Kai Clips

Subject: Danger Zone (8/12/24) Finished my sister mission! I hit 18 months :) Welp, had alcohol during the mission, who puts alcohol in Peaches!? The menu didn't say anything about it I swear! Besides that fun situation during our lunch today we've had a very exciting week! For the first time in our month together in Palmira (Elder Scott hit a month in the mission! Yippee!) we went to Barriales, an area much calmer and further south than the city of Palmira itself. A member accompanied us and showed us where the majority of the member families live, there are only a few (for a the moment >:) ). It's a truly beautiful little city, one of the members lives 5km from the nearest bus stop and has a boat that he takes people fishing on on the lake nearby, I also learned that Argentinian fishing boats have grills to make asado, obviously. We were running around a lot doing baptismal interviews as well, despite being the smallest zone, comprising only one district, we have the highest baptismal goal for the month of August with the hope that 15 souls will make a covenant with their Heavenly Father. Natasha Suarez was baptized Sunday afternoon! We're also seeing the fruits of our obedience, we wanted to stop by and visit the Suarez family but there was no adult male to accompany us. Despite the insistence of the family that we could enter the home and that it wasn't anything serious, or that the rest of the missionaries had done the same, we stood our ground and did all we could to find a man to accompany us. Searching for said members we ended up finding Ulysses and Joni, they couldn't accompany us, but we put Ulysses on date for baptism! It was a very exciting moment. After a long wait we finally found Luis, he accompanied us, we entered, drank some mate cocido, bizcochuelo, and heard a powerful testimony. After the lesson he gave us 3 great references and let us know his brother wants to be baptized! The fruits and miracles of obedience are so flipping real. Another big highlight was getting a tiny book of Mormon that I can now use proselytizing, super epic. By far the biggest highlight of the week was participating in the Missionary choir in preparation for the Mendoza Temple's open house. We sang incredible hymns, got to perform in la plaza de independencia (Mendoza's most central Plaza) with a great sound rig and were put practically on center stage in downtown mendoza on a saturday morning. The last two hymns were "Me encanta ver el templo" (I love to see the Temple) and "Las Familias Pueden Ser Eternas" (Families can be together forever). It was a powerful moment but we had time for one more song... the Elders started to quietly sing "Oracion del Profeta" (Joseph Smith's First Prayer) we said we wanted to sing that song and as we sing I swear my tired voice was lifted in strength like I hadn't felt for the entire performance. There, standing in Mendoza on that warm saturday morning with the sun shining through light clouds onto our faces, I felt as if there were Angels by our side singing along and as if I was there in the moment with Joseph in the Sacred Grove as we sang, "Qué hermosa la mañana; qué brillante era el sol. Pajaritos y abejas daban voces de loor cuando en la arboleda suplicó José a Dios," What a testimony of the reality of the first vision was made in that moment. One of the most sweet and sacred experiences of my entire mission without a doubt, I almost began to cry. (Yo soy re llorón). Anyway, it was an amazing week! I even got to see other members from La Gloria Love you all! God Bless Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: She's on Fire (8/5/24) This was without a doubt the most miraculous week of my mission. Sunday alone. Too much to write! On Friday we invited one of our friends Natasha to be baptized, she's the only one in her family who hasn't been baptized yet. She wasn't sure and told us she'd let us know the next after talking with her mom (and her Heavenly Father we reminded her). Saturday in the morning Benjamin and Santiago were baptized, their friend couldn't baptize them unfortunately so we did, it was a very sweet moment, spiritually uplifting and the spirit was strong. The next day is when the miracles begin. We had our Sacrament meeting and saw 3 friends who haven't attended during our time here in the reunion, Moises, Ulysses, and Oscar the father of and only member in the Sanches family who hasn't been baptized yet, his daughter Natalia opened her Mission call after the sacrament meeting and is heading to Resistencia where she might meet my CCM pals Elder Cummings y Elder Manwaring! Benjamin and Santiago were confirmed and in a miracle Celina, a young girl who was baptized 2 months ago but never confirmed, stepped forward with her father and was confirmed as well! After the sacrament meeting Moses came up to us and said to us "I have to talk with you two so I can be baptized". Sure thing! He set his own date for the 24th. The sanches' invited