There's always a reason

I don´t know if you all realize it, but new years day I turn six months in the mission!

Wow. Six months away from home. One fourth of the way done. Next week I´ll have to have my "Best of Buenos Aires, Memorable moments from the first six months and what I learned" email. A lot of crazy things have changed back home. I´ve thought about it a lot, and I don´t know if the family will change as much for anyone on their missions as for me. I suppose that goes for everyone.

Some of the shocking news highlights

BYU beating a number 3 ranked Oklahoma team
Scott and Camille having their baby
Jennifer pregnant

...

But amidst the stormy sea of changing and rearranging, there was an unchanging north star. A constant unbreakable source of comfort. The same yesterday, today, and for what I thought would be forever. But now I know that nothing is certain. EVERYTHING is going to change. And how do I know that?

Because Ryan got a girlfriend

That´s right. Ryan got a girlfriend.

Is the sky falling? Is the second coming near? I knew I would see signs and wonders in the heavens, but this.... this indeed has caused me to be "exceedingly astonished."

Nay, "astonished beyond all measure."

Well... congrats cuz.

Anyone got anything else to tell me? At this point anything is possible.

Anyways, this week has been one of the best weeks of my mission. Hands down the best week in Avellaneda. It´s easy for missionaries to get down and trunky during Christmas. Luckily we worked straight through it. And we´ve seen undeniable success as a result.

I really have learned principles of work here. One of the many things I´ll take away from Avellaneda. The other missionaries telling me what a dead area it was. It would have been easy to get discouraged. Actually I did get discouraged. Very discouraged at times. But I found, those feelings usually only existed at the end of the day, or in the morning when we were prepping. When out on the street and contacting and talking to people I always felt better. I was never depressed.

Work is a blessing. With Avellaneda, there was only one way to get this area back up, and that was work. More importantly diligence. I was impressed by what Elder Uchtdorf said about work in the priesthood session of last conference. How while we´re working, it may not seem like things are getting better, but slowly and surely they will. I´ve seen that here.

Ok, so Avellaneda 2 isn´t the highest baptizing area in Buenos Aires, far from it. But we´ve seen miracles this week. We´ve been led to people in fantastic ways. Sometimes it felt like we were just wasting time here. Sometimes when we were wandering, we were too afraid to talk to people, and we would end up going for miles. But the point is we kept going. We were outside the Pension to the end of the day every day. We never threw in the towel. And even though we aren´t the best of missionaries, not even close, we´ve seen miracles here. We´ve been led to the people that the Lord has prepared.

For example:

Saturday night we wanted to go out to Villa Dominico, but knew if we ended up eating late with the ward members, we wouldn´t have time to get back to our appointment close to the Pension. Elder Valerin insisted on heading out there, but I wanted to make a backup plan for Serandi, the area back close to the Pension. Elder Valerin convinced me not to worry about it, and I agreed.

So the next day, we end up eating late with the members, and we don´t have time to head out to villa Dominico. My first impulse was to get on my self righteous high horse and say "I told you so!" Instead we just did contacts in the area we were in. After touching doors in that area for the better portion of an hour and a half with little success, we ended up running into an Hermana from the ward at the end of the street, who happened to be passing by and happened to have a reference for us. It was a woman who had recently lost her husband. We proceeded to the house as directed and were able to do a powerful contact about the plan of salvation. It was exactly what she needed and she let us right in. We left a Book of Mormon with Alma 40 for her to read and a solid return appointment.

As we left, I thought about all the little things that happened in every one of our contacts that led us to the point where we ran into that Hermana at that time. Just a few seconds different, and we would have missed her. Coincidence? Good luck?

No, it´s a lot more than that.

There were literally hundreds of little things that happened over the course of two weeks, from the point the member family set up a lunch appointment with us, to put us on that street corner to receive that reference and find that person at that time.

My friends, there is no such thing as coincidence. God is directing His work, and His work gets done.

Allow me to share a bit more about that experience from another perspective.

A contact on that street, a middle aged argentine woman came out to greet us. She said "I´m not interested in anything you have to say to me, because all of it´s a lie! I´m angry with God right now. He took my spouse and my Mom!"

We tried to explain to her that she could live with her loved ones for all of eternity, but she was persistent. "Liars!" She shouted at us.

Calming her down a bit, we explained if she would listen to us, we could show her how she could ask God herself, that she didn´t have to believe in us, but she was insistent. "Liars," She cried again.

