Week 7

This week has been a trying, tough week but I have had some great experiences these past few days.It has been tough mostly because of the experience we had on Saturday. We had a good 5 hours of rejection after regection after rejection, with one or two "ok" contacts. Our goal was 20, and we had less than 2 hours to get 18 more. We did exceed our goal but each contact was not very solid. Our lessons/citas fell through as they usually do, and we werent able to contact them. We did talk to Emilio but he was off to visit a friend in another city, so we were pretty discouraged which I think added to our no success before lunch. Sorry I dont have any really good stories this week, it just was one of those days and I´m sure I will get them alot after reading jakes letters and hearing about other missionary´s stories. Sunday was another great day, we had a great motivational talk from Elder Holland from a MTC devotional from earlier this year. He talked about missionary work, and asked the question "why are you serving a mission, and Who am I serving this mission for?" These questions made me think alot these past few days and I have been searching myself and the scriptures for answers. Ill write a bit more about this in my letters home since I dont have a whole lot of time. What I do want to say is we have been so blessed with the gospel in our lives, we often times dont see the specific blessings or the true light of this gospel. I have some Latino elder friends who are recent converts and I can truly see the Light in there lives and when they were dropped off last thursday I saw the light in their families. Entonces, I want to share this luz, this spirit of Christ with all those I come in contact with. It was tough on me on saturday for me to have this fantastic gift for people I dont even know but have them reject it and most of the time not even respond to me. Anywho thats all I have to say about that.This past week I have also seen a major growth in my ability to convey my thoughts, opinions in conversation with my companion, the other elders, my teachers and the Latinos. It is really cool and I recognize it as the gift of tongues. Thank you Sam, Steve, Sean for you pictures and for the emails from jake. I received them right after we went proselyting last saturday and they cheered me up quite a bit. :) I dont recieve the emails from kevin or jake through email, id love to get them if you could forward them, and forward my emails to them, that would be fantastic! thanks!Its crazy to think that I leave in 1 and a half weeks, Sept. 22nd. We are the big guys on campus right now! haha... I heard that Josh is leaving for romania on Sept 14! thats even crazier, I mean I have been in this country learning and ahve been no more than 2 hours away from where I am going to be serving, he has been halfway round the world.We get the liahona every month and in December we will be in the Liahona as part of the special SUD edition. SO when I get it Ill have to send it home or something, I´m not sure If you can get it online.We have been getting lots of rain these past 2 weeks. Today has been the first day that I havent seen a cloud in the sky. Its been really cold too, like soaked to the bone cold. It hasnt stopped us missionaries from getting our daily exercise on the Basketball court! hahaI heard about the BYU game! Thats so awesome! Almost all of the North americans here went to BYU so it was a pretty big thing here. Well im pretty much 2 months in, ive got 22 months left, Its gone by quick. Im hoping it slows down a bit more so I can come out of this crucible a pure, much better person than I started. Ill write more in a letter home. Also I think this week is the last time for you all to send dear elders to Argentina. Start sending them to the mission, bc they take 2 weeks to get down here.Miss and love you all. Thank you for your love and support and prayers.Love,Elder Stapley

Week 6

Hola mi familia!¿Como están? Sounds like all is well and normal there at home. Im glad to hear about school going well, and I hope Seth´s game went well. All is well here. Lots of rain and cold this past week except on saturday. Its really really inconsistent. Saturday was so hot!!! Anywho... on with the great stuff...First of all I´d like to tell you all about the power of El Libro de Mormon! It is my most treasured possesion here with me.(well its actually my triple combination) It is completely filled with markings, thoughts and scripture chains from ever since 9th grade, my first year of seminary. I treasure everything inside it and I have used it countless times. We teach that if the Book of Mormon, the keystone of our religion, is true, then José Smith is a profeta of God, and that this Church is true. I have a strong testimony of how it helps me so much in this mission, and has the fulness of the gospel. I challenge all of you to study it along with the other modernly translated and modern revelation ( Pearl of great price and DyC). It is absolutely amazing.Elder Carter and I have focused on getting scriptures ready for a lesson on Saturday that we hope will happen. An older man named Emilio Flores was our last contact of the day. We met him on the way back to the bus, he invited us over and told us quickly that he had something to show us and a question. It was about 15 mins till we had to get back to the bus but we decided we should stay and answer his question. he came back out with a Jesus the Christ by Elder Talmage. He said he had read it and wanted to return it to the missionaries who had given it to him back in March of 1997. We helped him with the address of the mission, and gave him a BOM and invited him to church. We hope we can visit with him again and teach him a little more bc he is one of the Lord´s elect.Also, Dad, it is a very small world! You know Peter Costa? One of your patients, the one that was in the band Scary kids Scaring Kids. Well we contacted him. He was in the area of the ward we were in. He got of of his mission in Resistencia Argentina, was a companion with one of the teachers here in the CCM and he met a down here and they were married 2 months ago in the temple here. Pretty crazy stuff, eh? Lets see that was about all of the excitement we had on saturday, it was a slow rejection filled day. During proselyting we quoted LOTR. 'weve been here before" "we are going in circles" haha funstuff for missionaries who have been out a month and a half.I was thinking about this the other day. Its hard to love the people here bc they all look like Manu Ginoboli from the Spurs. Haha jk, i actually have a very good teacher friend who looks like him and Hna Paradiso wants to marry him... haha2 good stories I have heard from President Wilson. One about the 17 points of the true church by Floyd Weston... it is a super good story, i reccomend it. The second is about God and Albert Einstein. (just type those keywords into google or something and you will find the stories).Seth, if u really want to learn Spanish. Read the BOM in Spanish. It is the best way to learn a language, according to Pres Hinckley.My time is running down, but I wanted to tell you a few things about the Latinos here. We got a new group today, but the last group was so funny! One of them, Elder Zorilla, sounded like George of the Jungle when he tried speakiing Ingles... It was so funny! the elders were teaching him english frases and stuff.Next, Elder Pratt is so awesome. He is a football and Baseball master.. He already has a college degree and he played football and baseball at Dixie State in St. George.Im really excited for Conference!!! its coming up!!! I dont think Ive ever been this excited for Conference!Welll I better get this sent.I miss you all,Love, Elder Stapley¡Use the Book of Mormon!