us to have lunch with them and some of their family who'd come to watch Natalia open her calling, we were able to teach 8 people there and give them books of Mormon with an invitation to read it and visit the temple! It was a very special lunch. Not to mention we had the best empanadas I've had in the mission. I count that as another miracle. Later on we were returning from a visit, we had to head back to the pension to get more books of Mormon (you already know we gifted them) and read that our friend who was going to accompany us couldn't make it to the teaching appointment with his friend Lucila. Buuuut right as we got to the house we see Benjamin who had just been baptized that morning, we asked him if he'd like to accompany us and he did!! He bore a powerful testimony of coming to know the church is true and that he ought to be baptized, we invited Lucila to be baptized and although she said she wanted to keep going to church first, she gave us a big "Yes." When we asked if she'd be willing to be baptized after coming to know it was true. At night Moses and Natasha called, both needed to adjust their baptismal dates. FOR A WEEK EARLIER THAN PLANNED. Now we've almost got baptisms planned every weekend until the end of the month. We're seeing miracles here, the Lord directs and guides his work, and I'm just grateful for the opportunity to witness it and be a part!! God Bless Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Kids (7/29/24) Oooh whenever there's a slightly bajón week we come back with a great one!! This week we switched up the routine and starting going out to new parts of our area, Barrios Aguaribay, y Romanof, which are both supposedly more "turbio" or "complicado" which means dangerous. However the experience Elder Contreras and I had in intercambios when we went for the first to Barrio Romanof was all the opposite! We got there looking for a Facebook reference who had contacted us some time ago, and as we walked in we were surrounded by 7 kids who excitedly passed us a soccer ball and asked us questions, we got them all rounded up into a circle, with their parents sitting behind them against some apartments and taught about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Kids from every corner of this little neighborhood started pouring in to listen. We quickly realized we didn't have enough Books of Mormon to hand out so we promised we'd come back with more, we later found out that one of the parents was the woman who had sent us the reference! We had a sports night in the little cement court beside the chapel on Saturday and un montón of kids came by to play soccer and basketball (there were only 2 slight injuries). Santiago y Benjamin had their baptismal interviews on Sunday and will both be baptized next Saturday! They're already down to go proselytizing with us, such legends. Later that night we went to a members house to chat with him about planning family home evenings in the ward with various families and we ended up finding 2 of the recent converts, one of the Elders Quorum councilors and one of the converts friends who's been pretty resistant to the gospel. For whatever reason we ended up talking about life after death and how having a living prophet called of God on earth today has helped answer so many of the questions about the topic, as we testified the spirit was very present, and Axel told us it was the closest he'd felt to going to church, we'll be with him again Tuesday so we're hoping for the best!! Super exciting news: Elder Scott bought his first Maté! I'm such a proud dad :') It was a great week here in palmyra and I hope you guys have all had a wonderful time as well, remember that you're all Children of a Loving Heavenly Father who very actively seeks to bring all of you home, trust in him! God Bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Born Under Punches After spiritual Highs, come some comedowns, and this week was certainly one of them. Nonetheless I feel it was an important experience for both Elder Scott and I and I'm coming out of this week with more excitement for the next and high hopes to find some more people that the Lord has prepared to enter the baptismal waters! Our friends Benjamin and Santiago have continued progressing and will hopefully be baptized, if not this Sunday, the next! One of the difficulties this week has been working with our convert friends. Hate to rat anyone out but the prior missionaries didn't establish a super good expectation about the guideline that we can't be alone with someone of the opposite sex without an adult male accompanying us. One of the converts explained our hesitancy away by saying "oh it's because you just got here, after a while you'll get more comfortable and just come inside, all the missionaries do!" Nope, sorry. We're trying to see miracles in the work jaja. Anyway it's been frustrating but I know that the Lord sees our efforts to everyday be more obedient and I know we'll