my fourth week here! (week 9)

Hola Everyone!

i sure hope everyone is doing great!! i send prayers out to all of you with hopes that life is full of happiness! and i want to thank everyone for such great emails this week! 

this past week was super looong! lots of satan trying to hinder the work! BUT, thats not possible! atleast not while im here! so last week me and elder donahoo were preparing melina to get baptized, and we were teaching her, and we felt that she was taking the lessons very well! and we wanted her to get baptized sunday after church..(yea, people can get baptized on sundays here.. it was super weird to hear that..) and we kept telling her that to get her ready for baptism.. then on saturday we went to go interview her.. now i personally wasnt there because we went on divisions (or splits) but elder donahoo was there, and i talked to him afterwards, and he told me that melina didnt want to get baptized... because she didnt feel like it was right for her.. it broke my heart to hear that.. as a missionary you care soo much and you want the best for those you teach.. and when they dont accept the happiness you have it breaks your heart.. but me and elder donahoo are gonna go back today and try to help her "feel" that baptism is the right thing for her and will bless her family.

so some days are cold and some days are hot here.. right now its known as "otoño" or fall here. and right now theres beautiful sunsets every night here. argentina is soo pretty!! 

sooo weirdest thing i tried this week for food.. a ham and pineapple sandwich.. yes you heard me right.. and it had mayonaise on it too! haha!! super interesting.. but i was hungry and you dont turn down free food as a missionary.. sorry i dont have pictures of it.. but super interesting!

so good news, on sunday me and elder donahoo met with a guy named lucas.. and the sisters in our district teach lucas.. but we got to visit him.. and two weeks ago we even gave him a blessing of strength soo that he could stop smoking.. and to give him the excitement and desire to join the gospel.. and on sunday we met with him.. and we asked lucas how he has been doing, and he says hes gone from having nearly a pack of cigarettes to only 2-3 a day..i believe that through his faith, and the strength that the lord has given him has helped lucas!! and he even accepted a baptismal date to get baptized on april 11!! i know that the lord prepares people in our lives that are willing aand want the gospel in their lives!

i know this gospel is true, this past week i read a quote from a conference talk back in 2009 but it said " eternal life is not obtained in a sprint. this life is a test of endurance, and we need to constantly work day by day to obtain salvation" -president uchtdorf i love you guys and am so excited to hear from our wonderful prophets and apostles this easter weekend! i hope you guys prepare your hearts to recieve the messages they have for us! 

i sure do love you guys! cuidense! (take care!)
con amor, Elder Driggs

Elder Donahoo and their sweet "mission grandma"

my ¨grandma¨here teaching us how to make fried bread, so good. they always eat it here.  Elder Driggs and Elder Donahoo in action 

Elder Driggs and Elder Fertig

My week in beautiful Argentina! (week 8)

Hola everyone!

so im getting adjusted to life here.. the humidity is dying down as fall is coming.. i had my first frio or "cold" day.. the wind came, and that stuff chills you to the bone.. and it came out of no where. so elder donahoo only had a short sleeve shirt on and was freezing.. but i LOVE it here! the cold feels sooo much better than dripping in gross humidity. but the wind has kinda chilled down since then.. but its been nice the past couple days.. 

Argentina is soo pretty! ill have to show you guys pictures of some of the sunsets here! theyre just georgeous! and everything is soo green and pretty! im loving argentina! 

so this past week has had both its challenges and much success! so my two biggest challlenges are the spanish for one.. its soo hard understanding people.. elder donahoo has told me to not focus on translating people while i listen to them.. but rather listen and focus on what theyre saying and the spirit will help you understand them.. and thats been helping.. im understanding soo much better.. the speaking is still a little hard though.. the words dont come that easy.. but im having patience... i know it will come with patience! then in argentina people here only have one main meal a day.. which is lunch.. and we always have lunch with members.. so they always have lots of food.. but because its the only meal we really eat.. its hard to eat enough to make it through the whole day.. so i drink lots of water to try to stay full. but the food here is soo good! mom you were right.. LOTS of mayonaise.. but not on the pizza.. (pics are coming) 

weve had alot of success through the lord this week though.. weve found three main people who are super important too us now as new investigators.. last thursday we found a woman named melina when we were walking home at about 8:30 and melina has 3 kids who are all very young.. and shes a single mother living between two different friends houses.. so she walks very far every few days just to have a roof over her kids heads.. but we met her, and instantly felt that she needed the gospel. so weve taught her already and she wants to change and be baptized.. and we invited her to church and she CAME yesterday!! i know the gospel will bless her life as she accepts it! then then on saturday we were walking along this road that we walk everyday. and we met a man just walking along the side, and we almost passed by him without sharing a message, then i got the strongest impression to talk to him.. so i did, and in my very broken castellano, i told him about our message and long story short me and elder donahoo taught him about what we believe.. and we asked this man on the street if he would be baptized and he just said yes!! the lord had been preparing him to meet us! but he works on sundays, so we are going to work with him so he can attend church and be baptized!! this work is moving forward!! i love helping people and seeing the change them with the gospel!

