The Week I Needed!

This was a week i have been needing for a while now. From my interview with a President Stapley a couple weeks ago i had asked him what i could do in the ward i am at. This ward was absolutely dead and wasnt sure what to do. More then 600 innactive members. He told me find new people. We have really started to just look for new people. This week we found 16 in total which is double the standard. Thursday i was actually pretty nervous because we were going to do divisions with our ward mission leader and the truth is we didnt have any set lesson for two hours. I decided to make some plans for old investigators and it was amazing. Earlier that day i found a sticky note with a ladies name and her address but nothing else. We passed by and it was great. We didnt get to teach her but we just talked with her for about 10 minutes outside and it went great!! We then found an elderly lady and her 40 year old son who showed up from work and listened to us. He turned out to really like it and decided to read the book of mormon. We then found a very catholic man has some type of leadership in the church. I started talking to him and it went very well up until my mission leader started to argue with him about the bible. I tried to shut him up and the guy agreed to come to the church this wednesday and watch a video with us. (Pray this lesson goes well) He is a very good man. After words we taught the cousin of a member family that we are baptizing soon and we brought his other cousin to listen to us. So yall have seen the movie August Rush right? I dont remember too much about the movie but a little. We found a family who has a son that is 11 years old. He has read the entire bible alone. He pulled out an acordian and guitar and started to play all sorts of farely difficult songs. He also plays the violin and piano and a couple other instruments. Its crazy teaching the kid. He understands things so quickly. He is super weird or different but he is such a cool talented kid. This week we also had a fireside with Elder De Giovanni and another day a meeting with him only as missionaries. It was really good but not what i was expecting. Last year Elder Aidukaitis dropped the cane on us and it turned out changing our entire mission. In the meeting this year, there was no sort of cane dropping and very short. This week turned out to help out alot. The best part is that we have 2 great baptisms this sunday coming up that should be GREAT!! The most amazing thing is that answers to prayers do come. Not exactly when we want but they do come. The mission really is a great experience. I never imagined how hard it would be and how lazy i could possibly feel at times but it is all worth it. I wouldnt trade it for a thing!! Love, Elder Martino p.s. Grandma and grandpa, yall are the best. Yall are the only letter writers i have and i really apreciate it!

Summer is Coming

It was a quick week but a definite difficult one. We have pretty much decided to drop almost all of our investigators we have and find new ones. We spent almost all day everyday looking up old investigators and clapping houses. We found some farely interested people but all of them need to get married... Thursday was specifically a really tough day. I have never before waken up in the morning here and literally not desired to be here at all. I honestly did not want to leave at all and above all i felt like crap and it was raining. I am proud to say we dragged ourselves out the door and went to work. No success and lots of contacts all day long. Comes to 7 oclock and we are looking for an old investigator. We finally find the house and they let us in. AMAZING. Mother and 2 kids. The mother is member from a long time ago and the moment we stopped by was perfect. They needed a change and both kids want to get baptized. They came with us to stake conference on Sunday which was great. I sat with them while my comp sat with another family. Wife is member aand husband no. He has heard from the missioanries for many years and recently with us put his own baptismal date for the 9 of december. He is progressing amazing. Saturday we went and did a service with them and afterwards went and did another service. Probobly not the best for my hands but definatley fun and worth it. This week we were gooing to have a couple meetings with Elder Arnold the president of south america south but we just found out he isnt coming but someone else is. This last week we had aa bunch of riots in the whole area. Everyhting shut down trying to prove something to the government. Bad news is we have to very careful in where we go. Goodnews of the week is my plumbing came in handy. The new sister missionaries finally moved into there new apartment with our help. (Goodness. I have no clue how the sisters get around with all the crap they had.) Their water heater was leaking and i was able to fix it. Woo! Love, Elder Martino

