Una semana de enfermedades y milagros

This past week started off with a miracle. About 5 years ago the missionaries found the Robles family, parents Javier and Carmen, children Jonny (now age 18), Alexi (16), Liz(6), and Maylen(5). Jonny and Alexi were baptized (Jonny now on a mission in Brasil), but Javier and Carmen were not. Carmen has wanted to be baptized ever since she came in contact with the church, but her husband Javier, hasn't had that same desire, thus keeping her from getting baptized. Turns out they secretly got married on July 18. We met with Carmen and she will be baptized this Saturday. We're working on Javier.  I know that families can be together forever.

Tuesday after lunch my companion, Elder Guerra, got pretty sick with the flu. The mission doctor told us to stay in the pension so that he could rest. Tuesday was a really boring day. We slept... watched some church movies... and wrote in our journals. It wasn't too eventful. Wednesday he was still sick, so we made a lot of calls and finally found two members to go on splits with us. Brother Juan Carlos stayed in the pension with my companion for 7 hours... he is about 70 years old. My companion told me that it was a pretty boring day. I went on splits with Alexi Robles for about 3 hours, and then he had to go home, so Elder Coyoy and Elder Hansen (from Pacheco 2) came and picked me up to take me with them. That was the first time going on splits with a member for me and it was probably the weirdest feeling ever to not have someone in a shirt and tie and name tag next to me. It was also a little interesting because I still don't exactly know which buses take us to our area... so we ended up taking the wrong bus and had to walk a little bit. Fortunately, Elder Guerra was better on Thursday.

On Friday, Mabel and Juan had their baptismal interviews and passed them. They were so excited for their baptism on Sunday. The only problem was that then they all got the flu. On Sunday when we passed by their house to bring them to church we found out that they had been at the hospital until 3 the night before because Mabel's grandson was quite a bit sicker than the rest. Even though they were up until 3 the night before, they were still up and getting ready to go to church when we arrived. That is... everyone but Juan. Juan didn't want to get out of bed. He said he was tired and his whole body hurt. I told him, "Juan, you need to go to church to be baptized today!" He then got up, changed, and we went to church. In the end we went to church with Mabel and her children: Juan, Roberto (who is mentally handicapped), and Maria with her two sons (one of which was still ill). It was incredible to see the faith that they had to go to church even though they weren't feeling well and it would appear that they had every reason to stay home. 

Baptism. Santiago (child of Maria), Roberto,
Elder Coyoy, Mabel, Elder Garrett, Juan 

They are a very humble family. It was honestly heart-warming to see how genuine their love is for the Savior and their desire to follow him. It was so cool to see Roberto going around and greeting every single member with a kiss on the cheek (I'm not sure if I've mentioned that, but that is how people greet each other here in Argentina. Not just guys and girls, girls and girls, guys and guys, everyone greets like that. It was pretty weird when I got here, but now it's kind of normal. I know it isn't normal in the US though. As missionaries, obviously, we greet women with a handshake.) Anyway, it was heartwarming. Then Juan and Mabel were baptized. Juan asked Elder Coyoy to baptize him because he came with me on exchanges to visit them, and Mabel asked me to baptize her. It was a really great experience. Later on that day we visited them and the whole atmosphere of their home had changed.  Juan bore his testimony and expressed his love for God and his desire to keep learning and be a missionary like us, and the Spirit was really strong in that moment. It was a great week.

Exploring Tigre

Today we went to Tigre to check it out and see what there is to see. We went with Elder Coyoy and Elder Hansen. It wasn't that cool because we didn't really know where the siteseeing spots are and it was cold and windy... but we took a few pictures anyway. We then went to a "Pizza Libre" (all-you-can-eat Pizza), so that was fun. We paid 40 pesos a person, but you are forced to buy a soda (1.25 liters) for every 2 people, and the sodas were 40 pesos each, which is a ton of money. You can buy a 2.25 liter soda for about 10 pesos, just to put it into perspective. Because they charged us so much for the soda, we made up for it by eating more pizza. I think I ate more than ever in my life. 

Pizza Libre

I hope all is well wherever you may be. I love you.  "Que la fuerza les acompañe."

