Great Scott!

So.... this week was unbelievable! But hey ho, let's go USA! Down with Belgium, right? ;) We will see. Now for the week!

Well... What can I say. Luciana was all good, but then one of the witnesses that was registered for her wedding was jumped and put in the hospital the day before with broken fingers and ribs. So that was a bummer. We will see...I´m not sure what they want to do, but we are gonna leave them be for a bit.

As for Nazareno, everything went great! As we started meeting with him, we found that he was SUPER prepared. He has a super deep understanding of Repentance, which I was pretty surprised about. The baptism was yesterday and it was pretty sick! His buddy is in our branch and was the one who baptized him. Afterwards, I asked him how he felt and he said with a big smile, ¨De Diez!¨ (of Ten!). It's awesome moments like that that makes all the fighting and giving it your all worthwhile.

This weekend Dora, Gastón, Julian, Francisco, Jorge, and Gabriel are preparing for their baptism. YEAH! The mom was having some complications with her pregnancy, so she stayed home, but she wants to come and be baptized. Maybe just a little bit more down the road. :) So we are reaaaaallly looking forward to this weekend and the baptisms. Let's pray they get there!

The other two boys, Ezequiel and Walter, were good, but the mom is a little... welll... yeah, she said they can't get baptized, but is down for us to teach them. We will see about that!!! haha.

Now we just need to keep finding the prepared and elect while helping those who are already going to get baptized. It's nice to be busy. :)

Today we went to Downtown again to get a dental bill paid for my companion. So we took advantage for a second and took some pics. But the darned computers aren't getting my pics. Oh well. Lots for the next week.

It has been a sick week! We have really been learning how to take challenges and difficulties as ways to grow. It's making a lot more sense to me now. Things will happen, but it's all on you. It depends on you if you are upset or happy. Well, a baptism fell through. But a baptism falling through and being angry is ten times worse! Make plans to do better and move on with your head held high! Be the one that acts and not be acted upon. Our bishop talked about being Autosufficient and seriously, if there is one thing that I will be grateful for learning on my mission, is how to be autosufficient. It's a godlike attribute that blesses us Spiritually, as well as Temporally. If we learn how to master and wield our personal independence, we will find GREAT happiness.

Loves!!!

Tuesday, July 1 Games

   Argentina     vs     Switzerland   

   United States     vs     Belgium   

If  BOTH Argentina & USA win,

they will play each other next Saturday, July 5.

Aguante USA

Click on Blue Links

I feel super grateful that my team is still alive in the World Cup. Cough Cough, Jaime (*see footnote). It was a pretty crazy scene when Argentina played Iran because... it was a close game. Against IRAN! Haha, cupcake anybody? As Forrester has converted me to saying, USA FOR THE WIN!

It was a super crazy week this last week. One of the most trial-filled weeks of my mission but with some of the craziest, miracle filled endings of the week I have had! So let's go!

Luciana told us Monday night that they changed their matrimony for the 27th, so that was a bummer. Our baptism fell through. But she is getting baptized
si o si this Saturday. WOO! So that is pretty awesome. With all the crazy things going on with appointments falling through and my companion being sick and all, we kept a smile on and took fun videos to keep our spirits up.

We were walking on Thursday and we said Hi to an old lady with her granddaughter and she said Hi back AND smiled. Well, people here don't smile at you unless it's a teenage girl, haha, so that was the first sign that we should talk to her, but we kept walking. Then my right foot turned to lead and I knew that was God telling me I had to turn around. So I made a 180 and started talking to her. We got her direction and gave her a pamphlet. The next day we pass by and find a family of 9! A Grandma (Dora), her daughter (Laura), and her 7 kids, 5 of which are baptism age! And they all came to church!  MIRACLE!

As we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, a young man was seated behind me, but I had never seen him beforehand. So I said hi and introduced myself. Afterwards, while I was introducing the big family to people, this youth told my comp that he was attending in another ward, but his Bishop told him to attend in the ward in which he lived, and so he did that, and that he wants to be baptized! His name is Nazareno and he will be baptized this Saturday with Luciana! :D  MIRACLE 2!

Then some members told us that they had been taking the 2 kids of their neighbor to church all the time and that just recently the mom gave them permission to learn from us missionaries and get baptized! MIRACLE 3!!! Are you kidding me? God is so good. Haha. It's like we didn't even do anything! WE just buckled down for the trials to break through to the triumph!

