Esperen...Hola! - January 30th

Hi fam!
Well, we went to the San Ignacio ruins again today and so I haven’t been able to write up until now. It was just the same as the first time, but no one else had seen it in our zone apart from Elder Fletcher who is back in the area he started in. We were both kind of bored. It makes me feel old too because everyone else is new and I am the only one remaining. Who knows what will happen though. I love my area anyways and I think we could have some baptisms this next transfer. Maybe lots!
I will start out by answering all the random questions though to satiate your hunger. Breakfast is still pretty much cereal or an occasional egg. I found some really good instant breakfast type stuff that I like to mix in with the milk to make it taste good (yes with the cereal too). As for lunch we have a great carniceria downstairs that cooks empanadas and hamburgers that we really like to hit up. We still cook noodles and what not too though. Can’t always be eating the fast food thing now can I? I am kind of sick of eating though. It can be good, but such a hassle. We have two great stoves in our pension but are only using one. The streets in Jardín are paved and others not so much. They just dump a whole bunch of rocks in the street to prevent mud. Kills the feet! I am also starting to wonder if my shoes will make it until March. The streets are tearing them up! We have to walk all the time because the buses don’t run too normally and aren’t in all parts of the city. We do travel a lot between cities for divisions and what not. As for the reports like the best two years, I have no clue what you are talking about really. We write letters to the president every week, but apart from that we only have interviews. Never really have time to talk with him or even our zone leaders here. I just finally got a bunch of letters from the zone leaders today that they have had for like the whole transfer. They gave some other letters to other elders in candelaria and I was a bit frustrated that everyone had my letters but me. Still I finally got them all and am very happy. There were a good 8 or 9 letters! Basically all from Christmas.
I kind of took the Pres. Hinckley news in swing. It wasn’t really a surprise I guess seeing as he was really old and that his son talked to us in the MTC saying that he didn’t think that Pres. Hinckley would be around when we came back from our missions. We found out first from an investigator of ours who had watched the news, but they didn´t really know who it was and we weren’t sure who it really was. We were on divisions at the time and I was with Elder Pereira, a minimisionero who is serving with Elder Patterson in Candelaria, here in Jardín America. I am truly grateful for the kind of man that the Prophet President Hinckley was. I guess it the only prophet I really knew really well. I also just can’t help but be happy for him to be reunited with his family on the other side. It seems that I have been thinking the last couple conferences that he has really not said anything way new and that he seemed to have fulfilled his purpose here on the earth. Truly a great man!
The Benites family seems to be doing the same as ever. We have tried to figure out their marriage thing for them and it seems we just need birth certificates and they can go get the analysis whenever they want but then after they need to finish papers within 15 days or something. After that it will take 7 days to process or something and all is done. Seems so simple. The hna. Juana has to go get her birth certificate in Posadas and the hno. Roberto Benites needs his in Corpus or Posadas. We want to go do it for them if we can but we will need to ask permission from president Shakespear. We will see. We have interviews tomorrow so I will talk to him there. It is just going to be him, his wife, me and Elder Cranford for these interviews. They are stopping by the pension it sounds like. Easy for us I guess. Really weird sounding though. Luckily our apartment is pretty clean and in order. We will have to do a little work on the floor though. Still I think the hna Shakespear will be impressed.
Me and Elder Cranford are doing great. We get along quite well, though he definitely had a different style before the mission than I did. I was thinking about it and I realize that I haven’t had a single companion from Utah. Probably a bit strange as the vast majority of missionaries seem to come from there. Anyway, Elder Cranford is very outgoing and is learning way fast. Still, I have enjoyed being in charge and having to teach a lot. I have come to love it. I find as well that through my studies and prayers I am being inspired during lessons. I really have scriptures and words just pop into my head that are just perfect for the needs of our investigators. Also, we have been working on placing emphasis on the Book of Mormon in response to doubts and questions that people have. We don’t have to answer ever little thing if they find for themselves the Book of Mormon to be true. It follows that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that the church, with all its revelations, is the true church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth in these days. All that we teach is true! We have had some really good lessons in which investigators are faced with an option to find out the truth through reading, meditating, and praying or never know. It is like President Shakespear told us that we should share and testify in such a way that the people think either that we are crazy or that we are right.
I love the mission right now (even though the heat is trying to kill me). It is amazing the great thinks that the Lord is accomplishing in these days. It is great to see the light shine in the eyes of my brothers and sisters as they gain more understanding through the teachings of the gospel. I only hope that I can always be a better and better instrument in the hands of my maker. It would be sad to think that I did not give my all for the best two years of my life. So far so good!
Love you all!
Elder Aaron McDonald
P.S. I think that when you send your package you had better send little speakers and also shoes and socks (my socks are starting to get "holy").