The Blessings of Service!

¿Qué pasa, calabaza? How are yall doing? I can´t wait to tell you how my week went!!

This week has been filled with all kinds of blessings and miracles that testify to me that I am in the right place at the right time, doing the Lord´s work. The Spirit is strong, and I can feel myself improving everyday as a disciple of Christ!

Andrea is doing great! She came to church and a branch baptism this past weekend, and she is still down to get baptized this Saturday, although she is nervous about how cold the water will be haha. We are going to have a notche de ñoki, which is tradition here to have ñokis on the 29th. I´m not sure why they do this, but I loooovvveee ñokis they are the BOMB! I can´t wait! 

Also we got to ordain Norberto as a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood! Now he can bless the sacrament and baptize, having the same authority as John the Baptist from the Bible. It is so cool to see him love being in church, and as his faith grows, so does mine. I love him soooo much!

This week we have had a lot of mini miracles happen. We found a family that gave us some Argentina mailman hats, which look super cool! We have gotten some free alfajores, had people contact us because we speaking English in the streets, we even had some kids hollar at us to say hi and we walked over and got to teach them a lesson and they are interested! We also contacted a dude who is atheist, but as we were leaving he asked for our number and he might be interested in our message! I know he felt the Spirit for sure. There have been so many tiny miracles this week that have strengthened my testimony of the Restored Gospel, it´s great! 

Probably the two best things that happened this week was accidentally contacting a less active member, Hermano Correa, and having him come to church and wanting to help us minister to others in his barrio! I was surprised to see him come to church cause most of the time people tell us they´ll come to church but never do. I really felt that the Lord put us in that place at the right time to serve him. Another was being invited to help feed some kids that don´t have lunch on the weekends and teaching them how to pray! It was sooooo awesome to see them pray to our Father in Heaven for the blessings of food, and to see the smiles on their faces as they enjoy torta and leche <3

One of the fun things that we encounter is explaining the term elder to people. We tell them that it means missionary or teacher, and its not our first names. However, when they ask us what our first names our, its Ian for the both me and my companion, and we all have a good laugh haha!

This week I have really learned to love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. I have been reading it more and further strengthening my love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. One of the things I read was about Ammon and his ministry as a missionary to King Lamoni (Alma 17-19) I admire Ammon a lot because he was a true servant of the Lord. When he entered into the King´s presence, he asked to not be treated special, just to be one of his servants. And as a servant, he protected the King´s flock from marauders. When the other servants told the King this, he asked where Ammon was. Ammon was further helping the King by preparing his horses and chariots, continuing to work and serve without looking for glory or honor. Later the King became converted to the Gospel, and that is missionary work. Serving others just as Christ did. That is the model! To love and serve everyone, whether you are a missionary or a member, it´s the same!

El Faro por Los Marineros

¡¡SAAAALLLUUUDDDOOOSSS!!! ¿Cómo están ustedes? I´m so happy to email you all today!!!

This week we visited and taught our investigator Andrea a lot. We had a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with her, the hermanas and the branch president and my homie Alexis. We ate pizza and had some good convos with her. We have her on date for the 30th, but she will need all the prayers and blessings from yall! She really is a precious daughter of God that has been through a lot in her life, and the concepts of faith and the gospel are sometimes hard to follow or believe in for her. But having paciencia and the ability to help her as a true representative of Jesus Christ has been a tremendous blessing for me as a missionary and my testimony as well. As we work hard to love others, their burdens become ours, and we help each other learn and grow in the gospel. ¡Increíble!

We also decided to explore our area a little bit this week, and found some people and families that are interested in learing about the gospel! I also found a cool cemetary with old school fancy mauseleums or however you spell them hahaha and it was great to contact people! Some days we are so busy doing other things for the branch that we don´t always get to do things like this, but I loved just meeting new people and learning how to be a better teacher while i´m at it.

