Hey there!
Just putting in the weekly news. It looks like we have some good highlights focusing on traslados(transfers). It looks like I will get to be staying for two more transfers(3 months) here in San Juan. É Wahl is heading back to Mendoza to a zone called San Rafael and I am going to have a kid. Yep, I am going to be training a new little guy for the next two transfers here!! I won´t know who I am training yet until Wednesday. I have to go to the offices back in Godoy Cruz in Mendoza tomorrow night to await the coming of my comp. I am pretty stoked to get to have the opportunity to train and all that good stuff. You will get all of the pics the coming week.
It has been a good transfer with É Wahl. I have learned a lot from him and we have been able to have some awesome experiences together changing peoples lives here. Too many good times to count. He will have success in his mission! High hopes.
We had a pretty successful week in the area. We did exchanges with some of our leaders and we saw a lot of success come from that. We had some amazing visits with some our new investigators like Sandra Calívar, Senia Ochoa, and Ana Pereyra. All of the people we meet have their own different story and their own different problems to face, but there is a solve-all remedy called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We, as missionaries, have a lot of opportunities to teach the restored gospel every day and always get a different response from the one before. This past transfer has been a little hard for some people to accept the Resoration as the truth because they have been vistited by missionaries before and they didn´t understand the message. This past week, we were able to work in new areas and teach famillies that had never heard the message of the restored gospel. We got responses including: "Wow, I have never heard anything like that before", "Yeah, I just want to know more about baptism", and "Yeah, I have gone to a couple churches before but I was not able to find the ´truth´, so yes, I will pray to know the truthfulnes of your message". Those are just some of the ideal answers that we as missionaries always hope for. I know that God prepares a time for each and every one of His children to receive or reject the gospel. We have some really good investigators, let´s just hope that they can receive answers to their prayers. I think my new comp and I are going to see a lot of success in these next couple transfers!
FYI, I uploaded a bunch of pictures to your Walmart account again because this computer is super slow and I will not be able to send them through email today. Check them out!
Not way too many more highlights. Just another week of hard work. My shoes are starting to fall apart again because of all the piedritas that we walk on, but I walk the line...
Spiritual Thought: Umm, I am just going to paste what É Wixom´s MTC teacher has to say again. Maybe you´ll get something nice from me the next week. Ha. Enjoy:
Two days ago, our new elders quorum president sent out a late night text asking for volunteers to help a sister in need who was moving. Many responded and simply asked to be removed from the text list because of The late hour of the presidents request.
I promptly responded and said that I would be there on Saturday morning to help The sister. I showed up on Saturday with two other brethren to help pack the truck. The sister was moving 30 minutes away in draper into her parents home because her husband lost his job. When the truck was packed, the father asked if we could go to draper and unload the truck- the two other brothers declined saying that they did not have enough time, I said I would go- and I rode with this old man to draper and the two of us unloaded the truck on our own.
The service took up most of my Saturday but I was left with an exalted soul and a good sense of gratitude for God.
I tell you this experience because I want you to remember the following:
1. The Lord's Voice and the voice of his servants are the same. You should not treat a request from your local leaders any different than a request from God himself! In fact your response to requests by your local leaders is the best indicator of your true faithfulness to God.
2. The Timing of the Lord's call is not always convenient or comfortable, but responding to the call is always worth the pain- he came at midnight in the parable of the ten virgins, and He came late at night in my experience above.
So yep, there it is. I hope everyone is just enjoying the transition to autumn over there on the other side of the world. It is supposed to be getting very hot here in the next few weeks...so should be pretty fun. Well, I still pray for y´all and hope all is well. Till next time...
Abracitos,
Élder Deven Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
That´s cool that the missionaries passed by. I don´t ever remember them coming by. Yes, most houses here have gates and we can´t get to the door so most of the time we just clap. I will have to say that yes, my clap is almost a perfected clap with all of the experience that I have. I will pray that Dad stays safe in the race...and that he takes first again...ha. Jk. ¡Chau!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
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
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
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!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Trabajamos afúl (we work a ton)
Jello!
Good day, how is everyone doing? I am doing pretty well here in Argentina. Just doin what I can ya know?
We had a really good week just working our butts off again. It is good to feel tired and super sore on P-day because you will know that you worked a ton. Ha. We had one of the traveling asistants to the pres come and work with us for few days this past week and he taught us some super good tips in teaching and helped us out with a few investigators. We have a lot that we are working with right now. The thing is that there is just too much hipocrisy and no one does what they say they are going to do... For example, we have really good investigators that have the desire to learn about the restored gospel. Fortunately and amazingly, we were able to commit 17 of these people to come to church; some with members, some with us, and some on their own. Unfortunately, after all of our efforts and the efforts of the members, dang Satanás had to come in and ruin everything by putting excuses into the minds of these good people. It was tough for us to see that, but we got some faith and hope for the next week.
We actually have some super good investigators though such as Adriana Peralta and a couple of her sisters, the famillia Gil, and Roberto Flores. We just gotta get more lessons with members and we will start to see more success.
There seems to be a problem with attaching pictures to emails on this computer so lamentably, you will have to wait till next week it looks like.
I think for P-day today we are just heading over to the church to play some pong and some cards and maybe write some letters or something. Líbano B(the other elders that work in our ward also) stayed the night at the pension because we had to plan an activity for next saturday. We have been in San Juan Centro all morning just wandering around. I asked the aerosol/spray painter guy to make me a custom art piece. I am going to pick it up next week because it was a little more complicated that just one of his normal works, so expect something awesome next week. Ha.
I love you all and hope that a good and safe week passes you by.
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
We had a really good week just working our butts off again. It is good to feel tired and super sore on P-day because you will know that you worked a ton. Ha. We had one of the traveling asistants to the pres come and work with us for few days this past week and he taught us some super good tips in teaching and helped us out with a few investigators. We have a lot that we are working with right now. The thing is that there is just too much hipocrisy and no one does what they say they are going to do... For example, we have really good investigators that have the desire to learn about the restored gospel. Fortunately and amazingly, we were able to commit 17 of these people to come to church; some with members, some with us, and some on their own. Unfortunately, after all of our efforts and the efforts of the members, dang Satanás had to come in and ruin everything by putting excuses into the minds of these good people. It was tough for us to see that, but we got some faith and hope for the next week.
We actually have some super good investigators though such as Adriana Peralta and a couple of her sisters, the famillia Gil, and Roberto Flores. We just gotta get more lessons with members and we will start to see more success.
There seems to be a problem with attaching pictures to emails on this computer so lamentably, you will have to wait till next week it looks like.
I think for P-day today we are just heading over to the church to play some pong and some cards and maybe write some letters or something. Líbano B(the other elders that work in our ward also) stayed the night at the pension because we had to plan an activity for next saturday. We have been in San Juan Centro all morning just wandering around. I asked the aerosol/spray painter guy to make me a custom art piece. I am going to pick it up next week because it was a little more complicated that just one of his normal works, so expect something awesome next week. Ha.
I love you all and hope that a good and safe week passes you by.
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
Monday, August 6, 2012
¿Tengo veinte años ya? (I have twenty years already?)
Hey there...
Yeah, that doesn´t make me homesick at all looking at those pictures
of Lake Powell...ha ha. I hope you all had a good time and got back
safe and sound. That is crazy that dad actually threw up playin
punishments! Ha ha ha! I bet his brothers just got a kick out of
that. I think I may or may not have to introduce that game into the
misión mendoza. Ha ha. There is some stuff here that would go just
swell for that game.
It has just kinda been one of those bring you up then drop you down
weeks ya know? We had a ton of success just finding incredible people
this week but we still just can´t seem to find a way to get people
inside that chapel at least for one little hour! Holy cow it can be
frustrating. Ha ha.
As I said, we have just been finding lots of incredible people. We
were able to put some good baptismal fechas(dates) so we will just
have to see if those are able to follow through. Hoping and praying.
Our top candidates for baptism in the upcoming weeks shall be Adriana
Peralta, Silvia Saavedra, and the familia Valdez.
It still is super hard to focus inside houses because all of the focus
is on the tv(los olimpicos). There have even been times where we ask
nicely for them to turn off the tv for a few minutes but we get
rejected with a nice response saying no. Ha ha. Argentines are very
hard core fans and supporters of the sports even though they don´t
like sports. I get updates a lot from the family we live with and
tons of other members. I hear china is leading with us on their tail.
Go US!
Yep, just kinda passed the birthday by just like any other day. It
was a pretty cool day. Maybe the Lord wanted to bless us a lot on the
b-day because He allowed us to get to know some awesome people. To
let you know, yes, I was able to get the ice cream cake that I have
been desiring. It was one of the most tasteful, dulce de leche-ful,
and happy-ful cakes that has ever entered into my own stomach. I wish
I could email the taste of it just so you could try it, maybe sometime
in the near future. Yep, I wanted to do something crazy for my last
night in my adolescence but I couldn´t really think of anything that
would be appropriate for a missionary to do. Ha ha. It was a good
day though...Oh, and I am still expecting the package. It will be fun
to get another sweater.
For Pday today we cleaned all morning while listening to the
thundering voice of Bruce McConkie telling us to figure out our own
personal salvation with fear and trembling before God. Ha ha. I love
listening to old talks. But seriously, they are really good!
