Robbed twice and rocks thrown at us, but the work goes on!

Dear Family,

I've got worms and robbers!!!! Ja ja! Not literally . . . The worms are what we call the little girls here who fall in love with the elders. Snakes are the teenagers, and dragons are them crazy wicked grandmas that want your bod. Ja ja! But anyway, I have a lot of the primary in love with me. I have them tell me they love me and try to give me kisses and hold my hands. I feel like Justin in our ward almost! Ja ja! Something interesting about this week in church is that I had to speak for a few minutes! The bishop called me up to introduce myself and talk about my family and mission. It was a little nerve wracking, but Elder Vergara said I made sense with my Spanish, though, and it was good.

So, time for the scary news of the week. Ja ja! So on Wednesday, we did a comp exchange for 24 hours. Elder Vergara left to another area and I was supposed to know my way around the area after a few weeks! That's unheard of! And to make it worse, Elder Hoeft, my exchange comp, only has one more transfer than me and in reality, his Spanish is worse than mine. . . SO . . . Two greenies with a brand new area and a short background of the language. Awesome! Anyway, we uh . . . got robbed. TWICE!!! It doesn't help that Elder Hoeft is about 6' 6" and has flaming red hair. He's the Red Beacon, as we all call him. Anyway, the first time four kids came up to us outside the villa. I knew right away they were up to no good, but there was nothing we could have done. I had the pistol drawn on me, one guy checking my pockets, the other grabbing my backpack. Elder Hoeft just had one guy grab his backpack. I ALMOST grabbed the gun and fought back. It was a huge hit to my pride as a human being. I lost all my teaching stuff, my dictionary, all my photos of family and friends. There was more, but still, it's all gone. The second robbery was later that night about three hours later and this guy stopped us with a gun inside his jacket pocket and told us to give him all our money. I told his someone beat him to it and showed him my empty pockets and started to walk away, just ignoring him. Elder Hoeft gave him 65 Argentine cents. (Less than a quarter). So, that one was REALLY successful! Ja ja! Anyway, throughout all of this, I kept my little money bag, my ctr ring from the mtc, and Elder Hoeft's really nice watch wasn't stolen. Weird. . . But both of those robberies didn't benefit them very much. I was only upset to lose my pictures, our cell phone, and my little reminders of my friends (bracelets from Aubree and Carly and the little pocket knife from RJ's dad). So, we now have the mission record for most times robbed in one day. Ja ja! I swear if it happens again, I'm just going to keep walking and ignore them. They aren't very forceful when they try to rob you. They're more scared than anything.


So, enough of all the non relevant stuff. With the missionary work this week, we had some successes and failures. All our baptismal dates for the 5th fell through because nobody came to church. We had one kid (14 years) come to church with us. His name is Alan. We met him outside a store with his cousin who is a return missionary. We went to his house the next day and taught him and his mom the Restoration. They loved it! When Alan went to church he enjoyed it a lot! Especially the girls. Ja ja! And then his mom wants to come next week. But she needs to get married so we can baptize her. That's a missionary's worst nightmare. But they are looking really good!

Mirta, who we taught last week, was really excited to see us again! She fed us home made alfajores (oh so yummy. :)) and we taught her the importance of reading, praying and going to church. She just accepts everything and loves the lessons. She told ALL her friends about us and we keep getting tons of references from her. We might be having a class of people to teach if her friends come to the next lesson! I would love that! Anyway, she's progressing really well!

Juan and Selva are such capos! They are the best! She continues to read a ton and always bears testimony to us. She is working on her husband to get him to do the same things she is. I can see them as future bishop and Relief Society president material. They just have to come to church!

Alejandro and José are doing pretty good too. José has so many doubts and it was hard teaching them without Elder Vergara, but it was a success! The sad part is that we had Hermano Aleveranga come with us to the lesson and he was supposed to pick him up for church yesterday, but he never went cause they didn't settle all the details. And José was waiting for him . . . The members are sometimes really worthless here. They love to tell us how to teach, but never want to help with their own friends coming to church. That's just another part of why it's frustrating in this country. It's just so dang lazy!! Nobody is hard working here besides the missionaries! Ja ja!

With Rosa, Yesica,  y Romina, they were all there and I taught them about the importance of reading, praying, and going to church. They said they were going to go to the chapel this Sunday but they never showed. It broke my heart. But they have had some family crises with a really sick niece so maybe something happened again. But I hope that we can find them again so we can teach them. They are so accepting of the gospel! I want to see them baptized so badly!

Well, it is hard to watch so many baptismal dates fall through. But, I think we'll be having one this week. Gaston, the ten or eleven year old, should be getting baptized and then maybe the family Medina! They just have to quit smoking and unfortunately we didn't pass by their house this week when they were home so we never found out if they got married on Friday or if they stopped smoking. Bummer! We actually got robbed the first time right after trying to visit them. But anyway, we are working as hard as we are allowed. Elder Vergara got sick this week and we couldn't work very much on Thursday and then Friday we didn't even leave the pench. I read a whole book from the missionary reference library and studied a lot. We slept a lot trying to get Elder Vergara back to health. It's a trying of my patience because I'm doing as much as possible for him to get better and it's a sacrifice on my part. For example, the air conditioner. He is always cold while sick, so i can't turn it on and it is so hot at night! I sleep on top of my sleeping bag and am sweating! But soon enough we'll start turning it on and I hope he'll recover soon.

Oh, one more funny little story from this week. Elder Hoeft and I got stoned! So in one day we were robbed twice, got big stones the size of apples thrown at us, and we still kept working! Eat that Satanás! Ja ja! We wouldn't let anything stop us from the work. Elder Hoeft was really bummed down from the day. He's kind of quiet and shy, so the robberies were a big blow to him. So, I just tried all I could to keep a good attitude and keep talking to as many people as possible to work hard.

Thanks for all the updates from this past week! I love hearing from my family and friends! It helps a lot. Mom, the four pound thing is a recommendation and an estimate weight. It doesn't HAVE to be that heavy or anything. Just listen to the post men and they'll help you out. Oh and before I forget, Kevin, please email me my core work out sheet! I need a set work out so I won't keep gaining weight. I gained ten pounds this past month!!! Yikes! I think I lost five of that in the past few days though by working out again. I just wish I could go running.

So I am three months old on Thursday!!! Can you believe that 1/8 of my mission is already done?! Time really has been flying by when I think about it. I feel like I was just at the airport watching my family cry as I left into the security line. I think you're all a little more Blake-sick than I am home-sick! Ja ja! JK! I love you all and am so glad to be serving a mission. I would love to hear from Trevor and Justin. Especially Justin. You haven't written me in almost two months you booger! Tell me about this Shauna Fuller chika! Ask her if she's related to a senior in high school, Hannah Fuller and her brother Monroe Fuller who is serving a mission right now.

Well, time to go! The work is calling my name and I am eager to go. Thanks for everything! Sorry this letter is all over the place, but that's how my mind has been lately. I'll write you next week! Love and miss you all! Chow, Chow!!