another transfer

¡Hola Todos!

Its transfer week and im heading out of Mercedes! My new area will be in the city, ya my first time. Its called Rafael Castillo. I was a little dissappointed about the changes at first, but its where the Lord wants me to go and what he wants me to do. My new companion will be Elder Maycock, another American companion. I dont really know him but Ill let you know all the details next week. 

The time I had in Mercedes was great though. I learned and progressed so much. But I only have around seven months left on my mission, so I really want to "Sharpen the Saw" and perfect even better all that I have learned and all my experience over this time on the mission. 

Love you all and I´ll respond with more details next week how everythings going!

--

Elder Trent

nonstop hard work, nonstop success!

¡Hola Todos!

Wow! This week was nonstop hard work, nonstop success! Which usually the two together a missionary doesnt always get to enjoy. But gratefully and miracuously Elder Allen and I were. Well first off all we ended the week with the baptism of Familia Pajon! Celina, Debora and Santiago were all able to get baptized and the service was very spiritual. They all left so content and full of the Spirit. 

This week we also had one for the books with a record high of 50 lessons and 23 new investigators found in one week. And just to give you an idea of how high that is, when Elder Allen and I started together we were averaging 25 lessons a week with 10 new investigators. I know its not about the numbers but we were very grateful and satisfied to see the extra hard work we put in pay off. We are looking forward for the month of December to have a White Christmas, not from snow, but from baptisms! 

Sad news though, this next week will probably be my last here in Mercedes, so next week Ill let you know where Ive been shipped off to.

Oh and I had a funny experience to share or rather a word of advice to give. If your sandals are breaking, wait to put your feet in them again until AFTER the super glue dries...I learned the hard way this morning...haha

Love you all, til next week!

--

Elder Trent

It will be the Christmas month of baptisms!

Elder Allens mom sent him this paper christmas tree haha. It lacks ornaments but were getting there.

it says the tree of life at the bottom in spanish

This was our thanksgiving lunch that I made. I made it all on last pday and then we heated it up on thursday to save time. I made the ranch chicken, jello, coleslaw, potato salad and no bake cookies wahoo. a feeast!

Familia pajons baptism! yes Elder Allen and I found them together.

but anyways its getter hot now, a lot of humidity so im not looking forward to that again but i survived last summer. i rainined pretty hard saturday morning and we thought we might have to cancel the baptism but then it stopped around 4ish. that what usually happens hear though when it rains rains hard for a time and then stops.

at the church selfie

Happy Thanksgiving!

¡Hola Todos!

It was quite the week this week. I learned that the Adversary can really work hard too. .We started out the week, with the end in mind, baptize! We put in our best effort this week finding a ton of new investigators, involving members, and committing a lot of to be baptized. But the more we work the more the Adversary does as well trying to discourage us. We went through broken bikes and walking in our area, to members and investigators bailing on us. But the more things like that happen to me the more it encourages insteads of discourages me now. Something that I am so grateful for recently developing. Despite of it all this Saturday we are anticipating the baptism of Familia Pajon who have progressed nicely these past weeks. For me, seeing Familia Pajon get baptized this Saturday will be the reward. Maybe I was hoping for just a little more success, someone to come to church, or a little more support from the members, but when we make sure to do our part, the Lord blesses us.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

-- 

Elder Trent

Rain, baby tigers and bears!

¡Hola todos!

Its was quite the up and down week. Elder Lundell and I were without our companions for about two and a half days of the week as they had to got to a meeting for new missionaries and do stuff to get be legal in the country. So Elder Lundell and I were working together in both of our areas for a good part of the week, which made things a little more challenging, but when more difficult, more miracles, I like to try and think. We found some cool people together and had some nice experiences. And by the time the Saturday came, Elder Allen and I already united for a few days now, we had a ton of investigators committed coming to church. And then Sunday morning it rains. And when theres rain here, the world stops basically. No one goes anywhere. But we made sure to do our part so we could still have success or be satisfied with our efforts. So we got on our bikes in the rain and headed over to our progressing investigators house, The familia Pajon to see if they would go to church still. They agreed if someone picked them up in a car. So they actually made it! So sometimes one you think there isnt a way, there is a way. 

That same day we had another interesting experience. So theres this old lady that lives alone in the ward thats one of the pioneers here in Mercedes and has been a member since the church started here basically. Buts shes had a lot of hard trials in here life. One being that all her family that are members hate the church and say negative things about it to others. And this past week, she had an accident and broke a bone in her shoulder, hard, and hurt her knee. She went to the hospital but later in the week was sent home and his bed ridden for now. Somebody comes to help her every once and awhile, but is mostly alone, with very few visits. that same week, on sunday, she had planned to have us four missionaries in the ward come for lunch. But because of the accident, we thought that was obviously canceled. So Sunday after church, me and Elder Allen were eating in the apartment what we had for lunch, when we get a call from the Bishop. I answer and the bishops asked me a bit concerned if we had lunch today with the sister, (Sister Simon her name) because she had called the bishop trying to get in touch with us as she didnt have our number to say that she was waiting with the food for lunch! despite that she didnt call and was a lack of communication with us, we still felt so bad. She was frail and injured but still made us lunch! She was pretty sad, said the bishop and he told us to head over there right aways and by that point it was over an hour late. It was really hard for me that day. I hate letting people down even though it wasnt directly our falt. When we saw her in bed all beat up, sad and at one point started crying, telling us of her problems, but at the end she cheered herself up and it was so amazing to see the change in her face. First her talking about all her trials reciently first this then that, she completely changed and got happy because she knew she would get out it and her testimony was strong, trusting in the Lord. We always going to have trials in our life, whether its something like rain on a Sunday morning in Argentina being a missionary, or remaining faithful with hope despite every thing going against you. God will always be by our side.

