Surprise changes!

Dec. 15, 2014

Well sometimes it is tough for good things to last forever. We received a call from President on Saturday morning to let me know I am being emergency transferred. So after only 8 weeks here in beloved Mayol I am already leaving. My new area will be Ingenderio Budge, which is in the same zone as Lanus, my first area, asi que Back to Banfield! Elder Garcia is going to be my new comp and I already knew him in Quilmes. He was a district leader and I was his zone leader but now we are going to be comps! President told me he is having a tough time and really didn't get along with his last comp (therefore the change) and said he prayed about the whole mission and felt like I was the elder who needed to be his companion. I ask for your prayers in this new change, I hope to help him and will surely learn a lot as well. I feel a little sad leaving here because I didn't have much time and Elder Cottrell and I got along really well and he has really helped me in my progress as a missionary, but when the Lord calls I'm not going to say no. So on Tuesday at 4 we will be making the change. Anyway, this week on Wednesday we had the big Christmas Zone Conference! We did it with the Quilmes Zone so it was fun to see some old friends and talk with Elder Bastias some. We talked a lot about the Navidad (Christmas) and Christ and how we can use this time to better do proselyting, like with "He is the Gift". Then we ate lunch (delicious asado!) and went to the acts. Our zone prepared a nativity skit thing and I had to sing a solo of "Maria Sabias Que" ("Mary Did You Know?") and I was pretty nervous but people told me that it turned out well. After we talked some more and had a short testimony meeting. All in all I think it was probably the best zone conference I have ever been to! The other day there was a hail storm, they are pretty crazy here when they happen and the hail is huge! Well we are not having too much success with getting investigators to progress but a lot of menos activos (less actives) are coming back. The asistance (attendance) on Sunday was 125! Which is quite a bit, we almost didn't fit in the chapel. Do you know how much is an average assitance (attendance) in Glenview Ward? Then on Sunday we did divisions with the hombres jovenes (young men) again and me and my comp went with a joven (youth) of 13 years that is the deacons quorum president. This kid is a K-PO! He was telling us that he prays for the quorum and hopes to be able to help the other deacons come back and be active. Looking for one joven (youth) we found an apostate member that had started his own iglesia evanglica church in his house. It was a really weird visit but we asked the kid, Juan, to give his testimony and he gave such a pure simple and powerful testimony. Jovenes (youth) rock, I wish I had been like that when I was 13. Well I don't have much to say this week but I love you all!

Elder Andrew

 

 

 

 

Christmas is coming, Elder Andrew is getting fat!

Dec. 8, 2014

Well another good week in Mayol, we are still struggling with getting investigators to progress, or just getting investigators in general haha but a lot of personal growth this week. As I have told you I have really been trying to remember the Savior and think of him during the sacrament and this week I am going to start on the goal to remember him ALWAYS throughout the whole week. That is obviously a hard goal, but it is also the key to always having the Spirit. Speaking which the rap music in the ciber right now doesn't make it that easy haha. Anyway, I feel like I have been doing some fine tuning on skills and obedience this week. We had a very sad lesson the other day with a less active family we have been working with. We were talking about the sacrament, what it means and the importance of taking it and the understood pretty much perfectly and then when we asked them if they would prepare to take the sacrament and go to church they said....... no. It was like a stab to the heart, because it wasn't just like the didn't understand it was them denying against their knowledge. Sad day and if they don't´ get better soon we might stop visiting them for a while. But then maybe it is as Moroni tells us in the last chapters of Mormon to not get mad because of the mistakes of others but to give thanks to God for having seen the errors and being able to be better. How great and true is the Book of Mormon! Hopefully I can finish it off this week I am in Ether 10 right now, so not that much left! Then there is another menos activo family (less active family) that we are teaching just recently and they are really putting the batteries! They are reading and praying and the mom and her two daughters came to church on Sunday (even though it was raining!) The dad had to work but will surely come when he can. I just love these people so much. That is one of the greatest lessons I think I am learning is how to love and what having love and not pity for someone really means. Loving the Savior and understanding His love for others helps us also with our capacity to love. We obviously can not atone for another's sins but we can be like the Savior by making others burdens lighter or even in some ways taking their burdens upon us. Sometimes that just means caring enough about someone to ask questions and earnestly listen. Well I hope you have all shared "He is the Gift" on every social network that you have accounts on! We made an announcement about it in sacrament meeting and hopefully the members were paying attention haha. We as members remember the Savior the whole year, but what a special time when the whole world, not just members remember Him. What a great time to share the Gospel! I love you all and wish you a very good week!

un abrazo fuerte,

Elder Andrew

PS. start planning the skype stuff...... cause you know what's coming up

NEW transfer!

Dec. 1, 2014

 Well transfers have once again come and gone and (drum roll please) we stay the same! We were hoping to stay together for at least one more cause we feel like we have a pretty good thing going here. It is so crazy that I have already been here for 6 weeks though, it pretty much blows my mind how fast time is going! Well this week we didn't teach too many people it felt like but Mara was baptized! We saw a really big change in her and now we are really going to focus on the family, because the mom is a strong active member but the dad and a few siblings don't go, so as we teach her the lessons again we will try and get the whole family participating! The stake also has a temple trip planned for the recent converts from each ward and we are going to send her on that! So one week after being baptized she will go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead! Just like Facundo! That is what we hope at least. Well this week I finished the Book of Mormon, and so now I am in Ether. Mormon and Moroni's lives seem pretty sad to me, they watched their whole people be destroyed and were the only righteous ones. I am so grateful to live in a time where living the gospel doesn't require me to stand so quite alone. Even though it is tough I always have a ward, leaders and my family to back me up, what a blessing! I also ended John in the Bible so the four gospels. I feel like that through reading those I have gotten to know my Savior a lot better, probably be a good thing to read this month for you guys (hint hint) and now am started in on Acts which is really cool. I really do love the scriptures and look forward to my personal study times and companionship study times to share what I learned. If we share what we learn we retain it better maybe something you could try is talking about studies around the dinner table or something or allow a time in family home evening to talk about what you are learning in your personal studies. That way; one, mom and dad can make sure everyone is doing their studies haha and two, you can all learn from one another. Just an idea I'll throw out there. I am really excited to work in this Christmas season and help others to get to know the true meaning of Christmas. May God be with you 'til we meet again over internet.

