March 17, 2014

March 17, 2014 

Hello, my dearest family and friends.

Not a whole ton to write this week, but...we had TRANSFERS! My new companion is Elder Buckles. He hails from the Northwest, from a little village called Seattle. Elder Buckles knew Tanner Tucker earlier on in his life. Neil Buckles is his full name in case Tanner is interested in this. Anyway, we get along really well and he is SUPER down to do work here in Clorinda with me so I am really stoked about this transfer.

Like I said, we like to work. We have been doing a ton of work this week and we had three of our investigators in the church. I can't remember if I mentioned this family before, but we have been working a lot with the familia Sosa. The mom is a member but stopped going to church when she was like 13 or so. Her sister served a mission in Salta but is inactive now. Not bitter, just lazy. Anyway, Elder Murphy and I happened upon them and lo and behold, they want their kids to be baptized. They live in the farthest part of our area, so it's a good solid 40 minute walk to the church haha. We have been teaching them and Elder Buckles and I put four of the kids on a date for their baptism. So on Sunday, we took a cab to that part of our area to pass by their house and walk with them. We were also passing for some other investigators in the area but we totally got hung out to dry. Totally dogged us. BUT, the familia Sosa was ready to go! One of the little girls didn't want to come, but she said she'll come next week. It was super neat to see the willingness of this family to wake up early and walk over three miles to go to the church. When we stopped by later that afternoon, Hermana Sosa asked us about blessings and if we could give her one. She is having some health problems and is kinda scared. We explained about how we have the Priesthood and where it came from. Then we explained to her that blessings are predicated upon the faith of those involved and ultimately on the will of the Lord. Anyway, we gave her a blessing and it was really spiritual. We had to translate the words in the anointing and sealing into Spanish because neither of us had our manuals in Spanish haha. Classic gringos. Anyway, super stoked for this family and they need your prayers!

We walk a lot...

Anyway...Elder Sotelo had his birthday on Saturday. I bought him a doll and it's pretty creepy. Perfect. Just about to move out of their pension, which is sad.

We were walking the other night and I kicked something and it flung some sort of foul mixture all over my pants. It appeared to be a smooth, flavorful lemon yogurt mixed with dog vomit and alcohol. A little burn in the nostrils when you smell it.

Everyone here is sad that Elder Murphy left. Buckles is kind of annoyed that he has to live up to the legend of Murphy. He keeps telling everyone, "Sorry I'm not Elder Murphy. He's gone. I'm Elder Buckles." Hahaha it's classic. He's doing great though and we work really well together.

Well, I'm pretty sure that's all. I love you all so much and you're all in my prayers. ""Don't stop believing...hold on to that feeling." -Journey" -Alec Sipple

Take care of yourselves out there.

-Elder Sipple

This is us at the house of the familia Rodas yesterday for Elder Sotelo's birthday lunch. That's me feeding E'Sotelo his birthday cake and the other white person is Elder Buckles! Also, I know my head looks like it's about three feet long and I'm not sure why. I promise it's not real, it's just an optical illusion. Maybe. Peace.

 Our zone before transfers

 Papa Murphy leaving his boy, Sipple.

 Elder Morrin and I getting another one of our signature awkward pictures before he left.

March 10, 2014

Not too much action this week, but I will start out with some of the highlights.

So, we have been trying to find people because really, after we baptized Pabla, we didn't really have many people progressing. So, we have been clappin' houses like our job is to go to houses and clap our hands outside of them. Like that. ANYWAY, we were out one evening and we came up to this house. A man was outside with his daughter and their neighbor. We started talking to him and asked him what he was doing. He said that he was cooking, so obviously we asked what he was cooking. He told us he was cooking carpincho, which is the same thing as a capibara. Anyway, we hadn't heard of people eating it before (apparently it's super common) so we were kinda surprised! He was telling us how it really was carpincho and then he invited us to come over and eat later that night haha! Our response...MAS VALE QUÉ SÍ! You know it! So, long story short, we returned later that night, a little to their surprise because they didn't think we actually would come back ha. We ate with Sosa, the guy who was cooking, and two of his friends. His friends were a little awkward at first, but they warmed up to us and we were all talking and laughing for an hour or so. The meat was straight up incredible, too! These guys were telling us how they are hunters and eat carpincho, yacaré, lion (like a mountain lion I guess...or puma...they said lion) and a bunch of other stuff. THEN they asked us if we like fishing and if we wanted to go with them. we said we didn't know if we could, but that we would love to go haha. All of this on the first night that we met them! I would normally be a little more cautious, but the people here are seriously so friendly and nice that stuff like this happens regularly. So, cool, random carpincho dinner with people we didn't know. Next.