Belén kinda disappeared this week. And Fede. But we will see what time brings. We are pumped to see what the week brings.

And I just want to say that Forgiveness is real. The Lord wants to forgive us. We are loved. And when we humble ourselves, are honest with ourselves and God, and just take that initiative, God has mercy on us. I know because I have experienced it. Especially this week.

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!

* Jaime was a foreign exchange student who graduated from high school with 
E l d e r  H a n k i n s.  They were best friends. Jaime returned to his home in Spain to go to college. Spain won the last World Cup, coming to Brazil this year as the defending world champions. However, in their first game on June 13, Spain lost to the Netherlands 1 to 5. Then on June 18, Spain lost to Chile 0 to 2. Spain is out.  Hence the personal tease, "Cough Cough, Jaime."

E l d e r   H a n k i n s  &  J a i m e
Senior Prom

  Argentina  1 to 0  Iran  

June 21

Click to Enlarge

Argentine Team

Messi's Incredible Winning Goal

Argentina vs Iran Commentary

Previous Match

  Argentina  2 to 1  Bosnia  

June 15

Next Match
  Argentina  vs. Nigeria  

Wednesday, June 25, 10am
Beira-Rio Stadium
Porto Alegre, Brazil

Happy Fathers Day! :)

Click on Blue Links

So just saying, I have been blessed. Wanted to give a good shout out to all Daddies out there. I know that my Heavenly Father blessed me with Goodly Parents. Go Dads!

It has been a pretty wild ride this week. So let's get going...

We had a zone conference with another zone, the Assistants, and President Ayre. It was super sweet. It was a really inspired capacitación and I felt really strongly on some ideas that I need to apply. President shared a story about how he was in college and studied bungee jumping for 3 days and then after learning everything from the bungee jumping business, well... he JUMPED! He showed us the video and everything. He likened that to us here in the mission and in life. We need to study and be diligent in preparation, but then we have to JUMP! There is no point in just doing the first part. I have been trying to apply that in my week and life now. Analyze and observe things, plan things out, and Jump! Just Do It! Haha.

So right after that, we went on divisions with the Assistants to the President. That was a first. Haha. I went with  E l d e r  V a l e r d i  who is brand spankin new, to his area in San Fernando. It was good and I learned a lot from him. And we were in a car the whole day going from appointment to appointment. They got it good. haha. Poor  E l d e r  V i d a l  was left in my area with little to no knowledge on what bus to take and where to go (he only has like 2 weeks in our big area), but they had success as well.

On Sunday, we had a Stake Conference, And Elder Viñas from the Quorum of the Seventy came to talk to us. He talked a lot about families and the importance of the Sacrament. I really liked it. That if we don't participate, we are more... shoot... what is the word in English... haha... more vulnerable, there we go! More vulnerable to the temptations of sin. I really liked it. The Holy Ghost is a super power! It helps us. We should look to the sacrament as a sacred, saving opportunity for us. :)

And Luciana! She is getting married this week on the 19th of June! OH YEAH! They are so amazing, I love seeing them and she and her future husband are making strides! She will be baptized on the 21st, this Saturday. It was a bit of a bummer that her little sister, Pepo, wasn't able to make it to church, but we met up with her again after and she is stoked for her baptism on the 29th of this month! Nice. We have been meeting lots of people and there is a lot of potential. We brought a family to church, a mom, and her 5 kids (her boyfriend works Sundays), so that was cool. We will see if we can't get them married too and baptize the kids while we wait... haha. We will see. It has been fun though. I was a bit bummed with Fede. He has come to church twice, but he just doesn't have that desire... Pray that he will feel it and take the initiative to be baptized by WATER AND FIRE! Muahahaha!

Other than that, it has been a chill week. My comp is doing well. OH! Today he had to renew his Chilean stuff, so we are here in Retiro still. I was able to enjoy big buildings again. I didn't realize how much I missed it till i got here. So we took advantage of the day and bought some Argentina and other jerseys. So yeah, really good day. When we get done here, we will hop on the train for an hour and 15 to Jose C. Paz to work again! A TRABAJAR! OH!

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot about the WORLD CUP! It is so crazy here. All day yesterday, people were putting all their bells and horns and whistles to full blast. And they weren't even playing yet! Haha! And when the game started? Silence... Pure silence... haha! But we knew when Argentina made goals because the whole neighborhood would blow up. Like seriously, screaming and everyone throwing fireworks and stuff. It's as if we won the whole thing or something. But it was tons of fun. I was singing Ayyyy Vamos Argentina! All day yesterday. Haha. Now let's see if USA can't sneak a win today versus Ghana. Haha. Doubt it. :)

Livin´ The Dream!

Our Area
It's waaaay bigger than it looks.
Okay, for an area in our mission. :)

H a n k i n s   y   V i d a l
foto con Chuchula 2
compliments of Belen

E l d e r s  V i d a l   y   H a n k i n s
compliments of Luciana

Linea San Martin

Retiro to Jose C. Paz

Making Dreams Come True!

So yeah... I know it's kinda like my jam, but... I´m living the dream! It has been a really productive week and we are working our hardest while laughing tons!
E l d e r  V i d a l  is a workhorse, but an even bigger goof. Haha. I realized that he is just like my best bud Mike Dialogue. So it's like I´m working with my buddy and it's pretty awesome. We have like all the same music interests and hobbies and stuff. It's crazy. Like... it's just a super inspired companionship is all I can say.

We had some fun experiences this week. As we worked with Luciana who will be baptized on the 21st of this month, she gave us a referral to her sister who lived a couple blocks away. Her name is Belén. She is super awesome and she accepted everything. She came to church and will be baptized the same weekend as her sister! Super awesome! She even brought a friend to church and he is investigating as well. All because of one person. I love it. The family is doing really well too. It's fun to see the change in a family that applies the atonement in their lives.

I´m having a blast working with our Elders as well. I feel like we are really bonding with the Elders in our zone. Sometimes I stop and think of what Elder Tippetts would do. Haha. I feel super blessed to have been led by him.

 I really am so happy to have the chance to talk to My God everyday in every moment. He is my Father. I know that He is there for us. That He is involved in every little detail of our life. I know that He talks to us in so many ways. Seeing the stars at night and working and meeting all of these wonderful people confirms my faith. There is a great creator. I know that He is there.

The Book of Mormon was saved for our day. When Moroni put it all together, he had a ton of material he could have chosen to put in the book, but he was led by our Father to put in those things that would most help us in this day and age.

You guys are all so awesome. Thank you for all the loves and prayers sent my way.

Oh, and The World Cup is gonna be HUGE! Haha, Vamos Argentina! ;)

Loves!

Proud Elder in a River Jersey

River Plate

Argentine National Champions
See Group F below

Vamos Argentina!

2014 Soccor World Cup

Host - Brazil

Team Brackets / Schedule

Argentina Group F Matches

 Argentina  vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina 
Sun, Jun 15, 4pm

 Argentina  vs. Iran 
Sat, Jun 21, 4pm

 Argentina  vs. Nigeria 
Wed, Jun 25, 10am

Participating Nations

Previous Winners

Animo!

It was a really good week for us! We started finding lots of new people and have a ton of possibilities that we are hoping will turn into miracles. But we are the ones that make it happen! Let's go!

We had transfers today and once again, I have a new companion. Haha, I basically have a new one every transfer. My new companion is
E l d e r  G a r e t h  V i d a l  from Viña del Mar, Chile. Yes! 2 straight transfers with Latin companions! They are always tons of fun. We have been having tons of fun already and surprisingly have found tons in common already. He has the nickname of ¨Ammon¨ for how much he baptizes. Haha, super stoked!

This week we focused a lot on finding new people. Our investigator, Luciana, who is getting married the 19th and baptized the 20th, threw a party for her daughter and we totally took advantage. We found lots of new people to teach just bouncing between conversations bringing up the church and stuff. It's effective. So... Invite the missionaries to your parties! Haha!

We also had leadership council in the house of the President and we felt the Spirit super strong. I think the mission is going to explode this transfer! Lots of young, but excited leadership. That's all ya need right? ANIMO! I feel really excited.

I love the Lord. Our Master. I'm coming to know Him, not only as my teacher, but also as my friend. I feel like He is always there for me. And there is no other friend more loyal and loving than my Savior! Just so y'all know. And I am totally down to share! Dive into the scriptures and let's all be friends!

Loves!

E l d e r   V i d a l   a n d   I

Haha, And Espinoza.
I felt like a giant with him. Now... not so much. Ha!
My apologies for his duck face. Unacceptable.

Luciana and her family
( Luciana has the baby in her arms )

The zone last transfer!

The temple last week in the morning