Everything in our house has been leaking so it was a little
frustrating this morning but I think I already got over that
frustration now. We actually got out and played sports(for the first
time in a LONG time). I brought my frisbee(thanks mom) to a cool
park(surprisingly there are not very many parks appropriate for
playing frisbee and stuff because they are made terribly with trees
and big rocks everywhere, but fortunately we found a good one today)
and we played for a while and it felt really good to run(I don´t run
in the mornings anymore like I have done once in a while with other
comps, mostly because it is now really cold outside in the mornings).
Then after we went to the closest place we could find to grab some
grub. We all were able to get some lomos and chori and enjoy
ourselves playing Monopoly Deal Cartas. Good times!
Good week! I hope all of you can say the same...especially for those
who spent it at lake powell...love yall.
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera
Yeah, that doesn´t make me homesick at all looking at those pictures
of Lake Powell...ha ha. I hope you all had a good time and got back
safe and sound. That is crazy that dad actually threw up playin
punishments! Ha ha ha! I bet his brothers just got a kick out of
that. I think I may or may not have to introduce that game into the
misión mendoza. Ha ha. There is some stuff here that would go just
swell for that game.
It has just kinda been one of those bring you up then drop you down
weeks ya know? We had a ton of success just finding incredible people
this week but we still just can´t seem to find a way to get people
inside that chapel at least for one little hour! Holy cow it can be
frustrating. Ha ha.
As I said, we have just been finding lots of incredible people. We
were able to put some good baptismal fechas(dates) so we will just
have to see if those are able to follow through. Hoping and praying.
Our top candidates for baptism in the upcoming weeks shall be Adriana
Peralta, Silvia Saavedra, and the familia Valdez.
It still is super hard to focus inside houses because all of the focus
is on the tv(los olimpicos). There have even been times where we ask
nicely for them to turn off the tv for a few minutes but we get
rejected with a nice response saying no. Ha ha. Argentines are very
hard core fans and supporters of the sports even though they don´t
like sports. I get updates a lot from the family we live with and
tons of other members. I hear china is leading with us on their tail.
Go US!
Yep, just kinda passed the birthday by just like any other day. It
was a pretty cool day. Maybe the Lord wanted to bless us a lot on the
b-day because He allowed us to get to know some awesome people. To
let you know, yes, I was able to get the ice cream cake that I have
been desiring. It was one of the most tasteful, dulce de leche-ful,
and happy-ful cakes that has ever entered into my own stomach. I wish
I could email the taste of it just so you could try it, maybe sometime
in the near future. Yep, I wanted to do something crazy for my last
night in my adolescence but I couldn´t really think of anything that
would be appropriate for a missionary to do. Ha ha. It was a good
day though...Oh, and I am still expecting the package. It will be fun
to get another sweater.
For Pday today we cleaned all morning while listening to the
thundering voice of Bruce McConkie telling us to figure out our own
personal salvation with fear and trembling before God. Ha ha. I love
listening to old talks. But seriously, they are really good!
Everything in our house has been leaking so it was a little
frustrating this morning but I think I already got over that
frustration now. We actually got out and played sports(for the first
time in a LONG time). I brought my frisbee(thanks mom) to a cool
park(surprisingly there are not very many parks appropriate for
playing frisbee and stuff because they are made terribly with trees
and big rocks everywhere, but fortunately we found a good one today)
and we played for a while and it felt really good to run(I don´t run
in the mornings anymore like I have done once in a while with other
comps, mostly because it is now really cold outside in the mornings).
Then after we went to the closest place we could find to grab some
grub. We all were able to get some lomos and chori and enjoy
ourselves playing Monopoly Deal Cartas. Good times!
Good week! I hope all of you can say the same...especially for those
who spent it at lake powell...love yall.
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera
Chef Dev
The breakfast burrito
E. Wahl eating pancakes
feliz cumpleaños to me
grido cake...mmm
can't wait to dig in...
my photo collage
elevated bed to help me sleep better with this cold
E. Galati
eating chori with the gang
The bish
Monday, July 30, 2012
Oh, ni sabía que iba a cumplir esta semana...¡Que Bueno! (Very Good Week)
Hello Everyone!
Wow, it looks like it is my birthday this week or something by looking at my inbox. Ha ha. Thanks for all of the emails. I feel very loved. I don´t know what is going to happen on friday for a celebration or anything yet, but I am for sure going to buy an ice-cream cake from Grido, the ice cream shop.
Well, I would have to say that we had a super good week this go-around. Saturday was our day of the most success. We had some super good lessons with members with the spirit surely present. I noticed that the joy out of missionary work really does come out of just watching the spirit do work in the lives of others while sometimes you barely feel like an instrument in the Lord´s hands because you just can´t believe the sorts of miracles that you see right before your eyes.
We had an amazing surprise mini conference with Presidente Ávila and the asistentes on Thursday and talked about some amazing things to us. We left that day with a huge prayer of faith expecting miracles and we had miracles that day. Friday we went back and had a part 2 of the conference to tell stories of the miracles that happened to us because of faith.