Love,

Elder Andrew

feliz día de acción de gracias!
November 24, 2014

Well that is a much longer name than Thanksgiving! And they don't really eat turkey here haha. I am really thankful for my family and for the support you all give me as I serve this mission. Well this week was another packed one. We are trying to do good follow up with all the new investigators we found and still find a few new ones. We found a cool new couple by doing follow up with someone we had contacted my first week in the area and couldn't speak with us in the moment but this week let us teach them. I think we at least tried to get in contact with all of them and some worked and others not. The family of six turns out the dad doesn't want to listen to us so we will see what is up with that this week. We passed by Gustavo a few times but he never had time to let us in but is still reading and praying. On Saturday we called him to remind him to go to church and he didn't answer. Then he sent us a text later saying that he had drunk a lot, didn't feel good, missed his family and would go to church. We told him that we would go pick him up for church and he sent back "okay, en el nombre de jesucristo, amen" (okay, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen) so even though he was pretty drunk at least that shows he is praying and remembers the steps haha. Well he didn't come to church but we are going to teach him today. Mara is on track to be baptized on Saturday, the bishop got to know her and we talked with the leader of mujeres jovenes (young women) so that they could all be there at the baptism, so things are hopefully coming into place for that. The ward is working a lot and that is super important, even though we might not see too much progress with our investigadores (investigators) yet (I say yet because it is just a matter of time before they are all ready for baptism #ibelieveinmiracles) but the forces of the ward are starting to get more organized and starting to show. Missionary work that lasts is done with the members, so it is always a big plus to be on the same page/team. I did the same thing with the sacrament yesterday and it helped me again, that really is the key to just focus on Christ. Well something cool that I got in my email is a huge thing that the church is going to be doing this Christmas that will start pretty soon. "He is the gift" its called so keep your eyes and ears open for that. It will be a great chance to share the gospel in this Christmas season! Oh so that you know we found Ulises and his family again they seem fine but even though they promised to come to church they didn't, so I wonder if there is still something we can't see that is going on over there. (the dad is not back in the picture) This Sunday we also did divisions with the young men's organization to visit inactive young men (apparently on the ward list there is like almost 100!) and it went really well. It is surprising the power that the youth really do have, for that very reason "let no man despise thy youth" the Lord calls the young to do great works. Maybe that is something you could suggest to do, Dad, with the deacons. I don't know if there are any inactive boys in the ward but if there are you could not only help them, but also their families. This work is so marvelous I really do love it and I hope you can all look for new ways to join it, and help out our brothers and sisters to listen to these eternal truths!

I love you all. Sorry if this letter was all over the place,

Elder Andrew

buscad y hallareis

Nov. 17, 2014

Well one cool thing about this week is that we found 15 new investigators! That is a mission record and is mostly because we found two new families that are complete families: mom, dad and a bunch of kids and then a few others here and there. Now the trick is just to get these people to progress. Before in my mission I have never really been able to find prepared people through doing contacts but now we are (at least I hope) and I think it is because we are making it a focus. We found one guy, Gustavo, where we just talked with him and his mom in front of their house one day and then set up a day to go visit them. When we visited them, Gustavo opened up (something he doesn't do according to his mom) and told us he wants our help because he has been into drugs and alcohol and that has caused him to lose his family, mujer(woman/wife) and 3 hijas (daughters) and realizes he needs to make some changes. We talked about Alma 36 and the change that Alma had and afterwards he said he felt more peaceful. We passed by a few days later to see how he was doing and he wasn't there but his mom told us he had been reading in the Book of Mormon! That is something not many people do right off the bat! Then, a family we found, we just clapped a door one day in an area that we don't usually go to because we were lost and asked for help.  The lady seemed really nice and even told us about her experience that led her to believe in God. So we went back this week and taught the whole family! Husband, wife and 5 kids (4 kids over 8 years old) and she had actually read the folleto (pamplet) we gave her, something that also no one does right off the bat! haha So it will be interesting to see how we can keep working with these people. One key is to always be searching because a mistake we sometimes make as missionaries is to say "well we have already got a pretty good group of investigators so we will just focus on them" then they get baptized and there is no one to teach..... so always looking is important and then dropping the people that aren't progressing but leaving a good registro (register) in the area book so that other elders can find them when it is "their time." Then, Elder Nelson talked to us on Thursday, that was great! First, Elder Cevallos and his wife spoke with us. They're from the area presidency and from their accent I could tell they were Chilean, whoo go Chile! They gave very great talks. Then Elder Nelson and his wife. She talked a lot about the premortal existence and the 12 tribes, pretty interesting. Elder Nelson talked about how important the work is that we are doing and what I really wanted to share with you is that at the end he gave us an apostolic blessing and in that blessing he blessed those that are sick or afflicted within our people (family groups) that they would be okay. So, little Benjamin Brimley is going to be just fine :) Then, this Sunday, I had a really cool experience in church. Sadly, as a missionary it is sometimes hard to focus on what is really important in church. Sometimes we are thinking about who didn't show up or why they are teaching some weird doctrine if there is an investigator there or that it is hot or something and it is something I need to work on, but during the sacrament this week I dropped all those thoughts and just focused on the Savior. As I pondered on his life, what I have been learning about Him in the scriptures lately and his love, a big peace overcame me. I didn't notice the distractions and the following meeting was one of the most spiritual meetings I have ever been in. Was it so much more spiritual because the talks were really great, or someone special came to speak to us? The talks were good but I think the difference was me and where my focus really was. That we may all remember Christ through the whole week and especially during that sacred time of the sacrament.

