Priesthood, so that was cool. After church, we had lunch with Eugenia. It was pretty good. In the afternoon, we did divisiones again with Elder Black and Fernandez, and this time Black came with me to our side. We visited some members, and Adela and some other members, so that was good. And that was it.

YEsterday was a holiday, because some lousy general they had in their big war died a long time ago. We taught a charla 2 to Paola, and she agreed to be baptized. That was good. We stopped by the capilla on the way home and the youths were having an activity, and they gave us some lunch, which was good. In the afternoon, we went and taught a new member charla to Josˇ and Sole Duarte. That went well. Then we went to Susi's (we taught her charla 1 on Friday) and did a follow-up. They had read, so that was nice. We would have taught them a charla 2, but we didn't have time because on the other side of our area, we had a Noche de Hogar with the Flia. Baez. We talked about the Apostasy, and it went pretty well. And that was all.

So, that was it for last week. Good to hear everything's going fine up there. Have a good week and enjoy the presents.

I Love You alls!!!
Love,
Josh