Hola!
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| Sunday cookies |
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving
break this week in your part of the world! Our only lunch of the week cancelled
on us and it was supposed to be on Thursday so our big meal wasn’t too
glamorous, but everything’s alright! The weather in Salto feels a bit like
Southern California and there are palm trees scattered around the city so I
kind of felt like I was at Grandma’s house in Palm Desert. LOL!
The work has slowed down a bit here in Salto. We
were booming for a few weeks but now I’m not sure what happened. Even so, this
week was still great! It wasn’t as
interesting as last week but we were still able to get some good work done.
The Bishopric and Stake Presidency of San Rafael
are starting to get really worried about Salto because of our low level of
activity and production as a ward. This is so sad because the few members who
are really strong in the gospel are really worried about it. Having us live in
the chapel isn’t the ideal situation for anyone because we can’t have ward
activities or do many fun things as a ward. In the next few months our ward
will either be closed, we will become an independent branch (we are a group;
not even a branch) or the missionaries and the chapel will be separated. It’s
been the buzz going around the town with the members so we’re doing our best as
missionaries to make sure we are as productive as possible with less actives
and investigators so we can strengthen this great little group. As a missionary,
it’s stressful to know that our group is in jeopardy, but we´re praying for the
best in Salto!
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| Riding to appointments with Luis |
The weather has been kind of all over the map this
week, as well as the work. We covered some decent ground this week on the good
ol’ bicycles. Two nights this week we had a 20-minute ride home in the pouring
rain. It was so awesome! Muddy dirt roads and bikes don’t make the best
combination but I’ve learned to love it. During the week, we also tried to find
some old investigators who we thought might be better prepared for the gospel
and our search did not work so well at all. Salto has roads that literally go
on forever and there aren’t any good street signs, so let’s just say we had
some difficulties. I found myself really just frustrated about the whole
situation because I felt like we had wasted time trying to find these people.
However, I had to quickly remind myself that any work for the Lord is not wasted.
A successful missionary is measured by commitment and attitude and not by new
investigators. Even so, it’s always nice to talk with new people. Everything is
gonna’ be alright!
We’ve been spending a lot of time with Daniel and Carla as they keep progressing in the gospel. Carla, especially, is making some awesome progress. We gave her a little calendar to prepare for her baptism and she has been making personal goals every day for her reading in the Book of Mormon. I can’t tell you how amazing this is to see as a missionary! Every time we come over she has questions about unfamiliar words in her reading and many other things. This has made it so fun to teach them and we are praying so hard for them. One night we were teaching them and Daniel’s Uncle Alberto came over and we included him in the lesson. He told us how he is having tons of problems and he had some really interesting questions for us. Basically, he told us that he has been possessed by the devil and has felt the adversary’s presence in his life. So, let’s just say some of our conversation went a little off track. But, he’s an awesome guy and I really hope we can help him more.
We’ve started to teach all of the commandments to
Daniel and Carla and so far, there hasn’t been any problems. BUT, we are about
to drop the Law of Chastity this week on them and I’m worried about that
because we might have to put on a quick wedding and tell them to stop doing “the
business.” So, pray for them and for me as I teach this! Hahahahah!
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| San Raphael Plaza |
The best part of the week was on Saturday night when
we did a “White Storm.” All of the
missionaries in the zone teamed up in the Zone Leader’s zone and hit up every
house in the area to invite them to the Open Chapel we are having this
Saturday. Elder Hyer and I went out with the ward mission leader and it was seriously
so much fun. We just hopped in and out
of members’ houses (“menos activos”) and we even went to visit some investigators.
It was such a cool experience! There was a sense of urgency within us and I
just felt like someone was pushing us along as we were crushing the streets. We’re
hoping that our Open Chapel event can be a huge one because we are trying to
strengthen our relationship with all of the people of San Rafael and show them
exactly what we do. It should be an awesome event.
Like my dad would always say when we returned home
from vacation, it “Back to Reality” for all of you Thanksgiving vacationers.
Now that the Christmas season is upon us, please make sure to check out the
awesome new Christmas initiative #ILUMINAELMUNDO. Tweet, Gram and Snap it out
and share the beautiful light of the Christmas season. As missionaries, we are about to go HAM in the
streets trying to find people to teach during this awesome time of year.
I
love you all so much! Keep it real!!
Elder
Roderick
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