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.