Another short-long week. So much is happening and it is going by so fast!

¡Hola!

Another short-long week. So much is happening and it is going by so fast!

I had an appointment with the dermatologist (skin doctor) in Resistencia because I had really bad exzima. She prescribed me some creams and now I am all better. Whew! However, now I have a pretty bad cough :). I´m hoping to be in better condition in the next few days.

We made empanadas! They were sooo good! We had 12 each and I was very full afterward.

We found quite a few great people to teach this week. We went to teach the man I talked about in my last email. He turned out to be a builder. He´s been constructing an incredible house, with all kinds of unique designs very different from the box-like structure of most houses here. He invited us in and we sat down. He had a huge cup of wine and was watching TV. He was full of questions during our discusion with him. We did our best to answer them and teach him about Christ´s restored church and how he and his family can find more happiness in all of the confusion in the world. We shared with him Christ´s parable of the wise man who built his house on a rock (3 Nephi 14:24-27). Near the end, his wife walked up angrily and told the man to kick us out because she didn´t want people from other religions in her house. It´s going to be really hard to help this man overcome all of these obstacles, but he wants us to come back and he loves learning from us.

Last Monday, we had a family home evening with this great family. We taught them about temples and invited them to prepare to go to the temple. Afterwards, we played pictionary on my whiteboard.

Please pray for Milagro this week. She is 11, the oldest child in her family. She came to church this past Sunday and wants to be baptized. However, her parents aren´t very supportive and don´t see how important this step is in her life. We hope to help all of them progress together, because there are way to many young children in this city who got baptized and haven´t come to church since.

We ate icecream with Branco and his parents, Lilia and Julio, who have been waiting over a year so they can get married and be baptized.

This is the last week of the transfer and Elder Felkins is finishing his mission. That means I am definatly getting a new companion. I´m fairly sure I will stay in Avellaneda, but who my companion will be, I have no idea. I will write next Tuesday or if I end up training a new missionary, I will probably miss writing next week. That will be exciting!

God lives. He is real! He loves us. We have challenges in this world so that we can progress and become like Him. I love Him and His Plan of Happiness. Christ is our savior. I invite you each to do at least one thing to get to know Jesus and His teachings a little more personaly. If you do, you will find greater peace in your lives.

¡Hasta luego!

Elder Cloward

¡Hola!

¡Hola!

So much good work is happening here, but sometimes it seems so slow. I wish we could teach everything we need to in just a week or two, but in reality, the fastest an investigator can go from meeting the missionaries to being baptized is a month, and that doesn´t happen very often here. Change and repentance take a lot of time. We can´t change all at once.

I got to see my trainer, Elder Takapu, at our last multi-zone meeting. He´s really great!

Luciano came to church yesterday! We met his girl friend, Valeria, on the bus to Las Toscas about a month and a half ago, and since then, they have been very curious about what we teach. Luciano loved it!  I am so glad it was fast and testimony meeting, (anyone in the congregation can go up front and share what they believe) because the Holy Ghost was really strong. The second class talked about the Holy Ghost and its role. It was a perfect class because Luciano had had a question about the Holy Ghost before. We have a lesson with him and Valeria tonight and hope to help them progress closer to baptism.

We had several experiences where we knew we were in the right place at the right time. On Saturday, a man riding a bike stopped and asked us where we were from. He knew we were missionaries, and aparantly had stopped us because he needed help. He told us one of his neighbors every so often would roam the neighborhood with a gun and just rob people and break their stuff. This had happened several times to the man we were talking to and he was worried about his children and his wife. At the time he passed us, he had reached the conclusion that the only think he could do was kill his neighbor. His anger showed all over his face. Everything that we said to calm him, he ignored. Finally, Elder Felkins, my companion, asked if we could say a prayer with this man. Elder Felkins gave a beautiful prayer, asking God that He would protect this man and his family and help the man make good disisions. After the prayer, the man was visibly humbled. He was still angry, but he had hope. That´s what Christ´s teachings bring us: hope and peace. Jesus doesn´t take away our problems, but he makes them easier to carry. I gained a greater testimony of that with this man. We also won´t be going into that neighborhood after dark :).

God lives! He loves us. He wants us to return to live with him. He sent Jesus to teach us His plan of happiness. When we obey Christ, we are happy. I invite you to share the joy Christ has given to you with others. This will bring you even greater happiness and joy.

Be happy and make choices that with bring you the greatest eternal happiness!

Elder Cloward

McDonalds! It was good, but the Big Mac was really small. Normal hamburgers here, with eggs and other incredients, are way bigger.

A weekend of miracles!

¡Buen dia!

