This week was AWESOME!!!! Emanuel, Estella Vega`s son, will be BAPTIZED this Saturday!!! WOOOOO!! He is a special son of God, and I can't wait to see him follow his mom and enter in the waters of baptism. I baptized his mom last month, and I have the special privilege to see him be baptized as well. Because of his epilepsy, he can't really do very much and is under constant care from his momma, but he has one of the strongest testimonies ever! Heavenly Father loves all his children, no matter how imperfect they are, and I know for a fact he pours out special blessings over those angels everyday. I`ll send all the photos next week, PLEASE pray for Emanuel!!! We also invited Luca and Ingrid to be baptized the 29th of February, and they said YES!! They are the young couple who I saw in my area book and decided to pass by and visit them to see if they still wanted to meet with the missionaries. They came to church yesterday and we are trying to help them get married. When we went by this week, their 10 month old daughter, Paz, was sick. So, my companion and I gave the baby a blessing of health, and it was quick but filled with the power of God, using His Holy Priesthood. Not only did Paz`s health improve, but I noticed a change in Luca as well. He seemed to be humbled by the fact that in the joy of our visits and investigating the church, that what we teach and bless people with is REAL!! We are more than just someone trying to be a preacher fighting for souls to join their congregation.... We are LEGIT servants of the Master, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father. We bring the hope for salvation, a remission of sins, health, comfort, and the restoration of the truth to every single person by the power and authority of God!! It is such a blessing to carry the name of the Lord Jesus Christ across my heart everyday on my name tag to tell others I`m here to BLESS you!!! We have some exciting plans going on here in San Martìn involving the members that are less active because of drama or conflicts among others. In Alma 46:11-21 we read that Capitan Moroni, in his rage against Amalikiah, created the title of liberty, and rounded up other nefites that were mad at the opposition, to fight "for their God, religion, wives, children, and liberty" This inspired my companion and I to use this scripture to teach the less active members to come to church, using the anger they may have not against another, but to fuel the passion and reignite the flames that are their testimony of the Book of Mormon, the restored church, etc..to come back, and to remember that in the war against Satan, we must be active in defending what is righteous and dear to us, not letting division and lack of effort destroy our titles of liberty. This week is transfers, zone conference, and Emanuel`s baptism, so it will be busy but fun! Love you all! I don't have much to upload this week but enjoy these sky and storm pics! Summer time in Argentina!!

Diamantes o las Escrituras??

Mis queridos!! This past week was AMAZING!! Somany exciting things are happening in this part of the Lord's vineyard and being apart of these wonderful spiritual experiences has been a blast!

 While looking threw the area book, I can across a name - Luca - and for some reason the missionaries stopped going by his house. Curious, I went by and found his girlfriend, Ingrid, and their beautiful baby girl, Paz. We taught Ingrid a little bit of the plan of salvation, then with a family from the ward we went by and taught Luca a few days later. When we went by again a few days later to see how reading the Book of Mormon was going, they told us that had read all of 1 Nefi (about 60 pages) in just 2 days!!! Wow!! They are really involved with asking us good questions and even came to play football with us one night. They even cooked us an asado, only after knowing us for a week! Hahaha they are AWESOME!!! We also received a reference for a man named David. He lives in a part of my area that's a little dangerous, so I wasn't too sure about going to look for him... but I decided to trust in the Lord to see if He wanted us to find this man and teach him. Lo and behold, the first time we try to locate the house, we found him outside with his mom, and we asked if we could share a quick message. They allowed it, and what we taught was what they needed to hear. They have been going through some tough times, and as a result, have experienced some temptations and vices from Satan. But they told us that they are looking for ways to quit, so we left them with a Word of Wisdom booklet and we are going to help them literally change their lives!! 

Emmanuel and Estella are doing great! They are planning for baptism on the 25th, and they both came to church yesterday!!! I can see the gospel changing their lives and helping them come unto Christ! Keep them in our prayers please!!! They need all the love you can send them!!!

