You can reach Levi by email at levi.lamoreaux@myldsmail.net
Levi's Quest in Argentina will soon be coming to a close. Levi will be returning home on July 6, 2011 after serving an unforgettable journey throughout the countryside surrounding Cordoba, Argentina.

Monday, February 28, 2011

20 Month Mark Has Arrived in the Mission Field

Okay. Transfers came and went and I have six more weeks in 9 de Julio with Elder Antunez! Where to begin?...Friday morning, as we are getting ready to leave the apartment we receive a phone call saying we are needed down town for a church humanitarian aid project. So we were forced to scrap the morning plans and head downtown. The project was giving wheelchairs out to people that need them. Old people, young people, people in the middle. There were eighteen people with some form of disability that received a free wheel chair that morning. We were able to help out, with getting them into their chairs and pushing them around and stuff. Someone from the church was there taking photos, who knows maybe I'll show up in the next Liahona. Well that was fun, and then we went back to the grind.

Saturday we were blessed with two more baptisms. Tatiana and Carola. Amazingly, nothing major happened to prevent the baptism from occurring. No flooding, no lost keys (remember from last week). However, we did have to go to the chapel early Saturday morning with two paint buckets to empty the font. For two and a half hours we were carrying buckets full of water to the bathroom to dump them. It was exhausting, but it got the job done...and soon we have to do it again haha!

Tomorrow marks 20 months...crazy...super crazy to think! Only four months left to work. Only four months left to have people hate me through their ignorance. And have so many people love me more than I can understand for wearing a plack - Elder Lamoreaux. It has all been a huge blessing. From the fun moments to hard ones, I am so grateful I have had this chance to serve.

Funny story, in Gospel Principles on Sunday the teacher made a comment about the Book of Mormon being the best book ever, then someone piped up and said it was valuable but didn't meet up to the Bible. Instantly everyone took a side and they were all arguing over which was best. Poor teacher, she was called as Gospel Principles teacher just last week and didn't know what to do. Luckily, Elder Antúnez and I were able to bring order and the spirit back. It was pretty funny though.

Alright, so for post mission stuff. I have permission to get on the ASU website and sign up for classes and stuff, but I don't really have the time to do it, I know that you are extremely busy as well, but if we work together I think we can get up signed up and ready to go. Sound good, I'm going to try to get on today and try to remember my password and stuff then I'll hook you up so we can tag team it. Thank you very much Mother. You da bomb.

I love you all and I'm very grateful for all your love and support and I will catch ya next week :)

Chau,

ELMX

Monday, February 21, 2011

I Love This Work...I Love Being Here

Happy President's Day!

It looks like I should be signing up for classes next week then. As for coming home, I don't have my flight plans or anything but the transfer ends on July 4, which means I should leave July 5, which means I should get home July 6. So after the 6th we can do the ole Lamoreaux Camp Out.

Anyways...This past week I met an Elder Stradling from Safford, AZ. He happens to know Kevin and Kelly Lamoreaux. What a coincidence, I know them too (they're Levi's cousins). This week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Maude from Alpine, UT. It was a fun, slow, yet in the end, productive day. Their area is struggling, but I think we were able to achieve something. We had a surprise mission training meeting with the mission president on Saturday. It lasted longer than it was supposed to and it made us late for our baptism (not late, but we started getting everything ready late). Well, like every baptismal service, things had to go wrong. The font pump was broken, so there was water just chillin in the font for the past four weeks. We told our bishop who happened to be at the chapel at that time. He tried to pix the pump with us, but we got nowhere, then he said to just continue filling it. That the water would cycle out through the hole in the top (like how bathroom sinks have those little holes at the top), he promised us it would work because it was the backup plan to keep the chapel from flooding. We didn't know if it would work but we thought we would give it a try. We set everything else up then had to write a transfer report on all the missionaries in the zone. A member showed up and yelled what happened here, I run out of the secretaries office to find a flooding chapel. I turn off the water and start squeeging the massive amount of water outside. It took a long time. Maricruz and her mother and the ward mission leader and the ward missionaries and the bishop and lots of other people showed up before we finished, but in the end we had a nice clean tile floor again :). Then we needed to take the TV out of the closet and someone threw the keys to closet and slide along floor, right under the closet door where we needed to get. Oh it was a frustrating evening, in the end, however, it was beautiful and extremely spiritual. One of my best services.

