NEW COMPANION

I got a new companion.  His name is Elder Steck and he is from Ephriam, Utah.  He has been out 13 months, and he`s awesome! He`s such a cowboy! He seriously has used a giant belt buckle his whole mission!! LOVE IT!

It was hard to say goodbye to Elder Benitez, but I know that I`ll see him obviously and can`t wait to see him in Utah one of these days!!

So the next transfer I have will determine which mission I end up in.  If I stay here for the next transfer (which I doubt I will) I think I will go to the South mission for sure.  But whatever happens, it`s all good because the mission is the same everywhere and I know I will be blessed wherever I serve!

The family that just got baptized are doing so good!  We saw them this Sunday and they just had smiles the whole day. There is an older lady that is a member that lives by them.  They have become super good friends with her now and they help her get to church and with all of her books and stuff, it`s super cute!
Ok. So this week, the first 3 days after transfers (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) we were only let into a house by one person..  So there was a looooooooooooot of walking those days, and a lot of changing our plans because we always visited all of our plans without success... 

And then came Saturday...

On Saturday we had an appointment with someone that was named Adrian, we went to the appointment not thinking that he was going to let us in because that is seriously the 50th time we have came by with no success.  We found him like the first week I was here. But when we got to the door, instead of saying he didn't have time, he let us in.... I WAS SO CONFUSED!!! What happened to this man?? Ok so we went in and he told us that he had been thinking about about his life and he felt guilty. He knew that all we wanted to do was share the gospel with him and he didn't let us in. Well of course we forgave him, then I said the prayer to start the lesson.  I asked that Heavenly Father would bless Adrian and protect his family or something like that.  Then I heard him start crying during the prayer. When we finished he told us that he lied to us and that his name wasn't even Adrian.  After that moment I just felt that like he really, really sincerely wanted to hear us and listen to what we had to say. 

So we kept going and it was just a super awesome lesson.. That experience taught me that no matter how cold or mean people seem, we are all children of God and all have the divine ability to change and make ourselves better than we were the day before. So with this experience I invite you ALL to make a change! And use that wonderful gift of agency that you all have. Because we have it for a reason, and I can tell you that we don`t have it to just have it... But to use it!  Well those are the wise words from Elder Ward this week I guess. Haha, have a good week everyone! 

Elder Ward

Picture sent from his previous companion Elder Benitez titled "Super Ward"

TRANSFERS AND BAPTISMS

We found out about transfers and the bad news is that Elder Benitez is leaving... I AM SO SAD!!! I was hoping that we were going to stay together for just one more transfer, but he`s already been here for 4.5 months, and that is SUPER long. 

This transfer meeting is Wednesday at 10 in the morning it starts, we have a little devotional, and then we find out who goes where, I`ll send a video just to show you how crazy the transfers are... Everyone is screaming so hard, especially to welcome the new missionaries... It`s just super nutz.

 OH MY GOSH THE BAPTISM WAS SO AWESOME!!! Literally I cannot describe how I felt because it would take HOURS!! There were so many emotions running through me I just couldn`t say it all, haha but to sum them all up... EPIC! 

So the day of the baptism was awesome, the program started with a cousin and sister of the dad (who are members obviously) gave talks about baptism and the holy ghost! They both talked about how important these things are and how baptism is the first covenant that we make to our father in heaven to start out journey in our life in the church! After the two talks Elder Benitez and I sang Nearer My God To Thee (Mas Cerca Dios De Ti) and as we were looking at the congregation we saw that the little girl being baptized, turned 8 years this past week started crying because of how beautiful it was!! I almost couldn`t keep singing because I started to cry when I saw her cry!! The whole baptism was just a bunch of crying and happiness!!

