La Paciencia

I can clearly see the problem of being in the mission for this long. Everything just blurs into one. Even though you have countless priceless spiritual experiences every week, it all blurs into one big spiritual blur. I guess that´s why I’m so grateful for my personal journal. As far as my weekly emails home go, it´s hard to think about what to write.

Brief update on the investigator front. Sylvina and Nicole are doing fantastic. We´re having a noche de hogar tonight with her family, and hoping to find her 18 year old son. I´m making Mexican food with my unlimited supply of Wal-Mart resources (where I´m emailing from right now. You´re the best Wal-Mart!) We taught her the law of tithing this week, which was a bit of a setback, but she really loves the church and feels the spirit strongly. She says she knows the BOM is true, and if she can believe in that she can take the other steps of faith necessary to make it to her baptism.

Speaking of baptism, one of our investigators Maria Angelica really wants it. She´s willing to live the commandments, it´s just been a nightmare getting to church. We´re thinking of letting her attend one or two more weeks before baptizing her. She is yet to go to relief society, and she doesn´t have that many friends within la iglesia.

We found a family of 4 this week who are doing amazing! Isabel and her kids (don´t remember the argentine names.) They have read and prayed about the BOM and feel good about things right now. Keep you updated on that front.

Rocio, our investigator that we found two weeks ago miraculously told us that she knows the BOM is true after our first visit. She lives across the street from some of the best members in the ward, so they´re always able to accompany us to the appointments. It´s a wonderful situation.

And the work overall...

Here in Avellaneda there are good days, and there are bad days. It´s a test in endurance. Things get better, but very very slowly.

This kind of slow progression has afforded me with some real introspection, and some hard lessons learned. The real attribute I´ve had to develop here is that of patience.

For example, on Tuesday we went out to Dominico, the most productive section of our map, where the most and best investigators are. It was so hot the tar on the road was sticking to the bottoms of our shoes. And every single appointment we had on the day fell through. Every single one. All our good investigators, all our bad ones. Every backup plans. We essentially spent the entire afternoon visiting every single person we had ever talked to anywhere close to where we were working, but with no success. Even the family who we eat dinner with every Friday night fell through.

We went back to the Pension exhausted and very discouraged, feeling like we had wasted an entire afternoon of the Lord´s time. We were willing to blame anyone from the Bishop, to the man eating dog on Beazley Street for our horrid afternoon. (The man eating dog really is a man eater, and it is intimidating.)

Amidst what started as ranting, I stopped and thought about what was happening. It was just one bad day. A bad day in a week that was still very redeemable. I thought of all the successes we had seen over the past few weeks, and humbly acknowledged all the ways that the Lord had helped us. We could see the key indicators start from the beginning of the past two transfers, and slowly increase. Our discouragement was just coming from a lack of perspective, an inability to see the big picture.

That´s where patience comes in.

The next day, we expected to be another miserable walk on the surface of the sun. The inferno that was the Argentine summer, but we were pleasantly surprised on several occasions. The investigators that we had planned on visiting were actually in their houses at the times they had specified, they were ready to listen to us, and willing to act on the message. We had amazing success during the afternoon, going house to house, spending the entire day indoors. We finished having found three new investigators and made some very good prospects. All this in a part of our map where missionaries haven’t worked for years. We felt the spirit very strongly in our appointments, and distinctly felt the love of missionary work come back to us.

Things can turn around just that quickly.

I´ve noticed that having faith in the Lord requires patience. We believe that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us, but in His own due time. I´ve thought a lot about my time here in Avellaneda, how nothing has come easy. Investigators, unlike apples and ugly Argentine Larks, do not fall out of trees. Why is that? This is God´s work. He loves His children. Why can´t we just be led every second of every day to every elect person that is ready to receive the Gospel?

If it were that easy, would anyone ever learn anything?

If we´re patient with our circumstance, even if it seems unbearable at the time, eventually we will see the Lord´s hand. We were able to gain comfort Tuesday night by looking at the big picture of our work. I believe that we can do just that upon the challenging ledges of our life. Step back and see the eternal picture.

I know as we do so, the Lord will fulfill His promises.