November Pictures

Oct. 29th

I honestly dont know what to say about last week. We had a service with an innactive member and we put in a new concrete floor for him which was fun work. He thought it would be easier to mix it all at once instead of parts at a time, so on a large piece of tin we had about 30 buckets of rocks, 40 of sand, 10 of cement, and water. I was tired afterwards. Im not sure if its because it was actually tough or that im just a baby since ive been here. On Saturday we went to go contact a reference we got of a man and 10 kids who want to listen. Bad news is we went on our bikes, about15 miles on a very skinny highway where people aim for you, and we wasnt there. The good news is we are going to go back one of these days. This last week we found some great people. Really amazing. The problem is its so sad sometimes to hear some of the trials people go through. I know my job is to teach them the truth that can bring them a new hope but its hard. The message i share I believe with all my heart, but sometimes I even wonder if some poeple can make it through these trials. I have wondered and am doing alot of that wondering right now about myself but thats just when he step back and let my faith take control. I love the people in this branch but while i am here there is alot of work to be done. I´m willing to do it except for the fact i just dont know what to do. We met one guy Miguel, turns out he was baptized when he was little, 50 years ago, but never been back. We leaves alone with his mom. We went the other day tohis house and he was completely different this time. At first he was a happy big man. We listened to him this time and he just looked like he was fighting with all he had with no affect. We cant leave his mom who is blind home alone or many things could and most likely would happen to her, but because of that he cant work. He is fighting between the love for his mom and the need to work to have money to live. He is a great guy and i really know something good will happen to him and he will be able to get out of this ditch. Everything is going well for me. Its getting nice and warm here, except for today. Last night it rained and everything is flooded so it cooled down quiet a bit. Well have a good week. Dangit, it just started pouring outside and i didnt bring my rain coat... Love, Elder Martino

22nd and Muddy

Exciting news, we got new bikes on Friday. Bad news, they dont work to well in the mud and i already got it super dirty. This week was a tough one. It flew by most of it and i didnt even feel like i was in my area at all. I spent one day on exchanges in Longchamps and another 2 days on splits with a youth in my ward working Brandsen. The good news is we have 8 baptismal dates out in Brandsen so at least the work out there is going alright. On saturday i had a wonderful surprise. Ruben, Jacqui, Hno. Berta, and Carlito (all members from Acevedo) showed up at our church building with a cake to celebrate my birthday! :) That was actually a nice surprise and they told me many people wanted to come but couldnt. Yesterday was a rough day and exhausted me. At church none of our investigators showed up which was rough. We left and ate lunch in the pinch that the hna. Nina gave to us. (she lives in front of us and is amazing). Speaking of her, i met her mom the other day who is 102 and still kicking. Well when it came time to leave and work it started pouring and we pushed through the fiaka and left. We went down a one-way dirt path about a mile and a half but when we turned around we couldnt get back... the rain made the mud so thick that the mud built up on the bikes and we couldnt ride back. well we finally got back (mud everywhere) and as we were biking to take the sacrament to an elderly woman we saw a guy in his car that slid into a ditch. Well, it was kind of fun and took a while but we got it out. When we showed up at the house to give the Hermana, who is 98, the sacrament they just laughed but felt bad because it was raining, cold, and we were covered in mud head to toe. Well i got the mud out of my hair and face the best i could and we gave her the santa cena. we got back and washed the bikes off a little and then i took a nice warm shower. It was definately and interesting day and im waiting for the blessings to come from this one.... Really we are working but this area has a lot of work to go. This is one of the challenges in the mission that you have to love. If you dont that just sucks because your still gonna be here. You might as well be optimistic and it will help everything. Love yall! Elder Martino

