Una fecha bautismal in Junin

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Oh, it´s good to have a P-day to rest and write. This week has been kindof long, but lots of blessings as well.

Well, first off we met a wonderful new investigator named Andrea. She´s the cousin of a recent convert, and he´s the one that first talked to her about the gospel and the missionaries (that´s the best way to do the work of salvation - members inviting their loved ones). The first time we met her we sat down in her house with Carlos (the recent convert) and got to know her. She´s had a rough family life, but is very religious and always has tried to make better choices for her life. Then she asked us to explain baptism to her. Well, if you say so! As you might imagine we happily explained a little about baptism and the authority to baptize, and how that authority was lost in the Apostasy. We came back and taught the full Restoration. Then the third time my companion said we should read the Book of Mormon with her, since she hadn´t read yet. So we read 3 Nephi 11 which explains the gospel of faith, repentance, baptism, and the holy ghost. Asking her what she understood she was like, "Yes, I understand. I have to get baptized." It was totally the Spirit and the power of the Book of Mormon. So now she has a baptismal date for June 11.

Oh, so my bike has been making weird sounds for a while now. It´s had me pretty worried. Well this week the problem behind the sounds finally became evident as the axel of my back wheel broke. I couldn´t even pedal. And did I mention that we were about an hour away from the apartment walking? Haha, yeah, but whatever. elder Tingey and I got to know each other better. I´m using the branch president´s bike until mine gets fixed.

The branch of Junín is wonderful. We, the other missionaries, and the branch presidency are working to try and get church attendance up and the hometeachers moving. The branch really lacks a lot of leadership positions, which makes it a struggle to keep it going. But with work and faith we´ll be able to get what we need and strengthen the members here.

This week I tried to use the Sacrament better. I thought more about jesus christ and prayed harder for repentance. As I did that and partook of the bread and water I literally felt a little bit lighter. That´s what the Atonement does for us.

Thanks to all for being who you are. Thanks for the many letters and prayers.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Dedicación del Templo de Córdoba!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week was super! Why? Because yesterday the second House of the Lord in Argentina was dedicated in Córdoba. Now with two operating temples, the wonderful Argentine saints can more easily receive ordinances of salvation that are necessary for them and for their families already passed away. The dedication was transmitted to chapels in all of Argentina (and maybe other parts of SudAmerica?), so we got to watch it with the members here. There was a special spirit while watching the dedication. President Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson came to dedicate the temple. Elder Christofferson served as a missionary here long ago, so he speaks Spanish very well. it was cool to listen to him. President Uchtdorf tried, and it reminded me of myself 9 months ago in the MTC. But their talks were really awesome. Pres. Uchtdorf made mention of the Sol de Mayo (May Sun) that is centered in the flag of Argentina, which shines brightly for all Argentinos. Then he counceled us to make the Temple our Sol de Mayo. I really liked that imagery, and it´s true. Temples and Jesus Christ, whose house they are, are what bring light and life to us. Without them we would not exist nor could we gain salvation.

Well, that´s all for this week. Les amo a todos! I hope you have a great week.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

1. Puesto del sol in campo

2. Junín

3. Toilet in the chapel. Gotta love SudAmerica where toilet seats seem "optional" after they break off

4. Elder Kelley with a recent convert, Matías. Matías has reserves of energy, and sometimes he´s a little annoying, but he´s such a great person and I love him.

5. Biking behind Elder Kelley

Traslados

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Well, another week has flown by in Argentina. Lots of stuff is going on. Firstly, I "killed" another compañero (i.e. I was his companion when he finished his mission). So, I´m waiting and working in another area near the offices until transfer meeting on Wednesday where I´ll get my new comp. And for now, guess where I am. I´m in the same zone where I started my mission, Marcos Paz! I´m not in the same ward, but I still see a few places where I went months ago with my trainer. It´s really weird, but fun. My best memories are still here in this zone. And I heard that an investigator that I taught with my trainer got baptized yesterday! Ah, I´m so happy for him. he was and is a great dude, and now he gets to enjoy the blessings of the evangelio restaurado with his wife.

