Familia Beary

Letter received September 25 - Dated July 30, 2015
What up fam?
I don't really have too much to write because I email you guys every week, but... Argentina is good!  The food is fantastic!  Empanadas, Milanesa, facturas, etc.  Meals aren't anything too special.  Chicken with rice or noodles, or a potato salad-ish dish.  Breakfast is mate with bread.  Dinner doesn't exist for the missionaries but sometimes (a lot) we buy milanesa sandwiches or a member gives us deli sandwiches or mate, or pizza.  (Pizza here isn't anything special, but they love it and are prideful of it).  Normal bread is hard to come by, it's usually mini french breads, or biscuits.  Motorcycles and scooters are the family car here.  It's not unusual to see 4 people piled on to one scooter, or two guys hauling stacks of 2x4's or poles that are super long.  Also at about age 11 you're driving a moto solo.
I'll have a new comp and probably in a new area by the time you get this.  Yuto is nice.  The people are super Catholic/Evangelica.  The missionaries have been here for 19 years and the area is small, so basically everybody has already talked with the missionaries before.  Therefore, we do a lot of contacting and progressing investigators don't really exist.  Siga trabajando no mas.  We spend a lot of $$ traveling because nothing is close to us. (district/zone meetings).  I'll be close to my 1 year mark when you read this too. Days are slow, but the time is FLYING!  Everybody says that, but it's hard to believe.  Sometimes it's hard to think that I'll go home one day.  It seems like I'll be a missionary forever.  The spanish is coming.  Slowly, but coming.  Just need to study hard.  I have no idea how to write in spanish.  Sorry.  I'll probably only have 3 transfers in Yuto, which is less that I had in my 1st area in Ejercito Argentino.  Spanish is different because two words can be spelled the same but end with -o or -a, and mean completely different things, like wrist and doll.  Or the exact same word, just how you use it changes the meaning like smart and ready, or hunt and marry.  I lost my drivers license in my first area like 6 months ago.  We get $1800 pesos a month which is legally $211 dollars.  Things cost the same, a 5 dollar pizza is $50 (never bought pizza).  But if you have dollars in cash, you can sell them for about $12 pesos.  I'm not sure if it's legal, but we only do it with other missionaries and the mission president.  So send CASH!!!
- Elder Jordan Beary

No time to write due to #3

Long week put into a short email: 

1. our baptism got canceled, it will be this saturday

2. we had transfers and I got a new comp

3. I left my backpack in the Terminal with my shoes, camera, and $400 pesos. 

Therefore i don´t have time to update you guys, sorry. Nor do I have photos. (once again due to #3) 

But I love you guys igual <3

1 Year

1 year ago I left the real world and entered the MTC with very little idea of what I was actually getting myself into.

1 year ago I put a nametag on my pocket that I didn´t fully understand what it represented.

1 year ago I didn´t know how it felt to be completly forgiven of your sins

1 year ago I couln´t tell you truthfully that I KNEW the church was true

1 year ago was a long time ago.

Its crazy the difference one year can make. It´s crazy how much you can learn and how much you can grow and the relationships you can have. Changes happen (Maybe not physically. I´m still fat). You learn things from others, from yourself, and especially from the Lord. You realize that everything you do, there´s an opportunity to help somebody else. After one year, you realize how much more you need to do. You start to notice all the things you haven´t necessarily been doing wrong, but that you could do better. I´ve prayed more than I have in my whole entire life, but I could pray more fervantly. I have read my scriptures more than I have in my whole entire life, but I could study them better. I have worked harder than I have in my whole entire life, but I NEED to work harder! 

A year ago if I knew how much work I was getting myself into, I don´t think I would be here. But if I undterstood how important this work is, I think I would have been more obedient. 

A year ago I thought it was cool to finally have Elder Beary on a missionary nametag, but now I realize it´s the least important name of the 3.

A year ago I started to learn what repentance actually was, and that if you want to be spiritually clean, you can. 

A year ago I started a long journey that is still in process to tell you with my whole heart that this is the ONLY true church. The only church that Jesus Crist himself established, with the same power and authority that he had.

to end I want to quote Elder Ellis, one of the greates guys that I met 1 year ago.

¨It was special to watch as one of my dirtiest and probably the most sweat stained shirts burn in the same way the spirit burns in our hearts while we serve our Lord with all we've got... The change is real, and the happiness is glorious¨

Last week in a jif

I finished my first journal in the mission! Had lots of lessons. Had a really really cool magic trick, I threw the card in the air and it landed in the kids book of mormon perfectly revealing that it was his card. Wow que mago que soy. Went on splits with our DL and I had a good time with his comp Elder Barbaran. I petted a puppy into a deep sleep and it feel off my shoe.  Bryan got baptized!!! Also fighting some probs with the comp. sunday was a conference and it was good. Elder hales and cook both gave solid talks. 

This week also in a jif

They painted our pension so we slept on the floor for 2 days. Played a ton of ping pong during pday and sadly i lost 1 match. I had to give a lesson during our district meeting. then had a 4 hour lunch with alejandro. Gave my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd blessings in my life in 3 days. Zone leaders showed up for our weekly planning and got mad. made cinnamon rolls. Gaspar got baptized! fighting with the comp some more. lots of personal study cuz my comp doesn´t like to get out of bed on time. 

Hope all is well with you guys and I hope that Ill send a better email next week! 

pics

cinnamon rolls.

soccer with the zone, and another zone

gaspars baptism

elder cardoso (My DL. We are great friends and we both share a love for the ties)

gaspars baptism