Dear Family,
How are you? I am well—this week we had Zone Conferences with Elder
Foster of the Seventy—he spoke a bit about how to improve missionary
work, about the things that we need to do to improve our skills (e.g.
teaching effectively, planning well, studying well, etc), and what we
need to be spiritually. He noted that many members are doing well on
the spiritual side, but don't share the gospel much because of a lack
of effectiveness on the 'skills' side. Thus, as missionaries, we can
help capacitate them. I also thought a bit about faith, how it is
exercised by acting in righteousness. The manifestation of faith is
the nutrient of faith—the more we act the more we grow.
I was also involved in the administrative part of the conference.
Adventures included driving what should have been about an hour out of
town, and back, to rescue two missionaries who's bus from Merlo (a
city close to Villa Dolores) had broken down! We made the journey in
much less time, and then, after the conference, the assistants to
president needed to be downtown on a bus… in 15 minutes! Thus, we
aggressively made our way through downtown Córdoba and managed to get
to the bus right before it pulled out!
This past week I resolved most of the cell phone problems in the
mission, so this coming week I'm going to work on visas. Sometimes the
process is difficult to understand, but happily we have a recent
convert, Hno. Vilche, who has worked for the government of Córdoba for
untold years and thus understands well all processes involved, and has
a network of contacts to facilitate all work. He came by this week and
helped me to understand the process!
Hno. Vilche also brought us to the Air Force Academy in Córdoba today,
for a tour, as Elder Ellsworth was in the US Air Force, and Elder
Melerio wants to be a pilot. We got to wander about the classes and
halls, and hop into the airplanes. Hno. Vilche was in the air force in
the Falkland Islands war, and so were most of the senior officers at
the academy.
It's been a busy week. In two weeks we receive almost twenty new
missionaries, so I'm working to get everything ready for them. When we
do get out to work we are constantly blessed with miracles. For
example, on Saturday night Elders Pérez and Melerio passed by the
clinic where the former is taking physiotherapy, and brought the
doctor to church the next morning.
I love all of you a lot! I hope that you are well!
Love,
Elder Schlachter photos
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
September 5, 2011, Cordoba, Argentina
Dear Family,
How are you? I am well—I've been in the mission office for three weeks
so far, and I'm somewhat starting to organize myself! We almost have
things organized for visas, our cell phone problems are disappearing,
etc, etc. Thus, I'm starting to get ready for transfers—this week I'll
be arranging hotel bookings for the missionaries arriving and going
home, and preparing letters to parents, etc. The goal is to get as
ready as possible for transfer day, which can be very chaotic if we're
not well-prepared, and to do as much as possible for coming transfers
(e.g. calculate the number of phones that we'll need with areas
opening and closing, printing out letters and envelopes, etc). There
are many etceteras written, partly because I don't really know too
well all that I have to do!
Today we went downtown with half a dozen missionaries in order to
renew their visas. Every time that we do it, we're faster and it seems
to cost less.
This week Elder Foster of the Seventy is visiting the mission, so
we'll be busy with organizing the conferences somewhat. Elder
Hebertson has been training me as secretary, but he'll probably be
leaving for an area this week—we don't know where, and we're not sure
that President Salas does either!
I know that this gospel is true, that the scriptures were written by
prophets of God receiving actual revelation, and that Jesus Christ is
really central to everything—the 'God of the whole earth' as He
declares Himself, though the impact of His Atonement is at once
universal and very personal.
Hope all is well—please do send me photos for my photo book!
Love,
Elder Schlachter
How are you? I am well—I've been in the mission office for three weeks
so far, and I'm somewhat starting to organize myself! We almost have
things organized for visas, our cell phone problems are disappearing,
etc, etc. Thus, I'm starting to get ready for transfers—this week I'll
be arranging hotel bookings for the missionaries arriving and going
home, and preparing letters to parents, etc. The goal is to get as
ready as possible for transfer day, which can be very chaotic if we're
not well-prepared, and to do as much as possible for coming transfers
(e.g. calculate the number of phones that we'll need with areas
opening and closing, printing out letters and envelopes, etc). There
are many etceteras written, partly because I don't really know too
well all that I have to do!
Today we went downtown with half a dozen missionaries in order to
renew their visas. Every time that we do it, we're faster and it seems
to cost less.
This week Elder Foster of the Seventy is visiting the mission, so
we'll be busy with organizing the conferences somewhat. Elder
Hebertson has been training me as secretary, but he'll probably be
leaving for an area this week—we don't know where, and we're not sure
that President Salas does either!
I know that this gospel is true, that the scriptures were written by
prophets of God receiving actual revelation, and that Jesus Christ is
really central to everything—the 'God of the whole earth' as He
declares Himself, though the impact of His Atonement is at once
universal and very personal.
Hope all is well—please do send me photos for my photo book!
Love,
Elder Schlachter
August 29, 2011, Cordoba, Argentina
This week has been busy! I've been updating all of our visa information, sending out many many letters, etc, etc! It's hard to think of what's happened this week!
