GRANDPA WARD & A NEW COMPANION

Well this week was just a whirlwind of stuff happening that I did not expect to happen! With becoming a trainer, Grandpa Ward passing away and other things that happened here. I am still just feeling at peace. There is a verse in Doctrine and Covenants 4 that says...

For behold, the field is white already to harvest, and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth Salvation to his soul. 

I really like that verse, because it explains to us that if we work hard to bring the salvation of others, we bring our own salvation. And I want to see Grandpa again, and the only way that I can do that is to be obedient to the commandments and bring salvation to the souls that are waiting for it here in Argentina, or in the States or where ever I am. A member in our ward found out that her best friends child died Saturday due to brain tumors too.  I told her that exact same thing. Now we are going to start teaching this family that just lost their daughter.   I just feel grateful that I already have the knowledge of the plan of salvation, because I can`t even imagine the pain that they are feeling right now, thinking that they will never see their daughter again.

Like I said I got a new companion!! His name is Elder Avila, he is brand new, but he served a transfer waiting for his visa like I did but in Brazil cause that`s where he`s from!! He`s super awesome! He`s super jacked and all that good stuff, entered into the UFC and left right before he went on the mission so he likes to fight... I will make sure not to get on his bad side, haha.  We are getting along very well, especially since we both want to be obedient, he told me that the comps that he had in Brazil were not very obedient and he said that he was super happy to receive an obedient companion. WOOHOOO!!

We went to the mission presidents house to pick up the new missionaries on Tuesday.  While I was there President Thurgood pulled me aside and told me about Grandpa, actually right before that an elder told me sorry for the death of my grandpa... and I was like... uh... WHAT!? Haha but yeah, tell everyone not to cry too much!! They will see gramps again!

The funeral sounds awesome.  Mom said the grandkids are singing We'll Bring The World His Truth.  I am singing it really quietly right now in the Ciber so that no one looks at me too weird, haha.  

Being a trainer is good, but my situation is a little different because even if he switches to his native language and starts speaking Portuguese's the people can still understand him. Now if he was American, no one would understand what he was saying, haha so yeah that`s actually pretty nice. There is an American in our pench that just got here and he`s really struggling with not knowing the language especially cause he has a Latin comp so yeah... th-that that don't kill ya will only make ya stronger as our friend Kanye West teaches us.

Our schedule hasn't changed too much, we do have an hour extra of studies in the morning and an hour of language study, so it seems right now like we are in the pench FOREVER!!! But that`s ok, haha.

But anyways! In other news this week it has been raining a LOT.  The ward made a super ghetto canoe that we used to go visit some members that had their streets and some houses completely flooded! It was quite the experience! And it was super humbling too. I will call the bishop today to tell him to send me some pics so I can send them next week!

We also had a meeting this last Friday for the new people and their trainers and I saw Hermana Holt (I think her name is Ellie)  that lives by Stephy!  Yeah that was pretty neat, I haven`t seen a face I knew before the mission in a year!! 

Hermana Holt and Elder Ward

So it was quite the eventful week. Glad to hear that Grandpa is finally going to serve again like he did so many years ago in Scotland!! Love this Gospel so much, and don`t know where I'd be without it!

Elder Ward

Spencer and Grandpa Ward

TRANSFER DAY AND SUPER MIRACLES

Well Elder Cortez got transferred! And I am going to be training!! Por fin! I am so excited to train someone! It is going to be so fun! So yeah I am super excited!!

Transfers in the South mission are way different.  Only a few missionaries go to the transfer meeting. We go to the capilla in Banfield (a city) look for our companion, and then leave. It was super short, and it takes up P-Day, so the longer you stay talking to people the shorter your P-Day is, haha.

It has been raining for the past couple days! And everything is Flooded!!! It is super crazy! I wanted to take a picture last night but you couldn't even see the water line since it was so dark.

This last Sunday our investigator got confirmed!! She was so excited and so happy that she got confirmed! That was one miracle we had - her confirmation.  We also had 3 more super miracles yesterday!

1. We were close to a less actives house and I told my comp we should go stop by, he didn't think we should because there was a bunch of mud and we would get all dirty.  I insisted and he said alright. We went and she was there!! She is never in her house! She is always working and we haven`t been able to find her since the first week I have been here! We had a super good lesson with her and her 2 daughters and they all said they would come to Church this next week for sure!

2. Every single time we entered in a house the past couple days it starts to rain, and every time we go to the streets it stops raining... It was pretty awesome!

3. We were waiting for a taxi (just like a super ghetto car that isn`t legal but it`s the only transportation we have) and 45 minutes had passed by. We have to be in the pench at 9:30 because that`s the rule, and at this point it started raining... HARD. A bus driver stopped by and told us that the taxis weren't stopping by because all the streets were flooded.  He offered to take us to the train station (close to our house) so we accepted. It was already 9:35 when he said he would take us. We talked to him for a bit while he was taking us to the station and gave him a Book of Mormon and everything.  Then he told us, ya know I am feeling good tonight. I`ll just take you to your house! He told us that he was for sure going to read the book and go to the church that was nearest to his house to find the missionaries! Hope he get`s baptized!