We met some superb families this week including the Flia. Tello, Flia. Valdez, and the Flia of Neli. We are starting the get accustomed to the way that the prophet wants us to work. We are starting to get really good references from members sharing the gospel with their friends and neighbors. The hardest thing that we are working on right now and the thing where Satan seems to be hittin us hard is the investigators attending church. We have had two goose eggs the past weeks, but that is just because we are basically starting from scratch. It is going to take patience and a bunch of diligence to get some of these familes to the church on sunday. I was told in the MTC that the Latino people just love to say yes, but from that commitment the missionaries don´t have too much of a promise. We need to be involved with every little thing we can do to get them to church whether it be calling them in the morning to wake them up, passing by their house to walk with them, etc. Takes some prayer and faith to get these peeps to church.
I am still meeting tons of new people here every day here in San Juan showing my pictures a lot. There was a few comments from members that I would like to share with you. Ha ha. As bishop´s mom and a couple other members were looking at the pictures, they kept mentioning how handsome dad was and how he looks really good because he does biking. They said that maybe someday I will be as good looking as my dad. Ha ha! Then I showed them how I was even starting to bald like dad is. No offense, but I don´t think I want to start looking like you too fast. Ha.
Yeah, the weather is starting to change a lot. I almost died this morning of cold having to go out and hang up the wet clothes at 6:30. It probably wasn´t very smart but it definitely was necessary. I don´t know when it will change again, but I think for now, it is going to be super cold.
Grandma, STAT: there are very few dogs in Argentina that have owners. STAT#2: there may or may not be more dogs that human beings in Argentina…actually, yes, for sure there are more dogs that anything else in Argentina. STAT#3: I may have seen the biggest and hairiest dog in the world on Saturday. His name is Tango and I will get back to ya with a picture.
I am still feeling pretty sick, but according to the mission enfermero(nurse), I am good to go out and proselyte as long as I drink lots of water, cough in my sleeve(not in the face of anyone, basically), and moisten my hands with sanitizer once in a while along with continual washing of hands. Right now it consists of a minor headache with my ears hurting every time I blow my nose, every time I sneeze I feel like my brain is going to come right out of my nose(like they used to do with the future mummies in Egypt), and the Laryngitis is to my advantage making my voice deeper. At least I am alive right? Ha. Nah, I´m doing pretty good. Don´t worry about me too much, maybe just a couple more prayers and I´ll get healed. Thanks.
Oh man, some of the hardest temptations to this point in my mission of being disobedient have come right at me. The Olympics have started and I am going crazy. I am super lucky that the work I am doing is much more important than any athletic event, but wow, I thought it was hard to stay focused when the discovery channel or something is on in the houses here, but now the Olympics, soccer, tennis, basketball, countries playing against one another. Someone may or may not need to record all of it so on September 8th of next year it will be available to watch. ¡Aguante los Estados Unidos!
This has been a pretty good p-day so far. We got panchos(hot dogs with more sauces and stuff that you could ever imagine), I bought a new sweater for really cheap(I hope that is alright, I just wanted one more to put a little more diversity in the selección. It was only 100 pesos(like 20-25 bucks). I really wanted to buy some of this art that this guy was doing in the street here in Centro San Juan. It was really cool spray paint art that he finished in less than 10 minutes. It is great entertainment. I think I may stop by next week to purchase on of his pieces. They go for 40 pesos! Crazy!
I saw E´ Squires(MTC comp) for the first time in about 7 months in the pancho shop. He is doing really good. He has been serving for 5 months in the Chimbas zone(one of the most successful zones, statistically, in the mission).
Gosh, sounds like everyone is just having themselves a good time at home. Everyone was safe over the holiday and Dad barely survived the hike. I will be willing to do that in the future. Ha. I bet that the ABBA concert just fulfilled all of your dreams in one night. That´s great that Kaitlyn is off to New York. Wish her luck from me if you see her before. That sounds like a really cool mission. I can´t believe that Jim is going to Ghana! He will miss his moustache for a couple years. I know that mine is developing very well right now and will be ready for full bloom in about a year or so. Is he going to speak English or Afrikaans? Dang, have fun in Lake Powell. I hope you enjoy it in honor of me or something. Ha. I am very jealous. I have a few pics of Lake Powell in my album that I show everyone. Tell grandpa happy birthday for me when you see him next. I hope he gets a chance to go fishin to celebrate.
That sounds really good that dad was able to talk to the priests up there about the missions. It is exactly what those boys need engraved in their brains right now. There should not be any other thing that should be even competing with a mission right now in the lives of those boys. I hope they all are able to leave for two years and experience something different than anything they could experience not wearing a black plaque.