This Wednesday I´ll return to Junín with my new comp. There is a lot of work to be done in our branchcita in Junín to help the members be more united and reach out to each other, especially with hometeaching. That`s something that is lacking in many parts of the country, just because of the culture. But, with faith all things are possible. We`re going to have a branch councel this Sunday and I hope that together we`ll find a solution.

I was reading about Hope today in PMG and in the scriptures. I found a passage in Hebrews 6:11-15 that I really liked. I can´t quote it all from memory, but it talks about how if we work diligently and patiently, and are not lazy, we can have the hope that the promises of the Lord will be fulfilled. Go and read it and see what you think. I´ll try to be thinking about it this week as well.

Know that God lives and loves you all. This gospel is real and this church is true.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Another Week in Junin// May 11

¡Hola familia y amigos!

happy Mother´s day! En serio, moms are the most wonderful creations of our Heavenly Father. it was so great to talk to my mom and family yesterday through skype. Thanks to all of the family for being there. ¡Les amo!

This week was nice. We had a zone meeting on Tuesday, so my comp and I, along with the four sisters who share our branch in Junín, traveled by bus to Chivilcoy, another small city about 2 hours away. it was a good meeting and we learned a lot. The practices we did for contacting and teaching were pretty fun.

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week, so that wasn´t too fun. We had to spend a lot of time biking from house to house trying to make contact with possible or past investigators. So far, not much progression. Oh well.

As a branch we´re super excited for this sunday, because the temple dedication of the new Córdoba, Argentina Temple will be broadcast to all the chapels in Argentina. I got to see a dedication broadcast while I was in the MTC, so I know this one will also be really cool.

The past few weekends we´ve been doing service painting a local school. The project was organized and carried out by the company of our branch president. Many of his work partners and jovenes (youth) from the branch came to help out. This weekend we finished painting, and to celebrate the President´s partners cooked us all asado (argentine bbq). It was so awesome.

Well, that´s pretty much all for this week. I love you all. Thanks for being who you are. Keep moving forward!

Con amor,

Elder Blake

New Area - Compo!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all? I´ve loved reading your letters this week. I´m glad to hear you´re all doing so well.

I was so excited to hear about Cam´s and Bryan´s graduations. You two are super capos (studs), and great examples to everybody. I hope you had/will have wonderful celebrations and good starts to your next steps in life. Tell me how it goes. God really does know, love, and bless us. I hope that we can all realize a little more His hand in our lives.

That´s something that I thought as I left Aldo Bonzi. After going through so much and having so many experiences there, I felt somewhat like Nephi when he said to the angel, "I know not the meaning of all things, but I know that God loveth his children." That´s true! Never forget it, even when you feel down or lost.

I am now in a smaller city in the middle of campo se llama Junín. It´s about 4 hours west of Buenos Aires. It´s so beautiful here, and a totally different feel than Buenos Aires and it´s millions of suburbs. Todo tranquilo. My companion is Elder Ryan Kelley from Mesa, Arizona, and he´s a stud! He´s always laughing and telling funny stories - in the apartment, in church, in the streets and on our bikes. Yep, we´re on bikes. I feel more connected to Dad now, since he rode everywhere in Holland. It´s great because we can cover much more ground.

We´re share a little rama (branch) of about 50 active members with two sets of sister missionaries. The members are very nice, especially the Branch President, President Cortéz. We have a lot of work to do, though. We need to find new and good investigators a fúll and help them progress to baptism. We´ve also got plenty of reactivating to do. As a mission we´re trying to focus on priesthood holders and families. If we put in our part, it will come to pass.

Love you all. Keep being awesome. Thanks for your constant love and prayers.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Hugo Breggi, our recent convert in Aldo Bonzi (He still prays like an evangelicist. It´s so funny :)

Campo near Junín

Me and Elder Kelley in the cyber.