So I gotta say that it was a pretty good week. We had a lot of good stuff happen and I definitely felt the love of my God. I am so blessed!!

Love you all so much and hope you have a good week!

Elder Ward

BAPTISM!

This week was so awesome!! we had two awesome things happen!  On Monday we got to watch Despicable Me as a district!! and then we had a baptism this last weekend!!! WOOHOO!!

So on Monday we got to watch the movie Despicable Me! We bought a bunch of soda, popcorn and empanadas, and just chowed dooooooown.  It was good to relax a little bit.  

 

 

 

Then our investigator  had her interview with President Thurgood this last Wednesday and when she got out she was just bawling... I was like oh crap she isn´t getting baptized this week. But then President goes up to her husband and tells him that his wife with be an amazing member!  She was bawling from happiness I guess.   The baptism was on Saturday.  I made two carrot cakes the day before with a cream cheese frosting.   And yes everyone was asking for the recipe.  Everyone loved my cake, haha wassup.  

The day started with us in the capilla waiting for the font to fill up.  It takes about three hours here, luckily not too much time.  In lobos it was about 7 hours.  We waited for people to start to show up and everyone got there about 6:30.  There were so many people there!   Way better outcome then the last baptism we had!   There was at least 30-40 people that came.  We started out with 2 talks and then went to the baptism. Elder Cortez baptized her one and done, no problem.  After the baptism we had everyone go sit in the chapel and the missionaries sang "Nearer My God to Thee", it sounded pretty awesome.  Then her husband got up to bear his testimony, it was such an earth shaking testimony.  He talked about how ever since he was a kid his mom had brought him to church, she was a super faithful member.  She died when he was about 15 so he stopped going to church.  Him and his wife got together about 4 years ago and they were happy but they fought a ton.  But then the elders started coming into their home.  The elders left commitments, and they completed those commitments. he said that the elders saved their marriage and are so happy now.  They can´t even remember the last fight they had.  He was happy because he knew that he was starting on the path again that would lead him to live with his mom for every in the eternities and is excited to be sealed in a year in the temple for all time and eternity. Whoa. Cool stuff right?

 

 

Well that was pretty much my week!  This next Friday we will be finding out the transfers and if we have any! The transfers happen next Monday in the morning and if we have changes then you won't hear from me until Monday evening.  

 

Have a good week and see ya later!!

Elder Ward

HELP THE MISSIONARIES

This Week wasn´t too eventful. But we did go to the temple again!!! I also found people from Neuquen there, so I sent a letter for Elder Motzkus with them!! We´ll see if that gets to him, haha, I have faith. The temple was awesome as ever. We had some families come for the first time and they just Marveled when they sat in the visiting wing of the temple. They were just left with awe. They loved it so much! Hopefully that motivates them to get baptized!!  I took a bunch of pictures of the temple.  I just love that place so much.  Some of my photos look professional! Tell Kate Bushell to look out! I might give her a run for her money!! haha

On Sunday I also gave a talk about Missionary Work! And I talked a lot about how the missionaries can´t do ANYTHING without the help of the members! The Church will NOT GROW unless members help out the Missionaries! So give them references! Have a Family Night with a 

non-member family and invite the missionaries to share something! There are so many things that we can do to help this Church Grow! And they are so simple! 

So HELP THE MISSIONARIES! I promise they don´t bite... Only when you help them! Haha Have a good week! And I hope that everyone had Fun in Cali that went! Love you all!!

Elder Ward

CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN

This week we had a Zone meeting, interviews with president, and someone say she would finally be baptized!! After missionaries asking her since December!

The interviews with president were good, and he gave me an AWESOME ANOUNCEMENT!! Instad of coming home the 12 of July next year I will be coming home the 22 of August!! I was so excited!! I am able to serve for 2 years and 9 days! I was so happy to hear that and to be able to serve more time! It was so awesome. The thing is that they can´t release a missionary from missionary work more then 30 days before the day they entered the MTC. If they want that they need  approval from the parents, mission president, stake president, area president, and a general authority... That´s a little much so I decided to leave it as President told me.

We then had an investigator make the decision to be baptized!! And it was really hard. The last time we asked her to pray to our Father in Heaven to know if she should be baptized on August 1st. We then visited her 3 days later. When we came to the house we saw that her and her mom were yelling in the front room. Everything was a mess. She said she wanted to be baptized and now her mom is angry (she is SUPER SUPER Catholic). We entered into the house and tried to explain to the mom why but nothing got through to her. She had the spirit of contention in her and she wasn't going to be accepting anything anytime soon. After the mom left and we got the opportunity to talk to her, she said that she prayed the night before to know if she needed to be baptized. That night she said that she had a dream of her being baptized. She took that as a big ol´ yes. She said that even though her mom was furious with her, she was still going to be baptized. She feels like that it is the right thing to do for her and for her family.

