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
Los cambios vienen
First and foremost I did get transferred! I am now in Avellaneda in the area Avellaneda 2 which is way bigger than my last area. We live in a big apartment building on the tenth floor, the pench (apartment) is pretty nice and my new comp Elder Dahl (Logan, Utah) seems pretty awesome. He only has one less transfer than me but I am the comp mayor and his district leader. Yeah, that’s right, President also asked me to be a district leader. It seems like every change just brings its new challenges and this to bring me back to ground zero... oh well it is the best way to learn. It was hard and weird to say goodbye to the ward and to my three companions but I did it and now I am here. I already met the ward mission leader. He is a young returned missionary who seems very excited to work. I am excited too; there is just so much newness ahead of me! This past week was definitely different. We found a husband of a less active lady that we had just barely found and started teaching so hopefully the other elders can help them out. Then on Viernes (Friday) it rained, and rained, and then rained some more. As you can probably see the whole place got pretty flooded. But we decided to take advantage of the situation and leave to go and help people and so that is what we did, we spent all day wading through water offering help and doing service. It was different, fun and very tiring but I think we helped to change some people’s perspectives or at least let them see the missionaries aren’t just annoying guys that knock on your door. Then, by the next day all the water had left and we helped one member family that had their house flooded really bad clean it out. Because of that we had to do our weekly planning on Saturday afternoon because we left on Friday when we would normally do it. As we were doing it, it just started raining a whole bunch and I thought "oh no all these poor people. It can’t flood again and what if this makes it so that we can’t have the baptism" so I told Elder Corry we should pray so that the rain would stop and so we did, and it did! We then gave a prayer of thanks and as you could see Camila was baptized! She is so awesome and pure. I am just a little sad I won’t get to be there to see the confirmation or to help out the rest of her family activate (right now it is just Camila y Marcela la madre) She said she was going to miss me and I gave her a dollar bill with my signature to remember me by. Then later on Sunday night we had a meeting with Flia Caseres (the Caseres Family) and Malvina. We talked and exchanged information to stay in contact and ate some pizza. Malvina gave me a recuerdo (souvenir/gift) that was a little rabbit that has a heart that says "te quiero". I thought it was a bit strange but I’ll keep it anyway. I left them with my testimony and poor Malvina was crying but I know she will be okay; she is going to go on vacation to visit her family in Entre Rios and she asked us for Books of Mormon so that she could give them out to her family! que capa! I will let you know if I become aware of any of the results of that. My new companion I have heard is very obedient and it seems so to me. He wants to work and he wants to get baptisms. He also told me a Ward goal is to have the requirements to be able to build their own capilla (chapel) by the end of the year, so we will definitely help out with that. By the way there is a Wal-Mart like ten blocks from the pension.... I like this place already! Keep up the great work and keep inviting your friends to come to activities and everything, I know that you will!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Andrew
Monday, February 3, 2014 12:54 PM
Wow so many things are changing back home it is weird, and Argentina is starting to feel more and more like home. Daniel is just quite the little man now. Matthew and Carolyn super studs! And from Brevi (Brenda and Levi) I haven’t heard anything but I assume they are their usual awesome selves! I feel like I am learning too many new things, as I have been trying to teach Elder Corry from the 12 week training program I am learning a lot of things that are helping me with the way I teach! (Elder Aldana never really did the 12 week program with me). It is amazing all there is to learn and ideas that were there on the same pages for so long just seem to jump out at you. Well Camila is a nine year old girl of inactive family. The mom, Marcela, stopped working a lot and started spending more time with Camila, she then realized that Camila needed a church and so told some of the family members of her husband who are active and they passed the reference on to us. The mom and Camila are the only ones that show interest in going to church ( for now ;) ) Camila is super smart for only having 9 years and is super pure. She is going to get baptized on the 9th! We asked her who wanted to do the baptism and she said me, I wanted her to pick Elder Corry and I guess I should have just suggested that he could do it instead of asking her, but the important thing is that she is going to get baptized! I am pretty sure this will probably be my last p day in Lanus but I guess we will see. It is weird to think that I might leave this place. We are working with new ideas and some new people. We did a charla with Malvina and had her make a list of about 15 people she knew that weren’t members of the church. From that we had her choose five and then set up a time to have lunch with them and told her to invite her friends to come to the lunch. She told us she has done it and some of them already said yes so we will see how that goes on Saturday! We are also going to start doing that with all our lunch appointments (since we eat with the same families almost every week). The days are going by fast, we are teaching more lessons. The president told us that we can and should work towards teaching 30 lessons a week, although we still have a little ways to go we are steadily increase the amount of lessons we teach and working towards that goal. I love being a missionary and if I stop to think of all the blessings it is so amazing, the trick is I have to stop and think about it. I really love the song "I Stand All Amazed" It is amazing that for me, just a tiny little speck in the universe, a guy that makes so many mistakes and does so many things wrong. That for me a sinner he suffered, he bled and died. I know that my Redeemer lives. He helps me in every moment when I will just turn to him. He can bring light to the darkest situations if we will just allow him to. I love you all very much!