Cariñito,
Elder Deven Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
Panchos...Yum Yum
Elder Marsh from Riverton
Cool guy doing way cool spray paint art that most of us bought. They were 40 pesos each! I think I want to buy one next time
Flia Milesi
Flia Ferrero
Flia Robert
Flia Sanna
Roldan Y Jose...
Mateocito...
my district...
and Chiquita!!!
My goodbyes to... Hna. Roldan...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
¡Bienvenidos a San Juan! (Welcome to San Juan!)
¡Hola de San Juan, Argentina!
Dang, that is kinda hard leaving an area like that with 6 good months
behind ya. Had some hard despedidos, but the tears make me stronger.
Psh, I didn´t cry...Especially with Chiquita reading a letter I wrote
her along with the one from my parents...Nah, but really, I will miss
just about everyone in that area that I got to know and I still will
continue praying for a lot of them because they are awesome. I hope
that É Toledo can keep it up over there and just baptize like Alma or
somethin.
Yep, I got here all safe and sound traveling with a few other
missionaries headed this way also. Man, I feel like my whole mission
just changed. I am in just a whole different environment. I love San
Juan. Back in my other areas, the things that I always heard from the
members about San Juan was that it is SUPER hot in the summers and it
consists of a lot of chicas lindas. There are more dead dogs than
normal in the street. Kinda sad. It has a lot of country area but
also got that city touch to it. It has been super hot since I have
been here. I actually think I got sunburnt today. It is just crazy
how the weather changes here. The Zonda here is just a huge weather
factor that just changes everything. It is kind of miserable when it
is pretty chili in the morning so you put on a sweater or two then an
hour or two later the sun comes out and burns your face of and makes
you sweat uncomfortably. Complaining doesn´t make anything better
though.
The mission boundaries are all of the region cuyo, to answer mom´s
question. Look it up on Google earth or something. It contains three
provinces. Mendoza, San Luis, and San Juan.
There is a lot more in this area than I have ever had. A few
Gridos(ice cream), a bunch of good panaderías, and much more close to
the house. I even feel a bit spoiled to have so much close to us.
This area is going to take a lot more out of my shoes because
everything is pretty spread out and there are a lot more dirt roads.
San Juan is supposed to be a pretty peaceful and tranquil part of
Argentina even though I we have had a couple super drunk, old guys
come up to us and talk to us(even though I can´t understand what they
are saying because all I can focus on is the stong smell of cheap wine
flowing out of their mouth). Don´t worry though mom, I´ll be safe
here.
We just live in a two-man pench that is rented out by some really cool
members. The familia Camargo is really nice and we have our own
washer and dogs(Mordisco, Negra, Ángel, and Agustín. I will have to
send pics next week). It is now a pretty good looking pench, small
but good, especially after we deep cleaned the thing all Wednesday.
My comp, Élder Wahl is from Arizona, he is tall, and he likes to
party. He is a pretty cool missionary. He is a hard worker and is
really good with people. A very soft speaker and one that I am
expecting will touch the hearts of many good people this transfer. I
am pretty stoked to have the opportunity to work with him and teach
him a bit and learn from him a bit so that we can have the highest
level of success in this area). We are going to baptize more or less
a thousand.
We are working in a ward that just barely got combined(from a ward and
a branch) and now for this transfer it looks like Presidente wants to
try something out. So he split up the work and put two other
missionaries in this ward. Unfortunately the part where the other
Élders are working is where the best investigators are that Élder Wahl
has been working with. But the good news is that we are just finding
a bunch of new investigators by completing our ¨open the mouth¨´s
every day. Hopefully the Lord is preparing some of these people and
their families to get baptized...
We have been working with Cecilia and Luis, an awesome couple that
just needs to get pushed into the water because they are too good.
Cintia is another awesome lady that everyone at church thinks she is a
member because she comes to church each week but is not yet baptized.
She also has an awesome son who just turned 7 yesterday that is super
smart. He is learning English and reads out of the Libro de Mormón
perfectly and fluently. Can Mallory do that? These people go to the
other missionaries now...ugh. That´s alright, we´ll just find more
awesome people here. We have already had some super spiritual lessons
with some less active members so we are expecting to see something
come out of that.
Today, I woke up feeling pretty sick(like with a cold or something)
with a bad coff and gunk all in the throat. So instead of doing
exercises, I just put a blanket out and layed on it doing mental
exercises with my eyes closed. The only thing that remains with me
right now is the sore throat. Hopefully that will go away ASAP.
That is awesome that Cade is doing a mini mission and is on the path
to receiving the priesthood and going on a mish. I am so proud of
that kid. He is going to be a changed person when I next see him!
Tell josh to write me more than 4 words when he emails me...
No, I don´t get to talk much to other companions. There are some
strict rules here on not calling other missionaries because obviously
missionaries have very well abused that privilege of having a phone.
