Week 3 - Frias

Frias is pronounced the same way. Nothing special. Our area is pretty big. It would take more than 30 minutes to cross the entire area from one corner to the other walking at a pretty good speed. My companion can speak very very little English. It is pretty much just straight Spanish.

This last week we found 17 new investigators but we are really working with about 8 or 9 progressing investigators. The people here I think are a little more accepting and it is a lot easier to get into a house and teach something. Even if they dont get what we are doing as missionaries. But yes the days have been getting pretty warm. It just going to be getting hotter and hotter. 

They do celebrate Halloween here. They have been selling some stuff for it. It will be pretty interesting to see how it goes here. This year I will be dressing up as a missionary!!  About time huh? 

When I mail a letter back to the U.S. I still use American stamps. I am pretty sure that I will be staying here for a while past Christmas. But we will see.  

I have to go. Thanks for your email. I love you guys. See you next week!

Elder Dawson

Week 2 - Frias

I guess on normal days we are able to email early. Last week we couldnt because the normal places they go to were closed so we went to a members house later and email. It was the presidents house...President of the branch we are in. But my time here is actually only one hour ahead of you guys so not that much of a change. I wasnt going to say everything I did this week but still just inform you guys of different things that you would like to know.

So I am in a branch. It is smaller than the Texas one. Yesterday there were about 25 people there. Me and my companion are actually the counselors in the branch. Really weird for me. Next week I am going to be conducting sacrament meeting...first time conducting sacrament meeting in my life...in Spanish. Yesterday was actually Dia de la Madre (Mothers day). I guess this is the only other place in the world that doesnt have it in May.

This is my normal schedule here. It changes in different places in the mission. But this is it for me.

7:30 AM: Wake-up

7:30-8: Exercise

8-9: Prepare and eat breakfast

9-10: Personal Study

10-1: Out working

1: Lunch (usually with a member, sometimes not)

2-5: Siesta (It is a custom that everything pretty much closes and they go home, and sleep or do whatever at home but we do more studies during this time).

5-10: We work more, then come home (at least be home by 10:30)

10-10:30 planning

10:30-11:30: Do whatever we need to do, prepare for bed

In my missionary call packet it shows the addresses where you can send packages and letters. They are two different addresses. One for letters, one for packages. We have been told that really its best to not put a whole lot in a letter. Really just paper and like pictures or something. Not anything that is bulky or chunky. With packages, an Elder from the office goes to a place to check for packages every two weeks. Then they stick them in a black bag that they send with people around the mission. We receive the black bag I think about every two weeks.

I just got your email.

11:49 am

I have to go soon but I will just answer your questions.

Yes the mission paid for travels to our areas. We receive money every month for travels that we will be doing. We have district meeting every other week. We have a training from the zone leaders once a month, and I think there are a few others things we would travel for. But for these meetings we have to travel up to Santiago. It is a three hour or so bus ride...3 hours there and 3 hours back. We are also the only missionaries in Frias. I have no idea how far away we are from other missionaries. Our district leaders area is in Santiago. I didnt have any problems with passport or baggage. Right now I am at our church building emailing. The president has a computer we can use. Apparently the internet use to be really slow but now they just got a new thing and the internet is a lot faster. But yeah it is really starting to warm up.

Week 1 - Frias

So yeah things have been nuts this last week. I will answer your questions.

It took 2 hours from McAllen to Dallas, a 3 hour layover, 10 and a half hours from Dallas to Buenos Aires. We got there and had to wait for other missionaries to arrive that were going to Salta also. We waited for about 3 hours. It took all day Monday and Tuesday morning to get there. We went around to some places and then had to take a flight from Buenos Aires to Salta...2 more hours. It was crazy. There was a giant group of about 20-30 missionaries running [through] the airport because the plane was going to leave soon. We got to Salta late.

Coming off plane in Salta. Greeted by Presidente Lavrino.

On bus at Salta airport headed to ? 

We did a few things and stayed at a tiny hotel and slept. Wednesday we did stuff at the church all day.

Alec with Presidente and Sister Lavrino

At about 8 pm we got our new companions. My companions name is Elder Morena and he is from Peru. He is awesome. I like him a lot.

