ASK THE MISSIONARIES

Family!

Well Elder Funk and I  are just getting better and better slowly but surely. Especially in our numbers, obviously numbers are not important but the things that are important are the names behind them and more numbers means more names!!!

This week we have some investigators that we had found this last week that also have a fecha bautismal!! It is so exiting! It is going to be in February so I hope that I am going to be there if  I don`t get transferred next week, but we will see!!!

We also just contacted a neighbor of a member that he felt like we should go talk to him and he is totally awesome! We are going back to have a lesson with him, his wife and kid on Wednesday!  He is super excited for the rest of his family to hear the message!!! And the member did not even know the neighbor! CRAZY!!!

I have a funny story that... Well I did not want to share it but Elder funk made me promise that I would tell the fam.  We were walking down the street just having a good time talking about the lesson we just had with some investigators and I said "Hi" to someone, with a lot of enthusiasm... Elder Funk looked around and didn't see anybody.  The only thing that he could see in sight was a dog, lying down on the sidewalk., and then came the question... ¨Elder Ward... Did you just day hi to a dog?¨   I guess I had literally just said hi to a dog. 

I was as confused as my comp was and I was just speechless.  I had no explanation whatsoever... I mean Dogs have feelings too... Right?

 We have recently been helping a family start to do family nights and read the Book or Mormon daily and they have just opened their hearts to us!! They have given us 3 references just this last week! ALONE! So while we have been working more with the members we have been more blessed, so invite the missionaries over to church! I know it`s a little harder over there in Utah... I am not sure how it really is supposed to work but yeah! Just give them your friends! We listened to a talk by Russel M. Nelson that is titled ¨Ask the missionaries, they can help!¨ And well yeah... We can, haha with a sacred calling like this, I KNOW we can help. :)))

Well I think that`s all from me, hope you all keep livin' it up in the sun in Hawaii for another week and that you have the missionaries over for lunch! I mean dinner, haha or whatever. 

Elder Ward

SERVE SOMEONE

Family!

Well this week was pretty... Normal. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, we had some lessons, we had some ups we had some downs.  At the end of the week me and Elder Funk were watching some videos about working better with the members that we had to watch as a part of Elder Funk`s training. We noticed that we needed to reevaluate and change somethings that haven`t been really getting better or really progressing, one of them was baptizing. We want to change that, also the way we work with the members and having like random service things where we help people. And then after that we started to have a REALLY GOOD WEEK!!!

You know I have never been in the water! And I hope that I will never be! Because I think that if a convert chooses a member over me then I did my job in finding them a friend in the ward. Because if they have a friend in the ward, they are more likely to stay active in the church.

So we had a miracle this week. We were walking on a really busy street and we saw that there was a man that was out pushing his car so we went to help him and we asked him where we were pushing it, he said oh just 7 blocks from here no big deal.... And that day it was SOOOOOOO HOT. It was three o clock and here that`s the hottest time of the day. So we start pushing this car and out of no where some kid that was out running yelled and asked if we wanted some help, we said yes obviously and he helped us push it over to the gas station. We were in our white shirts and ties and we were just drenched. Completely! When we got to gas station we asked the both of them if we could stop by their houses and teach their families! They both said yes and we were so excited. We taught both of them later that week and they are all excited to read the Book or Mormon! We called the family during the week to follow up and pretty much ALL of them have read and are super excited for our next visit!!

What a blessing, and I just keep thinking, wow. What would have happened if we didn`t go push that car? Who knows! Maybe they will all get baptized! We are going to have a lesson with the family of 6 (the kid running that came to help us) tomorrow and wow. MIRACLES PEOPLE! MIRACLES!!!

Well today we have a zone activity so that should be fun! And this morning we helped a member fix the roof of his porch! He is so awesome and very humble.  Its still super hot here, supposedly it is going to be this hot until April or May.  They took our girl bikes away from us like 3 weeks ago, and we have been walking ever since! Last week we were supposed to get new ones, they took them because some other sister`s needed to use them so yeah. Neat-o

So go do a random act of kindness!! That reminds me of 4th grade I think? We had to do a random act of kindness every week for Mrs. Jensens class... You would remember better mom, haha.

Serve someone this week! You won`t regret it!

I love you all and hope that you have a good week!!!

Elder Ward

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hello Family!

Happy New Year!!  This New Years we stayed at home, made some churros that were actually super disgusting because we put way too much salt in them and they kind of just looked... Well... Less then appealing if ya ask me, haha but don't worry we bought some pastries from some professionals in case they didn't turn out!  I'd give us an A for effort.