The ZLs pay the hermana's rent to this guy that works right by our pension. When we were in his office, he had this stuffed yacaré. I asked where I could get one or how much one would cost. He said he didn't know, but he would ask the guy who owned it. When the ZLs returned to his office, the owner was there and he just straight up gave it to them hahaha. So now we have a stuffed yacaré in our pension!!

We had a great baptismal service on Saturday. We had 8 baptisms in our zone and 1 for the ward. There were a ton of people and it was really spiritual. We brought one of our old investigators, Ramon Ayala. He basically just wants to try to speak English with us and talk deep doctrine. He is a Seventh Day Adventist. Anyway, he came and he was singing all the hymns and stuff. When we sang "Nearer My God to Thee," he was asking me if it was that song was on the movie Titanic hahaha. I didn't know that it was, but apparently some people are playing it on their violins in the movie. Anyway, super awesome baptismal service and our zone is well on our way to reaching our goal!

Our two new investigators that we are really excited about are Sara Vallejo and Jorge Villalba. Sara was a reference from some of the hermanas in our zone. She doesn't really know anything about God, but she believes in Him and is suuuuuper golden. She loves it when we come over to teach her and her kids and she accepted the baptismal date. Super excited about her!

Then we have Jorge. One day, during our contacting spree, I decided to clap a rich house. This big shirtless guy with some good facial hair came out and talked to us. He invited us in to sit and talk. He was actually 21, but he looks 35 haha. The house is his parents, but he lives there. He played on a professional soccer team in Paraguay. He is suuuuper nice and loves talking to us. Him and his family believe in God but they don't have a religion. We actually had lunch at their house yesterday after church haha. We were going to make mashed potatoes for them, but they didn't think we were coming so they used the potatoes for something else. Anyway, we had an awesome lunch with them and talked a lot. They attend a church pretty consistently and have a lot of faith. We gave Jorge a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. He said it was really interesting that the authority had been restored to the earth as well as the church of Jesus Christ. We feel like they are ready to learn about the Gospel. It'll probably take some time and a lot of work, but they are suuuch a nice family and are really humble. Anyway, those are our two iluminados right now.

I think that's pretty much it...no near death experiences this week haha. Anyway, thank you all for your love and prayers. I know that I am here for a reason and that the Lord has a plan for all of us. I have been really happy this week and I think that's in direct correlation to the fact that we have been teaching a lot of lessons and working hard. I know that serving the Lord is the way to eternal joy and peace. I can't explain why walking around in the heat and dust makes me happy, but I feel such happiness when I know I am doing my best to serve the Lord and the people here in Clorinda. That's it for this week. Peace and blessings to all, and to all a good week.

Luvzz,

Elder Sipple

El Bautismo!

                                     

 Straight flooded!

 A duck eating the fleas and other bugs off of a dog.

 Eating carpincho with some friendly strangers!

Our yacaré!

Photos of crazy bus incident, et al.

Soooo here is the bus...wild.

This is a picture of the wilderness of Argentina. 

 

Me grabbing a bit of nature.

 Bad picture of our  zone at the conference.

  

Baked the sugar cookies mom sent me. 

  

Super burgers!

  

  

Cool hat I bought.

Oooooookay, heck of a week. March 3, 2014

Hello, all.

WILD week.


