Hola from Buenos Aires!
I have had a crazy week. Zone conference, moving pensions, sick Elders, exchanges, delivery ice cream, my first rain storm, pum, and a baptism.But first, what I have learned.
I have used this word already so I thought it would be good to explain what it is. As far as I know, it means nothing. It´s just an onomatopoeia. Missionaries here use it when talking about a miracle or something crazy happening.In Brazil this is the onomatopoeia for a fart. Be careful how you use slang.
Trains
We ride trains every day. This Wednesday, we had a zone conference with 30 other missionaries in downtown Buenos Aires. We took a train to get there. In the conference, President Smith asked us "How many people did you talk with on the train ride here?" Every missionary in the conference answered with some embarrassment, "zero". (insert a lecture on being a representative of Christ in all places here) We were encouraged to improve our efforts to talk to everyone. So, while waiting at the train station to head home, we talked with everyone. To the disappointment of lots of future train passengers, the train was late, so they all got the chance to chat with us. Between the 6 Elders that were at the station, we talked with over 150 people. Ha! Only one person out of the 150 we talked to was interested but it felt so good to work and share the gospel with everyone we could.
When the train finally came, it was already packed! Everyone got on anyways. The only time I have ever felt so squished was when we fit the whole drumline into Tori Roberts´ Ford Ranger. It was a tight ride home. On the bright side, I didn´t have to hold onto anything to stay standing while the train accelerated.
Blessings
God does his own work. After the zone conference, E. Ryan and I decided to pick up our contacting efforts. We contacted in the bus, in the train, in the street, with the moving company, with the secretary who was doing our paperwork, with the garbage man, everyone. We have been borderline obnoxious in how much we contact people. But, God helped us. None of the people we contacted by our own efforts this week were interested in the gospel. However, we ended the week with 9 new people to teach. We found these people in ways such as receiving a text from an old investigator who said their neighbor had just died and their wife wanted to meet with us. Or, an investigator wasn´t home when we had scheduled a visit but their uncle was home and was interested in the gospel. Many miracles like this showed me that God prepares the people to receive the gospel and leads us to them when we are willing to give all that we have.
Ivan is an example of God preparing the hearts of His children. We met Ivan two weeks ago at church. He came up to us after sacrament and said, "hey, I want you guys to teach me." Wuah, what? Ivan is the son of a member and in the past has been apathetic towards the gospel. He was what we call a chorro (kind of like a gangster). But something changed in the last few months. Through the miraculous power and mercy of God, Ivan experienced an Alma-like change of heart. He is now the most humble and diligent person I know. I would write more of his story but I don´t want this email to get too long and I don´t really know his story because he shares everything in Castellano. Eh, I´m still learning. I can gather that he is repentant and he wants to become better! Ivan´s baptism was this last Sunday!
Bad News
Elder Smith
- we moved pensions and no longer have a spiral staircase
- abrasion increases when it rains
- Some old man on the bus thinks I teach about false prophets and yelled at me a lot in Spanish.
- our new pension has a bidet and is 6 stories tall! The rooftop deck now has a much better view.
- I got to use my umbrella! Thank you, Lindsey. It works very well.
- Everyone on that bus now knows the name of Joseph Smith and is one step closer to receiving the restored gospel of Jesus Christ
- Delivery ice cream
- letters! The mission office gave me all the letters from my family and my FHE family!
Elder Smith
Pictures
4. moving into the new pension
5. Contacting at a train station
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