i hope all of you are doing amazing!! i pray for you guys, and want to keep hearing from you guys!! pics are coming too! no worries! 

con amor, 

Elder Driggs 

Elder Driggs and Elder Donahoo out in a field proselyting in the afternoon!

Elder Driggs and Elder Donahoo having lunch with a member

all four of us guys.. Elder Canez, Elder Fertig, Elder Driggs and Elder Donahoo!

Elder Driggs against a huge moral, they're EVERYWHERE HERE!

Brother Larson.. he was in the MTC, and he was my sophmore and junior year seminary teacher!

my district with our trainer Hermana Ferrells at the MTC

mi primer semana en el campo! (my first week in the field!) (week 7)

HOLA!! sooo i made it!!!! woooo! it was the longest trip ever getting here! but sooo worth it! i know im supposed to be here, and i know my purpose in this work!

sooo i take back EVERY bad thing ive ever said about arizona because argentina is both hot and humid and it is the WORST combination for being outside walking! its pretty rough! but its bareable and i wont let the humidity get to me! im drinking lots of water!

my new companion here is Elder Donahoo! Hes an awesome guy from laguna, california! a total surfer, and lover of life! hes awesome though! hes been out 20 months so hes super experienced! but hes soo great at helping my imperfect self learn spanish, and help me when i tell people to have a good apple instead of a good day! hes an amazing trainer! 

this week i already attended my first baptism for a woman named Nora. i didnt personally baptize her, but it was the coolest thing! shes a 65 year old woman who accepted the gospel and now i see soo much happiness in her! her baptism was super funny, because the man who baptized her was about half her size, and had to dunk her five times because she wouldnt go fully immersed in the water!! talk about a great first baptism! it got me sooo excited! we then confirmed her on sunday in sacrament! 

i live in a place called general arias, which translates to general areas! soo original! haha i love it! the people here are soo poor, but there all soo humble! as im working with them i can already feel them changing my life! they are amazing!

castellano or spanish is TOUGH!! these people talk sooo fast! and they slur all their words together! i dont know how elder donahoo understands half these people, but i keep studying and praying for the gift of tongues! and i know it just takes time! but im keeping at it! 

i only have an hour to write on pdays sadly, but its all good! i need to stay busy with other stuff!

soo i have lunch everyday with members, because lunch is the big meal here. i had my first meal here last thursday, and eggs are HUGE here! ive had eggs with every meal, like i had this egg caserole dish! it was not great! but you eat it to show respect! yes mayonaise is a thing here too. but not as big, and yes it tastes different! but its fine! 

yesterday i gave my testimony in church and met with our little ward of about 50 people! the members here are amazing! and soo willing to help and serve the missionaries! such a willing and loving people! and they all laughed at my accent when i bore my testimony! but i smiled and in my broken castellano i spoke with the spirit! 

i love all you guys! ill try to get pictures asap!

Elder Driggs

Elder Blazzard, Elder Driggs, Elder Tew and Elder Way at the Atlanta Airport ready to head to ARGENTINA!!

At the Argentina airport...Elder Driggs is over by the bus windshield

Elder Donahoo and Elder Driggs.....his first companion/trainer in Bahia Blanca

Elder Donahoo, Nora and Elder Driggs before her baptism

Welcome to Bahia Blanca Elder Driggs!! (week 6)

Dear Driggs family, your son has arrived in the Great Mission of Bahia Blanca, he is an excellent missionary and he will help thousands of souls here in Argentina, we send our greetings and a photo with the President Parreño and Sister Parreño.

Misión Argentina Bahía Blanca 

Los Asistentes-"Por amor a Sión , no callaré"

Elder Hutchings 

Elder Ramirez

President Parreño, Elder Driggs and Sister Parreño.

