¡Hasta Leugo Training Wheels!

Holaaaaa!                                                                                                     

Well, the big news of the week was that we got the transfer calls last night and I´m staying in Salto! My new companion is Elder Mena who is from Chile and I´ve heard great things about him. Of course, this means I’ll only speak Spanish all day, every day so it might be a little tough, but this will give me an awesome opportunity to get my Spanish really goin’. I´ve learned a ton of Spanish already but now that I´m using Spanish exclusively, I hope it can get a lot better. I´m excited to see the progress of our new investigators too!

This week I finished my training, the month of December started and I hit my 4-month mark. All of these things are crazy for me to believe!

This week was also a pretty busy one. We started off the week with exchanges in Parque Molino with the District Leader. El Molino is actually a fun little town which is known for the little mafia that runs the neighborhood. As a missionary, this makes our experiences a little interesting, especially when we are gringos. But, of course, nothing happened while I was there. I spent a couple of days with the District Leader, Elder Toone, and it’s always fun to change companions for a little bit. We were able to teach some of his investigators and it was so much fun to meet with new people and share the awesome message that we have. The only not so fun part about these two days was that El Molino has zero trees and the sun was as powerful as ever. I was dying in the heat and we covered a ton of ground on our feet.  This made me miss our good ole bikes in Salto. A member told us that it got up to 104 degrees on Sunday and it´s only going to get hotter! I think it’s safe to say that Summer is officially here!

Back in Salto, we taught Daniel and Carla the word of wisdom and the Law of Chastity, both of which can be difficult to comprehend for investigators. With the Law of Chastity, we kind of have a problem because we found out that Daniel and Carla are not married. L  They told us that they have talked about it in the past but they just decided back then, that it’s simply just a piece of paper. That seems to be the attitude with most of the Argentina people which stinks, but we’ll work with them. It took a while to explain the importance of marriage and why it is needed to be baptized. I think they were a little hesitant at the end of the lesson, which is understandable, because marriage is a pretty big deal. But the thing is, if they know that the things we are teaching them are true, then they will see the importance of marriage. Also, they told us if they do get married they want to have a little party or something so I might be putting on a wedding party soon! But, the best part of this situation is that they are a family and eternal life with our families is the greatest gift we can receive in this life and they understand that, as well as the requirements to get to that point.

Elder Roderick & Elder McCabe at the Open Chapel 

After we taught them on Friday, Carla and the kids came to church on Sunday and it was soo amazing to see our members just make them feel comfortable and show them the ropes during Sacrament Meeting. Elder Hyer and I just sat in the back and watched our members take care of the kids and explain everything to Carla. It truly was the coolest experience. Last night, we went over to their house to follow up with them and we basically just poured out our hearts to them. We shared how we were inspired to find them. (We probably knocked on their door 10 times before actually being able to find someone home.) We told them that we are here because we want them to be an eternal family. It was actually an awesome lesson. I really hope and pray that they feel our love and can act upon a response they receive from our Heavenly Father about this decision.

 A few weeks back while we were at Daniel’s house, we met a man named Omar Rissi and he expressed interest in our message but we went almost a month without finding him again. All of the people in his little neighborhood don’t really like the missionaries so it was nearly impossible to find him again. Omar is such an awesome guy though. He’s probably in his 60’s and he doesn’t have much of a religious background, which can be difficult sometimes because so many things are new to him, but he’s so sweet. When we followed up with him this week he had already read what we had asked him to read. He is such a stud! He hasn’t been baptized before and I hope we can help him reach that point sometime soon!

Elder Roderick and the Sisters following the Open Chapel

The bummer part of the week was during the Zone Meeting on Friday we found out that the mission is not having a Christmas party. L Apparently, the Church is cutting funds and even when President Goates offered to pay for it all, the Church still said, “no.” I guess the Grinch lives in Argentina!

The best part of the week was the Open Chapel we had for the whole Stake of San Rafael. There is a Senior Missionary couple who is assigned to hold Open Chaples all over South America and they basically take care of everything. It was so much fun for us because we saw a lot of people come the open house who aren’t members and there were some less actives who attended as well! It was a long night of entertaining people and we got back to our pench very late and very exhausted but it was soo worth it!