I love you all and until next week,

Elder Andrew

P.S. Facundo Gonzalez from Avellaneda sent me letter and he is on fire! Going to seminary and sharing the gospel with his friends, that made me happy to hear!

 

One year older and wiser too!

Nov. 10, 2014

Well this last week was pretty sweet, we are working pretty hard with elder Cottrell and have a lot of ground to cover so we try not to waste time. Things are heating up again but there are already clouds in the sky so looks like rain. Cool announcement..... Elder Nelson comes to talk to our mission on Thursday! How cool is that! An apostle and just our mission! Hopefully he doesn't drop the cane on us. Something we are really focusing on with my comp is doing more contacts. We set daily goals of how many people we are going to do contacts with and then try to push ourselves to get those goals. We find some prepared people that way, but I feel like the best result of it is that we can have the spirit stronger and new investigators just come out of nowhere. Like random members from other wards coming up to us to give us references (that happened today). I feel like as we show the Lord we are willing to push ourselves to proclaim the gospel he lets us find more people and abundantly blesses us. The ward is getting pretty pumped up to do visits and the leaders of most of the organizations really want to get working so we are going to use that. We have a goal to pass by every leaders house this week to see how we can help them out with their different responsibilities. That is what the missionaries are here for, to serve the ward. So if you have a need, use them in your ward! Then on Sunday we had a kid just show up in church. Apparently he has been coming to mutual for a while and just wanted to go to church. He is 16 years old and seems pretty cool. We set up to go teach him and his family on Friday! We have Mara, a girl in a part member family, that has a date for the 29th come to church. We started calling in between our set appointments to make sure she was keeping her commitments and she has really started progressing. She is a little slower learning wise but we are seeing a big progress since we started and also cool that her family that was less active is also putting the pilas (?) and doing more things as well! When they went they were a bit afraid but thankfully we talked to the president of the mujeres jovenes (YW president) before and she help her out a lot to feel comfortable. Working with the members, it is the Lord's way! I am reading now in 3 Nephi in the part where Jesus is here teaching in the Americas and am also reading in Juan (John) in my New Testament studies. The teachings of Christ seem so clear and precious and I just want the people to understand them as well. I am also very grateful for the Book of Mormon that helps me to better understand the Bible and visa versa. The Bible working with the Book of Mormon are some of the strongest tools we have and that God has given us. So you had better be using them! Well, we will see if someone makes me a cake tomorrow! I love you all very much y espero que se quiden (and I hope that you be careful)!

Love,

Elder Andrew

Mayol, my new home

November 3, 2014

Well I am starting to get a little bit more adjusted to the routine here in Mayol and things are going pretty good. Well this Halloween I had nothing to dress up with in the pension and I was kind of tired do no pictures for you all (sorry!) but it was a pretty good day. This week started off REALLY hot and humid and now for the past few days it has been raining, so we are at full speed on the argentine weather roller-coaster! Elder Cottrell and I get along really well, he is a super chill guy and he knows what he is doing (he only has 4 months left) and I feel like we are really trying to help out. One thing I like is that we are doing a lot more in companionship study, like practices, talking about investigators and setting goals. And we are trying to try a lot of new things with new ways of doing contacts and stuff like that. We are still trying hard to get to know the area and all the members but that will probably come with more time. We have started doing more calls to verify how investigadores (investigators) are doing and make sure they are keeping their compromisos (commitments) and it seems to be helping a lot. We also have 2 ward missionaries which is something I have never had in a ward before, so now we just have to get them more involved in the work because they really want to work! This Saturday was a great day! A highlight was finding a new family. It is the mom, a 16 year old son, and a 8 years old daughter. Norma, Ulises y Ati. Ulises is the friend of a member and went to church like a year ago for a while but then his dad wouldn't let him anymore. Recently his parents got separated and he just started going to church again by his own will. So that is how we found him... he just showed up in church haha. But his mom is also very prepared. We had our first lesson with the family on Saturday and they listened attentively and had already been reading in the Book of Mormon. Norma said she could feel peace and that she wanted to learn more and Ulises also, Ati is kind of like most 8 year olds and didn't pay much attention but she is funny. Norma did the last prayer and asked to be able to understand and keep going. So good start with them, they have a goal to be baptized the 29th of November. Other good news, Elder Bastias told me that Federico got baptized and it was awesome! He is going to send me some fotos later. It is nice to know that the work keeps going! Today in my studies I came across something in Preach My Gospel that I wanted your help on. In chapter 11 in the back where it has ideas for personal study it has the idea to write family members and ask them for a testimony on the blessings they have received from keeping a commandment, or something like that. And since we are focusing as a ward on trying to get the members to do more visits I wanted to ask you all; how have you been blessed from doing your visits (home and visiting teaching)? Or how have you been blessed from receiving them.? Thanks! Well I'm sure I have a great week ahead of me and I will soon be an old man! Just 8 days more! (Ben turns 20 Nov. 11th) How crazy..... well I love you all lots!

