¡Hola Todos!

Sorry for not writing last week! Lost track of time. But update of the past two weeks-We saw some great progress this 2 weeks! 

First off, we were able to go to the temple last week on Thursday wahoo! A huge blessing! We also started a Book of Mormon challenge as a mission to finish it in 60 days. So weve started things off good!

Right now we are working with two really awesome investigators! Things started to pick up two fridays ago during divisions when I was with Elder Alvarez from Chile. Our appointment at the end of the day fell at 8 oclock, so we start heading to the back up plan. And then I remember I contacted somebody at a house we passed in front of. So we stopped to see if they were home. They werent but a guy taking care of the house came out and talked to us. His name is Nahuel. he is 24 yrs old and has a month yr old daugther and is married. Whaaat. We taught him outside because it wasnt his house to let him in. It was the most spiritual lesson Ive ever had outside! So good! The whole time, I was like wait is thisguy for real? can he really be that great? Hes an active member from a cristian church. But commented how he doesnt feel that theres a set doctrine there, or anywhere, that everyones so different in what they belief. He understood so well and was interested about the authority you need to have to be baptized, since he was already baptized in that other church. He accepted the BoM so well and wanted to know if it was true. The next time, he shared more of his experience reading and how he can recognize his answer. Tonight we plan to teach the Plan of Salvation and hopefully with his wife too!

Our other investigator we´re working with, her name is Juliana. She is 12 yrs old. She was a reference, that I recieved like two months ago here, but we could never find her, until last week! We endured to the end and finally found her! Her grandma is actually a member too! So we taught her, she accepted a baptismal date and came to church!

So we´re pretty excited to see the progress of them!

Til next week! Enjoy Conference! Wahoo!

Elder Trent

he caught me off guard on that last pic hahaha

This is Juliana our investigator. and her grandma and a lot of other grandkids. 

Old cars

Street...art

Great Pic huh?

robbery story

So we were walking back to the pench on sunday night when I was in a threesome with the other elders in the pench since my companion had just gone to the offices to go home. Right before we take out the keys a guy comes around the corner asking us if we can help him out with a little money. I didnt have anything on me, neither did elder motta. and the other elder was new so he didnt understand what was going on. he then started to say how he always saw us come here and knew we lived there, we dont him we didnt saying we always visited members from the church that live here. so we said we would ask them"the members" if they had anything to give him and then he hiding around the corner. We pretended to contact the house and waited, meanwhile we hid our keys to the place, in case they took them from us and saw that he had left supposedly and we left to go to a members house that lives two blocks away from our pench. We start walking and he finds us again, we would have just kept walking but he had two other friends their one hiding in the shadows, we didnt know if he had a weapon so we stopped and the elder that didnt understand much, we told him before the guy came back that he was asking for money, and the elder turns out had five pesos. so when he found us again we gave him the five pesos and he told us he would wait for us to go get more. So we went to the members house and told him what happened. We called the asistents and waited in his house for a while and then he drove us back in his car to see if they were still there. They had left so we found our keys and went in and lock the doors. Thats about it, they never came back. It wasnt really that bad.

¡Hola Todos!

It was a good week! I always say that, but every week as a missionary is a great week no matter what happens! Gustavo is progressing well, hes on his high as a recent convert, loves everything. The other day we visited him and his neighbor was there so we taught him as well! Turns out he was recently separated from his wife and stopped going to his church because thats where is exwife goes still. He had a lot of good questions and opened up quickly to us. We felt to share the Plan of Salvation, even though we normally start with the Restoration, based on his questions and needs. He really liked it and we plan on going back today in the afternoon so we´ll see how it goes. 

Our area continues a little slow but its helping us grow. The Lord hastens his work we´re just the ones that needs to make sure we all always doing our best, being obedient, and keeping the spirits up!

Love you all!

-- 

¡Hola Todos!

Its been a great two weeks! Last week I wasnt able to right because all the internet place closed for a holiday called Carnaval. So Gustavo got baptized! it was great, the actual baptizing part was really difficult though. Since he is in a wheelchair it was a little tricky. After thirty minutes of trying to get him in the water, we finally did it by bringing a chair in the water and sitting him down, my companion baptizing him and me in the water holding down his legs. He was pretty nervous but in the end was relieved.

Elder Vances last week was good, he was pretty trunky not gonna lie but we finished good with a baptism so, mission accomplished! Now Im with Elder Dye from Idaho. We were companions for a week a year ago, so we already knew eachother well and start off our first week great with good teaching unity. We had whats called Council this past week, which is like a meeting with all the zone leaders, the sister training leaders, the assistents, and president, talking about whats happening in the mission and what we need to improve on. So that was a cool experience, we got to go to president Robertsons house that is in a different mission, and ate american food for lunch, so good!

So this week we couldnt find hardly any of our investigators, they were on vacation, or working all week, so no updates for them. However we have been working with a new investigator we found two weeks ago thats starting to progress really well, her name is Cintia. Shes had a rough life and doesnt really believe in all the churches. After teaching the Restoration, we helped her to understand better, and how her focus she be on christ not all that goes on in the churches. She accepted to read and pray. The next time we went by she had read but not prayed, and then after that, the next time we went by she had prayed and gotten her answer! It was really cool, its not very common that that happens like that. So now we are helping her recognize what her answer means so she can connect it to the restore Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yesterday we had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation. So she is progressing well and has plans to come to church next Sunday!

