Kickin it in Villa Oculta!

 

Elders Chriss and Bywater playing soccer at the church.  He said every church there has a place to play soccer.

Hello everybody! How are you doing?  

This was a fantastic week, full of great experiences and butt kickin missionary work haha. To start off, wow I´m grateful for a Heavenly Father that he is mindful of us here in Buenos Aires. We have been focusing on finding great new investigators and this week was a week of blessings. But I will get to that soon. Some of the things that I have learned so far about the Argentina culture is that all you need to do is ask how people are doing and start talking to them and if they are not busy they gladly talk back and have a conversation!! This is fantastic, am I right?! I love the people and the culture here.
  
It is getting hotter here each day and well our fan broke... cursed fans. But in the end the heat isn´t that bad here.  The only danger of the heat is the children in the streets love playing with water, and water balloons tend to fly in the missionaries direction. But my dodging skills are improving. 

The cool thing about being in the villa is that every one knows the missionaries, people yell Elders!! all the time. There is one set of shifty characters that always greet us and yell nuestro amigos!! The other day we were talking to some of our members who live in a little store and as we were talking to them a cop came up to us and said ¨Elders, My name is Hermano ....." I can´t remember.... but he is the Elders quorum President in a stake pretty close to us. haha from the shadiest to the police.  We play around with all the kids and teens, soccer is huge. Afterwards they all know the elders, the weird guys from the USA who Jugar la pelota in a white shirt and tie.

Now here is where the blessings come in. This week we have been meeting with a man named Jose. Jose is an owner of a little store, and is very humble. We found him by looking for someone else and went to the wrong house. After talking to the people there they directed us to his shop and still not the person we were looking for! But as missionaries do we started to talk to him about our message and  he invited us in. We shared the introduction of the BOM with him and he just paused and said ¨This was lost, and now we have it¨ We testified to him of the truthfulness of the book and invited him to be baptized the 8th of December and he accepted! Now in this mission for one to be baptized they must go to church for 3 weeks and its always the hardest thing to get them to church.  I will admit I was nervous, most of all of our other investigators haven´t been coming to church and I was worried about him. But He came!! And he really enjoyed it. He is definitely being prepared. He is such a wonderful guy and I love him to death.

The work is moving in Argentina. Now to all the moms out there that have a missionary some where in the world, just know that though it may be hard at times that your missionaries are doing great, that they are having a blast walking, biking, talking, crying, testifying, enduring, loving, studying and serving. You all are great examples to us and the 2000, stripling warriors were only great for the things that their mothers had taught them!!! From this Misionaro Argentino les amo!!

Hope you all have a nice week

Con Gran Amor 
Elder Taylor Chriss

Playing soccer on PDay at the church.  I love all the black socks!

Home sweet, Argentine, home!

Gotta love bunk beds!

Elder Yorgesen and the kitchen

The life a missionary in a nutshell... for this week!

 

Elder Chriss with sweet Sister Costa at the Jeffrey R. Holland Devotional. She sought him out, gave him a hardy handshake from his mom, and gave him American candy! Doesn't get much better than that!

The Villas Zone!

Another week in paradise! 

Well we have been getting work done here in Villa Oculta, We have been revamping our investigators and working to find new people to teach. I love it here so much!  We walk down the alleys (there are no streets) and always some one says Elders!!! We are pretty well known in the Villa. 

One of the things that I have learned about this mission is that we NEVER knock doors. Not that we can´t it's just that it's not effective, not only in the sense that we are trying random people, but that no one is ever home. Always the people are outside in the alleys talking and enjoying life. So we just do as D&C says and we open our mouths. Atheists are very rare here so when we say we would like to talk about god they all accept. Now it's not to easy so get them as investigators but there is a lot of potential here in the villa. The people are humble and we are here with a message for them. 

Wow! Almost 900 Missionaries in one place!

This weekend we had the wonderful pleasure of having a special missionary meeting. In this meeting we had all three Buenos Aires missions and the MTC, so in total about 900 missionaries all together. Now why would we all be getting together in one place? For Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve!!! All I have to say is that I heard a talk that has thus far changed my mission. 

