Hola!
We had another solid week in villa de Mercedes. However, the rain
slowed us down a little. When it rains down here the streets turn into rivers
because there are no sewers. Literally it's impossible to go anywhere because
the water is six inches deep on the ground. On Saturday, we were trapped inside
the house of an investigator for about four hours!
In Argentina, there is a siesta which is basically 3 to 4 hours in
the middle of the day to eat lunch and take a nap. LOL! We don’t usually work during the siesta
because no one is available but now we have a couple of investigators who are only available during that time so we work the whole day, only stopping for
lunch. That has been nice because the hours we spend in the pench during the
siesta are the longest hours of the day because we just have to study more.
LOL! Basically, we get a lot more done in a day because we never stop, which makes
the day better.
This week was productive because we went around to the members’
houses and asked for referrals of less actives who have children who aren’t baptized.
Obviously, we did this with hopes of finding more people to teach and to get
more families to attend church. There are about 500 less active people in our
ward! With this in mind, we met with the Gila family this week. They are a
little on the older side and have 20+ grandkids. They are going through a
difficult time because Hermano Gilla lost his leg due to diabetes and so it's
hard for them to leave the house. We met with them a few weeks ago, but now
with our new focus, we also met with Benjamin who is their grandchild and lives
with them. We are trying to reactivate the family through the baptism of a
grandchild!
One of the cool things we
did this week was help our convert, Pedro, with his family history! He is the
first member of the Church in his family and with our help, he currently has
his whole family tree completed for temple work! The best part about it is that
the ward is going to the temple in Cordova in a few weeks so he's preparing
himself to go with them. He is also preparing to go with his grandmother who
got baptized 10 years-ago but went inactive shortly after her baptism. She and
her 21-year-old daughter, who is also a member, haven’t been to the temple so
I'm praying hard that everything can work out for them! Pedro has changed so
much and it's amazing to witness his continual progression after his baptism.
He's been guiding his family to become more familiar with the Church and they
are slowly joining the bandwagon LOL! Baptism is just the front door to many
other amazing blessings!
We also spent a good amount of time with Victor this week. Like
Pedro, it's amazing to see the minor changes he has made. We have really grown
close to him these past few weeks and he's really opened up to us so it been
cool to get to know him better. He has so many stories about all he’s had to do
in order to help his family put food on table. I'm so pumped for the progress
he has made and he's getting close to entering in the waters of baptism. We
also spent a lot of time with Jorge this week. He has really opened up to us as
well. He told us how he knows the “street life” and he doesn't want that
anymore. He is looking to change his life for the better so he can be an
example for his kids. We are reviewing all of the lessons with him. He
understands everything well, loves reading and says awesome prayers. However,
he is having a hard time coming to church. I called him on Sunday morning to
wake him up and after he hung up he went back to sleep and didn't wake up until
6:30 in the night LOL!
During the week, I realized that I share my testimony every day
with the people I come in contact with but I just don't share it enough with my
family. I'm still a young missionary but in my short time as a missionary I
have learned with all my heart that this is the work of the Lord and there is no
other place I'd rather be at this point in my life. Being in the Lord’s
vineyard has taught me so many things. One thing I know is that God has a plan
for every single one of us. He loves us and gives us trials in our lives so we
can learn and become better people. I know Jesus Christ lives and is directing
His church through a living prophet. We’re so lucky to live on the earth during
these last days with a living prophet as well as the fullness of the gospel
with the Book of Mormon. It's truly the truest book that we have on the earth
and it has the power to change lives like it has changed mine.
Enjoy
conference weekend!
Elder
Roderick
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