First Week in Korn

Where i am at isnt only about 1 hour train ride but it is the last train stop that exists. Its all fields out here and the area is gigantic. Not only is the area gigantic, but we as Zone leaders just recently got assigned to take care of another area too. We are the closest ones to it (about 30 miles and thank goodness there is a bus). It is about an hour bus ride and right now we are only going out there once a week. Oh, its called Brandsen. Now let me tell you about my wonderful bike...First, is if you go to fast the chain comes off. Second, The seat is broken so instead of a soft cushon seat its a seat of two steel rods in an arrow shape. Let me tell you, i am super sore some days and am very excited to get new bikes this Friday. Oh, and im getting good practice for my trip from Alaska. As zone leader i dont have to do much except right now we are trying hard to reach our goal, animate the other elders, and do intercambios once a week. My comp is a great missionary and its really good to work with him. Im excited for this transfer and possible others to have some good success. We only have about 30 people in sacrament and many people have gotten offended with an elder that was here a little while before. Its going to be a difficult one but i am excited. We are going to help as much as we can. Well let me tell you about my welcoming party here. We entered into a house and 3 men came in from the other room. One with a revolver, the other a machete, and the other a knife the size of a machete. The didnt rob me or shoot me so we are all good :). This week i had lots of random thoughts, for lack of good english. In this area im not sure if i am going to baptize too much but with 700 members and 30 active, we have our work cut out for us. The other thing is im pretty sure i´ll be here til the end of my mission...which will be a long time. I really am excited about being here. Being a missionary has never been better and i wouldnt trade it for a thing. If I new the mission was going to be like this before-hand would I have still came? HECK YA! Im pretty sure i would have came out much quicker. Its hard, very hard. Heck, my bici kills me everyday and my thighs are super tired when we have to bike down the freeway against the wind for 5 miles. I wouldnt trade it for anything. Not a ferrari, not the super-model of my dreams(although if your reading this wait a couple months), and not anyhting else. Nothing in my life up to know matches up to it. Love, Elder Martino

I've moved to Korn!

Well I left! I got a call Saturday right before the second session of conference and im moving. Oh, and Dad no i wont be able to train a new 18 year old kid. I got moved as Zone leader to a smaller area called Alejandro Korn. Look it up on google. We have bikes and its all campo out here. It is by far the biggest area i have had yet. My companion is Elder Inostroza from Chile and it seems like a great missionary. I have a feeling that we are going to have lots of success together. Our mission baptized 137 last month. It was the most since 2005 and we are steadily growing in all of the areas! Im excited to be here in this area and even more excited in general to be in the mission. Last week i was almost positive i was going so we had lots of people that wanted to say goodbye to me, but we still got in some good work. It wasnt as sad to leave the area. I really feel i did some farely good work in helping that ward to grow and made some really good eternal friends. The good thing is i believe i will see everyone of them again. The most sad part of the week was i lent my camera to a little girl to take some photos for me and she deleted all of the photos i had from the MTC. I have got to start backing up my photos... Saturday we had everything set up perfect. It was a mission rule we couldnt go see conference this day if we didnt have an investigator with us. We had a family that wanted to go with us and when we showed up they couldnt go. We called everybody we know but nothing. The good thing is we were able to get half the family for the second session. Sunday morning i packed a little and then i had to hurry to the stake center to do an interview. It was rather interesting. Turns out we couldnt let him get baptized yet. Still had some things to clear up and im not sure he actually knew what he was doing. We watched the first session and right after between sessions had a baptism. A member, Hno Pedraza baptized the 12 year old girl for us, Marlen. She is a great young woman and is the first to get baptized in her whole family, and almost all of them came and they all want to get baptized. It was a great baptism and a great way to finish up in that area. I really grew to love the people and i hope they did too. I know tons of missionaries pass by over the years but i really try to make a lasting difference on as many people as i can. Interesting story. We had an innactive member of about 30 years that we went in and talked to. She started to blow up on me how i am libra and how bad of a person i will be...It wasnt to fun to hear but i kept trying to bare my testimony but she wouldnt stop. Well it kind of made me a little upset and later on that night she sent us several texts apologizing. She told me how bad she felt and how she felt the spirit but kept trying to over power it. I had only met with her 3 times over 6 months but said she was so happy to have been able to know me. Im not saying it was me because it wasnt. Im just saying one moment of showing someone what the spirit feels like can change someone entirely. Well i love yall and i hope all is well! Dont worry, i still havent left on my horse yet to escape from the mission but im getting ready!! Elder Martino

