Holaaaaa!
Well, the big news of the week was that we got the
transfer calls last night and I´m staying in Salto! My new companion is Elder
Mena who is from Chile and I´ve heard great things about him. Of course, this
means I’ll only speak Spanish all day, every day so it might be a little tough,
but this will give me an awesome opportunity to get my Spanish really goin’.
I´ve learned a ton of Spanish already but now that I´m using Spanish
exclusively, I hope it can get a lot better. I´m excited to see the progress of
our new investigators too!
This week I finished my training, the month of
December started and I hit my 4-month mark. All of these things are crazy for
me to believe!
This week was also a pretty busy one. We started
off the week with exchanges in Parque Molino with the District Leader. El
Molino is actually a fun little town which is known for the little mafia that
runs the neighborhood. As a missionary, this makes our experiences a little
interesting, especially when we are gringos. But, of course, nothing happened
while I was there. I spent a couple of days with the District Leader, Elder
Toone, and it’s always fun to change companions for a little bit. We were able
to teach some of his investigators and it was so much fun to meet with new
people and share the awesome message that we have. The only not so fun part
about these two days was that El Molino has zero trees and the sun was as
powerful as ever. I was dying in the heat and we covered a ton of ground on our
feet. This made me miss our good ole
bikes in Salto. A member told us that it got up to 104 degrees on Sunday and
it´s only going to get hotter! I think it’s safe to say that Summer is officially
here!
Back in Salto, we taught Daniel and Carla the word
of wisdom and the Law of Chastity, both of which can be difficult to comprehend
for investigators. With the Law of Chastity, we kind of have a problem because
we found out that Daniel and Carla are not married. L They told us that they have talked about it in
the past but they just decided back then, that it’s simply just a piece of
paper. That seems to be the attitude with most of the Argentina people which
stinks, but we’ll work with them. It took a while to explain the importance of
marriage and why it is needed to be baptized. I think they were a little
hesitant at the end of the lesson, which is understandable, because marriage is
a pretty big deal. But the thing is, if they know that the things we are
teaching them are true, then they will see the importance of marriage. Also,
they told us if they do get married they want to have a little party or
something so I might be putting on a wedding party soon! But, the best part of
this situation is that they are a family and eternal life with our families is
the greatest gift we can receive in this life and they understand that, as well
as the requirements to get to that point.
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| Elder Roderick & Elder McCabe at the Open Chapel |
After we taught them on Friday, Carla and the kids
came to church on Sunday and it was soo amazing to see our members just make
them feel comfortable and show them the ropes during Sacrament Meeting. Elder
Hyer and I just sat in the back and watched our members take care of the kids
and explain everything to Carla. It truly was the coolest experience. Last
night, we went over to their house to follow up with them and we basically just
poured out our hearts to them. We shared how we were inspired to find them. (We
probably knocked on their door 10 times before actually being able to find
someone home.) We told them that we are here because we want them to be an
eternal family. It was actually an awesome lesson. I really hope and pray that
they feel our love and can act upon a response they receive from our Heavenly Father
about this decision.
A few weeks
back while we were at Daniel’s house, we met a man named Omar Rissi and he
expressed interest in our message but we went almost a month without finding
him again. All of the people in his little neighborhood don’t really like the
missionaries so it was nearly impossible to find him again. Omar is such an
awesome guy though. He’s probably in his 60’s and he doesn’t have much of a
religious background, which can be difficult sometimes because so many things are
new to him, but he’s so sweet. When we followed up with him this week he had
already read what we had asked him to read. He is such a stud! He hasn’t been
baptized before and I hope we can help him reach that point sometime soon!
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| Elder Roderick and the Sisters following the Open Chapel |
The bummer part of the week was during the Zone
Meeting on Friday we found out that the mission is not having a Christmas
party. L Apparently, the Church is cutting
funds and even when President Goates offered to pay for it all, the Church
still said, “no.” I guess the Grinch lives in Argentina!
The best part of the week was the Open Chapel we
had for the whole Stake of San Rafael. There is a Senior Missionary couple who
is assigned to hold Open Chaples all over South America and they basically take
care of everything. It was so much fun for us because we saw a lot of people
come the open house who aren’t members and there were some less actives who
attended as well! It was a long night of entertaining people and we got back to
our pench very late and very exhausted but it was soo worth it!
I’m excited to stay another transfer here in Salto
and get a new companion! Please pray for Daniel and Carla and their decision
about marriage!
I
love you all so much!!
Elder
Roderick
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