Busy Villa Krause and a Birthday Surprise

Familia,                                                                                                          

 

Another six weeks has passed which means we had transfers again. As a result, the four-man pench no longer exists.  I’ll be staying in Villa Krause with Elder Vega.  He’s from Chile and he’s a homie because he’s fluent in English and he’ll be going to BYU next fall. Since there are only two of us in the area now, we now have double the territory to cover. We also have double the work because we have all of my investigators and all of those Elder Vega had with companion.  So, it’s safe to say that we’ll be pretty busy this transfer!  It was tough to say, “Goodbye” to my kid, Elder Ramos but I’ll be able to see him again soon.  Also, the Assistants are now in our district so I need to make sure they behave themselves. Haha!

This week was a pretty good one and we taught a lot of lessons. One day, when we were knocking doors, a missionary from an Evangelical church opened the door and we began a conversation about religion and we tried to explain to her why there are so many different religions today. I think we opened her eyes a little bit because she told that she was very familiar with the Bible but she had never interpreted it the way we explaining it to her.  I was a really cool experience because usually people in her position don’t even give us a second of their time but she did. I just pray that she can make a leap of faith and put into practice the things we shared with her.

We were also able to get together with our amigo, Humberto.  We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and we used the scriptures to emphasize and explain our purpose on earth.  It was such an awesome lesson because Humberto told us that a light switched in his head and he was able to understand the purpose of our life on earth.  Humberto also gave me a tie with the logo of my favorite Argentine soccer team on it.  So, it’s safe to say that now we’re “bros.”

On Thursday night, we had little meeting with our Bishop to talk about the missionary work in the area.  Our meeting went a little past our curfew so we were hurrying back to our pench and right as we were about to turn the corner to our pench, we saw President Panzacchi’s car at the gas station that is right in front of our apartment.  I thought he was going to be angry with us for being out late but instead, he invited us to get ice cream with him because it was his birthday.  No one had any idea that it was his birthday and I felt a little bad about that. But, it’s all good.

On Saturday night, the Young Men in our ward and those from the neighboring ward got together to play some soccer. The youth invited their friends who aren’t members and the four missionaries put on a little class for the youngsters and showed them how foreigners play soccer. It was actually such a good time and there were about twenty kids there.  So, it was a big success!

The week we also taught Marcelo & Roxanne as well as the Torres Family. All of them are preparing to get baptized so, they’re progressing very well. I’m very excited for them!

I also had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Of course, for the first time since I’ve been here, the chapel was full!  I talked about why the Book of Mormon is important to me and I talked about how it teaches us to depend on the Lord, that it gives us examples of repentance/change, and it gives us comfort and answers to questions.  I expressed that it is the key to my testimony of the truthfulness of the Church.  People were nodding their heads, so I think they understood me.  Haha!

On to the next one!

Elder Roderick

Get Them Married

Familia,                                                                                                    

One thing I’ve learned while being on the mish is that you have to take advantage of P-Day, our day in the week to relax from the work and have some fun. Last week our Zone played paintball and it was honestly such a fun time. I think it was first time in the last thirteen months that I’ve had an adrenaline rush and, to be honest, it was very needed.  We played outside in a forest, right next to the neighboring Andes mountains, which provided the perfect backdrop for this great memory. 

            This week was one of the those that are kind of a blur because the days flew by and I feel like I blinked and it was already Sunday again. To start the week out I did exchanges with Elder Garmendia, one my pench mates from Mexico who is a youngster in the mish. When I came to this area we divided into two sections.  So, while the exchange with Elder Garmendia, I had an opportunity to I get to know the other side of the area/ward. We actually taught a couple of awesome lessons together and it was fun to be with one of the younger missionaries and feel his energy for the work.

            Also, this week we had a couple of great lessons with Franco and Karen, a couple we came in contact with a few weeks ago. Something that is really cool about them is that they met with the missionaries a few years ago and they were about to get baptized.  However, they moved and lost contact with the missionaries and didn’t follow through with their baptism plans.  They are a young family and we had an awesome lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation and we talked with them about what they have to do on earth in order to get to the Celestial Kingdom. The first step, we explained, is baptism.  So, they are both really excited to prepare themselves to get baptized. Now we just need to get them married!

