Dec 26, 2016

Dec 26, 2016 

We had a little bit of a trying week, but it was also one of the best weeks. But in the end Guillermo got baptized. We also got to hear that the dad, the brother Delgado who got baptized recently will be able to baptize his own daughter because she just turned 8. Its always so amazing to see the progression of the converts.

(I cant send you pictures today but i will have to do that the next week.)

We had our christmas conference and it was super awesome! Really uplifting and we had a white elephant gift exchange too. I recieved, in the end, a cup with a straw for mate (mate is this herbal drink that they drink here.)

We went to the Delgado family and passed some time with them for Christmas, and then we went to the Toledo family. They made us some staeak and we ate good. It was really nice to feel the support and love of the ward here on this day. It wasn't a hard day but I enjoyed spending this time with some people from the ward.

We got transfers. Elder Damron went to Tucuman and I recieved a Brasilian companion. His name is Elder Santana, and he just left his training. He seems really cool and I'm gonna try to learn a little bit of Portuguese with him! haha

I am still loving the mission, I felt at peace on Christmas, and I'm grateful for all the support I recieve. I'm so blessed to have such amazing people in my life that help me to stay strong. I'm so grateful for all the things that we go through. Everything that happens to us is for a reason and I am hoping to continue to learn from the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Short little thing. It rains a lot here, and it comes in like flash floods. We just got rained on hard, and we are drenched.. haha.  Through it all I wouldn't change anything.

Elder Wolf

December 19, 2016

December 19, 2016

Hey fam!

This week was a little bit of a test. I think it’s a little more difficult for the holidays because everyone has been disappearing on us. We are trying to find more people to teach, and part of that was a lot of contacts. Always interesting... haha I actually don’t mind doing contacts. I think it’s pretty fun to help people understand who we are and what we do. There are a lot of funny rumors that we here.

We got called over by a few groups of kids who obviously wanted to just make some jokes but it’s fun to help them understand more of who we are and we always give them a little card or something.

We have been preparing Guillermo Delgado for his baptism. He is going to get married this week and we are so excited for him.  His brother was the one that just got baptized and he has opened up more and has gone with us to visit people. He was always really quiet, but he told us one day that he likes to share with the people. We helped him realize the feelings that he was feeling that really no matter what happens we can always bear our testimonies because it’s something that we have that is ours. Testimonies will always grow faster and stronger when we are sharing them. This way we are always reminding ourselves and the people around us of the things that we know.

We are going to have a Christmas conference and we´re pretty excited for it.

I didn’t take any pictures this week.

I can’t wait either to skype with you guys.

Love you all!

See you guys in a bit!

Elder Wolf

12 Dec 2016 An Amazing Birthday

12 Dec 2016

I had an amazing birthday! The day was pretty hectic but everything went well, and I felt really loved by everyone. I can’t explain how much the support from home means even if they are little notes. It was perfect.

In the morning we had a zone meeting and there was a surprise... it was a big breakfast and it was awesome. Also at the end of the meeting they gave me a cake and sang Happy Birthday. They told me to bite the cake and as a tradition shoved my face in it.  Haha, it was fun.

Then a little more later, we had an appointment with the family Delgado, and they made me some barbecue.

Later in the pension we ate some cake and I opened up my presents. I loved reading all the little notes from everyone. I wasn’t expecting much for my birthday but I really felt the love and support from the people here and there at home. I’m so grateful for everyone that supports us here.

This week was a pretty good week too. We are still waiting for Guillermo Delgado to get married and then he can be baptized, and we have some other investigators that are close to baptism too. We always try to find the funny moments while contacting people and we have been trying hard to promote the new initiative, (“Light Up the World” in English?) In Spanish it’s “ilumina el mundo”,  haha. But every time I watch that video it gives me chills.

It shows us that we have this goal to be like Jesus Christ and well it shows us that it’s not that hard, right? I love this message that we have to share and what a better season to be sharing it!

Share my love with everyone!

Elder Wolf

Here is a picture of the zone

They had breakfast before a zone meeting and this was on my birthday.  Us eating breakfast.

  

This was a demonstration that they did with Elders, Damron, Vonasek, and Altamirano, to show how we need to adjust our teachings to what the investigators need to hear

This was us with some jackets that the members let us borrow because it was raining and we didn’t have ours

My birthday cake that they got me

This is a picture of the cake that they gave me (leaders of the zone, Elders Starkey and Olson).

  

This is us on the bus

A family prepared an asado, like a bbq, for my birthday

Here’s the family Delgado

  

I put up the Christmas tree

I loved opening my presents!

  

I got a big card from the ward and I loved it, too!

