Another week in Paradise

Aug. 24, 2015

I can honestly say that i just love the mission! I look forward to writing you guys every Monday but also dread it sometimes because it reminds me of the small amount of time I have left, but that just means I need to take even more advantage of it.

I am really glad to hear of the progress that the Lopez family is having and really I think that is the Lord's way for this church to work with those that need strengthening. It isn't for the Bishop to do everything and work a miracle. Just as the Missionaries aren't meant to do absolutely everything in missionary work. I believe the Lord's way is for all of us, working together, can help out these people. The bishop, the missionaries, quorum and relief society presidents, home and visiting teachers, normal members of the ward, we are all a part of his great work.

The thought that I had for Matthew about maybe his fears of not being ready is this: It is interesting to me in Alma 17 Alma talks about meeting up with his brothers the sons of Mosiah. An interesting thing is that he notices a change in them. I imagine it was probably a change in their maturity. He also makes reference to that they had become strong in their knowledge of the truth because of their constant study of the scriptures. He also mentions of their many days of prayer and fasting. These are all things that I think they did on the missions. He saw a difference in them after a 14 year period of preaching the word. They were as ready as the Lord needed them to be when they left and the He continued to mold them as they constantly turned to Him. Doctrine and Covenants 4:3 says something interesting "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;" I think that is probably the biggest requirement to serve a mission and I know that Matthew has that part down fine. So Matthew, just go out there and get them! You will never get to a point in your mission where you don't need the Lord's help so just believe in Him and He will get done what He wants through your willing hands. What an exciting time in your life!

Monday- Well we had a pretty normal day, we are going to try and start getting everything done in the offices in the morning that way we can have time to work at night and so far so good! That means that I will probably always write you all around this time just so you don't forget to send your letters! We contacted a few people and then had a meeting at President's house with a couple that just got called to family history for the Buenos Aires South Counsel (counsel is the same geographic size as a mission it is just what the church uses to refer to callings that aren't directly part of the mission) and they are going to teach the missionaries by zone how to get people started on their family history! That is such a great tool to hasten the work! Maybe you could invite Lillian to create a family history account.

Tuesday- We had a district meeting that was pretty good and ate at a members house that I couldn't believe. It was a mansion! Lets just say that Banfield 2 is probably the fanciest/richest area in the whole mission. Then we headed over to the offices to get everything ready for zone conferences we would be starting the next day. We then went to go teach the complete family. We prayed a lot that day for them, did a practice of what we were going to teach them, got a member to come with us, showed up on time and....... they weren't there.... After waiting a while we decided to just come back another day, it was a bummer but we are going to keep on trying.

Wednesday- We had the first zone conference in Adrogue! There were some technical difficulties and others as can be expected with the first time, but that was also good because we rely more on the Spirit. It went really well and we are only teaching 4 things. Humility, working with members, Personal security, and the Atonement. Working with members and the atonement take up mostly the whole time and they go from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Then after that we did a little office work and had an awesome lesson! It was with Paula and we took an awesome member with us who is a returned missionary. We taught Paula and her daughter Maria. We are reteaching the lessons with Paula and it is the first time for Maria. The Spirit was super strong and the member helped a lot. I asked Maria if she believed that the story of the first vision was true and she said without hesitation "si". Oh man that was a powerful lesson! Greatest joy of the mission!

Thursday- We went to an area in Virrey del Pino to give a training to a new missionary and his trainer because they couldn't come to the trainer meeting. It went really well and they are really good elders. One of them just got here from the states and he was telling us about how much better his Spanish is getting, it was fun and brought back good memories from the beginning of the mission. Then we had a really good experience. We had asked an hermana if she knew anyone we could visit and she said her neighbor in front of her house maybe and she was going to try and talk to her. So we went back to verify if she was able to talk to her neighbor  and she told us no, but right in that moment her neighbor came over!!!! She asked for a tool for something in her house and so the hermana presented us and then went in the house to look for the tool. Well, luckily we recognized that the Lord had probably given us this opportunity and so we talked to her real quick about who we were and before the hermana came back had set up to visit her! She was really nice and had no problem with us passing by. The hermana told us after she left that she had taken longer on getting the tool on purpose so we could talk with her and had gone in her room to say a prayer. That was a special experience and another testimony of the power of members in this work

Friday- We had zone conference in Aldo Bonzi and then went to do and intercambio with the zl's in Alejandro Korn on the most full train ever. At one point I could feel the persons chest expanding behind me when they would breathe because we were so tightly packed! That was fun. 

