NO MORE CAFÉ! UN MILAGRO!

Saludos desde EL RUSO de Paraná!! Haha how are you all doing? I´m doing GREAT because we are having a BAPTISM this weekend!!! WOOOO!!! 

Yeferson and Santiago are going to enter the waters of baptism this Saturday and start their new lives en CRISTO!! This past week was tough to do our normal missionary work, because we had conferences, trámites, bad weather, literally everything that would prevent us from seeing and helping Familia Lasso prepare for baptism. But we exercised faith and made sure to go by everyday for them and it worked! We gave them other things to drink instead of coffee, inculding caramelos, and they quit drinking coffee and all the members of the family went to church too! The dad told us he liked church a lot, and he has been the hardest to work with since he is so busy doing other things and couldn´t come to church before. He has to marry Diana before he can be baptized, but he told us that he wants one of us to baptize him! WOW! He told that he adopted us as part of his family, so it looks like I´m part Colombian now jaja. They are soooo special. And there is a Colombian member in the barrio who is going to cook colombian food for the baptism!!!! I´m super pumped!

 I have seen the change the gospel has brought to this family. They have literally nothing, but always want to feed us or give us something. We cooked them a milanesa dinner yesterday and they liked that I brought BBQ sauce jaja. Everytime we teach them, I see them groing stronger and stronger in their faith in Cristo, their desires to be good and follow Him. I remember walking one morning, cold and tired, and I saw them walking towards us, and the Spirit said  go talk to them. And now they are a completely different family that is being blessed by the restored truths of the Gospel. We are working with the barrio to get them food and clothes for winter, and to help them raise money for trámites too. They are my family, and I LOVE THEM SOOOO MUCH!!

We also had a taco activity in the barrio saturday. I thought it would have been a good idea to eat 2 hot chili peppers....20 minutes drinking water from the sink proved to be the answer to that idea haha. Also when we left for trámites and got to Santa Fe and hour later late at night, 

Elder Stallings told me he left his passport in Paraná... rip haha. We got it worked out though so its al good. I´ve been studying and practicing patience and how to apply it to my life more, and it has blessed me this week. Being able to have a calm head during the waves of trials and troubles has blessed me so much this week. Preach My Gospel has all the atributes of Christ that a misisonary should look to develp during their mission.

I love you all so much! I´m so excited for this Saturday!!! Kep sending us prayers!!!!

Pet Bunny Asado... tastes like chicken!

Hola mis pibes y amigos! jaja soy un bolasero xD How are you all? I have a fun email in store for yall!

This week was AWESOME! We are still working with Familia Lasso. They are my FAVORITES!! We taught them the Word of Wisdom they have a little trouble quitting drinking coffee (makes sense since theyre from the coffee capital of the world jaja) but they are trying and its awesome to see them come closer to Christ and be strengthened by the scriptures during this process. They are legit some of the most amazing people I have met here. They don´t have very much, yet they are always trying to give us lunch, or chocolate milk, etc. They had some of their family over one day and we taught them all the Restoration and the mom, Diana, legit taught us and her family...it was COOL!! I also had trámites in Rosario friday and Luis, the dad, was there as well so I got to talk to him in immigration haha. We will have to return in October so I hope we can run into each other again

We also taught Ezequiel and Diana Krum, and they are SUPER AWESOME! In the back of every booklet we have, there is a section that has questions with scriptures that you can answer. Most people don´t do it, but Diana did! And she was super curious to learn more and to receive an answer if it was true. We will have some fun teaching them becasue they are a young couple that likes cartoons and anime, so we are always clicking about something.

This week was very....interesting to say the least with the other things that I did. Familia Lasso had pet bunnies Saturday, and they were CUTE! The next day we go by and ask how the bunnies were doing. Aparently, if you put 2 female bunnies in the same cage, they go a little crazy. As in, they fought and killed each other. So they skinned the bunnies and offered to cook rabbit asado for us later that night. I tried it and legit it was good lol. It is kinda weird to pet a bunny and 24 hours later eat it, but I´m in Argentina so nothing fases me anymore xD. I also went to a "zoo" the other day, and I use quotation marks cause the most ghetto zoo I have ever seen. But they had some cool owls and a carpincho, which makes for great selfie material. 

In Rosario I saw Luis, the Colombian dad and it was sick! I also talked to Venezolanos that could speak English, so it was awesome to talk to them. I met an American kid from South Carolina (with the sweetest soutern accent too lol) and his name is Ian too! His dad is a pastor and is here to do his church stuff. Its sad becasue the immigration workers are lowkey racist for no reason becuase all the people that are in trámites are cool! I always love talking to other sons and daughters of God from all different parts of the world :) 

MIRACLES! And an intersting Asado...

Hey everyone! How are yall doing? Another great week for me down here in the best place in the world! I have some cool news to share with yall!!!

Yefferson and Santiago, who are two teenage boys from the Colombian familiy that we are teaching, want to be BAPTIZED!!! WOO! We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my companion used an erasable ink pen, which means that you can erase what you write with friction...or heat. So he used a flame from a lighter to erase what he wrote, representing how the Atonement and the baptism of fire from the Spirit can erase our sins and we can be made new again...it was DOPE!! They loved it haha. They are going to be baptized here in the next couple of weeks, so look out for some pictures soon!!!

