Campana for the Gold!

Lauti, President Ayres, and Elder Chriss, oh and Elder Chriss' new haricut!

Well the Transfers are in, and Elder Chriss.... You are staying in Campana with Elder Sosa! This is the longest I will stay in an area in all of my mission so far, haha. But I´m super excited to continue the work here in Campana. The Zone Leaders called and said Elder Chriss You are leaving... You are going to Campana2..... Awwww these leaders and pulling at the heartstrings haah.

Also today in the morning Lautaro Castelli, an awesome youth that has been helping us out a ton, was set apart and left to serve his mission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was so cool this whole week the family all came together as they prepared their first missionary. The Castelli family are the greatest and I'm so happy for them. They are a convert family and it is such a great testimony of what I´m doing here. I´m helping families to grow together so that one day they can live together forever.

Some other great news is that this past Saturday, Sergio, our recent convert, went to the temple with the ward. He doesn´t have a recommend yet but he went and enjoyed the gardens and the spirit that he felt there. I´m so happy that he could go and enjoy the temple.

  

Before Lauti left for his mission, he came with us to the Farewell of the missionaries. It was great to see my good friends from the mission and for Lauti to feel the Missionary Spirit there. The Sister missionaries that started the mission with me, are now going home, that was a bit weird to see them leave. But in the end it was a great meeting, and we enjoyed it a lot.

  

I´m really happy here in my mission, I couldn´t imagine a better place for me to be than here in Argentina. I´m really coming to love the people and I´m looking forward to this upcoming transfer and I will keep you filled in on all the Miracles that the Lord is sending our way.

With a lot of love, 

Elder Taylor Chriss

At Lauti's Farewell

The Del Monte Family I love ummm!!!

Really Quick!

Hey all! Sorry that this is a really small letter, but today all of the places to write in are closed. It is the anniversary of the the death of San Martin the man who liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru from the Spanish. So of couse nothing in Campana is open.

 

This was a great week here in peaceful old Campana. I had a lot of paper work to do so I went to Capital to do it. It's a great place. Here in our area we are finding alot of investigators and teaching a lot more. We are excited about the work in our area. 

 

This next week is transfers so I will be writing you all Tuesday next week. I´ll let you know if any thing happens. Sorry again that this is a short message. It's hard being in a small town with very few options of writing. I´m good and happy so don´t worry about me 

Love you all 

E. Taylor Chriss

Can't keep me in one place!

Bienvenido a Uruguay!

What a week of crazy traveling! I have to say that I'm super tired. But that's a good tired. The type of tired that says "good job for working hard". As I like to tell my companion "Elder don´t worry, you can sleep when you get home." He still has a little over a year until he gets home haha. 

Wow we are raising the bar here in the Zarate Zone. We are focusing on contacting the most amount of referrals that we can. For those that don´t know, here in our mission we don´t knock doors. We focus on working with members and the referrals they give. So we are getting really good at asking for referrals.  

But the coolest news of the week was my recent trip to Uruguay. Like I said the last week, I had to leave the country for some visa papers to take affect. So this past Tuesday I and about 30 other missionaries from the mission Buenos Aires North went to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. It was awesome and one of the best P-days ever haha. We visited some cool historical places and a cool old fort. We ate some typical food from Uruguay. It was a steak with ham, bacon, and and egg on top. It was so good. The food made it all worth it. We spent almost the whole day there. It was super cool and I´m so glad to have had the experience. 

 

Because I´m in the farthest zone in the mission, me and two other elders had to come down and stay the night with the Office Elders so that we could make it in time. Then after we got back from Uruguay we just stayed with the Office Elders again because Ihad a meeting with all the other District Leaders. So it was kinda crazy. I wasn´t in my area for 2 1/2 days. Plus my companion stayed in Zarate while I was gone, so our area was empty. 

  

But we came back and worked like crazy to make up the days that we missed. And the blessings came as we got to work. I´m so glad to be here in the mission. It's full of ups and downs. But all of the downs are worth it when we have our ups. MAS VALE!! 

 

I love you all and I want you to know that the work of the Lord is always worth it. Now go out there help your fellow man and give a missionary a referral!!!

 

Love you all so much!

Elder Taylor Chriss

 

Sunrise in Buenos Aires! (And a Canadian Photo Bomb!)

 

Tramites y Viajes (Procedures and Travel)

Argentina is just great! We are working a bunch here to help every child of God.  First off, without bikes we are walking a ton and using buses so we are becoming more effective in the areas that we go. My legs are killing me... But its very satisfying to come back and the end of the day and know the pain is a day of hard work haha.

  

I´m not going to lie, not much happened this week. We talked to a bunch of people but not many worked out. Our members have been getting excited about the missionary work here in the ward because one of the youth in the ward is getting ready to leave on a mission soon. So we are using that to get things done up here. 

 

One of the weird things about Campana, is that during the day we will be walking around and a horse will just pass in front of us in the middle of no where. Yes it is a modern town and all but for some reason horses run free and their are no owners to them.... haha Argentina, land of random horses.

 

So some crazy news! I´m still dealing with visa papers and problems, so the other day I had to go to Buenos Aires to do some paperwork, and tomorrow I´m going to Uruguay so that the paperwork can take effect. So I¨M OFF TO URUGUAY!!! well only for the day, I´m going to cross the river, and then later in the day come back to Argentina. It's going to be awesome. Not many people can say that they served in 3 countries in their whole mission haha. So I will let you know how that goes.

 

I´m so happy in the mission, not for success or for the area, but because I wake up each day with a purpose that matters. I love my Savior and I wish you all a great week.

