Jesús Vive!

Feliz Pascua!,                                                                                                              

Farewell to Elder Prestes

This week was pretty interesting. On Tuesday morning I said, “Bye” to my man, Elder Prestes and later that day, I received Elder Parker.  To be honest, it’s kind of nice to have a gringo companion again but my English had gotten pretty bad so we end up speaking in Spanish most of the time.  Elder Parker is a great guy and he has only eight weeks left in his mission so hopefully, I can learn a couple of things from his experience.

In all reality, this week was stressful because in addition to receiving a new companion, our ward received a pair of sister missionaries.  That meant that this week I had to show the area to three people.  We also had to split the area in half and that was kind of stressful for me because I have the most experience in the area so I did a lot of the directing and deciding. We had to make sure that the area where the sister will serve is the safest and all that jazz. Everyone wanted to give their input and there were a lot of factors to consider when we made the final split. Now that we have the area split, I did lose a good number of investigators because we gave them to the Hermanas but nonetheless, it’s fun to have them in our ward. The work here in 25 de Mayo is going pretty well so, it’s nice to have double the missionary force.

The Elders of 25 de Mayo

Overall, the work was a little slower this week because it was the first week of the transfer and we had a lot of other stuff to deal with but we were able to teach the Familia Sanchez again (Pedro’s family). We got them all together and again, we had an awesome lesson with the whole family.  They are really showing some major interest as a family and they’re just trying to take in everything at once.  The whole family was able to attend the “Open Chapel” we had last week and they had tons of questions about what they learned while they attended it.  Because they have practiced Catholicism for years, things like a living prophet are really new to them.  So, we were able to answer a lot of good questions as well as teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel.  We left them with Moroni’s promise and asked them to read the Book of Mormon as a family.  Then, when I was talking with the mom on Sunday, at church, she told me that she felt something in her chest like, “une sensación reconfortante” (a comforting feeling) that told her the things she read were true.  As I was listening to her and explaining to that what she was feeling was the Holy Ghost, I recognized that her feelings came from the power of sincere prayer.  God does answer our prayers! One of the best parts of teaching the Familia Sanchez is having Pedro right there to testify and help his family understand what we are teaching is true.  It’s basically like having another companion in the lesson with us and it’s amazing to see how much he has progressed in the last few month.

A chocolate egg purchased from a girl on the street

On Sunday, we had a pretty cool experience because we were able to give Victor the Aaronic Priesthood.  It was awesome to be in the circle and participate in his ordination.  Also, he told me that he set a goal to read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover. Now, we just need to get him to the temple!

Both Pedro and Victor are still making such great progress in the Church and they are both studs. As I was sitting on the stand, watching Pedro pass the sacrament in his fresh new suit and tie, it brought the biggest smile to my face.  They both have a lot to learn but it’s been amazing to see the changes they have made and the people they are becoming because of their membership in the Church.

Holy Friday street sign

It was pretty cool to be in Argentina this weekend to see how they celebrate Easter. Obviously, Argentina is predominantly Catholic and they have some pretty cool traditions.  The Friday before Easter is called, “Viernes Santo” of “Holy Friday” and most people don’t work and the whole town is quite because they don’t play music or have any loud noises.  It felt really strange to be out on the streets on Friday night without any noise.  On Sunday, we hit the streets and tried to find people with whom we could share the Easter initiative.  It was fun to just talk with people about how and why they celebrate Easter. It provided us with a perfect opportunity to share some of our beliefs and of course, to find more people to teach!

It was a solid week and  now it'a back to the grind!

Elder Roderick

                                                         Jesús Vive! John 3:16