Dec 5, 2016 Baptism of Exequiel

Dec 5, 2016  Baptism of Exequiel

Hello all!

The packages arrived! Thank you so much! The pension was pretty excited when they found out there was stuff for them too. I will be opening the b-day ones this Saturday.

I’m doing good, haha of all the things that you think about that happen to us, you would think that you might feel a little down, but no, there’s something about the mission that doesn’t allow you to feel like that, (unless you are trying to feel sad).

I can say that I am happy! Being here has made me appreciate all of the things that i took for granted back home. Being a missionary is a grand title and with this service, with this work, we can feel the love of our heavenly father, and the love of Christ every day.

Most of the times it’s like a rollercoaster, but the opportunity, and the ability we have to rely on Christ is what matters. When we rely on them, the little things don’t matter, the things of the world become small, and we are able to live with a greater perspective which is the gospel. This gospel allows us to see the eternal things, and really this is what will make us happy. Yes, there are things that I miss things that aren’t the same, but I know that my time is short and that there’s so much more to this life than what we see.

This week was pretty good.

We had the baptism of Exequiel, and he did well! Next is his brother, but he needs to get married first. It should be soon! It was amazing to see how the ward helped us and were excited that he was baptized. We made sure that the water was warm.

We had some other investigadores too that were going to get baptized but we have to see if they have some little doubts, The people ask us about a lot of thing. Whether it’s a doubt or a rumor or I dont know but yeah, we have to be pretty prepared haha.

We are hoping that this couple will get baptized in this month too. They are a young married couple that just had a baby and they are listening to us right now. We have a lot of hope for them.  His name is Joseph and he’s actually from Switzerland, and her name is Sarah.

It’s been pretty killer hot here, but we have our hats and sunglasses so it works out, we just have to make sure we´re still wearing white shirts and not yellow ones if you know what I mean... haha

I really don’t feel like my birthday or Christmas is coming up. It feels weird because it’s all hot here and a different Christmas than what I’m used to.

Other than that we have been doing good, with Elder Damron, we get a long really well and we are trying to bring more people to Christ it always helps when you have the same goals with your companion.

Elder Wolf

Baptism of Exequiel

People after the baptism,

Picture of Exequiel and me.  I had my glasses in this one.  I’m trying to get used to them and using them to let my eyes rest for a bit.

The chalk board

Others in the ward with Exequiel

 

November 28, 2016 Hola Todos!

November 16, 2016

Hola Todos!

For Thanksgiving I don’t remember what we did. Haha i think it was just a normal day. Buuuut we did get stuff to make tacos this week, so that´ll be yummy! It honestly doesn’t feel like we´re getting close to Christmas, it’s weird... haha

This week was actually really good. We kind of started out the transfer a little rough and we wanted to get better, we tried to analyze all the things that we could do better, and well we have been trying, and we really saw the miracles this week.

We followed through with a referencia (referral), it was a little bit of a wild goose chase but it payed off because they are investigators of gold. They are a super young couple and they just had a baby. They both accepted a baptism date and they came to church this week. His name is Joseph and she is Sarah.

We have the nephews of the brother that just got baptized.  One (Ezequiel) has his baptism for this week, and the other one is getting stuff together to get married.

We were blessed this week to be able to find new people to teach and we have seen how God prepares them when we invite them to do things. Sometimes it goes smoother than it should and we know it’s because they feel the spirit and have been prepared.

Other than that this week went by in a flash. I try to take more pictures but I haven’t taken a lot.

We had the primary program this Sunday and it was just like what it would be over there too.  It cracks me up but it’s always a spiritual experience.

We´re trying to think of new ideas for activities and things to help the mission work here.

I´ll send you guys some pictures of the haircut. It’s growing on me a little bit.

That’s about all, I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Elder Wolf

Here’s Elder Damron and I

Here’s a picture with Elder Olson from Las Vegas. He is our zone leader

We live in this little passage, and this is our car! ... Nope, just kidding, we take the bus. Haha.

11-21-2016 Happy Thanksgiving

November 21, 2016

Hola Todos!!!

[We asked about the other elders in their apartment] The other elders are elder Sosa from Brazil, Elder Altamirano de Peru, and Elder Damron from utah. Elder Altamirano is our district leader. 

