¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

¡Familia!                                                                                                                 

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! 2017 truly was an unforgettable year. I spent a full year in Argentina, engaged in missionary work, just trying to help a few people come unto Christ. Yes, 2017 will not be forgotten.

In Argentina, New Year’s Eve is actually one of the biggest nights of the year. People literally go crazy all night long and into the next morning and at midnight there are the most amazing fireworks.  Legit, it felt like we were in a war zone when the fireworks went off. My companion and I spent the night with the Sisters and the ward mission leader’s family. We at empanadas and pizza until 11 and then at midnight we drank mate to welcome in the new year. We did all of this in our cozy pench while people were going crazy outside.

               During our proselyting this week, we took advantage of the new year by approaching people and explaining to them that our purpose is to help them make some minor changes in their lives so they can have a better relationship with God in 2018 and actually, our approach worked really well. By grabbing people’s attention, we were able to enter into a lot more homes and teach. We shared the story of Alma the Younger to show people the example of someone who changes and is born again. The new year also provided us with an opportunity to talk with all of the members and our investigators about their goals and resolutions for 2018.  We were able to help them make goals such as going to the temple and creating daily habits of prayer and scripture study. 2018 is going to be a year to remember!

A few weeks ago, while we were sharing the Christmas initiative with people, we met Christina. Christina told us that the only reason she opened the door for us was that when she saw us, we reminded her of her son who had died in an accident a few years ago. She also told us about her daughter-in-law who is very sick in the hospital and needs our help. Due to Christina’s circumstances, we were able to gain her confidence very quickly.  With her, we shared a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and it truly was one of the most spiritual lessons I’ve participated in. The best part about teaching Christina is that she always has family members in her house.  So, when we teach her, there are always about ten people present and it’s a blast! I’m excited to see the progress Christina can make this year.

On Sunday, Matias and Dalma were able to come to church and it was awesome.  They stayed for all three hours and they said they had an awesome experience. They made some new friends and when we showed them the baptismal font, Matias wanted to get dunked right then! They are progressing so well and we always have the greatest lessons with them.  We are just waiting for that “ring on the finger” and then they’ll be baptized right away!

I hope that everyone has their goals set for 2018 and that all of your wishes come true!  My “Black Year” has officially ended and I can say that I’ll sleep in my own bed in 2018. Haha!

Have a great week! 

Elder Roderick

And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all

nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God,

changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being

redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures;

 and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Mosiah 27: 25-26

A White Christmas

¡Hola!                                                                                                                

Another 6 weeks has passed by which means we had transfers again but nothing changed here in San Luis!  I’ll be here with Elder Hobbs for another 6 weeks and I’m way pumped about it!  We just wrapped up one of the best transfers I’ve had, so we’re excited to have 6 more weeks together.

            So, it’s summer here in Argentina and in San Luis the weather is even more bi-polar than it is at home in Utah.  On Saturday, the heat got up to 48 Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) and legit, it was like an oven outside.  We were dying of heat and humidity then, out of nowhere, a storm came and it started to hail!  It was still 85° outside and it was hailing. It was whack! But, it’s safe to say we won’t be having a weather determined “White Christmas” so we compromised and had some baptisms instead.  Our white clothing made for an awesome “White Christmas!” Haha!

Elder Hobbs, Miguel, Elder Roderick & Augustin 

            On Saturday, Miguel was baptized! It was such a beautiful service and the happiest person there was his son, Augustin! Elder Hobbs baptized him, I gave a talk at the service and everything worked out so well.  Then, on Sunday, the bishop gave Miguel the Holy Ghost and he was presented to the ward as our newest member.  He was welcomed in with open arms!  It was a very special weekend.

            On Friday night, we invited all of the youth and their parents to a little park in the area and we basically went Christmas caroling by singing Christmas hymns to all of the people in the park.  We tried to form a crowd, but that didn’t work out too well so we just walked around to each table and sang to all of the families who were there.  We had the youth run around and pass out “Ilumina El Mundo” cards and those who had smart phones, shared the video. It was a great time and a ton of people were grateful to hear our message that night.

            We had a couple of great lessons with Matias and Dalma this week. We talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation, Family History and Temple work.  These topics were just what they needed to hear about because Matias has already been looking for his ancestors and when we told him the Church has the best technology for genealogy work, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree!  We are excited for them and we hope they will be our next investigators who will take a swim in the waters of baptism!