Love you all!

--

Elder Trent

best part. this wasnt here the first time we went. Baby tiger!

We went to the zoo again because the new elders dragged us along. but it was still good.

its about 1 hr and 15 minutes in bus. so we cant spend a lot of time at the zoo because of the travel time.

I fed a bear, I fed it, some sweet thing they have here called batata. Its kindof liked jello slash jam.

This time, the bears were out and I got to feed it! My bucket list section of feeding wild animals is pretty much complete by now haha.

Elder Lundell and I

ya its a nice pench, because it was for sister missionaries ;p

This week my companion and the other elders companion from our district had a meeting with President with all the new missionares and then the next day they had to do get their DNI visa thing in Buenos Aires, so they were gone from Tuesday afternoon until thursday night. So Elder Lundell and I stayed together and had to work in both of our areas at the same time which was difficult but we did pretty well.

This is their pench that I stayed at, remember how they used to stay with us and then moved to the sisters pench? thats what these pictures are.

Tyler is a proud Papa

¡Hola Todos!

This week was good! The Familia Pajon is still progressing well towards their baptism at the end of November. Elder Allen and I are working as hard as ever! This week we had special zone conferences with President that really put things into motion. The area Seventy challenged us as a mission to have every companionship baptize in November and EVERY WEEK in December! So we got our work cut out for us, but we can do it! So thats why we had the trainings this week. We talked a lot about making the best use of our time always and they also introduced this new years Christmas campaign called Illuminate the World. So the whole mission is getting going and excited to step it up for the month of December. The mission goal of baptisms for November is 94 and for December its 376! So now we have a December calendar that they gave us to plan what we are going to do every day to Illuminate The World! Elder Allen and I are in the mode to find, find, and find some more. Its been quite the exhausting first week but worth it. 

At the trainings I was also able to see my first son that I trained, Elder Lopez, on the mission after nine months! It sounds kinda dumb but it was great seeing him after so long and to see his progress over all his mission. Hes pretty much a baptizing machine! So grown up! He also told me of the success of some of our investigators that we found together and how they got baptized finally! We had found them together and taught them a few times, but it didnt look like they would progress quickly. He then told me how they got baptized after he lefted! So sometimes even if I dont feel like Im having success, I may be just "planting seeds" for them. So it was a gratifying experience to hear of one of them that sprouted.

Love you all!

These are my two sons on the mission! Elder Lopez and Elder Allen. It was the first time i saw Elder Lopez since I was with him. But he got transfered to my zone this transfer so I got to see him. So grown up! haha.

Miracle week!

¡Hola Todos!

Great week! This week was the first of the new transfer and a great one. Our mission president has set a new standard so we can higher our expecations and have a new vision. And its all about baptize, baptize, baptize! So we started out the week by somehow almost dobbling our total lessons in the week, baptism commitments, and investigators in church. It really was quite the miracle week! This last sunday came three siblings to church, the Familia Pajon, and another named Luis. Luis is a good story. We were looking through our plans one night at about 7:30 not sure what to do, but I had put the familia cuello who were future investigators in our plans and so we decided to go there. Before saying three words, the mom, who answered the door asked if we wanted to come in! Then the parents gathered everyone around and told them that they needed to listen to the word of God. There was about 6 of them. But the one who really got interested was Luis who is 20 years old. The next time we past by and only Luis was interested enough to sit down and continue listening. But he had already read the part we left them in the Book of Mormon and prayed, which almost never happens after only the first visit. He said he also recieved and answer! So he was definitely prepared to hear the Gospel. It took him a few weeks, but he also made it to church this last Sunday and loved it! He would get baptized soon if he could but is living with his family and his girlfriend too, so well see how we can help him with that. But super awesome guy. But I just want you to all know that Faith in Jesus Christ is really powerful and having hope and motivation no matter what challenges we go through, is the key to passing through life happy, Just remember God loves us, SO he gave us the Gospel.

Love you all!

oh and happy Halloween!

-- 

Elder Trent

¡Hola Todos!

This week ended another transfer but Elder Allen and I will be staying together so i´ll be able to finish out his training. So on tuesday, we had a training meeting and our interviews with President. Those are always great to help bring back the fire and go out working even harder. Then on Friday we went to General Rodriguez, the area of the zone leaders, to do divisions with them so we lost two days in our area this week, but we were able to take advantage of the other days and have some good success. We are teaching a family the Zunino´s who are progressing well now. Last week, we talked with the oldest daughters and taught them outside their house. Their dad had reciently been put in jail and they dont know why or what happened. So they wanted to listen to us and see if we could help them. We said we could help spiritually so we taught them and it went pretty well. By our next visit, they had all read and prayed, and also talked to their mom about us and she wanted to listen as well. We could really tell that they were very sincere and in want of help even though they didnt have much of a religious background and dont understand much about God. The second lesson went well, we decided to review lesson 1 with them since the mom hadnt heard it. We invited everyone to be baptized and come to church as well. This sunday the mom and the oldest daugther, who`s 19, came to church! They may have not understood a lot but are starting to feel the difference in their lives, because they just want peace and comfort. Sadly, they had to go after the first two hours so they weren´t able to stay for sacrament meeting.(the schedule is switched here) but they are progressing well now. 

Even though the progress and success here in our area right now is a little slow, Im grateful for experience like with the Zunino family that gives us a boost of hope! I have learned that you always, especially in the mission, have to recognize the good, and that gives us hope. (Ether 12:4)

Other than that this week, was just the same old, same old! But Im doing great and love you all!

-- 

Elder Trent