The Only Women in My Life

I want to start off by saying besides the emails, the only women i have in my life are my grandmothers. Not sad to say that i love them and they are the most faithful letter writers! Grandma y Jean son las capas! I love you two!! This morning in the bus station i had rocks thrown at me. I loved it though. I looked over at the man and he tried to look as if he didnt do anyhting and then I started to walk towards him and he started to run away. I think some people are crazy. They think im just trying to rob there money, women, or water but yet they still have lots of fear of us. Anyways, i felt as if i was being stoned as the prophets of old...sort of... This week wasnt too exciting. We broke a record with investigators in church! 12! We have a baptism this saturday and we are going to do it in the stake center between conference sessions! Her name is Marlen and she is a cool guy! One of our promising investigators had her baby saturday and tonight i get to go see them so i am pretty excited! We had a meeting this week for trainers and the new missionaries and in one week i finish training and am most likely leaving. Kind of sucks because Sunday i wont have anytime to say goodbye to many people but at the same time i am very excited for conference!!! “If you believe that you can then you are right and you can; if you don’t believe that you can then you are also right and you can’t.” That is a quote that President shared with us the other day. I wasnt til the mission that i realized how true it is. Everything starts with a desire. If you dont believe you can than you wont be able to, but if you believe you can and follow it with faith and works then you will be able to! Love, Elder Martino

Golden Couple

Lets start with tuesday. when we left it was clear sky and warm outside so we left in short sleeve. by 4 oclock it was pouring. It rained all day and got farely cold. That didnt help at all with being sick and we got fodged alot but the good thing was i kept my companion entertained with my sweet angelic voice singing to him the entire time in the street. It at least kept me happy. That night we also got to celebrate the Birthday of Ruben the husband Jacqui who we baptized a couple weeks ago. Wednesday not alot happened. Thursday was an alright day til night time. I dont know what hit me but i got a horrible headache and started to get really dizzy. In the middle of our dinner i just about blacked out but luckily i made it back to our pinch and just layed down on the floor for a couple minutes. The worst part is is that they made a very very yummy looking dinner but i couldnt eat much at all. Thursday i almost got hit by a car. MOM DONT READ! Ha, we were walking and all of the sudden word gunshots then a car came flying by a corner and almost hit me but luckily i still have cat like rflexes and i was able to dodge it. Then another car came chasing after it and then 2 seconds later there were tons of cops and ambulances. Sweet huh! Saturday morning we started at 8 oclock with a service and did 4 services in total finally finishing at 8 at night just in time for a lesson. We poured two floors, tour down walls on a second story and then cut down and burned a tree. We, i really do believe, saved our investigator and his sons life. The second story house thing was a house of wood with bricks layering the outside. Well three of the walls we could take of the bricks from the ouside but the last we couldnt because it had a house right underneath it on the other side. well we tied it off and when it was falling i was able to hold it off for a split second before it smooshed this guy and his son. It was one heavy wall! The highlight of the week is a couple we are teaching. They are golden!! As of earlier this week she didnt want to get married, but we left them with some homework and on Sunday when we talked she said we could go with her on wednesday to go get a date for marriage!! Woooo!!!!! Yesterday at church i had a member pull me aside. He is about 28 and single but an amazing guy. He is one of the best missionaries i know and he doesnt have any name badge to show it. Well the thing is is that he is going through a very very difficult time and the amazing thing was he came to me before anybody else. It is just nice to know the trust some people have in you just after serving them. Also amazing about this guy is his efforts to share the gospel. There is no such thing as an ex-missionary, just return missionary. That goes for all of us. Love, Elder Martino

Single to the Glory!

Kind of a lower week this week. Yesterday was really upsetting. I have been trying so hard with certain families to come to church and they do once. Saturday we passed by all of the baptismal dates we had and called all of them that night an they all promised to go. well all but 2 didnt come. We lost 7 baptisms yesterday and im hoping we can regain a couple. It was really a frustrating day. The good news is we did have an awesome couple come with us and a less active girl who came for the first time in a long time. Her whole family is active so they are excited to have her back. This week had a lot of walking. It was a beautiful week but the majority of our citas failed on us. I will admit yesterday in church i was sitting in sacrament and i was really upset. I was thinking about how transfers are coming up soon and i could move on to a new area. Well heads up to future missionaries, you shouldnt ever have that attitude. You look on the bright side and keep working. The good days arent good without the bad days being super super crappy. Another thing that has caught my mind is the fact that i cant help everyone. I do my part but then it is up to them. I show them where to step but they are the ones that have to lift up there heavy foot and make the step. Last wednesday we are a meeting for all district leaders in the mission. It was really good at first. The point when the elders started to ask too many simple questions was when it went wrong. Thats th point when having no meeting at all is better then having one. Besides that part the meeting helped me think alot about what i can do better to help these missionaries. The problem is just finding out how to do it. The mission is going well. Its difficult right now with little success and sickness but we just keep moving forwardj with our eye SINGLE to the glory of god. You gotta love it!! Love, Elder Martino

Experience of a Life Time!

