Spring is in the air here. It´s a nice balmy 70 degrees here with a cool breeze. We postponed p-day to Wednesday for the entire zone so that the office Elders could participate in the zone activity. Kind of ironic they decided to do that AFTER I was out of the offices. We played Fútbol and basketball. Then we ate an Asado. (The equivalent of the Argentine Barbecue. Basically big stakes on the grill.) But it was poorly planned and we didn´t have any bread, potatoes, salad, or anything. Just meat and soda. Further evidence that this work is inspired as we see the result of leaving even the smallest tasks up to rambunctious 19 year olds.

Congratulations to Elder Lauritzen who has returned with honor. I await your email anxiously and expect a full report of what´s going on.

Apart from that, thank you to all those who wrote me emails this week. James, Grandma Jensen, and Jonathan, mom, and dad. It made my day. If I didn´t get an email back to you I´m sorry. You’re still in my thoughts and prayers.

This week has been one of the best weeks in a while. We´ve seen progress in many of our investigators, and managed to integrate a few new faces. The big news is Luis and Veronica are getting married on Friday! We have moved their fecha to the 18th. It gives them a little time to get everything in order. I don´t want to say that I pick favorite investigators, but it´s hard not to. Luis and Veronica are a beautiful young couple that will contribute immensely to the ward here in Adrogue. They came to church last Sunday, and loved it. Especially Veronica, who gave her testimony in relief society. Several of the Hermanas came up to me afterward commenting on how impressed they were with her. This is going to be one of the most special baptisms of my mission. All of them are meaningful, but there´s something meaningful about baptizing a family. Seeing Luis and Veronica make the changes to get married has been a joy. I know that they are going to be a more united family here on Earth, but most importantly they are going to be an eternal family. I can´t express my joy in seeing their progression in the gospel.

Enrique has been progressing as well. We lost track of him a little bit last week, but thankfully he is back on track. On Sunday he came to fast and testimony meeting and really enjoyed it. We´ll get the full story when we go to his house tonight for our appointment. We´re still working on getting his absolute baptismal date. That has been a bit of a challenge. With Enrique it will just be a matter of time.

The biggest new face this past week was Carlos. Carlos was found by Elder Martindale while we did exchanges about two weeks ago. He and Elder Mortensen were able to make the inspired find. Carlos is about 50 years old and lives on a sketchy street in the villa. You have to walk down a long passage behind a closed door to arrive at a few humble houses out back. His is a small room with the stove awkwardly placed at the doorway and a spare room divided by a curtain where his bed is placed. That´s where Carlos is. At first entry, the bad smell of alcohol with the dirty plates makes you cringe a bit. But Carlos makes the small place hospitable. My relationship with Carlos has taught me a lot of things, made me change my thoughts.

Carlos knows he has problems with alcoholism. He wants to stop. It doesn´t take long talking to him to realize that. What´s more, he recognized the missionaries immediately as messengers from God. As a matter of fact, he refers to us as his angels sent from God. Carlos has a sad story that has gotten sadder and sadder as the teaching goes. Last visit, on Monday, he talked about his wife and about his children. He used to work as a high end car painter. Painting for Audi and Lexus. You may be wondering what a luxury vehicle artist like this is doing in a hole in the wall like that. "Now look at me” Carlos says "surrounded by drug dealers. Wondering if I´ll eat tomorrow. Wondering if I´ll wake up in the morning." I didn´t need to ask him what happened. He already told me.

"I drank. I drank a lot. And I can´t stop now. I can´t stop because the devil has me on his chain. And where he tells me to go, I´ll go. I don´t have a choice anymore. The devil has bound me down. And when I want to go to work, he says, ´no Carlos, you have money. Just a little drink won´t hurt.´ And the Devil pulls the chain and that´s where I go. I lost my family. My children can´t stand to look at me. You have to help me!" He wept through tears of shame, "you have to help me. Please help me! Take the chains away. Take the devil off my shoulder."

His story broke my heart. We have already testified to Carlos about the power of the atonement. We told him that he didn´t have the power in himself to stop his natural tendencies. We also told him that these tendencies might have been natural for him. But a quick read in Mosiah 3:19 revealed to Carlos what he had to do. It didn´t take a lot of brain storming for Carlos to think of the blessings he was missing out on because of his addiction. His family. His job. We testified of the power of Christ to liberate us from our bonds. That as he trusted in the power of "him who is mighty to save and cleanse from all unrighteousness" he would undoubtedly be able to focus on a new future. Instead of focusing on the things he was missing, we had Carlos focus on the blessings he would receive. That he had the power to decide, and in the strength of the Lord he could "put off the natural man."

Seeing Carlos there, helpless and enslaved and hopeless. The shadow of a family man. The former success now slathered and saturated in alcoholism. And his testimony of the Devil. It was an accurate depiction of things I had read about in the Book of Mormon for my entire life. "For the time is at hand that all men shall reap a reward of their works, according to that which they have been—if they have been righteous they shall reap the salvation of their souls, according to the power and deliverance of Jesus Christ; and if they have been evil they shall reap the damnation of their souls, according to the power and captivation of the devil, (Alma 9:28)," "and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell."

Carlos told us that the devil had found him in his time of prosperity and abandoned him in his time of misery. I testify of the reality of this lesson. I have seen the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments. I have also seen painfully time and time again that wickedness never ever was happiness. I don´t tell this story to put Carlos in a bad light. I´m sure if he could talk to each of you, he´d say something similar.

Avoid the chains of the adversary. He rewardeth you no good thing. If you feel like Carlos feels, pulled about by the will of the powers of darkness, trust in the Savior, and let Him give you the strength to overcome the adversary. Trust in the merits of he who is mighty to save. I know that happiness, peace, and the promised blessings of prophets both ancient and modern await you.