            I think one of the most difficult things we come across here in the Argentina mission is that we find such awesome families who are ready to receive the Restored Gospel, but they're not married.  This makes their progress toward baptism so much slower and it’s frustrating for them and for us.  But, we’ll be good. 

            One of the better parts of the week was our lesson with Roxanne and Marcello.  Recently, they have gone through some rough times as family but the other day they told us that they have seen a difference in their home ever since we’ve been visiting with them. During our lessons they always have such great questions and sometimes I just wish we could teach them everything we know all at once. Overall, they are progressing really well.

            We are also still working with Emily and we’re trying to soften her father’s heart so he will allow her to enter the waters of baptism.  It breaks my heart because she is so ready to make a covenant with God and she has the desire to do so but her father still wants her to wait until she’s older. It’s been tough to soften his heart, but we’re hopeful.

Have a killer week and GO UTES!

Elder Roderick

P.S. This week we saw a mother feeding her baby while riding on the back of a motorcycle.  That’s something you don’t see every day.  Ha ha!

The Evil Wind, a Ladies Man and a Baptism

Familia,                                                                                                           

Occasionally in San Juan there is a “Sonda” which is a strong, hot wind that comes from the North of the country and is actually very dangerous because it causes headaches, fevers and chills.  This week, I met the thing.  We were out working in the afternoon when we started to feel the wind and to be honest, it got the best of me.  That’s for sure!  I had a huge headache and I felt like a zombie walking around.  So, I had to take the afternoon off and take a nap because I was legit dead.  Fortunately, I’m feeling better now.

We spent a good amount of time this week with President Panzacchi because we had interviews as well as Zone Conference.  I had a good interview with President and he gave me some great advice about prayer.  As missionaries, we pray a lot with the people that we teach, and personally.  He invited me to take some time before each prayer to just sit back and think for minute about what I want to say.  It actually works really well!  Since we pray so much, sometimes I get lazy and repeat things but now it’s easier to make my prayers more personal and more effective.

During our Zone Conference, we talked a lot about our teaching skills and how we can have more effective lessons with our investigators.  Now, we are trying to have more frequent lessons that are simple and shorter instead of longer and deep doctrine filled lessons.  By doing this, we can have contact with our investigators more often and we can teach more lessons during the day to more people.  We also focused on how we can explain the Apostasy more clearly to our investigators so they understand that the Church of Jesus Christ was truly lost and it needed to be restored by some homie named, Joseph Smith.

A very cool thing happened to me this week.  I was able to baptize a member in the ward who had fallen away from the church and wanted to be rebaptized.  This member is a big dude so they had to call on the biggest Elder, which happened to be me, to baptize him. So, I baptized him and luckily, everything went fine. I basically baptized myself because I had to make sure he went all the way under the water.  Ha ha.

One of the funny things that happened this week occurred when we were talking to a man, who is about 60-70 years old, outside of his house.  We were just chatting with him and trying to teach him. So, we asked him for his name.  He said, “My name is Martinez but the girls call me Jorgito.” I was legit dying of laughter at this older man who was telling us that the ladies have a nickname for him.

We were able to have some awesome lessons with Ayelen, who is one of our best investigators right now.  Like the majority of Argentina, she’s Catholic so we have found a lot of differences in our beliefs but she always has such good questions. Her questions are awesome and they tell us that she’s actually listening to us and paying attention.  We talked with her about the Book of Mormon and shared that it’s important because it provides evidence of the Restoration.

This week we also taught the Torres Family and they are progressing really well. Pablo, the father, is the son of the bishop in the neighboring ward.  So, they know a lot about the church.  One thing that I love about teaching them is that the wife, legit, fills out the pamphlets that we give them.  She underlines or highlights the parts she likes.  So, when we go to their house for our lessons with them, they are always prepared with good questions.  Now we just need to get them married!

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick