December 19, 2016

It was a super great week! The Christmas spirit is hopping here in the city of Santos Lugares!

Monday- So today I realized the computers we use for writing our families every Monday has AutoCad.... My goodness its so funny sometimes how God tests my obedience on my mission haha. Then later today we had a great lesson with a new guy we found named Maxi! He is super great and we are excited to start working with him and his wife!

Tuesday- In the morning today we had a zone meeting! Then after that we headed back to our area and we had a normal day! We made several great visits and our last lesson of the day was definitely one I will never forget haha... So we visited this guy named Ezekiel that has been investigating the church for a while and is really struggling to progress, but we just passed by his house in the night quickly to meet him. So we were in the lesson and Ezekiel was listing excuses of why he doesn't want to be baptized even though he feels the church is true. And he looks at me and says, ¨¨Imagine it Elder Townsend, you, coming home, and finding your wife cheating on you with your best friend... that is how I felt when no members from the church came to visit me when I was in the hospital¨¨ ... After he said that to me I literally had to bite my tongue to keep myself from getting up and slapping the patheticness out of him and that excuse.... So that was great. But the cool part about that lesson was after my companion finished the lesson with a prayer and asking for his heart to be softened, the chair Ezekiel was sitting in completely collapsed out of no where and he fell on the ground... Super cool stuff. God is real.

Wednesday- Today was a great day! We found a great new Peruvian family to start working with and we made several great visits! Also I saw for the first time today the Iphone 7!!!! I almost couldn't believe it! haha. I am pretty sure the lady holding it thought I wanted to steal it because I was staring at it so much haha.

Friday- Today I did divisions today with Elder Marple!!!! He was my second companion ever back when I was in Marcos Paz over a year ago! Man it was so great to be with him for the day and catch up on old times!! But also super sad because he is finishing his mission and headed home in about 9 days!! I love that kid so much. It is so crazy how fast time passes by here.

Saturday- It was so hot today I am pretty sure my companion lost five pounds from all the sweating and walking around we did haha. Poor guy. But it was a super successful day! On our way back to our apartment though at night I heard my favorite Christmas song ever.... Mistletoe by stinking Justin Bieber.... I literally started running to try to get away from hearing it because it makes me so home sick haha.

Sunday- Several of our investigators came today so thats great! The rest of the day was pretty normal. Then at night we were eating dinner with a less active family and the power went out... So my companion and I finished the week with a romantic candlelit dinner haha.

Well I hope everyone has a great week and a great Christmas!! And don't forget to remember the true meaning of why we celebrate!!

Elder Townsend

This week, I taught my new companion that if he wants to gain the confidence of people and baptize a lot in his mission, he needs to learn how to make a killer batch of banana bread

December 12, 2016

So it was a super great week down here in Buenos Aires! A ton of great stuff happened!

Monday- So I realized today that my mission has made me such a clean freak. Like I literally cant function mentally if there are dirty dishes in the sink or if my desk isn't perfectly organized. I don't even know how to explain it... Mondays are the days we do a lot of cleaning in our apartment and I seriously enjoy it so much it is pathetic. I feel like Mary Poppins every Monday dancing around and cleaning my little heart out. Its the best.

Tuesday- So we had transfers today!!!! In the morning I headed to the offices of the mission and I was there almost all day waiting for my new companion I will be training. And waiting in the offices was so difficult because I saw several of my old companions that are going home in a few days:( Its so sad and crazy how fast time flies by....But anyway.... Sooooooo my new companion is Australian!!! His name is Elder Soberanas and he´s a great guy! His accent is so cute and just hearing him talk makes me laugh. Its going to be a great transfer. We are both super excited!

Wednesday- It was a super great first day with Elder Soberanas! It is such a different experience to be training. Being with him today really made me realize how much adapting someone needs to do to be a missionary haha. And also being with him today really made me feel like an old Grandpa haha. I am so outdated on everything that is currently going on in the world. I seriously have so much catching up to do when I get home haha....But something I learned from my companion is that one of my favorite songs before my mission, ¨¨all time low¨¨ was one of the biggest songs on itunes in Australia a little while ago!! 

Thursday- We had several great lessons today so that was awesome! We also had time to do some contacting and we were able to find some great new people to work with... As a missionary you kinda just do your thing and you dont really realize what you are doing in the moment. But today I just shocked myself because I realized I have become such a smooth talker on my mission haha. If someone takes the time to talk with me, I can literally get them to end up giving me there name, address, phone number, and have them willing to receive us in their house to share our message. Its great that I have developed this skill to be a missionary but man sometimes it makes me feel really shallow and not very sincere.... But hey its for their own salvation so I feel ok doing it!! haha

Friday- In the morning today we did service! I have seriously learned so much about argentine construction on my mission it is crazy!! But for some reason for my whole mission I have always gotten nominated to do the most dangerous parts haha. I am just convinced that no one wants me to make it home haha.

Saturday- Another great day with lots of lessons! One of the houses we visited today had 10 dogs.... 10 stinking dogs.... Before my mission I always dreamed of getting a dog when I am young and start my family but after all the times I have gotten bit and chased I am going to need to go through rehab before that ever happens... 

Sunday-Today I woke up super sick and sore. I felt like I had literally been in five bar fights the night before. I had the huggest headache and a super weak stomach and everything hurt. Sitting through church was such a struggle. But I made it through the day and at night we set a baptismal date for Lucas on the 30th of December!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

Meat❤

So for my whole mission I have been trying to mast card throwing... This is how far I have come...

