SEASON FINALE

Soo. THIS WEEK ON THE SEASON FINALE.

We went to capital! We had interviews, I had a TON of food!!! My camera's battery died... And I saw a friend from home!! And I left a clean slate for the new visero Elder Thomas!

So this week was the final week of my mission, and man was it busy! We had tramites on Wednesday in the morning over in Immigration (my last time :´( ohh...) and it was good, we only had a few complications but it was a good time!

Then that night I went over to the assistants pench to sleep over with Elder Pribyl and another Elder that was going home because we needed to be in capital at 8:30 in the morning. And we took a train over to Capital and MAN was it packed in the morning, and once you thought it wasn't full enough people started to take a running start to shove themselves into the train... Yipee... Ha, but we saw a ton of things in capital! We saw the Colon Theatre, the Obelisk, the ¨Boca¨, and a Ginormous super super super rich cemetery, but it was really fun, Buenos Aires has a ton of interesting Culture.

On Friday we went with the whole group and President Calquin and his wife over to the temple, which was AWESOME. An amazing moment with a ton of inspiration and setting some goals and pace marks for me when I get home while I was in the Celestial Room. Next we went to a restaurant to go eat that was pretty much right next to the Temple, and then we headed over to the Mission House to have our final Interviews! I got to know all the people in my group a lot better, and they are all such awesome people! There are 3 Americans, 2 chileans, a Spaniard (not sure that´s what they call people from Spain), and one from New Zealand.  The one from new Zealand says that she goes to Issac Preston´s town all the time! So maybe one day they will get to know each other! 

During our last district meeting it was REALLY REALLY hard for me, because this is by far my favorite district!!  We all had a really good time and we did some practices and then our district leader Elder Colman had everyone share a 3 minute testimony about the Atonement and Missionary work and when he has said that I knew that the tears were gonna come! Especially because I was going to go last and everyone´s testimony were rock solid! But yeah I cried but it was OK because I love my district so much!!  After I decided to make them something... ¨From Home¨... Mom´s famous cheesy bean dip!!! AND IT WAS SOOO GOOD! But then Elder Colman decided that the last song was going to be ¨Sing we now at Parting¨ SO that just brought the tears RIGHT BACK!! HaHa

The Elder that did the visas before me came to visit Buenos Aires with his parents.  It was so awesome to see him!!

The Office Elders and Elder McFarland (Kevin)

  

Ok so some final words. And to be honest I would really just like to share this scripture from D&C 76:22... ¨And Now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which [I] give of him: That He lives!¨ 

I testify that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lives and that as a representative of him, I know that he has atoned for the sins of the world. That every single human being has the power to be healed from spiritual, emotional, and physical wounds through the healing power of his eternal sacrifice and the restored power and authority of God on earth today. He is the reason why we all exist, and if he is not the center in our existence then we better take a step back and try to look over life one more time. Because through him, we might receive the most precious gifts of all the gifts of God. Which is shown to us in D&C 6:13... ¨... thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.¨ 

Thanks for all the love, help, and support that you have all given me so that I could be able to testify in His name and be His servant.

Love you all and can´t wait to see you all this coming week!!

With all my love and Appreciation!

Elder Ward

I CAN'T DO THIS!

OK so yeah this last Monday we had interviews, and it was super awesome! President Calquin talked a lot about talking with everybody and testifying of Christ in EVERY opportunity that we get. And next week I will have my last interview with him, and I can´t believe that this is the second to last time that I will be writing you guys!!! My next email I will probably get super spiritual and make you guys cry a couple times so I will keep this email a little more on the lighter side of life, haha. But it was good, he is doing the interviews a little different from how President Thurgood did it but yeah different is good! Right?

