Amazing-ness

Pretty much am happy at this moment. Happy with where my Heavenly Father has taken me. But like my pal Elder Holland said, He is more interested in seeing, with His help, where I am willing to go. (go to heading, "The Best Is Yet to Be")

We had leadership council this last week at President Ayre's house and a man named Dan Clark talked to all the missionaries. He is a big time spokesperson that gets paid the big bucks to give motivational speeches to NFL, NBA, teams and even talks to the troops in Iraq (or wherever they are now). President Ayre served with him before in the Church and so they are friends and was able to pull some strings so he could talk to us through Skype. It was amazing. I was definitely motivated. Haha. He talked about the importance of Covenants and overcoming ourselves! I liked something he said. We as missionaries have to improve every day. Each person is the sum of the 5 people they associate with the most. So it's our natural desire to be surrounded with great people, right? When we teach and work with investigators, we need to use that. If we are enthusiastic, passionate, hardworking, and fun, they will automatically have that desire for us to return. They will say, ¨I like myself best when I´m with you, I want to see you tomorrow¨. He also talked about the phrase, ¨there are no ¨I´s¨ in team¨. He basically said that saying is bogus. That every player on the team has to commit to winning. Commit to contributing! That is a very personal and private commitment. The team that wins is full of ¨I¨ players. ¨There are 2 i´s in winning¨.

So there was a ton of stuff he talked about, but those are the things that come to my mind at the moment. This week was a bit more trying for us this week. We have dropped quite a few investigators with faith, which has been hard for me, especially when you get attached to those investigators so quickly.

GOOD NEWS: Haha, Julian went to the temple this last Thursday and when we went to visit him, his mom said, ¨What happens in the temple? My son has come home completely different. A Young Man¨. What a stud. He has been studying the scriptures non-stop and got a patch of the temple he sewed on his backpack. So awesome. And Francisco received the Priesthood this last Sunday too! :) So the converts are doing great! Now we just need to go and get more!

OH! We also did divisions this last week. I stayed and brought Elder Neciosup from Peru to my area. It was a good division and we learned a lot from each other. Sometimes I forget my oldness until I´m with a youngin in the mission.

Today we are going to go and play pool with our convert Nazareno and then go eat Cheeseburgers. YES! The P in P-day stands for Paradise. Oh, and just wanted to sign off with the lyrics of a song...

¨EVERYDAY I SEE MY DREAM!¨

Dan Clark

It's "Colding"

This week has been a bit more on the chillier side of things, which uh... well... ¨I´m not happy Bob... NOT. HAPPY!¨  Haha, but nah it hasn´t been too bad. But now everyone is staying inside which isn´t very cool. BUT! It has been a good week. We worked hard and tried to make things interesting. :) Today we already played soccer as a zone and I totally made a ton of goals. Y´all should have seen it... I was Messi reborn... ;)

We did 2 divisions this week. The first was with the Elders from Jose C. Paz 1. I stayed in my area with Elder Jennings from Brigham City, Utah. He is a tranky Elder. It was suuuper weird being with a fellow American after soooooo long. It was almost uncomfortable walking the streets because two tall rubios walking around calls lots of stares. But, oh well. It was fun and we learned lots from each other. Later in the week, we did divisions with the other Elders from our branch. I went to Elder Nureñas area and did a baptismal interview while I was there. I love doing interviews because I feel lots of trust from Heavenly Father. So that made for an interesting week.

The family that we found is doing good, but got to church late, so it didn´t count as assistance. Darn it all! Haha. Oh well, one more week to learn more and get more prepared. Andrea's friend was in the hospital in bad shape so she couldn´t make it either, but some other investigators made it so we are hoping that this weekend we can have a baptism! We are praying a full for miracles! I don´t think God ever gets tired of working miracles amongst his children. :) Other than that, we are trying to find those elect ready to hear the restored gospel! The Good News!

