Monday, November 28, 2011

334 to go...

to celebrate 13 months on the mission yesterday, we had a baptism!!!!!
> Leandro was baptized at 17:00 and it was awesome! my companion, elder
> colombres was the one to baptize him and then bishop detlefsen
> confirmed him afterwards. i stood in the circle and it was a really
> awesome day! i played the piano for the servicio bautismal, and then
> tons of people came and brought some goodies to share. it was really
> fun and i was so happy! there´s nothing better than being able to see
> the results of all your hard work. i didn´t get to see the baptisms
> of our investigators in comodoro and in zapala i only saw the baptism
> of brian... but to be able to attend the baptism is really special and
> i was glad to be a part of it.
> this week i sent 3 pictures. one of the 3 of us in front of the
> church before the baptism, after leandro was baptized by my comp, and
> the third is from our last district meeting together. my district
> leader is elder roper on the left, then his comp elder castillo, the
> chileno. they are both staying for the next transfer. my comp is
> leaving tonight and my new comp is coming in at the same time. i am
> really excited for the change because i know that i am going to be
> able to do a lot more, but i am still going to miss elder colombres.
>he is going to roca to be with another gringo missionary that is finishing his mission. all of elder
> colombres´ companions have been from the united states and all of my
> comps have been latino.
> my new companion is named elder escobar. when i heard his name i
> thought i was going to be with my trainer again and i got really
> excited but they said that he is a different escobar that started his
> mission a few months ago. he is from guatemala (or guatepeor...
> jajaja) and that is all i heard about him so i am looking forward to
> getting to know him better this week.
> thanksgiving was this week! i can´t believe it came by so fast! i
> didn´t remember that it was thanksgiving until the end of the day. i
> miss it... but next year i will definitely celebrate it. Shane- your
> birthday is coming up! i will be thinking of you on friday!
> i don´t remember a whole lot about the things that i did this week...
> but we met with leandro everyday to get him prepared and now i am
> going to pass by with my new comp to teach him the things for recent
> converts and to start teaching his brother, rodrigo! silvia needs to
> get married to her ´´marido´´ but he is still married to a woman in
> buenos aires so the divorce is very complicated. but we will see how
> everything works out. we haven´t found a lot of people this week but
> i can feel that we are going to find a lot of good people this week
> with elder escobar.
> last christmas i spent the holidays with elder escobar, and now i´m
> going to spend them this year with the other one! that´s kind of cool
> i guess. christmas is coming pretty fast, isn´t it? i´m so excited!
> and now i can start singing christmas hymns to people! that can be fun
> too. i hope elder escobar knows how to sing.
> my scripture for the week is 2 nefi 25:29 and jacob 4:10
> 29 And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in
> Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel;
> wherefore ye must bow down before him, and aworship him with all your
> might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye
> shall in nowise be cast out.
> 10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take
> counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he
> counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his
> works.
> there are a lot of things that i don´t understand but we can just put
> our trust in God and look for the things that He wants us to learn in
> our trials. looking back at the last few months that i have had, i
> may not have learned that much from my companion, but i did learn a
> lot about myself and i know that i am getting better as a missionary.
> i know that God loves us a lot and i am very grateful for the
> opportunity that i have to serve Him all day, every day, by helping
> others.
> i do love being here as a missionary, and i know that i don´t have
> that much time left so i have to take advantage of these next few
> months. now we have to get going because e´ colombres wants to say
> goodbye to all of rawson... we are going to be walking a lot, pero
> bueno, esta bien.
> i love you guys and i can´t wait for next week to hear from you!
> con mucho amor y ánimo
> elder summers

Monday, November 21, 2011

341 to go...