see fruits from these efforts. We had a fantastic family home evening last night with about 20 members in the home of some recent converts, they made homemade churros and were such great hosts, we shared a lightly spiritual thought about enduring to the end with faith placed solely in Christ, it was a great time and we were able to see lots of potential visits and important connections that will help us bring more families to Christ and to make covenents with their heavenly father. I'm short on time to write but I'm excited for this next week, I've somehow got less than 200 days left in the mission which seems ridiculous, a year in the mission seemed like a week ago. I'm running low on time to write this email but I hope all are well :) God Bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Family Man / Never Been Better (7/15/24) First week out of the office has been a week of miracles. First things first, I'm training! My son's name is Elder Scott, he's about 6 feet tall and speaks Spanish super well, he teaches fantastically and I'm pretty sure he'll be assistant during his mission. We got to our area Wednesday night and got right to getting to know the members. The next day in the morning we found a new family to teach and one of the youth in the ward gave us a tour of the area, we taught a kid who lives on the block opposite of ours. We had the lesson outside and I could hardly find the scripture I was searching because of how cold it was. The next day we had a wild change in plans, we were going to do a baptismal interview for Rivadavia, we got to the chapel at 17hs, and waited an hour but they never called. Luckily we got to meet Daniel, a recent convert and total capo who received the Melchezidek priesthood this weekend, we went to a store together because I had gotten tired of brushing my teeth with my finger and borrowing Elder Scott's toothpaste, as we were heading to the pension to drop everything off and head out we found a friend of Daniel's who's from Brazil. As I entered the house to drop everything off I remembered when Elder Scott and I arrived we'd found a Book of Mormon in Portuguese, which didn't make much sense given we've never had a Brazilian Missionary in this area, but we were able to give it to the friend from Brazil and he said he'd read it. Our plans for that night didn't go as we had planned but God led us to find the older brother of two recent converts who has been on a pretty tough path, he had fallen into addiction and had a pretty complicated situation with gang violence, we taught him about Christ's atonement and prayer, and when we saw him in Church on Sunday his complexion had totally changed. We found 9 people, had 5 member lesson, had 6 friends attend church, and were able to put 2 of our friends on date to be baptized after church on Sunday!! Were hoping they'll be baptized this month. There's even more miracles to go into but not enough time or space to tell them all, but I'm loving this new Area and zone (which is made up of just our district lol) and I'm super excited to see it grow!!) God bless, hope everyone one is doing well :) Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Year of the Cat (7/6/24) Well I've wrapped up my time as Financiero, this Wednesday I'll be transfered to a new area with a new companion, as of writing this email I'm still not sure what I'll be assigned to do, the most likely scenarios seem to be that I train or that I'll be a zone leader, likely in San Juan. Either option presents a new experience and whatever does end up happening I know I'll enjoy it. Personally I'm hoping to train, I don't want to end my mission without having trained at least once, but we'll see how it all goes down. Being the first week of the month we spent lots of time in the office paying rent for the 93 Pensiones we have open at the moment, it's so satisfying seeing Elder Watkins go through and make payments more and more comfortably everytime, this week he really did graduate to become the Financiero. I'm so proud. Our friend Ornella and Fernando are moving forward in the process of getting married, they already went and booked an appointment to get all of the legal process done, unfortunately there's a required 30 day waiting period before they can even get married, it's frustrating when the legal process stops our friends from making covenents with God more quickly but oh well, that's how it is. I've been thinking a lot about covenents lately, these two way promises we make with God where he sets the conditions and as we keep them we have greater access to his love and mercy. I've enjoyed coming to learn that God actively seeks to make covenents with us, as he once said to Alma and his people: "Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage." It's very interesting to see that God seeks these covenents with us as a way of providing us even greater comfort and faith that he will keep his promises and bless us. Some of these covenents provide us the blessings of: The Gift of the Holy Ghost, strength in the Priesthood, more access to the love and mercy of God, and even an eternal family. Pretty good deal if you ask me, and as we keep his commandments we are blessed, spiritually as well as temporally. Love you all! God bless Elder Kai Schwemmer (Title has nothing to do with the Email, just heard it in a store today and felt I ought to put it in the title)

