December 30, 2009

Christmas was awesome. We were with a German and Dutch family. They were speaking to me in German, Dutch(which I understood nothing) and spanish....quite confusing.We ate lots of food, and I am still full to this day. And we have new years tomorrow. I am a little scared....they feed us way too much food.We have just been busy with investigators this last week, getting Franco baptized and working with his mom and brother still.NOt really much to say, I just talked to all of you. Thank you for the support and the christmas gifts. I am loving where I am and what I am doing.I love you all,Elder Andy
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

December 16, 2009

Transfers.Whew...this has been a pretty rough transfer. Well, at least the things that changed... or rather things that didnt change. In Almost ALL of the companionships in this zone, the companionships stayed the same, and there is someone with less than 3 months in every area... In other words, there are a lot of people talking about home, and a lot of the time. I am with Elder Glassman again this transfer. This probably means that I will be here in Mar Del Plata until March, and then be going to my last area of my mission. I fear for this zone, and for this part of the mission because there is SO much potential. There is a lot of work to be done, and the older elders are starting to get lazy. And it does not help that they all have pretty much the same time. In all honesty, I get along with my companion great. We laugh, we have lots of fun, and we even have some investigators that have a baptismal date. So, for me, at least that is good, right?It is very hard for me to believe that Christmas is next week. Christmas is not very big here, at all. It is a rare occasion to see somebody`s house decorated, and even less for people to talk about it happening. NOt to mention, I am just used to Christmas with all of you crazies, so it really just doesnt feel like its real. But its all good.Tomorrow we have a barbeque with a member in the ward who always is doing stuff for us. She absolutely loves the missionaries, and her birthday is tomorrow. We know that the ends just always come tight in their family, and that they dont have any plans to celebrate tomorrow. So, we talked to her husband, and WE planned it out. We are way excited for it. Meanwhile, we have a lesson tonight with Rosa and Franco about living Prophets. They have just been so great, and they are so excited for it all.I am doing well, just marching along, keeping my self in the fight. I will be honest, I really dont know what else to tell you about what is going on right now, just good stuff going on in the mission. I have been studying the Old Testament lately, and that has been strengthening my testimony SO much about Temple, Temple Marriage, The Commanments of God, The Atonement, The real power and authority of the Aaronic Priesthood, and that this is the RESTORED church of Jesus Christ, and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. IT has been wonderful to me to have this time to truly study and embrace the Scriptures.I love you all so very much, and pray for you always. Keep your smiley faces...Its Christmas.Elder Andy
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

November 18, 2009

Absolutely incredible. We had a baptism last night, and it was amazing. After 8 years of investigating the church, they finally got baptized. The spirit was so strong and there were several people in tears. More than 100 people showed up just to see the deal. Damian (the son of the woman that got baptized) baptized her. The incredible thing about it is, is that he is deaf. But he had been practicing, and forcing the words out. Yes, he said the prayer. Not with sign language, but in words we understand. It was amazing. And they bore their testimonies after, and it was so cool. There were several investigators there, and so many less active members that had known them when they first got to know the church. Apart from that, we have a family of investigators that wants to get baptized and we havent even taught them about what baptism is. We had been with them, and they were looking for more unity in their family, and so we told them that one way that will surely do it, is to read the book of mormon daily as a family, and then pray together. The change was amazing in one week. And they had just read about baptism being a new beginning, and they all want to leave their sins behind them, and begin again, clean in the eyes of God. Yes, there is still work to do with them, but the doors are just opening up everywhere we go. A less active member came back to church with a renewed testimony, and now we are teaching her husband. We have a Family HOme Evening tomorrow night with An investigators and his neighbors who are members. He loves church, and we still havent really taught him that much. There are so many things that we have going on for us, and there is so little time to do it all. I thank the Heavens that my Heavenly Father understands my best efforts.Well, my time is getting short so I need to go but I love you all, Sorry its so short. Take care, I love you all.
¨Lo haré siempre, y cada vez mejor!¨

October 19, 2009

Well, this week has been pretty nuts. We have had a lot of things to do, but we still know we can be doing so much more. We have been in the process of finding new people, planning baptisms, teaching our investigators, working with new converts, less active members, and a conference with Elder Bowen (President of the Area), and interviews with President Detlefsen. We have been more than occupied, but we know that we have the potential to do so much more. We have had a lot of doors open up for us in this last week, and so we are praying a lot, asking help from our Father in Heaven with these new people. We have recieved references from a member in our ward who is deaf. He wants us to begin teaching his other deaf friends, who have a lot of interest. And also we now have a blind investigator. We found out that some other missionaries in our mission had a book of mormon in Braile (the reading for blind people, dont know how it is spelled) and had them send it to us. Its going to be very interesting, so we are trying to get ourselves ready for this.Sorry this is so short today, we really didnt have a whole lot of time. I love you all very much, and thank you all for your support.Love, Elder AndyP.S. Happy Mothers day in ArgentinaP.P.S. There have been a few issues in the mission, and our mission President has had to revoke our internet usage to myldsmail only. I apologize if it is inconvenient, but I dont want to fight it. We had abeen given the opportunity to use hotmail, yahoo, and gmail before because this email has tons of problems and doesnt always work. Because of some things that have happened, he has had to change that. If you could please send your emails to elderbca@myldsmail.net that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.