Rocking the World

This week I experienced my first earthquake. You all may have heard that there was an earthquake in Chile. Well it was strong enough to make the floor sway a little bit here in Argentina too. It was a little frightening but it was over in about three minutes so there was nothing to worry about. 

This Saturday we also had interviews and a little training from president Alliaud. I was feeling a little frustrated with the work here in my area. We've been finding a bunch of people to teach, but then they seem to disappear between the first contact and the first visit. It was making me feel pretty ineffective as a missionary. But I always love the training's that we get from president because he helps me change my perspective to see that this work is very gratifying. I realized as we were travelling back to our area that in this life we should be grateful for the chance to feel the heartache that comes after having done everything possible and still have things not turn out as planned. In these situations we are proving that we have righteous desires. So I shouldn't get frustrated with myself or with the area. I should just keep loving the people and giving them every opportunity (and the best opportunity) to come unto Christ.   So I'm really excited for what we can do this week. 

Have a good one!   

Here's me with the other famous missionary of the region, Cura Brochero

#MormonesNoMuerden

This week I was able to sing to a few people in contacts and it was surprising the way that they reacted. I was pretty scared that we were just going to make them feel uncomfortable. It seemed that after we had shown our confidence in them by singing for them, they were able to have confidence in us and listen to our message. I suppose it´s part of exercising my faith so the people will exercise theirs. 

Another thing from this week is that Elder Garrett and I have started a propaganda called #MormonesNoMuerden (Mormons don´t bite). What we do is that we take pictures with people and then ask them to put them on facebook with the hashtag MormonesNoMuerden. We've only done it with a few people so far, but it´s a fun and easy way to get the members to think about missionary work. 

Yesterday I gave a talk in church. In this branch we are assigned to speak every second sunday for 15 minutes. It's a little nerve wracking, but I really enjoy speaking and if I plan everything out well then it's not hard at all to speak for the whole 15 minutes. I spoke about how the commandments of God are one of the forms that he blesses us. The commandments protect us and (together with the grace of Christ) allow us to progress. If we look at the commandments as a blessing then we´ll be able to walk in the paths of the Lord and find that we understand him a lot better. I hope you all have the help of the Lord this week. 

Endure to the End (of everything)

This week we had some tough days, but I have rule. Every hard day has to end well. For example Friday, in the morning all of the people that we contacted were pretty direct with us in telling us that they were not interested in hearing our message. That´s alright with me, it helps me not have to pass by another time and have them not be in the house. But it´s always nice to hear people who are a little bit more receptive. The whole morning went like that. And in the afternoon two of the visits that we had planned were cancelled. But we continued working with good spirits. We were able to have a great unplanned lesson with an investigator that we had found the week before. She really showed confidence in us and told us about the struggles she having right now. My companion and I were able to testify of the healing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it seemed to really help her. Then both Saturday and Sunday we had unfruitful afternoons, but were able to find new families to teach in the last contact of the day. This week I really tried to focus on not letting my fear overcome me. I have no problem contacting random people, but sometimes I pick the people I feel more comfortable contacting to talk to. But I know that the lord will help me and support me as I stretch the limits of my comfort zone.

I´m really growing to love the members here in Villa Dolores. I can really see  how much they desire that their little branch may grow and that their families may be strengthened. I´m glad to be part of the process that allows these things to happen.   

This picture is from today with two chicos that we made friends with. We had gone to a BMX park in the town and raced them a few times (they always won). 

 Here´s a picture of a member here. She is about 90 years old and her house is full of paintings that she has made.