Feliz dia de Gracias!

Hola familia!

Wow another week gone by here in Wilde. We have had some HOT weather lately, but are enjoying a bit of a rainstorm right now to hopefully cool things down a bit. I am still sick with this terrible cough and cold... and my companion and I are convinced it is because of our pension. (We have a lot of humidity in the walls and there is a lot of mold) On top of that we´ve been taking cold showers for the last 2 weeks now (which I have actually gotten used to and learned to enjoy even, especially with the hotter weather.) We are trying to get these problems along with a handfull of others worked out with the landlords and the mission office. Just frustrating that the landlords have known about the problem with the humidity in the walls for several months and havent done anything....

We enjoyed a great primary program yesterday. Had several problems with the microphones, but they were able to work things out. A lot of the kids were very shy... and some of them didnt even get up to the microphone to say their part. Doesn´t help that the members would laugh histarically every time someone messed up, but that´s just kind of how the culture here is. A couple kids that caught my attention... one kid who had problems with the microphone y ended up saying his part 3 times before it finally caught in the microphone. Another girl who had obviously worked hard to memorize her part and messed up y got very embarassed. But started over and finished great! Also our investigators son did great on his part and his mom seemed to enjoy the whole program. Our bishop gave some great comments at the end and asked for all of us to stand up who had been in the same situation, giving a part in the primary program. Proud to be one of the few that stood up! He pointed out that even with all the nervousness and mistakes and funny things that happened it is the fulfillment of a scripture in the bible that talks about how in the last days children shall prophecy. (not sure on the wording in English...) I of course loved the whole program and enjoyed listening to music and singing a long quietly to some of the songs.

This week we also said good bye to Carmen, the lady we gave a blessing to several weeks ago. Now that she is feeling better she felt that she needed to go back to the place she calls home in Jujuy, Argentina to be with her children that live out there. We have had some great talks with her and she asked us to please send the missionaries to her at her house in Jujuy!
Wednesday we were able to help a member David with a pretty "crappy" project. Basically we dug a hole y built a brick box so they have access to thier sewage pipe that runs to sewage system under the street. Needless to say... a pretty smelly dirty job. It was nice to be able to help him out a bit since it was something he wasn´t able to do for himself with a broken arm. He has struggled with addiction to drugs for over half his life and is making great progress recently. He has a wife and 2 kids who have obviously suffered a lot. He says leaving with us helps him a lot, and it helps us a lot as well making visits to our investigators!

This week we also started teaching another great family. The son Adán has a friend who was baptized recently in a different ward here in Avellaneda and he is really interested in the church! His mom and sisters also are great! He came to play soccer with us Thurday night (we had 10 investigators come play with us!) y is excited to come to church with us in the near future. The several times we have passed by they have kept their commitments to read y pray and always have great questions!
Anyways, thats all for this week. Hope you all have a great thanksgiving!

les amo!
Elder Ian Wheelhouse