Zapatos Rotos

So my comp and I became famous this week. Wednesday was the 25th of May, when Argentinos commemorate the day that the founders nation declared Independence from Spain. And every year on may 25th church members get together and celebrate eating locro, a traditional soup. a few weeks ago my comp and I had decided that we needed to do something special. So with the help of some members we took an old song called "zapatos rotos" and changed the lyrics so that it would talk about missionaries. It was quite a success in the activity. When we started to sing, a lot of the members laughed and joined in with us. After our song other members also started playing the guitar and singing popular songs of "folklore", a music style here. Some members also danced. The best part was that none of it was planned, but it turned out being a very special moment. 

Oh yeah, we turned famous afterward. A member filmed the song and put it on Facebook. It got shared around with the other members of the stake and the last time we heard, the video had about 4500 views. What?! That was a surprise. 

The other great thing that happened this week was the baptism of Lucas and Mateo Polanco. Lucas is 8 years old and Mateo is 11. They are the two youngest of a family of 11 kids, all members of the church now. We are working with the family now to help them all come back to church. I baptized Lucas and Elder Mccleve baptized Mateo. Lucas has so much energy. It´s been a new challenge to learn how to teach kids and think of how to keep their attention with games and pictures, but I love it.  

I hope you are are doing well. Have a great week

Elder Lulich       

Milagrasos

Elder Teban, Me, Elder Aniel, and Elder Chapple.

I'd have to say that this week has been one of the best of my mission. On Tuesday I got to do an exchange with one of the zone leaders Elder Chapple and we were able to visit several of the people that we are working with right now. I learned so much about how to help the investigators progress and how to show my love for them. On Thursday we had a multi-zone conference and I learned a bunch there too. Leaving the conference I felt a little sad. It was one of the last conferences with Presidente Alliaud, he's going to be leaving in June. Presidente Alliaud is the best mission president he is really a friend of the missionaries and has a great love for us and trust in us. He always says," I trust in you because the Lord has trusted in you already." It was also sad because at the end of the conference we all listened to the last testimonies of the missionaries that will be finishing their missions this transfer. Among them were Elder Chapple and also Elder Hansen, my district leader in Parque Liceo. 
The biggest highlight of this week was going to the temple on Saturday to see the sealing of Ronan and Rocio. It was a surreal experience being there in the temple with them after having taught Rocio about a year ago. I was amazed by how far the two of them had come. Conversion really is a miracle. Ronan told me jokingly, as he had before, that it was all my fault and he´s going to show up in the U.S. one day to drop off his kids with me. 

I really love the mission and the chance it gives me to see the work of God more fully. 

I really hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Elder Lulich

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you

This week has been one of many miracles. Elder McCleve and I were able to find a bunch of new investigators. What we did different was invite many more people to let us into their homes to give a prayer. One finding experience kind of surprised me. We knocked on the door of someone we had contacted last week and even though he wasn't there his family was. His mother opened the door and invited us in, we entered the house and I could hardly tell what was going on because the lady was talking about a mile a minute with us and her two daughters and grandchildren that were in the house. Just as a side note I´d say that one of the biggest lessons I've learned as a missionary how to listen, really listen to the people and figure out it what situation they are in. But anyway she gave us a cup of mate cocido and invited us to eat some pastries (which is basically the breakfast of Argentina). Once we were able to get a few words in, we found out that the family had met the missionaries before and had very special memories of them. We ending up having a nice talk with them about why we go to church, and now we have a time to go back this week. It´s amazing to live these little encounters that God plans for my companion and I each day as we talk to the people.

Below there is a picture of us with Gabriel and Yesica, a family that we have been teaching since the first week I got here. They've gone to church several times and are progressing very well, they've just got to get married! This Sunday Yesica went to the classes at church for the first time instead of just the sacrament meeting and it was so nice to see her there talking with the other members. They´re closer than ever. 

I hope you are all doing well. You have my prayers

Fun with the Itturiaga Family

A Welcome Testimony

Favorite moment of the week. In a visit to a recent convert we just happened to drop by when she had some relatives there. We had planned on watching the video of the first vision of Joseph Smith with her and after talking with the family for a little bit and getting to know them we decided to stick to that. After the video we asked the family members what they thought and what they felt and they began to ask us questions. My favorite moment was when the recent convert Claudia shared her testimony and helped answer the questions of her family members. I noticed that when Claudia spoke her familiy was really able to understand what we were teaching. It was really special to have that unplanned moment to testify and also to be accompanied in testimony by a recently baptized member of the church.

When we share the things that we have learn and felt from the holy Spirit we are strengthened and we can help others. I know that when it comes to testimony, when there is more given, there is gained. I know that this mission that I´m in is blessing my life and the life of everyone that listens to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that I share. And I know that this message is the truth there´s no way I can deny it.

I realized just now that the only pictures that I took this week were of receipts of apartment bills so I´ll send you all pictures of last week´s p-day. We went to the sisters´ area, Santa Rosa, and hiked to a waterfall in the hills.