"Hey gordo, el no esta" or "Hey fatty, he isn’t there"

Wow and I thought last week was crazy! We had another week of intercambios but I think that I am getting used to it.

Monday no one
Tuesday-Los Hornos 2b- Elder Gaspar
Wednesday-Olmos b- Elder Doña
Thursday-Veronica- Elder Saniz
Friday-Saturday morning-Villa Montoro- Elder Figueroa

Saturday-Sunday night-Olmos b- Elder Doña

A little crazy, but I think that I am getting used to it. It is cool to have so many intercambios. I learn a lot and can use my experiences to help the other missionaries learn. We have been trying to have at least 10 contacts every day. Elder Ballard told a ton of mission presidents that if their missionaries had 10 contacts every day they would find more people who are chosen and prepared by God to receive us. We found two of these people Sunday named Jorge and Yolanda. They are Evangelical Christians and had not gone to church in many years. We talked with them on their way to a new church to see if it was the true church. We taught them Tuesday and they loved the discussion. They have kept every commitment that we have extended them. We did a tour of the chapel with them on Saturday and then they came to church early on Sunday. It is very cool to see how God is preparing the people to receive us. 

With all the intercambios we thought that Saturday we would work by ourselves and then we got a call from Elder Stewart, the assistant, asking us to work with Elder Doña again so that he could work with Elder Torres. We did, and there the funniest three minutes of my mission happened. I was walking and I did an ALB (contact) with two drunk men doing their dark business deals and they rejected me. Then thinking about that I stepped in dog poop. Flustered we got to the house we were looking for and we knocked on the door. Here’s some background for this next part to make sense. In Argentina, if people don’t know your name they will often address you by your physical attributes (Gordo, Flaco Alto, Negro) and it is not offensive. So, a lady stepped out of the house next door and said, "Hey gordo, el no esta" or "Hey fatty he isn’t there". I said, thinking that she was talking to us "Ok, thanks" and then I realized that she was talking to another person about half a block away. Then, out of nowhere, a dog jumped and hit me in the nuts and licked my head. Yall don’t know but I’m dying of laughter writing this. All of this happened in less than 3 minutes.

This next week will be hard. On Friday Elder Lima goes home. He has been here for 25 months and has helped a ton of people. I have learned a ton from him and we have had a lot of good times (including the above story). The week just after that Is my one-year mark. Oh how the time flies!

This week I have been studying Jesus the Christ again and am almost done. I have learned a lot and had my testimony strengthened a lot. I know that Jesus lives! He leads and guides this Church. This is the work of God and he is always there. He is preparing the hearts of a ton of people. President Nelson is the Prophet right now and it is wonderful that we have the guidance of God on the earth.

Love Elder Cahoon