Monday, September 30, 2013

Baradero is very nice. The streets are clean, there are not very many dogs running around wild, and the whole city is altogether quite pleasant. It´s almost too perfect. There´s an airfield and some hangars at the edge of the city, the city is surrounded by fields, there´s a horse racing track, and there´s a dirt road that leads to a group of houses on the edge of a river.

We still have no investigators this week, but we´ll be having an activity with the branch to go over member missionary work. The most effective way to find prepared people is through members. The most effective way to fellowship investigators is through members. The most effective way to help people feel comfortable adapting to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is through members. Home and Visiting Teaching is crucially vital. Please do it. Without it, it is so easy for people, especially those who particularly need help, to fall into inactivity and feel lost for a very long time.

-Elder Damitz

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

It´s been raining off and on, which is really nice. I like the rain. But it creates mud, which I´m not very fond of. Not that it´s a problem, it´s just a nuisance and another thing to clean. I really like the cold and the rain here.

Elder Carvajal got very sick this week, but he was treated in the hospital and is doing better. The Church has contracts with three hospitals in this mission. One of them is Hospital Austral which if I saw correctly is ranked number 1 in the country. It is very new.

I got transferred today. I´m in Badadero. My companion is Elder Alder. He´s District Leader. I can´t seem to escape being companion to a District or Zone Leader. Every companion in the field has been either District or Zone Leader. It´s really odd being in a normal companionship with only two people in the apartment. That hasn't happened since Utah.

Badadero is even farther out into the campo and has much fewer people. I don´t think the train goes out this way. I think we are the second most farthest area in the mission. The next closest city is about an hour bike ride to the South. Badadero is a Branch, and we´re the counselors to the Elders Quorum, so we have a Manual 2 in the apartment. :D

We have no investigators right now.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Tomorrow completes 5 months in the mission.

Elder Jorquera gave me a tie and said to wear it to my first Zone Leader Council.

My letters have been a bit sparce, so I will try to write more.

I am currently in Presidente Derqui in Provincia. Provincia is more rural than the rest of the mission. We use the train to get out here and to other places farther than the city. It is a few hours from the mission home and the mission offices. The ward is Derqui and the Stake is Escobar. The ward is excellent. In the places I´ve been, each ward has it´s own building. There are dogs in the street everywhere.

Before the transfer, there was one area in Derqui, and Elder Carvajal and Elder Alfaro were the missionaries. Now there are five of us, Elder Alfaro is the companion of Elder Valerdi who is from Mexico, and Elder Jorquera and Elder Carvajal are the Zone Leaders and my companions. We split the area taking one side of the dead rails, "Derqui I", and the other elders have the other side, "Derqui II". The apartment is very dirty, but we´re working to clean it.

We have had three baptisms so far. One had a wedding a few hours before the baptism and was baptized with her sister who lives not too far away. We also baptized a brother who recieved the Aaronic Priesthood two weeks ago.

The more you work with the Gospel, the more you realize how logical it is, and how illogical all of the counterfeits are. I am thoroughly convinced of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. It´s teachings are pure and above the capacity of man to compare. It proves its divine origin and content by its appeal to those who are most humble, most pure in heart, and those who search dilligently in the Spirit to know the things of God. To deny the Book of Mormon would be to deny the tender mercies and wisdom of God.

-Elder Damitz

Monday, September 2, 2013

The socks from the missionary mall are very good. The other ones are falling apart, so I won´t have enough in a few months. If it isn´t too much trouble, sending more pairs of the missionary mall socks would be good.

We´re still trying to figure out what to name the Zone. I think it should be called Pilar.

We started teaching a family that lost a son just over a year ago. I´m the same age and have many of the same mannerisms as him. The mother said that the two sons look up to me because of that. They are very well prepared.

I forgot to write that I ate cow stomach a few weeks ago. It tasted very much like cow, but it had a consistency closer to liver, and had an undertaste of alfalfa.

The work is wonderful in this area. There are miracles every day.

Monday, August 26, 2013

We had a wedding and the baptism of two sisters right afterwards. The day after on Saturday we had another baptism. We have some more baptisms coming up on the 8th of September.

All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth.

Monday, August 19, 2013

I caught a cold. All is well though.

We had interviews with the Mission President this week.

Miracles happen every day here. It is remarkable to see the change and light in people´s faces as they embrace the Gospel. It is distinct and undeniable. Those who truly wish to follow Christ and all things that come from him recognize the veracity of the things we teach, and immediately feel the peace and the joy of His true and living doctrine.

Pictures coming soon.