So we don´t really get to stay too much in contact with old comps or
anything.
That is crazy about the flooding in St. George. I can´t believe it
went up to Luberta-long-leg´s thighs. Isn´t that like 4 feet tall? I
am glad they had a good time over there.
I can´t believe that dad just keeps winning races over there. He
needs to move up to bigger game. I have been able to share my pics a
ton here in these first few days getting to know everyone here so
everyone knows that my dad is a famous cyclist that always takes
first.
Have fun doing all of the 24th activities. I´m sure dad is going to
be the first one over to sleep at the parade. Catch a homerun for me.
Eat a hot dog for me.
That´s awesome with Jimmy, let me know where he´s goin.
Yep, there is a couple Élders here from Riverton. There was Élder
McMullin that was my district leader for a transfer in Godoy Cruz,
Élder Sorenson(don´t know him), who É Stearns from my last area
trained, and I recently met É Ethan Marsh who just barely got here and
is being trained in the area right next to mine(he worked with me at
Rose Creek as a sweeper but I didn´t know him very well).
Thanks for that analogy. I will totally use that this week in my lessons.
Dang, that is kinda hard leaving an area like that with 6 good months
behind ya. Had some hard despedidos, but the tears make me stronger.
Psh, I didn´t cry...Especially with Chiquita reading a letter I wrote
her along with the one from my parents...Nah, but really, I will miss
just about everyone in that area that I got to know and I still will
continue praying for a lot of them because they are awesome. I hope
that É Toledo can keep it up over there and just baptize like Alma or
somethin.
Yep, I got here all safe and sound traveling with a few other
missionaries headed this way also. Man, I feel like my whole mission
just changed. I am in just a whole different environment. I love San
Juan. Back in my other areas, the things that I always heard from the
members about San Juan was that it is SUPER hot in the summers and it
consists of a lot of chicas lindas. There are more dead dogs than
normal in the street. Kinda sad. It has a lot of country area but
also got that city touch to it. It has been super hot since I have
been here. I actually think I got sunburnt today. It is just crazy
how the weather changes here. The Zonda here is just a huge weather
factor that just changes everything. It is kind of miserable when it
is pretty chili in the morning so you put on a sweater or two then an
hour or two later the sun comes out and burns your face of and makes
you sweat uncomfortably. Complaining doesn´t make anything better
though.
The mission boundaries are all of the region cuyo, to answer mom´s
question. Look it up on Google earth or something. It contains three
provinces. Mendoza, San Luis, and San Juan.
There is a lot more in this area than I have ever had. A few
Gridos(ice cream), a bunch of good panaderías, and much more close to
the house. I even feel a bit spoiled to have so much close to us.
This area is going to take a lot more out of my shoes because
everything is pretty spread out and there are a lot more dirt roads.
San Juan is supposed to be a pretty peaceful and tranquil part of
Argentina even though I we have had a couple super drunk, old guys
come up to us and talk to us(even though I can´t understand what they
are saying because all I can focus on is the stong smell of cheap wine
flowing out of their mouth). Don´t worry though mom, I´ll be safe
here.
We just live in a two-man pench that is rented out by some really cool
members. The familia Camargo is really nice and we have our own
washer and dogs(Mordisco, Negra, Ángel, and Agustín. I will have to
send pics next week). It is now a pretty good looking pench, small
but good, especially after we deep cleaned the thing all Wednesday.
My comp, Élder Wahl is from Arizona, he is tall, and he likes to
party. He is a pretty cool missionary. He is a hard worker and is
really good with people. A very soft speaker and one that I am
expecting will touch the hearts of many good people this transfer. I
am pretty stoked to have the opportunity to work with him and teach
him a bit and learn from him a bit so that we can have the highest
level of success in this area). We are going to baptize more or less
a thousand.
We are working in a ward that just barely got combined(from a ward and
a branch) and now for this transfer it looks like Presidente wants to
try something out. So he split up the work and put two other
missionaries in this ward. Unfortunately the part where the other
Élders are working is where the best investigators are that Élder Wahl
has been working with. But the good news is that we are just finding
a bunch of new investigators by completing our ¨open the mouth¨´s
every day. Hopefully the Lord is preparing some of these people and
their families to get baptized...
We have been working with Cecilia and Luis, an awesome couple that
just needs to get pushed into the water because they are too good.
Cintia is another awesome lady that everyone at church thinks she is a
member because she comes to church each week but is not yet baptized.
She also has an awesome son who just turned 7 yesterday that is super
smart. He is learning English and reads out of the Libro de Mormón
perfectly and fluently. Can Mallory do that? These people go to the
other missionaries now...ugh. That´s alright, we´ll just find more
awesome people here. We have already had some super spiritual lessons
with some less active members so we are expecting to see something
come out of that.
Today, I woke up feeling pretty sick(like with a cold or something)
with a bad coff and gunk all in the throat. So instead of doing
exercises, I just put a blanket out and layed on it doing mental
exercises with my eyes closed. The only thing that remains with me
right now is the sore throat. Hopefully that will go away ASAP.
.....due to these below normal quality computers I will not be able to
send pictures this week. I have a lot though so be ready next week to
be all caught up.
Well, gotta go. Thanks for the prayers. Till next week.
Abrazos,
Élder Deven Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera
send pictures this week. I have a lot though so be ready next week to
be all caught up.
Well, gotta go. Thanks for the prayers. Till next week.
Abrazos,
Élder Deven Larisch
La iglesia es verdadera
That is awesome that Cade is doing a mini mission and is on the path
to receiving the priesthood and going on a mish. I am so proud of
that kid. He is going to be a changed person when I next see him!
Tell josh to write me more than 4 words when he emails me...
No, I don´t get to talk much to other companions. There are some
strict rules here on not calling other missionaries because obviously
missionaries have very well abused that privilege of having a phone.
So we don´t really get to stay too much in contact with old comps or
anything.
That is crazy about the flooding in St. George. I can´t believe it
went up to Luberta-long-leg´s thighs. Isn´t that like 4 feet tall? I
am glad they had a good time over there.
I can´t believe that dad just keeps winning races over there. He
needs to move up to bigger game. I have been able to share my pics a
ton here in these first few days getting to know everyone here so
everyone knows that my dad is a famous cyclist that always takes
first.
Have fun doing all of the 24th activities. I´m sure dad is going to
be the first one over to sleep at the parade. Catch a homerun for me.
Eat a hot dog for me.
That´s awesome with Jimmy, let me know where he´s goin.
Yep, there is a couple Élders here from Riverton. There was Élder
McMullin that was my district leader for a transfer in Godoy Cruz,
Élder Sorenson(don´t know him), who É Stearns from my last area
trained, and I recently met É Ethan Marsh who just barely got here and
is being trained in the area right next to mine(he worked with me at
Rose Creek as a sweeper but I didn´t know him very well).
Thanks for that analogy. I will totally use that this week in my lessons.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
¡Me Voy! (I'm going!)
Good Afternoon Loved Ones,
My good friend Matías. What a great guy. he always passes by our house and tells us about his superhero adventures with his dogs. He really likes the Avengers!
How is everyone doing today? I am doing pretty good. I guess you could say that we had a very eventful week. Teaching myself to juggle, finding out that I am leaving Godoy Cruz, being senior comp to my brother, asado in the acequia, and a BAPTISM!!!!!
Yeah, that´s right! We were able to follow through with the baptism of Lautaro Bohigas. It was kind of an iffy baptism because it didn´t appear like he had very much support to stay active. But with a ward like this with so many members willing to help out, he was able to do what he wanted. He was super stoked to get baptized this whole week. His whole family showed up to the baptism, even his pops who is a huge inactive that is wine-crazy. We even made him a case for his book of mormon customized with his name on it.
Other big news is.........¡me voy! I am leaving San Ignacio, Godoy Cruz to go to Libano A., San Juan. I get to go to a different province. The mission covers all of Cuyo(which is three provinces of Argentina:Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis). It is supposed to be a really good area with lots of good people. It is like 3 hours away in bus so I will not be as close to the offices anymore, but it´s okay. I will tell you about it next week. I will be comps with É Wahl, who just happens to be my mission brother(he was trained by Ë Hudgens also). I will get to be senior comp also. It´s gonna be sweet!
San Ignacio was such an awesome area. It is also one that I can leave feeling good because we made a difference here. A missionary feels good leaving an area if he sees an increase of the faith of his investigators, new converts, and members. I am going to miss a ton of families here that I have grown really close to over the past 6 months. I have a lot of saying-bye to do tonight and tomorrow. Ha. It has also been a good time being comps with É Toledo this transfer. It went really fast, but I feel like we both learned a lot from each other. He may be one of the coolest chileans that I know, even though there are not that many that I know well. Ha.
This week we had some good success with our investigators and it looks like I am going to be leaving this area with a few baptisms for the comp of É Toledo next transfer. We have a lot of members right now that are helping us out by giving us their friends to teach them, with even a few being taught in the house of the member(no better teaching atmosphere I tell ya).
Ofelia finally let us do service at her house this week. It was pretty fun because we very rarely get to use informal clothes in public, matter of fact I don´t even like it because it doesn´t feel right. Ha ha. She let us harvest a bunch of lemons and mandarins from her trees in the back. I was the one to take the real advantage of the lemons while the others were trying to make some lemonade. I all the sudden had the small desire(Alma 32) to learn to juggle. As I started, I almost got very discouraged because I could not juggle for 2 seconds. But the good news to the story is that I kept of trying and practicing(especially when my comp was in the bathroom which was a considerably long amount of time) and eventually I got it. Élder Larisch can now juggle lemons. Hey, it is big new for me okay?