Subject: Enjoy What You Do (6/29/24) Okey! Epic week once again, I've very much felt this week that my prayers have been heard and answered. I've prayed consistently that we might find people to teach who are prepared and willing to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and this prayer has been answered by people literally moving into our teaching area, it feels as if God has literally sent us the people he wants us to teach. One of these is a family who moved to the ward last Saturday, we got the information from a ward member who asked us if we could help them move in. We, of course, said yes and got to know Ornella and Fernando, a young couple who have recently had their first child, right before we left their house after helping them move she asked us if we could explain "Sealing" to them. We passed by yesterday to teach them about the sealing of families for all eternity and guided by the spirit invited her to be baptized, she accepted the baptismal date and we're now working with them to prepare for that day and their marriage! Another great part of this week was the chance we had to give a workshop concerning "Positivity and Diligence in Mission Work", being quite chipper and jovial myself, I happen to be somewhat of an expert in the topic, and my companion Elder Watkins is the same! It was a blast giving the three workshops, we discussed the fact that every area can baptize multitudes, there isn't a single area that's "dead" as the missionary slang goes. Our perfect example was a tiny church branch in the tiny city of Media Agua, San Juan, which only six months ago while I was district leader in the area, only had a church attendance of 5-8 members. Only a few weeks ago, this tiny branch had a church attendance of 125, 25 of whom are getting to know the church and have not been baptized, even the mayor of the city was in attendance. If it can happen in Media Agua, it can happen in any area in the mission. I feel a very great excitement going into this last third of my mission, I finally feel like I know how to be a missionary, how to work effectively seek and find the spirit, and teach with it. In 2 weeks I'll be leaving the office, closing a chapter of my mission which has been an absolute blast. It'll be an interesting change, but I'm very excited to see where I'll go and who I'll be with (I'm hoping it's an Elder McIntyre who's coming from England, I'm going to teach him how to drink mate!) Love you all, God Bless Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Out of Time (6/22/24) Uh oh, we're out of time this Pday! But we had a good week - Got food poisoning - recovered - taught epic lessons - love being a missionary - did service (house move) Played soccer) - cool haircut :D Love you guys!! Hope everyone is well, I've thought a lot about the premortal life recently what a wonderful thing to know that we chose to be hear, to go through challenges and to find our way back to our loving Heavenly Father :D God bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: On the Road Again (6/15/24) Very epic week. Elder Watkins and I focused a lot on finding new people to teach, and had some success! We left late from the office one day and knocked on the door of a member family, a man opened the door but wasn't all to excited to see us, but something told me we had to find a way to enter the house. We chatted for a while and saw a woman Sitting behind him inside, I asked who she was and she answered saying she was the man's mother, she invited us in and we began to discuss the scriptures and she told us how she did not believe in the Book of Mormon or in Latter Day Prophets. We discussed her concerns, read some scriptures (using her bible) but the best part was that throughout the entire discussion, not one did I feel stress, worry, the need to debate or convince, nor anger, I felt a simple sweet reassurance of the spirit that I could testify of whatever truth she may take issue with. It was a very spiritually edifying experience. This Pday was very epic, an early rise, mate as the sun comes up, lots of Alpacas, wild horses and a fox, Argentina is very beautiful! I hope all are well, and that you can feel that same simple assurance that comes from the spirit witnessing of the truth of the restoration! God Bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: I think I'm in trouble (6/8/24) Transfer week has come and gone and I'm training a new Financiero named Elder Watkins! Sadly I had to leave behind Sarmiento and the friends there but I was able to close it out with some wonderful visits to our ward mission leader, and to Dario and Ximena who invited us to eat lunch with them. We had a delicious Asado and afterwards shared the story of Lehi's vision of the tree of life from the Book of Mormon, the video the church has made of these chapters is fantastic, check it out if you like! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRiC1slfTw It's always such a great time seeing the new missionaries, their enthusiasm for the work and energy (when they don't arrive at seven in the morning) is a great example for me. It's a fun time teaching Elder Watkins how to be financiero, he's catching on quickly and I often sit back instructing, sipping mate of course, while he's in the cockpit flying for the first time. This month the mission has the goal to have over 100 baptisms, it would be the first time in several years that this has happened, Shane Littlefield from the Church Mission Department visited on Monday to interview some of the leaders and give us some tips on how we can improve. One of the most important pieces of advice he gave us is that every area can baptize multitudes, and it's so true! There's a culture in the mission that some areas are much tougher than others, and while each does have it's set of differences and difficulties the majority of the limits that exist in the work are self-imposed. Godoy Cruz, the area we're now in, is one of these typically tougher areas, but so was Sarmiento, my goal is that with Elder Watkins in this short transfer we can make a difference in the lives of many, and not be discouraged by the idea that the area is hard. My biggest desire is to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, I've seen much more how he prepares people to receive the gospel and I hope to be able to find them. On transfer day I got to see Elder Meldrum, the prior financiero, and we shared so many laughs. He's one of the funniest guys I know and It's great to see him thriving in his area. Today for a lack of sleep, some stress, and a busy schedule I'm a little under the weather, but I'm taking my vitamins and I hope to be back to normal soon! Love you all, let me know if there's anything you'd like me to pray for! Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Overdrive (6/1/24) Oooh everyone, finally I've got an email to write you all that has some cool news in it! First: In preparation for the Mendoza Temple open house, the mission is assembling a choir of missionaries who will be performing in major cities of the missions 3 provinces in order to help people get a sense of who we are and what we believe, and invite them to come and see the temple for themselves. Originally I hadn't thought of trying out, I didn't think I'd ever make it and didn't care to try, Elder Davies and Elder San Martin however encouraged Elder Fernandez and I to tryout, so we did, and we both got in! I'm still not sure how it all worked out, the tryouts were pretty competitive and probably 2/3rds of all the missionaries gave it a shot, but either way, Elder Fernandez and I will soon be singing in the Temple Choir! Second: We stopped by aconcagua again today for Elder Fernandez' birthday and ate in Uspallata on the way back. As we're there Elder Davies calls me over and says that they're talking to a German. I get real excited because I haven't as of yet met a single German in all the 15 months I've been out, as I get closer I ask what his name is, you'll never guess what the name of this German, in Argentina, who I found during a 2 hour long stop in a town 2 hours from where we live was, it was Kai! We chatted for a while, I felt like my mind was twisting as I struggled to remember the German I do know without mixing in a bunch of Spanish words. Find a German on the Mission: ✅ Lastly: We were finally able to have a member lesson! We invited our ward mission leader, Mauricio, to help us teach our friend Zulma, as we were teaching Mauricio testified powerfully of the Sanctifying the day of Rest, both Elder Fernandez and I felt the same impression of the spirit, to talk about baptism. We taught in unison as we invited her to be baptized on the 23 of June, and she accepted the date! It was a huge motivator for us given the slowness of our area as of late, a nice little miracle. Anyway, that's what I've got to share from the week, it was a blast. Today we're celebrating Elder Fernandez' birthday and were on our way to his surprise party in the office. Shhhh don't tell him! The majority of the photos I'll attach today are from the last 8 hours, Argentina is so beautiful, I LOVE ARGENTINIANS. I LOVE ARGENTINA. And of course, I love you guys! God bless, hope you're all well :) Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Himno Nacional Argentino (5/25/24) VIVA LA PATRIA! Today we're celebrating the Argentinian revolution and the start of its march towards independence from Spain which would come much later, it's a good day to eat locro (a kind