Hola familia,
The garden is super pretty, I really like the weeping cherry; it looks a lot fuller than it did before (We sent pictures of our yard this week--everything is blossoming and beautiful). The trees are blossoming up there and starting to turn yellow and die here, but what can you do? It didn´t rain this week, but it´s a little chilly. We´re heading into winter here. I think the coldest months are supposed to be June and July, and they say it´s deadly cold, but we´ll see. I´m excited to call Mother´s Day too; I don´t know exactly when we´ll call, but probably between 1 and 3 our time, which I think would be 11 and 1 your time but I'm not sure if the time difference is bigger, or if you guys have church during that time.
I´m glad to hear everything's going good with volleyball and soccer (-watch the yellow cards Mikayla, he he), and that there´s some major studying going on for AP tests, but how many AP classes are you in, Christi? Probably a lot more than I took, I was a little lazy.
That´s good to hear Keaton´s call is coming. A lot more kids from our ward ended up leaving than I thought were going to, but that´s awesome. We found out this week, that Hugo actually is married, but he doesn´t wear his ring, so that will make things a little easier. But he´s struggling a little with the principle of faith. He believes in the plan of salvation, and in the principles like agency and those things, but he struggles to acknowledge that he has to pray, even when things are good, and that faith isn´t believing in yourself for salvation, but in the atonement of Jesus Christ. It´s a common belief for people here, probably in the states too, that if one has the will, the confidence and faith in himself, he can do anything. But Hugo is really trying to find the truth, and this week, he´s going to really try to meditate these things, and pray to know that these things are true. And I know if he can do it, if he can humble himself to really pray and seek for an answer, I know he´s going to receive it. I´ve never taught a person that I know honestly prayed and read the Book of Mormon to know it was true and didn´t receive an answer. The problem is that most of them don´t take the time or the effort it takes to really meditate and talk with real intentions like Moroni talks about in Moroni 10. So we really hope this week, that Hugo can arrive at this point, and we really hope to take out a date for baptism. He´s come along way in not that long of time through his faith in the Book of Mormon, but he never could pray to receive an answer for sure from the spirit, and if he can do that, it´s going to go a long way.
We also found some other really good investigators this week. The first half of the week we were rejected house after house, and appointment after appointment fell through, but we just kept going, and it was like people found us the second part of the week; a little testimony of perseverance, even if it´s just a week. But I know that if we can always strive to just do the little things in our lives that we know are important, we´re gonna end up where we want to be, even if it doesn´t seem like it at the moment.
Love, David
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
April 19, 2010
Hola familia:
I´m glad Dad and Mikayla had good birthdays. Mikayla´s party sounds interesting....I mean fun (Mikayla's 13th birthday party was a spa with foot massages and pedicures at our house). Sounds like Dad is surrounded by girls. At least Derek and Troy are still around.
That´s a cool experience with the guy from Kentucky, that you were able to talk about baptism and about the authority to baptize. (One of Dean's co-workers has been asking about our church because he knows David is serving a mission). Missionary work goes a lot smoother when members are there helping, even if it´s just something simple like explaining baptism to someone that doesn´t know; something that I never did before my mission. It seems alot harder sometimes to talk to friends or to people at work, but a lot of times it can have more of a lasting effect when friends and partners share their testimonies of the gospel, than two stangers in white shirts. And they will have a lasting support system when the missionaries leave.
It rained almost all week this week, so it was a cold, muddy week, and it was a little harder to enter houses, because the people here really don´t like water. But we have an investigator named Hugo that is really doing well. He had been an investigator before I got here, but he had been really been busy. But 3 weeks ago we were able to find him in his house and invited him to conference, and he came. And since then, he has come to church both Sundays and is really excited about the gospel, and is starting to share it with all his friends. He needs to be married, so this week we´re going try to set a date for marriage and for baptism. We´ll see how his wife will feel about marriage. She´s really Catholic, and won´t talk to us, but we'll see if she can´t warm up a little with time, because Hugo es re-capo (really cool).
Thank you mother, and family for all the packages you send. They make me happy, and your emails and letters.
Goodbye my family,
Love, David
I´m glad Dad and Mikayla had good birthdays. Mikayla´s party sounds interesting....I mean fun (Mikayla's 13th birthday party was a spa with foot massages and pedicures at our house). Sounds like Dad is surrounded by girls. At least Derek and Troy are still around.
That´s a cool experience with the guy from Kentucky, that you were able to talk about baptism and about the authority to baptize. (One of Dean's co-workers has been asking about our church because he knows David is serving a mission). Missionary work goes a lot smoother when members are there helping, even if it´s just something simple like explaining baptism to someone that doesn´t know; something that I never did before my mission. It seems alot harder sometimes to talk to friends or to people at work, but a lot of times it can have more of a lasting effect when friends and partners share their testimonies of the gospel, than two stangers in white shirts. And they will have a lasting support system when the missionaries leave.