We aslo had an asado with Hermano Moreira. He cooked us some goooooodddd food, and also some weird stuff as well. We ate tripas, which a part of a chicken that...welll, I will spare you the details. We also ate molleja, which is like the caviar of the cow, and its like a gland around the next, and it tasted good lol. 

We also have been contacting a lot more, because there are so many people in our area that need to know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! As a mission we have been focusing on setting goals and praying specifically for the Lord to help us go a little further and to help a few more people than we would have thought of before. One day was really tough, it felt like Satan was against us and making it more difficult for us. My companion told me its because we are on the verge of seeing miracles or meeting someone who needs our message, so we kept pushing and met our goals for the day! YAY! We have a lot of citas this week to visit all the cool people we contacted, including one who makes choripan.. I promise my intetnions are to help teach him and not to eat his food he sells jaja.

There is a lot of power in doing the Lord´s work. Seeing people´s lives change, helping them with service projects, reading the words of Christ so that they can feel better after a tough day, and even helping them accept the Savior is an honor and a privilege I am lucky to do everyday here on my mission. Saturday 3 years ago my mom passed away, and I never thought that I would have an eternal family with her and my dad, or that I could be relieved of the pain I felt when she died, or the guilt I had for not being the best son I could have been to her while she was alive. But one thing I learned while listening to the missionaries and something I teach here to the wonderful people of Argentina is that God is our loving Heavenly Father- he knows YOU personally, and although we have our trials and our mistakes, our pains and regrets, he will ALWAYS love us! We have the Savior, Jesus Christ, to comfort us and give us strength to overcome our problems using His infinite Atonement. This knowledge has blessed me in my own seach for the truth, and to help others down here receive the same blessings as well. I love everyone down here and you all soooooo much! 

You all are my dear family and friends, and yall mean the world to me! Thank you for all your prayers, emails, everything. Love yall!!

Solar Eclipse, Asado, 9 de Julio and TRANSFERS!!!

A lot has happened this week, so I may have forgotten a few details, but rest assured, I´ve got some news for yall!!!!

I´m writing this email today because we had TRANSFERS! I´m still in 5 Esquinas but I have a new companion!!! Elder Stallings from California/Colorado. We both came to Argentina at the same time, and he is my best friend from my group!!! I met him on Instagram a few months before we left for our missions and we became friends, obvio jaja. We´ve always had the dream to be companions, and now we can have a taste of reality!!! YAY He is super cool and has been in other areas of the mission like I have, and is a great worker. I´m super excited to have this transfer with him!! He can play the Piano like no other, and some of our investigators want to learn. so it looks like we will have some success!!! My old companion Elder Vallejo went to a new area called Rincón, which is across the river from us in Santa Fe. It was sad to leave him, but I´m glad in our time together I helped him turn his mission around.

This week we had a blast working and doing some good ol missionary work. A solar eclipse passed over us, and we werent in total darkness here but I got a cool pic of moon over the sun. I remeber the last time I saw a solar eclipse, back in August 2017. It was a few days before I got baptized, and I was playing basketball with the missionaries that taught me. Good memories haha. We also had a couple asados this week that were suuuuuper good. I try to look for any excuse to have asado. Like today is independence day here in Argentina, so we had a big ward cookout and played soccer, basketball and all that. I saw all my friends and converts from San Agustín and it was soooo sweet! They´re mad that i left them a while ago but I think they´re gonna be ok lol. We ate chori pan and asado, and it was awesome!!! Later we went to the shopping center with the zone leaders and we ran into a big independence day festival in the mall! It was a joda lol. Alto pday

Familia Lasso from Colombia came to church again! This time with their mom. It went great! There is a family that has been helping us getting them to church and they have kinda adopted them as their own kids haha. The kids want to be missionaries and love all the activities that we do. Elder Stallings and I are going to try to invite them to be baptized for the end of the month if the Spirit directs us to do so. They are super special and will be great missionaries!

 

We met and taught a new family, Familia Krum. They are a young couple that have a daughter thats 5, and they are all CAPOS!! They love cartoons and anime, and their favorite is Adventure time! These are my people haha. They already know the bishop and other members, and they received a misisonary lesson before we oficially met them, and they remembered ALL of it, and want to come to church too! They are super cool and I hope we can help them find Christ and develop their relationship with Him over the next few weeks :)

Weve also been doing service for some of the members, like helping them build their houses or clean up their gardens. That is my favorite part of missionary work, is to serve others as a refelction of my love to Heavenly Father and Jesus (Mosiah 2:17). We should always be looking for ways to serve, even if its a quick message over facebook or an email to your favorite missionary in Argentina haha. As we do so, I promise you that we will make the world a better place, even when the people we try to help reject or deny our offers to love and help them. 