Then we went into the room with the baptismal font to watch the baptism. The dad was SOOO NERVOUS!! But he was super worthy, he told us he had been reading the scriptures all week, and saying his prayers every day to prepare for the baptism. The little girl went first and it was just awesome. So pure that little girl! And When she was baptized the mom just started bawling. She was so happy. The mom went next, she wouldn`t bend down all the way, so he put all of his weight on her to go down!!! Haha it was kinda funny. He almost went all the way under too.

After the ordinance they all bore their testimonies. 

The dad testified about how he knew for a fact that this is and was the only church on the earth that has the proper authority to baptize and to do all of the saving ordinances. He also promised that he would NEVER leave the church again. He bore testimony that he knows that the missionaries came at the right time because before Elder Benitez and I, when missionaries asked to visit them they wouldn`t let them in. And he testified that God helps us when we really desperately need it. 

The mom said that me and Elder Benitez were her little Angels sent from heaven in this time of her life (yes I started bawling when she said that) and that she was super super happy that she now has the opportunity to be sealed with her family for time and all eternity!! And I can`t wait to see them at that sealing!!!

And the little girl talked about how baptism was necessary to be able to live with her family in heaven forever! She was so cute! Couldn`t hardly stand it!

And then all the organizations did their welcomes and then that was it!

Sunday we had the confirmation of the 2 and I gave a blessing to their younger girl who is not 8 yet. It was such an amazing experience! And yeah that`s pretty much it... But it was awesome! 

Things that happened besides the baptism were that an old investigator that we have was in her front yard and looked super worried. As we talked with her we found out that her husband hadn`t returned from a party, and she thinks that he left with another women! And this is the second time that it has happened!! As we were talking to her we taught her about the atonement and the forgiveness that we need to have for others when we are harmed by their sins. And it was just super sad, we have been stopping by every day and giving them some noodles to eat because they have no money with out the work of her husband. WHY IS THIS WORLD SO DUMB!?!? 

And yeah that`s pretty much it... But I hope you all had a good week, and that this week to come will be even better! Keep up your prayers, and keep readin doz scriptures! Love you all!

Elder Ward

HERE WE GO

Ok. Here we go. So this week we found a family that just moved to the area that are less actives, and they are AWESOME!! They just decided they wanted to go to church, so they went to church this past Sunday and nobody was there because it was General Conference, but they left their address so we could go visit them!! I just Love them! We are going to have a family night with them this week, and it is going to be so amazing. Miracles just keep happening! Freaking love the missionary life!

Transfers are next week.  I think Elder Benitez will go, but I hope not! He is probably one of my favorite companions!! But he has been here for 4 months and usually that is the limit with President Robertson.

  

We also had a man approach us this week  (I totally thought he was going to rob us) but he said hey why did you guys stop teaching me in my house??? long story short we are teaching him now. He came with us to church this Sunday and he was so happy! Things like that just make me feel so glad to be a missionary. Bringing pure and lasting happiness into the lives of others!!! OH YEAH!

We also have a new friend! There is a neighborhood that we have been doing a lot of work in. And there is a dog that lives there. The dog  ALWAYS follows us around. The barrio (neighborhood) calls it Sophia, and it follows us to our visits, when we go in the house it waits outside and when we finish it continues to follow us! I`m pretty sure the dog recognizes us as representatives of Jesus Christ more then half of the people we talk with. But whatever, that`s ok I guess....

Well I love you all and thank you all for your support! This week was super fun! Hope you had a fun one too!! See ya next week. 

Elder Ward

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Family!

Conference was awesome!! We went to the stake center to watch it! We had plans to watch it in the houses of members with some investigators but every member backed out at the last second... BUT all`s well that ends well. We still had people go all the way out to the stake center to watch it!!! WEEKEND FULL OF MIRACLES!

Obviously we listened to it in Spanish.  There were words in particular that I could not understand but I always understood the context of everything! So I was just doing great, it took me a couple talks to adjust to it, but it was awesome!