Saturday- I stayed in Banfield 2 with Elder Rooks from Draper, Utah and we had a day of a LOT of contacts. Not very productive and just made me realize that I think the only way we are going to have success here is working with the members. We had an appointment with active members at night and had a spiritual lesson and then they gave us two references! The sister is going to present us to her friends pretty soon.

Sunday- We had a good sacrament meeting and church services. We passed by a few people, had a meeting to get ready for a family history event on September 12 and then weekly planning with President

I love you all very much and hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Andrew 

First week, Good week

Aug. 17, 2015

It is hard to think all the things I'm going to be writing you about only happened this week but that is how most weeks in the mission are and especially with the assignment of assistant! Apart from Drew being home Dallin Mickelson is also home.. hearing about my friends getting home and thinking about it give me a weird feeling inside, I don' know if it's fear, excitement, trunckyness... whatever it is I'll try not to think about it too much haha!

Monday- It was fun doing all the things for transfers and calming all the chaos that was going on, this is pretty good future job training if I want to get into administrative work in business! We sent the missionaries home and then were able to just be tranquil and get ready for the new group of missionaries coming in!

Tuesday- Well there is always some new adventure happening with us and Tuesday was no exception! The flight from the US had a ten hour delay for some reason and so President called us early in the morning to inform us of that and to get new arrangements to pick them up from the airport and change the arrangements with the missionaries being picked up from the Argentina MTC and also change the time the trainers were coming in, and change a few other things. So we got all that taken care of and then went to the MTC to meet the new Latin elders and one sister that are coming to our mission. As always they were excited and made us excited as well. It seems like every group of new missionaries just gets better, The Youth are better I think than even when I came out on a mission! We did some things in the mission home with them ate lunch and got them sent off with their trainers with very few problems. Then we went to the offices to get a few things done and came back later to go meet the USA missionaries at the airport. Well traffic was SUPER bad and we didn't end up making it to the airport, Elder Corry and Villegas from the east mission were at the airport though and they called us and got the missionaries on the vehicle they needed. After getting their trainers and telling them a few things we sent them to their new areas in taxi at about 9 at night. All their comps were Latins as well. I'm glad that didn't happen to me! They had to sleep in the airport in Georgia (or maybe not sleep) get here super late, no one is there at the airport to greet you, and then after a very brief time in the mission home they just send you off with someone you don't know and doesn't speak your language.... these are brave souls haha.

Wednesday- We did a bit of preparation day because we didn't do anything on Monday and we just did work on our apartment! we have kept it pretty clean there was just a lot of junk from stuff that other elders had left when they went home, so we got that all together in a huge bag along with a huge bag of stuff we were just going to throw away. We gave the clothes to the mission home to be washed and taken to the offices in case other missionaries need clothes and threw the garbage out. I couldn't believe just how much open space we have now in the pension!!! It surprised me every time I walked in! It is much better this way though, and makes it easier to feel the Spirit. Then we did some office work and got ready for upcoming meetings.

Thursday- We left early in the morning to get ready for a District Leader Training meeting and had that which went really well. We have some good district leaders! Bought our weekly food and got some money out from the bank to buy food for upcoming meetings. Then at night we had time to work in the area!! We looked for some people and ended the night visiting a less active family who we didn't know but had called the night before to set up an appointment. We got there and they had made us pizza! We ate quickly, shared a thought about the atonement and asked them for a reference and they gave us one! So that was a good night.

