Saren has arrived in Argentina!

So now my p days are on mondays here!!! exciting!!! and i have a new address but i dont know what it is... i´ll get it to you all next week. sorry! but oh my goodness this is sooooo crazy im here!!! i dont know if you got my letter yet but i have a companion hermana roy who is from niceragua? i dont know how to spell it.... she doesnt know that much english so we have our own spanglish to understand and translate for me... hahha i have to laugh at times cause this is so crazy. but over just the days im here im able to understand the jist of the conversations we have with others... sometimes i just think oh they´re going to break in to english (like the teachers at the mtc) haha but no they dont... its sometimes frustrating but it will come over time. i just have to be patient. this place is crazy and i didnt realize how much walking we would be doing.... im going to be working off pounds down here! and sweat it off too and yes i have sunscreen i´ll put it on! ... it has rained ever other day here... and when i say rain its more like a down pour! on sunday we couldnt even walk in the streets cause they were like rivers. the bus we were on was having a hard time driving through it! i love it.... we were walking down this road with all these small house barking dogs at every house the rain pouring and here we are in our missionary attire and umbrellas. i was thinking to myself this is so legit! haha... nothing compared to the movies!!! oh the food here is to die for!! they have flan a yummy desert, their icecream is delish.... mhmm. i just actually had some. and the people oh i love them all with my heart even if i dont know them or cant understand them 80 percent of the time.
our first lesson was on friday with a new convert named angelica. she lived in this little old house with her daughter and her granchildren. it was exciting! cause i am able to explain through my slow spanish(castillano they call it down here) my part and my testimony!
then on saturday we taught this awesome family about the plan of salvation. we started with a song i know my redeemer lives and it was amazing how strong the spirit i could feel at the beginning of the song! they had really good questions about what happens to those who dont have a chance to hear about the restoration because the father explained they were so lucky to have us there in his house explaining to them about the plan our heavenly father has for us. i also bore my testimony about how i would see my great grandma again. the father knew a little bit of english so he asked me if i truly believed this... and i said no i dont believe i know! i cant tell you how blessed i feel walking these streets and thinking here are these people needing this message i have for them! and they dont even know. my second day here, really the first we went out to preach, hermana roy was surprised i did so many contacts, meaning talking to people in the streets or on the collectivo (the bus). but really i would just smile and ask how they were doing and talk about the rain if it was raining that day! then hermana would say the rest mostly... hhaha. so ya its been funny. yesterday we taught these three children who want to be baptized!!! so we set a date for them on the 12th of december!! hestons birthday!! they´re names are leandro, andrea, and nazarena. they are around jake maisie and hestons age. oh and they´re house was a poor poor sight. i´ve never seen anyone in anything place like this. but they are great! we are teaching them tonight more about the importance of reading and praying im excited to go and teach them again! its amazing the love you just grow instantly.
oh my flight was great too! i didnt get any sleep cause i was talking with the elders who are in the same mission as i am. they were awesome taking care of me every second. haha.
the ward we are working with is great! i might be playing the piano next sunday for them cause they really dont have anyone to play in sacrament. there is about 50 to 60 members! oh and on saturday night we went to this dance performance they had for the stake. these ballet dancers! haha.. we had some investigators that came along with us too! their names were angelica and migaela. they are about maisie´s age... very cute girls!!
there is another hermana that serves in my same zone who does hair as well! her name is hermana scott and she is from new hampshire! she was telling me it took her like a month to get the language and everything they were saying so just keep praying for me. its coming along good i just need to be patient. we ate at a members house yesterday and they told me i was sounding good for it being my first week here! all the people whether members or investigators are really understandable and very nice about it!
there hasnt been any different animals here... but we did see tons and tons of little frogs after it rained on saturday! they were probably the size of a dime. good stuff! well it sounds like all of you are doing great i love you all and just remember to count your many many MANY blessings we have. i dont know if i am helping all these people with my broken down spanish or if this is really for me cause it has been an awakening that there is so much more to this life then what i imagined. i was just thinking that this morning when i was reading my scriptures. how all those great prophetic missionary scriptures come alive when you are actually in the work!i love it! i hope you are all doing great! have a great week and do your best to choose the right!i love you all so very much!

Hello my favorite family en el mundo!!!!!!!!!
so as you know i only have like three days left here!!! agggggggghhh!!! how exciting! im excited to get down there in the good old argentina! so the next time i email you it will be when i'm there!!! fun!
there's really not much to say about this week... it went super fast! we have been all lucky to get pumped from the teachers cause there's three of them that served in our missions! rosario, buenos aires south, and buenos aires west ( which is the BEST!) yep... so im excited. the teacher that went to my mission was talking about how humid it gets down there especially after it rains. he said he would wear his coat in the morning and then within a few seconds it would clear up and be way hot. i have two other elders that are going to be assigned to me for our flight down there. i guess we're the only three going to BAW! hopefully all the stuff you sent me will fit in my bags... haha.
oh and today we ate in the temple cafeteria... and it was divine.. i guess i didnt realize how bad the food is here sometimes... but its all good!
oh and thank shaun zimmerman for me! he sent such a great letter to me this week! it got me all excited to meet up with hermana lopez... hopefully! if i do see her i will definitley give her a major hug for him! and for how fun she is! and thank you for all your letters my crazy fam! i love you all so very much.. know that you are always in my prayers. i always am comforted knowing the lord is watching over each and everyone of you. you have all helped me get to this point in my life and have always encouraged me to do better. thank you. im so happy we are sealed for eternity! im so excited to bring such a glad tiding to those argentine people! we had a meeting awhile ago explaining that the people in argentina are italians who speak spanish, who dress like their english and act like their french! haha so it will be interesting!
ill give you my testimony in spanish kinda.. haha:
yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo es verdadero. yo se que el libro de mormon es la palabra de dios. yo se las familias pueden estar juntos para eternidad porque jesucristo murio por nosotros. dios nos ama. somos sus hijos. El quiere nosotros regresar otro vez. jesucristo he preparado un camino para nostros. pongamos sus mano y camino con tuyo. en el numbre de jesucristo amen.
there ya go!! know the church is true and to always have a testimony on your lips! as elder holland would say! love you all and ill talk to you on monday!!! yay!!!!!!

Nov. 13th

Oh my favorite family ever!!!!
I hope you are all doing great! it sounds like it! this week has been kinda crazy... wedbnsday we got to host the new missionaries again! i love showing them around and just telling them how amazing this place really is! yesterday was an amazing busy day too! each day i get closer and closer to leaving this place!! crazy!!! anyways we called geraldine, the lady in the rc, and she committed to being baptized! it was so exciting!!! she has been taking the missionary discussions and we were telling her this was going to be one of the last times we call her. and then we've been teaching two other progressing investigators yesterday and the lessons went really well! it truly does pay off to pray hard and to work hard like grandpa put that night. i love being busy and knowing it is all for my father in heaven!! oh and guess what came today!!!?!?!?!?
FLIGHT PLANSS!! i leave on the 23rd of this month. my flight leaves at 12:10pm and then we'll be getting in dallas at 3:45pm then leaving dallas at 7:35pm and arriving in buenos aires at 10:05am.... and the elders were telling me that ill prob get to call you all during my time at the dallas airport!! that would be exciting!!!
oh i am scared out of my mind to think i'll be there in 10 days!!! im actuall doing really good with the language... im starting to notice i remember words a lot easier ( maybe it will help my memory storing abilities) but im sure it will totally different once we get off the airport! this last sunday my companions and i gave a lesson on the book of mormon and how important it is in missionary work! i gave my shpill on how you should use it when teaching! can i just say i love this book! and this is pathetic that its taken me almost 22 years to truly love this book and appreciate what it holds for us!
and we can use it so many ways in our lives today! just with likining it to ourselves or trying to feel what the prophet or the people at that time were going through. it reminds me of hollands talk on the sunday conference this fall! i loved. oh and dont you love the picture on the ensign this month of king benjamin! i love king benjamin... that is us every fall and spring pitching up our tents to hear the wonderful words the prophet, thomas s. monson, has for us! i love you all so very much!

Hola!!!
What a great place this is!! so not only did i get to see sarah i got to be her host and show her around!! how exciting is that! when i was waiting in line with all the host sisters i saw her pull up with her family! it took everything in me not to scream and run up to her! gotta remember quiet dignity and all that good stuff! so when she was done crying and hugging her family a million times she walked up to me and it was really amazing. and we also have all the food times, gym, and most of the meetings together so ill get to see her everyday! and our p days are the same!
oh and before that i got to host a good friend of mine from logan as well! her name is kelly goulding and she was in my ward all last school year! i didnt even know she was coming on a mission. she'll be going to the oakland temple mission! and next week i get to host again! and ill probably get my flight plans and everything else!
and thanks for those genealogy stories! i loved that one about merriner merrill cause just the other day i was talking with one of the elders about that story! so i was excited to tell him it was my grandfather! we truly have such rich blood in these veins! im proud to be a hobbs and a hancock. i love you all so dearly and thank you for writing me. i love getting letters and hearing how great you all are doing.
we have this progressing investigator in the tec... one of the teaching buildings. his name is bobby jameson and his story is that he has a wife and two girls and he's from new jersey. his father died about two years ago and has been struggling with it. he was raised catholic but wasnt too religious. we first taught him how families can be together forever through the atonement of jesus christ. when we were teaching him, i truly felt the spirit just guided us to teach to his needs.
@     chow