Saying goodbye to Ciudad del Este was one of the hardest things I've
ever had to do.
I talked with Sonia, Carolina, Fabiana, and Fernando (the family we baptized one at a time) about how her family changed my life. I still remember the experience when she was asking God to show her if this was the true church when she got up on a bus going to a far away city, and she saw me sitting with other missionaries sleeping and she knew that this was an an answer from God. We said goodbye everyone with tears in their eyes, knowing we might not see each other again, but knowing that we will stay firm in the gospel until the end.
I talked with Sonia, Carolina, Fabiana, and Fernando (the family we baptized one at a time) about how her family changed my life. I still remember the experience when she was asking God to show her if this was the true church when she got up on a bus going to a far away city, and she saw me sitting with other missionaries sleeping and she knew that this was an an answer from God. We said goodbye everyone with tears in their eyes, knowing we might not see each other again, but knowing that we will stay firm in the gospel until the end.
Saying goodbye to Julian Gamarra was particularly difficult. They had no idea that I was going to leave, and we came to their house without aviso... how do you say that in English? (This is Taylor's Dad, aviso = warning)... before and we told them about the news.
Tears instantly came to his eyes as did they come to mine, and as we took our last picture together, I put my hand on his shoulder, and he grasped my hand holding back the tears. He is still in the process of his divorce, but over and over again has told me that he has already made a covenant with God to continue on this path.
Alexis.
Him having a similar age as me, made him even more close to me, and it
was really hard to have to say goodbye. I am so proud of him, and wish I
could have had more time to stay to help him on the path towards his
mission. He will be a great missionary.
I told my
companion today that the greatest joy that we experience on the mission
really is the pain of having to say goodbye. It truly means you served
and loved that person.
I got to my new area and
was shocked! It is a very beautiful place, but the church is brand new
here! There is a tiny group of 20 people who gather on Sundays to sing
and partake of the sacrament. We are working to make this group become a
branch. There had been some negative comments about the area, and I had
the choice to work according to what people told me, or I could help my
companion love this area and learn that it is not about the area, it is
about the attitude of the missionary.
My companion is a
new missionary with 5 months on the mission, and is serving about 5
hours in car from home. He is very excited about everything, but told me
that he felt a bit saddened because he felt like he had wasted the
first part of his mission because they spent a lot of time passing time
in houses of members. He started the week explaining to me how he truly
hoped that the next transfer would come quick and that he would be sent
to another place. I told him that we were going to do everything to find
new investigators and then see what his opinion was.
We
worked SO HARD this week! We had a goal to have 12 new investigators,
and because of the holidays, and transfers, we were not very close to
our goal, but on Saturday and Sunday,
we worked with everything we had and in those two days we gained 18 new
investigators, and we have appointments with each of them coming up
this week.
My companion now says that he prays that he stays in this area for at least one more transfer.
It is all about the attitude, and I am glad that I have so many good examples that helped me learn that important lesson.
Me and iron man
My companion and I eating some fish for new years!
New years with some of the zone running and playing volley ball
Yeah, we had to hitchhike... don't worry its legal here.
Noelia from Ciudad del Este was taking the lessons from the day I got to Ciudad del Este. I think I gave her the baptism challenge 50 times. She said she didn't feel prepared every time. Finally, on my very last lesson in Ciudad del Este she accepted. She holds in her hand her baptism goal. Its a Picture of the baptism of Jesus, with "January 23" written on it. I was so happy to help her for so long to help her get to this point.
The family on the left is the Martinez family. They gave us the reference of this amazing family Maria Rosalino. They struggled to progress as well but also put a baptismal goal of 23 of January the day I left.
Just for fun this is downtown Ciudad del Este where normally there are millions of people in every corner, but we got there and it looked like a zombie movie. Of course it was Christmas day, so I guess it makes sense, but still we were shocked that there literally was not one soul in sight!
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2. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).
Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150
2. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).
Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Argentina Posadas Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT
84130-0150
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3. Physical Mailing Address:
Elder Taylor Graves
Córdoba 1243
Posadas, Misiones 3300
Casilla 12
Argentina
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