"Look,” I started, "We´re here to bring you a message of happiness. Do you want to be happy in your life?"

"No." She replied, "God took my Mom and I´ll never be happy again."

Despite all methods of persuasion, she was beyond persuasion. She was filled with her own cynical pride and didn´t want anything to come in between her grudge with God.

Contrast that with our finding appointment from the reference of the woman who recently lost her spouse (her name is Sylvina).

In the appointment we asked, "Do you believe that God answers prayers?"

She responded, "Yes, I believe it. I´ve had some very hard times lately, but God has always been there for me. I think sometimes we just can´t see the reason in the moment. But if we wait, we will see."

I bore my testimony that that was exactly right. There´s always a reason to the madness. Even if it takes us a while to see it.

The common thread of the aforementioned stories is circumstance, and the way we choose to deal with it. We can be angry that things aren´t happening the way we think they should, or we can just let go. Fall away from our preconceived notions of life as we know them and let God do His work. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we have the choice. We can decide to give our lives to God and let him do his work, or we can metaphorically bite the hand that feeds us. Our father in Heaven knows what we need, better than we do. Are we humble enough to accept what He wants for us? Or do we want to do things our way? Have peace and serenity in this world and the world to come, or be plagued with bitterness and regrets through all eternity.

Because you see, the real choice we have in this life isn´t so much between good and evil as it is between happiness and misery. Sometimes it takes a little faith to let go of the things that we think give us joy, but every time we do we realize what we really wanted all along. The choice is ours. Are we humble enough to make it?

Just remember the words of Sylvina. "There´s always a reason. Sometimes we just can´t see it."

Give your life to God. I know he makes more of us than we make of ourselves. At least he´s done that much for me.

Avellaneda

I’m lacking in things to say this week. Usually at least one experience sticks out to me. In Avellaneda, it’s been a lot of walking, and talking, and wandering.

In the immortal words of Gary Crowton: "It's a rebuilding year."

Or in this case transfer.

Having followed about a year’s worth of lazy missionaries, this work is dying... dying... almost dead.

The Pension is ominously large, because it was intended for four missionaries. One of the rooms is cluttered with maps, marked and full of investigators. A ghostly tribute to how much things have slipped here. Monuments to a better time in the work. When the missionaries of Avellaneda actually cared.

"It's because the people are cold here" says Elder Valerin.

No. I won’t believe that. I refuse to believe that. Especially since our zone leaders across the mitre are putting up some of the biggest numbers in the mission. The people are not the problem here.

I’ve started to have fear of talking to people after so many rejections, so I’ve started to do things a bit differently. I just talk to people. I tell them where I’m from, and they ask me how I like it in Argentina, and I tell them that I absolutely love it, and they like that. Then I talk to them about work and family, and then give them a pamphlet. These are usually my bus contacts, and they’ve been going a lot better. I’m trying to get better at talking to everyone. So far it hasn’t produced any results, but it’s the first step to actually finding people to teach.

If the field is white and ready to harvest, this field has clearly been neglected. And it’s going to take a bit of work before it’s harvestable again.

But it is the Christmas season, and it is wonderful to actually be doing something worth doing this year. Sharing the message of Christ with all the world. The true message of the season. I was thinking a lot about that. How the birth of Christ has had such a profound impact on the world that 2000 years after His birth the spirit still persists. Everyone feels obliged to give a bit more. Be a little kinder.

The universality of the season has definitely been reaffirmed to me working here in Argentina. It’s the same spirit. Albeit, a lot warmer than I’m used to (it's about 75 degrees outside with a nice humid breeze just FYI)

Ok, so bottom line. Avellaneda is a rough neck of the woods, but it was, as president Asay described, a Garden of Eden in its heyday. I know there are people to teach here. I know that we’ll find them; it’s just going to take a bit of time. Its when were uncomfortable that we grow.

I know Christ lives. This is His church. He came and died so that we could live. That's our Gospel. That’s the good news. We have to share it with the world.

¡Mi Cuñada dio la luz!

¡Felicitaciones Camille! Me siento muy fuerte que usted iba a dar la luz esta semana. No se porque. Pero, esa sintimiento tenia razon. Ahora vos sos una madre! Desunfortunadamente no he aprendido mucho acerca de eso en la obra misional, entonces no puedo darte consejo. ¡Pero realmente estoy feliz!

I’m an uncle!

