Instrumentos en las manos del Señor

Howdy ya’ll! (I never know how to begin these...) Just a little thing that I want to throw in here, to make people back home more grateful for what they have: We visited our convert Daryl the other day to talk with him and teach him a little bit.  Right  now, he´s pretty stressed because he´s working 12-14 hours a day. with that, he doesn´t have time for much else.  Right now, he´s making about 14-16 pesos an hour (that´s about a little more than 1 dollar and a half).  So ya, just a little thing that I was reflecting on earlier.

 Well, anyways, it´s really in those moments when I´m talking with a drunk guy in the ghetto, trying to help him see the importance of keeping commitments like church attendance when I think "Wow... I´m on my mission right now..." It´s incredible to think that my whole life has led up to this time, and really, that thought has brought me to realize that I need to do more. Every week, every hour, and every moment that I´m in the service of the Lord, I need to think "How can I be more productive? How can I be more Obedient? (and ultimately,) How can I become the missionary that the Lord wants me to be? If we want to utilize the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we need to be willing to seek it out.  Maybe I´m not the best example of this in my life, but it´s something that I know.

Right now, I need to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Completely. Because there are people out there ready to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Our purpose as missionaries is to follow the spirit, invite these people, and baptize them with the authority that we have. Nada más.  

Ultimately,the thought I want to give you folks is this. "Am I doing what I need to to become what the Lord hopes of me? Maybe it´s vague. Maybe it´s difficult.  But, really, if you have the desire to obtain this, pray, ponder, search, and pray some more. Thank you all for you´re love and support, I can´t tell you how good it is to know that I have such great friends and family back at home. Les quiero

-Elder Holtry

Pancakes!

La Esperanza

First things first, the weather here can´t make up it´s mind.  It´s either super hot, or pouring rain... The other day, it was raining a bit... a LOT. and Elder Córdova and I were walking down the flooded streets.  Then, like in the movies, a car passed by and splashed water on us.  Sometimes, all you can do is grin and bear it. :) Still, the week has it´s gems.  My companion can play the guitar, so in a visit with one of our investigators, he borrowed their guitar and played while I sang a few songs. It´s nice being the only one that knows English, because I can mess up on the lyrics, but nobody knows it! :D 

This Sunday was pretty good, our investigator Graciela attended church, and a less active family that we´ve been helping out.  We had to move the baptisimal date of Graciela, because she didn´t attend last week :( But still, moving forward.  Also Sunday, I taught Sunday School.  The second hour of church, in Gospel Principles, I asked one of the members who was the teacher for that day, and she said that we (the missionaries) Were going to teach. It ended up being just me (I don´t know why...) But still, it actually went pretty smoothly. Ch. 41 from gospel principles i believe it was.

One AWESOME thing from this week was that we went to the temple!!!! We got the message the day before, and were super stoked.  We first went to San Fernando in the morning to do paperwork for my visa, and after took a pretty long trip to the temple.We ate a bit at the MTC there (It was alright i suppose :) ) and proceeded to go and work in the temple.  My first time in Spanish there, but it went pretty well! Gosh, the temple is seriously the best place on earth! (Being the house of God and such) I wish we could go more often, but it´s not in the mission boundaries, so only special occasions... But ya, simply incredible.

One thing that I was studying this week was about Hope.  one thing that I thought was interesting (like it says in Moroni 7:40) is that we can´t have Faith without hope.  It´s vital that we can build our hope to overcome discouragment, maintain the desire to work, so that we can have faith and work hard.  We need always to have hope and faith that the Lord will and is helping us. And go forth with this knowlege to do good works every day.

Sé que la esperanza es un atributo de Cristo que va a animarnos a hace lo bueno. Debemos trabajar a aumentar esta, y aumentar nuestras buenas obras siempre.  Sé que este es el evangelio restaurado de Jesucristo. Esta es su obra. Amén.

(Translation:I know that hope is an attribute of Christ that will encourage us to do good. We must work to increase this, and increase our good works forever. I know this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This is his work. Amen.)

-Elder Holtry 

Buenos Aires Temple

 One of the days when it was raining a bit... I put some plastic bags in my shoes to help with the rain 

 The last pday, we had a waterballon fight with the zone! 

 I taught my comp a joke in English. They dont understand dry humor very well here. It doesn´t make much sense in Spanish, but still...

Adelante

Hey there! Well, it´s been a pretty good week. As always, it´s had it´s ups and downs, but yea... pretty good!  So, one cool thing that we did last Monday was a Blitz on one of the areas in our zone called Boulogne.  We sacrificed a Prep-day, and did a bit of proselyting over yonder after we´d done email and all that jazz.  Twas a pretty good time! I got to go on Splitz with one of the zone leaders, and we contacted a TON of people! Also, one funny thing that happened this week was that I heard a few people use the word "Macanudo", which is pretty much the Argentinian equivalent to "Groovy"! hahaha I heard it from a few of the older folks, so ya. 

So, in the mission right now, they want us to do 10 contacts in the street (every missionary).  I was struggling with it a bit earlier the week, and in the zone conference over the phone that we have every night, (one night) one of the zone leaders pretty much said that I needed my 10 contacts the next day, sí o sí.  Also, after the conference we got a message from another group of missionaries encouraging me and telling me that I could do it.  My first thought was "Oh great... now I’m THAT missionary..." With everyone giving advice and everything.  I was also reminded of Jim Gaffigin, talking about bowling, and people giving advice for that! hahaha! But ya, I did my 10 contacts the next day. :) 

Alright, well, we were a bit bummed out yesterday, because 1) Graciela didn´t attend church, and 2) our other investigator (Milagros), who was excited for baptism, didn´t receive permission from her father (She´s under 18 years of age).  As we were walking away from the appointment in which her father pretty much said no, I thought of the song "Nearer my God to thee".  Especially the part with the "Een though it be a cross the raiseth me".  It was seriously sad and depressing that the father of Milagros can´t see the importance of baptism, but, really, the experience taught me a bit more that it´s through our trials, and sadness, and afflictions that we learn more.  Milagros will now understand that baptism is something that we need to work and fight for, and through that, she´ll gain more knowledge and wisdom.  We endure many things in our lives, and really, if we have our sights and goals set on a higher purpose, we´re going to change for the better.  

Gracias por todo amigos, y espero que todo este bien con ustedes! Como he dicho, y como yo diré continuamente, esta es la iglesia del Señor.  Esta es su obra.  ¿Que más puedo decir?  Estoy agradecido por estas experiencias y la oportunidad a servir in la viña del Señor.  Hurrah por Israel! 

(Thanks for all friends, and I hope all is well with you! As I said, and as I shall continuously, this is the Lord's church. This is his work. What else can I say? I am grateful for these experiences and the opportunity to serve in the Lord's vineyard. Hurrah for Israel!)

--

-Elder Holtry

This was sent from one of his friends in the MTC with the caption "Just remember, I am always watching you!"

Belgrano, before a reunion with the mission! With Elder Cordova

Arroz chafa (Fried Rice)

"Look what I found!!!!!!!"

¡Feliz Halloween!

"Did they do anything for Halloween?", you may ask. Nope.  I saw a few kids with their parents walking around trick-or-treating, but Halloween’s not a big thing here... oh well... :) anyways, this week was pretty good.  Alot better than the last one! Hahaha!  It´s been much smoother, and I’m used to leading the companionship a bit more. also, I’d just like to mention how difficult it is to contact people in the street sometimes! Seriously, I greet everyone, but people just keep walking usually.  Sometimes, they´ll say "Chow", sometimes, after they´ve walked a few paces more, they´ll mutter "Hola", and there´s a few that will occasionally send a greeting back in the same timeframe.  There was one guy the other day, I said "Buenas", as in "Buenas tardes" (Good afternoon) and as he was walking away, I heard him mutter "Tal Vez" or "Maybe"! Hahaha! But still, these contacts in the street are so important, because the Lord puts people in our path that are ready to receive the gospel.  For Example, I contacted a lady in the street a few days past, and she was interested in our message, and agreed to meet with us later that day.  Later, she told us that she´d already attend church before, and that she liked these doctrines.  She (Graciela) attended church with us yesterday, and felt the spirit.   Seriously, she was telling us a ton about how happy she felt.  Right now, she has a baptismal date for the 8th.  Now we´ve just got to teach her the rest pf the lessons, and make sure that Satan doesn´t get in the way... :) Seriously though, flipping satanás...   ergh. 

But ya, I love miracles like that! Miracles are a huge part of the mission, and of life.  I try to teach members here, that if we aren´t seeing miracles in our lives, well... We´re not completely living the gospel, because really, God works miracles in our lives every day if we let him! Every night, during calls with our leaders, we talk about the miracles that we´ve seen that day. So, every day, amidst the dogs barking and trying to kill each other, the heat or rain, or the drunk guy yelling at my companion for being chileno, I can look back, and be grateful for the gifts from the Lord that day.

Como siempre, esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo, con la autoridad de Dios y con su guía divina.  Por medio de la fe, diligencia, y paciencia, podemos ver milagros.  Estoy agradecido por esta obra, a pesar de las dificultades.  Este es el reino de Dios en la tierra!! Adelante, cantando alabanzas al Señor!

(As always, this is the church of Jesus Christ, the authority of God and His divine guidance. Through faith, diligence, and patience, we can see miracles. I am grateful for this work, despite the difficulties. This is the kingdom of God on earth !! Along, singing praises to the Lord!)

Adiós, 

-Elder Holtry