He started of his talk by saying ¨The whole purpose of my talk to day and the message that I would like to share is centered on one thing that may take a while to describe, and that is I LOVE YOU SO MUCH¨ Talk about a super spiritual upliftment. To be told by a Apostle of Christ with passion that he loves us! Several things I got from this talk were, I am to never forget the things that I have learned here EVER. This mission is not only for 18 to 24 months, it's for us to have for eternity. Another thing he talked about was obedience. Now he didn´t go too much on this point because he knows that if we know who we are (as a missionary/a child of god) we won´t need talks on obedience. 

As he closed I felt the spirit more strongly than I have ever in my entire life, He talked about us missionaries and the unique tie we have with the Atonement. Never has there ever been and easy mission!  But because there hasn´t been a easy mission we have great company as we go through those hard times. For us and our investigators the path to Salvation always goes through Gethsemane. In all honesty before my mission I didn´t understand the the Atonement, now i can't imagine my life with out it. The Knowledge that I have of my Savior and his sacrifice makes me want to do every thing I can to honor him and to serve him. In life there are hard times. On missions there are grand trials, but all of us must bear the small crosses in life for us to  remember the Big Cross of our Savior.

I want to bear my testimony That I know my Savior Lives! That he is our leader and our Captain. That he is mindful of us and our trials. I don´t know why things happen in life but I do know that my Savior knows me and what I need. I know that I am here on a mission to share the wonder blessings that I have found, of a Savior who loves his people, of a Church that he has restored, through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is my favorite book because it brings me closer to my Savior. I know that families can be together for ever. I know that God has blessed me in my life. And now I must help others find those blessings too. When God is weaving the tapestry of our lives all we can see is the dark threads of bottom all we need to do is wait until he shows us the other side and know what the dark threads were necessary.

I love you all so much! I´m so happy here and I know this is the work of my Heavenly Father. Keep strong and remember that Elder Chriss is praying for you!! haha until next week.

Con Amor

Elder Taylor Chriss

Elder Chriss and his companion at the Elder Holland Devotional

Not quite sure why the are on the train tracks!

Elder Chriss is in heaven! They have BK Stackers in Buenos Aires!!!

He knows I just love to see that beautiful face!

Villa Olculta!!!

Group of visa-waiters on their first day in Argentina in front of the Buenos Aires Temple with President and Sister Ayre

  

Elder Chriss' last day in LA with President and Sister Weidman.  Hard to say goodbye!

Last Picture taken in LA, the Los Angeles Temple!

First Picture taken in BA, the Buenos Aires Temple!

Well another week and I was able to help others to come unto Christ WOOOT! I´m loving all of the work and this mission. We are working like crazy here in our area. The people here are so ready for the Gospel its ridiculous!  All the time we are finding people to bring closer to the Gospel and to their Savior.

We have an investigator named Emilse right now and she is super cool she has come to church and is really progressing in the Gospel. The cool thing with her is that she lives in a three story villa house. This means millions of people live there so we are inviting every one who passes us to listen to our message and they normally say yes. We have found 5 new investigators just from one of our investigators haha.

I often find myself saying ¨This isn´t Kansas anymore¨ about several things claro. The culture is a new person that I need to get to know. Everything is done in a manner normal Americans would never think to do. Our Pensions are nice and cozy but you will never find carpet in a single building here save maybe the mission presidents home. I MISS CARPET!!! haha. Lots of tile to cover the floor. The language is no where near what I was learning in LA. The people here talk with an Italian accent but Spanish is coming out of there mouths. 

A lot of people say to me ¨Oh your from here right?¨ I guess it's my features that resemble an Argentine.... but when I open my mouth they say no that's a Mexican hah! Also basic words are different here that are completely normal for me are a completely different thing or doesn´t mean any thing at all. Example Piña is pineapple but here it means a punch so when in Argentina never ask for a piña haha.

Laundry is pretty easy, we hand it a lady and we pick it up the next day and its pressed and smells good all for 25 pesos! No bucket and stream for this missionary. The food his is really good. We eat a lot of  empanadas here and this meat called milenasa which is like a country fried steak. In all I love it. We only eat breakfast and lunch, never do they eat dinner. Just a big lunch this is weird. So far no strange foods to note of. We eat a lot with our members which is great!