    So I talked to Hermana Chaparro and she told me that I should go to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked because they are still pretty irritated, and so we went today. She told me to ask for some antihistamine drops, but they started to do the tests and all, (pretty much the same stuff they do in the states) and she told me that my eyes are smaller than normal or something like that and that I strain alot also that I have astigmatism in my left eye I think and so they think that that might be the cause. I have to go back tomorrow and they will prescribe me the drops and I think glasses for reading and stuff like that. I'm not worried but its always such a bother to go to the doctors... haha

    This week was a roller coaster. We had a few days where our spirits were a little down. But we have been working a lot to find new people and well we had a little miracle. After one of the days kinda sad, the next day we had a really great day. We had been hearing about a contact that some members had and we finally got his number. We were headed to an appointment for a new investigator, but it fell through. Then right after we got a call from a member and he said that this guy was headed to the church right now and so we went to the church and got to know him. His name is Joseph. We showed him around the church then taught lesson 1. He accepted a baptism date after and it went well. It all happened so fast and we just knew that it was a miracle. Things have never happened like that but with the help of Heavenly Father and the members, it happened. Then in the evening we thought we should pass by another investigator in which the appointment had fallen in the past. We got a young man to come with us and she was there by luck! We started teaching her (Johanna) and then her inlaw came out and joined the lesson. with her we found another person that wants to hear the gospel. In the middle of this day we also got another referral from a member.

    We realized that the spirit really does talk in a still small voice. Its hard sometimes when we have a lot on our minds, but all of the success that we had that day, we didn't plan. and it was through the little things that we did, like talk to the member, or just pass by the other lady's house. Its the little things and it scared me to think what we would have missed out on if we didn't do these small things.

    I also know that God prepares us in different ways. Although why did we have to go through a day so bad?.. But really I feel like God was testing us to see if we were worthy and ready to recieve the responsability of these blessings. Theres always something better waiting when we go through tough days and its all worth it in the end.

We are doing good though. I am excite to be with Elder Damron still.

I don't have any pictures of this week, but I did get a haircut that's pretty short. Haha it's mas o menos.. I think it's the shortest its been in my life but I will have to take some pictures this week.

Love you all! Manda saludos a todos en Texas!

Elder Wolf

November 14, 2016 Rain. Lots of Rain.

November 14, 2016  Rain.  Lots of Rain.

Hello Everyone!

[There was an earthquake in western Argentina on Nov 13^th, and we asked him if they were affected] No actually we didn’t feel anything from the earthquake, but we did have a huge rain storm here. It had looked rainy the whole week but it didn’t rain and one day it looked rainy and we though, “Oh, it’s ok we don’t need anything.” We started walking in the street in our area, and felt some drops but thought, “Oh, it’s nothing.   It’ll pass”, and then came the rain. It started raining a lot, and I mean a lot. Like flash flood status. Haha. We went under a tree and it helped us for about 10 minutes and then after that the tree did nothing.  Haha. We were getting drenched so we ran under a roof thing and we were ok. Then we took a taxi to the church because there weren’t any members in this area.  Haha.

As far as the pants, haha, they are getting fixed. I am anxious to see if they are fixable. But one of the sisters in the ward is helping me out. Really nice of her.

Well this week was transfers and we stayed the same, Elder Damron and I. I am pretty glad to be with Elder Damron. He’s a good missionary and we are enjoying learning from one another.

As far as this week goes, not much happened. We are still working with the family Silva/Delgado. And they are doing awesome. The nephew has a baptismal date and is preparing well. We have been struggling to find new people to teach.  We have found some good people, but it’s hard to maintain contact and well we are trying to do more activities and include the ward.

Our investigator Juan Pablo n (in the wheelchair) now has permission from his mom for his baptism and his mom even said that she would like to hear our message so we are really excited to try and teach the rest of his family.

We are still trying to get the new pension. I think it’s a test of patience more than anything haha but we´ll see what happens.

I’m super excited to spend my birthday and Christmas here with Elder Damron this transfer. We get along really well, and we are both excited for the baptisms that are coming up, of Juan Pablo and Guillermo, the nephew.

I love you all

Elder Wolf

Here is us with the Family Delgado.

 

This is the Elder Brown that is finishing his mission. We lived with him and his companion

 

Here’s a picture of the bills that they use here. Thought it might be interesting to see.

Nov 7, 2016

Hello Family!

This week was a little stressful but pretty good! We have been preparing Diego for his baptism. He is the husband of a less active member, and he’s the one that just got married. I had been stressing a lot about all of the different things we had to do to prepare and I can say with certainty that the Lord helped us in every step of the way. There were days that I had everything prepared, but I forgot something and well I would beat myself up for it, because it’s one little thing that could ruin the plans of the day, but the Lord provides. He helps us when He knows that we were trying. We can’t avoid being humans but we can be humbled when we realize that when we mess up, He still helps us.

The baptism went well, everything went super smooth and it was a really good experience. The ward hasn’t had a baptism in a while and I think this will be the start of the growth of the ward.  Well, I sure hope so.