            We also found another couple, Carlos and Carolina, who are old investigators.  Carlos is actually a less active member who travels on the weekends to see his kids.  They live in another city with their mother, who he divorced a while ago.  Now he is with Carolina and they are such homies.  Carolina was about to get baptized, but she couldn’t because she and Carlos weren’t married and he was having trouble with his divorce papers.  Now, however, they aren’t going to be living together because Carlos is moving near his kids and they’ve decided not to live together until they’re married.  So, this situation makes it possible for us to baptize Carolina in a few weeks.  They told us about this whole deal on Friday and it was such an awesome Christmas gift.  Haha!

            I was talking with my companion about Christmas and how it’s so different in the mission field.  It’s really different but it’s also so special because we don’t receive many gifts (apparently, Santa doesn’t visit missionaries) and we aren’t with our families but we are giving the best gift and that is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I’m so excited for this next week because we’re getting ready for Christmas by having a party or event literally every night.

Elder Roderick    #HabráLugarEnTuCasa? 

“You Just Got to Have Faith, Brother”

¡Familia!                                                                                                              

Here in San Luis, we have what is called “Merendero” which translates to “afternoon snack.”  Merendero is provided by the government for the children on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. There is a designated house in every neighborhood which receives the food and hands it out to the children. So, since the missionaries are still technically “children,” we tried to get on the list for a free afternoon snack, but it didn’t work. So, we talked to the people who are in charge of the Merendero and they made us “exceptions” to the rule. Haha! So, now in almost every neighborhood we work in, we get a free afternoon snack on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The “two lost Gringos” are really making their way up in San Luis!

The BIG event that happened this week is that we traveled to San Juan for a capacitación (training) from Alan Packer, the son of Apostle Boyd K. Packer. Elder Packer is a 70 from the Area and it was a great experience to be with one of the Church leaders and just feel the spirit that he carries with him. We received capacitación from Elder Packer, his wife and President and Sister Panzacchi for the entire day.  We talked about the faith that is necessary in missionary work. We also talked about the importance of the Holy Ghost as our third companion in the companionship and what we can do to have this gift with us all the time.  Then, Elder Packer gave us some tips about how to teach so our investigators understand our message and the doctrine.  We received a lot of helpful instruction in a short amount of time, which made my head feel like it was exploding but it was a great experience to be with one the inspired leaders of our church. Due to our travels, I also got to sleep in my old pench in Krause and I was able to hook up with some homies in my last area.

Our travels also made our work week in San Luis shorter than usual. Even so, we are seeing some great progress with Matias and Dalma, who are the children of a less active member of our ward.  Our lessons with them are so great because they are very interested in our message. When Dalma was younger, she studied the Bible with the Jehova’s Witnesses so she has a lot of knowledge about their point of view. We met them because they asked us for a blessing because Matias quit his job because he is troubled by depression.  So, now they are trying to get everything back in order in their lives and gain a better relationship with God. Dalma also knows a little bit of English so it’s always fun to chat with her in English.  Our lessons are so spiritual and it just seems like they have been prepared for our message!

On Sunday, during our Gospel Principles class, two things happened. First, one of the investigators asked us what our life is like as missionaries and wanted to know how it is possible that we have the Spirit with us, a smile on our faces and such a powerful presence. For some reason, everyone looked at me to answer.  So, I answered by talking about all of the blessings we receive as missionaries.  I also talked about the power of prayer.  As missionaries, we pray a ton and I have no doubt that prayer helps us have such a powerful and special presence.  This experience has made me appreciate how cool it is that people can actually feel the Spirit when we are around.

Next, during the class, Juan, our recent convert, talked about all of the changes he’s made and he told us that his friends have noticed that he is truly different.  Early in our relationship with him, we had a cool experience that shows how he is an influence and example to his friends.  Once when we were having a lesson with him at his home, one of his friends came by.  The friend asked Juan if he had to pay for our lessons and Juan humbly responded, “No, you just gotta have faith, Brother.” Juan’s friends have noticed his change and they want to be more like him. I love Juan’s phrase and I am so excited to see the progress that Juan will make.

 

Have a great week! All my love,

Elder Roderick    

#ILUMINAELMUNDO