This week was really full! On Monday, we Skyped Alejandra and invited her to come to church. Because of her difficult situation being super far from the church and getting really sick, President Franco, the Mission president told us he would pay for the bus tickets. Alejandra was so excited. Right after the call, we talked to President Franco about our plan, and he told us that if it was possible, we should baptize her this Saturday, even though she hadn't gone to church. We couldn't wait to tell her!

 

On Tuesday, I went to Corrientes to get my DNE, my Argentine ID card that will make me legal for the next two years. It´s going to arrive in about a month.

Wednesday, the 25th, is Argentine Independence day. Traditionally, everyone makes big pots of locro, a type of soup with a corn and meat base. The branch had a huge activity and cooked a bunch for everyone.  I got to try a little bit and I really like it. Most people don´t because it contains mondongo, or cow stomach. It has a weird chewy taste to it. We only received permission to eat a little, because it makes some people sick.

 

My district at the locro.

The cooks at the locro activity.

Locro!

That same day, we Skyped Alejandra again and introduced her to everyone that was still at the activity. We invited them to be baptized this Saturday, and they said yes! Milagros was really nervous, especially because she is really shy and doesn't like to talk very much.

Saturday was a huge day. Five people had their baptisms scheduled and we were all really exited! It felt like three days put in one. As almost always happens with baptisms, there were a lot of problems to solve. Alejandra planned to stay with her sister who lives close to the church, but then her sister told her she´d be busy that day. Alejandra told us she would sleep in the terminal if she had to, she was that excited to be baptized. After scrambling to find a place for her to stay, and finding none, President Franco told us we could rent out a Hotel room.

On the baptism day.

We ended up having three baptismal services. Antonio, who asked me to baptize him, couldn't come when everyone else had their baptisms, so his service was at 2:30. Then Luz, the young girl that would be baptized told us that she was sick and she would have to come sooner so she wouldn´t be out in the cold. She was baptized at 4:00. Finally, Juan, Alegandra, and Milagros were baptized at 6:00. We were so happy for them! Not very many people came, but the services were each very special. My companion, two other Elders, and I sang a special musical number "Savior may I learn to Love Thee" and I directed the music.

Antonio, who asked me to baptize him.

Antonio after his baptism.

Alejandra and Milagros right after their baptisms. They were so happy!

All five of them were confirmed members of the church on Sunday and received the Holy Ghost. I am so happy for all of them and that I could be a part of their decisions to be baptized!

All of the five new converts and missionaries.

Elder Cloward

¡Una hola a todos!

We found so many new people to teach this past week, and most of them were big families! We are excited to keep teaching them.

 

There were several disappointments and some amazing learning experiences. Lilia and Julio are some investigators her that have been investigators for almost two years. They come to church almost every Sunday and are basically members. They are waiting so that Lilia can get a divorce so they can both get married and be baptized, but the papers have already taken nearly a year. This week, they were so close, but then they found out that they need another signature and have to wait at least another week. It´s really hard for all of us to wait so long, but we trust God has a plan for them. Lilia´s mother came to church last Sunday for the first time and she loved it! We went and taught her twice and she loved everything we taught. However, on Saturday, Lilia sent us a message that her Mom doesn't want us to teach her anymore. That was really sad and really hard for Lilia too. We hope to go at least one more time to help her mother overcome her doubts and not fear the changes that will come.

We made pizza! Mmm...

 

This week I have been praying for charity. Moroni in the Book of Mormon, says that charity, the pure love of Christ, is a gift from God. I want to have greater desires to serve and teach others, not just because I should or because I am a missionary, but because I love them and want them to be happy. There were several lessons we taught this week where I noticed a huge difference when I loved the people and wanted to help them and others when I was just telling them what I know about Christ´s church. Both are good, but when I have love for those I teach, the Holy Ghost is the teacher and we all feel more peace and happiness.

 

Another divisions picture from a few weeks ago. We are standing in a field in Avellaneda.

For example, yesterday, we found a new family to teach. We taught Susana and three of her 14 children. Her three children were all 9 years or younger. They all sat in their own chairs and listened as we taught the restoration. My companion began to teach to the mother and I felt the impression to teach to her children and to be very simple. I taught them what everyone does when we pray and then I told them, pointing to a picture, "this is Jesus! When we do what he says, we are happy. I love Him!" I knew then as I know now that He is my savior and I do love Him!

 

The children loved the lesson, especially since I gave them some paper and they all tried to draw Jesus. He is the center of our message and we should never forget Him, especially in our daily lives when other things seem more important, but really aren't.

 

A young boy with his pet bunny. It was funny watching him run all over the place trying to catch it.