We had nine people in church this week, and almost all of them were found this week. We're hoping for similar attendance this week. I wrangled with cell phone issues all week (throughout the mission), and I got my Argentine driver's license. The only requirement was my Canadian passport, $75 pesos, and a quick vision test (I got a perfect score). I have driven the (manual) mission van once so far.
Today we took a group of missionaries downtown to renew their visas. Unfortunately, we ran out of money as we were there, so we had to jump in a taxi, and rush through the city for almost an hour to be resolve the situation. It was an adventure!
I wanted to ask also if you could put together some photos and send them to me—I usually show people the family photo that we took before I left (I put it on the back inner cover of my scriptures), but often (members especially) people want to see more photos, and little plastic photo albums are very common here. Thus, I wanted to ask if you could compile some photos (from my photo library, from old family albums (scanned), etc) of our family. I made a little list of some suggestions:
- Something from Mexico (e.g. the family photo with all of us in front of a pyramid)
- Photo of me swing dancing (my favourite is in my iPhoto library under the folder 'Tulip Festival'), and in a play, and maybe doing my research project on beetles (or some other interesting activity)
- Photos of my brothers (e.g. one of each doing something interesting that doesn't really exist in Argentina, e.g. snowboarding, playing the Super Nintendo, sleeping on the hammock, fighting with swords, etc--maybe they could make some good photos as an activity for this week!)
- A few of the extended family (especially in interesting locations, or cute, small cousins, or grandparents)
The goal is that it would be something interesting with which I can talk about our family! I'd print it out here in a photo developing place, and put it into a little album. In technical matters, I'd scan photos at about two or three hundred DPI as eighty percent-ish quality JPGs (or something like that), and send digital photos in full size. My MyLDSMail email account now has 25 GB of storage, so don't be concerned about sending them large!
I love you all a lot, and I know that Jesus Christ established this church!
Love,
Elder Schlachter
P.S. I think that emails get to me almost instantly upon sending, so if someone didn't write on Sunday night, ¡que me mande la carta lunes por la mañana!
P.S.S. I sent some photos through Picasa too.
August 22, 2011, Cordoba, Argentina
Dear Family,
This has been a busy week! After spending all day handing out
reimbursements on Monday, I continued throughout the week handling
everything related to the arrival of new missionaries this transfer,
and on Wednesday I took them downtown so that they could get some visa
paperwork sorted out! We got a bit lost, and it was a bit of an
adventure for them as Elder Hebertson (the former secretary--he's
staying for a few weeks to train me) and I shuttled the new
missionaries into taxis (all by themselves) to get to our
destinations!
I spent the rest of the week working of resolving telephone problems
in the mission, and trying to work out our visa situation. These will
be my main tasks this week, and then we'll start preparing for the
departure of missionaries who are finishing this transfer, and the
arrival of our new missionaries!
Thus, the office has me well-occupied! We leave the office each day
before five, and work all day on Saturday and Sunday. However, the
chaos of transfers has left our area somewhat descuidado over the last
couple weeks, so now we need to work hard to find new investigators
and help them to progress!
I do get ground mail much faster now--it's brought to the office
directly and then further distributed, and I'm also in the office with
Elder Melerio (my trainer), who is the financial secretary
(financiero), and Elder Ellsworth (who was in my district in my first
three transfers), who is the materials secretary (bolsero). My
companion is the housing secretary (pensionero), Elder Perez, who
arrived with me in the mission (but went to the Buenos Aires MTC). We
live in an apartment a few blocks away from the mission home. I try
hard to keep it tidy!
Right now we're playing soccer with other missionaries at the mission
home, and waiting for an asado (BBQ) to cook!
Hope you have a good week! Love you!
Elder Schlachter
This has been a busy week! After spending all day handing out
reimbursements on Monday, I continued throughout the week handling
everything related to the arrival of new missionaries this transfer,
and on Wednesday I took them downtown so that they could get some visa
paperwork sorted out! We got a bit lost, and it was a bit of an
adventure for them as Elder Hebertson (the former secretary--he's
staying for a few weeks to train me) and I shuttled the new
missionaries into taxis (all by themselves) to get to our
destinations!
I spent the rest of the week working of resolving telephone problems
in the mission, and trying to work out our visa situation. These will
be my main tasks this week, and then we'll start preparing for the
departure of missionaries who are finishing this transfer, and the
arrival of our new missionaries!
Thus, the office has me well-occupied! We leave the office each day
before five, and work all day on Saturday and Sunday. However, the
chaos of transfers has left our area somewhat descuidado over the last
couple weeks, so now we need to work hard to find new investigators
and help them to progress!
I do get ground mail much faster now--it's brought to the office
directly and then further distributed, and I'm also in the office with
Elder Melerio (my trainer), who is the financial secretary
(financiero), and Elder Ellsworth (who was in my district in my first
three transfers), who is the materials secretary (bolsero). My
companion is the housing secretary (pensionero), Elder Perez, who
arrived with me in the mission (but went to the Buenos Aires MTC). We
live in an apartment a few blocks away from the mission home. I try
hard to keep it tidy!
Right now we're playing soccer with other missionaries at the mission
home, and waiting for an asado (BBQ) to cook!
Hope you have a good week! Love you!
Elder Schlachter
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