The other day I was able to do some good soul searching from a super simple question. My companion asked me what was the most valuable thing I have learned or gained from my mission so far. At first, I was kinda stunned from the question, but then realized it really wasn´t too complicated. I told him, ¨Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement.¨ I truly do Believe in Jesus Christ. I know that he is there and knows us. I have discovered my identity as a son of God and the important bond that has to be had between Christ and us. There is something deep inside me, not of flesh or bone, that tells me it's all true. That He is my older Brother. My king! He has rescued me from some pretty bad situations in my life and am just... Grateful. Happy. Through faith I have learned lots of things. It all starts with faith! And I trust fully and truly in Christ. Anyways, I still have a ways to go, but that stuck out to me this week.

The Church is true! Oh, and Julian (my convert) received the priesthood and Julian, Gastón, and Francisco (my converts) are going to the temple this week! That's waaaaaaayy satisfying as a missionary. :D

Livin´ the dream!

¨All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us¨

The soccer game between The Netherlands and Argentina!

The sunrise today from our window

Challenges are opportunities in Disguise!

G´day Yáll!

It's a pretty nice down down here in Buenos Aires! Nice enough to walk around in short sleeve shirt! ¨If this is torture, chain me to the wall!¨ We had a week FULL of hard work and prayer! So let's goooooo!!!!!!

So firstly, we had our transfers in the middle of the week and the new missionary in the branch is from Brasil. So my streak of being the only Yankee in the branch still holds 3 transfers strong! We started to work this last week with a lot of things we wanted to change in mind for this new transfer together. I´m still in awe that the Lord gives us so many miracles!

We found a family through our convert family, Family Benitez. They introduced us to the mom and her kids and her sister. Not all the kids came to church, but the mom (Cecilia) and her sister (Noelia) came to church with her kid. So we are excited to work with them. Finding the Benitez family was not an accident!

Another day we had set aside a few hours to contact some Ancient Investigators and Less Actives in a part of an area that I was not familiar with. But that's okay cuz I got my handy dandy MAP with me, right? WRONG! Haha, I forgot it. At first I was like ¨Welp... I guess we just keep on keeping on and see what we can do¨. We walked and the less actives we found didn´t want to talk. There was just one last house we were looking for, but just couldn´t find it! So we saw a lady outside and we went up and asked her where the house was, which is basically just an excuse to share the gospel. So it turns out her sister was baptized and she had assisted the church a few times! That was Friday, and she came to church! Had we not forgotten the map we never would have gotten lost in that part of the area and found Andrea! The Lord is in everything! The righteous need not fear, as Brody says.

On Sunday, we got to church and Nazareno (our convert) was up at the sacrament table! It was the best to see him bless the sacrament! And Jonny, who got married to Sabrina (our convert) is going to receive the priesthood. They are planning on being sealed in the temple for time and all eternity in MAY of next year! SWEEEEEEETTTT!!!!! Things are good.

My time here in Vucetich has taught me a lot. But one thing is sticking out and I think it´s something Heavenly Father wants me to know... He is a God of Miracles!

Livin´ the Dream!

At Rosana's Home

Courage!

So I couldn't think of a good title and courage came to my mind. Don't know why, but I think courage is important. We fall to pick ourselves up again and that takes a lot of valor!

Anyways, my week was full of craziness. Firstly, we were given the opportunity to see the Semi-finals of the World Cup between Argentina and Holanda! (The Netherlands, right?). Boy was it crazy! I have to say, seeing a sports game like that got my blood going again like old times. Haha, Holanda was playing pretty dirty! BUT WE WON! It was crazy! The bus that finally passed went at like 10 miles an hour because there was tons of people on the streets hitting the bus and stuff like that. I loved it! Haha! However, we weren't allowed to see the Germany vs. Argentina game. Haha, it´s not like I´m a gringo that looks like a German to these people or anything. Ha! So we stayed inside from 4 until the end of the day. Ha! It was strange because everyone at the end of the game set off all their fireworks and stuff as if they won anyways. They were all content to get so far! An awesome memory of the mission.

Sunday was cool for me. All my converts were there and I felt like a million bucks! We were also able to have the baptism of the Benitez family! I confirmed Dora and Julian so that was sweet. The priesthood is REAL!

Laura is still having complications and has decided to do the baptism after the birth. I am down with that! As long as she takes that super important step. We had some other investigators come out of nowhere to teach and we are pretty excited for that. I´ll give you more details about them next week if they progress. :)

When we were on mini ¨house arrest¨ we watched "On the Errand of the Lord" (I think it's called) about the life of President Monson. Something that really stuck with me is what he said in the end, ¨I want the Lord to know that if he needs an errand ran, Tom Monson will run that errand for him.¨ He is suuuuper dedicated and loyal to the promptings of the spirit, and that makes him such a powerful Apostle of the Lord. That has been my main focus since then - to act immediately when those thoughts come into my head and heart! It has been harder than I thought, just having inner battles with the natural man, but it has really helped mold me in just a few days! Y´all should try it!

Believe in your dreams! Believe in God and in Yourself!

Loves

Gastón, Julian, Francisco, Jorge, Gabriel & Dora

When I baptized Dora she came up and yelled to everybody,
¨70 years old and the first time dunked under water!¨
hahaha! I loved it!

Typical

GOOOOAL!!!!

AHA! It has been a fun filled week this week. I am super thankful for where I am and what The Lord has given me the opportunity to do. Help others come unto Christ. IN ARGENTINA! VAMOS!

So first of all we, as a mission, were able to get together in the school of presidents kids, and on a big screen watch the Soccer game between Argentina and Switzerland! It was soooo RAD! Haha. Everybody was screaming when Argentina made the goal. I was super happy. I got to see all my friends, like my best bud and son, E l d e r  G i n e s. He is a stud. I also got to catch up with Bywater and Engebretsen and, well, everybody. I think that was better than seeing the game. And guess what! President gave us permission to see the Semi Finals between Argentina and Holland this Wednesday if it's in the house of a member. We called up the Chupitea family without delay! Haha, love that family. So it's fun to watch games and know you are still obedient. Haha.

OH! So I got a cool experience... A Miracle! So this last week we were preparing a baptism for Dora and her 5 grand kids, right? Well, the daughter of Dora is called Laura and she wants to be baptized too, but is suuuuper pregnant and it's hard for her to get around. On Saturday, me and  E l d e r  N u r e ñ a (a district leader in our zone) went to do the baptismal interviews for the 6, but Dora came out and said, ¨Laura is feeling terrible and won't be able to make it to the baptism tomorrow; can we change the baptism for next week?¨ Well shoot, Satan is at it again, right? Wrong! Haha. We said we wanted to see her and offer her a priesthood blessing of health. We went in, taught her a little bit about the power of the priesthood and faith and then we started. I gave her the blessing. In the blessing I felt super confident in some promptings and so I said, ¨Laura, if you have faith, you will be healed today to see the baptism of your family tomorrow¨. I was like... Oh, man. I hope she has faith! And afterwards, she said, ¨I´m feeling better already!¨ So we had the interviews and Get. This. SHE WALKED to church the next day. GOD IS AWESOME! And so we were able to have a baptism of 6 yesterday! Haha. I was able to baptize Dora, Gastón, Gabriel and Jorge. When I baptized Dora she came up and yelled to everybody, ¨70 years old and the first time dunked under water!¨ hahaha! I loved it! It was an awesome baptism.

Nazareno was also confirmed yesterday and was interviewed to receive the Priesthood! He also went with us to the farewell of missionaries in San Fernando. Haha. It was a blast all the way there. He is already thinking about a mission. Meeting him was a huge miracle!

We are hoping that Laura will be able to get baptized this Sunday, but with her pregnancy, it will be a test! But like my buddy Elder Holland has said, ¨Salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation was never easy!¨

Anyways, we are living the dream. Yesterday at the Farewells, I saw one of the sisters that started the mission with me up on the stand giving her farewell! NOOOO!!! Haha, I am super scared for the end. Y bueno.

I love this work.

Nazareno at his baptism. He is on the right

Dora, Gastón, Julian, Francisco, Jorge and Gabriel

This was the earring Julian had in his ear.
He took it out a week before his baptism and
then gave it to me the day before his baptism. :)

So you know the Obelisk in Argentina.
Well if you zoom in behind me you can see it.
We passed by here the other day
on our way to the dentist for my comp. :) 

Gettin ready for P day!

 The whole mission watch the soccer game

Argentina vs. Switzerland

at the school of President Ayre's sons 

an international school in Vicente Lopez