For P-day today we decided to have an Asado. So we went and bought lots of cow meat and some chorizo, built a fire next to the acequia, threw the meat on the tray, and played us some Aljedrez(chess) in the acequia. Not going to lie to you, it was some of the best meat that I have ever eaten(other than those chicken hearts that I ate at Rodizio Grill a couple years ago that I threw up all night, those were good too).
I don´t have too much more time to inform ya on all the good deets, but next week you will hear more. Take care and keep prayin!
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
That is awesome that Kaylee had her twins. They look great! I can´t believe Joshy is already home! That means I only have like a year left. I better get working harder. Ha. Micah looks super older with his bowl cut. Ha ha. Don´t forget to tell Joshy that he needs to write me and I can write him through you. Tell Joshy I don´t drink mate. It is against the rules here, but we are offered it every single day by people, but we have to decline it. There are a couple reasons why I think it may be against the rules but I don´t really know the real reason. I drink a ton of herbal tea and sugary hot milk! Yum!
Yeah, that´s right! We were able to follow through with the baptism of Lautaro Bohigas. It was kind of an iffy baptism because it didn´t appear like he had very much support to stay active. But with a ward like this with so many members willing to help out, he was able to do what he wanted. He was super stoked to get baptized this whole week. His whole family showed up to the baptism, even his pops who is a huge inactive that is wine-crazy. We even made him a case for his book of mormon customized with his name on it.
Other big news is.........¡me voy! I am leaving San Ignacio, Godoy Cruz to go to Libano A., San Juan. I get to go to a different province. The mission covers all of Cuyo(which is three provinces of Argentina:Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis). It is supposed to be a really good area with lots of good people. It is like 3 hours away in bus so I will not be as close to the offices anymore, but it´s okay. I will tell you about it next week. I will be comps with É Wahl, who just happens to be my mission brother(he was trained by Ë Hudgens also). I will get to be senior comp also. It´s gonna be sweet!
San Ignacio was such an awesome area. It is also one that I can leave feeling good because we made a difference here. A missionary feels good leaving an area if he sees an increase of the faith of his investigators, new converts, and members. I am going to miss a ton of families here that I have grown really close to over the past 6 months. I have a lot of saying-bye to do tonight and tomorrow. Ha. It has also been a good time being comps with É Toledo this transfer. It went really fast, but I feel like we both learned a lot from each other. He may be one of the coolest chileans that I know, even though there are not that many that I know well. Ha.
This week we had some good success with our investigators and it looks like I am going to be leaving this area with a few baptisms for the comp of É Toledo next transfer. We have a lot of members right now that are helping us out by giving us their friends to teach them, with even a few being taught in the house of the member(no better teaching atmosphere I tell ya).
Ofelia finally let us do service at her house this week. It was pretty fun because we very rarely get to use informal clothes in public, matter of fact I don´t even like it because it doesn´t feel right. Ha ha. She let us harvest a bunch of lemons and mandarins from her trees in the back. I was the one to take the real advantage of the lemons while the others were trying to make some lemonade. I all the sudden had the small desire(Alma 32) to learn to juggle. As I started, I almost got very discouraged because I could not juggle for 2 seconds. But the good news to the story is that I kept of trying and practicing(especially when my comp was in the bathroom which was a considerably long amount of time) and eventually I got it. Élder Larisch can now juggle lemons. Hey, it is big new for me okay?
For P-day today we decided to have an Asado. So we went and bought lots of cow meat and some chorizo, built a fire next to the acequia, threw the meat on the tray, and played us some Aljedrez(chess) in the acequia. Not going to lie to you, it was some of the best meat that I have ever eaten(other than those chicken hearts that I ate at Rodizio Grill a couple years ago that I threw up all night, those were good too).
I don´t have too much more time to inform ya on all the good deets, but next week you will hear more. Take care and keep prayin!
Un abracito,
Élder Larisch
La Iglesia es verdadera
That is awesome that Kaylee had her twins. They look great! I can´t believe Joshy is already home! That means I only have like a year left. I better get working harder. Ha. Micah looks super older with his bowl cut. Ha ha. Don´t forget to tell Joshy that he needs to write me and I can write him through you. Tell Joshy I don´t drink mate. It is against the rules here, but we are offered it every single day by people, but we have to decline it. There are a couple reasons why I think it may be against the rules but I don´t really know the real reason. I drink a ton of herbal tea and sugary hot milk! Yum!
Elder Hunter goes home today :(
THE ASADO!!! (ROAST)
 |
| Here is where we did our "ASADO" |
A dish called Pollution
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)