18 Months an Angel : Week 15 in the Grand Mission of Buenos Aires

As mentioned in the talk I shared with all of you, the blessings are found after a time of great trial or hardship. And after a rough week we have received an outpouring of blessings. We are now teaching two families that are progressing and following through on their commitments! This is the first time in my mission that I have investigators that truly want to be baptized and follow Christ, and are willing to stretch and improve in order to do so! How great are these blessings! And it is no coincidence that these blessings were received After a rough week. God tests us and tries us before aiding us and giving us strength and direction. So let's get to it shall we?

Ready to go out and WORK!

The 1st of Dec: An adventurous P day with Tio Brad Mario Alefredo Montiel;) Why Brad? Because he's the Argentine Brad Pitt, of course;) We went to Once to shop and eat. We ate in an Argentine restaurant. I had a classic Milanesa sandwich. The day was a ton of fun, and ended in two purchases on my end: a white brimmed hat for the sun and a long skirt:) The skirt was found my Mario, who ¨followed the spirit¨and led us to the store that had the skirt;) We closed the P day with ice cream!

Great Argentine Food!

2nd of Dec: Early in the morning my comp and I went to help Anita and Domingo with their documents so they can be married and baptized. They both have a lot of faith and are like grandparents to me;) It was quite the adventure, and required a lot of walking and colectivo. At the end of it all we still weren't done, although in process. After a delicious lunch with Hermana Salinardi and Federico we were off to visit Jhon and Luis. After visiting and teaching the two of them we left with Jhon accompanying us. And this is where the miracles begin.

While we were walking Jhon felt impressed to introduce us to one of his friends, Wilfredo. He lives quite close to Jhon. We were introduced and quickly realized that he was an ëscogido¨, someone specifically prepared of God to listen and to accept our message! Naturally we set a baptism date with him and set a time to meet with him the following day. We left him with a Book of Mormon and desires to pray and to ask God if the 20th of December was the day God wanted for his baptism. We left in high spirits!

3rd of Dec: Trametes once more! This time not for Domingo, but for Hermana Pilliza. We took the colectivo out to the Trametes building, giving me a chance to nap;) I also ran into Hermana Downs and we got to catch up! Always so nice to see my peeps from the CCM! :D We had lunch with Leonor and Anthony, a recently married couple. Anthony is from the states and Leonor is from Peru. It was an eyeopener to see the two of them together. It was clear that they loved each other a lot and that they had both sacrificed to make the relationship successful. I was impressed.

After lunch we went out with Hermana Salinardi. It was hot. My companion's shoes were killing her. Spirits were rather low. And THIS is when we received our second huge miracle. We were walking down to visit Anastasia, a member in the ward, when we passed by a woman with two small children. My companion stopped to talk to them and we invited them to come to church. The woman, Sol, seemed interested and we set up a return appointment for a little bit later in the evening.

Later, when the time came, we went to meet with Sol. We were greeted by her husband, who had been baptized into the church in Pilar, Argentina, at the age of 12! He had been inactive for quite a long time and we didn't know anything about him. We were able to go into their home, which is very rare here. We were greeted by a beautiful family of 7! We taught them about the gospel of Christ and invited Sol and her two daughters of 10 and 9 to be baptized. They accepted willingly and with enthusiasm! I was in shock. I also felt very strongly as we were walking home and I was thinking about the familia Medina that they are a family I knew before this life. And that I'm in the area I am, in the mission I am, to help them. To be here for them and help them to be baptized. What blessings! What power!

4th of Dec: We were able to teach Wilfredo about the Restoration:) He is keeping his commitments and has resolve to stop smoking. He is indeed a great blessing, and with Jhon's help he is feeling welcome and will be able to easily adjust to becoming part of the ward. Very excited to be teaching him!

My beautiful Parque Patricios!!!

5th of Dec: Taught both of our miracle families! We taught Wilfredo in the park with Jhon about the Plan of Salvation. We then taught the familia Medina the Restoration with Hermana Casariego, the bishop's wife. What a blessing and miracle to have investigators that are progressing!

View from my pension at night!

6th of Dec: Conference! Wilfredo and his two sons, Sebastian and Santiago, came with us! Jorge Medina came with two of his children as well:)

7th of Dec: Conference part two;) Anita and Domingo came! We also had Wilfredo and his two sons come in the pouring rain! What dedication. After the conference we took the colectivo to Mario and Rosana's house. We had an absolute blast; always nice to be with family:) Jhon came as well. The food was delicious and we couldn't stop laughing! I truly feel very at home with them and will be devastated when I have to say goodbye. I'll just have to visit after the mission;) We also stopped by the bishop's to watch the church video, Only a Stonecutter. Quite inspiring.

Scripture study time.