My Last Week Was SPECIAL....

Hey! This is just a quick little update on what went down this week. I love the mission! This is a great story ( pictures ) and I look forward to sharing this with you soon. Right now we are organizing everything for our transfers and I am also organizing and packing everything. I love you and I look forward to seeing you soon. This will probaly be my last email. One thing though it looks like I have taken all my money from my account and I don't have very much to travel with could you put a liltte more money in my account just in case I need it while traveling thanks. Con amor Elder Brooks.

Family....

Dear Family, Sounds like everyone is doing great and thanks for your emails and letters. I just sent you an email with my travel information please write me back and let me know if you received the email. Everything is going great here I am just trying to get everything ready and organized here. Week six of the transfer is a crazy week and we are staying very busy. Today we have the tour with my group that is leaving, its hard to believe but the time is going by really fast. I love the mission and I am very grateful to serve. I will write you another email when I get a little more time to fill you in and update you a little more. I love you and look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

My Time Here is Short.....

Dear Family, Hey! Once again i am sorry for writing back a little late. I appreciate your letters and emails sounds like everyone is doing great. Everything is going well here and we continue to stay busy. I know you would like to hear more about whats going on and how I am doing but I just have not given myself too much time to write. I hope you understand as time is passing very quick and I am trying to take advantage of every minute, trust me its not easy but its worth it. I can not wait to talk to you and fill you in on everything. I love the mission and I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and help his children. This past Monday I had the opportunity to return to one of my old areas, actually my first area called Rafael Castillo and I had the opportunity to visit some of my converts, members of the ward, and also the Bishop and his family. It was a great experience and I loved seeing them. It was not easy saying goodbye. I look forward to hearing from them and also to see them continue to progress in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you have any questions for me? I am sure mom has a few questions, hah. I am pretty sure mom is trying to put together something for when I return but please tell her to take it easy, I love her. Whats Mackenzie up to? Hey just to let you know I created a new email address because I could not really remember my old email and quite a few people are asking for my email so we can stay in touch. My new email is cameron.brooks08@gmail.com. I love you and look forward to hearing from you soon. If i find some more time I will try and update you a little more. Have a great week, I am praying for you. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Tee Time in Argentina!!!!!

Here are a few new pictures and a little update. So here we have Elder Thompson and myself with one of our investigators Luis. Luis just had his birthday and we decided to put our baking skills to the test. It turned out very nice and delicious, hah! Luis is a family member of a member in our ward. We have just got to know him. Luis is not a member but he knows quite a bit about the church as most of his family are members. Also Presiden Benton invited us to lunch and some golf on P-Day, he was able to give us some lessons. It was fun. Love Elder Brooks

Letter received February 3, 2011

I am just writing a quick email to give everyone an update. I am sorry that i have not been able to write that much latley but things have been pretty busy here in the mission office. Being an ap ( assistant to President Benton ) and also training the new assistant Elder Thompson i have had a lot on my plate. Today we finished zone conferences for this transfer, they all turned out very well and President Benton is pretty happy. It can get pretty stressful getting everything put together but it turned out well and i feel good that its over but i am sad that its over, that means that was my last zone conference here in the mission. i have a lot of mixed feelings going on, being here in the office it helps me stay focused so i am grateful for that, there is always something to do. However things have not been going too well in our area Caseros 2 for quite a while. Let's just say that things have been going well, we are very blessed, but things just are not seeming to turn out all that well. I feel the Lord is really testing my faith and patience. We have found a lot of investigators and many have comitted to be baptized but we have been having to put back their baptismal dates several times. Many of our investigators have challenges with the commandments, with the word of wisdom and the law of chasity. I love the people and i want the best for them. I also know if i can continue with faith and patience things will work out how the Lord has planned. If i relate to how i feel right now to a baseball analogy i would say that i feel like i am swinging good and hitting the ball good but i am hitting line drives right at the other players. i am gratefull for this opportunity to serve. I love the mission. i know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and that we have his gospel. Thanks for your love and your support. i am praying for you. i look forward to hearing from you soon and also from Mackenzie i hope she received my other email. i love you. Con Amor Elder Brooks.

Another Quick Post.