Love,
Elder Andrew
Wow so many things are changing back home it is weird, and Argentina is starting to feel more and more like home. Daniel is just quite the little man now. Matthew and Carolyn super studs! And from Brevi (Brenda and Levi) I haven’t heard anything but I assume they are their usual awesome selves! I feel like I am learning too many new things, as I have been trying to teach Elder Corry from the 12 week training program I am learning a lot of things that are helping me with the way I teach! (Elder Aldana never really did the 12 week program with me). It is amazing all there is to learn and ideas that were there on the same pages for so long just seem to jump out at you. Well Camila is a nine year old girl of inactive family. The mom, Marcela, stopped working a lot and started spending more time with Camila, she then realized that Camila needed a church and so told some of the family members of her husband who are active and they passed the reference on to us. The mom and Camila are the only ones that show interest in going to church ( for now ;) ) Camila is super smart for only having 9 years and is super pure. She is going to get baptized on the 9th! We asked her who wanted to do the baptism and she said me, I wanted her to pick Elder Corry and I guess I should have just suggested that he could do it instead of asking her, but the important thing is that she is going to get baptized! I am pretty sure this will probably be my last p day in Lanus but I guess we will see. It is weird to think that I might leave this place. We are working with new ideas and some new people. We did a charla with Malvina and had her make a list of about 15 people she knew that weren’t members of the church. From that we had her choose five and then set up a time to have lunch with them and told her to invite her friends to come to the lunch. She told us she has done it and some of them already said yes so we will see how that goes on Saturday! We are also going to start doing that with all our lunch appointments (since we eat with the same families almost every week). The days are going by fast, we are teaching more lessons. The president told us that we can and should work towards teaching 30 lessons a week, although we still have a little ways to go we are steadily increase the amount of lessons we teach and working towards that goal. I love being a missionary and if I stop to think of all the blessings it is so amazing, the trick is I have to stop and think about it. I really love the song "I Stand All Amazed" It is amazing that for me, just a tiny little speck in the universe, a guy that makes so many mistakes and does so many things wrong. That for me a sinner he suffered, he bled and died. I know that my Redeemer lives. He helps me in every moment when I will just turn to him. He can bring light to the darkest situations if we will just allow him to. I love you all very much!
