This week went so well!

On Tuesday we taught our invesitgators Gladys and Agustin the word of wisdom. I was pretty stressed out inside because you just never know how someone will react to something like that, but they both accepted it so well!! They really just understood that we have that commandment for our benefit and we show God our obedience and our love by keeping it. It was so awesome. That visit we also met Glady´s ¨significant other¨. He is always working and is usually never home, but luckily he was there when we came to their house. He is really nice guy but right now doesn´t have a lot of interest. Gladys and him have been together for 8 years but still aren´t married. Its a bummer because Gladys won't be able to get baptized until see marries him. My companion and I still have a lot of faith that everything will work out though! Their son though Agustin is still on tract to be baptized the 30th of this month! He is such a stud. Gladys and him both came to church again this week and loved it.

The rest of this week was pretty normal. Nothing too crazy happened. Our other investigators are progressing well and we are hoping for at least 2 or 3 baptisms by the end of the transfer. We had a lot of really good lessons this week and we are staying really busy. 

At church on Sunday I had to give a talk haha. We have sacrament meeting during the last hour of church here, and right after the first hour of church the bishop came up to me and said someone bailed on them and they needed another talk and then asked me to do it. I was kinda stressed because I only had about 5 minutes to think about what to talk about because we were busy the rest of the time until sacrament meeting taking care of investigators during the second hour. But I honestly think I gave a decent talk! I decided to do it on prayer and the scriptures and somehow it all came together. My companion felt so bad for me but couldn't help from laughing as I walked up to the pulpit with just a Book of Mormon in my hand haha.  It actually ended up being like 15 minutes though and everyone said they really enjoyed it! I still have no clue how I did it haha. God really helped me out with that one thats for sure. It really just strengthened my testimony that when we do our part and work hard, God will make up the rest.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend

It was such an awesome week!

On Tuesday I did divisions with an elder that came with me to Argentina. It went so great. We taught a few lessons and later in the night we passed by the house of this kid named Franco. He is a friend of a member and we had been teaching him and he was going to get baptized but then all the sudden he disappeared. So for the past two months we have passed by his house and he is never been home. But we passed by and we saw him outside dragging this horse around and we were able to get a lesson with him!!! And the best part is he had been reading in the Book of Mormon!!! He read up to Alma!!! So in the lesson we just kinda talked to him and apparently when school and work started things got crazy but now they are calming down. So of course we set another baptismal date for the 30th of April!! So we will see how that all goes!

Our Investigators Gladys and Agustin are progressing so well too!! They are so great. Agustin is so excited to get baptized and Gladys had been kinda reluctant to commit to a date but after she read Alma 32 this week, that all changed. She totally wants to get baptized now!! She said that chapter just answered so many questions she had and it helped her understand what she had been feeling during the past little while when she has been praying and reading about the Book of Mormon. We are so excited! They came to church this Sunday too and the absolutely loved it!

We have so many people progressing it is awesome. This area is going to see a lot of baptisms in the next few months.

The funny story of the week:

So last night we were at the top of our area visiting this family. We then got a call from this member family that needed to get into the chapel to get there bikes and they didn´t have keys. It was a time crunch because it was around 7:00 and we had a family home evening planned with this family and Franco at 7:45. So we quickly finished our visit and headed down to the chapel at the bottom of our area. We rode so ridiculously fast haha. It was pitch black and freezing cold but nothing was going to stop us because we wanted that lesson with Franco so bad!! So it would normally be like a 25 minute bike ride but we rode up to a block away from our chapel in like 7 minutes and then all the sudden a huge ball of chain wire got stuck in my companions back tire. We stopped and tried to get it out but we couldn´t so we started walking to the chapel to deal with it there. Then all the sudden this old Argentine just walks over to us and starts telling us how to take it out. We try to follow his instructions but we couldnt understand anything he was saying so he eventually just started to try to get it out himself. He couldn´t do it and then all the sudden he pulls out this steak knife and just starts wacking at the wire like crazy. While I was watching him I was pondering on how weird the situation was but at the same time I just felt really grateful and impressed with how nice this guy was for helping us.... So in like three minutes or so he finally gets it out and then he looks up and asks us how much we are going to pay him. We then just started to chuckle because we thought he was joking.... But then we realized, he wasn´t joking.... We had absolutely no money on us so we told him we didn't have anything but we were really grateful for his help and then this guy just starts to freak out. I still don't understand everything that happened but it was just a really weird, awkward messed up temper tantrum with an angry Argentine cursing and waving this knife around. It was so funny my companion and I just stood there like fools because we had no idea what to do. He eventually finished and just marched off and my companion and I just looked at each other and we both started to die of laughter.... It was just and unforgettable experience... This country is just something else. And in case your wondering that guy wasn´t homeless. He was a well dressed man with a nice car.... I love Argentina

Well anyway there is the story. I hope everyone has a great week! Be safe and carry around extra cash to give to people that help you out because if not, who knows what will happen!

Elder Townsend

Pretty great week! 

My companion and I are really excited because we have some great investigators with a lot of potential! 

On Tuesday we had some fantastic lessons. One was with Gladys and Agustin. They are so awesome! It went so well!

On Wednesday here it poured rain so hard!!!!! We don't usually ride the bikes when it rains because its bad for the bikes and the mud in parts of our area makes it almost impossible. So after lunch we left our pension and walked to our appointments. We had like 5 lessons planned but no one was home!!!! When it rains here everything shuts down. No one goes to work or school but for some reason no one is ever home either which doesn´t really make sense but whatever... It was so frustrating!!! By the end of the day when we were walking back home I just looked at my companion and I couldn´t stop laughing. We both looked so pathetic. We were absolutely soaked from head to toe for like 5 hours just walking around outside all day. It was a struggle haha. 

On Thursday and Friday we were able to get in contact with a lot of people we hadn´t been able to see in a while and it was awesome. 

Then on Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference! It was so great but the best part was that Gladys and Agustin came with us to the morning session on Saturday. We watched it in another chapel that is in our zone so we met up with them in the morning on saturday and took a bus for like 40 minutes to get there. It was so nice to have them there but the whole time I was so stressed that they were liking it and that they understood everything haha. I am not quite sure how much they got out of it but they said they liked it!! They started freaking out during the middle of the session because apparently one of the speakers, Kevin R. Duncan of the seventy, looks just like me haha. But in the end it all went well and my companion and I were very happy with everything. 

The rest of conference we didn´t have any investigators but we were able to watch it in English! It was so awesome! The bishop in the chapel there set up a TV  in one of the rooms for the American Elders to all watch it together. It was the most American I have felt in a really long time haha. 

It felt so nice.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Townsend