It rained almost all week this week, so it was a cold, muddy week, and it was a little harder to enter houses, because the people here really don´t like water. But we have an investigator named Hugo that is really doing well. He had been an investigator before I got here, but he had been really been busy. But 3 weeks ago we were able to find him in his house and invited him to conference, and he came. And since then, he has come to church both Sundays and is really excited about the gospel, and is starting to share it with all his friends. He needs to be married, so this week we´re going try to set a date for marriage and for baptism. We´ll see how his wife will feel about marriage. She´s really Catholic, and won´t talk to us, but we'll see if she can´t warm up a little with time, because Hugo es re-capo (really cool).
Thank you mother, and family for all the packages you send. They make me happy, and your emails and letters.
Goodbye my family,
Love, David
Monday, April 12, 2010
April 12, 2010
Hola familia,
That´s great that Jake and Bryan´s baptism went so well, and it´s cool that they were able to be baptized together. They looked really happy in the pictures ( Jake a liitle bit mischievious, but a happy mischievious). We had Rosío´s baptism Saturday, and like usual with our baptisms, everything went wrong that day, but it turned out good in the end. It was a really good baptism. She is so humble and willing to change. Friday night we went the church to check if everything was good for the baptism, and the plug for the font was gone. The missionaries from the other ward had put it in a weird place, and someone moved it, so we had to try to find a plug. We went in the morning to find one, but the hardware stores didn´t have any. The Bishop ended up bringing the plug for the bathtub in his house, so that problem was solved. Then, ten minutes before the baptism, we found that someone had locked the closet that has the clothes, that was always open before. And only the Relief Society president has the key and we couldn´t get a hold of her. So once again the Bishop saved us, and drove to the sister´s house and got the key, and everything went good from there. Elder Estrada baptized Rosío, and on Sunday I had my first opportunity to confirm someone a member of the church, so that was a really good experience.
The picture with me and that other goofy guy (pictures from last week) is Elder Sasanuma, my last companion, and when we cooked the meat and pork was with Elder Sasanuma in Mayol. We haven´t done too many fun things here in Quilmes. Elder Estrada doesn´t seem to like to have fun as much, but today we´re going bowling with our district at Wal-Mart, so that will be fun. Walmart is like it´s own city here. It´s gigantic. Elder Trujillo lived with Elder Jones and I in Mayol, and he just left for home this last transfer, he´s from Colorado. He has a Spanish name, and looks partly Latino, so when I arrived my first day, he pretended to be from Argentina for almost a week, but he got found out the day when I found out that BYU beat Oklahoma, and he showed too much football knowledge to be Argentinian. He couldn´t take it any more talking in a Spanish accent; I felt dumb that I hadn´t realized for a whole week, but it was funny.
I was excited to hear about Jake and Bryan, and their enthusiam, and their baptism. I know that I´m right where I´m supposed to be, and that I can really help others to come unto Christ if I keep striving to do my best everyday, and continue seeking continuosly new people to teach and to find.
Goodbye, my family,
Love David
That´s great that Jake and Bryan´s baptism went so well, and it´s cool that they were able to be baptized together. They looked really happy in the pictures ( Jake a liitle bit mischievious, but a happy mischievious). We had Rosío´s baptism Saturday, and like usual with our baptisms, everything went wrong that day, but it turned out good in the end. It was a really good baptism. She is so humble and willing to change. Friday night we went the church to check if everything was good for the baptism, and the plug for the font was gone. The missionaries from the other ward had put it in a weird place, and someone moved it, so we had to try to find a plug. We went in the morning to find one, but the hardware stores didn´t have any. The Bishop ended up bringing the plug for the bathtub in his house, so that problem was solved. Then, ten minutes before the baptism, we found that someone had locked the closet that has the clothes, that was always open before. And only the Relief Society president has the key and we couldn´t get a hold of her. So once again the Bishop saved us, and drove to the sister´s house and got the key, and everything went good from there. Elder Estrada baptized Rosío, and on Sunday I had my first opportunity to confirm someone a member of the church, so that was a really good experience.
The picture with me and that other goofy guy (pictures from last week) is Elder Sasanuma, my last companion, and when we cooked the meat and pork was with Elder Sasanuma in Mayol. We haven´t done too many fun things here in Quilmes. Elder Estrada doesn´t seem to like to have fun as much, but today we´re going bowling with our district at Wal-Mart, so that will be fun. Walmart is like it´s own city here. It´s gigantic. Elder Trujillo lived with Elder Jones and I in Mayol, and he just left for home this last transfer, he´s from Colorado. He has a Spanish name, and looks partly Latino, so when I arrived my first day, he pretended to be from Argentina for almost a week, but he got found out the day when I found out that BYU beat Oklahoma, and he showed too much football knowledge to be Argentinian. He couldn´t take it any more talking in a Spanish accent; I felt dumb that I hadn´t realized for a whole week, but it was funny.
