Day 314

¡hola familia!
fa! i really wish i could have been there for the blessing! who knows, maybe i´ll be there for jamiés next kid :). jajaja! you are all traveling a lot these days. today is labor day? fa. oh well. today i will not be laboring that much because i will be on a flipping bus ALL day. i really enjoyed being here in zapala and i´m looking forward to my next area.
yesterday, i was able to give my testimony in church and thank my family zapalino for everything. it was kind of an emotional day and i will never forget it. i didn´t realize the impact i had on these people and they were really upset to find out that i am leaving. one hermano teared up as he told me that i have changed his life forever and will never forget me. another thanked me and told me that i was the reason he started coming back to church with his family, because he felt a sincere love everytime i visited them in their house. another family told me that for the past 7 months, i have taken the place of their son while he is on his mission in mexico and they made me an amazing cake :). i took some awesome pictures with them. some of the awesome things they said to me made me tear up and it was even harder for me to leave. i will keep in touch with these families and i will always remember them. my branch president thanked me for all of the hard work that i´ve done and told me that he has felt a difference in the branch since i have come and it won´t be the same. it meant a lot to me yesterday. hermana cruz (she´s in my district) made me an awesome scarf with a note - ´´para el mejor líder de distrito´´
i felt like i didn´t have too much success in zapala because i didn´t have many baptisms, but things changed yesterday. i´m looking forward to being a part in other people´s lives in my next area. now for the big news!
Elder Jacob B. Summers ha sido llamado para servir (has been called to serve) en Trelew- Rawson B!!!!!! i talked to pte peterson on the phone and he told me that Rawson is a small city like zapala and it just got split in two. he told me that i will be helping to open that area and that i need to baptize a lot. woooooooooo! i´m so excited!!!! my new compañero se llama Elder Colombres (spelling i´m not sure...) but i heard that he is Argentino and that he has about 5 months on the mission. my district leader will be Elder Taylor, the one that lived with us here in zapala 6 weeks ago so i´m really excited to see him again.
rawson (pronounced RAH-OO-SON) is in the Chubut province close to the beach (i´m thinking i will see some penguins because we are getting closer to the summertime!!!!). i´m not sure how far away it is from Trelew (pronounced TRAY-LAY-OO), like an hour or so, but i´m leaving today at 17:00 (5 o´clock) to get to Neuquen (3 hours away). i´ll be on a bus from neuquen to trelew at 22:15 and will arrive at 8:20 tuesday morning. from there i have to buy another ticket to get to rawson and i´m not sure how much that will cost or exactly how far away it is from trelew... but it will be an awesome adventure.
i think i inherited some of my mama´s packing skills because i was able to fit everything very well in 3 suitcases, a small box, and my backpack. sweet. it´s awesome because i acquired lots of stuff here :) i left some stuff too, like my futbol :( but it was getting trashed from playing too much.
it felt so good handing off my keys to the kingdom to elder ruano. now he is going to have to be more responsible and he will need that to grow a lot. i feel like a load has been lifted off of my back and now i have another waiting for me in rawson. i feel so good right now and i am psyched to get started in my new area. i really will miss this area and i know that i will come back again. it´s on my list of things to do before i die to return to the patagonia. i love serving and i am grateful to be able to see the fruits of the things that i have done. they have given me a stronger desire to work even harder in my next areas. reading these scriptures really hit me this week.

DyC 123:12-14
12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are ablinded by the subtle bcraftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to cdeceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they dknow not where to find it—
13 Therefore, that we should waste and awear out our lives in bringing to light all the bhidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—
14 These should then be attended to with great aearnestness.

Moroni 9:6
6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor adiligently; for if we should cease to blabor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

i am hoping to rest my soul on the bus too but then again, the guy next to me won´t be able to run when i
:). i know that i am following the path that my Heavenly Father wants me to follow and i am grateful for this new opportunity to serve His children where ever i am called to be. i am so excited!!! i love you guys and i will be praying for you while youre traveling too. i hope you continue to have a lot of fun this week. mollie- have fun in Idaho!!!! when do you start school? fa, no recuerdo. pero vas a divertirte muchísimo! les amo, a todos de ustedes, y estoy re agradecido por todo su apoyo. ¡muchas gracias! ¡vamos a empezar nuestras aventuras juntos! jajaja. oh! and i loved those 2 pictures that mollie sent me of you guys together. awesome! just missing my padres! hasta luego!
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers