English Class

This Thursday we got to teach an English class for a Sister in our ward. She is an English teacher in a local school and she invited Elder Garrett and I to come in and give a little presentation. We taught about 60 students, all in their senior year.
Because the presentation was in a public school we weren't able to talk about the Gospel, but we invited them all to the class that we teach in the church, so we'll see if that goes anywhere. It was pretty wierd for me to be in a high school again, especially playing the role of teacher. After the presentation, we mingled with the highschoolers and answered the other questions they had. We both felt pretty famous because everyone wanted to take selfies with the two gringos with blue eyes.   

This week has been pretty hot. I´ve already got a pretty funny tanline from the high collar of my dress shirt. Technically spring is just starting, but we´ve already had a few days of 80+ degree weather. And the people here say that it's just going to get hotter as we get into summer. So that´s something to look forward to (weak cheer).

Me and my companion were pretty sad at the end of the day yesterday because we weren't able to get any investigators to come to church. I know that I've got to respect the choices of the people, but at the same time it makes me sad to see that people don´t want to make a commitment with the Lord. But now Elder Garrett and I are more determined than ever to improve ourselves as missionaries, so that the people can understand even better the important message we share. 

Cuídensen 

Elder Lulich

A Successful Week

So here I am starting a new transfer with a new companion, but I´m still in Villa Dolores. My companion´s name is Elder Garrett and he is from St. Louis. He just got finished with about 7 months of working in the mission office, so he is pretty excited to get back to doing some regular missionary work. I'm sure that we're going to have a lot of success together. 

This past week was pretty awesome. On Wednesday we found out that one of our investigators, Martina received permission from her father to be baptized. Elder Aniel and I were super happy because it was something that we had really been praying for. Martina got baptized yesterday. The service was really special because she had many people in the church there to support her. Her uncle, who is a member of the church was able to baptize her and her aunt gave a beautiful testimony. It was also amazing to see how excited many of the members were for her as well.

It is so great to be part of God´s work. Not everything about being a missionary is easy, for example this week I was present when someone got word that her father had passed away. It was pretty hard to see how she took the news, and try to help. However there is a joy and a peace that comes from helping other people. I know that this Gospel is true. 

Have a great week

Don't Lose Yours Heads!

I don´t have time at all but I wanted to send you all this lovely picture that I took at a museum this last p-day. Just to show you that I´m still having a lot of fun out here in Argentina. We worked hard this week. And I testify that I could never get anything done in this work if I didn't have the Lord´s help. He is my greatest resource.

Have a great week!

Elder Luich

The Gratitude of the Hermana Arguello

Hola Familia,

 Funny story about the Mother´s Day call.  I took the money out of the account and sent it off to the sister in Santa Isabel. But then at the Zone conference last week Elder Mendoza came up to me with the envelope with the money. He told me that he tried to give the money to the sister but she wouldn't accept it. she had written a little note and put it in the envelope. The note said that it wasn't necessary that I gave them the money because they receive enough blessings from God. (This is the family that also gave us lunch every single Wednesday). She also wrote that I should tell mom that she did a good job raising me. Thanks Mom, and Dad. 

Thanks for the emails too. It really is inspiring to see your positive outlook on the unexpected things that come up. I know that it´s the perspective that comes with the gospel.

I´m doing good. Elder Aniel and I have a lot of fun. Sometimes too much. I have to tone back my nonsense once in a while. I still haven´t gotten the package. We have to wait for zone meetings to get packages because the zone leaders get the mail from the mission home. Thanks for the birthday wishes! I´ll be getting a special lunch with the family of Micaela, the girl who got baptized when I arrived here.

I love you!

Tyler

Biking in Cura Brochero- a town that run mostly on religious tourism. 

Zone Conference and Reunions

The conference this week was so awesome. I learned a ton and I got to see my old companion Elder Mendoza and ask about how things are going back in Santa Isabel. This week we´ve also been preparing a youth to be baptized. She is the friend of some of the young women in the ward and is super ready to be baptized. It made me super happy to hear her tell us during one of our visits of how she´s been doing nightly prayers with her mom. Her mother is also an investigator of ours, but needs a little more time to progress. I´m sure the baptism of her daughter will help her a lot. This week between the zone conference and CDs about missionary work that I got from my grandpa I´ve also been learning about how to ask effective questions, questions that really get the investigators to open up with us. Now in my missionary I´ve got the teaching part down, but what´s just as important as teaching is making sure that the investigator understands and feels the message. So I´ve been asking a lot more questions about the feelings of the people. "and how does it make you feel to know..." "how do you feel when..." and stuff like that. It make seem silly but I sure have seen a difference in my teaching and in the way that the investigator receives the message. This work is making me stretch in ways that I never thought I could. And I think that the best part is that I am bettering myself for other people. I am trying to improve every day so that the people here in Argentina can have the missionary that they need to be able to comprehend, feel, and act upon the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When it´s done for others the work is so much sweeter. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Lulich

I saw Elder Mendoza at the conference. If it looks like he's not happy in the photo it's because he's a little sassy and it took some convincing for me to get a picture with him. haha.

Baptismal Interview Surprise

This week went by pretty quickly. On Tuesday night we took a four hour bus ride to get together with the other missionaries in the zone. We´re pretty isolated out here in Villa Dolores. 
 I have a bike now. It is so much nicer. Elder Aniel told me that I would get "thunder thighs" before the end of the transfer from riding so much. We baptize people here in the chapel of Villa Dolores. There are a few areas where the investigators get baptized in the river, but not here.  I´m doing pretty well with Spanish now. There are still some things that are hard to express, but I feel pretty fluent. 

 We played soccer with some of the young men this Saturday. That kids arm is in a sling and he still plays better than me. Ha ha

On Friday the Zone leaders came to Cura Brochero with us to do a baptismal interview. The investigator was really ready for her baptism. She has been coming to church out in Cura Brochero for about 2 months now. I spent the day with one of the zone leaders and elder Aniel with the other. All of the plans we had made for that day fell through but success is a choice so the Zone leader and I spent the day contacting and talking to people in their doorways. We ended up finding several new people to teach, one who had even read parts of the Book of Mormon. When the Zone leaders had to leave we all got back together to get our companions back and I asked how the interview went. Elder Aniel started to laugh and said that the interview went great, but afterwards it came up that the investigator wasn't married she had been living with her pair for 30 years so we assumed they were married. So she wasn't ready to be baptized. This taught me a lesson that we really have to be preparing in every moment. Our mission president always says that we need to be focused on everything at the same time. That´s how real lasting growth happens. God often puts little tests like this to see how dedicated we really are to achieving our goals. It´s up to us to decide if the test will make us stronger.

Make your week great!

Elder Lulich