April 3, 2017

April 3, 2017

Hello All,

I really can’t thank my family and friends enough. I’m doing good here, but obviously I miss everyone. More than anything I am grateful for all the amazing people that I have had in my life. We get to know a lot of different people here and sometimes their lives were or are really hard. I will never be ungrateful for the amazing friends and family that are around me. I truly have been blessed with amazing parents.

This week was an interesting week...

I had been dealing with an ingrown toenail for quite some time and well after shoving cotton in it, it didn’t really get better or grow out so we went to the doctor’s office and they told me that they had to do a mini surgery. And I was like “What??” haha.  Buuut we went in for the mini surgery and it went well. They made a pretty big deal out of it, although it was just my toe. He chopped off part of the nail and it was a big chunk of nail that was also hidden in the skin. Grateful that everything went well. It’s just healing right now.

He told me that I could walk and I would be fine. I’m just a little slow. Haha.  Making sure it heals all the way.

My favorite conference talks were Mark A Bragg, with the light that we have. Also Russell M Ballard’s talk was a huge answer to my question and some of the doubts that I have in the mission.  

We have an investigator that should be baptized this week. His name is Gustavo. He’s a young boy and he’s pretty excited about his baptism!

I’m really grateful to be with Elder Told. He’s pretty awesome and we are having fun and trying to make the most out of every day. I have felt that my excitement is there, and that we just try to smile through all the things that happen.

We have been contacting and looking for ways to look for new people and I have seen that every time that there is just a horrible contact that makes us wanna quit, there is always, ALWAYS someone close that we need to find. We saw this a lot that when someone rejected us, the next house or the next person was a lot more receptive. This is a lesson for life. We will have a lot of trying times and times that are gonna want to make us quit but if we just hold on a little more, Heavenly Father is always ready to bless us.

That’s about it.

Love you all!

Elder Wolf

This is a picture I drew because when we were watching conference I saw the three-handed organist and it made me laugh and made me think of you guys! (Jacob's siblings always see the two people playing the organ at conference and call them the 3- or 4-handed organist)

This is a picture of Elder Told and I watching the Saturday session of conference.

Well, I had an ingrown toenail taken out and I guess they made it like a big deal and a whole surgery...haha.  So they gave me the hospital clothes which I think were meant for a seven-year-old and they brought the whole surgery table out. The truth is I’m fine and all but I just thought it was funny that they made me do all of that for my toe.

March 27, 2017

March 27, 2017

Hey all,

I’m doing pretty good here with Elder Told. We get a long really well and we are working hard.

Sometimes it’s difficult to see when the appointments fall or when they don’t want to listen but we continue with faith and hope.

We actually have a lot of people to teach and we are trying to find new people. We actually have been going to some neighborhoods where the missionaries haven’t gone a lot. (I like doing that because I believe that there is potential in all the areas) But we were contacting and we got rejected about 10 times and then we were going to go but we knocked one more door and they let us in and we could teach them. Also we found a member that is less active when we were contacting one morning too. I know that God guides us to the people that we need to know and we have seen that more than anything in this week.

There are some areas that are a little dangerous, so we are careful, but more than anything I feel good being back in Tucuman. It reminds me of the beginning of my mission and I really love the people here.

This Sunday we had one investigator come to church and his name is Gustavo. He’s working towards his baptism.

That’s about it for this week. We are doing really good, and by the way, the pension is one of the best that I have had in my mission. I´ll take some pictures.

Love you all. Hope you have fun this week!

Elder Wolf

This is a picture of a stadium close to the house.

Here’s a picture of a dog, because i can never resist them...haha

Here’s a picture of our sombreros. (I think the people already sent you this picture though)

March 20, 2017 - Back to Tucuman

March 20, 2017 - Back to Tucuman

Hello All!

Well my news is that I’m back in Tucuman! In an area called 9 de Julio. This area is close to downtown and I’m really excited to be working here. I got to know my new companion, Elder Told. He is from Idaho, and I’m super excited to be with him. Looks like we've got a lot in common.

More than anything I’m so grateful for my time in Tribuno. I got to love the ward and appreciate my time in the ward. I´ll never forget the activities, and the families that helped us feel at home.