I was excited to hear about Jake and Bryan, and their enthusiam, and their baptism. I know that I´m right where I´m supposed to be, and that I can really help others to come unto Christ if I keep striving to do my best everyday, and continue seeking continuosly new people to teach and to find.
Goodbye, my family,
Love David
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 5, 2010
Hola mi familia,
Sounds like a fun time in California to see Grandma Wood in the mission and a good conference weekend. (Our family traveled to Sacramento, California to visit Grandma Wood in her mission over Spring Break). A lady told me today in the market that there was an earthquake in the states last night. She said it was in southern California. Did you guys feel it? From the talks we heard in conference, it sounds like there´s been earthquakes and tsunamis everywhere the last couple months; crazy.
We got to watch all of conference, but not priesthood because it was at 9 at night. On Saturday we could only go to conference if we brought investigators or new members, and we had a really good show up. We had investigors in all the sessions; 9 that had never been to church before and all commited and came this week. It was amazing. We´ve never had that many people complete with their commitments, especially with going to the church. We also had 4 inactive families come; 2 of the families are incomplete with the dad not being a member. So this weekend was a wonderful opportunity for all these people to have the chance to hear from the prophet and the apostles and authorities that we have on the earth today. And I know that being able to hear the conference is really going to help all of them with their testimonies; and hopefully they can all continue coming to church, and not just to conference. But it was a really good experience, although half of the last session we didn´t really have a signal because, come to find out, there was a spider in the control box crawling in the wires- that tells you a little about what kind of spiders we have here.
Rosio´s baptism is this Saturday, so that´s going to be really good. And we have a couple of investigators that went to conference yesterday that we really want to set baptismal dates for them this week for the next coming weeks. Hopefully it all works out. We´re being blessed with new people to teach, but we have to do all we can to keep finding more and to help all the people we´re teaching to arrive at repentance and to baptism.
It´s also been really good to see the inactive members come to church. Yesterday sister Brandan came to church with her non-member boyfriend and non-member mother. It´s been almost 15 years since the last time she attended church, but we´ve been teaching them the last couple months, and she never came to church because she had been offended by members looking down on her for not having nice clothes 15 years ago. But she came, and she had the biggest smile on her face as we left the chapel. It was wonderful to see her start to make the changes in her life that the Lord wants for her.
It would be nice to have the Ensign too, if you could send it, because I wasn´t able to see priesthood session, and some the talks will probably be a little different in English.
Well I´ll talk to you next week my family.
Love, David
Sounds like a fun time in California to see Grandma Wood in the mission and a good conference weekend. (Our family traveled to Sacramento, California to visit Grandma Wood in her mission over Spring Break). A lady told me today in the market that there was an earthquake in the states last night. She said it was in southern California. Did you guys feel it? From the talks we heard in conference, it sounds like there´s been earthquakes and tsunamis everywhere the last couple months; crazy.
We got to watch all of conference, but not priesthood because it was at 9 at night. On Saturday we could only go to conference if we brought investigators or new members, and we had a really good show up. We had investigors in all the sessions; 9 that had never been to church before and all commited and came this week. It was amazing. We´ve never had that many people complete with their commitments, especially with going to the church. We also had 4 inactive families come; 2 of the families are incomplete with the dad not being a member. So this weekend was a wonderful opportunity for all these people to have the chance to hear from the prophet and the apostles and authorities that we have on the earth today. And I know that being able to hear the conference is really going to help all of them with their testimonies; and hopefully they can all continue coming to church, and not just to conference. But it was a really good experience, although half of the last session we didn´t really have a signal because, come to find out, there was a spider in the control box crawling in the wires- that tells you a little about what kind of spiders we have here.
Rosio´s baptism is this Saturday, so that´s going to be really good. And we have a couple of investigators that went to conference yesterday that we really want to set baptismal dates for them this week for the next coming weeks. Hopefully it all works out. We´re being blessed with new people to teach, but we have to do all we can to keep finding more and to help all the people we´re teaching to arrive at repentance and to baptism.
It´s also been really good to see the inactive members come to church. Yesterday sister Brandan came to church with her non-member boyfriend and non-member mother. It´s been almost 15 years since the last time she attended church, but we´ve been teaching them the last couple months, and she never came to church because she had been offended by members looking down on her for not having nice clothes 15 years ago. But she came, and she had the biggest smile on her face as we left the chapel. It was wonderful to see her start to make the changes in her life that the Lord wants for her.
It would be nice to have the Ensign too, if you could send it, because I wasn´t able to see priesthood session, and some the talks will probably be a little different in English.
Well I´ll talk to you next week my family.
Love, David
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