I love this work, I love being here and it's hard to think in four months I'm not going to see all these people I've come to love. It just makes me make the best of every moment. I love you all very much and hope you have a spectacular last week of Black History Month. I love you all. Chau,

ELMX

Monday, February 14, 2011

Feliz día de los enamorados

It has been another week of hard work. Lots of walking, buses, and taxis. Lots of lunches and gaining weight. Out of everything, however, the best moment of the week would have to be Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. President Arnold (the South America South Area President) came to Córdoba for the weekend to give two firesides. The first of these firesides was directed towards future missionaries. He wanted a missionary choir to sing "Called to Serve" as an interlude hymn, and I had the privilege of being part of that choir. The fireside was for all the stakes within the city of Córdoba. I saw many familiar faces from the past year and a half. President Daniele and his son Diego came from Oncativo to listen to a seventy and help Diego finish preparing for his mission. I also saw many members from Argüello present. I remembered all of the them, but it has been over a year and I did not expect many or any of them to remember me. I glad to say I was wrong, after the meeting ended, I was greeted by many smiles and hugs and handshakes and I was slightly overwhelmed. Wards change missionaries like girls change clothes and I have never done anything super outstanding to stand out in someones mind, yet they all remembered me, from the youth to the leaders. It made me feel like the work I do and the moments I spend with people are worth something not only to me, but to the members, converts, and investigators as well. The Sunday situation was similar, only it was for investigators and new converts instead of future missionaries, and again more people came up and asked how I was doing and where I was at and told me my Spanish had improved haha (seeing how all these people were from my first two areas).

That was the highlight, it was fun and spiritual and great to see so many familiar faces.

I hope everyone had a terrific week and that all are found happy and healthy.

I love you all, chau,

ELMX

Monday, February 7, 2011

Living Above A Bakery - Not A Good Place, But Boy Is It Tasty

What is up!
So, yesterday we had a confirmation, it went great! I also was informed that one of the investigators in Villa Maria (Pedro) was baptized last week. It's interesting to see how many converts come from tracting and how many come from references. If all goes well, we´ll have a mix of people being baptized from both refernces and through our own finding efforts.

So this week I spent two days in an air conditioned chapel with the mission president and a group of missionaries to be capacitated on missionary work. I ate a lot and sat indoors. Not good for my six months to sexy plan. You know what else isn't good? Living above a bakery. Every morning as I do my studies the bakers know how to make the wind blow just right to make the delicious aroma enter our apartment, then like a fool with no self control I find my way purchasing baked goods before the morning is over. I guess I'll have to increase the intensity of my morning runs, because not going to the panaderia, really isn't an option.
I also may have seen part of a real Argentina soccer game in person! In our area there is a large soccer stadium for the Belgrano Pirates soccer team. This past week the season started back up. We had no idea that soccer season was back until we made it to the street of the family home evening we had scheduled. This family happens to live directly in front of the stadium. So we found our way walking through a huge, crazy crowd of people trying to get to the Tello house. Upon arriving they invited us up to the roof where we could see part of the field. Maybe next week I'll be able to rob an SD card adapter from another elder.

If Sister Jorgensen goes to the province of Jujuy to the town of San Pedro, she will have the privilege of completing a family that we have been teaching here. There are sister missionaries in San Pedro, so if it does happen that would be way sweet. And if she ends up in Santiago del Estero, she will be in the hottest place of Argentina. But she'll love it, but she will speak with an interesting accent, her mission is like the Lousiana mission in the states.

w00t w00t! Go Tate! And Shea and Tyra. Sounds like everyone is doing awesome, that's good. I'm super duper as well. I love you all and I'll catch ya in seven days.

Love,

ELMX