Nine Coconut Custard Pies!

Famines.

How goes it all? Good? That’s cool. Hope all was a Fathers day-licious yesteryear. And a most happy belated one to Dad and the papas Allphin and Carter. Here in Yuto, for some reason, it’s absolutely mandatory that all the dads get a cake for Father’s Day. Seriously, on our way to church we saw everyone on their bikes with loads of cakes that almost seem to say: "Nine. Coconut custard. Pies!"...but just with cakes instead. Its good cake, though.

Glad to know the cow head was pleasing to hear about but good sakes, the photo that’s on the blog is so bad. I'll hook youz guys up with a better one if you can take that one off. These guys take pics but they are like the worst pics ever. Just sayin'. I'll get better about sending off the pics I take. It’s just we never have time, you know—sorry—but I digress.

Wow, so this week was great, we had a lot of things happen to us. We are teaching the B______ family but, more than anything, we are teaching the mom and her family (her son is Javier). She went to Tucumán about 2 weeks ago and heard some anti-Mormon stuff from her sister-in-law or something and was all like "Dang! What have I gotten us into?" But we had a sit down and chatted and she’s all good now, we are still teaching her. We baptized her son José Manuel this last Saturday and that went smashingly well. We talked with her a bit before the baptism and had a prayer to start. I was saying it and, as a good/nice gesture before you offer the prayer, you should always say: "Is there anything thing I could ask for you in the prayer?"  She was like, "I want more unity and peace in my family" so I simply did that. It was just a few days later before the baptism that she pulled us into her house and said, "Allphin, remember when you gave the prayer for my family?!" I was like, "Ummmm, yeah, ok, I guess…" She said, "A day after our lesson, when you said that prayer, I talked with my daughter-in-law in the first time in forever and we are getting along then, out of the blue, my ex husband came to my house and I haven’t seen him in forever either and he apologized for everything he’s done. He just wants there to be unity in the family with our kids. I forgave him, my kids forgave him, and there is a stronger betting bond in the family now so thank you, thank you.”  I was really touched that God would hear a prayer like that and answer it like that but He does (: It was great. I told her I had nothing to do with it and it was her faith and the good desire in her heart and our Heavenly Father’s love that answered the prayer.

After the baptism of her son she said, "So, when can we get the family together and get us all baptized?"  Ahhhhhh! It was funny because she said it all like cool, like. We still gotta do some stuff with them but they are working on it.

We are moving ahead and still working with the Familia A_____. They are so so so cool. They are already converted and are always just wanting to hug us because they love the gospel that we had the privilege of bringing to them. When we have lessons with them the spirit is super strong and they are always in tears or something. They are so prepped. They called me this morning and said, "Hermano Allphin, can we all get baptized today?" Ha-ha-ha, they are so amazing! We get them baptized this Saturday so pray for them that all will be well. Thanks for putting their names in the temple. They send their best to you guys and they always pray for our family so you got that going for ya, which is nice...

The district is doing well. We had a lot of baptisms this past week and we are moving forward. Do pray that all will be good with them and all. The district is amazing.

We went shopping this morning and, as we were shopping, I saw this girl and thought, "Shoot, I know this girl but who the heck is she:  A member, investigator, contact? AHHH!" I said a nice "Hola" and she said "Hola Elder." I said, “I know this may sound stupid, and sorry if I already know you but, how do I know you?"  She said, "I don’t know" so I asked her where she lived and she said, “Here in Yuto but also in Chijra in Jujuy”  Then I said "Ahhhhhh, yes, yes, ok." We talked awhile and I could finally put a name to the face. It was a member girl from Chijra named Paula and we always passed by her house but I completely forgot her. We talked about Chijra and everything and she said she knew Fernanda and is one of her best friends.  She said that Fernanda is doing great there and is going to church and everything. We are gonna pass by Paula’s house in Yuto this week. Tight!

Well familys, that’s about it.  Questions?

• Did Elias get his mission call?

Yes, just yesterday: Sao Paulo Brazil in the mission next to his brother. His brother is serving in Sao Paulo but in the other part. Cool, huh?

• Do you ever have lunch with your district after your meeting?

No, no one has time. We all gotta take buses forever to get back to our areas. It would be nice, though. Sometimes we bring fracturas before the meeting, though.

• Who’s in your district?

Us, 2 more elders, and 6 hermanas.

• Is cow’s head a freaky thing to have there?

It’s the norm for like a birthday or a holiday kinda thing (or if anyone asks for it, really) but yeah, it’s totally normal to eat it here (though I believe it’s illegal in the states).

• How are the investigators doing?

Like I said, super smashin' awesome! We are always trying to find more but pray for the ones we have that all will be good.

• Is it hot, cold, what?

Now it’s cold—and amazing but it was super hot just three days ago. I miss consistency in the weather.

Well fams, that’s about it. It’s all going swimmingly here and we hope to maintain it that way. Pray that it will be like that. Our families are doing good and everything is well. We have zone conference this week and all so that should be exciting. Until next time, I love you all. Be safe and have a great week. I love you and miss you so much. It’s all good

Con Amor,

Russ