Monday, May 21, 2018

White Wash Week 1

Mon., May 21, 2018 (Luque)

Wow! Well it has been a crazy week! Monday night we left the Chaco; Elders Messa, McEwan, and I were all transferred out.

Tuesday morning we got to the terminal at 3:30 and we had a lot of waiting to do, a couple of taxis, and such, but I finally ended up in Luque, where I met my companion, Elder Aguilar, from Cancun, Mexico! Well he didn't show me to the area since it's a whitewash! That means that Pte Evans took out the 2 previous missionaries and put us 2 in together. The other missionaries were Sister Training Leaders and from what we have heard we were put here instead because it was a little dangerous for the Hermanas to be here. There shouldn't be any problem now.

As for the area, wow! There are tons of members! There are 4 missionaries in total in Bella Vista, the other 2 are Elders Sotec and Torres from Peru. Our area here is huge! It used to be 3 proselyting areas, but we have to cover 2 of them. The ward had 151 people in church Sunday, and has at least 50 returned missionaries! The former missionaries in our area hadn't had any baptisms in 8 months, but the members are anxious to help us, so we are excited. They give us lunches, snacks, water, support, are willing to go visit people, help investigators go to church, and I am just here with my jaw dropped, I haven't had an area like it! And I mean they aren't just giving us rice and empanadas, like they are really exited to have Elders again!

We've spent the last week just visiting and getting to know the references. Here in the city where there are members, the method of working depends on the missionaries, and is generally grouped in 2 categories: street contacting and references. Well let me tell you references are 748369587629387465837465834653874 more likely to be successful so we are establishing a good relationship with the members, and they've already started helping us so much! Elder Aguilar and I were given time to introduce ourselves in Sacrament Meeting, and I could hardly speak there were so many people! I'm used to giving talks to Elder Castellaw, an investigator or 2 and a half dead light bulb! It's a huge testimony builder to see these members and their willingness to serve. Really it shows the importance of members. I'd like y'all at home to think about your friends or family or anyone that doesn't know of the true gospel, and figure out with the missionaries the best way to help your loved ones in their lives. Sometimes it's a visit, sometimes an activity, but as soon as they let the missionaries in, they'll be way happier, not just with temporary pleasure, but the happiness that only comes through Christ. Thanks for the prayers and emails!

A couple of cool members:

Fernando--nicknamed Pechuga (it means chicken breast, a nickname from his childhood that stuck)-- Chamorro: almost 17 years old and helps us missionaries a lot.

Stake Pt. Hermosilla: well we got here and the second day the Stake President wanted to show us around. He actually lives down the street and gave us lunch on Saturday also! It's always nice having the Stake President on your side! hahaha

Martin Gonzalez: he returned from his mission 10 months ago and was sustained as the new Ward Mission Leader yesterday. He's pretty hype too.

So basically to sum it all up:

1 There are members! (They know how to cook too!)
2 The members love us!
3 We have room to expand in the investigator numbers and members that want to help us do it!

Pictures:

1 Saying goodbye to Elder Robinson and Elder Messa.

2 Goodbye Elder Falcon.

3 Goodbye Elder Brunson.  Elder McEwan as Donald Duck.

4Goodbye Elder Trejo.

5 Goodbye Elder McEwan!

6 The Luque welcoming party: Elders Hermansen and CastaƱeda are my new Zone Leaders!

7 Our new house.

8 Our house key...

9 My new companion, Elder Aguilar from (close to Cancun) Mexico!

10 There's a huge soccer museum and an international airport in our area!

11 Elder Aguilar!

12 Elder Castellaw and I never took a despedida photo so heres a throwback to Christmas!

13 Out here with my boy Fernando "Pechuga" Chamorro! He showed us half of our area this week!

14 Here's a photo from one of the member families: Familia Chamorro. In regards to the bottles, there's a company here that takes used bottles and puts Koolaid-like punch in them. hahaha As you may have noticed, that includes beer bottles... but no worries, its just pina flavored punch.

Have a good week!

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