Last Week in Aldo Bonzi // April 20

¡Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all? What are you up to? This week has been pretty good. We´ve been blessed to find a new family of three, Manuel, Pati, and Cristopher. They´re from Perú. It was amazing how they understood the message of the Restoration. At the end of that lesson Manuel asked if the Pope had authority and Pati was the one to answer him, reminding him how God´s priesthood authority had been lost totally in the Apostasy! haha.

Also, Hugo was interviewed by the bishop to receive the aaronic priesthood. He got emotional when he told us. He´s very humbled and excited to have that responsability. He´s a stud, and will do great.

This week my companion and I were given the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting. We both talked about the law of the fast, and it went well.

Lastly, we recieved the transfer announcements this morning. Elder Blake is being transfered! Wednesday will be the changes and in a week from today you´ll all hear where I end up.

Thank you all again for your love, your prayers, thoughts, and everything. I know God lives and loves us, and that we are His hands. YOU are His hands reaching out to me. If I haven´t responded a personal email that you sent me, know that I read it and am grateful you sent it. I love you all, and more importantly, so does He!

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Aldo Bonzi con tres Conversos // April 13

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Aldo Bonzi had a great week. There were 3 baptized! One of whom, Hugo, was taught by us, and the other two by the sister missionaries who share the ward. The baptismal service was great. Hugo slipped when I put him under, but he got all the way under and that´s what matters :) I forgot my camera, so pictures will have to come next week.

My time is running out. sorry for the short letter. I hope you all have a great week! God bless you all.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Hola de Aldo // March 23

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week has been one of much thinking and learning (let´s hope). I´ve been learning about the Atonement of Christ and I think this time it´s more through experience than straight book-learning. I start to realize how much I need Him. I often forget Him, often don´t work the way He deserves, but I know He loves me. I like the quote from the Scriptures when he calls Peter and Andrew to leave the life they were used to behind and follow Him. But he didn't stop at "come and follow me", He added the promise, "and I will make you fishers of men". It´s only through Christ that we really become better people, better missionaries. Christ and Christ alone can reach in the deepest recesses of our human, imperfect hearts and make changes. It reminds me also of Moroni 10:32-33, which says "Come and perfect yourselves in Christ", or something to that effect in inglés.

Edson, our Peruvian investigator, came to church for the third time. He accepted as well the Word of Wisdom, though we forgot to follow up to see if he´s living it. We´ll make better plans to help him avoid temptation this week, and if he does well and reads the LDM, I think he´ll be baptized in April.

We also are teaching an evangelico investigator in the city proper of Aldo Bonzi, se llama Hugo. He´s reading well but we´re unsure of his actual testimony. However he has great desires to bautizarse so, if we help him, he´ll make it as well.

Thank you alls for the birthday loves and wishes. They were wonderful and very meaningful to me. Will you please send me the email of the Foutz so that I can thank them for bringing me the package?

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Bautismos // March 16

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I don´t have much time to write this week, so I´m sending a few photos (worth 1000 words a piece, right?). Thanks for everything you do. I had a good week. I love you all.

Transfers - Me quedo en Bonzi // March 9

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Well, we received the transfer announcements last night and... I´m staying in Aldo Bonzi with Elder Smith! It will be great to stay here with him and in this zone of missionaries. I learn a lot and we´re starting to have some good success in finding families to teach. Last week we found a family from Paraguay. The mom had visited with and loved the missionaries 20 years ago, but never got baptized. We were looking for a referral that the famila Cruz (from whom we rent our apartment) gave us when we found her and her family. She remembered lots about José Smith and the "black book" that the missionaries had given her. We taught them the Restoration and they understood it not too bad; planned on coming to church too! Unfortunately they couldn´t make it because of other pesky schedule commitments.