This week we had Zone Conference, which is where a group of missionaries in a zone get together to learn and apply better teaching principles to our investigators and areas. Our zone didn´t real change much, so it was great to see all my friends there again! I also got to do divisiones with one of the Zone Leaders, Élder Jordan in Rafaela so that was fun! It´s a bigger city than San Cristóbal, but fun nonetheless :) 

One of the things I learned in Zone Conference was about the history of the song Brillan Rayos de Clemencia (I forgot the name of it in English, but I think you guys can figure it out lol). The story goes that the man who composed the hymn was listening to a guy named Preacher Moody give a sermon. Preacher Moody told the story of a ship trying to port in a Cleveland harbor during a terrible strom. The harbor had a faro (lighthouse) that was working just fine, but the lower lights, which help the ship know where to port and land, weren´t working. While they were able to find the lighthouse´s light during the storm, the lower lights weren´t working, and since they didn´t know where to safely land, the ship crashed into the rocks, killing all the marineros. Preacher Moody shared this story to demonstrate that even in the toughest storms, the light that is Jesus Chrsit will always be there, willing to guide us back to safety. However, if we don´t have our lower lights working (faith, praying daily, reading the scriptures, etc) then we will still crash.

I remeber that growing up, my mom had a bunch of lighthouse ceramic things and decór, and I never knew why. We were never by an ocean growing up, and it was a little odd to see them on our entertainment stand at times. But then I thought about how my mom was always a believer of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, raising me on the basic principles that Jesus taught in the Bible. But she did never find a good enough church to attend, and she never was one to exercise her faith with tons of prayers or scripture studies  when I was a kid. I think in her life she had the faro, but not the lower lights of faith that would have guided her through those years of depression, anxiety, stress, etc. After I joined the church, I took her name to the temple to have her be baptized by proxy, along with the other ordinances necessary for salvation. Now we are sealed as an eternal family, and now I think she has the lower lights working to guide her safely home :))

This story also reminds me of when Christ says that His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. I realized that a yoke is for two oxen, one being Christ and the other being us. While Christ will help us make the cart move without causing  us any burdens or pain, we still have to do our part and put on the yoke, trusting in Him to lead and guide us to safety. I testify that as we do our part to read, to pray, to go to church every Sunday, and more, we will receive guidance and answers to our prayers, a faro to guide us in the toughest of storms. We have to try, and the Savior will help us if we accept His help!

Well, that´s it for this week. I LOVE EVERYONE  OF YALL SOOOO MUCH! Keep doing good, the world needs people who can guide others through the storms safely. ¡Chiao! 

A Lesson in English?!?!

¡Saludos a todos! How are you all doing? I hope well! 

This week was pretty good! We had some pretty good meetings with our investigators and found some new people that may be interested in hearing the message of the restored gospel! One of them is named Luciana. She is a mother of 2 kids and is from São Paulo, Brazil and her husband is from Milan, Italy. Now you may wonder how we were able to communicate with her, right? I don´t speak much portuguese nor Italian... well, that´s because we talked to her in English (she had a British accent, it was soooo coool!) Apparently she knows 4 languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) and her husband from Italy knows 5 (including French!) They are really cool and smart people, and we were able to teach her the Restoration in English! She is a very smart person, as she has read the Bible, the Quaran, and studied religion for her whole life, looking for the Spirit to confirm the truth to her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she told us that she had never read it before, to which I testified to her that it is true! They are very busy people, so we´ll see if we can get her to come to church with us sometime soon. 

We also had some good lessons with our investigator, Andrea. Her biggest concern is faith and recognizing an answer from the Spirit through her prayers, but we were able to have some very spiritual moments with her that made her think and most importantly, have hope. She accepted a baptismal date for March 23rd, but we will see if she still feels comfortable with that this week. She invited us, the hermanas, and the branch president to cook pizza and have a family home evening night this week! She really likes church and the Relief Society and the sisters, which makes me happy that she feels like she has a home with us! We will see how things go this week, so keep her in your prayers!