Week 5

Hola Familia!I have had a very very busy week!!! But first I want to start with a quote I found in my scriptures earlier this week.Read Romans 1:16, then this quote...''If we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, then we should not be ashamed to live it, and then we should not be ashamed to share it.'' - Delbert L. StapleyWe had a great Saturday! It started off with me thinking that I dont want to go to BYU when I get off my mission. I want to go to the Universidad de Morón. I hear very smart people come out of that school. haha just kidding... It was on a billboard on the autopista as we were driving to our area. Anywho we got to our area and it was a much much humbler area than the past two times. The neaighborhood around the chapel was nice but around it it was so humble, basically shacks and dirt/cobblestone streets. Dogs everywhere as usual. The area is called Ituzaingo.We started off by talking to a man named ariel who was a street cleaner. He said he would be happy to hear more but he lived in a different city so we got his direccion and said we would send other missionaries to his house. Next we talked to a woman named Matia, she was an older woman and she was just sitting in her front yard. We started talking to her about ourselves and she said she used to work in America then she started on a long monologue. We were finally able to get in and talk to her about her family. She said that her mother died when she was very young, and she wasnt able to have kids. Elder Carter and I thought, Plan of Salvation. She was very open to her beliefs in god but she wasnt open to ours. I felt like I understood every word she said, and I kept trying to talk to her but she kept right on talking. Anyway long story short she wasnt super interested in learning more but we made suure that she knew we cared about her which made it a great experience for me. Next person´s name was Lionardo and this guy was a dream investigator for Missionaries except for one thing... he also didnt live in the area so we wouldnt be able to set up an appt with him. So we taught him basically all the lessons we knew we could in spanish, gave him a LDM, and a few follettos and he said he would read them all and pray about them all... We truly felt the spirit so strong with him, and he is the most probable out of all the people we talked to to be baptized. :) We met up with the missionaries of that area later on and made sure that they could contact the area that lionardo lived in.The last two really interested people were Arce a Paraguayan, and Julio. Arce we met as he was walking to work. He said he didnt have too much time but we told him a brief watered down version of the restoration and the LDM. He was very interested and we felt like we should invite him to church that domingo. He said that he would try his best this week, but definitely go next sunday. We found out that he lived right next to the church, and he didnt even know it. Interesting. Then Julio was with his buddys during siesta time. They were drinking smoking and eating lemons and having a good ol time in front of their house. There music was blaring, and it seemed like it would not be the most likely place for someone to actually be interested. we introduced ourselves and his friends were only interested in us bc we were from the United States. We gave them the first lesson but the only person who was really listening was julio. After a bunch of interruptions from his friends it was hard to feel the spirit so, we asked julio if we could talk to him another time and he said he would love to have us. So we set up a cita and left a folletto for him.We had a few firsts on this trip too. We had our first rocks(concrete chunks) thrown at us. We felt like Samuel the Lamanite... Very scary, but luckily we were close to the chapel so we quickly ducked inside the fence. Our bus also broke down on the way back so we are hung up in the middle of a busy highway in a foreign land for 2 hours. It was an eventful day. Well then on Sunday it was another fantastic day. We watched a MTC devotional by Elder Bednar from June 9, 2009. It was on the Spirit, (Dad I reccomend this one if there is anyway to get it, watch it at a fireside or something) It was on recognizing the spirit. How do I know if its the Spirit or just my own thoughts/feelings? it was so powerful. He said throughout it, '' If you are good, every good thought comes from the Holy Ghost.'' The Lord trusts us in the way that he knows we will think the way he thinks and do what He would do. So so good. Definitely look that one up. Well lets see what else... Its getting very very hot and humid here especially in the past 3 or 4 days. I rarely use my covers at night and Im starting to sweat in class and sweat alot after playing basketball or soccer. I was wondering if maybe every month or so someone could let me know of the happenings in the USA and the World. We dont get told anything here in our little compound. I know I left a republican form of government, I hope when I get back its not socialistic. I have been released as District leader which is a big sigh, but Elder Pratt will be great too! He is so awesome.Ummm... o ya! I had something really good for dinner the other night. It was similar to baked potato skins, but it was zuchinni skins instead with cream cheese. So so good, since we have a lot of zuchinni and squash I thought that might be a good thing to make. I was so happy to get the package of letters from the primary last night and then the Dear Elders came this morning. Im so happy to hear about school, and really excited to hear about sterling! Can he say anyone elses name? or just mine? hahaWell I need to send this before its too late. Miss you all, thank you for your love and support and prayers. Love,Elder Stapley

