Under the Stars

¡Familia!                                                                                                                     

 

The Terrible Trio has officially come to an end because we had transfer calls this weekend. Elder Marcum is leaving and Elder Fernandez and I are staying together here in San Miguel.  The Terrible Trio was a legendary companionship; not gonna lie! We assumed that this was going to be our last week together so we decided to make the most of it.  In our area, we rent a little house in the backyard of an old lady and our living situation is pretty awesome.  One night this week she was away for a night so we took advantage of the situation and put our mattresses on the roof and slept under the beautiful stars. It brought back some great memories of my days as a Boy Scout. LOL! It was a little cold in the morning but it was so worth it!  Our evening escapade was a great way to end the trio.

One highlight of our week was having the privilege of listening to our Area President, Jose A. Teixeira. He visited our mission and gave us some instructions. In a few months, he’ll be in the Presidency of the Seventy so he’s kind of a big deal. LOL! We had a conference with him on Wednesday and it lasted the entire day. It always gives us such a boost to be around General Authorities because the Spirit they carry with them and the energy they have for the work is so infectious. We learned a ton about missionary work and received some instruction about changes we can make to be more effective missionaries.  There was a special spirit present with us and we literally talked about every aspect of missionary work; finding people to teach, working with the members, using our time wisely, being more effective teachers and much more. To say the least, we had an inspiring day with Elder Teixeira!

Multiple times this week we read Moroni’s promise with our investigators. I seriously think we had ten lessons that focused on those verses (Moroni 10:3-5). Usually our first step as missionaries is to help our investigators read the Book of Mormon, then pray about its truthfulness. One of the experiences we had was with a less active family who has kids who aren’t baptized.  We are teaching the kids with the hopes that the entire family will become active again and the kids will be baptized.  The nine-year old loves to read and he loves the Book of Mormon. He told us how good he feels while he’s reading and that on the days he doesn’t read the Book of Mormon, he can feel a real difference in his life.  Moroni’s promise is so strong and every time I read it, I find something new about it that I love.

Our recent converts, Eugenia and Alejandro, are doing very well!  Eugenia is consistently reading the Book of Mormon and she’s also doing her family history work.  Ever since her baptism, she’s had a great desire to continue to learn about the Gospel. So, sometimes we just show up at her house and ask, “What do you want to learn about today?”  Then, we always end up having an awesome lesson about the topic she’s interested in. Alejandro has made a ton of new friends with the young men in our ward and he’s participating in their activities. Every new member needs a friend and Alejandro has many!  He has changed a ton since his baptism.  He just seems happier and much more up-to-beat.  Like Eugenia, he and his brother are working on their family history and getting prepared to take family names to the temple! 

Florencia and her brother, Bantista, the kids of the mom who was baptized 20 years ago, are doing very well.  They were finally able to come to church this week and it was an amazing experience.  Florencia has a daughter who is almost two-years old so she felt like she had to be with her daughter in the nursery during most of church.  Even so, church was still good for her because she met other women in the ward and made a few friends.  They are progressing well and the baptismal font is just waiting for them to enter it in a few weeks!  

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick 

What a Great Feeling!

¡Hola!                                                                                                                           

If you know the feeling of returning to your pench on Sunday night, dog tired from a busy week, and you look at your companion and ask, “Tomorrow is PDay?” then you know what a great feeling it is.  We had a killer week and we were able to see the fruits of our labors every day!On Tuesday morning, we were doing our morning exercises and while I was lying down doing some ab work (Six months to sexy! LOL!) and out of nowhere, everything started to shake and it felt like I was lying on Jello. Little earthquakes are common here in Mendoza but this one was quite a bit bigger and it lasted for about two minutes. It was certainly a memorable experience.

Also on Tuesday, we had personal interviews with President Panzacchi and the two of us had an awesome chat about the work and how I’m doing personally. During my interviews with President I’m always struck by the fact that it’s literally the only time I think about myself. Every moment of the day, missionaries think about others and their missionary work so it feels funny to stop and talk about myself. But, I am so grateful to have a mission President who makes himself available to talk with each individual missionary. I can feel his love. We talked about how I can really take advantage of the final few months I have in my mission. As well, we talked about the power and authority of our callings as missionaries. Sometimes I forget how important my calling really is because the work has just become part of my daily routine. So, it was powerful to be reminded that missionary work is truly the greatest work on the face of the earth today.

Lately we’ve been working with many part member families and we’ve had a lot of success doing it. We are teaching a momma, her 19-year old daughter, Florencia, and her 9 -year old son, Bantista. The momma was baptized 20 years ago and fell away from the church a few years later. Fortunately, a few days ago we were able to find them and since then, we’ve had some powerful spiritual lessons with them. It’s been really cool to watch the mom get back into the groove of things and align her life with the gospel again. During one of our lessons, the mom told us that she’s been waiting to come back to the church and our visits have given her the motivation she needed to do so.

Our Latina, Ivanna, is progressing very well. This week, we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! Now, she just needs to receive a personal answer about the truthfulness of the gospel. So, we are praying very hard for her! On Sunday, she came to church with her husband and they were very nervous to enter a church that wasn’t Catholic but everything went smoothly and they enjoyed the meetings. In order to see Ivanna get baptized, we’re going to need a lot of help from above but I’m confident it will happen!