Other than that we are working on the next baptism. With our investigator in the wheel chair. Jaun Pablo is his name and he is super ready and wants to be baptized but his mom is hesitant, so we are basically waiting on that.

We have a lot of potential, but we struggle with making appointments because everyone uses the excuse that they are barely in their houses, and that they don’t want to set a time. They just tell us to pass by another time, but they don’t realize that it doesn’t just work like that, haha. We are trying to find ways to make them commit better.

I can’t explain the joy that I have for this work. The ability to see someone enter into the ordinance of a baptism is something that you can’t explain. Also when we find new people to teach, it’s amazing. Just yesterday, we met with someone that I had been wanting to meet with. We contacted him about two weeks ago and we have been passing by ever since but until yesterday we were able to teach him. He sounded really sincere and he accepted a baptism date. It makes us so happy to have people that are willing to follow the example of Christ.

Elder Damron and I still get a long really well. I think this will be our last week together because usually in this time that he has, he will most likely receive a new area. We will see.

Other than that we found a big spider this week and also a big cockroach. Haha. Super gross, but we tried to put them in a bottle together and well, we got the cockroach in and then the two other elders were trying to get the spider in  (because I wasn’t even going to touch anything near the bugs) and well the spider jumped out towards my companion, we had a good laugh at their reactions. 

I think that’s all, I love you all!

We found a little friend

 

The baptism of Diego

   

October 31, 2016 "Now the next thing is baptism."

October 31, 2016  "Now the next thing is baptism."

This week has been pretty chill. Except for that a dog tried to bite me. Haha. We were doing divisions (splits) and we knocked on the front gate of someone and this dog came running up to us from a fence of another house and I thought, “Oh, he doesn’t look that happy.” I tried to shoo it away by saying “cheh!” because that’s what everyone here says, but then it went behind me and tried to bite me. Haha.  Scared the stuff out of me, but it just got my pants, and well I walked around the rest of the day with my leg out. Haha. I just took a few deep breaths and thought... “It’s ok, it’s ok.” Haha. I was pretty frustrated but grateful that it didn’t get my leg.

Other than that, I got assigned a talk in sacrament on Friday and It was about the mission work. I wasn’t as stressed as I would have been before because somehow I felt like I was being prepared to give this talk. I tried to get the ward a little more excited about mission work, and I was really grateful for the opportunity I had to talk.  The story I used was of Alma and Amulek, how Alma is like us as missionaries because we are strangers in a new place, and how Amulek is like the members because he knew people and had connections. I think it talks about his reputation in Alma 10:4. But I talked about how they worked together to have a little more success, because Alma was going to leave Ammonihah.

I think we are going to switch pensiones (apartments) soon. We are living out of our area and it’s hard for us to travel each day. But there is a really awesome house like 2 blocks from the church that we are looking into. I hope we get it.

This week we have been working a lot with Diego. He is the man that just got married. We went to his wedding and we were walking with him and he is the one that told us, ´´Now the next thing is the baptism´´ and we were super excited. He is getting baptized this week and I am looking forward to a big baptism with the ward and all.

We are also teaching Juan Pablo. He has 18 years and he is in a wheelchair but he is awesome he wants to get baptized but his family is really Catholic. The ward has helped us a lot with the transportation and with accepting him and making him feel comfortable. I have been really impressed.

We have found a few new people to teach but we’ll see how it goes with them.

Overall I’m doing good, trying to be the leader and the missionary that I’m supposed to be and who the lord wants me to be.

Love you all! 

Elder Wolf

We assisted a wedding. The man is Diego and he is going to get baptized this week. This is the family Silva and they are so awesome!

 

This is us with a member, Markos.  Just a picture of us going to some visits.

 

I knew the day would come... A dog tried to bite me and well, lucky me it just got my pants. I was pretty frustrated but it’s just some things that happen in the mission haha.

 

This is a new investigator, Miguel, and he is super awesome. This never happens but he asked for a picture on the first visit and we said, why not??

October 24, 2016

October 24, 2016

Hey Family!

We were rejected a lot this week. We did some more contacts and well we had some really good contacts but a lot fell through and we didn’t end up meeting with them. We always joke around, Elder Damron and I. We laugh a lot and we try to keep our spirits up when things happen!

We have been preparing some people in the family Silva for their baptisms, not this week but the one to come! They are getting married this week.  And the man has his nephews that are also going to get baptized! We are so excited for them, and they are such a good family. We are trying to work better with the ward to further the work.

That’s about it, we are progressing each week, and we can see the fruits of our labors.

I love you all!

Elder Wolf

We ate empanadas in the iglesia for lunch one day. We were laughing at something haha.

 

We went to the teleferico again with the zone.

 

Here’s Corey and me.

 

Part of our area next to the airport