So this past week just wiped me out! I
hit the pillow last night just exhausted, but in a good way, because I
knew that I gave all my efforts to the Lord. So, the whole excitement
started with the zone meeting we held on Tuesday last week. Elder
Borgersen and I had the opportunity to teach the zone and to give some
great advice to the missionaries in our zone. So, we talked about being
obedient to the commandments of the Lord and that one of those is to
always invite people to be baptized in the very first discussion at the
moment the spirit is strongest. We also showed a part of the Best Two
Years when Elder Calhoun is fasting late, waiting for an almost hopeless
contact to call him back. Then, they say a prayer and right as he prays
for the call, the phone rings and they all look up to the ceiling and
Motab begins to sing Hallelujah. We explained that we need to expect and
anticipate miracles every single day, and if we don't, then we will be
just an ordinary missionary and will struggle finding. It was so strong
with the spirit and we were able to motivate everyone with a competition
to see who would take out more baptismal commitments and new
investigators. So, this whole week the zone was on fire and we went from
having 9 baptism commitments to 34 in just one week!!!! Elder
Borgersen and I beat everyone with 8 new baptism commitments and 10 new
investigators. We had amazing numbers this past week. And we even
baptized!! :)
So the baptism of Griselda was great. We had planned
it so well, but not very many people went to church. We prepared a
musical number and guess who played the piano? Me. That's right, I'm
practicing. Don't expect any miracles, but I can play a few hymns now.
Anyway, the best part of this baptism was that we invited our
investigator, Daniela, who's twenty. She came a little late but in time
for the ordinance. She had previously finished watching the Best Two
Years movie that I lent to her and she felt the spirit so much! She said
that she felt the need to cry but wasn't sure why. While Elder
Borgersen and Griselda were changing, we watched two Mormon messages.
One was about how all of us will have our terrible Fridays, but Sunday
will always come and the other was about forgiveness and how it lightens
our loads. They're so powerful and we lent her the DVD afterward. She had
so many questions and desires to learn more, but wants to have the
charlas in the church. Griselda was super happy for her baptism and I
confirmed her on Sunday.
The only trial of this past week was actually
Daniela. Although we had an amazing experience with her, she is one of
my snakes. She always tries to come talk to us when we get done with work
for the day and it is a huge distraction. Recently it's been pushing
the edge on being too flirty, so I sat her down on Saturday night and I
gave her a little talk about how we missionaries have made a promise to
the Lord that we won't do that and that we need our time at night to
plan and work. She then told me that she's been feeling bad, but that
she likes me. So we made a deal. She promised that once I'm gone, she'll
listen to the missionaries. She doesn't want her feelings for me mixing
with her desire to know more about the church. And I promised that I
would come visit her after my mission, which shouldn't be too hard since
I'll be coming back with part of the family. She's a great girl. I hope
she gets baptized someday.
Alright, so we found a ton of new investigators
just by doing contacts. We taught most of them just a quick lesson about
the love of God or about the Atonement and the ability to change or
about the importance of prayer. And most people accepted to be baptized
once they know these things are true. So, we need to work with them.
The best of them was a 17 year old girl named Micaela, who is the
girlfriend of Nico Alegre, who we are recently activating with his
family. After inviting her to be baptized, she said that for about two
years now that she's been wanting to do something like this and is
excited to keep reading and praying! The only downside is that Nico and
Micaela fought the other day about something really dumb, but now
they're trying to fix things again. Dumb young love. ha ha!
Last night was really sad. When we were done passing
on our datos from the zone to the assistants, Pricila, our neighbor, was
having a melt down. We listened to her talk about some of the saddest
things and then gave her a blessing. I finally convinced her that she
needed to go walk around a bit and cool off and breathe some good air.
But it was something that just ripped my heart out. I love her and her
cute little family. Her husband, Dario is such a great guy and their
baby, Ama is so cute. I wish I could do something to help their
situation. I honestly wish that they could come with me to the United
States and live with me.
So tomorrow is my six months left mark. Elder
Borgersen's dad says that the differenence between 18 months and two years
is the difference between men and women. SO I need to become a man in
these next few months. Also, I have to get back onto my "six months to
sexy" ha ha! I need to work my belly off and get into shape somewhat.
I've been slacking lately. I can't believe how fast the time flies by.
I'm amazed that I only have four more transfers after this. I probably
only have one more area and maybe two companions, one of those, for
probably a short time. It's sad to think about and every time I try to
imagine myself being at home or in the USA, it just seems like some old
dream. I only imagine myself living here in Argentina. I just have come
to love these people so much. I just wish they would learn to accept the
will of the Lord more.
Alright, enough trunky talk. I have to go now. This
week is going to be another great week! We are going to try and keep the
missionaries excited and to keep finding always! Thanks for your
letters and comments! I love you all!
Love,
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