Week 53

Mommy & All,

"To be or not to be. That is the question." -Shakespeare

This week was pretty good. We still haven't found a place to live yet in Perito so we were in Las Heras till Friday. The missionaries who are replacing us got here Wednesday at about 1:30 in the morning so that was fun haha. Wednesday and Thursday we were able to show the new Elders around and say goodbye the some people. There is a guy we found and have been talking with the last couple weeks named Raul here in Las Heras. He is 87 and claims he is a member of our church. He does have the Holy Bible with the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants references, but he doesn't have a Book of Mormon. He said the Bible was a gift that he got after his baptism which is why we were a little confused why he had that and not a Book of Mormon. He also described his baptism to us and said missionaries were there. He talks about how the church he went to (He couldn't remember the name) were renting a house and then one day they got up and the group left. So when we started talking to him, he said he wanted to come to church with us. So we still don't know if he is a member, but of course we went and said goodbye to him and told him about the change with us and the new missionaries. I went and visited him with one of the new Elders and told him I was leaving. Raul got really sad and actually started crying, saying that I was one of his best friends and how he'd never forget me. We'd only visited him an few times, but he loved receiving us. He said we were the first missionaries to visit him in years and he didn't really get many visits in general. So it was awesome to have met him and we arranged for him to get to church. I was also able to see Adrian before we left. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and talked about Eternal Families. We were also able to arrange for him to get to church as well. 

We got here to Perito Friday morning. We were walking down main street when a lady stopped us asking where the church was. We were kind of shocked and told her we didn't have a church yet but that we do get together and meet ever Sunday. She ended up telling us that her name was Susanna and that she was a member!! She told us she was baptized in Corrientes in northern Argentina, but that she has been her in Perito since 2003. She had been asking for a church here for a long time, but never found anything and never met any other members. So we told her where we were going to meet and she could come. Saturday afternoon as we were walking to my favorite ice cream place, a man stopped us in the street this time. His name was Daniel and he told us that he was a member as well!! In just our first 2 days here we had met 2 new members. Daniel is from Rio Grande, where I started my mission. He was baptized in Misiones up north 2 years ago, and right now lives in Los Antiguos which is about an hour away but he is working her. He also lived in Miami for 5 years working but has been back in Argentina since 2002. He loves to speak English with me and for not having spoken it for 15 years, he speaks really really well still. He told us he left his Book of Mormon in Misiones and I happened to have one in my backpack so we were able to give that to him and invite him to our meeting Sunday as well. 

We have some new investigators here as well named Gisel and Yanel. The last time I taught Gisel I was with Elder Soto and I'd never taught Yanel before. They are sisters and their brother is the Branch President in Pico Truncado. Gisel lives with her boyfriend and 2 daughters and Yanel we don't know if she is married or not but she does have at least 1 daughter and lives with a guy we think is her husband. Gisel had a new baby girl 2 months ago so we taught the Plan of Salvation and Eternal Families. Gisel really liked that, the only problem is her boyfriend Julian isn't all excited about talking about marriage so she can get baptized. Yanel has tons of problems at work with her co-workers being rude to her and how it makes her almost have depression. So we taught her the Plan of Salvation as well and focused on Jesus Christs Atonement for us and how he suffers everything that happens to us. How it is necessary that we have trials in this life because it is the only way we can progress and grow our faith. And how we can always find comfort and peace when we focus on Christ. Sometimes we feel like on one else in the world knows or can understand what we are going through. Yet there is always the one person who suffered that before we did in Jesus Christ. Also Gisel and Yanel's mom hasn't been doing great health wise and was battling cancer recently. She lives up north as well, but just as we found Yanel Saturday, her parents were down here visiting. Gisel brought them to church and we were able to pray for her mom together. We are seeing a lot of blessing in just a few short days of starting here full time.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen