May 7, 2012

Dear Everyone,

So I am on my way to Bahìa Blanca again. No one has written me yet because it`s way early but that`s no big deal.

Cool things that happened this week were that Agustìn, our convert, went and bought a suit for church. He is now a deacon and so he, and another 13 year old that the other missionaries baptized, served the sacrament. It was the first time I have seen deacons pass the sacrament here in Argentina. It was fantastic! Both of them had their white shirts and ties.

Also, it was testimony meeting. And there were 85 people there! And Oscar Llaupi that got baptized with his wife and daughter two weeks ago, bore his testimony in front of everyone. It was very spiritual. The two older daughters, Jorgelina and Mariana who are 15 and 13 years old, FINALLY made it to church for the first time. They've been going to seminary and all the activities for weeks but never come to church. So we were excited. We want to baptize them this upcoming Sunday! Which is the last day of the transfer. So pray for them.

I am hoping I don't get transferred though. I would love to stay here in Viedma because I love this place. And we had ten investigators in church which means things are going really well!

Well I am out of time! Sorry for the short letter but my bus is going to leave.

I will be calling this Sunday at 11 in the morning then. I hope that works because I am not allowed to call the night before to set it up. I AM allowed to do Skype though so get the computer ready!! Hahaha :D I love you all! Bye.

Elder Garrison

April 30, 2012

HEY,

So the rental house will be in the ward still, that's cool, but where are you going to move to? Regardless, it sounds like you`ll still be in the Preston ward when I return so it`s all fine.

As for my Easter package, no. Maybe it`s in Bahìa Blanca because the new materials missionary isn`t very consistent in sending packages.....I haven't gotten letters for a while for that very reason..... We were actually getting pretty annoyed because we were running out of copies of the Book of Mormon and that`s a huge problem. But it turns out that the entire South American South Area doesn`t have books because the Buenos Aires Distribution Center doesn't have any!!! How are we supposed to teach and baptize people without the Book of Mormon?! Hahaha. Apparently there are import problems, I don't know. But I do know that the president of Argentina is stopping all imports and exports and that could be the issue (everyone talks to us about politics as if we had something to do with it so we have to kindly tell them that we talk about Jesus Christ and not politics). The nice thing that happened for us, is a member of our Branch here in Viedma works for the bus company called Ceferino and told us he found a box of copies of the Book of Mormon that no one ever went to pick up. So he asked if he could take it and now we have books! Some got wet and ruined while stored away in Ceferino but the other half of the box has books in pretty good condition. We are also asking all the members in the Branch for books if they have any.

This week our baptisms fell through. It was a huge bummer because neither of the kids we were going to baptize could. The real problem though was my companion and I got too comfortable with the success we were having and got a little unfocused.

However, Elder Hoyos and Elder Dobson, who also work in the same area, had 2 baptisms so the Branch continues moving forward. There were 74 people in church. I am not sure if I mentioned it before but some brethren from Bahìa Blanca came and they are now considering making the church building bigger!! My companion and I always add seats to the sacrament room (because they have folding chairs instead of benches) so that even when there are 75 people, it looks like there are people missing and the members keep working hard to activate members, visit new members, etc. Yesterday there were 7 confirmations in Sacrament Meeting and after church, 5 Priesthood ordinations (including the Brother Casanova and his son, Brother Llaupi, and two converts of the other missionaries). There was mutual, seminary and institute, a wedding celebration, and a family home evening activity all this week in the church. So the church is going to grow very quickly if the members keep up what they are doing.

So I am really hoping not to get transferred on the 13th. Which is Mother`s Day. Which I am excited for.

Thank you for all the letters and support! Pray for Gabriela and Juliàn. They are two investigators we found last night and they are great. As well as the Càceres family. They are from Bolivia.

Chau!
Elder Garrison