This week I also received my birthday package and it was so awesome to read the notes from friends and family. Thank you for taking time to write to me! Thank you also for the chocolate malt mix. I’ve been enjoying chocolate banana malts all week long so I’m a very happy camper.

Mucho Amor!

Elder Roderick 

The Week of the 20s

Familia!                                                                                                                        

As I hit my 20-month mark in the mission and celebrated my 20^thbirthday, it was the week of the 20s. I realized I’m getting old in the mission and in life! There is a big difference between 19 and 20-years old. LoL! I still feel like just a kid. On Thursday, for my birthday, we had lunch with one of my favorite families and we ate one of my favorite Argentine plates.  Then, we had a regular day with appointments all afternoon but we bought an ice cream cake so we could celebrate a little bit. It was an awesome birthday! 

This week was a great one here in San Miguel. We are teaching a ton and it feels like we are always in a hurry and running around the neighborhoods just doing our thing. On Saturday, our boy, Alejandro, was baptized! We had a few problems at the last moment, but everything turned out well.  The young men in the ward welcomed him into their circle with open arms and they basically did everything in the baptismal service.  One of the counselors in the Young Men presidency baptized him and two youth gave talks.  Then, on Sunday, the Young Men president confirmed him.  It truly was beautiful and the Spirit was so strong during the ordinations. Also, a couple of his family members were able to support Alejandro this weekend so, we were happy to see that happen. Whenever there is a baptism it adds some excitement to the ward so we are hoping to keep this baptism train going!

We also did a bunch of service this week, which included some construction work. Basically, every morning we got our hands dirty then we ate lunch and spent the afternoon running to all of our appointments. A tired missionary = a happy missionary. 

            We are still teaching our good friend, Ivanna, who asked us to teach her English.  She has turned into one of our most promising investigators. She is so eager to learn more and she loves everything we give her. She calls us her “little children” and whenever we are in her home, she treats us like kings.  She gives us tons of food and she even spoiled me a little bit on my birthday.  The only thing that is difficult about Ivanna is that she has been a Catholic all of her life and it’s tough to make a big change in religion.  Actually, we are teaching a couple of families who are so ready to receive the Restored Gospel but they also practice another religion and it’s difficult to make such a big change.  We’ve learned, however, that the best thing we can do is trust in Moroni’s Promise and pray that these people can take a leap of faith and open their hearts to receive an answer about the truthfulness of the Gospel!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Roderick 

The Church is TRUE!

¡Hola!                                                                                                                            

Wow! What an awesome week it has been and Conference weekend just put the icing on the cake! It was so exciting to be in the mission field during this historic General Conference where I could feel the energy and urgency in a place like Argentina where the Church is growing quickly. I got the chills during the final part where they announced another temple in Argentina, in Richmond, Virginia and in Russia.  I immediately thought of my boys, Taz and Andrew, because I know they were so excited to hear the news of the new temples in their areas. Even though the new temple in Argentina isn’t very close to Mendoza, the chapel lit up on Sunday afternoon because now it’s most likely that Mendoza will be the next city in Argentina to receive a temple!

With the opportunity to share the Easter message with everyone we possibly could, we had a great week!  The characteristic I love most about the people here in Argentina is that almost everyone is Christian.  Whether it be Catholic, Evangelical or another Christian faith, the people are very receptive this time of year when we are simply sharing a message about Christ and His resurrection. Even though the streets are filled with the smell of fish all weekend, I’ve learned to love my fellow Argentine Christians. 

As he is preparing for his baptism next Saturday, we are working a lot with Alejandro. He was able to watch Conference with one of the members and they told us they had a positive experience with him as they watched the sustaining of President Nelson.  Alejandro is a worker!  He’s 16 years old and he is such a stud. They thing I’ve noticed about him is that he already knows the way and the things we can do to gain a better relationship with our Heavenly Father so we can receive His guidance. Alejandro has been making a lot of changes in his life and we are all very anxious for this Saturday!

On Friday, we got together with the whole ward because it was a holiday.  We cooked a ton of chicken asado, played some games (Ya’ boy still reigns as Ping Pong Champ!), and had an Easter egg hunt to animate for the members how to look for their ancestors as well as to help them remember to look for people to share the gospel with.  It’s always so much fun to get together with the ward, share delicious food, laugh, and develop better friendships. Our activity was a success and we had the whole ward running around the chapel looking for eggs.  It was hilarious!

This week we also had some success in finding some families in our ward who are incomplete (not everyone in their family is a member). By simply going through the ward directory we were able to find some families to visit. Then, as we passed by their homes and introduced ourselves and our purpose, we were able to quickly gain their confidence and get them interested in the Restored Gospel.  There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a full family in their Sunday-best in church together on a Sunday.  We’re just trying to make that happen more often!

The highlight of the week was watching General Conference.  It was such a great honor to be able to sustain a new prophet and other General Authorities.  I love watching Conference in the mission field because I know that in many parts of the world, my loved ones are seeing and feeling the same things I am.  Two of the phrases that stood out to me were, “The stumbling blocks of failure can be used as stepping stones to success” and “Failure is a tutor, not a tragedy” as shared by Lynn G. Robbins.  Failure happens a lot in the mission field but it always leads to better experiences, life lessons, and more success.  Russel M. Nelson is the Lord’s prophet in these latter days and what we felt, saw and heard in Conference testifies of that statement!!   The Church is TRUE!

 

Have a great week,  Elder Roderick