Week 38~

Elder Knight shined my shoes- que capo!

This one is going to be a little bit shorter this week because I am trying to send a bunch of pictures, but pictures are worth a thousand words so I sent like 9000 words.. But this week was so great as always. We had another week of craziness. As leaders theres always something every day that happens that makes it so we don't get to just work all day in our area and visit all of the people we have planned, but it keeps things interesting so I love it! This week we did divisions with the assistants so I went to Rosario for a day and worked there with one of my best friends in the mission Elder Holloway. We lived together in my last area and became super good friends so it was super cool to be with him for the day in Rosario. I learned a bunch from him and after divisions were over I had one of those moments again in the mission where I thought,¨what am I doing?¨ I need to step my game up. I have found that that happens fairly often to me on the mission. I get to a certain point or a certain level and just start to feel comfortable and limit my progress a little bit, but then I get a wake up call and realize I have so much to improve on and so many things to change! And I had one of those moments this week, I started feeling really bad about myself and about all of the things I need to work on. But I remembered a scripture in 2nd Corinthians 7:10 that talks about Godly sorrow and how sometimes we have to feel that sorrowness to help us remember to repent, and ultimately it brings salvation. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to feel that desire to repent and be better. And there are lots of things that I am trying to do better so that I can help more of my brothers and sisters come unto Christ! This week we had interviews with President Zanni and he talked to Elder Knight and I together. He reminded us of how God is literally our Father, Jesus Christ is literally our brother and the Holy Ghost is also our Brother and all three of them are part of this great work that we are doing. We have the blessing of the Gift of the Holy Ghost which is truly the constant companionship of a God with us at all times. We have a Father that is willing to give us any blessing we ask if it be righteous and with faith. And we have a brother that knows exactly how we feel and is pleading to the Father for us when we do what he taught. President always reminds us of the importance of having faith and making goals remembering that its not just my companion and I working, but My companion, myself, and the Lord! I wish I could properly convey how awesome President Zanni is and how much he inspires me and how grateful for him I am, but its pretty hard to do. But I know that I am becoming such a better missionary than I was before, due in great part to his advice and inspiration. This week we have a baptism planned! Maria is the mom of a recent convert to the church named Nicolas who is such a stud! He is about to get his mission call. But we have been visiting maria since we got to the area and have had lots of very powerful experiences with her, we love her a lot and are super excited for this step of faith that she is making. Everything is going so great. I am so happy and so excited about the area that I am in and the people I have met here! Next week is transfers so hopefully I don't leave! I love Alma 37: 6-7 Its the little things we do day to day that lead to salvation. I know this is the only Church on the earth that has the Priesthood of God, the authority to baptize, to give the gift of the Holy Ghost, to seal families for the eternities in the Temple, to give blessings of health and comfort, and so many other blessings. I love Jesus Christ and all that he did and does for us. I love my Heavenly Father that blesses me so much more than I can ever deserve. And I love being a missionary and feeling the love that God has for His children in Argentina. I love you all, have a great week!

We found chips and Salsa in walmart.. yeah walmart is in my area

Week 37~

This week was so awesome! We saw so many miracles! So we started working in our new area last monday and immediately found lots of success in finding people to teach and finding members that could help us out and everything just seemed to go so perfectly. We visited less active members that we found in our area book and knocked on doors (or clapped at the doors because thats what we do here) and we called all of the phone numbers we could find and tried to do everything we could to get established right away in our area and it went so well. One family we visited is a part-member family, the moms name is Marisa and her boyfriend Martin and then her daughter Daniella and her son José- Martin is not a member of the church and the rest of the family hasn't gone for two years, but we visited them and right away felt a lot of confidence that we are going to see lots of progress and changes in their family. And this sunday they all came to church for the first time in two years and it was just so cool! They are super prepared and ready to make changes in their lives and we are just the lucky missionaries that get to see it happen. Another person we have in our new area is a woman named Maria and she is the mother of a new member named Nicolas who is a total stud. He got baptized like 10 months ago and is already waiting for his mission call to come. He goes out and visits people with us all the time and isnt afraid to share the gospel with anyone. But his mom is Maria and she has a date to be baptized very soon too so we are working super hard to get her prepared for that. Yesterday we taught about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was a lesson full of the Spirit. Maria really opened up to us and shared with us a lot of really hard things that have happened in her life, she has lost a lot of loved ones. We talked to her about the Plan of Salvation that Heavenly Father has put into effect so that we can have eternal happiness. At the end of the lesson I felt prompted to share with Maria something that our Mission Presidents wife said, ¨that we need to look for the people that have ancestors waiting to have their works done for them that they need for their salvation¨ or in other words, there are people in the spirit world that have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and all they are waiting for is that someone does the ordinances in the Temple for them. And we need to find their descendents. That came to my mind in this lesson and I felt like i needed to tell that to Maria. I told her that her family members are waiting for her to accept the gospel and then afterwards give them the chance to accept it as well. I told her that she was one of those people that we needed to find. We all felt the spirit testify so strongly in that moment and we know she felt it. She is going to be a great member of the church of Jesus Christ. Besides them we have found a lot of other great people and we are so excited about our new area. I know we are going to have success. I feel more excited about this work than I have ever been probably. We are still looking for a new apartment because right now we have to either walk an hour to our area or take a bus and that is getting expensive so we are on the hunt! This transfer is flying by. Time needs to slow down on the mish. But I am enjoying every moment of it, even the lame ones! I love you guys. I love the Lord. I love being a missionary and I wouldnt trade it for the world. The gospel is the way to happiness! Have a great week!

Week 36~

This week was so great! This week I went to Rosario for my first Leaders council with President Zanni and all of the zone leaders and it was so awesome. I love President Zanni. He is such an inspired man and he has so much love for the Lord. The faith he has really rubs off on everyone and he just tells us how it is. I was asked by President to give the spiritual thought at the start of the meeting and immediately a scripture came to my mind that I felt like I needed to share and it was D&C 58: 26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. 27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. 29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. 30 Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments? 31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled? I love that scripture. The Lord tells us that we should do good for our own free will and that we shouldn't have to wait to be commanded in all things and if we do so we will be blessed greatly. The Lord always completes his promises. I have come to learn on the mission that it really is that way. I know the Lord loves us and always keeps His promises. As missionaries we have such a short time to do this work and it is so dang important and we have to be agents unto ourselves and be anxiously engaged in this good cause. I am trying to take advantage of every moment in the mission! We also had our first zone meeting this past week and I got to give a talk or presentation.. I don't really know how to describe it in english.. But it went really well. I talked about Christ-like attributes and how it is completely necessary that we have trials and tribulations to become sanctified and really learn if we have the attributes of Christ. Isaiah 48:10 talks about that. Elder Knight and I are working super hard and having a bunch of great investigators and people that are progressing in the repentance progress and we can truly see a mighty change of heart that they are having! I love this work and I just wish there was more time every day to talk to everyone that lives in Santa Fe haha, but I am doing what I can. I know the Lord is happy with me for what I am doing, but I also know I still have so much room to grow and develop and be more obedient and be better. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth, restored by God through the prophet Joseph Smith. in the words of the Apostle, Jeffrey Holland, talking about the Book of Mormon, ¨No evil man could write such a book, and no good man could write it, unless he was inspired of God.¨ Love you all! Be good