A funny story, we were at a dinner appointemnt with some members and we shared a scripture and all that and the appointment was super good, and the moment was perfect to ask for referrals, and out of no where the dad of the house said that the other day he was reading the bible and that he made a conclusion on Noah´s ark and how Noah could actually manage the whole animals in the ark. He said that he didn´t take 2 of every animal BUT he actually took DNA of every animal species, and that way the boat was actually much smaller too so that everyone could fit on it... Uhh... Ok... AND after the the spirit went flying right out the window... WHOOSH! Haha but yeah we shared the scripture in Lucas that says for God nothing is impossible but that he does everything in a perfect dominion.

Every night that we are going out we just keep talking with more and more people! I just hope that as we are doing this we will be able to find the next reactivation or baptism. Elder Tobler has been here a really long time and he deserves a baptism! Let´s just hope that we keep working the way the Lord wants us to and then we will see the miracles.  There is a missionary that ended the mission here in adrogué a couple transfers back and she told me this... We need to believe before we see, not see before we believe.

Next week we have 4 tramites planned so I will definitely be super super busy up till the last minute and I might have to rearrange some finishing missionaries plans so that I can make sure I can show Elder Thomas how to do all the visa stuff before I leave because well... After I leave I won´t be too close for questions, haha but luckily email exists!

Today we went shopping for some stuff that I want before I leave! It was really weird because we went like to a busy place and it´s a Saturday night... I felt like I was just kickin' it on the town, but as a missionary, haha. It was weird.

Well hope all of you have a good week! Something that I learned this week while I was reading The bible was something very interesting in Matthew 10:37.  It talks about that we should love God more then our families and that hit me... That´s some heavy stuff! It was weird to think that people I love so much should be put under somebody. But God is our All mighty and all powerful Father. He deserves it!!

Well I hope that you all enjoy this next week!!!

Elder Ward

p.s. wow this is weird... my second to last email... I CAN´T DO THIS!!! THIS IS SO WEIRD!!! LOVE YOU!!!

ARE YOU GUYS JAPANESE?

SOO THIS WEEK in the wonderful world of Adrogué (my area, haha)...

SO this week we found some new people to teach! One of them was a referral from the elders whose area is right next to us. He is super cool! Haha, his wife is a Jehovah´s witness so she doesn´t want ANYTHING of anything to do with us, but we had the first lesson with him on Wednesday.  We had another lesson scheduled with him yesterday in the church, but he didn´t show up.  As we were walking to our area we saw him walk out of a casino and he was drunk... Haha so yeah we got some things to talk about, haha but everyone has the potential to change!  It was funny because we talked to him when he walked out of the casino (because we walk right in front of it to get to our area) and when we said goodbye to him another one of our investigators walked out of the Bingo (that´s what the casino is called here) And the ¨Bingo¨ is right next to the ¨Shopping¨ (that´s what they call a mall here, haha).

So because we have a new mission president all of the legal stuff isn´t set in stone yet... For example, the mission presidents like sign checks for stuff that the mission does, but that hasn´t been finished yet so President Calquin can´t sign checks for the church yet... SOOO that means that pretty much the mission doesn´t have money, and no money means no tramites... Oh Shucks! haha, but I have been helping everyone else a little more and finishing tedious tasks for them that maybe they didn´t have time to do, but also Elder Thomas (the comp I had for a week) is coming back tomorrow!!! So I will keep training him for these 2 weeks and hoping that he memorizes everything, because if he doesn´t he will be making a lot of international calls because all of the other old viseros have all finished their mission so yeah... We´ll see what happens. 

Usually missionaries have like a 24 hour division with their district leaders but for some reason Elder Colmán and I had one for 30 minutes, but right as we got to our area we contacted every house on the first block, and one of the families let us in! The kids were super cute and right when we walked in the house one of the little kids screamed, ¨are you guys Japanese???¨ and the other one said ¨no they are from Paraguay!!¨ Well that was definitely a first... Haha me and my comp were dying.

There was a wedding reception in the stake center yesterday and since no one cleans the church we got the task to clean it... all that we had to work with was a broom, a squeegee, some bleach, and some floor cleaner...it was quite the feet.

Well hope all of you have a good week!!! 

Elder Ward