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from you glad you were able to receive the pictures i sent, I hope you liked them. Everything is going well here and we are staying really busy. This past week which happened to be the first week of the transfer was packed but everything turned out well. Transfer meeting went well and we sent some of the Elders home, one of which was my companion a little while ago by the name of Elder Gonzalez from El Salvador. Now we are trying to get everything ready for this week as we have zone conferences starting up. There is a lot to prepare for the zone conferences so we are trying to get everything prepared and organized. Elder Thompson is starting to get a hold of things here in the office, he is a great elder and we seem are getting along well. Lately we have been finding some new investigators and some have been progressing pretty well. We are trying to find some more time to be in our area so we can spend some more time with them. So that is a brief update on whats going on, there is always a lot going on and I would love to update you on everything and give you the details but we have been busy so when I get more time i will give you another update. I know it sounds like I always say that but it is true! hah. Thanks for your emails and all the updates. Mom I received your email and I think am a little confused on the whole housing situation? From what I understand I will be starting school in the fall but i am not sure if anyone else is, therefore I am not sure who I would be rooming with. Also the other day I took out some money from my account so if you would like anything special from Argentina let me know hah. I love you and I am grateful for all of your love and support. I am praying for you have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

QUICK UPDATE.

Dear Family, I'ts great to hear from everyone and i am sorry to write to you so late but we have been really busy with transfers. I am just writing to give you a little update and when I have a little more time I will write you a bit more. We had transfers this last Monday and they went very well. I received my new companion Elder Thompson from South Jordan, Utah and we are pretty excited to get to work. Elder Thompson came into the office a week early so that Elder Palacios and I could start to train him as we will only have one transfer together and he needs to now how everything works here in the mission, the office, and in our area Caseros 2. Everything has been going well and it is staying pretty hot here in Argentina. Things have been a lillte tough in our area as we have not had much time this last transfer to work in our area as we prepared things for Christmas and New Years and transfers. We have been finding a lot of people and we are pretty excited to keep working with them and help them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today we are going to Chivilcoy to visit the Elders who are out there and fill them in on transfers and then do divisiones with some of the Elders. Elder Palacios is now one of the traveling assistants with Elder Aguirre so they will be traveling alot throughout the week working with the elders and teaching them. President Benton is doing great and continues to teach us everything. We are excited for this transfer as the lord is preparing many people to hear and accept our message. I appreciate your love and support. I hope you have a great week I will try and fill you in more when I get some time. I am praying for your. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

PREPARING FOR TRANSFERS.

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from everyone, thanks for your emails and letters. Everything is going good here in Argentina and we are staying busy. This week went well and we were able to get a lot accomplished. Now we are coming into week six which is usually a big week here in the office and in the mission as it is the last week of the transfer. This week we are receiving a couple new missionaries that are arriving early, we will be going on the tour with the( pastores) which are the missionaries that are leaving this transfer, we will be planning the transfer with President Benton, and also I believe I will be receiving my new companion this week so Elder Palacios and I can get a head start and train him. This last week we finished interviews with President Benton and all the zones and we all had our interviews as well. President Benton is amazing and it was great to have the interview as we talked about a few goals and plans to finsh strong and also goals and plans for after the mission. President taught me that no matter what the goal is I should always have in mind asking myself, "Does it get me closer to the Lord?" I have been able to put down some goals but I will continue to review and check to see if they really get me closer to the Lord. Last night we participated in a fireside with President Benton and it turned out very well. This was the first time that we have done it and many investigators, members, and missionaries all from the stake were invited. Elder Palacios and myself gave short talks, we watched a video, President Benton and the Stake President spoke and then we had refreshments. We enjoyed it and we look forward to the other firesides that we have planned. So we are pretty excited for this week there is a lot of work to do! I appreciate your love and your support. Thats crazy that you already recevied my flight plans Elder Rodriguez will still be calling to confirm. Do I need to do anything for school such as sign up or pick any classes? I am thinking I will attend the spring term. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I love you have a great week I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Happy New Year!