This week, I also realized again how important church is, especially for those who are investigating the church. If these people to come to church, they can´t receive the blessings of baptism, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the Temple, or any of the other blessings God is waiting to give them. It´s the same for members of the church too. The blessings of church attendance are worth infinitely more than anything else we can do on a Sunday. Infinitely more, because when we do, God blesses us abundantly and we come so much closer to our ultimate goal to live with Him with our families after this life. As my dad always said, people have a two-second decision to make every Sunday. They have to decide to get up out of their warm beds and go out into the cold or rain or heat and go to church, or just keep sleeping. Our job as missionaries and members is to make that decision easier for others so that in those two seconds, they chose to get up. This week, we did all we could, but not very many people came to church, especially because it was so cold. It´s a good thing we have next week to try again!

 

Alejandra is doing much better. She is out of the hospital and recovering in her home. We have a Skype call with her in an hour. She may be baptized this week with her daughter, but we still don´t know. Keep praying for her. She says she really appreciates all of your prayers!

¡Que tenga una buena semana!

Elder Cloward

A busy week as fall rolls in

¡Hola todos!

This past week was the last week of the transfer. For this next transfer, Elder Felkins and I are staying in Avellaneda. We are super excited to work hard, especially because this is Elder Felkins´ last transfer.

It´s fall here! Lots of leaves and it´s getting colder.

We did a lot of traveling. We went to Las Toscas again to teach Alejandra. We taught her and her daughter the 10 commandments with hand signals to help them to remember them. They loved it a lot! I wish I could share some of them, they´re really funny and clever.

There´s a house here with two pet ostriches. Crazy!

We also had a muli-zone meeting and got to hear from the mission president and Elder Salas, one of the seventy. I learned that even as missionaries, it´s important that we practice every day during our studies to teach more effectively. I also learned how important it is that the missionaries and members work together. When the early Saints were building the Salt Lake temple, they had to carry the huge blocks to the temple on a difficult 4 day trip. Brigham young then had a train track built that could transport each of the blocks in just hours. However, the people cutting out the bricks had to stop working so they could work on the railroad. Sometimes the things we need to do as missionaries seem to not make sense at first. No one will be working on the temple if we build a railroad! If we teach the already active members, we won´t be teaching investigators. But the truth is, when the missionaries and members work together, the work becomes faster and more efficient.

We made polenta! It´s a kind of corn paste with red sauce. The corn was pretty tasteless, but the red sauce was really good!

We taught Samuel the story of Samuel the Laminite from the Book of Mormon. We had him act it out. He got up on a chair and started waving a big shovel in the air as Elder Felkins and I threw stuff at him. All the while, his older brother narrated the story, oblivious to the chaos. It was super funny!

We met a bunch of new people to teach the last few days, including a small family of 4. I´ll give you an idea of some of the people we teach. The mother went back to Secundaria (high school) to finish and the father works at a meat factory and catches birds as pets for fun. It was super cool to see all of his birds. They have two young daughters. One of their daughters hurt her head really bad yesterday and we have been praying for her. Her name is Ariana. We are excited to teach them about how Christ´s teachings bless the family.

There were so many miracles that happened this week, but I can´t share everything. My favorite part of the week was when I got to Skype my family for mother´s day. They are all so happy and it made me so happy to see them. They had some really great questions and helped me want to keep working hard. I loved speaking in Spanish to them and teaching them a lesson about the importance of daily prayer and scripture study. These things are a protection to us from Satan. Just like mosquito spray, they have to be applied each day to protect us from the sicknesses of the world that can hurt us.

I know that God lives. I know that He loves me! I have felt His love very strongly this week. I know that when we obey Him, we are happy and other people are too. Families can be together forever. I am here to bring this message to all and help them receive these blessings.

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

Samuel´s baptism and some miracles!

¡Hola!

This week was incredible! God helped us accomplish His work and there were many miracles!

Early in the week, we found some new prepared investigators, a young father and mother that are interested in the church. We found Valeria, the mother, on a bus on the way to Las Toscas. They have a 2 year old daughter. We are excited to keep teaching them.

 

Me and a cow.