of stew with corn, meat, squash and beans), sip maté, and play trucko! We've done 2.5/3 so far, I only managed to make a lentil soup but it turned out delicious! I'm really excited for this next week, we just got a reference from a recent convert in a neighboring ward who is hoping to share more about the gospel with her daughter! She's a young mother and from what we've heard is open to getting to know more about Jesus Christ and the gospel he taught. The time in the office has made me very appreciative of every opportunity there is to be able to find and teach those people that the Lord has prepared, all prayers are welcome! Last sunday we had lunch with our ward mission leader, his wife, and young son. They're a very young family and are trying there best to balance all the important parts of their life while maintaining themselves firmly in the covenant path. After lunch and sharing a short message with them, I felt inspired to share a goal with them as well. We invited them to read a section of our missionary manual which talks about goal setting and planning, and to have a "companionship council" afterwards to set some goals together as a couple. When we returned thursday night to see how it had gone, they had done the homework and said it had helped them a lot!! It's so interesting to find that often the most important thing is simply to organize a specific time to talk and share the things that bug us. It's so sad seeing marriages fall apart so frequently these days, and to see that even fewer married couples are having children. The gospel of Christ and church doctrine once again offer a remedy (which is why Utah is one of the only states with an above replacement level fertility rate), it is important to remember that God never revoked his first commandment to multiply and replenish the earth! Hope everyone is well! We've had some cold, cozy, days here, im bundling up for sure. God bless! Elder Schwemmer

Subject: Money for Nothing (5/18/24) More fun office experiences this week, we've been having some trouble with one of the apartments we're renting, the contract has a yearly adjustment in the price of rent, we have been paying the same price since last June and obviously given the inflation it's very outdated. So we, trying to help the owner out, made an addendum at her request adjusting the price we'd pay this month for rent (even though the automatic price adjustment is next month). We offered to pay 75 thousand pesos more than we had been paying, the owner however didn't tale it, she went to a real estate company, asked them to make another addendum, they supposedly did the math and figured the rent adjusted for inflation should be 180 thousand pesos. Using the indexes the contract indicates we ought to use, we found that the real price, updated for inflation, is 160 thousand MAXIMUM. We asked her to show how they had done their calculations and she responded frustrated, and refused to accept another addendum where we'd be paying 160 thousand. Not only that, but she also told us we had to pay her 20 thousand pesos, which was the fee she paid the real estate company for making the addendum (we had already made one for free). It has been a frustrating experience, but a good lesson in the importance of trying diligently to keep the spirit with us even in "the world". The office is certainly the closest simulator to the "real world" that one can find in a mission, it's a daunting task to have to negotiate with contracts and unhappy owners while still being a representative of Jesus Christ, but there is never a moment when we ought to retire our name tags. The covenent of baptism includes the promise to take [Christ's] name upon us, it's not something we ought to ever remove, but it's certainly daunting to remain at all times tied in securely to the rock which is Christ. Any tips are certainly welcome! As a missionary we study frequently to have the spirit with us as a guide and to feel it more strongly, in the office however there's a cool opportunity to know what it is to actively depend on the spirit and need to seek it out as an antidote to frustrations distractions and temptations. Hope all of you are really well! We went to the temple today again and saw a fox on the temple grounds just running around, very epic. Other than office work our friend Zulma is progressing well! She said her first prayer with us just this week. God bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Rain is Falling (5/11/24) I'm a little pressed for time this P-day and not much has happened this week so I'll enjoy the opportunity to share my testimony and some cool photos from our P-day today. I love being a missionary, it has blessed my life in so many ways, introduced me to so many wonderful people, helped me understand better the gospel principles that make life so wonderful, and has been so instrumental in helping me better know my Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true and restored