love,

Elder Andrew

the summer is arriving

Oct. 27, 2014

Well as you may have noticed in one of my pictures, I tried to send you a picture of the tan line that is starting to form on my arm, summer is upon us and it is already showing! Don't worry though I change my watch to my other wrist every day just so I don't get one of those nerd tan lines ha ha just kidding.... but I really do change my watch. Something I didn't tell you last week but we have bikes!!!! First time in the mission, it really makes travel a lot easier and helps because the sube (bus card) prices have really spiked, the lowest cost trip when I got here cost 1.50 now the lowest cost trip is at 3.25! So having bikes means we don't really take busses which makes it nice. Also we technically have two areas because they closed down the branch of San Fransico and joined it with Mayol and then took the elders out from over there so we have both areas, and even though it makes things a little harder I feel like it is necessary because there aren't the best feelings between ex-San Fransico and Mayol, so having both areas we can help build up the unity! Well I am really liking my new area! It is tranquilo and there are a lot of good members. I still feel like I hardly know anything but that will come with time of course. My comp also only has about 5 weeks working both areas and his last comp didn't help him out too much so we are getting to know the area together! We have been doing a lot more contacts and even though we haven't seen too many results yet we have high hopes for the future! My comp had the good idea of taking out the peoples phone numbers in contacts (something I had kind of stopped doing) so we could call them to confirm the visits we set up with them that way we don't waste our time with people that aren't there. I have great hopes for this area and I feel like there is something big that the Lord has in store for us here. There are some really capo leaders and the bishop has about 2 months as bishop so that is an animo (excitement) factor. They also give us good almuerzos (lunches) something the Lord has blessed me with in every area. I have nothing more but than to be grateful to Him. I owe everything to him and I love him. I love being able to work here with the people of Florencia Varela, Argentina. What a great place to be at this time in my life! I love you all,

Un Abrazo Fuerte,

Elder Andrew

Photos: Saying goodbye in Quilmes.

MAYOL A!

October 20, 2014

Well like I said I was pretty sure I was getting transferred and sure enough.... here I am in Mayol A in the zone of Florencia Valera. I am with my new comp Elder Cotrell from Utah. He is the district leader. He seems like a pretty cool guy and I am super excited to get to know a new area and help out. The assistant said this area needed help so the Lord definitely has some work for me and my companion to do! Well this last week was really pretty good we tried hard to find some new people, but we didn't but at least we had some good contacts and did find a few "new" less actives to work with. We are getting Federico ready for his baptism, he really wants to get baptized and we only need to teach him one more principle. He will get baptized this Saturday and hopefully Elder Bastias sends me a picture! Then the Familia Lopez, I don't know if you remember them but we were working with them and everything was going good. Their 9 year old son was going to get baptized and they went to church for the first time in a long time and then after that we couldn't get a hold of them..... they wouldn't be there or when we talked to them in the door they would set a cita (appointment) for another day and then later cancel it, it was just really weird. Well, we finally got back into their house on Saturday, had a really good lesson and they all went to church on Sunday! So that was a highlight. The little kid Juan even made me a goku doll out of paper and tape because I was leaving! Then Ignacio got confirmed and his mom that lives in capital came down to see it. After church we went by to pick up a pen drive I had left with Ignacio and talked with his family, it was really good and we could give them a Book of Mormon and invited them to read, so hopefully that seed can grow a little bit! Ignacio is a super capo and I have no doubt that he will go far. He even went with a young man's leader on Saturday to go visit less active kids with his same age! What a champ! It was a bit hard to say goodbye to the Ward. There really were just so many good people there and I learned to love so many of them. It is also hard to say goodbye to Elder Bastias who was a super good companion and I felt like we really taught well together.... but what are you going to do? The Lord needs me here and so here I will stay. I love working for Him and trying to do what He expects of me. That we may all try to live up to His expectations!

Love,

Elder Andrew

 

October 13, 2014
Well this was another great week! We just keep on working. This week we had 2 intercambios and I learned a lot from them. One cool thing about doing these intercambios is I get to be with a lot of elders from other countries, like this week I was with one Mexican and a Colombian, so apart from learning about the gospel and how to do the work better I get to know a little bit about a lot of countries... pretty cool! Charlie went last week to the priesthood session (of General Conference) and he loved it! He said the hermanos (brothers) all talked to him and that he loved what President Monson said! He keeps reading and analyzes what he reads and then explains it to his wife, haha what a capo. Federico is also doing well and we were a bit worried about teaching the Word of Wisdom because he likes coffee, actually loves it. But we taught him and he said "okay" and he is working on not drinking it anymore! He is ready to obey. Then, we found some new people this week. Some of them are Hugo and Laura who are neighbors of the familia Romue (the family I like so much and the dad is a setenta (70)). We have been trying to get a hold of them for a while and we could finally teach them in the house of the familia Romue! It went really well as we taught the restoration, they really seemed interested, Hugo especially and you can't ask for a better member to help you out than a Seventy! Great start with them. And then we had the baptism of Ignacio. It really was quite special and made me think back to the time when Brooke got baptized. I saw all those jovenes (youth) from other Wards and from his own Ward there to help him out. He really is a special kid and I feel blessed to have at least been a small part of his conversion story. He had been waiting for that day for almost a year and his smile said it all. We asked him to give his testimony in the service and what a testimony it was! He understands the gospel! That is a future missionary right there! So a pretty good week. I really love you all and love this gospel that is so true!
Love,
Elder Andrew

semana 5.... where did the transfer go?!