Alec and Elder Morena

Alec and Elder Morena

[All the pictures above were posted on Sister Lavrino's face book Wednesday morning, October 9]

At 9 or 9:30 we were at the bus waiting to go to our areas. We were on the bus all night. We arrived at our apartment at about 8 in the morning on Thursday. Super tired. But now I am still getting situated a bit and all.

But in Dallas there were a ton of missionaries. Landon did show up. I just got off the phone with you and got up and turned around when he was walking up. I just saw missionaries then took a double take and we recognized each other at the same time. It was super cool. He does look different. [Editor's Note:  Landon (Elder Cobb) is from our Stake and was temporarily serving in California while waiting for his visa to Buenos Aires South Mission. It was fun to know he and Alec were on the same flight together to Argentina].

So my area is called "Frias." It is the last area in the mission. Very bottom. From what my companion tells me it gets super hot here too.

I already miss the United States. Things are really different here, but I still like it. I already miss peanut butter and for some reason maple syrup.

The language is also different. People use the sound "shh" for all the words that have double L and double R, on y´s, and depending on the person they use it on almost all r´s double or not. It helps that I have learned some Spanish in the other mission.

It did rain on Friday and Saturday. It rained a lot. Like some of the streets were completely flooded and we could not cross. There were a lot of kids playing in it and sometimes adults would walk through it and it would be up to their knees. At one point some kids grabbed big rocks and made a path for us to cross. I didnt use my boots. I used the rockport waterproof shoes. They worked good.

[General] Conference was awesome. Missionary work is something absolutely great. Missionaries do have lots of success but if it comes through the members also there is so much more success that comes. A missionary's job is to help someone get through the gate of baptism. We are the only ones that hold those keys in the entire world. With members and missionaries together more people are able to go through. The members also help with the period after entering into the gate. The enduring to the end part. This is something I learned through Pres. Trayner. The gate and everything is in 2 Nephi 31. It is something super important and awesome.

I think that it was Elder Ballard in conference that gave a promise. He said that if you talk to and share the gospel with the people you know millions will come to know of the truth. That is paraphrasing but it is something real. I encourage you to look for that talk. I think it was him but anyways to think of something that you guys can do. Even with the entire family.

Well I got to go. I will send some pictures. I love you guys a lot. I will see you next week. I love you!

Elder Dawson

Week 18 - Last Week in Texas. Argentina or Bust!

We didn't get an email this afternoon, but we received a phone call from Alec early evening from the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport in Texas. We were so excited to know he was on his way to Argentina! Luckily both Neil and I were at home, and it was so good to hear his voice. We were very blessed to have been able to speak with Alec for about 45 minutes. He said that he received a call late the night before (October 6) to tell him to get packed and that he was leaving early the next morning (today). He got to McAllen and then flew from McAllen to Dallas where he had a couple of hours until his plane left about 8 pm to Buenos Aires Argentina.  He said there were a lot of other missionaries at the airport that came from other missions on temporary assignments that would be on the same flight. He said he was very nervous but also excited.  He also got to talk with Andrew, Sean, and Jared.  He couldn't believe he was talking to Sean because his voice had changed so much. We talked mostly about family and news. He had heard about the government shut down and wanted to know what that was all about.

Since he was not able to send an email, he told me over the phone a few things that he wrote down of his last week in Brownsville (which I wasn't able to catch everything he said), but here is the jest of it:

On Pday - got more ties. They went to the Downtown house where they played Nerf wars and capture the flag.

Tuesday, they had district meeting and then went to a restaurant called Rutledge and had hamburgers, chips, and soda. They had district companion study about prayer. 

Wednesday, they went to Chiles with the Castillos and had chocolate lava cake.

Thursday, they had a two-hour lesson with Miguel, who was a policeman in Mexico.  He talked about how he use to torture people and some of the bad things he’d done.

Friday morning, he went to Harlingen (30 minutes north of Brownsville) to get more fingerprints. Later went to Marquez home (branch primary president) for dinner.

Saturday for General Conference – he went to Sis. Izziguirre’s house and ate chicken and beans. They are the best . . . super good chili! After next session, they ate with ? and had homemade fried chicken, rice and salad.

Sunday, Jaine sent them with food:  Two 12-packs of soda, box of 24 crescent rolls, box of Texas cinnamon rolls, two bags of chips, two gallon ice cream, a container of chicken salad.

Week 17 - Brownsville, TX

I will start with my week and try and answer all of your questions.

