First Christmas in Argentina

The Molina family on Christmas eve. 

This week I got to experience an Argentine Christmas. The first thing that was different was that here in Argentina, and in most of Spanish-speaking america, Christmas is celebrated the night of the 24th. On Thursday the whole mission had permission to stay out until 12:30 at night, for a missionary that´s pretty late. My comp and I celebrated Christmas in the house of the Molina family eating roast beef sandwiches, fruit salad and at midnight we make a toast with apple cider. Also something that´s different about Christmas here is that everyone throws fireworks at midnight. It reminded me a little bit of the fourth of July. 
And the best part of the holiday season as you´ll see in one of my pictures is that it comes in the middle of the summer and, I am melting in the heat. Yesterday it reached 100 degrees and this whole week we´re expected to have temperatures in the 90s.

Me melting in the heat after church on Sunday

Something that I learned this week was that we can take advantage of every moment to preach the gospel. This week had several big events:  Christmas, the Christmas call to the family, and transfers, (I stayed in the same area) but Elder Gomez and I gave our best to be able to find new investigators and find people to help out during the month of January. We didn't see all of these other things that we had the opportunity to do as an excuse to not do our work, but instead as things that would give us the energy and spirit to continue working. 

Happy new year! 

Elder Lulich 

A box of goodies that the relief society sisters gave us for Christmas.

Teaching with the Youth

This week, due to a weird series of events I got to spend three days in my area with one of the teenagers from the branch as my companion. His name is Agustin Salinas and he is 16 years old. It was a great experience being able to show one of the youth what missionary life was like. Luckily Agustin was super willing to learn and try out new things. I learned a ton. It was especially inspiring to hear when Agustin testified in the lessons and, without fear, shared what he felt and knew. I look at this experience as an answer to a prayer and an opportunity that the Lord gave me to reflect on my labors as a missionary. 

Agustin and I in the branch´s Christmas dinner with Gabriel.

On Saturday I had another opportunity to work with youth. The stake had an activity where the youth spent a day with the missionaries. This time I was with Elder Gomez again and we were accompanied by a kid named Ezequiel. My favorite part of the day was after the activity when all the youth got together and shared their testimonies of missionary work. It really inspired me to see how they viewed missionary work as such an important thing. Sometimes I take for granted  the fact that I´m a missionary and I forget about the magnitude of what I do. The testimonies of the youth after the day that they spent with us really helped me remember that it is a giant blessing to be a missionary and work side by side with the Lord.1

I thank God for the great gift He has given me to carry the Gospel of His Son to His children. 

Merry Christmas! Que tengan una linda Navidad, y que puedan recibir el regalo de Jesucristo más plenamente en sus vidas.  

Elder Lulich

Here´s a picture of a special lunch that we had today with the zone. A sister (the one in the middle) from Canada, who is originally from Argentina, holds a lunch every year during Christmastime. She was so sweet and just loved to serve. 

The sister made apple pie for us. It was a delicious little piece of home. 

When people say," this is the smallest violin in the world and it´s playing just for you" they are talking about this violin.

Christmastime is here!

Sorry I´m writing a day late. Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with the entire mission. There was a training from Presidente Alliaud and the assistants, a big barbecue (asado), a talent show, and after it all we spent the whole afternoon playing soccer. It was great to see all of the missionaries together and all of my ex-companions.  

Here´s the giant asado that the mission made for all of us. Mmmm... 

This week we arrived at a sister´s house and she told us that she had been waiting for us. Her husband (who isn't  a member of the church) had suffered a stroke a few days before, and after being in the hospital for a day or two had recovered enough to be able to return home. The sister asked us if we could give him a priesthood blessing. We said yes. Then she asked her husband if he would like a blessing and he accepted. It surprised me a little bit that he accepted because I was remembering the first time that we ever passed by his house and said hi to him. We greeted him saying, "Good morning Brother, how are you?" and he responded, "I`m not your brother." But this time when we came by he was willing to receive a blessing.

After the blessing the Husband asked if we could read him something from the bible. We read him James 1:1-4 and had a nice conversation about faith and patience. It was amazing to see how all of a sudden this man who didn't even want to greet us was listening to us and saying how God was a "God of miracles". It really was a testimony to me that the Lord touches the lives of people and gives them the opportunity to accept Him. May we realize it when these opportunities come and take advantage of them.

Have a great week,

Elder Lulich 

MATE

   

Happiness Should Depend on One Thing

I always love the fast and testimony meetings that I hear as a missionary. Church members always go to general conference with a question in mind to be able to receive revelation. I believe that the same thing can be done every Sunday at church, especially on the Sunday of testimonies because it´s an opportunity to hear inspired words from every member of the congregation. This Sunday my spirits weren't so high because one of the people that we are preparing for baptism didn't show up. So I was sitting there in the church pew contemplating my "unprofitable-ness" as a servant of God (Mosiah 2) and feeling bad about myself when the testimony meeting started.

