A Word from the 25-Year Old Russian

¡Hola!                                                                                                                              

This week was an interesting one because three different people called me a Russian and thought I was a 25-years old, so that was fun. Shout out to my boy, Parkin, in Russia! LOL!

We had a really great week. We didn't see the sun for about three days but the work was pretty good. We were able to meet our new homie, Sergio Lazarus, who is less active and has been less active for a long time. We saw his name in our Area Book so, we decided to pay him a visit. Sergio lives way out in the boonies and we were fortunate to find his house because there was nothing else near him except farmland. We ended up chatting with him about his experiences in the Church and we found out that his little boy hasn’t been baptized yet. So, we talked to him and his family about that for a while and then we invited them to attend church on Sunday. When Sunday rolled around… they showed up! The whole fam’ was dressed nice and they were some of the first people to arrive. Then, during Fast and Testimony Meeting, Sergio popped right up and shared one of the sweetest testimonies I have ever heard. It was so nice to have another family in the chapel and he gave us a shout out from the pulpit. So, that was dope.

Also, during the week I found out that I have a fear of pigs. We were finishing up a lunch appointment and the family who fed us happened to have some baby pigs. All the little piglets escaped from their pen, so we had to put them back and I was so scared to pick one up! I felt like a girl because all of the little kids were just picking them up like it was nothing and I physically just couldn't do it. However, after about ten minutes I eventually caught one and picked the thing up and threw it back in it’s cage. During the whole affair, someone took a video of me, acting all sacred and freaked out. Now, the family and my companion are showing the video to everyone. So, right now I'm kind of the laugh of the branch. LOL!

We also found two great part member families and we had some great lessons with them. There truly is nothing more powerful than a testimony from a family member. It's just sad on Sundays to see so many families who are incomplete! This Sunday we only had two complete families in church so there is a bunch of work to do with the members! One of those people is the dad of three young men and women. With the intention of getting to know him a lot better and helping him receive the restored gospel, we paid him a visit. I'm not exactly sure how, but he and I made a quick connection and became “bros” almost immediately.  I gained his confidence, right off the bat, and we had such a cool lesson with his kids. I'm praying we can soften his heart a little bit and get him to join his awesome kids in church!

One day we were looking for our investigator, Maxi, to teach him a little bit. So, we knocked on his door and his little brother, Luciano, answer.  This led us to chat with Luciano, off and on, about what we do as missionaries. We basically explaind our purpose to him. The kid had tons of great questions about the Plan of Salvation. More than anything, I was really impressed with the questions that came from this 14-year-old kid. It was impressive!

I think the thing I like the most about the area of General Alvear is that religion is a familiar topic and everyone likes to hear another perspective. Even so, the hard part is turning the people into real investigators instead of indivduals who are just curious to hear from a 25-year-old Russian who rides his bike like a wild man in the street. LOL!

I'm glad the fam’ had a great time in Europe!   I love you all!

Elder Nathan Roderick - the One and Only