ELDER LOPEZ KEEPS ME RUNNING - MARCH 20, 2011

My first companion in General Rodriguez
Elder Foster and Elder Lopez
We are pointing to our mission poster
Our mission has a goal to baptise 200 people each month

Wow I don't know how to even start this part, let me start with the fact that when President Benton told me we would see miracles every day of the mission, he was not kidding!

Honestly the Lord, Elder Lopez and I are exploding General Rodriguez right now I don't how else to explain it except to tell you that in the mission there are a couple records... numbers are NOTHING in the mission but at the same time they are EVERYTHING!
 We are here for one purpose and that is to baptise!

Big numbers mean more children on the narrow path to returning to live with him, for a single missionary the record is 68 baptsims during the two year period, for a companionship during a transfer is 10 baptisms... and for General Rodriguez it is 5 baptsims, let me just start out by saying we had 14 investigators in the branch this week and the branch only has 90 members.

Elder Lopez and I have 10 more baptismal dates in the next three weeks,  maybe even a couple more.

This doesnt happen, in fact we dont have enough time in the day to teach what we need to... it is physically impossible, this week on average we walked 14 miles a day, we run between appointments and still are late for everyone and I have my dictionary looking up words I might need to know for the next investigator.

My feet dont look very good mom they look like yours after a marathon soI wrap them in moleskin and toilet paper and the President and the assistants have come to help out several times so we can get it all done!

The Quipse Children

Elder Lopez
These are the dirt roads we literally run on to
 make it to all our appointments.
I have never in my life been so exhausted

This is where I live with three other Elders
Notice the green bucket - we only have running water in one sink
so we fill the bucket with water and wash down our poop and pee
in the toilet

I have never been so exhausted in my life, at the end of each day Elder Lopez and I humbly fall to our knees drenched in sweat and covered in dust and thank him for our success and for the oppurtunity we have to help some of his chosen children to return to the straight and narrow and for the strength to continue to work even harder.

 I love these people so much and they are so easy to build relationships with, I am eternally grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary and I thank you so much and Nana and Tracy for giving the means to be here!

My heart is full and like I said I've never been more exhausted in my life from 6 in the morning until 10:30 at night we go literally 100 miles an hour, nut family I have NEVER felt more happiness in my ENTIRE LIFE!!!

I testify to you that this is the Lords work and he prepares his children to hear his message! I also testify that missionaries are called of God and are given gifts and strengths to allow them to do this work! I love being a servent of the Lord and I am eternally greatful for this experience... it means the world to me... I love the name tag and I love the my Savior!

Elder Quade C. Foster

Shelley boys meet in Argentina

ELDER FOSTER'S FIRST BAPTISM IS ANA MOLLO MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011

Elder Foster's first baptism
Ana Mollo

OHHHH MY HEAVENS!!!! Words cant describe how much I love it here,no lie this is the best experience ever!

I don't understand but 3 words a sentence but honestly no lie this is so amazing! Wow 3 Baptisms this week! The feelings of helping three children of God on their way to returning to live with our heavenly father is unexplainable, ask dad about because words you cant describe it!

 Rosa Mereles needed to be married to her boyfriend and is 44 years old and was finally married and baptised on the 11th! Ana and Yisela Mollo are sisters... Ana has 14 years and Yisela has 17 years! Ana was struggling with some things but we saw a miracle in her after we watched the restoration movie with her.... That movie is so so incredible please watch it together.

Rosa was baptised by her brother and I baptised Ana and my companion baptised Yisela! Oh such a special experience,  Ahhh I cant believe I am actually doing the work of the Lord, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a little kid and let me tell you it is100 times better person.

We are working with others and should baptise a total of 8 this transfer, this is the highest baptising mission in Argentina and right now Elder Lopez and I are leading the pack with three this transfer, the record is nine so we will break that before I leave here, just a little goal I have.... haha!

Mom it is okay for me to give out candy and stuff, nothing big just stuff from America like suckers and they just love it al, also mom I would love it if you could send a pack or two more of those hero cards, I am giving one to our special investigators. BOM and BIBLE... please!

I am just gonna tell you some stuff from Argentina! I have eaten only one thing that is sketch.... we were at the family Paz and hermano  Paz had us go with him to the back and he grabbed an old ax from the wood pile and just chopped of the head of this lamb and yes we had that for dinner,to bad I didn't have my camera, NEXT TIME

 Also the woman here breast feed their babies like everywhere, they don't care if they have no privacy.... so you can only imagine when I first saw this.... haha I learned not to pay attention and not to stare....REAL FAST!

Also we go to Lujan every Tuesday for district meeting and we went to the Basilica which is one of the largest catholic temples in the world.... SO APOSTATE!!! like bad... dogs sleep in there... huge scenes of Mary  and Jesus on the cross and we went during mass, it took half a day to get the spirit back.... no lie! But the building was really nea!

The girls here are some of the prettiest in the world and on the other had some of the ugliest! Every time you go to shake their hand they try to kiss your cheek so we have to keep our elbows locked, kinda crazy!!!!