Dear Family, Hey happy New Year! Thanks for all your emails and your letters it sounds like everyone is doing good. Sorry for writing late but we have been pretty busy here in the offices this week. This past week we have been busy in our interviews with President Benton, office work, working in our area, and a special meeting with the zone leaders in the mission home. We had a great week here in the offices and also in our area. This past Sunday we had a really great meeting and one of our recent converts Adriana shared her testimony during sacrament meeting and you could really feel and see the change that the gospel has made in her life, she has a great testimony. Also another recent convert Eduardo Aguirre has recieved the Priesthood and is now blessing the sacrament, he is a great example and he and his wife have a lot of faith and also a strong testimony. Our Bishop from our ward here in Caseros 2, his name is Bishop Obispo Cabrera came up and talked to us after sacrament to fill us in that in the year 2010 we doubled the converts that we had in 2009. In 2009 Caseros 2 had a total of 8 baptism and this year 2010 we finished with a total of 16 converts. Our Bishop is really nice and it was great to see him so excited at the progress that there has been in Caseros 2. That was some great news and thanks goes out to the other missionaries that were here before us and together we were able to achieve this success. I love New Years and I love the mission! I have put some new goals and plans down for the new year 2011 and tomorrow we have interviews with President Benton here in the offices and we will probably go over them together. This last Friday we went over to the mission home with all of the zone leaders and the staff and we reviewed our accomplishments from 2010 and set some new goals and plans for 2011. Its going to be a great year and we are pretty excited to keep working and sharing the gospel with everyone. I heard Greg received his mission call to Paraguay, Asuncion North mission congrats, thats a great mission and it is in our area. Greg will have a lot of success and he will help many come unto the waters of baptism. Also those were some nice pictures of the snow back home, that's pretty crazy but looks nice. Also mom asked about flight plans I am not sure when Elder Rodriguez will be calling you but dont worry he has the information to call you and if you miss the call he will just call you later. Everything is going well thanks for your love and support. I am praying for you. I look forward to hearing from you have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

ALL IS WELL........

Dear Family, Hey! It was great hearing and seeing you during the video chat! Everyone looks great and it sounds like everyone is doing good. I appreciate all of your love and support. We had a great Christmas here and now we are getting ready for the new year. I love the new year it's a great time to put down some new plans and new goals. What are some of your goals for the new year? We have a pretty busy week with interviews with President Benton and then having our combined meeting with the zone leaders and President Benton this week. I love the mission and I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve. I love you and I am praying for. Have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Christmas Conference.......

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is getting ready for Christmas! Sorry I have not been able to write to you sooner but we have been prettty busy with everthing that is going on this week. This last Monday we had our big mission Christmas P-Day and it turned out very well. I sent you a picture of the staff that we took during p-day I hope you like it. I am guessing you are wondering at what time I will be calling this Christmas? I am not sure, I am pretty flexible and should have the chance to call whenever is best for you. I was thinking you can talk with each other and give me a time that would be best to call you. Please send me an email and let me know. I love you and I look forward to hearing from you. I will try and prepare myself for Moms questions, hah! I appreciate all of your support and I am very grateful for this opportunity I have been given to serve. Have a great week and know that I am praying for you. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

ONE LAST CONTACT BEFORE WE GO HOME !!!!!!!!

Dear Family, Hey it sounds like everything is going well and everyone seems to be staying busy. I am not sure if I mentioned in the last letter home but I received the package from mom and a few cards from Dad, Beckie, Mackenzie, Isaac, and Nellie. I just wanted to make sure and let you know i received them and say thanks again. Last week we stayed busy and this week we have a rather busy schedule with missionary interviews with President Benton as well as preparing for our Christmas P-day that we will be having this upcoming Monday. This last week went really well as we went to Chivilcoy to have missionary interviews with President Benton and the missionaries that work in Chivilcoy which is located pretty far from the mission office, its basically considered the country part of Argentina. After the interviews Elder Palacios and I stayed to do divisiones with the zone leaders Elder Baldomero, a former companion of mine and Elder Latorre. The divisiones went very well and it was great to work with Elder Baldomero again. He is a great Elder. The highlight of this week was a baptism that we had for one of our investigators named Adriana Graciela Lezcano! A couple of weeks ago as we were ending our day Elder Palacios and I did one more contact before going home, and that is when we met Adriana. At the time Adriana did not want to talk neither did she want to listen but we set up an appointment to pass by another day. The lord was preparing Adriana to hear our message. We began to talk to her and get to know her. As we shared the gospel with her she felt that this is what she needed in her life. Adriana is a great example and has a great testimony. She was so excited for her baptism, when we visited her she always told us she was just waiting for the day. This past Saturday the day arrived and Adriana was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The baptism went very well and the spirit was very strong. I am grateful for having met Adriana and for the faith that she has and her desires to follow our Saviour Jesus Christ. I love the mission. I appreciate your love and your support. I am praying for you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. I will you know with more details about Christmas and at what time I will be calling! I love you have a great week. Con amor Elder Brooks.

