Hey Guys,
Happy New Year! I cant believe its 2012. It doesn't seem real. We had a really great week here in Villa Maria. It was kinda hard to teach and stuff with everyone preparing for the Holiday, but I still have some good stories. On Friday we helped an Investigator of Elder Anderson move houses. It was crazy! This lady has never thrown anything away in her house. She used to be a doctor so it was really bad. But, this time we had a truck so that was good. We just piled it completely full and then we all jumped on and hung on to all the furniture and boxes. It was quite dangerous I thought. We got some really funny looks going down the road ha ha. We even moved a Dentist chair! You have no idea how heavy those things are! She said it took 5 men to move it in her house. It was quite a struggle, but we got it into the truck and then into the new house.
Friday night was way awesome! Down at the Costanera they had a firework contest. The 4 biggest firework companies in Argentina put on the show. We watched it from our roof which is about 5-6 blocks away. It was so cool! They really have some pretty awesome fireworks. I guess the best stuff we didn't even get to see though. Apparently before they filled up the costanera all the way they put lights under the water. And get this, the members said that the company that won the competition made fireworks that skipped like rocks out on the Costanera and then blew up. It sounded way cool. Then Saturday night we went and played basketball at the park for a little bit and then went and got ice cream for the fireworks. Right at 12 it seemed like every person in Villa Maria was letting off Fireworks. It was way cool! Every which way that you looked from the roof fireworks were going off. This went on until about 3 in the morning!
As for Investigadors...
The boys are doing well. They didn't come to church the last 2 weeks because they were up partying until about 7;30am.... But I think they are coming this week. This last week we taught the 10 commandments and the plan of salvation. Teaching the 10 commandments was way funny. Most people here only know about rob and kill. So its funny to see their expressions about the others. With every one of them Maxi would say, "Oh I didn't know that. That's good. " It was really funny. Still have the law of chastity and the word of wisdom to go. That will be tough. But teaching with the spirit anyone can understand anything. They are coming to the church to play soccer in a couple hours.
I think I have told you about Berta right? She is they lady that was taught for awhile but didn't get baptized because she was offended by a missionary. About 5 months ago her daughter died. She has had a really rough time through this first holiday. What makes it even harder is that when her daughter died they were in a fight. She feels like her daughter is still mad at her. She has an adopted daughter named Jessica. Jessica is 19 and has lots of problems. She is really overweight. Its sad. And Jessica wont listen to the Missionaries and does not believe in God. But we have had some good lessons with Berta this past week. But she keeps saying that she doesn't want to get baptized. Well that all changed this morning. We were having a lesson and she was talking about her daughter and just that she isn't motivated to do anything. We were talking about the Holy Ghost and what a help it is for us. I had a really strong impression to share a scripture. Alma 24:13-14 just popped into my head. I had read this scripture about 1 week ago and thought it was really cool. It talks about how Alma and his people are being persecuted and the Lord says the he will visit his people in their afflictions because they made a COVENANT with him ( baptism). The next verse says that he will ease the burdens on their shoulders so they wont feel them. It doesn't say that they will disappear, but be bearable. What a perfect scripture!! After sharing both our testimonies she said, I need to be baptized. It was really cool. I think that we had such a good lesson because we both specifically fasted for her and her daughter yesterday. I have really grown to like fasting. I find that I get so much more revelation when I'm fasting. So we are working with Berta and I pray that I can see her be baptized. We didn't set a baptismal date this morning because I didn't want her to feel like she is being pressured. I want her to be happy and comfortable. I want to see her smile more than anything.
My first dog bite. When we went to Bertas house she opened up the door and her 3 dogs came charging at us. They are tiny little things so I wasn't too scared ;), but one jumped up and just bit me right on the thumb ha ha. I pulled out my hand really fast just in time to smack the other one with my scripture. I sent that thing flying ha ha. Like Ephesians says, the word of God truly is a Sword. Didn't think Id have to use the Armor of God in that way. It didn't hurt though so its all good.
I found a cool quote the other day. It was a story about this sister missionary that turns a ward around by working with the members. She has lots of success. She says that " As missionaries we don't convince people into the church. We love them into it. Why is it not different with member missionary work?" So we have been doing just that. We have been stopping by and visiting the members more often. Some of the responses have been quite surprising. --- Oh Elders nobody visits us! Thanks for Coming! We love when you come by. I think that as we build up more trust and more than anything a relationship, we will see some more success. We are trying to do more service for the members. I mowed a lawn of this lady that has 2 giant dogs. Geez I though Indy was bad.....
Its getting really hot here!! Holy cow. We started sleeping on the roof just because inside its unbearable. Its way fun though.
Well I love you guys so much. Thanks for Everything! Every prayer means so much to me. I can never say thanks enough. I really can tell you that I know this is Gods work on earth. How lucky are we.
Riley
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