Monday, February 17, 2014 11:39 AM

Avellaneda 2 = new home

Well this week was tough... I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t (and still don’t) know anything about the area, and I felt the new pressure of being a district leader (they made me give a meeting even before I went to the capacitation! (capacitation is training I think. JA)) We walked a lot and all the change just kind of hit me. But for the most part the worst of that is gone and I am now feeling more comfortable and more excited that anything else. There is just so much to learn and so many new things to try and new people to meet! The bishop here is on a business thing for 9 months so I will probably never get to meet him (weird) but the consejeros (councilors) are doing his job in his absence. There is a whole, whole bunch of Bolivians y Peruvians. I think in Lanus I knew one guy who was Bolivian so now there is just a whole bunch of short dark people, but I like it! The ward members seem animated to doing the obra(work) and we have already received many references, I have the hope that in a week or two, or maybe even this week, the work is just going to explode!!! Elder Dahl is very obedient and very, very generous and nice, he reminds me in some ways a little bit of Matthew. He is really wanting to work hard and really wants to see the results. He has only had one baptism so far and it was someone that was already going to get baptized when he got there so he wants more (we’ll see what we can do :) ) there are a lot of young families and right now we are trying to get the numbers right so that we can build our own church building because we are currently sharing one. that has the ward with a focused goal I think and is helping with reactivation and finding new people. We are focusing on trying to take the leaders to our visitas (visits) so that they can be the examples for the rest of the ward. I just see so much potential here and it just makes me so excited!!!! The lunches are very good and a lot more peruvian food (super rico (rich or delicious) and also has picante!(spicy) something I have missed) I am learning a lot from my studies and trying to implement it. The ward mission leader, Victor Ramos, is very involved in what we do and left with us to work one day already. There are 5 boys in the ward on missions and a number of kids preparing for the mission. So we are going to try and help out those jovenes tambien (youth also) because I remember how grateful I was for Elder Kirwan and Elder Mutchette helping me out. Elder Kirwan actually wrote to me once, it was pretty cool. Even though the pench (apartment) was already pretty clean we cleaned it today and did some organizing so now it is even better! We are thinking about doing maybe a revised version of what you said that other elder did in lunch. Part of our work as missionaries is to capacitate the members to help them know how to do missionary work. So mom maybe you could ask the missionaries for some tips, the sure could help you out I am sure. Make sure that you always talk to the investigators you see and menos activos (less active) as well, in church and outside. I was thinking back to when I used to go with the missionaries and how it helped me to know those people and then without the missionaries telling me to I naturally felt like I should go talk to them in church, and I remember giving a less active lady a ride home from Fry’s one night with Zach. Just look for opportunities like that, they really do make a difference and go out with the missionaries so that you can know who these people are, or at least get to know the ones in church so that when you see them in the street you can talk to them! Let them see how true this gospel is with the smile on your mouth and the smile in your eyes!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Andrew