WE ARE LED BY A GIANT OF A MAN PRESIDENT BENTON!!

Dear Family, Hey it sounds like everything is going well back home and a thanks for all your letters, emails, and also a special thanks to mom for the package that you sent me! The package was filled with some good stuff of which the office staff and myself were able to thoroughly enjoy. Because of time constraints I was only able to briefly read your letters, since it was this week that we started a new transfer. Monday we held our transfer meeting. We have been really busy and I apologize for not writing sooner but I will try and fill you in on what we have been up to lately. This past week we have been preparing for transfers and planning it with President Benton. It's the truth that President Benton is the best of the best, he truly is an amazing man and we are very grateful to have him here leading and serving with us. This transfer as we planned with President Benton we had the opportunity to pray together and search for inspiration about what the mission needs, what the missionaries need, and what the investigators need. The spirit was very strong and we were able to understand better, as we contiuned to pray to our Heavenly Father his purpose. Monday we held our transfer meeting and I was given the opportunity to direct ( conduct ) the meeting. It was a great experience and turned out rather nice, if i may say so myself. After our transfer meeting we took the missionaries that are finishing their missions to the mission home and they had their last meal with President Benton.They then were able to share their testimonies after which we then took those missionaries to the airport and sent them home. Today, Tuesday after waking up we went to the airport to pick up the new missonaries arriving at the airport and also the new missionaries arriving from the MTC that is located here in Argentina. The new missionaries are an amazing group and they all have a really strong spirit as well as great desires to start to work and serve the Lord. This is a bit of an update on whats going on in the BAW mission. Our office staff is amazing and now we just added a new secretary of materials, Elder Bennett from Boston, Mass. We are really excited for this new transfer and especially excited to take up and accomplish the challenge that President Benton has set forth for us this transfer to all read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of this transfer. I am grateful for this opportunity to participate in the Lords work and serve those here in Argentina. Thanks for your continued love and support. I love you and I am praying for you. Have a great week, I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Simply Put... A GREAT WEEK!!!!!

Dear Family, Hey!, sounds like everyone is doing great! Thanks for your letters, birthday packages, and pictures! The truth is this was hands down the best birthhday. On my birthday President Benton came over to the office in the morning and made breakfast! Two other missionaries Elder Hughes and Elder Quackenbush had their birthdays the same day so they came over as well and we had a big american style breakfast, pancakes, bacon, and sausage it was soooo good, probably the best breakfast I have had on my mission. All of the elders from the mission office sang happy birthday to us. I received the package from dad that had some party favor type things to celebrate my birthday which worked out well. We all got to together and had a little party. Also the Valle family from a past area Billinghurst, made me an birthday oreo cake and sent it to me via the Sister missionaries who are working there now, Sister Lopez and Sister Lewis. The Valle family is a great family, I love them. But the highlight of my birthday was a phone call I received that night. As we were getting ready to finish up everything at the office I received a call from the Sister missionaries who are working in Billinghurst. They called us updating us about a baptism that they were planning and at the end of our conversation they told me that Antonela the investigator that was preparing to get baptized asked if I could and if i would baptize her! Antonela you may remember was an investigator that we found and taught when I was in Bililnghurst about a year ago. Antonela had desires to get baptized when we were teaching her but she was not married to her husband at the time. A year has now passed and this past week Antonela and Leo got married and Antonela was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Friday the 26 of November 2010. She was confirmed a member on Sunday! I am very grateful for the faith that Antonela has shown and for the decision she has made in her life and within her family to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am also grateful for the Sister missionaries, Sister Lopez and Sister Lewis and for their persistence, faith, and for helping and preparing Antonela for this amazing step in her life. The spirit was strong during the baptism and I felt very happy for Antonela and her family. I love them and I am grateful for their examples. This week was also special as we had the opportunity to have Thanksgiving dinner in the mission home with President and Sister Benton their family and other invited guests. Dinner was amazing as we had the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. After dinner we had the opportunity to share out testimonies and express our gratitude for that which our Heavenly Father has given us. It was a great experience and we were all very grateful. Thanks for making my birthday so special and unforgettable. I enjoyed your letters, the package, and pictures. Mackenzie tried to be funny and made me clean up a big mess from her letter that she sent me as glitter confetti flew all over when i opened it, hah!! it was a good birthday gesture and even in spanish. I'll give her credit for that one. Tell her I love her. I am not sure if there is another package on the way as mom mentioned something to the affect that there was another. Also mom had a question about my deferment at BYU, I believe I signed up for this coming spring term. I love you all and I am praying for you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Have a great week! Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Thanks.......The Birthday Package Arrived!