Mom if anyone asks for my address this is my exact address:

Elder Quade Foster

Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission

Ballesteros 1076

1760 Haedo

Buenos Aires

Argentina

I can't email anyone but family, Mail is like a treasure here!!!

Wow I am seriously sick to my stomach about Tanner, I feel bad for him and his family and they will be in my prayers, I don't know how to support them, just pray for them and don't really talk much about it, I'm sure he feels terrible! Ugh mom honestly I love this so so much you don't have to worry about me, I promise though if I need someone to talk to I will come to my mom

We did have a rough day but its all about attitude... we had SO SO SO much fun! It rained one day and when it rains here... it rains.... so we splashed through the puddles and mud and sang hymns and just had a jolly time! Honestly I'm so great and I love my mission so much!

I have two stories to tell you real fast before I have to go, the first one is really sad... Fernando got kicked out of his house for wanting to be Mormon, he had to go live with his dad and we don't know where his dad lives to talk him, we feel so bad and are praying to find him.

But on a happy note I know the gift of tongues is real.. we met with Maxi who is an inactive member and he lives with his girlfriend and they have a child and we met his girlfriend Jisela and she was prepared by God to meet us, she just is happy and has the spirit with her, she was ready for a change.

My companion was talking with her and I was trying to connect what was going on and all the sudden I was impressed to share 2 Nephi 31:5 and commit her to baptism, well I did just that and she accepted a baptismal date for the 16th of April because they have to be married first.

After the lesson my companion looked at me and told me the church is true and God prepares his children and his messengers, he said during my scripture and my invitation only my Spanish was very basic but fluent.... What a miracle.

Well we don't have any baptisms this week but we have lots and lots of lessons to teach to prepare our investigators.... Carmen, David, Nilton, Kevin, and Natalie for baptism in 2 weeks. I love you all so much and it sounds like all is good at home.  Thanks so so much for the photos I love them!

You guys look so good, haha you like my hair then huh boys? It is a rule here and it makes me feel a little more like a missionary, you will understand one day, I don't have anyone to impress here... and the girls I do at home will understand I'm on a mission hahaha!

Well that is all this week and I can't wait to here about your week next week.

Keep it real clean and sexy and may the Lord bless you in all you do this week, your in my prayers!!!!

P.S. can you put my pictures on my blog so people can see the work of the lord!!!

Rosa Mereles baptism
Elder Foster, Rosa's brother, Rosa Mereles, Elder Lopez, Rosa's husband 

I love being a missionary in General Rodriguez, Argentina!
My family is laughing at my new comb over hairdo. 



1st Week in Argentina

wow i have 50 min to tell you all that has happened in the last week! what a chore! well i love my companion he is such a capo! that means stud in Argentina! I ABSOLUTELY love it here! it is so so so much different but oh my heavens it is amazing! we walk everywhere! it is prob like 10 or 12 miles everyday! we have one of the nicest places in this city and it only has running water in the sink! we fill up a bucket to wash down our poop and pea in the toilet and we hook up a hose to take showers! the water is only warm for the first 5 min so we take turns of who gets to shower first! it was my turn today and wow it was awesome! we are so blessed to have the church take such good care of us! the people here live in houses with only one room! it is just 4 walls and a roof... the studs show and everything! but the thing i love about the people here! THEY ARE ALWAYS SO HAPPY AND WILLING TO DO EVERYTHING FOR US!!! honestly they have nothing but they would give it all to us! i can honestly say i love them so much and i wish the estado unidos .... united states were the same way!

I already have a favorite family... the family quipse... i hope you will get the photos that i attach to this file that has pictures with me and there kids! i love them they just melt my heart! they love to listen to me speak English it is just so intriguing to them! and the just laugh and smile at me when when i try to speak Spanish! Saturday my companion and i cut out little people of paper and colored them and gave it to them and they play with them all day every day! just so amazing how much we take for granted! if you ever send a package i don't need anything please just send stuff you think little kids like 15 and under would like! the best news of this letter is.....

WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON THE 11TH... FRIDAY AND ANOTHER SATURDAY! Rosa Merceles and Jamilla mollo! i dont know much about them cause its all in Spanish and they talk so fast it all sounds like one word and my companion has been working with them fort the past 3 weeks but i am so excited ill take lots of pictures.. we are working with 6 more investigators right now!

i thank heavenly father everyday for all my blessings in the language because as long as we are talking about the gospel i understand almost everything... but as soon as it gets even a small part away from the gospel i lose it!! and every thing i say i have to repeat or my companion repeats for me... hahaha but it is SO much fun to speak this language and i am so excited to use it as a tool to teach these people! The church here is beautiful! it has a 12 foot fence because it would get vandalised but wow it is beautiful! and they do the meetings backwards because 9 is too early to have sacrament! nobody would come! these people are so so so so lazy! they sleep till 12 and have siesta time from 3 to 5! honestly nobody is is awake they all take naps!!! so then we have priesthood and sacrament is the last meeting of the day! Testimony was so so so good! i could understand the basics and wow they are so much more grateful than we are! we had only 1 investigator at church which made me so sick....

