Tomorrow I will finish 8 months in the mission. It has gone by very fast. I learned something this week. The concept of "Costco" is very hard to explain to anyone who is not from the United States. I know, I tried. The conversation with my comp Elder Dominguez went like this: "So you're saying that you can buy toilet paper in packs of 30, 5 gallons of ketchup, a hot tub, and a flat screen TV all at the same store? Why would anyone need that much ketchup??" I was just laughing this whole time! He could not understand why such a store exists.
I do not know if has been on the news in the states but there was a recent tragedy here in Argentina. The was an electronic music festival and a bunch of teens decided to take a new drug. 3 died and more were hospitalized. That is already bad but one thing to know about this is that some of these kids weren't even drug addicts. They just thought, "My friends are doing this so I guess I'll try it." And look at what happened. What I learned from this is that it is not worth it to touch drugs or alcohol even once. A scripture that have been trying to memorize this week is 1 Corinthians 10:13:
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
No matter what, there is always a way out. If you have to leave a party and walk home, so be it. There's your way out. I have a testimony of that.
Elder Gygi
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| Merlo Sunset |
Not much to report this week. Also the keyboard on this computer is terrible. We had a good week with a lot of rain and cold weather. I am not prepared for the cold.
We found a new person to teach this week. Her name is M. Someone told us to go visit her brother because he is interested in the church. We went but he was not there. We started talking to M, his sister and she had a lot of questions. We asked to come in and help explain our religion to her. She let us and we taught her the story of Joesph Smith and gave her a Book of Mormon. Elder Dominguez is very exited. He just loves to teach people!
All is well here, I continue to gain weight eating pasta, barbecue, and pasta every day!
Sinceremente,
Elder Gygi
Jared thinks Otto will listen better if he teaches him the following spanish words:
sentate - sit
piso- floor (lay down)
fuera - go outside
cucha - doghouse
Sister Sarah Stratton, thanks for teaching Jared to love playing the piano!
¡Buen dia!
We had a fun week! Elder Dominguez is adjusting to the missionary life. It is tons of fun to be a trainer. This past week we got so lost. Both of us are brand new to this area so we have no idea where things are. Sometimes we just get on a bus not even knowing where it goes! The other day it was about 8:00pm and we needed to start heading back home. It was dark, cold, and rainy. We saw a bus coming that said #504, which we have taken before and vaguely knew where it went. I said to Elder Dominguez, "I think this is going to take us the right way, lets get on." So we got on and were going for about 15 minutes. We could not see out the windows because it was so dark and rainy. We both felt that we needed to get off. So we get off and we do not recognize anything. We were by some train tracks and a forest and there were street names I had never seen. Strangely, however, I did not feel the least bit worried! I said a prayer that we would get home safely. Both of us felt that we should just start walking. After about 15 minutes of walking, we come to a church. The sign in front says ´The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.´ We ring the doorbell (it was all locked) and 2 other elders from our zone come out. They looked very confused to see us. We had traveled 20 miles out of our area! We explained that we were very lost and they showed us what bus to take and where to go. We made it home safely.
I am grateful for the power of prayer and the guide of the Spirit in my life. I know I had that experience for a reason.
Elder Gygi
So I am in a new area with a brand new missionary. My hijo, Elder Dominguez, is from San Juan, Argentina! He’s a great guy! The fun thing about having Latino companions is that I will suddenly realize that I haven’t spoken English in like a month. I am very excited to train him. We are in a new area, Merlo 1. It’s a bigger city area.
Conference was great! Anyone that didn’t watch I encourage to go watch it online! Especially the final talk given by Elder Holland. This conference was a unique experience. I watched the first session in Spanish. Then we figured out how to get the TV working and found it in English. So 8 American missionaries were crammed in a small side room in the church listening to words spoken by God’s prophet. Definitely a spiritual experience to remember. I know that God has a chosen prophet here to guide us. I know because I have heard him, and I am following his counsel.
Elder Gygi
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| A sole of 1,000 miles!! |