We got a new sister missionary here, named Hermana Hunderwadt. She´s from Uruguay and is super cool! I managed to trade her for some Uruguay pesos to add to my collection, and they are cool! 

In case you have been wondering, the food here is pretty good! I don´t get fed from members often, but when I do, it is delicious. Perhaps the most strange thing I have ate has been empanadas de mondongo. Mondongo is cow stomach, so it was an interesting taste. I eat pizza with eggs on it, gizo with wild boar, and more! Don´t worry, I still can make some American classics like BBQ chicken down here :)

Something spiritual I read this week was in Job chapter 2. When Job gets afflicted with all these terrible things, his friends come and visit him. But as they saw him, they sat with him for a week and listened to him, coming from long ways to comfort and console him. I think we can do the same when we help our family and friends who are going through hard times, or even when we are having a convo at work. As we stop and listen before we speak or give our input or opinion, we can let the Spirit not only help the speaker express their true thoughts and emotions, but it can also help us give that time to think. As a missionary, I sit in silence and pay attention to what someone tells me, and then use the Spirit to think of how I can help them with their issues. We are all comforters and bearers of each others burdens, and listening is sucha key part in that process! Definetly something to keep in mind when we are ministering to others :)

Anyways, that about sums up my week! I put my mailing adress below so if you guys want to send me letters or cards, that would be amazing! I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Ian Scott Englebright 

Argentina Santa Fe Mission 

Candido Pujato 3269

3000 Santa Fe 

Santa Fe 

Argentina 

Norberto´s Baptism!!!!

¡Mis queridos hermanos y hermanas! Espero que ustedes tenían un buen semana atrás y tendrán éxito y buenas cosas esta semana también :)))

Today started off a little crazy, as a big storm rolled in around 6:30 this morning and knocked out all the power in our pensión. We were chilling in the dark all morning, couldn´t take a hot shower, iron our clothes, it was crazy! But the capilla has power to email, so I am thankful for this blessing to be able to email all of you guys on perhaps the best week I have had thus far as a missionary! 

Saturday was Norberto´s baptism, which meant we had to do a lot of planning and inviting people to come and celebrate his desicion to follow the example of the Savior and be baptized! We went by his house everyday to teach and keep his spirit high and excited. And a couple of times he managed to walk and even dance to his chamamé (Argentine acordion music) He was sooooo excited to start his new life and I couldn´t help but smile and hug him everytime I saw him this week!

We also had a branch activity this week where we taught the members how to share their testimonies, as well as how to develop one. We also watched the movie that talks about an Italian priest who found the book of mormon without a cover and spent 40 years of his life waiting to be baptized cause he knew it was the word of God. Now THAT is the definition of faith! We brought Norberto to the activity and he really liked the video, and when I bore my testimony to him about, him and I both cried a little bit the Spirit was soooo strong! This man has lived a life full of many mistakes and errors he tells me, but he when he heard our message, he knew that it was true and would lead him to be able to have a lasting change in his life. I´m telling you all from my heart that it is NEVER too late to change, to read the Book of Mormon, to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, to repent, to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and more.

Saturday was the BIG DAY for Norberto! We got the font ready (which was a pool... we also had to fill up buckets to fill the font as well LOL). We also had to teach English class that day as well, so it was a little crazy haha. When Norberto arrived, I could tell he was filled with the Spirit! I sat next to him and helped him sing the hymns it was sooooo sweet! We then made our way to the pool/font and he managed to climb up the steps without any help! When I raised my arm to the square and began to say the prayer, I was filled with the Spirit it was sooo amazing! I was gentle baptizing him, and even though the water was freezing cold, I managed to do it perfectly the first time! After the baptism, Norberto told us that he said that the water wasn´t that cold, and he wouldn´t mind doing it again! Hahaha crazy! And the next day we confirmed him into the Church by giving him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It is so amazing to see the journey of Norberto, and the best part is that it just began! 