Also, the two older sons of our recent convert, Roxana, are getting baptized this weekend! We´re really excited for them to be a family together in the church. The boys are named Damian and Bruno, and are capos (studs). Damian agreed to give up coffee and tea yesterday, and we really hope he sticks to it because he can´t get baptized if he drinks this week. We bought him some WordofWisdom-approved substitutes that we´re going to give him later today.

God´s grace is real.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Another Week in Also Bonzi // Feb 23

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Así pasa otra semana en Aldo Bonzi. This transfer has flown by. There are only 2 weeks left! I wonder if I´ll stay longer here or get moved out. Probably the former, but we´ll see.

This week Roxana keeps going strong. She bore her testimony in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and continues to love everything about the Church. We had a family home evening with her family and another member family this week about the Sabbath Day, which went really well. We had planned this noche de hogar to be big, having invited all of the members/menos-activos that live in our little neighborhood behind the Mercado Central, but only Roxana and her family showed up :/ Oh well. That happens in the mission. Her boys continue attending church and mutual as well., and they love it. We had had baptismal dates for them this weekend, but now they are having second thoughts :( We´re going to visit them a lot and do all we can to help them.

We have started teaching another man in our neighborhood named Edson. He´s from Perú, and we met him in a little peruvian restaurant owned by an investigadora of ours. Later we met him at his apartment, which he rents and where he works as a siemster (person who sews) all day long. We taught him how to pray in the first visit, and he did a good job. We came back and taught The Restauration, which he also seemed to understand pretty well. After that we´ve missed him for a few days, but we hope to see him again tonight and see how he´s doing.

That´s all for now! I hope you all have a great week. Keep being the wonderful people you all are.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Baptism! //Feb 16, 2015

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I have hardly any time to write this week. We went to the cyber late. HOWEVER, there is one piece of fabulous news: Roxana Luna se bautizó! She is a great mother of 3 who was blessed a lot to learn the gospel. Her baptismal service was great and she felt the Spirit strongly. She´s already involved in the Relief Society and will be a great asset to the ward. 

Con amor!

Elder Blake

This Week in Aldo Bonzi

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week has been bastante bien in Aldo Bonzi. We got to do some service at the bishop´s house raising his roof -- literally! Many roofs here are made of big sheets of corroguated metal called chapa pinned together with screws and attached to the house with cement. He broke the cement, we lifted the roof, and added new walls to make an additional story of his house. haha, it was fun, but we left early to go to an appointment.

Roxana keeps coming to church and loves it, as well as her three kids. it´s a family that really received the gospel like a breath of fresh air. Roxana is super excited to be baptized. She changed her own date to the 14th of February because a few years ago her family was hurt badly on that date, and she wants to "turn a new page" in her life by getting baptized on that date. We´re super excited for her, as well as the ward, and we´re honestly rushing to teach her everything she needs to know before she gets dunked.

That´s all for now. I hope you all ahve a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Saludos de Aldo Bonzi

¡Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all doing? I hope you´re enjoying the cold while I "enjoy" the heat and humidity :)

This week finds me back in my own area with my new compañero, Elder Smith from Roy, Utah. He has 15 months in the mission, is great in working with the members, and is very happy and loving. He´s also a little reserved like me at the same time, which is great. I am blessed to have him and he helps me a lot.

This week has been interesting. I´m still trying to figure out and have a stronger testimony of the importance of missionary wory, and also of the principle of work. I can´t deny that this week I wasn´t my best in my desires to put forth all my "heart, might, mind and strength." But the Lord, Elder Smith, Presidente Robertson, and other experiences this week helped me at least get through it, for which I am grateful.

We had an awesome lesson with several investigators yesterday. After church we showed them all the baptismal font in the chapel and, with the help of our ward mission leader, taught about the manner and covenant of baptism. One of the investigators, Roxana, is super stoked about baptism, and has a date set for this month. Right now it´s set for the 7th, but we might have to move it in order to make sure we teach her everything she needs to know before that. But she´s super sincere, and we have a lot of faith that she´ll make it (and that she´ll set the example for her three sons as well :)

Love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember that this is the true church of Jesus Christ in the earth; the Book of Mormon is true; Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God; repentance and change are real through Christ and obedience. 