I’m excited to stay another transfer here in Salto and get a new companion! Please pray for Daniel and Carla and their decision about marriage!

I love you all so much!!

Elder Roderick

A Sense of Urgency

Hola!                                                                                                               

Sunday cookies

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving break this week in your part of the world! Our only lunch of the week cancelled on us and it was supposed to be on Thursday so our big meal wasn’t too glamorous, but everything’s alright! The weather in Salto feels a bit like Southern California and there are palm trees scattered around the city so I kind of felt like I was at Grandma’s house in Palm Desert. LOL! 

The work has slowed down a bit here in Salto. We were booming for a few weeks but now I’m not sure what happened. Even so, this week was still great!  It wasn’t as interesting as last week but we were still able to get some good work done.

The Bishopric and Stake Presidency of San Rafael are starting to get really worried about Salto because of our low level of activity and production as a ward. This is so sad because the few members who are really strong in the gospel are really worried about it. Having us live in the chapel isn’t the ideal situation for anyone because we can’t have ward activities or do many fun things as a ward. In the next few months our ward will either be closed, we will become an independent branch (we are a group; not even a branch) or the missionaries and the chapel will be separated. It’s been the buzz going around the town with the members so we’re doing our best as missionaries to make sure we are as productive as possible with less actives and investigators so we can strengthen this great little group. As a missionary, it’s stressful to know that our group is in jeopardy, but we´re praying for the best in Salto!

Riding to appointments with Luis

The weather has been kind of all over the map this week, as well as the work. We covered some decent ground this week on the good ol’ bicycles. Two nights this week we had a 20-minute ride home in the pouring rain. It was so awesome! Muddy dirt roads and bikes don’t make the best combination but I’ve learned to love it. During the week, we also tried to find some old investigators who we thought might be better prepared for the gospel and our search did not work so well at all. Salto has roads that literally go on forever and there aren’t any good street signs, so let’s just say we had some difficulties. I found myself really just frustrated about the whole situation because I felt like we had wasted time trying to find these people. However, I had to quickly remind myself that any work for the Lord is not wasted. A successful missionary is measured by commitment and attitude and not by new investigators. Even so, it’s always nice to talk with new people. Everything is gonna’ be alright! 

    We’ve been spending a lot of time with Daniel and Carla as they keep progressing in the gospel. Carla, especially, is making some awesome progress. We gave her a little calendar to prepare for her baptism and she has been making personal goals every day for her reading in the Book of Mormon. I can’t tell you how amazing this is to see as a missionary! Every time we come over she has questions about unfamiliar words in her reading and many other things. This has made it so fun to teach them and we are praying so hard for them. One night we were teaching them and Daniel’s Uncle Alberto came over and we included him in the lesson. He told us how he is having tons of problems and he had some really interesting questions for us. Basically, he told us that he has been possessed by the devil and has felt the adversary’s presence in his life. So, let’s just say some of our conversation went a little off track. But, he’s an awesome guy and I really hope we can help him more.  

     We’ve started to teach all of the commandments to Daniel and Carla and so far, there hasn’t been any problems. BUT, we are about to drop the Law of Chastity this week on them and I’m worried about that because we might have to put on a quick wedding and tell them to stop doing “the business.” So, pray for them and for me as I teach this! Hahahahah!

San Raphael Plaza

The best part of the week was on Saturday night when we did a “White Storm.” All of  the missionaries in the zone teamed up in the Zone Leader’s zone and hit up every house in the area to invite them to the Open Chapel we are having this Saturday. Elder Hyer and I went out with the ward mission leader and it was seriously so much fun.  We just hopped in and out of members’ houses (“menos activos”) and we even went to visit some investigators. It was such a cool experience! There was a sense of urgency within us and I just felt like someone was pushing us along as we were crushing the streets. We’re hoping that our Open Chapel event can be a huge one because we are trying to strengthen our relationship with all of the people of San Rafael and show them exactly what we do. It should be an awesome event. 

Like my dad would always say when we returned home from vacation, it “Back to Reality” for all of you Thanksgiving vacationers. Now that the Christmas season is upon us, please make sure to check out the awesome new Christmas initiative #ILUMINAELMUNDO. Tweet, Gram and Snap it out and share the beautiful light of the Christmas season.  As  missionaries, we are about to go HAM in the streets trying to find people to teach during this awesome time of year. 