We also had Andrea in church as well, and I help her sing hymns as well. She really likes church, and I think we can invite her to be baptized this week, cause I know she needs the hope the gospel brings. She is very special, and I am glad to be able to know and help her on her spiritual journey. 

Well, that about does it for me this week. I will be staying another 6 weeks here in San Cristóbal, so I am excited for that! Keep being awesome and I love you all!!!!!

Ser Mormón es Ser Feliz :)

HOOOOLLLLAAA!!! ¿Che cómo le va? Espero que vos tenía una buena semana! 

This week was HOOOTTT but successful nonetheless. We kept visiting and teaching Norberto, and he is so ready to be baptized! Every time he prays he says the most humble and beautiful prayers, and he always thanks Heavenly Father for learning of this gospel, for us teaching him and changing his life, and all that. funny story: this week we passed by Norberto and he still wears a rosary, even though he no longer is catholic lol. But he had a new piece on it- it was a pendant that said "Ser Mormón es ser feliz" (To be Mormon is to be happy) ¡Qué Capooo! I love that man so much. His nickname is Coco, which adds to the legends haha. Also he asked me to baptize him! I am so excited to be able to hold the priesthood authority to perform the sacred ordinance for my good friend. 74 is never to old to change one´s life, so always keep trying!!!

We had divisiones with the AP´s! (Assistants to the President) and it was great! One of them, Élder Flores, had served in San Cristóbal earlier in his mission, so we got to visit all his old friends and converts. He told me that he tried contacting Norberto many times, but with no luck. Now, he´s getting baptized this Saturday!!! It is tough to have patience, but as missionaries we are always spreading seeds and helping people come closer to Christ. Some people are ready now, and others need time. But as we go out and do our job, we will help find and prepare these people to receive this gospel and change their lives. 

We also met with Andrea this week. Her situation in her home is terrible, but she is slowly developing more faith and being more down to listen to us and step out of her comfort zone. We had mutual with the youth of the branch and we invited her to have pizza and torta frita with us and she came! We had a great time watching the Restoration movie, making new friends, all that. She really liked it too, which makes me hope she will be ready to accept and invitation to be baptized this week. we´ll see!

I also met and taught a big guy named Bruno. He works at a paint shop by our house and is a cool dude forreal! He has some crazy life stories about being dead for like 10 minutes and just crazy stuff like that haha. More on him later! Also there were a lot of bugs flying around one night, I was told that they were water cockroaches lol. And these were clouds of these big bugs it was narly! The next day a cold front came in and killed them all, so there was just these piles of dead bugs everywhere like raked leaves. Argentina haha!

This week I was reading a lot about repentance. Norberto told us that he still feels bad for some of the stuff he did when he was young, and I decided to look up scriptures to find up what I could share to him. I read about Alma the younger in Mosiah 27 and the story of the Prodigal Son in Lucas 15. When Alma had the visit of the angel, he felt his soul being tormented by his sins, and used that life changing experience to serve God and preach the gospel (kinda like me!) But the Prodigal Son really stuck out to me. It is perhaps my favorite parable taught by Jesus. In the story, one of the sons of a rich man takes his inheritance and wastes it in unrighteous living. But as he comes back to work as a servant for his dad, his father embraces him and throws a big feast for him. The other son gets jealous, and the father tells him that he was perfect and obedient and will get everything, but we shall celebrate your brother coming home because what one was lost and dead, is found and alive. I also read that in heaven, the angels will rejoice for one sinner who repents and turns to God over 99 just souls who need not to repent. WOW! The Spirit was really strong when I read this, and it made me think of our Heavenly Father, how he is waiting for us to repent and come back home to him, so he can give us a big ole hug. 

Love yall sooooo much thanks for the prayers and emails! Please pray for Norberto this week as well! <3