A New Home, an Open Chapel and Priesthood Power

¡Hola!                                                                                                                     

The most exciting thing that happened to us this week was that we moved apartments. After housing missionaries for ten years, the old pench was suffering a little bit but now we are living in the fast lane because we have a brand-new apartment. We spent Tuesday getting settled in with all of our things so now we are feeling like we’re home.

            The other big event of the week was the “Open Chapel” we held.  It was basically an open house type event for all of the members and the public in our area and it was initiated so more people can get familiar with the chapel and learn about what we do inside. An Open Chapel is a very helpful event for the missionaries because all of the members have the task of bringing a friend who isn’t a member to the event.  The idea is that once the friends have seen the chapel and learned more about it, they’ll want to continue to learn about the church. SO, this week we worked hard to invite everyone we know to the event. Then, on Saturday we had the big event and it was actually a huge success. We received a ton of referrals for people to teach and we were busy showing people around and making sure that everyone felt comfortable. Due to the event, we were very blessed to receive many people to teach, which is always a good thing.

            We also taught a lot of lessons this week. Like I told you a few weeks ago, our schedule changed in the mission and now we work the entire afternoon without coming back to our pench to study. So, we’re still getting used to the blazing heat at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.  This week our long afternoons resulted in some success.

            Last week I told you how, out a nowhere, a man stopped us in the middle of the street and told us about how he had a lot of pain in his stomach because his ex-wife was a witch and she had cursed him. He begged us to give him and blessing.  So, we did and he immediately felt a huge relief from the pain and the spirit we felt was actually really strong. We took advantage of the time we had with him and ended up teaching him about the restoration of the Priesthood power and how we have the same power that Jesus and His apostles had when they lived here on earth. This new knowledge sparked his interest because he is Catholic and hasn’t had contact with LDS missionaries before.  So, all of the principles we shared really interested him, especially because he had a personal experience with this Priesthood and felt its power.

            To be honest, the work is going really well down here and we have a ton of people to teach, with is such a blessing. I think the main thing we struggle with is getting people to attend church and show their faith a little more through their attendance. Everything else is going really well and it should be another great week!!

Elder Roderick

#TeamJesusStayWinning

            

On the Lord's Team

¡Familia!                                                                                                                 

This week we found out that San Juan is full of witches and witchcraft.  Literally, five different people told us stories about witches. To be honest, it freaked me out a little bit. One man approached us on the street and he was in a panic.  He told us that his ex-wife had put a witch on him.  So, he asked us for a blessing to help him feel better. Fortunately, we didn’t have any personal experiences with witches, but pray for us anyway.

We actually had a really good week of work.  We walked and taught a ton so that made it good week. We are working with the Murua Family and we’ve seen some really cool things happen with them.  They are a very Christ-like family and they’re always looking for ways to help others. Their recent project is a foundation to provide food for kids who don’t get fed enough at their own home. They had everything ready to start feeding kids, except for a place to make and serve the food.  They’d been looking for weeks and hadn’t had much luck.  Then, one day after a lesson, they received a call about a property that was ready for them to buy and the next day they had the keys. Then, this week we passed by their house to give a blessing to their grandpa and they told us they were struggling with the government and having difficulty getting a donation to buy more food. So, we show up and out of nowhere, the husband enters the house with 11,000 pesos in his hand! Literally, it was a miracle! Now they think that every time we pass by, something wonderful is going to happen. Our experiences with this family have actually been really cool because we haven’t really done anything different than we usually do. But lately, they have been really blessed.

 This week we also taught Karen a couple of times. She’s made such great progress but it’s tough for her to continue to progress because her boyfriend is addicted to drugs and alcohol, which of course, affects her too. While working with her, I’ve realized how much a person’s decisions and actions can affect others. It’s hard to watch Karen try to make correct choices and make progress as an investigator only to be brought back down again by her boyfriend. 

Also this week, we were lucky enough to find three more great families to teach and they all happen to live on the same block. The best part about serving in Villa Krause is that there are so many families and people who let us into their homes.

This week I thought about how fortunate I am to be serving a mission. I am so grateful that God trusts me to teach some of His children.  Serving a mission is not easy and we get rejected a lot more than we get accepted but it truly is such a blessing to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. I don’t know what I did to be so lucky to have the opportunity to serve a mission and to have so much support from home to push me along. I feel so grateful to be a part of the Lord’s team. Every day is a humbling experience and an opportunity to realize how blessed I truly am.

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast 

of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; 

yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, 

for which we will praise his name forever.

Alma 26:12

Elder Roderick

The Wicked Zonda

¡Hola!                                                                                                         

After this week, I can say that I’m an official witness of the famous Zonda here in San Juan.  On Wednesday morning, we left our pench at our usual time of 11 a.m. to go to an appointment and when we went outside, it was crazy. The wind was blowing insanely fast and it blew some trees over but the thing that was most unusual was that the wind was legit, hot! San Juan is a big desert so, the wind carried a lot of dust with it as well. I didn’t really think that Zonda was that big of deal but now I understand why it is so renowned. On Wednesday, we weren’t allowed to leave the pench because of the Zonda. So, this gave us a good chance to catch up on some sleep.  Haha!

         

           I started off the week on exchanges in one of neighboring wards, in Libano and I was with Elder Gomez from Ecuador. (Another country to check of my list. Haha!) The best part of the Libano area is that there is a member who owns a gym that is close to the pench, so he lets the missionaries enter for free.  So, I hit up an actual gym for the first time in fourteen months and it felt soooo good, to be honest. But, on Wednesday morning, I felt it!  I don’t think I’ve ever been more sore.  Haha! It was a good thing we were closed in the pench all day so I could rest a little bit.

            

             To be honest, we didn’t have the most successful week but we taught a ton of lessons and worked a lot with the members to get them more interested in missionary work. In every planned appointment this week, we had a member present.  So, that was awesome. Overall, the people here in San Juan are pretty receptive. They will listen to us and they like our message but getting them to come to church on Sunday is always a challenge.  So, we have been trying to help our investigators gain friendships and confidence in the members so they will come to church with them on Sunday.

            The most promising investigators we have right now are the Agüero Family, the young couple who just got married.  They are a young family with four kids under the age of five. So, it’s always entertaining to go to their house.  It’s amazing to see the blessings this family has received as they have accepted the Restored Gospel.  One of the things I have realized lately is that the best way to solve problems is to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We must put our confidence and faith in Christ and believe that if we obey His commandments, He will do His part and help us.  That’s what we’ve seen with this family and it has been such a testimony builder for me.  They have started to do the little things 
such as pray and read their scriptures and now they are receiving many blessings!

           

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick #themishisdope