My companions first taste of argentine meat. They grow up so fast😥

December 5, 2016

So I have realized I have really slacked lately on this big weekly email the last few months for several reasons. I feel bad I haven't given it much importance but I have promised myself that for the rest of my mission I am going to step it up and make it less pathetic haha.

Anyway, so today is the start of a new transfer. I am staying in this ward and I am going to be training a new missionary. So that will be good. I am overly excited to teach him how to use a bede! 

So here is a summary of my week:

Monday- normal pday. In the night we had a great lesson with a 19 year old recent convert named Marlene! She is so awesome! She has such a strong testimony and she never lets any outside influence change who she is and what she believes. She also makes some of the best juice I have ever tasted!

Tuesday- I realized today that my mission has made me really racist haha. In the city where I am currently at, for some strange reason, there are a lot of Peruvians. And words cant even express how much I love them haha. They are seriously so kind and receptive it is ridiculous. When I walk through the street, I literally feel like I am on a safari hunt for Peruvians. I have gotten so good at picking them out and I never let one walk by without contacting them! Sometimes I wonder if I should just go live in Peru after my mission instead of going home. But then I realize how much I miss my mom and how much I miss Red Robin.

Wednesday- Our lunch appointment today was crazy. It was with a younger lady in our ward we didn't know. At first she seemed really nice and cool but then all the sudden she went nuts. After she heard how long I have until i go home she decided to give me a load of life advice on marriage. Out of everything she could have told me about she chose stinking marriage.... She literally corned me and railed me about the importance of waiting several years after I get home from my mission to get married and how I better ¨for sure know that she is the one¨... I agreed with her 100% but the way she turned loca on me honestly made me wet my pants a little... 

Thursday- It was a super great day because we got to teach the law of chastity twice! Then at night we did some service for a member in our ward. I realized today that I feel naked without my missionary clothes. While we were traveling to go do this service, I tensed up everytime someone walked past me because I felt like they could see my nakedness.

Friday- Today we saw a girl that looked really sad outside painting her nails. We wanted to contact her and to see if she was ok but we couldn't think of a good approach to do it. And then all the sudden I remembered ¨Wait! I know how to paint nails!¨ and I was just about to ask her if I could help with the clear-coat but then I realized that was super not missionary appropriate...haha

Saturday- In the night we had to travel because I had to do a baptismal interview for a 20 year old girl in another city. So because of the circumstances in the house the only place her and I could go to be alone to do the interview was a bathroom or her bedroom... I know...eww... So we did the interview in her stinking bedroom haha. Afterwards I felt so guilty because I had always promised my mom I would never be alone with a girl in her bedroom. But I was comforted because I think my mom and God understood the circumstances haha. At night today it was so hot too! My body is silly because I cant sleep without socks but I get so hot leaving them on!! Ahh!!

Sunday- Such a great day. Today a girl in our ward brought her 20 year old boyfriend named Lucas ,who is not a member, to church. After the meetings, my companion and I were able to meet him. He is a super nice guy and his girlfriend and him are great together. Later in the night, we went to his house to get to know him more. My companion and I shared our life stories and we taught him the restoration. The spirit was so strong in the lesson. It was so great. He had already been reading the book of mormon and now he wants to be baptized and serve a mission. It was such a special experience.

I am sure everyone has already noticed, but in these emails I send, I filter out a lot of things. The truth is, in my mission, I have had a lot of good and bad experiences. I have been blessed to have some of the most sacred, spiritual experiences I will probably ever have in my life. Experiences that I hold very close to my heart and that I don't share because I don't feel comfortable sharing them. And on the otherside of things, I have also had not so great experiences... In my mission, I have seen things, and experienced things, no one my age should. These are things I will never share with other people and I myself try to forget them... But I am grateful for each and every one of theses experiences because they have helped me grow up and become a better person. 

But the experience I had today with Lucas was so special. After leaving his house on our walk back to our apartment everything just hit me so hard and before I knew it my face was dripping with tears like a baby.

I have come to have such a strong testimony that God does everything for a reason. He has such a divine and personal plan for each one of us. I am so grateful that before my mission, God blessed me with a variety of experiences in my life. And I feel very blessed that one of these experiences was the opportunity I had to introduce one of my best friends to the gospel and take her to church for the first time. And I am so grateful, that for these two years of my life, God has put people in my path that I can help receive the same blessing I had, by sharing my personal experiences.

I know that what I am doing is so important. No matter how many good or bad experiences I have, nothing can take away the beauty of this work. Being a missionary is the best. 

Elder Townsend

November 28, 2016

Another week. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I can't explain how excited I am to eat turkey next year.

Monday- Normal p-day

Tuesday- I did divisions today. They went pretty well. I don't know what it is but i have just felt so violated by women lately. I literally can't walk 5 blocks without getting whistled at or messed with. Its been super annoying. I don't know if it's just I have gotten more attractive on my mission, gotten really good at coordinating my ties, or if I have just been doing too well of exercises haha but its ridiculous lately.... within a thirty minute time period today my companion and I caught 5 girls looking at my back side... 

Wednesday- Normal day. A lot of walking and a lot of contacting.

Thursday- So our lunch fell through and for several reasons it was a pretty rough hectic day. I only got to eat some left over rice before I went to bed...

Friday- Today I did a baptismal interview for a 25 year old guy that is going to get baptized and married to his girlfriend. It was the best. It was so cool to see how his life has changed since he started going to church and how much hope and joy the gospel has given him and his future wife. Their future is so bright and happy. There really is nothing better.

November 21, 2016

Well I hope everyone had a great week

Monday- We went to go look at a new apartment we are wanting to move into. It was super great. Where we are living now is just not the best... our shower is a weak stream of water that comes out of the wall... So we are hoping we can do everything we need to so we can move at the beginning of December. We will see what happens. The new apartment we saw was pretty nice. Its sad because it was almost so nice I felt uncomfortable being in it because I am just so accustomed to different things now.

Tuesday- In the afternoon we passed by the house of one of our 17-year old girl investigators that had a baptismal date for the 26th of November. And we caught her smoking with some of her friends. Super depressing.... We talked with her and tried to teach and share a message with her and her friends but it was just a wreck. I absolutely do not enjoy teaching young girls here. I understand I am their age, blond, and from the United States but its just so annoying and ridiculous how they turn into a giggly, girly mess when I try to talk and teach....

Then later in the day we had a lovely interaction with an older gentlemen. He was even so kind to spit in my face after we were done talking

Wednesday- Today I did divisions with some missionaries in the offices of our mission (they are regular missionaries but just assigned to work in the offices for a short time and take care of things like technology, visa paperwork, and stuff like that). It was a pretty good day. I got to ride in a car so that was great... I seriously miss driving so much... The whole day we just did tasks in the offices and then at the end of the day we went to their area and made some visits. The life of a missionary in an office is very different. They have so much weird stuff to do. The elders there even jokingly threatened to give my mail box to another missionary because it has been more than 5 months since I have received any letters or mail from home.... so thats awesome....

Thursday- We were lied to in our faces so many times today. So frustrating. We had absolutely no success.... But on the bright side, in the night my companion got his patriarchal blessing. I was able to be there and it was a super special experience. He was so anxious and nervous he felt really sick before he got the blessing and it reminded me how I pucked a few seconds before I got my own patriarchal blessing haha.

Friday- In our ward there are 2 companionships of missionaries. Me and my companion have the south part of the area of our ward and the other companionship of elders are in the north area... So in the morning today, the other companionship of missionaries got a call from our mission president and he told them that they were both leaving on Saturday, and that my companion and I were going to have both the areas for 2 weeks, and then at transfers we would both get new companions and I would get taken out of my current area and put in the north area.... So basically after several weeks of so much stress, hard work, and long hot sweaty hours in the sun to fix and build up my area, I am losing everything and being taken out and put in a new area and I have to start all over again...

As I missionary, I have really come to understand more what it means to be a son of a loving Heavenly Father. Sometimes its hard to understand why God requires us to sacrifice things so important and dear to us, why he allows the words and actions of others to hurt us, and why he continues to give us trials in the moments we are struggling the most. But its all because he loves us. He is teaching us to be patient and to trust in him because he has greater things in store for us. He truly is a God with a divine plan for each of his children.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving close to family and loved ones.

Elder Townsend

November 7, 2016

Pretty great week. I don't have much time to write but the highlight of this week was definitely on Friday when I did divisions with another Elder in a city called Ciudadela and we went to ¨¨el fuerte apache¨¨. That place is so crazy. I literally cant explain the things I saw haha. Its basically like a 20 block neighborhood of straight up ghetto, government housing. In the thirty minute time period we were there I was offered drugs 5 times haha. And they were even so nice they showed me the drugs up front and everything. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Pictures:

-argentine night life

-I managed to get a picture of a small piece of ¨¨El Fuerte Apache¨¨....don't ask me how I took the picture...

October 31, 2016

Well it was my first week here in Santos Lugares. It was a good week but pretty crazy.

My area is the city. Its the first time I have every worked in a very city-like area so thats pretty exciting. Its super different. The people are so much more sophisticated but crazy at the same time. There are some things I like about it because there are a lot of great, healthy families that would make great members of the church. But at the same time, I am already kinda annoyed by all the weirdos haha.

So our area currently has like no investigators...so thats awesome. This week we basically just spend 8 straight hours everyday in the streets contacting and getting the work in this area moving.... I am tired....

I don't have much time but some facts and highlights from this week:

- I am currently living in a 4 person apartment again so that is super fun

- My new companion is Peruvian

- The ward I am in is super awesome and very strong. 

- This week I am probably doing divisions and going to work in a villa that is called the la fuerte apache.( I can explain what that is but If you actually care you can just google it). Needless to say, I am super excited.

- Girls in the city are very annoying... I cant even count the number of times very inappropriate invitations were extended to me this week....

- I like Peruvian food

Well I hope everyone has a great Halloween! 

October 24, 2016

Honestly I don't have my agenda that has all the stuff I did last week so I cant remember much of what to say haha.....BUT we got transfer calls last week and I am leaving. I am going to an area called Santos Lugares. I don't know much about it. The only thing I have heard is that it is city and that ´´it's not very santo´´ haha so I guess we will see how it is.

This week was awesome but also super sad. I am going to miss all the people I have come to grow and love here the past six months, but I guess I'm just going onto the next adventure.

I hope everyone has a great week

Extra from Mom:

Santos Lugares is a district in the southeast of the partido of Tres de Febrero. It is part of the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires Province, northeast of the Buenos Aires city proper.Wikipedia

Weather: 67°F (19°C), Wind E at 21 mph (34 km/h), 75% Humidity

Local time: Monday 12:32 PM

Population: 17,023 (2001)

Province: Buenos Aires Province

Partido: Tres de Febrero Partido

October 24, 2016

Honestly I don't have my agenda that has all the stuff I did last week so I cant remember much of what to say haha.....BUT we got transfer calls last week and I am leaving. I am going to an area called Santos Lugares. I don't know much about it. The only thing I have heard is that it is city and that ´´it's not very santo´´ haha so I guess we will see how it is.

This week was awesome but also super sad. I am going to miss all the people I have come to grow and love here the past six months, but I guess I'm just going onto the next adventure.

I hope everyone has a great week

October 17, 2016

Another week

Monday- our pday was an absolute disaster. It was a holiday so everything was closed and there wasn't any transportation so we wasted some good hours walking getting the stuff done we needed to do....thats the mission.... but on the bright side we had a great night doing proselyting. We taught this new guy named Daniel we found and he is totally going to get baptized so thats awesome!

Tuesday- Normal day....

Wednesday- So many visits and lessons today. Which is good but exhausting haha... At night we saw our investigator the Gomez familia and they are doing so well!! I can already hear the water in the bautismal font running

Thursday- Another full day

Friday- It was my companion's birthday! We had a great lunch and some great visits! At night I made hime a cake!

Saturday- Super huge storm in the morning. We had to travel to another chapel in our zone to go to a stake activity that they asked the full time missionaries to participate in. So that was a fun hour of walking in pouring rain and wading through super flooded street in boots to get there....

Sunday- Great day at church. It was mothers day here so it was pretty crazy in the streets. My companion and I are on a good streak of walking in on huge dinner parties every Sunday afternoon.... but its all good because we get a ton of food and new investigators haha..

Well I hope everyone has a great week

October 10, 2016

Another great week!

Monday- Good day. Nothing crazy. But good day

Tuesday- In the morning we headed to the offices of our mission and had a training and did some interviews with our mission president. It was pretty fun! The lunch the gave us there was pretty good too! At night we back in our area we went to the farewell of a youth in our ward that left for his mission which was super fun. The only sad part is that right when they brought out the food it was too late and we had to run back to our apartment to be back home on time... I swear that always happens....

Wednesday- Great day full of several visits. We had a great lesson at night with our investigators the Gomez family. They are so great and are doing super well!

Thursday-Another day full of visits. At night we had a great lessons with a member family and their friends that are a young couple that loved the idea of eternal families I talked about last week. Our lesson went super well and we have another lesson planned with them this week.

Friday- We did divisions today and I went to another area and was with an elder from Peru. At night he taught me how to make bread on a grill! Super fun!

Saturday- Normal day. At night we had a dinner with a great less active family we are working with. They made us matambre a la pizza! Which is basically pizza but instead of bread you use just a huge, thin piece of meat haha! It was so good!!

Sunday- So many miracles today. Our day went so well and we found so many great new people to teach. Its hard to explain everything that happened but it was just a super awesome day

Well I hope everyone has a great week!!!!

October 3, 2016

It was a great week.

Monday- We played soccer and ate pizza as a zone! It was super fun! Im actually getting pretty dang good at soccer.... I am feeling super latino...Then at night we had a family home evening with our recent converts Jony and his mom Silvia! They are doing so great!

Tuesday- We went to another area and did divisions. Divisions are always an adventure... 

Wednesday- We had a regular day full of lessons. And then at night we had another lesson with the Gomez family! They are doing so great and are in the process of developing their testimony in the book of mormon and receiving answers to their prayers. We made them brownies and it is so ridiculous how much argentines love north american deserts...

Thursday- Another full day of lessons and some service. At night we met an awesome young couple that are friends with some members that recently moved into our ward. They are super nice and show great interest. They have plans to get married and start their family soon. With them we briefly talked about how families can be eternal and we can be with our spouse and children as a family after this life. It was so great because sometimes the concept of éternal families´ is so a hard to explain and help people understand outside of the church. But they toltally understood and literally were in tears after we told them. So great. 

Friday- Lots of great lessons

Saturday and Sunday- We got to watch conference in the stake center here! It was super great! Super special! 

A member that went with us to conference

The pork I cooked! I am turning into an argentine...

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

September 26, 2016

Great week!

Monday-Normal pday and had some great visits at night with some awesome families that have a lot of potential.

Tuesday-We had to travel for our zone meeting in the morning. Then we came back and had a normal day. At night we had a family home evening with the stake president and his family with a less active youth named Esteban that is 20 that we are helping get back to church. It went so well and Esteban is such a stud!

Wednesday-We helped my recent converts Jony and his mom Silvia make a garden today. They are super awesome! Then at night we had a dinner with the Gomez family. The family we contacted a few weeks ago. They are super great and have a ton of potential as well! I invited the dad to say the pray to start our lesson and and then we taught him how to say it because he had never prayed before, and at the end of his prayer both him and his wife were crying. So special. They are loving reading the Book of Mormon and love learning about how families can be eternal. Good stuff!

Thursday-Normal day full of great visits

Friday- We helped an awesome family in the ward paint their house in the morning, and in the afternoon we had several great visits with some new families we have met. 