¡hola familia!
i got the voice recording from mollie and i loved hearing from you
guys! mollie- i´m so jealous you get to be there for thanksgiving... i
can´t believe that it is coming up so fast! i haven´t even been
thinking about that. it just isn´t the same being away. hey! but i got
my christmas tree! it made me so happy! oh! and i got my camel too!
they are both on my desk and i will take a picture next week with my
little tree. and my visa stuff, i am officially an illegal immigrant in argentina.
but we are working on that. have you guys received general conference
yet? i haven´t seen anything about that so far but i really want to
get that in english.
it has been an interesting week. we went to the hospital for my
companion to get his blood tested for diabetes and we had to sit and
wait for a few hours because he wasn´t allowed to walk. we are going
to pass by the hospital tomorrow to get the results. when we went, a
woman stopped us and asked if we were ´´elmers´´ of the mormon church
and then told us she was baptized a really long time ago and now her
husband is dying with cancer. we offered to give him a blessing in
one of the rooms for consultos, then the woman wanted us to go to her
house at that moment. we didn´t all fit in the car so she told her
family to just go without her and that she would just walk with us to
the house so we ended up going. she really needed a lot of help
because she feels terrible for her husband and doesn´t want to lose
him. it was crazy how everything worked out that day. we talked a
lot about how we can find the peace we need, about Jesus Christ, and
the plan of salvation. i know that God puts in the right place at the
right moment and i love being a part of His plans.
Leandro is doing awesome right now too. he came to church yesterday
and he really is progressing. he came to see mauro get baptized on
saturday and it was a really neat experience. the bishop didn´t come
because he went to a river futbol game and promised he would be back
in time but didn´t make it. our ward mission leader called him on it
in church on sunday and it was kind of intense. something he probably
should not have done in front of everyone... but we are making plans
for leandro´s baptism this saturday and are hoping everything works
out. the thing is that this weekend is stake conference so we might
have to wait another week i don´t think he can be confirmed on sunday.
silvia is also doing very well. she is the woman from buenos aires
that we found from the member in trelew. omar had us come over a few
times to help them prepare their garden but they didn´t want to know
anything. now silvia is coming to church and is studying the book of
mormon. she says that she doesn´t want to feel pressured to be
baptized because she doesn´t want to make a bad decision. she was
already baptized twice (evangelica y catolica) and so i think it might
take a little longer with her too but i know she can receive an answer
when she prays.
i finished the book of mormon this week and prayed again to know if it
is true. i always feel the spirit testify to me that it is when i
pray and ask. it is such a blessing to have in my life and that is
why i enjoy sharing it with others. it just sucks when people don´t
want to make the time to read too. yesterday, a whole bunch of
missionaries in our zone had a ´´tormenta blanca´´ (white storm) in
Gaiman and we had divisions with the members that live there to visit
a ton of old investigators and less active members and we had a lot of
success. i found 3 new people in that activity for that area and it
was really fun working with them. a missionary showed me that in 2
nephi 12:2, it says utah vertically in the book of mormon. i don´t
know if you guys have ever seen that but the scripture is really cool
too because it talks about utah. BUT! my scripture for the week comes
from moroni 7.
31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance,
and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which
he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the
children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen
vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.
32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue
of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in
their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner
bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the
children of men.
33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have
power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
finishing the book of mormon, these scriptures were a few that really
impacted me as a missionary. of course there are a lot of awesome
things towards the end too that i loved studying but with these
scriptures, i know that there are a lot of ´´chosen vessels´´ here in
rawson and it is cool to think that we were chosen to find them right
now. and from verse 33, i know that anything is possible as long as
we always keep our faith. i really loved reading doctrina y convenios
38:7-8 if you want to look them up too.
sorry for writing so late today... today we played foosball and pool
(i rocked everyone and i stay undefeated), then we played futbol for a
really long time. pero bueno, now we are ready for another good week
ahead. my comp is thinking that it is his last in rawson, but we will
see on saturday! next monday could be an awesome change for me and
i´m kind of excited! but if i stay another 6 weeks with elder
colombres, i will be ok with it. i have learned a lot by being with
him so i´m sure whatever is in store for me is for the best.
well, thanks for thinking of me this week and remembering to write! i
love you guys!
con mucho ánimo y amor,
elder summers

Monday, November 14, 2011

348 to go...




¡buen día, familia!
got my pictures this time! things are going ok here in rawson and we are still pluggin along. we did not have baptisms on saturday because they just weren´t prepared. the investigator of the other missionaries here is awesome and wasn´t baptized because he had to leave to present a school project and won´t be back for a while but leandro and rodrigo just aren´t ready yet. the pictures i sent are of us at punta tombo. i sent one of a guanaco with the penguins too because i never imagined to see them together before...
our ward mission leader had some problems with his health this week. he just had problems with his blood pressure and i think he had a stroke last monday, but he is recovering really fast. he is doing ok now and is resting.
tuesday we had a ward activity but only 16 people including 2 investigators. it wasn´t as successful as the last activity but we ended up changing our plans and we watched ´´the testaments´´ instead and ate some banana cake. wednesday we had divisions and i was with elder castillo in the other area and i had a lot of fun. it was a nice break and i really enjoyed working with him. we got a lot done and it recharged my batteries. it has been kind of hard lately because we haven´t been seeing much progress but ´´the night is darkest just before the dawn´´. yep, i just quoted batman. the hermana catalan passed away friday night and we spent saturday with the members at the funeral and burial. she was one of the pioneers here in rawson and she stayed faithful in the church for the last 40 years. she was an awesome example and it hurt the ward bad. on sunday, we went to a ward council meeting with the bishop and he said that they are planning on splitting the ward soon. they have the numbers but are lacking a few more worthy tithe payers on both sides to be able to divide. there are about 550 members here in rawson but only 130 people are actively attending every week. we want to start working more with the less active members to be able to meet that goal and help the church grow faster. since the time i arrived in rawson, i have seen a lot of progress because it was a disaster. the members were very cold with us but now they have opened up a ton and are more willing to work with us. the bishop wants us to teach some of the less active members the charlas again so they can remember their testimonies of the church but i think that the ward needs to do better retaining them and visiting them. our ward mission leader, hermano chemin is incredible because he has a very strong testimony and he likes visiting the members and strengthening them in his free time. that is why it is hard for him to stay in bed for now... but rawson would be full of active members if they were all like him.
it´s really cool having more trust from the ward leaders and i hope other missionaries after me don´t do anything else to screw it all up. before the mission, i always thought the mission would be really different. maybe it is just the argentina neuquen mission but it is really hard and i know a lot of missionaries are struggling right now. there is a lot of pressure to baptize every week but the people don´t want to listen to us and it is surprising how closed they can be! but i´m going to stay diligent for my comp.
i am reading in 3 nephi right now and i loved reading 5:13
13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
that is my responsibility as a missionary, and i just need to do all that i can to give everyone the chance to listen. i know that if i do my part, i am having success, even if the people reject us. it is difficult but i have realized this week that i am developing some new talents that i probably wouldn´t have if i didn´t come to argentina. there are a lot of good things here too. a lot of awesome people that i look forward to see every week. im still not sure what we are going to do today for pday. i wanted to go to the beach because it has been getting pretty hot lately but we will see what my comp, elder colombres, wants to do.
i don´t know why but i had a wierd craving for those circus peanut candies this week. mollie is making me a calendar? that sounds awesome and i´m excited to get it! time really is going fast, isn´t it? this week i will celebrate one year in argentina and in two weeks i will have 13 months on the mission! so crazy! well, i love you guys! and i love hearing from you every week. your letters/ emails every week really lift me up again and i really appreciate you thinking of me! thank you for everything!
con much amor y ánimo,
elder summers