May God bless you all!

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Transfers Coming Up!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

How are you all doing?! It's great to read your letters and learn all that's going on back stateside. Another week in Aldo Bonzi. It has been pretty good. The sad news is that my companion, Elder Morgan, finished his mission and is now on the journey home. He was a great missionary and companion to me, and I'm grateful for him. We exchanged ties and he gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. He left a great impression in the area and in the people. They all love him a lot, and I'm glad. Until official transfers on Wednesday I'm with another missionary whose comp also went home. We're working in his area, which is close to mine. 

We have met a lot of great people this week. Also we finally set a baptismal date for Roxana, a single mother who lives in the little Bolivian neighborhood where we live. But she didn't come to church yesterday! It was really disappointing because she never fails in her commitments. Our other baptism for February is Mariano. He has a lot to change in his life, and for the moment he doesn't feel the need to change it. But he keeps coming to church because he likes it. Anyone can repent and get baptized, and we all need the gospel. With faith and if we do our part to help him, he'll make it. Please pray for him.

That's all I have time for! I hope you're all doing fantastic. ¡Les quiero un montón! Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. You will be in mine.

¡Chau!

Elder Blake

Another Week

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week finds me writing from no other place than--WalMart! Yes, there is one. There are actually two in my ward boundaries, and they´re kindof like Walmart plus shopping mall. Jaja, it´s weird.

I can´t believe this transfer is almost over, and also that my compañero goes home in a week. This week we plan to work as much as possible amidst the final meetings, goodbye dinners, and everything else. 

A miracle happened this sunday in church. There were like 12 non-members in church! Many investigators from the other sister missionaries in our ward, and a bunch from us. And what was even better, most of them felt the spirit and they were all well fellowshipped by the ward.  Two of them were Roxana and her son Bruno. She is a very intelligent and sincere single mother who´s had a hard life. She also es habladora (i.e. a talker to the max). We have good hopes for them. They need the gospel, just like all of us.

We´re still visiting Mariano Mendez. He´s a little difficult to teach because of what drugs have done to him, but he´s a good person at heart. Again, we all need the Gospel. "The church" said some apóstol or somebody, "is not a museum of perfect people. It is a hospital for imperfect saints." Algo así.

I hope you´re all doing fantastic. Les quiero muchísimo, y oro para ustedes.

Élder Blake

A part-member family with whom we are working. We brought them to the templelast week eternal families, baptism, and the law of chastity. There is a special spirit in teaching at the temple.

Saludos de Aldo Bonzi A

¡Hola familia y amigos!

¿Cómo están todos? It´s always so great to read your letters and hear all the cool things you´re doing. Thanks for your consistent examples for me. You are all wonderfulísimos.

This week has been one of great blessings and learning. We have met some great people. Giovanna, an Uruguayan woman who lives in our little neighborhood, is starting to read the Libro de Mormón and already prays a lot. This week we need to continue teaching her and invite her to get baptized. Mariano, that guy who showed up at church last week, came again of his own accord and we taught him The Restoration right after. He believes the LDM is true, but doubts that any one church has the full truth. We comitted him to read and pray for answers. We also were blessed to go to the temple grounds with a part-member family that we´ve been working with and teach them about eternal marriage. There was such a special spirit as we taught at the House of the Lord. It´s a wonderful place. Oh! I also ran into my ward from Marcos Paz 1 there! They were on a temple trip. It was so great to see them, including a part-member family that Élder Jetsel and I had visited a lot. They all said that I had "abandoned" them, which is más o menos true :) It was great to see them.

I´m still learning lots from my compañero, Élder Morgan. He is a good gospel teacher, greenie trainer, and friend. Today we went to a touristy little shop to buy some recuerdos (souvoneirs) before he goes home in 2 short weeks. 

