January 16, 2017

So we have transfers! 

Sadly I am going to be leaving my companion and my area and I am going to a place called Lujan. It is sad to leave but man I am ready to get out of the city! haha. I will be traveling tomorrow in the morning to get there. My new companion is named Elder Lopez and is from Seattle! He is a super great guy!

Monday- Being a missionary is so cool because you get to meet and make friends with so many people from all over the world, but mainly just a lot of people that go to BYU haha. And while we are missionaries we have fun but we don't communicate very much and we try to always be professional. But my goodness, in the past several months, a HUGE wave of missionaries have finished their missions and gone home. And emailing on Mondays lately has been soooo weird. I seriously can't explain how weird it has been to talk ex- guy and girl missionaries I have come to be friends with and are now already home. It doesn't even feel like real life haha

Tuesday- In the night we had such a powerful lesson with this great lady we found named Claudia! We taught her the restoration and the spirit was so strong in her house I literally thought the windows were going to break. It was such a special night. She is very prepared and was even so eager to learn and know the truth see took notes!!! Like seriously that never happens!! We are visiting her tonight at 7:00 and we are super excited.

Wednesday- A day I will most definitely never forget about haha... But it's a super long story haha

Thursday- Pretty normal day. We found this great family in the afternoon and we are super excited to start working with them. The mom makes edible photos to put on cakes... Its pretty cool because she can decorate her own cake for the party after the baptism of her family ;)

Friday- Normal day. English classes in the night.

Saturday- In the morning we visited a family that has 17 dogs! 17! 

Sunday- One of our investigators that came to church named Delia loved it so much she started to cry after the meetings. Awww it was so sweet. Then in the night we had a very interesting dinner/visit with some of these hilarious guys that had way too much interest in our personal lives haha.

The president of the Buenos Aires temple came to our sacrament meeting and gave a talk and it was so special. I am so grateful to know I can be with my family, and my future family forever. That knowledge and hope drives everything that I do.

Have a great week!

Elder Townsend

January 9, 2017

So this last week to be honest was more of a difficult week in terms of missionary work, but hey, that happens. 

Monday-  So tonight we made this visit with a family we are working with and something absolutely crazy happened. I met my twin.... Like seriously... There was this kid that came over to our investigators house in the middle of our lesson named Franco. The moment he walked in the room my companion and I just looked at each other in disbelief. France was literally like a mirror image of me. The only differences are he is one year older, he has tattoos, and he probably has kids already.... So basically you could say I just met my gangster self from a different dimension haha. But the best news is he is going to move and start to live with the family we are teaching so now I might be able to baptize him! Stay tune for the baptismal photos haha

Tuesday- Today I realized how grateful I am a took a martial arts class at BYU

Wednesday- Pretty great day! We had several great visits in the morning and in the afternoon! In one of our lessons the investigator we were teaching was acting a little like he had been drinking. So in an effort to be a good trainer and help teach my new companion I turned to him and asked him ¨based on what I have taught you so far, what should we do in this situation¨  and I was praying so hard my companion would say we should come back a different day or something like that but instead he looks at me like a deer in the head lights and responds ¨set a baptismal date with him before he sobers-up?¨....dagger to my heart. I am the worst trainer ever haha

Thursday-  So today in the morning we had to travel to the city center of Buenos Aires to do paperwork for my new companion to get his visa. It was pretty stressful because about 10 other new girl and guy missionaries came with us and I was assigned to take care of all of them and make sure everything went ok because none of them can speak the language yet haha.... So yeah that was great.... I also realized today that one thing has definitely not changed about me while I have been on my mission, and that is no matter what, I cant stay awake in a moving car for longer than 10 minutes haha.

Friday- Pretty normal day. We had several great lessons! Also for lunch we had some of the best meat I have ever tasted!

Saturday- Today we did divisions and I went to another area. It was superrrr hot. Every appointment they had set up for the day fell through. So today we basically walked for 7 hours straight from 2 to 9 in the afternoon. And to top it all off we didn't really eat anything all day because our lunch plans fell through too. Days like today I think play a big reason to why I have lost 20 pounds on my mission....

Sunday- People came to church today! And in the afternoon we had several great lessons!

I know this church is true. I know that God loves us. There is never a need to doubt and fear because he is always there beside us. All we have to do is trust in him to mold us.

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the cold weather!!

Elder Townsend