¡Hola!
How is everyone? I´m doing great here in Argentina! We just had transfers and I am still training. However, Elder Phillips was transfered to Resistencia and his new companion is from Uruguay. My new companion, Elder Caceres, is also from Uruguay. It´s only my first day with him, but I can tell we are going to work well together. He has a very difficult history full of perserverance and going the extra mile when others would quit. For the next little bit, I will only be speaking spanish, which will be exciting!
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| Elder Phillips went to Resistencia. I sure am going to miss him! |
Learning is so fast here. As I look through my journal of what happened at the begining of the week, it feels like two weeks ago! We had a lesson with a family in which one of the family members asked me "if I feel good in my church and I feel what I am doing is right, is that okay?" Afterwards, I talked about the question with Elder Phillips, and we realized that as people do good things, the spirit confirms to them that it is right. Every church has a piece of the truth and they are not wrong. Our message is that there was a restoration of the full truth and that God put His church again on the earth through the Book of Mormon and through prophets. We can have even more truth, even more happiness, and we can live again with God and our families forever. I love this message and know it is true.
We found a great new family to teach. Eliana was visited by the missionaries before and we taught her the restoration, she felt that it was true. It was a sweet joy, especially because it felt like we had been guided to find her house.
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| I got to baptize Alexis (8), one of the sister´s investigators! |
We had a baptizm this past Saturday and I got to baptize an 8 year old boy the sisters have been teaching. As I was sitting next to him during the program, he said quietly "I am so excited! I am getting baptized!" He knew what he was doing was good and he couldn´t wait. He is being an example for all of his older siblings too, who are not yet baptized. That was so happy to me!
We have been teaching Florencia and her boyfriend Jose some more. Their three children are so amazing! They like to have fun, but when we say a prayer, they all gather, fold their arms and close their eyes. Florencia is excited to be baptized and Jose said he would too. They still have to get married and they are a bit worried about doing that so soon. Please put them in your prayers that they will have desires to be married and that that will go smoothly.
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| I might have too much stuff (I´m on the left). |
Yesterday was one of the happiest days of my mission. I was with the zone leaders for the whole day while I waited for my new companion to arrive. One of the new zone leaders is the previous asistant to the president, Elder Dangelo. He has this exciting energy about him that is just contagous. He taught me so much through his example about my role as a missionary. He reminded me that it is not our responibility as members nor as missionaries to get other people to change or to accept God´s commandments. We teach, promise blessings, encourage, and inspire, and then leave it up to them to choose happiness. I also learned even more the importance of inviting with the Book of Mormon focused on big goals. For example, we taught an investigator that hasn´t been progressing very much, about the ten commandments. After reading, Elder Dangelo would ask, "will you keep these commandments so that you can be baptized on October 15 and live with God and your family forever?" Who can say no to that? It gave a real reason for why we were teaching and why she needed to do these things, but left her to decide to be obedient. I am exited to put these things in practice and want to be more involved and excited to work, just like he is. It´s going to be a good week!
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| My new companion, Elder Caceres, is from Uruguay. We are going to have a great time together! |
God knows what we need. He has prepared everything to help us grow and be happy. Sometimes we have challenges, but these challenges lead to greater happiness as we put our trust in God and choose to love Him through our actions. I love Him very much and will try my best this week to show it.
Elder Cloward
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