Food to the Dogs

iFeliz Mayo!                                                                                                                

Today in Argentina is the “Day of the Worker” and they celebrate by taking the day off of work so Villa Mercedes is like a ghost town because everyone is home, having an asada and drinking mate.  I’ve learned that Argentina has far too many holidays.  LOL!
            This week was pretty solid. It started in San Luis with a Zone Conference with President Goates.  As a mission, we have the challenge of “opening the mouth” with ten different people every day.  This doesn’t mean we just knock on doors and talk to people.  It means we have to find ten people who are on the street, in the park, on the bus or any other place where we can meet and talk to them about the gospel. During the conference, we spent a lot time talking about this challenge because it’s a big one.

We also talked a lot about receiving revelation through prayer and we focused on why it’s so important for investigators to pray. We were given the challenge to invite investigators to pray and if they decline, we need to help them and keep insisting, basically until they get offended.  Ha ha!

Also, we had interviews with President Goates and it was my last interview with him before he goes back to the States.  We had an awesome chat and I’m really going to miss President Goates because he’s helped me so much as a young missionary. 

One highlight of the week occurred on a day when we didn’t have a lunch appointment.  We went with our pench mates to their lunch appointment and the family gave us so much food that it was a little bit ridiculous.  The mom kept insisting that we eat more and more. It got to the point that all four of us were completely stuffed and then… she brought out dessert. I looked at my comp and he nearly died. She told us that she had four more portions in the refrigerator that we needed to finish and without hesitating one of the Elders said, “Bring them out here, Hermana.” My poor companion, who was already giving his food to the dogs, ended up “taking a phone call” outside so he could throw out his dessert.  I was literally dying of laughter and I thought I was going to throw up because I was laughing so hard. I’m just grateful we have so many generous people who give us food. LOL!

This week we also had a great lesson with Benjamin and his two less active grandparents. We straight up told them that we want to help them come back to church by helping Benjamin become a member of the church.  This might be a little difficult because the grandpa lost his leg due to a fight with diabetes so it’s hard for him to get around.  But, we had an awesome lesson with them. My plan of activating less active families, with kids who aren’t baptized to help activate the whole family, is slowly working. On Sunday, we were able to pick up Benjamin from his house and walk with him to church. He was a little bit nervous to be with people he doesn’t know but luckily, some of the members made him feel comfortable and he ended up having a good experience.

Another highlight of the week was having a Family Home Evening lesson with a family in our ward who has a boy preparing to serve a mission.  The boy taught the lesson and then we played some fun games.  It felt so good to be surrounded by a loving family again.  It was probably the closest I have felt to 2350 Berkeley Street in a long time. 

Also, on Sunday morning, the town of Villa Mercedes had a “fun run” fundraiser that required them to block off a portion of the main street. This would’ve made it difficult for a lot of people to get to church so we changed our church time to the afternoon.  To be honest, it felt really weird to be in the chapel in the afternoon.  It made me feel like we were a different religion or something. LOL!
            This past week was pretty solid and I’m looking forward to the progress of some of our awesome investigators.

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick