In Wisdom and Order

Hola Familia,                                                                                                           

Yes, two months down already in the mission. That is pretty crazy! LOL! What a week it was down here in Salto de las Rosas. It was kind of a relaxed week because we had Conference this weekend and we spent Thursday and Friday in Mendoza trying to get me legal in this country.

Chocolate Frosted Flakes "made my week"!

To be honest, the beginning of the week was really frustrating. On Tuesday night we had two appointments planned with investigators who were very interested.  They have family members who might be interested as well so we were really excited. I was going to invite them to be baptized so I prepared hard. But, this excitement quickly disappeared after they flaked at the last minute; very discouraging for me. We were still able to get in some meaningful work with some less actives by inviting them to Conference and all that good stuff but I was pretty bummed.

On Wednesday morning I had a prompting to go back to the neighborhood where that dog followed us last time and kind of ruined our experience. This time we took a different route, of course, and we stopped by to see a man named Segundo. Segundo and his wife had talked to missionaries before and his wife showed a lot of interest so we knocked on their door. Segundo answered the door and we could tell he had been crying and something was wrong. Well, it turns out that his wife died about two weeks ago and he told us what had happened. She basically just died of old age. So, of course, we pulled out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet while he was explaining what happened and we could see how distraught he was. It was actually so sad because they had loved each other so much. Our lesson with him went so well and he asked many questions. The Spirit was so strong in that room. We walked out of the lesson and I was so happy for Segundo. He´s been sitting at his house all alone and wondering if he was going to see his wife again.  It was so awesome to be able to teach that because we have a loving Heavenly Father who sent his Son for us, we can all receive the most precious gift of Eternal Life.

Thursday and Friday were spent traveling to Mendoza doing some legal work so I can officially live in this country. It was a bit of a break for two days. The city life in Mendoza is a lot different than the field life in Salto. 

The Gringo Viewing Room during General Conference

General Conference this weekend was sooo awesome. All of the other missionaries hyped it up so much and now I understand why. It really is basically a holiday for the missionaries. On Saturday morning we arrived at the Stake Center a bit early to help set up and the Stake President asked us to give a blessing to an elderly lady. I did the anointing in Spanish and, to be honest, it was very intimidating but it went pretty smooth (I think). Then, we watched all three sessions of Conference and I thought they were so amazing. Since there weren’t any busses to Salto after the Priesthood session, we slept with two other Elders in the Zone. We stayed with Elders McCabe and Salinas and of course, it was a party. On Sunday morning, we hit the streets in their area with some exchanges and it was an awesome experience. Salinas and I tried to invite some less active members to attend General Conference but they were not home so we just went tracting for about an hour. We were able to find some people who were interested and want to learn more, which was a great feeling. I just wish these people were in my area!

The Mendoza Boyz

General Conference was such a blessing. I learned so much from each speaker and received many answers and a lot of guidance. How lucky are we to have a living Prophet who receives direct revelation from our Heavenly Father? I specifically enjoyed the talks given by J. Devn Cornsh, Niel L. Andersen, Kazuhiko Yamashita, Uchtdorf in Priesthood, and Ronald A. Rasband. They are all bosses. 

Because of the time we spent watching Conference in Mendoza, the work we had in our area this week was very limited but we are starting to see some real promise with some investigators. I really hope we can help Segundo come unto Christ and help him know of God´s plan. I felt like he was an answer to my prayers but we´ll have to see what happens with him during this next week.

I´ve really learned lately to have high hopes but low expectations for these people. When I expect something and it doesn’t come, I am easily frustrated. Every day I can feel myself improving in many areas and I am so grateful for the help I have received from our Heavenly Father, especially with the language. It´s tough to understand a lot of people in the area but in the three weeks I’ve been here, I have already improved so much.  I’m really excited to see what another three weeks can do! This is such a bomb scripture that helped me this week:

“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he was strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore all things must be done in order.” Mosiah 4:27

I love you all so much and I am so grateful to have so much support from home! It truly does keep me going in the hard moments!

Besos,

Elder Roderick