Hey family,

Well, as you all said it was great to see everyone I knew again at stake conference. We just had interviews with Presidente del Castillo and it seems that I will still be around for general conference as well and I will have some real time to visit some people. I asked if it was okay to write the flia Benitez and he said it is alright as long as he can proofread the letter. Cool! Apparently the members there don’t know what happened but it seems that the mom got offended somehow. I will see if I can fix something there maybe. Who knows? General conference by the way is going to be watched in the stake center in the centro of Posadas. I know that chapel really well seeing as I have visited it once every transfer at least since the time I left Saénz Peña. We have zone conferences there as well.

So I talked with Presidente del Castillo and he asked me how everything was doing and all and we talked about the challenges that I have with the area. He said I have a lot of faith and is impressed with me (I don’t mean to sound like I am bragging or something). It made me feel good. He mentioned about how it was great that I have kept working hard even after being dropped down from zone leader. He said that takes real faith and that I wasn’t working just to gain position like it happens with some missionaries. It is true. I never have tried to gain anything in the mission. Just be content with where you are at and serve with all your might. I also told him about our companionship (me and Elder Walker) and the struggles we are having with communicating. I keep trying but Elder Walker just doesn’t seem to like me (he says he does but that we don’t “click”). He is a really good guy though and I love him anyways. We had a good talk on Sunday about why I came on a mission and how I look at things and how I would like to try to help him in any way that I can. We gained some more understanding I think, but we are still walking in silence a lot. Little by little.

Well you might be surprised at what we did for pday today. Here in Miguel Lanús we have a really awesome golf course and we went today to play for the first time. Kind of expensive, but an opportunity that you just can’t pass up I suppose. It was just our district (Elder Walker, Elder Cook, Elder Karren, and me) and was a lot of fun, even though golf is definitely not my sport. I shot a 76 on 9 holes. Worse than anybody else, but not by much. Luckily we all were pretty bad, but apparently there was an Elder that played here a ways back from Utah that eventually went pro. Very interesting. One of the rented out clubs broke (not by any disabuse of the club) and they tried to have us pay for the whole thing, but I talked them down to half. A lot of people have used those clubs. Anyways, like I said a lot of fun. I will send some pictures the next time hopefully.

So I heard at interviews yesterday that a lot of people from my group are going home 3 weeks early to start school. I asked pres. Del Castillo if I could register for classes and he said it should be fine. I don’t really know how to do it though. School apparently starts the 5th of January apparently so I guess Amy is going to have to go back to school for me. It kind of made me sad because I was looking forward to talking to everyone on the way back home, but it looks like I may just about be travelling home alone. I told president that I have every intention of serving until the end though. Hope you guys don’t mind. I am sure you don’t. I think Elder Fletcher is doing the same so there will be someone with me. Elder Ward is going home early. Also, Elder Vega is on his last week in the mission now and I am going to be sad to see him go. He is one of the strongest influences on my mission for sure. A really good friend. He says we will see each other after the mission. He lives in Sandy, Utah so should be easy. So I got trunky for a few hours and had a tough time sleeping last night for all that was on my mind. Partly for what happened last night with the Custodio family. We got to their house after interviews and Seferino was drunk. He told us of his problems and the family listened as we talked about the power of the Atonement and the repentance process. They asked us to pray for them and keep stopping by and we told them to not get disanimated. It is better it came out now then in the interview, but for now Seferino is not going to be able to get baptized. Sylvio told us that he is quitting smoking though and is down to 5 cigarettes compared to the 15 he did before. So that is a positive note. They are going to keep plugging away.

So another note about school. I think that mainly I will want to take the 17 credit Spanish test and maybe some music theory classes and that is about it. Maybe a medical class or a nutrition class or something to get some variety there. So if you want to find out what is available and when I can start and all that because I don’t think I will want anything too tough to worry about. I’ve got to start looking at career options first. This one will be for fun more than anything.

Well, it is starting to get really hot in Argentina again, but I only have to put up with half of summer luckily. Three more transfers is all. Crazy how the time flies. Well, we will see what success we can have this last little bit. Pres. Del Castillo felt inspired to tell me that there are families that are waiting to be found who are ready to be baptized here in my area. He said there are miracles waiting. I believe it. I just hope that I can do my part in helping to find and baptize these people and work to make these miracles happen. I feel a little weighted down with the responsibility, but I am sure the Lord will help me every step of the way. We will see what He has in store!

Love you all,

Elder Aaron McDonald