Love,
Elder Andrew
Monday, January 27, 2014 7:04 AM
Les amo
Are you sure it is my cousin Erica that is getting married!!!?? the one that in like only 18 years old?! If this wasn’t some sort of typing error that is crazy for me, but hey age is just a number! And I trust her that she would choose a stud to marry. Also with Daniel I have a Mormon message that I recommend him to watch today before he gets the priesthood this week. I think it is called "The power of God" by Thomas S Monson and really helped me think differently about the priesthood. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!! a Daniel y a mi Madre!!!! I hope you don’t party rock too hard because you will still need to go take the sacrament (or in Daniel’s case PASS the sacrament) on Sunday. Glad to hear that Dad is enjoying his calling and I know he will be a "cool" leader and more importantly a good example. I remember a lot of the things my scout/young men leaders did and said, they were all very good and good examples, talk to them about your mission it will help them look forward to their turn to serve! This week was a bit weird with the change of schedule and stuff but we found some other new people, and they all live within a small area so it makes the traveling easier. One is Soledad, which is the name of the other Falkan Island, so we make the joke that we are going to baptize both of the islands. But mas alla de los chistes (beyond the jokes) she is really in need of the gospel. She stopped us in the street about a week or more ago and told us that she had been listening to the missionaries and that her boyfriend was a member and that she wanted to get baptized. We were excited and set up a cita (appointment) with her, that she wanted to do in the church and then she didn’t show up. We didn’t understand and so this week I felt like we should call her, so we called her and she said we could come over right then so we did. She is going through a really rough time. She didn’t come because her sister is having a lot of problems with drugs and she has two kids and the parents wanted to put her in a mental institution which wouldn’t be good, so Soledad got in a fight with her parents (Soledad is 25 years old). Also her boyfriend broke up with her without giving her any reasons why (he was an inactive member and it was actually his brother that just left on his mission that got her interested in the church) and her and her group of friends all lost their jobs. She said she feels very alone and that when we called her she had gotten her Book of Mormon and was reading it. We taught about God’s love and explained that we are priesthood holders and can give blessings (you shouldn’t offer blessings because they should be asked for so it can be by their faith) so she asked us for a blessing. We are going to try and help her get to know Malvina because she also felt very lonely when she first started talking with us. Well stay strong I love you all very much!
Elder Andrew
Les amo
Are you sure it is my cousin Erica that is getting married!!!?? the one that in like only 18 years old?! If this wasn’t some sort of typing error that is crazy for me, but hey age is just a number! And I trust her that she would choose a stud to marry. Also with Daniel I have a Mormon message that I recommend him to watch today before he gets the priesthood this week. I think it is called "The power of God" by Thomas S Monson and really helped me think differently about the priesthood. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!! a Daniel y a mi Madre!!!! I hope you don’t party rock too hard because you will still need to go take the sacrament (or in Daniel’s case PASS the sacrament) on Sunday. Glad to hear that Dad is enjoying his calling and I know he will be a "cool" leader and more importantly a good example. I remember a lot of the things my scout/young men leaders did and said, they were all very good and good examples, talk to them about your mission it will help them look forward to their turn to serve! This week was a bit weird with the change of schedule and stuff but we found some other new people, and they all live within a small area so it makes the traveling easier. One is Soledad, which is the name of the other Falkan Island, so we make the joke that we are going to baptize both of the islands. But mas alla de los chistes (beyond the jokes) she is really in need of the gospel. She stopped us in the street about a week or more ago and told us that she had been listening to the missionaries and that her boyfriend was a member and that she wanted to get baptized. We were excited and set up a cita (appointment) with her, that she wanted to do in the church and then she didn’t show up. We didn’t understand and so this week I felt like we should call her, so we called her and she said we could come over right then so we did. She is going through a really rough time. She didn’t come because her sister is having a lot of problems with drugs and she has two kids and the parents wanted to put her in a mental institution which wouldn’t be good, so Soledad got in a fight with her parents (Soledad is 25 years old). Also her boyfriend broke up with her without giving her any reasons why (he was an inactive member and it was actually his brother that just left on his mission that got her interested in the church) and her and her group of friends all lost their jobs. She said she feels very alone and that when we called her she had gotten her Book of Mormon and was reading it. We taught about God’s love and explained that we are priesthood holders and can give blessings (you shouldn’t offer blessings because they should be asked for so it can be by their faith) so she asked us for a blessing. We are going to try and help her get to know Malvina because she also felt very lonely when she first started talking with us. Well stay strong I love you all very much!
