Hola!
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| "Goodbye" Daniel and Carla |
Wow! What a week
it was down in the ARG! It was probably the most exhausting week of my mission,
so far. On Monday night, I kissed Salto “Goodbye.” I also had to say, “Goodbye”
to all of my homies whom I came to love so much. To be honest, it was pretty
hard to leave them. A mission is always full of changes and unfortunately some
of these changes include saying, “Goodbye” to people and never knowing when or
if you’ll see them again.
On Tuesday morning, I
hopped on the bus to San Luis. It was
four long hours in the middle of nowhere Argentina. LOL. Then, I had another
two-hour ride to Villa Mercedes, which is my new area. We are still apart of
the San Luis Stake but Villa Mercedes is it’s own little town. There are two
wards here with two sets of missionaries and a we have a ton of ground to
cover. Our area is soooo big and we walk everywhere, so I come back to the pench
dog tired every night. But, that’s a good thing. There are tons of houses to
knock and the people here are so nice and welcoming. Literally, at the first
house I knocked here we were able to set up an appointment. But a new area,
means new accents and the people in this town are from all over so each person
has their own little way of talking which has been frustrating. It’s definitely
a good challenge for me.
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| "Goodbye" Elder Mena and Salto de las Rosas |
My new comp, Elder
Martinez, is such a boss. He is almost 22-years old and has been a member of
the Church for less than two and half years. He has been on his mission for one
year and he became a member only a year and half before he left. He got in
contact with the missionaries through a friend and was baptized 4 months later.
The missionaries found him at a really trying time in his life. At age 17, he
was living alone, supporting himself and running with a pretty tough crowd. He
has a lot of stories :). But as a missionary it is so nice to have his
testimony and his personal experiences to share with investigators and everyone
we talk with.
The work in Villa
Mercedes is really going strong. This
week we basically ran all over the place from one appointment to another and we
were always so busy. We have a really nice pool of investigators right now,
including a lot of couples with young kids and a couple of teenagers. I’m still
trying to remember everyone’s name but next week I’ll be able to provide more
details about the work. One cool thing we did this week though was knock on a “menos
active” door and they were so welcoming. Since Elder Martinez hadn’t contacted
them before we weren’t expecting anything but they invited us inside. We got in
there and saw that they have this type of dog called a “dogo,” which is the
MOST dangerous type of dog. Of course, this family has three of them! So, one
of the first houses I entered here and I find out they have three of these beasts!
The family saw that we didn’t know what to do so they had to teach us how to
handle ourselves with the dog. I sat down like they said and the dog came
running towards me and I was freaking out inside thinking, “This dog is going
to eat me,” but then everything seemed cool so I went to pet it and apparently,
I did something wrong with my hand and the dog started freaking out and the
owner had to yank it away from me. I turns out that I didn’t have the
confidence of the dog yet so, I couldn’t pet it. I was so confused and freaked
out and my companion was just laughing. It was awful! To make things even
better (or worse), one of the dogs just had 14 little puppies so, we’ll see how
that goes. But, we had two awesome lessons with this family and when Sunday
rolled around we were able to take the Hermana to church with us. It was the first time she’d been to church in
almost four years. It truly was a great experience. I like to think of “menos
activos” as people who are dangling from a cliff and they just need someone to
come help them get back on their feet.
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| Killer "Dogo" |
Sunday was such a
good experience because it was my first full block of church meetings since I’ve
been in the mission field. We had 70 people in church and for Argentina, that
is really good. It was the best feeling to be surrounded my families, little
kids and just more people. One of the best parts about the Church is the family
aspect and in reality, we are all one big family and I felt the love of my new
family here in Villa Mercedes so much.
We also have a new
schedule here because people are more available later in the night so we work until
10-10:30 in the night and don’t fall asleep until 11:30. I still wake up at
6:30 because it’s just a habit now. Since we work late in the night we can take
an hour nap during the siesta. So, I just grind in the morning and try to stay
awake. Then, after a big meal with the members, I take a nap for an hour. It’s
pretty awesome! I’m not going to lie.
I’m so happy here
in my new area and it’s been an adventure adjusting to everything. Even so, I
love the change. Like coach Benson would always say, “You’re either getting
better or getting worse, never staying the same.”
I’m so humbled to
be a missionary during this time and it is truly an honor to share the Restored
Gospel and be a servant of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Much love!!
Elder Roderick
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