The Extra Effort

T´was a good week.

WE WERE SO CLOSE TO MEETING OUR BAPTISMAL GOAL AS A ZONE AND WE WERE ONE SHORT! Two areas had some preTtty locked in baptisms that ended up not making it at the end. It was a little bit of a let down but collectively as a zone we worked hard and felt the blessings of the Lord. Next month we will work even harder to make our goal.

Well the sisters of Oran had planned a baptism for a family. They were progressing well. And then the day of their baptism. A huge storm happened. The streets flooded. And they decided not to go. We still had needed to do their baptismal interviews so we rode on bikes to their house with lightning flashes and rivers in the street. And we get there we do there interviews and we convince them that they need to be baptized that day. Well come to find out there wasn´t power in almost all of Oran and it would have been extremely dangerous to go to the church without lights and without power in the church. So we decided to do the baptism Sunday Morning instead right before church.

We get to church but the family never arrived. The sisters were calling and calling them and they kept saying how they were tired and that some didn`t want to get up and that they would just get baptized next week. Some were cooperating but the others were being difficult at the time. Their house was really far from the church and the baptism was going to start in 20 minutes. Elder Wilkes and I decided to bike 20 blocks to their house to get them up and motivate them to get to their baptism. My new bikes handlebars were not put on right when we recieved the bikes this week and the handlebars became so loose that I could not steer. I decided to use my own TIE and tie the handlebars to the bike so that it would at least stay straight. #Magiver

We get there and we talk to them for a bit and told them how the Lord wants them to be baptized now and that they will be eternally blessed. The whole family after some talking, got up and dressed and dashed of to church. The family of 3 got baptized. It was an awesome experience. We had to give a little extra effort to help that family be baptized. The advesary puts great detours sometimes for people right before they are about to do something great. We must be resilient in these detours and keep giving effort to move along and help others.

We did exchanges with the assistants. I got to be with Elder Carreras. Hes awesome and we got to find some new investigators together in my area. It was good to learn from him and recieve the advice he had for me. He says President is happy with what we are doing in Oran. That made me feel better about the work here.

Jorge, one of our investigators, said he prayed to find out if the church was true and felt an amazing confirmation of peace and comfort. It was awesome. We can all find out for ourselves if these things are true through faithful prayer and honest searching. He and his ''wife'' Noelia (I had explained a story about her) couldnt make it to church but they are progressing greatly and are preparing for marriage and baptism in April. Also Laura, our recent convert, has invited us to teach her mom Nancy. Nancy is very prepared and progressing greatly.

A lot of potential here in Oran! We are working hard!

Love you all.

FOTOS

ELDER WILKES

BAPTISM LAST WEEK OF THE CARDOZO FAMILY!

Élder Batman

Rama Pizarro

San Ramon de La Nueva Oran, Salta

La Misión Argentina Salta

The Godfather

Well, this week was awesome!

FRANCO and LAURA got married!  AND THEY GOT BAPTIZED WITH THEIR DAUGHTER MORENA!  They asked my companion and I to be the witnesses of the marriage. In Argentina, there is a tradition to call the witnesses of a marriage ``the Godparents.`` So I am the ``GODFATHER`` of Franco and Laura. (PADRINO in Spanish) Marriages in the US are so long. Literally the marriage service took like 10 minutes here.

They got married Friday and then Saturday they got baptized. I baptized Franco and Morena and Elder Wilkes baptized Laura. It was awesome. A lot of members showed up and supported them. They were glowing. They were so happy. It`s the first family That The Lord`s ever permitted me to help to baptize. I know that families are forever and that the step they took to be married and baptize will help their young family.

Laura`s Mom and Sister attended the sunday service for their confirmations. They loved it and want to keep attending and learning more. Franco and his wife our giving us a lot of referrals to teach other people. I know that they will be a strong united family in the church. The Cardozo family have a special place in my heart. They are so special. And I know that God loves them and has a great plan for them.

On top of planning the marriage and baptism and teaching all the lessons they lacked, nothing much more happened. But we have a lot progressing for April for baptism and we are excited to harvest.

Everything is good over here. No photos this week. Sorry. The cyber won`t let me. 🙁

Love you guys!

Élder Batman

Rama Pizarro

San Ramon de La Nueva Oran, Salta

La Misión Argentina Salta

#Miracles

Hey guys.

This week has been pretty crazy. We´ve seen the Lord´s hand working in our area this past week. It´s been such a blessing. Franco, Laura, and Morena are going to be baptized this Saturday! It´s been a heck of a ride with them. They will be getting married this week! #WeddingPlanner They had been progressing amazingly and have been so excited but they gave us a scare.

