Jordan's May 31, 2010 letter

Dear Family,

Hey there again! Today is going pretty good - I hope you guys are having fun with the family and all! We were going to have lunch with the other elders from Luján 1 at a pizza libre, but they never showed up. Well, first of all they never told me which one they wanted to go to...that was problematic! We went to the nearest one to the internet we were at (which is where I figured they usually went) but they never showed up. I´ll try and do something fun this afternoon to have a better day :).

This week was good! I had fun with Elder Anderson. We worked a lot and had better "numbers" this week. We were low on contacts which wasn´t good, and we´re still not perfect, but we´re getting better every week. I figure if we just keep improving every week, we´re on the right track. He is a really great Elder and he works well - I just need to work him better on his Spanish skills.

Elder Anderson is great though - he´s fun to work with and he´s never angry or upset by what goes on. That´s something I could learn. Sometimes it´s still easy for me to get frustrated at the work or at myself, or whatever kind of thing, so I´ll be trying to improve that. It sure is tough at times...it´s not easy, not at all. I´ll pray more to receive the strength I need to be calm and not get frustrated so easy, because man sometimes my head just hurts out here!

I got my map updated and everything! Now I have a good-working map to guide me around my area better. I am very happy about that. Also, with Daina...she moved!!!! Dang it! Her mom came in the night and hauled her off to live in another part of Luján - she is no longer in our area. The family she was living with sure was sad (me too), because man she is an awesome little girl and was really learning fast. We´re trying to get this family to contact Daiana´s mom to see if we can send the other missionaries over to continue teaching - we´ll see what happens. They live in my district-leader´s area, but they live waaaay far away, so we´ll be working around with that a little bit.

We don´t have any baptismal dates or anything right now. We´re still working with the people to see if we can find some possibilities, and it´s going pretty well so far! We´re finding great people, but man sometimes something comes up and they just bail out. I want to find the right people, so I guess I´ll just keep chugging away until I find them.

Congratulations Carson! Sounds like it was a successful graduation! I am very happy for you! I´m glad that you´re finally out of the "high-school realm" and off to bigger and better things, like shining your shoes for the military! That´s something I have to do out here every day as well. I´m extremely proud of Carson and all the accomplishments he´s having, and I know he´ll keep having them as he continues to work as hard as he´s doing. You´re my hero Carson!

The holiday last week was good – kind of crazy! But we ended it fun by ordering empanadas for lunch, so we were happy guys.

How was the Memorial Day party over at the Nuttall´s? Did you guys have fun? Tonight we´ll be ordering ice cream! I´m a happy Jordan- that´s something to look forward to tonight. What are you guys going to be up to? Something fun? Family activities? I hope you enjoy yourselves! Sounds like Carson really enjoyed himself this weekend - that was some serious partying! When I get home, I´m going to want to Nintendo it out with Spencer or something when he gets home, and with Kendall too - that sounds relaxing right now. But, for right now, I´ll just keep going at it here in the work.

I´m glad to be out here - I know the work is true, and I know the Lord is blessing you all for what I´m able to do out here. I have comfort in that hope of mine, because man I´ve gotten kind of frustrated lately. I´ll keep pressing on - the load just seems like a lot at times. I know the Lord will help me if I call on Him though - that I have found out here on the mission. He´s always there - we just need to call Him. I´m grateful for the Savior and His Sacrifice, and if we use it to our advantage He will bless us and we´ll always be happy.

I've got to get going. Ask Carson to share with you all my dreadful dog experience… the near-miss! I love you all very much and I hope you have an incredible day together with the whole family! Tell everyone I love and miss them and that I hope they enjoy their Memorial Day!

Love,
Elder Nuttall

Dog bite (almost) story from Carson’s letter

I haven´t had anything spectacular happen lately, but man there are some devil dogs out here! We were clapping yesterday at a house and I noticed that the dog that was usually chained out there was cut loose....uh oh. Once I clapped this ferocious white dog lunged at me with its teeth, but I dodged him and aimed a blow with my proselyting bag (which failed to hit it). I just wielded it like a weapon and backed away slowly, then jumped quickly across a ditch where I would have the "upper hand". It nearly bit my companion because he was slow to jump the ditch, but luckily nothing happened. That was pretty insane. I´m hoping I never get bit out here, but we´ll see...I´ve had some near-miss situations recently. It is crazy