Well im going to start out with the best part of the week, Wednesday. They called me monday asking if wednesday we would be willing to go to the temple and help clean it from the open house. My response was heck ya! We got there at 9 in the morning and were working with a guy named Drake Hill. He is the head architect and designer for over 80 temples now. It is amazing how he could remember EXACTLY where every little thing belonged. Well 8 of us spent the day being his little ducklings following him around everywhere he went. I got to hang paintings, put the furniture and set it all up in all of the sealing rooms, celestial room, and confirmation room. We got to walk upstairs and see EVERYTHING. It was really really cool. We spent almost the entire day with him til President came to pick us up. We even got President a couple little gifts...OH!! Best part! So i had the opportunity to, with permission, break vases from the temple anterior. I told Bro, Hill that in a year if he needed an assistant helper to just give me a call and id be more then willing to help him! Besides this day we had a good week. We had two service projects on saturday that kind of wore me out. Now this week we are preparing for this weekend. Friday we have a fireside With Elder Eyring, Elder Ballard, and Elder Christofferson. Saturday we have the temple culture activity and then on sunday we have the dedication. I have a feeling it is going to be a very good week. Have a good week!!!! Love, elder Martino

Wet and Amazing Week!

Well it was an ama

zing week!! We had an amazing baptism with alot of people there! Before the baptism I had to go over to another area to do an intrerview and fly back to get back ontime for the baptism and to get it all set up. There were some amazing talks and i wont lie, i almost manly cried when he baptized his wife and when she come up they gave eachother a big hug. Im a little sad becasue in a year when they can enter the temple it will be almost a month after i get home! Extension...? Still have plenty of time to think. We had one hot day this week and then it get real cold again and now its back to average. We found some great people this week and are really working hard. I do have bad news though...Transfers came....They were actually going to move me but decided to have me stay here for one more transfer which i am very happy for. I would like to stay here at least one more. Its amazing how every area eventually and quickly comes to be your home. Granted I know exactly every street in the area, but i love it here. Interesting enough but i have to go to the doctor this week because i have what i think is a ganglion cyst on my wrist. Bad news is its been there for at least 6 months and ive just blown it off so we will see what happens. Prettty much two options. One is to smash a book on my hand and have it blow up and the other is surgery, but before i do anything dumb im going to make sure i know exactly what it is. In two weeks i have the awesome opportunity to go to a fire side with President Eyring and participate in the cultural ceremony here. Woo!!! Love, Elder Martino

Wow it Smells!

First off its a holiday today, i dont know what but its another one. All of the computer places were closed but we finally found one after walkng to another city and let me tell you, IT SMELLS HORRIBLE IN HERE! Im pretty sure the nasty carpet here has a film of nasty poop on it. Anyways, this week went pretty good! It has rained every single day during the week and we have been soaked every day. Its cold when it rains, my shoes are broken so my feet get wet, and not too many people let us in, but im happy! Im not sure why but i feel happier when its raining outside. I did have a big answer to a prayer early this week. Monday I found myself loosing alot of patience with a member we visited that wouldnt shut up and the next couple days we didnt have much sucess. Oh and i was still sick and couldnt eat too much. I knelt down thursday morning and just begged that he could help us have some form of success or help me be happy either way. Well thursday we got calls from members with references they had for us and we found a couple new poeple. One guy we found is a super chill guy that has alot of questions and desire. He has dred locks he has been growing out for 6 years and believes in Rastafari. We will continue to see him and see how it goes. We got to go to the temple!! It was amazing. The ward had planned on one bus to take us there but they had to call another quickly. We completely filled 2 buses with 110 people. About 25 were investigators. We were told we could only go once so we made it count! President Staplet was there and i had him talk with a couple of our investigators and try and help them. We have a baptism this week and im so excited for it. Even though she is a little scared her husband is going to hold her under the water for a while she decided to have him do it which is exactly what i wanted. They also told me i better be here when they go through the temple for the first time and get sealed. Im going to do my best but it might be a little difficult. Well we got to take all the people through the entire temple and it was amazing. We have another investigator whose name is pocha. Her husband is member long time. They got married about 7 years ago after old marriages and since then she has liked the church. Well lets say she has been an investigator for 7 years and has smoked for 50. I have never seen her happy or anyhting although she is always nice to us. She always seemed jittery, nervous, sad, and beaten down. Well she went to the temple once last week with her old lady friends and didnt feel much. We invited her to come with us again this last saturday and she told us no. Well she showed up and she loved it. She even came to church yesterday and bore a quick testimony abou the temple. We went and saw them last night and we had a very good talk. She told us she has never felt the way she does now and the way she did in the temple. ¨After 7 years of listening and dealing with you kids, I finally know that it is time. I thought ciggarretts controlled me and ive tried quiting before but i always had an empty spot and couldnt let them go. Now that spot is filled so much i have to let them go.¨ Now she is getting baptized in 2 weeks!! The temple really was amazing! Im not sure if ill get to go back but it was amazing! In church people kept saying it was like touching a part of heaven with your hand and it really was. I hope one day to get the opportunity to enter in again, especially if i can do it with converts I have had in the mission. This area especially has been very good to me! I love the people here and im know for a fact that i will see them again later. In the scriptures it says that we will be judged by our own books. Well i really believe that we have a big part in constructing our celestial glory. My happiness wont be complete if i dont see them there with me. Sorry, but it smells horrible, i have got to get out of here. Love yall!!! Elder Martino

