To frame the context of this email, I´d like to share an experience that happened to me the other day.

As Elder Boyer and I were walking down the street on a crisp winter morning (just about spring now) we saw a man washing his car in his driveway. Especially motivated to talk to everyone, we struck up a conversation. He was surprisingly willing to talk to us, but surprisingly unwilling to accept any of our message.

"God is on vacation," he ranted, "and he´s not coming back."

His cynicism radiated off of him like cheap axe and alcohol. Before I was too quick to judge, I asked an explanation.

"Like I told you," he grumbled as he scrubbed his car down with a rag, "God is on vacation. You take three steps into the villa, and you´ll see. Those kids starving in the street. They´re destined to be pives y chorros, and those the ones that can survive. What has God done for any of them?" He paused methodically to throw his rag over his shoulder and stared me down. "God is on vacation."

I thought about my calling as a missionary. How I was set apart to declare "glad tidings." The Gospel. I looked the cynic in the eyes and said "He does live. I know He lives. And we´re His hands. If we want to change the world, it starts right here."

The man gazed at me condescendingly and began to laugh. "Vos pensás que podés cambiar el mundo?" or "You actually think that you can change the world?"

I was taken aback by the question. In my time in Argentina had I really changed anything? I wasn´t sure what I was going to say to this skeptic, and trusted that the words would come.

"I know the world can change, because I know that people can change. I´ve seen them change. It may happen slowly, but there are good people out there who will stand up for what they believe."

It sounded cliché to me. But I believed it now. As we kept walking down the street, I thought about my life before the mission. How pessimistic I was. How I was generally prone to think the worst of people and society. A glass half empty man. The greatest irony is, that in this past year, if I didn´t have a testimony of God, I would have an even greater abundance of fuel to throw into the cynical flame. There are hundreds of people we talk to. Why were we not baptizing by the hundreds and thousands? Why is the church so small compared to the rest of the world? Why are there so many inactive members? Why?

I learned something about optimism. Because amongst all the doubts, there are certain rays of glorious light that make all the hardships worthwhile.

Like the other day when we went to the follow up cita for a man who we had found the previous week. Enrique. He had listened to the missionaries many years back but had never actually taken their invitations. He had a good finding appointment, but it wasn´t spectacular, and we weren´t sure what to expect. As the older man let us into his house, we had our reservations. To our surprise, he did read in the book of Mormon. "I thought to myself the entire time I was reading," he started with a voice nearly choking with tears "Is this the truth? Is this what I´ve been looking for in my life" I bore my testimony that I knew the Book of Mormon was true, and that he had found his answer. "I know I have too," replied Enrique.

There was another experience on Sunday. Diego and Jessica who had missed church two weeks ago had fallen out of contact with us. We gave them a call on Thursday to ask how they were doing. "I read in the book" said Jessica "and I love going to church. We want to go on Sunday." They did go on Sunday. We had our doubts, but they showed up. Diego stayed for all the meetings and had many good questions about the Book of Mormon, which he had been reading steadily.

We made a good street contact with a man who accepted a Book of Mormon on Saturday. We rarely if ever give out Book of Mormons in street contacts, but the man loved the message so much and insisted so that he could read it. His name was Jorge. Jorge wanted us to come back at an hour that we were normally in the offices. With how busy we have been lately, it was difficult to make the decision and leave. Especially because our first instinct told us that it was extremely rare to get a return cita on a contact. If you don´t enter in the door on the first try here, you probably won´t get in. We put aside our doubts on Monday, and went to the appointment. Jorge was there waiting for us. We went in and found him and his Sister. He had read the part and was especially impressed that Jesus Christ had come to the Americas, something that just made sense to him. "Why wouldn´t Jesus come to the Americas if God loves all his children?" At the end of our appointment he prayed to know if the book was true. The spirit was incredibly strong.

I tell these stories because even though in bulk orders the Lord´s promised blessings aren´t manifest, it´s through the small and simple things. Optimism is the faith that keeps us going in spite of what our natural circumstance indicates. Because we have to believe that God knows what His children need. There is a sacred thing about people who defy their instinctive dispositions to do the wrong thing, and "become as Saints through the atonement of Christ."

Thirty seconds ago, when I was writing the above paragraph, I got a call from President. One of the trainers that recently got a new missionary is for one reason or another, going home tomorrow. President had a special assignment for me. I was going to continue the training of Elder Martindale. More news on this as it develops. I thought I was going to get emergency transferred out of Adrogué. As it turns out, I´m staying right here. But as a proselyting Elder. Not as an office Elder. Which, if I could have had an ideal scenario for my situation, it would have been that. I love this area. I love these investigators.

I know this is a lot of information in a little bit of time, but I´ll keep you informed. My P-day will now be on Monday again. So you can go back to sending my emails on Sunday night.

I love you all! This church is true! God loves us!