Good day from Argentina! It´s gettin pretty hot here pretty fast... Too bad that sweater didn´t get to me a bit earlier from the package. Ha. Nothin but short sleeves till a long time.
Important notice: Last week I wasn´t able to open up and read all of the stuff in my package because we had to hurry and do some things. With that, I forgot to thank Grandma and Grandpa very much for the 20 mangos(bucks). I have been reading the "O Livro de Mórmon" actually quite a bit when I have found some bits of time at night or when my comp is in the bathroom. With my knowledge of Spanish along with the first chapters of the Book of Mormon, I am able to understand Portuguese really well. Reading and speaking are two totally different things. I am already in 1 Nefi 9!
Ëlder Johnson and I are movin along pretty well. We have a pretty good week. Our main success was doing PEPO(an abbreviation for something we are trying out in the mission). It is kinda cool how the missionary work just advances a ton and takes on new techniques to see the great success that this true gospel needs.
This week, we were planning to have a ton at church, but as it has happened before, we divide all of the people we well committed to church by four and that is about what we get. We ended up getting Nicolás to church again(along with his whole super inactive family, which was awesome!) so he can prepare to get baptized one of these next weeks. We also got one of our other investitgators to come to just Sacrament meeting(showed up thankfully at the last second), Omar, except the whole time he was just scared out of his mind. He is a little of a shy guy, so I don´t know exactly how he took all of the members coming up and giving him hugs and greeting him. We will have to see tomorrow when we pass by again to see what his feelings were about church. He has been preparing to get baptized one of these next weeks. Agostina and Joel, who are supposed to get baptized this Saturday were not able to come to church because their grandpa passed away on Saturday, so they were at the cemetery all day. I don´t know if that will postpone the baptism a little bit or not. I guess we will find out during the week.
We have another new investigator that a member brought to the chapel on thursday who is really cool. Her name is Laura, she vistied with the Elders back in April and almost got baptized, but they were passing by too often by her house so she had to tell them to stop coming. She was going through a really hard time the other day(something to do with her ex-husband and the kids and all that crazy stuff that hopefully I will never have to put up with) and here member friend just happened to call her and ask her if she was alright as if she knew that something was wrong. Isn´t it cool how the spirit works? So she agreed to come and visit with us on Thursday. It was just one of those super spiritual visits that I will probably never forget. My comp and I kept thinking of the exact same scriptures to share with her, she received a baptism date, and I gave her a blessing of comfort and counsel.
Yeah, everything is going more or less pretty smooth here. It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well back at home. Luberta going to Homecoming...WOOHOOO. Just remember, no kissing until you are 16! oh...(Dad will probably be watching at the doorstep). That is awesome how dad is just winning first place and nothing else ever. Can´t wait to see all of the gold/blue medals/ribbons that he has stashed up. Congrats! Now it´s time to put the big boy pants on and move up to the experts and show them how it is done! Uh! Good luck in your last race for this season pops.
Spiritual Thought: It is called a "thought" because I give you something small and you have to do the thinking and pondering if you want to get anything out of it.
This week we had some really cool plan of salvation lessons. One of my favorite questions to ask members when they accompany us in the teaching of investigators is "How does your knowlege of the Plan of Salvation affect the choices you make?" It is an amazing process of how your mind and whole perspective on life change as you understand the mysteries of God. He gives us so many of His mysteries right in front of us. How amazing is it to know the answers to these three big questions "Where do we come from? Why are we here on earth? Where do we go after we die?." These mysteries of God are easily found in the scriptures that God has, out of His love, given to us so that we may treasure more the Gospel of Jesus Christ and use our agency better so that we may return to Him again. What would be your answer to that first question? I, myself, am "eternally" grateful for this knowledge and it sure gives me the motivation I need to follow my Savior and be in the right path. Other people NEED this information. Share the Gospel with EVERYONE and bear your testimony on how this knowlege affects your life so greatly.
One bundle of argentine love from your favorite Élder...in Argentina
Un abracito,
Élder Dev Larisch
La iglesia es Verdadera
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