ELDER RILEY WATTS: Sleepy Saint Joseph

Dear Family,

Hey guys how’s it going? I hope that you all are doing as well as I am. We had a really awesome week this last week here in Dean Funes. It sounds like you are having a pretty fun time too. I really love Mondays to hear how everything is going. Ok I really hate to admit this but I just finished writing the email and it somehow erased. All of it but the first three sentences. I really hate every single computer in Argentina – haha. Oh well, I’ll see if I can rewrite what I already did.... I was really hoping that Caitlin would have had her Baby by the time you emailed! I am way excited! Caitlin and Tyler you are in my Prayers. (p.s. - Catlin you need to slow down a little bit so that mom has the strength to help with my kids when my wife is pregnant).

I was so sad to hear about Joseph needing surgery! I hope he is doing ok and that he is taking the news ok. We are really blessed to have the technology that we have to correct these types of problems. But Dad is right maybe he’ll be left with some black man hops. Tell the Doctor to study the leg structure of MJ or Lebron James. You may as well go extreme with this haha. I hope that the kids help Dad out around the house. Surely he has already gone to the store and bought pop tarts and captain crunch. I wish I was there to enjoy it haha. I hope you guys have a great week.

We had a good week. I still feel like we take 5 steps forward and 4 steps back. But I really appreciated the scripture in Nephi that Dad shared with me (2 Nephi 28:30). Line upon Line is so true. A lot of time we forget that the members here have only been members anywhere from 3 weeks to 9 years maximum. Sometimes as the missionaries we expect them to know everything. We expect them to act as if they have been members for generations and generations. The people are awesome here. They are so different. So distinct. Sometimes when I get frustrated inside for what they do, or what they don’t do or for laziness, I take a look at their neighbors and you can truly see the difference in the lives of the two families. It’s obvious which family has the Gospel. I really am learning a lot from them. In Priesthood a Brother said it perfectly - Somos Pocos, Peros Somos Buenos. We are small, but we are good. There was only 4 or us. But it’s so true. It doesn’t change the fact that the church is true. We are good. We are doing what the Lord wants us to do and serving him.

Today was awesome. There is a man in our ward named Goyo Cabrera. We have lunch with him and his wife every Tuesday. He is so cool. He is insane. He is 65 years old but acts like an 18 year old. He is hilarious. He has wanted to take us to the Sierras and to tour some little towns so today we did that. At 8 in the morning we left. I took about 100 pictures today. It was so pretty. First we drove through the Sierras and went to a town called San Jose de la Dormida (sleepy Saint Joseph). It is really pretty. Not too many people live there. Then we went to Tulumba. I have been hearing about Tulumba ever since I got here. It’s known for its cobblestone streets, wild horses, and Cathedrals. It’s kind of sad because the river dried up about 20 years ago. Goyo said it’s practiculy a ghost town. I wonder if it has more than 200 people. But it was so pretty. I felt like I took a few steps back in time.

Everyone there was so nice their and so curious as to what we were doing. They have a hill in the town that is pretty big. It’s called Christ’s hill because it has a statue of Christ on top. So we went and took some pictures of it. It was a way fun P day. I hope the email sends with the pictures... I guess we’ll see. Thanks for everything guys. I love you all so much. You are and will be in my prayers this week. Have a good week this week!

Love Riley

Here are a few pictures from Argentina:

Sunrise in Dean Funes: