Conference with Elder Bragg

Hello! 

This week Hermana Souza and I helped Tincho and Yanina paint the front of their house. It was really fun but we were outside in the cold for awhile and I think thats what helped me to get a fever for the next 3 days. Thank heavens for Hermana Ginarrelli who took me to a clinic, and called every few hours to make sure I was okay. 

On Friday we had another conference with Elder Bragg and his wife in Mar del Plata. He talked to us a lot about how we can train ourselves to be more receptive to hearing the spirit. I loved it and learned a ton from him. 

I also had the opportunity to have an interview with Elder Bragg. He asked me if I could share a spiritual expereince that I had had on the mission. He caught me a little off gaurd but I ended up telling him about how some of the most spiritual times that I have had in the mission have been the times that I have felt like Heavenly Father pulled back His hand a little. Through my whole mission I have felt His presence stronger than ever before in my life but there have been times out here that I have felt like I wasn´t reciving the help or guidance that I was asking for. Its been during those hard times that I have prayed and studied my heart out. That I have listened as closley as I could, and focused so hard on one thing, and then right when I have almost decided to give up, I have felt Him there again. 

Elder Bragg and I talked about how Heavenly Father pushes us really hard sometimes, and when we perserver, at the end the reward comes. 

I felt a lot of gratitude this week for the calling that I have, and for all of the crazy experiences I have been able to have out here so far. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Tinco and Yanina house painting

In Mar del Plata with Hermana Souza

Dear Bishop

I have been on a mission tour in Bahia Blanca and met with Sister Ahlmer from your ward yesterday.  She is a fantastic missionary who is genuinely loved by the mission.  She is a blessing to her companion, the mission president and the mission as a whole. 

Agustin, an answer to prayer

This week we were able to help Gaston, a nine year old of a less active family, make goals towards his baptism! Its been really fun to work with him and his family. Their dad just had a really intense heart surgery and it has really helped them to recognize how short life is. Gaston is really helping them to all get there act togther!

Our investigator Rosana is progressing pretty well also. She has had a lot of death in her family in the last couple of years and didn't understand why God is unfair. We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and at the end she was pretty emotional. Its a really cool experience to see people understand life in a different way. 

Also, Hermana Souza and I have been discouraged because a lot of our investigators have a hard time waking up and leaving their house in the cold for church. We were praying so hard for SOMEONE to show up. On our walk to the chapel a drunk kid came up to me and asked if I had a cigarette to give him. He ended up following us all the way to the church and stayed for the first 2 hours. We have another cita with him (Agustin) on Wednesday! 

Tandil is FREEZING. Poor Hermana Souza has never felt cold in her whole life and she had the luck of being stuck with me in Tandil, Someone told us that for the majority of winter Tandil is the coldest city in Argentina. YAY. 

Cold Tandil

Bishop's children in school uniforms on their way to school

Zone Conference

Hello!

Its been a pretty crazy few weeks! 

I am training Hermana Souza from Sao Paulo Brazil! She speaks portuguese but is also learning spanish really fast. Its funny because most of the time when she opens her mouth to speak, Portuguese comes out first, and the when she realizes that I have no idea what she is saying she starts laughing her head off. It happens all day long and we decided that people on the streets are going to start thinking that we are crazy becasue we never stop laughing. 

In other news we had zone conference and Interviews this week which is always nice! President and Hermana Cifuentes have become my adopted parents out here. We love them. 

I also went on divisions with the Hermanas in our zone and that was really nice too. Its been a good couple of weeks! I hope everyone is enjoying the sun! 

Zone Conference with the Mission President