Tuesday, July 15, 2014

No one came to Church again. It makes us very sad. The hardest thing of the mission is that people just don't understand the importance no matter how hard we try to explain it to them.

We went on exchanges. Elder Soto came to Pablo Nogués.

Elder López from Rosario got his visa to Ecuador and left at three in the morning Monday. His companion Elder Gobilard came to our apartment and we worked in both areas of Pablo Nogués that day.

We had transfers. I'm now in López Camelo with, of all people, Elder Ty Mason (from Huntington Beach). It was quite a surprise.

A man once asked us in the street, what is the most important thing that Christ did? My companion responded the Atonement. There were moments where we had a good response, but not the right response. I thought about that question for days because I didn't have a sufficient answer. We went on companion exchanges and that morning I came to a conclusion. The most important thing that Chist did was that He was obedient to all that the Father had commanded Him. He obeyed the first and greatest law of Heaven perfectly. No other being was capable. For that reason He is our example in this life where we will be proved "to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord ​[our] God shall command ​[us]."​

The Gospel is true. I cannot stress it enough.

All You can Eat Pizza at Pablo Nogues

Monday, July 7, 2014

Tuesday we had a special activity and devotional. We heard from the Assistants, President, his wife, and a few missionaries and finished it with hamburgers. We then had a "cultural event" and watched the game of Argentina vs. Switzerland. It was great. Everyone jumped up cheering when Argentina made a goal. Some didn't, especially those from Mexico and Chile.

We found the 85-year-old father of a returned missionary who is active in the Escobar Stake. He's receptive and very alert. But he knows a lot. When we asked a few questions about his beliefs, he began by saying that he believes monotheisticaly and that God is singular, not like the Greeks or the Romans who believe in multiple gods springing from multiple religions independent of each other. He told us of his respect for the Church and how he was about to be baptized at one point. His son told us that he has had spiritual experiences with the Church.

We have trouble finding people after contacting them or having short lessons in the street. Because of that we've been working a lot on making the lessons very powerful. The most frustrating part of Missionary Work is that people generally don't understand the importance of what we're saying, so we're getting better at that. The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. The Priesthood is on the Earth again. The Stick of Joseph has come to the whole world. In this dispensation everything will come to a close. There is so much work left to be done.

President gave us permission to see the game between Argentina and the Netherlands.

Next week is transfers. I'll likely be going seeing that I've been here for 3 transfers now.

Monday, June 30, 2014

This week we've had more lessons, but we're still struggling with making them investigators. It's hard to find them a second time, because hardly anyone seems to be at home. We've been passing by a lot of less actives, and many of them are still very receptive. Sometimes we feel like Home Teachers, but frequently we find new people through them.

The Stake President, Pres. Cuadrado died Friday night after a few weeks of struggling with an illness. They held his services on Saturday. He was only 49 and has children, one of them preparing to go on a mission in a few weeks. The members are sad for the family, but happy that he's moved on.

Natalia, who almost every day goes out with us, finally received her mission call on Sunday. At the end of Church, she couldn't wait to go home to open it with her family so she opened it there. She's going to Chile Concepción the 5th of November. Remember, remember, the fifth of November.

It's sad when people reject the Book of Mormon and the Church. The relationship between Jerusalem in the time of Christ and our time. Many people tell us that they're fine in their religion and don't plan on changing. They may even try to justify the existence of multiple churches and multiple doctrines saying that all churches talk of God and all ways lead to Him. One cannot accept the restored Gospel and accept the false precept of "polydoctrine." That's why it's so important to share the truth as Christ did. There's no other way to do missionary work.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Monday night, President called and said that there would be an emergency transfer between a number of areas, including ours. Elder Peralta went to Garín with the Zone Leaders in Escobar, and my new companion is Elder Roberts who came to the Cabaña at the transfer. He only had to carry his suitcases one house over since we live right next to them in the Cabaña.

We made a big push for finding this week, and we got many more referrals than usual, but we're having difficulty having lessons with them. Many say that they don't have a fixed schedule, or that there's family, or that they're about to leave, and so on. There's really no reasonable excuse for not receiving and acting upon the Gospel, so we've started to be a bit more weighty in how we invite.

Wednesday we went on exchanges, and Elder Soto from Mexico came from José C. Paz to our area. All went well.

I've been really tired all the time for a few months now. Missionary work is exhausting, but there's no time to stop.

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.

Monday, June 9, 2014

This week we started working with a former investigator, Eliana. She really wants to listen to the missionaries and come to Church, but her parents are against her doing so. We'll probably have to end up teaching her someplace else. We've found new people to teach, and we're happy that we've been able to step out of the box a bit.

We've been working with the son of a recent convert of about a year who has been a member for about 15 years. His mom had no idea he was a member. They're both wanting to come back to Church. We're really happy for their progress.

This Saturday we were asked to give a number of blessings. It was a very interesting day. We had just enough oil.

We've been working a lot with less actives, and while we're happy for the progress they're making, it's a bit hard on missionaries. One of the assistants, Elder Krivochiev said that all our lives we can help less actives and recent converts, but only in these two years we have the authority to teach and baptized investigators. While we love teaching everyone, missionaries are happiest teaching investigators.

I scored 4 goals last week playing soccer. I'm getting a lot better.

It looks like it will rain this week. It's been getting colder.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

This week I got sick and stayed in the apartment for a day. Sis. Ayre told me to buy a nose spray and a decongestive. I didn't realize that the spray was a vasoconstrictor. It works really well. The next day I felt much better and we went back out.

We´ve been finding more people, and we're pretty excited. Things are getting better here and we have a few families that we're working with. We found a former investigator who lost her son. She and her husband only received visits from the missionaries out of all of the religions that came by her house. We found out that Sis. Elisabeth knows her, so she will be accompanying us.

Transfers came and Elder Peralta and I are staying in Pablo Nogués. We both felt as thought that was going to happen. This will be the first time I have a companion for two transfers and stay in an area for three transfers.