Listening to one of the testimonies I got a good reply from God. One of the members told a story about a girl who spent a weekend with her great aunt. The girl noticed that her aunt was happy despite not having many things that generally make people happy ( a husband, kids, a big house). After asking the aunt told her that her happiness came from living the gospel of Christ. 

That story helped me get a little bit more realigned. I know that I am an unprofitable servant, and I´m always going to be. I know that I need to improve some things to be a better missionary. But what I remembered then was that I should be happy because of the opportunity that I have to work in the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just for the result that I (with a bold, capital I) wanted to see. 

Have  good week and remember two things. True happiness comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Don´t limit your happiness. 

Elder Lulich

This is a chapel in Cordoba called the"Capuchina"

Asking for Help

 What I learned this week is the importance of asking for help, and I had to learn it the hard way. On Saturday afternoon we had the baptism of Lorena. Saturday morning we were running around doing all the last minute preparations for later that day. The first thing we did was go to the chapel, clean out the baptismal font, and start filling it up. A baptismal font takes about 3.5 hours to fill up if you want warm water. When we opened up the faucet just a little stream of water was coming out so we figured that we would be fine to leave the water flowing while we did the other things we needed to do to get ready. So we left the chapel and focused on making sure that everybody came to the baptism that needed too. 

We got back to the chapel at 3:30 with Lorena. There were a few members waiting outside because we had the keys. As we walked in I told a member,"Let´s hope that the font hasn't overflown." And she called back to my companion who hadn't heard jokingly,"Elder the font overflowed!"

Our ward mission leader Hermano Arévalo

Then we walked around the corner and saw the water creeping down the hallway... The good news is that the chapels in Argentina don´t have carpeted flooring, all tile. The bad news was that we had to clean it up and it was our fault for leaving the font with the water running. Although it was a big mistake that we made, cleaning up the water also was a blessing in a way, because it was kind of funny to think about what happened and it helped me get out the stress that I had built up that morning. While we were drying the floor, a member told me, "you should have asked for our help. We could have stayed and watched the font." 

A lot of times I feel bad asking for help I think that I´m bothering others or that it would just be easier doing it on my own, but the truth is that asking for help takes maturity and wisdom. I also didn't realize it but other people are actually willing to help me, all it takes is the faith to ask. God put us all here together for a reason, we can be saved on our own, we will always need the help of others.  

After all the members helped get rid of the water we all sat down to watch the baptism. Everything turned out well and the spirit that always accompanies saving ordinances was felt once more. 

Have a great week and learn from your mistakes!
Elder Lulich  

       

Here´s a picture of what we did last p-day. we made something called bombas de papas (potato bombs) they are breaded and fried balls of mashed potatoes stuffed with ham and cheese. mmm. it a super easy recipe that I´m sure that mom could find online if you guys want to try it. 

 This week I found m&ms in a grocery store. They cost quite a bit, but it was cool to see American candy.

Preparing for Christmas and Attending the Temple

They haven´t decorated yet for Christmas here in Argentina. And I haven't really seen any Christmas-themed things in stores yet. It's a little weird to have a warm holiday season. The tradition here in Argentina for Christmas is to stay up until midnight on the 24th and open all the presents then. I've heard that they set off fireworks too. I think that we are going to have permission to stay up until midnight on Christmas, but I'm not exactly sure. On the 14th of December we're going to get together as all of the missionaries in Cordoba and have a talent show and conference that's going to be a lot of fun. 

This week I went to the temple for the first time here in Argentina. I listened to the session in Spanish and it was great because I understood everything. Since the temple is still new there are about 4 senior missionaries from the united states and the parents of a sister missionary were in the session too, so I also got to hear quite a bit of English there too. But the language spoken doesn't really matter (as long as I understand it) because the spirit is exactly the same. Going to the temple really helped me see, once again, the bigger picture of what this work is really about, and how I can fill my role as a messenger of God.
Thank you for all the support that you give me. It´s good to see that you´re all having fun. I love you all.

Tyler       

Just enjoying a nice pebete (sandwich).

Fruits of our Labors

This week was fantastic. This Sunday we had the highest attendance of my whole time here in Parque Liceo. Some people who I had never seen in the chapel on a Sunday morning showed up to Church. And Elder Gomez and I had a new investigator there as well who is preparing for baptism. Her name is Lorena. It was a great feeling to see them all.
Recently we've been doing weekly Family Home Evening activities in the chapel and each week they just get better. This week a sister who is returning to activity came to the activity and brought a lot of her family with her. We had a great time there in the church talking about service and having an activity based on the story of the Good Samaritan. There was special spirit there in the chapel that night. When I left I felt that the activity had been a success. And that feeling was proven to be true when the people who went on Wednesday showed up at church Sunday morning. 

I know that Lord can bless us to see the fruits of our labors when we do our part. These "fruits" are a gracious gift from Heaven. As a missionary I know that the success that I see (when I am blessed to see it) is not mine to claim. Seeing people progressing in the gospel is a success as much for me as it for the people making changes in there lives. Overall it is a success for God and His work of blessing and saving His children. 

I hope you all have great week. And may you have the chance to see the hand of God in your lives.