Had a lesson with Job again in which he told us about a dream that he
had about two weeks ago. He said the a disciple of Christ, whose name
was Juan, was talking to him and asked him, "Do you know me?" Job said
no, and this happened three or so more times. Juan told him that he
knew him and that it had been a long time since he had seen him. Then
Job saw a stair case leading up to heaven with a bunch of people on
it. When they were just about to get to the top, the whole thing
crumbled and turned to dust. Then Juan said to Job, "It's your turn."
Job told him he wasn't afraid and he started making his way up the
stairs. He got to the top and was about to meet Jesus when he woke up.
He told us he was crying tears of joy and that while we were talking
to him, his dream had been completed. Still don't exactly understand
all of it, but hey, sounds like an answer to me!

Had another mutual activity which was awesome. Elder Murphy and I were
in charge of the games and we totally nailed it. We played this game
where you pack a bunch of flour into a cup and pretty much make a
little flour tower. Like a sand castle. Then you put a coin on top and
take turns shaving the sides off with a card or something. Whoever
shaves a side and knocks over the tower has to get the coin with their
mouth haha. It was hilarious! Then we played charades and it was a
disaster hahaha. The people here do NOT know their animal sounds or
motions. But, it was hilarious nonetheless. Super awesome night.

Thursday, we had to go to Formosa for our multi-zone conference. We
had rented a mini-bus for our zone, so we were stoked on that! When we
got on the bus around 6 in the morning, there were just 4 random
people hangin' out on the bus. This was a problem because there was a
specific amount of seats we needed. It ended up working out because
one of the random people sat on a stool next to the driver for the
whole three hour trip. BUT LISTEN TO THIS.
So we are just driving along, talking, resting our eyes, looking at
the plains of Argentina, when all of a sudden we hear a super loud
noise and the bus starts vibrating. Then we look in front of us and
there is a big huge transport truck coming towards us. We barely move
over a couple inches and the truck flies past us. Honestly, it was
probably like five inches from our bus. And I was sitting on the side
closest to the truck. So, we are all just kind of in shock. We think
we have a flat tire, so we eventually get to the side of the road and
get out to help. When we get around to the back left side of the bus,
we see that the tires are completely missing! The bus had two wheels
on each side in the back, and the two tires from the left side were
just gone. At this point, we are all wondering how we didn't lose
control and die. Anyway, we start walking with the driver to recover
the tires which had apparently hit that truck I mentioned earlier.
They did a pretty good amount of damage since we were on the main
route going pretty fast. As we were walking, we looked at the lane
that we were in and saw a straight white line that went on for about a
half a mile and ended where our bus was pulled over on the side of the
road. This was the mark our bus made when the tires came off. If that
line was just a little bit closer to the other lane, we probably
would've been hit by the truck and that would not have been a pretty
sight. But we were all just so amazed that we were able to stay
straight for so long and that we didn't lose control. We called
President and told him what happened and that we might be a little
late. But guess what - we still made it to Formosa on time! Also,
while we were walking to the tires and thinking about our precious
lives, we saw a tucan flying through the air with such grace and
majesty, leaving a trail of Froot Loops behind it. Maybe those weren't
Froot Loops...we'll never know. But, in all seriousness, I know that
we were protected that day and I know that the Lord was and is always
watching out for us. We were all just stunned when we learned what
actually happened with the tires. I don't know what usually happens
when the tires come off of a bus while it's going about 80 mph, but I
think the fact that no one was hurt and that the bus didn't crash is a
miracle.

Friday was a good day haha. We worked on applying the practices from
the conference in our teaching. We had a realy successful day and
taught some great lessons. That night, we had dinner with Pable and
her family for the birthday of her nephew's son. Some of the
neighborhood kids were there and we had a great time talking and
laughing. We ate pizza, empanadas, and the ham, mayo, and cheese
sandwiches with the crust cut off that everyone loves here.

We had Carnival again this weeked, so we had to be in our pension at 7
on Saturday and Sunday. Laaaaaame. Lost out on some work, but all is
well. We had an amazing branch council on Sunday. This lady, who none
of us missonaries know, and who is apparently a counselor in the
Relief Society, was talking about how this is the first time in years
that she has had confidence in the missionaries in the branch. She
told us that she can see our desire to work and to serve the Lord and
the people of Clorinda. She said she hasn't felt comfortable giving
references to the missionaries in the past, but now she would love to
hand us some sweet, sweet references. This was awesome to hear! Then
the meeting was just absolutely baller. The members all were talking
about plans to help boost retention here and trying to think of ways
to help the missionaries with our investigators. They were so willing
to help us and to make a plan. I'm kind of nervous for transfers next
week because things here seem to really be improving. We're starting
to see a lot of the fruits of our labors and it has been super
exciting. It makes me not want to leave! But anyway, the branch is
doing a lot better with attendance numbers and we're hoping to keep
boosting attendance and retention.

