Zone Conference and Vomit

This Wednesday we had our first multi-zone conference with President Correa. And to tell you the truth I can't tell you all very much about how it was because I spent most of the time sick. When we got to the conference I headed to eat a little breakfast. There´s always a little something to eat before the conferences. So I helped myself to a banana and a cup of chocolate milk. And man do I regret it. I don't know if the milk was expired or the banana was bad, but it gave me a crazy stomachache. And for the first time in my mission I vomited. So that was a fun first experience... Luckily by the end of the conference I was feeling better and I was able to listen to the visiting speaker, Elder Texeira from the Seventy.  

Apart from that, this week was pretty great. Elder Jackson and I found a few new investigators that really have potential. Sadly we weren't able to have the investigators in church that we were expecting, but two non-members showed up at church with the families there and we have dates set up this week to teach them. I'm pretty excited for those lessons! Like Abraham said, the Lord will provide!   

Have a great week! Careful with the chocolate milk, it can be deadly

Elder Lulich 

Elder Jackson and I dug a drainage hole for service this week.. We found out later it was in the wrong place and another member of the ward went to dig it in the right spot.

Today we had a super fun p-day. The whole zone came to Carlos Paz. It was a blast. 

A Full Lunch Calendar is a Beautiful Sight

Hello! 

Just wanted to send a little note to say I´m doing well. 

Things are warming up here. Now we´re pretty much in spring. I really like my new area. It´s SO BIG. Before there were 6 missionaries here, but now it´s just Elder Jackson and I. Because the area is so big we really have to coordinate well our work. The ward is great, I've met a few of the bigger families here and they´re really nice. We've already got our lunch calendar filled up for this month, that´s never happened to me before, but I´m happy with it. 

I love you guys!

 Tyler  

First Week in Zion

This first week in Carlos Paz was pretty fantastic

This week Elder Jackson and I found a record number (for me anyway) of new investigators. Elder Jackson is a Fireball, he is constantly finding moments to teach new people the message of the restoration of the gospel. 

One interesting thing. The ward here is called Zion (well Sion actually, but Zion in English). Normally a ward would not be called that, but here they have special permission because the ward is named after the street that the chapel is on, Sion. So I've got the opportunity to preach in Zion.

Yesterday after church we were able to go out for a few visits with a recently returned missionary. It was pretty cool to testify beside him and see how he helped teach and resolve the doubts of our investigators. The power of a testimony is incomparable.

I hope you all have a wonderful week

Elder Lulich

Here's the new district with the zone leaders. Elder Clayburn, my companion from the MTC is one of my zone leaders. It was pretty cool to see him, and talk to him after all this time. Elder Jackson is the third one in from the left.

HOPE

Well I got transferred again. Now I am serving in the tourist city of Carlos Paz right at the foot of the Sierras (Mountains). It´s a huge area. This morning my comp was showing me the map of the area and I realized that I´m probably not going to get to know the whole thing. My new companion is Elder Jackson. He´s from Flagstaff, Arizona and in the half of a day that I've known him I can see he´s a great missionary. I´m going to miss Elder Periera and his craziness. I learned a lot from him. This last week especially I learned a very special lesson. That we need to have hope. We need to have a deep hope in all of the people that we work with, hope that they will take the steps to change. Hope that they will be able to recognize how special they are and how much God is willing to bless them if they live by his commandments. Like it says in Moroni 7:41 all of our hope come from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."

Hope is one of the greatest tools that we have in this work. And thanks to Jesus Christ all of God´s promises for a better life and a heavenly home can be fulfilled. 

Walter, a cool taxi driver that took us to the temple, and then came in to see what it was like.

The district in the temple. Elder Aniel finished his mission today

Kevin and his mom Paola. Kevin´s going to be baptized this Saturday! He asked me to do the baptism so I´ll see if I get permission to go to Alta Gracia for the service.

Growing Through Opposition

This week was pretty miraculous, but it didn't end very well. The baptism of Claudia and Ana was suspended due to problems in the family. Elder Pereira and I are still figuring out how we're going to move forward and help out this family. I think that this is a chance for us to prove how much we really love Claudia's family. Everything was easy until now. Claudia came to church the first time we invited her and accepted a baptismal date super quick. There was bound to be a bump in the road to test our faith. 
This morning as I was studying and pondering the best way to help Claudia's family I thought about how much obstacles help us learn. For example: my study was a lot more rewarding when I was doing it to find the solution to a real-life problem. President Alliaud used to say ,"If you don´t have questions, you won´t get answers." I think we can also say ,"If you don't have opposition, you won´t grow." So I'm praying a lot that we can help Claudia resolve the conflicts she´s facing so that she can achieve the goal that she has to be baptized.     

Have a great week 

Elder Lulich

Here´s a few photos of the district in La Cumbrecita. 

I really wanted to take a photo where it looked like we were a band. This is our attempt.

Güd Times

This week was crazy! For the first time in my mission we had 7 investigators at church. Four of the investigators were from a family that we've been working with a lot. The mother of the family, Claudia has so much faith and determination! She really heading the force to help bless her family. About 5 years ago she had received the missionaries and her and her daughters went to church a couple of times. She wanted to be baptized in that time, but her husband didn't agree. A few weeks ago we found her and invited her to be baptized and she said that this time she is going to achieve her goal. So now Claudia and one of her daughters have plans to be baptized this Saturday, and the rest of the family is listening to the discussions.

Today for p-day we are going to a place called La Cumbrecita. We haven´t gotten there yet, but I´ve heard that it´s super beautiful so I´m pretty excited.

Until next week. 

Elder Lulich

Finding the Will of the Lord

This week we were able to set a baptismal date for Kevin. It was a pretty special experience. We've been trying to set the date for quite a while now, but had problems agreeing on the date with Kevin´s mother. She wanted Kevin to be baptized on a date in November and we thought that it would be best for Kevin to be baptized next week due to the fact that he already had all of the lessons and was coming to church and he really had the desire to be baptized. It was a real battle for both of us to accept the will of the Lord.

Our little amigo

The zone leaders came to our area on Saturday to do the baptismal interview of Kevin and they basically made the same argument to Kevin´s mother that we've been making, "If he ´s ready why wait?" Finally Kevin´s mom opened up and we were able to understand what the real problem was. It wasn't that Kevin wasn't ready, it was that they were afraid that his grandparents were going to get angry and react if Kevin was baptized. It just so happened that one of the zone leaders had a similar experience with his grandparents when his parents were baptized, his grandmother didn't speak with his family for about 18 years. But now that her grandchildren have gone on missions she is talking with them again. With the help of the Elder´s experience we were able to set a date for August 6th. This will give Kevin and his mother time to win over his grandparents and prepare them for the baptism of Kevin. 

Elder Pereira and I had been hoping and praying that Kevin could be baptized this week. His mother had felt that he should be baptized in November. But sometimes the will of the Lord is something different than what we have in mind. What we need to learn to do is have patience and learn to accept that he has plans that are much greater that ours, but plans that are always in our  favor.

Have a great week,  
Elder Lulich