Monday, December 21, 2015

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

¡¡¡¡Feliz Navidad a todos!!!! That´s right, Christmas this week, and this Friday i´ll get to call my family via skype, so i´m pretty stoked for that!  Along with that, i´ve completed 6 months in the mission, so I (along with Elder Hardcastle) Burned a tie traditionally to celebrate it. Well, the truth is that this week hasn´t been as insanely hot, so that was a nice Christmas present from Argentina!
Well, we´ve had some interesting stuuf happen this week.  One day, we were walking down the street, and we greeted a man cleaning his car on the side of the road.  We said "Hola", and then, within his house, we heard an "HOLA".  We looked, only to see a bird sitting there. Well, turns out it was the type of bird that can talk (Is it called a parakeet?) and we ended up talking with his owner for a little bit (Hector).  So that was pretty fun, along with the other Spanish phrases that the bird could say! :D
Also, this last week, my toe was hurting a bit, and it was a bit inflamed and infected-looking, so I decided to take it to a lady in our ward who specializes in fixing toes. Turns out that I had two in-grown toenails in the big toe of my right foot. Surprise! They were pretty big as well. Elder Danneman has had them before, so he told me that they usually just do and injection and then take it out. Nice and simple right? Nope. She didn´t have such a thing, so she just ended up cutting open that part of my toe and cutting it out.  She said something like "Just read your scriptures" because I was trying not to look at it, and I said "No, probably just a prayer will do for now" But ya, that was fun. 
Anyways, we´ve been finding a bunch of people this week, we´re going to need to work with them a bit to help them along, but we ended up teaching some great lessons this week.  In one, the spirit was so strong the whole time.  There were moments when I was about to explain a gospel principle, and then before I began they asked about that same principle. Seriously a testimony builder about the spirit.
Still, despite all of these new investigators, none of them are progressing towards baptism.  I´ve thought alot this week about what it means to be a successful missionary, and along with that, to be a successful person in life.  This is probably obvious for some of you, but I´ve come to understand in on a new level: The only thing important at the end of the day, is that we´ve done what god desires of us.  Truly, no thing is more important.  We can live a life of pleasure, completely satisfying all of our senses. But at the end of it, what do you think would be more important? That we´ve been happy and satisfied all the time, or that we´ve done hard things, learned, grown, and ultimately followed the path and teachings of the Lord?
The mission isn´t easy, and it´s not the most fun either, but as I´ve said before, it´s where I KNOW that I should be.  I know that I´ve found individuals that will one day be able to make covenants with God through baptism.  Maybe not now, but some day.
Lo que es lo mas importante es que hagamos la voluntad del Señor, nada más.  Prenguntenles cada día, "¿Estoy haciendo lo que el Señor quiere que yo haga?" Sé que esta iglesia da el verdadero sendero que Dios quiere que caminemos. A pesar de las dificultades, vale la pena. de estas cosas testifico, en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.
(translation: What is most important is to do the will of God, nothing else. Prenguntenles every day, "Am I doing what the Lord wants me to do?" I know this church gives the true path that God wants us to walk. Despite the difficulties, it is worth. these things testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.)


-Elder Holtry

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