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

355 to go...

¡hola familia!
sorry it took so long to write today! i went to see the penguins in punta tombo this morning! it was really fun and it took about an hour to go down in a bus with 6 other missionaries from the zone. i took tons of awesome pictures but i don´t have my cord to send them today. next week...
i did go eat ice cream to celebrate my one year mark on the mission and it was amazing. i love ice cream! but anyways, with the other missionaries we ended up playing futbol americano (2 hand touch) and that was pretty fun too. i was rocking it because these guys don´t know how to play very well. :) i did play futbol with the members on saturday too even though our investigators didn´t show up. we did have some less active guys come and it was fun. i did score a few times, it was awesome!
it was a crazy week. a little disappointing too because we found daniela outside of her house drinking and smoking with some older girls. when she saw us, she hid everything but we already saw it. we ended up just inviting her to church (and her friends) but they didn´t come. oh! and marina has been acting wierd lately too. she sent us a text message that said she wants us to find her a boyfriend that is tall, good looking, kind, strong, and THAT will be a sign for her that the church is true. then she was avoiding us for some time... one day we went with elder roper and elder castillo (because we found them in the street before the cita) and we saw her close the window before we came but she didn´t answer us when we clapped. that night she sent us another text and apologized for not answering the door and asked us if one of the boys we walked with were for her. we are wondering what her intentions are for listening to us...
we were getting 4 people ready to be baptized for the 12th of november (this saturday) but now we are thinking only 2 will be ready, the 2 sons of dalia, a recent convert that was baptized by my companion a few months ago. we had some awesome lessons with them and we are praying things will still go well for them. their names are leandro and rodrigo. the other missionaries are getting another guy, mauro, ready for saturday too and he´s got a pretty solid testimony. that´s awesome. hopefully i can send pictures of the baptisms next monday!
there is another woman, silvia, that we have been doing service for her in her backyard clearing out a whole bunch of weeds. she has a son in law that was baptized this year and he wants us to keep working with her but she doesn´t have a lot of interest. he promised to come with us to a lesson but it didn´t work out and we planned another cita. there are a lot more mosquitos lately but they don´t bite me that much. they go after the latinos more and i saw a guy with tons of bites. i think he was allergic to it or something because they were getting all swollen. im fine though :).
i haven´t heard any more about my visa but i think it is all ok. you had to send another birth certificate? i never heard that was necessary... but thanks for sending it! i never had to pay anything when you sent the easter package so i think a box is ok for christmas. christmas candy would be incredible! ummm... i don´t know why but i like those peach candies and the root beer candies were awesome too! reese´s pieces, starbursts, i really liked the skor candy bar too :). i don´t know. it´s been a long time since i have eated candy from the united states. there are some trucho versions here but it´s not the same. m&m´s and skittles exist here too but they are really expensive and i never buy. but i think a calendar for 2012 would be an awesome christmas present. something that i can hang on the wall and use for my last year on the mission. if you can write the birthdays of everyone, that would be even cooler and i won´t forget anything. it gets harder to remember when the days come by so fast but i´m doing my best.
i would love to write things for the young men in the ward for the campouts but i don´t know bro rydalch´s email address.
this week, i found 2 good scriptures to share. alma 7:23
23 And now I would that ye should be ahumble, and be bsubmissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
and alma 29:9
9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do anot bglory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
the first really helped me this week and now is one of my favorites, and then i really liked the second scripture because it applies to me a lot as a missionary and made me reflect more on my calling.
well, i´m looking forward to a better week and i´m thankful for all the letters and support i have been receiving. i love you all! next week i send pictures for sure.
con mucho amor y ánimo,
elder summers