On Friday, we went to Las Toscas again to teach Alejandra and her daughter Milagros. Alejandra is incredible. She reads the Book of Mormon whenever she has a spare moment, which is almost always because she doesn´t have a job and stays home most of the time. She has already read all the way through Mosiah and parts of Alma. But last week she got really sick. She told us something was wrong with her heart, and that the doctors don´t know what happened yet. When we went to teach her, we taught her about the priesthood, the power God has given to man to do His work on earth. We shared the story of the Book of Mormon when Christ visits the people in America and heals each of them from their sicknesses. We invited her to receive a priesthood blessing. We explained that what was said in a priesthood blessing was not from us, but from God, and that she could be healed according to her faith. I felt the spirit really strongly with her and we could feel how strong her faith is. I gave her the blessing. It was an incredible experience, and reminded me when I gave a priesthood blessing to my Mom right before she left on a long trip. I didn´t know at first if I was worthy to give a blessing, but the Spirit told me that I was and God filled my mind with what I should say. It was so happy to serve her!

 

A really big soy bean field. We use it as a short cut to one of our investigators.

Me, Samuel, and Branco (7), who wasn´t baptized, but wanted to be in the picture. He is the son of some of our investigators.

Then, on Saturday, we had Samuel´s baptism. We took him and his brother early to the chapel to get everything set up. That was when we started having problems. We wanted to heat up the water for the baptism, but the heater was broken and the gas pipes had a leak, so we couldn't get the stove to work either. We also couldn't make the chocolate cake we had planned. We ended up sending the cake to the other Elders to make and we left the water cold. We were all super excited and a little bit crazy before the baptism, but when the service started and we were all in white, I felt calm. I got to sit by Samuel and Jona, a 17 year old investigator of the Sisters who also asked me to baptize him. I really loved talking to them about the importance of the promise they were making with God and seeing how ready Jona was to be baptized. Agustin, Samuel´s brother, gave a short talk and then we all went to the baptismal font. 

Samuel´s baptism.

 

I got in first and nearly jumped right back out because of how cold it was. I started breathing really fast and felt like I was on fire. But I quickly overcame my fear. I remembered when I was baptized and how incredible it was it stand with my dad, as I stood with Jona and Samuel in the water. I baptized Jona first. When he came out of the water, he was so cold, but so happy. I could see how he had changed.

 

Jonathan (17), an investigator of the Sisters who asked me to baptize him.

Samuel was next and it was so cold, he jumped of the last step into my arms. He was shivering as I said the prayer. I felt the spirit strongly that what I was doing was right. I put him slowly under the water and he came out freezing and excited!

 

Samuel, right after his baptism. It was cold!

Jona and Samuel made a promise, being baptized, to keep God´s commandments, always remember Christ, and take Christ´s name upon them. I am so happy that I could be a part of their decision. It fills me with joy!

 

Samuel received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. He was at first nervous, but I could tell that during the prayer, just like I did when I received the Holy Ghost, he felt it. The Holy Ghost is a guide he now has for the rest of his life if he remains worthy. What a blessing God´s plan is for His children!

Have a happy week and make good decisions!

 

 Elder Cloward

 

Today, all four of us got a kilo of Ice cream! They had it on a good deal of 2 kilos for 100 pesos ($17.5).

¡Una semana feliz!

¡Hola todos!

It´s still raining, can you believe it? Fortunatly, it stopped just long enough for Sunday. People here don´t come to church on rainy Sundays.

 

We had some really great experiences this week trying to reach our weekly goals. We put a weekly goal to have 9 investigators who excepted a day for their baptisms. For nearly the whole week, we invited everyone we could to be baptized, and nearly everyone of them accepted! I know that God made it posible to reach this goal. Now we get to help all of these people prepare themselves to reach their goals.

 

Soup!

We found a few really prepared investigators too. One day, we felt prompted to visit one of the members, even though we only had 30 minutes left until lunch. As we were walking, a man called to us. He invited us to come to his house and teach him the following day. When we came, he was super excited to see us. We taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon, which he understood perfectly. He said "this book is going to be my guide so that I can return to God." Sometimes, phrases like that that our investigators say strike me. That IS what the Book of Mormon is for. It´s another testimony to me that what I am doing is right and true.

 

We had interviews again with the President Franco, the mission president. I learned so much from him and I can´t wait to apply it.

 

We are continuing to work with Samuel,  our 11 year old investigator. He asked me last week if I would baptize him and I said I would. Using some ideas from my Dad, we gave him a calendar to help him see how many days are left until his baptizm, and to remember to pray and read the Book of Mormon. We also played the Name Game (or in Spanish, pronounced Na-meh Ga-meh). He and his siblings had 3 minutes to write down as many names of people they knew as posible. They got a huge list together! Afterward, we invited them to invite these people to Samuel´s baptism. What a great idea!

 

Samuel our 11 year old investigator who asked me to baptize him this week!

 His baptism is this Saturday. Please pray that he can keep preparing himself and that he can make it that day. I´m so excited for him!

¡Que tenga una semana feliz!

Elder Cloward