Hey,
Yeah
no one here in Argentina knew anything about the whole Obama-Romney election.
Or if they did, they didn't say anything to us. Which is weird because even the
poorest person will call us murderers and tell us to "stop bombing
innocent people." (Haha as skewed as their opinion is, at least they
know something). I
would have thought that someone might have heard something. Especially since
they always ask, "And Obama? What do you think of him?" And we have to
tell them that we don't talk about politics. But no one said a thing. So the
truth is I had no idea who had won until opening my emails.
People
here in Argentina don't know much about the Mormons. Either they try and
convince US that all the churches are the same saying, "Look you`ve
got the Jehovah’s Witness, the Mormons, the Evangelists, and the Catholics but
guys, God is one and he is with us all no matter where you go." Which is
wrong. So it`s either that or many other religions just say that we are a
church of the devil. That is why it surprised me this week when the taxi driver
that took Elder Forbes and I to our house after the Leader Meetings was like,
"Guys I am not going to join a religion that some adulterer started. I am
not going to follow some guy who had 19 wives." Hahaha we said, "Sir,
you have been misinformed, Joseph Smith did not have..." And then he cut
us off because he just wanted to fight. I felt like the missionaries in the
States must have conversations like that all the time. It is too bad that
people rely on outside sources for information on the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. "Ask the missionaries, they can help you."
This
week my foot hurt a lot. But Elder Forbes and I still worked super hard. We
found tons of new people to teach and taught an amount of lessons that Elder
Howard and I probably took 2 to 3 weeks to teach in the Santa
Rosa 4th Ward. My area is on the edge of Bahìa Blanca and is all dirt streets.
The people are super religious and there is a different church on almost each
block, it`s insane. We see missionaries and members of other churches every
day. But with all that, the people still let us in and want help from God. Plus
it is almost summer and with the heat, everyone is outside in their yards in
the shade every day. It is super easy to contact people and find new people to
teach.
This
week, Elder Forbes and I had a baptism. It was super great. We had to work hard
to help the investigators overcome trials and everything, but the feeling in
the baptism is always worth the effort we have to put in. They are named Adela
Varela and her daughter Micaela Robinson (the children here take the last name
of the father but the women do not change their last name when they get
married) and also Gabriel Bonomo. A lot of members went and also investigators
which were Gabriela and Adela`s family members as well as some people that the
other two missionaries invited.
The
church building is tiny though. When you walk in, you are in the Sacrament
Meeting room. There are doors on the opposing wall which are the classrooms and
then on the right side in the corner a tiny hall with the Bishop Office and
bathrooms. That`s it. There were only 48 people in church on Sunday and that`s
about normal. So there is a lot of work to do here! I am excited.
Please
pray for us so that we can find more people to get to church so that they can
get baptized!
Love,
Elder Garrison
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