Church on the earth today, and that it has the authority necessary to bring about the reality of eternal families and eternal life. I love you all, and am grateful as well, for every single one of you! Your friend, Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: Piano Man (5/6/24) We had some cool sidequests this last week, I played the piano during our ward conference, we sang "Child's Prayer" one of my favorite hymns. I must sound like a broken record player but sacred music truly does bring the spirit so incredibly. Although I may not have hit all the right notes all of the time, I did feel the spirit. After the hymn I looked out over the congregation and saw one guy with lots of facha, I blinked and realized it was Estaban Garcia from La Gloria! (The kid who invited Elder Tevez and I to train at his house every morning) What a joy it was to see him again, chat and reminisce, even better was hearing that he was almost done with his mission papers! His brother is about done preparing his papers, and his father is active in the church. This to me is still the greatest miracle in my mission, seeing this wonderful family I love so much all return to activity in the church despite some years of inactivity warms my heart. Esteban's face now shines with a kind of light that is obvious when someone has drawn close to Christ, he's mature beyond his years and I know he'll be an amazing missionary, he thanked me for being the reason he will serve a mission, little does he know how much of a factor he was in making mine amazing! I helped jumpstart Elder and Sister Harrison's car, and then after eating way too much with a member on Saturday got pretty food sick and spent the night throwing up, my fault this time. The mission is still a great joy to me, despite ups and downs, doubts and stress I still consider myself so incredibly fortunate to be able to serve. I love being a missionary, even in the office haha. This next transfer I'll likely be training a new financiero, turns out the Bartons are doing a ton of stuff and secretaries and will likely need more time to adjust, we'll see what happens, but whatever does, I'm thankful :) God Bless you friends Elder Kai Schwemmer

Subject: King of the Road (4/27/24) Being the housing coordinator's companion takes its toll on a missionary! We've not been able to get to our area much this week, in between department inspections, paying gas and electricity bills, and lots of pensions that have seen better days. To make matters worse, our van which we typically use for office work has been in service since Monday, and only yesterday did we get the estimate for the repairs which ended up around 13 million pesos, the equivalent of about 13,000 USD. We had to call a member to drive us to a city an hour away to pay one electricity bill worth 6 whole dollars that had expired so long ago that the only way to balance the debt of the ticket was to go in person. ELDER MELDRUM! Being without the van has made this P day quite a basic one, we'll be off to play some futbol in a moment. However, the Lord continues to use us, even without us knowing it, as tools in his hands. Not having the van we had to take an Uber to get to one of our visits to a less active family in the ward. As we left the Uber the driver said Elder and we asked them how he knew the missionaries, he shared that when he was 14 he was baptized, but hadn't been to church in a very long time. He explained that he had been going through a very difficult time lately, and recently turned to chat with a cousin who's more active in the church. He wasn't sure if having picked us up was some kind of sign but he told us that he saw it as a gentle reminder from God that he hadn't and never would be forgotten or left alone. Reflecting on the moment while talking to my parents I realized that just by trying our best to do what's right the Lord will use us for the benefit of his children, and without even realizing it, we are instruments in his hands. More of the nation's provinces, including San Juan have continued increasing the price of SUBE the public transport, and I'm receiving quite a few messages from missionaries who find themselves out of funds. These are complicated times, I often find myself echoing the Argentinian president's now infamous remark, ¨No hay plata¨ hate to be the bearer of bad news! It's even tougher seeing how this is effecting the people I love here in Argentina, so many good people find themselves in dire straits come end of month, but it drives me even more to want to share with them the good news of the gospel, that despite our worldly circumstances, we may have peace. Hope everyone's doing fantastic, I want to share my testimony of and gratitude for the mission, I have no doubt that serving a mission is the best decision I have made and I hope all of you may feel the comfort that I am now able feeling more frequently that comes through and by the Holy Ghost God Bless, Elder Kai Schwemmer