God is the one directing the work

Last month I think I told you all how it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Buenos Aires. Thankfully, that week was exceptionally cold, and it has been fairly temperate since. It hasn´t gotten intensely cold yet, and being in the equivalent of the Argentine December and not walking around with a heavy coat means that it is in fact not looking a lot like Christmas. Just looking a lot like, leafless trees, and bundled up Argentines, who think a veritable ice age has swept the country. I just find it, a bit fresh.

This week proselyting might take a small step down. That´s because something much bigger than, yes, even Christmas is coming. THE MUNDIAL!!! That´s right. This weekend Argentina plays in the world cup. And the country is preparing to shut down. We´re playing against Nigeria at 11:00 Argentine time Saturday morning. I will be trying to preach the gospel in the meantime. As far as South American teams go I definitely give my white and blue clad Argentine superstars the edge. Yes that includes over Brazil Scott.

Other news. This week we´re getting ready to accept the new office couple. The Jones´. I´ll be starting to train Hna Jones on her new secretary duties this coming week. Which means the end of transfer date is coming a lot faster than I thought. The Fitchs´, The office couple that is here right now, are going to be heading out at the end of the month. It´s going to be hard dealing with all the changes. But such is life in the mission. The Lord´s work continues onward no matter what.

On that note, the past week has been a testimony to me of just that. The Lord´s work will continue. I don´t think I explained this transfer´s situation thoroughly enough. We were placed in a trio companionship, so that Elder Gibbs could train Elder Boyer to be Registrador. Thankfully Elder Boyer didn´t have to come in cold turkey. He´s been with me for 4 weeks now. We were a companionship of three; hence Elder Gibbs was available to be transferred. Elder Boyer is from Pleasant Grove Utah, and is one of the first missionaries in his family. We work very well together. The only problem was that as three missionaries we were able to do a lot. A whole lot. One of us could easily go out with a member to the set appointments while the other two could simply go out and find other investigators. We were doing the work of four missionaries. Which meant that going back to was an abrupt change.

We passed through some trials last week. Macedonio will have to postpone his baptismal date to the 19th due to some complications with his baptismal interview. We were doing crazy changes with the district leaders to organize the said interviews, and as a result the work got thrown off a bit. One member who was solid and going out with us found work this week and couldn´t help us. Additionally with Elder Gibbs gone, I was assigned to take over his duties as district leader. It was a lot of pressure. Elder Gibbs was hands down a zone leader quality Elder and is headed down to take over the coast zone as we speak. Which among the craziness of trying to maintain the work of three missionaries and assume the other duties that my position would now entail not to mention keeping my secretary job up in the offices, made for an interesting week. As stressful as that sounds, when one is working from 6:30 am to 10:30 PM, there really are enough hours in a day to do everything.

The last week, I found the best thing to do when feelings of inadequacy or stress came was just working. Working in the area is always the best part of everything I do. I don´t want to say it´s relaxing, it´s work, but I just love teaching and talking to people. Bearing testimony and feeling the spirit. It was hard the past week as many of our plans fell through, but I´ve always found that whenever a door closes in the mission, another one opens. For example, on Saturday morning, our appointment with two of our best investigators Luis and Veronica fell through. Especially unfortunate as their neighbor Arnaldo was there with us and would have to work later that day. In addition, later that afternoon, our appointment with Macedonio fell through, which left us stressed and disappointed as he needed us at that point more than ever. We were at the breaking point after a long list of similar occurrences earlier in the week. But something interesting happened. After both appointments fell through, shortly after we were able to find new investigators. Additionally, when we went to our later appointment that day with Luis and Veronica, Veronica´s sister was there in the charla and was able to participate and feel the spirit of the BOM. Similar situations were common throughout the entire week. One plan falls through, one door shuts, and then another door opens. God is the one directing this work, not us. And even when our plans fall through, the Lord always has better plans in mind if we do our part and qualify for the spirit.

This week, Macedonio has been doing much better. Thank you for your prayers in his behalf. He is determined to make it to church and make it to his baptismal date in the coming week. Unfortunately his daughter Maira is passing through a hard time right now. She was so excited about her baptism and telling her family until her mom and older brother, both of which refuse to listen to us, told her that she´s catholic. That she doesn´t need to be baptized two times. Among other things, they explained to her that our religion was not necessary, and stomped out the proverbial flame that was Maira's unshakable testimony of the BOM. She read the whole picture book in a matter of days. She passed her baptismal interview and everything. It´s a very complicated situation now. And we´re hoping that it will turn out all right.

Daniel, mountain man boy scout, is progressing just fine. We had a good charla with him the other night in which he explained to us that he believed the BOM was true but didn´t feel it. He told us it would take some time. We taught about fasting and invited him to receive the answer if he would dedicate himself to really receiving it.

Luis and Veronica are investigators we found three weeks ago. I believed I explained it in the email about 4 weeks back or so. They have been progressing fantastically and trying to get to church. Veronica has such a sincere heart. She recognizes us as servants of the Lord, and always reads her book of Mormon at least twice before we come. Her doctrinal understanding always strengthens my testimony. We watched the restoration video with them the night before and she began to cry. It answered many of her questions, and she told us she wants to go to church to see if this really was the end to the search she had been on her whole life. The only drawback is Luis still thinks church is just where they teach you to sing and you feel good. We are praying fervently that they can find a way to arrive.

Well, I´m out of time. But I love this work. We passed through some hard times this week, but being diligent and working through is always the best solution. If we just keep working things always get better. The Lord is over all, and he blesses us when we make the sacrifices and don´t give up. The witness always comes after the trial of our faith. I know this message really does change the lives of the people. This is a great and marvelous work.