Monday: We went to go play Conch Soccer! The whole zone went to go play. It was so much fun! We took some sick action pictures. I will send them to you. Soccer is really fun even though I am not super good a it. But that was actually about all that happened that day.

We were late to working because we had to get a Elders bike but we got mixed up on where it was and was pretty much lost so there was a lot of time that was lost.

Tuesday: After District meeting we went to Pizza Patron. A pizza place where we got a Large pizza for $3.99. It was pretty good, I downed the whole thing. We got it on our way to Downtowns house to check out their 1,000 lbs of ties that they got on Monday. I took pictures of their house and of the ties. That was more ties than I have ever seen in my life!!!! We went out and worked on Bikes. It was a hot and sweaty day. But never the less I actually enjoy riding a bike. When I got home I am going to get one. But that night we ate with the Garza family for dinner. They gave me two giant plates that each had chicken wing and thigh. Not like KFC stuff but like cooked at home. Also like spaghetti with a green sauce and a bunch of vegetables. I was absolutely stuffed. Also an ice cream cone which almost made me go over the top and throw up. Good thing I didnt.

Wednesday: We went out on bikes again. It was also a hot and sweaty day. Usually it is always humid too. But we went to lunch with the Castillos. I had floutas with like pickled pig skin. Then I also had two tacos of bisteak (just steak) and also two tacos of barbacoa (which is like a mixture of cow cheek, tongue, and brain). It is good though, I like it. But later that night we were walking down the street to get our bikes when a lady asked for our help. She asked if we could help her get rid of some of her couches. There were three of them. What we did was picked them up and threw them over the fence to the side of the street. It was pretty cool. I have never thrown couches before! I wasnt able to get a picture though. We set up a return appointment with the lady but she wasnt there when we went back another day.

Thursday: That day I went on exchange with Elder Bawden. He is the district leader and also one of the Elders that is in our apartment. Almost absolutely nothing happened that day. We had a super crazy contact where we got in someones door and started teaching in like 30 seconds. We walked up and they were getting groceries from their car. They dropped something and so Elder Bawden just took stuff from her and followed the lady into her house. Then like their daughter came out and we just started talking. Seriously it took like 30 seconds. After it was over we just got back to the car and started laughing about it. Then when we were at our apartment for lunch a dude came to our door and asked if he could use our phone so he could call some people to come get him. He told us that he had just hopped over the fence that morning. He showed us a cut that he got on his hand from climbing the fence. He asked for a little food so we gave him some then he was on his way. It was pretty cool and interesting.

Friday: We went out and worked on bikes again. As usual it was hot and all. But for lunch we went to Sis Izaguierres house. I got a picture of what we ate. In the meat was green slices. That was actually cactus. Yummy!!! Yep...thats all. haha

Saturday and Sunday:........nothing. Nothing was just happening and we couldnt really find or talk to a lot of people.

 Alright so now I will try to answer your questions.

- Yes I got those two packages.

- Mission rules.

  6:30 - arise

  6:30-7:00 - work out

  7:00-8:00 - eat, shower, and prepare for day

  8:00-11:00 - studies, including personal, companion, and Spanish studies.

  11:00-9:00 pm is working.

  We take a lunch hour but not a dinner. Usually people will give us something
  or sometimes we are just stuffed from having lunch or dinner with some
  families.

  9:00-9:30 - planning

  9:30-10:30 - do whatever and prepare for bed.

- I am still living on Chaparral Street. This next coming week is transfers and so
  next Monday   I will be able to let you know if I am staying here or going
  somewhere else in the mission.

- On Sundays I go to the Spanish branch and also the English ward every week. 
  The English ward has all of the missionaries in Brownsville because thats
  the only English ward in the Brownsville area. Everyone here just covers
  the Brownsville area.

 

I am super super excited for Allison and Steven!!!! ITs just super cool. haha that is so awesome that Josh is back. I cant wait to see him again in just a little over 18 months.

So I think that was it. But one more thing I wanted to ask for was more family pictures. But like fun things that the family did and like places we went. Thats about all I have for this week. I am looking forward to conference this week. Hopefully I can see it in English and get the most out of it. But its all good. So I will put pictures in another email. I will hear from you next week. I love you!!!

-Elder Dawson

                                             House pictures:  two study rooms.

Week 16 - Brownsville, TX

Well another week has gone by. They go by pretty fast. It seems like I was just here the other day emailing you guys. But so here is my latest week in the mission. Week 4 of my third transfer.