It was such an awesome experience to to able to be here when she made this decision! This week in the Gospel Principles class (the missionaries teach it) I gave the class on chapter 26. It was about sacrifices and the sacrifices some people have made to follow god´s commandments. One of the examples was of Abraham when he was commanded to sacrifice the only son that he had, Issac. 

  

A challenge would be to make a sacrifice! God gives us challenges to be able to give up earthly things. Whether it be sleep, time, money, whatever. So that after that challenge we can be reminded that the important things are things ETERNAL, like knowledge, our families, testimony. So yeah. Pray to Heavenly Father that he will give you opportunities to exercise your faith, and to be able to make a sacrifice! Pray for mountains to climb! It´s hard to climb the mountain but we know that from the top the view is worth it!

Love you all so much! Have a good week!

Elder Ward!

MISSIONS ARE TOO SHORT - 1 YEAR LEFT!!

This week we had a super sweet patriotic festival or something... We got a bunch of food and it was good so I'm not complaining. It was called Locro. It`s a like a soup that has just a bit of everything. 

And it was in a GIANT pot. 

Pot of Locro

This week we had a family come to church!! They have 6 kids that are under the age of 10... The were kids running everywhere during the sacrament meeting which was hilarious! The parents were so happy! We have been working with them for 2 or 3 weeks and it was super awesome to see them in the chapel finally!! They are waiting for a call from a lawyer for the divorce of the dad and his first wife so that they can get married and the mom can be baptized!! We are super excited to see that happen! We think that she will be baptized in August.

And for this week that was about it! We didn't have too much happen. A lot of walking and a lot of people not answering their doors because it is cold haha. But we had a lot of lessons with less actives and the recent converts luckily!

The whether is getting colder. Not too bad. But the coldest time is at the end of July, beginning of August. sooo yeah. But the pench doesn`t get too cold because we have heaters and all that Jazz. 

The only difference in the South mission is that this Mission President is putting a lot of trust is us. He doesn't ask for ANY numbers. Only the attendance that we have Sunday and the baptisms we have. The rest he doesn`t want. But that`s pretty much it. I don`t think it's better or worse just different. 

P-Days are pretty boring. Today we are going to Walmart but other than that we haven`t done anything fun so far. haha there isn`t anything to really do here but play sports and we can`t do that unless we have a district activity or zone activity and that`s like 1 or 2 times every 6 weeks.  

They have told me that my release date will be July 12, 2016 which was 1 year from yesterday!!  I can`t believe it!  I screamed a little bit yesterday when I realized it... The mission is too short!!

We can`t extend. President said only if we have a really good reason to extend. But if the reason is because we want to serve more time. He doesn`t give it. Something that he told us that Boyd K. Packer told him is that they want to leave the missionaries wanting more. So that when we come home we keep dong missionary work!! 

Well that`s about it from me! Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Ward

BUENOS AIRES SOUTH MISSION!!

Farewell to the Buenos Aires West Mission - Elder Ward is on the very back row in the center

The New Buenos Aires South Mission Boundaries

So these 2 past weeks (sorry for not writing last week) Have been FULL of a lot of stuff! First we went to the temple 2 Thursday`s ago, then the following Friday we had a BAPTISM!!! This last week we changed missions.  On Tuesday we had our goodbye with the Robertson family in their house, had a testimony meeting and ate some food! Then on Thursday we met our new Mission President, his name is Pres. Thurgood, and he`s awesome. He was a religion professor at BYU - Idaho and knows a lot of stuff about the gospel. I am super excited to be able to serve under him! SO that`s pretty awesome.

President and Sister Thurgood

A drunk came into the church during an activity, it was my comps birthday last week, I have eaten at least 6 cakes, annnnd I got robbed. I will spare the details, haha, but nothing bad happened. They only got my cell phone and 10 pesos.  So that is just a fun week right there! I tell ya nothing is ever boring while you are a missionary. 

Teaching wise this week we have two families that we are focusing on. They both have an inactive Husband and the wife isn't a member. One of them really wants to be baptized but can`t yet because they aren't married.  We are just waiting for a call from somebody so that they can get the divorce over with and get the marriage going! The other one doesn't want to because she is scared of what her mom will think... Even though she is 36 years old. But that`s ok! We just have to keep teaching with the spirit and she will realize what is more important! 

Something that the South mission is doing together is studying the Attributes of Christ in Preach My Gospel. And it is Awesome, I invite everyone to read them. It is so amazing to be able to study how Christ is and how we should be. 

Well love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Ward

P.S. So jealous, haha looks like the parade was a complete success! Glad to see that you guys are havin fun!! and Welcome Home Sarah!!!!