That threw me off guard and I politely turned down the request.

Well, what an interestingly awesome week. First of all to the questions.

Tell us about your new companion? My companion is a 22 year old child of Chile. He is short but stalky. He has a LOT of energy and loves working. He is an amazing example of desire and faith. I am his second companion... and he is still in his first area. But he already has major aspects of the mission mastered. I love him a lot... it is great to serve with him.

And how long were you a trainer? I was a trainer for 6 weeks (one transfer). I had already been in Villa Zula for 5 transfers... so the President basically had to move me out. Normally trainers train for 2 transfers (12 weeks). But my talents are needed elsewhere... But I´m not worried... with any luck, I’ll be able to train again. I love it.

Tell us about your new district, and the Elders there. My district consists of 4 elders. There are two Latin’s and two Yankees. Um, it is pretty good. I don’t know too much because I still haven’t gone out with them personally. I’ll let you know more when I do.

Tell us about your new area. It looks like city? It isn’t really, its more like the outskirts. Lots of mud... And the area is really small.

And the ward? Large or small? What kind of building? The ward is amazing. We share it with another set of elders. So there are 4 elders in total that go to the ward... and two more that meet with us for a branch on Sundays. It is pretty big. There are about 125 people in church every Sunday... here that is huge. The building is new and really nice, a typical Argentine chapel. I’ll try to send photos. The chapel is right in the middle of our ward boundaries (which would be our area) and right next to the apartment... so we go there all the time.

Your new apartment? Upstairs or down? 2 Elders or 4? The apartment is really a small house. There are 4 elders. Me, Elder Acuña, Elder Kushlan and Elder Hernandez. Elders Kushlan and Hernandez can’t find an apartment in their area, so they bunk in with us... it is really quite complicated. ANYWAY... It is a small house. We have 2 rooms for studies and a large room where we keep all 4 beds lined up. The kitchen is small and has no table. But we did just buy a new fridge!!!

What do you eat for breakfast…it can’t be American cold cereal. To tell you the truth, we try to find American cold cereal. The majority of the missionaries here eat that. But it is a little too expensive for me, so I make pancakes every morning. Which the other elders normally chow down on as well.

What are the holidays like in Argentina? There are almost always holidays here. Argentina is very Catholic. About 2-3 times a week there is a holiday. Normally for Saint Jo-schmoe... or whathaveyou. Everyone just takes the day off and does whatever they want. Really weird, but hey... what can you do. Basically the only corresponding holidays are Christmas, Easter, New Years, Valentine’s Day and Fathers day. Here Mothers Day is in the middle of October. So if you want I can call home the 16 of October instead of next May.

Well, that out of the way... let me share some of my week, although I have no time.

This area is very different. We go out with members almost all the time. The members here all were surprised at how open I was... they all thought I would be a square or something, anyway... they like me... so we go out with them a lot. That helps us baptize A LOT!!! This week we had a baptism. Next week we have a baptism... Our goal is to have baptisms EVERY WEEK! We don’t know how... but we have faith, we will try our hardest. The ward is split, so we share everything with two other elders. It just turns out the other elders are Elder Jones (from the MTC) and a new elder who JUST got here from the MTC named Elder Coats (who doesn’t understand a thing yet). Wonder to work with. Anyway... there is some background info.

As a district leader I have the opportunity to do baptismal interviews. Fortunately Elder Jones is a District Leader as well, so we can just do interviews for each other. He asked me to do one this week and so I got the opportunity to do my first interview with Celeste. She and her sister got baptized this Saturday along with Juan, the kid we baptized as well. During the interview I got to know Celeste. More than anything the interview is to help them feel secure and find out if they are ready for baptism. At the end I asked her who she wanted to baptize her. She asked me to do it. That threw me off guard and I politely turned down the request. I told her that it would probably be better to have someone from the ward do it or Elder Jones. She had Elder Jones do it (which I’m happy for). But I thought that was an interesting first interview experience.

The 3 people baptism went great! I’ll try to send photos. Baptizing days really are the best!!!

Well, it has been raining all week... so I’ve been all muddy all week. Just so you know. But the members still went out with us... They really are amazing. There are a few return missionaries here and preparing missionaries. One of them went to California, the mission next to Carlsbad.

It is interesting getting to know a lot of new people. I decided to just be bold and follow the Spirit in a bold way. During my first day we took out 2 baptismal goals and we found 12 people this week. It was an amazing week. It feels like every time the Lord asks me to do something new, fill a new calling of some sort... he makes me better, whether I want to be better or not.

Well, there is a lot more, but I’ll wait till next week. I love you all. Thanks for all the messages and love.

All my love,
Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS take it easy up there