Week 4

Hola Familia,it sounds like everything is well back home. I received all of your dearelders this morning from savannah, seth, and sarah, and then some from sis larsen and chelsie... I have had a very quick fun week! On saturday, we went proselyting for siete horas! It was crazy! We went to an area called Banfield, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a suburb, and we were in the area of the Banfield 2nd ward if anyone wants to look it up. On the busride there we went through the slums. Its quite a site to see, miles and miles of shacks built around soccer fields. The city is in the background. Its quite a contrast. Anyways my area was about 1 mile square, we arrived at 10 and got right to work. We started talking to everybody! Nonstop for about 2 hours then we stopped for lunch which wasnt a good idea because we should have waited to stop during their siesta time(we found that out later) we started out again and tried knocking doors cuz no one was out and about. rejection after rejection after rejection... it was horrible... then we decided to just keep talking to people no matter if they wanted to hear us or not. On the corners of every intersection they have security guard stations. We would talk to the security guards whenever there was no one else around. we heard about so many different backgrounds, it was really crazy. One of the people we talked to earlier in the day was named Daniel. He was Catolico, and we talked to him for about 30 mins. He kept saying that he didnt think there was a need for another book. So I have found that in this situation we just have to testify rather than quickly turn to a scripture in the Bible that testifies of this truth. Its what I learned in my philosophy class this past spring. I didnt feel comfortable battling for my beliefs bc it just wasnt the right spirit that way. Anywho so thats what we did, and hopefully we started a seed in this guy. We placed a few Books of Mormon and lotsa follettos. It was an overall pretty good day! Makes me want to get out there again which we will be able to do on saturday for another 7 hrs!We just got back from a wonderful temple session with all 35 of the North American missionaries and sisters and Presidente y hermana wilson. It was a very full room. Ask Gpa and Gma Stapley if they know a Gerald Crismon. He said that he thinks he knows them. Umm lets see... what else... sunday was a fantastic day! we had a great sacrament mtg, and zone conferences. We got to watch the movie the 15 witnesses of christ. the one with Neal A Maxwell and Gordon B. Hinkley in it. So So good. Ive been reading my patriarchal blessing alot lately... Ive also been reading None of them were there from elder holland in last conference. It is an amazing talk. Makes me think about whether I would abandon the savior or stay with him.Ive also been studyinhg in 3 Ne. 27:27 about What manner of Men ought ye to be? Even as I am. I listed a bunch of characteristics of Christ and just checked up on the ones I need to work on. I also enjoyed looking at Ether 12:27.Anyways I have no time left so I better send this off. Everything is fine Here, I will prolly send you all a letter today. Love you all and thank you for your thoughts and prayers.Elder Scott Stapley