Saturday- Baptism of our investigator Diana!!! It was super crazy at first because my companion and I got to the chapel early to fill the bautismal font and there was a mega birthday party going on for a 6 year old kid going on in the ward no one told us about.... like super big.... they had a bouncy castle in the cultural area.... but everything worked out and we had an awesome, reverent bautismal service for Diana and her family.

Sunday- Great day full of visits as well! 

And today for our p-day we are having a zone activity!! We are making pizza and playing soccer!! It will be my first zone activity in my mission! At this rate I might not even get a second one...

Oh and another funny note about my mission: I haven't talked to/seen a girl who speaks english in about 5 months! So awesome! 

Well I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys General Conference!

Elder Townsend

August 19, 2016

Another great week. 

Monday- Such a huge storm it was crazy!!! Super windy and super rainy! And it always is like that when we don't have any appointments planned haha. But it was a good day.

Tuesday- Super stormy again today. It gets so dark and spooky in our area it kinda freaks me out sometimes. I feel like I am just living in Halloween 24/7 haha.

Wednesday- Normal day full of visits and a lot of walking haha

Thursday- same as Wednesday...

Friday- We find a super great family today!! They are so awesome and we are excited to start working with them

Saturday- a day full of baptism interviews. In the morning, elders came to our area to do the interview for our investigator Diana who is getting baptized next week!! then in the afternoon we had to travel an hour because I had to do an interview for an investigator of some other elders... And then when we finally got back home we finished the day with some visits

Sunday- great day with a lot of investigators at church so I am happy:)

I hope everyone has a great week!

September 12, 2016

I don't have much time to write but it was a great week and everything went super well with the three baptisms this Saturday! 

We got transfer calls last night and I am staying in Parque San Martin with my companion. I am officially the King of Merlo Buenos Aires

September 5, 2016

It was another super busy, full week here in Parque San Martin.

Monday- We had a great P-day and some great lessons at night.

Tuesday-We traveled in the morning to get to our district meeting which was good. Then we traveled back to our area. We did some service for an awesome member family which was really fun in the afternoon. Then we finished the day with a few lessons. We met at night this inactive member with the coolest house ever! He was excited and prideful to show it to us haha. but I will admit he had a pretty cool soundsystem....

Wednesday- We had lunch with Silvia (my recent convert) and Jony (her 18 year old son we are teaching that is going to be baptized this saturday). It was awesome!!! We ordered empanadas and watched ¨Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration¨ and they both loved it!! JOny is doing so well and is so excited to be baptized this saturday. He is so prepared and has changed so much. We are so happy for him. 

Thursday- Was a regular day full of several visits. We had some time in the morning and made some brownies to take to some of our appointments. Let me just say aregentines are crazy for american brownies....

Friday- We had another great day. We did a quick service project in the morning and  had a really busy day in the afternoon. It was great.

Saturday- We got some of the baptism interviews done with our investigators that are planning to get baptized this Saturday. Everything went super well!

Sunday- It was a miracle and it didnt rain in the morning like it was suppose to so everyone could come to church! Oh and in the afternoon we taught found like three awesome investigator families to start working with.

So it was a great week and this week is going to be even more crazy. This Saturday we should have a baptismal service we have been planning of 3 maybe even 4 people. I will end pictures for sure next week and explain each person and their story:)

Happy Labor Day!! Go outside and barbeque!

Elder Townsend

No big email on August 29, 2016

August 22, 2016

It was a good week:

On Monday we played soccer with a few of the kids in the ward. It was super fun. I thought my soccer skills would get really good while I have been here but I am sad to say I dont think I have made much progress.

On Tuesday we had a normal day. Full of great lessons and we got a lot of work done.

Wednesday was... interesting.... We had a great morning and afternoon that were really productive. But then at night it got a little crazy.... I dont know where to begin the story and how much I want to tell but I will do my best to explain the basics. A few sundays ago a member in our ward told us about and inactive family we didnt know. She told us that one of the kids that is 19 has a girlfriend and they have desires to start coming to church and change their lives. So in the night we passed by their house to meet the family and expecially to talk to the son and the girlfriend... Lets just say that was the most interesting visit I had ever had in my mission. I dont really feel comfortable explaining everything that happened on here but its a very great story so I guess you will just have to ask me when I get home to tell it. But I will say in that lesson I got the most mad I have probably been in several years... so thats not awesome... but its the bad experiences as missionaries that build character and help us grow. So i am grateful I had that experience to learn.

On Thursday we got to go to the Buenos Aires Temple! It was so awesome. We went in the morning and came back at about 5:00. It was such a pretty day too everything wa perfect. Super great experience.

On Friday we had a normal day. Several lessons and a lot of walking which is good.

On Saturday we had a good day and at night we went to the church for a young single adult activity in the church with our invesitgator Jony! It was super fun, they made tacos!!!! 

Sunday was a normal day

Oh and an update on our investigators. Jony, Lucas and Tamara are all doing great. They are all progressing so well and the baptisms will be the 10th of September.

I hope everyone has a great week

Elder Townsend

August 15, 2016

Another super crazy and busy week on the mission! I dont know where to start so I will just take it day by day:

On monday we enjoyed our p-day.... doing..... everything we can do here.... playing soccer and cleaning our apartment....

