Making Progress

Familia,                                                 

It was another great week down here in the ARG, preaching the good word and trying to help a couple more people.

Due to transfers on Monday, P-Day on Tuesday and General Conference over the weekend, we had a short week.  We basically only had three days to work so we had to take advantage of them. 

A couple of days ago our bishop gave us a ward directory that included all of the members.  So, we were able to identify those who are less active and we spent a large amount of the week looking for these families as well as those families who are part-member.  Let’s just say that our efforts to track them down didn’t work out too well.  We basically just ran around the town trying to find out where all of these people live.  We never got truly lost but we were all over the map.  Since we have double the area to cover, you could say we walked a little bit!  Ha ha!  Our attendance in Sacrament Meeting has been a little low lately so, we are trying to boost our attendance by looking for some less-active families to give the ward a little boost.

Probably one of the best things that happened this week occurred when we received a text from the Agüero Family, a family of investigators who we’ve been working with (and we actually thought about dropping them a few weeks because they didn’t seem to be making any progress).  But, they came to church a few weeks ago and then on Thursday, they sent us a text that said they got married so they could be baptized!! We received the text and looked at each other like we couldn’t believe it.  It was such a great feeling to see this family take a huge leap of faith and agree to make a covenant with God!  We are beyond pumped for them!!

The other good thing that happened this week was a less-active member found us on the street and asked us to visit her and her family.  So, we went by her home and her entire family was there.  We found out that nearly half of the family isn’t a member so, we were excited about this new connection.  During our visit, the Hermana told us about some of the difficult things their family has been through and she asked us to help them put their lives back in place so they can come back to church.  This experience was pretty humbling because we had just met this Hermana and she put complete trust in us to help her put her life back where it should be.

General Conference was such a blessing as well.  It’s like a holiday for the missionaries because we get to relax and just receive some inspiration from the leaders of the Church.  In Argentina, on Sunday, the majority of the members go to the Stake Center to watch Conference.  Then, during the break everyone has a little picnic.  So, we took advantage of that and had a picnic with all of the members and our President Panzacchi.  It was awesome and I think I’m going to start the same tradition in Utah when I get back.

I really enjoyed this Conference and I especially loved the talks about humility, Russel M. Nelson’s talk about the Book of Mormon and Stephen W. Owen’s talk about repentance.  One thing he said that is cemented in my mind now is, “without repentance we can’t progress in life.” For me, the mission has been a process of repentance as I try to leave everything and do my best to follow the Lord and His example by helping His children.  Repentance, more than anything, is leaving behind bad thoughts, actions and words in order to follow Christ.  Being on a mission has been the best place for me to do these things because it’s legit what we do each day. We wake up early, go to bed early, study for hours, and spend every other minute of the day on the street, trying to help others come unto Christ.

“WITHOUT REPENTANCE THERE IS NO PROGRESS IN LIFE.”

Have a great week!

Elder Roderick

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!