Hey Fam!! Well alot changed this week here in the mission for me, first after i wrote you guys last week we went to the gomez family to have my last family home evening with them, we watched a beautiful movie about Temples and played the dice game when you have to write 1 to 100, like that time when we played in the cabin and Joe was going crazy! haha, it was alot of fun and made me miss the temple awefully and also my family. tuesday we had a service project that was like 6 hours, when we took the shingles off of a roof and repainted as much as we could, there was like 2000 haha, and we only got like 400 or so done. It was alot of fun and a great way to leave Posadas... I recieved a call tuesday night and i was the only one that left out of my whole zone! Well i dont have time so ill tell you more about where i went next week... Ha just kidding, I got called to the most south possible in the mission, Reconquista Santa Fe! My new comp is named Elder Hinostroza, it was wierd, the first day when Elder Soclle was my companion i saw Elder Hinostroza, 7 months back and something in my mind told me that im going to be his companion, and so when i met him it was wierd! So i feel like were going to bring some miracles to Reconquista, hes also from Peru and hes really shy, so its been really good for me so far to start to take the lead in things, but he has a really strong testimony and you can feel it when he speaks. He has the same amount of time as Elder Soclle, and so hes the M1, or the leader companion, which was the only thing that i was disappointed with in this transfer, and i havent moved up at all yet, but its alright. I cant send pictures here but ill try to find a way, maybe there is another cyber we could use. But hes a shorty also haha. I really was sad to leave Posadas, because i had such a long time there, but when i got off the bus to a few good old friends i was way excited to be here, my old friends are my zone leaders and we all live in the same apartment above a pharmacy, its a whole bunch of fun, our life is alot like the best two years if i remember the movie well. They are the bomb and its been a blast to be able to live with another companionship here, Reconquista is ALOT different than Posadas, there isnt hills or trees and instead of red dirt everything looks like cement. There is not a single house made of wood and here its freezing!! 45 degrees right now!! And i dont have a sweater for tracting so its been pretty cold ha, it was 37 thing morning when i woke up, and 46 in the apartment! Ha but i do love it, its a great escape from the usual heat, and it actually looks like winter here, most of the trees are dead, and the grass too. My area is the largest area in the mission, to walk a third of my area is about an hour and a half, so we walk alot and im always exhausted. I love it here, but ive never seen a people so hard, in the four days that ive worked here, other than our 3 progressing investigators, we havent entered a house, something that was so easy to do in Posadas. We have walked all day from 11 in the morning to 9 at night with maybe one lesson, noone wants to talk, is afraid or mean. So thats been the real challenge here, i feel alot like Alma, im depressed for the people here, that not a single person that ive talked to so far wants to accept the gospel, accept happiness. Its been difficult, but something wierd has changed, like steph said i feel like a different person here, i feel such a fire to change the people here and i want to work so bad, even though this should have been the hardest part of my mission thusfar i havent felt discourgaed or despair yet. If someone rejected me i worked twice as hard to find someone who wouldnt. But since ive got here noone new has wanted to hear, i have never experianced this so i dont know what to do, this is a huge challenge, but everyday my patriarchal blessing rings in my ear so thats what has kept me fighting. At church this sunday i did the same as Andy haha, i went from a ward of more than 150 people to a branch of 8, one family and two converts and the branch president and his wife, well thats who assited this week, they usually have about 12. There isnt a young womens and there is one girl hannahs age who is in the primary. So its a huge difference but i am excited to make a change here, im hoping that i can do miracles here but i dont know how, but ill just keep trying to do my best, the feeling here is alot different, in my old ward i didnt feel like i really had a goal, because the ward was huge, but now i have a goal, and im excited to build this branch. Its really really tuff here and after a long tuff day its relieving to go back to the apartment where the other companionship make all of the tuff times disappear, its only the four of us in the city, its about the size of Rosevelt, and its a farming town also. Im excited for the growth that Heavenly Father has planned for me, every Elder that has served in this Area before are great leaders in the mission. Well i love you all so much, continue enjoying your summer and i miss you all so much, please pray to have the lord pour out his spirit on this people, they are tuffer than nails hehe. I LOVE YOU ALL!
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HI MY FAMILY!! I cant even explain how much i love this area! I walk super alot but its not that bad, im used to it, Well this week i have worked super hard and i feel like i finally have a purpose, i learned about the history of the church here in Reconquista this week, and there was 6 branches here, but sadly they have closed all but three, which each has a set of missionaries, but now they are dangerously close to closing on which is called vera, and mine was pretty close to closing, but luckily we have two active elders, but i realized how much trust i have been given to be here, not every missionary could be hereAnd every missionary that has been here in the past has become great leaders in the mission, so im excited to grow, we had 9 people in the church this week,.JPG)
i was pretty disappointed that i couldnt get those inactives to church but to reactivate takes alot of engery and will power, so i will just have patience, somthing that i have learned really well in the mission haha. I love teaching people and im not even close to the missionary that i was in Posadas, im completely different, i dont even like p days now all i want to do is work! P days are great when we play soccer but im just constantly thinking about finding our future elders president or about a certain family, im addicted to the work hehe..JPG)
I can say that i have felt the answers to my 9 months of pleading to the lord! And i have felt your prayers here also! Im the first elder in a long time here who was able to complete with all of the numbers this week, i have seen a huge difference in the acceptance of the people this week, and its just like dad said, i have turned from being someone so seems like their selling a product to everyones friend, and its been different here this week, and i feel like it will just keep getting better, the only thing that i really need to work on is planning, since my area is huge we waste a whole bunch of time walking, which i dont like, so i need to organize where we are for one day and then a different area another day, but im working on it..JPG)
The mission changed 100 percent this week also, first the president is very unsatisfied with the work, so if we cant bring investigators to church we arent worthy to partake of the sacrament and we cant participate in church without a investigator, everyone was complaining but if god said we could bring 4 people to church every sunday and we dont do it its because we are not working. So im excited for this challenge, also all of south america changed how we learn things, we dont have zone conference anymore and its more on a 1 on 1 basis, but we dont see president for 3 months, so its alot different, alot more responsibility with the elders. Well i have a way funny story, so saturday night it rained so there was alot of mud, well sunday morning we went to find investigators to bring to church, we clapped the house and from around the corner a pack of dogs, 7 huge dogs came flying around the corner at us, my companion started to freak out and started to try to run, i just started to laugh because it was so random to see them, they came out of nowhere! Before i could start to think they just jumped all on my companion, filling him up with mud all over his suit! I was dying of laughter, i ran over and started to pull the dogs off of him and he ran and then the dogs started piling on me! And my nice clean suit became a huge mess! I was crying with laughter because ive never seen anything like this, i couldnt get away until they got bored, we left and tried to get to the house from the other way, when we reached the corner the dogs saw us again and came flying at me, my companion jumped on a fence to wait for them to pass to me then made a run for the house to get the investigators, they started piling on me again and i was craking up, oh my suit was a disaster, i got them to leave me and they all went running for my comp! He started screaming! and went running again, i fell to my knees i couldnt breathe! Well we made a run for the church which was two blocks away and tried to clean up but it was worthless, well we couldnt go home but i tried my best to get rid of the mud... ya didnt work! Well thats been the funniest thing that has happened here so far! To answer your questions dad yes i live with the zone leaders and they were waiting at the bus, and all of the houses here are made of cement and huge bricks. Well i love you all, dont worry ill dry clean my suit to be nice and clean again... or maybe ill keep it like that for a rememberance... LOVE YA!
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