Elder Funk and I are doing so great!  I will be done training him not this transfer but the next one so we will be together for a little bit longer, and least a month or 2 more!! WOO!!  This week we had a lunch with an awesome family! They just love the missionaries, even though the mom is a little inactive she just LOVES US!! So we went over there and we were talking over lunch and her 8 year old son was watching a little you tube video in English and she didn't know what he was watching. She asked Elder Funk to translate it and he said ¨Mira la cola¨which literally means look at that tail. But it Spanish tail is another way to say butt, and the mom freaked out!! WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING! And I just started cracking up and so did everyone else and wow. It was just super funny, and the little kid was just watching someone play an animal video game which is why he said look at that tail. OH man. I thought that was super funny, haha

 Yesterday Hectors Mexican food popped into my head... Yeah. That is some good stuff.  But I can live without Hectors because I LOVE Argentina and the people here. It just amazes me that how the people will let someone they have NEVER met in their entire life into their house. It just makes me realize the reality of the calling that I have... We truly are representatives of Jesus Christ! And I am not too excited for when that is taken away from me, haha well at least I can still be his disiple!

We actually received some really awesome references this week and we are just really being loved! We hope that we can return the love by working super hard and helping them to progress!

We had such an amazing miracle this week! Bueno nosotros encontramos 6 nuevos investigadores! Fue super genial, y esperamos un bautismo este semana que viene o la otra pero mas probably el 16, pero si tuvimos algo que fue milagroso!! Ayer nos acompañó un miembro el dia entero! Hablamos con muchas personas! Un dragón (una mujer mayor que le gustan los misioneros), un Jose Smith Hoy dia (tenia los mismos preguntas y cosas así), y con una familia que tienen muchas ganas de escuchar a nosotros, tuvimos la primera leccion y le gustaron mucho. Y El Obispo nos invitó a comer en su casa! Eso no ha pasado por meses! Asi que ayer fue un dia milagroso! **

So this Sunday was just awesome and sorry it is in Spanish but yeah I didn't realize I was typing in Spanish until I was halfway through and I was too lazy to write it again!

I just finished my full year in the mission. I feel like I am almost on the last stretch and I need to end a whole lot better then I started! Lately I am focusing a lot on reading the Book of Mormon. I am trying to finish it in English and in Spanish before this April (there was an area challenge to finish it before the next general conference). And I feel like I am just learning so many things! One of the things that has really caught my attention were the testimonies in the front. Really this book is true. There is a quote by the grandfather of Jeffery R. Holland that says ¨NO wicked man could write such a book, and no good man would write it, unless it were true, and he was called of God.¨

I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, and I testify that it was divinely translated and brought about to our knowledge! 

Well I gotta go - we have a big P-Day planned - haha.  Uh... Cutting our hair.. WOOOOOO

Well have a good week everyone! Chau!!

Elder Ward

**Translation from Google Translate

Well we found 6 new investigators!!  It was really great, and we expect a baptism this coming week or two but more likely on the 16th.  But we had something that was miraculous!!  Yesterday we walked with a Member the whole day!  We talked to so many people!  There was an older woman who likes the missionaries.  She had questions about Joseph Smith and the like.  Her and her family are eager to listen to us.  We had the first lesson and they liked it a lot.  The Bishop invited us to eat at his home!  That has not happened for months!  So Sunday was a miraculous day!!

SERVE SOMEONE

 Ok so obviously one of the highlights of the week was the oportunity to be able to talk to the fam! It was awesome to see all of you!  So glad we could find a time when dad wasn't working.  It's crazy that so much snow has fallen over there in SLC. 

Also I got the package you sent from that Argentina Missionary Package Place.  I guess they had accidentally sent it to the North mission so that is why I didn't get it before Christmas.  The guy called a member that he knew in Ezeiza and they gave him our number and then he rang us up!  We met at the church. So it was awesome!! Thank You!!

So here for Christmas is a little different, I have realized that it is actually more similar to the 4th of July in the States.  There are a bunch of fireworks, and people just get together to eat an asado. The fireworks that go off are not the pretty colored ones that we are used to, they just make noise.  And they go off for hours, so we were up until about 1:00am just listening to fireworks.  I just thought wow...I have to wake up in 5hours. Haha 

Asado!

