ONE YEAR!!!

Dear Everyone,

Here we are, another week and a new companion. My new companion is Elder Hart from Las Vegas! He is a hoot. He is so much fun. We have fun everyday and we work like crazy. He and I are very similar and we can get a lot done because we understand each other. Thank heavens for one of these companions. Well, last week, we just got to work. We went out and went sacking [note: Spanglish from the Spanish verb "sacar" or to take out] fecha happy. In the week, we sacked out 4 fechas with investigators. After the week was over, we still have three of them. We are just rocking right now. He brings the energy that we lacked in the area. We are having a lot of fun.

[Elder Pickett and Elder Hart with Luana]

Wednesday we went to Ramos Mejía for something very special. I got to eat lunch with Abuelita y Grandpa. That was a lot of fun. Abuelita was herself. JA! She was crying and was really happy and Grandpa was like “hey buckwheat!”. It was really great to talk with them and eat a lot with them. We ate some milanesas caballos and some pizza. A lot of food but it was really good. Other than that, the week was pretty normal.

[Elder Pickett's surprise visitors]

It has been getting hotter and there has been more sun so that means the brown skin is coming back. I am starting to get my watch tan line back so that definitely means its getting hotter and more sunny. So we have been helping one of our investigators try and quit smoking. Missionaries have tried for 2 years to help her quit. We are bound and determined that it is going to be us that will baptize her. So my companion had an idea that he heard in the MTC and so we are going to try it. It is where we make fake cigs and put scriptures on the fake cigs. We put five fake cigs in a pack of ten. Every time she goes to smoke, if she pulls out a cig, she can smoke. But if she pulls out a fake cig, she has to read the scripture and pray for strength to stop smoking. She said she hadn’t tried this idea before so we’ll see how it goes. I hope it works because we want to baptize her. The best of the best missionaries have past through and have not been able to baptize her.

[Elder Pickett and Little Luana]

We have this goal as a mission to have every area baptize on the 10th of October. The reason is because it is un día de diez!! The date is going to be 10/10/10 and that is the only time in our life that it is going to happen so we want everyone to be baptized on that date to remember it better. We have a lot of work ahead of us in this grand work of the Lord. I am having a great time serving the people of Argentina. For as much as it gets hard and uncomfortable to do some things, I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. I know that I am becoming a better person by serving. I hope that you all are doing your part and are sharing the gospel with your non member friends. Invite them to come to church. Be friends with them so they will want to know more.

Thanks Mom and Dad for your emails. I really appreciate that every week you guys write to me. I am starting to understand when people say that it is crazy that we talk with our family twice a year on the phone. It is crazy. But it’s all good. ONE YEAR YAHOO!!!!!! I love you all.

Love

Elder Pickett