That´s all for this week. Les amo y oro por ustedes. Tengan una buena semana.

Con amor,

Élder Blake

Y asi empieza año nuevo

¡Hola familia y amigos!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! What a great time to look at our lives and appreciate what we have been blessed with. We have so much. God surely loves us, and although it may be hard to see sometimes, He´s always there for us.

Right now I happen to be thinking about those many home projects I had the privilege to do with Dad and the rest of the family in the house and yard. Digging a pool, laying sawd, laying rocks, planting flowers and arbors, fixing sprinklers, whacking and wrapping palm frawns, etc. He always taught me to take a minute after finishing, yet before putting away the tools, to look back and appreciate what you were able to do. I hope we all do that as we start off this new year and smile with gratitude at what we´ve done, and turn with that same smile at what comes next as we continually improve our homes - and our lives.

This week has been long but good. Full of experience and learning. Haha, we were walking in Aldo Bonzi when we contacted one guy named Mariano. Really, he contacted us. "¿Jehova´s Witnesses?" he called out. "No, los mormones," we said back. "Oh," he said, "what´s the difference?" I can´t help remembering that talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson where he says that if you have a gospel question you should "Ask the missionaries!" So we told him who we are, what we do, and said that our church meetings are on Sundays at such time and place and he´s always welcome. We parted ways, expecting not to see him again.

But he came to church :) and on time too! He participated in the classes, seemed to understand everything pretty well, was welcomed nicely by the ward, actually asked us for a Libro de Mormón. I sat next to him in sacrament meeting and he told me that he liked it. I actually have hope for him, and we plan to go see him this week and see how things turn out. I can´t help but laugh at this experience too, because along with everything else he kindof blabbered cualquier cosa (whatever thing) and tried to kiss the American sister missionary that is in our same ward. Her reaction was priceless, and Mariano, although respecting the mission rules once he learned them, was kindof bummed. :) 

haha, so anyway that was my fun experience for the week. I know God lives and loves us. As we learn of Him through prayer, reading His scriptures, and obeying His commandments we are always blessed.

¡Que Dios les bendiga a todos ustedes! Les quiero mucho.

Atentamente,

Élder Blakeññññ

¡Felices Fiestas!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas this year. Lots of smiles, lots of love, lots of service - lots of Christ. Thank you for being such great family and friends. I am very blessed to have you. May God bless and be with you.

It was so great to talk to the family over the internet. Everybody looks so good!  Weston is talking a lot, and Sam and Hunter are huge! Stop feeding everybody so well. Now you all have to tell me what YOU did for Christmas. I tried to ask you, but nobody paid attention! You kept asking questions about me! What did you all give for Christmas? What memories did you make? How did you serve others? I hope you all took the chance to do these things. Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo to all of you.

In Argentina (and, i presume, much of South America) la Navidad is celebrated differently. People gather with family and friends to have a big festive lunch and/or dinner on the 24th. Dinner starts cooking at 8 or 9pm, and people eat and celebrate together until the wee hours of Christmas morning. At midnight everybody - everybody - lights off fireworks a fúl. Christmas day, sometime after everone wakes up, they like to have another nice lunch, and that kindof ends the celebration. It´s really fun, and I would love to have the full experience sometime after the mission. We had permission to have dinner in the house of a member until 10:30. They cooked an amazing asado (south-american BBQ), and if I had the luck to use a computer cool enough to have a USB port I´d try to send you pictures :)

Anyway, love you all. Thanks for all you do for me and for each other. Keep being the awesome people you are. Merry Christmas y Happy New Year.

Con amor,

Elder Blake

Feliz Navidad

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week has been crazy and great. I have been richly blessed by the Lord in the process of changing and learning new things. I just hope I learn it all!