Elder Andrew
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 12:35 PM
Well kind of weird to be writing on a miercoles (Wednesday) but then again the mission is full of unexpected surprises. I am really glad to hear how good you are all doing and that the Mesa High wrestling team is doing well haha. I sometimes wish I could practice but oh well I’ll just try to keep up with my tiny morning exercise routines in the meantime and not get too fat. I don’t know if you remember a few weeks ago I talked about worrying that we didn’t really have that many investigators, well the Lord in definitely blessing us with that. Thanks to a reference and always looking for opportunities to "invite" we have found some great new people to teach. I like the idea of inviting your neighbors because it turns out that we found one family that is progressing well that lives two houses down from a member family. We didn’t find them from a reference but rather from just talking to the people outside one day. We also found another investigator just talking to him when we saw him sitting with the inactive son of a member family who also lives only about 5 houses down from this family. I am glad we found these people but it would have been easier if we had been guided by the members to these people. I think a lot of the time we think that people aren’t going to change, but, like Mom said, it never hurts to invite. If you are too scared to talk all you have to do is give the name to the missionaries, they are more than willing to talk haha. It is always better to have a connection through a member though. I am glad you are inviting people to the temple, it really changes lives, one of the families in this ward who are getting ready to be sealed said one of their first experiences in their investigation process was going to the open house of the Buenos Aires temple. Speaking of that awesome place I really enjoyed being there today. Just being in that quiet tranquility just reminded me of being at home in the Mesa temple. I think that no matter what temple I go to I will always feel at home. It was different in Spanish but I really liked it. And Hermano (Brother) Caseres was there working the veil so that was really cool to be there with him as well. I could just image Malvina being in there in a year or so. We did English classes the other Saturday and they went really well and a lot of people actually came! By a lot I mean like 10. It was fun and we taught some numbers and a few other things, we are telling a lot of people and there is a lot of interest so hopefully the pool will get even bigger. It also helps that here English is required in school. We are having fun trying new things and seeing new success. I am trying to aprovechar (take advantage of the time) because I think in a few weeks I will probably inevitably be in a new area. Whether I go or not I love this work and I will do it where the Lord wants. Iré y haré. (I will go and do) Les amo cada uno de ustedes, y espero que tengan mucho exito en su esfuerzos misionales. (I love each and every one of you and hope that you have much success in your missionary efforts.)
Con muchos besitos, (with many kisses)
Elder Andrew
Well kind of weird to be writing on a miercoles (Wednesday) but then again the mission is full of unexpected surprises. I am really glad to hear how good you are all doing and that the Mesa High wrestling team is doing well haha. I sometimes wish I could practice but oh well I’ll just try to keep up with my tiny morning exercise routines in the meantime and not get too fat. I don’t know if you remember a few weeks ago I talked about worrying that we didn’t really have that many investigators, well the Lord in definitely blessing us with that. Thanks to a reference and always looking for opportunities to "invite" we have found some great new people to teach. I like the idea of inviting your neighbors because it turns out that we found one family that is progressing well that lives two houses down from a member family. We didn’t find them from a reference but rather from just talking to the people outside one day. We also found another investigator just talking to him when we saw him sitting with the inactive son of a member family who also lives only about 5 houses down from this family. I am glad we found these people but it would have been easier if we had been guided by the members to these people. I think a lot of the time we think that people aren’t going to change, but, like Mom said, it never hurts to invite. If you are too scared to talk all you have to do is give the name to the missionaries, they are more than willing to talk haha. It is always better to have a connection through a member though. I am glad you are inviting people to the temple, it really changes lives, one of the families in this ward who are getting ready to be sealed said one of their first experiences in their investigation process was going to the open house of the Buenos Aires temple. Speaking of that awesome place I really enjoyed being there today. Just being in that quiet tranquility just reminded me of being at home in the Mesa temple. I think that no matter what temple I go to I will always feel at home. It was different in Spanish but I really liked it. And Hermano (Brother) Caseres was there working the veil so that was really cool to be there with him as well. I could just image Malvina being in there in a year or so. We did English classes the other Saturday and they went really well and a lot of people actually came! By a lot I mean like 10. It was fun and we taught some numbers and a few other things, we are telling a lot of people and there is a lot of interest so hopefully the pool will get even bigger. It also helps that here English is required in school. We are having fun trying new things and seeing new success. I am trying to aprovechar (take advantage of the time) because I think in a few weeks I will probably inevitably be in a new area. Whether I go or not I love this work and I will do it where the Lord wants. Iré y haré. (I will go and do) Les amo cada uno de ustedes, y espero que tengan mucho exito en su esfuerzos misionales. (I love each and every one of you and hope that you have much success in your missionary efforts.)