Friday, Franco called us and told us he needed to talk to us and told us that him and Laura were not going to get married anymore. Due to benefits they could recieve with housing and with schooling if they stayed unmarried and living together. (Freakin´ Argentina) They asked if they could be members of the church without being baptized. (because they love church but said they´d need to wait to be baptized) All of that in front of us I wasn´t sure what to say. I was on exchanges with one of the District Leaders of my Zone. We started to explain the importance of marriage and the law of chastity and obeying the commandments and how whenever we are about to do something big that will help us come closer to God (like baptism) The adversary always tries to throw in a stumbling block or a trap to detour us. We also talked about seeking first the kingdom of God. We were explaining all the reasons why they needed to. Then Franco pauses. And asks ´´Can we say another prayer? I´ll say it.¨ We of course let him do that. And he began to offer the most sincere prayer of giving thanks. He had been praying so earnestly to recieve a feeling of forgiveness for the grave mistakes he had made in the past. He had felt like he was unforgiveable. Than one day while he was taking a hot shower he was praying again, and felt a cold peaceful feeling. He said he cried and was just so happy. Franco said a thought came into his mind. He recieved a manifestation. The thought said ´´Keep my 7th commandment and you shall be blessed.´´It shook him to his core. He asked Laura, to look up the 7th commandment of the 10 commandments. But Laura got confused with the commandment thinking the 7th commandment was the 7th verse. So they thought it was ¨Don´t take the Lord´s name in vain.¨ Franco was so confused by it and then we explained that the 7th commandment was not the 7th verse but rather it was in Exodus 20:14 ´´Thou shalt not commit adultery.´´ (OR IN OTHER WORDS TO KEEP THE LAW OF CHASTITY). Laura began to cry when she figured out that , that was the what the Lord wanted of them. They only fault marriage and being united as a family. The Lord wanted to bless them. And they just had to be willing to take that step. We testified that God loved them and that he wants them to take that step of marriage and then take upon them the name of Christ in baptism. They prayed about it and knew that to be true. They are excited for their baptism this Saturday. I know that God is a God of miracles and works miracles around us everyday. I know that our Father in Heaven worked these miracles because of the Love he has for us as his children. What a blessing.

We also found a woman named Noelia this week who let us in. She is a member of an adventist church. We taught the restoration and really testified of it with power. She said at the end, ¨I know this is true.¨ We asked why she felt it was true. She said that the other day not long ago. She had a dream that the same man who baptized her in the adventist church came to her and said. ´´ Noelia. We´ve been wrong. This church is the real church.´´ And she said he held a blue book in his hand (the book of mormon) and that the he said ´´ELDER WILL COME.¨ She had let us in because of our name badge. And saw the Book of Mormon I was carrying. She heard the truthfulness of the message we had testified. She is preparing for baptism on the 7th of April.

I love being a missionary and love being in this work of great miracles. I know God lives and is among us. And that the grace of Christ is sufficient for all of us.

It´s been a great week. 

I love you all.

FOTOS:

When you´re area looks like Vietnam.

Welcome to the Jungle.

Élder Batman

Rama Pizarro

San Ramon de La Nueva Oran, Salta

La Misión Argentina Salta

Sugar Factory Riots and Broken AC

Um,

Where do I even begin. This week was just so interesting.

We had Leadership Counsel in Salta Capital. We had to travel 5 hours Monday Night, we got to stay in a hotel and it was great to see a lot of buds in the mission. The counsel was so awesome and spiritual. President focused on diligence and the power of the Book of Mormon. The diligence part was so strong. He talked about enduring to the end. That our mission needs to be an enduring to the end mission. A mission that keeps going even when times are tough of the odds are against you. A mission that when there´s little time to work they maximize it to the best of their ability. President Orquera testified of it and shared a very inspired quote from THEODORE ROOSEVELT :

¨It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.¨ 

President cried saying how he´s tried to live that in his life. And that he may have failed many times but he´s always gone down fighting, trying, and doing his best. We must all do that in our missions and we must all do that in life.  

Matthew 10:22 says:

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

People will criticize our success and our efforts. We will be mocked for our failures and short comings. BUT WE MUST ALWAYS KEEP GOING, KEEP FIGHTING, AND ENDURE! It really motivated me to really maximize these last few months I have left as a full time missionary and representative of Jesus Christ.

Monday and Tuesday we couldn´t work due to traveling. Wednesday we could work and find 7 new investigators! We could also help Franco, Laura, and Morena to keep progressing they are still excited to get married and baptized as a family the 17th! SUPER CAPOS!

I have been sick for a week and a half. I´ve been trying to keep going and going and I had been but Thursday was just terrible and after working for a bit I had to go to the hospital and get some rest up before our zone conference Friday.  I was able to lead the conference well but the AC was broken in our chapel and it was like 100 degrees with like 60 percent humidity. It was terrible.

So in Oran, there has been civil unrest because an amercian company laid of 200 workers at a sugar factory and they are mad and are cutting the highway so noone can pass and are rioting against the police and causing a huge mess. Everyone arrived safely for the conference friday but couldn´t leave Friday Night because no bus could leave. So 16 missionaries had to stay in Oran for the night. They took the bus 5am but they were turned around because the highway was still occupied by the rioters. 

So We had no time to work in our area because we had to find a way for the missionaries to leave with the coordination of President. We called buses, taxis, everything and nothing was working. We prayed fervently to find a way for the missionaries to get home safely without having to stop in the town of the civil unrest, called Hipito Yirigoyen. After a lot of searching we found a man in a restaurant who said he could take the 16 missionaries to Pichanal. We had to pay him 1500 pesos. It was a miracle. We literally searched everywhere. And it finally worked.

I know that was a lesson learned on diligence and trying your best even when times are tough and there isn´t a lot of time. We did our best to help our zone and the mission to be safe and the Lord guided us to find the way.

I am thankful for this week. It was hard, but with the time we were given we could find 10 new investigators and help our investigators to get to church. This area is progressing. The zone is preparing 5 baptisms this week and we put the goal of 8 for the month of March. Franco, Laura, and Morena will be baptized the 17th in our area. They are awesome!

All is well, Just tired over here.

Love you guys.

Élder Batman

Rama Pizarro

San Ramón de La Nueva Oran, Salta

La Misión Argentina Salta