 

Love,

Elder Taylor Chriss

Wow! A lot Happens in the Mission!

Sergio's Baptism!

Lots of things happened in the mission and some are sad. But mostly super happy things happen here. Thinking of the week and what I can share with you, I think I´ll start with the beginning of the week. Well the sad news of the week is that we had our bikes stolen.... Someone broke the lock and ran off with some of the worst bikes I have ever seen hahaa! So in the end I think it was a blessing that we don´t have the bikes anymore. So we are on the look out for new bikes that we can buy. And in the mean time we are walking a bunch here. 

  

But even though our mode of transportation has been limited we work even better this week than before. We taught a lot of people and have been finding a lot of new people to teach! I feel so good just to be busy all day haha. We had interviews with President this week, which was awesome. We talked about our personal progression and how we can be stronger in the Faith of Christ. He is a great man and really cares for his missionaries. The assistants talked about doing the small things in missionary work, like filling in your planner and writing in our area book every night. It was great meeting and we learned quite a bit. We are really learning how to become effective servants of the Lord here in Campana haha.

  

And of course the best news of all is that Sergio Got baptized!!! Yeah we are pretty happy right now.  Me and my comp have gotten pretty close to Sergio over the past few weeks. And when it came to who was going to baptize him we thought of who of the members could do it. We thought that it would be good for him to have someone from the ward baptize him. So we called a Hermano in the ward and asked if he would do it. He was thrilled to be part of the baptism. In the 9 years that he is a member he has never baptized any one. I think it made his week. The services went well (we had a youth in the ward help Sergio in the water due to the fact that he has one arm). After his baptism our ward mission leader had him give some thoughts. 

  

He got up and said " There are two things that I never thought would happen in my life. 1. Lose an arm and 2. Be a Mormon." He is so happy. After we closed with a prayer the ward members went and greeted him. When I went to go and congratulate him, he hugged me and said "Thank you for coming to my Gate and Saving me." I have to say that when he said that I started to cry. I´m so grateful to be here on my mission. I know that He was prepared by the lord. I love missionary work.

We had the Bishop confirm him the next day. The ward is very excited to help their new Brother. Now plenty of things happened this week, but these are some of the greatest things that came to pass!

I love you all so much and I hope that this week treats you well! Be good people and remember That Elder Chriss loves you all!!!

Con Amor, 

Elder Taylor Chriss

That is one tired Elder!

Elder Chriss and Elder Sosa

Campanita!

Elder Chriss and his new Companion, Elder Sosa!

First week of the transfer and we are already having a great time. My new comp is super great! He is from Peru in a place close to Brazil called Iquitos. He is super short, and he loves to work. This week we have been working a lot to find people to teach. Talking to tons of people. I think I´m going to keep track of all the Juans and Marias here. Every other person seems to have those names. We have also been passing by as many Peruvians here as we can. It's a great way to contact someone if you have something in common (Country or food). 

  

We have been riding our bikes all over the place this week. My poor companion has been getting used to our sad bikes. He has not used a bike since he was 12 years old, and he has never used a bike that to use the brakes you need to pedal backwards. So it's been a training/get to know the ward week haha. But so far this week nothing has broken on our bikes so... we call that a success!

  

Our investigator Sergio came to church this week and he is doing great, We are planning his baptism this weekend so we are all praying and working with him a lot so that he can get baptized. He is super great and really humble. I´m so happy to have him as an investigator. And we are helping several families come back to the church. We had 3 families that we haven´t seen for a while in the church. It's really great when people accept commitments and then do them. I´m sure that is how our Heavenly Father feels when we obey the commandments haha. 

I´m super happy that I´m staying here in Campana, Its so great here. Normally here in this mission, we move around a lot. So I´m glad to stay here where it is really chill and there are a lot of potential. 

 I love you all, Hope you are all doing good, Help you fellow man and be good people. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Chriss

Watching the game with the Marin Family!

Messi - The world's best player!

Sub Campeones Del Mundo!!!!

WOOOOO ARGENTINA!!!!  We came in second in the Mundial, But that's okay because we made it to final! 

Now when it comes to Soccer, we were able to watch the game against the Netherlands this past Wednesday with a member family. It was great to be able to watch and cheer with some of our members. We went with the Marin Family.  It was great. And being Sunday we didn´t watch the final. Although we heard the yelling and shouting all around us. But we hear that it was a great game and well fought. It's great even though Argentina lost, the people we still out celebrating and launching off fireworks!

This weekend was a great time. First of all we had our Ward Conference in Campana II. So all of the leaders of the Stake came to our ward. It's great all the work that is going on here to help build up the ward. We have big plans for the ward and we are here to work. 

Sergio our investigator wasn´t able to make it to the church on Sunday.  He sprained his ankle pretty badly and wanted to have some rest. We passed by him afterwards to see how he was doing. He seems to be getting better. We have his Baptismal Date for the 26th of this month. We are hoping for the best.

   

Some news, We had transfers and I´m still staying here in Campana! Plus I´m getting a new companion. His name is E. Sosa. He is from Lima Peru and has around 8 months here in the mission! He is a good guy and I´m excited for this upcoming transfer with him. This is the longest that I've been in an area. It's a good thing that its a good one and that I like it here. Only problem is that there is almost nothing to do here on Pday. 

   

That's some of the things that are happening here in Campana, It's a great little place, very peaceful and calm. I´m loving it here in my mission! Have a good week do something good for others and I will talk to you next week.

Love 

Elder Taylor M. Chriss