October 6, 2014

 

Yeah, that is right, I can't believe that the time is going by so fast! They will probably take me out of here. One, because I have been here a while and two, I am starting to get comfortable and when someone gets the hang of things in the mission is right when they take you out! But oh well, I still have plenty of time to work here! Well I'll jump right to conference cause I have got plenty to share! Well first of all since my comp is a Latino and we had investigators show up I decided to watch all of the conference in Spanish. It was kind of cool that I could understand basically everything! Thinking back to my first conference when I had to watch a session in Spanish and Elder Bednar talked about tithing and I don't think I even understood that he was talking about tithing! At least there is some growth there haha. Then, with the new language thing, it was really cool with the two elders that spoke in Spanish. What a blessing the Lord gave me to be able to learn another language! It was good though to listen to the choir sing English hymns, what power they have in music. I loved after the prophet talked that they sang "How Firm a Foundation". How firm a foundation we really do have as members of the church! We have a prophet that receives constant revelation. 12 apostles as well. We know who God, Christ and the Holy Ghost are, and we can base our lives not only on the Bible but also on the Book of Mormon and other scripture. QUE firmes cimientos! (how firm is our foundation) Well, Federico went to the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning sessions with his kids and he loved it. I caught one of his kids sleeping but he only has 11 years so what can you expect haha. Then, Charly showed up late on Saturday night. He is really surprising me because he told us he doesn't let preachers into his house, not the testigos (Jehovah's Witnesses) or the evangelicos (evangelists), nadie (nobody). But he read the first pamphlet and we didn't even tell him to but he started reading the Book of Mormon. And then when we were reading a part of 3 Nephi and it said something about the people of Nephi and he said "hold on a second let me explain this to my wife so she can understand".  He then told her who the nephites where!!! Talk about golden investigator! He has a lot of children living close too so hopefully we can teach them as well. Then, Ignacio came and had his interview after almost a year of going to the church as an investigator. He is going to be baptized next Sunday by his friend Augusto! How awesome is that! Then, in between sessions on Sunday, we ran to the stake center in Berazategui to do some baptismal interviews and got all wet because it was raining but they all passed so I guess it was worth it haha! Today in my study I reviewed my notes from conference and made a few goals for myself, I invite you all to do the same. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Andrew

time to prepare

Sept. 29, 2014

 

Time to get ready for general conference! What an exciting time of the year, a prophet of God is going to speak to us! Well this week has been a good one. On Tuesday we did what we always do..... companion exchanges ha ha. I stayed in our area with Elder Granados from Colombia. He is a pretty funny guy and I really like the Colombian accent it makes me laugh, even if what they say isn't a joke haha. We tried to teach Miguel and Adriana the plan of salvation but Miguel got pretty hung up on the premortal life, because in the bible it doesn't specifically talk about any premortal existence and the few times it does it isn't very clear. So that left me with desires to study the matter out better and really know for myself from the scriptures. It was interesting to read in all the four scriptures to find the truth. How blessed we are to have more than just the Bible! Then as we ate lunch with the flia romue (Romue Family) (SUPER capo member family and the dad is a seventy of the area) We asked the hermano (brother) how he would deal with a situation like that. He showed us a scripture in Judas 1 I think 4-6 that talks about a first and second state and compares it to the children of Israel. The children of Israel kept their first estate and so were led out of Egypt but due to them not keeping their second estate they were destroyed. The same happens with us, we are here in the earth so we kept our first estate, now we have the job of keeping our second one! The hermana also talked about when she had her twins that as they formed in her stomach she could feel like they had different personalities and a lot of things like that. The gospel really is logical. How could there not be a premortal existence? It just makes so much sense! Talking with them I really felt like my understanding was enlightened. I hope you know that you are also big blessings in the lives of missionaries. So hopefully with our next charla (appointment) this Tuesday we can talk about that a bit more. Obviously scriptures don't convince only the Spirit can do that, but maybe they will help him to think! Then with Federico we finished up the plan of salvation. He is coming along well and we changed the date to the 25th of October because we need more time to teach him, but he went to a service project with the elders quorum on Saturday, was at church before us, and told us that he kids are showing interest as well... talk about prepared man! Then, there is a kid, his name is Ignacio, that has been going to church for about 8 months but his mom (who doesn't live with him) wouldn't let him be baptized. Now that we have been teaching his grandparents (he lives with them) and they have been to sacrament meeting a few times he is going to be baptized! They like the teaching and the people and so the mom gave the okay! We are hoping for the 11th of October, and his friend that first invited him to church is probably going to baptize him. What a great story! We keep finding new people and more people that are prepared to listen to the gospel. I don't know what we are doing to deserve these blessings but hopefully we can keep it up! The Lord really is blessing us. A lady that we talked with in the street on Saturday showed up at the church building on Sunday! She loved it and wants to keep going. How crazy is that! Well I love you all very much and hope you can seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost in your lives, it really is so important!