Con muchos besitos, (with many kisses)
Elder Andrew
Missionaries having fun!
Malvina's Baptism from a week ago
Monday, January 13, 2014 9:24 AM
OH RATS!
Well like I told mom the rats are back and they came back with a vengeance but they are nothing compared to four servants of the Lord! So that is something that we are working on. Don’t worry about your notices making me distracted or anything like that there is so much to worry about here to be honest Mondays are really the only days I worry about home. That isn’t to say I don’t think about you but I try to stay focused on this great work. Oh Mom and Dad I need you to tell me the cities that you served in on your missions and if you can remember any of the names. We did tramites (legal paperwork) today and I ran into two missionaries from El Salvador and I have run into others from Guatemala y Honduras. I enjoyed Daniel’s talk and am glad that I taught him how to be a good wrestler ;) I am glad that you are all safe and well. In weekly planning we realized we are suffering with investigators. So we went through them and I even called one we hadn’t visited in a while and she said right there on the phone that she wasn’t interested right now. So we are starting to build a strong base of investigators from scratch almost but it is exciting. Instead of feeling depressed Elder Corry and I feel excited. On that day of the weekly planning we even found two new investigators! So we are working with getting more references trying new methods because the olds ones weren’t working and going to start teaching English classes to see if we can get more investigators or references from that. I feel like I am starting a new thing and it feels good. Speaking of new things we had interviews with president and he said "Wow you have been in that area a long time" and "we need to spread your talents around to mission" So I am pretty sure this next transfer will be Adios Lanus. Which will be sad but I know will be good for me. The newly revamped exercise is going well and I feel well. We still have a whole lot of fun together although we are pretty terrible about teasing Elder Haynie since he is going home. I love the mission and love each and every one of you. I am proud to be an Andrew and am so grateful for a strong family as Daniel said. You help me to keep pushing along.
Love,
Elder Andrew
Malvina's Baptism from a week agoMonday, January 13, 2014 9:24 AM
OH RATS!
Well like I told mom the rats are back and they came back with a vengeance but they are nothing compared to four servants of the Lord! So that is something that we are working on. Don’t worry about your notices making me distracted or anything like that there is so much to worry about here to be honest Mondays are really the only days I worry about home. That isn’t to say I don’t think about you but I try to stay focused on this great work. Oh Mom and Dad I need you to tell me the cities that you served in on your missions and if you can remember any of the names. We did tramites (legal paperwork) today and I ran into two missionaries from El Salvador and I have run into others from Guatemala y Honduras. I enjoyed Daniel’s talk and am glad that I taught him how to be a good wrestler ;) I am glad that you are all safe and well. In weekly planning we realized we are suffering with investigators. So we went through them and I even called one we hadn’t visited in a while and she said right there on the phone that she wasn’t interested right now. So we are starting to build a strong base of investigators from scratch almost but it is exciting. Instead of feeling depressed Elder Corry and I feel excited. On that day of the weekly planning we even found two new investigators! So we are working with getting more references trying new methods because the olds ones weren’t working and going to start teaching English classes to see if we can get more investigators or references from that. I feel like I am starting a new thing and it feels good. Speaking of new things we had interviews with president and he said "Wow you have been in that area a long time" and "we need to spread your talents around to mission" So I am pretty sure this next transfer will be Adios Lanus. Which will be sad but I know will be good for me. The newly revamped exercise is going well and I feel well. We still have a whole lot of fun together although we are pretty terrible about teasing Elder Haynie since he is going home. I love the mission and love each and every one of you. I am proud to be an Andrew and am so grateful for a strong family as Daniel said. You help me to keep pushing along.
Love,
Elder Andrew
Monday, December 30, 2013 11:12 AM
Miracles of Christmas
Yes it was awesome to see all of you on Christmas DAY! I really enjoyed talking
with you even though for some reason it was a bit odd. Be warned in advance that
whenever I get home (in some unknown really far away date in the future) I will
probably be really awkward and not know what to do with myself, so cut me some
slack in advance haha. Those are some sweet gifts that the kids got! It looks
like mom and dad have been holding out waiting for the two wild ones to leave.
