Cura Brochero

It always seems like the days and the weeks end with something special. I like to think that it´s God´s way of saying," Good work today." I mentioned in another letter that in this area we work with two branches one of 45 people and one of 15 people. The little group of 15 people live in a little town an hour by bus from where we live. This town is called Cura Brochero. It is named after a pastor who helped many people in this part of Cordoba and who is actually a candidate for becoming a saint right now. We can only work in this town 2 time a week because of the cost of travel and the time it takes. Because of the little time we spend there it is difficult to find people and help them progress. Yesterday after the service here in Villa Dolores we headed over to Cura Brochero to gather up the investigators to see who would go with us to church. We passed by all the people we had contacted and begun to teach and none of them were a able to go (or they didn´t want to go). The service was at 6 and it was about 5:45 and we decided to pass by one last person to see if maybe he could go. When we talked to him, Fabio, and told him that the church would start in 7 minutes he said, "Great I´ll go put a sweater on and we can walk over there." It really was a miracle because he hasn't been in contact with the missionaries for about 2 and a half weeks. 

One thing I've learned from the scriptures and my experiences here on the mission is that, in order to receive blessings, I need to show my sincere desire to the Lord through my efforts and obedience. In reality I can´t accomplish much on my own, I can´t control external forces to make things work in my favor. All I can do is try to align my will with the Lord´s, work as hard as I can, and wait in faith that the Lord will help me achieve my goals. That how we use the grace of Christ.

I wish you all a successful week

Elder Lulich

And for inspiration during the week here´s my companion contemplating the sunset

This is the Place

Yesterday was my first Sunday here in Villa Dolores. It was a pretty busy day. In the morning I got to meet most of the members of the branch here. There were 45 people in the chapel and that´s including 2 babies, some visitors, Elder Aniel and I. I almost have all of the last names memorized of the families that attend. After church we had a baptismal service of a young woman named Micaela. Her parents don´t attend our church, but she has been coming to church for several months. It just so happened that last Sunday her parents finally gave her permission to be baptized. Elder Aniel and I have passed by her house several times and it really amazed me to see how much Micaela loves the gospel. It was also special to see how the members of the branch really accepted her as a member of the "family". She is a great example to me of courage.

Micaela, her family, and some of the members of the branch.

I´m loving it here in Villa Dolores. This week flew by because everything was new. The members here are great and there is a lot of potential here. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember that God can never forget about you and will never abandon you. Also remember that we can have all the blessings God has in store for us if we have the desires to work for them. 

Elder Lulich   

New Área: Villa Dolores

Today is a new day in a new area with a new companion in a new pension. Everything is just very new. My new area is called Villa Dolores. What I've heard from my comp about the area is that it is massive. Not only are we in the city of villa dolores but we also work sometime in the other nearby pueblos. There is a branch here with about 40 to 50 members that attend and another branch of about 15 members in another pueblo. It´s going to be odd changing from a ward with about 130 members to a small branch, but I´m sure it will grow on me. My new companion is Elder Aniel. He is from Florida and is the district leader here. From our conversation during the 4 hour trip to get here I think that we´re going to get along very well. 

I´m going to miss Santa Isabel and Elder Mendoza, we really got to be good friends he and I. But it´s exciting to think about what awaits me here. 

This week I got the chance to eat cow brain. I ate it in a members house mixed in with scrambled eggs. I can´t say it was terrible, but I will say that I have no desire to eat that ever again. 

This week I learned once again that it is always better to follow the Lord´s counsel than to rely on one´s own intelligence. This Friday night my comp and I were finishing up our day and I just wanted to pass by one more person. This person lived close to where we were at, but in a more dangerous part of the neighborhood. My comp didn't want to go in and told me several times that we should pass by someone else. I also was scared, but I figured that it would be fine since I knew the area so well. Nothing could happen right? So we entered the neighborhood and were able to talk to the person. But while we were leaving three teenagers came up from behind and robbed us. They didn't do anything to us, they were kids and didn't know what they were doing. But they took our cellphone and map. I know that the Lord was protecting me and my comp. At the same time I know that he let that happen to humble us a little bit and teach us a lesson. That this isn't our work, missionary work is the work of the Lord. This is 

His message and it must be delivered in His way. I´m just here as a messenger. I´m so grateful for my calling and the chance I have to come to know so many people here in Argentina as well as my Father in Heaven. I wish you all a wonderful week. 

La Zona BautiSur!

 Here´s my old zone on our last p-day. Bowling!

Power of the Scriptures

This week went by super fast. What I can remember from this week is that we committed an investigator to be baptized! The sad part is that I´ll probably be leaving the area this next week so I won´t be able to see him through to the end. His name is Walter Collante and he´s getting ready to be baptized the 18th of this month! This Wednesday we had a lesson with him and we discussed the gospel of Jesus Christ. To help describe the principle of faith I shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon, Alma 32:21. I read the verse to him and then started describing what it meant. When I began, Walter cut me off and asked me to read the scripture again. I read it again and this time waited to hear what he would say. He told us, "You know what? That´s true." We also met with Walter on Friday and something similar happened when we read another scripture during the discussion, Mosiah 3:19. This time Walter told us, "That's exactly what I was trying to say." These moments are just another testimony to me of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And they are also a testimony to me of the importance of memorizing scripture mastery in seminary (Thank you Sister Doman). 

It's amazing to be working with people like this, people who are discovering the treasure that the gospel is, people who are humble enough to recognize their weaknesses, but at the same time brave enough to overcome them. 

Today we went to the Centro. This is a statue of San Martin: the Liberator of Argentina

Funny Story: I almost forgot about the fourth of July. I didn't remember until the zone leaders told me "Happy birthday!" and then started to sing the national anthem.