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 mission and one of his areas was Tucumán. I don't know if you all remember Elder Reynoso, my hijo that went home after a week because of his back. Anyway the RM here in Citybell served in his ward!! Small world. So Gabriel Reynoso is married in the temple and has a kid already jaja. My companion makes fun of me because I'm still in the mission and my son is already married and has a child. He makes a lot of jokes about how long I'm going to be in the mission, I guess it is pretty funny haha. Then on Wednesday we had the consejo de liderazgo where all the zone leaders and sister training leaders get together to talk about mission things. It was a bit weird because everyone except for like one elder was different from the last time I was there. The mission is splitting and there is a lot going on to get ready. President Thurgood told me when I got here that he might possibly move me to the south mission at the end of this transfer, but I hope he lets me stay here. I really like Citybell and there is a lot of work to do. Plus at the end of this transfer they are taking out the hermanas due to lack of missionaries and so we will have both areas to keep us busy.... good thing we have bikes. This weekend we had a stake conference that was very uplifting and talked a lot about keeping the Sabbath day holy although I like the wording better in Spanish "Sanctify the day of Rest" it is something we must do to make that day Holy. The family Mamani is still coming strong. 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 
soy un Aregentino mas
June 1, 2015

Well right now I'm in a ciber with pretty bad computers sitting on a bar stool and there are about 12 kids that maybe are 10 years old, playing counterstrike and using worse language than marines. I fear for the future Argentina, well I always kind of did. Anyway other than that this week has been really good. On Tuesday I did an intercambio with Elder Garache, he was in the Quilmes Zone and is a good friend of mine, from Nicaragua. If you remember he is the only member in his family and was kind of disowned by his mother when he came on the mission. He is a good example of doing what the Lord wants before anything else, and it was nice to be with an old friend. To be completely honest being back was pretty difficult. I didn't feel the same love for the work as before and felt like maybe I shouldn't have come back out. However, on Thursday we had a Zone Conference and talked about many subjects that are near and dear to my heart, and I was reminded of a lot of things I used to do in the mission. Then, at the end we had a testimony meeting of all the missionaries since this is the last time the Thurgood´s will have a zone conference in La Plata. Being able to bear my own testimony about why I came back and the truths that I know and being able to listen to the strong and uplifting testimonies of the others gave me a real boost. I would say I'm back to having probably about the same amount of Love for the work and animo as I did before I broke my ankle. My ankle was doing really well, but then the other day a few pebbles got in my shoe down by the pad of my foot on my right foot. Instead of taking them out I just kept walking. Well thanks to that I now have the biggest blister every on my right food haha. It feels a little better but my ankle has been hurting a bit because of the weird walking the blister has caused me to do. I would ask for you faith on behalf of my foot, I'm sure it will be fine. Here is a great lesson we had to finish up. We are teaching a family named the family Mamani. Two of the daughters have already been baptized and the mother wants to get baptized but isn't married and doesn't want to get married because her man has another family in Bolivia.... so typical family you'd find in Argentina. We went and one the daughters who was going to church and progressing really well when all the sudden stopped everything, kind of opened up to us. (We think part of the reason she stopped is the evangelico boyfriend she now has that will just come and live in their house for like 4 days a week) Anyway Fatima (that's her name) said that when she was going to church she really liked it and felt really good but then when she would get home she felt like it was all the same. Also, that she wasn't sure about the story of Joseph Smith. In the mission we are studying one chapter of Preach My Gospel each month and this month is 5 about what is the function of the Book of Mormon. So we told her that really her problems lay in knowing if the Book of Mormon is true or not. We read all of the introduction with the whole family and it was really good. You could tell Fatima was getting into it and a daughter I had never seen before, Yanet, was also pretty interested. This normally crazy family was silent and thinking as we testified of the power of the Book of Mormon and the ability it gives us to know about the truthfulness of this church. I am very grateful for the Book of Mormon because if I ever have a doubt about something in the church I can always fall back on the foundation that I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It changes lives and has infinitely changed mine. I finished reading it for the second time in Spanish last week and am enjoying my study of the Doctrine and Covenants that I'm starting. I love you all and hope you have a great week and can share the gospel with someone or just show someone that you love them, which is pretty much one in the same!  


love and besitos,
Elder Andrew


Joleen Andrew replied: My sweet son. I'm sorry it's been hard. I feel strongly that there is a good reason you are there at this time. Don't let Satan get to you. He will try to get you down. Don't let him. I do pray for the ankle. Remember to take out the rocks...from your shoes and you heart before they make blisters.


Benjamin Andrew replied: I didn't mean to make you worry with telling you how I felt, I really do feel much better now, and apart from the occasional ankle pain it is like I never left the mission, what a blessing :)