Friday- We had a new missionary and trainers meeting. So the missionaries that have six weeks in the field and their trainers, as well as, the brand new missionaries and their trainers. We talked about vision and some important things and then split them in two groups according to the time they had in their training to teach them different things. It went pretty well and we really do have good, pure new missionaries. There are even a few trainers that just finished their training before they were assigned as trainers.... sound familiar. Afterwards for a few hours we got some things done that President had asked us to do and then had more time to work in the area! We walked around a bunch and tried looking up a bunch of former investigators with not much luck but we were able to contact the reference we got from the less active family and she was super nice! Patricia is her name and we set up to teach her this week on Thursday. We also passed by an active members house and got a reference from her! I can't remember what day but Elder Compton and I sat down and made a list of goals for this transfer. Some of them are like just talking in Spanish between us, memorizing a scripture as a companionship per week (already got alma 7:11-12 down!) a few other things and to find three complete families this transfer to teach. They are really good goals and are helping us to be more obedient and more consecrated.

Saturday- We had the whole day to work! In the morning after doing our studies we went to a part of the area that neither of us had ever been to before because the bishop gave us a reference in the baptism that lives over there. So after getting lost for a while we were finally able to figure out how to read our map for that part and how it worked. The reference wasn't at home, but at least we now know how to get there! We did a couple of really good contacts walking to lunch. One lady even asked us to come by her house to teach her and then took us to her house so we would know where it was! She lives in the Zone leaders side of the area so we passed the reference over to them. After lunch with some members we headed to the church for a lesson we set up with a less active, but he never showed up. After we went to the center of Lomas which is a really big shopping area and really full of people with our zone to do contacts and hand out pamphlets and stuff. It was pretty fun and we got about 30 people that let us write down their addresses. It was our ward mission leaders idea and was pretty good, but it is always more effective to work with the members finding new investigators that just talking with random people on the street. Then the final thing we did was we went with a couple in our ward that is over family history in this region to visit Paula. It was awesome because her daughter was there and they are both really excited to get going one their family history! We even helped them to create a FamilySearch account right then and there so they can get started!

Sunday- Well a joven in my ward knows Facundo who is the young man from Avellaneda that I helped get baptized if you can remember him and so I guess he found out I was here and decided to come visit! So I got to see him again which was awesome! He said he wanted to come out and do visits with me sometime so I asked President and he said it would be fine! I'm excited for that. Then before our meeting with President we had a little time to work in the area and so went to look for some former investigators. It's a good thing we did instead of just staying in the pench or something because we found a family! The mom came to the door and was really, really nice to us and explained that they had company over but if we could right down her phone number to pass by another day. We did that and also set up an appointment with them tomorrow! We are pretty excited for that because it is a complete family who is in a good economic situation and are married! the only thing that seems to be missing is conversion, which can be pretty difficult sometimes. However, it is a pretty good start for here in Argentina and we are super excited. After we had our weekly meeting with President and will be starting zone conferences this week!

Never a boring day in the mission! I love all of you very much and hope you have a fantastic week. I know that Our Savior lives and loves us, if we take advantage of the trials in our lives to come closer to Him we will be blessed. 

Love,

Elder Andrew  

Transfers!

Aug. 10, 2015

Well I don't have much time because we have been pretty busy with transfers but I'll try and tell you a few highlights.

Biggest highlight was Paula's baptism! I'll try to send pictures. My camera is being a little weird right now. But the baptismal service was very well planned and the members helped out a ton! It was a very spiritual and uplifting experience. And another cool thing was that President Thurgood baptized her because she asked him to! After her baptism she gave her testimony and said "Hoy renací" She felt born again, what a special lady and what a special experience for everyone that was there! 

We got everything ready for transfers and it was a bit crazy today fixing a bunch of problems with transportation and there were a lot of problems because it rained a lot but it ended up going pretty well. It was pretty sad to see Elder Peterson go. I think I feel more sad today than I did last transfer. He really was one of my best companions, and such a great person. But I don't have much time to think about that! Tomorrow we go and get the new missionaries to pump up the mission with new fresh elders and sister!

I love you all very much and something I suggest to you mom and dad is to set apart at least an hour a week to go out with the missionaries, either separately or as a couple. I would suggest looking at your weekly schedules and then maybe saying something like "Elders, on Thursday night we have some free time and would like to come out on a visit with you"  They will love it, and I testify to you that as you set aside even just an hour a week to do that you will have a greater spirit in your lives, us, your children will be blessed and your worries won't seem as big.

