Thank you for sending those names into
the temple. We've already seen the blessings of that! I got the package
you had sent. Thank you so much! I am only left with the peanut butter
and taco seasoning. The rest is gone . . . ha ha! I gave most of it away
to members and investigators. I think I'm learning a lot of patience
recently. I know that because I feel more and more impatient everyday!
ha ha! That way I get to practice it more. We have one week till the
transfer. So this week we have had a few
landmarks that made it especially quick. A few meetings, birthdays,
exchanges, and working with President and his wife made it fly by!
So starting with last Monday, it was Hermana
Rodriguez's birthday, so we decided to go to Dolores and celebrate
during p-day time and work with the hermanas in the afternoon because
they've been having a few troubles in the area lately. So during the day
we threw a little party for her and it was pretty fun! We made Hawaiian
hay stacks and we played sports and drew funny pictures on the
chalk boards. It's been weeks, actually months since I've played sports
or have done something on a p-day! I really needed to let my hair down a
bit and enjoy myself that way. Afterward, we did contacts in the
hermana's area and we got them three fairly good references to work with
that live right by the church too! One was especially fun because we
were talking to an atheist and when we asked him if he had even a desire
to know if God exists, then he said that he had actually wanted to but
can't. It's always a bummer doing contacts in other people's areas
because you can't go back and teach them. I hope they can be great
investigators for them. The last lesson of the night we were talking to
this less active family with the hermanas and they teach SOO differently
than us. They are way too nice. I tried to apply the quote dad had sent
me from his leadership training with Elder Bednar. He had said, "If
everyone loves you, then you're a lousy stake president (or missionary).
You need to challenge them to repent and do difficult things" somewhere
along those lines. But I decided to challenge the family with a bigger
commitment and to get them to repent and return to church. It was a
little more penetrating than they had expected but it really got them
thinking. I hope they can actually do the right things and return to the
church. Then I went to the pench of the elders and I had to sleep on the
floor. Tile floor. Remember, carpet doesn't exist in Argentina.
On Tuesday we had our usual district meeting. It was
great! We talked a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how to
teach
and apply it to people's lives. I have found a great joy in teaching
missionaries. I love district meetings and I love studying and preparing
the workshops we do. Afterward, we made hobo dinners and ate pretty
good! I loved it! Once we got back to Chascomus, we hurried and did
groceries and other necessary p-day things because we weren't here on
Monday. We then went off to a dinner and talk about charity. We left
late and we crashed pretty good that night especially me because I
hadn't slept well from the previous night.
Wednesday was one of our only days to work in our
area. We had lots of opposition that day. I'm glad President re-planned
his visit till Friday because it wasn't a good day for us. First off,
the door of our apartment broke and I spent the morning fixing it. It
now works, so you know. I'm becoming quite the handy man during the
mission! So, after that we visited with Diego, a less active for a bit
and talked about how he's been doing reading in the Book of Mormon. He's
been trying to read the book of Alma lately. He thinks that the Book of
Mormon is boring. I think he doesn't understand it. Afterward, we went
to lunch and the whole afternoon was a fight with the bikes. They broke
down a lot! I am praying that the new bikes get here soon! I can't even
work when these bikes break down so much! It's the worst. We had to
cancel a lot of our lessons and had to just not go to some because we
didn't have a phone number. We finally left to the plata to stay the
night and then in the morning headed to a meeting for new missionaries
and
trainers.
The meeting was great! It was exactly what I wanted
to hear at the moment. I had fun seeing a lot of friends in the mission
and I got to meet a lot of new missionaries. I can't believe the way the
new missionaries seem to just look so . . . new! ha ha! They're all so
shocked by the changes and are so dependent still. I remember back to my
training and I remembered that after a week I made a decision to not be
a greenie. My trainer always commented to me on how well I picked up on
things and how he felt as if I was training him. I also didn't struggle
too much with the language either. I just wanted to hit the ground
running. I'm grateful for that blessing I had since the beginning. After
the meeting, we stayed with the assistants! I got to be with Elder
Guzman one more time! I miss him as my zone leader and he is going home
in one week! He told me how he and Elder Pratley had tried to get me
called as a zone leader when I had one transfer in the mission field! ha
ah! At the leadership meeting, when president asked for ideas of
possible leaders, they threw my name out and president considered it for
a moment and then decided it would be better to gain all the experiences
through training and as a district leader. I was so surprised by that!
But anyway, it was nice to work with Elder Guzman at night and to spend
some time right before he goes home.
Friday was an interesting day. We sat around at the
mission home all morning waiting for president to get ready. He had told
us to be ready at 9:30 and we ended up leaving at 12:30! It was a cool moment to
help out at the mission home, though. In the car ride to chascomús with
President and his wife, we got to talk a lot and we learned a lot about
him and his wife. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's and they even
bought us ice cream! It was awesome! ha ha! In the afternoon we got to
visit three families with president. We saw Diego and taught him about
how to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon and then President
challenged him to read Moroni 7 several times and to think of all the
many blessings the Lord has given him and what he needs to do now. After
that, we bought a cake and brought it to Javier and Yolanda because it
was Javier's birthday and we shared how important the temples are and
that they need to prepare themselves this year to be able to go and seal
themselves as an eternal family. We took a lot of pictures and had
cake. Afterward, we taught a very spiritual lesson with Rosa Cabrera and
her daughter, Romina. We talked about the need of baptism and what the
Atonement does for us. We challenged Rosa to get her divorce finally
done and to get married and we challenged Romina to get married to be
able to get baptized too. It was great! Then, President had to leave for
the coast. It was a slightly stressful day having the mission president
watching everything you do and all.
Saturday was great. We taught a lot of lessons and
we had a great branch counsel! And all those visits and lessons paid off
because on Sunday we had a grand total of 40 people in sacrament
meeting! YEAH! That's the best yet! From 12 to 40!!! I was way happy
that day! And then we also taught the fifth Sunday class about missionary
work. We nailed it! Everyone is way exited to help us out now! I am
very grateful for that chance to teach the members. Anyway, I am out of
time. I think we will be baptizing next weekend between conference
sessions. We'll see. . .
Anyway, I will be finding out if I stay here or not
this next week! I'm way excited for conference too! I miss you and love
you all! But could you stop the talk about me coming home? I don't like
thinking about only having 299 days left and all that. It's fine if we
are planning school or you coming to pick me up, but if it is necessary,
keep it on a down low. Thank you! :)
Love always,
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