Que Tal

Dear Family and Friends

Another week has come and gone in good old Argentina! Time seems to be flying these days as the work becomes more a second nature, and the joy of my life. This week we were able to sing in a choir in front of about 500 future missionaries in the stake center of our zone. Two members of the Seventy came and that was a cool experience because there were only about twenty of us Elders who were asked to sing. There were future misionaries from all the provinces around Mendoza that came. Something even cooler is that the girl we just recently baptized, Denise, and her older sister who is a member as well, went and both came back with the convictions that they wanted to serve missions. It was a hapy day for me :) So I guess we will see one day. It is a breath of fresh air out here when you see two young women striving to do what is right, and go the opposite way of the majority of the youth here in Argentina. It gives me hope for the future.

Being an American down here is difficult sometimes because most the people have no idea what America is like. They hear stories and things and believe those things. Someone told me yesterday that the U.S. wasn´t in World War 2... It took me a while to calm down about that... Haha, now I have gotten better at it and have learned to laugh about it. It does give me a testimony of the importance of education though, and how we need to seek all the best learning; Secular and learning by faith. We won´t be saved in our igorance. There is a hard thing down here that we see all the time. People drop out of school to go do some low paying job. They think that it is great at first because they are making money as a kid, and then they face the reality that it doesnt cut it to provide for a family. So they live in poverty the rest of their lives. As missionaries, we sometimes stress the importance of education here to those wayward ones who can´t quite yet see the bigger picture.

We have 4 baptisms planned for this FRiday!!! I am so excited I can´t wiait! We have been facing road blocks all along the way so we could really use some prayers to help these people accomplish their goal and enter the straight and narrow way. Their names are Joel, Sofia, Fiorella, and Giuliana. We are working hard to make it happen so that has been great!! There isn´t a lot to report this week, but we are keepin on and we are hapy. Spanish is coming better and better. It really is such a blessing. I hope that I can master all the basics by the time I get home, and I have faith that I will. Wait, we did have raviolis twice this week which was great but nowhere near my dad´s :) Alright I love you all, keep working hard!!

Sincerely,
Elder Passantino