Matt's email 5/24/2010

We have a baptismal date for a boy that is 9 named Gastón. He is a way sweet kid and he is pretty excited. He goes to church every week with his grandma. Both his parents are inactive so we are hoping that this will bring them back. We will see what happens though. This is a huge problem here that the kids want to get baptized but then once they do they don´t have any support so it´s hard for them so stay active. It´s still pretty exciting though. Life here in Argentina is going right along. Every day we are trying to find the chosen ones but I swear they are hiding. Every time we think we find one they always just say they are really really catholic which is weird because I thought catholicism was a religion not an adjective. After they tell us how catholic they are they proceed to give us a made up address and then tell us that we would be wasting our time. It is pretty funny. 

Oh and also the dogs here.... I can´t stand them. They are the most annoying things ever and I want to punt every single one. They have dogs here that are illegal in the US because they will kill you in like .2. They are the ugliest things I have every seen. I don´t know if I ever told you about Pandi, our landlady´s dog. But it was like this little mut thing that I could throw to the moon but the poor guy ran away and nobody knows where he went. I´m so happy you have no idea. The landlady was ticked though because she thought we let him out. Oh well, she will get over it.

Matt's email 5/17/2010

We landed in Buenos Aires and it was a shock to see every single thing in spanish but it was all good. From the international airport we went to another regional airport and waited for 8 hours for our flight to Mendoza. That was not what I wanted to do after an 11 hour flight but whatever right? It was way cool though because we sat in a food court the whole time and there was a security officer that would seriously walk around the same 100 sq ft area for hours and hours and he started talking to us and told us that he has read a bunch about the church on the internet and he knew it was the right church for him. I was the only one that could understand somewhat what he was saying and he said that he couldn´t find the church in his area. I got his address and all that good stuff then asked him if he had a Book of Mormon. He told me that he didn´t and that he really wanted one. Luckily I packed my spanish scriptures on my carry on with me and I pulled out my good one from the MTC because everybody else had theirs all marked up with their names and all that and I wrote a simple testimony in it and gave it to him. He was super stoked and kept making sure that I was going to give his name to the missionaries in his area so he could be taught. It was a really cool experience.

we took a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to San Rafael which is in the middle of the desert and here we are doing what we do. It is a small town with a lot of poor people and one main street with a thousand auto repair stores. The cars here are a joke. Seriously the Unimog would be like a Ferrari. I feel like I took a step back into the 50s. Also the culture here is ridiculous. The people wake up at 10 or 11, leave their house to get food for their massive lunch, get back home at like 12 30, cook, eat and sleep until like 7. Then from 7 to 9 they are outside sweeping the dirt off their dirt (No joke) and they say they don´t have 30 seconds to listen to our message and that they are so devoted to catholosism and they won´t change. That makes up about 99% of them and the other 1% we got to church. Yesterday we had 5 investigators at church which was awesome. We are thinking 2 or 3 are going to get baptized soon so We´ll see. The ward here is way sweet.

Matt's first Argentine meal

McDonald's--yum!

Marc's Call

Guadalajara, Mexico

Enters Provo MTC September 22, 2010

As the second largest city in México and boasting a population of over 3 million, you are constantly reminded that Guadalajara is a busy metropolis, and a major Mexican business center.
The Guadalajara area is known as the birthplace of the world famous Mariachi bands and also as the home of the Mexican hat dance.

Elder Burr is in Mendoza!

Elder Matthew Burr is second from the left.

Called to serve, but where?

Take the poll on the right and make your guess about where Marc will be going.  If you want to be more specific, leave a comment in the comment section!

Matt's email 5/10/2010

Matthew is flying to Argentina today.  He is so excited to be done with the MTC and on to the work of the Lord.  His email was short and sweet.

I am just sitting down to write my last email here in the MTC and I'm out in like 40 minutes. My experience here has been incredible.

A nice member who works at the SLC airport took this picture of the missionaries flying to Argentina today.