Feliz Navidad

Hola!                                                                                                                

Wow! What a week! I had my first Christmas in the field and it was definitely one to remember!

We started this week with a zone conference with President and Hermana Goates and their assistants. We received tons of council and help from all of the leadership of the mission and I’m excited to put it into play. I have really learned to love President and Hermana Goates. Their love for the missionaries is truly something else! Of course, we also celebrated Christmas by eating a nice big feast and singing Christmas hymns. It was such a fun time.

We had a pretty tough week here in Salto because the summer has started and everyone is out of school and beginning to vacation and travel. Two of our awesome investigators left for a month and we struggled to find other people we’ve contacted. I don’t know if it’s luck or bad timing but we couldn’t find the same people we found last week. This was so frustrating and it resulted in a lot of knocking doors and riding our bikes to try and find people in new places that we thought haven’t been knocked. I have learned knocking doors and tracting is all about the attitude. If you have a bad attitude about it and don’t have a smile on your face, then no one is going to open their door for you. But it’s amazing what a smile and a good attitude can do.

Even with the frustrations of the week, this weekend was such a blast. It definitely wasn’t the same Christmas that I’m used to but it was still fun. Argentina goes pretty big for the holiday. They don’t exhibit their Christmas spirit the same way that Americas do with lights and decorations, but it was awesome. I was sitting in my bed at about 12 midnight, not being able to sleep, and there was a huge boom right at 12. I learned that everyone buys a ton of fireworks and they wait until midnight and then they go crazy. To be honest, it scared me sooo bad! I almost jumped out of my bed. 

On Sunday morning, I gave my first talk in the mission field! I think it went pretty well. When people are nodding their heads that means they can understand me. Right? I sure hope so. But this was actually a great experience. I noticed the Gift of Tongues and the Spirit guiding me throughout the whole thing it was really pretty cool. I have experienced the power of the Gift of Tongues and I have gained a testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost and especially His guidance while learning a language.

On Sunday afternoon, we met up with the zone leaders and we ate a huge asado with chicken, steak and potatoes. Oh man! When we had to walk back to the pench I thought I was going to die. Like Americans, Argentines go crazy with food on the holidays and I have eaten so much food over the last few days. I think I’m going to do a couple more sit-ups each morning. 

The best part of the week, of course, was talking to my family! Even with some internet and microphone problems, it was such a blessing to be able to see their faces and hear their voices again! Of course, it was impossible to not cry a little bit, but it made my week to talk with my family.

Even though this week was a little slow, it was still such a fun week and I will never forget my first Christmas in the mission field. 

I love you all so much and I´ll talk to you next year!

Elder Roderick

"Oh Little Town of Salto"

Christmas wishes come true for Elder Roderick 

Santa Claus is coming to town!                                                                      

This week I tried my best to get in the Christmas Spirit and it worked a bit better. We shared the Christmas Story with a couple of people and that helped me feel a little buzz of this great season. Salto isn’t the biggest city out there and there’s not the pretty lights on the houses but we are doing our best out here! I think one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the Santa on the Coke cans and at least we got those out here. Who needs the snow and Christmas trees when you have Santa on Coke cans?

This week was a much better week out here in the field for us. I don’t know if we just had better timing or maybe better luck, but it was a great week. We got back in touch with all of the homies! We are still working really hard with Daniel and Carla and we had some great lessons with them this week. I’m really trying to get Daniel up to speed with everything because Carla has been learning so much outside of the lessons, on her own. While in the lessons he always participates, has questions, and prays but we gotta get him to do more when we aren’t in the house! Carla is literally a “golden investigator” and we want the same for Daniel. So, let’s hope for the best!

Welcome to the little town of Salto de las Rosas

We were also able to get back in touch with our boy, Francisco, and we talked with him about obedience. Like most 17-year old kids he isn’t the most obedient but that is what we are here for, to help him along! The problem is that he lives with his grandma and uncle and he’s in the middle of some legal work to make his grandma his guardian. So, we are doing our best to work with them so he can be a member soon. We set some goals with him and our awesome member, Santiago, just got back from working in Valle Grande for a month so we’re praying he can help us with Francisco!

We were also able to find Alberto again.  He’s Daniel’s uncle and he’s a really hard person to find sometimes.  So, as soon as we heard he was in Daniel’s house, we jumped at the opportunity to teach him. This was the first time we had actually taught him alone. So, we tried to help him catch up with some of the things we have been teaching Daniel and Carla. He lives hecka far away so we are relying on Daniel and Carla to help him out as well. He always tells us how many problems he has in his life so I’m really hoping we can teach him more often and help him find more happiness and joy in this life!

Also, this week we were able to teach our man, Omar. The thing that is tough about Omar is that he works as a mechanic and never really has a fixed schedule. He’s good friends with everyone so, when someone has a problem with their car or moto they go to Omar. So, basically, we have been passing by his house every single day to see if he’s busy or not. He’s really receptive and has a couple of kids so when we taught him about the Plan of Salvation, he loved it. Most of the ideas and principles are really new to him so we are hoping for the best. Simplify and Intensify, Baby!