On Tuesday we had several great lessons. At night we made a visit with Silvia and Jonathan! It went super well! Jonathan is doing super great and is super sure about being baptized! He is also starting to get involved with all the young adult activities in our ward and is really loving the social part of the church too haha. 

On Wednesday we had a great day as well. We had a lesson with the granddaughter of a member in our ward. Her name is Tamara and she would love to get baptized so we explained to her that we could help her with that! She will be getting baptized soon in the next few weeks as well.

On Thursday we had another regular day. Nothing too exciting happened but we got a lot of work done.

On Friday we found a super great family! They have a ton of interest. They are friends with Luis, a guy we baptized in June. The only problem is we are not quite sure if they live in our area... so we will see what happens with that.... Oh and in the night we went to go see lucas! The brother of Thomas, the kid we baptized two weeks ago. We have been starting to teach him and he sa well will be baptized in the next few weeks.

Then on Saturday we had a dinner with Silvia and Jonathan! They made us burritos and we just about died! So good! Great way to end the day!

Sunday was a pretty great day. Some stuff happened with some miscommunication in the ward and there was a bit of drama but no one killed anyone, so thats good....

And today I am currently in a computer place being forced to listen to a bunch of music from the states I have never heard before.... Maybe the rap industry has taken a turn for the worst since I have been gone or maybe I have just lost my taste for rap being a missionary... And after we are done here we will enjoy our lovely pday playing soccer, cleaning, and making a cake for an appointment we have with a family tonight.... turn up...

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

August 8, 2016

Super crazy great week!

We have been so busy everyday running around to lessons and meeting new people its been great. I dont really know where to begin explaining everything that happened but I will do my best. 

Well on Tuesday I recieved my new companion. His name is Elder Copeland. He is from Alaska. He is a great guy. Honestly its been kinda a struggle to talk in English because that last three months I had been only talking in Spanish with my Brazilian companion. But its been great to learn my native language again haha. 

On Wednesday we had a full day running around to lots of lessons. It was great. We also met some new families we are going to start working with.

Thursday was awesome as well. We had an awesome lesson with a Lady named Maxima. She is a member that hasnt been going to church for a while. Last year her

husband died and it has been so hard for her. We have been starting to work with her and now she is doing so well! She has been coming to church and we are helping her get everything ready so she can have the work done for her husband in the temple and they can be sealed together as a family forever. We are really happy for her. The rest of the day we spent having some great visits too.

Friday was a great day but also a trial of faith haha. I woke up with a bit of a cold which isnt fun. And then in the morning we walked over to a members house to do some service. While we were walking there some punks thought it would be funny to shoot a rock at me with there sling shot. Then when we got to his house to do the service it started to rain. For the service we had haul these heavy beams made of cement to this guys back yard to make a roof. My companion wasnt feeling well so I ended up having to carry all of them. Then for lunch an older member of our ward gave us a tuper of liver and onions.... So lets just say the day started out rougher than normal but at night we had some great lessons so it was all worth it.

On Saturday we had another great day. Our last lesson of the day was with Silvia, the lady we recently baptized, and her son, Jony who is 18 who we are working with to be baptized in the next few weeks. It was such a great lesson. They are both so awesome. After every lesson with them i cant even explain how happy I am. They have both grown and changed show much and there is no greater joy as a missionary to know you are making a difference in someones´ life.

Sunday was a super crazy day too. We learned about several families that have a lot of interest and we are going to start working with them.

Well i hope everyone has a great week and is enjoying the olympics!

Elder Townsend

August 1, 2016

Well we had our baptisms this week! Our investigators Silvia and Thomas both got baptized and it was awesome. Another kid whose family are members got baptized with our investigators as well so that was cool too. My companion this week also finished his mission so you can imagine it was a 

pretty crazy and hectic week!

I dont have a lot of time to write this week and explain everything in detail but everything went so well. The baptisms were such a great experience for both Silvia and Thomas. We also had a great week full of wonderful lessons with some great investigators we are working with.

Oh and today is the start of the new transfer cycle. I will be staying in my area and recieve a new companion so thats pretty awesome too!

Take care

Elder Townsend


July 25, 2016

This past week was a week in my mission I will never forget haha.

I dont exactly know the best way to describe everything that happened so I will just tell the story from the beginning.

Last Monday night a member in our ward gave us some cheese and ham that see had bought in the farmers market. My companion and I thought we were super smart and that night decided to make ham and cheese empanadas. We were pretty content because they tasted really good. The next day we had a great day but in the night we started to feel a little wierd.... To keep the story short lets just say both my companion and I were up that night super sick. Like really, really sick haha. The next day, Wednesday, we spent suffering rolling around in pain and discomfort in our beds. It was probably the most miserable I have been in all of my life I am not going to lie haha. Especially becasue as missionaries we couldnt do anything besides enjoy our suffering listening to church music....On Thursday we already started to feel better and we were able to start doing some missionary work. And now, both me and my companion feel great.... I REPEAT (for my mom) I AM FINE NOW and we are back to working as normal.

But surely it was an unforgettable experience. And I pray with all my heart and soul it never happens again, expecially for the rest of my mission haha. I guess it was just a sign that I should stay out of the kitchen...

On the bright side Silvia and our other investigator Thomas both had their interviews this week and passed! Their baptisms will be this Saturday and we are so excited! Its going to be so awesome! 