Love,

Elder Andrew

Chi! chi! chi! le! le! le! CHILE!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Well as you may have guessed from the title of my email; this week was the independence day of Chile! My comp was pretty happy and an Hermana even made us some Chilean food for lunch! Empanadas de pino and salad (I'll send pictures next week) On Tuesday we had our zone meeting and it was a good one. The hermanas capacitadoras (sister's trainer) taught a really good lesson on humility and how getting rid of pride is one of the first steps in becoming like Christ. Then we set good goals. We are trying to help the zone just explode and even though the missionaries here are super good it still isn't exploding but we will keep trying! Then on Friday we had our interviews with president. He is such a good man, and really a hero for me to look up to. Definitely the next apostle. Speaking of apostles, conference is almost here! It seems like it just happened a little while ago! It is a great opportunity to invite friends to investigate the church asi que aprovechenlo! (in this way take advantage of the situation) Well we have some really good progressing investigators. Federico is like a sponge! We have a baptismal date with him for the 11 of October. Everything we say to him he says that he has been waiting for. The spirit is so strong when we teach him, he understands, and applies. Future stake president right there! Then on Sunday was a pretty great day. We were waiting at church and the investigators just started rolling in. By the time sacrament meeting came around we had 9 investigators in sacrament meeting! Not to mention a few menos activos (less actives)! Hopefully we can do a good follow up and keep these people coming to church! The key also is that the members are getting to know our investigators better. When the members know the investigors (investigators) and sit by them and talk to them that makes our jobs 100 times easier and will lead to better retention. Like our president always tells us CON MIEMBROS. The only way to have more success in this work is to better coordinate our efforts with the members. So you already know what you all have to do ;) As I work here I just realize more and more that this isn't the work of Elder Andrew but really is the work of the Lord. I sometimes say things in lessons that I have no idea where they came from. Scriptures come to mind. People's lives change. People that have been around the church for a long time for some reason just have a click. We get to a door of someone that was waiting for us. Benjamin Andrew could not do this work unless the Lord let me and how grateful I am that He does let me do it! Let us all be a part of His work!

Love,

Elder Andrew

 Chilean Independence Day

 Elder Bastias who is Ben's companion from Chile

The Zone

things keep going up

Sept. 15, 2014

 

Well every week seems so big. As I write these letters and think back to the last Monday I can't believe how much we do in just one week! It is really kind of weird. The noche de hogar (family home evening) last week was a success. We took Adriana to a member family who is super cool! The familia Verdura and it was very spiritual, we watched "the restoration" ( and it's funny that even though I have seen that movie a whole bunch of times it still makes me feel the Spirit and makes me grateful that God has newly called prophets to the earth! Then during the week we taught the husband (well they aren't married) of Adriana who has also been in evangelist churches for a long time, and knows the Bible very well and had a very good/spiritual charla (discussion) with him also about the restoration. We then left him with Alma 40 because he had questions about the afterlife and when we talked with Adriana later in the week she said that he loved it, that it opened up new understanding to them and that is was the word of God. How is that for prepared! Hopefully things keep going this way. Her daughter Gloria is pretty bad into the world but I think we are helping her to depend upon and know Christ better. Then on Sunday Federico came to church! We couldn't visit him because he was super busy in the week but he showed up anyway! We talked in the classes about the temple, baptisms for the dead and the resurrection and I was thinking "oh great he isn't going to understand anything because we haven't taught him and he is going to think it is super weird" but then we asked him what he thought afterward and he told us that he has never had a formal religious education but has preconcepts for what he feels and what he personally believes and what he had been taught was lining up with the classes and so everything was perfect for him up to then! Wow it isn't everyday that you find people like that! We hope to keep working and keep finding even more and more people. One key in this work is to always be looking. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that we already have a good base of investigators and that we will just work with them and get them ready, but the reality is that there are always more people looking for the truth! Our president told us that if we get to where we just can't do the work because there are so many people to teach then he will take two missionaries out of another area and put them into ours! Ha ha there is always more to do and that is the challenging and exhilarating part of this work! I don't know if I told you about the familia Lopez but they are a part member familia and we are working with the littlest kid so he can get baptized, and the parents are trying to get a divorce and marriage done so that the husband can get baptized.  Well they are also coming along well, seeing the blessings of the gospel in their lives, having more peace, and advancing in their scripture study. It is so exciting to see the gospel change other's lives as it changes my own. Reading today in Alma 45 (I think it was) I read about the end of Alma's life. They said of him that he was a good man that was faithful in the church. He really was someone who was consecrated in the work. It says that one of the missions he left on with his sons, he got home, interviewed them and then without resting went back out to preach! What an example! Well in a home evening tonight we are going to do the activity at the end of chapter 6 in preach my gospel to see which attribute we can work on to get better, if you want it could be an idea for you all tonight. Well I love you all very much and thank you for you support always!

Love,

Elder Andrew

here to stay

Sept. 8, 2014

Well transfers came and went and luckily we are staying together! I am excited to have another transfer with Elder Bastias. We really do get along well and I feel like we teach well together as well. Now we start the new cycle of intercambios and planning meetings and everything haha. But this week was a really good one. We found some really great people this week. About 98% of the people that we are teaching right now are people that Elder Bastias and I found in this last transfer (there weren't many people to teach when I got here haha) and just this week we found 7 new people! Most of them were references from members and they are the most prepared ones! Well to tell you of a few of them. Like I told you last week we had the 50 years (50 year anniversary of the chapel in Quilmes)  and on Sunday in sacrament meeting they had invited a lot of the old bishops to come and gave them each time to share a brief testimony. Well one of the old bishops was from Bia Blanca, a different provincia (province), and as he was here he felt the impression to visit some family members that he hadn't seen in a long time. These family members are Adriana and Gloria, who just so happened to be looking for some kind of change in their lives! Adriana was an active member of an evangelist church for 30 years! Even went out preaching and did camps and everything but in the few charlas (discussions) that we have had (2) she says that she feels peace in everything that we say. She resolves her own doubts and depends a lot on prayer and the spirit. When we explained the restoration she even said that for an evangelist what we were saying was crazy and that her head told her this was crazy but her heart told her to calm down and pay attention to the feelings she has, peace. Her daughter also says she feels peace when we talk with her, which is something she hasn't felt in a very long time. Tonight we have a noche de hogar (family home evening) with them in the house of some members so hopefully it goes well. These are people that we can't deny that God has prepared just in this moment. Then we started teaching Federico who is another friend of a member. He lived in the states for 13 years, speaks perfect English and works for a large international company. His father was a scientist and so when he was little he was always discouraged to believe in God because it was something "illogical" but he always kind of doubted that. When he was about 13 he had a vision in which he saw God and later as my companion explained the nature of God and said that he was a glorified being of carne y huesos (flesh and bones) Federico stopped him and said that in his vision that is what he had felt, that God was someone that had a body. He doesn't have much religious background but is very willing to learn and has a super good start. With all these experiences I just realize even more that it isn't me or my companion that do this work. Really this is the work of the Lord and we are just his instruments. What a privilege to see how he prepares the hearts of the people here in Argentina! I love you all and hope you are getting to know the investigators in the Glenview Ward!