This week’s activity is explained in the pictures I’m going to send and, well, the scripture that we shared was John 5:39 I don’t remember what the word is in English, but in Spanish its escudriñar (search). We have to escudriñar the scriptures! This means that we don’t just read them, that we can study them better, we can apply them.  We can act them out. There’s a lot of ways to be able to study and enjoy the scriptures. In the end the promise is that we will have life eternal. This is what we did with the ward. We acted out stories from the scriptures and it was really fun!

I’m doing good. A little tired from packing and from the travel, but I’m excited for this new area.

Thank you for your prayers. They mean a lot.

Love you all!

Elder Wolf

This was from our activity on Saturday. It was “A Night in Hollywood” and we acted scripture stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon. We made an Oscar with a sucker and we gave it away to the best actor. We made a red carpet, and we learned how to make bow ties from normal ties.

  

  

These are pictures of some of the acts from the ward.  We had a good turnout.

  

  

This is me saying goodbye to some of the families in the ward.

The Delgado family went to the bus station to say bye to me and it really meant a lot.

The other family is the Sotelo family. The younger guy in the suit is Mauricio. Unfortunately I won’t be able to see his wedding or his baptism but I’m glad to have known him.

  

  

This is of Elder Told and me

March 13, 2017

March 13, 2017

Love you all and I´m so grateful to hear what’s been going on!

Alright, this week was pretty normal. We are working with Mauricio more than anything, and we have seen that the trials and tests are coming a little stronger as he gets closer to getting baptized! Interesting how that works but I know that it’s not a coincidence, that it’s Satan, and that really there is an opposition in all things.

A young girl named Nazarena accepted a baptism date and we got to take her to the ward activity of new beginnings for the young women.

We found a lady named Lorena and her daughter that are now taking the lessons.

We have seen a lot of blessings and we have seen that when we plan and trust in the lord he helps us so that our plans happen. We do all we can first and he fills in the rest.

I would like to share a scripture in Alma 38:5.  I really liked this scripture this week because it talks about how if we trust in the lord he will free us of all our trials and afflictions and our problems in general. Being human, it’s hard to do this. We want security and we want to see what we are going to believe, but faith requires us to trust and when we put that trust in the Lord he appreciates it, and he blesses us for it.

I’m loving the mission still, through all the things that happen I’m grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for the chance to learn something every day.

Love you all,

Elder Wolf

This is a picture of some art that one of our investigators was doing. He’s the same artist that made the Batman.

This is a picture of the mountains. I really love Salta!

This is a picture of when we ate a Brazilian dish that a sister made for us!

March 6, 2017 Fish, puppies, and dresses

March 6, 2017

We are now in the new pension, and I forgot to take pictures. I’ll try to take some of the pension.

I can’t believe that I’m coming close to one year. I really can’t believe it sometimes. I feel like wow. I should know a lot more, but then I remind myself of all the things that I have learned up to now.

This week was good. We were able to find some new people to teach. A lady named Lorena, and a guy named Sebastian. We taught the restoration and are hoping to keep up with them.

We have also been working a lot with Mauricio. He is such an awesome person, and we sometimes can’t believe how well he accepts everything. We got to hear the testimonies of the parents of his girlfriend and they were so grateful that their daughter is coming back to church and also that their son-in-law is taking the lessons. They do all the things we tell them to do and they are seeing the blessings. He has gotten a better position in his work. We are just waiting on their marriage, and after that he is so ready to be baptized.

We still pass by the family Delgado and they are so nice to us, we just love them and are grateful for what they do for us.

This week we had an activity with some games for partners, and we were able to talk about the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 108:7 that tells us that we need to fortify and strengthen our brothers in all the things. And we had like a mini-Olympics of games for teams of 2 people. We are seeing the ward is a little more united and that they are more excited for the mission work.

There have been some mini carnivals in some of the neighborhoods and it’s like a block party, interesting to see how the culture is here.

Thanks so much for your prayers. We feel them and are always grateful for the support.

Love you all!

Elder Wolf

La Hna Cabezas and her sister and Daughter. They always invite us to eat and she’s a chef.

A sister didn’t have dresses to wear to church so we went and found some and we arrived at the house like this. Haha

This was the first taco that I have had in Argentina. That was super delicious.

These are some puppies that Mauricio has.

