Monday, August 20, 2012

Las Aventuras de Élder Larisch y Élder Wahl

Yeah.

Oh my goodness, she is gone! It is kinda tough seeing that we had so many memories together. I first met her when I was 15 and we hit it off pretty well. She sure was pretty needy and she costed a lot sometimes, but we went so many places together. Even into a brick wall one time. Well...I hope that other guy takes better care of her than I did. I have hope for some of the other fishes in the sea that hopefully won´t cost as much when I get home.

The weather here is still the same. I don´t have to bundle up near as much as my last area because there are basically two different types of weather here in the winter: El Viento Zonda(hot wind), El Viento del Sur(cold wind). It changes constantly so a sweater is always safe to go out in. I have only used my coat a couple times here.

To answer your question ma, here in San Juan meat is a lot more expensive. Asado(BBQ) is a bit more rare to see here. I definitely ate more meat when I was in Mendoza. Just about every other northern South American country eats nothing but rice, but in Argentina they are prideful of their food and they are known for eating really good. I think I have luck being in a place where they cook really good. Here in San Juan I have been eating a lot of pasta and milanesas(just basically big strips of chicken or meat breaded and fried). Actually, I think we had milanesas just about every lunch last week...ha ha. I don´t get sick of them because they are just too good.

Highlights of the Week:
Saw a pobrecito little, constipated dog curling around himself to eat the poop out of his butt. It made it to the top 5 grossest things ever to be witnessed by the human eye. Dogs live pretty sad lives here. Their diets mainly consist of full baby diapers and other garbage just thrown all over in the streets.
Record-breaker for the amount of people on one moto(motorcycle) at the same time was 6. A full family riding on one moto. So...mom, do we really need the Sequoia? There is at least one moto to every family and so I am always witnessing strange things with motos.
We did our actividad misional Saturday night with the ward. We had a pretty good show-up. The other Elders brought a ton of investigator kids and so it got kinda crazy and the spiritual part kinda got lost somewhere in there, but we had a good time. We did the demonstration of Señor Huevo(a fun way to teach one of the missionary lessons "El Evangelio de Jesucristo(The Gospel of Jesus Christ)"), then we played Jeopardy to test their knowledge on what they learned from Señor Huevo. The Elders Quorum also did a little skit. So yeah, I would say it was a pretty good activity.
I ordered a cool aerosol art thing last week from a guy in centro, but seeing that today is a ferriado(holiday), all of the stores are closed here in centro and it looks like a ghost town. Next week I´ll be able to show it to ya.
We had a day full of milagros(miracles) this week with just everyone we talk to was interested in some way in the Gospel. We received a bunch of new investigators.

Even with all of the new investigators this week, unfortunately we were not able to get anyone to church. Countless hours we spent teaching people Sabbath Day Observance stuff and on Sunday before church, going out to find and bring these people to church. At this point we have heard about every excuse why they cannot attend church. There is not really any reason to feel bad because we did all that we could to get them to church and they will always have their agency. A good attitude is one of the most important things to have as a missionary because missionaries pass a ton of down moments where "Freaking Satanás", as we say it here, tries to make us miserable like unto himself. If a person has a good attitude about life and goes through life being happy and enjoying the blessings of life, God is going to mold that person and help them progress.

The investigators that we are working with right now that have the most potencial...and will be baptized in the next few weeks are Miguel Metola, Rodolfo López, and Alfredo and Graciela Gil. Individually, they all have their own doubts. As we help them gain their own testimony of the restored gospel they will be able to solve their own doubts.

But yeah, other than that things are going pretty swell here. Tune in next week to hear about transfers. Should be a good one!

I think I have been lacking spiritual thoughts in my last few letters. Here is something from É Wixom´s MTC teacher(future general authority, look for a Ryan Coles in the future). I love stuff like this:
Prayer, Scripture Study, and Church attendance are the primary activities that we are told to consistently perform as Latter-day Saints. In recent years, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve have taught us that the purpose of these activities is Revelation. In fact, Missionaries are trained and retrained on how to help other people receive revelation when they pray, study scriptures, and attend church because the purpose of prayer is not to talk, the purpose of scripture study is not to study the words on the page, and the purpose of Church is not to hear others speak- the purpose of all three are to receive communication from God.
Recent studies on Innovation have found that daydreaming is key to creativity. That's right, the individuals who scored highest on creativity tests were those who were the most prone to daydreaming. The essence of revelation, or innovation and creativity, is making new connections that lead to new solutions to various challenges. Studies show that these new connections are made when people daydream, not when they are absolutely focused on the problem (in fact, they found that caffeine stifles creativity because it causes the mind to focus- think word of wisdom and why it is required for a temple recommend). Finally, and obviously, they found that people daydream when they are bored.
The caveat, however, is that one must be somewhat aware of their own daydreaming in order to recognize when genuine connections are made, or else they will be lost. Thus, disciplined daydreaming, or pondering, is they way to revelation. So maybe Church meetings and the scriptures were intended to be boring- either way, if you are looking to experience God to the degree that Joseph Smith and other prophets experienced God, then let us all embrace the boredom!

¡Amen!

Wow, a long letter this go-around. Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait another week for pics because we came to the computers coming right off of exchanges with the zone leaders and I don´t have anything to hook up my camera with me. Till next week then. Thanks for all of the prayers, they always have been and always will be greatly appreciated. Que Dios les bendiga. ¡Chaucitos por esta semana!

Abracitos(I think this smiley has a moustache),

Elder Dev Larisch

La Iglesia es muy verdadera

That is AWESOME that Lex got a job. Yeah! Workin at the hut handin out HOT-N-READY´s. Does she get to wear the costume and dance outside while she does the advertisment? Good for her! She is going to love it. The job will help her improve a lot more skills including customer service(which all employers look for) and being able to talk with people and solve problems. ¡Felicitaciones!