This week in Ven, Sìgueme was awesome! We read about the family of Lehi and his sons Nefi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel. Many good insights I could write to yall about but the one that sticks out to me is the importance they had for studying and loving the Word of God (the scriptures!) They made the long and dangerous trip back to Jerusalem and faced several dangerous failed attempts from the evil Laban, including trials between their family relationship, all to bring back heavy brass plates. How many of us would do all that work, including losing everything you had, just to bring back some scriptures? Pres Russel M Nelson said in General Conference a few years ago 

"My brothers and sisters, how precious is the Book of Mormon to you? If you were offered diamonds or rubies or the Book of Mormon, which would you choose? Honestly, which is of greater worth to you?"

That quote always impacted me...would I chose diamonds or the Book of Mormon? or some nice rubies over the other holy scriptures? Perhaps we may inherently do this as we put our personal lives and temporal objects over the short time everyday to read, study and learn from the voice of God from the dust.

Those brass plates played a huge role in the story of the Book of Mormon...without them, Lehi and the other prophets wouldn't have been able to share the precious truths of the Gospel of Christ with their peoples hundreds of years after their journey to the promised land. We read that other nations who failed to have and or keep a record of the scriptures dwindled in unbelief, became apostate, and eventually perished as a result of their iniquity (Mulekites, Lamanites, Jaredites, etc). In other words, we wouldn't have the Book of Mormon if the Lord did not mandate Lehi`s sons back to Jerusalem for such a difficult task. So, as we come closer unto Christ this year (and decade) ponder and pray to see if perhaps the role the scriptures play in your life could be magnified as we improve and use the Savior`s "infinite atonement" for all our sins and mistakes, big and small alike

Love you all! I forgot to bring my camera with me...but enjoy the video below!! Cuidensen!!! 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2014-04-004-scriptures-legacy?lang=eng

  

TESTIMONIO!!!

Holiiiiiiss

This week has been excelente!! We continue to work with Estella Vega`s son, Emmanuel. He came to church yesterday and is planning to be baptized on the 25th of this month!! He has epilepsy, so he stays at home under his mom`s constant care. Even if he doesn`t get out much, he enjoys passing the summer days sitting in his chair and listening to us preach the restored gospel to him. He has a strong testimony of the Church, saying that his epeletic seizures have not been as violent since the missionaries have been passing by. Keep him in your prayers!!!

We are also teaching a neighbor of Estella Vega, Estella Carlomagno, who also has epilepsy. Every now and then Estella the neighbor has seizures, but teaching her provides a calm and peaceful environment for her to feel the truths we are teaching her. We watched the Joseph Smith- Prophet of the Restoration movie and she loved it! She said that without a doubt that he was a prophet. She is planning to be baptized the 25th as well, so please keep her in your prayers!

Also Kristina, who we have been teaching since October, has been progressing a lot recently. She says she has believed in the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church. She says she was invited to church many years ago, by the current Stake Patriarch and his wife, who attend our ward! What a crazy coincidence!!  A member joined us for a lesson with her and afterwards we gave her a blessing of comfort. She has been through a lot, losing her son, a bad divorce, many struggles. But the member gave an amazing and powerful blessing that was filled with the Spirit. This week we are going to focus on the blessings of following the Savior's example with baptism. 

This week we are starting  Come, Follow Me (Ven, Sìgueme en Castellano) for the Book of Mormon! It is SOOO GOOD!!! We started with the introduction pages and I learned a lot. The title page was written by the prophet Moroni, and that Joseph Smith said while he was translating the sacred record, it was on the last page of the golden plates...also that several of the 11 special witnesses went apostate and left the church, but NONE of them denied seeing and holding the golden plates that were translated as the Book of Mormon. That was a powerful lesson I learned while studying Ven, Sìgueme, that if we are converted from the heart then we can retain a perfect testimony of the restored gospel. Love you all!!! Read your scriptures, minister, and do Come, Follow Me!! Suerte con sus nuevas metas del año nuevo