The rest of the work in our area is going well too! We are working hard and now enjoying every second of being healthy!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend



July 18, 2016

Another great, busy week!

I am not going to lie, it is getting so hard to write these weekly letters haha. Everything is just a blur now. Sometimes I feel like my brain is starting to turn into jello as a missionary. I cant really remember anything funny or super interesting that happened this week so i guess I will just give an update on Silvia and her son Johnathan! They are both doing so great!! This week we had two lessons with them and the both went so well. Silvia is progressing on track and will defintely be getting baptized the 30th of July! Her son Johnathan is progressing super great as well but we have been teaching him only for a short while and he needs a bit more time before he can be baptized. My companion and I just love teaching them so much. All the experiences we have shared with them are just so special. Its just been a super spiritual conversion for both Silvia and her son. We are super excited for both of them.

While I was typing all of that I remembered a few weird things that happened this week!! 

-A cultural event came into our city and my companion and I tried Arabic tacos! They were super good!

-Some guy on the street that walked by us called me a hot dog... that was the first time that ever happened.

-We saw a couple couple kissing in a bus stop get splashed hard core by a car that drove through a puddle.

-Some kids we walked by at night thought they were funny and pegged me in the back with an apple.

-Silvia made us the best pizza I have ever eaten!

Well I hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Townsend

July 11, 2016

I don't have much time but this week was great!

My companion and I are doing our best to work in our area and learn the new area we just we assigned to. Its been pretty crazy having to learn everything so fast but its been awesome because we have been super busy haha. 

On Monday we had a lesson with Silvia and met her son Johnathan. He is so awesome! He has a lot of interest too so we are going to start teaching both of them and we are super excited.

On Tuesday we had a training we had to travel to in another city so we went to that in the morning and then had a regular day in the afternoon.

On Wednesday we did divisions and I stayed in our area to work with another missionary. We had a great day and got a lot of work done. The poor guy was so tired at the end of the day haha.

On Thursday we had missionary acitivity we planned in the chapel at night. It was such a disaster preparing for it because everything went so wrong but it ended up turning out really well!

On Friday we went to a stake activity with Silvia and Johnathan for the 9th of July (which is like the 4th of July in the States). Each ward prepared a cultural dance and they made it a contest. Silvia and Johnathan really liked it!

Saturday and Sunday were both great days too. Nothing crazy happened but we had some great lessons and got a lot of work done.

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

July 4, 2016

Such a crazy week!

So the week started out pretty normal. Monday through Thursday was pretty mello. Nothing crazy. Just some great lessons and walking around in the rain and dark all day haha. 

On Friday we had a lesson with our investigator Silvia in the house of her cousin Beti (who is a member). It was so awesome! Everything went so well and it was so spiritual. Silvia is the best. She has such a sincere desire to follow Christ. She has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon for about two months now and has already made so much progress. She has just had a lot of fear about being baptized. But at the end of our lesson she accepted a baptismal date for the 30th of July!! Haha I had never been so nervous inviting someone to be baptized but she accepted! It was great! And the best part is tonight we have another lesson with her and her 18 year old son we haven't met. It's going to be awesome.

Then on Saturday the other elder we live with got a call in the morning saying that they are going to be sent to another area and my companion and I are going to be taking over their area and that they had to get everything ready because later that night they were leaving. Crazy stuff. So all that day was just such a mess haha. My companion and I did all we could to help them get everything ready while at the same time learning all that we could about their area and running to appointments and lessons throughout the day in both of the areas. It was a day in my mission I will definitely never forget haha.

Sunday was our first day with both the areas. Our area is huge now and we are going to be soooo busy haha. We have a lot of work to do and are excited to see how everything goes.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

Our investigator Silvia is a professional cook. So for our lessons we usual bake or cook something to bring and she does the same. These chocolate chip bars I made. We brought them to the lesson that she accepted a baptismal date. From this experience I learned a very important lesson, baking gets results.

June 27, 2016

It was a pretty great week here in Parque San Martin. 

We focused a lot this week on meeting new people to work with and it went super well! We found a great new family that is from Bolivia we are going to start teaching and also several families that are members of the church that are inactive. My companion and I are both super excited to start working with all of them. 

Currently we are helping two people stop smoking. So thats been actually super fun as well! Our investigator Silvia is doing great too! She is still sick so we were only able to visit her once this week. 

Oh and shout out to Korey Smith. This week even some of the members down  here were watching the youtube video about the parody to the song Hello by Adele about the life of a missionary.

I dont have much time to write so this is it for the week. 

Elder Townsend

June 20, 2016

Luis got baptized this week! It was so awesome! Just super cold haha. I was actually the one who got to baptize him so that was great too. For the baptism I made brownies. Lets just say its pathetic how much argentines love american desserts haha.

This week was pretty crazy because we had a lot of stuff going on, but we still got a lot of work done. The only down part of our week was we couldnt visit our awesome investigator silvia this week because she is super sick:(

Oh and we are starting a new tansfer today! I am staying in lovely Parque San Martin with my brasilian companion Elder Vicente! We are super excited to be able to stay together but not so exicted for the cold weather and fewer hours of daylight that awaits us this transfer but it is what it is haha. 

Oh and we are in a trio right now too. One of the elders we live with finished his mission so his companion is hanging with us until he gets his new companion tomorrow. Its been pretty fun. All three of us gave talks in church yesterday haha. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

June 13, 2016

It was a great week full of a ton of missionary work. We had several great lessons with a lot of our investigators and were even able to find several new investigators this week.