Dear Family, Thanks for all your letters and emails and especially for the birthday package! It's great to hear from everyone and thanks for the birthday letters and packages. The birthday package was very nice and has a lot of cool little stuff to throw a little birthday party with, so we will see what we canl do. Mackenzie even wrote a pretty nice letter. Also the Ludwig family sent me a nice card so please tell them thanks from me. Everything is going well here in Argentina and now the weather is starting to heat up. This past week went well and we had our Stake Conference with Elder Aidukaitis of the Seventy. It was a great opportunity to hear from Elder Aidukaitis. I was able to learn much and the spirit that was present was strong. Saturday during the Priesthood session went really well because he talked about the church mission plan that came down from the first presidency. The plan which will consist of working with 15 families in the ward that can be either inactive, incomplete families, and so forth. I loved as well as really enjoyed our Stake Conference because there was a big focus on missionary work and being prepared and worthy to enter into the temple at all times. I also enjoyed conference for personal reasons as I was able to see many members and converts from my old branch of Billinghurst. Everyone seems to be doing rather well and it was really great to see them. I think it has been almost a year since I served in Billinghurst, WOW! Mom mentioned in her e-mail that she saw a video from the preach my gospel dvd the district 2. I love that dvd, and we use it a lot as we have been teaching the new fundamental principles from preach my gospel. I believe she saw the movie about an investigator named Jynx which is a good one that focuses on the importance of the Book of Mormon. From what we know Jynx is still waiting to get baptized. I still have to look at my trunky papers and fill them out, I will do it this week. This week looks like it will be great week to work and we will also be celebrating Thanksgiving. We will probably be some of the only ones to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Argentina because it is not a holiday here. For Thanksgiving President and Sister Benton have invited us "the staff" to join them for dinner. President and Sister Bentons daughter and her family will be here also for Thanksgiving. I am very grateful for this opportunity to serve our Heavenly Father I love the mission. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I appreciate your love and support. I am praying for you have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Office Report........

Dear Family, Hey! It's great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is doing great thanks for your emails and letters. I love hearing how everyone is doing and what everyone is up to, keep staying busy and keep sending pictures. This week went well as we finished all the zone confereces, we were also able to do some divisions with several of the zone leaders. Things are also going pretty well here in the office. The Elders form Ciudadela, Elder Parker and Elder King had a baptism this past Sunday so we are pretty excited for them and they are also rather excited as would be expected. We stay busy here in the offices but we are also trying to use our time wisely and work in our areas more and more. The Lord continues to bless us. We are very grateful for what we have been able to accomplish and we look forward to working hard and effectively with the time that we are given. The Elders from Haedo, the secretaries Elder Millard and Elder Rodriguez are also doing well in their area and they stay pretty busy in the offices so we are very impressed with their examples and their service. This weekend we have Stake Conference and Elder Aidukaitis from the Seventy will be attedning so we are preparing for that this week. Now that the zone conferences are over it looks as if will have more time to work in our area and do divisions with the other missionaries. Elder Palacios and myself are doing well. He is a great companion and a great example for me. He really does a good job with explaining everything that we have to do here in the office and we are always thinking of things that we can improve on. Elder Palacios also was pretty big into sports before the mission as he was very competative with soccer. He played a lot and he was given the chance to continue and play professionaly but he decided to serve a mission. All of his family are members and his father works for the church. His dad is a architect and he was given the opportunity to design the temple in Santiago, Chile were they are from and now I believe his dad is working with the temple that is being built in Concepcion, Chile. The temple here in Argentina is still being reconstructed and I am not exactly quite sure when it should be finished but they say within a year. I love the mission and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that with faith in Jesus Christ everything is possible. Thanks for your love and support, I am praying for you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

BAPTISMS IN CASEROS 2 !!!!!!

