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