Sunday, July 30, 2017

Events in Mendoza

Familia,                                                                                                                       
This week in Argentina we celebrated “Friends Day” and I learned that it's actually a huge holiday down here in the ARG. On Thursday, the people were going crazy and there were tons of parties everywhere. It was kind of weird to see but it was so nice to see the town buzzing a little bit. So, “Feliz dia del Amigo” to all of my amigos out there, especially my homies out here in the mission field. LOL!
We spent over half of the week in Mendoza so we didn't have much time in our area, which was a bummer. Legit! We only had Monday night after Pday and Saturday and Sunday in our area but we were able get some good work done. On Wednesday, we had a meeting with President Panzacchi and his wife.  The meeting was for my companion and all of the other missionaries who are being trained right now. It was a good chance to learn more from our new president and get to know him a little bit better. It was also nice to get a review of some of the things that missionaries learn during their training.  As well, it was nice to be with some Elders for a while because my companion and I are accompanied by too many Hermanas in Alvear. LOL!
We had the meeting on Wednesday and then on Thursday we had a free day in Mendoza because it didn’t make sense for us to travel five hours back to our area because we had legal work to do on Friday. So, on Thursday I was planning to get into the actual city of Mendoza, but my plans fell through. LOL! We ended up going with the President’s Assistants to their area on exchanges and it was actually a lot of fun. Their area is right outside of Mendoza which means there are tons of people and it was really different from the areas I have worked in. So, it was interesting to get to know more parts of the mission. By just trying to talk to everyone we saw, we worked our tails off.  In my short time with them, I learned some new teaching techniques and I realized that there's no such thing as a “perfect missionary.” So, it was nice to learn from their example. 
On Friday, my companion had to do some legal work to become a citizen of Argentina and then on the way back to Alvear there was a problem with the bus so we ended up being on the bus for eight hours instead of the normal five. It wasn't too fun but we were able to get back.
We had another good lesson with our friend, Juan, this week. His daughter is preparing to go on a mission so Juan is really concerned about all that a mission entails. Even so, her plans have given us a good chance to help him become familiar with the Church and help him feel comfortable sending his daughter out into the mission field. This makes our lessons with him so spiritual because he is very concerned for his daughter and it gives him some motivation to learn more about the Church and investigated a little more. Now I'm just praying he can take a leap of faith and follow the great example of his kids.
On Sunday, a nice old couple, who are about 80-years old, let us in to their home and we had a great little conversation with them.  Then, as we were about to leave, they poured out their hearts to us and told us about all of the loved ones they have lost lately. Legit! They told us they are just waiting for their day to reunite with their loved ones. To be honest, it was kind of sad to listen to them because they seem so confused about what will happen in the next life so it was really nice to be able to teach them about the plan that God has for each and every one of us. I'm praying that they can understand the things we teach and really take them to heart so they can have an eternal family.
We had a nice quick week here in Alvear and we have some really good things going on in the area. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress our investigators can make!
I'm bummed I missed Colter Bay but that butter by the dam will always be there for me. LOL! I hope you guys had a good time and didn't miss me too much!

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick



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