Monday, June 16, 2014

This week we had the lowest number of lessons taught since I've been here. We've lost all of the few investigators we've had. Even still the week went well and we've been working with a number of less-actives, and we've found a few new less-actives.

We helped our ward mission leader clear up a property of theirs. We found a dead animal in a plastic bag, so we buried it.

We had stake conference this weekend, and Elder Viñas of the First Quorum of the Seventy came. Saturday night we had a session with the leaders of all the wards and the missionaries. There were about 5 questions that were openly discussed by those who were there. At one point he stopped and said, "Bishops, how many of your wards are holding ward council?" No one raised their hand. He then said that the Spirit had told him that that was the case, and that is why he asked. Pres. Ayre spoke in that session and in the general session on Sunday. The themes were very focused on missionary work. He also said that we really shouldn't do things if we don't feel it. If we pay tithing out of an obligation to keep a temple recommend, we're not doing it right. If we do missionary work out of an obligation to the Church of the missionaries, we're not doing it right. He then referred us to Moroni 7.

Elder Viñas said that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ does not make one a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is certainly required to be a true disciple of Christ, but it is just one part. He related the Gospel to how his grandmother would make lentils and that they didn't like to eat lentils so they would ask for something else. His grandmother would respond that that is what there is to eat, and if they didn't want it they didn't have to eat it and could go to bed hungry. He said the Gospel is the same. We can't change it. We can't change that we must repent, or obey the Word of Wisdom, or pay a full tithe. We can only choose whether or not to do these things.

The World Cup is going on. Everything shut down Sunday when Argentina played. It's difficult to work when everyone only wants to watch or talk about the games, especially when in comes to Argentina. The flag of Argentina is everywhere. Some cover the hoods and trunks of their cars with a flag. It's hung from houses and kids run around with little Argentine flags.