My LAST week! (week 5)

it has been quite a week! but its been soo great! soo many new things are happening and life is only getting better! thanks for all those who have been writing me! i send my love out to all of you! \

this last week we got a NEW DISTRICT!! that was the best ever! we have more friends in our group now, and they couldnt be a better bunch of missionaries! ill send out pictures of our zone with all of us in just a little bit! The new missionaries are also speaking spanish, and when they arrived it was our turn to be the "big brothers/sisters" to the new group. all of them have just the most wonderful testimonies though! im sad i only get to spend one week with them! but its gonna be a great time!

The good ole mtc isnt changing much, or atleast life here isnt changing much.. i eat 3 square meals a day, im reading my scriptures like crazy still, im still in alma sadly..(it never ends!! haha) i spend lots of time talking to elder blazzard and studying with him! i workout and have gym time at night..(one of my favorite times of day!) and we go on lots of walks!

yesterday.. (sunday.) was fast sunday, and fast sundays at the mtc are the BEST! if anything has ever just spiritually refilled me and just gave me a super spiritual high its fast sundays.. you start the morning off with good meetings and study time, and then we had whats called "mission conference" where a speaker and his wife talk to us, and then the mtc presidency talks to us and their wives. and its just the coolest thing, and thats only until like 10:30, after that we go back have a district discussion. where we all discuss a cool topic with a member of our branch presidency, which are some of the best discussions! then we go on a temple walk around the provo temple! there is nothing more beautiful than being in the presence of a house of the lord! his temples are purely BEAUTIFUL! and we always get the coolest pictures! this week we had some funny ones! ill make sure to send all those too! but after that, we walk back to the mtc, and have our sacrament meeting in one of the little rooms.. today was fast sunday and only two of the newbies bore their testimonies, but all of my district bore testimonies, and i want to tell you that a testimony is the MOST IMPORTANT thing we have as members of this church, it is the essence of who we are and what we believe! that was an amazing feeling to see that my first week i only said like two sentences of a testimony to yesterday being able to say a 3-4 minute testimony! with faith anything is possible! then to finish off the day perfectly, we have a fireside at 7 every sunday! and last night was soo great! i wish i could express to you guys the spirit that is here at the mtc!

the days are just flying by here and everything seems to just slurr together.. if i wasnt mentally keeping track, id say ive been here for years! but theres no where else id rather be! this place has become like home! too bad im leaving in a week! lol but thats ok.. argentina is where i was meant to be! and there ill serve happily for two years! 

i got my travel itinerary last week, and i leave for argentina next monday at 11 am from salt lake.. from there ill fly to atlanta, and i should be there by 4:50 georgia time i think.. ill have a 3 hour layover there, and then i leave to buenos aires at 7:30, and should arrive there at 6:55 the next morning.. and i talked with a teacher who had just returned from serving in bahia blanca! hes seriously the coolest! but he said from buenos aires he took a small plane to bahia blanca.. so next monday and tuesday are gonna be ALL traveling! im excited! my second time ever flying on an airplane will be for upwards of 12 hours!! but when i get to argentina ill send out an email telling all you guys my fun adventures!

i sure do love all of you! and i know how important it is to read our patriarchal blessings, because they are a "road map" of our life! they are the "white lines" on the road, the "guard rails" that heavenly father has given us to make it back to him! our patriarchal blessings provide peace, comfort, inspiration, and clarity to our lives! they keep us on track and help give us purpose in having a desire to return to our savior jesus christ! 

you all are in my prayers, next time i talk to you guys ill be in ARGENTINA!!! (EXCITING!!)

Te Amo!

Elder Driggs

selfie! haha (I needed just one!)

Elder Way, Elder Tidwell, Elder Driggs and Elder Piggot

It SNOWED!!  like BIG snowflakes! haha it was the best!

I ran into Sister Florence today!!

can't remember what was so funny?

this super cool fog that was right behind our building!

our zone in front of the Provo Temple

me and Elder Tidwell

our zone behind the Provo Temple...Elder Holt, Elder Anderson. Elder Ault, Elder Piggot (kneeling), Elder Tew, Elder Driggs, Elder Way (kneeling), Elder Blazzard, Elder Tidwell, Elder Hess

not sure why I look so silly??

Elder Powers, me, and Elder Way.. Elder Powers is from Maine, but his family is moving to Arizona, and hes going to Thailand!! he just left this morning.. we met him because he lives down the hall from us! hes super cool! and I'm gonna miss him! (by the way, I beat him in arm wrestling!)

just me and Elder Powers!

some of my zone behind the Provo Temple....Elder Ault, Elder Piggot (kneeling), Elder Tew, Elder Driggs, Elder Way (kneeling), Elder Blazzard, Elder Tidwell,