Day 286

¡¡hola familia!!
this week was VERY cold. the snow was very wet and it only got the streets wet and muddy. that with the cold wind made this week a little difficult to trudge through town but we made it ok. nobody answered their doors, we couldn´t find anyone, and some of the families were seperated because of dumb arguments that they had and it doesn´t look like they can resolve them for some time. it was a little depressing this week and i don´t understand why we had so many problems... but i found an awesome scripture in 2 corinthians 4. the whole chapter is pretty great but the last two verses really stood out to me.
17 For our light aaffliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and beternal cweight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are aseen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not bseen are ceternal.
i will never forget this week that we had but i know that all of the challenges that we have, big or small, are for our eternal progression, and we aren´t able to get any better without them. it was humbling to start the mission in a foreign place, and i thought the challenges would get easier after 6 months, but then you just get others... i know that my padre celestial wants me and my companion to grow a lot here in zapala, and it has been a great experience overall.
we had an awesome zone conference this week and it was centered on the atonement and how everything that we teach should include something about it. it was a great conference and it made me think a lot about what we will be doing better to use it more. with all of the things that we can teach, i guess we lose that focus on savior sometimes, and it was a great reminder for me. e´ ruano and i have been doing a good job about teaching about Christ but i know there are some more things that we can improve in. the conference was very uplifting and i performed a musical number with two other elders. we sang and i played the piano too. pte peterson told us that e´ ruano needs a haircut and that it wouldn´t be a bad idea if i wanted one too, so we went to get one today but it wasn´t open... later today i guess. in our zone there are about 25 missionaries and the others came from san martín, junín, plaza huincul, and cutral co. all of those areas make up the zapala stake.
our branch is part of a stake, and we attend church every week in our stake center about 5 minutes from the house. it is great having it so close! the requirements to make our branch a ward is to have more members paying tithing. i think we are lacking 2 more tithe payers and we are reactivating lots of people. this week was bad finding people, but we visited a lot of less active members and the attendance at church was the highest it has been all year. (almost 90 people!! :) ) we sure do have lots of work to do in the branch and we are working on helping part member families become more unified in the church. baptisms are coming...
as district leader, one of my new responsibilities is to interview the people before they are baptized to see if they have a testimony and are worthy. i had my first interview on saturday but he didn´t pass... he didn´t really believe that the church was THE church of Jesus Christ, and said that baptism just sounding like something ´´lindo´´ (beautiful). i said that he probably needs some more time to prepare...
all of my puppies officially disappeared. i think the chimangos ate the last two. have you ever heard of chimangos? they are awesome hawks that live in the patagonia. really cool. there are tons outside of our house and they pretty much eat everything. oh well. last week, i bought a harmonica! it was about 6 dollars and it is a pretty nice one so i figured it would be awesome. and it is. i attached a sample of my skills :) . well, family, i love you guys. enjoy this next week, and i look forward to hearing from you again!
con muchísimo amor y ánimo,
elder summers