No just joking thank you for not giving us coal even though we probably deserved
it! I really like those eyeball glasses, those are pretty funky. Elder Godoy
really likes the mac and cheese as well. Well transfers came and por suerte(with luck) we are all staying. My whole district is the same for at least another six weeks.
Now the baptism. I was pretty nervous but we got the details taken care of for
the most part before hand. We got there early with the things we needed and
started to fill up the pila. I was super nervous before being the senior
companion, being the one going to do the ordinance, and it being the first
baptism that I had ever had anything to do with! She got there we changed out
and we took some pictures I sent you the big group one. Then the program started
and Hermano Caseres (featured on the left) Gave a talk on baptism and the we did
the ordinance. There was hardly any water in the font but she is really short so
it was alright. She was nervous and was facing the wrong way but we got
everything worked out, I said the words and put her under the water. She looked
very happy coming out and I can´t wait to ask her in detail about her
experience. Then we sang the four elders and finished the program. After we had
some nice refreshments. For a first time the program aspect of it went really
well, but what was really important is that she got baptized. The next day in
church she was confirmed by Hermano Caseres and the blessing he gave her was
very interesting. That she would be a light and teacher and help many people. It
made me think of all her family members on the other side of the veil. She
accepted the gospel like it was already a part of her and continues accepting
everything new that she learns. If she is like that I am sure she has dead
relatives that have died and already accepted the message. She will get the
chance on the 4th to go to the temple, and we will probably go with her, even
though we can´t go inside. It has all been a very big miracle and she is such a
blessing to us. I brought an extra triplet and bible in Spanish that some elders
left in the MTC that I was waiting to give to my first convert so she will get
those. Thank you for all your support and I will continue letting you know how
the work is I just love it!
Elder Andrew
Miracles of Christmas
Yes it was awesome to see all of you on Christmas DAY! I really enjoyed talking
with you even though for some reason it was a bit odd. Be warned in advance that
whenever I get home (in some unknown really far away date in the future) I will
probably be really awkward and not know what to do with myself, so cut me some
slack in advance haha. Those are some sweet gifts that the kids got! It looks
like mom and dad have been holding out waiting for the two wild ones to leave.
No just joking thank you for not giving us coal even though we probably deserved
it! I really like those eyeball glasses, those are pretty funky. Elder Godoy
really likes the mac and cheese as well. Well transfers came and por suerte(with luck) we are all staying. My whole district is the same for at least another six weeks.
Now the baptism. I was pretty nervous but we got the details taken care of for
the most part before hand. We got there early with the things we needed and
started to fill up the pila. I was super nervous before being the senior
companion, being the one going to do the ordinance, and it being the first
baptism that I had ever had anything to do with! She got there we changed out
and we took some pictures I sent you the big group one. Then the program started
and Hermano Caseres (featured on the left) Gave a talk on baptism and the we did
the ordinance. There was hardly any water in the font but she is really short so
it was alright. She was nervous and was facing the wrong way but we got
everything worked out, I said the words and put her under the water. She looked
very happy coming out and I can´t wait to ask her in detail about her
experience. Then we sang the four elders and finished the program. After we had
some nice refreshments. For a first time the program aspect of it went really
well, but what was really important is that she got baptized. The next day in
church she was confirmed by Hermano Caseres and the blessing he gave her was
very interesting. That she would be a light and teacher and help many people. It
made me think of all her family members on the other side of the veil. She
accepted the gospel like it was already a part of her and continues accepting
everything new that she learns. If she is like that I am sure she has dead
relatives that have died and already accepted the message. She will get the
chance on the 4th to go to the temple, and we will probably go with her, even
though we can´t go inside. It has all been a very big miracle and she is such a
blessing to us. I brought an extra triplet and bible in Spanish that some elders
left in the MTC that I was waiting to give to my first convert so she will get
those. Thank you for all your support and I will continue letting you know how
the work is I just love it!
Elder Andrew
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