Dear Family, Thanks to all for your emails and your letters as it sounds like everyone is doing great back home. Mom, thanks for the pictures as it looks like halloween turned out pretty well with all those little trick or treaters. The work is going great here in Buenos Aires and the weather is starting to warm up too. This week went really well as we started our zone conference meetings and we had a baptism as well in our area of Caseros 2! Let me just say It takes some time to prepare the zone conference but should i say they have been turning out really good. President Benton and Sister Benton have given some powerful messages for us missionaries to help motivate and keep us focused on the work at hand. The Lord continues to bless us each and everyday. As a companionship we have been pretty busy but the Lord was able to lead us to those that were ready and waiting for our message. This is what happened when we showed up to Eduardo and Noemi´s house about three weeks ago. Eduardos mother, Bilma, was baptized a few months ago but the missionaries never really got a chance to meet her son Eduardo who lives on the second floor of Bilmas house with his own family, which includes his wife Noemi, and their three boys. A few weeks ago we randomly began to speak to a boy in the street by the name of Martin. The conversation went well and he ended up telling us that his grandma, Bilma, was recently baptized and that he lives above her home with his family. The following week we were working once again in our area at night and about to wrap things up and head back home. With a little time left we decided to stop by one more house, that being the Aguirre Family. We climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door, That's when we met Eduardo and Noemi Aguire. They kindly let us in their home and we were able to get to know them. They explained to us some of the situations that they were dealing with in their lives and in their family. They then explained that they needed something to help save them. That's when we were able to share our message with them about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We explained the importance of the family as well as the importance of prayer. Eduardo and Noemi understood everything clearly and then and there commited to start praying to ask if our message was true. As they continued to pray, read, study, and attend church, Eduardo and Noemi were able to receive the answers they sought and have begun to see and feel the blessings of the gospel in their lives. But most importantly with in their own family. Every lesson there was an incredibly strong spirit as well as strong emotions. Eduardo and Noemi have faith in our Saviour and in his gospel and I am grateful for having been able to meet with them and help them to find and experience the blessings of the gospel. I love them and I love their family. They treat us very well, always trying to invite us to stay and eat, they are both very good cooks, we love their food. Eduardo and Noemi have decided to follow our Savior Jesus Christ and I know he was calling to them. Also we had the oportunity to baptize Mauro who comes from a family who is strong in the church but not all are active right now. We had the pleasure to eat lunch with Mauro and his family and that's when we were able to invite him to be baptized. Mauro recently turned 9 years old and he knows allot about the gospel and loves reading the scriptures. What a privilege it is to participate in the work of The Lord. I love this mission. I love this gospel. I know this to be the true Church of Jesus Christ. I appreciate your love and your support. I love you and I am praying for you. Elder Rodriguez just handed me what they call "trunky papers" they are papers that I have to fill out and explains the process about getting everything ready to go back home. I will try and read it later and fill you in. Tell Elder Squires congratulations what a great missionary. I am still waiting for the package dad sent and I will let you know also when that arrives. Have a great week I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Halloween Not Celebrated Here.....