Letter 3

Hola Familia!
I hope all is well! It sounds like it is. Everthing is well here. We just got back froom our weekly temple session and our weekly trip to the local comedor to buy our Alfajores... Alfajores are our equivalent to hHostess cupcakes(but so much better). I´ll have to send some home for christmas our something. Our latino missionaries and fellow missionaries(same mission) left for their missions. It was kind of a sad day, but we knew we would all see eachother again in the missionfield, and later on in the next life for the Latinos. We got a whole other shipment of missionaries today from all over the place. One I thought I recognized bc i have seen him before, he´s elder bates and he went to heritage.Anyways last saturday we went proselyting to the same areas. We couldnt find Daniel, the young man we gave a LDM(BOM) to the previous week. It was a hard day. Full of rejections, No tiempo, otro tiempo... so we circled our area a few times and then just decided to pray. We had about 30 mins left and we were getting really restless and desperate to fulfill our goal. We prayed at a street corner and asked if we could have at least 2 more contacts. We got 5 altogether. It was really cool. The last one was a young man that was walking up to us as if he really wanted to know what we were about, he did. It was a way cool experience to testify to him about the LDM and about Jose Smith and our living profeta. We get to go proselyting this saturday for 7 horas!!! I received a letter from Bishop last night and one dearelder.com from Gma and Gpa Stapley this morning. Thank you so much for the letters, I look forward to them all the time. My district and I are super close! we do everything together and we joke and have fun. We are also, more importantly, very strong spritually. I have a new frase or motto that I say alot, LIVE what you believe and love, TESTIFY what you live and love!!! I have come to find that testifying is the MOST important thing you can do here! Especially when we havent gotten the lessons down packed. Last sunday we took pictures with our latino amigos and other elders. I am going to try and attach some to this email but these computers here are a bit difficult. Yes, even I with my infinite knowledge of computers find it hard to figure them out. I was thinking about you all on sunday, because I thought that was when you would be doing blessings for school... it almost felt like I was there. Well I will have more to talk about next week with 7 horas of proselyting.
Os AMO mucho y Os extraño mucho,Elder Stapley
Ps. the pictures wont attach... I will try again next time...

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The correct address for Elder Scott Stapley is this:
Elder Scott Stapley
Argentina MTC
Bonpland 2349/55
(C1425 FEW) Buenos Aires
Argentina

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Letter 2

Hello Family!!!It sounds like you all are doing well and are all happy! Im so glad to here that Steven is doing well. Thank you so much for all the emails, but I might now have time to read all of them today because of my time restraint. The dearelder.com letters from July23rd to July 26th all came today Aug. 6th. It is a pretty slick service so please try to send those instead of emails. It has been a very eventful week here in Buenos Aires. We have had several GA´s Elder Aidukaitus of the seventy came on monday, and the rest of the Area Presidency came tuesday along with 5 of the new mission presidents. I got to meet president Da Silva and his wife (my mission president) and saw Cameron´s mission president I think. So very eventful there, On sunday we got to watch a few taped devotionals from the Provo MTC from the end of June, one by Elder Holland that was super amazing!Next on Saturday we got to go out proselyting!!! It was so much fun!!! Scary but fun.... we went to an area of Ciudad Evita(you should look that up on google maps) and you can see a rough idea of where we were. There are tons of dogs roaming on the streets, the streets were dirt and paved. The houses range from being shacks to being pretty nice middle class homes. The people are all super nice and they were amazed with all the white missionaries from the US that were out and about. We talked with one man who was fixing his fence (well he mostly talked, he did a 10 min monologue) about his experience with the church and how he has had missionaries and he has the BOM but he just cant seem to find the time to read it and become part of the church. It was really interesting. So we just bore our testimonies of the BOM and the restoration and left him with a pamphlet. Another contact was with a young man named Daniel who was out washing his car. We talked with him a little about the church and he said hed heard about us but that he was catholic. We testified of the Book of mormon being another testament, like the bible of jesus christ and then left him a book of mormon. He said that he was going to try and read it and if we could we would come by this next saturday and talk to him more about it. So my companion and i have been preparing for that.So some very cool experiences, ill try and send you a letter with some more experiences. Im not sure when u will get the letter i sent last thursday, hopefull sometime soon. Umm... lets see I feel like i have so much to say but im so rushed I dont know what is the most important to tell you.Some funny stuff... to answer your question mom, yes i have been having lots of Vitamin C. Almost too much the first week so that there were some bad consequences... hahaha... but i have decided to save my VC tablets for the mission bc i have one orange for breakfast with a glass of orange juice and the same with dinner which is plenty! I am not sick (knock on wood) and the weather here is great so i dont need my jacket till prolly next year.In the morning we all have fights to find the best showers. the ones with the most pressure and the warm water. I normally just be patient and wait till around 7 then it dies down but i normally get really cold water or really hot water, sometimes i suds up and i dont get any water so most of the time we are singing one or two songs... count your many blessings or come thou fount(ain) of every blessing. It has worked a few times... hahaTo answer stevens question, Uruguay is on the Planet of Earth! :) that made me laugh... Sam, I am not on an Island. But I did find out that my mission will include part of southern brazil. Im super excited!Ummm thats pretty much it... Thank you so so much for the letters and emails. If you want to send packages(i dont need anything right now) but if you want please send them in the packets through USpostal bc the boxs will be stopped in Customs and we cant get them from there.Anyways, thanks so much, we get to take pictures sunday. I ll see if we can upload them and send some to u next week.Much Love to all of youNos Amo,Elder Stapley