This is a picture from our activity with the barrio.

Guillermo Delgado cooked us some fish!  And it was really good!

This is a picture of us on Sunday morning.

February 27, 2017

February 27, 2017

Hey Family, sorry for the late reply but today was a holiday here and we went to an activity that the ward had, and it was amazing! It had a great turn out. It was in a camping type of place. Even though we left in time there wasn't a place with computers open, and so a family, the Sotelo family, is letting me use their computer. I won't be able to send pictures today but the next time.

More than anything I wanted to let you guys know that all is good here. I will take some pictures of the new pension and ward.

We found the boyfriend of a menos (less) active person. Her father just came back from the temple and are faithful members. We are talking a lot with Mauricio, and he is a chosen person. All the things have been going so well with him and they want to get married, and he wants to be baptized. We are so grateful for this opportunity that God has given us.

The miracle of the week is that Mauricio told us that he wasn't going to make it to church but he suprised us and he came to church with his family for the whole time. It made us more than happy because we prayed all the week that God would give him a way to go to church.

I love you all, and I'm doing good. The next week I'll have more time to talk (write).

Elder Wolf

February 20, 2017

February 20, 2017

(We wrote to Jacob about a local service project) That’s super awesome that you guys could help. Really the church is more than a church, more than a community, more than a religion, more than a culture. It’s really the kingdom of God, and these small things that we do to worry ourselves for our brothers and sisters here on the Earth is something that is a lot more than a religion. For that reason and many more it’s the kingdom of God because it’s what we should do, how we should act, and really what God wants for us to be in this life. 

(We wrote to him about someone in our area, whom we’ve known for a long time, getting baptized) That’s amazing news! Those types of things really strengthen my testimony of how the Lord has his own time! 

This week was tiring. We moved houses, and we are now living above a family in the ward. The house is pretty nice and we are getting all new things because we didn’t have anything to take from the other pension. This week has been the move more than anything but we did see some miracles.

One of my goals this year was to focus on a scripture every week, and every day write a ¨miracle of the day¨ because I believe that there is something good and a miracle in every day. It doesn’t matter how tiring or how hard the day is, there’s always something positive and that’s what I wanted to focus on so I will put some of the experiences that we had this week.

Tuesday: The first time I ate chicken stir fry here in Argentina (My favorite food) haha.

Wednesday: We were able to find a man named Angel, and he received us. We shared the restoration with him and he was really interested in the blessings that we receive for the family. 

Thursday: We did a contact and we talked to a lady named Lucia. We shared with her our propósito (purpose) as missionaries, and we shared with here that we don’t believe that it was a coincidence that we knocked on her door. She started to cry and told us that she looked forward to the next visit that we have with her.

Saturday: We had the activity this day and we prepared so much but then it started to rain and we got sad because we knew that not that many people were going to come. We prayed that the rain would stop, and around 6:30 it stopped. We started the activity at 7:30. The people were able to come, and when they got inside it started raining a lot again.

Sunday: We got sad because our investigators didn’t make it to church but in the night we passed by a reference, and they let us pass in their house. We talked to them about the restoration and I know that the spirit was there testifying with us. They were able to listen and we were able to figure out a time to pass by again.

I know that all these things are miracles. I know that God gives us miracles each day, we just have to have the optimism, and more than anything the faith to be able to see these blessings.

I want to share the scripture Alma 11:40.  This week I focused on this scripture and while thinking about it I realized the importance of our Savior and what he did for us. This was all part of the plan and if he hadn’t suffered for us or if he hadn’t come to the earth there would be no chance that we could return to God’s presence. I also thought about how much faith they had, to believe in Jesus even when they didn’t see him. Then I thought, wow, that’s like us. We haven’t seen Jesus, but we have this faith, the same faith through the same gospel in today. And how incredible is it that we can practice this faith with our works. I’m so grateful for what Jesus did for me, and for every one of you guys.

Love you all, I’m always so grateful for the love and support,

Elder Wolf

This is a picture that we took today in a museum.

This is us moving. We finally moved houses and we are now in our area. Before we had to travel every day to get to our area.

This is my companion looking like a cowboy, haha.

This is part of an activity that we did. It was a treasure hunt with clues.

  

Pictures of when it rained

  

A picture of a giant cross that is in the city