Elder Sotelo and I made super burgers. These burgers had meat patties,
chorizo, eggs, hot dogs, cheese, french fries, lettuce, and tomatoes.
We each ate two and I almost died. Again.

On Sunday, we had lunch with Tito and Sylvia Rodas. I FINALLY got to
try the blood sausage that I had heard so much about. Morcilla is what
it's called. I had heard that it was really gross and that it's easy
to get sick from eating it. Even Elder Murphy's grandma, who is from
Buenos Aires, can only eat about half of one. It's this deep, deep
reddish purple color. Needless to say, I ate it. It really wasn't
terrible, but I definitey couldn't eat more than half of one. Just
straight up blood or something haha. Anyway, that was neat.

That's pretty much my week. Pretty wild, but we had some cool
experienes. Through different experiences that I have had so far, it
has been made very clear to me that I am here for a reason. This week
has been one of the most incredible weeks in my mission so far. I have
been able to receive protection from our Heavenly Father and see the
Spirit working on the people here in Clorinda. I am so blessed to be
able to have this opportunity to serve and to share the Gospel. Thank
you all for your prayers for the missionaries and your thoughts. As
you can tell, we need them haha. Stay righteous and hold down the
fort. #USA #ARG #OneLove #OneRepublic #Apologize

Amor, Paz, y Bendiciones,
Elder Sipple

P.S. I will try to send pictures of the bus and other pictures from
the week another time. The Internet is puttin' up a
reeeeeeaaaaaallllll lucha right now.

February 24, 2014

This week, we saw an old guy urinating on the side of the street. No, he didn't look homeless or anything. He actually looked a bit stylish. But fashion aside, he was just doing his thing out there.

I fought three big cockroaches. I had killed one earlier in the day in the bathroom, and when I came back for it, there were two others eating it. Needless to say, I prevailed. With the Lord on our side, we can overcome all of our challenges and all of our enemies. 

Rained a ton this week, straight flood. Some of the dirt roads were just like a straight up river. So wild, so gross. Didn't drink the water for like three days because when it floods, the sewage can mix in with the water.

We had a mutual night this week! It was supposed to be soccer but it got rained out. So we had like two young women, one teacher, Tito and Sylvia Rodas, us and our ZLs, and two of the sister missionaries. We played that game where you have two groups and within your group, you choose a movie. Then you send a person to the other group, who then has to draw the other team's movie for your team in order to guess it. We played boys vs. girls, which was a terrible idea. Lot's of hormones, almost had tears. Not really, but it got waaaaay competitive. I drew like 4 times and got three points for our team, two of which they took away. Women. Ended in a tie and a discussion of how we are all equals and the many blessings we have in our lives hahaha. It was great.

This week we made tacos for Tito and Sylvia Rodas, using a taco seasoning packet that I got from Mom! Suuuper delicious and they loved it. But the people here are straight BABIES with spicy stuff. Hermana Rodas was almost crying just from the SEASONING. Holy smokes haha.

February 24, 2014

This week, we saw an old guy urinating on the side of the street. No, he didn't look homeless or anything. He actually looked a bit stylish. But fashion aside, he was just doing his thing out there.

I fought three big cockroaches. I had killed one earlier in the day in the bathroom, and when I came back for it, there were two others eating it. Needless to say, I prevailed. With the Lord on our side, we can overcome all of our challenges and all of our enemies. 

Rained a ton this week, straight flood. Some of the dirt roads were just like a straight up river. So wild, so gross. Didn't drink the water for like three days because when it floods, the sewage can mix in with the water.