Monday: We had to take the car to Pep-Boys in the morning. Went for a oil change and getting a tire fixed. But while there they found another problem. Long story short we went at 7 am and didnt get our car back until about 12 pm. It was horrible. We were not able to get any ties because everyone else got to them first. We are always the first to get them because we are the closest. We mainly just went and played basketball at the church. That was my P-Day.

Tuesday: We had district meeting at about 12:30. After we went to a little restaurant that an investigator, of the other Elders we live with, works at. It is a super tiny place but it was super good. They just make hamburgers, sell drinks, and chips. Thats it. Super small place. So skip to that night. Elder Guillette and I were walking back to our car. It had been raining all day and so it had been wet and stuff. He went to go jump over a puddle to get to the car and his feet slipped when he jumped and so he fell in the mud. It splashed up on his tie, his pants, and his face. A couple spots got on his shirt. It wasnt super bad but it was super funny! Oh man, I was dying laughing. After that he cleaned up at the church and then had a lesson with one of our investigators Miguel. He is a boss guy! All he needs is a spiritual confirmation and he would be done for. Afterwards we went to Bro. Bocanegras house and ate dinner. I dont remember what it was but it was pretty good. I dont think there is a hispanic food that I dont like!

Wednesday: Castillo's!!!!! They took us to Rudy's again this week. I had another brisket sandwich, coleslaw, and peach cobbler. Really yummy! I like Rudy's a lot. The only other thing that happened on Wednesday was that we had a lesson with an Investigator. They are JR and Fatima. Super cool couple. Love having us over and teaching them. They just need an answer about the Restoration mainly. So great!

Thursday: We went over to Sis. Izzaguirres house that morning and ate Tamales. She made TONS of them. We didnt have a whole lot of time so we downed them. They are super good. You guys need to learn how to make Mexican food because I know that you would love it. The tacos they make here and so much better than tacos at home. haha I just absolutely love the food. That night we got more food from some members. They made hamburgers and gave it all to us to bring home and eat. So we did. They were yummy! Also that night we had had another lesson with Miguel. He told us that he was going to start bringing his granddaughter to church with him. Super Excited!

Friday: That afternoon for weekly planning the power went out. Later when we left the apartment (to pick up more food from a member) we saw that they were working on it down the street. The member was Jaine! She got us KiKi's again. I was going to take a picture of all the food but I forgot. She also got us a 12 pack of Root Beer a 12 pack of Coke, and two gallons of Blue Bell ice cream! Heaven!!! And that was Friday.

Saturday and Sunday: We sat down with a Dad and his two sons. They were really cool and they like us a lot. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted. They are excited to do it and come to church. We also made Biscuits and Gravy in the apartment from scratch. Well the biscuits from scratch but not the gravy. It was pretty yummy. We also had a district comp study. We all got together and watched the Elder Holland talk called "The First Great Commandment". Also read the talk “Becoming a Consecrated Missionary.” I want to invite you guys to watch the Elder Holland Talk, as a family. I also would like to invite you guys to read the Consecrated Missionary talk by Tad R Callister. You can do that separately or together as a family. This can also be for everyone else in the family. Like Grandma, grandpa, and everyone else. I think that they are super great talks and really inspiring.

So that was my week. But Its all good.

But I hope that you guys all have a good week! I hope work and school is all good. I love you a lot!

-Elder Dawson

Week 15 - Brownsville, TX

I will start with my past week.

Monday: We went to the house of the other Elders in our District. It is a legit house and it is really nice. I will have to take pictures while I am there next time. But we went over to have a nerf war. We first went to home depot to get two foot pvc pipes that were big enough to fit a nerf bullet. We would run around the house shooting them at each other. They shoot faster than any nerf gun that you can buy. We werent able to find the whistle darts so we used the regular. They were a lot of fun. The whistle ones would be super fun to play with!! Monday night we went and sat down with a family of 6. The Herrera family. They are super cool. They have been taught in the past and they know a lot. They have even been to a conference. But we are doing our best to work with them. We are going to teach them the restoration tonight.