Wet Week

Well it has rained alot this week. It started Thursday and its supposed to go just about all of this week. Friday morning all the street infront of our pinch was completely flooded and iwas getting way excited to get out and walk. Like 10 minutes before we left it looked like it was clearing up and wasnt going to rain again so i left in just my sweater to go work for the morning. Well our lunch that was on the farthest side of our area wasnt there, and it just started pouring. It was a good ol Texan rain too. well i put my stuff in bags and we started walking. I wont lie i was a littl frustrated at first but as we were walking i started to think about random things and just started to sing out loud random songs that came to mind. i figure everytime I have to walk soaked in the rain, that much hotter and beter my wife will be!! This week something very sad happened...My shoes...are breaking...in front and on bottom. I have a huge hole forming in the bottom of my shoe. Its ok though, im going to wear them til i look like a homeless man on the street! After many attempts we finally found an innactive member we have been looking for. It was a very interesting lesson. he kept saying his problem was worldly and not spiritual. It wasnt the leaders or that no one visits him or that he was offended.

Death Threat!

Well we had another baptism!! Ill send pictures a little later. Her name is Belen and it was definately interesting. Once again we didnt have too much support from the ward but we did it anyway. I have asked the bishop for keys to everything so i can do it when they dont come. It was a great baptism but definately goes on the list for one of the most interesting. Well when i put my hand out to walk down the stairs into the font she told me she didnt need help, well then she fell and screamed, ¨Ahhh ya me bautice!!!!¨ Well then when i lifted her up she stood there for a second then i guess lost her footing and was just fighting everything and screaming like crazy while i held her up. It was definately interesting. It was a very good baptism and we are staying with our goal to baptize every week! This week i had my third death threat taken out on me in my area.. lol. We had a mother and 3 children who were going to be baptized but everything took a very quick turn. She went to visit her husband in jail and she tried to kill her and threatened to kill us when he gets out. Apparently some neibhorhood kids called him and told him that two men were entering into the house. So as for now we lost those but we are going to see what we can do. Quick question for you mom and dad. I was told by yall that you sold Rosie and Grandma told me she died...Im a little confused on exactly what happened. lol This week was very good. We have had a couple up and downs but all in all alot of success. One night we were teaching a woman named jacqui. She is the spouse of a long time member we activated who just became young mens president. Well we were progressing so well with her and then tuesday we took 500 steps back. It was very hard to hear what she thought and i wont lie i teared up a little bit. We bore our testimony and left a challenge with her. I was very worried all week until Saturday when i saw her and it was SOOO much better. She decided to read the whole book of mormon and already almost finished first nephi. It was a very big help to me and i know the date is coming up soon. My zone in the last 2 years has had a maximum of 11 baptisms in a month. This month we put 15 as our goal and reached 16!!!!! There are 10 areas and we as a companionship were able to get 3 last month. Its hard sometimes to focus on numbers when your trying to help certain people but it is the only way for us to measure our success and it does tell alot. Love, Elder Martino