Love,

Elder John William Garrett

Milagros son una realidad‏

This past week was really great. We had a really incredible miracle happen on Friday. It was lunchtime and we were waiting outside a member's house after clapping our hands for them to come out, when a man comes walking by. We smiled and said hi to him. He then asked us who we were and we said we were Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He told us his name was Juan and he wanted us to come by his house to talk with him. That doesn't happen very much. We asked him where he lived and he gave us kind of a vague address by just telling us the street name and that he would wait for us at the corner. Anyway, we ate lunch (noodles and meatballs, it was pretty great), and then we had a few other appointments we had to go to. When we had some free time, we decided to pass by to see if we could find Juan. We met him at about 1:00 and passed by at 5:00 due to the other appointments. He was still waiting for us. When he saw us he told us he thought we weren't going to come by. He took us to his house and told us he had told his mom that we were coming by and she was really excited. We met his mom, Mabel, and it turns out that she had been visiting her mom in Tigre and had been meeting with the Sister Missionaries there. She was going to be baptized but then her grandson got sick at home in Pacheco and so she came back home. She told us she feels like God put us in Juan's path so that she could keep learning and so that she could be baptized. She has a baptismal date for this Sunday. Juan is really great also and really loves to learn, and he also has a baptismal date. Saturday when we passed by for another appointment with them they were there waiting for us and really loved it. We had made plans to pass by for them to bring them to church at 8:15 on Sunday... and when we passed by at about 8:10 we found Juan in the street and he told us he had been waiting for us for about 20 minutes and thought we weren't coming...haha. They loved church. 

I have a strong testimony that this work isn't mine. It is the Lord's. This experience really confirmed that for me. He is preparing people to receive me. He is also preparing people to receive each and every one of you. This morning I was studying President Uchtdorf's Priesthood Session talk from this past Conference titled, "Are You Sleeping through the Restoration?", and my favorite part is this:

"This is one of the most remarkable periods of the world’s history! Ancient prophets yearned to see our day. When our time in mortality is complete, what experiences will we be able to share about our own contribution to this significant period of our lives and to the furthering of the Lord’s work? Will we be able to say that we rolled up our sleeves and labored with all our heart, might, mind, and strength? Or will we have to admit that our role was mostly that of an observer?"

I encourage each and every one of you to pray for experiences to share the Gospel. The Lord is preparing people for you. This is His work. This is His church. This is "[His] work and [His] glory-- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." President Uchtdorf states, "There is too much at stake for us as individuals, as families, and as Christ’s Church to give only a halfhearted effort to this sacred work."

I love you all very much.

"Que la fuerza les acompañe."

Love,

Elder John William Garrett

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, on Tuesday we had a special devotional in Vicente Lopez with the whole mission. It was a great meeting and we talked a lot about miracles. Towards the end of the meeting we talked about how here in La Gran Misión Buenos Aires Norte, we know how to "get the ball in the net scoring the goal of a baptism"... something like that. Anyway, we then ate hamburgers and watched the Argentina/Switzerland game on a big projector screen. It was pretty cool. Luckily Argentina won and we won on Saturday so we are now in the semifinals of the world cup. It's nice when we win... because then everyone is happy and willing to talk to us.

 The fantastic 4 (Elder Fuentes, Elder Garrett, Elder Popoca, and Elder Johnson)
watching the world cup

So, unfortunately, the baptism of Edgar fell through because he goes to Constitución every weekend to be with his mom. However, on Wednesday we met a woman named Cynthia, single mother of a 10-year-old son and 6 month old daughter. About 7 years ago she talked with the missionaries and read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon... but just didn't feel something she wanted to feel. She told us she really wanted to try again, and she told us that she wouldn't be able to meet with us until Saturday because she was really busy all week. When we passed by on Saturday she had been in the hospital all day with her daughter, and had hurried home to be able to meet with us. Good sign right? We got to know her a little bit and then started teaching. She is honestly golden. She had attended many churches in her life, but always felt that something was missing... she just didn't feel right. As we taught her the restoration, she was able to feel the Spirit so strongly that she had tears in her eyes, and told us she feels like she's found the path. I know that the Lord is who is preparing people for me to teach. I really don't do anything, the Spirit does all the work. It was a great lesson, and she is really excited to learn more and go to church. Unfortunately, she had to take her daughter to the hospital yesterday morning and was unable to go to church this week, but she committed to going this week.

So, yesterday we had the farewells in San Fernando for the missionaries that are going home. I was able to see a ton of friends from my time in Constitución, and the highlight was seeing Olga. Olga was married, had Graciela, got separated from her husband and got together with a guy named Dani and had her son Dani. Anyway, I had the privilege of baptizing Olga, Graciela, and Dani when I was in Constitución, and we saw Dani, the dad, every now and then, but he wasn't living with them. We always invited him to participate in the lessons, and he usually accepted.  I remember him jokingly offering me some wine on Christmas Eve.  Yesterday Dani, the dad, was in San Fernando, and I found out that he was baptized last week. Olga is working on getting divorced from her first husband, and she is going to get married to Dani and they are going to work towards getting sealed. I don't think I've ever been happier. The church is true.

 

Dani and Olga :) Families can be together forever

I love you all.
Elder John William Garrett