In my mission last week I hit my 8 month mark, and I´m so happy that I´m doing the Lord´s work here. I have seen the Gospel bless individuals, FAMILIES, souls, everything. This is the covenant path that we all need to be on, especially in these latter-days. All the people I have met here are amazing sons and daughters of God, my brothers and sisters. Everyday I love this work, even when my body hurts and my mind is exhausted, when people dissapoint me, I still love this work. The passion I have for these people, this country, this culture, it makes me so happy that I acted on a propmting I had after a overnight roadtrip 2 years ago to have my dad contact the elders to learn more about this church and a peculiar blue book I had been seeing lying around the house a lot. Now, I hold the holy priesthood from God to bless lives down here and throughout my life. This Church is true, and I will always cherish the blessings that came from being true to the faith. Congrats to one of the misisonaries who taught me, he finished serving my people in the Kansas Wichita mission this week. Elder Bischoff, my boi!!! I love you so much bro!

Love you all so much!! Read the Book of Mormon and pray everyday!!!

- Élder Englebright (El Ruso) 

Leña para el carbón (I don´t know what to title this wacky week´s email)

t´s winter now so that means 80 degree temperatures right? Welcome to Argentina jaja

Anyways, ¿Cómo andan? This week was pretty weird since I hardly got to work in my area. Monday night we went to Santa Fe because companion had to do visa stuff for a few days in Tucumán, which is in the northern part of the country, with mountains and all that stuff. I stayed in Santa Fe and worked with some of the office elders, including my first companion Elder Marcos!!! Mi malo papiiiii jaja it was like the good times again. I also worked Tuesday with another office elder and on our way back to my area, I lost the cell phone in a taxi X0.... we ended up getting a better phone so I´m not mad (its a nokia brick phone so it still isnt much of an upgrade lol).

 I worked Wednesday in my area with a missionary from Spain! Elder Montecinos. His companion was in Tucumán doing visa stuff too, so we decided to work a day in my area and we contacted a lot and had fun. On thursday we went back to pick up our companions in Santa Fe but the companion of Montecinos got stopped by interpol in Tucumán for something (we think he killed someone hahaa) so we went back to Paraná in a trio for a bit to work. Then I had a division with the district leader so I worked in his area for a day and finally Saturday I got to work with my companion without any problems...then I felt sick sunday afternoon so I had to rest for a bit... in other words, it was pretty wacky with everything, but we managed to see some pretty cool miracles from the work!

If you all remeber Araceli, she was an investigator that we taught that got married and baptized in my last area. Well, she has a family that lives over in my area, 3 brothers, a cousin, and her dad. We went by their house and taught them the restoration and it was AWESOME!!! The brothers want to be baptized and it was amazing to see how much they already know about the gospel. I´m excited to help Araceli´s family be more united!!!

This weekend we are planning to have a movie night in the ward to watch church movies. We are having the members invite others that are members, that aren´t members, neighbors, etc to join us for torta frita and movies. It will be awesome!!!

Keep doing good yall! Love ya a ton!

We´re teaching a family of missionaries?? Also 8 MONTHS!!!!

Qué tal?

This week was AWESOME! We found a new family, Familia Lasso, from Cali, Colombia! Luis (Dad) Diana (Mom) Yefferson and Santiago (13/14 years old) and their cute 3 year old baby Aidan! Tuesday we were walking in a neighborhood and we saw them walking too, so we stopped to say hi and see if they would like to meet with us to learn more about Christ. They told us they had met with missionaries years before, but went back to Colombia and couldn´t find a meetinghouse. Now they´re back in Argentina and want to take the missionary lessons again! Yefferson and Santiago came to church yesterday and they loved it! And the members love them too, I think some want to adopt them haha. It was a miracle to find them on acold and wind day and now they are progressing towards baptism! 

We had our activity saturday, and thanks for the prayers because we had 50 people show up! and 6 of them were our investigators, including the little brothers of Familia Godoy. They really liked the movie about Jospeh Smith and said they had a few doubts so I was like tell me, maybe I can help you....they were curious about how we are baptized! So I showed them the baptismal font and they thought it was super cool! And Araceli came so we got a group foto it was great! We also had a less active family come and members bring their friends that are new to our church and everyone loved it! Torta frita popcorn and chocolate milk....a great saturday

We also met a family from a province in Argentina called misiones, and people that are from that province are called misioneros, which means missionaries in spanish. So we are technically teaching a family of missionaries jaja mala broma pero no me importa 

Also yall remember Norberto from San Cristóbal, my favorite man down here? I baptized him back in March and got word that he received the Melchizedek Priesthood a few weeks ago! Elder Norberto haha. Also a family I was teaching in San Agustín, Natalia and her son Patricio, got baptized last week! It was great hearing the news from my old areas!

I was also studying a theme this week in the scriptures about righteous desires (shoutout my boy elder bischoff haha) and I read about Enos, how he prayed to the Lord to be forgiven of sins. He hadn´t met Jesus or seen Him, but believed and was cleansed of his sins. And right after having his desires fulfilled, he continued to be righteous and asked God to have mercy on his brethren and to keep their records safe and intact. Enos had and continued to maintain righteous desires for himself and others, which is great model for us and for me as a missionary. 

Keep being awesome! Love you all!!!