I am pretty used to hearing Spanish by now, haha, I think in spanish, read in Spanish, talk in spanish, dream in Spanish... And sometimes I honestly can`t remember English words! So that`s good! Haha

We had to move our baptism because the dad  works on Sunday and obviously his wife wants him to confirm her (converts get comfirmed on the following sunday) and the dad is a member! He`s just been less active for a really long time, but now he has come back!!  BOOYAH! We don't do much for the baptisms, in this ward the mission leader makes the baptism program! SO all we do is clean the baptism font and fill it!! But the baptism will be the 18th!

The main thing that happened this week were conference and a AMAZING EXPERIENCE of a less active named N****.

We have been passing by her house since got we got here, and she just hasn't been coming back to church or making any changes... BUT this weekend she she went to every session, and brought a friend to almost every one! and she told us an experience she had. She thought that on Sunday the first session was at 9 in the morning, but it wasn`t obviously, and even less in Argentina because the first session starts at 1, so then she walked home (her house is VERY far from the stake center) and was very mad at God for not telling her to go later so that she didn`t waste time. Then right after she had that thought she heard a voice tell her, Daughter, be still, and know that I am with you...... I AM JEALOUS! haha no, but this was just a testimony for me that God is always watching us, and that things happen for a reason. When she returned to her house her daughter asked her why she was so happy even though she got to the stake center and no one was there, and she told her because God is happy because I am TRYING!

That reminds me of a talk in General  Conference that I can`t remember that talks about how Saints are sinners WHO KEEP TRYING! So keep trying everybody! Even if you fail! It`s ok! The failures are there to make us better! 

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Ward

BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT

Ok so this week we did some pretty neat things. We had a GIGANTIC ACTIVITY IN THE CHURCH!!! We did a ton of service, and we had divisions with the other elders in our district! And a funny story... 

The Gigantic activity was with the ward and was on my birthday so it was a pretty awesome birthday present! We had an activity called MI GIRA POR LA VIDA or My tour of Life, something like that, and it was so awesome! We had 5 activities, Video games, a dance, Mormon messages, a family night, and a secret (iron the missionaries shirts) and the people had to choose 3 of the five activities, and depending on their decisions they would be separated in to the kingdom`s of glory depending on what they chose! Elder Benitez and I have been planning this activity for WEEKS! And it turned out so freakin awesome! We had so many people come!! At least like 150! We had members, less actives, and non-members! IT WAS SO SUCCESSFUL! Best birthday present ever!  Best birthday present a missionary could get (aside from all the cards and the clothes I got from mom!! THANK YOU!!)

During the week we cleaned up this old ladies house and it was so awesome. We took all of the weeds, pieces of couches (no idea why they were in her backyard) and threw it all in her old pool, then we just lit it all on fire. No that was not my idea, it was the member`s idea.  Here in Argentina they just burn garbage a ton and no one cares... even though I am pretty sure it`s illegal.

After the service we had divisions with the other elders, and I got put with an Elder that just got here! He has only been out 2 months! So I was the senior companion and I was SOO STRESSED!! But all is well that ends well, and the divisions ended amazing! We found like 3 new people to teach and found a less active while talking to people and asking for references!

The investigators are all the same, our best Family, and then some other people, haha.  Not this Saturday but the next, the mom and a daughter of the family will be baptized!! We are so excited for it! WE HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG!!!

But I am excited for General conference and I hope everybody else is to! I hope that everyone approaches it with a well thought-out question that you want answered! Pray about it and even fast about it so that you can receive personal revelation!! I promise you will not regret it!

And the funny story is that while I was sleeping last night one of the beams in my bed broke, and I rolled off the bed in the middle of the night because it broke... Guess I better eat less and exercise more!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful conference weekend and that everyone will be able to receive personal revelation this weekend! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Ward

OFFICIALLY AUTUMN!

OK. So this week was pretty awesome, especially because it is officially Autumn!!! And it has finally cooled down a little bit! It`s still hot but we aren`t being during the day! WOOHOO!!

