The New York of South America

Our new area is awesome! It is the New York of South America! San Justo is a very affluent area with tons and tons of people living here. I am basically in downtown Buenos Aires. Just to give you guys an idea of how nice this area is, we have a McDonald's, Burger King, and a Walmart. I have not seen a Walmart in over a year. 

This area will be a bit of a challenge, though. The San Justo ward has not had Elders in 6 years. There have only been 6 baptisms in the past two years. The Bishop had been asking our mission president for missionaries for a while and so that is why Elder Ehlert and I were sent here so suddenly. President Robertson told us that we have a big responsibility here. We are going to set the pace for missionary work in this ward for years to come. The Bishop is 28 years old and got back from his mission 6 years ago. He is very very very excited that we have come and wants to work with us as much as possible. My companion also wants to work hard! Elder Ehlert is from Alberta, Canada and got to Argentina a month after me. Both he and I are young blonde kids, we stand out here. 

We are very excited to get to work. The Lord has given us a big job but he can make us ready to meet the task. We pray every day for people to teach and know that we will be blessed for all the work we put in.

Sincerely

Elder Gygi

Transfers and a New Companion

Transfers once again! I am leaving the farmland of Marcos Paz and moving to the big city Buenos Aires Capital! My new area is called San Justo, Ramos Mejía. My new companion is Elder Elhert from Canada. He and I are both together in Marcos Paz together right now and we will move to San Justo together to replace the sister missionaries that were there. So in missionary language, we are being white-washed and opening a new area! Elder Elhert is great! He has one month less than me in the mission. We are very excited to work hard.

So this week was exciting. I got bit in the leg by a dog! But I kicked it pretty hard and I got a rabies shot back home in the States so I'm all good! Also some man tried to rob us. He just walked up to us and said, "Do you have 10 pesos?" I said no, because people always ask for money. Then he says, "Give me 10 pesos or I’ll break your head" and he raised a big wooden plank to hit me. I just turned and started walking away while he was shouting for us to come back. Then he throws his weapon at me and hit me in the back! But I caught it and kept walking away hahaha. Crazy guy!

Next week I will update on how our new area is!

Sincerely,
Elder Gygi

My favorite scripture I read this week- Alma 38:5 Trust in God = Strength During Trials

Ward Rescue

Traditional Burning of the Hump Day shirt

Hey family and friends! I am doing good here even though the weather went back to cold after a week of sunshine. My waterproof jacket and boots have proved to be money well spent. 

We did a ton of work with the ward members this week. The relief society president had an idea to do a 'Ward Rescue' this week. She divided the ward into 4 areas marked out every less active member on the map. Then everyone who wanted to participate was assigned some families to visit. On Saturday, we all left to visit these members. Elder Cobb and I even split up with 2 other members and visited 6 families each in two hours. We found many inactive members whom we had never met. 

Can you find Elder Gygi?

The other day a random man stopped us in the street and told us we needed to come visit him. We didn’t feel very good about it at first so we set a day to come back later. I thought he was going to try and rob us. When we went back we taught him and 2 other friends the Restoration and committed all 3 of them to baptism on the 1st of October. He is very excited for baptism! He even told us to come over to his house Sunday morning at 8:00 to wake him up for church! It was a great miracle. Just shows how some people are prepared to receive our message.

con amor,

Élder Gygí

A God of Miracles

Hello family!

Elder Dayton and Elder Gygi 

Just heard that my best friend Elder Dayton entered the MTC last week! Almost one exactly after me! So proud of that guy!

We are all doing good here in Loma Grande (or as they say here "lo mas grande"). This work just keeps rolling along. I am so excited to be a part of it. One of the elders in our apartment, Elder Benitez, got sick this week but still managed to baptize someone on Saturday! But unfortunately he was too sick to preform the confirmation on Sunday. So I got to do emergency divisions with his companion and participated in the confirmation. It was a great experience! The new member is a 60 year old lady named P. She is just a nice little grandma! It was very special to be a part of her conversion to the gospel.

One lesson I learned this week is in Mormon chapter 9. Mormon is speaking about miracles:

15 God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

These verses told me that God can and will work miracles among us. All we have to do is ask and have the faith to follow the inspiration we receive. I know these things are true.

Sincerely,
Elder Gygí :D

Hump Day!

Hey everyone! It’s been a great week! Our mission president surprised us and let all of us go to the temple on Thursday! It was a great experience. I haven't been since last Christmas. And it was only my second time going into the temple here in Buenos Aires. It has such a unique design and style! I know why the prophets and apostles have put so much attention on temple attendance. When you are there, you can feel the spirit so strongly. You are also in the service of our ancestors. 

So this Friday is the 26th of August and that means I have been living in a foreign country (without my mom and dad to take care of me) for 1 year. I think I have learned more in one year than I have in all of my 18 other years put together. I have been reflecting on my past year here and the next year to come and I have realized how short my time is here. With just so little time left, it is esencial that I work hard and give it my all every day. Once I get home, I won't be wearing a name tag and knocking doors to bring a life-changing message. The time for me to act is now! I am very grateful for all the support everyone has given me. I just pray that I can accomplish the task that Heavenly Father has given me to the best of my ability.

Sincerely,
Élder Gygí


PS Mom thank you so much for the Hump Day package! I have never been so happy to see a jar of peanut butter, Doritos, Starburst, a KitKat, Snickers, and barbecue sauce! They do not sell any of that in this entire country! 

One night we had a family home evening with members and they made pizza for us and I brought the barbecue sauce. I put it on the pizza like at Venetia’s. The member wanted to try it and so she did, but she thought it was gross!!!

As far as investigators, we are trying to get two individuals married so they can be baptized, A. and L. They read the Book of Mormon together every night and believe that it is true! Then Elder Cobb and I also found a family by knocking on doors. The family has 12 people! We taught them all the first lesson and it went great! Hopefully we can baptize them all!!

Open Your Mouth and Speak

Jared found a Jeep! 

First off I am very sorry that I couldn’t write home last week! Elder Cobb and I both got very sick and were stuck in bed in the apartment for 3 days. But don't worry because we are better now! It was awful not being able to leave and work. But we had orders from President’s wife to stay home. 

Other than that, the past two weeks has been straight work. We have just started talking with everyone and knocking on so many doors and we ad some miracles and found so many people to teach. We saw one lady just standing in front of her house and we walked over and asked if there was anything we could help her with. She asked if we could say a prayer for her family and called her family outside to listen to us. We taught them about the restoration of the gospel, set baptismal dates for 3 of them, and they even came to church! Then a few days later we knocked on a random door and a grumpy old man walked out with a cane. We explained who we are and why we are here and he told us to come back the next day. We left him with a Joseph Smith pamphlet and left. When we arrived the next day, he smiled and let us in! We sat down and he asked us "How did José Smith receive the authority of God to be a profet?" We gladly explained and testified and he committed to be baptized the next month. 

Suddenly all those verses in D&C about opening your mouth and declaring the gospel make sense to me. If we share the gospel in every situation possible, we will see miracles and the spirit will guide us. (And you don’t need a missionary badge and calling to fulfill that promise!)

Sincerely,
Élder Gygí

Gloves for Some Ties

This is last week's email, and no email from Jared on Monday, dang :(

August 1, 2016

Hey everyone! I hope all is well! This week is transfers and we got the news last night. I am staying here in Loma Grande and my companion Elder Hammond is leaving! I will receive Elder Cobb as my new comp. He is from the good ol’ Salt Lake City and has 6 months here in the mission. I already know him and he is a great elder! I am very excited for this next transfer.

This week we committed 2 of our investigators to baptism on august 20. M. y G. are two siblings of 16 and 10 y/o that we found a while back but we stopped teaching them because they weren’t reading the Book of Mormon. Elder Hammond felt we should come back one more time so we did and we had a great lesson about José Smith and they want to be baptized! They only need permission from their dad. We are praying that the dad will say yes! 

Neckitecture and the history of the Cravat

Also this week I lost my gloves... but it was for a good reason. I was on divisions with Elder Cortés and we were teaching a family when their 14 y/o son asked if he could have my gloves. I said I would trade them for something. He says "How about 3 ties?" And I thought about it for a minute and answered "...four." Then he went and brought out this huge bag of ties and said I could pick 4!! So now my hands are cold but I got 4 more ties! 

Sincerely Elder Gygi,

PS: if anyone wants to read an awesome scripture, 1 Nephi 17:50-51