Love you all, Have a happy week!

--

Elder Trent

Elder Dye from Idaho

Gustavo's Baptism

Another good week!

¡Hola Todos!

Another good week came and went. We have been able to find a few good new investigators, do a few good divisions with the zone, normal stuff. Gustavo is preparing still for his baptism on Saturday, he couldnt come to church yesterday only because he had seizures Saturday night, pretty good excuse id say. So Ill keep you all updated on that next week. For now none of our other investigators are progressing but thankfully we continue to find more and more news everyweek to share the restored Gospel to! I love this Gospel, its so true. The more I share it with others, the more desires I have to continue finding new people so they can receive the Lords promised blessings! I can gratefully say that the mission has changed me, that I have been able to feel the Lords hand in my life even more every day. I couldnt be enjoying more the mission! Love you all and have a great week!

--

Elder Trent

¡Hola Todos!

It was a solid week, it was pretty normal nothing too exciting. We were able to visit Pablo and Norma this week. The loved church last Sunday and had a few good questions about it. Pablo is super awesome, we had left him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and come back to find he read that and then started from the beginning. Hes now in 2 Nephi! And he is a busy man, always working, we can only go by them on Wedsndays, but he was able to make time to read, when he was traveling, when he had a small break in work, at night, etc. So it really shows hes got real intent. When we went by last Wedsnday instead of teaching the plan of Salvation like planned, we talked more about the Book of Mormon, why its important to know its true, and how to know its true. However he said he wanted to wait until he finished the book to ask God if it was true and decide if he wanted to be baptized. We shared the common analogy of the cake how you only need to try one portion, but he just responded saying he likes to eat the entire cake! haha, hes a little stubborn but super great. So for now, he´ll keep reading. They werent able to come again to church yesterday, because they had another commitment, but plan to continue attending. 

Gustavo couldnt be better, we´re pretty sure he will be baptized the 25th of February since he came to church again this Sunday! It will be my companions last baptism in the missionary as he goes home that next week. He lives alone and in a wheelchair so its pretty hard for him, but he shared to us this week how now hes got a different excitemint and happiness in his life and now the feeling of being along left him completely. Hes feeling and seeing the changes in his life so is even more stoked to be baptized!

Til nest week!

-- 

Elder Trent

Contacting trees?! haha

¡Hola Todos!

What a great week Id say. This week we did a couple divisions with some companionships in the zone which were good. Its nice to have divisions every once in awhile, get a small change, new scenery, new companion, meet new people, and just for one day. Its pretty much the closest thing I have here to a vacation other than I had to sleep on the floor for one of them haha. But its good, learned quite a bit too.

Anyways, this week also consisted of a lot of walking, a lot. But my trusty sturdy shoes are still holding out strong for me so all good there. Oh and also we finally got a fan for our apartment! Just in time for the end of summer wahoo. We had to bring all four mattresses downstairs to be able to use the one small fan for the four of us for the past 2 months. But all back to normal now, oh other than the fact that im now contacting trees, that I swear look like people. I dont know, i guess you just get to the point in the mission, after saying hi to so many people, that even the plants look good enough to greet haha.

Other than that, im doing great here in Villa Tesei. We are working with a lot of great people. This week we found a really awesome family, Pablo and Norma. Other missionaries before us had contacted them, but could never get in contact with them to teach good. But this last wedsnday we were able to teach them, and it was amazing! They are super great! They had a lot of great questions and are really interested. We invited them to be baptized and come to church and they accepted both! And when Sunday came around they both came for Sacrament Meeting! It was fast and testimony meeting and really spiritual meeting. Pablo was so into it. Norma had to go out after the sacrament, because she had to deal with their 2 year old son who has autism, but they were able to find the nursery room with all the toys, so they were happy as well. So they both are progressing well and so fast. We are really excited for them to see if they can make it to be baptized by the end of the month. A great miracle.

Love you all and have a great week!

-- 

Elder Trent

the only picture of the week. the closest thing there is to a jungle here. the river at the end of our area.

Schedule Changes

¡Hola Todos!

Wow, what a crazy week to be a missionary! So many changes! Most of you have probably heard by now, but there was a Worldwide missionary broadcast this past week with a few cool changes to our schedule and key indicators we report every week. The most excitment part is that we have more time on pdays and more time to sleep at night(9:30) wahoo!! 

Anways other than that not much happened, the work continues slowly but surely. Right now we are still helping Gustavo(the one in the wheelchair) get baptized for Febuary with his main struggle of waking up to go to church. Just come to church! Its frustrating! haha (ifs youve seen The District you might have caught the reference). But even though he didnt come, we have two very unexpected investigators in church. one is the husband of a recent convert and the other is the boyfriend of a member. so that was cool! well see if they progress soon! 

Thats about all for the week, not much more to tell, but hope yall have a great week!

-- 

Elder Trent

this is me shaking hands and saying hi to Elder Stevenson. cool right?

cardinal bird. sketchy spiral staircase of an investigator

pics in the argentine streets. the red box is a shrine of a saint thats called gauchito gil. the other is a homemade tricycle haha.