With Much Love,

Elder Andrew

(no subject)

Aug 3 

well sorry family i have no time today, we made an appointment to teach paula so i have to go, just know that i love each and every one of you and pray for you often

un abrazo fuerte,

elder Andrew

nuevo compañero

July 27, 2015

Every week brings new adventures! So here is my weekly report. 

Monday- I drove the truck back to the pension. Seeing as the truck is a stick shift and the driving was done in Argentina I think that is a pretty big accomplishment. I like driving stick although I am definitely still getting used to it and probably drive too cautiously in this world of driving sharks

Tuesday- we had district meeting which was fun. We went over how a baptismal service should be held and prepared. It was a good reminder and got us excited to prepare the baptism of Paula. Afterwards one of the investigators of the zone leaders that share the ward with us gave us lunch. It was really good, ovened chicken with french fries, and she also gets baptized the 8th of august. Then we did a few things for the mission and went to teach Paula. We took an hermano who is about her same age and single....... Sometimes missionaries do a bit of matchmaking as well hehehe. They seemed to hit it off well and also he was able to give a really good testimony and give her re assurance by telling about his own conversion and confirming some of the things she is feeling now with her own conversion. Something also good was that we taught her daughter that was there!  She is 21 and super prepared and willing to listen, the only problem is she works a ton so it will be kind of a hit and miss thing of when we can teach her, although she said the last prayer as if she had been a member her whole life! We were super stoked after that lesson and then got some things done in the offices.

Wednesday- We had interviews in Banfield and they were going really well, until my companion had to leave with one of the zone leaders to help out these other elders that one had gotten bitten by a dog and needed a rabies shot, so the practices kind of fell apart but it was still a good experience. I found out that Kenny the guy I helped get baptized in Budge moved to Peru with his family so I'm sure they are doing well. Then after that we had to meet with President because several elders have gone home lately and we needed to see what we wanted to do about the changes. We pulled up the new assistant a little earlier than planned just so he could be part of the changes we were already doing. Elder Compton, he is a powerhouse and still doesn't even have a full year in the mission! if you want to see who he is go on the lds.youth page and look up the video of "texting truth" he is the one who sends the message of the scriptures. We had to close two areas due to elders going home, that was not a happy thing to do....

Thursday- we did some stuff in the morning then went to the offices to pick my our new companion. After that we went to capital to pick up President's laptop and then had a little intro meeting with Elder Compton and President. After we looked around and found a menos activo that Elder Peterson had never taught before and had a pretty good lesson with him. Elder Peterson is from South Weber, Utah and Elder Compton from Logan, Utah. So now all my comps from USA have been from Utah.

Friday- we did interviews and practices in Montegrande which was good and then got ready for an intercambio with the zone leaders of Gonzalez Catan. It was kind of scary getting over there because we had never done it and we had to take three different trains but we made it without any problem and met some cool people along the way.

Saturday- We spent the day with the zone leaders, Elder Vera and Elder Palacios. They are both from Argentina and very good elders. Super obedient it was a very fun intercambio and we got some good work done, we even got to stay and participate in their baptism since one of there investigators got baptized. They called it a Bautisabado jaja. 

Sunday- We went to church, which was great, a lot of focus on keeping the Sabbath day holy, it really is important! Paula went and even though she was a bit tired enjoyed it. Every time she makes more friends so that is great. We had a meeting with President and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident as assistant but am a little nervous for the upcoming transfers because I have never gone through that process and all we have to get ready and Elder Peterson will be taking trips and stuff that the leaving missionaries do on their last week. There are plenty of people that can help me out though so I'm sure we will be fine. Then we had the office staff over to the mission home and watched the church driver safety video, which was very good and will hopefully help us to drive safer.

Monday- today we went with an hermano and President Thurgood to the county building of Lomas (our county) and talked about a huge family history fair that will be taking place in September. Talk about hastening the work, they are expecting 10,000 people to come through on that day to set up a FamilySearch account and learn a bit more about doing their family history! That is something exciting I'm looking forward to!