But my person favorite to teach is Fernando because he has 14 and is pretty much a dad! his mom is a hor and sleeps around and has 8 kids under the age of 14 and just drinks and works so much she just sleeps when she is home so he takes care of all of them! and he does such a good job... there house is literally about to fall apart because it is so rotten and you know with that many kids it is literally they are gonna break the house! but he is gonna be baptised in 2 or 3 weeks and he is such a capo!
Honestly i am in awe right now as i write this!!! i cant believe i am here! i am doing the missionary work i have been waiting to do for the last 19 years!

Tate WOW O WOW O WOW!!!! i can not believe you right now! i only ever squated 320 and i don't even remember how much i power cleaned or squated... wow i am so so excited to here how you do! congrats you are such a hard worker!!!! ahh and it is all gonna pay off! Mom also told me you and McCray go to go with a different group of friends this weekend and that is great! Hang out with those that make you happy when your doing what is right! Those kids are hilarious!!! I'm glad McCray and you are working at rodeo and i know your hard work will pay off! hahaha you know i am not a farm boy and i know nothing about horses... but I'm glad you will get a horse that does all that cool stuff you want it to! All that matters to me is if the horse has a cool name haha!

SHAD!!! i hope your rugby practice goes good! i bet it is going to be tough but it will be so much fun! you will have to let me know how it goes!! I hope your rugby ball came!

McCray your gonna be 16 in like 3.5 months! and you will be able to practice being the ladies man that you are! I'm so glad you and Tate are having such a fun time together i wish we all could have had that much fun together in high school but it was my fault and I'm sorry but when i get home i promise that you and shad and i will have so much fun and you guys can come stay with me at college and then when we are all married with little kids we can have so much fun doing old man things like going golfing and what not!

I love President Benton so much! i don't remember what i have said and not but he is amazing.... so straight forward and and so loving! just like the scriptures say we should be... i guys he is way successfully in life work as well... he has been the CEO of 2 multi billion dollar corporations... and he dropped it all to do the work of the lord!!!! what a capo!!

I am in the same District as Elder Good worth and and we will see each other every Tuesday and maybe live in the same house or even be companions some time during the mission! i am very excited he has always been a happy out going kid that i have looked up to and it will be good to work with him! I will see him tomorrow!!! Tell his family hi from me and from him and that there is no better place for us and he honestly sounds so happy when i talked to him.... we are super lucky! we have cell phones... every companionship... crazy huh! only rich people here have cell phones! but we are so far out they have to be able to get ahold of us... obviously I'm not the one who carries it because if i answered it i would here too much Spanish and be super confused and wouldn't be good!

Well my time is running out i have to write my letter to the President in the next 40 min. but i want you guys to know that i am absolutely loving it out here and i know with out a shadow of a doubt i am suppose to be here with these people to share the lords perfect work! Please don't worry about me one bit! I am excited to hear back from you next week and tell you about my first 2 baptisms! Keep it REAL! Keep it CLEAN! Keep it Sexy! And may the lord bless you in all you do the next week! Con mucho Amor Elder Foster!!!

1st day in the Mission field

mom and dad!
wow buenos aires is amazing! my first area is general rodriguez it is about a 30 min drive outside of buenos aires! i love the elders here they are so nice and loving! my companion is elder lopez... he speaks pretty good english so that is good! there are really high expectations here! we are the highest baptising mission in all of argentina! we got here and went to the mission home i love presidente benson so much he is the nicest loving man! and his wife as well! my carry on bag hasnt made it yet with all my books! but it is crazy here my area is very poor! my apartment is not that good but oh man am i excited for all these experiences! the food is amazing! we are going straight to work ! we have a recent convert lesson tonight as long as a new inv. lesson with a member and hopefully we will get a baptism! elder lopez is a stud he is from chile in the south so he is way hot here too! but we are gonna do great together! our goal as a mission is 200 baptisms this transfer! they did it last transfer and im hoping we can do it again! they have shirts and posters and everything for our goal... the people are poor and not much here.. just little stores and markets and stuff... and they drive crazy... kid you not i about got hit like 3 times! i am here safe and my pdays are on mondays so ill email you again then and ill have alot more to say i have only been here 6 hours so not much to say except i love it and im sweating my butt off already! hahaha i love you all so much and ill pray for you if you pray for the members and inv here! thanks for all you do! }
keep it reall clean and sexy and may the lord bless you in all you do! oh we split this little town with 2 other elders and we share our apartment with them! oh and elder goodworth and i are in the same district so ill see him every tuesday... but i havent seen him yet.. haha im very excited! Con much amor
elder foster

Elder Foster is currently in flight over Venezuela. He is scheduled to land in Buenos Aires tomorrow morning @ 7:30 am. He was held up in Atlanta Ga. for 2 days because of tornadoes. We talk to him today and he is so excited to be in the mission field. He and his brothers had a good talk. I think they all realize they took each other for granite. Quade gave away his 1st Book of Mormon yesterday.