I love you all so much! Keep it real!!

Elder Roderick

It's Still True

Hola,                                                                                                                 

Thanksgiving is upon us! There isn’t Thanksgiving here in the ARG but I´m sure we can find a turkey on the side of the road for dinner! Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of the year: football, food, and of course remembering what we are thankful for. Since living in Argentina for a last little bit, I have realized how blessed I am and how grateful I am for everything I have in my life! Please eat turkey, mashed potatoes and watch as much football as you can!

It was a pretty interesting week here in Salto, one I will never forget! We started this week up in the beautiful city of Mendoza to finish up some of my legal work so I can be an actual citizen of Argentina. After what I heard last week about America and the results of the elections, maybe I should be glad that I’m about to be legal in another country. Just kidding of course, America is the best. 

Taking a little break from regular missionary work is always kind of nice but it slowed down the work we had in Salto. It has become really hard to find people at home when we want to because everyone is working the whole day in the fields. This week many appointments fell and most people just weren’t home, so we saw a lot of precious time slip out of our hands, which was frustrating.

Probably the worst part of the week was when we went to visit our good friend Segundo, who had just returned from Buenos Aires after being there for 3 weeks. We were really excited to start teaching him again because he had a baptism date that fell through. We knocked on his door on Friday night and luckily, he was there. He walked out and immediately said, “I don’t want to talk to you guys anymore. I’m not from your church.” Then, he just walked back inside. This was a huge bummer. We don’t even know what happened and he never gave us a legitimate explanation, so we were really confused. Just a few weeks ago he was showing us his wife’s Bible and he was crying to us about her.  We’re assuming his family said something to him while he was in Buenos AiresJ. I thought we really had something going with him, but I guess not L.

On Saturday, we had a really interesting experience with one of our members, Hermano Eyvar. We went to the Police Station to do some service. It was a good chance for us to get noticed in the community and show people that we aren’t “spies.”  While we were finishing up our work, the police truck pulled in and they had a man in the bed of the truck whose face looked like a nice piece of rare carne meat and he had blood all over his body. Apparently, he had stolen a car, while under the influence, and crashed into a ditch and flew through the windshield. This dude was messed up! The cops threw him in the back of the truck like he was a piece of game that they had just shot. Half of the cops were laughing at him while the others were just yelling at him. This poor guy had no idea what was going on as he was crying and trying to explain himself. The cops didn’t even get him medical attention, just a hose to wash off all of the blood. Looking back, it was a pretty hilarious experience, but still I felt so bad for the guy. 

Later that night we had a killer lesson with Francisco as we basically told him he had to start showing progress or we were going to have to drop him. We made some Argentine pancakes with him and they were “the bomb.” With our good friend Luis, we taught him a great lesson and the Spirit was so present. The kid is so ready for baptism and loves talking about it, but he needs to show that he really wants to do it. So, we told him that Luis was relying on him for a ride to church in the morning and… he came through!! Oh, man! When I saw him walk through the door before Sacrament meeting, it was the greatest feeling. He even participated in Sunday School! Now we just need to make this a habit for him and he´ll be ready for baptism. He was the first investigator to attend church in Salto for a whole year, so we are really pumped for him. 

On Sunday morning, we received a call from the bishopric that we are a part of and they informed us that we were in charge of the meetings in the day. It was a little stressful but everything went smoothly and the meetings were great. Being in a bishopric for the day was so awesome. 

Our man, Daniel, and his wife are doing so great. One of their kids had a bad asthma attack on Sunday morning so they couldn’t come to church, but they were really sad they couldn’t come. His wife, Carla, still needed to be taught about the Restoration so we reviewed that with all of them and then we pulled out the Book of Mormon and she told us that she has already read up to 2 Nephi!! I saw that and I was soooo excited for them. They are such a great family and there’s really something special about them!

Well, in my studies this week I finished El Libro De Mormon in Spanish and it´s still true!! How lucky we are to have this great book in our lives. It´s the most true book on the earth and I am so grateful for it in my life because it has given me guidance, motivation, and inspiration. 

Enjoy the entire week of Thanksgiving! I love you all so much and I am so humbled to be missionary! 

It's gonna be another good week!

Besos,

Elder Roderick