This week were transfers. We got our assignments in district meeting on Tuesday, written on little papers by our district leader. Mine said "Se queda" ("you stay") and that of my compañero, "se va" ("you go"). We spent some time that day saying goodbye to certain people for Elder Jetsel. Then, right before we go to bed we get a call from the assistants with a new assignment - I had to go as well! It was crazy! I didn´t want to go. We had a recent baptism and several special investigators. But the Lord knows what He´s doing, so we both went.

Transfer meeting was awesome. This one was special because all the mission was there to have a huge Navidad celebration. We sung popular American Christmas carols, and then some hymns of worship. There was prepared a fantastic music and spoken word program in the chapel after that, and we even watched that church film, "Ephraim´s Rescue" (so good - go watch it again when you can). And then we had our official transfer meeting.

I was assigned to the area of Haedo A, which is nearer to the capital Buenos Aires, in a trio with an outgoing elder and the other trainee of Elder Jetsel! Elder Lee, from Kaysville, Utah, and Elder Maragaño, from Santiago, Chile. Great elders.

And THEN (yeah, I know. There´s another "and then") Friday morning I get another call. An elder in the city of Aldo Bonzi had to go home and I was going to take his place. So here I am in Aldo Bonzi, with my 8th companion since the MTC, Elder Morgan. He´s a stud, and although I hated to leave Marcos Paz 1 (that area was closed, by the way), I am truly excited to be here in Aldo Bonzi. I think it is where I need to be for myself, my companion, and the people. I know that if I do all that is required of me as a servant of the Lord, this area will receive the blessings that wait for it at this time.

Well, there´s my crazy chronology of this week. I love you all, and I´m stoked to talk with you on Christmas day. God bless each and every one of you. Take some time to sit in a quite place for 15 minutes or so with the scriptural Christmas story and a small piece of paper to write down the impressions you receive about our Brother, the First and Greatest Gift that was given to us. Will you do that? I will.

Until la Navidad!

Con amor,

Elder Blake

A Week of Work

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week has surely been a week of work, little "fruit", but many blessings. I am blessed with so much every day from which I learn. My compañero, the scriptures, PMG, experiences, practices, meetings, church, and the Holy Ghost. All teach me a ton, and I just hope to soak in as much as I can while I have the chance. There is nothing like the mission, and I´m so grateful for it. But I´m also grateful that even after I´m still going to have all of those teachers, minus only some specific types of experiences and meetings. Let us always do our best to take advantage of them.

We´ve spent a lot of time running around the city with our list of futuros investigadores trying to find new people to teach. We had some trouble with incorrect addresses, which stinks, but oh well. BUT, the Lord always provides. In a lesson with a less-active family my compañero challenged them to give the pamphlet of the lesson we just shared to a friend. We didn´t know it then, but that challenge was truly inspired. The mom gave it that night to a friend who was staying over at their house. The friend read it, liked it, and came in a 45-min bus ride to stake conference to see what it was like. She wants to come to normal church next sunday too. Wooooow! I love those moments. We´re going to go see her and the less-active family today and see how we can help them next to come unto Christ through the gospel.

I´m also learning a lot about teaching the gospel from my compañero, Élder Jetsel. I also realize I have some things to work harder in, such as the grammer of Spanish, improving my teaching skills through regular practice, and always doing my part fully and faithfully to really become one with Christ. Thank you for your prayers. They have helped me so much in every regard.

Before I go, NAVIDAD IS ALMOST HERE! Which means, among strengthening ourselves and others in the message of Jesus Christ, I get to talk to my family! Entonces, here are some VERY IMPORTANT matters:

We´ll get 30-40 minutes in the house of a member to skype with our immediate families. Please send me this week your skype names (Dad, Mom, everyone). We´ll only make the call with one, and connect everybody to that call, but please send me all of them just in case one doesn´t work. Please also send me the time difference between Buenos Aires and you guys. Next week I´ll have more specific plans ready.

I think that´s all. I love you guys so much! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. But more, thanks for all you do to serve, love, and teach your fellow man. You are all amazing. God be with you.

Con amor,

Elder Blake