Uritorco!

Dear Family!

Hey guys! Thanks so much for your emails. It’s funny how everyone has mentioned that I almost have a year.  I was thinking a little bit about that too.  Time goes by so fast!!  A year seems so long.  I’m sure the second year will go even faster.

Well you guys called it. I got transferred out of Dean Funes!  Even though it was really hard to leave I was happy for the change.  My new area is Uritorco.  It is right in the capital city, Cordoba.  We are 15 minutes from down town.  I love it!  It is a big ward with lots of active members.  Also we have the biggest and prettiest chapel in all of Cordoba.  All of the Zone Conferences are held there.  But the best news of all is we have a McDonalds and the only Wal-Mart in all of Cordoba in our area boundaries.  So that’s where we do our shopping. Wal-Mart.  I now have unlimited access to snickers, peanut butter and American hamburgers. I’m very excited.  Another thing that is different is there are 4 missionaries in the ward.  So we live in a apartment together.  It will be fun.  I got way used to being with only my comp.  I think a change will be good.  My comps name is Elder Correa.  He is from Chile.  He has 13 months in the mission.  I am hoping that this will be a transfer where I learn a lot.  I hope I don’t die in the apartment since I’m the only ´gringo´.  Only joking, I’m sure it will be great.  One Elder is from Buenos Aires, the other from Formosa and my comp from Chile.  Ok the other highlight about the change is I’m in Elder Andersons Zone.  So I will see him every week at our district meetings.  I’m pretty excited.

Hey did you get the pictures that I send last week?  Let me know.  I’ll send you guys a hand written letter.  I just barely sent one to Elder Thorne about 3 weeks ago, maybe it didn’t get there?  I wish we could just email.  I'll have to write another one.  Maybe it didn’t get there because I tried to smuggle him 2 pesos. :)

I really loved hearing about Scout Camp! That was way sweet. I can’t believe how big Joseph is getting. I think I know why they started crying. 1) Jay was singing with his guitar. Pork and Beans baby. Or 2) Tears of Joy because they didn’t have to go on the 50 miler.  Joseph is really lucky to have the group of friends that he has in the ward.

I had a pretty good last week in Dean Funes. I still can’t really believe that I’m not there anymore.  I was there for such a long time!  Sunday went really well, despite the low church attendance.  I gave a talk.  I talked about The Small and Simple Things.  Alma 37:6.  I talked about how when we do the small and simple things in life with faith and diligence they no longer are small and simple things.  In the Shadowbrook ward my primary teacher (I can’t remember her name and its killing me) taught me that we always need to kneel while we are praying.  By kneeling we show respect, humility, and love. It’s something small, but with faith and diligence it’s not too small. It’s something big and important. When we continue in faith and diligence and then add time, things that are big turn into miracles.  Mom the email you sent me last week was perfect!  I summarized the story and applied that principle.  By allowing that missionary to enter their house, lots of lives have been changed. If we don’t do the small and simple things, the miracles cease. Alma 37:41

If you guys could have seen the lunch that the Mahrs made me you would probably fall over dead!  She made soup and then she made these Ravioli things with this really delicious steak.  For desert we ate Elder Mahrs famous Vanilla/Dulce de Leche pudding and then a fruit pizza.  They are so awesome.  I will miss them so much.  They have really become to be family for me.  I learned so much from them and want to be like them.  It was pretty hard to say goodbye.  It was hard for him too.  I hope my old comp continues to work well.  Elder Mahr needs all the help he can get.

Then after that Bro Cabrera offered to take me around to all the houses to take pictures and say goodbye.  It was way nice of him because it was way cold and it was very windy.   I decided that I really hate saying goodbye. It’s not fun at all.  When we were with the Lopez family they were pulling off everything from their shelves trying to give me stuff. Oh and Sunday their 18 year old daughter went to church.  It was so awesome to see her there. They are going to send me a picture when they go to the temple in October.

Do you like the picture? hahahah That’s way to good huh?  Her name is Julia. She is 83 years old. One of the coolest members in Dean Funes. Three weeks ago her husband died and it has been really hard for her.  Mostly because she has a really bad memory and so she is always reminded that he died and she has to relive it almost.  But Sunday we brought her the sacrament.  It was really special.

Well I can’t wait to tell you about how my first week in Uritorco went. I love you all so much. Enjoy your summer!

Love Riley