Love from Argentina
June 15, 2015
Thank Angela for her kind words being in home really taught me
that many times my will isn't the Lord's will. I feel so blessed now to be with
the great people of CityBell, a blessing I would not have enjoyed had I stayed
out on the misión without breaking my ankle. And tell her, "Si yo tuviera
plata para comprar facturas le mandaria algunas pero por ahora tengo que
administrar bien el dinero jaja". Well this week has truly been a
good one as well as a very busy one! Monday we had
some very good lessons teaching the familia Mamani as well as the familia Cambilla.
The Cambilla familia are people the Elders found doing contacts a few weeks
before I got here, they don't have much of a religious formation and have a
pretty mixed up family (the three kids are all from different dads) but they
are making the effort to make changes in their lives. Aldana (the mom) is doing
her daily prayers now and says she feels a lot of peace Alejandro (the dad)
understands the message a bit better but isn't applying quite yet although he
did go to church with us on Sunday and
really liked it! Back to Monday we went
with a Member couple the matrimonio Pintus who are a great family and Hermano
Pintus is the second counselor of the branch. Anyway we talked about families
and they were able to help the Cambillas feel very good and open up. Lessons
are always better with members and especially when you try to get members that
are having about the same experiences in life. They were all going to come to
church on Sunday for the first time but two of the kids
got sick and so the mom stayed home but Alejandro came with Ignacio (the middle
kid with 4). They really enjoyed their time and the members here are great
cause they just latched on to Alejandro and made him feel very welcome. Another
exciting news is that Fatima Mamani came with her family to church! This is the
first time in a while that she has come and we can tell they are making changes
in the home, there is a different spirit when we go now. I am praying a lot so
her and her sister Melani can receive an answer on the truthfulness of these
things and be baptized. It was testimony meeting and many gave their
testimonies on the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet
something Fatima is struggling to believe so
hopefully some of the words touched her heart! We are trying to find new
investigators and no luck so far but we are going to keep on trying. Even
though we have a pretty good teaching base now there are always more people to teach
the góspel to. Although in two weeks we will be taking over the sisters half of
the branch because they are leaving, so this Thursday we
are going to visit some of their investigators to start making the transition.
Well in the zone we felt like there were several problems with unity in a few
companionship so this last district meeting we asked if we could speak in the
two districts about companionship inventories. Apparently the district leaders
had the same impresión because both of the meeting were about unity and
resolving problems. After the meeting we found out that several of the
companionships that we were worrying about we able to resolve their problems
and that the district meeting inspired them to do it. What a humbling
experience to follow impressions and see it help other people with their
problems. I sure feel grateful. And one funny story with Stevey Smith (the
stuffed lizard that we borrowed from a less active) we pulled of a great prank.
We took him with us to the correlation meeting with or Ward misión leader and
put him in the bathroom on the counter without anyone noticing. we had the
meeting and it was pretty normal and when we finished the sister said "we
need to go to the bathroom" talk about perfect. we watched as they went in
and then as they ran out screaming and talking in English they were so startled
haha will the good news is they don't hate us and we all had a good laugh.
Sometimes its nice to just have a good laugh :)
Love,
Elder Andrew
Getting better all
the time
June 8, 2015
Well after the blister went away my ankle has been
feeling a lot better. I walk pretty much normal now. Some days it feels a bit
stiff but for the most part it is fine. What a blessing! This week has been
pretty busy and as I look back on what we did it seems like this week has been
a month or something. I look back to what we did on Tuesday and think "We
did that only 6 days ago, man it feels like it was forever ago" but I
guess that's how things are when you have action packed days! On Tuesday we had
a zone meeting and talked about chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel about "what
function the Book of Mormon has in missionary work" and it was good. This
month as a mission we are all supposed to study and focus on chapter 5. My
vision of how to use the Book of Mormon I feel is changing and my testimony of
it is definitely getting stronger! Like you said Mom, what a blessing it is to
have the scriptures! Also what a blessing to know that the Heavens are not
closed and God still speaks with His prophets in these latter days! Oh by the
way one of the RMs in my ward served in the Salta Fatima
has started reading and praying again. She still hasn't asked if this is true
or not but said she would now, so we'll see when we teach them today. We are
teaching a guy named Julio who is really nice and interested in the gospel.
When we went by yesterday to teach him his family was in a big fight, with yelling
and foul language and a bit of guareni as well. Not the best way to start out a
lesson and it was really sad to see just how sad it made him to see his dad and
brothers like that. I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful family
but I sure am grateful for it. Thank you Mom and Dad for founding our family on
the principles of the gospel, on love and Jesus Christ. It has made all the
difference in the world in my life and surely in the lives of generations to
come. I love you all very much and wish you the Best in this week. May you ever
seek the will of the Lord and His guidance.
Love y besitos,
Elder Andrew