Lunch with Luis and his family

The best part of the week was our Sacrament Meeting. I’m not going to lie.  My first few weeks in the tiny Salto Sacrament Meetings were really rough. Adapting to the few members and just the style of Salto was pretty rough. But, the last two weeks have been awesome. This week after Sacrament Meeting, we had a little party to celebrate Christmas and it was soooo much fun. During a lunch appointment that we had this week we talked about how Salto is really small, of course, but at the same time we all know each other so well and we are like one big family. Of course, it’s not the most ideal ward, but it’s such a blessing as a missionary when we have an investigator like Carla who comes to church and the ward just takes her in, like a family. So, on Sunday when we had a big meal as a ward, it really felt like a big family dinner and I haven’t had one of those in a while so it was really fun. 

Well, it’s crazy to think that Christmas is this week! I’m hoping we can get in a couple more doors to share the story of Christmas or #ILUMINAELMUNDO. We’ve got to take advantage of this wonderful time of year!

I’m sure it will be weird to be on the other side of the Skype Camera on Christmas Day but I’m soooo pumped to talk to the fam! I just hope they can have some fun without me this year.

Enjoy the best week of the year and of course, never forget why we have this magical time of year. Jesus Christ truly is our light in this world. When we follow His perfect example, we are choosing the right!

“Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalice”

“I can do all things in Christ, who strengtheneth me!” Fil 4:13

FELIZ NAVIDAD BABY!!

Elder Roderick

Hola Elder Mena!

Familia,                                                                                                   

The most exciting part of my week was receiving a new companion! I said,

“Goodbye” to Elder Hyer on Tuesday and then later that afternoon I received Elder Mena. Elder Mena is 21-years old (Yes, the same age as my brother. That’s weird.) and he is from a small town in Southern Chile. Right now, in Salto, he is about six hours from his house. LOL! This means we are only speaking Spanish 24/7! I asked him how much English he knows and all he said was, “No mucho.” It’s definitely a challenge, but I love it. Chileans are known to talk really fast and the people in Salto have their own special way of speaking, so it has become a little more difficult to know what is going on all the time but, it’s a great challenge. Learning a language has been one of the most humbling things I have ever done. Nevertheless, I’m so excited to be with Elder Mena. He’s been in the mission for 21-months so I hope he can teach me a thing or two!

This week was actually really stressful for me. First, I was stressed and anxious about receiving a new companion and then, I was worried about being in charge of all of the plans and making sure we were doing something meaningful for every hour of the day. I shouldn’t have been as stressed as I was but showing Salto to a veteran missionary was not as easy as I hoped it to be. 

This week also felt like a short one because of the transfers and a of couple problems with the pench and our bikes. After five days without water I was finally able to find the root of the problem and go to town on a pipe. If you too are having water problems, just call Elder Roderick.

I wanted to “Open the Mouth” this week and use the Christmas initiative to find more people. The initiative is so awesome and I was hoping we could find people to share it with. To keep it simple, we didn’t have the success that I had envisioned. Instead, there were a lot of slammed doors and unhappy people. But, I am starting to enjoy just knocking doors and talking to everyone I can. I think that half of the time, those I approach don’t understand exactly what I am saying, but I’m having fun doing it. Also, Argentina had two very random holidays this week. I think one was to celebrate the tourists in the country?? So, I’m hoping the people were just trying to enjoy their holidays and not actually avoiding us.

Even so, holidays are hard on missionaries because during them everyone is doing whatever they want to celebrate. We had so many set appointments fall through! The people celebrate hard for a few days, and then on the following days they are hecka busy catching up on the work that they missed. Many times, I found us sitting outside an empty house without any idea what we were going to do next. This scenario is not exactly what I wanted to show Elder Mena for his first week with me but all we can do is maintain a positive attitude and keep working!

We have started to do a lot of work with the less active members to try and strengthen the ward and excite them for the Christmas season. This actually worked really well! The best part of the week for me was having 18 people attend church. This was the highest we’ve had during my time in Salto and so I was pumped. I was talking to Carla, our awesome investigator, after the church services and she said, “This is actually really fun!” Yes! I love it baby! 

Speaking of Carla and Daniel, our work with them has become frustrating because Carla is so ready for baptism. If we didn’t have the problem with the Law of Chastity and them not being married, her baptismal service would be next Friday, and then she would receive the Holy ghost on Christmas. Obviously, this a dream for me but we are still working really hard with them. We decided to set a date with them to make a decision about getting married, but right now they are still hesitant. They are soooo close!!

This week I read a talk from Uchtdorf and he basically talked about if we try to find the bad in people or situations, of course we are going to find bad things! No one is perfect! Instead, we need to always look for the good things in life! Especially as a missionary, I have learned how important attitude is. Days are tough and long sometimes but I love the grind!

Please keep Daniel and Carla in your prayers!!

I love you all so much! 

Elder Roderick

P.S. Please keep the Christmas spirit going as much as you can because it feels nothing like Christmas down here!