8 months!! 1/3

Hey Everyone!!

This week was really awesome and it flew by really fast!! First off, I officially hit 8 months in the mission on Sunday!!! Crazy to think that I am already done with 1/3 of the mission-the time is just flying by!! Yesterday I wasn´t able to write because we left to write at the end of P-Day and the lady that works the internet café decided that she didn´t need to show up for work that day and we were too far away to walk to a different one. So, everything is okay, there was just a hang up with finding a place to write. 

I can´t remember if I have already said this, but here in Goya it´s a little bit different and we have to clean our own clothes. And, it´s not like the States-we don´t have a washing machine. Yes, we do wash our clothes with a washing board like from the videos of the 1800´s!! So, I have learned how to do that here and it´s pretty cool, but I won´t be complaining about having a washing machine in my house back in the US. 

Also, this week we had the baptism of Sofia and that went really well!! They showed up early, there were really cool talks, she had a really pretty white dress, and the water was really warm! It was a great day and I´m really happy to have been able to baptize her! Also, we had a conference in Resistencia and that went really well and I got to see Elder Wright and Elder Anderson from the MTC. And, we got there pretty early, so Elder Mauricio and I decided to walk to the church from the bus station, only 60 blocks!! Yes, it did take an hour to walk there, but it was a nice walk and it was cool to see the city and we even did the walk back at the end of the conference since we liked it on the way there. 

And, la familia Melgarejos is doing really well and it´s been awesome to see such a huge change in their family and see how happy she is now, and we are working towards their baptism on June 7^th, so I´ll keep you updated on that. So, they came to church on Sunday, along with sofia and her family, AND Leandro finally came to church!! That was awesome and now I think he might change a little more now that he knows what the church is like. And we had a district conference on Sunday, where a few different areas come together for a bigger meeting every once in a while and the mission President, President Heyman, came to give a talk. So, that was really cool and I played the organ for the meeting(And I can´t remember if I already said that I´m the organist here as well). The only complication was that la familia Melgarejos wasn´t ready to leave their house until 9:45 and the meeting started at 10 and I had to play the piano. And it takes half an hour to walk from their house. So, we called a taxi for them and then sprinted to church and made it there 2 minutes before they started-SUCCESS!! Haha 

Anyways, that´s about it this week and I just wanted to add another quote this week from Donald L. Hallstrom that states, “Our future, no matter our history, can be brighter and look brighter.” I know that this is true and I testify that anyone, at any point in life, can start to change. There is no point in which we cannot be reached by our Savior and start over and start to live a better life and find happiness. There is always hope and there is always a bright side!! I hope that this week brings happiness and that everyone at hope is having a great start to the summer, as I begin my winter!! Thanks to everyone for writing me and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Les Quiero,

Elder Joshua Clarine