Getting pumped to get wet (baptize)!!

In other words, investigators really haven`t changed much, we still have our main Family that have been amazing from the start!  They are doing super awesome as always! We going to have a Noche de Hogar (family night) with them at 6:30 tonight! And we are going to bake them some brownies! Also they tried the peeps and they said they were way too sugary, haha only one of the little girls liked it.  

We have really been focusing on finding other people to teach and reactivating less actives.  We have an investigator.  He is a super stud and wants to do everything except go to church! This last weekend he went to a car race (I wanted to go SOO BAD) with his friend that was a sailor that spoke English! So that was super fun to talk to him! 

This week we also found an old investigator.  He speaks English super super well and it`s super weird because our first visit with him I taught the restoration of the gospel in ENGLISH.... IT WAS SO HARD! During the whole lesson I had to translate the lesson back to English because I have taught that lesson so much I just have it memorized!

Also funny story, Elder Benitez is trying to learn more English, so we started to do practices in English, during one of the practices he accidentally said the the families could be sold (in place of sealed) for time and all eternity... I don`t think people are going to want to go to the temple if they will be sold into slavery for all of time and eternity, haha but it`s ok, I tried to say tail one day (cola) and I said the bad word for butt... Just a testimony that no ones perfect right? Haha.

Elder Benitez and I are great! We are pretty good buds, haha we have our little episodes, but we are way good friends, I hope I`ll be able to visit him after the mission!

Well I love you all. A LOT! Hope you all can feel it through my prayers for you! Hope everyone has a good week! 

Love, Elder Ward

P.S. My Spanish is coming along well - Si! Mi espanol es mejorando cada dia, ahora Elder Benitez esta enseñando me como hablar en la forma VOS es una forma de 3 para decir YOU en español. Estoy re agradecido para tener un companero latino y por todo su ayuda!!

Best Cereal Ever!!!

I LOVE THE CHURCH & THE GOSPEL

So this week was pretty sweet, especially because this week the members gave us 2 ASADOS (Argentine BBQ) for lunch!!! And it was seriously so good and I probably gained at least 5 pounds just from those, haha.  AND Also in food news, the main family we are working with wanted to eat something from the states and so I was thinking and thinking a ton for a food super American... And I came to the conclusion to make some good ol` SLOPPY JOES!!! OH YEAH! It was super good and I`ll send a pic of the final product. 

My Sloppy Joe Creation

Oh man, so this week we found out that there was a a part of our area that we hadn`t been to before so we were super excited and we were certain there was a baptism hidden in this new area! We went around contacting and we contacted a house. A girl came out and we started talking to her for a bit, but right in the middle of talking to her a dog tackled my comp and he fell flat on the ground. And Elder Benitez does not like Dogs. AT ALL. So he screamed  and I could not stop laughing. He didn`t talk to me for a little bit after that because he was so mad, but oh man. Too funny, haha. SO yup. Pretty neat.

But investigators wise. We have an investigator that we haven`t been able to find for a while, but we found him this week! And with good news too! He told us that he had been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon! Almost 50 pages! We were so excited to hear it! And then he explained to us that he didn`t really understand the begining of the book, so he had a briliant idea (this is what HE said), he told us that he started to read the Book or Mormon from back to front so that he could understand it easier... We asked him what he understood and he said nothing... Well at least his heart was it the right place right?

Also this week we found a TON of new people to teach! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! Practically every person we talked to in the street wants us to come back and talk to them, but we will see if they are telling the truth or not! Because that happens a lot down here. Even the little kids lie and tell us their parents aren`t home when I can see the parents sitting in the front room watching the TV... but what ya gonna do right? 

Well I love the Church and the gospel... Like a lot, cause it is super true and I am super excited to keep preaching it for another year and a half!!! Crazy to think that already 7 months have passed by! Well love you all! Have a good week!!

Elder Ward