WHAT A MIRACLE

All convert baptisms are a miracle by the fact that one is able to see how God prepares and directs a person as they choose to follow Christ. Having that said, this weekend I saw the most miraculous baptism of my mission. The baptism of Joaquin Gomez and his wife Claudia Mamani.

It´s a pretty crazy story. I had my first lesson with them on Saturday. We were just able to talk to Claudia because Joaquin was tired and sleeping after working the whole night. During the lesson we read a scripture and invited Claudia to be baptized. We told her that because she had attended church before she could be baptized the next day, Sunday. She was willing to be baptized, but she wanted time. My companion then invited her to pray right there in the moment and ask God whether she should be baptized. After a little explaining and persuading Claudia offered a simple, but extremely sincere prayer. When she had finished she kept her head bowed and stayed silent. We all stayed silent for about 3 minutes. I think all of us were feeling God´s answer in that moment. Elder Velaztiqui then looked at Claudia and said, "you know what you need to do" and she agreed. 

Then there just happened to be a baptism going on thirty minutes later and Joaquin had gotten up by then so we invited both of them to see the baptism. They went to the baptism despite having there motorcycle tire pop halfway to church. And then they went to church the next day for all three hours. Joaquin looked very thoughtful the whole time during church. Claudia´s baptism was going to be that afternoon and the two of them were going to come. 

At the baptism as we were going outside with my companion and Claudia already dressed in white to take pictures, we were surprised when Joaquin looked at us and asked "can I be baptized too?" The answer was obviously yes. So we hurriedly found more white clothes and I had the marvelous opportunity to baptize Joaquin. It was so special to see a couple take the decision to be baptized together. I really have high hopes for them in the future. God has prepared them so well to hear the Gospel of his son Jesus Christ and accept it for a reason. I´m super excited to see how they progress.

That´s all for now folks. Have a great week. 

Siesta Streets and Servicio

This week we got to do service twice in the garden of one of the members. We had to weed out a big space in the garden to get it ready for planting. Then we had a fire and burned the weeds. It reminded me of working in the garden back home. It´s pretty theraputic to hack at weeds and clean up a garden. I felt pretty relaxed doing it.

Here are a ton of pictures. I've started carrying my camera around a lot more. 

Giovani an 8 year old kid that was recently baptized and confirmed and whose family we are working with.

The street during the siesta. Here in Catamarca it´s pretty hard to find people outside from 2 to about 5:30 or 6 and it´s because they are all sleeping. 

We always play sports on Friday nights here. The zone only has ten elders so we all get together in the chapel and bring our investigators and play. This last Friday we played a different version of dodge ball called quemado.

The service last night. There was a ton of smoke! The sister made pizza for us after the service. Later that night President Correa who is now visiting us out here in Catamarca came to our pension. When he was getting ready to leave he paused and asked us if we had made an asado because we all smelled like smoke.

SO IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD WEEK IN CATAMARCA. LOOK AT MY OTHER E-MAIL TO SEE THE CRAZY MIRACLE THAT HAPPENED. 

LOVE YOU :)

TYLER

Hot and Windy

That´s basically my summary of how Catamarca is. Hot and windy. This week we already had temperatures in the 90's, and "technically" spring doesn't begin until tomorrow. From what the catamaqueños tell me, in the summer the temperatures get up to 110 and more. But it's a bearable heat because it's dry, very different from the "sweaty blanket" heat of Córdoba.

For only having about two months in the mission Elder Velaztiqui is already a natural at this missionary business. He has no fear to meet new people or to testify of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I don´t have to much time to tell you all of my adventures, but here are some pics.

I love you all!

Elder Lulich

Reunited! because my bus to Catamarca left super late I took advantage of the extra time and visited Parque Liceo. I saw David and Jesica

 and also Mabel Pineda

Dario, our awesome ward mission leader 

A giant hot dog I ate today

 Elder Velaztiqui and I

On the road again...

Well after only 6 short weeks in Carlos Paz I´ll be heading out to another area in the province of Catamarca. What happened was that the assistant to the president were going to be moved to our area to work. We knew about this new change for a few weeks, but we heard that we would be staying in the area to work with the assistants also. Boy did we get a surprise Saturday night when the zone leaders called and said that both Elder Jackson and I would be leaving the area. It sure was a bummer to hear that. 

I still haven´t gone to my new area or met my new companion. I´ll be finishing his training. His name is Elder Velazti, he has a little over a month in the mission, and I've heard that he's pretty cool. I´ll be meeting him on Thursday after I go to the trainer training tomorrow. So next week you´ll get a photo. 

One cool experience of the week was meeting Daniela. We met Daniela on Saturday while getting on a bus to another part of our area. in the 10 minute transit we shared what we do as missionaries and invited her to church the next day. And she came! And she didn´t only show up at church  but she really liked it too! In the class of Gospel principles we talked about obedience and even though she was only there for the first time she shared a beautiful testimony about how obedience is love. It was awesome to hear. I hope she can keep on learning more with the assistants now. And I hope I am able to meet more people like her in Catamarca! 

Have a great week.

Elder Lulich

Baptism and Burnt Banana Bread

Just a little announcement now the p-day has been changed to Tuesday. So I´ll be writing my letters on Tuesday now. 

This week was pretty hectic, with lots of trips to Córdoba for exchanges with the other Elders in our district on Thursday, and the zone leaders on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we had the baptism of Mirta and Paula, a mother and daughter. It was super special. Mirta especially was so grateful for the chance to be baptized. 

Just a fun story from this week. Sometimes I can be a kind of light minded person. What some would even call an airhead. It´s because of the blonde hair... But on Wednesday night we saw evidence of this. I decided Wednesday night to make banana bread for lunch with some investigators the next day. But I guess I started to make it a little late because my body went on autopilot and I ended up getting ready for bed and falling asleep... with the banana bread still in the oven. When I woke up on Thursday I took a shower and was getting ready for the day. It wasn't until Elder Jackson asked me, "are you cooking something?" that I realized that the banana bread was still cooking. *GASP* I took it out and it was perfectly cooked! Nah kidding it was basically a piece of charcoal. Luckily the apartment didn't burn down and we were able to make another banana bread before lunch. This whole week when we entered in the apartment we were greeted with a smell of melted butter. I learned my lesson pretty easily- banana bread is EVIL.

I hope you guys have a great week.