Well I know the Lord loves us and He helps me in so many ways. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

 un abrazo,

Elder Andrew

feliz dia del amigo!

July 20, 2015

Happy friend day! to all my beloved friends! Well since we do so much it helps me to just write my letters by looking back at my planner and writing something about every day, so I think I am going to keep that format. Kind of sad not to get a letter from Mom today but I sure it was just a technical difficulty. (note from Mom: I did send a letter and don't know why he didn't get it but fortunately I was able to resend it in time for him to get it while he was still on.)

Tuesday- we went to a tiny bit of district meeting and then took off to capital in a remis to take President's laptop to be fixed. After that we fixed a delicious lunch for ourselves and got hung up in the offices getting a bunch of stuff done. We called Paula to see how she was doing and see if we could go to visit her (this was actually on Monday) and she said that she was busy and it would be better if we just passed by on Saturdays.... NO! once a week isn't frequent enough for someone to have a real progression especially if they have the goal to be baptized the 8th of August.

Wednesday- We did interviews in the zone of Gonzalez Catan which is one of the new zones from the west mission. They are really good missionaries and there are only elders in that zone if that tells you anything about the kind of areas there are there.... The zone leaders bought us some really cheap and good hamburgers. We got a text from Paula saying we could come over that night and visit! We got to go with President Thurgood (he is a really good member present) and taught the plan of salvation. She really understands very well and is very prepared. She commented to us that as she reads the Book of Mormon she feels like something empty inside of her is being filled. She is very sensitive to the Spirit and really her own thoughts from her life from before the lessons were even taught to her are pretty inline with gospel principles!

 Thursday- In the morning we looked for some magnets that Hermana Thurgood wanted for a project and did some other little odd thing and then had lunch with a member. He gave us milanesa sandwiches and choripan, not the healthiest of lunches but certainly good! After we got trapped in the offices getting mission projects done, and we had plans to work! That seems to be a common theme however haha. 

Friday- We did interviews and practices in Aldo Bonzi the other new zone from the west mission. They are also really good missionaries, very obedient. And after we stayed with the zone leaders in their area to do divisiones with them. I felt like I was back in Budge! Actually, their area isn't that far away from Budge and are all Bolivians so it pretty much is the same.

Saturday- We finished the intercambio, and got to go to a baptism the zone leaders had of a complete family of six but two kids are too young so 4 in total were baptized. It was pretty special. They are a really nice family and Pres. Thurgood also came! Then at night we taught Paula again with our ward mission leader. We made a lesson plan and the actual lesson went perfectly according to plan! We taught about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. she understood perfectly after a few initial doubts and confusions and committed to living both commandments! She even told us that she would drink tea and coffee every once in a while but because she read the folleto (pamphlet)  before the lesson when she was going to drink it she thought "well I better not." Yeah she is a K-pa!

Sunday- Paula came to church and so did a guy that we talked to on the street on Saturday night, he is a bit different but seems like he can really use the gospel right now in his life but actually lives in another area so we passed the reference but it was fun having him there! I am starting to get some of the names of the members down, it is kind of hard when you only see them once a week for 3 hours! Then we went to lunch with our mission leader. It was good, raviolis! After our weekly planning with President we went to an activity in our ward of watching "Meet the Mormons" and eating sweets together. Paula went to that activity as well and seemed to have a good time. She is making a lot of friends in the church! Camila (the girlfriend of Paula's son) is a strong member and the one that introduced her to the church. Before, Paula would only go to church when Camila was there because she didn't know anyone so she didn't go for three weeks because Camila was on a trip. But on Sunday she went to the activity by herself and sat with the Bishop's family because she is becoming friends with them! This really is a good ward I just wish I could work with them more!

I really love the mission and am very glad to be in the Lord's service. I am glad to hear that Peter's illness was nothing serious and I pray for you all often. I get along very well with Elder Peterson, he is a fantastic Elder and it really is easy to feel the Spirit in this companionship. I am really grateful for this call to serve!

with much love y besitos,

Elder Andrew