First Week

Well it was the first week with lots of meetings but a good week. My new companion is Elder Siler from Colorado. If youve seen the best two years there ya go. Really the kid speaks well for just getting here but he is very scared and uncomfortable. Im trying hard to help hiim but its going.. We had a great baptism! Her name is lily and she has been through a crazy life, not normal crazy. She has been so excited for her baptism and I had the opportunity to do it for her! I was nervous when at 6 when it started nobody was there, but 10 minutes later the people flooded in as well as 3 investigaotrs. This weekend we have another baptism as well as 8 more in the following month. Our area is doing amazing and im loving it. I had 2 big meetings this week. First one had to do with the leaders in the mission and our goals. It was 7 hours long so i hope i can remember all of it. The other had to focus on the temple! The month of august the temple here will be open for the public. The have given me 5 thousand invitacions as well as my ward recieved 5 thousand more. That i think will keep us busy. Think of a busy city and they want everybody within about 1.5 miles of the church to have an invitacion. On the 8 of september we are having a fireside with President Eyring and 2 other apostles then afterwards a cultural activity in one of the big soccer stadiums. The 600 missionaries in Buenos Aires will enter into the stadium singing ¨llamados a servir¨. Then on the 9 they are doing the dedication broadcasted to all stake centers!! IT is going to be awesome!!! Oh, Nicki, I met your ward mission leader. We will be sending me a picture but his name is elder Villalba. Grandma and grandpa, I just got 2 letters from yall. One from december and another more recent. I just got in the mail about 5 letters that were sent in december or february..sorry. One of my friends was robbed yesterday with a sword.. interesting. Well this week has 3 special days. 26 is the birthday of Tannon. 27 is one year in the mission WOOOOOO and BOOOOOOO. and the 28 we have an amazing baptism. Its kind of sad. The first year was so slow at first becasue i had to work so hard to understand and get used to everyting. At times i wanted to missiom to go by fast, but now no. Now i feel comfortable with the language and everything else. I feel like im learning to be a good missionary and truely help and teach others. The sad part is now everything is going to speed up. Its going faster and faster every week. Its definately good times though! I love it and i love having success! Oh, and last about my district. Its me and my new companion, Hermana Naumann who is training Hermana Kirk from Australia and they are white-washing the area, and the 2 assistants. Our district is going to tear it up!!!! Love, Elder Martino

Dun, dun, dunnnn............

Well this last week was the last week for Aquino in his mission. Although it is not fun being the companion when a missionary dies, we had a lot of success last week. Our numbers beat the assistents and the other companionship combined. The activity helped us out alot. This week we had lunch and dinner just about everyday. We found a couple new families and had success with other investigators we have. Interesting experience that once again i still dont like one bit. We had a couple drunk dudes approach us thursday night asking for everything, watch, money, jacket, etc. Well i told him no and he started to laugh. He proceeded to take a sip of his wine and say he liked it how we just didnt give away everything if someone asks to rob us. All was fine and dandy up to this point but then one of them with his pink scarf proceeded to slap my butt, give me a hug, and ask for a kiss....Well I pushed him off and walked away and hopped on the next bus that passed by there. Still not one of my favorite experiences, but nonetheless interesting. Saturday was an interesting day. I had to do intercambios because all the missionaries who were leaving got to do a tour in capital. Aquino left and i went with another kid. We then had to go to the stake center in my area to pick up 5 thousand invitacions for the temple open house coming up soon. I think that will be enough. Afterwards we met up with my district leader to interview our baptism for later on this day and turns out we needed an interview from President beforehand as well. It got too complicated and it got moved til this weekend coming up but she is still very excited. Well while i was talking to president he asked me if i would be a trainer this transfer. SWWEEEEEETT!!! I forgot to mention that last week i had the opportunity to speak in church about the temple. It seemed to me it went very well. I was able to focus on the importance of the temples and the time we spend there. It was interesting when i read a quote by Wilford Woodruff that said something to the fact of everything single activity, song, and lesson we give in the church should direct us toward the temple. Well this sunday Aquino spoke and gave a little farewell. Saturday we got the call for transfers and i thought i already knew everything that was happening. wrong. President calls me and says, ¨Elder Martino, I already asked you if you would be willing to be a trainer right?¨ ¨Correct¨.¨Good, well i have another question. Would you be willing to be a district leader?¨ ¨..................................................................................................................................are you sure...........? Well he proceeded to tell me what was going to happen. In my district we are 4 elders and the assistants. Well 1-Im training. 2-He is taking both elders out of the other area and putting in an hermana that will train also. 3- That area isnt one of the safest ones so it will be interesting. To say the least this transfer is going to be interesting but i am excited to see all that happens. Love, elder Martino

