March 21, 2011, Villa Dolores, Cordoba, Argentina

Dear Family,

How are you? I am well—thank you for your letters! I do really enjoy
reading them every week. This week has gone very quickly. On Tuesday
we were in Cordoba for a conference with the Elders from Rio Cuarto,
and another Zone (that I think is in the City of Cordoba). I thought
about what I need to be studying as a missionary, and, asked myself
what Heavenly Father wants me to do and to be right now. I did receive
answers, and I'm trying to apply them!

I'm feeling a bit tired, and a bit surprised that the transfer is half over!

We're having a bit of trouble finding investigators in their houses,
so this week we're working on having more set appointments (to the
which we can invite members).

This week we decided to look for a lady who was baptised, but
inexplicably wasn't confirmed. However, the address was something
like, "In front of the school in the Bordo of San Pedro," so we rode
our bicycles for a few hours, finding the location (in the fields
north of town), and then asking about the person. We didn't find her
(we suspect that she moved), but we did have the opportunity to bring
the gospel to a part of our area that doesn't often see missionaries.

In response to Mom's questions, the photo with the little cabins is a
view of the countryside around Mina Clavero. We haven't yet opened the
branch there, as our source of transportation (the senior
missionaries, Familia Dos Santos) hasn't been with us much in the last
couple weeks. The plan is to start working with the one active family
that lives there, and one inactive family, and have activities and
cottage-meetings, and work to start having sacrament meetings in the
home of the Familia Vasques (the active family). Mina Clavero is
presently in our area, but 70 km away from Villa Dolores! We're hoping
to go there this weekend.

I didn't take rubber boots, but I did take overshoes that have been
good. However, we don't get much rain in Villa Dolores! As for the
pens, G2 refills don't fit!—I thought they did at one point, and
bought a package, only to find that they're a few millimetres too big.
I'm not sure about G1 refills. However, what I usually had to do was
go to eBay.com (not .ca), and search until there were some available,
and then often specially ask if the seller would be willing to ship to
Canada. It's a bit of an adventure to find them, so you might want to
enlist the help of one of my brothers!

I've never seen a ham and cheese alfahor! My favourites right now are
sold in bakeries, and have two soft sugar-cookies (sort-of) with dulce
de leche in between, and coconut on the sides.


How is seminary going? Has Alex bought his car? Also, do let me know
how the fireside on the 25th goes. Also, how is Tyler Keith doing in
Japan, given the tsunami? Also, could you send me a rice-pudding
recipe?

I love you all a lot,

Elder Schlachter  photos

March 14, 2011, Villa Dolores, Cordoba, Argentina

Dear Family,

How are you? I am well, and happy to read your letters! This week has
been quick, and it's hard to remember what we did! However, we did
have two baptisms yesterday, of Monica and her 13-year-old son,
Ricardo. Monica has been waiting for a few weeks to be baptised,
arranging for her husband to be there. She's a teacher, and used to
teach Catechism. She's finding lots of answers and comfort in the Book
of Mormon, and through prayer, and also in the Conference Ensign.
Ricardo is also learning a lot, and received an answer to his prayers
about the Restoration last week.

In response to your questions, we were eating hamburgers today and I
thought as well about how we used to think I would go somewhere with
very exotic food! We eat lots of pasta, bread, a bit of meat,
occasionally mashed potatoes, and not very many fruits or vegetables.
I think the strangest thing that I've eaten has been pizza with
hard-boiled eggs on it.

I've been a bit tired this week. I was getting my hair cut today,
somewhat sleeping, then really sleeping while I waiting for Elder
Lopez's haircut! Occasionally I had trouble falling asleep in the MTC,
but, so far, not here!

I'm sending photos today!  Photos

Thank you very much for your letters—I do enjoy very much hearing from
you! Also, Dad, be sure to let me know how your Argentine experience
was, and what was new or different to you! Also, Mom, I hope that your
tooth gets better soon!

I love you all very much,

Elder Schlachter

P.S. Sorry for a short letter today; I am sending a couple in the mail, however!

February 28, 2011, Villa Dolores, Cordoba, Argentina

Dear Family,

How are you? I am well—this week we had transfers, and in our district
we're having a change of companion in a neighbouring city (one hour
away!), and also Elder Melerio is off to the city of Cordoba, and thus
my new companion is Elder Goggins, from Georgia.


Our area is doing well—we had three baptisms on Saturday: Andres,
Roaxanna, and Carlos. Andres was the man who found us at the chapel
last week, and Roaxanna was another miracle! She was almost baptised a
year ago, was ready in baptismal clothing at the service, until, well,
there were some problems with the family and she wasn't baptised. We
found her teaching record in the Area Book, and dropped by one day. A
few days later we offered a prayer to know where to go, and felt to
visit her, and thus had a very good lesson in which she accepted every
commitment, including baptism, and I felt the Spirit as I was prompted
to promise her various specific blessings. However, after this she
wasn't progressing quite so well, and moved thus to a lower priority
in the teaching pool.

The miracle was that on Friday, Elders Lopez and Castillo visited her,
and she started expressing many doubts. Elder Lopez had a distinct
prompting that they needed to have a kneeling prayer, which they
proceeded to do. Arising, Roaxanna said something like, 'It's a bit
strange, and inexplicable, but I feel like I really need to be
baptised.' Thus, she had her interview and baptism the next day.

Heavenly Father is working here in Villa Dolores, and I have
confidence that He is preparing the hearts of many people in Ottawa to
receive Him.


This week I've been thinking about the role of members in conversion.
When a person joins the church, the responsibility that the
missionaries formerly had is transferred to the members. I feel that
if these investigators needed daily contact before baptism in order to
prepare them and give them the necessary strength, then after baptism
similar support is needed! Thus, I'm quite determined to be a very
good hometeacher after the mission—as we read in PMG, hometeaching is
missionary work to those who are members, and missionary work is
hometeaching to those who are not!

This week we had a training session with the mission president. I was
glad to hear his counsel, which focused on what missionaries need to
do in order to be happy. There are, of course, the obvious 'big
things,' such as working, having a testimony, being a good companion,
etc, but his counsel focused on the 'little things,' such as waking up
and going to bed on time and starting study on time. I liked to
consider that these 'little things' are like the nails that hold the
larger together (imagining the things that missionaries do to be like
a house).

Otherwise, we're planning to open a branch in a nearby city (Mina
Clavero), and I want to work with recent converts this week.

The week has felt a bit busy and quick, given that the zone training
took away a couple days of our time here. I'm feeling more love for
the people here, and special concern for our recent converts.

Thank you for writing to me! I also received Matthew's letter this
week—a reply is on the way. I look forwards to receiving Alex and
Levi's letters!  :-)

I love you all and am glad to hear that you are well!

Love,

Elder Schlachter  Photos  and  Argentine Insects