Tuesday: That afternoon we had district meeting, then that night we went to the Ortiz house to have dinner with them. It was Chicken, rice, and beans. A classic Hispanic plate. But I really love it even though I eat it a ton. Once that was over we went to a members house to have a FHE, only one other person showed up and none of our investigators were able to come. But we had fun anyway. We had an activity together, and then we did a little missionary work with the members. Using a pamphlet that we have which is called "101 Ways to do Member Missionary Work". Its pretty cool.

Wednesday: We were up early and out the door at 7 because we had Zone Conference and we needed to be in Harlingen. We were able to listen to Pres. and Sister Maluenda, the AP's [Assistant to the President], and from our Zone Leaders. It was fun. We left Harlingen probably around 5 or 6 in the afternoon. On the way back we met up with the Castillos at Chickfila! Oh man it was awesome. I just really love the Castillos!!

Thursday: That day I went on exchanges with the other Elders in our apartment. That day I rode around on a bike. It was fun. I dont mind riding a bike. We visited a investigating family that they had just to check up on them and make sure they were still good for the lesson they were going to have the next day. But that family is super cool. The dad is a cook! He made them cheesecake once. But when we stopped by they gave us some Flan that he had made. It was Delicious!

Elder Newland and Alec

But that night, Elder Newlands tire popped and so we went to a gas station to put air in it so the slime in the tire would seal the hole. We started the air machine but then it stopped working. Then we went to a members house so he could help us fix it. After about maybe an hour or so we got it taken care of and then we were on our way to talk with a recent convert. As we were talking to her we were getting attacked by mosquitoes. Freak mosquitoes here are bad! You know how normal mosquitoes land on you then take off to find a different place to land? Well these mosquitoes are super huge and they land on you then crawl around. I had about 20-30 bites. I have heard a trick that keeps mosquitoes away. I havent been able to try it yet but another Elder says it works. Apparently you just take a dryer sheet or two and stick it in your pocket or in your sock. Thats all thats to it.

Friday: Friday we really didnt have a whole lot happen. We went and had lunch with the Ortiz's again. That night we went and had a follow up lesson with some people. We had left them one of the Gospel of Christ pamphlets to read. We asked them if they had been able to read it and they said "Yeah, we read it last night when we were in the tub together bathing," so in our minds we were like "Oh My Gosh". We just said like "Cool, thats great you read them, what did you learn?" It was pretty weird...

Saturday: We got food from Jaine. It was Chinese food. Yummy Yummy! haha and so that was about how Saturday went.

Sunday: After Spanish church a member (Sis. Nieto, the seminary teacher) gave us some food to take home to eat. We ate it all up super fast then we went over to the English church. After church we had lunch and then went to the Herrera family's house to set up a lesson for today. While we were there they gave us some cake that they had from a party on Saturday night, and also some brisket and shrimp! Holy Smokes it was good. The dad likes to cook a lot.

So now I am recording stuff for this week. But it is still a little hot here; it is more humid now than hot. We have been having rain almost every day for the last two or three weeks. This last week and this week we have been having tons of rain because of a hurricane that is hitting the cost down in Mexico. But yeah my knee is doing good. It still has a little scab but it will be gone soon. And for the font, I helped clean some. I actually didnt gag or anything, surprising now that I think about it and how I usually am. haha

I get Bens pictures every week. I logged on and there are about 10 or so emails from him. Thats so cool that Jessica will be coming soon. That doesnt seem like 18 months. Next month I will be hitting my 6th month mark! Wow, thats weird.

I am so stoked for Allison!!!!! Man, super happy. That is cool she will be going to the temple a lot. I cant wait to go to the temple when I get back. But yeah I have heard about Stevens neighbor. He sent me an email talking about it. That is really cool that he was able to baptize him. I am super excited for Steven too. We are all going to be speaking Spanish to each other!! That is super cool.

But man, that is about all I have done this week.

This is for the ward:
"Hey Everyone, I hope that you all are doing great today. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for all of your support and love. I miss all of you and all the fun I had back there. You guys are the best and I am happy for everything that you have done for me. All my leaders and friends. One thing that I am super excited for when I get back is that (1) I will be able to speak Spanish, (2) I am going to be best amigos with all of you Spanish Members, and (3) we are going to make Carne Asadas together!!!! Oh man you have no idea how awesome that would be. Thank you for everything! You guys are the best!! I love you!!"

 So yeah, I hope you guys have a great week! I will see you next week! I love you lots!

-Elder Dawson

This is just like a suburban that is Jacked out of its mind.

                                             These two are just what our chapel is like.