We had a mutual night this week! It was supposed to be soccer but it got rained out. So we had like two young women, one teacher, Tito and Sylvia Rodas, us and our ZLs, and two of the sister missionaries. We played that game where you have two groups and within your group, you choose a movie. Then you send a person to the other group, who then has to draw the other team's movie for your team in order to guess it. We played boys vs. girls, which was a terrible idea. Lot's of hormones, almost had tears. Not really, but it got waaaaay competitive. I drew like 4 times and got three points for our team, two of which they took away. Women. Ended in a tie and a discussion of how we are all equals and the many blessings we have in our lives hahaha. It was great.

This week we made tacos for Tito and Sylvia Rodas, using a taco seasoning packet that I got from Mom! Suuuper delicious and they loved it. But the people here are straight BABIES with spicy stuff. Hermana Rodas was almost crying just from the SEASONING. Holy smokes haha.

Saturday and Sunday we had to be in our pension at 7 because Carnival was in our area right outside our pension. This is the big celebration that is in Brazil and parts of Argentina. Or all of it. Not sure exactly. We had heard mixed things about it like that it was dangerous and that there were always people without clothes dancing around. So we were told to be in our pension early to avoid all of that. Super long weekend.

Used another beef marinade packet that mom sent me. Made some delicious steak sandwiches. Holy smokes, that's one big thing I miss about the states. Flavor.

I have also been talking to Elder Sotelo about his Incan heritage haha. I always joke with him and ask him which Book of Mormon characters are his grandpas. But, he was telling me some cool Incan stories that totally line up with Book of Mormon events. He was also bragging about how big Incas were.

And Saturday, we had the BAPTISM OF PABLA!!! Holy smokes, it was fantastic. This family is so awesome. She arrived with Milagros and said that no one else from her family was coming. Then her sister, brother, and nephew, Sebastian, all showed up. She was soooo happy! I baptised her and it was straight righteous. She was nervous, but everything went well. Then, we had a problem Sunday. She got offended by something someone said about her. This investigator of the hermanas, who isn't a member, was saying something about her not receiving the Holy Ghost or something. Anyway, she was hurt and sad and didn't show up to the beginning of church. Milagros told us what happened and we sent Elder Murphy and Sotelo on a rescue mission to her house. I had to teach the gospel principles class, so Elder Beach and I held down the fort. They went and talked to her. She was confused about why we are so cool but there are people in our church that say and do bad things (this isn't the first time something like this happened with her). They told her that the church is perfect and the people aren't and just kind of comforted her and what not. Her sister, who isn't a member and smokes a ton, was like "Lets go! We are going to the church." So the saddled up their scooters and motorcycles and off they went. Elder Beach and I left sacrament meeting to wait outside for them. Pabla rolled up on her scooter, her sister and her nephew on their motorcycle, and Elder Murphy and Sotelo in a taxi haha. It was soooooo cool. We got them inside and confirmed her. SOOOO SWEEEEET. I am soooo excited for this family. They are so strong and I know that they will be rocks in the branch. There have been a lot of obstacles put in their path, but they are more than down to power through. Straight miracles here.

Anyway, I have to go because Elder Sotelo needs to use the computer and he is being really obnoxious right now. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all of you! We had a bad computer situation today so I will probably be able to send pictures from this week tomorrow. Peace and blessings.

LOL (Lots of Love),

Elder Sipple

A bad picture of the storm this week.

 

STREET RIVER

 During the mutual activity. Totally destroying Juanchi.

 

 Made tacos for Hermano (second counselor) and Hermana Rodas. Righteous.

PABLA!

 After the confirmation of Pabla!

 Some of the steak we made using the marinade from MOM WOOOO STRAIGHT TASTY

Just another week in Clorinda la Lindaaaaa! February 18, 2014

February 18, 2014

I think the worst thing ever is being sick in another country without your mom there to take care of you...this was my Monday night/Tuesday. It went away by Wednesday, which was nice. But it was a pretty weird week. I saw a dead puppy and watched a kitten die, which was the worst. Then, Elder Murphy and I almost got a free microwave, which is unheard of here because no one has microwaves, especially missionaries. So we were all stoked and hyped up on dreams of cooking food in just a matter of seconds. The sister of Hermana Rojas (the wife of President Rojas) had given her the microwave because she was just going to throw it out. Hermana Rojas told us about it and said that it needed one new part. So we looked all over and finally found a store that had the part. We spent 90 pesos and we were sooo stoked. We returned to their house with the part and huge smiles. Hermana Rojas said that she was having a technician come and look at it just to make sure it was all good. Now it was just a waiting game. We were already making all these awesome plans to make other missionaries pay to use our microwave. We were making plans for whoever doesn´t get transfered to take it with them. We were fools. When we got to the church the next day, Hermana Rojas told us that the microwave had exploded. So, heck of a week.