On Tuesday we did divisions. It was a great day. I stayed and worked in our area with another elder that came to the mission with me. We had several great lessons during the day but the highlight of the day were these three new investigators we found at night: So it was late and we had just finished a lesson with one of our invesitgators. We started headed back to our apartment becaue we had about a 40 minute walk and it was super cold outside. And while we were walking I recognized this house we passed by and I felt we should go clap it. So we head back to the house and they end up letting us in and we teach an awesome lesson about the restoration to these three brothers! It was so great! These brothers were so excited to learn and hear our message it kinda freaked me out haha. When we started talking about Joseph Smith they were literally on the edge of their seats exploding with excitement and anticapation, like they were watching a soccer game or something haha. It was a super great way to end the day!

On Wednesday we also found an awesome new famiy. They were a reference from there cousin that lives in Oregon that is a member and married to a returned missionary. They are super great and we are excited to start teaching them as well.

Our progressing investigators Luis and Silvia are doing great as well. Luis is on track to be baptized the 17th of June. He has quitted smoking and is really prepared. Our only concern for him is his neighbor Carlos who is a really bad influence. We stopped by Luis´s house the other day at night and Carlos was in there all drunk and smoking right in front of his face! Carlos really wanted to talk to us so he sits us down and we end up having a "grown up" talk with him. So hopefully we resolved that problem... Silivia came to church for the second time this Sunday! She is so awesome! We are so excited for her to keep learning and are really hoping we can set a goal as a baptismal date this week. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

June 6, 2016

This week went went. Nothing too crazy happened but we got a lot of good work done here in Parque San Martin.

We have two investigators that are progressing very well currently. Our first one is named Luis. He is so awesome. He has a baptismal date for the 18th of June and we think he will make it. We have been helping him quit smoking and he come so far. He hasn't smoked since Saturday and he is still doing so well.

Our other investigator is named Silvia. She is the best. She came to church for the first time this Sunday. She is reading so much in the Book of Mormon and really has a true desire to learn the truth. 

The week was pretty normal. We had several great lessons and found a handful of new investigators. The weather here this week was so aweful though. Super cold and rainy. Before being a missionary I never paid to much attention to the weather but it really has an impact on everything now haha. I dont know a better way to say this so will just throw it out there; a really large part of our area is just so ghetto and unpleasing to look at haha... And when it is dark and rainy its almost so bad its funny haha. I wish I could describe it better but thats all I got haha. But my Brasilian companion and I are hanging in there!

I hope everything is going well back home. Take care and have a great week!

Elder Townsend

making empanadas at a members house

May 30, 2016

Pretty great week. 

On Tuesday we did divisions again. I stayed in my area and worked with another elder. It was such an interesting day haha. I know our area decently well for only being here for two weeks but not too well haha. And our area is almost impossible to learn because the house numbers are all messed up. So needless to say we did a good amount of walking haha. I don't think the elder I was with was that accustomed to walking and moving around so much haha. The poor guy was dead at the end of the day.

On Wednesday was 25 de Mayo! It was a great day. For lunch my companion and the other companionship we live with bought empanadas to celebrate. There is this really nice buisness chain down here called empanadas de 10 and we ordered an empanada of every single one of their flavors haha (they have 25 flavors). We then cut every single one in 4 pieces and we all ate each one at a time and then took notes and gave them ratings. We are now proud to say we have tasted every flavor and we can in detail describe each one. For you future costumers out there I highly recommend you stay away from the bacon and plum flavor....

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Our investigators are doing great. Last sunday was stake conference which was awesome. Oh and during one of our lessons yesterday afternoon this drunk teenage girl riding a moped fell into the sewage stream thing on the side of the dirt road. Oh how I love this country.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

May 23, 2016

It was another pretty great week.

On Tuesday this week I got to go back to my first area Merlo 2 to do divisions! Aww it was just so weird I cant even explain it. I was actually kinda reluctant at first but it was a great day. I got to see some of the people I met and catch up with them. It was awesome. I spent the day with an elder from Peru. He taught me that in Argentina if there are shoes hanging from telephone lines that means someone sells drugrs near by. And that was completely new information to me! I dont know if thats what it means in the states, I always just joked that it meant it was the ´´hood´´ but here it actually means something! haha the funny part is I checked the telephone lines when I came back to my area and I realized that almost every block in our area has shoes hanging down from the lines...so thats awesome...

On Thursday us and the other elders we live with learned how to make empanadas!! It was so awesome! A family in the ward had us over and taught us. Argentine food isnt anthing too special but empanadas are heavenly. So it was super awesome we all learned how to make them.

On Saturday the other elders we live with had a baptism planned. So my companion and I arrived at the chapel about thirty minutes before the baptisms to practice a song we were going to sing and the lady who was going to get baptized still hadn't come! So the elders went out to go look for her. They eventually found her and apparently her boyfriend almost died the night before and is in the hospital. She was emotionally recked and she just couldn't get baptized so we ended up having a small activity in the church with all the members that had come for the baptisms. Haha the whole day was just such a rollercoaster but it all turned out pretty well! I learned that day as a missionary you always have to be prepared haha.

The missionary work in our area is going well. We have several great investigators that are making such great progress. We are really excited for them. 

I hope everyone has a great week

Elder Townsend