Not Much Time

I dont have much time. We spent our pday in a ward activity that we had. Proud to say that i was the one who thought of the idea! Well we had over a hundred people show up and about 30 investigators. We cooked two big pots of locro, had a folklorico dance show, and played soccer. It was tons of fun. We had 3 people tell us they wanted to get baptized, one this coming saturday and we will see if we can. Well at one point kicked the soccer ball over the wall into the porch of an old lady. I climbed up the wall and asked her if we could come around for the ball. Well we went aroound and invited her over and she came!! It turned out to be a big success! A lot of other stuff happened this week but i apologize i dont have time. sorry. Love yall!!! Elder Martino

Good News!

Start off with the good news. We had a baptism!!! It was interesting but we got it done. We passed by every day starting on sunday last week and the mom wasnt there or other problems. One day we werent there because a man in the villa broke a beer bottle and stabbed the 5 year old grandchild in the eye. As for now his eye is swollen shut and looks narly but i feel bad for the kid. We ended up teaching her but had help from a friend of the family, Victor, who is 22 and not a member. He helped us, came to the baptism, cooked cake afterwards, and came to my english class. We had the baptism and one member showed up...which was sad but oh well. This week I had a very fun time cutting down a tree with a chainsaw and machete! I felt like samurai Jack!! Besides that we had a very good week in numbers, We broke both of our mission records in with member lessons which was very good. My english class now has 11 people who come and it is steadily growing. It turned out to be a big success and im glad. I honestly dont know what else to write, Ill start taking little notes during the day of things i should write home about.. Love yall!! Love, Elder Martino

Happy Father's Day

First, I would like to tell grandpa and Russell that i love them. Second, dad, even though we have butted heads alot im glad your my dad and i love you. You and Mom have raised me correctly whether i chose to follow or not you were there. I thought i knew what bad parents were like and i thought i knew how to be a perfect dad. Im still far away to be there but i am a very lucky son and proud to call you my dad. Well, we still have the other 2 missionaries living with us on the floor. We have no clue how long it will be til they get back in the place but it is nice. Mom, i made homemade bread this week. It was actually really good which surprised me. lol. Monday was my comps birthday last week so we celebrated it with a couple members at there houses which was fun. I ate way too much which did not make a fun time but all in all it was good. Tuesday we had a good service project and found an innactive family which was very good. I was got yelled at by an old man which is always fun. I did learn something interesting. I few years ago in Argentina it was in pretty bad shape and some people in a helicopter tried to rob the angel moroni because they thought it was gold...Also, underneath the temple is the CIA. This week i think we gave more blessings then any other moment in my life. We found a new family through a member and the very first thing they wanted was a blessing for there 4 year old son who has some major health problems. They seem like an amazing family and im excited to see them progress. Something really hit me this week. We have an innactive family with a daughter who is 9 and not baptized. It is a large family all in all that lives just outside of the villa. We had a great lesson with them and i felt as if we really touched home with them. They all promised that if we came by to look for them they would come to church with us. Last week we passed by and no one came out. This week i sat at the door and clapped for about 5 minutes. Finally the little girl, Luana, came to the gate and told me she was almost ready. No one else wanted to wake up and come but she told us that she wanted to come withor without them. She had promised me she would do something and did it. As a 9 year old kid she wanted to keep her word to us while the others didnt care at all. It happens very common that people say they will do something and dont. I feel like i learned a little more this week about why Jesus always loved the children. They are much better then most every adult in this world.