Monday, October 26, 2015

Passport Peace

Hola everyone!
We had a great week! It is still pretty cold here. I wanted to share an experience that I had a while ago but never shared. Yesterday my companion and I were teaching the Gospel Essentials class in church (The branch is small and there are no teachers). We taught about prayer and I remembered something that happened a while ago. This happened on the day I left the MTC in Utah. Our whole group of missionaries made it safely to the Atlanta airport. I had about 45 minutes until our flight for Buenos Aires left. I called my family and talked for about 15 minutes and then got some dinner. It came time to get in line to board the plane. So I was standing in line and was going through my papers to make sure everything was in order. I had my boarding pass and my baggage claims but I could not find my passport. I searched every pocket in my suit. I looked under every chair I had sat in and every hallway I had walked in at that airport. I could not find it. There was not much time left to board the plane. I knew that if I did not have my passport I would not be able to leave. I felt that I needed to pray. I sat down in the middle of this busy terminal and prayed that I would be able to make it on the plane. Immediately after, I felt calm and I knew that everything would be alright. I received a prompting to just get back in line. Nervous, but with faith, I followed the prompting. I was almost to the front of line when a sister missionary in front of me opened her purse and pulled out my passport. She said that she had no idea how she got it. My testimony of prayer grew so much stronger that day. I know that the Lord answers our prayers in His own ways. It would´ve been to easy if I had ended my prayer and my passport was sitting right in front of me. I needed to have my faith tested to follow a prompting. I am grateful for this miracle I had.
We have found some new investigators this week! We also have a baptism this Saturday! Her name is R. and she is about 65. We taught her a few times in the past weeks but she couldn´t quit smoking so we didn´t visit her for a week. We were riding our bikes and saw her on the road and stopped to talk to her. She told us that she hasn´t had a cigarette at all the last week and she wants to be baptized! We are very excited for her.
Mom, in case you don't believe about the food here, I wrote down some of the meals members made for us this week. 

-Tarta (baked veggie pie) with pork chops
-Milanesa sandwiches (milanesas are like really thin breaded and fried chicken breast)
-Chicken, beef, and ham & cheese empañadas with Dulce de Leche cake
-Argentine pizza
-Real chicken soup (they cook a whole chicken in the pot and fill it with veggies and broth)

I´m very happy to be serving the people here.

Yo soy Elder Gygi

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

¡Felis Día de la Madre!

Holá!
Elder Gygi is the "son" of Elder Huefner
We've been teaching some great families. One family we found, the R. family, is progressing very fast. On our first lesson with them, we left a Book of Mormon and asked them to read and pray about. We came back a few days later and asked how it went. The mom said she read it and doesn't even need to pray about it, she just knows it is true. They accepted a baptismal date for the 21 of November on the first day. I'm excited to keep teaching them. Plus they always give us matté cocido and these Argentine snacks that are kind of like big, sugary donut holes. Every family we gives visit us food. 
Yesterday was Argentinian Mother's Day, so mom ¡Felis Día de la Madre!
No one here can say my name correctly, so I do not even bother trying to correct anyone. They all call me Elder She-She, pronounced with a slurred g.
My companion Elder Huefner got really sick this week, we think it is because he drank some tap water. He is doing much better now though.
My bike keeps breaking haha so I keep having to go get it fixed. But that gives me an opportunity to work on my Spanish and learn how to use pesos! They have really good candy here. There are ones called Alfajores, They are like 2 crumbly cookies with Dulce de Leche in between them then covered in chocolate. I don´t know if you can find them in the states, maybe on amazon or something.
Like I said last week, we are in the area of Francisco Alvarez, which is about 30 minutes from Luján. There is branch here at about 60-70 members. They are very nice. We do have a small church building here. It is surrounded by a tall gate and has bars on all the windows. Every house has barred windows here.
I had a much better week this week. I am not as homesick as I was. I´m sacrificing my time to help bring others to Christ. I have felt the joy of the gospel in my life and now i ave the responsibility to share it with others.
Yo soy Elder Gygi
Luján Zone


Monday, October 12, 2015

I'm Finally Here

I´m finally here! Argentina is great! It´s a huge culture shock for me. It´s so different from home. Stray dogs are literally everywhere. Cactus are to Arizona as dogs are to Argentina. They're usually not mean though so that´s good. But I've seen some huge Rottweiler's. 
We have had lunch a few times at member's homes. They always feed us great pasta, I love it. My first meal was some noodles with some kind of meat in it. I asked the Dad what it was and he said that a cat killed some chicken and dragged it into the backyard so they cut off the bad parts and cooked it up. Hahaha! luckily I had already finished my plate. 
My companion/trainer is Elder Huefner. He´s from Utah but he´s half Argentine. He´s been on his mission for 22 months. I´m learning a ton from him. 
Basilica of Our Lady of Luján
We are out in what´s called El Campo, which means the field. It´s not the city like other parts of the mission. We're in a town called Luján in an area called Francisco Alvarez. We have bikes too! I was very happy to find that out. But then I saw them. Haha! They are so rusty and dirty but it´s OK because no one will be likely to steal them. This is a relatively safe, but poor area. The people here are very humble. 
We currently have 7 investigators with a baptismal date. We taught the L. family last week. They live in a house that they pretty much built themselves from mud and bricks. They are from Paraguay so they only speak Spanish at about my level, haha! Which is good for me but frustrating for my companion. The Dad can´t read so we taught them the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation with pictures I drew! It was way cool.
I´ve already seen tons of miracles. I may be a bit homesick but I know this is where the Lord wants me to be.

Yo soy Elder Gygi

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Jared Has Arrived in Argentina

Dear Family and Friends of Elder Jared Gygi,

We are writing to inform you that your missionary, Elder Gygi, has arrived safely in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with him and are excited to be serving together.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have a missionary in the field. We know the Lord blesses and cares for the families of the missionaries.

Warmest regards,         
                            
President David P. Robertson and Hermana Julie Robertson

President & Sister Robertson with Jared at the Buenos Aires LDS Temple

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Final MTC Letter

Hey I'm writing my letter today because I don't have a P-day this week. It would be tomorrow but it's General Conferencia so no P-day tomorrow. I finally leave the MTC on Monday! I'm so excited to get to Argentina. I have a 3.5 hour flight to Atlanta and then an 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires. I will have a layover for about 2 hours in Atlanta so I'll call Dad and Mom and talk for a while. I think I'm most excited for the restaurants in the airport that I can eat at. (Sounds like Smashburger and Krispy Kreme requests!)
On average, it takes about 5 years for a person to become fluent in a language. Our district just did it in 6 weeks. OK, yeah maybe we are not fluent but we're to the point where we won't be hopelessly lost trying to hold a conversation. I'm just amazed at how much the Lord has blessed us
MTC District
Oh yeah it's my birthday on Sunday!! Thank you Mom and Dad for the packages! The coat you sent is way warmer than my other one. I said goodbye to our two teachers today, Hermano Savio and Hermana Imbler. They are both so awesome and we're like family now. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had for them to teach me. Elder Claudio R.M. Costa came to speak to us. He has such a crazy conversion story. The misioneros came to him and asked him to read and pray about the story of Joseph Smith. He decided to read each paragraph and pray about each one. After 14 hours of studying, he knew the church was true. The next day he found the misioneros and told them that he needed to be baptized and that he had no time to waste. They told him that he needed to be taught all the lessons first and then go have an interview with the Mission president. He said "OK, teach me right now and then I'll go talk to him and then you can baptize me." He is a very funny guy. 

I'm looking forward to calling home. My next letter will be from Argentina!

Yo soy Elder Gygi