The mode of transportation here is walking. which isn´t too bad and I don´t want a bike here... the millions of dogs here HATE bikes so I´m good on foot haha!  For our long distance travel we use Coletivo (the bus) and for transfers we use Remis, which is kind of like private taxis that the mission pays for. Unfortunately we are not able to go to the temple unless we go with a recent convert we baptized.

I love my ward its full of great people! It's called Parque Villaneda. There are about 140 active members in our ward and all the rooms are full. There are 4 companionships in our ward all of which are district leaders except us.

Elephante Blanco

My area its pretty Ghetto but there is one dominating feature to it, an old Hospital known a Elephante Blanco. This is the scariest building I have ever seen. It was a hospital in the making when all of the neighborhood homeless decided to make it there's.... yeah that's right the hobos invaded a giant old hospital. We as missionaries can´t go in there unless we have a reason and a male member to go with us haha. This city is just full of crazy places that you never know when you will find.

This is the longest email I have sent but there is a lot to talk about when I talk about Argentina. 

As for things I need here is American stuff candy, food, carpet what ever you can send. Also we only get mail once a transfer here, because its hard to get to the mission office and there are no cars.

Every thing is great down here in land down south! Hope you all are doing well. Send me pictures I love to see them all.

Con Gran Amor

Este Capo

Elder Chriss

P.s I´m sitting in the cyber cafe right know with Elder Engebretsen and Hankins haha small world!!!

Que Bueno el Aire Aca!

Elder Engebretsen, Elder Hankins, and Elder Chriss, MTC District back together again!

Well here I am sitting in an internet cafe emailing home from Buenos Aires Argentina! What a week it has been! haha.

To start off my time here I was placed in an area with two zone leaders in Linears Zone. We were serving in Parque Brown ward. Our area covers a area known as a Villa. To pronous as an Argentine, you say it like this. V-ee-sh-a. These areas are the most poor parts of the city and are sooo crazy. It's like a city or a village was built with no plans and brick and putty and when they had no space they just went up. There are thousands of people here and all ready for the Gospel. We talk with people all the time and have lessons after lessons.

One week in Argentina and he has already doubled his amount of baptisms!

So far I have doubled my baptisms in my one week here! That's right we had a baptism here in Buenos Aires. The people here are ready for the Gospel.

 It is wonderful because I have Elder Hankins in my zone, I saw Elder Engebretsen at a missionary farewell, and Elder Willams at transfers this morning. The whole gang is back together in Argentina! I actually went on Divisions with Elder Hankins yesterday and got work done.

But here comes some more news..... I´m training! That's right 7 days in Argentina and I will be training. I´m a little worried, but I know everything will be great. I´m staying in my zone but moving to another villa. My new comp has been here for a transfer so i will be finishing his training. His name is Elder Yorgesen and he is super tall so there is not a worry about danger with him a round. He is from Idaho Falls and he is a capo!! Capo means stud and they use it a lot here.

President is putting a lot on my shoulders this transfer but I know that the Lord will help where I lack even if I lack a lot.

I love this mission and I plan on working until I drop. I am going to do everything that I can to help these people. I love every one of them! I only have this chance once in my life.There is no time to slack off.

I promise you all that I am doing well and that the work is blossoming here in the first mission in South America. Ask questions I´m not the best of thinking of things to talk about!  I am still figuring out a bunch of things so be patient with me, haha

I really hope you are all doing well. This is so awesome to be on a different continent!

Viva Argentina y la obra del un Salvador Viviente!
Con Re amor
Elder Chriss

I am told the Chriss family are now BOCA fans!

Famous Buenos Aires Obilisk

This is where he serves!

Dear Brother & Sister Chriss...

 

Sister Ayre, Elder Chriss, President Ayre

We are thrilled to report that your son, Elder Chriss, has finally arrived safely in his mission this morning here in Buenos Aires.  He was picked up at the airport, and after a brief tour of Buenos Aires was brought to the mission home for a luncheon, followed by an interview with the President.  You should expect to hear from your missionary on his next P-day which will be next Tuesday, November 5^th.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

President and Sister Ayre

He's on his way!

I just finished my second phone call from Elder Chriss today!

He first called from LAX and Mike and I got to talk to him for a wonderful hour.  This mission has already transformed our son into an even more amazing man!  He still has his wonderful wit and sense of humor!

His mission president personally dropped him off at the airport.  Taylor said that was his hardest goodbye.  President Weidman is an amazing man and has been Elder Chriss' biggest champion.  I had the opportunity to speak with him on two different occasions and he always expressed his love for Elder Chriss and how much he would love to keep him in the California Los Angeles Mission.

Taylor made some amazing friends in Los Angeles; many that he will have for the rest of his life.  He said that once he forgot about leaving and going to Argentina, it made all the difference in the world.  So much so that when President Weidman called him to tell him about his visa he was wondering, "Hmmm, I wonder why president would be calling me?!"  The Los Angeles is not an easy mission in any way!  He said there are a lot of hard hearts there and the rejection is horrible.  He loved spending his time bringing families back together and teaching English to the sweet Latinos.

We talked a lot about how different it would be in Argentina.  He feels so blessed that he was reassigned to a Spanish speaking mission.  He feels great about the language, especially after training a new missionary.  We laughed that once he is there he may not hear or speak English for quite some time, especially if he gets a non-English speaking companion. He is hoping he will pick up Castellano (the dialect spoken in Argentina) quickly.

In my second phone call from Atlanta, Elder Chriss had just had the last American food he would see for the next 16 months!  He was at the airport with over 40 visa-waiters all headed to Argentina!   Can you imagine what a fun flight that would be?  He was not exactly looking forward to the 10 hour, over-night flight to Buenos Aires.  It was going to be especially hard not being able to watch any movies!

Mike and I are so proud of our son!!!  He has taken these last 8 months and made the most out of them! He will hit the ground running in Argentina!  He is leaving Los Angeles a self-assured, confident missionary ready to serve!

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what Elder Chriss, along with thousands of others around the world are doing is an amazing work, bringing people to Jesus Christ and changing their lives forever!

Now I need to wipe away my tears and look forward to our next phone call on Christmas. How many shopping days left until Christmas?

Thank you so much for all your love and support of Elder Chriss!   He said that he feels everyone's prayers.  He also loves all the letters and emails and to keep them coming!  He has always had amazing friends and roll models in his life.  It is because of this great support system that Taylor is serving today!

Con Amore, Lisa!

Saying goodbye to LA and his Oly buddy, Hermana Michelle Warner!

Last week of LA livin!!!

Well in one week from today I will be heading off to Buenos Aires Argentina! I'm very excited but I still have one week left to make this place better in any way I can!! But the thing about me leaving is.... Stress haha!

On Thursday this week I got another Comp.... His name is Elder Kinder from Chicago. He served in Tampico Mexico for 8 months and returned home for medical problems. So now there are three in my apartment. He is a great Elder and I'm glad to have him.  

You can tell the new Elder.  He is the only one with a nicely made bed!

On Monday after emailing I lost my wallet... And i was super stressed because of that. But the good news part of this story is I had a feeling to try the Pio Pico Library and ask.... and they had it!!!! Talk about an answer to a prayer. 

And to add to the stress, the Zone leaders assigned me and my comps a trial run on only using buses for transportation. So we have been working on understanding the bus system, for our longer distance travel.

But the thing about trials is that they are here to strengthen us and to make us better people for the future. I can honestly say that though it was a tough week I am a little bit stronger and has had my testimony grow of Prayer and Priesthood blessings. 

This is going to be a great week, we are focusing on LA English like crazy and trying to get more people to the classes. We have several meetings to go to and on Saturday we have our Dia de Hispanidad!!! It is a great cultural event that the ward is putting on where each latin country is represented by food and a dance. We are super excited and us missionaries even get our own stand for America!!! Yay Corndogs and Koolaid!!  

I am so blessed to have served here in this mission I couldn't have asked for a better Mission President during all the crazy things I have gone through. I'm so grateful for all the love that I have received here and from all the people back home! I love this work it has changed me for the better and I'm super lucky to be doing it.

I'm not sure what time I'm leaving or where my connection is at the moment, but hopefully the next time you read my Email I will be in Buenos Aires Argentina!!

Love you all, Su Che

Elder Chriss