This is My Last Week in BA

Dear Family,

Well, 2 years later, a few pounds lighter, but a whole lot smarter. I could share the hundreds of faith building stories right now but Gmail has a character limit. Of the many precious gifts and talents and experiences that I have been through, the one that stands out is my testimony. I know that this is the true church. I know that this is the Lord's work. Yesterday in church the bishop's counselor came up to me and asked if I could give a 20-minute talk on any subject. I chose "The Gospel Of Jesus Christ." And it hit me that I have spent my whole life preparing for my mission and now that it's over, what next? I am excited to see what Heavenly Father has in plan for me and my future. This last week is the best time to give it my all!! I'll see you next week in MESA!!

Sincerely,
Elder Gygi

2 Weeks Left to Work Hard

Hello Family!

2 years ago!

We had a great week! Lots of success and great times with Elder Gonzalez! We had a special training with President and Sister Resek that was great. When President came in and shook my hand he said "Elder Gygi! Are you ready to go?" and everyone started laughing. I am the oldest missionary in the mission!

Great news! Our investigator T. is getting baptized on August 5th. We have been teaching him for a while and he has been progressing little by little. But one day he was thinking if he should get baptized or not while he was walking down the road. Then some graffiti caught his eye. Painted on the sidewalk was a scripture: Juan 3:16. He had never read it before so he wrote it down and looked it up in his bible when he got home. He said he felt a strong impression that he was on the right path and took that as his answer to baptism. It shows to me that Heavenly Father answers everyone's prayers.

2 weeks left to work hard!!

Sincerely,

Elder Gygi

Better to Be Early

It is freezing!!! Good thing I won't have to put up with it much longer! 

This past week we went on divisions with the elders in Villa Tesei, another part of the city of Hurlingham we are in. I went with Elder Meyers and we had a great day! He is from a small town in northern California called Greenville. We were able to find a bunch of people to teach, and I learned a lot. Everything I learn seems to be one big lesson: Follow the spirit. If we do that, we will be guided in everything else. 

Our ward is doing great. We had ward counsel early on Sunday morning and we raced to get to the chapel in freezing cold only to find out that we were early. Well, better than late!

I feel like my letters are getting shorter and shorter, but it's not because of lack of writing material! I will send some pictures too.

Sincerely,

Elder Gygi

"Through Small Means"

Hey, family!

This week was a little slower than the rest, not much new stuff going on. Last Monday we went over to Villa Tesei to spend P-day with the other elders, and we played a lot of UNO! I lost (but the other elders cheated).

I am sitting here trying to think if anything happened this week and nothing comes to mind. It was just a normal, good week of work. Sometimes the weeks are very exciting with tons of things going on and sometimes we just need to keep working the rough patches. The best thing about this work is that it is the Lord's, He directs us. Even when we don't know what to do, I am confident and have faith in the Lord that he will make His will known unto us.

We taught an investigator this week named T, who has been investigating for about 6 months. He is 22. We already taught him all of the discussions and he still has a few doubts. I hope we can help him make it to baptism. I see lots of potential in him.

I have felt a lot of humility in the mission. I am amazed how the Lord is willing to work "through very small means" (or in other words: me) to accomplish His eternal purposes. I love this mission!

Sincerely,

Elder Gygi

New Mission President Resek

Hello Friends and Family!

We met our new mission president! President Resek is great! He is very excited and full of joy for the work. We had a meeting with him and his family yesterday. They showed us the video of when they opened their mission call and President Resek started jumping and screaming. It was very funny! He was so excited because his son is here in the mission right now! President Resek was in the translation department of the the church and was in charge of making the new Spanish translation of all the Standard Works. It took him 14 years to do, so imagine he knows the scriptures inside and out. I will have very little time with him as my president but I know I am supposed to be here in this time. I am pretty sure that I will be his first closing interview with a missionary. I am excited for that. 

I have 5 more weeks to work my hardest here, y lo voy a aprovechar! (I will take advantage of it!!) Thank you everyone who has supported me, I know that my family has made many sacrifices to get me here and I am forever grateful to my parents.

Hasta la proxima!

Elder Gygi

Humbled...

Happy 1st B-Day, Jared!

Hey Family and Friends!

The weather here in Argentina this week is perfect! Sunny but not hot. It will be hard to adjust to 120º AZ heat. We have continued to have successes here. I love being able to witness the church grow.
We did divisions twice this week. First, on Tuesday, I went with Elder Maycock (I have been with him in like 3 other zones in my mission, so it was my 4th divisions with him!). We had a great day, I lead the area here in Hurlingham. During that day we taught a lesson to recent convert named N. We were in the lesson and it was late at night and I knew we need to leave to catch the train by 7:58 to get home in time. The whole lesson I was thinking that we needed to leave and not be late. Then I heard the spirit whisper to me "Would Jesus Christ leave a lesson early to catch the train?" Humbled, I then really paid attention to what he was telling us. We felt prompted to read with him D&C 58:2-4. Which says in part "... For after much tribulation comes the blessings..." I was very happy that we were able to share with the struggling recent convert a message of hope. 

I think that is what I will miss most when I finish my mision, receiving revelation for others and being to help someone every day. I hope I will still be able to take that blessing home. I love my mission and I love this work.

Sincerely,
Elder Gygi

PS: We got flight plans!!! Jared lands at Sky Harbor on August 8th, 9:15am!!!!