Dear Family, Hey, its great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is doing great. Happy Halloween, unfortunately there is no Halloween here in Argentina but that's good to hear that it is still celebrated. I'm sure everyone has a bunch of halloween candy that can not be found here in Argentina. Everything is going well here and we have been able to get a little more sleep this week. I love the mission and I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to serve here in Argentina. President Benton and Sister Benton finished their seminar this past week with Elder Andersen from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles along with some other members of the Seventy and leaders from the area. President Benton was able to share a little about what took place and what they did in the seminar and it seems like it was a great spiritual and motivating experience. He was in the seminar for a total of four days during the week, along side and seated next to an apostle of the Lord Elder Andersen, words were not enough to express the experience. He mentioned the love that Elder Andersen has for all the mission presidents and all the missionaries. President and Sister Benton were very grateful for the experience. We were not able to participate in the seminar but we are looking forward to hearing more and how it went and what we will be applying. This week we start zone conferences and we will be going around to all the zones and having conferences with the missionaries. We are in charge of getting everything set up, the program, food for the conferences, preparing our own message/ workshop as well as other tasks. We are pretty excited for the conferences and we look forward to learnig from all the missionaries. They are the best and I am grateful for them as they truly are examples too me and I continue to learn more and more from them. As far as things go in our area in Caseros 2 things are going well and we have a family and a few other investigators that are preparing to be baptized. Their faith is really strong in our Saviour Jesus Christ and I know that Heavenly Father will bless them becasue of their faith. Also I am not sure if I mentioned this but during transfers we received a new Elder in the office. Elder Angulo, secretary to President Benton finished his time in the office and was transfered out to an area called Bragado. Now we have a new secretary, Elder Rodriguez from San Antonio, Texas. When I was in Billinghurst Elder Rodriguez had just started his mission and we were in the same zone. Elder Rodriguez knows my cousin Justin Brooks and if he remembers well he said Justin served in his ward in San Antonio. Elder Rodriguez is a great Elder and we are excited to work with him here in the office. I appreciate your love and support. I am praying for you. I know that through constant prayer we can receive the guidance from our Heavenly Father. I look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing some of those pictures! Have a great week! Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Transfers!!! Mother's Day????

Dear Family, Hey! It's great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is doing great! We had a busy week and everything seemed to turn out quite well. This past week we held our transfer meeting on Wednesday and the whole mission was ableto get together here in Ramos Mejia. We were able to finish planning with President Benton, Elder Palacios, the office staff, and myself finished getting everything ready for transfers. There is shall i say, a bit of work that goes into transfers and there is not that much sleep hah. It is amazing how the Lord continues to bless us with the strength that we need each day. I am very grateful for my Heavenly Father and the strength that he gave me this past week, it truly was a blessing. This past Sunday the 17th of October was also celebrated as Mothers Day here in Argentina and together as a staff and as a mission we were able to plan a little something special for Sister Benton. Each transfer meeting we have the opportunity to go up and shake President and Sister Bentons hand and say hi. We decided that this time each missionary would bring a flower for Sister Benton and tell her happy Mothers Day. It turned out very well and Sister Benton was very suprised and also very grateful as she told us that she has never received so many flowers like this before. The transfer meeting turned our well and also the spirit was strong with the messages from President and Sister Benton. When I have more time I would like to explain more about transfer meeting and what we have to do to plan and get everything ready, I am sure mom already has questions hah so Ill try and fill you in more when I have a little more time. I sent some pictures of the tour that we went on with the missionaries that were going home and also some pictures of the transfer meeting. I appreciate your love and support. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and for the opportunity to share the gospel with those around me. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I am praying for you, have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks. Mom- I love you Dad- Ill let you know when I get the package thanks I love you

A BUSY WEEK!!

Dear Family, Hey! Sounds like everyone is doing great and thanks for you letters, emails, and pictures. Everything is going great here in Argentina. This past week was pretty packed and busy with all the interviews, meetings, planning the transfers with President Benton, and working in our area. This past week we were not able to work as much we would have liked to in our area but we feel good with that which we were able to do. This past Sunday Julia Herbas was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ! The confirmation went very well and the spirit was strong. Julia was very grateful and very happy. We had a very nice sacrament meeting and I also was given the opportunity to speak. I was able to talk about missionary work and the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone. I was able to share a few scriptures, experiences, and share my testimony. I received some very nice comments from our members and investigators which was nice. I love the members here and I am very grateful for the assignment to serve with them. Also during the week we had the opportunity to have a tour in the capital with the Elders who are finishing their missions this week. Every missionary has the opportunity to go on the tour before finishing their mission which gives them the priviledge to see the capital and get to know a little more of the culture and history of Argentina. I will try to send some of those pictures when I get a chance. President Benton continues to amaze me as I continue to learn from him. This week we were able to plan transfers together and the spirit was very strong and helped us as we made a few changes in the mission. We have had a very nice transfer but it has also been short as we are having our transfer meeting this coming Wednesday. We had to move our transfer meeting up a week earlier because of a mission seminar that President Benton will be attending. We are pretty excited for this transfer as we have set some new goals and plans to help us complete our purpose as representatives of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for this opportunity that I have been given to serve and represent out Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I testify that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I appreciate your love and support. Have a great week I am praying for you. Con amor, Elder Brooks.