Things are so great with Elder Funk. He is the best!!  I don't think we will be together for very long though.  President gave me a hint that I wasn`t going to be here in Ezeiza for a long time.  I assume that I will leave and Elder Funk will receive a new missionary. 

Well we are pretty much in the hottest week of the year here in Argentina.  The humidity just makes it even worse, we are just drenched like the whole day and there is nothing that you can really do about it, just suck it up and keep going, haha  

  

This week we didn`t really have a lot of the time teaching because a lot of the time we had to be closed in the pench.  We had to stay in for the whole day.  But something that was really nice was something that I learned from the scriptures this week that actually Grandma and Grandpa Shields sent to me in an email! There is a Scripture in Matthew 25:40 that says ¨Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my bretheren, ye have done it unto me.¨ which ALSO goes along with the sripture in Mosiah 2:17 that says ¨When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.¨ So where I am going with this is that it is super important that we serve others! So I invite you to serve someone this week! If it's someone you know or that you don`t know, just do it! You will feel awesome!! But yeah that`s all I got for this week, haha not too much but I vented my mind of stuff when I talked with the fam, haha.

Have a good week!!!

Elder Ward

CHRISTMAS MIRACLES

Ok so this week we had some MIRACLESSSSSSSSSS. We found an old investigator that wants to fast for a week to know if the Book of Mormon is true, Elder Funk was sick and I had to clean it up (miracle that I cleaned it up), we had some investigators at a live nativity, and this week is Christmas. AND IT IS SO HOT!!!

We got to know someone new. We had a lesson with her and really the missionaries stopped by to talk to the husband and the missionaries were going to baptize him but he died before he could get baptized.  His wife said that she never touched the Book or Mormon and never would. We taught about how the true church has been restored and at the end of the lesson out of nowhere she grabbed her big print bible, slapped it down on the table opened up to a random verse and read a verse that said something like ¨Don`t reject those that I send to you.¨ No idea where it said it, she never told us. But then she said that the Lord has spoken to her and that she really does need to read the Book of Mormon. I was just shocked. Haha I freaking love Heavenly Father!! HE IS AMAZING!!!

I think Elder Funk has been feeling a little stressed, because one night he threw up out of no where, and the next day he just looked terrible, but none the less he wanted to go out and work. WHAT A CHAMP! He is so awesome, he just really loves this work, I am so blessed to have such an awesome comp!!

The struggle is real - haha.  Elder Funk in Priesthood meeting

This Saturday we had to sing in a live nativity over at the stake center... It was really weird because I was sweating while watching the nativity... WHERE IS THE SNOW?!??! and out of no where some investigators showed up! We had invited them but they were very uncertain if they were going to go. We had to leave early but we called them after and they said they loved it! They felt so good being in the church and they can`t wait for the appointment we have tonight!! YAY FOR MIRACLES!! 

Tomorrow we are going to have a mission party with the zone and it will be pretty chill! Just a little activity and then we are going to meet the family of Pres. Thurgood!! It will be awesome! 

My companion and I have made a goal to make 130 contacts in 6 days.  Wish us luck!!

That just about sums up my week. I hope that you all enjoy your white Christmas and that you really remember WHAT Christmas is about.  If you didn`t see the videos yet I invite you YET AGAIN to see them, 

christmas.mormon.org

And when you see the videos share it with someone that needs this message of GREAT REJOICING! That A SAVIOR IS BORN.

It looks like I will be coming home on August 15th!! I talked to the President today so it is set in stone!!

Love you all!!

Elder Ward

p.s. hey so yeah wow there is a lot of snow, and man everytime I see Josh and Erin they look bigger every time!! IT NUTZZZ! And wow they did a gingerbread house together? Haha, without fighting? That would be a Christmas miracle! 

WHY A SAVIOR WAS BORN

This last Saturday we had the "white storm" in a place called Cañuelas, and it is super super close to where I started my mission here in Argentina! LOBOS!!! It`s a 20 minute train ride to Lobos, so I was super tempted to go hop on that train to see how the branch over there is doing!! But that day it was seriously SOOOO HUMID. My companion and my faces were just soaked with sweat. The whole morning we were looking for old investigators and less actives and no one wanted to go outside to talk to us because it was so hot, haha. But then in the afternoon we were looking for a less active and we clapped a house to ask to see where the direction was, and we just asked them if we could come into their home like out of routine, and they said YES!! It was a family of 5, the parents, and their 3 kids. We taught the first lesson and it was SUPER powerful.  The mom and one of the daughters started crying when my comp was saying the 1st vision and at the end of the lesson they all accepted to be baptized in January... After the lesson I wanted to be the missionaries in the ward so bad!! The family was awesome! And I was so happy that I could have played just a little part in giving that family the gospel!!