Yesterday we ate with a family and they asked me if I had nephews or nieces. "Maybe," was my reply. Now I know. Congratulations! Scott and Camille! Parents! And me. An uncle. Me alegro

another week in Avellaneda. Wow...

Trying to get away from tracting, but it keeps on happening. I’m just looking for better ways to do things, and trying to overcome my discomfort of talking to people. I just don’t know how to present the message in a way that’s really going to strike people. I’ve had to depend on the spirit a lot, but even still it’s been rough. I’ve felt very ineffective this week.

Yesterday I cooked roast beef for a family in the ward that lives close to the pension. It all started Saturday when I had already bought the ingredients to make it for Elder Valerin and myself. We were at the member’s house and they asked us over for dinner. I explained we had already bought stuff to cook tomorrow. "Oh," they responded, "that’s ok. You can just cook for us."

What could I say?

We brought the roast and gravy and everything. They had a big family, and fortunately it was enough. I had to show them how to make the potatoes into a bowl and pour the gravy in. They had never had gravy before and one of the kids upon tasting it exclaimed "This is the best thing I’ve tasted in my entire life!!!"

I was glad they liked it.

By the way mom, I love my Christmas presents. These past two weeks have been incredibly rough, and it’s nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the day. We’ve been able to predict the tie and the milk duds, but we thought the season salt was a candle. You got us. I should get the second package tomorrow.

On Tuesday night, we were incredibly frustrated. All the scheduled plans we had had already fallen through. Elder Valerin tried to convince me to go back to the Pension early, as it was dark and nobody was listening. I knew I wasn't the best missionary, and maybe we wouldn’t find anyone, but I refused to go to throw in the towel early. I felt terrible even thinking about it. Elder Valerin was in the midst of telling me how we could go back and plan effectively for the next day when all of the sudden a man passed by, who Elder Valerin, interrupting himself, contacted. He took a look at the white shirts then the nametags and shouted out "aha! Missionaries! You talk about Jesus don’t you?"

We were both surprised. We told him that we did share a message about Christ with everyone.

"Great!" he exclaimed, "sit down sit down sit down"
He gestured to the curbside and we both sat down on the concrete. He was a very animated man who waved his hands a lot. Darker complexion standing at about 5 2

"So,” he started, "I’m going to listen to you, but first you have to listen to me."

We looked at each other assessing the situation, and frankly were just happy to be talking to somebody. We agreed and he started talking.

"I come from Uruguay. NATIVE Uruguay! Indigenous I tell you! So you two are out here preaching about Jesus right? Well I’ve got a question for you. Where did Jesus preach?"

We both responded unanimously, "Jerusalem"

"Aha!" He exclaimed again with his hands in the air. "Just Jerusalem eh? Don’t you think there are other people in the world that needed to hear about what Jesus had to say? If it was so important, if God really does love his Children, why didn’t Jesus come here to the Americas?!"

..........

We stared with slack jaws as the short man from Uruguay grinned with a big "Now I’ve stumped em" expression on his face. Clearly he had used this thought process on evangelicals and Jehovah Witnesses before without a satisfactory response.

I ripped out a Book of Mormon faster than a samurai sword. And fumbled through the opening pages to the picture of Jesus in the Americas and asked, "Do you know where this is?"

"Somewhere in the Americas" he replied

"Do you know who this is?" I asked.

"Jesus" He replied.

It was like something off a seminary video.

So we had the privilege of explaining the book. He was hardheaded. Still didn’t completely listen. But we told him enough to make him realize that it was his ancestors who wrote this book.

Unfortunately he lived in a different area, so we never did see the end of it, but I’ll never forget the little man from Uruguay who asked the most golden question I’ve ever heard.

So much of the mission is like that. Great starts and empty finishes. Nothing here ever has an ending. I said something like that to the President when I was pending leaving Ensenada and his response was "That’s because you’ll never see the end. The work just keeps on going and going. That’s the miracle of it."

Avellaneda is a field that’s ready to harvest, the problem is its been neglected for so long that it’s going to take a little house cleaning before the work gets going again. But I have faith. The work just keeps on going and going. That’s the miracle of it. If this was just the work of 19 year old boys there would be great reason to be afraid. But this is God’s work.

I’ve found much consolation in my situation in the first 4 chapters of 1 Nephi. I invite any within reach of this email to study those chapters and pay attention to how the Lord "Provides a way." It isn’t always easy. As a matter of fact, the Lord let them fail a few times first. But pay attention to how eventually they are guided, and the testimony they gain afterward.