Love,

Elder Andrew

 

Sept. 1, 2014

50 years of Quilmes!

 

Well due to the letter I got to write to Glenview Ward this one will probably be a bit shorter, but a simple testimony is better than all the stories I tell you anyway! Well this week we did two more exchanges! This week we have one more and then we are done! Oh, but then the next transfer starts and we will do it all over again haha, well, unless they take me out of here but I don't think so. I was with Elder Stevenson who has a month in the mission and is from Virginian.  It made me remember the times I had at the beginning of my mission! I tried to give him some tips and it was good. Then, I went to El Cruce with an Elder Mason and we had a good day there! But I am always just glad when we can work normally with Elder Bastias in our area. The 50 years of the cappilla (chapel) was really pretty cool. There is a lot of history here! I am trying to learn to be more organized and trying to ask my companion and others what I can do to be better. Sometimes when people give me suggestions the natural man says "get mad, they don't know what they are talking about and besides they can't tell you to get better when look at all the things that are wrong with them!" but when I don't take heed to those feelings and realize, hey I really could do better in that then I can get better and if they hadn't told me then maybe I wouldn't know! Like Elder Christofferson says in a Mormon message about a bush that the gardener prunes. One of the hardest things is to ask that other correct us, but it is necessary! I invite you too look that video up, your situation made me think of it, Dad. I still keep trying to go good with my scripture study and I am learning a lot both from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Today I read about Korihor in Alma 30 and I was just so awesome how Alma resisted this Anti-Christ. He had complete confidence and control of the situation, his knowledge of the gospel protected him against the cunning ways of the devil. Gospel knowledge really does give us strength and we can put up with the people who may try and trick us with false doctrine. Alma sure is a k-po! Well, my weekly invitation for all of you is to help out the missionaries in your ward. I am going to ask you to help them in a way different than just giving references (which if you have them go ahead and give them!) but if not, do you know the investigators that the missionaries are teaching? When they bring someone to church do you get to know them? Their name, their job, how they like the church. When they come over to eat do you ask them about the people that are preparing for baptism and how you can help that person in their preparation? These are some things that a 70 talked to us about and I invite all of you to think about it and be more attentive to the investigators and new converts! You will make a difference! Last thing I wanted to say is that it makes me SOOO happy to hear about Hunter and Steven. When I read that part a smile just came to my face! I sure do love those guys and am so glad that they have decided and are making the effort to go on missions, tell them that I send my love!

Love,

Elder Andrew

something new

August 18, 2014

 

I am going to try something new this week and write the big letter first instead of waiting until the last to do it! Well this week was sure a success! On Tuesday we had the zone meeting where Elder Bastias and I taught the zone and it went really well. We set a couple goals with the zone. One of which is to teach more lessons. We know that just a number isn't important but it is important to try and do more, or have higher "numbers" because it means that we are helping more people and we were seeing that a lot were not having that many lessons and many had like 10 or less lessons in the week! President once told us that in every area in the mission we should, with diligent work, be able to accomplish have 30 lesson for week. So we set the goal to have everyone in one week at least get 15 just to start things off and we are already seeing results! A lot more people were taught this week and we even raised our personal dato a lot and made it past 15! I think one of the most important parts of being a leader is to put in practice what we ask of everyone else. If we don't teach more people we can't expect the zone to do so! We are finding a lot of new people through contacts, references and varias formas (various forms). One stand out that we found this week was Julia. She wanted to meet with elders for a school project she was doing on the Mormons, So the reference popped up in our email one day that she had asked them to go. When we first went she told us that she had already finished the project but we were able to set a cita (an appointment) with her for another day to explain a lit bit anyway. That day we went with a young man who is preparing to go on his mission and as we started out it was a bit weird and her dog was a bit crazy but as we started the spirit took over, and even the dog calmed down. She has about 25 years in a sociologist (not sure if he meant that she is 25 years old or that she has been a sociologist for 25 years. Probably the first since she is a student), is studying and very intelligent and almost a bit hippie but as we testified you could see the message getting through to her. She said she would read and pray and if she received an answer would be baptized and go full fledged! What an experience we left very happy, and grateful. Every day I just realize even more just how true the gospel is, how blessed I am to have been born into it and have the knowledge I do! Next week is going to be the stake conference so we will see how that goes and if we can get some investigators to go, because it is in a different building. We are having more success getting members to leave with us and a lot of the priests as well. I try to always leave with the priests because I was so grateful for the elders that took the effort to leave with me and help me to prepare for my mission. ( when he says leave with us he means they go out working with them.  He is getting so he says things in a very spanish influenced manner) Well things are starting to heat up here already! Remembering back to the inferno of last summer I hope it stays cold for a bit more but who knows we will see. Well my beloved family I love you all a whole bunch and chau hasta la proxima semana! (good bye until next week)

love,

Elder Andrew

Fishing

At the river

                             

Monday, August 4, 2014 10:34 AM

Vamos Argentina! Aguante Quilmes!