We have been trying to go through and try and contact some old investigators and see if we have any luck. And at least 4 of 10 people we chose are listening to us again! We had a member of the Seventy talk to us and something he said that was really powerful was that ¨20% of your old investigators are ready to be baptized.¨ That was awhile back in the Gira Missional or Mission Tour. So we decided to apply it and we are having a ton of success! Obviously, because a promise of a servant of the Lord it is a promise of him ¨Whether it be my voice or the voice of my servents it is the same.¨

Things are great with Elder Funk.  He came out early from the MTC because he knew Spanish really well !  And probably because they couldn't to afford to keep him there... Because he is a BOTTOM LESS PIT!!! This kid does not stop eating! Sadly they don`t really give missionaries too much money to buy food, but yeah, he`s a skinny little guy but his metabolism is just off the charts!!  And he is just killing it, he has adapted really easily to the missionary life and is just always making goals to get better and always wanting to do his best for the Lord! HE'S AWESOME!

So that has been us this week Me and Elder Funk have given ourselves some new goals for this new transfer.  One thing we are going to do is we are going to chose a Christlike attribute each week and study and improve that attribute in our lives! That could also be a different challenge, chose a Christlike attribute for this week (you can find them in Preach my Gospel Chapter 6) and study it and try to improve it! It will really help us be able to be better disciples of Christ and appreciate more his example that he set for us!

I love my mission president!! He is very WISE. He was a religion teacher for the church at BYU- IDAHO for like 30 years.  He just knows so much stuff it`s crazy. His knowledge of the scriptures is just awesome.  I mean I have really loved all 3 of my mission presidents.  I just found out that the last transfer or 2 I will have another mission president! Wow! 4!! 

WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU HAVEN`T SEEN IT YET!!!

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

And discover why A Savior Was Born.

https://www.mormon.org/christmas/purpose-of-a-savior

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

Elder Ward

MONTH OF MIRACLES

Hello Family!!

Elder Carrion headed out for Mexico!  He was pretty excited to go, but he was sad to say goodbye to the people in this ward.  So now it is just me and Elder Funk.  We are getting along really well!

My District 

This week was great except for all of our bike problems, they seemed never ending.  One of my favorite things that happened this past week was The White Storm!  A White Storm (Tormenta Blanca) is when all the missionaries of a Zone go to one area on a day and they all go and do contacts, look for less actives, old investigators, and just a little bit of everything. It was so awesome. I went on division with a kid in the ward and we had a lesson in the morning.  My comp had a lesson with a guy that they gave a blessing, and wanted to be baptized that first lesson!! Then at night we found ANOTHER family that wants to get baptized! And it was a family of 9, so the elders of that ward were fairly content when we told them about that!!

White Storm

I went on divisions during this last week 4 times. It was super awesome!  We were able to get done so much more especially because there were 3 missionaries, so we just needed one guy from the elders quorum and we got double the stuff done.  This morning some Jehovah Witnesses knocked on our door, and when we came outside they just left!! They didn't even stop to talk to us or share their message.  As soon as they saw our name tags they just bolted! It was pretty funny.  At least it is funny for a missionary, haha sorry if I am losing my sense of humor.

So a miracle that we had this week was definitely yesterday and I wasn't even there to witness it because I was with a member.  My companions found some guy in the street and decided that they needed to talk to him, and long story short he was thinking of committing suicide with a chain that he was holding in his hand.  A lot of things had been happening, his wife left him, he got fired, he never sees his kids and it is all because he is a alcoholic.  SO tonight we are going to go by to have a lesson with him and try to help him to have a little hope and give him a plan to help him stop drinking so he can be baptized and just the whole Sha-Bam. Just think what would have happened if my companions wouldn`t have talked to him. So when the spirit tells us something... I think we should follow that feeling! Because if we don`t it could have a HUGE Effect on the people around us.

So that was what happened this last week! I hope that you all had an amazing fast Sunday and that you have an even better December! One way to have a good Christmas is to share the gospel with people!!

Go to christmas.mormon.org and share this video with a friend that isn`t a member and ask if they missionaries can go by! This is a month of Miracles! TAKE ADVANTAGE!!!

Elder Ward