But Paula was at church which means that we can baptize her this Saturday! Wooooo! We are waaaay excited for her and I think that she´ll be a strong member. She came to all three hours of church which was really cool. She was telling us how she doesn´t want anyone to make a dessert for her or anything. She just wants to get baptized and then peace out haha. Oh well.

Another funny thing (that I´ve already talked about) is the shirts here. One of the investigators of the hermanas, who has been to church a million times and hasn´t been baptized, was wearing a shirt at church that had a Playboy bunny on it and said "Sexy Girls" underneath it haha ahhh it was so weird.

Another investigator, who is dating the mom of an active family, invited us over to their house for asado after church. We were soooooo stoked! Beef, chicken, chorizo...sooo much good food. It was righteous.

I´m also a professional tile guy now. We have been helping Tito Rodas put tile in his kitchen. Elder Araya from Chile was kinda bragging about how his dad did tile for his job and how he knows how to do all of it haha. This led to me, Elder Murphy, Elder Morrin, and Elder Araya doing some tile work in Tito´s house. And really...we have been doing pretty well! Elder Araya knows a lot about how to do it, but can´t really perform. He also cut himself using the tile cutter yesterday haha. Anyway, we have been doing that for service for the last two P-Days. Pretty righteous.

We also made a life-changing discovery this week. Crema de Bon o Bon. There are these treats here called Bon o Bons. They are suuuper delicious. It´s like a chocolate outside and a wafer/creamy inside. Anyway, at the supermercado, we found a container of the cream from these treats. It´s like a peanut butter or Nutella type of thing. We went nuts! It´s like straight heaven in your mouth. Holy smokes. Anyway, that was neat.

One OTHER weird thing is that all of the things in Argentina are made in Argentina. I heard that this started with their current president. All of the appliances, cell phones, food, cars, everything. The president has contracts with all of these major companies so that she can have their stuff made in Argentina. This means that all of the stuff here is pretty much garbage haha. And they sell it for waaaaaay more. Everything here says "Industria Argentina" on it. Anyway, just a fun little fact.

Not a very busy week since I was sick and we had a lot of other stuff going on. But one thing that was really cool is that we received a ton of references from Hermana Rojas. But the catch is that most of them are inactive members haha. But still, they have members of their families that aren´t member of the church, so we are excited about that. We also played a game where we had to talk to everyone we passed while walking. We took turns so I would do like every other house. Everyone is always sitting outside so it´s easy to talk to them. The rule was we had to bring up something about the church. It was awesome and we taught a bunch of lessons! This also led to another realization that I am happiest when I am sharing the Gospel with other people. We were having such a great time teaching and talking about the church with the people here in Clorinda. Seriously, missionary work is a fantastic way to feel the Savior´s love for you and for the people you teach. A main focus of the church right now is member-missionary work. We all can be missionaries every single day. There are so many opportunities to share the Gospel that we don´t even realize. So, my challenge to y´all is to look for those opportunities to share the Gospel because I know that if we do that, we will be so much happier in our lives and we will be able to bless the lives of others. Anyway, heck of a week here in Clorinda. Thank you for your love and prayers! Stay sweaty.

Love,
Elder Sipple

 Caution: Machines Working

Caution: Men Working

 Sweet Sunset

We have this sign hanging on our bathroom door. "Don´t bother me - I am singing and dancing." 

Sweeet floral print shirt I bought here 

 #TileGuys #TilesNSmiles

Soooo we were trying to take a sweet of the Cochinitos Mojados. Obviously The Beatles came to mind. What we didn´t realize is that we got photo-bombed hardcore hahaha. 

Original Cochinitos Mojados 

 Asado with Elvio!