Wow what adventures in California! The whole nucleus family that I grew up with is getting so much bigger and doing so many crazy things it is so crazy! I am glad to hear that Dad did well on his test, I have been praying a lot for all of you and especially for that test. So when are you going to get the results to know if you got the apprenticeship or not? (Sorry horrible spelling but the spell check here only checks Spanish words) We had to move the date back with Martina because she still needs a few lessons but we are hoping for this week. Her dad is still doing bad but he was better this week than last week. We had a very spiritual visit with them and talked with his inactive son of 20 years who had the doubt of why bad things happened to good people and bad people seemed to be doing fine. We followed the spirit and shared in the Book of Mormon Alma 14 about all of the converts and could feel the spirit in what we said and the son said after that he would pray and read the Book of Mormon. Carmen and Marcelo are a family that we are working with and the missionaries have been working with for a while. They aren’t the most intelligent bunch so it is hard to teach sometimes but they are making and have made a lot of changes in their life and so we have high hopes for them. In our zone there are 24 missionaries but it depends on the zone as well. In Avellaneda there were only 18. and district leaders usually have from 6 to 8 missionaries. Elder Dahl is still in my zone, he is a new district leader! Cool to hear about the family history that is something I definitely want to get into when I get back and wish I would have taken some time to study before the mission because it is a huge missionary tool and is something the prophet wants us to do! My new companion Elder Bastias is super cool! He teaches very well and we are already teaching in a unified way and seeing changes and miracles here in the area. He draws SUPER good it is pretty amazing and he likes singing and has a bunch of other talents! We get along well and have a very positive vision of the future! The other day we did exchanges with the assistants. They both came to our area and we did divisions. Poor Elder Bastias got lost a whole lot but they did a lot of contacts and could get a few lessons. I was with Elder Alvarez from Mexico and we also got a few visits in. It was pretty cool, if you want good missionaries with experience the assistants will be those kind of missionaries! We had a super cool meeting with President on Wednesday! He surely is an inspired man and is making a lot of changes in the mission. The meeting is actually more of a council and it was so cool because everyone was participating and you could feel the spirit there guiding all of us. President even said it was the best leadership counsel he had ever had! Only the zone leaders, hermanas capacitadoras (sister’s trainers) and assistants go to that meeting. so we set a lot of goals for our zone and made plans to be the best ever! Wow we really do do a lot of things just in one week! We are super excited for this week because we are going to have an open house in the church! There is a matrimonio of missioneros (married couple/senior missionary couple) who come and run it with some missionaries and a lot of members are super excited and have told us that they are going to bring friends. Maybe this week we didn’t find any new people but we have been visiting active member families and really pumping up this activity and we feel like from that we will hopefully be able to find all kinds of new people! I sure love this work and know that this church is true. I am grateful for my testimony of the Book of Mormon that helps me to stay solid and gives me knowledge I couldn’t find anywhere else. I love you all!

Besitos (Kisses),

Elder Andrew

Monday, July 28, 2014 12:25 PM

Transfers bring new things!

First off I am sorry that I didn’t write hardly anything last week. I really did feel bad afterwards because I love all of you so much and know that you worry about me. I pray for you every night and am praying for your apprenticeship as well Dad. I’m glad you are all enjoying Cali, I went to a river that looks like the ocean (Rio de la Plata) which is actually the widest river in the world or something like that and it was super cold, everywhere here is cold, but I have a few jackets so I am keeping mas o menos warm ahah. In the week I did an intercambio and was with Elder Dahl for a day! It was nice to work with him again and we worked super hard, we walked all over contacting and trying to get in to teach someone but no one would let us in the whole day! So we ended up teaching the recent convert that was accompanying us! haha sometimes it happens. But then in the morning we had a super awesome study session and went out to work and taught a spiritual lesson to a less active and then found a new investigator doing a contact! His name is Hector and he has 82 years (super old but not in too bad of shape) and has a whole bunch of faith, pretty cool guy. I’ll let you know if he progresses. Then Carmen and Marcelo are doing pretty good, we are going to try and help them to be baptized in August, and Martina should be getting baptized here real soon, maybe this Sunday but we need to work out the deets with the ward first. Elder Suarez is gone! The six weeks really went by pretty fast. I learned a lot that is for sure. Now I am with Elder Bastias from Chile. He seems pretty cool and is a super hard worker (best quality ever!) He has two more transfers than me in the mission and this is his first time as a zone leader, so we are going to learn a lot together. I feel like we are really going to change this ward around and find a bunch of people. It will require a lot of work but as I told Matthew the other week, I like to work :) today in the transfer meeting a lot of my old friends left the mission :( some of my old leaders and old friends. The ones you might remember are Elder Godoy, Elder Neyra and Elder Bogarin. They were/are really good elders and it was hard to see them go but it must happen. They left their legacies of hard work and obedience; a legacy I also hope to leave. Then, I also saw Elder Corry and I have good news..... I am going to be a grandpa!!!!!!!! (This means that Elder Corry, who Ben trained, is going to be a trainer since the one you train is your son and then when he trains someone that missionary becomes your grandson…) My mission family history is taking off, he seemed pretty excited to train and I am proud of the fellow! Elder Crowther was also there and told me that he will be training as well! Man I have had some real good companions and luckily they live in Utah! Close (even Elder Godoy said he was going to try and go live and work in Utah!) I saw some old people from Lanus that went to say goodbye to Elder Godoy and they told me I was super skinny! I think it is just because I was super fat over there haha. I am super excited for this new transfer and a lot of new things in the zone only two companionships stayed the same and all the rest changed so a lot of new things. I love you all very much and love this work. I know the church is true and that we can overcome our problems I will keep praying for all of you!

Love,

Elder Andrew